On the Road Again!

Day Thirty Three – Thursday, September 22, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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If you have been following along faithfully, back on Wednesday, when I posted Day Thirty Two, I mentioned at the end of the blog, that we were staying with our friends Nancy and Mike in El Paso, Texas for the next two nights, and there might be limited internet access. Well, there was, but not like we had limited internet in Yellowstone…this time we were just having too much fun to worry about a blog. More on that later!

We woke on day 33 in Roswell, New Mexico, having not been abducted or in any way harmed by aliens. I guess it must be a lot of BS, because the only aliens we saw were pictured on the advertising signs of various businesses on the main street! We were staying in a brand new, and beautiful Comfort Suites, and although the room was lovely, the breakfast room left a lot to be desired. The chairs looked like they had been through years of service, and were covered with butter, cream cheese, and other stains we didn’t want to think about. We couldn’t help but wonder why such a beautiful, new, and generally well appointed hotel, had chairs that looked like they’d been through the mill! Oh well, perhaps they ran out of money!

The day started after leaving the hotel with a stop for at a self-service car wash, for a quick cleaning of the outside of the car (you’ll see how useless that was), and then to fill the Sonata up with gas. After those two brief stops, we were out of town, and on our way to White Sands National Monument.

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The drive was more up and down, and at one point Susie was driving and exclaimed, “Are we ever going to stop climbing?” The next thing we passed was a sign stating Elevation 8300 feet! We continued on our way, on a rather unremarkable road towards White Sands. One interesting thing was a sign we passed on Route 70. White Sands National Monument is a small part of the White Sands Missile Range, and when they do tests at the range, they close the road so no one is close to where perhaps there could be debris, should something go wrong. It is a test, after all!

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We drove a little more on 70, and came to the White Sands National Monument. We went into the Visitor’s Center, looked at the exhibits, and watched a movie. I have to say, that it was’t the best Visitor Center we’ve seen, and the bathrooms were way below the usual, US Park Services usual condition and cleanliness standards, but they did serve their purpose. Then we headed towards the 17 mile Loop Drive.

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My first disappointment, when we pulled up to the entrance station was that IT WASN’T MANNED! Damn..no one to show my Senior Pass to! The second disappointment, was the first 2 or 3 miles of the Loop. We were driving at 45 MPH through low vegetation, and although you could see that the “ground” under the vegetation was white, I thought, “Is this all there is?” Well, it turned out that it wasn’t! Very soon, we came to a sign that said Pavement Ends..drive with caution! The text thing we knew, were were driving on the sand, and it was truly a magical world we had entered!

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For folks like us from the North East, for all practical purposes, it looked like snow! So white and pristine, it looked like that first drive you take after the snow stops, and before the the beautiful white snow turns dirty and gray! Not only did it look like snow, but it was very obvious that they plow the “road” to keep it open! The thing that really didn’t track with what you were seeing, was the folks out and about were in shorts and t-shirts! Well, it may have looked like snow, but it was 94 degrees at the time, so even dressed as they were, I’m sure they were hot! Of course, you’re driving on sand, so that car wash I did in Roswell was $2.75 ill spent! Of well, who knew exactly what we were going to see?

After that it was time to head south, out of New Mexico and into the great state of Texas. We drove into it late in the afternoon of Thursday, September 22nd, and the Sonata will live in Texas till at least October 17th (I say the Sonata, because for two weeks from October 2nd till the 16th, Susie and I will be in the Caribbean on the Liberty of the Seas, but the Sonata will still be in Texas waiting for us). We exited New Mexico, after 5 nights, at Las Cruces on Interstate 25, heading to El Paso, and our friend’s Nancy and Mike’s house!

The Mike I’m talking about is Mike McKay, who was one of the last DJs on Musicradio 77, WABC in the early 80s. Mike and I worked together a lot, both doing music shows, doing field interviews (our notorious Kenny Rogers interview at the Meadowlands), and baby sitting the NY Yankees games on WABC. When the station went talk, Mike stayed on to do Staff Announcer work (commercials, promos, etc), but he had gotten in radio to be the guy on the air, and he left to pursue that. In the years since WABC, Mike, his wife Nancy, and their daughter Erin have lived the “itinerant DJ life” (Mike’s words), Working in places like Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Detroit, as Mike plied his craft as a DJ, and 19 years ago, they landed in El Paso. He first worked at KSET-FM, and later KOFX-FM, and in 2004, Mike became a part owner and Morning Show Host on 101 Gold, just up the road in Las Cruces. That’s what he did, till he retired earlier this year.

We followed the GPS as it took us off the interstate, through commercial areas of El Paso, into their neighborhood, and I will admit that Susie and I had a little trepidation. We hadn’t seen Mike and Nancy for over 30 years, and although they had graciously insisted that we cancel our hotel reservation, and stay with them for 2 nights, we wondered how comfortable the 4 of us would be together (they probably wondered the same thing). We pulled into they driveway, got out of the car, and as we headed towards their front door, the first member of the family we met was Sammy, their adorable little dog, who had hopped out of his doggy door, and came to greet us!

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We rang the doorbell and Nancy and Mike came and greeted us. Handshakes and hugs were exchanged (Mike and I hugged, while Nancy and Susie shook hands), and they invited us inside. The first thing that happened was we got a tour of their lovely house, found out that they were giving us their bedroom for the two nights, and then Mike started the blender and whipped up frozen margaritas. This relationship showed great promise. Drinks in hand, we adjourned to their lovely backyard, which has a pool and ultimate privacy. In minutes, it was like the last 30+ plus years had not happened, and we were all much younger, having fun in their old house in Malvern, Long Island! At one point, Nancy and Mike went in separate directions to make dinner preparations, and Susie looked at me and said, “this is good…very good.”, and it was.

We had our first home cooked meal in close to 5 weeks (Filet Mignon, Twice Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, and Bernaise sauce for the steaks), and it was a wonderful night of food, conversation, and great friendship (and semi frozen Margaritas). We sat around the dining room table talking till almost midnight, when the 4 of us realized we’d better get to bed. As our heads hit the pillows, and we drifted off to sleep, we had visions of a wonderful day with Nancy and Mike. Stay tuned for Day Thirty Four, and more of our adventure in El Paso!

Day Thirty Two – Wednesday, September 21, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

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Before I start out on Day 32, I need to close out Day 31. After the blog was done and posted yesterday, and we’d worked out our route for today, we turned on the TV. The TV was set to TCM and what do we come into but the middle of the great Lucy and Desi movie, The Long Long Trailer. This has been one of our favorite movies for a long time, and probably no small influence on this very trip we’re on. In fact, there have been several times, while driving up or down particularly hairy mountain roads, we have quoted some of the lines from the movie. Yes, we’ve seen it that many times! It was a real kismet moment!

So, today was museum day on our travels. We started this morning in Santa Fe with the New Mexico History Museum. This is a very nice museum that details the history of the area from way before it was a state. It speaks to what the Spaniards did to the Indian population when they first arrived, and continues through the Statehood of New Mexico. It also goes into the period of the Second World War and right up to today. A very well done and interesting look at the state’s history.

They also have a rotating series of displays, and one that I found really interesting was called Lowriders, Choppers and Hot Rods. It was a very well done exhibit and included several cars, as well as lots of pictures and video presentations.

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Then it was time for us to get out of town. As we followed our GPS friend, she took us past the Plaza and down the street we’d started and ended the tram tour on yesterday. As it was almost lunch time, I said to Susie, “If there’s a parking place, let’s stop at the French place again for lunch.” She agreed, and as we drove down the block, a pickup truck pulled out of a meter almost in front of the entrance. Another kismet moment, so we had a better lunch than we’d planned (McDonalds was on our radar), and today had a couple of wonderful crepes.

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Our destination today was Roswell, New Mexico, of UFO fame, and our second Museum of the day, The International UFO Museum and Research Center. We traveled on a mostly deserted highway, passing but a few cars in the couple of hours we were on the road. What we did see was a weather mass off to our right, that looked like a mushroom cloud to us…perhaps influenced by our travels to Los Alamos a couple of days ago!

We got to the UFO Museum about 3:30 and spent a bit more than an hour looking at the displays and reading all the material they have. Susie and I both agree, if so many people have seen or been involved with what happened here, can you really discount it? I mean, how much do we really trust the government to be honest with us? Personally, it seems rather egotistical to me to believe that on all the planets and in all the solar systems they have discovered, we are the only planet with an intelligent life form. Who really knows???

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I have to give Roswell credit, they certainly do take advantage of all that the name Roswell, New Mexico brings to mind, and truly embrace the alien presence. From Arbys to Domino Pizza, to even our hotel for the night, Comfort Suites, they all play with it, and I think it’s great!

For dinner tonight, we went right across Main Street from our hotel to Tia Juana’s Cantina and had a great meal. The most delicate, home made taco chips and addictively hot salsa, several Mango Margaritas, and then Susie and I had Mexican Flag Enchiladas…one red, one white, and one green! A great New Mexico Dinner!!

Tomorrow, after 5 nights, we leave New Mexico, and journey to the state of Texas, where we will be till before and after our 2 week cruise on the Liberty of the Seas with Kenny and Chris (the ship sails October 2nd, and returns October 16th). That means, discounting the two weeks in the Caribbean, we will be in Texas till at least October 17th. Our destination tomorrow is the city of El Paso, where we will spend two days with our friends Mike and Nancy McKay. Mike was one of the last DJs at Musicradio 77 WABC, before it became Talkradio 77. He stayed on for a short period, voicing commercials, but his real love was being a DJ, and he did that until he retired recently. Mike and Nancy have been in the Southwest for a long time, and we are really looking forward to rekindling our friendship with two folks that we haven’t seen for over 30 years! Not sure how much “blog time” I’m going to have Thursday and Friday this week, but fear not, I will keep you updated on our journey!

See you soon.

Day Thirty One – Tuesday, September 20, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

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We woke this morning in Santa Fe, and split our day between Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico.

img_2137We started off the day with a Loretto Line tour of Santa Fe in an open air tram. We were very lucky, because this tour almost didn’t happen! We left the hotel a little before 9, planning on making the 10 AM tour from Loretto Chapel. Susie had read that they started selling tickets a half hour before the tour, so after parking, we headed to the chapel. We figured we were in like flynn when we were the first people to arrive, only to have a guy from the tour company show up and tell us the 10 AM tour was all sold out! He told us to go around the corner to the front of the La Fonda Hotel, and talk to Larry on the 10:30 tour, who had lots of tickets. Well, it turned out that we got the last two seats on the 10:30 tour, and sat there and watched 10 to 15 people turned away. We were happy that we’d just made it under the wire!

Our guide Larry had only been in Santa Fe for 11 years, having come from Seattle, but had learned to love Santa Fe, and his information during the tour showed that. He started off telling us about Santa Fe, how it came to be, why here, and who were the original inhabitants. Then we were off on the tour, first seeing the Historic District of the town, where space is at a premium, and where he told us some merchants pay up to $30,000 a month in rent!

Then we drove down Canyon Road, which is the Art District of Santa Fe. Larry explained how important the art scene is to Santa Fe, and about all the great things the galleries bring to the city. While we didn’t stop, driving past all the galleries, we were able to see the amazing large scale art work, that couldn’t fit inside the galleries, which were built in old historic buildings.

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Then we were on the outskirts of town, traveled down Museum Row, and to the place the Wagon Trains on the Santa Fe trail stopped. Larry explained that most of these wagon trains were full of goods to supply the merchants of Santa Fe or to be shipped down the El Camino Real to Mexico. As such, Santa Fe was the first trade link between the US and Mexico. To commemorate the spot, there is a wonderful sculpture.

One of our last stops was at the State Capital building, which unlike every other state capital building, does not have a dome. There was a very impressive sculpture out front of the capital building, which notes every Native American tribe that is extinct.

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Having skipped breakfast, by the time the tour was over, we were hungry. Just down the street from the tour stop, in the La Fonda Hotel, was a great little place. Called the French Pastry Shop and Creperie, they had a wonderful French menu, and we decided to have lunch there. Having heard about them for years, but never having had them, Susie and I both had Croque Madame sandwiches, and they were incredible. To stay in the French mode, we finished up lunch with a couple of Eclairs! A perfect lunch!

Then it was time to head to Taos, which is about an hour and a half drive north of Santa Fe. There were two things we wanted to see, the Kit Carson House and Museum and the Taos Pueblo.

Wandering through the Kit Carson house, we couldn’t help but think of our friend Kit Carson, who died two years ago, at much too young an age. I first met Kit back in the late 80s, when as a young struggling actor, he took a job opening Rush Limbaugh’s mail at WABC to make some extra money. Kit began doing more and more for Rush, and eventually became a very necessary part of the Rush Limbaugh Show. Eventually he met his wife to be, Theresa, got married, and had two sons. We’d had many good times over the years with Kit and Theresa, and it was a very sad shock when he died two years ago. If I’m not mistaken, Kit told me that his family was slightly related to “The” Kit Carson, and I always remember him telling me that his Dad’s name was Johnny Carson! Miss you Kit!

We enjoyed watching the movie and looking at all the exhibits at the Carson house, and before we knew it, we’d spent more time there than we’d planned, and it was too late to get to the Pueblo before it closed. Susie and I agree that the Santa Fe area is indeed a place we’d like to come back to again, and spend more time, so it will definitely be on the top of our next time list!

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Tonight we spend our second night in Santa Fe, and tomorrow it’s off to Roswell, New Mexico! Hopefully we won’t be abducted by Aliens, or even someone from outer space! Wish us luck!

Day Thirty – Monday, September 19, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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I’m going to tell you a little secret. Over the last 30 days of our trip, Susie and I have become snobs! Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true, we like nice hotels! The Hampton Inn and Suites we were in last night is the kind of hotel that has spoiled us for the hotel we are in tonight! If you remember back a couple of weeks ago, we re-did a number of hotel reservations after a disastrous Rodeway Inn. Rodeways and Econo Lodges went bye-bye, and were replaced with Comfort Suites, Hampton Inns and Best Westerns. The one exception to that, is the hotel we are in tonight and tomorrow night, the Econo Lodge of Santa Fe, New Mexico. When we looked at the reviews for the hotel they were good, and when you consider that the two nights here are less than one night at last night’s Hampton Inn, it seemed like a no brainer. But, now we are here. Yes, the room is fine and the hotel is in a good location, but we are on the second floor and there is no elevator. There are very few lights in the room, no charging ports, and there is but one ice machine, which is also on the first floor (remember, no elevator). Not a bad hotel, but as I said up top, we have become snobs! Based on this, we just changed our accommodations in Roswell from a Rodeway Inn to a Comfort Suites…neither are run by aliens (and I mean the kind from other worlds)…we don’t think!

Today our target area was north of Santa Fe, the city of Los Alamos, New Mexico. If you remember your World War II history, you will recognize that as the home of the Manhattan Project, where they developed the atom bomb. One of our main reasons for traveling there today was the personal relationship it has to Susie. You see, during World War II, Susie’s Mom worked as a clerk typist for the government in the Woolworth Building in New York City. It was only after the bombs were dropped on Japan, that they all found out that they were working in the New York office of the Manhattan Project. She has a letter and a pin, thanking her for her service to the country, so we really wanted to see this place.

Our main stop of the day was the Bradbury Science Museum of Los Alamos. They have an extensive display about the Manhattan Project, and the continuing work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, including two movies. We enjoyed the displays about the Manhattan Project, especially the real history displays of folks who worked there during the war. Some were scientists, some military personnel, and some were just young woman who were looking to do their part for the war effort. One young lady was a clerk typist, like Susie’s Mom, and like Susie’s Mom, knew nothing of what they were doing. Her quote was, “When asked what was being made here, the answer was, “We’re making windshield wipers for submarines.” I really had no idea what was going on here till after the bomb went off at Hiroshima.” It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours and to get a better idea of what the Manhattan Project was, how it all really came about, and the controversies.

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On our way back to Santa Fe, we made another stop, one that I remembered from my childhood trip to California. You see, in 1960 when my Mom, Dad and I traveled across the country, we did so after my Mom and Dad finished the Cincinnati Summer Opera season. At that time, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where they were both members of the chorus, did nothing during the summer months, so members were in demand for various summer opera seasons around the country. 1960 was the first of five years my folks worked at the Cincinnati Summer Opera, and on our trip, we visited Santa Fe to see some of my folks’ fellow Met members who were working at the Santa Fe Summer Opera. On our way back from Los Alamos on US 285, there was an exit labeled Santa Fe Opera, and I had to see if it was anything like I remembered. To say that the Santa Fe that I remembered from 56 years ago is different than the current Santa Fe, would be a severe understatement. I have pictures in my mind that do not correlate with the large city Santa Fe is in 2016, and the Santa Fe Opera is no different. Turns out that since it started in 1957, there have been three Opera Houses, all at the same location, so this one dating from the 1990s would have not been one I might remember. We took the ride anyway before heading to the hotel.

Tomorrow our emphasis will be on Santa Fe, which is the second oldest city in the United States. The only one older is St Augustine, Florida, which we visited three years ago, even if all we remember is the Tini Martini Bar next to the Hilton Hotel!!

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At 7000 feet, Santa Fe is also the highest State Capital in the United States, and the model name of our son Kenny’s Hyundai! See, we have a lot of personal connections to New Mexico!

Have a good night…we will!

Day Twenty Nine – Sunday September 18, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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After having breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Gallup, New Mexico this morning, we took care of a couple of tasks before we headed off on our way. The Sonata needed gas, and a car wash was in order too. So, after we took care of those tasks, we headed out of town. Our destination for tonight was Albuquerque, not a lot of milage today, so we had some time to explore. We decided to take a shot at Route 66 again, but this time New Mexico style!

According to Google Maps, Route 66 ran alongside Interstate 40 in Gallup, so we bypass Interstate 40, and of course went down a street that went nowhere! Unlike our original taste of Route 66 in Arizona, New Mexico doesn’t really seem to care if you find it or not! Eventually we did, and you can see from the pictures below, we did find some evidence of a different time.

We continued to follow Route 66 for some way out of town, till it dumped us on Interstate 40. At this point, we had no choice but to join the Interstate. But at several exits on the Interstate we found signs like the following, and stupidly followed them off the exit!

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I say stupidly, because there was no evidence of Route 66 once we exited the Interstate. My cousins Jeanne and Walt traveled Route 66 this past spring, and in his blog (https://adventure2016web.wordpress.com/author/adventure2016web/) Walt said that sometimes finding Route 66 took a bit of detective work. I know what he means. Twice we followed these signs off the Interstate, and the only evidence we found of Route 66 was a casino!

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At one point, getting off the Interstate we didn’t find Route 66, but we did find a Walgreens, and stopped and picked up a couple of necessary items. Susie thinks she’s getting a cold, so being safe rather than sorry, she picked up some cough syrup just in case. As she was driving at this point, she took one more try at finding Route 66, and as she said, “Third time’s a charm.” We actually found a sign directing us to Route 66, and after turning, were rewarded with a Route 66 sign!! Hallelujah!!! Of course, by this time, we were just outside Albuquerque, but we were rewarded with some neat sights.

After exploring Route 66, we turned our attention to Old Town Albuquerque, and explored some there. At that point, we’d had enough “Detective Work” for the day, and headed to our hotel. We are in a Hampton Inn and Suites tonight, and have a room that justifies the Suites part of their name!

Tonight we are going to do something really different. We’re going to the movies! There is a 24 screen movie theater just a couple of blocks from the hotel, and at 5:30 we’re going to see a movie both of us have wanted to see since we first saw the ads..SULLY. Then in honor of today being National Cheeseburger Day, we are going to do something we haven’t done for years! We’re going to Fuddruckers ! Fudds was a go-to place for the D’Elias when the kids were smaller, but since the one next to Eisenhower Park closed years ago, we haven’t been to one. And that’s what day 29 was like….

See you tomorrow!!

PS – 8:01 PM, Mountain Daylight Savings Time

The movie was wonderful!  If you haven’t seen Sully, Susie and I encourage you to go see it!  It was a little strange watching all this New York action, from a theater in New Mexico, but it’s a great movie!

And the burgers…well Fuddruckers does not disappoint!!!  Happy Cheeseburger Day!

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Day Twenty Eight – Saturday, September 17, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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First, a milestone. We have officially been on the road for four weeks, having left Mineola on Sunday August 21, 2016. That’s 4 weeks of hotels, four weeks of restaurant meals, four weeks of roadside attractions, four weeks of National Parks, four weeks of unforgettable sights, and four weeks, during which the two of us have spent every minute, of every hour, of every day of the four weeks together! The big news is that we are (A) still enjoying it and (B) still talking!!

There was another sunrise today, as we set our alarm for 6:30 AM, so that we could be up to see the sun come up over the other worldly Monument Valley! Thankfully, unlike the Grand Canyon, The Navajo Reservation follows Daylight Savings Time, so sunrise was an hour later at 7:05 today. Also, since all we had to do was step out on our private terrace, we didn’t have to get up, get dressed, and travel anywhere to see this amazing sight. As you can see in the attached pictures, it was indeed a great show. The sky first started to lighten, then a little hint of the sun comes up, and really not that slowly, the sun really makes it’s presence known! All this and the buttes, the mesas, and the mittens of Monument Valley made for the best sunrise we have seen on this trip. A word however, about sunrises in general. I told Susie that this is the last time I get up in the middle of the night, to see the sun rise over ANYTHING on this trip! This is an alarm free zone!

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Our Tour Vehicle

This morning we had a 9AM Back Country tour of Monument Valley scheduled with the Navajo Spirit Tour Company. So after sunrise, we got ourselves together, packed up, and checked out of the room. We met our guide, Will Cowboy (his real name) and the rest of our tour group in the parking lot, and after he told us a little about himself, we were on our way. I chose the Navajo Spirit Tour Company because this is a cooperative group, made up of Navajo people who conduct tours of this valley that they call home. Will’s family traces it’s roots back many generations in the valley, and he told us that his 109 year old Grandfather was born atop one of the Monument Valley buttes! This man was the real thing, and the information he gave us, the stories he told, and the sights he showed us on our tour proved that 100%.

The tour starts off on the same 17 miles off road loop of the valley anyone can do with their own car (no thanks), but then Will was able to take us into back country areas where only the Navajo people are allowed to go. One stop was at a demonstration village, where we watched a Navajo woman working wool and then making yarn out of it. Then Will explained the many different tools around the hogan (the traditional Navajo home), and the ways they made the various colors in the rugs. He also told us about how a Navajo man and woman got together, and many of the customs of his people. It was not only fascinating but also very educational.

Our next stop was incredible. It was a cave with a hole in the top (used in an Indiana Jones movie) that had the most incredible acoustics. Will had us lay against the wall, and showed us the different patterns in the rock, that made it look like a Navajo warrior, an Eagle, and even George Washington! Then he treated us to two traditional Navajo songs that he sung, accompanying himself with a traditional drum. What a really wonderful experience! Unfortunately, after this stop, we’d run out of time, and we had to get back. The 3 hour tour went fast as we stopped at many interesting places, saw beautiful sights up close, and learned a little about Monument Valley and the Navajo people!

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A couple of notes about the tour. At several of the places we stopped, local people had set up shops, displaying their wares. Will explained that these were people who lived in Monument Valley, and the items they sold were indeed Navajo made, unlike some of the items sold in the commercial gift shops, and every dollar you spent, actually went to a Navajo resident of Monument Valley. You remember Susie’s $1100 necklace from yesterday’s blog? Well, I am happy to tell you that Susie left Monument Valley with her Navajo jewelry. Three necklaces and three bracelets for the fabulous total of $77! Now that’s a good deal that puts the $$ in the right pocket! (And Will told us that the jewelry in the Gift shop comes from South of the Border…not the Navajos!)

Also, if you remember back several weeks to our tour of the Mormon’s Temple Square in Salt Lake City, you may remember the “know it all” tour member from Pittsburg. Well, today on our tour, we met his cousin from Tennessee, who tried to correct Will when we he was telling us where his people came from! Unbelievable!

We had a wonderful time on the Navaho Reservation in Monument Valley. If you ever get to this area of the country, Susie and I cannot recommend enough that you splurge and stay in the View Hotel in Monument Valley. The staff, the accommodations, the restaurant, and especially the view, are a once in a lifetime experience. We also have nothing but great things to say about Navajo Spirit Tours Back Country Tour, and if you are lucky enough to get Will Cowboy as your tour guide, you are indeed lucky enough!

However, all our Navajo Reservation dealings, were not as excellent as our Monument Valley experience. As we headed towards the New Mexico border today, Susie wanted to stop at the Four Corners Monument. This is allegedly on the spot where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. I said “allegedly” because Susie has read that this is not the exact spot where the 4 states meet. We really didn’t know that much about it, but it was only a slight detour, so off we went.

In our opinion, this was the exact opposite of the Monument Valley experience, in that this was a complete ripoff! First, we paid $10 to get it. Then we discovered that there is just a little concrete circle depicting the 4 states, but that it is surrounded by stalls selling things! In our opinion, this was nothing more than a bate and switch situation. We took a couple of pictures and left! If we were there 10 minutes, it was a long time!

Tonight we are in a Hampton Inn and Suites in Gallup, New Mexico. It was Susie’s plan to do laundry when we got to the hotel, and she was thrilled to find out that the guest laundry facility was just 3 doors down the hall from our 4th floor room. I was thrilled to find out that the ice machine was just next door to the laundry, making all our needs very convenient.

Speaking of convenient, the hotel shares a parking lot with a Comfort Inn and Suites and a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Susie was just saying today that she’s surprised at how few restaurants like Cracker Barrel, and Perkins we’ve seen the last 4 weeks. Since it was just steps away from the hotel, we took the “no-brainer” opportunity to walk over, and we had a very nice dinner. They have really great string beans by the way. Since this was the first meal we’d eaten today (we had some cheese crackers, Twizlers, and Swedish Fish in the car), we appreciated everything!

We realized today that the last time we were on an Interstate, was last Wednesday afternoon, on the way to the Grand Canyon, when Route 66 dumped us on I-40. It’s been only small roads since then, and virtually in the middle of nowhere. Since we left the Grand Canyon, till just before we got to Gallup, we were on the Navajo Reservation, so there was very few built-up areas. Tomorrow, we head towards Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Interstate 40 will again come into our plans.

See you then!

Day Twenty Seven – Friday September 16, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

Monument Valley

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The above picture is my work space for tonight…our private terrace at The View Hotel, in Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Park. We are in room 213, overlooking the legendary valley where great John Ford movies such as Stagecoach were filmed. The monument Valley Tribal Park is over 91,000 acres of the of the over 29,000 mile Navajo Reservation. It’s a place that John Wayne called, “God’s Treasure”. Were we not on the Navajo Reservation, we would be just on the Arizona side of the Utah/Arizona border, in the Northeastern corner of the state.

We woke this morning in our Grand Canyon Cabin a little after 6:15, having hit the hay very early last night. If you remember yesterday’s post, we were up early for sunrise, then took the tour, and explored the rim trail, before heading back to the cabin. We had early cocktails last night on the rim, before heading into the Bright Angel Restaurant for dinner about 5:30. To be totally honest, we were pooped! Between not having a great night’s sleep, getting up early for sunrise, taking the tour, and then walking the trail when we got back, we were ready for an early night. We watched a little TV, worked on editing some pictures, and about 9:30 we headed to bed!

So after checking out, we headed towards the Eastern Entrance of the park. That took us on the Desert View Drive, and after stopping at several view points that we had not previously visited, and taking some more pictures, we exited the park.

Almost as soon as we exited the Grand Canyon National Park, we were on the Navajo Reservation. We expected the same kind of built up area we’d seen going into the Canyon via the South Entrance on Wednesday (multiple hotels, fast food restaurants, etc), but coming out of the East Entrance, there was none of that. It was a very desolate road, and we drove probably 50 miles before saw our first gas station. We really didn’t need much gas, but figuring I didn’t know what was ahead, I topped off the tank. At the same time, we stopped in a brand new Burger King and had a couple of Chicken Sandwiches.

It was early when we got to the entrance of the Navajo Tribal Park, so we kept going on US 163 for 13 miles, to check out something I’d read about online. If you remember the movie Forest Gump, you remember the scene where after running around the country, he suddenly decides he has done enough, and stops. That scene was filmed at mile marker 13, on the Utah side on US 163, and we took the trip to see what it looked like. Unfortunately, they were doing road construction, and there are highway cones all over the road, but we did the best we could. Take a look at some of our first views of Monument Valley.

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Then we headed back to Monument Valley, and checked into The View Hotel. To be able to sit here and overlook this incredible sight is just mind boggling. We have seen this view in so many great movies over the years, and to be sitting on this terrace looking out at them is unbelievable! We are looking forward to sunset tonight, and what the changing rays do to this magical valley!

We just had dinner in The View Restaurant, and then went back to the Trading Post, where Susie earlier had briefly looked at some Navajo jewelry. They had a sign on the counter that there was 40% off marked price, and as guests at The View Hotel, we got another 10% off, and had a $20 gift certificate. The lady helped Susie pick out a necklace and earring set that she liked, and then went to work with her calculator. I swear, she must have done computations for close to 2 minutes, before she turned the calculator to Susie and said, “this is what it would come out to be”. $1096 is what the calculator said, Susie said she’d have to think about it, which meant she wasn’t getting a Navajo necklace! Oh well, perhaps on Ebay!

It’s quiet and still now, as we sit on our terrace and wait for the sun to set at 7:25, and see how it changes the face of the valley. The $258 the room cost for the night, was well worth it for this view of the valley. We are both looking forward to tonight’s sunset, followed by the full moon rising over the valley, tomorrow’s sunrise, and then our Navajo Spirit Back Country Tour. Right now, we are looking at the last of the folks self driving their cars on the 17 mile unpaved Valley Tour Road. After the Sonata has faithfully taken us close to 6,000 miles already, and probably has 3,000 or more to go till we get back to Long Island, there was no way we were going to subject her to that. No, we will let the professional Navaho guide take us tomorrow. We may be dirty when we’re done, but the Sonata will leave the valley in one piece!

I’ll finish today’s blog with some pictures of the sunset and hopefully the moonrise, and give you a full report in tomorrow’s blog about our morning tour!

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Day Twenty Six – Thursday September 15, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

 

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Something different today. As I write this, it is a little after 7:30 AM, Mountain Standard time, and we have been up a little over 2 hours. The alarm was set for 5:30 this AM, so that we could get up and out to the rim of the Grand Canyon in time to catch today’s sunrise at 6:11 AM. It was a good show!! It was quiet, almost reverent, and everyone who was out for the sunrise was speaking in a whisper. Slowly, as the sun rose in the eastern sky, the color and light patterns on the canyon changed. Even though sunrise was 6:11, it was after 6:30 before we saw the actual sun come over El Tovar (the hotel next door), and had to put on our sun glasses. Slowly but surely, the rays of the sun started to play on the canyon until it was in full sunshine. I read that you needed to be out there about a half hour before till about a half hour after sunrise to appreciate the changing colors. Now we have officially seen sunset and sunrise over the Grand Canyon. Can I sleep till 7 tomorrow?

A little after 6:30 AM, we decided to head into the Bright Angel Lodge and have some breakfast. For some reason, Susie and I both felt like pancakes and bacon, and that’s what we ordered. When our breakfast came, the pancakes were beautiful, and looked like something prepared for a photo shoot, rather than a real breakfast! They were beautiful, but they were HUGE!! Had we known they were going to be this “substantial”, we could have split an order! Susie only made it through a third of the stack, and while I did a little bit better, neither of us belong to the clean plate club!

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Full beyond belief, we headed back to our cabin, to relax for an hour or so, before the tour we booked for this morning that leaves at 9 AM. Of course, we inserted the digital key into the lock and instead of getting the green LED and an open lock, we got the red and yellow LEDs, and no opening! After trying it for 5 or 6 times, we had to head back to the registration desk in the Bright Angel Lodge, which we had just passed on our way out of breakfast! Oh well, a little more exercise I guess!

 

Welcome to afternoon in the Grand Canyon National Park! It’s a little after noon, and we are back from our morning tour. We took the 2 hour guided Hermits Rest tour, in part because from March 1st to November 30, private vehicles are not allowed in this section of the canyon. Also, every time we have taken one of these tours in the parks, it has been a good experience and we have learned more than we knew before we took the tour. Today’s was not the exception to that rule!

We met our driver/tour guide JD just after 9 AM, right outside the Bright Angel Lodge. There was Susie and I and another couple, and we figured the bus would make a stop at another hotel, before starting the tour. Nope…we were it! Did we luck out!

Rather than just drop us off at the various view points, and tell us we had 15 minutes, JD came with us and gave us a private tour. He described what we were seeing, pointed out things we would have never seen without his guidance, and gave us history, geology, meteorology, and gossip about the Grand Canyon. At every one of the three stops we made, he had something new to share with us, and boy did we see and learn a lot in the 2 plus hours we were in his care. Questions were asked and answered, discussions were held, and it was a great experience, and well worth the $30 each we paid. You could tell that JD was passionate about his subject. Just like Leslie, our driver/tour guide on the Yellow Bus Tour we took in Yellowstone, JD had studied the Grand Canyon. He knew the history, knew the ecology, knew the science, and knew the new, and sometimes yet to be proved theories about how this natural wonder came to be.

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After getting dropped off at the lodge, we went into the Bright Angel History Room, and looked at the many displays. The Grand Canyon, like many other National Parks, was originally developed as a tourist destination by the Santa Fe Railroad. Included in the displays, was a lot of information about someone who worked with the Santa Fe, and who was very involved in the early development of the Grand Canyon, Fred Harvey. Fred Harvey, who’s dining business was closely tied to the railroad, was the original concessionaire at the Grand Canyon, and was responsible for the construction and running of the hotels and restaurants servicing the park. You may have heard the term Harvey Girls, or seen the 1940s era Judy Garland movie of the same name (a favorite of Susie’s). Well Harvey Girls was what the women who worked in Fred Harvey’s restaurants were called, including those at the Grand Canyon. In fact, we found out from our tour guide JD, that the present concessionaire Xanterra took over the businesses in the Grand Canyon from the Fred Harvey Company.

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Since we’d had that huge stack of pancakes for breakfast, lunch was out of the question, but we stopped at the Bright Angel Soda fountain for a soda and a snack (Susie had an ice cream cone and I a pretzel), before heading back to our cabin. As I’m writing this, Susie is reading one of the books she has bought in the last two days. This one is called, Death in the Canyon, and includes a lot of historical information about some of the really stupid things humans have done in this beautiful place, over the years. I’m also going to go get a couple of maps out of the car and plan our exit from the park tomorrow and plot our trip to Monument Valley.

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Yesterday you saw the inside, here’s the outside of our GCNP home!

This afternoon we are going to do some more exploring around the area, and perhaps try a little of the Bright Angel Trail, and follow the advice of JD to see a couple of very interesting Grand Canyon sights!

And another advisory, seems we’ve lucked out here, with some usable, if slow, internet service, but no guarantees for our night at the View Hotel on the Navaho Indian Reservation. If you don’t see a Day 27 blog tomorrow, never fear, I will get it published when I can!

Day Twenty Five – Wednesday September 14, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

 

Surprise, surprise…it looks like there is limited internet access in Grand Canyon. I’m going to attempt to post a blog for today, but not sure if pictures will post.

We started this morning at the Best Western in Kingman, Arizona, and our plan was to follow as much of Route 66 as we could, heading to our eventual stop for the night, Grand Canyon National Park. In our opinion, the parts of Route 66 that we traveled yesterday were much more of what we expected. Today’s travel was dull and boring, with very little remnants of Route 66 establishments that failed. Unlike yesterday’s travels through mountain passes, the majority of today’s travel was straight as an arrow. Honestly, when we got to the point where Route 66 joined with Interstate 40, we were happy.

We traveled Interstate 40 to Williams, Arizona, and then headed north towards the South Entrance of GCNP. Just outside the entrance to the park, is the National Geographic IMAX Theater, which presents Grand Canyon, The Hidden Secrets. We’d read about the 35 minute movie, and it sounded good, so we stopped to check it out. Lots of incredible photography, and a couple of interesting stories about early Grand Canyon explorers.

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Then it was on to the main attraction, Grand Canyon. Only a few cars in front of us at the main gate, and an easy entrance using my Senior Pass, and we were on our way. About 4 miles from the entrance gate, we followed signs to the Visitor Center and Mather Point, so Susie could get her first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. I’d seen it once before as a 10 year old, but it’s 56 years older than it was back then, so perhaps it had changed. Well, I’ll tell you one thing that changed is the amount of crowds we encountered! The parking lot was practically full, and there were people everywhere walking! Speaking about the crowds, we feel like strangers in our own country, because 90% of the people we’ve encountered are foreign tourists! English, Mexican, Danish, German, Swedish, and oh God, every Asian person who is old enough to travel! I guess they are all aware of the natural beauty our country has!

We walked, and walked, and walked, and finally Susie had her first sight of the rim of the canyon, and said, “Oh My God!” You may have seen pictures of this place, but they just can’t compare to being here in the flesh! After a few dozen pictures, we got back into the car to head to our ultimate destination, a Bright Angel Lodge Cabin, just feet from the rim!

We managed to find a parking spot, not too far from Bright Angel Lodge, and check in was very simple. We were given a key and a map showing us where our cabin was located. Luckily, we parked close, and soon were in our little cabin. It’s now about quarter to six, and the day visitors are clearing out and hopefully, those of us staying in the park will be in the majority. The temperature is only around 70, and there is a pretty good breeze blowing, so we are thinking of changing into our long pants and wearing our sweat shirts. Our plan is to make a drink, and walk out to “our rim” and sit and sip, as we watch the canyon and wait for sunset! It should be a little after 6 PM tonight, Mountain Standard time, and what I’ve read is that you want to be observing the canyon for a half an hour before and after the time of sunset. Wish us luck!!

Well, sunset was definitely everything it was cracked up to be! Just to explain, you don’t see the sun setting over the canyon. What happens is that as the sun slowly sinks to the west, it changes the way the canyon looks. The sun makes some parts bright red, while other parts go into deep shadow. Cocktails and sunset on the canyon rim definitely worked out well! A couple of vodkas on the rocks (with a twist) made it easy to sit on the rim wall, watch both the sunset and the passing parade of tourists, and enjoy a great view! That it’s just a short walk from our cabin made it even better!!

Then it was off to the Arizona Room for a bottle of wine, and a delightful dinner! Stopped briefly in the gift shop, and actually bought something! A book for Susie and a hat for me. We have been thru many gift shops on this trip, but have restrained ourselves. Now, some relaxing, and to bed early. Bed Early because we need to be up at 5:30 or so, to watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. Yea, we know it’s nuts, but when are we going to get to do this again???

Night you all…see you tomorrow!

Day Twenty Four – Tuesday September 13, 2016

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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This morning, we checked out of the Rio Hotel a little after 10 AM, said goodbye to Las Vegas after our 3 day stay, and got back to our “on the road” routine, which we were both looking forward to. We realized as we as we left Las Vegas, that today we did something on our way out of town that we have never done before…we drove by the Las Vegas Airport Rental Car Return facility!

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Yesterday I told you about visiting one of our favorite places, Red Rock Canyon, a place that has become a Vegas tradition for us. Well, this morning we made a slight detour to Boulder City so that we could have breakfast at what has become another Vegas tradition for us, The World Famous Coffee Cup Cafe! Ever since we first saw it on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, about 5 years ago, we have stopped every year for one breakfast. Located in Historic Downtown Boulder, the Coffee Cup is a favorites of locals, and they graciously let us tourists enjoy the food too! They have a huge breakfast menu, but the star of the menu on Triple D, and in our minds is the Pork Chili Verde. Susie had the Huevos Rancheros, which promptly features the Pork Chili Verde, and I had Papa con Chili Verde! We had planned to take food pictures, and have to apologize, but as soon as the waitress put the plates down in front of us, all we could think of was eating it! All we have for you is some pictures of the cafe!

After breakfast we headed south on US 95 towards Needles, California. Soon after getting on the road, we passed huge fields of high tension wires, bringing the power generated from Hoover Dam to the outside world.

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The trip through the rest of Nevada was easy and the road was a nice 4 lane divided highway. After about an hour, we crossed into California and suddenly the road went to a 2 lane country road. We were only in California for about 25 miles or so, but it was another state on our list.

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Our purpose of going to Needles was to meet up with Historic Route 66, and to get to spend a little bit of time on the Mother Road. Back when I was 10 years old in 1960, my Mom and Dad and I drove from the mid-west to California, the majority of which we did on Route 66. Being 10 years old, I only have fleeting memories of the trip, so I wanted to experience a little of what’s left of the historic road. My point of reference for this portion of the trip was a blog, https://adventure2016web.wordpress.com/author/adventure2016web/ , written by Walter Pratt. It’s a great day by day accounting of a trip on Route 66 from end to end, and it is the result of my cousins Jeanne and Walt’s trip this past spring. Thanks Walt for the guidance!

As I write this tonight, we are in Kingman, Arizona, and have done better than 50 miles on Route 66. For the first 20 miles from Topock, Arizona I think we might have passed 5 cars. This is a desolate section of the road, where you drive through washes that have obviously brought lots of mud to the road, because it looks like they plow mud here, in much the same way we plow snow at home! The next “town” along the way was Oatman, Arizona, which seems to be known for burros and tourists wandering on the main street, which is Route 66. We had to dodge the jackasses…and the burros!

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Then it was time to head into the “mountains”, where a switchback two lane takes you into the Hualapai Mountains and over Sitgreaves Pass. All along the way, we saw evidence of businesses that once existed on the road, but when Interstate 40 opened, and bypassed them, died. Some have been repurposed and still exist, others are just rubble or big empty lots.

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As I said, we are staying tonight in Kingman, Arizona, in a Best Western Hotel. Today we only drove 187 miles, but again we are not on a mission to reach a destination, but to enjoy getting there. Almost as soon as we got into Kingman, we stopped at the Kingman Visitors’ Center and Route 66 Museum. We spent over an hour touring the museum and watching a film about the parts of route 66 we have, and are going to travel on. It was interesting to hear their perspective on what Route 66 meant to the country, how it helped development in this part off the country, and ultimately destroyed many lives when it was delisted as a US Highway. Another nice small museum, that at $3 admission was definitely not a rip off, and was a worthwhile place to stop.

Tomorrow, we will head along Route 66 for as long as we can, until we get to Williams, Arizona, and then head north to our destination for the next two nights, Grand Canyon National Park. We will be spending two nights in a Bright Angel Lodge Rim Cabin, enjoying the sunset and sunrise over the canyon (which is just feet from our cabin), and seeing what is truly one of nature’s wonders. In that trip I talked about before, we did stop at Grand Canyon, but all I have is a 10 year old’s memories of our visit. Susie has never been, and the two of us are very excited to check off this Bucket List stop on our Big Adventure! Susie just looked at the weather, and tomorrow night in the Grand Canyon it’s going to be in the 30s and 40s…a big difference from the 101 it was in Vegas yesterday!!  Also, the state of Arizona is the one state that doesn’t observe Daylight Savings time.  Right now, we are in Mountain Standard time, which works out to be the same time as Pacific Daylight Savings time.  Because of this, it got dark tonight very early!  Cool temps and early sunsets….we may have to dig out our Pikes Peak Summit clothes at the Grand Canyon!

Speaking of the Grand Canyon, an advisory for all of you who are following along with us via this blog. If you remember back 2 weeks ago, when we were in Yellowstone and there were no posts because there was little or no internet, I fear the same situation will probably exist in Grand Canyon National Park. So, if you do not see a post for day 25 tomorrow, understand that I will be writing the blogs, but may not get to publish them. After Grand Canyon, our next stop is the View Hotel, in Monument Valley, on the Navaho Reservation. The same situation may exist there too, so please understand if there is a “data dump”, once we are back in the 21st Century on Saturday the17th!

PS – We followed our usual pattern tonight, and dined at a local Kingman establishment. We found this book on our table…are they trying to tell us something???

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