There And Back Again

Mile 9453 – Moran, Wyoming, near Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.  We left Rawlins in the morning and drove through hours and hours of impressively desolate scenery.  We crossed the Great Divide Basin, where water has no way to get to either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.  We stopped in Dubois (pronounced “do-boys”) and had lunch outside at the Cowboy Cafe.  Very enjoyable, good food, and pleasant conversation with semi-locals (a girl who lived in Lander but was originally from Wisconsin and was questioning her choice of future mother-in-law).

As we approached northern Wyoming, we saw more and more smoke from forest fires and finally encountered a big mushroom cloud from a fire about 15 miles from where we are staying now.  It is creating its own towering cumulus cloud and from a distance looks like a continuously exploding atomic bomb.  Fortunately, the wind is blowing it away from us. 

In the late afternoon, we arrived at the Grand Tetons, supposedly named by French voyageurs who must not have seen women for a while, because those mountains are much too craggy to evoke that image for me.  My idea of “grand tetons” would look more like shield volcanoes.

As we approached sunset, we arrived at the classic vista point where Ansel Adams took the iconic picture of the Snake River with the Grand Tetons in the backgound.  Lots of people with super-fancy camara equipment were lined up to take their own Ansel Adams picture.  Alas, the mountains were only visible as silhouettes in the smoky haze.  P.J. felt very frustrated.

The Aspens are at peak here.  Difficult to capture foliage glory in the smoke, but somehow my mind’s eye filtered that out.  For me, it was a fabulous sight to round out a very enjoyable day.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 9151 – Rawlins, Wyoming.  Departing Colorado Springs in the morning, we went north on I-25 and then on US 287 to Laramie, Wyoming, where we had a very slow lunch.  Then on towards Rawlins via I-80.  The landscape is dry and desolate and mostly flat.  Weather was sunny but hazy, probably because of the fires in Wyoming and Idaho.

[Photograph © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 8852 – Colorado Springs (local miles since September 16).  Monday we visited the site of the house where P.J’s mother used to live before she passed away.  The Waldo Canyon fire of this past June has completely destroyed it, nothing left but a foundation and, surprisingly, a scorched tree at the driveway.  P.J. took pictures.

Tuesday afternoon I went on a hike with Johanne Guenette who, while I’m in the Springs, I can always count on as hiking companion and for good conversation over good food (until they sometimes chase us out of a restaurant).  We went up the Pancake Rocks trail, on the back-side of Pikes Peak.  It goes up to 11,100 feet.  It was a beautiful day.  The Aspens were starting their fall-bloom, but were not yet in full bloom.

Otherwise we did more laundry, read more mail forwarded from home, handled more administration, all while enjoying the hospitality and home cooking of the Gardner gang (P.J’s brother, Dave, and sister in law, Karen, and their daughter’s family and the grandchildren).  And a little more hiking for me.  Colorado Springs is a city with many parks that offer good hiking opportunities.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile  8726 – Colorado Springs.  We woke up in a nice Bed and Breakfast in Del Norte, Colorado.  One of the other couples was from— where else— the Boston area.  After a good breakfast and conversation, we drove through the remaining Rockies to Colorado Springs to visit P.J’s family, and friends.  We drove past the Royal Gorge.  The gorge itself was impressive, but the amusement park around it was not, so we decided to skip that.

While we are staying in the Springs, I will take a break from daily posts, but P.J. will try to upload more pictures.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 8500 – Del Norte, Colorado.  We spent a half day in a National Park that requires at least a full day.  This country has too much to see, even if you travel for two months.  After leaving the park, we crossed the continental divide over Wolf Creek Pass.  We saw the first hints of fall foliage with some very colorful aspen trees on the east side of the pass.  The weather has been beautiful the last three days.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 8282 – Cortez, Colorado.  We started out with a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona.  Whereas Grand Canyon is truly grand and impossible to capture in pictures, Antelope Canyon is very small and intimate— and equally impossible to capture in pictures.  The canyon is a “wash” that drilled through a sandstone ridge, creating a cave without a ceiling.  The periodic floods carved out amazing patterns in sandstone, as if conceived by an abstact artist.

Then we went to Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border.  There is a visitor center now, run by the Navajo nation.  We later passed by Four Corners, the only point where four US states meet.  I was at both places years ago and do not remember any fees.

It is with hesitation that I criticize the Navajo for doing this.  We drove through dreadfully poor and depressing Navajo villages— a bunch of shacks made of cheap building materials.  White man put them on reservations, and made them dependent and addicted to western amenities without the means of obtaining them.  Now we are “enlightened” and teach them capitalism, or more accurately: Greed.  So, I can’t begrudge them casinos and high-fee parks, but I don’t like it.  Culturally, this is a raw deal for both.

Vintage Postcard Project: September 14: Shiprock, New Mexico

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 7798 – Back in Williams, Arizona, because accommodations near the Grand Canyon are overpriced and mediocre.  Last night we dined in Tusayan, a town set up just outside the park entrance for the express purpose of ripping off tourists.   I got that hint when the special drink of the day was a $150 glass of cognac.  Most restaurant customers were of the Las Vegas, surf-and-turf variety, people who chose Grand Canyon as a side-trip while losing money in Las Vegas and when at home eat in Mafia-owned restaurants with musical entertainment.

Today the sky cleared hesitantly.  We went to the IMAX Grand Canyon movie while the sun was getting organized outside.  We arrived at the Canyon around noon and were greeted by light sprinkles, but after that, weather improved dramatically and we had gorgeous weather, with scenic skies and clear visibility the rest of the day.

Don’t come to Grand Canyon for solitude.  Crowded parking lots and shuttle buses.  We took the Hermit Road shuttle bus and hiked part of the way.  P.J. ran into an elk.  I spent time at a promontory watching birds of prey circling around looking for dead tourists.  People spoke French, German, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Russian.  English was rare, except for British.  Americans don’t have time to visit their own parks, except for extinguished, retired people.  Wait!  I am retired!  That’s why I was here!

Vintage Postcard Project: September 12: Grand Canyon

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]