AZ part two!

Jo and I decided to leave Canyon De Chelly a few hours earlier than we originally planned and hit the road so we could get to Holbrook, AZ a bit sooner and get a hot shower at the KOA that was to be our home base for the next few days.

Fortunately, we stopped off at Hubbel Trading Post National Historic Site.

The Trading Post almost defies description. It is a large complex that includes stables, a store, an art gallery and the Hubbel Home. The store is still an active trading post selling various goods. I bought a Navajo cake, a sort of chocolate/corn/raisin tamale snack, and ate it as we walked the grounds. We also took the park service’s tour of the house. John Lorenzo Hubbel and his family lived in the home while they ran the trading post. The home is a glimpse into life at the post and the relationship Hubble had with the local Navajo people as well as a gallery for the art he collected. It was an amazing stop and well worth going out of the way to visit.

We continued on to Petrified Forest National Park to pick up our map and then to Holbrook to set up camp. We took our highly anticipated hot showers and then collected a free piece of petrified wood (not collected in the park… we triple checked) from one of the local dealers and headed 20 miles west to Winslow, AZ. Yes, that Winslow, AZ.

Winslow sits right on Route 66 and the sleepy little town is trying to make the most of its historic location and a single line in The Eagles song “Take it Easy.” There is a Standing on a Corner Park with Route 66 stores on adjacent corners to the park. We, of course, had to stand on the corner and call our respective parents. We then sampled Route 66 sodas and headed back to Holbrook for dinner.

Our last day in AZ was spent at Petrified Forest National Park. We did every single hike available and enjoyed most of them. The highlight for us both was when a ranger explained that we could actually go down in to the desert via a path behind the Painted Desert Inn and Museum. It was nice because the park was busy and this got us away from the masses and gave us a much better glimpse of the park. Many of the hikes were paved and weaved in and out of the piles of petrified wood.

I think the hardest part was watching inconsiderate people trample off the trails to see pieces of wood. Jo and I had a long conversation about why we, as Americans, seem to think that ignoring the posted signs and requests to stay on the path and trundle off where ever we want is seen as our right? I love the parks, and I think they are amazingly important, but it really bothers me to see people treating them as something that are rightfully theirs and not as the gift they are. We tend to forget that the United States is fortunate that our government and a few private citizens were smart enough to preserve some of our natural beauty. Very few European countries have National Parks because they did not have the foresight to care for the land a bit better. So how about we appreciate what we have and not let our kids trample down the hill instead of taking the trail…OK… I feel better, mostly.

We also spent a day exploring the Flagstaff area – which will get a separate post after this, so stay tuned!

Standing on a Soapbox In Las Vegas, Nevada,

Cory

Northern Arizona Road Trip, Part 1

Jo and I so enjoyed last summer’s road trip that we planned another tour of local National Parks, this time in Northern Arizona. We started last Wednesday and Northeast to Navajo National Monument just outside Kayenta, Arizona in the Navajo Nation. It is here we ran into Arizona’s kooky time issues. In a nutshell, the state of Arizona and the Hopi Nation do not recognize (celebrate? Conform to?) Daylight Savings Time but the Navajo Nation does. Ergo, on the Navajo Nation, during the summer, it is Mountain Standard Time; but everywhere else it is Pacific Standard Time.

Anyway, we spent the first evening hiking the two trails around the rim of the canyon and looking over Betatakin, the Anasazi – or Ancient Pueblo People if you prefer – ruins. The second day we broke camp and met a ranger at the visitors’ center to take the 5 mile, round trip, guided tour to Betatakin. It was, by far, the highlight of the entire road trip. We were able to walk gingerly around the ruins and our guide was extremely knowledgeable.

From Navajo National Monument we headed to Canyon De Chelly National Monument. Now, Canyon De Chelly is pretty in its own right but we had a few issues with the park. First, it sits on the very near outskirts of Chinle, AZ and the proximity of the Navajo town seems to affect the park. The canyon consists of two rim drives each with their own overlooks. The overlooks are nice and they give decent views of the canyons and the Anasazi ruins. The campground feels more like a state park grounds and there is a strange instance of the locals simply parking at open sites and...well... hanging out. This most likely goes hand in hand with the signs at the Visitors' Center that warned about a rash of robberies.

Our biggest issue was, as I stated above, the effects of Chinle. First, there are numerous merchants at every overlook selling Navajo tourist trinkets. That in itself is not bad, but they are a bit pushy about it and all the trinkets are the same. It distracts from the canyon. Second, and more irritating, is the fact that the only way to go in to the canyon for a majority of the year is by hiring a guide from town. Again, not a big deal, in fact we like the idea of the Navajo Nation working in tandem with the Parks Service, but the majority of those tours are done via 4 wheel drive. As you all know, we dislike the destroying of nature via wheels.

We did stumble upon a Ranger hike into the canyon, a rarity in the park. It was a good hike but we were still a far distance away from any ruins. We planned on taking another guided hike the day we left the park, but decided against it due to fatigue and disillusionment. From the canyon we headed to our final destination, Holbrook, AZ on our way we would visit Hubble Trading Post National Historic Site and would spend the next few days in the Flagstaff area as well as Petrified Forest National Park.

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip!

-Cory

Editor's note: If you don't have anything nice to say, 1) don't say it at all, or 2) be courageous enough to put your name to it. Anonymous comments will no longer be accepted. Have a great day!

The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee take two: The Gentlemen of the Shire

On Saturday we returned the second of the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee to the Homeward Bound gang. This time we had four little boys with us:

Frodo(the striped one):

Gandalf:

Smeagol:

And Pippin:

They were a bit more of a challenge than Tara and Scarlett. The boys had only lived in a large crate and were basically in shock when we let them out the first night. It was a bit of a…. well… shitty mess. With a little guidance from Homeward Bound we decided to have them stay in the extra bathroom. Keeping them in a smaller room reduced the stress, both on them and us. After about a week they began to warm up and embrace their full kittenness (what… it’s a word).

As each week passed they became much more loving and playful. They would often spend hours in the front room pouncing on one another and playing with the numerous cat toys we have.

Frodo and Smeagol became great friends and were often found together (funny, no?). Gandalf, true to his name, was often the most curious and the first to explore. He was also very independent and would wander away from the group to find his own place to play or sleep. Pippen was very reserved and quite shy.

We’ll be taking a break from kittens for a few months as our travels will keep us out of the house for most of the rest of July and August.

In a quiet house once again,

Cory