Ruidoso, NM

We got into Ruidoso at 11:00, partially unpacked, had lunch on the deck, and various back-home-after-a-month chores were performed by my hosts. As for me, I was treated to the wonderful guest suite, so clean, neat, and perfectly arranged it was a pleasure to be there. 

Put in a much needed load of clothes to wash and while they were drying, we went out for provisions. Back, again, I folded and put away the clothes. Incredibly, my room has a lovely, antique chest of drawers, hangers n the closet, and other amenities, so I don't have to live out of the suitcase. 

I accompanied my hostess to a pickleball session with three of her friends, one of whom, Gloria, I had met in Arizona last year. She promptly invited us to dinner next week, which should be much fun. I enjoyed seeing "the girls" playing this terrific, energetic game; if I were ten years younger, I'd take it up myself.    

Home at 7:00, had a bite, showered and washed my hair, then we watched another Better Call Saul--with popcorn. I turned in and slept like a log. What a pleasure to be here!

Sorroco, New Mexico

Monday was an on-the-road day. We went about 300 miles and here we are in New Mexico. Slept late; more later.

The Petrified Forest And The Painted Desert

 Up and atta 'em about 9:30 and drove 20 miles to the P.F. and P. D. I had had the idea that the "forest" consisted of--oh, I don't know, dead trees still standing that you just wandered among. 

Well, it's no such thing. It's a vast--everything is vast in the west--area with logs that, through geological forces, have been essentially turned to stone. In many of the logs, that resulted in beautiful crystal- or marble-like changes that we greatly enjoyed seeing:

(Here, I tried to include one or two pictures of what I described above and it just ain't happening for some reason. Will fill in later, if possible.)

This is a huge park, covering an incredible 50,000 acres. We trekked out a mile or two for some of the more interesting groups of logs and took advantage of a number of overlooks and viewing points. 

I liked seeing the petrified wood, but found even more interesting the configuration of the landscape: 

We stayed there for most of the day, then headed back to the RV, and dinner, and settled in. Today, we start off for New Mexico, home for two-thirds of us.

Meteor Crater

Yesterday, we left Williams to drive the 70 or so miles to Winslow, AR. Got to the RV park, ten miles from the crater, which is way out in the middle of one of the vast "deserts"* that cover hundreds of miles in the west. Settled in, then drove to the crater below. 

The crater covers a mile of surface, but that was so hard to realize when we were on the rim; it didn't seem that wide. There are a lot of surrounding buildings featuring all kinds of somewhat disneyfied  displays, panoramas, animated programs, and so on. Outside, there are a series of walkways on different levels, so visitors can view the crater from different angles.

In truth, I was more interested in the story of the Barringer family, who actually own the crater. The patriarch, Daniel Barringer, was the first person to prove the existence of an impact crater on earth and it belongs to his descendants.

After we went back to the RV for lunch, we walked to the early Hopi Indian remains, a mile away through the brush. Boy, was it hot and we found only some scattered adobe bricks, but may go back by car today. 

Dinner, with Chardonnay, then we settled in for two more immensely enjoyable episodes of Better Call Saul. 

*Being an ignorant easterner, I can't get my mind around the fact that a desert is anything but vast tracts of sand. Here, of course, the deserts are filled with low plants of many varieties. I guess it's a desert because it so seldom rains.  

 

Grand Canyon, Day Three

Last day at the Canyon and it was a beauty. We spent most of the day walking trails, over-looking, and taking pictures.  I still can't get mine out of my camera--long story,, but here's one from my hostess:

Unfortunately, it's one of her few mundane ones. There are dozens or hundreds of others by all three of us that are much more notable. They just won't seem to transfer, but I hope to be able to post them before too long.

We hiked the rim toward Angel Bright Overlook and several others, including the mule ride trail which I went only part way down--it was much too scary for me. Ate our packed lunch, then took the very convenient buses to various gorgeous viewpoints and structures. I guess our walking totaled about five miles in all yesterday. 

Got back to Williams about 6:00, then went out to dinner at The Brewery (patio area). This was such fun. I had a bratwurst with sauerkraut and sides, plus a wonderful IPA pale ale (well, I'm half German, after all) and we had a ball talking and laughing. It was outside, of course, and got a little cool, but gas fire containers (I know that's awkward, but indulge me), designed to look like barrels, were set up and were adequate.

 After, we went back to the little home on wheels, got comfortable, and watched two more episodes of Better Call Saul. It was a wonderful day in a series of wonderful days. 

  

Grand Canyon Two

We went after breakfast to Safeway, a sister store to Von's, to replenish supplies, packed a lunch, then took off the The Other Worldly Place.

Incidentally, we're on the South Rim and, while we were driving the fifty miles to the Canyon, I casually asked how far it was if we wanted to go to the North Rim. I thought I heard "ten miles," so why not go there, too? However, I was corrected--it's two hundred and ten miles. Guess that should be saved for another trip.  

We started the Bright Angel trail, which is so very picturesque and features such spectacular views and gets so very, very terrifying after a half-mile or so, that I asked to go back. Of course, we did, my hosts are always sensitive to scaredy-cat me. I learned that they had walked that trail ten years ago when they were here before. You can look down and see the switchbacks that are just narrow tracks with no barriers of any kind, so it would be easy to just stumble a bit, then...

We ate lunch, then separated, the two of us hiking the Rim and visiting various buildings here and there, including gift shops and historic lodges. We reunited, hiked some more, then went home for dinner.

Incidentally, there's still a problem with getting my gazillion pictures to load, but here's one son Mike put on Facebook yesterday. The year? 1987.

    

Grand Canyon, First Day

We got into the Williams, Arizona (settled, 1881) and the Grand Canyon RV Park and Railway about noon, earlier than expected. The plan had been to first go to the canyon this morning, but we went yesterday, instead. 

I pity the person who has to describe the Grand Canyon. You can look at pictures, film, stills, and video; you can study all the statistics: the area it covers, its depth, its flora and fauna, the variation in strata; you can read volumes about it, but you can never NEVER imagine its magnitude and magnificence until you see it. I saw it yesterday and felt I should drop to my knees.

We went to the South Rim and yes, I have plenty of pictures, but am still having problems getting them off my camera, so they'll have to wait. We had packed dinner, ate it at one of the picnic tables, then explored along more of that area. There were lots of people there, but it didn't seems unpleasantly crowded. (You could probably fit the population of the earth into it with elbow room left over.)

We stayed to witness the sunset at one of the observation point, then, a special treat, the full moon rising. Now, this was something to see. We stopped in the gift shop and I got some postcards, then left about 7:00, when it was already dark.

Today, we go back to that unworldly place. 

 Note: Aha, I was told we didn't drive 200 miles, but more like 300 miles on Tuesday.  To be precise, it was 292. No so much yesterday, I think about 100.