Category Archives: 2012 Summer Trip

Day 18: North Rim of the Grand Canyon (and a taste of Day 19 in Vegas)

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Well we knew we weren’t in Colorado once the desert set in.  All that driving through lower elevations, sage brush, and mesas led us to the oasis from which I write these words.  The North Rim of the Grand Canyon sits at almost 9,000’.  At my campsite now I am surrounded by pine trees and the road leading to the canyon is lined with Aspens.  Local time is 6:30 but my clock says an hour later (Arizona does not believe in daylight savings time) and my fingers are numb from the cold.  If I were to guess I would say it is in the mid 50s.  All of yesterday until moments before setting up camp the temperature varied from mid 80s to high 90s.  In Cortez we left at 10 and the car thermometer read 93.  Last night looking across the canyon to the South Rim I did not see any trees.  It is hard to accurately read land miles away, but it seemed dry and hot.  It might very well be given that the South Rim is some 1,500 feet lower in elevation.  What it lacks in trees it makes up in crowds.  We met several people who told us of going to the canyon and having to wait for parking spaces, traffic jams, and completely filled campgrounds.  We wandered into our campground sometime around 5 and found it less than half filled.  A campground closer to the rim (we are 20 miles away) and the lodge are completely booked, but it all had a casual feel to it.  The main lodge here is truly magnificent and for the first time this trip I am jealous.  Usually the campgrounds are friendly and more a part of the park, the hotels cold and far away.  Here it is the reverse as the lodge features several decks spilling from the lobby with families hanging out on Adirondack chairs.  The trails also seem to begin at the lodge creating a festive and intimate atmosphere.  It all reminds me of the lodge at Starved Rock (both were built around the same time, both also experienced bad fires).

A little after typing those words I went to the front of the campground in order to pay for another night.  Henna accompanied me and on the way we said hi to a dad and her daughter (whom Henna had met earlier).  This led to a conversation and a quick friendship with the dad, a fireman out of Cheyenne).  Quickly joining in on the conversation was Nena (a teacher near Flagstaff) whose daughter was near the same age as Henna and the other girl.  Nena mentioned needing eggs, we were trying to unload eggs (eggs in our cooler usually lead to drama and we saw no use for them in the next day or two), so I gave her three.  All three of us needed to go to the store across the street so off we went.  At the store I found a cowboy hat better than the one I bought yesterday, but it was too big.  Nena volunteered to add a leather draw string to it (she had the materials in the car), so I gave my oldest, holiest hat to the dad (it was just adding clutter), and Nena said she would leave it under my tent (we wanted to get a start on the day).  All three of us adults were giddy, the three girls were getting antsy, and I was no longer jealous of the folks in the lodge.

In between hat swaps and pining for the lodge we also spent some time exploring the canyon.  Specifically we chose the Kaibab Trail.  Although the views were awesome, the hike was not my favorite.  Dropping 1400’ in 1.7 miles, the hike was almost entirely made up of switchbacks (I prefer the more gradual up and down involved with climbing a mountain).  Going down was easy and exciting as each turn around the bend showed a new angle of the canyon.  Going up, however, was a lot less fun and involved a lot of breaks.   Adding to the mystique of the trail was the frequent burro trains passing us (and kicking up a lot of dust in the process) as well as their droppings which seemed to be constantly under foot.  The trail itself wanders into the bottom of the canyon and then up the south rim (the Colorado River was a measly 14 miles from the top) and attracted everyone from families (us) to serious backpackers planning on exiting the canyon on the south side (3-4 days is typical for that trip).

After the hike we found a comfortable leather couch for Henna to read on, me to fidget on, and Corey to sleep on. The rain, which began as a light drizzle on our hike, turned into a steady pattern and we ended up eating pizza within the lodge.  The rain eventually ended and we enjoyed the cool air back at our campsite.  Woke up early, drove to Vegas, and that is where I am now, typing these words and wondering where to find some free wifi in order to post this.

Note:  Vegas was OK.  Henna liked some of the street performers, especially a spray pain artist.  She hated the loud noise of the casino.  We saw fireworks from our room as well as some from the show at Treasure Island.  All three of us loved the water show at Belagio, we also hated the smelly and drunk crowds roaming Las Vegas Blvd.  I could not stand the nickel and dime nature of it all (want better chairs at the pool, $35- wifi aint free and neither is anything else).  Went to a bank later and met an interesting guy in line who was there for the World Series of Poker.  He said it was 30% luck, 70% skill.  Also met a cool “resident artist” at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  Anyways, I am about to post this from a small and comfortable coffee shop in Beaty, Nevada on way to Mammoth Lakes, CA (at edge of Yosemite NP).  Hope all is well wherever you are.

Day 17: Cortez, CO to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (by Henna)

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Hello it’s Henna.  I’m finally writing a post!  Today I was in four states at once.  We went to the four corners.  The four corners are four states that meet together in an exact square.  I was in  Arizona while Mom and Dad were in New Mexico.  There were lots of Navajo Indians selling jewelry.  I got two stone animal beads.  Our next stop was a town called Page.  It was really hot.  Next we went to a place where there were lots of rocks balanced on top of each other.  The story behind it is that a ladies car broke down in the place and she liked the scenery so much she bought the property and made houses kinda with the rocks.  We explored and took lots of pictures.  Me and Mom found a old broken down car buried in the sand.  There were a whole bunch of rusted cans and broken bottles, I found some pieces of an old yellow bowl.  We drove for a long time and finally reached the campsite.  While we were at the campsite a hummingbird perched on our car and then attacked Mom!  Afterwards we had a yummy dinner and drove to the Grand Canyon.  We looked over the edge and we got to drink water from a spring that runs through the Grand Caynon….it tasted really good.  Later we got icecream and watched a pretty sunset at the Grand Canyon Lodge.  We have been on the trip for two weeks and a half and it has been really fun.  Bye for now.  Henna

Day 16: Durango, CO to Cortez CO

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Today was all about Mesa Verde.  Before I talk about the Ancestral Pueblo Indians formerly known as Anasazi, I feel like I have a few loose ends to tie up.  First off I really did not give Peter and Colleen (and I do hope that is how you spell your name, if not please correct me) their due.  Methinks the following conversational gems will let you in on the comedic genius that is Peter.

Peter:  “That book (50 Shades of Gray) is horrible.  Just stupid.  I am almost half way done.”

Peter:  (again talking about 50 Shades) “I just read it for the pictures.  You know the mental pictures.”

Then a little later, after being told his daughter is currently reading the book:  “We have to get home right away and stop her.”

Me:  “Well how much is a dinner for one in Australia”  Peter:  “With drinks probably $25.”  Me:  “How about without drinks.”  Peter:  (after a long silence) “I don’t think that has ever happened.”

So anyways, yesterday I mentioned that we would make sucky truck drivers.  Why?  We do not really travel any great distance ever.  Each day this trip I reset an odometer to see how much we drove.  Yesterday it was about 110 miles.  Today was less.  We had every intention of making a quick stop at Mesa Verde and then getting close to the Grand Canyon, but man are we easily distracted.  After doing our usual road time chores such as buying groceries at Walmart (where I also got a new Cowboy hat)  we spent the entire day learning about the Ancestral Pueblo Indians.  When my parents took me to Mesa Verde sometime in the late 70s the rangers talked about the mysterious disappearance of the Anasazi.  Mystery solved; they left the mesa and blended in with other Native Americans to become what are today known as the Pueblo Tribe  (which is actually a very diverse and only loosely connected group of people).  They probably left their cliff dwellings (after only a hundred or two hundred years) due to a combination of drought and over farming.  Anasazi, which was used by the rangers until recently, was the name given by the Navajos and loosely translates to “others”  which is sort of like describing me as “not Mongolian.”

From an earlier conversation this trip I know that within the park boundaries are valleys overflowing with pottery shards and Pueblo ruins.  None of that is accessible to the public.  Instead there are ranger led tours through partially reconstructed cliff dwellings.  Balcony House may be the most stunning (and I remember bits of this when I was a youth) but involves a 20′ ladder.  That was a no-go for Henna.  Instead we did Cliff Palace and Henna did great with the four ladders (one of which was 10′).  We also walked to Spruce Tree House and toured the museum.  All of it was fascinating.  Henna called it the highlight of her trip so far.  I would have to agree.

Around dinner time we left the park and camped at the KOA in Cortez.  My neighbors have become gradually more worldly and I am now writing this with Swiss neighbors to one side and French (I think) neighbors on the other.  This trend began in RMNP and I expect it to continue whenever we are at the more popular parks (in contrast, we met mostly Nebraskans while in that state).

We are ready to say goodbye to Colorado tomorrow.  What a great state, will miss you dearly.  What’s next?  Well we are off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and then Vegas on the 4th.  After that we think we are going to head to the coast and gradually make our way up.  Stay tuned for more details.

Day 15: Ouray, CO to Durango, CO

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Before our trip my mom asked me if I was going to take the Million Dollar Highway.  I shrugged and said probably.  My mom then described that bit of road as truly frightening.  I laughed and said something to the effect of having been on a few windy roads before.  Boy was I wrong to laugh at my mom’s concern.  In the first few miles after Ouray I moved Subie in ways I did not think was possible as tight turn after tight turn was made with no guard rail or other visual marker separating the thousand or so foot drop just a foot or so to my right.  I have never been so scared in my life.  After climbing to the old mining town of Silverton (which is at 9,000+ feet and boasts many genuine 19th century building selling 21st century junk) the road then descended to Durango which sits at a mere 6,000 or so feet.  Silverton was in the low 70s, Durango was scorching at 90 degrees and has nearby forest fires.  The smoke from those fires was choking us as we entered the town.

Ouray exceeded our expectations, but Durango has been a real downer.  It is not just the fires but also the sprawl of the town which features Walmarts, McDonalds, etc.  The pricey change of rear differential fluid (unexpected) to go along with the expected oil change did not help matters any.  We drove about 80 miles today. You can get to Durango from Chicago in about 3 to 4 days pretty easy.  In over two weeks of driving now, we have traveled less than 2,000 miles.  I think that is why I would make a pretty sucky truck driver.

 

But at the KOA we did make some friends.  First off was Peter and his lovely wife Colleen.  Peter is your typical motorcycle racing Australian grandfather of five traveling the US in a motorhome.  Conversation started with Colleen asking Corey about the book she was reading (50 Shades Darker).  Corey found the first book of the series and gave it to Colleen.  Peter and I then talked about the differences between living in Australia and the US (Peter’s favorite two things in the US are Walmart and Denny’s).  Peter also showed me how to downsize photos which hopefully will let me share more of them with you.  Later that night they shared drinks and cake with us in their RV.  Cool people that we hope visit us some day in Chicago.

The other friend we made was Bruce.  During the great duck race at the KOA (numbered ducks are launched into the creek and your duck’s fortunes could lead to prizes) Bruce selflessly gave up his prize (5$ gift certificate good at the KOA store) to Henna.  Bruce also is in the Air Force which should tell you even more about his good character.  Bruce we thank you for the root beer float as well as your service to our country.

Being a typical Hennacornoeli kind of day there were other people met on the road.  My favorite may have been the salesperson at Silverton who sold knives with exotic handles (dinosaur bone for example) who said, after I asked about one of those knives “I have no idea what a wooly mammoth even is.”  I also lost a game of chess to another clerk and Corey met some great artists in that town too.  Who knows what the road will bring tomorrow but be sure we will share it with you

Days 13 and 14: Ouray, CO

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These are the stages we usually go through when finding our dream home:

1)  Fantasy.  This is the first and most intoxicating of the stages.  We ask people on the street about the quality of schools, look at real estate ads, and think of all the townfolk we meet as future neighbors.

2)  Reality.  We like Chicago.  We also like to travel and if we lived in heaven why would we ever even leave?  Plus there is the question of family and friends; how would we keep the ones we have if we lived so far away?  Do any of you guys want to move to Ouray with us?  Seriously, mom, dad, mor mor, let us know if your interested.

3)  Time to go.  Like all parties there is always a time to leave (in our case we are just moving to another party down the road).

For Ouray we paid you the ultimate compliment; we stayed three nights which is one night longer than we stayed in RMNP as well as Breckenridge. Only Rustic Hideaway in beautify S. IL and Waterton NP have earned more of our attention.  Oh the things we love about Ouray:  the free concert in the park on Thursday, the super friendly and approachable locals who often treated us like friends (such as the librarian whom we later ran into at the concert and the owner of Mouse Candies whom we met at the same concert; we also had so many real conversations with so many people about housing prices, hiking, living in a small town, etc), the hiking, the hiking (worth mentioning twice), and the gorgeous historic and chain free downtown filled with interesting resale shops, bars, hotels, and eateries.  A true testament to a great town; people working in the town usually grew up in the town.  For example, the liquor store owner bought the store off his parents (who first moved into Ouray the year I was born).  On our last full day in Ouray we took some time to sit on a bench and watched some of the most interesting people such as the twenty something guy walking past with four paperback books and a 40 ounce thing of malt liquor.  What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  We will miss you Ouray but rest assure you are our new measuring stick for all future towns.

One more thing:  two days in a row we hiked and were then chased off the trail by rain and light hail.  Today was the more serious day as we drove up to a trail head, lost the trail we wanted, gained a different trail and found ourselves walking back to town along highway 550 (the start of the Million Dollar Highway).  Once in town Corey and Henna bought new and dry shirts.  Hypothermia solved but we were now separated from our car.  What to do?  Well first we ate a good lunch and asked around about a possible taxi.  There are no taxis in Ouray.  Just when I was about to walk back along 550 then up a steep road to the car we ran into our camping neighbors who drove me where I needed to go.  We owe them a couple of beers for sure.  That’s Ouray for you.

Day 12: Gunnison, CO to Ouray, CO

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Well we found Colorado heaven here in Ouray (pronounced you-ray).  You can walk up and down (literally for there is a definite tilt to the town) Main street in about ten minutes.  You can also stroll from Main street to a waterfall, several trail heads, or a large community pool fed by the hot springs.  The latter had a youth swim team practice going on when we checked it out (one pool is the traditional water type, three or four other pools varying in temperature from 80 to 100 degrees).  There are a few condos here, but mostly people (permanent residents and otherwise) live in small cottages that dot the downtown area as well as the hills.  Prices are not cheap, but you can buy a small home here for about 250K; I talked with someone who bought his dream home for around 400K, a nice librarian whose husband teachers in town paid 280K for something that needs work (in Breckenridge I think condos start at over 500K- we found ads in town for homes in Teluride starting at a million).   We ate at a wonderful Mexican resterant last night and the waitress grew up here with both parents teaching at the local school (her graduating class was 25 but she thinks last years was 14).  She goes to school now in Boulder but loves her hometown dearly.  Another person we met owns a liquor store that he purchased from his family (they moved to Ouray in 1973, he was born in 1976 and bought the store from his folks in 1999).  People tend to stay here.

Anyways, we do not have any pictures yet of our new adopted hometown.  On the way to Ouray we stopped at Black Canyon of The Gunnsion NP and did some hiking.  That canyon is amazing; the Gunnison river carved it out and drops more in 60 some miles than the Mississippi does in its entire run.  A lot of power.  Anyways we will share photos and stories from our new favorite town Ouray.  Talk to you soon.

Day 11: Breckenridge, CO to Gunnison, CO

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I agree with Corey that it felt good to get back on the road.  The night before I was staring at the map and found, just a tad off of our route, Hitchcock Ghost Town.  Amazingly, it appeared that the ghost town was on a small road that connected 285 to 50 which meant no backtracking!  Well, not exactly.  We followed Mr. Rand McNally to that small country road and were surprised to discover very cute second homes mixed in with the delights of the San Isabel National Forest.  Campgrounds, hiking trails, and aspen groves made up the foreground and a 14,000’ mountain in the background completed the picture nicely.  We pulled over for what we assumed would be an easy half mile hike to the Agnes Vaille Waterfall.  However, steepness, a hot sun, and limited shade made this much more challenging than we expected.  The waterfall jutting out of jagged rocks made for an excellent payoff.   Everything here is beginning to feel a bit Southwest.

But Mr. Rand McNally neglected to mention that the ghost town entailed a five-mile one lane gravel road.  We started it, decided it was getting late, and put it in reverse.  On the way out another Outback made for the same road.  We asked them what they knew about the road and the driver said that her friends said the road was not too bad.  Our road continued to St. Elmo and then ended.  Just like that.  There was no continuation to 50.  We asked a man with an ATV and he said there was no way to 50 except to backtrack to where we started.  He also said that we would have had no chance to make it to Hitchcock in what we were driving.  One gravel road, two opinions.  Maybe that road would have let out at 50?  We will never know.  I hope the other Outback had no trouble.

Before all that we stopped off in Southpark, CO.  A store owner told us that one of the creators of Southpark spent part of his high school years here and modeled the cartoon town after Southpark.  Besides a lot of Southpark stickers for sale there were also a lot of restored building and a seemingly cool museum to go to (we however took a pass). Kenny, however, was nowhere to be found.

So now I am back in the tent.  Understandably there are still no campfires allowed by us.  Parts of Colorado did get some rain today, but I am not sure if the fires got any relief.  While making dinner however two separate storm fronts moved in with big gusts of wind and quick drops in temperature.  Only a few drops though. The owner of the KOA here is quite colorful.  With a red face and a very loud, theatrical voice it is hard to tell if he is overly friendly or inebriated.  Either way he later let us into his backyard where Henna befriended two German goats (Fritz and Dieter) and a very friendly steer.  Henna called this her favorite campground ever. Later we drove to a very cool park that had one of the tallest slides ever.  Although crowded, we were the only tourists there.  Hints like that of real life as well as the friendly but sequestered feel of Gunnison really made us like the town.  Tomorrow it is off to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP and maybe Ouray.  We have high hopes for Ouray, we will let you know if it lives up to our expectations.

Nature vs. Man

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Leaving always feels so good.  I mean no disrespect towards our last two days. They were wonderful and restful, and as a result we are starting our trip anew, with clean dishes, clothes and bodies.  But there is a glorious feeling of heading out, leaving town, hitting the road, ready for what await us around the bend.  It’s utterly exhilarating. Right now we are high in the mountains outside of Breckenridge, at almost 11,000 ft. high where the rivers divide and head to their respected oceans.   While in our bubble in Breckenridge, I lost touch with what I love most about being on the road, which is being one with myself and the world.  While Breckenridge is a lovely resort town, it lacks the little and big things that make a town a town.  About 80% of their residents own two homes, and as Noel so eloquently stated “It’s run by hippies for yuppies”.  I don’t think there is a local school, and a book store was not to be found, although we were able to find plenty high scale out-door stores that could outfit your outdoor experience in style.  Ultimately we did not meet one person in two days that we could post about, which doesn’t mean they were not there….it’s just that staying indoors  tends to breed isolation.  I was back into T.V. world (watching way too many cooking shows), checking my emails and losing touch with the outside.  As we gazed upon Breckenridge’s footprint on the land, we talked about how thankful we are for the earlier conservationist who knew it was important to leave some land unspoiled by humans.  During our quick hiatus I became dehydrated and needed an afternoon to heel.  I forgot to drink water. I was subdued in our four walls and stopped paying attention.  So I am excited to head out, connect back with my body and the earth, to give myself to the power of our surroundings because I’m living within the elements 24/7.  I welcome that feeling.

 

Day 10: Breckenridge, CO

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Our first (and only) full day at Breckenridge and began with a hike that started just a few yards from where we are staying; the Burro Trail.  There are other, more dramatic hikes in the area, but we were hoping for an easy one that would allow for maximum pool time later.  About a quarter-mile in Henna’s foot began to hurt (probably bruised, we bought her new shoes and her foot now feel s fine).  Corey saw how excited I was to be on a shaded, soft ground trail that followed a creek uphill and volunteered to take Henna back alone.  I took her up on it and followed the trail past the meandering creek, up switchbacks, and high enough to get some great views.  A mile or two away from the trailhead I had the trail to myself and felt a little nervous.  I so did not want to get lost.  I did have a cell phone signal (and periodically texted lies to Corey about how ugly the trail was) and civilization was never far, but man I would never hear the end of it if I got lost again.  I did not get lost.  I did feel a little guilty for not being able to share the awesome trail with Henna and Corey.  Here are some photos from the hike.

After the hike we watched various cooking shows on the food network including a bit on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives featuring Chicago’s Tres Kronor which we had eaten at after a St. Lucia festival.  Henna and I also rock hopped across the stream which is part of the city park (how cool is that) and then Corey felt dehydrated and is now resting.

Tomorrow we return to the road.  Some second guessing here on our SW heavy route; we are yearning for a little respite from the heat.   Thank you again Mom and Dad for giving us they two well needed days of rest here at Breckenridge.  Any time you wanted to borrow our tent feel free to do so.

Everybody’s High in Breckenridge

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And it’s not just the altitude.  Maybe it was the “Breckenridge Cannabis Association” located on Main Street or the High Times prominently featured at the gas station, but this town feels high.  We go to a crepe stand and watch one worker (the only worker there) get sucked up in conversations while the line stands stills for five minutes.  At the ice cream store Corey starts talking to the hip 20 somethings working while an increasingly annoyed line builds behind her.  And if they are not baked they are interesting to look at.  Take the Safeway in Frisco (just a few miles away); a young guy with dreads and a thick Jamaican accent reprimands me for returning something to the wrong aisle, the cashier from Hawaii tells us the lychee we were going to buy looks bad, a teenager looking dirtier than us (and we were mighty dirty to look at) has a backpack and bed roll, and an older couple pass by dressed to the hilt in cycling garb. A few days ago I felt self-conscience about not fitting in with western Nebraska due to my straw cowboy hat.  Now it’s tats and wool caps that I need.  Always something. Here are some more of the interesting people we have met so far (in Colorado and elsewhere).  I also added two random photos.

Robert:  a psychologist who has been practicing in Honduras over the past seven years.  He previously worked outside of D.C.  Camping with his stepson; partner was unable to get a visa.

Paul: recently retired geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.  He just completed a map of Mesa Verde highlighting geological features.  He has also mapped out Glacier National Park and Dinosaur Monument.  Jobs usually entailed him and one field assistant alone in the backcountry for a few months while he matches air force photos with reality.

The nice teenage girl at Fort Robinson.  First day on job meant she needed a lot of help checking me in.  Stated that her father was a trucker and often took the family along for the ride.  For that reason she knew every road in Nebraska.  She gave more valuable travel tips to us than any other person on the trip so far.

John of Summer Stock (also at Fort Robinson).  He jumped off the pages of Glee, stuck in Nebraska.  His incredible enthusiasm and willingness to talk about anything to anybody won us over immediately.  Cannot wait to meet up with him someday in Chicago (where he will undoubtedly find himself someday trying to break into the theatre scene).

Older and recently widowed man watching Godspell.  Traveling the country solo in a camper he wanted to see as much as he can before he was no longer able to do so.  Did his best to talk us into to taking the Sawtooth Highway (we will see).

Twelve year old boy traveling with grandparents.  Grandparents formerly lived in St. Charles, Il. but retired in their native Nebraska.  Each grandchild is given one special trip with grandparents.  He chose Rocky Mountain National Park.

More grandchildren.  Brother and sister who briefly played with Henna and her incredibly elaborate acorn world.  By the way, there were some workers here in the park who came close to knocking over this village.  Henna wanted me to stop them from doing work but I could not see how.

Peter who drove his family from PA to RMNP in two days.  Peter has done a lot of interesting things in cool places including dog mushing in K-County.  It was fun comparing notes.