Mesa Verde, CO

Well, this was the last big stop on our journey. Mesa Verde, "Green Table," lies in the bottom southwest corner of Colorado. Ancent Puebloans built dwellings on the ground here, and then eventually moved towards making dwellings in the cliffs. Their major sources of food there were corn, squash, and beans. Today in the US, there are current day Puebloans, some which still live like their ancestors.

We went to three larger sites, Spruce Tree House, Balcony House, and Cliff Palace. These were Americanized names. The cliff dwellings were like apartment complexes. The balcony house had balconies for people to hang out on, and the Cliff Palace was the largest in the park.

The circular areas are called, "kivas." They were multi-purpose rooms, used for everyday living and ceremonies to. Back in the day, they had roofs on top, and people would climb in through a ladder.

Each kiva had a fireplace and a clean air passage in the ceiling. Also, you may see a softball size hole in each room, known as a see-pah-poo. These were ceremonially dug in the kiva to represent the story of how the Ancient Puebloans came to this world. They came with the help of a bird and I think a chipmunk, through the worlds of fire, ice, and water. This land was known as the perfect world.

They were great craftsmen, even placing little chips of sandstone in the mortar to strengthen it. Also, they would use the water that escaped from the sandstone, but could not penetrate the shale to drink and use in their dwellings.

Pretty neat. How many houses do we have that have been around for over 600 years?

Here are the photos!

On the way home we drove straight across Kansas, and we stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. It seems like a cool city. We then cruised through parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. In KY, we saw a retirement home for older thoroughbred race horses. Pretty cool. We got back in the early hours of Friday morning.

It was a great trip. Now we're glad to move to a new place and continue our lives together!

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is massive. We went in on the north (and less traveled) rim.

We started off traveling a little bit of the super-long Kaibab Trail. The mules travel this trail daily. There was crap everywhere! ...flies too. The down side of Grand Canyon trails is that since the canyon is so large, the views don't really change along the trails.

We drove to a place called Cape Royal and got some way better views. All in all, the sheer size was impressive, but the trails- not so much.

We saw huge birds! They were either condors, golden eagles, or red-tailed hawks...not sure which. I saw a jackrabbit on the way to Cortez, CO. A rabbit with GIANT ears.

Here are the pictures!

Zion National Park, Utah

Zion is such a beautiful place. One of the most breathtaking places I've been to. Most of the park actually resides inside a canyon, so it's really hard to do it justice in pictures. So many rocks are named. For instance, The Court of The Patriarchs are three giant rock formations, named after Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Also, other formations are called The Great White Throne and The Watchman. My favorite place was Weeping Rock. You can see it in the photos, because it looks like it sounds. Sandstone is porous, so water creeps in, then almost continuously seeps out of its pores. It's quite beautiful, and cooling, too.

The most popular destination is the Angel's Landing Trail. We did NOT do this trail... we need to train. In four miles, the trail takes you up to the highest spot in the park (where you'd get a really great view). The catch is a bunch of switchback inclines just to get to the start of the trail. Then, a really narrow passage all the way to the top, with just a chain on one side and sheer cliff on the other. It's actually pretty safe if you look at the stats. Apparently, the view is spectacular. We'll take their word for it.

All in all, it was a great time, with great trails and scenery!

Here are the pictures!

Bryce Canyon, Utah

Today, we went to Bryce Canyon, Utah. It was really awesome. Due to erosion, the earth is formed into tall structures called, "hoodoos." (ryhmes with voodoo). They are sometimes tall and skinny or a little stubby. Some are named after certain people or things from history. For instance, one hoodoo looks like a woman in one of those old Victorian ball gowns. This one is called Queen Victoria. Also, towards the end of our photos, you'll see this giant thing sticking out of the ground. This hoodoo is called, "Thor's Hammer," named after the Norse God of Thunder's hammer. It looks like a hammer.

Check out our photos, here!

Yellowstone

We spent two days in Yellowstone. It was fantastic. We saw bison, a grizzly bear, elk, mule deer, a yellow-bellied marmot, and pronghorns. Marmots kindof look like beavers/ground hogs, and pronghorns are tiny antlered antelope that hang out on mountain sides. Please note we were not the foolish people who got out of their cars to look at the wildlife. We stayed in the protection of the Accent.

We saw Old Faithful and other geisers. Pretty cool, but pretty stinky-sulfur smelling. The Mammoth hot springs also smelled like sulfur. They look snowy, but definitely aren't. In certain parts of Yellowstone, you can't stray off of the boardwalk, because the ground beneath you is boiling and unstable!

We saw the upper and lower falls, by taking a giant staircase trail up pretty high. It was an amazing view!

One of our favorite parts of Yellowstone was the Fountain Paint Pots. Pretty much, mud boils and bubbles. It looks really cool.

We took a bunch of pictures. Here are the photos.

Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Jewel Cave

We started off our day today at Mt. Rushmore. It's alot more involved than just the four heads of Presidents. They have a film and many artifacts and exhibits pertaining to the creation of the monument. A Danish immigrant, Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln, were the primary sculptors of the monument. Originally, Borglum invisioned to carve alot more of the Presidents' bodies, but it didn't work out. In the photos, you'll be able to see how his model differs from the finished product.

Later, we went to Crazy Horse Mountain. A Polish sculptor was commissioned to create a giant mountain carving of the famous Native American in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He is to be on a horse pointing out into the distance. This represents how when asked, "Where are your lands?" Crazy Horse replied, "My lands are where my dead lie buried." It was started in 1948, and so far, all that is complete is his head, which could fit the whole Mt. Rushmore carving inside of it. We don't think they'll finish it any decade soon. There was a cool museum that had artifacts from Native American tribes, such as the local Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota.

The last place we traveled was to Jewel Cave. It pretty much puts Laurel Caverns in PA to shame. It has all these calcite crystals inside of it that are really shiny, but apparently brittle and not worth any money. When you see the photos, you will see all different types of rock. Some look like popcorn, others look slimy, due to moisture in the cave. Jewel Cave is the 2nd longest cave in the world. As you may see in the photos, outside, you could climb through an example block of tunnel. This is what some of the volunteer cavers have to climb through to explore other parts of the cave that the regular public wouldn't dare. Our tour consisted of lit paths and stairways with nice railings. No worries. I was small enough to fit, but Greg was not.

CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS!

Now we're in Dubois, Wyoming. We are at a cool little motel that is right on the Wind River. We ate at the Cowboy Cafe, which had great food. Greg ate buffalo sausage, which tastes deliciously like keilbasi. I got the chicken fried steak, which was also great. Tomorrow, we're off to Yellowstone!

The Bad Lands

Today, we went to Bad Lands National Park in South Dakota. It was amazing to drive through the park, then visit one of the many viewpoints. If you didn't get out and look, you may never have realized how high up you were.

There are plenty of motorcyclists out on the road for a convention in Sturgis, SD. I've never seen so many bikes in my life; however, people seem to actually know how to ride out here. In other words, they are pretty safe and courteous. The speed limit is 75. People out here obey the limit for the most part. It's pretty refreshing!

CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS.

We're two hours behind Pennsylvania. I'm still getting used to the extra time.