Just back from a 3 week driving trip to the American Southwest.
GRAND CANYON: We flew to PHX and grabbed the rental car, then headed to Grand Canyon for a few days. I’d never been there. I’ve seen so many pictures of it, but nothing can prepare you for your first glimpse of the real thing.
MONUMENT VALLEY, VALLEY OF THE GODS, MOKI DUGWAY: From there we drove NE to visit Monument Valley, the Valley of the Gods, and drove the hair-raising Moki Dugway. The towering red formations, with names like East and West Mittens, Castle Rock, Elephant Butte, and Sitting Hen, are amazing. So many Westerns were filmed here over the decades, and of course there’s the famous scene in Forrest Gump when he’s running down the highway leading to Monument Valley. The roads through all of these are unpaved and very rough, and we were glad we’d rented a 4WD vehicle.
FOUR CORNERS: We made a fun visit to Four Corners, the place where UT, AZ, NM, and CO all meet. There are several Native American artists from local tribes there selling jewelry, pots, paintings, and other Native crafts. It was a great place to buy something directly from the artist who created it.
HISTORIC TRAIN RIDES: From there we drove to Durango, CO, and spent a day riding a narrow gauge historic train to Silverton, CO. You ride deep into the San Juan National Forest, with some absolutely jaw-dropping scenery. A couple days later, we to Chama, NM, and spent a day on another historic narrow-gauge train, riding to Antonio, CO. We climbed up 10,000 foot high mountains. From there we could see huge stands of aspens in their brilliant yellow fall colors stretching over the mountains. We even saw some pronghorn antelopes.
TAOS: From there, we drove to Taos. visiting Mesa Verde Historical Park the day before the government shut down. This Park was the home of the ancient Pueblo people who constructed complex cliff dwellings. They were quite sophisticated builders - some of those cliff dwellings contained over 100 rooms, and have lasted 1,000 years. As always, NPS does a wonderful job of education and interpretation, and I learned a lot about these ancient people. We also visited the Taos Pueblo, where descendants of those original cliff dwellers live today. The native guide was excellent.
SANTA FE: We then headed to Santa Fe for 4 days. We’d planned to visit Pecos and Bandelier National Parks, but by that time the Parks had shut down. Instead we visited the Los Alamos History Museum, Meow Wolf (indescribable experience, but we loved it), and took a hot air balloon ride. And of course we spent a wonderful day at Santa Fe Plaza. We learned about red and green chilis, and ate so many excellent meals of New Mexican food and margaritas. My favorite was a margarita infused with green chili. Spicy!
ALBUQUERQUE: We ended up in Albuquerque in time for the Balloon Fiesta. The dawn Mass Ascension is amazing - hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky, in every brilliant color, floating over the city like beautiful jewels. The Balloon Museum which adjoins the Fiesta grounds gives an excellent overview of the history of ballooning. We also took the Tramway to the top of Sandia Peak, with an elevation of 10,300 feet. Interesting trying to breathe at that altitude. And of course, enjoyed more New Mexican food and drink.
The Southwest is so different from here. We’re so used to our trees, creeks, and wildlife here that being in a desert environment for 3 weeks was quite a change. We saw road runners, jack rabbits, and even a giant tarantula-type spider (I didn’t check it out closely.) The jagged mountains dotted with scrub and sage brush were the basic scenery of the trip. We also saw so much Native American culture, something we see so rarely here. The adobe New Mexican architecture is lovely, and quite a change from the brick Colonial style so prevalent in this area.
Besides margaritas, we enjoyed a lot of local craft beers. NM has a thriving brewery industry, and we were able to sample local brews wherever we went. My personal favorite was a pale wheat named Elephants on Parade. I’m not normally a fan of wheat beers, but this one was excellent. And who could resist that name?
I was reminded again what a huge country this is, and how our regions have evolved differently based on climate, geography, and cultural of the people who live there. It’s always fascinating to see and appreciate.
