Vacation

[waltesefalcon]

I took my son and daughter on vacation last week, we went to the Great Sand Dunes in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, near where I live as a kid.

Then we drove over the Continental divide at Wolf Creek pass.

Then on to Chimney Rock, where my being an Indian got me in free. Chimney Rock is the furthest northerly known outpost of the Chacoan culture that was based out of the Chaco valley in New Mexico and traded extensively with other Ancestral Puebloan groups and down into Mexico. The round rooms are kivas, which are ritual rooms and are found in practically every ancestral Puebloan site I know of.

I can't attach anymore photos so there will be a part two to follow.

 

[NutmegCT]

Walt - those are fantastic pictures. Bravo!

I'd never heard of Chacoan, thanks. Do you know Charles Mann's book "1491"?

 

[waltesefalcon]

Picking up with our adventure in the last post we left Chimney Rock and from there we stopped in Durango, CO for the night and took the Durango to Silverton train ride. We were pulled by a Rio Grande no. 482 a class K-36 2-8-2 "Mikado" narrow gauge engine built in 1925 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. I've wanted to ride the train since I was a kid but this was my first time. It is a gorgeous ride and we'll worth the frustration of dealing with a tourist town. While on the way back to Durango the whistle blew off the engine and we had to stop while they found it and put it back on, the last couple photos show the fireman carrying it and then it attached to the dome. The engine in the first photo is not the one that pulled us but is the same model, I took the photo from inside our car and it came out better than the first one I took of ours, no. 482. Part three of our trip will be along shortly.
Here are a couple short videos I took.

D&SNG Rsilroad 6-17-22

youtube.com

D&SNG Rsilroaf 6-17-22

youtube.com

 

[NutmegCT]

I would not want to be the guy who climbed up to put that whistle back in place!

 

[waltesefalcon]

From Durango we went down the road to Cortez where we visited Mesa Verde. It has an interesting site in Step House, photos 6-10, in that it has both ruins of pit houses and a pueblo. Typically pit houses were built over by later inhabitants. We also visited a few other sites but tell have to wait for part four.

 

[NutmegCT]

Great photos - further proof of the fascinating history of the peoples in this hemisphere before 1492.

Walt - who is the couple in the last photo?

 

[DrEntropy]

Great photos - further proof of the fascinating history of the peoples in this hemisphere before 1492.

Walt - who is the couple in the last photo?

His kids! Son is a "Spittin' Image"!!

 

[waltesefalcon]

Great photos - further proof of the fascinating history of the peoples in this hemisphere before 1492.

Walt - who is the couple in the last photo?

Doc's right. Here's the only picture of me from vacation hamming it up with a fellow Injun.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Walt - those are fantastic pictures. Bravo!

I'd never heard of Chacoan, thanks. Do you know Charles Mann's book "1491"?

Yup, not a bad book.

 

[waltesefalcon]

While staying at Mesa Verde's camp ground we also visited a few of the other sites around Cortez. Mesa Verde is by no means an isolated site and is just part of a larger community built on the geographicsl crossroads if the Four Corners area. The first other site we visited was Canoyon of the Ancients we only got to the first structure because after hiking for a few days and doing a mile long hike to get there my daughter was done.

Our next stop was Hovenweep in south eastern Utah, about forty miles from Cortez. Due to the quality of the ruins this was possibly my favorite stop.

 

[waltesefalcon]

After leaving Cortez we headed for Moab Utah, and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I stayed up Sunday night to catch the moon rising through the North Window arch. These are all from Arches.

These are from the top of Canyonlands. More to follow.

 

[NutmegCT]

Wow - have you considered becoming a professional photographer?

 

[waltesefalcon]

Our last leg of our trip saw us camping in the bottom of Canyonlands, south of Moab. On the drive from the highway we passed Newspaper Rock with its petroglyphs dating back 1000 years or more.

Upon leaving Canyonlands we went to Natural Bridges and Bear's Ears, they are in south eastern Utah and rig next to each other.

 

[waltesefalcon]

From Bear's Ears we headed south east towards Four Corners. We took this small scenic highway, 261 and it was okay for most of the drive, then when to drop off the mesa near Mexican Hat it becomes gorgeous and you can see Monument Valley off to the south.

From here we got Four Corners because my kids have never been, then headed home.

This last photo is Shiprock.

We were only gone a week but we covered over 2,500 miles and ten nationsl parks and monuments. We camped every night except for the night we stayed in Durango. Because we took the little jeep I packed light and didn't bring my camera, a Fujifilm finepix, and opted to use my phone's camera instead. I was pretty happy with it, the only time it let me down was while I was trying to take star pictures at night.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Wow - have you considered becoming a professional photographer?

I'm flattered Tom, but no. These are all just shot with my phone. I've dabbled a bit with cameras over the years but if I wanted to get serious about it it'd get too expensive for me very quickly.

 

[JPSmit]

amazing pics - but the best part of the story is the whistle - makes me feel much better about my car. Are you sure the locomotive was a Baldwin? sure sounds British to me!

 

[JPSmit]

'it became gorgeous'

I think it is all gorgeous - thanks for sharing, it is a part of the world and a beauty I was only vaguely aware of

 

[DrEntropy]

I'm flattered Tom, but no. These are all just shot with my phone. I've dabbled a bit with cameras over the years but if I wanted to get serious about it it'd get too expensive for me very quickly.

The phone images are terrific, and I can imagine you sinking into the photo abyss knowing what you're like.

...but if ya change yer mind, I know some folks you can get advice from.

 

[DrEntropy]

"Magnificent Desolation"! I think the phone camera gives a better "view" of the scope and size of what's there. The camera would've had too much of your attention, as well.

Thanks for posting the images. Great stuff!

 

[Bob McElwee]

Walt, really great pictures of a beautiful part of our country. I've enjoyed viewing them all.