Colorado

Saturday, May 15th.

This morning, we left Utah driving south on Hwy 491 and arrived in Mancos, CO around noon. After lunch we checked into the Mesa Verde RV Resort and headed to the Mesa Verde National Park. This is the only national park dedicated to the preservation of manmade, as opposed to natural, creations.
This was once the home of the Aasazi Indians now known as the Ancestral Puebloans.  At first they lived in pithouses and later became clift dwellers.

More hikes allowed us to tour the clift dwellings.  We sure are getting our exercise.

We checked out the underground Kiva, which was a gathering place for ceremonies or sometimes a place used for weaving.

Rob exited the Kiva first and just as I was about to climb out, I heard him say to the others standing around, "Watch out, here comes a bear!"  They all had a surprised look on their faces, and I thought about pushing Rob off the clift.  Then I remembered that I would have to drive the RV back home. 

Utah

Thursday, May 13th

We started the day by visiting Bryce Canyon, UT. 

 

East of Bryce Canyon, we travel scenic Hwy 12 across the northern border of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  This area has many tiny Morman settlements which were almost completely cut off from the outside world until the middle of the 20th century.   After driving up to the 9,600 foot summit of Boulder Mountain, we joined Hwy 24 which seperates the Waterpocket Fold and Capitol Reef National Park, then across the San Rafael Desert, just west of Green River.

There was a new beautiful sight around every corner. 

We arrived in Moab, UT about 6 PM and stayed at the Canyonlands Campground.  It had been a long day and so much to see that our necks were sore from turning one way and then another.  The weather had been wonderful for most of the trip.  We went from cold snow to warm sunshine.  We will spend two nights here.

Friday, May 14th.

We woke up refreshed and ready to go again.  First we visited the Arches National Park.  It was beautiful and we took a couple hikes along some trails. 

We had to hike up and down a mountain to get to this spot.  We were quite proud of ourselves.

Rob got to drive the Jeep on one of the 4-wheel drive trails.  He thought that was fun.  I wasn't too sure about it.

In the afternoon, we visited the Canyonlands National Park: Island in the Sky.    I have run out of words to use to describe all these places.  They are just so spectacular.

As it begin to get late, the rain clouds moved in and we headed for our campground.  It started to rain just before we went to bed.  That sure made for a good nights sleep.

Nevada, Arizona, Utah

Saturday, May 8th.

Leaving California, we headed south to connect with Route 66 in Victorville the home of Roy Rogers and Dale Edvans where the old Route 66 begins to seem real.  We visited a small California Route 66 Museum where they were having a Car Show.  Of course, Rob enjoyed seeing all the cars.  There was also a group of students from a California school, who were playing Bluegrass Music, which they had learned in their school.  What a surprise, Blue Grass in California.  They were good.

Continuing on along Route 66, we drove on some very rough roads.  Very soon, we decided to get back on I-40.  Late in the afternoon, we arrived in Boulder, Nevada at the Canyon Trail RV Park.  Saturday night we took a sceinic drive drown Las Vegas Boulavard.  I have never seen such bright neon lights and so many people.

Sunday, May 9th.

After church on Sunday we visited Hoover Dam.  This was a very impressive sight.  It marks the border between Nevada and Arizona.

Monday, May10th.

Leaving Nevada, we drove south to Kingman, Arizona and took Route 66 again.  First we visited a much larger Route 66 museum.  This section of the road was in much better condition and there were many of the original buildings along the way.

At Seligman, we turned north toward the Grand Canyon.  The wind was picking up again and it was difficult driving.  It turned very cold quickly.

Tuesday, May 11th.  We toured through the Grand Canyon.  Such a wonderous sight.  It's not possible to describe what we saw.

It was snowing while we were there. 

Wednesday, May 12th.

We moved from the area by driving along the east side of the Grand Canyon and arrived in Utah about noon.  The sights are wonderful and the land is changing around every corner.

We drove the scenic route Hwy 89 to Bryce Canyon, UT where we spent the night.  The temperature fell to below freezing.

Lake Isabella, California and the Giant Sequoias

Thursday, May 6th

Today, we drove what seemed like many miles east to the Sequoia National Forest.  We drove up and down and around the mountains,  Our GPS nearly exploded.  There were so many hairpin curves, that it kept recalculating because it thought we had made a wrong turn.  It got so confused, it would tell us to turn right where there was no road, just a clift.  Then it would tell us to turn left, where there was only a mountain side.  Finally we just turned it off.  We checked in at the Lake Isabella KOA campground and will spend two nights here.

Friday, May 5th.

We left our campsite this morning for an adventure in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The landscape here looks just like you would see in an old western movie.  John Wayne, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Humphrey Bogard and Robert Mitchum stared in movies made in this area.  Driving higher in the mountains, we arrived in the land of snow. 

Before long we came to the "Trail of 100 Giants".  That is giant Sequoias.  They are the largest living thing on earth.

Below is a picture of what people around here like to do.  If you look closely, you will see a man in a one person canoe going down the river.  He looked like he was having fun just like the surfer guys we saw a few days ago.  I still think I will enjoy that fun from the sidelines

Tonight, back at the campground, the staff served us ice cream.  In the morning we will head for the Mother Road, Route 66.

Restful Day at the Bay

Tuesday, May 4th

After sleeping in this morning, we decided that we were tired from all the fun we had been having and all the miles we have driven, and what we really wanted to do was just relax with no special place to go.  In the afternoon, we decided to drive a couple or three blocks down to the beach. 

There was a good wind and several people were surfing.  We sat on the shore and watched them quite a while.  It looked like they were having fun, but it looked so dangereous to me.  I think I'll stay on the beach.  The information about the rock behind Rob says it was made by volcanic activity.  It's name is Morro Rock and stands 576 feet high.

Wednesday, May 5th

This morning we got up all rested and ready to do some more exploring.  We drove north to San Simeon, CA, the location of the William R. Hearst Castle.

  

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The castle is so big I couldn't take a picture of all of it.  It has 144 rooms, including 36 bedrooms.

This is just the entrance to the swimming pool. 

This is a picture of the pool.  Hearst spent 25 years building his castle. 

Before returning to our campground, we stopped to look at the Elephant Seals laying in the sun on the beach along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Mostly they were just laying in the sun, but occasionally one would flop over on another one and they would get into a scuffle.  It was fun to watch them.

Tomorrow, we plan to leave the coast and  turn our journey eastward.