Day Fifteen/Sixteen

Day Fifteen
Yesterday we drove to Mammoth Lakes, Ca on the way we also stopped to see Bodie. Those that don't know Bodie is an old mining town that is now a famous ghost town.

Here are a few pictures from that stop.

Took his picture and made him get up really quick so chair wouldn't fall apart.

 The First church built in the town. You cant walk through it now thanks to a bunch of vandalism.

Just a small section of Bodie. The town now has only 5% of the building remaining from its hay-day.











Day Sixteen:
Today we drove to Manteca, Ca which meant I got to drive through Yosemite National Park. Which was gorgeous. My great-grandfather George helped build the orginal fireplace at the Awanee hotel.

Here are pictures from today.

  That is the entrance to the hotel. Was kind of crumbling but looked interesting.

 El Capitan from the ground.

Stopped by the river for a cool nature shot.












Tomorrow we are off to Vacaville, Ca to go to the Jelly Belly Factory. Super excited to take Walt someplace he hasn`t been.

TTFN,
Ashley

Day Thirteen/Fourteen Mesquite,NV & Bishop,CA

Day Thirteen:
So we left Moab,UT and headed for Mesquite,NV. It was a fairly long drive with no sights to see. Until we got to our rooms that is. Walt got suites for us both and they were gorgeous. Not only were the rooms amazing the pools were fantastic as was the food. I tried Escargot for the first time and really enjoyed it.

 This is the living room. The closet was the size of the library nook I want.

 One of the 2 pools. The water was great.

 Escargot. Was so delicious and unique.











Day Fourteen:
 We left Mesquite,NV at 730 am (didn't get to enjoy the rooms that much.) The earliness was so we could beat the heat in Death Valley. I drove through Las Vegas and Walt drove through Death Valley so I could take pictures. The Visitor Center said the temp was 111 degrees but we averages 107 while driving around.

 Stood below sea level. It was soooooo hot outside. Came across this little guy. he stopped in the middle of the road then walked to the side of the car. There was a moment of terror if he was going to get in the car and eat us.






Today we are off to Mammoth Lakes,CA after stopping at a few places. Going to be a nice day. Its great to be back in California :)

TTFN.
Ashley

Day Eleven & Day Twelve Moab,UT

Day Eleven:
So yesterday we left and headed for Moab,UT along the way we stopped at Monument Valley and The Goose Necks. This was incredible to drive out and see. Lets start with what the car looked like to begin with.

So pretty and red right.......
Well we drove around the ground floor of the monuments. Saw a few rocks, well they were rocks but they are way more cooler in person.



Here is a few samples of what we saw.

 They were awesome. The one I really liked was the Three Sisters. ^








Here is the car after driving around in the lovely red soft dirt.

It was filthy. We are just now heading to the car wash tonight to clean it because we weren`t sure how dirty it would get today.




We also went to the Goosenecks and I took a step to far back.

Day Twelve:

We stayed in Moab so we could go to Arches National Park.
Got up at 7am, had breakfast then took off to hike to see some of the most famous arches in the world.

For those of you who watch my facebook you have heard about my 7 mile adventure. I hike a total of 10miles today Walt hiked about 1/2 that. It was roughly 78-80 degrees out by 930am. We started by takng the side road to see Balanced Rock then doing a short hike to the Delicate Arch. Which was amazing (a word I shall use a lot this entry).

After returning to the car we drove out to do the 7.2 mile hike to see Landscape Arch, Double O Arch and Dark Angel. Well about 3 miles in Walt had it. He waited in the shade and sent me the "Strong and Fit" one on to see the amazing arches. I made it all the way to Landscape and Double O arch however, i had no energy to walk the side loop out to the Dark angel rock. I took the pictures then crawled my way back to Walt and the car. Not after I attempted a side adventure up some deep sand towards a small hole in the sandstone. My plan was to climb up into the hole and have Walt take a picture. This did NOT work because I was too short to reach my happy butt up to the first ledge. It looked pretty awesome though.

Pictured is the Landscape and Double O Arches.

Now here comes the best part to end our fabtabulous day. Walt signed us up to take a Jeep Tour and it was WORTH IT. Would take it again in a heart beat. We jumped in the jeep at 1:30pm and took off for a 2hr tour. Walt was a little worried when we started out going up this huge hill. When I see the guys post pictures of flexing their trucks and rock climbing I think they are nuts but what We did today was intense. Moab has some of the best sights and trails out here.

Guys this is supposed to be a flat landscape. View from outside the jeep window. Not as intense as the others but those were "have to be there to experience it" moments.

The lovely jeep that was our chariot. This at an angle and YES we went up that huge hill. 

This is the Colorado River from up above. So pretty.

This was such an amazing way to end the day and we are exhausted. Tomorrow we are off to Mesquite,NV for the stretch home.

TTFN,

Day Eight, Nine & Ten: Bloomfield,NM & Durango,CO

Day Eight was just a drive day out to Bloomfield, NM

Day Nine was a drive day with stops that included; Four Corners, Mesa Verde and ending up in Durango, CO.

Here is a few pictures from those stops.

Day Ten (Today) we went on the Durango/ Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train. It was a blast. Had a wonderful view of everything including the coal in my face.

Had a lovely few day. Off to take a shower to get the coal out of my hair. We depart at 7 am for Moab,UT after making a few more stops to monuments. 

TTFN,

Day Six/ Day Seven Santa Fe, NM

Sorry for no post yesterday guys. It was basically just a drive day so nothing to report on. We stopped at Hastings bookstore and looked around for a bit to kill time.

Today June 6th (AKA D-Day) we had planned to go to Tao's Pueblo but sadly due to a death in the tribe the pueblo was closed to visitors. We did not let this get us down though. We went back into town to the plaza and walked around it for a few hours. Bought a few souvenirs.


We weren't able to take pictures of the Pueblo but here is a picture of the architecture

 We did get to see where Kit Carson lived when he was trapping and guiding no the Santa Fe trail.

After leaving the plaza we then headed back to Santa Fe to go to the Plaza and Church there.


While there we were able to get a few trinkets that the Indians had made. They were all lined up on the side fo the main plaza selling their goods. I got an amazing bracelet that is made of copper and silver twisted together and ring as well.

We also visited the cathedral that was there but they were preparing for a  ceremony tomorrow and I couldn't take pictures inside the church.










Tomorrow we are off for either Farmington, NM or Shiprock, NM as a stopping point for Four Corners the next day.

TTFN,
Ashley

Day Five: Chinle,AZ

So today Walt and I went on a tour of Canyon de Chelly. I tried to post a video talking about the trip but the internet at the hotel isn`t that great. I learned a few words while on the ride and saw some amazing sights. There is so much to learn by digging into the past and I`m lucky that I could hear some of the stories that the Navajo Indians have.

Here are some pictures from today`s ride.

 Above are some pictographs that the "Old Ones", Hopi, Navajo, Toas people would make to mark their presence.

 Below is one of the many settlements built out of the surrounding sandstone to house 100-600 people at a time. The average lifespan of the "Old Ones" was roughly 35-40 years. They were short and really good climbers.

I also took a few videos using the GoPro but blogger doesn't want me to upload those. Basically as we were driving the canyon floor I stuck the stick with the GoPro out the window and recorded the view around me. 

TTFN,

Ashley

Lovely tour guide Leona

Day Four: Chinle, AZ

We left Williams,AZ at 8am and made several stops on our way to Chinle,AZ

Our first stop was just an hour away and it was Meteor Crater. This was a fun stop and very informative. Did you know that we have 3 back-up plans in case a meteor hits Earth today? I didn`t.

Our next stop was actually to drive through the Petrified Forrest/Painted Desert. We stopped along the way and the best part was FREE, Walt and I bought a national park pass at the Grand Canyon so we could get in for free everywhere else. 

 Here is some of the wood that we got to look at. A majority of it is reddish due to the land containing a lot of Iron in it.

This is a bridge of petrified wood. Back in 1901 there wasn`t anything underneath to support it so in 1963 they built cement pillars underneath to help preserve it.

Here is one of many views we were able to see of the Painted Desert











We are now in Chinle, AZ and will be taking a Jeep Tour tomorrow out on the reservation. Just trying to stay cool in this dry heat.

TTFN,
Ashley