Navajo Food Run - May, 2010

The food runs are sponsored by Adopt-a-Native Elder. They are held at a variety of remote locations across the huge Navajo reservation because the Navajos tend to live on their land, not in towns or villages. These elders often don’t have running water or electricity. We were in some pretty remote areas, and the elders came from even more remote places to join us.

Pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/aldixon3/NavajoFoodRunAdventure#

Day 1: Monday, May 3 - Our drive from Green Valley to Winslow, AZ
We drove up route 77 from Tucson to Globe and were reminded of the beauty of the San Pedro Valley. En route from Globe to Payson, we stopped at the Tonto National Monument, which protects cliff dwellings of the Salado people. We watched a very good video about the monument, but we did not climb up to the cliff dwellings as there were killer bees in the area. The hillside leading up to the dwelling was covered with yellow brittle bush and was gorgeous. The brittle bush all along our journey was a bit past its prime, but still beautiful. The view out over Roosevelt Lake from the monument was also worth the short detour up to the monument. The entire drive to Payson was pretty – past the Roosevelt Dam.


Payson was also very pretty – pine trees, cool temperatures. It reminded us of Show Low, AZ and Flagstaff. More a mountain town than a desert town. It would be a good place to visit when GV gets really hot. We had a not-so-luxurious lunch at a Burger King, but we did sit outside on a beautiful day.

We arrived in Winslow about 3 p.m. and took a quick drive through downtown as we searched for our hotel, La Posada. They are totally redoing the historic downtown streets, trying to cash in on Winslow’s history with Route 66 and the Eagles “Standing on a Corner in Winslow, AZ”. They are doing a major overhaul, but they still have a long way to go. The La Posada Hotel was built in 1930 by the Santa Fe railroad as one of their Fred Harvey hotels. Winslow was the major hub for the Santa Fe RR in the Southwest. Mary Jane Colter designed the hotel, grounds, furniture, china – everything! She had designed other hotels for Fred Harvey, such as El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, but never the whole enchilada, so to speak. It was also the last of the Fred Harvey hotels to be built.



The hotel was built around a “fantasy” history – created to resemble a hacienda that would have been built over several generations (but was actually built in less than 2 years). It had beautiful hand painted windows, an orangerie connecting the main building with a west wing, “linmosaic’ floors – mosaics made from linoleum, so they were quieter than tile. We learned all of this from a great video narrated by the current owner and rehabilitator of the hotel. The RR closed the hotel in 1957 and auctioned off all of the contents. No one would buy the hotel (route 40 had by then put the kiss of death on Winslow, diverting traffic from route 66) so the RR gutted the interior and turned it into a 1960’s era office building, complete with cubicles and acoustical tile drop ceilings. It was used as the RR offices in Santa Fe until the early 1990’s. The National Historic Trust put the building on a watch list as the RR was planning to tear it down, and the current buyer saw the notice and bought the place. There is still much work to be done on the hotel, but it is very nice at this point. We stayed in the Mary Pickford room. The hotel restaurant is the Turquoise Room with a famous chef who creates delicious and unusual meals using as many local ingredients as he can get. Arthur had Navajo churro lamb, and I had a vegetarian meal with an absolutely scrumptious cheese-stuffed pepper among other delights.

Day 2: Tuesday, May 4 - Our drive from Winslow to Chinle, AZ
We got an early start, hoping to stop at the Homolovi State Park when it opened at 8. Unfortunately, it was a victim of the AZ legislature’s theft of the state park funds and it was closed. We continued on to Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation, planning to visit the Cultural Center and Museum, which was to open at 9. When we arrived, the sign said open but the door was locked. The gentleman in the gift store said the person in charge was over at the restaurant. We looked around for a while but finally gave up and headed to First Mesa, where we were assured there would be a visitor’s center that provided walking tours of Walpi.

I was a little worried about the road to Walpi as one of the tour books talked about it being a nerve-wracking drive along a cliff! Fortunately, there was a guard rail and the drive was not too bad. Just as promised, the visitor’s center was open at 10 and a tour was starting then. We had a short lecture about the Hopi and Walpi before walking to and around the village. It is perched WAY UP on First Mesa with commanding views in all directions. It was built in 900 A.D. making it the second oldest Hopi Village, next to one on Third Mesa. Only 3 people live in Walpi full-time now as there is no running water or electricity. The families still own the homes and use them for holidays and ceremonies. It reminded us exactly of Acoma, which makes perfect sense since they are both Pueblo tribes. Our tour guide, a young woman, was excellent. She told us about the Hopi matrilineal society, the clans, life today, and lots more. We tasted pika (?) bread made from blue flour and ashes that was very tasty.

We arrived in Chinle about 2 (Navajo time, with daylight savings time) and went to our first meeting for the Food Run. There was lots they hadn’t told us and it looks like we will be working very hard loading potatoes, digging out sand around the “Shade House”, cooking stew. AND we have to sit on the ground at a blessing ceremony for 3 hours. Arthur is wondering once again what I have gotten him into (and I have a few questions myself…).

Day 3: Wednesday, May 5 - Ceremony at Many Farms
Wow, this may stack up as one of Arthur’s least favorite days of his life, pershaps with good reason. We were instructed to begin a fast at 8:00 a.m. so that we would know what it is like to go without food. So we had a big breakfast at 7:00☺. Then we met the rest of the volunteers at the Basha’s grocery store for food shopping (me) and potato loading (Arthur). We headed out to the home of Elizabeth, one of the elders, where the Many Farms food run is always held, about 13 miles north of Chinle. I was assigned kitchen duty, so I spent the morning in Elizabeth’s small kitchen with about 6 other women (some Navajo) peeling and cutting vegetables to make soup and pasta salad for the 40 plus volunteers and member of Elizabeth’s family. It was very hot in the kitchen with the stove on even though the temperature outside was very pleasant. All of the women volunteers were told we had to wear long skirts during the food runs out of respect for the elders. We were surprised to see all of the non-Elder Navajo women wearing pants! Anyway, after we arrived, one veteran woman suggested it was always good to wear pants or jeans under the skirt because it is often windy and because we would be sitting on the ground a lot (now they tell me….). So I started the day with pants under my skirt, but I soon abandoned them as I was so hot in the kitchen I thought I would pass out. I thought many times during the morning of Arthur’s sister, Susan, who is one of the most action-oriented “let’s just get the job done” people I know – no time for whining – and was inspired to make the best of the situation.

Meanwhile, Arthur was outside unloading boxes and trying to stay busy. He finally went back to town for about 30 minutes before returning for the big opening ceremony. We had forgotten to bring a blanket to sit on, not realizing we would be required to sit on the dirt floor of the “Shade House” (basically what I think of as a lean-to, except it didn’t lean) which had 4 walls and a roof, but you could see daylight between the boards. Fortunately, the south wall was made of plywood, which. provided a better windbreak than the other walls. This became particularly critical as the wind picked up to around 30 – 40 miles per hour, blasting us with sand from the surrounding “fields” – huge open spaces with virtually no vegetation. One middle –aged Navajo told me when he was a child they didn’t have such sandstorms but now the fields have been overgrazed. Fortunately, we had an old piece of carpet in the back of the Jeep we used to protect the back end when loaded, so we sat on that (and loaded the potatoes directly onto the unprotected floor of the Jeep).

The opening ceremony was an attempt to have us experience a traditional Navajo ceremony. Linda, the leader of Adopt-a-Native-Elder (ANE), led it. Elizabeth, the Elder at whose home we were, participated so everything that was said had to be translated into Navajo. Linda spoke about the importance of quiet, of our culture getting too separated from nature and dependent on electronics for communication. She had given us all the assignment of taking a walk before we came, spreading some corn pollen (which she sent us) as an offering, and bringing something with us from our walk. We then had to sit and listen as more than 40 people told about their walk, how they were inspired, what they brought with them (and from some, a description of their whole spiritual life; give some people the floor and they take it……). And, of course, all of this had to be translated into Navajo, which partially explains why even though we had started at noon, we were still at it at 3:00 p.m. (remember we were also still fasting!). It was a glimpse of eternity for both of us. I have to say yoga helped me survive both physically and spiritually – I decided the only way to survive was to surrender, and it worked pretty well. I was also mesmerized watching piles of sand form on Arthur’s shoulders.

Once the ceremony was finally over, I had to help serve lunch in my role as kitchen help, and finally ate lunch about 4:00 p.m. It is not a good week to try to lose weight as we feed crowds on a tight budget – lots of carbs, including Navajo fry bread, which I can’t pass up! When we finally arrived back at our motel, all we could think about was taking a shower to rid of the grit covering us. It was hard knowing that more wind was forecast for Thursday, and we would be right back in the same place for the Food Run.

Day 4: Thursday, May 6 - Food Run at Many Farms
We arrived at the restaurant at our Best Western motel at 7:00 for our breakfast meeting to start the day. It lasted until about 8:30, and we were due to line up for the caravan to the Food Run at 9:00. Once we are all lined up in our cars, they were “smudged”. This consists of one of the guys lighting a bundle of sage and spreading the smoke around the group of cars. I need to find out exactly what the significance of this is. The wind was stronger this a.m. than it had been yesterday, which was not a good omen. I was assigned the pasta salad-making detail today, and Arthur was on the “Box” team, unloading and arranging food boxes, 20 lb bags of Bluebird flour, 10 lb bags of potatoes and onions in preparation for distribution to the Elders. I enjoyed visiting with several Navajo women in the kitchen, many of them sisters of Elizabeth, in whose home we were. (It isn’t clear exactly what a “sister” is in Navajo society, given the clan structure, being born “to” one clan and “for” another and uncle/aunt/brother/sister relationships defined an a way different from our way.)

At 11:00 all of the volunteers were told to report to the Shade House for the beginning of the Food Run meeting. The Elders (about 40) were all seated at tables, many of them accompanied by one or more of their children and grandchildren. There must have been 100 of them plus 4o plus of us in a fairly small room. There was no room to maneuver, that’s for sure. We stood at the front of the room – little did we know, we would still be standing there 2 ½ hours later☺.

We started with a Navajo prayer that lasted a long time. After that, Linda introduced all of us, telling where we were from and whether it was our first Food Run. And once again everything had to be translated into Navajo. After that, Linda enlisted the Elders in some play – games and singing, with gifts to the participants, for example: having men choose purses with gifts in them—big prize a $25 gift card to Walmart; handing around a doll in a papoose thingy and having 4 people sing it to sleep with Navajo lullabies—men as well as women; sending around a stuffed toy sheep she said needed to be herded because she didn’t get a chance to herd her sheep that day. One male was to say “bingo” as the sheep was passed and a gift given to whoever held it at that point, but Linda told the person when to say bingo. Stories that had been submitted were given awards. Toys and prizes were given to kids by age. Some elders brought gifts for the program—mostly rugs they had woven; some personal gifts for Linda or another.

The Navajos were good sports, making up funny lullabies, laughing at themselves and others in a good-natured way, etc. Then black plastic garbage bags were handed to the people in the program only (the others there—elders wanting to get in; family members) and giveaways were done: towels, hatchets, cleaning supplies, cookies, much other stuff. Volunteers were assigned to hand out these giveaways as the elders held out their bags. Then personal giveaways volunteers had brought were distributed. After the giveaways, the volunteers went through the food line to load up clamshells for the elders and gave them out, only to those elders in the program, as directed by Elinda according to male-elder-first rules. Then the male volunteers made plates for themselves, going first so they would be ready to load boxes into cars. Then the women volunteers made plates and stashed them to eat later and served all the people not elders in the program. We fed over 100 people each day. The volunteers ate wherever they could find a place—sitting on the floor in the storage building the first day, during the sandstorm. After the meal, some elders brought out their rugs and jewelry to sell and others brought up their cars/trucks to be loaded. After all the loading was done and the kitchen staff had cleaned up, we left.

As a kitchen helper, I (Jane) was assigned as a server for the dessert table. The desserts were brought by the Elders, and I found myself distributing doughnuts to the Navajos; I felt pretty guilty, given all we hear about the diabetes epidemic. A very nice young Navajo woman, Christine, and her 13-year-old daughter were next to me serving the fry bread. I was shocked when Christine told me she had 10 more children! They range in age from 3 to 16, including two sets of twins. Most of the other children were in attendance as well, and I met many of them. They were very well-behaved. Christine and her husband seem to be doing a great job in what I would consider an impossible task. I was sure ready when I had the chance to sit (finally) and eat about 2:30.

Poor Arthur spent several hours out in the sandstorm loading food boxes into the Elders’ cars. He looked more like a bank robber than a Good Samaritan with his bandana-covered face. We finally dragged our gritty bodies home for another eagerly anticipated shower about 4:30.

Day 5: Friday, May 6 – Sunrise Ceremony and evening Food Run at Tsaille
Arthur’s description of the Sunrise Ceremony: This morning we participated in a sunrise ceremony on the rim of Canyon de Chelly starting at 5.30 am. The ceremony was led by Linda, head of the ANE program, and her partner, Rodger, a Navajo. It was 42 degrees with a wind chill I'd estimate at no more than 30 degrees. We sat on cold, living rock in a circle while Rodger did some Navajo stuff-- actually, very nice--and then did some sharing and listened to Linda tell stories about characters named "Why am I here" and Where am I going"--journeying around talking to eagles, coyotes, bears, etc. and intone "restore my feet, restore my feet . . ." and various other body parts for quite some time. I had on a fleece and a windbreaker, Jane about the same. It took me several hours to warm up. During the ceremony we did a giant circular hug, etc. etc. There has been a lot of this kind of thing.

We didn’t have to leave for the Food Run until 3:00 p.m. so we had a little free time in Chinle. There is not much to do in Chinle. We went to the visitor’s center for Canyon de Chelly and then to the local market. Every Friday vendors set up in a large, dusty field at the edge of town and sell products not otherwise available in Chinle. (Chinle has a grocery store and a couple of convenience marts, nothing more). Tires, used clothing, shoes, sheep, and fresh vegetables are what I remember. Not a lot. After a nap, we lined up for the caravan to Tsaille.

The Food Run was held at the community college in Tsaille. Of course, the wind finally died down as we arrived, but this time the run was to be indoors! The facility is beautiful, but we had no access to a kitchen, which makes it hard to serve a meal and clean up. We spent a lot of time in the restrooms filling pots with water. We served sloppy joes and taco salad that we made along with lots of good stuff brought by the elders and their families – blue corn mush, corn, beans, chicken, etc. The room was large and made it easy to move around and interact with the Navajo elders and their families. They are a very reserved people, but were extremely grateful for everything we were doing for them.

The party atmosphere made for a fun evening, especially after the long, hard winter during which many of the elders were unable to get out. We had a fun conversation with two sisters who live with their grandmother since their parents' divorce. They were amazed at how tall we are! Delightful young ladies. Arthur and I bought a beautiful rug from one of the “grandma” elders. It is a “butterfly” pattern, which we have not seen very often.

The meal and program did not end until almost 9 p.m. We had an amazingly fast clean-up including cleaning, taking down and re-packing our “kitchen”, folding up all of the tables and chairs, and mopping the floor so we were able to start back to Chinle before 10. We arrived about 10:30, exhausted and knowing we had to get up at 5:30 for a 6:30 breakfast meeting before heading out to the Pinon Food Run.

Day 6: Saturday, May 8 – Pinon food Run and drive to Sedona
This was a big day for us as we were to meet our adopted elders, Ruth and Sam, who live near Pinon. We drove FOREVER to get to a home where the Food Run was to be held. Although it is called the Pinon run, we drove about 30 minutes beyond Pinon (which is an hour from Chinle), to a very isolated spot, the last several miles over dirt roads. Arthur and many others were elated to see the outhouse when we finally arrived at the site. I opted to wait for the other outhouse, a little farther away that had a door and a seat, unlike the first one we encountered.

This run was held entirely outdoors with the elders and their families sitting in a semi-circle facing the porch of the house. It followed the same routine as the other two drives. I, however, was excused from much of my kitchen duty to spend time with our elders and their family members. Our elders were accompanied by their daughter, Ida Charley, and their granddaughters, Emerald (ager 10) and April (age 9). Ida spoke excellent English, while the elders spoke almost none. Ida told me she has worked at the coal mine near Kayenta for 30 years. She said her mother had been hoping we would be there, and that she brought me a very pretty beaded necklace she had made. We also met Ruth’s sister, Victoria, who is in the program. It was great to be able to put faces with names and interact with this delightful family.

Once again, the wind picked up, but due to the higher elevation there were pinon trees and other vegetation, we didn’t have the kind of sandstorm effect we had at Many Farms. We bought a small place mat sized “rug" from 12-year old Sandy, who is learning to weave from her “Aunty”. We finished the clean-up and left about 2:30, following as Linda led a long line of cars over a gravel road toward Second Mesa and the highway to Winslow. All of those in the procession other than us were heading to the next food runs that would be conducted in the Winslow area. We were headed to Sedona for a little R and R after our exhausting week.


Day 8: Sunday, May 9 – Sedona
We hadn’t been to Sedona for almost 20 years and were amazed at how much it has grown. Although we knew red rocks surround it, we had forgotten how up close and personal they are! After now having spent a lot more time in the West, we realize what a unique location this is, living among the rocks as opposed to viewing them in a park. We were too tired to do much, but we did some gallery-hopping and a nice drive on Red Rock Loop Drive. I also came down with a cold.

Day 9: Monday, May 10 - Back home to Green Valley
As planned, we stopped in Phoenix at the Emser Tile Company to purchase Wedi board for my mosaic projects. It has taken me months to finally locate a supplier of this magic product. And we couldn’t go through Phoenix without a stop at Ikea. We even managed to make it a lunch stop! Doesn’t get much better than that☺. Two hours later we were back at home in Green Valley - sick (me), tired, and happy we went but also happy to be back home.

Days 11-12: Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque

Day 11: Tuesday, October 20 – Tulsa and Oklahoma City

What a great day! It began at the Gilcrease Museum of Art in Tulsa. This is a relatively small museum that is best known for its art of the American West. The collection is amazing! Thomas Gilcrease was a 1/8 part Indian who received 160 acres of land from the government. This 160 acres happened to be part of the largest oil deposits in the U.S. He became a millionaire by age 21. He wanted to do something meaningful with his money and decided to amass an important art collection. He succeeded! Not only did he make individual purchases, he bought entire collections, including 2000 pieces from Thomas Moran’s estate. He had a close relationship with the artists in the Taos school and bought hundreds of their paintings. The collection also includes Indian artifacts from all over the western hemisphere, as well as other significant historical objects such as an original draft of the Declaration of Independence. It really is one of the most amazing collections I have ever seen, and it is also presented in a very manageable and educational way. Definitely worth another trip since we had only allotted about 3 hours for the visit. We were also told that the Philbrooke Art Museum in Tulsa is well worth a visit.

We traveled on to Oklahoma City and stopped at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The building and grounds are spectacular, but the collection is not nearly as thorough or interesting as the Gilcrease. Fortunately, we did ask for a recommendation for a good, local Mexican restaurant. Chelinos in Bricktown was recommended. We arrived there late on a warm, sunny afternoon and were amazed and excited to find that Bricktown is a revival of an old warehouse district with shops and restaurants along a canal. We walked the length of the canal and back to explore the whole district. They have a baseball stadium along the canal as well, which is home to their AA baseball team. This area is what Richmond has been trying to build for 20 years, to no avail. The city fathers in Richmond need to visit OK City. We had a delicious dinner at Chelinos. During dinner we had a call from someone who may be interested in buying our MD condo, so the good day continued.

Day 12: -Tuesday, 10/21 – OK City to Albuquerque
Another great day. We drove through a major rain system, but were relieved to miss most of the hard rain. We arrived in Albuquerque about 3 p.m. Mountain time – I love it when we gain an hour, which we will do two days in a row! We checked into Casas Des Suenos near Old Town, the terrific B&B (really more like a small hotel) that we had stayed in a couple of years ago. We toured Old Town and found a couple of great art galleries we had somehow missed on past trips. We then walked to the St. Clair Winery Tasting Room & Bistro where we tasted several wines and really loved one of the cabernet sauvignons. We stayed and had dinner at the Bistro and were pleasantly surprised by the creative, tasty and reasonably priced meals. I had a chicken breast stuffed with pine nuts, green chiles and other assorted unusual ingredients. We both ordered from the special harvest menu and were treated to a wide variety of fresh vegetables: bok choy, acorn squash, okra, corn, slice of sweet potato and some cute little yellow miniature squash. It was delicious. Fortunately we had to walk almost a mile back to the B&B.

I have been negligent in this blog, failing to mention 3 recurring themes of the trip. First, this is our maiden voyage with Arthur's IPhone. It has been extremely helpful throughout the trip to have access to local maps and weather, not to mention 24/7 access to answers to any question that pops into our head. He has apps that identify the song on the radio, translate Spanish - amazing. Second, the price of gas is always interesting, especially given that our trip last year occurred when gasoline cost almost $4. Luckily for us, this year the average has been about $2.50 per gallon - except, of course, in Canada where it was $.96 per liter! Yes, at $3.60 a gallon, it was close to what we paid last year. Needless to say, we didn't fill the tank there, just added enough to get us back to the States. I think I mentioned earlier that Canada is expensive! Finally, we are clearly part of what I call the "miGRAYtion", surrounded by lots of gray-haired couples heading southwest in their very large recreational vehicles.

Days 5 - 10: October 14 - 19 Dearborn to Tulsa

Our day at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI was really cold, which made it hard to enjoy the experience. The Village is 90 acres of historic buildings that Henry Ford purchased and moved there. They include old farm buildings, homes, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, and much more. We particularly enjoyed the pottery and weaving studios (learning all about the invention of the jacquaard loom) and a courthouse from Logan County, IL, in which Abe Lincoln tried cases before he was elected President. We had a fun ride around the entire complex in an old Ford bus. It would have been much more enjoyable in warmer weather. It is great that Henry Ford preserved all of this history. I do think, however, that having historical objects or buildings in their original settings and context enhances the learning experience.

We arrived in Champaign IL on Wednesday evening and spent the weekend at my mother’s home, visiting with friends and family. Two nights were devoted to my 40^th Class reunion, which was fun even though attendance was not great. I saw many people I hadn’t seen since high school. It was cold every day that we were in Illinois, and the sun finally came out on Sunday, our last day. We had an up close "Wild Kingdom" kind of experience watching a hawk devour a squirrel in my mother’s back yard.

On Monday, October 19, we headed to Tulsa, OK, where we rediscovered warm sunshine! It feels so good. Temperatures reached the upper 70’s. It was the first time we didn’t need a coat in a week. Since this was the 4^th time we have driven this route through Missouri, it wasn’t too exciting. We did see a town named ARTHUR in IL and another named DIXON in Missouri. It is always fun to see the St. Louis Arch along the Mississippi River, too. We also witnessed lots of stimulus funds in action on the interstate highways. Good Bar-B-Q for lunch at Buckingham’s in Springfield MO, and very bad Chinese food, advertised as Vietnamese, in Tulsa.

MD to AZ, Fall '09 - Days 1-4

Day 1: Saturday 10/10 - MD to Gettysburg
We arrived in Gettysburg before noon after a very easy trip from Solomons. The new Visitor’s Center and Museum is really nice. It was tremendously crowded, however, full of Boy Scouts. We really enjoyed the movies in the Museum, describing the 3-day battle. Because it was so crowded we had to park up near the end of the Battlefield Tour, which meant a nice walk through the woods to get to the Visitor’s Center. We also were positioned to walk to the battlefields and monuments of the big 3rd day of fighting, which included The Copse and The Angle, the site of Pickett’s Charge. Of course, we also visited the National Cemetery, site of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address.

The traffic through Gettysburg was horrendous. The hotel desk clerk told us it was homecoming weekend and the apple festival. We also saw LOTS of small soccer players and their families. The earliest reservation available at the “drunken scallops” restaurant that had been recommended to us was 9:15! Way too late for us. Although we ended up at Ruby Tuesday, our consolation prize was a beautiful orange/pink sunset.

Day 2: Sunday, 10/11 - Gettysburg to Niagara Falls
Our drive along the Susquehanna River was disappointing due to dense fog for most of the trip. We had a couple of sightings of the river, but for the most part we were all fogged in. At least the trees had started to change, so the land views were good. The drive through the Alleghany Mountains was gorgeous, with the fall color peaking. We spent almost 3 hours at the Museum of Glass in Corning, NY. It was amazing – you could say we were blown away by it! The museum covered glassmaking from 1500 B.C. to today, including a huge new collection of works since 1968 donated by a couple from Chicago (named Heineman). Glass in every way, shape and form. Unbelievable.

We had to sit for a long time to get across the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, Ontario. The toll booth person said it was due to the conclusion a little earlier of the Buffalo Bills football game. He also advised us against coming back across the next day (which we had planned to do to take in the view of the falls from the American side) because it would be Canadian Thanksgiving – who knew?!- and the waiting time would be even longer!

Day 3: Monday, 10/12 Thanksgiving, Canadian Style
I have now seen Niagara Falls, from both sides. We discovered that pedestrian’s can cross the Rainbow Bridge, so we walked over to the American side and back. It was not all that far. The falls are amazing, perhaps more for their power than beauty – they are mesmerizing, like the geysers at Yellowstone. It was cold, about 40 degrees when we arrived at the Falls this a.m. and never got above 45. Fortunately we both had wool sweaters with us, and I had my gloves. The wind was blowing the spray from Horseshoe Falls up onto the land so hard it was like a rainstorm. We were also fortunate to have had our rain jackets in the car (the advantage of a cross country move, having all of our possesions with us), but that didn’t keep our pants dry. It was really a driving rain – almost sleety. We didn’t feel any need to take a boat ride down by the falls to get closer to the spray.

We stayed near Niagara-on-the-Lake, so drove up the Niagara Parkway for our return trip. It is an upscale, quaint, scenic town – reminded me a little of St. Michaels, MD. We were surprised to find that this is a huge wine growing area. We must have seen 50 vineyards by the time we left the region. They specialize in ice wines, which does seem appropriate for Canadian wineries…. We ate dinner at the Hillebrand Winery and had a delicious meal, with truffle & mushroom broth as a starter, followed by venison for me and beef rib eye for Arthur, both fixed with very unusual sides and flavors (I had goat cheese au gratin something that didn’t taste like anything I had ever had before). We started the meal with their sparkling wine and had their cabernet sauvignon with the meal, and they were both very good. Who would have thought?! Canadian wine?!! We also decided food is expensive in Canada, and we wish we had visited in the old days when the U.S. dollar was worth a lot more.

Day 4: Tuesday, 10/13 - Back to the U.S. A.
We drove across Ontario, headed to the Detroit area. That part of Ontario looked just like Ohio, or most anywhere else in the U.S. Midwest – corn and beans, beans and corn. There were a few more trees than we usually see in the Midwest, and the leaves had turned, so that made for better views.

We spent a couple of hours at the Henry Ford Museum. It was an unusual place. It is basically a museum of manmade things, much the like the Smithsonian Museum of American History, only more focused on transportation and industrialization. Lots of great old cars, as you would expect. Also, a really cool “Dymaxion” house designed by Buckminster Fuller in 1946 to be made from airplane parts and aluminum. It was actually somewhat appealing, even though it was like living in a round Airstream trailer. We weren't surprised to learn that only 2 prototypes were built because he couldn’t get enough investors. We decided the Museum was worth a stop if you were here for some other reason, but not worth a trip. Tomorrow we go to Greenfield Village, another part of the Henry Ford historical complex.

The people at our hotel directed us to the Big Fish restaurant in Dearborn for dinner. For some reason, the folks at Big Fish LOVE to get out-of-towners into their restaurant: they had printed copies of today’s menu with personal greetings for us, we were given the choice of a free appetizer or dessert (we had calamari that was the best we have ever eaten), the manager came to check on us several times, and then the chef came out and introduced himself. I mean this is better service than the Inn at Little Washington, which cost mega-times more. The food was delicious and the price very reasonable.

Pictures of trip at http://picasaweb.google.com/aldixon3

Home, Sweet Home

Monday, 9/22/08 – At Home in Green Valley

We left very early, a little before daylight as it turned out, which made the 14 mile drive on the narrow, curvy road exciting. I kept picturing a deer running out into the road and us (me) either driving into the Colorado River or a wall of rocks trying to avoid it. Luckily, there were no animals and not much traffic, so we made it safely into Moab.

We drove 611 miles today and just shy of 4500 for the trip. We arrived in Green Valley a little after 4. Gaining an hour when we got to AZ was a real psychological lift. Everything looks great in our place, although it is fairly dusty. The Miata wouldn’t start, but some jumper cables should fix that. Arthur had called the cable company from the car to get everything started, so we even had internet and TV waiting for us. And we even had a wonderful home-cooked dinner thanks to Arthur, which was a real treat after a month of restaurant food.

Now we look forward to settling in for awhile. Traveling is great, but it is awfully good to be home.

Arches and Canyonlands

Friday, 9/19 – Sunday, 9/21

We had a pretty exciting day today, driving from Price, UT to Moab. We covered less than 150 miles, but about 95 of them were on gravel roads. We began the day headed toward the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. It is about 30 miles outside of Price, in the middle of nowhere. The directions say to go to Elmo and then follow the signs. I don’t know if we can’t follow signs or they can’t post them, but we got lost right away. These roads didn’t even show up on the GPS. Fortunately, a couple of women in a pick-up truck came by and assured us that the road we were on would get us back to where there were signs. We did finally get there, only to find about 6 cars already there – 15 minutes before it was due to open. As it turned out, a 4th grade class from a Lutheran school in Salt Lake City was there on a field trip. A crowd in the middle of nowhere, and I mean nowhere! It made us feel a little better when the teacher, who had been there 10 or 12 times, said her group got lost trying to find it, too.

Anyway, it was a very cool place. They have found thousands of dinosaur bones in a 3-foot deep layer of earth. They have found no skeletons still intact, but all of the bones are very well preserved. Most of the bones are from carnivorous dinosaurs, which they said is very unusual. They can’t figure out why so many were in this particular place and why the bones were in such good shape, but all jumbled up. They have a small museum and also one shed open to the public that has replicas of the bones placed exactly where the real bones were found. There were some really huge bones found there.

We then headed south toward the Wedge Overlook over the Little Grand Canyon created in the San Raphael Swell. This was a better marked drive, but also on gravel roads. The Wedge Overlook was an amazing view of a canyon that did look very much like a smaller Grand Canyon. It is a thousand feet deep (as opposed to over 5000 in the real GC), but has much of the same beautiful sandstone cliffs and coloring found in the Grand Canyon. Next we drove to the Buckhorn Wash Road that goes right through the canyon – how great is that?! You don’t even have to hike into and out of it. The best parts of the drive were that there were hardly any other cars there (we saw maybe 3 on the whole drive) and the amazing pictographs on a canyon wall made by the Barrier Canyon people over 2000 years ago. They are beautiful and unlike any we have ever seen. They are larger than life and painted on the rock in bright reds and yellows, and occasionally blues and greens. The figures are larger and far more intricate and detailed than any of the other pictographs or petroglyphs (carvings in the desert varnish on the rocks) that we have seen.

After completing the drive through the Wash, we finally arrived at Interstate 70 to head east toward Green River. We got on at what has to be the most amazing scenery on an interstate in the country. The road went down through Spotted Wolf Canyon, a very steep and gorgeous area. I guess it was one of the last sections of interstate completed due to the difficulty of getting through this section.

We stopped in Green River to see the John Wesley Powell Museum. Powell was the first to navigate the Green River and into the Colorado all the way to the Gulf of California. They have a great orientation movie about the journey. The museum was small, but well done.

The final leg of the day’s journey was on to Moab. I did a great job of booking a room at the Red Cliff Lodge outside of Moab. The Lodge is beautifully set on the banks of the Colorado River among the red cliffs of the canyon. Our room was very large with a nice sitting area and a patio that looks over the river. The downside, as it turned out, is that the Lodge is 14 miles outside of Moab -14 miles on a narrow, two lane road that follows the Colorado River through its canyon. At the end of a long day of driving it seemed like a very long drive. And on Saturday a.m. as we drove back down this road toward town, there were hundreds of bicyclers participating in the Moab Century Race, which made for an even more exciting drive.

The food there was very good and reasonably priced compared to the lodges in the National Parks (sky high, we thought). We had three excellent dinners there, including Arthur’s elk medallions. And this place is a winery, too. We liked the merlot (yes, in spite of Sideways) and one of the red table wines, but the whites were way too sweet.

When we arrived on Friday, there were several fancy cars (Porsche, Maserati, BMW) with signs on that said Peak to Peak Rally. They left on Saturday, and then about ten old Jaguars arrived. They were having their own rally. I guess Moab is a road rally kind of place. There were also bunches of Range Rovers traveling around in packs, including one strange truck-like vehicle unlike any Arthur had ever seen.

The scenery around this area, with its radiant red rocks and major geological upheavals, is amazing. We visited Arches National Park on Saturday and Canyonlands on Sunday. Arches was really crowded, and there were plenty of folks at Canyonlands, too, especially considering how remote most of the park is. We have been studying all of the geological information at the Visitors Centers trying to get the different strata of rocks straight in our heads. It is mind boggling, but we (Arthur especially) are making a little progress. How long we will remember any of it is the question.

We can’t get over the number of Europeans here. We have been at lots of stops in this area when we heard far more German being spoken than English. And the number of rented RV’s is almost scary – Cruiseamerica, which we have seen in the past, plus RoadbearRV and El Monte. We think only Europeans could afford rental RV’s these days. I had heard some shopkeepers in Cody, WY saying that Yellowstone had 30,000 more visitors this year than last, but attendance at the Museum in Cody was down. After spending a couple of weeks in the Parks, it occurs to me that the increase is due to foreign visitors who are probably less likely to visit a museum of American history.

Arthur has developed what we call the “Dorothy” syndrome: i.e., “There’s no place like home.” Fortunately, we go home tomorrow. We have been on the road more than 3 weeks, and in some ways, it seems longer (I have forgotten what our regular life is like). We have seen and learned a lot. I have been surprised that living out of a suitcase has not been a big issue for me. I think, however, that the pace of touring and sightseeing has had its impact. We are both fairly worn out. And I have really missed my regular exercise.

On to Utah

Wednesday, 9/17

We left Grand Tetons after another early morning of wildlife viewing. We saw a moose cow with calf and also another moose come through the parking lot before climbing down to the Willow Flats wilderness area. There were lots of trumpeting elk bulls and not many females in sight (not sure which causes which?!).

We opted to skip another night in Jackson and head to Logan, Utah. The drive was beautiful. We first followed the Snake River south through its Grand Canyon, which was very pretty, although not much like THE Grand Canyon. At Alpine, WY we stopped at the Yankee Doodle Café (attached to the Red, White and Brew) for a late breakfast. Everything in the place was red, white and blue, and they served only American Toast (none of the French stuff…). I was a little worried about this choice given the “Obama ‘08” bumper sticker on our car, but all was OK. The next part of the drive was through the Star Valley, a broad, beautiful agricultural valley where more hay was being harvested than we had ever seen. It must be a big dairy area, because we did see lots of cows and a cheese co-operative.

We went into Idaho, a first for both Arthur and me. We stopped at the Oregon/California Trail Museum in Montpelier, ID, which didn’t have much, but it did make us think of those pioneers who went through here. In St. Charles, ID we saw a sign commemorating the birthplace of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore, which we had just visited (was that really part of this trip?!).

After driving along Bear Lake, we headed up through Logan Canyon, which turned out to be another beautiful drive with views back over the Lake and then very high canyon walls on each side of the road. There are lots of deciduous trees scattered throughout the canyon, many of which are starting to turn. There were some absolutely gorgeous red/orange trees and bushes at their prime; many yellows were also coming out. Some of the aspen trees at the Grant Tetons had begun to turn, and we have continued to see patches of these all day on the drive.

Once in Logan, we made a short drive through the campus of Utah Sate University. We have heard from friends in AZ that the University has a summer program for retirees who want to get out of the heat. They offer campus apartments for rent and short-term classes. We also stopped at the Visitor Center in the recently remodeled old Court House and had a nice visit with the volunteer manning the office. We strolled through the downtown, which is in very good shape – two book stores, two bike stores, a fabric store and numerous clothing stores. All of this in spite of a mall on the outskirts of town.

On the recommendation of the volunteer at the visitor center, we had dinner at La Nonne, a delightful Italian restaurant in a remodeled old house. We sat on the patio and had a delicious dinner.

Thursday, 9/18 –

At breakfast at the hotel Arthur spotted a young man with an unusual T-shirt. It looked very broken in and originally said Cleveland Browns. That had been crossed out with a magic marker and Pittsburgh Steelers written in the same magic marker in its place. Arthur asked the young man the story of the shirt. He said it was his friend’s favorite shirt, and he had borrowed it and had not given it back. He was not sure of its history with the friend, but since he has it now, he is wearing it on his drive across the country and having his picture taken in it at all of the major tourist spots and then sending them to his friend. Pretty funny.

After breakfast, we headed south to Price, UT to the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. We had a guided tour of the Museum by Manon, a freshman at the college who came from Massachusetts to study dinosaurs. She really loves them! Half of the museum tells the story of Utah’s rich dinosaur history. They have found thousand of bones in this area. The other half of the museum is about the people who have lived in this area, especially the Fremont people who were in most of Utah at about the same time as the Ancestral Puebloans (a.k.a. Anasazi) in Mesa Verde. Arthur and I both decided we would have learned more by reading the information in the exhibit, as Manon is still very new at her job. She was, however, very enthusiastic.

We had also hoped to go to the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry south of Price, on Thursday, but it is only open Friday – Sunday, so we have to head that way tomorrow, en route to Moab. While in Price, we have also learned about the San Rafael Swell, which we will drive through tomorrow. There are supposed to be beautiful views and pictographs unlike any we have ever seen before.

Jackson WY and Grand Teton National Park

Sunday, 9/14 – Yellowstone to Jackson

We left the Lake Hotel on a cold, frosty morning with Yellowstone Lake covered in fog. We stopped to see the display about forest fires in Yellowstone at the Grant Village Visitor Center, which was very informative (lodge pole pines have two different kinds of pine cones, one that opens regularly and one that only opens when temperatures reach 113 degrees – who knew?!).

The drive through Grand Teton National Park was as amazing as I had expected – the mountains and surrounding area are almost too beautiful to be real. We arrived in Jackson in time for lunch and a stroll around the local art fair in the historic district. A major highlight was having internet and cell phone access again at the motel– Arthur only had 185 e-mails, which was a bit of a relief.

Jackson turned out not to be our favorite place (even without a Dick Cheney sighting). We think it is expensive, crowded and feels a little closed in with the mountains all around. We were able to find a good Mexican restaurant for dinner within walking distance of our Elk Country Inn with the help of the internet.

Monday, 9/15 – Jackson, WY to Jackson Lake Lodge

We stopped at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson as we headed north to Grand Teton National Park. They currently have a Robert Bateman retrospective that was great, of course. All of the wildlife sculptures on permanent display were amazing, as was the building itself.

The Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at the south end of the Park had a really cool computer animation of the geological history of the Park. We have always said that we need to be able to see what happened over billions of years to even start to understand geology, and this animation took us through all those billions of years of change. The other displays at the center were also very good. And, once again, the building itself (and its setting) is a must-see. After a late lunch at Signal Hill (only average food but outstanding views), we just missed seeing a grizzly bear cross the highway. The rangers were at the turnout with their bear spray in hand.

We love Jackson Lake Lodge – thanks to all of you who recommended our staying here. It is gorgeous and has first class wildlife viewing. We had dinner on the terrace and saw lots of elk and three moose (our first of the trip!). Spotting the animals is a real group effort, with everyone pointing them out to each other. We had so much fun that we are going to cancel our 6:45 p.m. reservations in the nice restaurant tomorrow night in order not to miss prime viewing time. In addition to the wildlife, I spotted some very good friends of my parents from my hometown. Small world.

Tuesday, 9/16 – We saw a Grizzly!

What a day this has been. We were up at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and early morning wildlife viewing. We saw huge a huge elk herd, 3 more moose (maybe the same ones), and I saw my first white pelicans. It was cold out at that early hour – about 35 degrees. After a call about work (I had heard nothing in 6 months, but once I go on vacation….), we drove up Signal Mountain. The views of Jackson Hole were great, and we saw 5 very pretty grouse in the middle of the road and more pronghorns in the fields below us.

We spent the afternoon floating down the Snake River on a “scenic” raft trip (i.e., no white water). It was a beautiful day – warmed up to the mid 70’s – and the raft ride was wonderful. Our guide pointed out all of the major changes in the river from annual spring flooding. The only wildlife we saw were two bald eagles sitting in trees right along the river, an osprey, various ducks, and a couple of beaver lodges (but no beaver).

Upon our return to the hotel, we rested, checked e-mail (the web is very slow here because Microsoft is having a meeting and they are all on their computers constantly) and got cleaned up. We arrived at the wildlife viewing deck about 6:30 just in time to watch a huge grizzly bear making his way across the field behind the hotel. It was perfect – close enough for great viewing, but no chance of being mauled (see Arthur's picture of it on the Picassa site). I had not come here with any idea of seeing a bear, but everyone around us has been talking about it non-stop (it is a real “score” to see one). So, I had become interested in the possibility, and we got really lucky. Now we can go home. Actually, we do leave for Utah tomorrow. We decided we had seen all of Jackson that we needed to see, so instead of going back there as originally scheduled, we are heading into Utah a couple of days early.