MAY

Next stop was Tucson. Mark and Terri just moved from Montana down to Tucson. We went to the Saguaro National Park with them. We hiked around and saw a whole different forest than what we normally hike through. Saguaro Cacti are so impressive. And best of all, they were in full bloom. Perfect timing.

Mark led the way.

The park is divided into two sections the East and West parks.  They are a long way apart. We hiked the East one with Mark and Terri. On the way home, we drove to the West one and saw the sunset. Gorgeous!

These cacti below are from the RV park we stayed in.

                                       

Each night the residents at the RV park can gather for a movie.

The next day we drove to St David to see where John's parents had lived.  But it was closed due to COVID. We drove on to Tombstone. It is a cute tourist town set in the wild west theme.

On the way back, we went to the San Xavier Mission. It is under renovation since the last time we were there, but I was able to walk around a little.

Mt Lemon was our destination the next day. I had no idea what was ahead for us. I just expected a nice drive. It is beautiful and so unexpected to find a snow mountain town in the dessert. As you begin your climb up, you drive through saguaro forest, it changes over to huge boulder formations and then you are up in the pine forest.

Next we left Arizona and crossed into New Mexico. First night was at Silver City. 

The RV park we stayed in was one of my favorites.  Just the kind of park I always want, but it is a rare find. I wished we would have planned on staying longer.

We went to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. When I was in grade school, I studied the native Indians of New Mexico. I was assigned the Pueblo Indians. Ever since, I have been so interested in their culture. It was so good to finally be able to see their homes in person.

Normally, you can go inside them, but because of Covid, we could only observe from the outside. I was still excited to have been so close.

John told me that he thought the imprint on the rock was original footprints. joking of course.

From there we headed for White Sands National Park. Now, I had heard it was a great place, but nothing could have prepared me for the jaw dropping wow! that happened when we arrived.  It is indescribable. I am posting a ton of photos, but even then, it can not be shown how amazing it is. We stayed two days, and saw it at sunset and morning.

The place is huge. It looks like snow, but it is the softest whitest sand I have ever seen. There were not a ton of people there and it was so quiet and peaceful. There were people shooting photos, people on sand disks and people doing wedding and graduation shoots

Put it on your list of places you HAVE to see!!!

Next on my list was Pie Town. I wanted pie. The town is famous for pie. There is nothing there but two pie shops. So we drove there for pie. A  11/2 hour drive. So sad! One of the two restaurants was out of business and the other is closed on Tuesdays! Really? So back home we headed.

Pie was not the only thing on the list for the drive. The Very Large Array was half way to Pie Town. I didn't know exactly what it would be, but it was on the map and seemed like something great. Ummm. No. Nothing great. As we drove towards it, I saw this line to telescopes in a cow field. I said that it could not be it, but sure enough, the GPS said we arrived. We stopped and took some photos. Gates were close due to Covid. But I doubt that inside the gates was anything more than what we saw from the gate. I say, don't waste your time driving to the VLArray unless you are already going that way. And for sure, check the dates before you go for pie in Pie Town. 

We did see a goat and some pronghorn.

And on the way to Socorro, we drove through a huge black lava field.

Bosque del Apache was a good day. It is a bird refuge. First off, you can walk around in a garden area with bird feeders for migrating birds.  Then you take a drive around the refuge. Both areas were worth the stop. So many pretty birds in the garden and tons of birds in the swamps.

We headed north to Santa Fe. Bandelier National Park to see another cliff dwelling area. This one, we were able to go inside the dwellings. It was a bigger area than the Gila one. There are a few that you climb small ladders into and at the end you can climb up a series of long ladders to a place they believe was used for worship. There are areas along the ground where they thing a town had been as well as the ones on the cliffs. 

There were petroglyphs along the way. One had been preserved behind plexiglass.

These rock formations made me think of human forms.

This cute little church was right by our RV park.

This is Camel Rock.  Both shots are awful, as I took them from our moving truck.  We meant to go back for a good shot, but forgot until we had left the state. 

Another relic from the past. :)

John, our son, suggested we see Montezuma.  He had attended a conference at this castle like building. So we took a drive there.  It was closed due to covid, as were the hot springs we planned on hiking to. But that is fine, it was a gorgeous drive.

Another stop on the drive we planned on seeing was open. Pecos National Monument. There were dwelling ruins, and the ruins of this mission. It was torn down during an Indian rebellion and then rebuilt years later and then torn down again.

There was a huge forest fire that had just begun close-by.

We spent a whole day in Old Town Santa Fe. I love the architecture there. Plus the old historical buildings. 

On the drive back, a huge storm hit.

By the time we arrived to our RV park, it was hailing. We went from really hot to hail in just days.

Dennis suggested we go see Los Alamos where they based the Manhattan Project movie from.  Of course it was closed due to Covid!

So were the Puye ruins. 

Years ago, I read about a restaurant called Rancho de Chimayo. It sounded so good and so I made sure it was open and we had a really great dinner there. It was as good as I heard it would be. Complete with the sopas that had been served with most meals in New Mexico. They are so good. I took the leftover ones home and heated them up with cinnamon sugar for breakfast. 

Right in the same town is a historical mission, Santuario del Chimayo. It was beautiful.

Next day we went to Taos. And guess what? The historical part was CLOSED DUE TO COVID!  

By now it was getting ridiculous. Back in August, we drove all the way to Maine and back and didn't get shut out of anything because of Covid.  We just wore our masks and saw what we wanted.  No restaurants, but that was fine, at least we saw the sights. Oh well, because of the change of plans, we always ended up finding an alternative sight that we most likely would have missed. Like instead of eating in the village, we found one of our best eating places right in the normal part of town. And I walked around and took photos of the buildings I loved so much.

Then we drove out to a famous bridge. So glad I didn't miss that. An alarming thing to see was the sign about jumping. There must have been something bad happen there to have gone to that extent to keep it from happening again.

The drive there was pretty too. I don't know what the flowers on the railing were for.

And along the way...DIXON. Everything in the town was Dixon.

A week later, we left Santa Fe and headed towards Arizona. It was a great drive.

Below is Shiprock near Farmington, NM.

We went into Utah to Monument Valley. We have been past before, but didn't take the time to drive into the reservation. This time I for sure was going to do it...until I learned it was closed due to covid. So instead, we learned from the manager of the RV park that there was a really similar drive that most people don't do.  Normally it is used for 4-wheelers.  Well, we have a truck, a big truck, so off we went.  It was a dirt road, but a gorgeous one, full of the same sights I have seen in photos of Monument Valley. And no crowds there.  We were alone in this place. 

Look at those lines in the hills below!!  WOWZA!

This stretch of hwy was used in the Forrest Gump movie when Forrest decides to stop running.

There were horses in a coral at our RV park.  While we were there, a sandstorm hit. They laid on the ground.  When I walked up to see them, this one seemed to smile at me. Their nostrils were filled with sand.

A before and after of the sand storm, same monument behind our RV park. 

During the sandstorm. The sky was pink from the red sand. It got inside out trailer and lined all of the windows.

Another alternative drive suggested for us to take was to the Natural Bridges National Park. It meant taking a gravel road up that cliffside below. I was kinda nervous about a narrow gravel road that we would have to pull over if another vehicle came along.  But it turned out to not be so scary after all.

Here is what the road looked like on the GPS.

Here is what the road looked like.

And here is the view from the top.

It was really worth the drive to see the bridges. Not the colors of Arches National Park, but unique colors anyway.

Another day we drove to Goosenecks State Park.  It was similar to Horseshoe Bend. 

We also saw Mexican Hat.

Next stop was Rainbow Valley and Petrified National Park. For sure, I am glad we put it on the list of stops.

An ancient house made from petrified wood.

This part was the Rainbow Valley.

Petroglyphs.  I have never seen so many on a rock before.  There were a few rocks with them on them.

This is a petrified rock that has been supported by concrete to preserve it all in one piece.

Such a unique beautiful place. so many unusual things and colors.

On the way back, there was a petrified rock shop.  I loved the station wagon loaded with rocks.

Other sights on the road.

So when we left the Petrified Forest, and headed towards Sedona, as we pulled onto the fwy, we heard a clanking noise.  John pulled over and took a quick look.  Of course, I didn't think he looked well enough, so I got out and took my own look.  Everything looked normal, so resumed the drive. When we pulled into our RV park, and started to set up...we discovered the footplate on the hitch was GONE!  yep, it must have not been locked on right and it came off.  So how do you unhook a trailer without a foot plate?  John figured it out. And of course, I worried about how safe it was. The next day, we were scheduled for an oil change, so we also tracked down a new footplate and soon enough we were back in business and I could stop worrying.

I really like this RV park.  It was more like a resort and I spent more time by and in the pool than I have since we began the RV life.  In fact, it was the first time I got into a pool at an RV park.  They had an El Salvador food truck come to the park twice and sent us a text to let us know it would be there.  I enjoyed tamales and pupusas both nights. Driving around town, we discovered a drive through liquor store. Really?

We went to Montezuma's Castle 

and Montezuma's Pool.

We saw the gorgeous red rock formations

and beautiful churches.

And we went to a couple of vineyards.