October 1st 2012
Week 6 (September 24th - September 30th 2012)
Normal week.
Grand Circle trip described bellow.
About 1350 miles driven.
About 1450 pictures taken.
About 600 dollars spent (lodging, food, gas).
Unlimited number of extraordinary experiences.
Us being still loving and tender couple.
Cortez, CO
– Flagstaff, AZ
Miles driven: 345
Night spent: home
Time traveled: 7.45 am – 4.25 pm
OK. I forgot to mention, that our motel was pink and really
old. The room was fine, there was just too many sign of age. But … just fine
for one night.
We left the town and were heading south. There was nothing
special or pretty. The road was in really poor condition, the weather was nice
(same as whole trip). And for a part, we were looking forward to be done
driving.
We had to make small detour in order to see Four Corners
Monuments. The only place in US, where four states meet. The surroundings were
pretty “bland”, vast open mostly flat land. Driving. Driving. Then we hit the
monument. According to J.’s dad, there was pretty much nothing. We had to pay
six dollars, park and see “the monument”. It was interesting and kind of sad.
After this experience, we got back on the road. Pretty much
the same picture. We were driving on Indian land, mainly Navajo. We as well
entered New Mexico.
Interesting fact: most of the signs along the road had graffiti on it. Too sad.
For quite a while, we saw the Shiprock hill. Pretty much
flat land, few settlements (mostly sad looking) and nothing else. The main road
was marked pretty well, but we wanted to drive back roads and that got little
confusing. We managed.
I thought, we had to drive part of the trip on dirt road
(fortunately, we did not). At some point, we were heading toward mountain
ridge. The nature has changed, nice forest and aspens changing colors. It was
unbelievable what we were seeing. It was a battle to drive up and then down.
Really curvy road and really steep.
And then we got back to the desert like country. I guess
nothing special. We were glad we did not get lost (as we were driving on Indian
roads, that were not marked well). First stop at Canyon de Chelly. Park. Walk.
Be surprised.
There is one accessible trail and numerous overlooks. Canyon
is still inhabited, so you have to have native guide to go into the canyon.
Yet, the views we got were incredible. It was very different compared to the
places we saw. The bottom of the canyon was pretty flat and pretty big, there
were trees and visible roads. We could as well see some old structures. All
that together made it really amazing. We planned arrival by North Rim drive
(from the back) so after those overlooks, we got to the visitor’s center.
A bit strange intersection of North and South (dead end) Rim
drives and visitor center. Quick look there and decision to visit couple more
sights on South Rim. Still the same amazing pictures of steep and rocky cliffs
and livable space on the bottom of the canyon. At one point, we even heard the
music coming from the canyon, that made it really magical.
… and driving again. Stopped by the historic Hubbel trading
post. Interesting and a bit strange. I guess, I still cannot get over the word
“historic” and late 1800’s. Oh well.
At this point, we left the post and decided to take “back”
roads instead of heading to the freeway. For most of the time, it was Indian
road 15 with speed limit of 55 miles per hour. There was this truck in front of
us driving pretty much 70-75 miles per hour. I was happy to follow him. At some
point, I got passed by Navajo police. When they were in front of us, I sped up
to 70 miles per hour, but they were disappearing on the horizon.
Again, there was not much to see. Very similar landscape,
few houses, couple of settlements and open road leading to the horizon. At some
point, we started to see our San Francisco Peaks.
Finally relatively close to home.
For 12 miles on freeway, exit and head home. Unload the car,
pick up the mail. J. got another birthday package and got a bit like a baby. Oh
well … that is lige.
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