Southwest to Natchez Trace

 

 Pie Town, NM

What can we say about Pie Town? The Pie Store is the town...and that's no joke! We asked where we might find a market...and it was 28 miles that way or 25 miles the other way. When we pulled up to the pie store, there's a sign on the door saying, "Pies Sold Out". Luckily, there were some fresh ones coming out in a couple of minutes...mine was Southern peach and George's was apple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palo Duro

Known as the Grand Canyon of Texas. It wasn't grand but the campground was on the floor of the canyon, so an interesting drive down into the canyon with nice sunrises and sunsets.

Palo Duro Canyon

Santa Fe

Santa Fe was a little cool and wet, so it wasn't crowded. We walked around to see the architecture which was lovely, peeked into a few shops of which there were many and went to the New Mexico Art Museum. Throughout the square the lampposts had long bundles of chilies hanging like we would have hanging flower baskets in town.

New Mexico Museum of Art

Courtyard at the New Mexico Museum of Art

Among the Aspens-NMMA

Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace Parkway National Park is a 440-mile scenic road from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville Tennessee. It roughly follows a historic travel corridor through what was Chickasaw and Choctaw land before their forced removal to Oklahoma. The Trace was used by Native Americans, "Kaintucks", the river boatmen who floated goods down the river to Natchez and New Orleans, slave traders, travelers, settlers and the military.

The Kaintucks would float their goods down river, dismantle the flatboats, sell the lumber and then walk home to Ohio. The 500 mile trip on foot took about 35 days. Riders on horseback could cover it in 20-25 days. Research shows that 10,000 Kaintucks walked the Trace in 1810 alone.

A flatboat used by the Kaintucks

A section of the "Old Trace"

Native American mounds along the Trace

Native American mound along the Trace

 

The Trace is a lovely drive, like a Sunday drive in the country. There are no stops signs, no lights etc. just countryside.  There are campgrounds (which are free) picnic and rest areas and points of interest, like the mounds, along the way. How long would you like your Sunday drive to be? 50 miles? 100 miles? We probably did 250 miles over three days, which I enjoyed, but I don't feel the need to do it again.

Turning East

 

Mather Point at sunset

The Grand Canyon is not your average canyon. It really is spectacular! We spent our three days taking in the beauty of the canyon along the south rim. Photography at sunset brought out the colors of the rock layers. The sedimentary rock that you see in the walls of the canyon took nearly 2-billion years to deposit (the age of the earth is 4.5-billion years) but it was only 5-6 million years ago that the Colorado River started cutting through the layers to form the canyon.

 

After leaving Bodaga Dunes, we continued south along the California coast to Morro Bay and turned east toward the Grand Canyon. The drive to the canyon was a mess with rain, snow, sleet and hail, which continued throughout the night. Luckily the weather improved. 

 

Route 40 on the way to the Grand Canyon

The beauty of the canyon...

In the second photo, you can see a small stretch of the Colorado River with a bit of rapids.

Now we are at Homolovi State Park, AZ. It is a desert campground and archeological site. Each campsite has 2 smallish trees, most of them alive.  It was in the 80-90s and even with a dry desert heat, it was hot and the sun was intense. 

The village dating from the 1200-1300s AD is estimated to have had 1100 rooms and numerous kivas. By the 1400s it is believed the villagers of Homolovi moved north to join the Hopi villages on the mesas.

Although there is very little village left to see, there are thousands of small artifacts, many placed on flat rocks for you to pick up and examine. There are signs reminding you that it is against the law to take any artifacts.

 

Small pieces of chert from tool making (and my ring)

 

 

This is our Homolovi State Park campsite. You can see what the desert landscape looks like and the bigger of our two trees.

 

And a look inside our trailer. 

Photo 1 is taken from the steps going up to the bed, with the door to the left. On the right-hand wall are the hooks for jackets, door to the bathroom and doors for the refrigerator and freezer. In the back is the dinette with 3-side bench seating. On the left is the stovetop with oven. The cutting board is on top of the burners, some counter space and a black sink, which makes it hard to see.

Photo 2 is taken from the dinette. On the right, you see the stove, sink, door and small counter/cabinet near the door. At the back are the three steps and the bed. On the left, the hooks/jackets, bathroom door, storage cabinets and refrig/freezer.

 

 

 Next stop - Pie Town, New Mexico

Heading Home !

 

You may not even have known that we left our home in Bristol, RI and drove 49 hours to Sumas, Washington to pick up our new Escape trailer, but we did. Once we left Sumas with our trailer, we were heading home! We have been following Route 101 south along the coast, Washington, Oregon, and now California. The west coast is wild! The roar of the waves is never far away. This photo is of prehistoric mega-creatures heading back to the deep sea or maybe they are coming ashore? You can make up your own story. They formed millions of years ago as lava from Eastern Washington and Oregon and cooled into solid basalt.  Millions of years of erosion have given us the magnificent mega-creatures we see today. 

The following photos are from our walks along the shore, which we will continue to do until we actually turn east and head cross-country, leaving the Pacific behind.

The beaches in most locations have been beautiful sand of varying colors, but we do like a good rocky shore to look for rocks!

This is a natural bas-relief sculpture, of  what, I am not sure. It was on the face of a boulder (4 ft. x 5 ft.) They look like giant worms or maybe the tunnels of giant worms?

 

The shore in Washington was covered with driftwood and I really wanted to collect a few pieces for an art project I've been contemplating, but there were signs saying "No collecting driftwood" and "No fires"...so I only took a couple of really small pieces...and one that was a little larger, but we didn't start any fires. The ferry is the one we took the next day from Whidbey Island to the Olympic Peninsula.

And then there are the tidal pools...they never get old! This is the aptly named "green anemone" and if you look closely you'll see a few other creatures.

On our way south to Bodega Bay we passed through Humboldt Redwoods State Park and took a slight detour through the Avenue of Giants.

We are currently at I: Bodega Dunes State Park. Surprisingly, there is a substantial Portuguese population here, the port is named Porto Bodega.

  ... and the surf rolling onto the Oregon shore.