N. A. ANCIENT ONES - October 1995

Introduction - The work situation evolved to where it seemed reasonable to squeeze in a week of play prior to settling down and getting ready for the TRACE Critical Design Review in mid November and (if we are really lucky) the launch of SOHO in late November. After considering places like Belieze (mosquitoes spreading too much disease said Dawna) we settled in on visiting the high desert country in the Southwest - the primary goal being to see some of the ruins of the ancient North American people and a secondary goal of seeing areas in northern New Mexico where we might consider retiring. It got additionally complicated when we decided we'd also like to go to NYC for Sabina's 25th birthday, combined with celebrating her newly obtained MS in Computer Science.

We began to juggle possible airline reservations and settled in on a combination of two round trips: SFO - Albuquerque and Albuquerque - NYC. But when we went to rent a car in Albuq we couldn't get one due to this being balloon festival week there. That made us decide the whole area would be full of people rather than semi empty as we had thought would be the case what with it no longer being summer. So, we deleted the Alb/Santa Fe aspects and areas and switched our reservations to flying to Phoenix. It also turned out to be best to return to SFO "on the way" to NYC; which had the additional advantages of my being able to work half a day and pick up stuff to read on the way to NYC, and Dawna being able to do some things around the house.

Saturday-1: Mary Maxwell gave us a ride to the San Jose airport where we caught our SW flight to Phoenix. Efficient as always. Got there and picked up the rental car, which was a quite an inexpensive deal being a Lockheed Corporate weekly rate. Loaded the rental car ..... I forgot to mention that we packed enough items for some simple camping: a duffel bag which held a small tent, our two sleeping mats, and two sleeping bags; a small ice chest with various odds and ends in it including our one burner "stove" and some plates to eat off of; and my old small suitcase with our hiking boots and odds and ends in it. Anyway, got us and our stuff in the car and headed to Scottsdale for lunch. The goal was to go to the "famous" Mexican restaurant that we and the Kimballs tried to go to a year and a half ago but the place was too packed to get into then. It has moved since we were here the last time, but not far and we found it rather easily and had lunch. Good but not great but it gave us a chance to relax and figure out our route north. Decided rather than take the freeway towards Flagstaff we'd go on lesser roads to Payson in order to visit Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, as well as to see some countryside. Twas a very nice spot; you go for a short hike down under the natural bridge where there is a pool of water, plus nice views along the walk. All quite nice.

Next we drove back towards the main (1-17) freeway with the intent of getting a motel (or maybe camp) for the evening and then visiting the ruins at Montezuma Castle Nat'1 Monument and Montezuma Well. Having goofed off with lunch and the natural bridge it got dark by the time we got to the freeway; and then the only motel there was full. Humm; maybe the area isn't so empty in the Fall? Tried a camp site as well but also full; so drove to Flagstaff. We'll have to do the Montezuma things the next time we are in Phoenix. First couple of motels in Flagstaff had No Vacancy signs up, but the third had a room. Not great but we took it and while we were there several others showed up and didn't get a room. The answer to this situation seems to be that (a) it was a three day weekend due to Columbus Day Monday and we hadn't thought of that and (b) the desert country is nice in the Fall. We immediately made an outing to the super market to get supplies for the week. Food, liquid refreshments, charcoal and charcoal lighter; and some snack food for dinner that night and in the future. Back to the motel, snacked and drank, and slept.

Sunday-1: Up early, breakfast at a McDonalds next door, and drove east about 30 miles to visit the Meteor Crater. Supposedly about the best preserved one in the world and we enjoyed seeing it and reading lots of the info at the visitor center. Unfortunately, the videos weren't working because they had had a power outage the night before and it screwed up their computer control system. From there we went a bit north of Flagstaff to Wupatki Nat'1 Monument, driving through Sunset Crater Nat'1 Monument on the way. There's a pretty fine bunch of lava and general volcano stuff there but we didn't do more than drive through it slowly and stop at a couple of lookouts since we've seen quite a bit of that stuff elsewhere and one only has so much time. At Wupatki we did the visitor center thing and then visited each of the three ruins - you take very short walks to each of them. A bit warm but quite nice and the ruins were neat. Had lunch at a viewpoint area with picnic tables. Then continued northward to one of our major goals - the ruins in Navajo National Monument. Along the way we stopped and phoned a rather famous lodge in Monument Valley to see if they had rooms, but they didn't. This turned out to be a good thing but we didn't know it at the time, so we headed on up the road hoping we'd be able to camp or motel near the NNM. Got to the visitor center a bit before we thought it would close and discovered it runs on Mountain Daylight time rather than regular time like the rest of Arizona so was closed. Went to the adjoining campgrounds and —— places were available. Took one and set up camp in a fine site. Weather was great, turning from hot day to cold night. Walked over to the visitor center, read the items on the wall, and learned that the ranger walk to Betatakin ruin would take place the next day at 10 AM with openings for the walk being first come first serve, beginning at 8 AM. Lucky us .... we were camped 200 hundred feet away while if we had gotten the lodge we called we'd have been 50 miles away (didn't realize it when we called) and even the nearest motel was 30 miles away. Cooked our steak dinner while the Sun went down and the full moon came up. Neat! Crawled into our bags and slept very well.

Monday-1: We and others were in line at 8 AM and got our free tickets; oh, yes, the camping was free as well. It was chilly but the Sun was coming up and fixing that. Back to camp, coffee and apple strudel for breakfast, took down camp, and then over to the visitor center to look around a bit and then head off with the ranger and about 15 other folks. Drove a few miles to the trail head and then did the hike down into the canyon to the ruins. Spectacular scenery along the way (like a lesser Grand Canyon), lots of talk by the ranger Lady about the geology and flora and ancient people and stuff. The valley was amazingly green even ending in an aspen grove where some of the aspen had turned color. And the ruins at the end were super; plus some nice petroglyphs. Great & a highly recommended outing.

As an aside, about a year ago I had bought a nice wall calendar that had many pictures and write-ups about the ancient civilizations of North America and this cliff dwelling ruin was on the cover. In fact, many of the spots we planned to visit were in the calendar and we had it with us for reference. Fun. As a second aside ... the literature had said the ranger walks to Bet ended in September and you couldn't do it on your own, so we were triply lucky that they kept them going a bit longer this year. We weren't quadruply lucky, however, for the other item you do at this location is take a 16 mile round trip horse back ride to Keet Seel ruins, and that was closed for the season. Had it not been we'd have kept camp in tact and done it the following day. As a third aside ... in case you are getting bored and wonder why I'm writing so much, it is because I'm typing this part of the letter on the non-stop flight to NYC. Anyway, hiked back to the top (had been 5.2 miles round trip), washed off a bit, had a cool drink, and headed out. Drove to Moment Valley and got there before it closed. The Sun was oriented so as to display the monoliths quite nicely but we elected to not do the 17 mile drive around the canyon floor. Did elect, however, to take the somewhat longer route onward and drive through more of Monument Valley and southwestern Utah. What with the Sun at our back it was spectacular country of red rock monoliths, canyons and buttes. Most enjoyable but it gradually got dark; could just see Shiprock as we drove by (north of) it. Stopped at Farmington and took the first motel we came to .... rather poor but we were too lazy to look further plus Dawna got talking to the East Indian proprietor. Snacked in the room and went to bed.

Tuesday: Had some motel coffee and then went to Aztec Ruins which was about 15 miles away. Not really Aztec but more of the Anasazi's. A reasonable visitor center, nice ruins, and a reconstructed Large Kiva that was quite educational —— although not clear if they really knew how to make it accurate. Quite an accomplishment (by both the original folks and by the reconstructor). Picked up some ice and a few more groceries and headed southward towards the pivotal goal of our trip - Chaco Canyon. The last 29 miles into CC were on a clay type road with huge ruts; it must be quite a thing to drive when there is a rain .... in fact, it's quite a thing to drive when it is "just" dry and rutted. Went to the campground and were pleased to see plenty of space. Took one, setup camp, ate a bit of lunch, and then went to the visitor center. Got a bit of education and then did the loop drive stopping at a couple of the ruin sites. Fantastic and I'd better either leave it at that or go into long explanations. Back to camp, BBQ'd some chicken, clear skies, nice rocks, neat time. To bed; although I admit I stayed up longer than D to look at the stars .... but they were just getting good when the moon came up and removed the nice darkness.

Wednesday: Bit of breakfast and then over to the visitor center to see a movie about some solar astronomy these Chocoan/Anasazi folks did and the discovery of their "observatory" by modem people a few decades ago. Neat. Then we did a 5 mile loop hike that took us out of the canyon and onto the plateau where there was another ruin, neat view of the canyon, great views down on top of a couple of the major ruins, fine geology, and an opportunity to see the stairs (really foot & hand holes) they had made into some of the sharp cliffs. Also got rather hot out there in the full Sun. When we got down we returned to the visitor center to cool off and get a bit more education, had some lunch, and took down our camp. Then we did the loop for the last time in order to see the most famous (ie, largest) of the ruins - it was basically an apartment house for a more than a thousand of their people along with mucho storage of crops and things; plus ceremonial Kivas. A fitting end to an amazing place. It was neat to be able to walk in and around so many different ruins, rather than just look at them from behind ropes or something. We then drove southward over another 20-30 miles of clay rutted road and then to Gallop. Found a motel and also found a very good Mexican restaurant. Nice closure! Plus a good bath and sleep.

Thursday: This was a day to get to Phoenix in order to fly home early the next morning but to enjoy as much along the way as possible. Began with a snack in the room and then drove towards Window Rock. There was a Zoo there that was mentioned in our excellent book (Arizona Traveler's Handbook) but nowhere else. When we got there it looked so rinky we almost didn't stop; but we did and it was great. All manner of high desert animals including eagles, cougars, bears, deer, turkeys, foxes, wolves, owls, etc, etc; plus snakes, lizards and things inside. And all the animals were active what with it being morning and cool and about feeding time. In fact I think they thought we were the feeders and were disappointed when the best we could do was have Dawna talk to them; but the feeders were not far behind. A neat find and we spent much more time there than anticipated. Next stop was a flea market a few miles further down the road; a small/local affair with not much to be tempted by. But Dawna did get a few beautiful ears of Indian Colored/Dry Corn and we (of course) had some Navajao stew (not great) and some excellent Fry Bread. Rolling (not so rapidly) onward we headed off on some back roads and worked our way into the back side of Canyon de Chelly. A local had told us not to do this in a regular car due to the bad roads but we went for it and the road was much better than the ones into and out of CC. Stopped at nearly all of the vista sites along CdeC, some with short walks. Spectacular, especially the one furthest from the visitor center. The canyon floor was green and nicely set off the red, vertical walls. Stopped at the visitor center for a couple minutes, had lunch in the campground/picnic area there - too windy to enjoy it much but rather nostalgic to have lunch the same place we lost (really left) our park quilt/tablecloth when having lunch on a trip with the kids a bunch of years ago. Then we drove part of the north rim, called Canyon del Muerto, stopping at a couple of lookouts. Again, quite nice. Oh, yes, at basically every lookout one of the things you look at are cliff dwellings. Finally agreed we were running out of time, so hit the road to Phoenix. Watched the sun set and a brilliant red sky, drove a few hours after dark, and got to bed by 11 PM in a Phoenix motel.

Friday: Up earlier than need be in order to get to the airport and try to find a good cup of coffee. Got there and found out our plane was to leave at 7:30 AM rather than 8:00 AM so did the coffee thing more rapidly than would have like. Flew home via LA. Reasonable views out the window. Arrived San Jose, had complications with our pickup but eventually got things straighten out and got to Cupertino. Had lunch and then I went to work while D caught up a bit around the house. She got us ready for the next outing and I got lots of work stuff to read on the airplane. Dinner and bed.

Saturday-2: Up "too early" and did a few things around the house and then called to be sure our Continental plane was going to leave on time (9:45) and found out we had the time written down wrong and it was leaving in 5 minutes although might be held due to weather. Drove to airport, leaving the car at Anza Park, and sure enough our plane had long gone. Got switched to a 1 PM plane, called Sabina and told her our story and agreed that we'd not have dinner in NYC with her that night but rather have an Indian (East) brunch the next day. Sat around the airport a long time while Dawna read and I did work on the laptop, so it wasn't too bad. Flight to Newark was fine until we got almost there and then there was bad weather. Very, very bumpy circling around for an hour. Some folks threw up, Dawna not quite. Eventually landed and everyone was quite glad. Went to our motel that was a mile away and checked in. Too late for eating there, so snacked a tiny bit and went to bed.

Sunday-2: Ridiculously expensive buffet breakfast at the motel but there was no other choice other than nothing. Not only was the food poor but we didn't want much since brunch was coming up. Motel van back to the airport and then bus into NYC. Nice view of the city going in. Got off at Grand Central Station and walked, with several detours since we had the time, down to about Lexington and 28th to meet Sabina and Russel in the heart of a bunch of Indian restaurants - most of which it turned out didn't open until noon and it was just a bit after 11. So, went into a fast food type one and had tea and a samosa to kill time and then went to a restaurant for a meal. It was OK but not wonderful. But, of course, the real purpose was to talk with the "kids" not to have a great meal. Walked on down the island to their place, doing a little shopping and a bunch of chatting as we went. Made a couple of trips to the local deli go get things for the upcoming Great Card Game, and generally just hung out. Oh, yes, Dawna and Sabina did some hair cutting of snarls that a cat S was baby sitting had ..... a rather active endeavor.

The situation was that over the last few years Sabina has taught her friends how to play Contract Rummy, which is what we play when she comes home for the Holidays, and more significant it is what the Grandparents taught her when she was little and then we'd have family wars. So, some select set of Sabina's friends came over to play a serious game with we old folks. We played, we drank, we snacked. I won the most hands, Dawna won the second most, but Sabina won the last hand and the game. So, even if the old folks didn't totally show up the kids we did pretty well. Next it was off to the Pizza place where more friends met us. Their gang has a tradition of going for pizza on birthdays and everyone pays their share except the birthday person, etc. Of course, this time we insisted on being the Big Spenders. Good fun, pitchers of beer, etc .... and then at the end a cake that one of the gang had had made for her. Super to meet and interact with her friends. All this happened fairly early. We said our good-byes and walked up town enjoying the buildings and lights as always. Got to our bus, took the bus to Newark airport, courtesy van to the hotel, and in the sack by 11 PM or so.

Monday-2: Caught the first (non stop Continental) flight to SFO, arrived a bit before noon. I went to work for a half day and Dawna went home to try and put things in shape and get ready for the next major activity - local politics.

All in all a couple of fun outings. The Chocan/Anasazi/etc civilizations were amazing - nearly on a par with the Mayan and Inca civilizations and a whole lot close to visit. Wonder why I only learned this at such an old age? We will, of course, have to go back to New Mexico for the items we didn't see including possible retirement places and will probably combine it with either a trip to the Gilbreth's in southern Colorado, or a Lake Powell outing which we just never get around to doing, or a Grand Canyon outing since I want to walk down one side and up the other, after staying a night or two at Phantom Ranch. But for now, it is time to catch up at work, prepare for our major review on one program and for the launch (hopefully !!!!) of the other. And get Dawna's candidate elected.

Postnotes

So, another trip letter is in order, perhaps.