Bye Bye Goose 6/18/2009

Of course sunrise confirmed that we were no where near the holes in the ground and the lot we were on was level. Still I had to pull the wheel chocks up from the night before. Kat made sure they were all in place, the van was in park, and the parking brake set the night before. Our campsite was no more than an unmarked gravel parking lot. Not a complaint.

Kat and I strolled along the rim and enjoyed the morning views before the kids got moving. It was nice...quiet. During this walk I stopped by the tenting neighbor I had hosed with my headlights the night before and apologized. Later, shortly before pulling out, he invited himself over to give us some pointers on interesting sights in the area. One that he claimed to like in particular was Bisti Da Na Zin. According to him there was a little known area of hoodoos that he found enchanting in the Bisti wilderness area. This was to effect us later.

We considered the hoodoos as it was suggested by a local, but decided to kick it to the next day. We first chose to retrace our steps and see monument valley during the day. In terms of photos the daytime views, of course, beat the absence of stars the buttes created the night before. The nighttime experience, though, was particularly memorable and perhaps more moving for me.

Mesa Verde was on the list for today as well and we headed there next. Along the way we got a couple of pics of Mexican Hat rock after yet again retracing our steps across monument valley.

At this point we were on virgin road. In the distance we could see Ship Rock and it seemed to follow us for too long. At one point we stopped for a potty and photographed Twin Rock from the window of the van.

We were tired by the time we made Mesa Verde which was unfortunate. They required us to leave the camper at the bottom of the hill. I was OK with that as it allows the word nimble to reenter my vocabulary. Along the way up to the Indian area we saw the campground and drove through. We still needed a place to stay later that night and as I mentioned we were tired. Unfortunately we found it unappealing after a promising start at the supply store. We decided in favor of a still unfound and unknown campground.

With that decided we drove the rest of the way to the Cliff Dwellings. The drive there is stunning. Altitude has a way of doing that, I guess. The views were to the left then to the right. Kat and I had to pass the camera back and forth to as we drove.

After quite a long drive we made it to the actual dwellings. On the upside the dwellings can be viewed from cliff sides and the views require little or no walking to reach. Unlike the previous dwellings, though, we could not crawl among the ruins. This was disappointing, but apparently easily remedied with a little payola to the park. We don't play dat. Actually, closer viewing requires a guided tour which we opted out of.

With that we picnicked, made our way out of the park and eventually found a campground around dusk on Navajo Lake. It was WAY over crowded and overrun with locals if that is a complaint. Some blocked the campground roads with their boats, their sites being filled with their fifth wheel. We have often seen dualies towing a fifth wheel camper with a boat hooked to the rear of the towed camper. This I guess is the result. Too little space for too much stuff. Others were kind enough to rent a second site so as to have a place to put their boat. We got the last site available and only with the help of an older couple who took the time and had experience to read the reservation tag closely. The dates indicated that the current night was not reserved but the ticket did reserve the site for the following two nights. We had a home for the night and that was all we needed. Good.