10/05/08

August 2006

We took a trip out to California and on the way we stopped at Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'shay) in far north east Arizona.  A beautiful spot and worth the trip.  Our stay was in a National Park campground that was free...no charge.  Quite unusual.  The campground was beautiful, the down side was the ANTS.  They were everywhere.  If you stood for 5 to 10 seconds anywhere in our site, you would have 6-10 ants on your feet immediately.  Fortunately they weren't the biting kind of ants, but you did get the creeps after a while.  The only way we could sit out was to keep our feet propped up on something.  We took some away with us in the motor home and have had to put out ant bait to get rid of them.  If we ever plan to go back, we will take a bag of ant poison with us and spread it after dark. 

Canyon de Chelly is a site of a number of ruins from pueblo type Indians.  The real beauty is the canyon itself.  Many vistas and beautiful views.  The area was populated by pueblo type Indians from around 300 AD until 1200 AD.  There are a number of ruins from their era to see around the area.  Then in the 1700s the Navajo settled into the area and their influence is still there.  The Navajo farm in the bottom of the canyon to this day.  Although a National Monument, Canyon de Chelly resides on Navajo reservation land.

Most of the site you must view from the canyon rim on a drive and stops at various viewpoints.  Some require short walks (quarter mile or less).  The only hike is down to the canyon floor to see the "White House" ruins.  So named because of the one house in the ruin that is plastered in white.  The hike is around 3 miles round trip.  The elevation change is 600-700 feet.  Unfortunately the hike out is all uphill.  However the exertion is well worth the views the whole distance.  Sheer rock walls dominate the views.

One of the canyon views	Just beautiful	Many past artists	Impressive pictographs
House under the rock		What a wonderful tree this is		Us at one of the overlooks
We are going to the ruins way down there	A closer look	The white house up close	Walking back up to the top	Spider Rock, home of the Spider Woman of Navajo legend

 

 

Don's Mom Turns 85

We took Mom to a surprise birthday party at the Claim Jumper restaurant in Temecula....that was after the mandatory wine tasting at Wilson Creek Winery.  She was so surprised at the gathering.  Micki and Aubrianna came from Phoenix and Gail's family came from the San Diego area.  Mom had a great time and felt very special....as should we all on our birthday. 

 

Why, it's a celebration for....

We just arrived at the restaurant and Mom doesn't believe it	Now she does and she is happy	Lots of people at her party	Aubrianna came from Arizona
Brian, Michelle, Hope, Michael & Faith	Hope, Faith, Michael, Cassie & Isaiah	Gail & Ray	Michelle, Hope & Brian
Some presents are exciting!!	Some are sweet	What a great cake this was, mmmmm

 

Here's a group shot of the whole bunch....What a great party!!

                        

Small pic, 130K                     Large pic, 3.5MB

 

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