Tag: Colorado

on returning home from a road trip to nowhere

wanderessence1025 December 13, 2020

From Sunday, September 1 to Friday, October 4, 2019, I went on a massive road trip, which I called the “Road Trip to Nowhere;” it was the longest road trip I’ve ever taken other than the one I took after college in 1979. I mainly covered the horizontal lands of the Great Plains: Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, but I also made stops in Ohio; Illinois; Wyoming; Colorado; Topeka, Kansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Greeneville, Tennessee. Overall, I drove 7,505.6 miles.

The trip was all about the Lewis & Clark expedition and the Missouri River; pioneers, farmers, and Native Americans in the Great Plains; stark landscapes such as the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park; soldiers in various forts in the Great Plains; and the American bison. I loved stopping at small museums where I learned about local culture and was introduced to artists such as Harvey Dunn, Terry Redlin and Karl Bodmer – artists who captured the Great Plains both past and present. I encountered the World’s Largest Buffalo; the world’s largest ball of stamps; the World’s Only Corn Palace; and giant grasshoppers, fish and pheasants on the Enchanted Highway. I found replicas of Viking ships and Scandinavian churches. I crossed the Canadian border and extended a hand to our northern neighbors at the International Peace Garden. I visited the childhood homes of novelists and celebrities such as Willa Cather and Johnny Carson. I learned more American history here than I have in any of my other travels, and even in all my years of schooling.

biggest ball of stamps at Boys Town, Omaha

Joslyn Museum, Omaha

Fairmont Antiques & Mercantile in Omaha

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge – The Missouri River

“First Council” sculpture at Fort Atkinson State Historical Park

Swedish Heritage Center in Oakland, NE

Johnny Carson in Norfolk, Ne

Yankton, South Dakota

Ponca State Park, NE

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota

“The Prairie is My Garden” by Harvey Dunn

Painting by Terry Redlin

Hjemkomst Center, Moorhead, MN

International Peace Garden in North Dakota/Canada

I did most of this trip solo, but Mike flew to Rapid City, South Dakota and accompanied me to Denver, CO, from where he flew back home. We visited our son in Denver and went on several hikes with him. I also spent several days with my sister in Murphysboro, Illinois on my way home.

me at Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot, North Dakota

murals in Bismarck, North Dakota

On-a-Slant Village in Mandan, North Dakota

Enchanted Highway, North Dakota

Fort Union, North Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Hulett, Wyoming

Tatanka: Story of the Bison, Rapid City, South Dakota

Sturgis, South Dakota

Spearfish Canyon National Scenic Byway

Wall Drug, South Dakota

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Journey Museum, Rapid City, South Dakota

Mount Rushmore, Rapid City, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota

Here is my Polarsteps map for the trip, the first showing the journey all the way from my home in Virginia, and the second concentrated on the Dakotas and Nebraska, the focus of my “Road Trip to Nowhere.”

From Virginia to Road Trip to Nowhere

Road Trip to Nowhere: Nebraska and the Dakotas

I wrote quite a number of posts about my “Road Trip to Nowhere:”

Chapel in the Hills, South Dakota

horsebackriding in Custer State Park, South Dakota

The Needles Highway, Custer State Park, South Dakota

Custer, SD

Fort Robinson State Park

Toadstool Geological Park, NE

Scotts Bluff, NE

Chimney Rock, NE

painted cowboy boots in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Arthur’s Rock Trail at Lory State Park, CO

Mike and Alex in Fort Collins, CO

Flatirons Vista hike in Colorado

Front Street in Ogallala, NE

Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, NE

Willa Cather’s Childhood Home in Red Cloud, Nebraska

Brown v. Board of Education Historic Site in Topeka, KS

the main house at White Haven at Ulysses S. Grant Historic Site

Makanda, Illinois

Andrew Johnson Homestead in Greeneville, TN

Besides filling three journals on this trip with details and observations, I also did some art journal spreads in the journals.

art journal spreads for Road Trip to Nowhere

I sent some postcards home to myself from each of the three major states I visited.

Nebraska:

postcard from Nebraska

South Dakota:

postcard from South Dakota

North Dakota:

postcard from North Dakota

Overall, this was a fantastic trip where I learned much about the history of our country and the settlers and Native Americans who shaped it.

*September 1 to October 4, 2019*

**Drove: 7,505.6 miles**

denver: flatirons vista & larimer square

wanderessence1025 December 6, 2020

In the breakfast area of Hyatt House Denver, two older folks were studiously reading their Bibles. Mike took Alex to drop off his car for repairs; when they returned we stopped by Whole Foods to pick up stuff for a picnic lunch: turkey pesto wraps and an avocado shrimp tempura roll for me.

As we got underway, the blue sky was filled with dramatic clouds with charcoal underbellies. It was a cool 62°F. We passed a neighborhood where every house had a solar panel on the roof. Colorado folks are such forward thinkers.

We headed to the Flatirons Vista Trail. Alex and I had tried to do this in 2018 when I came to Denver to begin my Four Corners Road Trip, but at that time the trail was closed due to muddy conditions. Today, we were finally able to do it.

Alex at Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

me on the Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

The trail had gorgeous views of the Flatirons Plateau and the surrounding grasslands.

Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

trail riders on the Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

We hiked for about 2 1/2 hours. What perfect conditions and views we had on this hike!

Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

me on the Flatirons Vista Trail

Flatirons Vista Trail

In the afternoon, we stopped at the shop for Alex to pick up his car.

In the evening, we went into downtown Denver to Larimer Square where we had a lovely dinner at Rioja. The restaurant’s menu is inspired by Mediterranean ingredients and influenced by local and seasonal products. I don’t remember all that we had, but one dish was a ricotta gnocchi: sauteed chanterelle mushrooms, Olathe corn, pine nut butter, corn sabayon, picklet shallot and dill. It was all delicious. We had a seat at a bar beside the pizza oven and managed to have a nice chat with the cook behind the counter.

Alex and me at Rioja

Mike and Alex at Rioja

Yummy dish

ricotta gnocchi

deliciousness

the friendly cook

We took a stroll down the festive light-festooned Larimer Square after dinner.

Larimer Square

The next day, Mike planned to stay in Denver and meet up with an old friend, while I would begin my long drive back home, with several stops along the way.

*Steps: 14,467; 6.13 miles*

*Friday, September 27, 2019*

around & about fort collins, colorado

wanderessence1025 December 3, 2020

We got a slow start this morning, stopping in Fort Collins at the Little Bird Bakeshop for a quiche (for me). Mike had eaten waffles and Alex had eaten leftovers at our Solarium Airbnb.

We drove to Lory State Park, hidden in the foothills twenty minutes west of Fort Collins. Its 2,591 acre landscape includes unique rock outcroppings, sandstone hogbacks, grassy open meadows, shrubby hillsides and ponderosa pine forests. Formerly ranchland, Lory State Park was purchased from the original owners in 1967. It was named after and dedicated to Dr. Charles A. Lory (1872-1969), president of Colorado State University from 1909 to 1940.

At the park, we hiked the Arthur’s Rock Trail. Arthur’s Rock, a jutting granite formation named for an early settler, overlooks the Fort Collins area from an elevation of 6,780 feet. We only hiked to the first scenic overlook. It was supposed to be 1.7 miles each way, but we stopped with 0.6 miles still to the summit. Mike was having his AFib (Atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications) and was worried about pushing it too much. Besides, we were all getting hungry for lunch.

We were graced with a delicate breeze and blue skies. Grasses danced, birds chirped, and we enjoyed fabulous views over the north side of Horsetooth Reservoir. We wound through forested mountainsides and open meadows. We traveled through different ecosystems in the 1,000 foot elevation change.

Arthur’s Rock Trail

Alex and Mike at Arthur’s Rock Trail

Alex and me at Arthur’s Rock Trail

Arthur’s Rock Trail

Ponderosa pine

Arthur’s Rock Trail

me with Mike at Arthur’s Rock Trail

Arthur’s Rock Trail

After our hike, we ate lunch at Lucille’s Creole Cafe in Fort Collins. We ordered the powdered sugar beignets (ben-yay), the state doughnut of Louisiana. Beignets were brought to Louisiana in the 1800s by the French Acadians from Nova Scotia. The traditional New Orleans beignet is a square piece of dough deep fried until puffy, served hot and covered in powdered sugar.

Lucille’s Creole Cafe

We enjoyed quite a feast. I had a popcorn shrimp salad with avocado and cornbread.

popcorn shrimp salad with avocado and cornbread

Mike had Gumbo: “A grand New Orleans stew. Homemade from ingredients selected daily (okra, chicken) and served with rice and cornbread.” Alex had red beans and rice: “Famous Southern ‘Wash Day’ lunch served with homemade andouille sausage.”

After our hike, we went to New Belgium Brewing. It is supposedly one of the best places to work in the country.

New Belgium Brewing

We saw employees drinking beer, a man wearing a wedding dress, a tattooed bartender wearing skin-tight shorts and a wild colorful shirt. There was supposedly a “self-guided tour” but someone was actually explaining things about the brewing process, so we begged off.

New Belgium Brewing

Mike and Alex ordered a flight of beer and I just sipped. I was way too stuffed after our lunch at Lucille’s.

Mike and Alex with their flight

Alex and me 🙂

the flight

fading ad in Fort Collins

Leaving Fort Collins, we drove in heavy traffic south to Denver. We checked in at Hyatt House Denver and Alex and Mike went to Whole Foods nearby for dinner. I ate my leftover popcorn shrimp salad. We got drinks from the Hyatt House Bar – me a Cabernet Sauvignon and Alex a “neat” whiskey. We sat in the hotel room, which was large and comfortable, and the guys watched football while I put up pictures on Instagram and Polarsteps.

*Steps: 10,639, or 4.51 miles*

*Thursday, September 26, 2019*

rocky mountain national park, colorado

wanderessence1025 November 29, 2020

After leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming we drove directly to “Colorful Colorado.” We passed metal sculptures of bison on a hilltop and had a view of the Rockies. We stopped briefly at the Visitor Center in Fort Collins and then took the scenic route to the Alpine Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Sculpture at the Fort Collins Visitor Center

We passed the Horsetooth Reservoir near the town of Stout, population 47 1/2. At Horsetooth Mountain Park, we picked up trail maps for a hike we planned to do the following day.

Horsetooth Reservoir

We drove past the “Masonville Mercantile: A Want & Wish Store” and the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, passing a sign that said DR. BOB’S SNAKE OIL CURES ALL.

Masonville Mercantile: A Want & Wish Store

Snake Oil Cures All

On 34W, we were welcomed to… Sylvan Dale Ranch (guest ranch, weddings, horsebackriding), but we continued on.

The Big Pipe was a canyon of rocky cliffs dotted with pine trees. We took a road along the Big Thompson River. The Big Pipe carries water to Horsetooth Reservoir. This is the entrance to the Rocky Mountains by way of the Big Thompson River Canyon.

We passed the Colorado Cherry Company, the Snowy Silver Lodge and Drake. A sign warned of Open Range Livestock on Road. By 11:20, it was 65°F, and yellow cottonwoods gilded the forests. On the north-facing side, the pine trees squatted in dark dense clusters.

There was the Glen Haven General Store, an alpine meadow, and the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead. MacGregor Ranch (1873) boasted of “Grass-Fed Beef.” We sailed past the Black Canyon Inn and before we knew it, we were in Estes Park, gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw Dick’s Rock Museum, Coffee on the Rocks, Lazy R Cottages, Sticks & Stones Home Furnishings, and Bird & Jim Colorado Cuisine.

Prohibitions abounded: Hunting Prohibited. Collecting Antlers Prohibited.

Our route today. Map from a pamphlet distributed by the Fort Collins Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Colorado Welcome Center: “Experience the Scenic Gateway to the Rockies.”

Just before noon, we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park and the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center.

The Rocky Mountains form one of the world’s longest ranges, stretching almost unbroken from Alaska to below the nation’s southern border. Since 2009, Congress protected most of Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The designation protects forever the land’s wild character, natural conditions, opportunities for solitude, and scientific, educational and historical values.

Thrust up by earth’s forces 40-70 million years ago, then sculpted by multiple glacial episodes, the Rockies are “new” in geologic terms.

We entered the park through the montane ecosystem (below 9,000 feet). On warmer south-facing slopes, Ponderosa pines grow. Trees here are tall, up to 150 feet, and along with chokecherry, currant and juniper bushes, nourish many animals, insects and birds: beavers, otters, and elk. On cooler north-facing slopes, forests are dense with Douglas fir and lodgepole pine.

We drove up the Trail Ridge Road, past Beaver Ponds, where we got out to walk a short trail. Beaver dams once blocked the stream flows here, creating a pond. Silt and rich organic debris carried down from Hidden Valley accumulated behind the dam. In time, the dams decayed, draining the ponds and leaving fertile soil over 20 feet deep.

Sedges and grasses grow in this newly established soil to form marshes. Lush meadows developed over time as tree seedlings invaded the open space creating a new subalpine forest of pine, spruce and fir trees.

Beaver Ponds

At the Hidden Valley picnic area, we had a picnic lunch.

Then we stopped at Rainbow Curve Overlook to admire the landscape. Rainbow Curve is in the Subalpine part of the park (9,000-11,400 feet).

Snow that falls in the alpine zone blows down to the subalpine, creating a wet ecosystem with over 30 inches of precipitation annually. Engelmann spruce and flat-needled fir trees prevail, reaching 100 feet. The understory supports shrubs like blueberry, wax currant, huckleberry, and Wood’s rose. Wildflowers like arnica, fairy slipper, twinflower, and purple elephant’s head are abundant in open meadows.

Rainbow Curve

Mike at Rainbow Curve

Rainbow Curve

We continued the drive up Trail Ridge Road. Forest Canyon lay to the south. Tall snow poles were in place along the road to show the way during big snowfalls. The Big Thompson River flows swiftly down Forest Canyon as it has for thousands of years. Several times during the past two million years, frigid climates caused glaciers to form and move down the canyon. Flowing ever so slowly, these deep “rivers of ice” carved out Forest Canyon along an ancient fault line.

We stopped at the Forest Canyon Overlook. At the higher elevation, the temperature had dropped to 56°F.

The subalpine forest ecosystem of Forest Canyon is abundant with life. Difficult to access through fallen trees and steep terrain, Forest Canyon furnishes protected habitat for hundreds of plants and animal species – from elk herds to microorganisms.

A short trail here crossed the tundra – a Russian word for “land of no trees.” Here above the treeline, winds often exceed 100 mph (160 km per hour) and temperatures remain below freezing for at least five months each year.

Forest Canyon Overlook

We stopped at the Lava Cliffs Overlook.

Lava Cliffs

We crossed the highest point on the road at 12,183 feet (3,713 meters).

We finally reached the Alpine Visitor Center. Alpine Tundra (above 11,400 feet) is a fragile world, characterized by extremely thin soil, drying winds, and bitter cold. Many plants hug the ground in dense mats (avens), preserve moisture with waxen leaf surfaces, or trap warmth against stems and leaves with hairs. Animals must adapt or die.

There in the crowded parking lot, I had an altercation with a guy. The wind was blowing like there was no tomorrow and when I opened my car door, he yelled “Hold on to your door so it doesn’t hit my car!” (I was already holding it, and the door didn’t hit his car). I said, “Rudeness personified. That guy is an asshole,” (talking to Mike but saying it loud enough for him to hear). He said, “Some guy messed up my car with his door.” I replied, “Well, don’t take it out on me!”

I can’t stand bullies.

We walked up along the Alpine Ridge Trail in the midst of a fierce and relentless bitter wind. This trail is affectionately known as “Huffers Hill,” because it takes your breath away. We walked through a delicate yet hardy environment.

The scattered rocks form “patterned ground” that is found only in Arctic and Alpine regions where temperatures remain below freezing at least five months each year. During the last Ice Age, freezing and thawing of this tundra topsoil forced these patterns to the surface.

Some patterned ground has indistinct forms, while others are precise circles or other forms. The degree of slope determines the rock patterns. Rock streams “flow” downhill on Sundance Mountain in the distance, while polygons and circles form on level surfaces.

Alpine Visitor Center

Mike at the Alpine Visitor Center

Alpine Visitor Center

Leaving the Alpine Visitor Center, we retraced our drive up and stopped at the Gore Range Overlook. We could have gone further west and south on Trail Ridge Road, but we needed to return to Fort Collins to meet our son.

The Gore Range was named for Sir St. George Gore, an Irish aristocrat who was led there on a hunting expedition in 1854 by mountain man Jim Bridger. In 1976, Congress set aside 133,000 acres of the Gore Range as Eagles Nest Wilderness Area, which remains nearly as wild today as when Gore and Bridger first entered it.

Gore Range

We stopped again at Forest Canyon Overlook. This time, we walked to the other side of the road.

Forest Canyon Overlook

We made our way slowly to lower elevations, back to the montane ecosystem. The yellow trees on the mountains were glowing in the afternoon sunlight.

Colorful trees at Rocky Mountain National Park

On the way back, we forked off at the Deer Ridge Junction and stopped briefly at Sheep Lakes.

Sheep Lakes

This time, we stopped at the Fall River Visitor Center. Here are my cancellation stamps for Rocky Mountain National Park.

(Information about Rocky Mountain National Park is from National Park Service pamphlets and signs.)

cancellation stamp for Rocky Mountain National Park

On our way to Fort Collins, where we would meet our son Alex and spend the night, we passed God’s Country Cowboy Church. Someone had a bumper sticker that said, “I brake for wildflowers.” I liked that.

In Fort Collins, we stayed in a strange little place called Solarium. As the guy gave us a tour of the place, he showed us the tent and outdoor area where we were allowed to smoke cannabis, but this privilege was wasted on us, as we don’t do that stuff.

Solarium

When Alex arrived in Fort Collins, we went into the town to have dinner at Restaurant 415.

murals in Fort Collins, CO

square in Fort Collins

murals in Fort Collins, CO

We spent the night in Solarium; the next day, we’d head to Denver after hiking the Arthur’s Rock Trail at Lory State Park.

*Steps, 12,735, or 5.4 miles*

*Wednesday, September 25, 2019*

anticipation & preparation: road trip to nowhere

wanderessence1025 August 23, 2019

To prepare for my Road Trip to Nowhere, I started off by reading Off the Beaten Path: The Dakotas – a guide to unique places (****) by Lisa Meyers McClintick and then Nebraska: Off the Beaten Path by Diana Lambdin Meyer (****). I marked the places that sounded interesting on a road atlas. I also found some interesting recommendations for North Dakota in Midwest Living: 20 Top Things to Do in North Dakota, and South Dakota in Midwest Living: 20 Things to Do in South Dakota.

I plotted out all the places I wanted to stop on the state maps in my atlas.

Nebraska

South Dakota

North Dakota

On my way out west, I’ll stop in Ohio to see Hopewell Culture National Historic Park in Chillicothe, and then the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, which I missed when I was in Cincinnati. The next night, I’ll stop in Springfield, Illinois to see the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

I’ll begin the official road trip in the southeast corner of Nebraska, then north along the east sides of South Dakota and North Dakota, across the top, then south along the west side of North Dakota, South Dakota and northwest Nebraska. Mostly, I will miss the middle areas of all three states.

At that time I’ll veer west to Cheyenne, Wyoming and then south to Denver, Colorado to visit my son. Then I’ll drive back across the south of Nebraska, stop in St. Louis, Missouri, then in Carbondale, Illinois to visit my sister, then home by way of Greeneville, Tennessee.

I also made a loose map on MapQuest which shows the general route of the trip.

Road Trip to Nowhere

Itinerary: It took me a good long while to create my itinerary. I’m not booking much ahead, but will leave some flexibility for schedule changes. I’m sure I’m way too ambitious, but I’ll have to drop things if it becomes too busy!

September 1: Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio
- Hopewell Culture NHP
- Howard Taft National Historic Site
September 2: Springfield, Illinois
- Lincoln Home NHS
- Nebraska City – Lewis & Clark Interpretive Trails and Visitor Center
September 3-4: Omaha, Nebraska
- Old Market / Joslyn Art Museum / Girls and Boys Town / Malcolm X birthsite / President Gerald Ford’s birthsite / Fort Atkinson
September 5: Norfolk, Nebraska
- DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge / Tower of the Four Winds (Blair)
- Oakland: Swedish Town
- Madison: Madison Co. Historical Society Museum (Orphan Train and pencil collection)
- Lewis & Clark Visitor Center – Calumet Bluff
- Norfolk: Elkhorn Valley Museum & Research Center (Johnny Carson) / Willetta Lueshen Bird Library
September 6-7: Sioux Falls, SD
- Yankton: 2 hour visit: Walk historic Meridian Bridge / Mulberry Bend Overlook
- Vermillion: Historic downtown / National Music Museum / Lewis & Clark Historic Trail (Hwy 1804 & 1806) / Spirit Mound Historic Prairie
- Sioux Falls: Falls Park (Terrace Park, Japanese Gardens, Fawick Park, 5-story observation tower, sculpture walk) / St. Joseph’s Cathedral Historic District / Old Courthouse Museum (16 murals) / Queen City Mercantile – Zandbroz Variety / Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences – Visual Arts Center
September 8: Watertown, SD
- Mitchell: Corn Palace / Case Art Gallery: “Dakota Woman” / Mitchell Public Library – Dome mural
- De Smet: real setting for Little House on the Prairie
- Brookings: South Dakota Art Museum – “The Prairie is My Garden” by Harvey Dunn / South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum (farm equipment)
- Watertown: Redlin Art Center / Watertown Driving Tour / Historic downtown
September 9: Fargo, ND
- Sisseton: Sica Hollow State Park (Trail ride with Prairie Sky Ranch) / Joseph N. Nicollet Tower & Interpretive Center (75-ft observation tower)
- Fargo: Bonanzaville / downtown Fargo / Plains Art Museum / Hotel Donaldson (rooftop gathering place)
- Moorhead, MN: Go across the river from Fargo to the Hjemkomst Heritage Center
September 10: Jamestown, ND
- Valley City: Sheyenne Valley National Scenic Byway / Highline Bridge
- Jamestown: World’s Largest Buffalo / National Buffalo Museum / Frontier Village (Louis L’Amour)
September 11: Bottineau, ND
- Carrington: Arrowhead National Wildlife Refuge / Hawk’s Nest
- Devil’s Lake: Sully’s Hill National Game Preserve
- Dunseith: Wee’l Turtle: statue made from 2,000 tire rims
- Bottineau: International Peace Garden
September 12: Bismarck, ND
- Minot: Scandinavian Heritage Center
- Washburn: Fort Mandan / Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center / Knife River Indian Villages
- Mandan: Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park (Custer’s home) / On-a-Slant Village / Five Nations Art Museum
- Bismarck: State Capitol / North Dakota Cultural Center
September 13: Watford City, ND
- Regent: Enchanted Highway
- Dickinson: (Dinosaur Museum) / Joachim Regional Museum
- Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site
September 14-15: Medora, SD
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park (north unit)
- North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame (entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park)
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park (south unit) / Elkhorn Ranch site
- Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, Medora
September 16: Deadwood, SD
- Belle Forche: Official market “Stone Johnnie” – geographical center of U.S. / Slim Buttes: section of forest limestone split by canyons / Slim Buttes Battlefield
- Spearfish: Spearfish Canyon National Scenic byway / Termesphere Gallery
- Deadwood: old town
September 17-18: Interior, SD
- Sturgis: Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame
- Bear Butte State Park (6 mi. NE of Sturgis)
- Wall: Wall Drug Store / Wounded Knee Museum
- Badlands Petrified Gardens
- Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
September 19-21: Rapid City, SD
- Badlands National Park: Ben Reifel Visitor Center: Hikes: Fossil Trail, Castle Trail, Door Trail, Notch Trail
- Take scenic route to Rapid City (Rt. 44)
- Rapid City: Downtown / Art Alley / Prairie Edge Trading Co. & Galleries / City of Presidents
- Chapel in the Hills (5 miles out) & Norwegian Log Cabin Museum
- Black Hills
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial / Crazy Horse Memorial
- Custer State Park: 66-mile Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, 18-mi Wildlife Loop Road, 14-mile Needles Highway & Iron Mountain Road, Best overlooks: Mt. Coolidge, Heddy Draw Overlook
- Jewel Cave National Monument
- Wind Cave National Park
- Hot Springs: Mammoth Site: Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary (2 hour bus tour) / Sage Meadow Ranch (trail rides by reservation)
September 22: Scottsbluff, NE
- Toadstool Geological Park, NE
- Crawford: Fort Robinson Museum / Sowbelly Canyon ?
- Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (rattlesnakes!!!)
- Bayard: Chimney Rock National Historic Site (NE)
- Scotts Bluff National Monument (landmark along Oregon Trail) / Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering
September 23-24: Cheyenne, WY
- Kimball: Panorama Point
- Cheyenne: The Cowgirls of the West Museum / Cheyenne Botanic Gardens / Vedauwoo Recreation Area in Southeastern Wyoming / Paramount Ballroom / Nagle Warren Mansion
September 25: Fort Collins, CO
- Horsetooth Mountain Open Space (hike)
- New Belgium Brewing Co.
September 26-27: Denver, CO
1. ALEX: Flatirons Hike. Who knows what else?
September 28: Grand Island, NE
- Ogallala, NE: Front Street – Old West Town
- North Platte: Buffalo Bill Scouts Rest Ranch State Historical Park (horseback rides?) / Fort Cody Trading Post (I-80 & I-83) / Cody Park (life-size bronze statue of Buffalo Bill)
- Elm Creek: Chevy U.S.A. Antique Car & Cycle Museum
- Kearney: Museum of Nebraska Art
- Grand Island: Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer / Studio K Art Gallery / Coney Island Lunch Room / G.I. Auto Body
September 29: Lincoln, NE
- Hastings: Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History (wing about Kool-Aid) / bronze sculptures on 2nd Street
- Red Cloud: Willa Cather State Historic Site
- Beatrice: Homestead National Monument of America
- Lincoln: Nebraska State Capitol / Nine Mile Prairie / Spring Creek Prairie
September 30: Carbondale, IL
1. St. Louis: Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site
2. Visit my sister!
October 1-2: Carbondale, IL
1. Visit Steph.
October 3: Greeneville, TN
1. Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
October 4: Home

To get in the mood for the vast plains through which I’ll traverse, I’ve been reading a number of books set in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. My favorites so far have been Dalva by Jim Harrison and O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. Below is a list of other books set in this area. The ones I’ve finished have a star rating and a link; the others I am either currently reading or haven’t read.

Nebraska books

North Dakota books

Books to read:

North Dakota
1. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (1984) ***
2. The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich (1985) (currently reading)
3. The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich (1998)
4. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich (2000)
5. The Master Butcher’s Singing Club by Louise Erdrich (2003)
6. The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich (2008)
7. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (2012)
8. LaRose by Louise Erdrich (2016)
9. The Bingo Palace by Louise Erdrich (2017)
10. The Grass Dancer by Susan Power ***
11. The Horizontal World: Growing Up in the Middle of Nowhere by Debra Marquart (currently reading)
12. Beyond the Bedroom Wall by Larry Woiwode
13. Those Days by Richard Critchfield
South Dakota
1. Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris ****
2. Black Hills by Nora Roberts ***
3. The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber (currently reading)
4. A Long Way from Home by Tom Brokaw
5. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog, Richard Erdoes
6. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s War on the American Indian Movement by Peter Matthiessen
7. The Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson
8. The Removes by Tatjana Soli
Nebraska
1. O Pioneers! (Great Plains Trilogy #1) by Willa Cather ****
2. My Ántonia (Great Plains Trilogy #3) by Willa Cather (currently reading)
3. Dalva (Dalva #1) by Jim Harrison *****
4. The Road Home (Dalva #2) by Jim Harrison
5. The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand
6. Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child
7. Goodnight, Nebraska by Tom McNeal
8. Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz
9. Old Jules by Mari Sandoz
10. Nebraska Off the Beaten Path by Diana Lambdin Meyer ****
Ohio:
1. Cincinnati
  1. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield ***

Here are some movies set in this area. The ones with links and star ratings are the ones I have seen.

North Dakota:

Fargo (1996) ***
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Ken Burns (1997) *****
Wooly Boys (2001) ***
Flight of the Red Tail (2009)
White Earth (2013)
The Overnighters (2014)
Welcome to Leith (2015)
Bravetown (2015) ****
A Different American Dream (2016)

South Dakota:

Badlands (1973)
Dances with Wolves (1990) ****
Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story (1992) ***
Thunderheart (1992)
Lakota Woman (1994)
Crazy Horse (1996)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
Imprint (2007)
The Revenant (2015)
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)
The Rider (2018)

Nebraska:

The Indian Runner (1991)
O Pioneers! (1992) ***
My Antonia (1995)
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
About Schmidt (2002) ****
Peacock (2010)
The Descendants (2011) ***
Nebraska (2013) ***
Take Me to the River (2015)
Downsizing (2017)
Tully (2018) ***

I have two playlists that I’ve made up on Spotify:

I spent a lot of time making up my travel journal. I’m trying to up my collage and drawing abilities a bit. Little by little, I hope to improve.

my journal, camera and atlas map of Nebraska and the book: The Horizontal World

title page

South Dakota page

South Dakota

North Dakota

Enchanted Highway in North Dakota

And of course, I made up my creative intentions for the trip.

Intentions for my Road Trip to Nowhere

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“ANTICIPATION & PREPARATION” INVITATION: I invite you to write a post on your own blog about anticipation & preparation for a particular destination (not journeys in general). If you don’t have a blog, I invite you to write in the comments. Include the link in the comments below by Thursday, September 26 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Friday, September 27, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, on the 4th Friday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂 If you’d like to read more about the topic, see: journeys: anticipation & preparation.

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Indra, of TravTrails wrote about her anticipation & preparation, and a lot more, for her visit Prince Edward Island in 2017.
- PIE IN THE OCEAN

Thanks to all of you who wrote posts about anticipation and preparation. 🙂

call to place: the road trip to nowhere

wanderessence1025 August 22, 2019

I first got the idea to take a road trip through the Dakotas and Nebraska from a book called Moon: Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways by Jamie Jensen. I was curious about the title of a road trip in the book – “The Road to Nowhere” – that cut right through the center of the U.S.A. on Route 83, a “must-do long-distance byway – transnavigating this broad, odd nation, without once grazing a conventional tourist destination.” The road trip in the book goes from Canada to Old Mexico, cutting straight through North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

However, the more I read about this particular road trip, the more I wanted to deviate from it. I wanted to see some of the national parks in North and South Dakota. I wanted to explore parts of Nebraska and then dip into northern Colorado to visit my eldest son, who lives in Denver. I didn’t want to travel all the way out west and miss many of the famous spots. So, I edited this trip and made it all about the three northernmost states: North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. I’m still calling it the “Road Trip to Nowhere,” because the places are usually places you see on the way to somewhere else.

I’ll make my way to Omaha, go up the eastern side of Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, then across the north, near the border with Canada, and then south on the western sides of all three states. I’ll mostly miss the middle of the states because it is logistically challenging for the time I have. From The Washington Post Travel Section, I was also inspired to add Cheyenne, Wyoming to my itinerary: Cheyenne. From there, I can drop down to Colorado. Then I can drive back home across the width of Nebraska. On my way home, I can stop to visit my sister in southern Illinois.

After driving across Kansas on my way to the Four Corners last May and then walking across the Meseta on the Camino de Santiago in fall of 2018, I fell in love with dramatic skies and expansive fields of crops. This is what the Dakotas and Nebraska are supposedly like.

Big skies on Spain’s Meseta

Another of my sources of inspiration came from a post Pit wrote in his blog: Pit’s Fritztown News. The blog was about Sioux Falls, South Dakota: SolarEclipseRoadTrip – Day 9 [Sioux Falls/SD: Afternoon in Falls Park]. I was surprised to find such an attractive city in his post. After visiting the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, NY, I fell in love with Teddy Roosevelt and then found many travelers raving about Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Then there is the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, carved with the faces of the presidents, including Teddy. Then my vision for the road trip expanded to many more parks and memorials in the area.

“The Lewis & Clark Experience” at the Frazier Museum in Louisville, KY ignited my curiosity about the Corps of Discovery, the specially-established unit of the United States Army that formed the nucleus of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from May 1804 to September 1806, and their attempt to find a waterway that connected the Missouri River with the Pacific Ocean.

President Thomas Jefferson asked Merriwether Lewis to head up the expedition, sending him to the American Philosophical Society so he could learn of the natural sciences as well as cultivating the arts. Lewis asked William Clark, age 33, to join; he became Second-Lieutenant but they shared the responsibilities of command. Like Jefferson and Lewis, Clark was from Virginia. Clark spent his youth on the family plantation and didn’t have a formal education, but he had great wilderness skills, along with strong boating, map-making, leadership and communication skills.

York, the only black man in the party — slave and manservant to William Clark since they were young — developed many of the same wilderness skills as Clark, but his hunting and scouting abilities, along with his great strength, made him integral to the success of the mission. He was able to communicate with the Indian tribes because they had never seen a black man before and they believed he had great spiritual power. The Arikara called him “Great Medicine.”

The keelboat was the most important purchase Lewis made; it could carry 12-14 tons of weight. Among the last of Lewis’s purchases was, Seaman, a large Newfoundland dog, who made the entire journey with the Corps.

The Lewis & Clark Expedition

One of the places I plan to visit is Fort Mandan in modern-day North Dakota, where the Corps wintered beginning in October 1804. At that time, the Corps had traveled nearly 1,600 miles along the Missouri River at an average rate of 11 miles per day. They had to wait nearly six months to continue their journey.

The Mandan Indians helped them by trading with them and providing them with food for the winter; the tribe was central to the trade network along the Missouri River and even helped in peace talks with the rival Arikara tribe, which eventually failed.

While the Corps wintered, they wrote a long report of their journey, describing plants, animals, Indian relations, and predictions for the months ahead. They recorded temperatures of 40°F below zero at Fort Mandan. Clark, an experienced mapmaker, finished detailed drawings of the Missouri River and surrounds, while Lewis preserved, packed and detailed 108 plant specimens and 68 mineral samples, along with Indian objects like bows and clothing, animal skins and skeletons, for the American Philosophical Society. They even sent back a few live animals, including a prairie dog.

When the Corps set out again on April 7, 1805 they continued their westward journey while the keelboat headed back to St. Louis with the specimens, eventually making its way back to Thomas Jefferson. A Mandan chief drew maps for the unfamiliar territory ahead and told them they would need help from the Shosone, who had horses vital to mountain crossing.

Fort Mandan exhibit at the Frazier

Toussaint Charbonneau, a 45-year-old French Canadian fur trader, was living with the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians when the Corps arrived in late 1804. Charbonneau had two “wives” he’d purchased as slaves; one was the young Shoshone named Sacagawea. Lewis and Clark hired them as interpreters, seeing the value of the languages they spoke.

Sacagawea, who had been kidnapped from her Shoshone village by a Hidatsa war party, and then was sold to Charbonneau, who referred to her as his “wife,” was only 16 years old and six months pregnant when the Corps first met her. Sacagawea, along with her newborn baby and husband, shared a tent with Lewis and Clark for most of the journey; her skills and resilience saved the mission more than once.

Charboneau and Sacajawea

At the Frazier Museum, I briefly encountered some of the legacy of George Armstrong Custer, who rose to fame during the Civil War. He led the U.S. Army Black Hills Expedition that set out on July 2, 1874 from modern day Bismarck, North Dakota, which was then Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory, with orders to travel to the previously uncharted Black Hills of South Dakota. Its mission was to look for suitable locations for a fort, find a route to the southwest, and to investigate the possibility of gold mining. The expedition set up camp at the site of the future town of Custer; a gold rush ensued which antagonized the Sioux Indians who had been promised protection of their sacred land through Treaties made by the U.S. government. It was in 1876 during the Indian wars, that Custer and many of his troops would meet their end at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana at the hands of the Lakota and Cheyenne.

George Armstrong Custer

Custer’s uniform

I hope to see herds of buffalo through the Dakotas. The buffalo provided much to the Indian tribes besides meat. Bones provided tools, knives and arrowheads; hides provided clothing, moccasins and bags; horns provided cups, spoons, toys and powder horns; the bladder provided pouches and medicine bags; buffalo “chips,” or scat, provided fuel for fire. The native tribes went to dangerous lengths to kill the buffalo including dressing in hides as decoys to lead herds to jump off cliffs, and, when buffalo were stranded on ice blocks that broke as they crossed in winter, jumping from ice block to ice block to retrieve or kill the dead or dying animals.

Custer State Park in South Dakota is home to nearly 1,500 head of North American bison. Commonly known as buffalo, these massive mammals can grow to six feet tall and weigh more than 2,000 pounds.

Buffalo skull

As the Dakotas are a harsh environment, where farming is difficult and populations are dwindling, I was recently captivated and further inspired by an exhibit about disappearing barns at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Virginia. The exhibit, titled “Ghosts of a Forgotten Landscape” featured atmospheric paintings by Sally Veach. The artist explores the southern breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley and the difficulty of sustaining traditional farms due to changes in food production and distribution. Because of technological advances in storing hay and grain used to feed livestock, traditional barns with their pitched roofs, cupolas and silos are no longer essential features on the farm. The artist wanted to deeply explore the disappearance and deterioration of barns in the Shenandoah Valley, and man’s continuing struggle for survival, the hardships of taming a wild land, and the relationship between man and nature.

Harvest Ghost, 2018 by Sally Veach

“Omnipotence”

Ascension 6, 2019 by Sally Veach

Omnipotence, April 2019 by Sally Veach

painting by Sally Veach

“Flow” by Sally Veach

Painting by Sally Veach

“Piercing the Veil,” March 2019 by Sally Veach

“Winter Ascension,” January 2019 by Sally Veach

“Autumn Ascension,” November 2018 by Sally Veach

I hope to see writer Willa Cather’s home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, museums featuring western art, western towns such as Sioux Falls, Fargo, Rapid City and Bismarck, kitschy American places such as The Enchanted Highway, the Corn Palace, and Wall Drug, as well as natural places such as the Badlands, caves, the Black Hills, endless prairies and grasses.

From National Geographic:

Prairies are enormous stretched of flat grassland with moderate temperatures, moderate rainfall, and few trees.

When people talk about the prairie, they are usually referring to the golden, wheat-covered land in the middle of North America. The Great Plains, in the United States and Canada, has some of the world’s most valuable prairies, which grow some of the world’s most important crops. The U.S. states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan make up the Great Plains.

prairie in northern Spain

At first, I couldn’t interest a single person in coming with me, so I planned to go it alone. However, my enthusiasm was so infectious that Mike, at the last minute, decided he’d fly out to Rapid City, South Dakota and travel with me to Denver, and then fly back from there. It may not sound that appealing to go on a road trip to NOWHERE, but I’m sure, whether alone or with Mike, I’ll have a grand time. 🙂

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“THE CALL TO PLACE” INVITATION: I invite you to write a post on your own blog about what enticed you to choose a particular destination. If you don’t have a blog, I invite you to write in the comments. If your destination is a place you love and keep returning to, feel free to write about that. If you want to see the original post about the subject, you can check it out here: imaginings: the call to place.

Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, September 25 at 1:00 p.m. EST. My next “call to place” post is scheduled to post on Thursday, September 26.

If you’d like, you can use the hashtag #wanderessence.

This will be an ongoing invitation, on the fourth Thursday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

colorado’s “cosmic highway:” pagosa springs to crestone

wanderessence1025 July 9, 2019

When I arrived in Pagosa Springs, Colorado at 3:30 p.m. after leaving Mesa Verde, it was pouring rain. After checking in to my hotel, The Alpine Inn, I headed straight to the library to do some research my youngest brother had assigned me. Pagosa Springs was my mother’s hometown, and my brother had asked me to find what I could about the Saddleback Ranch and “Fomp” Turner. The librarian was very helpful; she found that the ranch had recently sold for $11,900,000, as well as some vague directions.

The librarian also helped me search for “Fomp” Turner on the microfiche of The Pagosa Sun. There, I found some articles about her and also, incidentally, some articles about my mother. I found that my mother had been Miss Red Rider Roundup in the annual 4th of July celebration in 1950. I found she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin, Phyllis Martinez. I also found that my grandfather, Jasper Martinez, departed for Texas to spend the winter months with his daughter (& my aunt), Judith Shaw, in 1976. What interesting news these small town newspapers carry!

My grandfather’s brother, Emmett Martinez, had written an article about “Baldy” and “Fomp” Turner and a brief history of the Saddleback Ranch, that I found in The Pagosa Sun. Apparently, Wellmore “Baldy” Turner, a successful attorney in Dayton, Ohio, and his wife, Florence “Fomp” Turner, bought a major portion of the Saddleback Ranch in 1925. In 1927, he added more land to the ranch. Later, they built the lodge at Saddleback using spruce and aspen logs from Turner Mountain, near the ranch. Around 1935-1940, a two-story frame building was added to the the main ranch log cabin at the south end of the big meadow. A barn was built southeast of the main ranch house, along with a corral area to support cattle operations.

The Saddleback Ranch was a summer retreat for the Turners. Mrs. Turner usually arrived in early June, and divided her time between the ranch and her dress shop in Pagosa Springs called The Fashion Bar. She also entertained a lot of friends from the east and didn’t return to Dayton until late August or early September. Mr. Turner would stay for a shorter time each year, as he had to return to his practice in Dayton.

Though my grandmother, Hazel “Babe” Martinez, was not mentioned in this article, I found from my Aunt Judy (my mom’s sister) that Babe cleaned house for the Turners at the Saddleback Ranch. At that time, my grandmother had left her three daughters, including my mom, in an orphanage, as she was unable to care for them. Apparently, “Fomp” had five dogs and Babe used to sit with the dogs on a rock in one corner of the ranch. When Babe died, her son (my mother’s brother), Gilbert Martinez, buried her ashes one night in the pouring rain by that rock in the corner of the Saddleback Ranch.

Somehow, “Fomp” took an interest in my mother and took her to Dayton and helped her attend college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for one year.

Fomp Turner died in 1973, and Baldy Turner sold the Saddleback Ranch in 1975, and died in 1980. The Saddleback was purchased in 1983 by Adolph Coors Company. I wasn’t sure who owned it at the time of my visit.

Apparently, my brother was interested in this information as he had spent a summer in Pagosa Springs with my Aunt Judy and had visited the Saddleback Ranch in the late 1970s.

Bojack Ranch in Pagosa Springs

After doing my research in the library, I went in search of the Saddleback Ranch. The directions I got from the librarian said it abutted the southern boundary of the Bootjack Ranch, and was 15 miles down the valley from the Wolf Creek Ski Area. It was getting late in the day and I was driving down dirt roads in the middle of the San Juan Forest, and as darkness descended, I gave up trying to find the ranch. I found instead the Bojack Ranch, which looked pretty impressive. I don’t know if the “Bootjack Ranch” and the “Bojack Ranch” were one and the same.

Bojack Ranch in Pagosa Springs

Bojack Ranch in Pagosa Springs

I stopped for dinner at Kip’s Grill & Cantina — “Pleasin’ the People for 22 years.” The place was bustling. I enjoyed a Fort Collins Wheat while waiting for a table. License plates on the walls said: “Eat Rice: Potatoes Make Your Butt Big.” And “Free Beer tomorrow.” And “Oklahoma RDY2FLY.” Burly men sat at the bar. All around me were ruddy whiskered faces, baseball hats, plaid shirts, hiking shoes or heavy boots, camouflage jackets and hats. Waitresses had green-tinted hair. A poster said “Wolf Creek: The Most Snow in Colorado.” I enjoyed three shrimp tacos on corn tortillas while testosterone buzzed around me.

Kip’s Grill & Cantina

shrimp tacos on corn tortillas

rugged Colorado men

The next morning I got an early start for my long drive to Crestone, crossing over the snow-covered Wolf Creek Pass summit at 10,856 feet. Tall thin trees jutted up through wispy clouds like swords piercing the sky. Chartreuse cottonwoods huddled alongside a boiling, churning river below. I passed Goodnight’s Lonesome Dove & Moon Valley RV. I drove past Chinook Cabins and the Rainbow Motel under heavy skies.

Rainbow Motel on the way to Crestone

Past the mountains, the land flattened out and browned. Ranches abounded: the Pronghorn Ranch and the Double Spur Lodge and Ranch. Pioneer United Church and Haefeli’s Honey Farms offered glory and sweetness.

When I reached Saguache County, a handwritten sign on the road said “This is the Cosmic Highway.” Another sign notified drivers that this was a UFO-spotting site. High Valley Retail Cannabis beckoned. As I turned onto a county road, a herd of yak nodded a “Welcome to the Baca Grande.” The GPS led me over dirt roads: Tranquil Way, Caprice Way, Harmony Way, Peaceful Way, Rarity Way, and Spanish Trail.

My youngest son was WWOOFing on a small organic farm in Crestone, so I met him at the yurt where he was staying. The couple in the yurt ran a small farm that had been in operation for two years. They used the three bedrooms on the bottom floor for Airbnb clients. My son, who was working for them for no pay, just board (but no room) was staying in a hammock under a tarp outdoors on the grounds. He had set up an elaborate system of cairns around his “living space” as a bear warning, as well as a special meditation spot near his hammock.

The farm had raised beds with fences around them to keep deer and other animals at bay. A Geodesic greenhouse nourished crops they’d transplant when it warmed up. They had chickens and ducks and collected 20-30 eggs each day from the chickens. A rabbit coop kept rabbits for slaughter. The owners got their protein from the eggs, chicken and rabbits.

Yurt in Crestone

My son was at that time investing in a 6-acre piece of land that looked quite barren to me. He had done research to find that Crestone has quite a large aquifer underground and in order to develop the property he would first need to drill a well 80-100 feet to draw on the aquifer. This would be sometime in the distant future, as he had no means to develop the property at that time.

my son’s land

We drove all over dirt roads, hilly and bumpy, roads with soulful names such as Spring Beauty Trail, Enchanted Way, and N. Wanderlust Trail. I got a tour of a hodgepodge of architectural styles: Earthship homes, yurts, cobbled-together structures, and a residence that locals called a Dr. Seuss house. Quirkiness ran rampant. While people had to get a permit to build, they didn’t have to follow many regulations on how things got constructed. Solar and other forms of alternative energy were popular.

Earthship house under construction

The Baca Grande subdivision was also known as a center for alternative building, permaculture and sustainable living. Environmental organizations, eco-villages and community gardens were located here.

close up of Earthship house under construction

Dr. Seuss house

Crestone itself had just 127 people in the 2010 Census. The entire Saguache county had a population of 6,108. At 7,500 feet in elevation and ringed on three sides by mountains, Crestone is beautiful and isolated, subject to extremes of weather, wind, and temperature. It is known as a spiritual community and a haven for those seeking a contemplative or alternative lifestyle. It has an array of spiritual sites: ashrams, monasteries, temples, retreat centers, stupas, labyrinths, and other sacred landmarks, including a ziggurat, a structure modeled on the temples of ancient Babylon. Centers here represent faiths that include Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Native American spiritual traditions, and New Age beliefs. Eastern spiritual traditions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, are pervasive. However, all paths are honored.

The community of Crestone is unique because of its spirituality, its social and political activism, and its commitment to environmentalism.

“downtown” Crestone

“downtown” Crestone

We enjoyed lunch at a cafe in town: a chili vegetable stew chock-full of onions for me and a chicken sandwich for my son.

Cafe in Crestone

After going to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, my son wanted us to stop at a hot springs but it was getting late. We drove back to Crestone, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the only restaurant in town, Desert Sage. I had a huge meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and a glass of wine (not a smart move with a long drive ahead of me). I left half my meatloaf with my son, dropped him at the farm, and took off as the sun was setting for a five hour drive to Pueblo, where I’d reserved a non-refundable room early in my trip, before I’d known my son would be in Crestone. I wished I’d opted to stay the night in the yurt, because it was a very unpleasant drive in the dark over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in total darkness.

For our visit to the Great Sand Dunes, see my previous post: great sand dunes national park.

sunset in the Sangre de Cristos

*Pagosa Springs: Monday, May 21, 2018*

*Crestone: Tuesday, May 22, 2018*

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“PROSE” INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose.

It doesn’t matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction for this invitation. You can either set your own writing intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: prose. (This page is a work in process.) You can also include photos, of course.

Include the link in the comments below by Monday, July 22 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, July 23, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired. 🙂

Arundhati, of The Travelling Diary of a Dippy-Dotty Girl, wrote a charming prose piece about her visit to Montauk.
- Montauk

Thanks to all of you who wrote prosaic posts following intentions you set for yourself. 🙂

mesa verde finale: the aramak tour

wanderessence1025 June 20, 2019

Holly was our guide for the Aramak tour at Mesa Verde National Park from 8-12 a.m. Monday morning. The tour only covered Chapin Mesa. We headed straight for the Mesa Top Loop while she told us some of the history of Mesa Verde, which became a National Park in 1906. It became the first World Heritage Site in the U.S. in 1978. The park is not known for its beauty, she said, but for its cultural heritage, with the ancestral homes of 21 modern-day Pueblo groups that trace their ancestry back to these regions. Thus the park preserves a link from the past to the present.

Aramak tour

The flute player clan of the Hopi tribe says they came from Mesa Verde. It is surmised that people left because of overpopulation, drought, or stress on the society. Or it is also likely that this just wasn’t a good place to live anymore.

At the top of Chapin Mesa, we see burnt out skeletons of trees; Holly tells us a wildfire caused by lightning burnt 2,800 acres in 2002.

Our first stop was at the Pithouses and Pueblos (A.D. 700-950). The pitroom was used for ceremonies as well as cooking and sleeping. A hole in the roof allowed smoke to escape the pithouse. However, breathing may have still been difficult in these smoky, subterranean rooms.

Villages of this era had only one or two pitrooms. The slabs and floor cavities are typical of earlier pithouses; some villagers may have moved here in winter, finding the pitroom easier to heat than surface dwellings.

Pithouses

Pithouses

Holly told us about the vegetation on the mesa. She said the Utah junipers were infested by mistletoe, a parasite that kills the junipers. Juniper is absorbent and is used for bandages, diapers and John Wayne toilet paper, the packaging of which says “It’s rough! It’s tough! And it doesn’t take crap off anyone!” Juniper berries flavor gin and game meat, and are used to make ghost beads to protect people from bad dreams.

The pinyon pines have a sticky sap used for sealant. They were used to seal baskets used for carrying water and for healing cream. Needles are used to make tea. Pine nuts from pinyon pines are expensive because they only come out every 4-7 years.

According to Holly, the broad leaf yucca is not a succulent. The fibers were used as paintbrushes to decorate pottery and pre-threaded sewing needles. They were weaved to make sandals and plaited together to make rope and baskets. The root could be used as soap.

The Gamble Oaks in the canyon are only ten feet tall. There are no cottonwoods in the canyon because they need more water than is available.

Juniper

Broad leaf yucca

We saw an Anasazi kiva, or underground religious room. The small, circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin. The kiva had several functions: crafts workshop, social gathering place, and a chamber in which to plan or perform ceremonies.

Ceremonial chamber

Ceremonial chamber

We stood in the courtyard of an early pueblo village. By 850 A.D., most Mesa Verde people were living in surface dwellings instead of pithouses. Adjoining rooms may reflect a greater degree of cooperation required by an expanding population.

The walls were built by setting poles upright and weaving small sticks between them, then plastering the walls with mud – a technique called “wattle and daub.”

Three distinct villages are here; for at least 150 years, a succession of Pueblo farmers occupied this same plot of ground. The mesa top was not the ideal place to live as it had poor drainage and was exposed to harsh weather, with earthen rooms chilled over the winter by deep snow.

village at Mesa Verde

We saw a view of Navajo Canyon from the bus, but we didn’t get off.

Navajo Canyon view

We stopped at views for Cliff Canyon, Oak Tree House Cliff Dwelling, Fire Temple, Sun Temple and Cliff Palace. The cliff dwellings themselves were not built until the final 75-100 years of Mesa Verde’s occupation. For over 600 years, the people lived mostly on the mesa tops.

Cliff Canyon

Oak Tree House Cliff Dwelling

Oak Tree House Cliff Dwelling

Sun Temple atop the canyon

Fire Temple

Fire Temple

Fire Temple

Sadly, I was unable to visit Cliff Palace because it was closed until the following weekend. We were only able to view it from the overlook on the opposite side of the canyon.

Cliff Palace

We visited Sun Temple with its bread loaf stones. From above, the D-shaped symmetry of the temple is remarkable, especially its twin kivas. Such massive construction must have involved a community-wide effort. The structure was never completed; there is no evidence of a roof or roof timbers. Apparently construction stopped when the Anasazi people began to leave the area. Though the structure appears ceremonial, its exact function remains a mystery.

construction of Sun Temple

The natives here used hand and toe holds to carry corn in baskets from farms on the mesa top to the cliff dwellings. There was no evidence of death from falls. Residents here adapted to the environment.

At the end of our tour, we stopped for one final view of Cliff Palace, the largest of Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings.

Cliff Palace

me with Cliff Palace in the background

Here are my other Mesa Verde posts:
mesa verde overlooks
the step house trail at mesa verde
balcony house at mesa verde

*Monday, May 21, 2018*

*********************

“PHOTOGRAPHY” INVITATION: I invite you to create a photography intention and then create a blog post for a place you have visited. Alternately, you can post a thematic post about a place, photos of whatever you discovered that set your heart afire. You can also do a thematic post of something you have found throughout all your travels: churches, doors, people reading, people hiking, mountains, patterns, all black & white, whatever!

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-25 photos and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, July 3 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, July 4, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first, second, and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month (I’ve now added the second Thursday). Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Jude, of life at the edge, captured some gorgeous sculptures in a serene and inviting setting at Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St. Ives.
- Finding Magic

Thanks to all of you who shared posts on the “photography” invitation. 🙂

the step house trail at mesa verde

wanderessence1025 May 30, 2019

The Step House trail at Mesa Verde National Park is a self-guided walk. I did the walk on my first afternoon at Mesa Verde. It’s a 0.8 mile paved loop trail descending into the alcove. Including several stairways, the elevation change is about 100 feet (30 m).

Step House sits in a shallow, northeast-facing alcove on Wetherill Mesa. It showcases architecture from two separate time periods of the Ancestral Pueblo people’s occupation here: a reconstructed pithouse originally built around 620 A.D. alongside a small multi-story pueblo built centuries later.

Wetherill Mesa at the start of the Step House Trail

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