Heading Home

I decided to see if I could catch some morning color today but it wasn't nearly as brilliant as yesterday.

Dawn at Monument Valley

We were packed and on the road at 8:45 AM today intending to get within a couple hundred miles of Riverside where we would dry camp for the night.  The 105 degree temperatures persuaded us to continue for a few more miles to Twentynine Palms and a RV Park with 50 amp service so we could run our air conditioner all night if necessary.  We are now 90 miles from home and should arrive there tomorrow before noon.

Heading Home

I decided to see if I could catch some morning color today but it wasn't nearly as brilliant as yesterday.

Dawn at Monument Valley

We were packed and on the road at 8:45 AM today intending to get within a couple hundred miles of Riverside where we would dry camp for the night.  The 105 degree temperatures persuaded us to continue for a few more miles to Twentynine Palms and a RV Park with 50 amp service so we could run our air conditioner all night if necessary.  We are now 90 miles from home and should arrive there tomorrow before noon.

Monument Valley Day 2

I was up early enough for some great sunrise shots but thought the color wouldn't be good.  Boy, was I wrong.  I did manage to get a mesa shot in the morning sun but missed the great color.

Dawn at Monument Valley

Mesa in the Morning

At 8:45 AM we boarded our tour truck/bus for a 5 1/2 hour tour of Mystery Valley.  There were 12 of us on the tour, three German ladies, a couple from Belgium, two ladies from London and five Americans.  We had a great time visiting the Anasazi ruins, looking at the petroglyphs and pictographs and shooting the great scenery.  Our guide, Don, a Navajo of few words, was a great cook.  Our lunch of hamburgers was delicious.

Teardrop Arch

View Through Teardrop Arch

View of Monuments

Don our Guide at the Saddle

Anasazi Ruin 1300 AD

Anasazi Ruin

Another Anasazi Ruin

Honeymoon Arch

Inside Honeymoon Arch

Lonesome Pine Arch

Jack on Skull Arch

View from Skull Arch

Petroglyph

Pictograph

Anasazi Hand Prints

What a great day!   We saw many interesting things and made some new friends.

Monument Valley Day 1

The temperature in Durango on Saturday morning was 34 degrees.  Just a few more days and the color will be here in its full brilliance.  Unfortunately we are now on a schedule and had to head for Monument Valley.

After an easy run of 184 miles we arrived at Goldings RV Park in the beautiful red rocks just outside the valley itself.  After arranging for a tour for Sunday we drove to the park for a drive on the 17 mile loop road through the valley.  Movement in the valley is restricted to that loop plus a few side trips if you don't have an official guide or aren't on a tour.

Merrick Butte

Mitten Butte

View from John Ford Point

Cowboy at John Ford Point

The Totem Poles

After our tour we enjoyed a St Pauli Girl NA beer on the deck of the View Hotel Restaurant and watched the sun go down.

Mary on the Deck

Durango Day 2

Our campground is right on the tracks for the Durango Silverton Railroad so I was out there with the camera when it came by this morning.

D & S Coming Down the Tracks

D & S Train

We headed up the hill again today past Silverton to Ouray.  Silverton had a low of 25 degrees last night so we were blessed with a little more color.  We even got off the highway a few times.

Color at Silverton

High Color

Ouray 

Mine in the Mountains

Mary at Picnic in the Mountains

Animas River View

Tomorrow it is on to Monument Valley for some more photography.

Durango Day One

We made the laborious drive from Alamosa to Durango today.  The Winnebago was tested on the ride up and down from Wolf Creek Pass (10,500 feet) and the drive from Pagosa Springs to Durango always seems too long for me.  We wanted to stay at the Alpen Rose RV Resort but they must not have wanted us since they never responded to our phone messages.  Instead we are at the United Campground which has the Durango Silverton Railroad passing through the campground.  Tomorrow morning I will be waiting for the trains to pass.

Once settled in the campground we ran some errands in town and then headed for Silverton for a look around.

Silverton

Flowers on the Way

More Flowers

A Hint of Fall Colors

A Mountain View

Another Mountain View

We are a bit early for the Fall colors but we still enjoyed the scenery and will do some more exploring tomorrow.

Alamosa

Tuesday morning we made the long (27 miles) drive to Alamosa where we settled the Winnebago into a campsite at the local KOA and then went to check out three wildlife refuges in the area.  The fall migration has not began so there weren't many birds to photograph but we enjoyed the exploration of the area and the beautiful scenery.  Rain fell for much of the afternoon but has been replaced by blue sky.

The Rio Grande River

Alamosa NWR Wetlands

Blanca Wetlands

Flotilla of Ducks at Blanca

Pond at Blanca Wetlands

Rabbit Bush at Blanca

Rabbit Bush Everywhere

View at Monte Vista NWR

Great Sand Dunes

We slipped through downtown Denver on the I25 on Labor Day morning avoiding the business morning traffic.  We arrived at the Great Sand Dunes National Park at 1:00 PM got set up in our campsite (with a view of the sand dunes) and then went exploring.  These are the highest sand dunes in North America with the tallest reaching 790 ft.

Dunes with Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Dunes & Mountains

Dunes

People on Dunes

Footprints in the Dunes

Deer in the Shade

Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Mountain Scene

Desert Aster

We had a great campsite except for the fact that we had to raise the passenger side of the Winnebago to a point where all the wheels on that side were well off the ground.  Our campfire plans were thwarted on Monday evening by strong winds and on Tuesday evening by persistent drizzle.

There is great 4-wheeling in the area and we wished we had the Jeep along.