From Window Rock, in the Navajo Nation ...

On the road again!

We left Scooby Doo protesting at the Dog Hotel before dawn's early light yesterday and scooted down US 491 (the old 666, changed because it was "the Devil's Highway") toward Window Rock, AZ, the capital of the Navajo Nation. It was beautiful seeing the first rays of the sun hit the top of the Sleeping Ute and start to work their way down the slopes.

Unfortunately, however, thin, high clouds diluted the sunshine as we were going south of Shiprock along the Chuskas. I love the morning sun sweeping across the San Juan Basin and highlighting the rock formations and the slopes to the west, but it was not as spectacular as usual.

We turned west on the road to Washington Pass and Crystal, one of my favorite drives in Navajo country, and the sunlight got stronger as we went over the pass. The bottom picture is looking toward Washington Pass from the east, San Juan Basin side. If those are Gambel oaks in the foreground, they're huge! The ones around home never get more than 15 feet or so high.

Navajos say this should be called Narbona Pass; that cliff in the distance may be the one from which US Army Lt. Washington threw Navajo leader Narbona to his death.

After enjoying the beauty of the forests and pastures and fall color in the high country of the Chuskas, we went down the valley to Fort Defiance and then Window Rock, where a friend was coordinating a conference of Navajo traders, emphasizing those who are, in fact, Navajo.

Before lunch, we took a walking tour of the tribal zoo, which is right next door to the tribal museum (top picture). There was a lot of controversy when the zoo was created, because of the caged animals, but it was neat to see a group of young people touring the zoo.

On the way to the zoo, we each bought raffle tickets from a small swarm of red T-shirted Navajo boys who are raising money for their team. If we win, we might get $75, or a "Pendleton Vintage Camp Blanket," or "A load of wood," or "Dinner for 4 @ China West Buffet in Window Rock" or a "Sheepherder's special," which probably includes Spam and lard. (We passed a roadside vendor in New Mexico who was offering Spam and egg burritos!)

Anyway, after hearing the stories and queries of some of the traders (I think I may have gotten some leads for information on my kids' great-grandfather's post at Tothlacon [Sweetwater], we went to see the real "window rock." On the way, we passed quite a veteran's memorial park, which included the pictured bronze statue of a code-talker.

Supper at Denny's after finding three other restaurants closed (including the one at the Quality Inn, which is the old Window Rock Motor Inn that I knew from 30 years ago) and then back to our room to download pictures and hit the hay. tv

Fall Farmers Market Bonanza!

The Farmers' Market in Cortez last Saturday was a great place to visit and restock our fruit and veggie supply. Produce was plentiful, end-of-the season ripe and well priced! Our only dud was a watermelon which I had carefully selected by my "thumping" method! Guess I have lost my touch! The bottom photo was caught on a pasture fence as a sprinkler system was spraying water and creating a decorative display of ice. It was actually crisp air temperature but comfortable at the farmers market location. But I do understand that hot coffee was a best seller. Note the couple working the apple press and serving up fresh apple juice. We came home with a box of yellow delicious apples that are wonderful eating but need to be transformed into applesauce, pies, etc. It is sad the the season for fresh local produce is passing. A big thanks to all of the farmers who have provided the rest of us with such wonderful choices. We have enjoyed! sf

October is here ... and winter!

The week is catching up with us. Or is it getting ahead of us?

Whatever. We did two days of touring the San Juan Skyway to catch photos of autumn foliage. Today we tried to catch up with the photos and the afternoon was spent going to three receptions ... Veryl Goodnight's in connection with Durango's Cowboy Poetry weekend, the beautiful new safehouse sponsored by Renew and the reception for the juried art show at the Cortez Cultural Center.

Anyway, Wednesday was a weird day of playing tag with the light. It was overcast, with shifting openings in the clouds that spotlighted patches of the landscape with bright sunshine ... ever moving, never predictable!

We don't have the range of colors out here that the eastern woodlands have, but I love it when an aspen tree that normally takes a back seat to the darker conifer suddenly breaks into a blaze of color!

Further up US 550, the whole hillside was interspersed with gold leaves and grey rock. At the falls where Climax Creek goes under the highway, the effect was beautiful, but the winds were gale-force.

The slopes above Ouray, where we spend the night, were gilded ... below the cliffs of grey rock.

Thursday morning we went to the Box Canyon Falls Park, after a pleasant breakfast at the Backstreet Bagel and Deli (where the first rays of the morning sun came in the front windows at exactly 9 a.m.). I've posted a shot from inside the canyon looking out; the sun hadn't penetrated the innards of the box canyon.

The horse is in a pasture of the Double RL ranch (Ralph Lauren's, I think) along the west fork of Dallas Creek. The Sneffels Range is in the distance, looking brighter and clearer (and cleaner, after this spring's dust storms) than I've seen for a long time. The next view is up the same drainage toward the Sneffels and they are also reflected in one of the Alta Lakes.

The top picture is looking up the San Miguel River valley towards Lizard Head. The shadows were starting to get long! The trip around the Skyway is probably only about 300 miles, but we could easily spend three days covering it. tv

Colorado Color Tour

We are in Ouray after a blustery first day of color tour through the San Juan Skyway. Today is through Telluride and homeward. The weather has been dramatic. . and that is what photographers dream about!sf

A neck-craning weekend

'Tis the balloon festival!

Three mornings we've been craning our heads skyward ... one more to go.

Three nights we've been watching balloon glows or a show in the opera house.

Three days we've had activities going on in the street or in Artisans of Mancos.

Two teenagers in their sixties are really beginning to feel the "sixties" part of that saying!

It's actually a great photographic opportunity ... bright balloons, green grass, blue skies, rustic barns, Mesa Verde and Ute Mountain in the distance ... how can one miss? But, we are getting bleary-eyed and the shots each morning are beginning to have a sameness to them. Still, there have been three beautiful mornings so far, allowing our 18-20 visiting balloon pilots to have pleasant morning flights and afternoons to enjoy the area.

Friday morning (bottom photo) the breezes took them all down Webber Canyon, with Mesa Verde's Point Lookout as a backdrop. That evening there was a "glow" in the town park and then a show featuring Juni Fisher in the historic Mancos Opera House. Fisher and local talent Lynne Lewis sang "The Same River" in a beautiful, haunting duet.

Saturday morning's breezes took folks westward; "Dreamcatcher" is shown heading toward Mesa Verde. The rest of the day was "Fall Into Mancos," an art-oriented event in the downtown area, with streets closed off, vendors, music, open galleries, horses and riders and people everywhere.

Sunday morning was a photographer's dream ... the light was rich and the balloons pretty much hung over the town; several landed back where they had lifted off. In the picture we took from Reservoir Hill, there are ten balloons catching the early sun along with the town. In the next picture up, a balloon cruises past a weathered barn on its descent.

And then there was the VFW car show, with sports cars and hot rods, music playing, buggy rides and "The Electric Horseman" ... an electric motorcycle with a beautifully tooled saddle! Multi-modal transportation in Mancos!

We're tired, and this is long, but I think you can see we've been busy. This is the fifth annual balloon festival in Mancos. I've been here for them all and this is the one that has worked best for the entire Mancos community! The festival coordinators moved a lot of the activity from the town park into the heart of Mancos, the Town was supportive with street closures, the chamber of commerce and the businesses did some advertising and we had people everywhere! Not only that, the downtown businesses (including Artisans of Mancos, where we show our cards and prints) started marketing Mancos regionally as an art center back in March and I think we saw that effort paying off this weekend. In 20 years in the Mancos Valley, I think this is the best pulling-together I've seen yet! And my eyelids are drooping! tv

A contemplative weekend

Such a contrast to the eventful month was our contemplative weekend.

I started Thursday with a sore throat ... and then did two tours of Mesa Verde. Guess what? My throat was even sorer by nightfall and I felt rotten, went to bed instead of going to either of two scheduled meetings.

Not feeling good the next morning, either, but decided to go to the retreat Durango Friends Meeting had scheduled for the weekend. I wasn't going to feel any better staying at home, and I felt inclined to "trust the process" that it would be worthwhile.

So, off we rolled with "Condo," our Casita travel trailer tagging along behind. Dove Creek is about 50 miles from here, and then the fun began for the last third of the trip. Following just about every section line, we went west and south and west and south and then both ways a few more times, all out in the dryland farming area, going past fields of wheat, beans and lots of sunflowers. Out in that area, on the Colorado/Utah state line, it feels like you get to the end of the world and then drop off into canyons. The great expanse of earth is bounded by the La Platas on the east, Ute Mountain and the Chorrizo Mountains on the south and the Abajos north of west.

We made it without mishap or mistake and pulled into the trailer parking area of Peacewhisper retreat center. This was our first time really dry-camping with Condo ... we even put the awning out for the first time (which flapped all night and kept me awake, along with my snotty nose!).

The retreat is located a few miles into Utah, on the rim of Lake Canyon. The view across the canyon to the Abajos and the Bears Ears is stupendous ... real big sky country, with vast sweeps of clouds and rain showers and spotlights of sunshine. Twisted junipers and building storm clouds added drama to the setting.

The Peacewhisper facility is new, off the grid and very comfortable. Hosts Rick and Barbara Kollenkark are from the Catholic tradition, which is very different from Quaker. Yet we meet and join when it comes to contemplation. Our theme for the weekend was "Letting Go" and it was a good setting for doing that. We cooperatively handled the meals and the program, with Barb facilitating some sessions. It was clear that "the process" worked; many of us were moved to tears at points during the weekend.

Still, some were moved to tears just by the adventure of getting there Friday night. Some Friends from Durango found themselves trying to navigate unfamiliar country roads in growing darkness and, eventually, rain. While I regret the discomfort they were experiencing, perhaps the most stirring part of the weekend for me was the trips I made Friday night with Rick, keeping him company as he went out looking for lost pilgrims to guide them to the retreat.

The rainbows were brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Sometimes fragments of rainbow intersected with shafts of sunlight coming through the storm clouds. Other times the openings in the clouds let the sun spotlight features of the landscape. Veils of rain moved across the land in the distance. When the sun finally outran the clouds and shone across the earth beneath the clouds, everything turned red-gold ... trees, earth, fields, weathered buildings. Stunning! A perfect setting for letting go and letting God! tv

An event-full month

It's been a busy few days!

Last night we went to the Harvest Beer Festival at the Cortez Cultural Center. It's a benefit for the Montezuma Land Conservancy and it was a beautiful evening, very well attended. No rain, no wind, about 70 degrees, good music (local Angry Dawg Jazz Band shown) and a happy cross-section of all ages sharing a good evening. One of the joys was watching all the kids hula-hooping in the plaza, backed by Austin's Dave Insley and the Careless Smokers and the mural created by Buford Wayt on the side of the Center. Did you ever guess hula hoops would make a comeback?

Folks got together Saturday morning to clean up the Mancos River banks from the Bakery to Cottonwood Park (maybe 6-7 blocks); the results are shown in the back of the pickup truck to the right of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs as he addresses the group at Cottonwood Park celebrating River Day. Hobbs is a poet/attorney/judge/Coloradoan who does a great job of reducing Colorado water law to its essential principles.

Saturday night we caught part of the Mancos-Dove Creek football game. This is our first year of 8-man football. Saturday night was also, as we all know, 9/11, and members of the Mancos VFW and the Cortez American Legion posts opened the game with a color guard and salute in remembrance.

It was a beautiful evening, but it was 22-0 in Dove Creek's favor at halftime, so we headed over to the current Mancos hot spot: Ian's Alley. Ian has a distillery with an associated tasting room (not a bar) that has a stage. Let's say it's cozy!!! Folks kinda drift in and out from the alley; no problem hearing the music out there! We enjoyed the band a lot, but then it was getting late for old folks (and crowded for the introvert), so we called it a night. Don't know how we're going to make it through Juni Fisher's show at the Mancos Opera House during the Balloon Festival ... it doesn't start till 9 p.m.! tv