It is Opening Day for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and we have premium class tickets on the Knight Sky Observation car, the newest flagship car in the fleet, built in Durango and put into service in May 2012. This railroad is an engineering marvel built by the Denver and Rio Grand Railway…
San Juan Skyway
The weather finally cleared and we decided to drive the San Juan Skyway Loop, 232 miles, one of the most scenic drives in America today. The sun was shining brightly and the mountain peaks were covered in freshly covered snow. From Durango, Colorado we drove north following the Animas River valley and then climbed up…
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Today we drove to Mesa Verde National Park, created in 1906 to preserve the archeological heritage of the American Pueblo people. The Park includes over 4,500 archeological sites; only 600 are cliff dwellings and we took a tour through one of them, Balcony House. This is one of the best preserved sites in the Park….
Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge
We saved the best for today a cruise on Lake Powell to the Rainbow Bridge Natural Arch. Lake Powell, named after John Wesley Powell, is 186 miles long and backs up into more than 96 major side canyons, and is the second-largest man-made lake in the US. Today we are going to take the cruise…
Grand Staircase Escalante and Bryce Canyon
Grand Staircase-Escalante Today we decided to take a road trip, a 200 mile loop, beginning at the Cottonwood Canyon 4-wheel drive road off of Highway 89. We entered the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and drove 25 miles along the wide dirt road until we reached the South Cottonwood Narrow Canyon entrance. The hike was…
Monument Valley, Utah
We left our campsite at 8:30am to drive to Monument Valley in Utah to take a private tour with a Navajo Guide, Don Mose. We met Don at the Hogan Village, the sun-baked mud covered homes are called Hogan, at 12 noon to begin the valley drive and back country dirt road for our 3…
Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Page AZ
We left Williams and the Grand Canyon to drive north to Page, Arizona. We are staying at the Wahweat Marina and RV Park just north of Page, and we have a beautiful view of Lake Powell from our campsite, where we can watch the sunrise over the lake. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon…
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Trip on the Grand Canyon Railroad and Walk along the Rim Trail We arrived in Williams, AZ, and are staying at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park for a week. Today we have booked a trip on the Grand Canyon Railway in the Dome car, to take us on the two hour ride to the…
Verde Valley, Arizona
Verde Canyon Railroad We booked tickets on the Verde Canyon Railroad, in the first class car. The Verde Canyon Railroad is nestled in the heart of the expansive Verde Valley, which is only accessible by rail. The railroad was opened in 1912 to transport copper from Jerome to Drake and closed in 1988. In 1990 it…
Sedona, Arizona
This journal entry covers our stay in the Sedona area and the many hikes we went on over the 2 week period. March 24th, Tuesday, we drove R Sherpa to Camp Verde, AZ, about an hour north of Phoenix, where we are staying at Distant Drums RV Park for 12 days. After settling into our…