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Road Trip: San Carlos to Bainbridge Island

Loaded with two kayaks, two paddleboards, camping gear,
food, our clothes, a set of oars and mucho misc.
boat gear.

On our trip home this year we drove 3,311 miles, 
through eight states:
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
South Dakota
Wyoming
Montana
Idaho
Washington

We visited 
five National Parks:
Petrified Forest
Great Sand Dunes
Rocky Mountain
Badlands
Wind Cave

four National Monuments/Memorials:
Painted Desert
Petroglyph
Mt. Rushmore
Devils Tower

 and many National Historic Sites and Museums.

The majority of the time we were at an 
elevation of 6000' and above.

We saw some beautiful country, much of it was greener
 than normal due to the weird weather this year.
We met some interesting people, 
 visited old friends and some family.
All in all it was a great trip.

Just a warning: this is a lengthy blog post!
Don't feel obligated to read it:)

When we left San Carlos we drove up through Mexicali to
drop off our anchor and chain to be re-galvanized. 
We stayed at Drew's Arizona house in Gold Canyon
(SE of Phoenix) for ten days while we bought a car
and waited for the anchor and chain to get done.
In the mean time we explored a bit of the 
Phoenix/Scottsdale area and the Superstition Mountain
 area (just a few miles from Drew's house).
When the re-galvanizing was done we drove round trip
to Mexicali (they did an excellent job
 and it was done on time).
This is one of the murals of the Calle 16 mural project started
 by the chef at the Barrio Cafe (an excellent "gourmet" Mexican
 restaurant) There are many murals all along 16th street in Phoenix.
The boys bought matching shorts
Spotted in Drew's yard
Right behind Drew's house              
Our first day of travel we headed northeast
 from Gold Canyon to Globe, AZ where 
we had breakfast at a great little "locals" spot 
called La Luz del Dia,    
     
Salt River Canyon
then drove through the beautiful Salt River Canyon,
stopped at Petrified Forest National Park,
Petrified Forest National Park


and the Painted Desert

Painted Desert
From here we traveled on a section of the
 old Hwy 66 to Gallup, where we spent the night

The next day we drove to Albequerque to the 
Petroglyphs National Monument


and to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Museum
where we had a great lunch at their Harvest Cafe.

We spent the night in Albequerque and traveled up to
 Sante Fe the next day on the "Turquoise Trail".
Tinkertown Museum on the"Turquois Trail"
from Albequerque to Santa Fe.




The little town of Madrid on the "Turquois Trail"

Santa Fe is a town full of museums, artists, galleries, shops
and restaurants.
We stayed here four nights, parked the car, and walked
or bussed everywhere.
We enjoyed watching a "pour" at Shidoni Foundry 
just outside of Santa Fe.



The artist does a sculpture out of any medium, the foundry
makes a ceramic mold from this sculpture (a very involved process)
and then the bronze is poured.
The artist's wood carving is on the right and the
finished bronze is on the left.

Jewelry vendors on the Plaza in Santa Fe



We loved the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe -
folk art from all over the world including
the Pacific Northwest





This is also a GREAT museum

A "locals" Mexican restaurant - Good!
We took the scenic "high road" to Taos, passing 
through many small towns.

The church in Chimayo is considered by many to be
 the "Lourdes" of America.
During Holy Week more than 30,000 people make 
a pilgrimage there, many walking the entire 90 miles 
from Albequerque.




Another amazing church on our route
 was the church in Las Trampas.



We spent the night in Taos with our friend, Jan.
She is the architect who designed our houses and 
also many of the houses that Jim built on 
Bainbridge Island.

Jan designed and built her house - including making
 ALL the adobe bricks

It's a lovely house and property just south of Taos.



From Taos we headed to Steamboat Springs, Colorado
where we had a reservation for two nights.

Bridge over the Rio Grande
One of the original "earthships"
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Downtown Steamboat Springs
On the road again heading to Rocky Mountain National Park
 and then South Dakota
Lake Granby


Rocky Mountain National Park


Our campsite at Custer State Park was in the Black Hills
near Badlands NP,  Wind Cave NP, Mount Rushmore
in South Dakota

Mount Rushmore
Lots of wildlife in Wind Cave NP

                                         
Mother and baby pronghorn
One day we went to Badlands NP and did
the compulsory stop at Wall Drug on the way:
Wall Drug boot department

Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park
From South Dakota we drove north to Wyoming 
to see the Devils Tower National Monument
                                      
From here we made a westward beeline on I90.
We stopped for one night in Missoula, 
two nights with good friends in Wenatchee


 and


one night in Seattle with Kelsey, RL, Simon and Barlow.
Simon has learned to chill!
We are now home regrouping and looking 
forward to catching up with everyone!


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