Our Log Cabin, AR

We are down here in Arkansas, working on our cabin and the yard and visiting my parents. I put a couple of pictures of the inside of the cabin. Keep in mind this is a work in progress and we have alot more work to do. I took the last picture standing on the front porch. We have the best view!

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, TX

We stopped at the Palo Duro Canyon S.P. for a couple of days, to take a break. This park, approximately 25 miles south of Amarillo, TX, was another CCC project in 1933-34. This is the second largest canyon in the country. Today we made a 6+ mile hike in the canyon

on the Lighthouse trail. The Lighthouse rock formation is 310 feet high and has been designated a National Natural Landmark. The pictures show it close up and also from a distance. The last two pictures show views of our campground as seen from the edge of the canyon.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, TX cont.

Canyon De Chelly National Monument, AZ

This is Canyon De Chelly, pronounced, D'shay, located on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. The houses you see built into the canyon are actually Puebloan ruins and not Navajo. They lived in the canyon several centuries prior to the arrival of the Navajo. We hiked down to the "White house", which is the only trail you can hike without a Navajo guide. Navajo people still live in the canyon and don't want to be disturbed by all the tourists. There are wild horses that still roam around the area. If you take their picture or pictures of their homes or animals, you have to pay them a fee.

Canyon De Chelly National Monument, AZ, cont.

El Morro National Monument, NM

El Morro is a big rock with a water source at the base, where travelers have passed by and inscribed their names as far back as 1605 ( a Spanish expedition) and previous to that, there were indian art etchings back to the 1200's. The ruins of an 850 room pueblo are also on this monument which housed approximately 1500 people.

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, AZ

We stopped by the trading post on our way east. Trading began here in 1876 and this is the oldest continuously run trading post in the Navajo Nation. The prices in this store were quite high. Meldon found a blanket, about 4 x 6 feet, homemade by Navajo, which was priced at $4,600.00. Must have been a really warm blanket. This blanket, of course, did not leave with us.

Dust Storm, Chinle, AZ (3 Apr 2009)

We were supposed to travel on this day. We decided not to when the dust storm blew in. Although it may look like it, these pictures were not taken with a sepia lense. It was really that brown out from the dust blowing around in 50+ mile per hour winds. This lasted all day until about 10 at night at which time it began to rain and turned to snow. By morning our vehicles were covered in mud.