Chaco Canyon

Ted. When Judy and I visited New Mexico four years ago we visited several pre-Columbian sites. Everywhere we went, folks told us that, to understand the historic roots of the Hopi, Zuni and other Pueblo people, we MUST visit Chaco Canyon, a vast collection of ancient buildings in the northwest corner of the state. 

Chaco Canyon, wherein lies Chaco Culture National Historical Park, is remote, bone dry and desolate. For the last 20 miles of a 3-1/2 hour drive from Santa Fe one must suffer a dirt road that is in poor condition. 

The flooding that the area was experiencing when we arrived in New Mexico meant that the dirt road had become impassable. Judy and I waited a week until a park ranger assured us that the road was mostly dried out and folks were finally getting in. The drive was rough but boy - was it worth the effort!

There were still some muddy stretches

Over 1,000 years ago, a people, now called the Chacoans, erected 15 major complexes of buildings in the place we know as Chaco Canyon. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park contains the largest collection of pre-Columbian buildings in the US. 

Archaeologists have made amazing discoveries there. Millions of stones and thousands of timbers were used in the building construction. No big trees grow in the area so the timbers were carried by hand from mountains up to 60 miles away. 

The tremendous amount of labor required for construction on this magnitude means that Chaco must have been the most important spiritual and trading center in the region. Large kivas (spiritual gathering rooms) are everywhere. Some structures served as astronomical tools to predict solstices and equinoxes. Artifacts uncovered include chocolate and copper bells from southern Mexico, Pacific coast shells and scarlet macaw remains from Central America.

Since the Chacoans did not develop a written language, many mysteries remain. The area has never had much water and there are no signs that food was grown locally. There are hundreds of rooms and dozens of kivas in the buildings but the evidence indicates that more than a few dozen people ever lived there! It seems possible that is was only used as a gathering site on specific occasions.  

Walking around the largest complex, Pueblo Bonito, we were stunned by the scale of construction. This one building contains over 650 rooms and 36 kivas and in places is four stories high. It’s nearly as big as the Colosseum in Rome! 

This model shows an overhead view of Pueblo Bonito

Crumbled walls

Interior walls

A sandstone cliff is directly behind the pueblo

There were many petroglyphs on the cliff wall

For those who are interested in learning more, there are lots of great photographs and fascination videos on the internet. I especially recommend two films from PBS; The Mystery of Chaco Canyon and Written on the Landscape: Mysteries Beyond Chaco Canyon. And oh - if you ever figure out why it was built, please let us know!

Quote du Jour

" In Beauty (happily) I walk

With Beauty before me I walk

With Beauty behind me I walk

With Beauty above me I walk

With Beauty all around me I walk

It is finished in Beauty"

     - a portion of a Navaho prayer

     from the Nightway Ceremony

Getting our kicks on Route 66

Ted. When we began the southern leg of this road trip, Judy and I did not realize that 2026 is the 100th anniversary of the creation of Route 66, the legendary road that carried millions of dreamers from Chicago and the Midwest to Los Angeles.

The complete road itself no longer exists but parts of it are being rediscovered as “Historic Route 66,” especially in small towns that were bypassed when the Interstate Highway System rolled out in the 50’s. 

Soon after we left Santa Barbara, we jumped on I-15 near Victorville. Ever since, we have driving east along interstate highways that pretty much parallel the old Route 66; often within a mile or two.

Judy and I have been able to get off the interstate at any point along our journey and have a coffee or lunch break in the one of the old buildings and admire the architecture of the gas stations, diners and motels built during the glory days when John Steinbeck dubbed Route 66 “The Mother Road.” The architecture is classic mid 20th century Americana with lots of neon, streamlined walls and eye catching statues such as concrete teepees and dinosaurs. 

Just after merging from I-15 onto I-40 in Barstow a crow flew into our truck, shearing off the driver side mirror. Was that a sign? Don’t look back now? 

After driving across the Mohave Desert, famous for Joshua Trees, we spent the night in barren Needles. The next morning, we crossed the state line into Arizona and passed legendary Route 66 towns such as Kingman, Seligman and Williams on our way to Flagstaff. 

Flagstaff really celebrates it’s Route 66 heritage but we had other interests, like the Lowell Observatory and the gorgeous scenery of Northern Arizona. Spending three nights there allowed us to explore Walnut Canyon National Monument, Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona.

Walnut Canyon Cliff dwellings

Safe, dry and warm!

Incredible red rock formations in Sedona

 

Sedona's Chapel of the Holy Cross

We were also able to swap out our damaged rental truck for another one, with a functioning mirror. As a bonus, this one had 4 wheel drive (that we hoped we wouldn’t need). 

As we left Flagstaff, driving east on I-40 we suddenly found ourselves in the remnants of Hurricane Polo. Yeah, I know, a hurricane in Northern Arizona? What’s up with that? Well it proved to have an impact on our next week. 

We first wanted to explore Petrified Forest National Park to see the Painted Desert but the heavy rains meant it was mostly a drive by. 

We stopped for the night in Gallup, New Mexico. This cool old railroad town was memorialized in the lyrics of the 50’s pop tune made famous by Nat King Cole, Get your Kicks on Route 66. 

We had planned to arise early the next morning and drive north to Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a "Must See" for us. It is only accessible by dirt roads and the hurricane remnants were causing massive flooding so the park had closed. Thus our new plan was to spend another night in Gallup and check the road conditions the next day. 

Surrounded by magnificent red rock formations, Gallup bills itself as “The Heart of Indian Country.” We visited a couple of museums and learned a lot, including the story of the Navaho Codetalkers - bilingual Marines who served in the South Pacific during WWII as radio operators. They used their native language to communicate between units, baffling Japanese eavesdroppers. 

Gallup also has a number of trading companies that deal in Native American handicrafts such as pottery, jewelry and rugs. We were fascinated to learn that this source of revenue to the local tribes really took off with the creation of Route 66 in the early 20th century. The trading companies must be treating the craftspeople right because, for over 100 years, it is still the best way to secure high quality items at reasonable prices. 

We left Gallup for Santa Fe on I-40, again paralleling Route 66. With the dirt roads to Chaco still closed, our new plan was to wait there while the mud dried. Walking along the Rio Grande, we repeated our travel mantra, "Be flexible and patient."

The river was really flowing from the floods

Enjoying the Elements

Judy. Within one week, we experienced the beauty of three natural elements: Earth, Water, and Air. 

Earth—Leaving Olympia, Washington, we detoured to Sequoia National Park to see the trees we’ve hoped to see for years. Climbing into the park, there were a plethora of redwoods, but interspersed were majestic red-barked, enormous, ancient trees: Sequoias. We drove to the grove where the General Sherman tree, 2,200 years old, rose above the redwoods. Both this tree and others around it display marks of forest fires. These ancients can survive all but the hottest of forest fires. As a lagniappe, a mama bear and her cub wandered right through the tourists. Definitely an experience all around! 

There was evidence of many forest fires

But General Sherman survived

Easy to see where they were burned

Mama and baby walked right past us, up close and personal

Water—From Sequoia, we drove to visit our friends Nancy and Mike in Santa Barbara. On Sunday, they took us to a beach restaurant for breakfast, then for a walk along the Pacific (my favorite ocean). Dipping my toes in the surf on this rugged beach was a true joy. 

Love the mountains down to the shore

Mike and Nancy are great hosts

Dipping our toes in the Pacific

Air—Or the Universe. From Santa Barbara, we drove to Flagstaff, Arizona, and went directly to Lowell Observatory, one of the oldest in the country, and the observatory where Pluto was discovered. In the afternoon, we looked through a filtered telescope at the surface of the sun, with its storms and flares. Later that evening, we experienced stars and star clusters and a ring nebula, hundreds of light years away, despite a full moon and scattered clouds. There was even a “moondog” that night, visible to the naked eye, and a close view of the moon through a telescope. 

Some of the telescopes at Lowell

Checking out the Hercules Cluster, half a million stars, 300+ light years away

The moon through a telescope and the rare "moondog" ring around her

Three amazing experiences, all in one week. How fortunate are we???

Quote du Jour

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

~Dinah Craik