no more bedhead

I am trying to catch up on some posts that I should have published while on the road. I am 'back-dating' them, so that they show up in the right order, so if you've been following along you might not see them. I'll list them here as they are posted, so you can find them, then a few days after the last one is live, I'll delete this post. Just so's you know.

End of Convention - Vacation Begins!
Main Street, USA
Tomorrowland
Fantasyland
Mickey's Toontown
New Orleans Square
Critter Country
Frontierland
Adventureland

Great video that encapsulates in 6 minutes what happened in almost 2 weeks.

You know that song? That woman sings it. It's in that movie. You know the one, right?

We finally made it home. Got in about 11:00 last night, and boy is it nice to not be driving anymore!!

Our last two legs were uneventful. We went from Oklahoma City to St. Louis. Got up yesterday morning and headed home from St. Louis. The only weird thing was this:


Looks just like the Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere, don't it? Guess what? It's larger. It's in Effingham, Illinois (a town my kids just love the name of...the older two specifically...ahhh, middle school humor), and the people here were so inspired by the cross in Texas that they built there own. Not to be outdone, or maybe to outdo, they built it 8 feet taller. So, we saw the two largest crosses in the Western Hemisphere. That should cover church for a week or two, don't'cha think?

And, for those of you who have been following chronologically, you may have noticed that I stopped posting at General Convention, and that there are no Disneyland posts. My hope is to do a couple of "recap" pages here this week. We'll see how that goes. Watch this space for more details!

Anaheim -> Mojave Desert -> Barstow -> Ontario -> Flagstaff -> Farmington -> Oklahoma City -> St. Louis -> Home

Probably the biggest issue with “Mojave Desert Breakdown '09” was that we spent two days stuck in California. This meant that we weren't sticking to our (albeit flexible) schedule, and so over the last couple of days we could tell that the kids were getting kind of squirrelly, and we (the adults) were ready to start heading back home. (Well, at least I was. Keep in mind, I've been gone since the 6^th.) That's why we decided that today would begin our big push straight home.

Our original plan was to go from Farmington to Fort Worth, where we would visit Ellen's cousin Julie. While there, we could have seen Enzo, in Dallas, and had already touched base with Eric in Austin in hopes that we could get together for at least a little while. It has been way too long since I've seen any of them, and I was looking forward to it.

From Fort Worth we were to follow Route 10 to New Orleans, where we hoped to do our part to help the rebuilding effort by having lunch in the French Quarter. Then we would continue along the Gulf Coast to Jim's house in Georgia. From there we would head back home.

Instead, we looked at the push home and determined that we could go straight from Farmington in three days, but that one of them would be an 11+ hour (drive time) day. We decided to start with that.

So, we left Farmington bright and early today, with our sights set on Oklahoma City. We headed out on Route 550 toward Albuquerque, and passed through some interesting countryside. As we were nearing Interstate 25, I saw a water tower that read “Bernalillo, The City of Coronado.” Having spent some time in the southwest, I am familiar with Coronado, but I wondered why this town had this moniker. Again, be careful what you wish for (although this time in a good way), as Munchkin announced that she needed a “potty break.” I followed the signs for the Bernalillo Visitor's Center, and while the family visited the rest rooms, I talked with a gentleman who answered my questions.

It seems that there is a state monument – Coronado State Monument, as a matter of fact - that is in Bernalillo. I was told that they believe that Coronado mustered his army there during his exploration of the area. Of course, what really is (was) there is a pueblo that had 1,200 dwellings, and the finest example of pre-contact wall paintings in the United States. Coronado came in, killed the people, and took over. The guide and I lamented the fact that so many things in the southwest are named after Coronado. (“They say he discovered this area. What he did was follow the roads that connected the pueblos. There was no discovery.”) So, that was why Bernalillo is “Coronado's city.”

We continued on our way, passing through Albuquerque. It was intriguing enough that I would like to visit and see what is there. Some day. The rest of the day was spent on Route 40, heading east. There isn't much to mention about our travels. Long day. Not much to look at, other than noticing how the vegetation and landscape changed as we traveled east.

We did make one stop of significance. Cadillac Ranch. I had seen this art installation from the highway when Dave and I had driven across the country in 1986, and I thought the kids would enjoy seeing it, so I checked for directions before we left. Just outside Amarillo, Texas, are 10 Cadillacs buried nose first in the ground. They are spray painted different colors, and people are allowed (if not encouraged) to add their own graffiti. We didn't have any spray paint, but each kid added their own name with a pen that I had with us. My kids first juvenile delinquent moment (awww, I think I'm tearing up).

A while later we passed the (self-proclaimed) Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. I think that qualifies as the kind of cheesy place my sister would be searching out. Of course, we didn't stop, but we did get a picture as we zipped by.

After traveling through a hellacious thunderstorm, we ended up safely in Oklahoma City.

We backtracked today to Four Corners. It was about an hour back toward Kayenta. I guess the theme of this part of the trip could be “going backwards”. But I digress...

The thing that surprised me the most about the Four Corners Monument was how many people were there. We actually had to stand in line to get to the marker. The thing is that you really have to be going there to be there. It's not “along the way” in any sense of the word. It is 6 miles from the nearest town, and as far as I can tell, that town (Teec Nos Pos) consists of a trading post, and that's about it.

The monument is really cool. It's pretty much what you think, just a marker in a slab of concrete, but the concrete has the names of the states, and the flags for the states and the nations fly over the monument (in the proper quadrants, of course). The cool thing is that you can say you were in six places at once: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, the Navajo Nation, and the Ute Nation.

Circling the parking/monument area is a host of stalls where Native Americans sell all kinds of arts and crafts. We wandered up and down the booths, and purchased a few things. Ellen got a beautiful corn maiden pottery piece, and a gorgeous necklace/earring set. Beenie got an arrow, while Stewie got a pottery turtle. Keke got a turtle necklace, and Munchkin got a bracelet and barrettes.

Part of our search when we set out today was to find a place that served Navajo Tacos. Ellen was jonesing for one big time, and she also wanted the kids to be able to try them. We had heard that the KFC in Farmington served them (believe it or don't), and that there were some places in Shiprock where we could get them. Fortunately for us, there was a Navajo Taco stand at Four Corners.

We got our Navajo Tacos and lemonades, and sat in the shade to enjoy them (did I mention that it was 107 degrees?). While we were eating, two dust devils blew up and their paths came right through the area where we were trying to enjoy our food. After that, some of us enjoyed our food, but with a little more (sand) crunch to it. Stewie lucked out, as my plate blew across the table and propped itself up against him. While that may not have been the most desirable, it did serve to cover his food, so he had the least sand going forward.

After leaving the monument, we worked our way back to Farmington. While I was at General Convention, I went to the Navajoland booth in the marketplace and asked about a church in Farmington, as I anticipated us being there on a Sunday (the breakdown threw that plan all off, though). I was given directions to a church that is part of the Navajoland Diocese (the other one nearby is part of the Diocese of Rio Grande). On our way back from Four Corners we followed those directions, and found the church. Then we went to the grocery store, loaded up on supplies, and spent the rest of the evening in the hotel swimming pool (and the jacuzzi!).

We got up this morning, and very reluctantly (very reluctantly) left Flagstaff. But, not before hitting the Flagstaff Visitor's Center. Noting the irony in stopping there on the way out of town, we picked up some souvenirs and some information about cool things to do in the area. So we'll have to come back. And, if you get a chance, check out the Visitor's Center's website. It rocks.

After dragging our feet, we were a little behind in our schedule for the day, which was to take us ultimately to Farmington, NM. We headed out of Flagstaff and stopped in Cameron at the Navajo Arts & Crafts Center. It is a store owned and operated by the Navajo Nation, and all jewelry and crafts are guaranteed made by Navajo, and the money spent goes directly to them. If you want to buy authentic Navajo arts & crafts, and aren't in the Navajo Nation, I suggest purchasing through them. Quality is excellent, price is fair, and there is no middleman.

We also stopped at the Cameron Trading Post, which is the antithesis of Navajo Arts & Crafts. Tacky tourist schlock abounds! Sadly, the Trading Post was packed full of people, while at NA&C we were the only customers.

A short drive up the road, and we turned from Route 89 onto 160 and headed into Tuba City. On a “potty break” we passed a modified short school bus that had the “sch” spray painted out and a “C” in its place – Cool Bus. On the side of the bus was an intriguing website address that we took a look at tonight, and it turns out that it's this group of guys who modified a school bus and are trekking around the western half of the country from now until the end of August. I heartily recommend following their exploits as they continue on their “Golden Summer”.

Our own trek continued on to Navajo National Monument. We walked along the trail to view the Betatakin ruins, which the kids found fascinating once they understood what they were looking at. The idea that people lived there really intrigued them, as did the fact that the people just up and left after a while. We also found out from the Park Ranger that we have been pronouncing the name incorrectly for the last 15 years. We've been saying bet-a-TAK-in, while it's actually pronounced beh-TOT-a-kin. Good thing we stopped in.

We got there late in the day for the Visitor's Center, and had about 10 minutes left when the kids discovered that they could do a Junior Ranger program here, too. Quickly zipping through it (fortunately not as complex as the Grand Canyon One), the kids became Junior Rangers at Navajo National Monument, too. I think this is even cooler that the Canyon, as I doubt they will find many, if any, people who have been to Navajo National Monument.

The plan from here was to go to Four Corners, then on to Farmington, where we would spend the night and leave tomorrow to head east. Well, by the time we got to the turnoff for Four Corners it was so late that the monument was closed, so we just continued on. Our plan now is to head back to Four Corners tomorrow, and stick around the Farmington area for one more night.

Must I leave Flagstaff? :-(

Today we spent the day wandering around Flagstaff. Mostly the “historic” downtown area. It is a several square block area with a whole bunch of little shops and restaurants. It was a lot of fun.

We found a store called Sacred Rites, and when we walked in the kids said, “It smells like our house!” The store sells singing bowls, drums, other musical instruments, buddhist statuary, wall hangings, jewelry, prayer flags, and incense (hence the reason it smelled like our house). We spent a long time in there, with the clerk and I playing all the different singing bowls. They carried some I had never seen before. They were either glass or crystal, and we played them with a rubber mallet. They were U shaped and the “walls” were at least as tall as the diameter of the bowls. If I were to guess I would say that they were probably 12”, 18”, and 24” in diameter. They had the most amazing sounds (and price tags!). The guy said that a number of new age healers use them for their healings, and each is tuned to a different chakra. All I know is that we had quite the chorus going. (Note: I found them on the Google at another online store - these be them.)

After purchasing some prayer flags and incense (trying a new brand of nag champa – very strong), we continued our wandering. Some great funky shops there. Ultimately we ended up back at the hotel where we ate lunch then headed out to Sedona.

Beenie wanted to go to Sedona to see the red rocks, and get a Sedona pin. I think he's been reading Arizona Highways and has seen the issues on Sedona, so was keen to get there. We took Route 89A into town, found a parking place amazingly fast, then wandered around the shops there for a good chunk of the afternoon. A friend of mine describes Sedona as “a bit full of itself”, to which I am inclined to agree. I would much rather go hiking, like Ellen and I did 15 years ago. I don't think it would have worked this time, with the kids, in the July heat, so we didn't. But everyone seemed to have a good time, and enjoyed looking at the views and the scenery on 89A both on the way in and out.

By the time we got back to Flagstaff it was getting into the realm of dinner/bedtime, so unfortunately we didn't get to one of the places I really wanted to go – Lowell Observatory. The guy at Sacred Rites said that the Flagstaff Symphony was having a chamber concert on the observatory grounds, and it would have been totally cool to see that in addition to all the doings at the observatory itself. Oh well, maybe next time.