Walla Walla WA April 23-27

Tuesday April 23 2013

I inadvertently deleted the post for this day -- GRRRRRRR. So I am redoing it now. GRRRRRRR.

After a quick breakfast stop, and a longer lunch stop...

 

You know you are in the West when the booths are covered in cow hide

And you know you are on vacation when you do this

 

...we arrived at our hotel to check in and get our bikes and gear ready for riding. A short ride around town was just what we needed after our long six hours of driving across the state.

We found our first bike shop to peruse.

Justin, the bike shop owner marked our bike map with some good riding routes

 

Then we saddled up for a tour of the town

Cycling through Whitman college campus and passed by students apparently rehearsing Shakespeare; crossed a picturesque bridge; spied an artistic statue, and strolled through an Asian type garden.

Another college banner

 

Students rehearsing Shakespeare

A picturesque bridge

Artistic sculpture

 

Asian garden

Vickie says she wants to go back to (this) college so she can attend this beautiful campus.

After returning to our hotel Vickie and Gerry decided to ride to the store to purchase some evening time adult beverages while I went to our room for some stretching and relaxation.

 

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Departing Durango

Thursday April 18 2013

Farewell to our Victorian Hotel Strater. We had a fantastic stay here with friendly, helpful and fun staff.

One more very filling breakfast. The hotel calls their complementary breakfast a "continental" fare. Not so we discovered! Lots of choices of breads and pastries, but also egg, waffles, French toast, granola, fresh fruit and yogurt to mention what I recall! We filled up again and I took a 6:45 a.m. bracing and chilled bike ride around town and to the bike shop for its return. Had I felt I had more time I would have loved a longer ride as there was no auto traffic this early and the air felt so fresh and cleansing. But 35 minutes would suffice for this morning.

Until next time -- thanks for visiting my blog. I will be off for an eastern Washington trip next week with my friends Vickie and Gerry with hopes of more blogging then.

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Train Trip

Wednesday April 17 2013

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNGRR) is made up of well maintained original equipment. The Spring tour (the one we took) does not go all the way to Silverton due to snow and weather conditions. The two hour train trip took us to Cascade Canyon where we detrained for an hour walk and picnic lunch along the river, then the two hour trop back to Durango.

First stop for us in the early morning would be the Jean-Pierre French Bakery (that once again Lynne had discovered in he ever valuable research) for picnic fare.

The *French* French Bakery

We had chosen to go "first class" on this trip, and forego the open air cars or the bus-like seating of the coach cars. Here we had our own little table and unlimited (non-alcohol) drinks with alcohol for sale for those who chose.

Being in the last car gave us a good view point of the front end as it curved around the mountain side

Our train route took us to see the places only accessible by train or foot and though we did not see wildlife, we had many views of waterfalls, peaks, and canyons. Also of a safety pin.

It began to snow as we got near Cascade Canyon.

"I promise a chicken in every pot"

"...and a pot in every kitchen"

 

All Aboard

Our guide told us of the hundreds of gallons of water (we had one water stop on our trip) and hundreds of tons of coal it takes to run this steam engined train, and of the tall lanky 23 year old guy who shovels the goal all the trip long. What a job! And he has known he wanted to do this work since he was about six years old!

All Aboard

One more fantastic day! And one more chance for a bike ride or walk as we so chose. And to pack up for our flight out in the morning.

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Spruce Tree House and Petroglyphs

Tuesday April 16 PART 2

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, Spruce Tree House (name I believe because of the Spruce tree supports for the roof) is the best preserved.

Spruce Tree House

Kivas with a roof and ladder

Photos of Cliff Palace show some open Kivas. These show how they would have been for the people -- covered and a ladder in the center of the roof to get down to the floor.

After our visit and ogling at Spruce Tree, we found the trail -- the 3 mile, a bit challenging -- trail to the Petroglyphs.

Lynne fitting through the needlelike crevice as part of the trail

 

 

A (rest) stop to view the cliffs and mountains

 

Some more climbing

We reach the petroglyphs

We reach the petroglyphs

After the petroglyphs it was about a mile flat trail back to the starting point. Then the drive back to town. It was late afternoon by the time we reached our hotel and I quickly got into biking clothes before any previously mentioned "storm" hit, while Lynne picked up the Walking Tour guide and scouted out more of the town.

I rode up to the Fort Lewis College (that I never knew existed) in search of completing the triathlon route that Cynthia (from the visitor center) had told me about.

I did make it up the two mile gradual hill to campus and had a fine view of the San Juan Mountains on a day they called for high winds (meaning a lot of dust in the air), rain and probably snow).

 

The clouds never did bring any bad weather.

My success for riding the triathlon route ended there as I missed the turn to keep me on Rim Drive and ended up on steep switchbacks that brought me back to town. Although I was disappointed to not do the route, I was not willing to climb back up that two mile hill, so I meandered back to the old standby -- the Animas River Trail - for more riding before heading home.

Shower, dinner in the Saloon with live entertainment (cowboy strummin' his guitar and singing) ended our beautiful day.

 

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Mesa Verde

Tuesday April 16 2013 PART 1

Ancestral Puebloans built and settled into cliff dwellings at around the year 1200, and departed in about 1300. In the 1880s two cowboys came across the remains of some of these dwellings and archeologists have been studying and restoring some of them in nearest to original condition as possible.

The Puebloans would hunt and and gather, returning with their goods by climbing in footholds they had carved in sheer cliffs.

At first Archeologists referred to the people as Anansasi, but title implies a negative description meaning something like strange foreigner. Ancestral Puebloeans is the accepted name.

The Cliff Palace is the largest of the dwellings at Mesa Verde.

Cliff Palace

We stood at a viewing landing before climbing down and then up the first of four ladders.

Climbing our ladder

David was an excellent

Ranger David was an excellent guide who not only gave us much information but holds true respect and appreciation for the nature, work and craftsmanship of those who developed and lived here 700 years ago.

Kiva

Kivas were big "holes in the ground" that apparently served as ceremonial places, places to pray for rain, luck in hunting, or a good crop. They were gathering places comparable to later churches.

Inside this room, high up the wall, there are two ancient paintings.

 

Had to lean way in backwards for a shot of both paintings

The hike up from the dwellings involved more ladders, and some nicely stone steps.

 

 

From here Lynne and I drove to our next stop -- to be continued in Part 2 of this day.

 

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