We're in Moab, Utah!

CB and Jan at Mesa Verde National Park, NM

Near Spruce Tree House dwelling

July 18, 2011

It is so nice to be in Moab, Utah for tonight and tomorrow night, where we have wifi in our room! Unfortunately, the laptop we brought with us is clunky to use, so I will not be downloading as many pictures as I would like to. It is refreshing to be connected with the internet again, because we did not have access to that or to our cell phones (not here either) for the last two nights.

Sunday night we stayed at Jemez Springs, NM in a log cabin that also had a hot tub. CB and I had not been in a hot tub for over 25 years! Since my RA was acting up that day, the hot water felt soothing to my joints as we sat together in the hot tub, with the Ponderosa Pines swaying in the breeze around us.

Monday we drove to Mesa Verde, National Park where we spent the night at the park hotel called Far View Lodge. All afternoon we spent looking at different sites, ranging from pit houses built around 575 to cliff dwellings from 800-1200. The multi-story cliff dwellings were built at the later period, with the early Pueblo people leaving the area around 1300, abandoning all their structures. The cliff dwellings span long expanses of cliffs in clefts that appear. Amazing! It was hot walking on the short hikes.

This morning we left early to get to Canyonlands National Park, also in NM. The red cliffs, needles, and rock formations are truly amazing. It was hot, though mitigated by thunderclouds and huge raindrops at times. It was sad to see the remains of burnt trees and vegetation, still evident from serious fires in 1995, 2000, and 2006. The last one demolished over 23,000 acres!

I took over 100 pictures, which I will share someday when I have an easier computer, maybe at CB's parents' house in Bellingham, WA--where we will arrive in ten days.

Sadly, symptoms of RA flared again today, so we skipped the last hike to a petroglyph wall left by the early Pueblo people (whose name I cannot remember how to spell--Anasazi?) Maybe all the heat and exertion from yesterday caused this to happen, I don't know.

The only (!!) changes in my life since starting this vacation have been little or no meditating each day and no swimming/exercise. Otherwise, I have no idea why I have had two alternate days of pain.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Arches National Park.