Mesa Verde National Park...blog #6

 

 

Mesa Verde National Park

Monument Valley 
Joshua Tree National Park

 

 

After we left the McKinney, TX area we headed West. Our initial plan was to go to Santa Fe, NM. By the time we got around to making reservations in Santa Fe all the Parks were full. So we changed our plans. We spent 3 or 4 days in Santa Fe about 4 years ago so we decided we would pass this year. We rescheduled and headed to Cortez CO, Cortez is the closest town to Mesa Verde National Park. It took three days of driving to get to Cortez from McKinney. Been a while since we have driven across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. It has its own landscape and personality, along with a whole bunch of nothing.

 

The pictures are what we looked at for three days. The closer we got to Arizona the more brown and less trees. Lot of people love the Southwest but we decided we were very happy with our decision 15 or so years ago to go with green, grass and humidity.

 

We pulled into a nice KOA Campground in Cortez, CO. We had reservations for three nights. After the 1000 miles from McKinney and a few places we wanted to see we liked the layover.

 

 

First thing the following morning we went out to Mesa Verde National Park. This park features the Cliff dwellers. Mesa Verde was established in 1906, and again Theodore Roosevelt was the President that signed the bill to officially make it a National Park. Mesa Vere was also the first archaeological park and the worlds first cultural park. History of the park has been studied and many many books are written attempting to put the early settlers history in perspective. The park highlights the time frame of 1300 to 1400 or so. The picture below is of Cliff Palace. The cliff dwellers were here for about 100 years and then just left.  This is the tour (lead by a Park Ranger) we took. Was very interesting and will not bore you with the details but if you enjoy this sort of thing Google is a magnificent teacher. Mesa Verde is a great but is a one day Park. Google it before you go will help.

 

Day three in Cortez was a down day. We drove around town and spent some time at an Indian Art Gallery and found some nice Indian Pottery. We also found a local dinner that had been in the same family for 40 years and all of the local Policemen dined their....they had fantastic pancakes.  

 

Monument Valley was the destination after Mesa Verde. We drove by the four corners on the way to Monument Valley.

 Ann and Sabastian.

It was really HOT that day 117 degrees.

 

Monument valley is not a United States Park under the Department of the Interior it is managed by the Navajo Nation. This Park is just one of those places you should go. It is near Kayenta AZ. Most people know this Park as where John Ford directed many Western Movies, many that stared John Wayne. Stagecoach, She wore a Yellow Ribbon and many others. We took the Jeep and drove about a 25 mile loop, I can bore any of you some time with many many pictures. Below are a couple.

 

 

About 20 miles South of Monument Valley is a town of Kayenta. During the Second World War most of the Navajo Code Talkers came from this part of the United States. They have a very small but interesting museum in town. It is actually at a Burger King. The father of the Burger King owners was one of the Code Talkers. Some may have seen the movie Wind Talkers starting Nicolas Cage. History speaks very highly of this group of Marines and what they did for the War effort. Kayenta is really off the beaten path but if you are ever in the area it is worth a look.

 

So off to Joshua Tree National Park, did I mention it is still 114 degrees. Pulled into the Park and it took hours for the coach to cool down. It is now Monday morning June 26. The good news is I finally have internet that will support this blog system. It also happens to be my Sister Pammy Jean's Birthday. So I got to call her, we even have cell phone service. Name of the town we are in is 29 Palms. A few may know it as a Marine Base. What a terrible assignment post.

Ann and Sabastian (again)

 

Joshua Tree National Park is a newer Park and does not have much history because it is a desert. Many would ask why did you go to this Park and drive 3965 in 115 degree temperature to get there. It is one of those things when you got a plan you just got to do it. Ann has questioned my intelligence, or lack thereof,  numerous times. Anyway back to the park. It is about 800,000 acres of two deserts. The Colorado and Mojave. It is a desert and has always been a desert so no body ever lived here. So no history. The park is here because it is about the only place a Joshua Tree can live. So it is here for the Tree. This is a one day Park but do it in January.

 

 

We are turning the Coach around and heading East tomorrow we have reservations at park in St George UT. After that we have no clue. We hear it is only 103 in St George. Excuse the typos and other vocabulary issues in this blog. Was busy wiping the sweat out of my eyes as I tried to type. Until next time 

Doug and Ann

 

Texas Hill Country and McKinney...blog #5

 

Texas Hill Country and McKinney

This portion of the blog will be more like an update than a blog about our travels. Also will have retraction/clarification.

The Hot Springs section referred to Roosevelt going to Hot Springs. I was wrong. Roosevelt went to Warm Springs in Georgia. I just wish somebody other than Emerson would have found the error and sent me the note to correct my error. Emerson by his own account is a mountain of useless information and he will never allow me to forget my error. No wonder Hot Springs did not have any Roosevelt slept here plaques.
We found an RV Park in San Marcos TX. The Park is about 20 miles from Gil's. We went over the first evening and were entertained by looking at some of his new art. He then turned into a good chef and we had a nice Steak.

 

The second day we were at Gil's a couple of his friends came down from Austin and Gil's significate other came over from Huston. One of his friends pictured to the right. Pat Green. I was clueless as to who he was. Other than a nice guy. Come to find out he is a very well known Country and Western entertainer. He referred to himself a couple of times as a three time Grammy Award looser. After dinner and sitting on the porch watching a Hill Country Sunset we were entertained for a couple of hours. I quickly became a fan.

Our third day in the area Gil came over to the coach after all his company left. We found a great Barbecue Kent Black. Was a nice time to relax spend time together.

 Picture to the left is the entrance





 

We left the Hill Country and went North to McKinney. We lived in McKinney for about 5 years in the late 1990's. A couple of our old friends live in or around McKinney. We took the opportunity to have dinner one night in McKinney on the Historic Town Square.


Liesl and Ann




The add in this picture is Denise Logan and the rest of us eating out again.


Hot Springs National Park Arkansas

Hot Springs National Park

After leaving The Smoky Mountains we headed 600 miles South. Hot Springs Arkansas was our destination. Since we normally try to keep our daily miles traveled below 400 miles we got about 50 miles east of Memphis. Then we moved on and headed to Hot Springs. We pulled into a nice RV Park near Hot Springs. JJ RV Park. JJ the owner, he built the Park 18 years ago. JJ was a character. Hot Springs was different than the other Parks. The Park is the town, took us a while to understand how to "visit" the Park. The Park focus is the Hot Springs and the Bath Houses that line Central Avenue. 10 or 11 houses still are in their place along the Avenue. Most of them have had some extensive restoration and are museums. The Baths had all the bath tubs, showers and other equipment, not sure it would pass all the current laws. Ann used the word Creepy. I did not disagree. The water coming into the baths was 143 degrees. It is not heated by geothermal, but pressure forcing the water up through fissures in the earth surface. I am sure that is not how a geologist would explain the process. If you really want to know the details Google the process. The history I was expecting was to have Hot Springs history built around President Roosevelt. I remember reading how he would travel by train and spend time in Hot Springs and "soak" in the Pools. I did not find any historical evidence that he spent time in Hot Springs. Not one sign that said "Roosevelt slept here". So the second half of this section of the blog takes us down a darker side of Hot Springs.

Arlington Hotel the Crown Jewel of Hot Springs

Built in 1923 

Population in 1923 was about 33,000 

The rest of the story...

Gangsters---Booze---Prostitution---Gambling

After we had wandered around downtown and looked at the bath houses and the National Park Visitor Centers. We moved on to the "Rest of the Story". By the way I could not find any Post Cards in the trinket shops. We then begin to look at the other side of street. One of the very interesting things we did was to go into the Gangster Museum. Our guide through the museum (pictured to the right), he has been a life long resident of Hot Springs. Interesting person to give you a verbal journey through about 60 years. Our guide took us through the museum. It had about 8 rooms. We would go into the room and he would give us stories and information and then a video about the topic that was that rooms focus. Al Capone wandered the streets during the roaring 20's. Hot Springs was wide open in regards to booze. Possum Kingdom an area north of Hot Springs was the hot bed of Moon Shiners. "Clear" was brewed under the shine of the Moon. Hence, Moon Shine. Hot Springs had 4 major plants that made glass bottles....Thousands of gallons of "shine" left the area in trucks and on the Railroad. It seemed that every gangster of that era at one or more times spent some time in Hot Springs. Al Capone had some issues with the IRS and did not go back to Hot Springs after 1930. That left a huge void in the for the bad guys to fill. During this void a "understanding" Mayor, Leo McLaughlin was elected and was major for 20 or so years. During this time a few of the visitors to Hot Springs; Frank Nash, Alvin Karpis and the Barker Gang, Pretty Boy Floyd and Bonnie and Clyde. Each of this list had meetings "on the record" with Mayor McLaughlin. Hot Springs at this time had about 9 major casinos and most of the houses and buildings that had a second and third story was a house of ill repute. Reading about the history around Hot Springs is interesting to say the least.

Just had to take this picture.

 

Leaving Hot Springs area and heading for Texas....

 

 

Smokey Mountain National Park

June 6, 2017 

Ann and Sabastian at the entrance of the 

Park with the obligatory picture.  

 

We arrived in Pigeon Forge June 5 (Monday). Pigeon Forge is on the Tennessee (North) side of The Smoky National Park. We settled in at Up the Creek RV Park. Tuesday we went into the Park, you can see the picture above of Ann and Sabastian. This is our first trip into Smoky Mountains NP. It is a little different. It is a free park, no entrance fee. Is the only NP that does not charge the $10 per person or $20/25 dollars a car. It also does not have any food or gas in the Park. The park is huge, it is the largest Park in the system except for a couple of really big ones in Alaska. SMNP is 520,000 acres. Most of Tuesday was spent driving around Townsend and Cades Cove. The vista's were the highlight of the day. We initially had planned to leave this area Wednesday AM but we only got to see some of the Park on Tuesday so we extended our stay at the RV Park one more day. We were up and at it early on Wednesday...we were headed for the highest point in the Park. Clingmans Dome, 6643 feet. We passed through Sugarland Visitor Center and the on to Clingmans Dome Visitor Center.

 

On our way to Clingmans Dome we stopped at Newfound Gap. This is very historic spot. On September 2, 1940 then President Roosevelt dedicated the National Park on the lower level of the structure in the picture above. 2000 people were in attendance. He is the only President that has ever visited the Park.

 



Interesting fact is that the Appalachian Trail goes through the Park. About 72 of the 2180 miles is in the Park. It does have the highest elevation spot on the trail at Clingmans Dome 6643 feet.

















The two pictures above is what you see no matter what direction you look. It also has the only name that works. It truly looks smoky. It has hundreds of miles of small waterways. It needs that many to get rid of the over 80 inches of rainfall on an annual basis. This Park is really easy on the eyes. More colors of green than you can believe. Think that is why Ann announced today that it is now her favorite Park. That moves Arches in Utah to second place.

 

At $25,000 an acre you could own the foothills to a mountain on the Northern edge of the Park. I do not think you could even grow corn on this land.

 

Was a great two days. Good start to the National Park section of the trip. We are heading to a National Park in Hot Springs Arkansas. Will take two days to get there. Never got to Gatlinburg. Dollywood is the second most visited site in Tennessee. Next blog in a couple of days.....

 

On the Road

 

Sabastian told us to get in the Coach

 

We are on the road.....left PSL (Port Saint Lucie) Thursday AM and headed North to North Carolina.  First  night we spent just south of Charleston. Working our way to Ken and Angela Gardella at their mountain home near Brevard NC. Arrived at the Gardella's Friday evening. Brevard, for a small community has many very nice and eclectic array of restaurants. Brevard is a delightful small town with a ton of personality. Known for its community activities and festivals. We just missed the white squirrel festival. They even had a Soap Box Derby Race. Got a round of golf in Saturday AM. Got run off the course after 11 holes by THOR. Then rained the rest of the day and early evening. Sunday we went to Asheville, North Carolina to have brunch at the Historic Grove Park Inn. If you are ever in Ashville making a stop at the Inn is a must. Was built in 1913. Has memorabilia in every nook and cranny. After the huge brunch I was done eating for the day. Monday AM we were up early and packed. Did take the time to go to one of Ken and Angela's breakfast restaurants. Was a old house that was turned into a restaurant, outstanding pancakes. We said thanks and goodbye at about 11 and left the mountain. Their home is in a beautiful setting. About 4 hours later we were in Pigeon Forge, TN. First time for us to be in Eastern Tennessee. We are here because it is where the Smokey Mountain National Park is located. We are in a nice RV Park about 10 miles from one of the entrances to the Park. Rained on us all afternoon so we took it easy and since we have not spent much time in the Coach used this afternoon to get organized. Tuesday we are planning to spend in the Smokey Mountain National Park.

Monday 6-5-17