Acoma Pueblo, Turquoise Trail, Santa Fe

This morning we got up early and went to have our free buffet breakfast in the casino restaurant. It was ok and it will support life but Spirit Mountain it is not :)

We then drive 15 miles south of Sky City to get to Acoma Pueblo on a high plateau! This is the oldest pueblo and the tour started at 7:30am and lasts 1 1/2 hours! Our guides name was Brandon and hewas a nice young man and it was a very nice tour of the Acoma Pueblo!

The Acoma's living history reflects perseverance and fulfillment of the Acoma people's inherent responsibility to respect and live in harmony with this special place. With its unique historical distinction as the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. The site looms nearly 370 feet above the desert floor. The history of the Acoma people and the Pueblo dates back to as early as 1100AD. Acoma has over 300 structures made of Adobe.most Acoma people do not live in the Pueblo but return 2 or more times a year for celebrations or visiting. The San Estaban del Rey Mission construction began in 1629 when the Spanish made thacAcoma people's become Catholics! The Acoma were made as slaves by the Spanish Conquistadors and they were made to build the church.  Both the Mission and the Pueblo are listed on the National Register of Historic Monuments! Awesome to see and feel!

Onward to a New Mexico Pueblo!

Leaving Monument Valley was not easy! It was so beautiful! But there other beautiful scenic places ahead of us and one more beautiful place to add to our rear view mirror!

We took highway 163 south right into Arizona! It didn't take us five minutes to cross the border! It was a scenic highway with lots to look at and to look out for. This is open range country and horses and cows and sheep are out in the roads eating the grass on the side of the road! The term grass is greener on the other side is proved true by these animals!

We continued down highway 56 and then onto highway 191 where we went into Canyon de Chelly National Monument! Wow, beautiful and it is free to get in! Nice view points with paved walkways to the walled view point. Very nice! Then we stopped off a Hubbell's Trading Post in ganado, Arizona before crossing into New Mexico and hopping on Interstate 40 to head east to Sky City Casino!

Bud was pretty tired when we arrived at the Sky City Hotel/Casino. We tried to chech in but had to wait till 4pm, just an hour. We signed up for players cards and that gave us $5.00 free playing money and $2.00 off each of our buffet dinners! The room was very nice and after dinner Bud went to sleep and I decided I would play Bingo in the Casino. Didn't win anything but I sat with three nice ladies! Then Bud came down to the casino and after losing our $5.00 we went to bed! We missed the last tour at the Acona Pueblo this afternoon, so tomorrow morning we are going to catch the 8:30am tour!!

Time! Time! Time! We got nothin but Time!

Not Really! When I am planning my trips I put our average driving speed at 50mph because of all the stops we make. It is difficult to predict how much time those stops will take. We are driving an average of 300 miles a day from now on with things to see which have open and close times. So trying to decide when to leave point A to get to points B C D so that point E will still be open for us to C, I mean see! If we have to put a sight on the next day that will put us behind right at the beginning of our day. But times like we had this morning, laying side by side in our queen size bed looking upon Monument Valley during sunrise..well it was timeless, so we did it! And then I saw on the menu that the Gouldings Restaurant had fluffy buttermilk pancakes so we went up for breakfast and it was delightful! So we just left Kaenta, AZ with a full gas tank and a very large McDonalds Ice Tea for me and we are heading south on hwy 59!!! I saw an airplane flying over us and I smiled and thought I am so happy that we took the time to drive to Pittsburgh the scenic and time consuming slow route!

Monument Valley, On Our Way!

Visions of John Wayne movies, that is what the mention of Monument Valley conjures up in my mind! I was raised watching all of those Westerns! Monument Valley was in so many of them. Well today we drive the 17 mile loop road to see the Valley and it did not disappoint! It only took 1 hour to drive the scenic loop and normally it costs $10.00 each to go into it but the ticket booths were closed so we got in for free! Sweet deal! Lucky for us that the weather had been dry so we were able to drive it in our car! When it rains it would be very rutted and very slippery and we would have had to pay for a tour! We are staying in the Goulding Lodge which is right across the highway from the Navajo Owned and run Monument Valley! The Goulding Lodge has motel rooms all with views, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool, a museum with the original house and furnishings of the Goulding family that started a trading post on this site in 1924! They have a small theater which shows a John Wayne movie every night that was filmed in Monument  Valley! It is such a very pretty place and again very close to Monument Valley! From our room we can see several monuments from our patio! We had dinner in the restaurant and it was tasty!

A graduation equals a Road Trip!

So So Then we stopped at my favorite restaurant in Boise, Cracker Barrel!!!

SOur oldest granddaughter is graduating from the University of Pittsburgh and Bud and I cannot be more proud of her achievement! So off we go, not in the air, no no no! We have chosen to go on the ground!!! We bought a brand new Toyota Corolla for the trip instead of renting a car and decided not to use our old car because our old car had 180,000 miles on it! So off we went yesterday under a cloudy sky with just a little drizzle! But not fir long! Eastern Oregon had bright blue skies and warm temps! Ahhhhh! So lovely! So lovely! We have two weeks to get to Pittsburgh, PA and 2 weeks to get home after a 5 night stay with our daughter ( who has also graduated with her Bachelor Degree from Western Givernors University) and son in law and their three children (our grandchildren:))! So to get this party started we just went crazy and made it all the way to Scipio, Utah our first night! Drove 15 hours and made it there at 9:30pm! Not too shabby. Since it was Sunday evening there was no rush hour traffic in Salt Lake City!

This is Bud and the mechanic with the antlers! Cabellas offered him $10,000 for them but the mechanic said he would keep them because he spent more than that hunting all these years for the largest antlers he could find!

Stopped in Loa, Utah to get some gas and the owner was so very nice and we were talking when the mechanic came in and showed us the Elk antlers that his son found near there! They weighed 22 lbs each!!!

My lunch at Cracker Barrel! Yummy!

Stopped off in Pedleton at the Wild Horse Casino and Bud and I lost $6.00 each :(

Then we went East up Cabbage Hill!