Palm Springs Day Two

Andreas Canyon

First intended destination today was the Tram, a funicular that takes you to the top of Jacinto Mountain. That was our destination until we saw how many other people had the same idea.

Kaufman House

We drove instead to Indian Canyon and walked Palm Canyon and a little bit of Andreas Canyon. We had lunch at a popular - and good - cafe called Cheeky's.

Korakia Pension

After lunch we toured Bob's favorite mid-century houses with a few oddities thrown in. There are pictures on my Facebook page. This is a short entry in the captain's log. I have had an incredible day and am very, delightfully tired.

Idyllwild and the BackYard

View from the road

The tendency here is to get up early and do things before the day heats up. I slept until 7:30, Had coffee and went to the gym. World Gym is a short drive from Bob and Doug's house. It felt really good to work out after a week away from it.

Main Street, Idyllwild

After the gym we got n the car and headed for Idyllwild, CA, a small town in the San Jacinto mountains of San Bernadino County, about an hour from Palm Springs. The drive there is a study in mountain terrain. You go through harsh desert, hillsides covered in boulders, alpine meadows, and evergreen forests. Idyllwild itself is a touristy mountain town that has moved beyond picturesque toward caricature.

View of the mountains from Idyllwild

We had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant that was pretty good, but not what I had come to expect in New Mexico. We walked around the tiny town stopping is a store that sold Tibetan treasures mostly from Nepal and India. We headed back to Palm Springs down the other side of the mountain through Banning and past acres of windmill farms, outlet malls, and casinos.

We got back to the house and into the pool where we swam and soaked and talked about stuff until Sunset.

I am experiencing Palm Springs in a new way on this trip, seeing it from the perspective of living here. The summer heat is oppressive, but you compensate for it. A pool is a necessity. It becomes another room in the house during the heat of the day. The mountains frame the valley and provide backdrop everywhere. The mid-century architecture, real and faux, is charming. The demographic spread is broader than just seniors and retirees.

Doug and Bob's backyard

It is a California manifestation of the same energy that you find in Ft. Lauderdale,  Florida. Substitute desert for ocean. What makes it special for me, is the variety of landscape within two hours in any direction. It is like the Bay Area in that way.  You can be at the Ocean, the Colorado River, the mountains, or any of several cities. And they have Trader Joe's.

Tomorrow I want to take the tram up the mountain and drive around looking at mid-century homes.

Sedona AZ

The town from Sky Ranch Lodge

I have to recant. I was so eager to tar Sedona with the same brush I used on Taos (deservedly so in that case) I rushed to judgement.

This morning after checking out of my delightful room at Sky Ranch Lodge, I drove into town for breakfast and a walk around. Breakfast was at the Hitching Post where I had a vegetable omelet with fresh asparagus, carrots, peppers, and onions served with home made hash browns and pico de gallo. The service was attentive, the coffee was fresh, and the bill was very reasonable. My server, Esther, gave me a tutorial on the names of the rocks before sending me on my way.

The Hitching Post

I strolled the village and was impressed that tucked amidst the ticky tacky souvenir shops and jeep tour companies were some very nice shops and galleries. I was also impressed by how friendly the locals were. It was clear from their conversations that they were here for the land. It drew them in the first place, and kept them there. And the land is impressive. The red rocks are magical. And though I wouldn't want to live there, I was glad I had decided to visit.

I left Sedona and drove to Palm Springs where I am tonight. It was over 100 degrees the entire trip. The only visual relief from the beige desert landscape were the seguaro cactus. Southwestern Arizona was, to quote Stephen Sondheim, hot and monotonous. Tonight I am in Palm Sprinds where it is hot, but certainly not monotonous. I'll stay here for a few days before heading north.

Esther told me the name of this rock but I forget it

Farmington NM to Sedona AZ

First, a word about Jesus' pears. They look like small boscs. They are sweet, crunchy and are very satisfying. Mana? Wrong Testament?

The morning belonged to the sky gods. To adorn the stark landscape out of Farmington on NM route 64, they staged another son et lumière show complete with pillars of rain and lightening bolts. Thunder and lightening and rain, oh my! The weather held until I  was leaving the Four Corners Monument, the only place where you can be in four States at once: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. The monument is on Navajo land. There is a modest admission fee and, today at least, a modest Indian market. Heading west out of the monument in US Route 160, I drove through the first of several rain squalls. One or two approached dramatic, but mainly they served to cool things down.

Navajo dwelling

After visiting Chaco Cultural Monument yesterday, I still yearned for cliff dwellings. I considered the four hour detour to Mesa Verde, but settled instead on the Navajo National Monument near Kayenta, Arizona and on my way to Sedona. The drive there along Route 160 took me past Monument Valley and tableau of Indian life in the 21st century. Trailers, tract homes, prefab boxes - not a hogan in sight. I was last on this road 25 years ago. The place names are the same, Farmington, Shiprock, Window Rock, Tuba City, but they are no more the Indian towns of Tony Hillerman novels. They are small cities with a distinct overlay of Indian decoration on uni-culture development. Such a contrast to the magnificent desolation of the land they inhabit. I couldn't help but think about Tibet. The Han overlay of indigenous  Tibetan culture with decidedly mixed results. There is no question the Indians are better off thanks to tax free cigarettes and gambling, but at what cost? Maybe none except aesthetics.

Keet Seel Pueblo

The Navajo Monument put me back in a space where I could focus on the land. The pueblo peoples knew how to harmonize with the land. Their footprint is light and in harmony with the surroundings.

I made it to Sedona by 4:30 thanks to traversing another time zone. I zipped past the Grand Canyon turnoffs and didn't even hesitate. The Grand Canyon is not this trip. I reentered population density in Flagstaff. It is a beautifully located city surrounded by the Coconono National Forest. 45 minutes later I pulled into downtown Sedona after a tree-lined drive through Coconino. All I will say about the little bit of the town I saw is it is better to stay outside the town. They should just get rid of the town. It's a bad marriage of Taos and Rodeo Drive.

Sedona sunset

More pictures on Facebook. Tomorrow, Palm Springs.

Santa Fe to Farmington NM

Last night's sunset

My intended itinerary for today was to drive from Santa Fe to Farmington with a side trip to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park. Mission accomplished. Along the way, I saw the face of god. Hyperbole? I don't think so. The land I drove through today - the rocks, hills, canyons, buttes, lakes, and skies are manifestations of divine splendor. There are many such places and I have been fortunate enough to have visited several. Milford Sound in New Zealand, the High Sierras in California, Uluru in Australia, Tibet, the French Alps. I now count the drive I took today among them.

Jesus Miguel Gallegos

I left Ernie and Jean Peterson's leaving Santa Fe via US 285/84 North. At Espanola I turned West on US 84. I had breakfast in Abiquiu and met Jesus.

Jesus Miguel Gallegos, grandson on Michael Antonio Gallegos, graduate of Berkeley, former engineer, and now organic gardener. I met him in front of the adobe church in Abiquiu. His bicycle had a flat. He asked me if I could help him. I took Jesus, the boxes of produce he was carrying, and his bicycle to Trujillo's Mercantile down the road to get his bicycle tire fixed. On the way he told me his and his grandfather's history.  He also tried his best to explain Valence theory and the importance of Scandinavium that has an atomic weight of 44 - which is somewhere close to the atomic weight of carbon dioxide. Most of that part of the discussion was beyond me. Tire fixed, I dropped him at his garden located in front of a motor vehicle repair shop just off 84. Jesus showed me how he hand tills his garden and gave me some fresh pears. We said goodbye and I drove off.

US 84 north of Abiquiu

I won't even try and describe the rest of the drive to Chaco Canyon. From 84 I took New Mexico route 96 south along Lake Abiquiu and through forests, prairies, deserts - always against astounding rock formation backdrops under skies so big I wanted to weep at the beauty. I took photos, of course and a few of them are on my Facebook page. But what I saw today can only be hinted at either in words or pictures. You'll just have to make the drive yourself and see for yourself.

Chaco Canyon is 26 miles off US 550 accessible only by bone rattling dirt road. Many of the ruins in the park were sacred spaces for the Chaco culture. The park is a shadow of what was once an advanced culture that vanished. The land and the ruins still hold a special charge and still guard the secrets of the disappeared.

Pueblo del Arroyo

Tonight I am in Farmington, New Mexico in the heart of Tony Hillerman country. Farmington has become a small city since I was here last. The choices of motels have improved, but I wouldn't call most of the rest of the development improvement. Tomorrow I will do Mesa Verde and the Four Corners Monument and start off for Sedona.