Seeing the Sights

For years we've been driving back and forth across the central United States, always in a hurry to arrive or get home from seeing family whenever we've been able to.  Our vacations have consisted primarily of visiting family that lives far away.  All these years we've usually taken the most direct route and driven passed most of the interesting stuff along the way, mostly because we wanted to get there and be able to spend the time with the people we were going to see.  That was particularly true when our kids were little and traveling across country was more expensive and difficult. However, with our kids all grown and on their own, and us having retired, some of the constraints we've felt in the past are no longer an issue.  The biggest factor is now the weather.  So recently, as we've made the trek back and forth across the country, we've begun going a little slower and begun stopping more to see the interesting stuff this country is full of, been more willing to stop and see what there is to see.

Just before we left on this latest trip, I learned that the site where Buddy Holly, a pioneer writer a figure of mid-50s rock and roll, crashed on February 3, 1959 was in northern Iowa, just off the route we usually take when we go out west.  We had been driving within a few miles of it nearly each time we make the trip.  So this time we decided to take the time and stop.

There isn't much there, only a a couple of little memorials that I guess have been put up by local fans.  There are actually two little memorials, one right out at the road, in a small parking area at the edge of some farmer's field, and another about 300 yards back into the field.  Even though the walk way is all grass, it was pretty wet and rainy the day we stopped so we opted not to make the hike; we didn't want to get caught in the rain.  It had stopped raining just before we got there and there was another couple there so we played cameraman for each other and got a picture.  I was surprised by how many people there we there; the couple that we took pictures for and another couple that had walked back into the field.  But as we were leaving we passed three other cars that were stopping.  It was surprising.

The next thing of interest we came upon was out near the middle of Nebraska.  The City of Kearney bills itself as the "Sandhill Crane Capitol of the World." As we drove by in the evening we could easily see why.  In the fields we passed as we drove by there were thousands and thousands of cranes.  And there were hundreds and hundreds more in the air, wave after wave, all coming in to land in the fields.  It was amazing how many cranes there were.  We must have hit the migration just right, it was incredible.

From there we drove on, into the west.  The next place of interest was a little spot in central Utah where there are some petroglyphs on some rocks right by the road, you can actually see them from the road.  So we stopped to look at them.

To the northeast of the petroglyphs is an area of central Utah called the San Rafael Swell. It's actually part of  a very large recreational area that includes far too much to see in a single afternoon, which is all we were able to spend.  It's a high desert area, full of amazing beauty.  This time of year it's still cold at night but a nice temperature during the day. The part we went to this time is known as the Wedge, a mini-grand canyon. It's a spectacular view.

The next sight we went to see what up in Davis County, several  miles to the north of the Wedge. We spent an afternoon at a place called the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve.  It's not a big place, located out by the lake west of some pretty metropolitan areas, but it's a nice place, lot's of wetland grass and a great place to see birds.  Being migratory season, I had really hoped to see a lot of birds but that didn't happen.  I don't think it helped that we ended up there as a storm was coming in, either.  

It was a little windy when we arrived and started walking around.  We did see some birds but  not in any great numbers; ducks, a flock of birds that were black (too big to be black birds, too small to be crows), a crane, and a peregrine falcon.

Alas, the storm was steadily rolling in the whole time we were there, the mountains gradually disappearing into the lowering clouds, with a pretty stiff wind that was leading the rain. We finally cut the visit short and beat it out of there.  The rain began just as we got in the cars and left.  I've always wanted to visit the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, which is just a little father north; this visit to the Great Salt Lake Shoreland Preserve made me want to go there one of the next times we're out that way.

The next sight-seeing stop was the next day when we went to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, a ways south of the Great Salt Lake Shoreland Preserve.    

This is a new aquarium, recently built in the area.  They have an indoor area, with all kinds of animals and marine life and and some outdoor areas.  We did the indoor stuff.  It's been a long, long time since I'd been in an aquarium, it was real interesting to walk through.

The variety of animals was amazing.  They had a large number of animals we saw.  We didn't spend any time in any of the outside parts, had to leave something for a return visit.  It was an amazing place.

The next couple of sights we saw were unplanned, they turned out to be on the way to where we were going.  The first was as we drove into southern Utah.  We turned east at Beaver and drove through Panguitch (you should have heard the GPS struggle with the name of that city!) and continued south.  That took us close enough to Bryce Canyon that we were able to see some of the hoodoos as we drove by.  It wasn't the full blown, colorful hoodoos-everywhere-you-look of the park, but it was still pretty.  There really wasn't a stop for them, we were just able to see them from the road as we went by. That was fun.

The next thing we stopped at was the next day, as we headed toward Colorado.  It was unexpected; as we drove along we began seeing signs for the Glen Canyon Dam, which is the dam behind which Lake Powel is found.  It's a big dam in a narrow, deep canyon on the Colorado River.  I had actually been there before, but it was a long time ago.

The west is having a pretty significant drought right now so the water level of Lake Powell was pretty low, you could see that the water level was quite a bit lower than normal. But it the dam was still very impressive.  We stopped and looked around and then it was time to move on.

The next stop was Mesa Verde National Park, near Cortez, Colorado.  I've never been there but Brombeere and her family went there when she was a kid.  I'd heard of Mesa Verde, home of the cliff dwellers, the people that built their cities up high on the side of the cliffs.  What I had never realized was that the cliffs they built on were up high at the top of a mountain, a table mountain.  

Mesa Verde is Spanish for "Green Table", the park was in the top of a mountain.  So the first thing was to drive up some steep roads to the top of a table mountain.  The first place we stopped in the park was called Park Point, the highest point in the park, elevation 8,572.  The view was spectacular.

It seemed like you could see forever but actually it was only about 100 miles, according to the sign.  There is a fire lookout station at this point that spotters used to use.  In our day, the view is often a little hazy because so many more particulates are in the air now than used to be the case.  Back when the lookout station was built, in 1939, the view would have been much clearer.

You could even see Ship Rock (to the left side of the photo), which is 55 miles away to the southeast, in New Mexico.

This is a picture of Ship Rock, taken much closer, that we took when we were in that area in the summer of 2015.  Anyway, the view from Mesa Verde was incredible, in any direction  you looked.

The ancient dwellings are way in the back of park so we drove way to the back to see them.  There are actually two kids of dwelling ruins in the park, pit houses and cave dwellings.  We came to some pit houses first. All that was left of the pit houses was the holes left in the ground where they had been dug out. They would dig out the hole and then build an enclosure over it, so the holes were where posts had been placed in the ground to make the dwelling over hole.  That made them warmer in the winter.  They would build these pit houses in communities, like villages so there were actually quite a few of these pits around in that area of the park, each with a shelter over it to protect it from the elements.  

The other kind of dwelling in the park are several cliff dwellings.  These are famous, cities built up high on a cliff.  There is a cool sculpture at the main visitors center, at the entrance to the park, depicting a native climbing up to such a dwelling.

Personally, I'd pass.  That's a climb I'm glad I've never had to make.  There is one dwelling that is normally open to guided tours but not when we were there, due to pandemic.  That was find with me.  Getting to it would not have involved such a climb, but stairs and ladders are involved.  I was okay missing out on that one.

All of the cliff dwellings we saw were on interior cliffs within the park, none were on the exterior cliffs of the mesa.  It's estimated that these dwellings were inhabited from about 700 AD until into the 13th century.  It's thought that they were then all abandoned in a relatively short period of time.  In the thousands of years since then, it's not surprising that they're showing some wear, it's amazing that they have lasted in as good condition as they are now seen.  In any case, they were amazing, and it was surprising how many there were scattered through the park.  It's a place I've always wanted to visit and now I have.

That was the last stop we had planned for this trip.  When we left Mesa Verde we had a longer drive home than normal to get home; we had to drive diagonally across all of Colorado and then across most of Nebraska, a drive that always seems to go one forever.  Then through two more states and into our own state, before we finally got home.  That was two long days of driving.  But, unlike some people, I enjoy driving.  All in all, it was a good trip, we got to see lots of people we love and lots of interesting things.  We might have to some more of this next time we make the trek.