In the summers of 1987 and 1989, we ventured to the Southwest on a “kid-n-car” trip. As with all our car treks, each was memorable. In 1987 we traveled to the Grand Canyon, then to Flagstaff , camping in Oak Creek Canyon. This natural park area had wonderful southwestern foliage, beautiful Oak Creek and best of all SLIDE ROCK.
This phenomena is just what it says, rock layers worn smooth and into channels by the water action of Oak Creek. This has a significant flow of water and a person can slide down into the troughs and be pushed by the water down a significant set of inclines. It is a blast and we spent days there which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. The adults did too and we all slid down the water chutes yelling and laughing and bumping ourselves royally.
Our next trip, in 1989, was through the Mesa Country seeing the pueblos and driving up through Santa Fe, Taos, through Chama. It sticks in my memory that a mandatory side trip to Slide Rock happened also but this old feeble brain cannot place it in the itinerary. Some of the wonderful experiences were visiting Betatakin, the Pueblo National Monument and Mesa Verde.
The forces of nature made our stay at Mesa Verde memorable. After setting up camp in one of the campgrounds, Dan and I went back in the car to see some ruins, forgotten now. On the return trip, we were caught in a surprise thunder, lightning and hail storm that was so intense you could not see the road to drive. We, and others, took shelter in a roadway tunnel, stopping our cars while the storm lasted. We were concerned about how the girls were doing, to say the least. When we got back to camp, they had amazing tales to tell. The wind had been so strong that it flattened the tent, with them in it! The hail was pounding on the tent and though dry, Kate, Becca and Cece were concerned about us!
Happily reunited, and the storm having passed by, we proceeded to make dinner. Once the food boxes were cracked open, out of nowhere several deer appeared. They were so tame that they came right up to us and were nosing around the food. Cece, in an attempt to keep them away from our greens, held a head of lettuce behind her back and out of sight of a particularly nosey deer that was harassing her. Unbeknownst to her, another deer came up behind and bit the head of lettuce. They were not used to being denied, those government freeloaders!
We ended up driving into Colorado to Crested Butte and Gunnison. I almost interviewed for a job in Gunnison (the secret agenda of this trip…which ended up in our moving to Yakima, Washington). Camping up at Gothic, an old mining area near Crested Butte (Crusted Butt to our giggling kids) in a pouring rainstorm, Dan got very sick and for 24 hours had a terribly high fever. Happily he recovered quickly. We drove back through Utah and Nevada and home to Davis, weary but happy travelers. Those trips are legendary and no doubt more stories about them will surface making it necessary to amend this narrative.
JP 12-30-2011
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