In Alcove House

Will and Claire completed their Junior Ranger activities up here, only to be disappointed when after hiking back down, to find that the park rangers had already left for the day. We will have to call and check if we can have their badges they would have been rewarded  sent to us.

More Bandelier pics - Alcove House

Many years ago, I visited Bandelier and have always remembered it as an incredibly beautiful and special place.  It was amazing to be back and share it with my family.  If only Aunt Rosemarie could have joined us...

Taos tonight and snow on the way

We left Bandelier and headed north to Taos NM to meet up with Matt Gorman. He is a childhood friend of mine who my pop taught how to ski when he was 11. Matt has spent the last 23 winters here and has always wanted my dad and me to see this beautiful mountain he loves so dearly. Unfortunately pop never made it here before he passed. Will, Claire, Lenore, Matt and I plan to take a couple runs tomorrow and I'm sure my dad will be with us in spirit.

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Kiva at the top

4 ladders and 150 feet up

A room with a view

"This thing is giant!

Multiple room dwelling

Room for 2

Cave dwellings

Bandelier Cliffs

Bandelier - Kiva

After a nice night sleep (at the Silver Saddle in Santa Fe) and well needed showers we had a traditional Santa Fe breakfast of green chile, eggs and tortillas and set out to explore Bandelier National Park. What an incredible place. Native Americans had built an elaborate system of cave dwellings right into the side of sheer rock walls. The views here were breathtaking and you couldn't help but feel an almost eerie feeling walking through this place. It was as if the spirit of these ancient people was alive there and that we were trespassing on sacred ground. Enjoy the pictures and videos and hopefully they will give you a glimpse of this amazing place and its spirit.

Overlook in White Rock, New Mexico

Side effects of a whirlwind tour...

Santa Fe inspired art

Santa at the Palace of Governors

Will and O'Keefe

Claire with a Gorman

We were lucky enough to be in Santa Fe on the first Friday of the month when the New Mexico Museum of Art is open late.  After the O'Keefe museum, we went through here.  

Santa, Santa Fe and O'Keefe

We made it to Santa Fe this evening and our first stop was the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. We all quickly became inspired by her and her work today and decided to create some art of our own during dinner. We learned that she had spent time in Canyon, TX in 1916 and had fallen in love with Palo Duro Canyon (our brief stay there will surely leave a lasting impression on us as well... it is breathtaking).

We are now waiting for our table at Tomasita's (Aunt Ro's favorite restaurant in Santa Fe).

Hi Family...

2 thumbs up at the ranch

Cadillac contd.

Cadillac Ranch artists

Climbing the walls after a great night sleep

This is a view from the cabin kitchen table.

Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX

Alongside Route 40 is a great public art display.  A millionaire in the 1970's buried ten Cadillacs and ever since people have been visiting.  We were given spray paint and set to work. Check for our "Coops on the Road" slogan.

Results From the First Poll...

WHEN WILL THE COOPS MAKE IT TO SANTA FE?

It still remains to be seen when they will make it to Santa Fe, NM... though it looks like it will be Tomorrow (12/7) at some point.  By the way please excuse the typo in the poll above, I'll take more care in proof reading next time. The next poll is now open for voting in the right sidebar.

Also please post comments with ideas for future "On the Road" polls. Thanks!

Claire taking a breather

Hey guys, wait for me...

Hiking the Rojo Grande trail contd.

Hiking the Rojo Grande trail

Palo Duro - William taking it all in

I love road tripping!

Tonight's accommodations

Palo Duro pictures contd.

Palo Duro Canyon

We drove through the night and made it to Amarillo, Texas early this morning. I had seen that there was a Crossfit gym nearby (Crossfit 806) and was able to attend a class. It was a hard workout especially on very little sleep but they were a nice bunch of folks so we all helped each other get through it. After the workout we went to Palo Duro Canyon in Canyon, Texas. This place is really beautiful. They bill it as the second largest canyon to the Grand Canyon. The kids enjoyed exploring and hiking the canyon and they both became Junior Rangers after successfully completing a scavenger hunt and written quiz. Palo Duro Canyon has stone cabins for rent at the bottom of the canyon so we plan to spend the night there tonight. We hear the stars look incredible from down there. Only one small setback today when we realized we neglected to pack our sleeping bags for the trip. A quick trip to Walmart fixed this and now we have blankets and sheets for our stay. It should be a great night sleep tonight and hopefully we will wake tomorrow refreshed and ready to make the drive to Santa Fe, NM.

Friendly Texans at Crossfit

Well I hope you guessed that we were in Texas. You can kind of see the "lone star" in the background of our last post.

Can you guess where we are?

St. Louis is for climbing...

The Gateway Arch, Upper Limits climbing gym and the City Museum are not for those with a fear of  heights.

Dancing on outta here...

Santa's Kingdom

This is going to be a very late night!

Who knew that we would be passing right by Santa's Magical Kingdom tonight? We just settled into the car for a very long drive (maybe 10 hours) and noticed a whole hillside of lights and who knows what else. The sign says Santa's Magical Kingdom. We can't possibly pass this up now, can we? Look out Santa, we're coming to town.

Leaving St. Louis - a recap

We just left City Museum in St. Louis Missouri. It was an incredible place that we cannot even believe exists. we had an amazing time sliding down slides, climbing through caves, and just exploring. It was supposed to be a quick trip and we are now leaving at 3:30. We climbed 10 flights of stairs and then slid down a 10 story high spiral slide. I forgot to mention that We had to climb through a dark pitch black cave to get to that staircase and the cave is only 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. I guess it's good that we don't have a schedule today. By the way, last night the kids had a great time at Upper Limits climbing gym. Photos to follow.

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Truly amazing place!

City Museum

Overcoming her fears

The daredevils

And their mom

More pics

10 story slide

City Museum

Crazy times at the City Museum - St Louis, MO

Don't look down...

Heading up to the top of the Gateway Arch

Breakfast at the Iron Skillet- "Americas choice for home style cooking"

Fueling up for a big day. next stop, St Louis MO. We plan to see the Gateway Arch, St Louis museum and then either get a workout at Upper Limits rock gym or St Louis Crossfit.

Fun in PA

We're just about ready to enter West Virginia.  It was a long, foggy, windy and rainy road.  We have to remember, when heading home, to come at night or weekend. Really brutal state to drive through. Happy to be heading into WV at 2 o'clock in the morning. Claire was desperate for a souvenir from Pennsylvania or some photos, but not much happening at Flying J's rest stop.
P.S.
Don't even try to sleep on that stretch of road. Every other curve woke me up. Good thing the kids are sleeping or we would have definite nausea issues.

Chips ahoy, Cheese Its and a movie...

WIll exclaims, "Guess what?  It's fun to be on a trip like this."

Leaving NJ

We have just left New Jersey and have begun the 300 miles of Pennsylvania at 8:30.  HopIng to drive as far as we can tonight. The kids ran around after dinner for a bit so they should fall asleep pretty soon.

Will's story

First stop Morristown.
We stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We watched Charlie Brown's Christmas in the car on the  way here. We packed everything in the car and drove off. This is going to be a long trip!

Note to self....

5 p.m. on a week day is rush hour. 10 minutes from home and  we're stuck in traffic on 280. In the future will need to plan better around commuter times.  Santa Fe,  here we come!

4:57 PM Tuesday 12/3/2012 - The adventure begins...

Well it took longer than we expected but we are in the car and headed onto Passaic Avenue towards 287. For a while I didn't think we are ever going to make it out of the house. Our car is jammed packed - not much space for souvenirs. First stop - the gas station. With cranky kids in the back looking for dinner, I guess that'll be our next stop before leaving the state. Slow and steady wins the race...

Looking like a Monday morning departure.

We were a bit ambitious with today's departure time but should be set by tomorrow to hit the road. Everything seemed to take longer than expected today.

Uncle Chris spent all morning troubleshooting video uploads with us. The Apple genius folks have nothing on him.

Aunt Liz was again our savior. She took Will and Claire all over town gathering up last minutes items. They even came back with a Christmas tree.

Eating a late dinner at Penang now, then home to decorate the tree and get a good night sleep.

Tomorrow we're off!


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On your mark, get set...

Claire has overcome her fear of heights! Joshua Tree here she comes...

Claire has overcome her fear of heights! Joshua Tree here she comes...