Aztec Ruins National Monument Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation Zion National Park

Our last stops
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation
Zion National Park

Jason and Nancy
 Posted on April 30, 2014
From home! 
310 Pine Street in Helena 

Some photographs to start, some writing at the end.



Aztec Ruins National Monument is a tiny park in Aztec, NM . . . hardly the size of a postage stamp . . . with extensively reconstructed ruins.  This a major kiva from outside and then from inside. 

 
 Included only because it is my photo and I finally got a bird in focus!  We were camped on the Animas River in Aztec, NM.  There were two major diversions right above our camp, but the river felt healthy and like a high spring river.

Jason photographs Monument Valley

 

The road looks okay here, but our morning drive in this valley was easily the worst road of the entire trip.  We got out and walked a couple of miles before deciding that we could complete the loop.  It was a stunning drive.

My photo because I hadn't previously realized there was a worm hole connecting Sand Springs to the Navajo Nation.  Wanted the hunting camp family to see this one!

 

This last is Jason's photo of Monumnet Valley is late afternoon from the View Hotel.  Every room in the hotel faces the east in accord with Navajo belief.  Every room has this view.  It's a great place to stay, run by the tribe.

And on to our last stop, Zion National Park

The Virgin River

My photo only Zion photo.  I couldn't manage the big landscape so tried instead a fat squirrel.  Wow, they must be living on the tourist rations in Zion.  And they would sit right up by the trail and pose as if they expected a gratuity.

A trip of 9105 miles and 115 days throughout the American West.  Only scratching the surface of the landscape and the learning, here's what I am left with.

1)   We have spaciousness all around us.  We aren’t so crowded as many parts of the world.  The space allows our individuality and independence, and the climates require our communities and dependence. It's a wholesome balance.

2)   Montana is not unique because of our incredible landscapes.  The American West has many to offer.  We are unique because we remain small enough to know each other.  New Mexico had that feel about it too. Walking up Davis Gulch yesterday I watched two bikers intercept each other, recognize each other and ride on in conversation--old pals who hadn't seen each other for awhile randomly met up on the trail.  That's Montana.

3)   There is a basic good will in most people.  We were welcomed and encouraged wherever we went. 

4)   Retirement living is retirement from others making demands on our schedules.  Jason and I were able to get up in the dawn and lie down in the late dusk.  What happened in between was self-directed. Coming home I had wondered what I would do and already the time is so full.  So lucky.  And at my own most personal discretion. Wow.

5)   There is something egalitarian in the retired.  Living among an RV army of aging peers on the roll across the SW we met all kinds in many circumstances.  Thing is, doesn’t matter what you were before.  Matters what you are now. 

6)   At our age eating two smaller meals a day is better than eating three bigger ones. 

7)   Especially as we age, having each other to rely on is a thing of wonder.  We are so much more able together than we would be separately.

8)   Having children who are self sufficient and happily productive is a bonus.  Having Madeline Louise and Charles Mark close is a blessing.  And I appreciate them even more for some months apart.

Love to all of you who followed along.  We're back in residence at 310 Pine Street.  Coming home is the best part, all the better for having been gone.

Santa Fe and Surrounds

Santa Fe and Surrounds
Jason Jonas and Nancy Aagenes
April 2014

This is the only photo of both of us on the blog to date--at breakfast on the square in downtown Santa Fe.

The Millicent Rogers Museum out of Taos is maybe my all time favorite Museum.   Her collection of Southwestern art and artifacts is striking.  The museum is housed in a pueblo style home that is unusual and maybe I love the museum for that too.  It's an amazing place. This one pot from her collection.

A walk into Bandelier National Monument with dwellings built sometimes 3-4 stories high into these cliffs.  The small valley had been badly flooded, but was beautiful and as interesting to us as the cliff dwellings.

The Rio Grande River Valley looking from White Rock back towards Santa Fe.  Julius told a story of friends being lost in this valley for three days and then finally hiking out in three hours. 

From around Abiquiu where Georgia O'Keefe had her home and studio. 

We walked alone together in a huge arroyo we found on our way to her White Place

We visited our nephew, Julius Ostby, in Santa Fe.


Julius is finishing his second year at St. John's College and we ambled around the campus mountains with him on trail and off talking for hours. One of the best treats of the trip.

The Rio Grande Healthy and the Gila Wilderness

The Rio Grande Healthy and the Gila Wilderness
Jason and Nancy

 

The Rio Grande below Caballo Reservoir

 

 The riparian zone is dominated by an imported Tamarix commonly called Salt Cedar. Along miles or river it is almost impossible to find any other plant on the river bank.  Think Russian Olive.  Sitting on this bank nearer the water I wrote, "Oh to imagine camp in a cottonwood bottom when the river ran free."

And next came Bosque del Apache National Monument we came to a stretch of river designated by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 for protection.  The monument must have water rights enough to manage flow to create as possible a stretch of the natural ancient river.

 

Found this plant in one of the canals used to manage the water in the monument. Hope it isn't another weed.

Jason and I loved seeing the cottonwoods well.  Most come here for the birds.  Sand hill cranes, geese etc do winter migrate by the thousands through this monument. 

The javelina looks piggish, but we are more related to chimps than pigs are to this critter.  It is an herbivore and common throughout desert areas.  We were puzzled why, normally nocturnal, they were out in the day on the monument. 

It was thrilling to finally be able see the possibility of the Grand River spreading out 3 miles wide and creating huge wetlands that are mostly gone now.  The whole river was once like this.

Tularosa names a vast area in which we camped in different places for some weeks. The name translates to something like rose colored willows.

 

This from our camp just outside the monument.

The next photos are from a hike in the monument off the river.

 

 Following, the Gila Wilderness established by the efforts of Aldo Leopold.

 

 The Gila River

 

 Hiking into the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  Locals claim Geronimo was born in this canyon.

 

  Spring on the Rio Grande.  We found a site away from the main campground right on the riverbank.  Just below Caballo Dam.  Registering for an unnumbered site I wrote "down the road by the river."  Asked the rangers if that was okay and they seemed mystified by the question--what else would be needed? New Mexico is casual, practical.  The lovely shade is from the salt cedar dominates all plant life here.  The park tends some a small native reservation of cottonwoods.  We have another beautiful campsite.  

Wanting to see the river as it was and always being grateful to see it even now.  We have come to and back to this river many times and are going to stick with it through New Mexico at least to Taos.  

Had our third meal at La Familia Mexican Restaurant—and it really is.  I like Hatch because it is an agrarian community going about its own business, not catering to tourists.  They are beginning to recognize us there.  I like these people.  Jason reminds me that they are all irrigators.

In the afternoon sitting in my camp chair on the riverbank feet buried in warm sand I was at home.  Watching the landscapes through changing light.  I want a doctorate in being with a river going by.  In the night I often want to go home.  Now up in the sun it is the rational and good thing to be on the slow pace headed north.  No longer looking for things to see, rather

the experience of being in these environments and landscapes with an open heart that is not too distracted with wanting home.  It’s all home.