The Wayfaring Wordhack

To paraphrase from The Princess Bride, There is too much; I'll sum up...about our trip to Oklahoma, that is.

For three weeks:

We rested, following the sun's rhythms pretty closely, not bothered at all by the yapping of coyotes, which is so much more melodious as it rolls down hills and creeks, echoing off oaks than is the barking and snarling of the wild dogs that run the concrete labyrinth of this city.


( Rest of the trip, this way... )

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* Has anyone else been in proximity to an armadillo? There was one funky smell in its wake, and we don't know if it was the creature itself or something it had come in contact with. It smelled like skunk and wild garlic/onions.

We had a geat time in the great outdoors, but our time is up.  just a few minutes before we board the first of our 3 planes to get back to Cairo.  Catch up with you on the other side, meaning in about two days.

This a journey through photos post so I shall put it behind a cut.  Come in and walk a while with me.


( If there are road signs, they are few )

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Photos: 1) Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, NM, USA; 2) Kemmerer, WY, USA; 3) Wheatfield near Vinon, France; 4) Capitol Reef, Fruita, UT, USA; Yellowstone, WY, USA; 5) Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia; 6) World's deadliest road, Bolivia.

Got back from my Minnesota trip on Thursday, but I've been too tired and occupied to make an entry until now.  The trip and wedding were lovely for the most part, but Soëlie had her first fever the day of the wedding. She was under the weather for the next couple of days and on the way back. 

Highlights of the trip:

- The Charles de Gaulle airport (AWESOME service when one is wearing a baby! "Right this way, Madame; you have priority") and flight over. My "seat mate" made my flight soooo easy.  He was super helpful, so nice and vigilant and patient. That Soëlie slept for 4 hours straight was a godsend, as well.

- Spending time with my friends.  Enough said.

- Meeting dlandon  in person, not to mention her adorable son, who was such a trooper with the 104 degree heat!

- Train strike!  Sounds odd, but what a blessing.  I arrived in Paris too late to take any of the morning trains and should have had to wait until 2:30 pm.  However, being unsure of the exact timetable, I hightailed to the RER and the metro and practically jogged--carrying S and suitcases in tow--to the train station, only to see that the train for my village was at 9:03.  It was 9:36.  Then I noticed the red letters flashing on the screen next to the time:  40 minutes late.  Hooray!  So I made the morning train and didn't have to kill 5 hours in Paris with a baby and all my luggage.  Also, because of the strike, all passengers getting off at my stop missed their shuttle for Sancerre, so the train company threw in taxi fare.

- The wedding was nice, but with a sick baby in tow, it barely makes the highlights...

Lows:

- Soëlie getting sick.  I spent three nights in a row awake with her, trying to bring down a fever of 103 F. 

- Minneapolis airport.  Was lame--totally lame--compared to the great service in Paris.

- Accidentally clicking the wrong date for my return flight and then persisting in believing that I had clicked the right date, right up until the time the airline staff wouldn't let me check in because I was there a day early.  Boo on you, Miquela.  It was good spending the extra day in Minneapolis, though, and it allowed S to feel better for the flight home (that, however, did not go as smoothly as the flight to the States). And things would not have worked out so well with the train, so I guess it barely makes the lows. :P

Just a note to anyone out there who feels like taking note:  If you see a person traveling alone with a baby, feel free to offer aid if said person is carrying a baby, a backpack, a purse, and a diaper bag, especially if said person has dropped something.  Of course you are perfectly within your rights to watch in amusement/disinterest as she picks things up herself, tries to get all her bags through a small space, etc. but it doesn't make you come across as a very nice person.

More mention of the temporary in another post...

Welcome to Pecos, Texas, grower of great cantaloupes, birthplace of the rodeo and me.







Obviously, the first thing you are going to want to do upon entering this decaying ghost-town-in-the-making is to sleep around. Being surrounded by failed businesses, rundown restaurants, sketchy homes where drug deals are always going down, naturally you'd want to check out the only thing shiny in town: the motels that have sprung up along the interstate, giving a false impression that Pecos is a healthy, happening city.

But the sign was in place long before the hotels, so they (the good Baptist churches who paid for the billboard) must have had something else in mind...



Once you've tasted of Pecos hospitality and are on your way out of town, the kindly townfolk feel it necessary to warn you against killing.

Does anyone need wonder why, while I may have been born there, I do not plan on making it my final resting place?

That was one of the many things on my gratitude list this Thanksgiving...

We drove down to the Grand Canyon and got our first view of it from the Watchtower, the tower actually being my favorite part of canyon. A kindly park ranger let us use the bbq of a campsite so we could grill our steaks (we didn't want to pay $26 just to pitch a tent). My sister-in-law is a little afraid that we aren't eating well, living out of the car and camping as we are. Sizzling ribeyes, roasted aubergines (that's for you, frigg, because, yeah, it's a better word than eggplant), and baby spinach ought to set her mind to rest. The tower and cookout were the best parts of the park. Getting woken up at midnight by a park ranger telling us we could not sleep in our car was the downside. He invited us to go to the campground and pay the 26 bucks for the privilege of parking our car. Yeah.

We ended up leaving the park and driving six miles to Tuyasan and sleeping in the parking lot of the National Geographic Visitor center, our car hidden behind two tour buses. The next day, we took a brisk walk along the rim of the canyon and then left for Monument Valley.



Not a bad camping spot with that view, eh?

After Monument Valley, we headed to Mesa Verde. Here are a couple of pics of the Spruce Tree House ruin that we visited. I admit to reaching a point of saturation and told Julien that I didn't really care to go see the Cliff Palace.

It was decided that we needed a break, so we drove to Durango a day earlier than planned. Dave and Susan, two fellow travelers we met in Mesa Verde recommended the hostel they were staying at, and seeing as how we were due for showers, we decided to check it out.

If you are ever in Durango and need a place to stay, you should look it up. Durango Hometown Hostel is clean, stylish, affordable, and full of nice people. The nice boarders may come and go, but Candace, the nice owner, will always be around.

Today, we leave for the Great Sand Dunes.  Looking forward to more dunes! May we have lovely light and good times.

A picture of Bryce and another of Zion before I talk about today:

 

 

Bryce

 

 

Zion

 

We went to the Paria Bureau of Land Management office this morning to try our luck at getting a dreamed-of permit to hike to the Wave, not really expecting to win. Only 10 people per day get to access the buttes where the Wave is; not ten groups, ten people. The Faures were assigned number 7, and it turned out to be as lucky as some believe. I feel almost bad about winning; we stopped pretty much as an afterthought based on a recommendation of other tourists (who weren't lucky enough to go out there).  Other people plan their trips here around the hope of winning the Wave lottery. Still, everyone was congratulating us, making it sink in that this will be a special occasion and thing to see.

 

So, tomorrow, we will spend the day in the famed sandstone formations! When I say the day, I mean the day. At first light, we’ll head out, but we will try to be back before sunset. According to the rangers, people get lost out there all the time. I have a great sense of direction and I pay attention to the route, so I’m not too worried. Still, don’t want to take silly chances.

 

To backtrack a bit, after Zion, we drove to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park to camp. Hot showers! We took 2. What a luxury; our bodies were probally freaking out, wondering what was wrong with us.

 

We had never heard of the dunes and, therefore, had no expectations. No expectations are the best expectations, I say, and we had a great time the next morning, watching t(photographing) the sun coming up behind Monquith Mountain. Julien and I would appear to be erosion and desert people at heart. I think we’ll go a little out of our way to see the Great Sand Dune Nat’l Park in Colorado, and, of course, White Sands in NM is already on the list--it’ll be the third time I take Julien there.

 

The park ranger at Coral Pink came by our tent, just as we were heading to the showers, and asked us if we wouldn’t mind correcting a French translation he had done (with Google’s help) of the park brochure. He gave us firewood in exchange for our services, so we’ll think of him next time we’re in front of a roaring blaze.

After leaving the dunes, we headed to the funky Toadstools in Grand Staircase-Escalante and passed the late afternoon having fun photographing the capped pillars.

 

Tonight, while whiling away time before tomorrow’s trip to the Wave, we’ll visit the Old Paria townsite, which should be a nice place to watch the sunset.

 Fossil pics can be found here.

In T -40 minutes, Julien and I are going fossil hunting in George's quarry. We don't know who the heck George is, but Bob from Bob's Rock Shop sent us there this morning, saying it was our best bet for finding someone to take us out in the wet. Apparently, after rains, it's not the best time to go fossil hunting, but we're here and hunting we will go.

We drove down from Jackson last night; the trip took us 4 hours instead of 3 because of all the deer on the road. Count: 3 alive, 3 dead. I didn't even bother counting the dead badgers and skunks.

Kemmerer is an eerie, empty town to drive into at 10:30 p.m., and it was made more so to have Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" on the radio. Despite Julien's very comforting, "This is the kind of town where I can imagine someone stumbling up to the car window, gasping, 'Help me!'" we ended up sleeping in the car again:



We sleep really well in those Marmot sleeping bags! And no zombies or zombie-chased victims disturbed our rest.

Julien and I slept in a hotel in West Yellowstone, Montana last night instead of hiking 3 or so miles to our planned (and reserved) backcountry campsite. I was sitting in the driver's seat, puncturing the blisters on my feet and dreading putting on my wet hiking boots, when Julien reminded me that I should not try to be a hero, inciting the time I did this to my feet. I bowed to the sentiment of wimpiness and embraced the thought of a shower and a clean head and off we headed to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, thinking to rent a cabin with a fireplace.

HA!

The only available room for the night was going for $215, without tax. The parking lot out front was empty, but do think they'd give us a ore reasonable rate? Since we drove out of the park to Montana, I guess you know the answer to that.

We're going to camp one lat night in Yellowstone, with a much shorter hike to our site, so I guess I can do a wrap up of our days in the park. Overall, I think it is a lovely park, but it doesn't quite live up to the grandiose image I and various photos/shows, etc. have painted in my mind.

I think we saw more animals in Custer State Park and because I had no preconceived ideas about Custer, it pleased me more. We still have the Grand Prismatic Spring and Morning Glory to see today or tomorrow morning, so I'm holding out hope of being wowed. We're just disappointed that we haven't seen any bears, wolves, or moose yet. In the Grand Tetons, there are supposed to be lots more moose, so maybe our luck will turn.

Check out is in a few minutes, so I'll leave you with a few pics of the park.



This is the Garnet Hill Loop, an 8 mile walk through rolling plains of golden grasses and silvery sagebrush, along the Yellowstone River, and a meandering creek that cuts through pine forests. It looks like we are heading into a storm, but we only got showered once and briefly.



Mammoth Hot Springs, perhaps a less typical look than the main cascading spring at the entrance.



Sunrise on Grebe Lake, site of our first backcountry camping adventure in Yellowstone. The walk to the lake was rather monotonous and interestless--lots of damaged, felled trees--but the lake was nice.



Yellowstone Canyon under the unforgiving rays of the late morning sun, thus taken in sepia.

Next update from somewhere around the Grand Tetons.