Canyon Colors of the Southwest

May 22, 2020May 24, 20201 Comment

The red canyons of the Southwest warm my heart and soul in ways beyond words. My body instantly comes alive, my curiosity sparks, I feel like I am where I belong in the Universe. So, another blog in my series on my vicarious road trip through my Southwest named daylilies.

I think my favorite canyon is Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. The red is just deeper or richer than most of the sandstone of the Southwest.

Dominguez Canyon, much closer to home, is my favorite day adventure.

McInnis Canyons National Recreation Area – Fall 2019

McInnis Canyons National Recreation Area is also pretty close to home. My first COVID plan was to hike here every weekend all spring, but it is more than 20 miles.

Canyonlands National Park is fabulous on a grander scale, and we usually get her once a year in February. It is often snowy at Island in the Sky.

Chaco Canyon is the most spiritual canyon I can think of – I hope to go back on one of my roadtrips soon.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park – 2019

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is in my own back yard – 10 miles or so away. It is a canyon of a different color.

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument – 2018

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is so cool – Hovenweep and all the surrounding areas filled with Ancient Pueblo Ruins.

Of course, there is the Grand Canyon. And, that’s just to name a few.

In my yard, there is a daylily named Canyon Colors. When she blooms, she takes me to all the canyons that I love from my road trips. She was an early Southwest order, the name (of course) drew me in.

Being a semi-evergreen, she lives on my little back porch in winter but summers in her pot on the corner of my house. IDK – Which canyon do you think best reflects her color?

I didn’t look to see if she had scapes yet. Saratoga Springtime, Ojo de Dios, Dream Catcher and Kokopelli are the only ones I noticed – but I was busy grading so didn’t get outside much.

I did have a chance to hook-up my new solar drip pump. It is one of those you get off of Amazon. I have used them for the last decade – replaced them often at first but the last one lasted 3 years. They have made improvements – so I am hopeful for at least a couple with this one. Three days of 50 MPH winds, I think my driveway pots are ready for a little drip of water.

And, I am ready to see canyon colors.

Daylilies for the Navajo Nation

May 10, 2020May 10, 2020Leave a comment

Today, it struck me that no series of blogs about the Southwest during Coronavirus would be complete without a mention of the Navajo. I love the Navajo culture – it makes my trips to the Southwest take on a cultural feel that is humbling. I have so much to be grateful for in life. And, I do envy their sense of family and community.

I was wondering if we could trace the boundaries of the Navajo Nation from various road trips. So, last year, we traced the New Mexico side starting at the Shiprock and down through the Bisti Badlands.

Shiprock Flea Market – 2019 road trip

Bisti Badlands – 2019 road trip

If we were to have headed due east after the Bisti Badlands the way the crow flies, would would trace the Navajo Nation boundary to Window Rock (the capitol of the Navajo Nation) and Fort Defiance. These are absolutely some of my favorite stops in Navajoland. I like to spend the night in Window Rock so I can spend the whole day taking in the scenery.

Window Rock, AZ – 2018 Road Trip

Near Fort Defiance – 2018 Road Trip

Then we would turn due south – if we were tracing the boundary. That would take us just south of Route 66.

Route 66 Arizona – 2014 Road Trip

And, then we trace west to the Northern Border of the Painted Desert at Petrified Forest National Park.

Painted Desert – 2018 Road Trip

From there, you head due west, almost to Flagstaff. Then it is a turn to the North through Cameron up to Page – just east of the Grand Canyon.

Eastern Grand Canyon – 2015 Road Trip

You end up almost to Utah, at Page, AZ. That was a strange stop the year we went because they weren’t on rez time, even though everything surrounding the city was an hour later. We visited the famous Horse Shoe Bend near Page.

Horse Shoe Bend – 2015 Road Trip

Then, you are up in Utah at the Glen Canyon Dam area – a favorite stop on our road trips!

Glen Canyon – 2015 Road Trip

Mexican Hat – 2019 Summer Camping Road Trip

Then, it is pretty much due east to Mexican Hat, UT. Very iconic Utah.

Bluff Utah – 2019 Summer Camping Road Trip

And then a bit further to Bluff, UT – we camped here last summer. It was a fun (but hot) spot to explore.

We approach home as we get to Hovenweep National Monument on the Colorado Border – this is absolutely a favorite spot and a place I plan to go camping as soon as we can travel more than 10 miles, again.

Hovenweep National Monument – 2019 Summer Camping Road Trip

From there, the boundary heads South to Teec Nos Pos, AZ. They have a great trading post there.

Teec Nos Pos – Fall Break Four Corners Trip 2015

And, we are almost back to Shiprock, where we started. I wish I could end the story here, but there are a few other favorite places that are internal to the Navajo Nation that we must visit. First, the infamous Monument Valley. This is just south of the Mexican Hat.

Monument Valley – 2019 Summer Camping Road Trip

And, Navajo National Monument has great free camping and some very spiritual ruins.

Navajo National Monument – 2016 Utah Graduation Camping Trip

The other route we frequent is 191 South – This is a good route to the Senora through the Four Corners area. I absolutely love Canyon de Chelly – it has the best red rock of any canyon I have visited.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument – 2017 Road Trip

With a stop at the Hubbell Trading Post on the way to Petrified Forest.

Hubbell Trading Post – 2017 Road Trip

Sadly, Coronavirus has hit the Navajo Nation hard. As of tonight (5/9) they have nearly 3,000 cases and nearly 100 deaths. So, this blog is my tribute to this nation that is feeling the grip of COVID-19.

OK, back to the daylily blog. Here are my Navajo named daylilies. (I have a few, I wonder why?)

Navajo Blanket Daylily – 2019

Navajo Curls Daylily – 2019

Navajo Grey Hills Daylily – 2019

Navajo Rodeo Daylily – 2019

With this, I live vicariously through my daylilies while I stay safe at home. It is not the time to travel to Navajoland – but my heart goes there often. Now, I think of the reservation. I think of the poverty and the hardship that these people know. They lived a less hurried life, they honor their ancestors. I learn so much from my visits. With this, I send heartfelt thoughts of hope and healing to this spiritual land.

PS – This was fun, although a bit time consuming – I never really thought about tracing the border of the Navajo Nation through my trip photos.

Getting My Kicks With Route 66

May 9, 2020May 10, 20201 Comment

Route 66 is due South of Montrose, CO. You can get to the New Mexico one by just driving south on Highway 550 until you hit Route 66 in Albuquerque. Or, you can take Highway 491 and catch-up with it in Gallup. You can also catch it in Arizona – we often drive by Monument Valley to Flagstaff and catch it there. Of course, you can also catch it in Holbrook at the Petrified Forest. We have done all of the above plus more. I have always said that it must have been a pretty amazing highway in its day – the road to the Southwest – the ruins and rock structures.

Maizzy, my crazy old chi-hound and I met up with it in Gallup on our first road trip (after a trip to Chaco Canyon and El Malpias). We rode it all the way to Petrified Forest. Well, we took the sections that we could and were mostly on I-40, a place full of big, fast semi trucks. We got to Holbrook, where we hung out on Route 66 for a bit. Then, back home through Monument Valley and Canyonlands. That was 2014.

Maizzy on Route 66 marker in Holbrook, AZ – 2014

Our road trip is South, so we almost always cross Route 66 – well, always because we have to cross it to get to the other side of the Southwest. The next year, we traveled from down to Catalina State Park, AZ and back up to the Grand Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. We went out for a night on the town at Route 66 in Flagstaff.

Maizzy, Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ – 2015

The following year, 2016, we went down to Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ and on the way, we stopped at the Petrified Forest – where we walked in the Crystal Forest and crossed the old Route 66. We headed home through Socorro, NM and up through Farmington, NM. Good grief, I can barely remember these amazing routes!

Maizzy hiking in the Crystal Forest at Petrified Forest National Park, AZ – 2016

Where did 2017 take us? From the Four Corners to Flagstaff and down to Gila Bend and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We came back and visited Casa Grande – then back up by Route 66 at the Petrified Forest. By then, I had acquired dog #2, little once-feral, Kachina.

On that bench on Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ, again – 2017

Soon enough it was 2018, and a new adventure came when spring warmed the earth. This year, we left on Friday the 13th and took the Devil’s Highway (once numbered 666 because it was the 6th spur off Route 66) all the way to the AZ/Mexico border. We visited Canyon de Chelly and headed south to Chambers, AZ, which is smack-dab on Route 66. We drove to Clifton on the long, winding road and ended up in Tombstone. We stopped at the Petrified Forest on the way home. It was a horrific windstorm that day – but my dogs managed a photo at the Route 66 turnout. Oh, and another dog joined the family – my little disabled chi rescue, Sazi Ana (think Anasazi).

Windstorm at the Route 66 turnout at Petrified Forest National Park, AZ – 2018

And, my last road trip in 2019 was super awesome to start. We went through Shiprock, NM and then down through the badlands to Grants, NM – which is on Route 66. It is a long story that I forgot to get gas on the way to El Morro National Monument, so I was too tired to stop at any of the Route 66 attractions. We headed south (I can’t stand I-40 in a Honda Fit with all those semis) after Grants and stopped at Salinas Pueblo Mission Ruins near Albuquerque – then to White Sands. We did a long sprint to Tucson, Catalina State Park, then back up to . . . um, drum roll . . . Petrified Forest. You see, it’s dog friendly so we stop most years. Except, last year I got Noravirus the day we were suppose to go. We went – but I was too sick to do anything but pray for a motel bed ASAP. We cruised (wanting to upchuck) I-40 (the new Route 66) and turned off to get to Window Rock. The scenery in that part of the State is worth posting, except I was too ill to get pictures.

El Malpias National Monument Near Grants, NM, off of Route 66 – 2019

The motel in Window Rock, AZ, a few miles from Route 66 – 2019

Why am I talking about Route 66 on a daylily blog? Because I am taking a road trip vicariously through my Southwest named daylilies while we wait for COVID-19 to settle down. (Maybe Noravirus helped me to see how serous it is to catch a virus when you are traveling – all those restrooms, hotels, eateries, gas pumps – not safe yet). Route 66 is a cultivator that I picked up years ago at the local greenhouse – long before I started collecting daylilies with Southwest names. Long before I started taking road trips.

Route 66 Daylily in bloom – 2019

However, now the blooms are more special. I think of our trips to Gallup and Grants and Chambers and Holbrook and Flagstaff. I think of the colors that are on the tee shirts – the red and black. When I see the blooms, I think of my goofy dogs and all of our fun times, getting our kicks on Route 66.

Colorado Kid Daylilies

A Blog About My Western Colorado Daylily Adventure

Tag: Grand Canyon

Canyon Colors of the Southwest

Daylilies for the Navajo Nation

Getting My Kicks With Route 66