Tag: Petrified Forest

Anasazi: My Daylilies in Ruins

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Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning “enemy ancestors” – but today we equate the word with the Ancient Pueblo people of the Southwest.  This week, I talked about Chaco Canyon, which was the center of the population – like our New York.  If there was a pandemic, it would likely center at Chaco.  But, I have visited so many Ancient Pueblo ruins on my trips that it is mind boggling.  Here are some favorites:

Maybe we should start at the center: Chaco Canyon, NM – The Center of the Universe!

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Chaco Canyon – 2014

Chaco Canyon has outlying ruins that are miles and miles away – We have visited the two directly to the north – Salmon and Aztec Ruins National Monument near Farmington, NM.

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Salmon Ruins – 2016

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Aztec Ruins – 2016

One of the most interesting of the Chacoan Outliers is Chimney Rock near Durango, CO.  My heavens, I had the worst vertigo when we camped there in 2009. This is the highest of all the Chacoan Ruins and they think it was used to send smoke signals to the other sites! It was beautiful and rainy on the day I visited.

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Chimney Rock – 2009

Of course, not too far west of Chimney Rock is the famous Mesa Verde National Park. I started fostering my little disabled dog the same weekend we visited Mesa Verde.  She was Dotsie in her past life, and I was trying to think of a name that rhymed, so she is Sazi Ana.

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Mesa Verde – 2017

Not to talk politics (save me from that during this pandemic!), but White House Ruins at Canyon de Chelly, AZ is also part of the the system.  I miss this canyon.

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White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly – 2018

Lowry Pueblo is a very interesting outlier not too far from my home.  I love this one because you have to drive through rural farm land to reach the site.  I love the figurines in the kiva – they represent summer and winter people.

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Lowry Pueblo – 2019

Then, let’s zoom up to Utah to Edges of the Cedars State Park, where there is another Chacoan outlier.  They had a crazy large geographic area for that time in civilization.

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Edges of the Cedars State Park, UT – 2019

There were other Ancestral Puebloan ruins that are not direct Chaco outliers, like the ruins at Petrified Forest National Park. I love the Agate House – a ruin made of petrified wood!

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Agate House, Petrified Forest National Park – 2018

And, Navajo National Monument has Betatakin and other Ancient Pueblo ruins.

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Navajo National Monument – 2016

My old favorite, Hovenweep National Monument, has awesome Ancient Pueblo castle ruins.

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Hovenweep National Monument – 2019

Some lesser known Ancient Pueblo Ruins we have visited include Five Kiva Pueblo near Blanding, UT.

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Five Kiva Pueblo, UT – 2019

And, Yucca House National Monument near Cortez, CO.

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Yucca House National Monument – 2019

I think the furthest one from the Four Corners is at Anasazi State Park in Utah – way up in the mountains near Boulder, UT.

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Anasazi State Park, UT – 2019

That is a lot of ruins for one daylily.  And, that Daylily is Anasazi.  How on earth could I resist a name like this one?  She was a bitty fan when I first got her – took her a few years to bloom.  But, the first year she bloomed, she threw a double.  It was memorizing.

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Anasazi daylily double bloom – 2017

She usually blooms fairly early, but is a rebloomer.

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Anasazi daylily – 2018

She looks a bit slow to take-off this spring.  I probably should refresh her soil – the ants like her pot so I probably should take a look at the roots.

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Anasazi daylily – 2019

I have other cultivators that would fit with this blog, but I will wait because I am trying to savor the vicarious daylily road trip for a couple more weeks.

 

 

 

Getting My Kicks With Route 66

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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).

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

Getting my Kicks

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As the scapes grow in preparation for blooms and the outdoor thermostat gets turned up, I think about the first sign of spring.  For me, that is my Southwest road trip.  It is a new tradition for the last three years.  When you drive south from Colorado, it is nearly impossible not to hit #Route66.

SouthwestRoadTrip14 118The first year, it was the goal to travel Route 66.  We took the old road as much as we could, and took the Route 66 turnout at our end point, the Petrified Forest.  I love this old car at the turn-out!

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The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert have become favorite stops because they are #dogfriendly.  There are very few National Parks with such open rules about dogs.  So, it is a great ice cream and a hike stop.

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And, the scenery is like something out of Jurassic Park. What was once the far point of my trip is now more of a gateway to the Senora Desert.

So, what does this matter to a daylily blog? Well, first of all, I take the trip about the time that the daylilies are starting to send up new growth for the year.  But the other really cool part is that after that first trip to Route 66, I came home to find a daylily named Route 66.

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I found it in the local garden shop, before I got addicted to the mail order daylilies.  It was one of those strange coincidences, just like my 6/5/16 blog about finding a local Stephanie Returns daylily the year my daughter, Stephanie, returned to Colorado.  Route 66 is an older daylily that was hybridized in 1967.  The colors match my Route 66 tea shirt.  It is a hardy daylily and I look forward to seeing it again in 2016!