Fantasy RoadTrips

[landmariner]

Rick, you brought back many memories of last year's westward portion of my cross-country road trip from Maryland to Central Coastal California, although my SW/4-Corners portion included a lot of north/south zig-zagging.

I had hoped to van camp in Bandelier National Monument for a couple of days but some "special event" was going on the campground was closed as were sections of the park which led me to add a couple of nights to Santa Fe (originally a one-night stopover). The positive outcome of that was spending an afternoon at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.

[Rick Quinn]

When I finished that post, I went back and counted: the trip includes 19 archaeological sites: 15 of them National Monuments, plus 1 National Park (Mesa Verde), 1 National Historical Park (Chaco), and 2 sites managed by local authorities (in Phoenix and Globe). And that's not to mention the Navajo Tribal Parks, the named Scenic Highways, and the two living Pueblos, old Oraibi and Taos, among the most ancient towns in the United States, their people maintaining traditions dating back to a time when most Europeans were still grubbing about in the muck.

Covering all that in a single week is quite a whirlwind; in most cases, there's only enough time for a drive-by. A couple of hours, or for some places as much as half a day, but even at that, it's just not enough time. I'm with UtahTea on that, but I'm not sure about devoting two full months to it! (Not with so many other beautiful places out there that I have NOT seen before!)

Bandelier National Monument is a great example of a fabulous spot that most people have never heard of. I've only been there once, when researching the area for my book. My visit was in late October, when the leaves were turning, and it was every bit as pretty as any forest back in the east. The ruins were a bonus, and they're ultra cool!


Frijoles Canyon. Most of the year, private vehicles aren't allowed, and you have to take a shuttle from the Visitors Center in White Rock


Gorgeous fall color!




This was quite a happening place at one time. The Ancestral Puebloan people moved in back around 1100 AD and had a good thing going for almost 500 years. I wouldn't mind mind staying a few days, at least!

Rick

[Mark Sedenquist]

Really cool photos, Rick!

[AZBuck]

I've been reading over these fantasy RoadTrips again, and one in particular struck me. Mark labeled it "In Search of Dinosaurs & Badlands Bison" in April (on page 1 of this thread). Then several weeks later, PBS did a miniseries on a paleontologist who grew up in this area doing a Dino RoadTrip through the exact same area. The miniseries is/was called Prehistoric Road Trip. The neatest thing about the show was that it showed actual museums and digs that you can visit, and they're all laid out here. This is perhaps the trip Most Likely to Succeed in becoming real in my book.

AZBuck

[Strange RV Tours]

Looks like a nicely planned Adventure!

[Mark Sedenquist]

The neatest thing about the show was that it showed actual museums and digs that you can visit, and they're all laid out here. This is perhaps the trip Most Likely to Succeed in becoming real in my book.

AZBuck, I just reread this thread. Looks like a great reason for a road trip.