Next stop: Canyon De Chelly

The next stop on our adventure tour was the Canyon De Chelly National Monument near Chinle, Arizona.  Kind of a cross between the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde, Canyon De Chelly contains numerous ancient cliff dwellings as well as some gorgeous views.  The weather was considerably better than the Grand Canyon, though we got just enough rain to create a beautiful rainbow.  Since we had a long drive, the grand plan was to stop for about an hour, see what we could see, and press on.  We stayed four hours--which still wasn't enough but the sun went down so we couldn't see any more, so we had to press on down the road.  We made it to Moriarty, New Mexico--30 miles west of Albuquerque, about 1 am.   Without further ado...

Steep canyon walls with beautiful fertile fields at the bottom.

One of Donna's shots of a cliff dwelling at the bottom of the canyon.

We were out chasing rainbows.  And caught one!

Getting my "Ansel Adams" on with this black and white of the canyon.

A rain shower off to the north.

Grand Canyon! The adventure continues.

Another highlight of our trip was going to be a mule ride in the Grand Canyon.  Donna had been there, but I never have, although I have seen it a hundred times or more from the air.  I can now say I've been to the Grand Canyon.  Yet I've still only seen it from the air.  

We live in the Houston, Texas area and tropical weather is not uncommon.  So we planned this trip to the Grand Canyon and the Desert Southwest.  Last place you would think of for a hurricane, right?  What could possibly go wrong?!  You guessed it.  As we were leaving the Houston area on this little odyssey, a lady (and I use the term loosely) named Rosa was approaching the coast of Mexico as a full-fledged hurricane.  So Rosa came ashore and worked her way north as we worked our way west, and we all met at the Grand Canyon on the same day.  Of course, Rosa wasn't still a hurricane, but she still filled the GC up with fog and rain.  We cancelled the mule ride, so, as it worked out, the only jackass Donna got to spend the day with was yours truly...  Honestly though, we made the best of it and had a great time.  We were on the much less populated North Rim and spent the day driving, hiking, and taking pictures.  We did get a bit of good visibility here and there, sometimes up to 3/4 of a mile or so, but for the most part, the vis stayed around 1/4 mile or less.

The colors were incredible on the way to the park!

Donna on the balcony of the beautiful North Rim Grand Canyon Lodge.

The lodge from the overlook below.

One of the better views from the day...

Here's a picture Donna took of me.  Note the plastic camera cover.  It's another Montana product, a Rainsleeve, made by the folks at Op-Tech which is headquartered in Belgrade, just down the road from Bozeman.  You can see the black gaff tape lens hood I fashioned with marginal success.  I lost the plastic lens hood during the trip and had to fashion my own, which you can see in some photos as a little black patch in the corner of the picture. 

I love this picture of Donna.  Her smile and attitude pretty much sums up the day.  "Oh well...let's make the best of it!"

Donna looking over the edge.  No tourists with selfie sticks today!

More of the canyon peeking through the fog.

We can almost see the canyon!

Horseshoe Bend

The next stop was the much-photographed Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River, just downstream of Page, Arizona.  Here our Oboz are on the cliff above the iconic bend in the river.

There were several hundred people there, almost a constant parade of tourists.  When we first got to the rail, I was watching them stand up on the rock and walk to the very edge of the deep precipice, and either lift their cell phone for a selfie, or ham it up for a photo taken by friends.  I got a few shots and then had to leave--I did NOT want to see one of them go over the edge.  Luckily, nobody did.  We had a great time and got many photos of our own.

A wide angle shot of the Horseshoe Bend.

Everybody's got a camera.  Everybody, it seems, but the lady on the right...

People making me nervous.  The person in the white shirt is on the edge of a steep drop.  I saw more than one person standing there, hamming it up for their friends holding a camera...

Another view of the visitor's area.  I love the old couple next to the rail, the lady with her selfie stick!

Donna hamming it up for the camera.  She's close to the edge, but it's not the steep drip into the river...

More hamming for the camera.  All it would take is a crack in the sandstone and she'd have a very long time to think  before she hit the water or rocks below...

Monument Valley

After our quick stop at Four Corners, we headed to Monument Valley.  The wind was blowing and kicking up dust as we approached the area; I was concerned we weren't going to get good photos.  Below you can see some of the blowing dust at the base of the monuments:

This is the much-photographed road into the area from the north.  You can see some of the dust being kicked up by the strong winds.

Two of the monuments are nicknamed "The Mittens."  Here Donna's hand fits perfectly over the left mitten.

Donna on a rock down in the valley.  The left mitten is in the background on the left side.

There are two ways to get down among the monuments in the park--take a tour with one of the many tour guide companies, or drive your own vehicle on the 17 mile route.  Donna and I started down the road.  Slowly.  I have been over some pretty terrible roads, but this was among the worst.  It is said that the best vehicle for off-road travel is a rental car after you have selected the optional collision/damage insurance.  Unfortunately we didn't have a rental; we had our own car and many miles to go on the trip, so yours truly chickened out after only 3 miles on the road.  I have been on many rough roads in my life, but this has to be one of the worst, and I really didn't want to tear the undercarriage out of the car...

We went to many places in the Navajo reservation and one thing that stood out was the large number of dogs.  Here two dogs are along the road down in Monument Valley.

 After our short trip into the valley, we went back to the visitor's center for dinner and more photos.  I was afraid clouds would be in the way.  I couldn't have been more wrong; it turned into a beautiful evening and I was able to get some pictures from the back of the visitor's center.  Below you can see the mittens.

Four Boots, Four States

Next stop in the adventure was the iconic Four Corners monument where the four states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet at a single point.We HAD to get a photo of our four boots, one in each state.

There is usually a large lineup of people waiting to have their pictures taken  in multiple states at once.  I was lucky to get this shot between groups of people.  Below, you can see a group of young ladies obviously enjoying their time at the Four Corners.

 Above is the layout of the park with the lineup of people waiting to be seen in four states at once.  Below, the plaque commemorating and explaining the significance of the area.

And the post wouldn't be complete if I didn't show the beauty of the area's scenery...

Mesa Verde--The Real Oboz Beginning

Mesa Verde

The next stop of our adventure were the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado.  More spectacular scenery and more beautiful weather!  And this was the genesis of the Oboz blog idea.  In a spur of the moment idea, I had Donna sit next to me and we shot a photo of our boots with a scene from the park.  We decided to carry that theme throughout the rest of our vacation.

Here we are, our boots and some of the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde National Park.

The dwellings and communities built by the ancient people are incredible.  This area was inhabited by several thousand people back in its heyday.  There are guided tours you can take that will take you  down to the ruins.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to take one of the tours, but it was still an incredible experience seeing the ruins from the upper rims.

Who would have thought that they would have had high-rise apartments several hundred years ago?

When we arrived at the park, we toured the area in the daylight.  Then we went to nearby Cortez to check into the hotel and grab some dinner, then drove back up to the park for some awesome nighttime photography.

During our drive into the park during daylight, I spoke to a ranger and got an idea of a good place for night-time photography.  In this shot you can see the lights of Farmington, New Mexico on the horizon in the left.  The Milky Way is visible as the nearly vertical line that looks like clouds.  The nearly horizontal line segment through the Milky Way is the International Space Station.  It was silent as it went past, and it is a solid white line.  Had it been a jet, we would have heard the jet noise, and, more importantly, the red beacon and white strobe lights would have given a series of red and white dots along the path.

Here is another shot of the Milky way taken nearly straight up.

Durango-Silverton

Our first major stop was in Durango, Colorado to do one of the big things on our bucket list:  The Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  It wasn't much of an Oboz moment, but we had a blast nonetheless.  Fall is a beautiful time in Southern Colorado and we weren't dissapointed.  The DSNGRR (Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad) is a wonderful way to experience the beauty of the mountains of Colorado.

This was actually taken the day after our trip.  There are many great places along the way for avid rail fans to watch or photograph the steam engines of the DSNGRR.

The northern station is the old mining town of Silverton, Colorado.  After the ride up, you have time for lunch and shopping in one of the many restaurants and shops in Silverton.

The old steam engines are complicated machines that require meticulous care.  That includes lubricating the many moving parts during the stop at Silverton.

The fall colors were spectacular during our trip to Silverton.

For photographers, there are many photo opportunities during the trip up and back.  You can ride in an enclosed car or an open car.  We rode up in an enclosed car and, because there were seats available, rode back in the open car.  This is a photo of the train as we were heading down after the stop in Silverton.

Our Adventure Begins...

First of all...  In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a product representative and I have no relation with the Oboz company aside from a pair of their great boots on my feet and the fact that I spent a fair amount of time in their neck of the woods.  Heck, I've never endorsed anything in my life!  But I thought that, with this blog, I'd put in a plug for a great pair of boots and bore you with some of our vacation photos at the same time.  Gotta love multitasking!

I graduated from Montana State University in 1985—back when the Bozeman campus was the only MSU.  

Fast forward a few years (33 to be exact).  I was in REI looking for some maps and I wandered back to the boot area where I overheard the REI rep talking to a customer.  He talked about a boot that was designed to be tough and was built for smokejumpers, forest service workers, and others who live outdoors.  I asked if he was talking about White boots (never known REI to carry Whites…but stranger things have happened).  He said “no, Oboz.”  I looked at the box and saw the God’s Country area code (406) and phone number printed on the side. I remarked that they are from Montana and he told me Oboz is based in Bozeman.  Hmmm.  I almost bought a pair right then, but, hey...I've already got a pair of hiking boots.

As I was preparing for a trip to the Four-Corners area, Monument Valley, and the beautiful Desert Southwest, I looked at my old Merrill boots.  The soles looked like a pair of bald tires.  I decided that hiking around places like the Grand Canyon on bald tires is not a good idea, so I headed down to REI and picked up a pair of Oboz Sawtooth boots.  A couple of days later, Donna tried on a pair of Keens she had.  They just weren’t fitting right, so she headed down to REI.  She has funky feet (having two kids will do that to a woman), so she got a pair of men’s Sawtooth’s as well.  To put it mildly… WE LOVE OUR OBOZ!!!