Saturday, September 10, 2005
Mules, and you thought the MINI was bad!
Monday, September 5
We head over to Bandolier park, south of Los Alamos. We get there before the park office opens. The buildings are really cool, old wood and adobe squares with flat roofs. They were built by the CCC groups after the war. The park is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. It is in the bottom of a long canyon with cliff dwellings on the sides. A stream runs thru woods on the canyon floor. There are large pine trees and tons of other grasses and plants. The air smells wonderful, like pine and some kind of spice, like sage.
Since we are the only people in the park, we can explore the cliff dwellings at our leasure, and take pictures with no one else in the picture but us. We explore the cliffs and take many pictures. Just as we are leaving, more people show up, and we are very glad we got there early.
We leave the park, come down west out of the mountains to a view of a gigantic grassy valley surrounded by pine-covered mountains. As we get out to look, we realize the tiny black dots in the middle are cows! There are also cowboys on horseback driving them along. We read the signs which say this is actually a gigantic caldera from a blown-out volcano!Next is the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. This area is very hot in the afternoon and the colors are actually rather pale. Looks like a hot desert to me, and we are not really very impressed, although the landscape is quite wierd-looking in spots.
We drive over to the Wigwam and Curios Motel in Holbrook, a pretty neat old Route 66 town. The motel consists of about 15 restored concrete Tepees lined up around a central parking lot filled with old cars. It's really cool-looking and the rooms are quite nice inside.
Next day. Stopped at the Meteor Crater. Looks like a big gravel pit.
On to the Grand Canyon! Bigger gravel pit, but prettier! We check into the Bright Angel Lodge, which has a hotel and cabins. We were in a very nice old cabin on the rim of the canyon. All the cabins and area are very old-fashioned and cute.Next day we were up bright and early and eager for the trip down into the canyon.
Pound Me In The @$$ Mule Ride!
Hey! I got a good idea! Let's go outside, sit on a cement block, and pound our butts up and down on it for 5 hours straight. Sound good to you? Yeah!!! Thus the mule ride down into the Grand Canyon begins. Actually it begins next to Bright Angel Lodge where the cowboys (who know better) match the mules to the people and proceed to tell you all kinds of scary stuff about the trip. You know, like, maybe you could die. Then after they get all the stupid people matched up with the smart mules, they drive the whole lot right over the ridge into the canyon.
My mule's name was Gator. Gator either had emphezema or was a heavy smoker, because he coughed all the way down to the ranch. Pa Hah! Hack! Hack! Gasp, Wheeze!Mark got Pac Man. We were told to whip our mules rigorously to keep them close together, or else they would start to trot or run later on to catch up to the group. Believe me, you do not want your mule running down a 45 degree incline with a 1,000 ft cliff on one side and you pounding away on top of that saddle! No siree bob!
But Pac Man was a little slow. Apparently he's a mellow kind of guy and likes to stroll along and take in the view as he's walking down to the ranch. So Mark got out his motivator (whip) and decided to apply it to Pac Man's backside to move him along a little faster. According to the cowboys, this does not hurt the mule one bit. They kick each other in the sides with their hooves all day long. Pac Man, however, got a little cross, lowered his head and tried to buck Mark off! Mark, being the nice guy he is, held on tenaciosly and whipped that mule all the harder! After a while, the two of
them came to an understanding and Pac Man kept up with the group, mostly. All that "alpha male" theory didn't stop Pac Man from leaning back every now and then to try and bite Mark's foot, though.You know, they just don't tell you everything up there at the canyon rim. They'll tell you that no mule has ever gone over the side with a person (Stupid) on his back, but what they don't tell you is that they often stumble, slip, slide, and almost fall down (like Mark's did) on the way to the bottom.
When I first felt my mule stumble, I thought, "Hey, aren't these things supposed to be sure-footed? Did he just trip?" Sure enough, he did it again,
along with a nice, hard jump to get himself back in balance. That felt good! Then I looked closely at the other mules. They were all tripping and skittering along the trail! Finally, about an hour into the ride, I learned to lean back, point my feet out and up and stand in the stirrups a lot. I actually started to relax and enjoy the view, which was spectacular. The saddle and the stirrups (which are completely enclosed on the outside with heavy leather) made me feel pretty secure. Besides, the mules are self-guiding anyway. Other than moving them along with your motivator every now and then, they just follow each other down the trail all by themselves. And, amazingly enough, they really don't fall over the edge.
After a while, it was time for our first pee break. For the mules! A mule can walk down the trail and poop all day long, but when he has to pee, the world stands still. The whole train stops. Then the other mules see what's going on and they start getting ideas. Each one pees a couple gallons, seems like. Mind you, while all this is going on, hundreds of hikers are also walking up and down this same trail. Fortunately, the pee sinks into the dirt right away, so they just have to hop around the poop. The farts are harder to avoid, though. They can last for up to a minute and be very expressive.
Ok! So much for the mules!
We are using the $10 an hour hotel computer, so I'll shorten this story. We got to Phantom Ranch, which is on a side stream of the Colorado River. The valley is tree-covered and quite beautiful. We had a cabin which was made of stone and very old fashioned. The place was great.
I would like to continue, but we must close for now, storey to be continued later!
# posted by Unknown @ 8:23 AM 
Comments:
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Enjoy yourselves, Your vacation is costing me a fortune, Hey, This gives me an idea on how we can save more on gas partner, How many miles to the gallon of water do they get? The miss you at the coffee shop...
Guess who
Guess who
# posted by 
: 11:33 AM
: 11:33 AM
Finally, an update!
We got your snail-mail...thanks for the chuckle!
Sounds like you are still having a ball and survived the donkey ride!
Keep on keeping on...
We got your snail-mail...thanks for the chuckle!
Sounds like you are still having a ball and survived the donkey ride!
Keep on keeping on...
# posted by : 12:02 PM
: 12:02 PM
Hmmm...whipping the backside of an ass and it wants to nibble your leg...sounds like true love to me.
Did you at least kiss Pac Man?
The pictures of the high desert are amazingly surreal, which reminds me; did you happen upon any peyote yet?
How are the martinis in those neck of the woods? "But it's a dry heat..."
Did you at least kiss Pac Man?
The pictures of the high desert are amazingly surreal, which reminds me; did you happen upon any peyote yet?
How are the martinis in those neck of the woods? "But it's a dry heat..."
# posted by : 7:59 PM
: 7:59 PM
Restored concrete tepees?? Didn't know they used concrete for those things.
Awesome photos! Glad you lost all the weight so Pack Man could haul your butt into the canyon and back, Mark.
Keep up the great site!
Joe Z
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Awesome photos! Glad you lost all the weight so Pack Man could haul your butt into the canyon and back, Mark.
Keep up the great site!
Joe Z
# posted by : 9:51 PM
: 9:51 PM << Home
