Well fellow travelers, I have been taking much too much time to get us to one of the most amazing places on earth - Southern Utah. I will be taking us to 6 National Parks and a couple of National Monuments that stretch from Mesa Verde in Colorado to the Western border of Utah to Zion National Park. What a spectacular end to a magnificent trip. But I am getting too far ahead of myself. Let's head to Moab, UT and begin to see some of the most amazing scenery imaginable.
But first, I go in search of a bracelet. However, there is a slight internal problem. For dinner last night at the rodeo I had red beans and rice. I have been meat free for over four years now. I went meatless in hopes of losing weight and making myself healthier. I am sure I am the later, but the former is still a major struggle. The problem with the prior night's dinner was that it came with some sausage that I threw out but it also included some other meat that I could not see due to the gravy of the red beans. I think it is the fat from the meat that makes me sick to my stomach. My system is just not used to having all that fat all at once. We will just leave it at an upset stomach.
I still headed to downtown Gallup to visit the trading posts in hopes of finding a Zuni Indian bracelet with small pieces of turquoise in a setting called needlepoint. Most turquoise bracelets have various sizes of stone set in silver. Turquoise stones run the gamut from dark blue to dark green with a mixture of black mineral as well. Depending on where the turquoise is mined will determine the mixture of other minerals included in the stones.
On the other hand, needlepoint are thin pieces of of pure blue turquoise set in silver usually no more than 1/2 inch long set in rows. Finding needlepoint bracelets is fairly easy the hard part is finding one that is no wider than about an inch that will fit my wrist. Unfortunately needlepoint bracelets that fit my wrist are normally much larger than one inch wide.
I went to two different trading posts in Gallup with no luck finding such a bracelet. There were some beautiful bracelets with turquoise stones that on most other occasions I would have purchased, but my ace in the hole was that the Zuni Reservation is less than an hour south of Gallup. I thought for sure I would be able to go to the res and find a bracelet. Wrong. I went to a couple of trading posts on the reservation but literally just did not have the stomach for driving to individual artists homes/studios to look. On top of that, Moab is a couple of hours East and North of Gallup so my bracelet hunting adventure was taking me in the wrong direction as well as making my upset stomach feel just great. :)
The hunt for a delicate needlepoint bracelet that fits my big wrist will continue another day. It just gives me a good reason to go back some day to visit the artists in their studios and find one who will work with me to make a bracelet. Off to Moab.
The trip to Moab took me back to Gallup and then back to Canyon de Chelly and Four Corners and up into Utah. It was fun to see the different rock formations along the way to Moab. I have included one that just stuck up out of the desert. The other fun part of the drive was to see the mesas off on either side of me and then to make a sweeping turn or change direction by changing highways and realize that I had been driving on top of a mesa and the change in direction gave me a sweeping view of the valley below. Just amazing.
The formations started to change color and texture and then - the first arch. About 30 minutes south of Moab is Wilson Arch. Just a tease of what will come tomorrow in Arches National Park but being just off the highway and being all by itself - and being the first one - make it more than spectacular. And it is a huge arch as well as you can tell by the size of the family that climbed up to take some pictures from inside the arch itself.
As I arrived at my campsite it was inhabited by a couple of rabbits. I think their front door was under the bush in my campsite as they were coming going each morning and evening. They were panting from heat which I should have taken more notice of at the time.
If not for my silliness of eating the red beans and rice, I would have stopped to take some pictures of the rock formations and the Zuni Reservation but alas, it was difficult enough driving that far this day with out stopping. Thankfully the stomach issues only lasted the one day and so I will be back on my over zealous schedule tomorrow.
Thanks for traveling along and off to Arches and Canyonland National Parks.
Michael
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