Baseball Cities Tour

On May 6th, we drove through Oak Creek Canyon, which was a thrilling drive from the top of the mountain down to the bottom of the canyon. There were many switchbacks and the road was narrow but the views were worth it. We went this route instead of the interstate in order to stop in Sedona. What a nice town surrounded by the Red Rocks. Next stop was Montezuma’s Castle National Monument. Here we took a short walk to enjoy the ruins of a five-story, 20 room cliff dwelling built in the early 12th century by the Southern Sinagua farmers.

On Saturday, May 5, we awoke to half an inch of snow and a temperature of 30 degrees. What a surprise!
We drove to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We hiked from the Market Plaza parking lot along the Rim Trail to the new Visitor Center. From there we walked back to the Villages and then finally back to the Market Plaza. As we were getting lunch, it started to snow. Didn’t amount to anything but we were glad we weren’t still on the trail. After lunch, we drove into Williams, AZ to ride on the historic Rte 66 loop.

We got an early start today because the weather forecast was for high winds. They were right – we had sustained winds of 25 – 30mph with occasional gusts of up to 50mph. It made the driving difficult at times and Mark was sure glad when we arrived at the campground. Despite the wind, the drive was very scenic. We did stop at the 4 Corners monument. We each stood in 4 states all at once. Looking at the pictures, our left foot was in Colorado and New Mexico and our right foot was in Utah and Arizona. The stop took all of 10 minutes since we had the place all to ourselves at 7:30am. We traveled through the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, skirted the southern edge of Monument Valley, a portion of the Painted Desert, and then into several National Forests. (pictures have been posted)

On Wednesday, May 2, we visited Mesa Verde National Park. It was very interesting. Mesa Verde was home to the Ancestral Puebloans for more than 700 years. Their dwellings were built high on cliff walls in alcoves. Since these alcoves are protected from the elements, they are among the best-preserved cliff dwellings. There are Park Ranger guided tours as well as self-guided tours. The weather was not the greatest so we opted for the self-guided tour, which was about a half-mile walk down to the Spruce Tree House. The first half wasn’t bad – it was all down hill. Yep, you guessed it that means the second half was all up hill. It was worth it though. Once back from that, we drove one of two loop roads. (The other does not open until Memorial Day weekend.) On this drive we stopped at the Cliff Palace Overlook. This is where one of the Ranger guided tours leaves from and also provides a great view of the Cliff Palace and the Cliff Valley. It was on this loop road that we saw the deer. As we were coming down the mesa, the storm clouds were closing in. We were safely back in the campground before the storm hit.

From our campsite at the Cortez/Mesa Verde KOA, we had a great view of Mesa Verde. Last night the full moon rising over the mesa was really beautiful. The picture doesn’t really capture it but I tried. (pictures have been posted)

We had a great visit in the Denver area. Wednesday, April 26th, we had dinner with Clay (Mark’s son in Denver) and Hilary. Thursday we spent the day hanging out at the campground and enjoying the adjacent park. Friday, we spent the day with Clay & Hilary. We went to see the Buffalo Herd Nature Preserve. This didn’t take long so we stopped for lunch at the Genesee Café – an authentic German restaurant where we all had bratwurst & sauerkraut and shared a fresh baked Apple Strudel. We then returned to Golden, CO to take the tour of the Coors Brewery. It was very informative and after the tour we were treated to beer. Before returning to the campground, we went to Parker, CO to see where Clay’s office is and where he goes to school. Saturday was game day & Clay joined us for the game. Sunday we had lunch with Clay and Hilary and then did some shopping.

Thanks Clay and Hilary for a great weekend.

Today we did some sightseeing in San Antonio. We started at the Alamo. In 1836 the Alamo occupied the grounds and buildings of the former Mision San Antonio de Valero. Used as a military post since the early 1800’s, the Texans had barricaded opening and mounted at least 19 cannon before the 13 day siege. Today, the Alamo grounds and buildings present a serene environment where visitors can contemplate nearly 300 years of history. It was interesting. From there we went to the River Walk (Paseo Del Rio). The RiverWalk runs through the heart of the business district. The tree-lined footpaths are bordered by shops and restaurants. We had lunch at Lone Star Steak and then walked both sides of the walk. There is even an outdoor theater ( Arneson River Theater) with the stage on one side of the river and seating on the other.

Upcoming. . . under this category we will chronicle all the non-baseball fun things we see and do.