It's been a year...

It's been a year since we started our journey.  Hard to believe that much time has passed.
June 30, 2009 at 4:10 PM is the exact date and time we left our home. We have traveled through 26 states and put 26,160 miles on our car.  On the East Coast, we have been as far north as Bangor, Maine and as far south as Key West.  From North Carolina, we went to the western tip of Tennessee, than south to east Texas, west to Arizona and finally north to Bearverton, Oregon, where we will be until mid September.  We still haven't figured out what comes next, but we will be heading back to the East Coast while we make our decision.  The map below shows our routes for the year.  My son did this when he traveled across the country about 10 years ago and I thought it would be a good way to keep track of our routes.
We have seen much, as you can see by the number of posts on this blog, but as you can see on the map, still a very small part of the country.  Many of the places we have visited we were not aware of until we looked at the map to see what route we taking to our next destination.  It's amazing how much you find that way.  
I'm sure we will continue to travel, but it will probably be a month or two a year, not an entire year or more. I don't know how many years it would take to see the rest of the country (the way we have done it), but I doubt if that will happen, with as big as it is.
I'm still a few posts behind (from before Oregon), so keep checking periodically. 

Arches National Park

Arches National Park is in Utah, about 200 miles SW of Salt Lake City near the Colorado/Utah border.  There are at least 2,000 natural sandstone arches in the park with Delicate Arch being the most famous.  Since 1970, 43 arches have fallen due to natural erosion.
The park is 119 square miles.  There are about 13 miles of paved road throughout the park and not many waking trails, so there is a limit on how much you can see of the 119 square miles.   It still offered plenty to see.
(I got a little behind in my posts, but I decided to do an Oregon post in the middle of my Utah posts.  I thought it would be a little odd to 'finally' do an Oregon post 4 or 5 weeks after we arrived here.  There are still 2 more posts to do from Utah - stay tuned...).  

This was on the way to the park.

Our first arch, but again, before we got to the park.


Looking back at the visitor  center from the road on the  way into the park.

Panoramic view from one of the overlooks.

If you use your imagination, you are suppose to see it as an elephant.

To the left, the structure with the 3 prominences is called the Three Gossips. Someone decided that looking at it close up reminded them of 3 people gossiping.  OK. The tallest one is 350'.

Panoramic from another overlook.

They like to name rock structures in the park, but this one had no name.  But Caroline decided it resembled a hog's head.

The middle one is Balanced Rock. The whole structure is 130' tall.

That is yours truly waving his arms.

North and South Window arches.

Closer look at the South Window.

Close up of the North Window.

The famous Delicate Arch.

Sky Line Arch.

Landscape Arch.

Common Paintbrush. Flowers are about an inch across.

Utah Daisy. Bush was about a foot across.

Dwarf Emory Primrose. Flowers are about 2" across.

We're in Oregon !!

I think this will be the last leg of our adventure.  We got here on June 11th and on the 15th, found an apartment to rent for 3 months.  It is in Beaverton, which is 10 miles SW of Portland.  It was unfurnished, so we had to rent everything: furniture, linens, kitchen and bathroom stuff.  Furniture rental companies such as Cort do rent all that stuff, so it is not as bad as it sounds.  They deliver everything, set it up and take it away when we are done.
There will be more posts from Oregon; I decided to give you a small first sample from the Beaver State.

The 3 Sisters. From L to R: South Sister, Middle Sister and North Sister (all are just over 10,000').  They are about 15 miles SW of Sisters, a small town about 100 miles SE ofPortland.

Mt.Washington (7,794').  It is about 15 miles west of Sisters.

Haystack Rock.  This is in the coastal town of Cannon Beach.  It is probably the most photographed feature in Oregon.

Looking up the other way from Haystack Rock.

Washington Park.  This is in downtown Portland.  Its nickname is the 'City of Roses,' so why not visit the rose gardens that made the city famous.  And the next 5 photos as well.

 




Downtown Portland with Mt. Hood in the background.

More of downtown with Mt. St.Helens to the right (about 55 miles N) and faintly to the left  of Mt. St. Helens is Mt. Rainier (about 100 miles N and the tallest mountain in the continental US at 14,411').

 

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde (Spanish meaning 'green table') National Park is in Colorado, about 30 miles NE of the Four Corners. It is known for its cliff dwelling made by the Anasazi around 1200.  It contains Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

Mesa Verde looking east.

Approaching Mesa Verde once you are in the park.

As high as you can get !

View from the top looking east.

There were quite a few of these dead trees all around the park. In the last 10 years fire burned  about 90,000 acres.

Mesa Verde nomad.

Cliff Palace It had 150 rooms and 23 kivas (sunken rooms used in ceremonies).

You can see a tour group standing around one of the kivas.

Approaching Cliff Palace.

Looking back on the way out.

Square Tower House. Named for the tall square structure; at 4 stories, it is the tallest structure in the park.

Another cliff dwelling. Note the burnt trees above.

One of the few above ground dwellings.

A pit house. This one was constructed in 575. The floors were sunk a few feet down. Four corner timbers supported the roof.  The walls and ceiling were made of combination of small sticks, leaves and covered with mud.

A view from one of the plateaus.

Sage brush lizard - minus part of its tail. It was about 6" long.

A short horned lizard.  Look at that face.  Talk about a attitude problem !! It was about 8" long.

White evening primrose. The flower is about 2" across.