Dillon Reservoir
In September we started out on a six week trailering vacation to the South West US. A two hour drive west of us into the mountains is the Dillon Reservoir. It is one of the holding areas for Denver's water system. We arrived just in time for the beginning of the fall aspen season and were greeted with a fantastic golden panorama.
Colorado Naional Monument
Our friend Ron from Northern Virginia joined for the first two weeks of our vacation. Our trip included many of the southest National Parks. Colorado National Monument is on the far western side of Colorado. It developed thousands of years ago when a ridge was lifted higher than the neighboring lands forming dramatic landscapes.
Arches National Park
Arches is a gem. These magnificent stone formations of sandstone simply wear away over time, but while standing and sculpted they are beautiful. The opening scene of India Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed here.
Canyon Lands National Park
Canyon Lands, located only a few miles from Arches, can only be described as a large area of earth where God took out a laser and sharply cut into the cliffs and ridges. It is there that the Green River meets and joins the Colorado River.
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is just that. Large mounuments of stone. Most of Monument Valley is on Navajo Indian land.
Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon will leave you breathless and speechless. Rock at the bottom has been dated back 2 billion years ago. Over millions of years the Colorado River ate away at the rock and formed this canyon.
Zion National Park
Zion is in Utah and is gorgeous. It actually looks like a miniature Yosemite. But Zion can be dangerous. It is subject to flash flooding, and the day after we left Zion they did have a flash flood which closed the park for a few days.
Bryce National Park and Cowboy Dinner
We visited Bryce, but the rains which hit Zion to our south also hit Bryce, so we saw lttle of this park. We tried to take photos on the canyon rim, but the lightning strikes were too close and not worth taking the risk just to get photos. That evening we attended a great cowboy dinner with The Bar G Wranglers entertaining.
Las Vegas
Ron's last two days with us was in Las Vegas. He had never been there. We also attended Cirque du Soleil's "O" which is a master piece. The performance was at the Bellagio with their great nightly fountain display to music. Frank and Tom have now seen this performance five times....it is that good.
Desert Museum
We continued our trip west after Ron flew home. We again visited the Desert Museum south of Tucson, AZ. This is without a doubt a world-class museum. Simply excellent.
White Sands National Monument
We visited Whtie Sands north of El Paso,TX, and camped on an Air Force Base near there. A fun visit.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
This was about our fourth visit to these caverns. They are remarkable any time of the year. Such beauty. The Park Service is trying their best to maintain the caverns without affecting it. But the present of man, does have some affect no matter how careful we are. Most of the millions of bats which summer in the cave had already flown to Mexico for the winter.
Air Force planes on display
We stayed at another Air Force base and these are some of the planes we saw on display there.
World Gay Rodeo Finals, Fort Worth
Our final rodeo of the year was in Fort Worth, TX, where we have held Finals for the past three years. These are the "best of the best" competitors in our rodeo family.
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