High Altitude

Mountains are pretty cool. However, in April, they are downright cold! We didn't arrive at altitude as prepared as perhaps we should have been, clothes-wise.

Pagosa Springs

Phil's uncle and his wife built a second home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado back in the early 1980s that has been a magnet for all his children and various other Smiths over the years. But since Phil had moved with his parents to Pittsburgh before the house was built, he had never been there until we met several of his cousins there last summer. It's set in a forest with tall pines, not far from several ski resorts. It's a very relaxing place.

After a long, roundabout drive through northern New Mexico, we arrived at Pagosa Springs in time to have a nice dinner at Gustoso Italian restaurant, which was quite good with great service.

Pagosa Springs house

We woke up to 18-degree temperatures the next morning. We were scheduled to golf that day but moved it to the following day and mostly stayed indoors with the fireplace going. It turned out to be a welcome day to catch up on a few things back home, blog, do laundry, and in general have an easy day. It was too cold to go to the hot springs for which the town is named.

We did golf the following day in warmer temperatures yet still in a stiff wind. The course has great mountain views and was in good shape for its opening weekend. It could use some work on the greens and the cart paths, but we enjoyed it.

Southwest Colorado

We woke up early the next day, packed up and drove to Durango to meet another of Phil's cousins and her extended family. Her daughter and son-in-law moved there from Houston some years ago and now the whole clan is there, including two children. Durango really is a pretty place with a vibrant arts scene that his cousin is a part of. We had a good visit and then headed out to our next stop, the Grand Canyon.

Getting there took some time. We drove past Mesa Verde National Park (we will be going for a real visit next trip!) and then, after a 35-minute delay while an accident scene was cleared, drove most of the way across the Navajo Nation.

Mesa Verde

Navajo Nation

A moment about the Navajo Nation. First of all, it is big. Secondly, it is very sparsely populated. Even so, there are thousands of active and retired members of the United Mine Workers who are Navajo.

Coal is abundant there. The union has represented Navajo and Hopi miners for 40+ years and also represents hundreds of the Navajo Nations' public service employees. Phil knows many of them and they are truly amazing people. Having driven through their land, we can now say it is an amazing, beautiful place.

Monument Valley outside Kayenta on the Navajo Nation.

After we passed Tuba City we turned onto US Highway 89, which is without a doubt the "waviest" road we have ever driven. It was like being in a small speedboat on choppy water. Fortunately it was only about 25 miles or so to the turnoff for the east entrance to Grand Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon

Everyone has heard of the Grand Canyon and seen pictures. But until you see it with your own eyes, you really don't understand the scope of what it is. And even when you do see it, it's difficult to comprehend at first. We had been to the North Rim of the canyon more than 30 years ago for a quick day with our kids and friends who had even younger kids at that time. Much of what we had seen back then was stored in old, hard to find memories.

Once you are in the park driving from the east to Grand Canyon Village, you get occasional glimpses of the canyon itself through the trees. Then a vista will open up for a few seconds and take your breath away.

After finding our room in the Maswick Lodge we had a pizza for dinner at the Lodge's Pub and went to bed. We had two tours of the park the next day, the first going west to the Hermit's Rest house with stops at several overlooks along the way and the second a sunset tour later in the day, at some of the same overlooks. In between we walked a bit along the Rim Trail in the Village, taking in the historic hotels and buildings.

View from Hermit's Rest.

Many of the Park's structures, including Hermit's Rest, the Hopi House and several others, were designed by Mary Colter, a Pittsburgh-born architect who was the first practitioner of what is now called "National Park Rustic" architecture. She wanted her buildings to use local, rustic materials and seem as if they were always part of the landscape.

We also fought the wind. It was gusting to more that 40 mph at times and made getting close to the edge of the canyon somewhat tricky, especially where there was no guardrail. The wind chill was in the 40s in the evening for the sunset tour and it was brisk, to say the least.

Sunset behind the mountains that are 50 miles away.

We had dinner that night at the Arizona Steak House in the Bright Angel Lodge. It was an excellent meal with first-class service.

We woke up early the next day to even colder temperatures and higher winds. We had a 7:10 am bus tour to the eastern rim of the park to view the Colorado River's "gateway" into the Canyon with stops at several other overlooks.

The winds were gusting to 60 mph that morning, and prompted the power company to shut off power entirely to the eastern part of the park, including at the Desert View Watchtower, where we were at the time. The views from there are spectacular, including the Painted Desert in the Navajo Nation.

The Colorado river turns to the west at the Gateway, where it begins carving the Canyon.

Desert View Watchtower

We were lucky enough to get into and climb the tower before the power went out, meaning we got some great photos. But when the power did go out, everything shut down. With the wind blowing so hard it was difficult to be outside. There was nowhere to go but back to the bus. The tour had a couple more stops, but ended sooner than we had expected.

We had hoped to walk some more of the Rim Trail that afternoon but the wind was just too strong to be outside for any length of time. We did walk to dinner at the restaurant in the El Tovar Hotel, the original and rustic-swanky hotel in the Park. It was quite good as well.

El Tovar Hotel

What to say about the Grand Canyon? It is beyond breathtaking, yet after a couple of days the enormity of it becomes easier to comprehend. We did not go down into the canyon and that would have certainly provided a different perspective, but the wind was so strong that we didn't feel comfortable doing that trip.

We will absolutely go back and want to bring others in our family to it. And there is no doubt that despite what we know is coming, that first view will still take our breath away.