Home Sweet Home, Fall Trees and All!

We arrived home on Sunday to find our house just as we left it. (Someone has ransacked our home! No, wait...we're just messy.) Our lovely old trees were dressed in their best fall colors: what a beautiful welcome-home sight!

We feel so lucky to have been able to take this wonderful round-the-country trip, and we're so glad we were able to share it with our family and friends through this blog. Knowing that you all were reading kept us diligently photographing and writing throughout our travels. Thank you for all your notes and comments and love!

Back to the Farm!

Well, we were going to go to Washington, DC, but somehow we ended up here, at the farm. Fewer politicians, more cows. Not such a bad trade, overall...

We had planned to spend a day in our favorite museums, but it was just too hot to leave little miss Molly in the van (without a constant supply of popsicles and someone with thumbs to open the wrappers). We made the choice to continue on towards home with no regrets; we spent lots of time in the Washington museums when we lived in Maryland, and besides, we need another trip to plan for the Gumby van in the future! Also, we are beginning to feel the urgent need to be home, to prepare for the rapidly-approaching opening of Sandeep's private practice on November 1st.

We did stop briefly at the wonderful Cedar Creek Gallery, just north of Raleigh. It is a long, rambling craft gallery, owned by artists and filled with pottery, wood, glass, and more. Several of the potters work in a studio next to the gallery. We've been inspired by all the lovely crafts we've seen on this trip; we are looking forward to going home and making things ourselves. My pottery wheel will be moving back out of the corner: lumpy pottery for everyone! The Gumby van is carrying driftwood that Sandeep wants to carve. Molly intends to continue working in her preferred medium: the dug hole.

We drove through Virginia and Maryland. In the evening, it began to rain, torrentially. Poor Sandeep could barely see the road as we passed through northern Maryland, Delaware, and southern New Jersey. We can hardly complain about the weather, though, as we didn't have a single rainy day in our entire trip! We camped for the night in Clarksboro, New Jersey, but didn't sleep very well, as Molly barked and tugged and said "Play with me! Play with me!" long into the night. Molly, apparently, has at last tired of riding in the van.

Saturday, we drove through the rest of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and into Vermont. To our friends and relatives in and around New York: we promise to make a special trip, just to visit you all, soon!

Molly was so excited to reach the farm that she wiggled all over, and squeaked, then leapt from the (parked) van and ran around in a frenzy. We were very happy, too, although slightly less wiggly. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm, and the lovely autumn leaves had hung on just for us. Thank you, leaves...we appreciate your consideration. We visited with my parents and my brother, Justin, and my brother's girlfriend, May. Hi, Mom and Dad! Hi, Justin and May! We missed you! We were so glad to see you, too, Ali and Hannie and Matt! Molly was reintroduced to her cousin, Rasmus the cat. I don't think they'll be best friends anytime soon. You may notice the concerned look on Molly's face in the photo, and the direction in which Rasmus's paw is aimed. Molly seemed much more interested in Upton, the farm's newest calf, and he appeared equally intrigued by her. They would be quite the pair!

Popsicle, Anyone?

Nothing's nicer on a hot day than a cold, cold popsicle.

That's Molly's opinion, anyway!

Sandeep was scheduled to do two talks to physician groups in Raleigh and Durham today, so he was all dressed up for the first time in months. I'm surprised he still remembers how to tie a tie! In between the talks, we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art. We saw some beautiful European paintings (the American Gallery was closed due to construction), as well as sculpture and other objects, ancient and modern.

We're staying in a hotel in Raleigh tonight: the first hotel stay on our entire trip! It's quite a nice hotel room, and Molly is especially enjoying it. She has been playing wildly with her ball, and appreciating the air conditioning. It really was quite hot and humid here today. She says: TWO PAWS UP, for strawberry popsicles and air-conditioned, dog-friendly hotel rooms!

From a Watery Place to a Too-Dry Place...

We did finally, reluctantly, leave the lovely North Carolina beach. Before we left, however, we took another walk and I modeled what is sure to become a fashion craze: shrimp head fingernails! They're soooooo elegant. Soon, everyone will want them.

Everyone may not want a scraped nose like the one I am also modeling. I tripped over Molly's leash and fell flat on the ground while trying not to flatten Molly! Don't worry - we're both fine.

We really enjoyed watching the variety of birds that live on Cape Hatteras. Sandeep photographed these black birds swinging on the beach grasses. We followed little flocks of shorebirds down the beach, watching them hurrying around on their extra-long legs. We also saw pelicans flying and swimming, and egrets and herons standing picturesquely as we drove through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on our way back up the cape.

We drove back west along the same roads we had followed east, stopping just outside of Raleigh for the night. We camped at the Falls Lake State Recreation Area. We had heard that North Carolina has been suffering from a drought; the lake was a dramatic illustration of the water shortage. The lake is Durham's water source, and the water level is extremely low. The banks were exposed for many feet all around the shoreline. A tiny amount of rain fell during the night; we were grateful for it, on behalf of North Carolina.

Still Here...

One more good morning from beautiful North Carolina!

We both woke up in time for the sunrise this morning, and we took a lovely walk on the beach. Lots of fishermen (and a few fisherwomen) were out early as well, fishing from the shore. Molly found more little crabs to chase.

Okay, we're leaving, we're leaving...

Life's a Beach - Today, Anyway!

What is better than a day at the beach? Not much!

We had a lovely morning, with pancakes for breakfast, and then...beach time! We sat and watched the waves and the busy little shorebirds. We threw Molly's toy for her and she fetched it. Once, she dropped it at the feet of a passing man and looked at him expectantly; he very kindly threw it for her. We went for a walk. Molly stopped occasionally to dig in the sand. Sandeep stood in the waves and got splashed and then nearly knocked over, like me, by a surprisingly large wave. Molly stalked the shorebirds, ineffectually.

You would all stop reading the blog if we spent all our days at the beach, wouldn't you? I'm sure it's not SO much fun to read about someone else's beach day! Well, we'll be back to driving again tomorrow. In fact, we did drive a little bit today...

After lunch, we left our campground and drove south on Route 12, to see a bit more of the cape. The undeveloped National Seashore land is punctuated by small villages with shops, restaurants, and LOTS of rental houses. It seems that nearly every house has a "rent me!" sign on it. Most of the houses appear to be of about the same age; we wondered if they were built during a building boom, or if all the previous houses were swept away in a hurricane and these were built to replace them. We did read about the extensive destruction caused by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

We stopped at an empty beach, where we nearly collapsed with laughter while watching Molly chase crabs. She would find one roaming about on the sand, then start off after it. The crabs are fast and agile, but also hard to see; Molly would pursue one wildly, and then it would hide under her foot (or mine!) while she hunted for it. The more she turned to see where the crab quarry could have gone, the more the sand she stirred up would hide it. She did manage to come nose-to-eyestalks with one crab; you can see it, looking like a crab-shaped clump of sad, at the end of Molly's nose in the photo above.

Sandeep photographed the strange and beautiful afternoon light. We drove all the way to the village of Hatteras, at the end of the cape. The next island, Okracoke, can be reached by a 40-minute ferry ride, but we decided to turn back northwards at Hatteras. Now, here we are, at our campsite again, with the waves crashing just out of sight.

We'll be heading for Durham tomorrow, as Sandeep has two talks to do there on Thursday.

Worth Waking Up Early For...

Good morning, from North Carolina!

See why Sandeep is now the trip photographer? He got up at sunrise to take these beautiful pictures, and even photographed the sunrise in a jellyfish.

Wow...

To Go Any Farther East, The Gumby Van Would Have to Be Amphibious

We spent Sunday morning in the city of Asheville. We visited Malaprops bookstore, an independent bookstore with a big section of local books. I'll be feeding everyone southern-style biscuits soon, from my newly-purchased cookbook Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie. We also wandered through several craft galleries; I decided that the ONLY craft I have no interest in is basket-making. At least there's one! Strangely, Sandeep did not seem relieved by this announcement: perhaps it was because I had just been looking through knitting books and was admiring a loom several minutes later. He's not much better, though; he has added pottery and wood-carving to the (long) list of things he wants to try!

We had a tasty lunch at a sidewalk table of the Flying Frog Cafe, and then drove a little way up the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit the Southern Highland Craft Guild's Folk Art Center. We walked through a wood-carving exhibit, and a nice lady showed Sandeep how to burn feather patterns onto a duck carving. We also saw a pottery exhibit, listened to a hammered dulcimer workshop, and watched an artist use leaves and sun-sensitive silk paint to make patterned cloth. The Guild's shop is full of handmade wood, metal, glass, cloth, leather and paper objects, as well as some cornhusk dolls with shrunken apple faces (like the ones you made, Mom!). We admired everything, but only bought one lovely jar, made by a Tennessee potter from Maryville, the nice little town we had driven through just a day or so earlier.

Our goal for the rest of the day was to drive as far as possible across North Carolina, towards the coast. We took the dull but reliable Highway 40 as often as we could bear, exiting for the parallel Highway 70 (slower but more interesting) when we were overcome by tedium. We camped for the night in Enfield, arriving in the dark and waking to find that we were surrounded by cotton fields! We drove east to Edenton, passing through more fields of cotton (some containing big rectangular bales of cotton, somewhat like hay bales but much larger), as well as fields of soybeans and probably of tobacco.

Edenton is a lovely, waterfront town with beautiful old homes. It is on the Albemarle Sound, which looks like the ocean but holds freshwater instead of saltwater. Sandeep photographed a cypress tree, standing just off the shore; the bay was dotted with these trees, each making its own small island.

We drove through more farmland, and then the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. No swimming there for Molly! Sandeep saw a large animal cross the road; he thought it was a wolf, but he wasn't sure if that was possible. I was looking away from the road and didn't see it. We later learned that a population of red wolves, native to the Southeast, had been introduced into the refuge in the 1980s after reaching near extinction in the wild. So Sandeep, who had been wishing to see a wolf since our visit to Yellowstone, finally saw one in North Carolina.

We crossed several long bridges along Route 64, passing over Albemarle Sound, Croatan Sound, and Roanoke Sound, and then we could go east no further, as Route 64 ends at the Atlantic Ocean! The Humble Gumby van goes coast-to-coast...to-coast! We drove south on Route 12, along the long and VERY skinny Cape Hatteras. It is such a little strip of land that you can easily see across it in some places. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore includes much of the land all down the cape, protecting it from development and providing public (and dog!) access. We saw pelicans and egrets, as well as lots of smaller ocean birds, as we drove.

We are camped - for TWO days! what luxury! - in the little village of Rodanthe, part of the way down the long cape. We even have an oceanside campsite, although it is really a duneside campsite, as we have to climb over a sand dune to get to the ocean. Oh, the hardship... We played on the beach and in the ocean Monday afternoon; it was a lovely, warm day, and the water is warm, too. Warm when compared with the inhospitable Atlantic we know in New Hampshire, anyway... Molly and I were nearly knocked over by an extra-big wave, but Molly didn't seem to mind and neither did I. We enjoyed watching the little shorebirds run along the sand, dashing out after each retreating wave, pecking frantically at the wet sand, and then dashing back in before each advancing wave. Molly, by the way, gives North Carolina two paws WAY up for having miles and miles of dog-friendly beaches! Yippee! I know it looks like she was being unfairly influenced in the photo, but she really does love the beach.

At night, Sandeep and I sat on the beach and looked for falling stars; we saw quite a few. We also looked for little ghost crabs. They dig holes for themselves all over the beach; we had fun watching for the sand flying out as they excavated, and occasionally one would peek out or run, sideways, across the beach. We cornered a few with the flashlight, and after staring at us out of their big black eyes, they would fling sand over themselves and sit motionless. "I'm just a lump of sand. You can't see me anymore because I'm just a harmless lump of sand." We humored them and moved along.

Sandeep, now promoted to primary trip photographer, has been taking some lovely photographs lately. Goodnight, beach. Goodnight, little crabs. Goodnight, tired, happy, sandy dog. Goodnight, moon.

Why Not MOLLYWOOD Next?

Molly gives the Crossville, Tennessee, campground two paws up, as the management was considerate enough to provide a cat for her to chase.

Little miss Molly had been eyeing the campground cat since we checked in on Friday night, and she broke her leash to dash after it on Saturday morning. There was a wild, high-speed chase around the Gumby van, with the cat in the lead, Molly close behind, and Sandeep far off in the distance, running with his coffee mug in one hand and shouting, "Molly! No!"

The cat made his escape, as cats always do. Molly said that she had just wanted to give the cat a hug, but that he had misunderstood her intentions. I explained that cats are silly that way.

The nice campground manager, who had recently moved to Tennessee from Freedom, New Hampshire (just north of Wakefield!), forgave Molly for chasing his cat and suggested Route 70 to us as an alternative to the crowded and uninteresting Route 40, so our morning drive was pleasant. Route 70 passes through the small towns rather than around them, and we always enjoy seeing where people really live. Eventually, we followed Route 321 south and east towards the Great Smoky Mountains.

Our GPS lady appears to have recovered her wits now that we have left Arkansas. We'll be hoping that she does not suffer a relapse.

The landscape was hilly and green, and we thought Maryville, Tennessee, off Route 321, looked like a pleasant little town. A little further along the road, we stopped at a woodcarving shop and a pottery studio. Soon, though, we arrived in Pigeon Forge, hometown of Dolly Parton and home of Dollywood, the Dollywood Water Slide Park, and miles of traffic, souvenir shops, amusements (laser tag! go-karts!), t-shirt shops, and, for some reason, FIVE pancake houses within a short distance of each other. Eeek! 321 passes right through the horrifying center of it all. You can see Sandeep's reaction in the photo above. I looked much the same. Sandeep said, "Dolly Parton is responsible for doing THIS to America?"

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was beautiful, though. We drove through in the late afternoon, and were able to watch the sunset, which was lovely, with row after row of mountains fading away into the distance in paler and paler blues under a pinkish sky.

Our guidebook tells us that Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park in America, followed by Yosemite, and that was evident. A nearly constant stream of cars was travelling in each direction on the road, and most of the trailhead and viewpoint parking areas were filled to overflowing. Oh well... People may flood the more accessible national parks, but at least they can't fill them with water slides, laser tag, and flashing billboards, and that's definitely something to be thankful for.

We're camped for the night just west of Asheville, North Carolina. Onwards and eastwards!

Tennessee, the Really Long State

Chompin' chiggers! Tennessee is a loooooooooooooooong state!

We had just begun to say "hustlin' javelinas" when we found ourselves leaving the southwest, and javelinas, behind. The campground in West Memphis warned us of the presence of the nasty little insects called chiggers, though, and now we have a new exclamation. It's really fun to say with a fake southern accent.

So, Friday, we drove and drove across Tennessee, mostly on Route 40. We had lots and lots of big trucks to keep us company, and we were safe from distractions because the road didn't change much for a few hundred miles or so; I can't imagine why we didn't have more fun...

We didn't go to Graceland, or the Grand Ole Opry. We didn't even listen to Elvis or country music on the radio. I did sing the refrain of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" every time we passed signs for Chattanooga (which was fairly often), but I was not discovered by an agent and I will not be the next country music star. Sandeep didn't say, "STOP SINGING CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO!" We didn't even take any photographs. Tennessee is like New England, only flatter and with fewer evergreens. You'll just have to imagine it.

Molly slept.

We camped in Crossville, Tennessee, east of Nashville.

...Sigh...

We're so glad that most of the days of our trip have been so much more fun than today!

Eureka Springs! to the Mississippi River

Thursday morning, we visited the wonderful little town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. What a surprise! Built on a hillside, like San Francisco but much smaller, the main road switchbacks up through the downtown. For the hardy pedestrian, long flights of stairs like alleys between the buildings provide shortcuts straight up the hill. The architecture is a sort of mountain Victorian mixed with a little New Orleans and sprinkled with some stately stone and brick public buildings. Little parks here and there mark the many springs, trickling down over rocks walls, for which the town is named. The town is filled with shops, including many art and craft galleries, and the people were very quirky and friendly.

Molly gives Eureka Springs two paws way up, as the main street shops provided many dog water dishes along the sidewalk (some even offered dog treats!), and all the shop owners invited her inside enthusiastically. She was even welcomed at the outdoor table of the restaurant where we ate lunch. Molly and I agreed that the barbecued pork sandwich was excellent!

Armed with a map, as our GPS lady continued to give erroneous directions, we headed east across Arkansas. We stopped at an oil change place, as Sandeep had been wanting to treat the Gumby van to some new fluids. Four men with impressive Arkansas accents, one of whom was named Vernon, quickly gathered around the open hood of the van, asking, "What kind of engine is this?" "Where is the filter?" "What kind of oil does this take?" I was afraid I would hear the familiar "What the hell is this?!?" and see one of the men looking puzzled with an engine part in his hand. Sandeep thanked them nicely and we hurried away. A narrow escape for the Gumby van! They really were very nice, though.

We followed a scenic route, down through Ozark National Forest. Our guidebook and local literature described spectacular fall foliage in early October, but not a leaf had changed. The drive was very twisty, with some lovely views out over green valleys. I do think, however, that the state should reconsider the name "The Grand Canyon of the Ozarks" for the valley I photographed, above. It is very beautiful, but I wouldn't call it a canyon, exactly...

We continued east on Highway 40, passing through Little Rock and camping for the night in West Memphis, Arkansas, on the banks of the Mississippi River. The campground's brochure says, "So close to the river, sometimes we're in it!" and encourages prospective campers to call ahead for flood conditions in the spring months. It was a lovely place, with waterbirds flying and calling, and a view of the river from the campsite. We photographed the little Gumby van, with its somewhat larger neighbors... We were parked almost next to the big RV with my very favorite model name: the Intruder! Justin, my brother, suggests the Pillager and the Marauder for future versions.

We really, really like our little Gumby van.

From Oklahoma to Arkansas, the Elusive State

Wednesday morning, we drove north from Oklahoma City to the little town of Pawnee. The landscape became more hilly as we drove, with lots more trees and little farms. The Pawnee Bill Museum and Pawnee Bill’s lovely home sit up on a hill overlooking the road. The museum is small, but has interesting objects from Pawnee Bill’s Wild West and Far East shows, including costumes, saddles, photos, posters and press clippings. When Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill joined shows, the “Two Bills” show was more formally known as “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Far East Show,” and it featured performers from all over the world (including Russians, Arabs, and “Hindoos,” as well as an Australian Aborigine with a boomerang). The show also included a man in a tuxedo who rode an ostrich. Really! We saw a photo!

The house is beautiful, and feels very welcoming and comfortable; it’s an Arts and Crafts style home built of Oklahoma stone, and it still contains Gordon and May Lillie’s furniture and decorations. We had a wonderful tour of the house, with an informative and entertaining tour guide. May Lillie seems to have been a remarkable woman; she had a dining room curtain made out of the blanket an elephant wore in the show! We heard stories about Gordon and May, and about their many guests, including Will Rogers and Buffalo Bill, who visited so often that they had their own rooms.

Pawnee Bill, concerned at the rapid destruction of the buffalo population, brought a herd of buffalo to his ranch as well as lobbying the government to protect wild buffalo. Buffalo and cattle still live at the ranch. I photographed them, far in the distance, from outside the fence.

After leaving Pawnee, we drove east to Tulsa, where we stopped for groceries. Then, we continued on into Arkansas. We had entered the address of a campground in Eureka Springs into our GPS, but it finally happened; our GPS went completely crazy. As we approached the campground (we hoped!) on a small road through the woods, she said "Turn right! Turn right!" There was no road on the right or left, only unbroken wilderness. We continued straight, and she recalculated; again, she said, "Turn right," and still there was no road. She tried once more to turn the Gumby van into an off-road vehicle, and then, the road vanished from the little screen and there was just the little car image, travelling through nothingness. "A better route is available," said the GPS lady dejectedly, and then refused to offer any more information. We finally called the campground for directions. "That happens to everyone's GPS units around here," we were told. Hmmmm.... Maybe Arkansas has moved slightly? Plate techtonics? Arkansas's new state motto can be: "Arkansas: Not Quite Where You Expect It to Be."

A Day in Oklahoma

For the first time on our trip, we are camping at a campground for the second night in a row. Last night, we stayed in Choctaw, Oklahoma, just east of Oklahoma City, and here we are again tonight! It's a very nice campground, wooded and spacious, with a mile-long trail around the outskirts that Molly enjoys. She also enjoys sitting on the picnic tables, at all of our campsites! We're here twice, though, not because of the comfortable picnic tables but because the Pawnee Bill Museum in Pawnee, Oklahoma, is closed Tuesdays.

For those reading the blog who are not related to me, Pawnee Bill, or Gordon Lillie, is a mythic relative of my father's family (my maiden name was Lillie). He had quite a life, working with the Pawnee tribe and then running a Wild West show. He eventually partnered with Buffalo Bill, and their joint show was known as the Two Bills show. His wife, May Lillie, was a fascinating character, too; she was a Philadelphia debutante before she married Gordon, but went on to perform as a bareback rider and sharpshooter in his show. Gordon and May settled on a ranch in Oklahoma, which is now a museum and state park. I've been looking forward to visiting the museum, so we spent an extra day in the area, waiting until Wednesday!

We did have a nice day; we visited the town of Guthrie, just a bit north of Oklahoma City. Guthrie was once the state capital and it has a lovely old downtown, all fancy brick buildings and wide streets. We walked around, admiring the architecture and visiting the shops. Also, Sandeep got a haircut.

I liked the old Coca-Cola advertisement, painted on the side of a building, that I photographed. I wondered if it was painted during the era in which Coca-Cola still contained cocaine... "Relieves fatigue," indeed! The man in the ad looks a bit like he is pouring it in his eye, though, so maybe it was originally meant to be taken topically.

Texas and Oklahoma

Oh my, what a long, flat drive we had...

We drove through the northern bit of Texas: flat, flat, flat, with an occasional ranch house.

We drove through Oklahoma: flat, flat, flat, with an occasional ranch house. The only difference was that the dirt became redder in Oklahoma.

We saw cows, one lonely antelope, and a dead armadillo in Texas, as well as some windmills.

We saw more cows and windmills in Oklahoma.

Molly slept.

New Mexico

We camped in a median strip in Gallup, New Mexico. Okay, it wasn’t really a median strip; in fact, it was a real campground, and it was almost completely occupied. Unfortunately, it was located directly between two highways, next to a railroad track! It was a little noisy…

We’ve noticed something in all the campgrounds we’ve stayed at, and we’re beginning to think we’re doing something wrong. Every morning, there are men peering under their motorhomes. Sometimes, they lean over to look underneath; sometimes, they lie underneath and tinker. Often, they shout things and sometimes they run around their motorhomes. We never peer or tinker underneath the Gumby van, as there’s nothing there but wheels, and we’re beginning to think we might be making the big motorhome owners feel bad. So, from now on, we’re planning to peer, tinker, and yell with the best of them. Sandeep is working on a desperate run with his hands covering the back of his head as if he expects an explosion.

We also have a new, very versatile phrase we overheard from a restaurant kitchen while we sat in the dining room (Ali, stop reading out loud now, or Matty might also have a new phrase). Someone shouted, “What the hell is that?!?” NOT something to inspire confidence in your meal… Sandeep is thinking of shouting it after peering under the van and before the desperate run.

I didn’t get much sleep last night, despite the soothing rumble of trucks a few feet away, and I’m giggling uncontrollably as I write this; nevertheless, I’ll try to stop being silly and move right along to our actual day…

After some van maintenance activities (see, we DID do some peering and tinkering of our own!) like checking the tire pressure, we set off across New Mexico towards Santa Fe. Western New Mexico is a lot of brown and red desert, and we were on Interstate 40, AND there was a traffic jam, so it wasn’t our favorite drive. We were looking forward to visiting Santa Fe, however, and it lived up to our expectations. It’s a lovely city, and very low-key, with a friendly and artistic atmosphere. The central Plaza is a green square circled with shops and restaurants, and a large cathedral dominates an adjacent area. The houses, in even the fanciest areas of town, are low, adobe-style, and nearly hidden behind adobe walls with beautiful wooden gates.

We visited the Museum of International Folk Art, which was interesting and entertaining; on display were folk art objects from America, India, China, Africa, and many Central and South American countries. We saw masks and home altars, puppets and dolls, embroidery and carvings, and much more. We also saw three statues by Nek Chand, an Indian artist who created the Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India, which we have visited. Click on the link to see Rock Garden pictures; it's a huge, amazing place with sculptures and landscape made of broken bits of all kinds of things! It was fun to see three little immigrants from the Rock Garden standing in New Mexico.

After we left the museum, we waited for a long wedding procession led by a mariachi band to wind its way down the street. We walked, with Molly, past art galleries along Canyon Road, and around the Plaza. The trees in the plaza were lit with little lights: very festive! Molly was very popular in Santa Fe, with nearly everyone stopping to say hello to her. Sandeep and I (and not Molly, unfortunately) ate at the rooftop cantina of the Coyote Café; the food was wonderful, and the location (really on a roof, with overhead heaters to combat the chilly air) was a lot of fun. We would have liked to spend a few days or more in Santa Fe, but not on this trip…

We drove eastward for another couple of hours, finally stopping in Tucumcari, New Mexico for the night.

The Molly and Charley Show!

Hustling javelinas! I’ve been trying to come up for with an exclamation for us, along the lines of Tintin’s “blistering barnacles!” but including the word javelinas. For anyone unfamiliar with javelinas, they’re smallish wild pig-like animals that roam the Southwest, and the j is pronounced as an h. It’s a fun word to say, isn’t it? It’s a lot of fun to shout, too. If you are my little cousin Matt, try shouting “hustling javelinas!” the next time you think you are petting your black cat on the dark porch and find that you are actually petting a skunk!

Friday, we drove from northern Arizona to Prescott. We saw the Vermilion Cliffs, dramatic red cliffs looking especially beautiful against a very blue sky with very fluffy white clouds. We passed through Flagstaff, and stopped briefly in artsy little Sedona, where we photographed two street-art javelinas in floral dress. Then we took the exciting Route 89A (once again, A is for adventure!) which climbs into the mountains and twists through the little town of Jerome. Just a few miles away from Prescott, we found ourselves in a traffic jam caused, we later learned, by an overturned RV trailer. We decided that the Gumby van is the perfect commuter vehicle; while stuck in traffic, a person can wash dishes, sort laundry, and make a snack, and the extra height allows a little extra warning when traffic does begin to move. A little later than we had planned, but with a much tidier van, we eventually made it to Aunt Linda’s house.

We had a wonderful visit with my wonderful great-aunt Linda, who is funny, kind, very energetic, and so much fun to spend time with. Also, as nearly everyone in our family knows, Aunt Linda has a little dog named Charley who charms everyone who visits. He’s a very clever bichon frise/poodle mix; he walks and dances on his hind legs and waves his paws in the air, sleeps on the back of the couch, and flings himself down at people’s feet to get his tummy scratched. Molly and Charley’s actions and interactions kept us laughing through our entire visit. Both are intelligent “only dogs,” and they were in constant, quiet, scheming competition. For instance, I petted Molly, and Charley came over, leaned on me, and growled at her. Then, Charley went to sit in Sandeep’s lap. Molly went to Sandeep’s side and growled at Charley but he wouldn’t move, so Molly went to Aunt Linda for petting. Then, Charley leapt from Sandeep’s lap and went to Aunt Linda. Molly ran to Sandeep’s lap and sat in it. Another time, when I was petting Charley, Molly took Charley’s favorite toy and squeaked it repeatedly while looking at him. Charley came to get the toy, and Molly dropped it and came to me. I think I heard her say, “HAH!”

We spent Friday night with Aunt Linda; we visited, had a lovely dinner, and went for two long walks with the dogs, who were willing to call a temporary truce while walking together. Late Saturday morning, we left for eastern Arizona. Thank you, Aunt Linda – and Charley! Come back east again soon!

We drove back to Flagstaff via a less adventurous route, and then took Route 40 east. The land is very flat east of Flagstaff, with yellow grass and silhouetted hills far, far away. We watched a coyote eating his rabbit supper on the plain, until he decided to carry it off to a more private location. Late in the day, we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, to marvel at the beautiful, mineralized wood and the dramatic, sandy landscape. Molly again gives the Petrified Forest two paws up, as they allow dogs on the paved trails!