The day we arrived in Oklahoma City it was 109 degrees and 95% humidity. But, after that it rained and stayed in the 70's and 80's the rest of our stay. Tollie didn't seem to mind the changeable weather. There was a sizable contingent from Las Vegas, and the group did pretty well. Four took top 10 honors and one got a Reserve Championship (Second place nationally).
Beth and Toliroyal currently show in the Country English Pleasure class. Beth got of to a shaky start. She got confused as to what class was running and so got ready for the wrong section. She had a reasonable ride but didn't make it through the preliminaries in that class. The next day, things were all ironed out and she was sure when to go. Her ride was the best she ever had on Tollie and they made it easily to the semifinals. Things got more relaxed after that.
The semifinals seemed even easier. Again. Beth and Tollie had their best rides ever. One judge seemed to particularly like the pair, ranking them first overall in their heat of the semifinal. The competition, though, was very high level. Of course, horses and riders from all over the country were entered.
The finals were early on Saturday morning. Beth and Tollie were ready. The top 16 horses made it to the finals. Beth and Tollie again had a good ride. Unfortunately, they botched one transition from walk to canter--right in front of the judge that liked them best. The judge caught the error and threw up her hands. It looked like she wanted to rate them top again. But even with the error, they made it into the National Top 10!
One interesting side trip from Oklakoma City was a trip to Anadarko, the semi official capitol of Indian Territory. Anadarko contains a good crafts museum and Indian City, USA. Indian City, USA is a recreation of the types of houses build by several of the plains indian tribes native to Oklahoma. The tour starts or ends with traditional dancing, including the hoop dance. Houses or villages of Pawnee, Arapaho, Caddo and Apache, among others, are represented. A funeral bier is also recreated. The area is done with little fanfare and is a natural production, not a tourist trap. I wish I could say the same thing about the gift shop. A small museum displaying artifacts from local Native American citizens of the past is worth a visit.
The next stop after Oklahoma City was Santa Fe. The only place we stopped along the way, other than for food or gas, was the Cadillac Ranch. It was wet and muddy there, adding to the unusual aura of the place.
Santa Fe was a fun town to visit as well as a good base for travel to nearby sights. We spent time in the Governors Palace and the Indian Museum in town as well as at Bandelier National Monument and in Los Alamos. In addition to tons onf interesting shops filled with varying a quality of Native American and other goods, the Governor's Palace serves as a shopping mall for quality Native American crafts. Maggie bought a Pueblo storyteller piece, I bought a story ring and Susan bought a handmade sheep. The food in Santa Fe was also very good.
Bandelier National Monument is a short drive from Santa Fe. It was build around 1100 AD and occupied until the late 1300's. Archaeologists think that the Anasazi retreated here from sites farther north as they became farmed out and too arid. They also think that when this area became too arid, the people moved on to the modern pueblos of New Mexico. This site is not as arid as many of the other abandoned sites in New Mexico and Arizona. While Frijole Creek is usually dry by the start of summer, the area does get some summer monsoon rain and, because of the altitude, is not terribly hot.
A pleasant way to get from Santa Fe to Western New Mexico would be to get off of the freewaty and follow the Turquoise Trail. This highway passes through a number of low key resort/tourist towns, but the high point of the trip (pun, pun) is a side trip you can take to the sandia Crest. The trip is along a pleasant winding highway that passes from pinyon/juniper forest to large pine forest to alpine meadow. A restaurant/souvenier shop at the top provides for any need you might have, but, more important, the view down to Albuquerque is great. The view eastward is also very nice.
We spent a liesurely afternoon drivint to Gallup. The hilight of the drive was a long stop at El Malpais National Monument. But we really did not spend enough time there. All that we really saw was an overlook onto the volcanic flow below and we hikd to the base of La Ventana, a very nice arch. There are plenty of trails in the area, but we did not take the time to do them. Also, because of the altitude, there were plenty of wildflowers still in bloom. In fact, the small visitor's center was surrounded by them
We reached Gallup that evening and checked into our motel. Gallup was largely our center of operations for the eastern end of the Navajo Reservation. We visited may shops in town, looking at jewelry, etc, but spent much of the time out of town
The first day trip we took was to Chaco Canyon. This national monument ci=ontains a number of Anasazi ruins. Basically, you travel state highways, indian highways, and, finally, 25 miles of dirt road to get to the site. Once there, the sights are truly amazing. It is difficult to believe that such fine buildings were built with nothing but stone and wooden tools. Flattening the rock alone would be difficult. There were three major villages in the area, as well as stone steps carved into the canyons.
The next day we went to Canyon d'Chelly, wit a stop on the way at the Hubbell Trading Post Historic Site. The canyon is, even in the heat of summer, exquisite, but pretty harsh. In travelogues showing the canyons, you see jeeps running through the streams. In July the streams are dry. We walked down the trail to the white house ruin. The trail was very hot. But we ran into a Navajo who runs up and down the trail twice each day in heavy sweats--that's his exercise. You could see the ranches laid out on the canyon floor, as well as the orchards. Sheep herds must have been moved to better forage, as none were visible. Again, the drive to and from was nice - and desolate. Chinle, though, looks like any other town in America.
Gallup had its attractions as well. It provided a place for lounging and resting as well as shopping and eating. But the most fun part of Gallup was the Intertribal Gathering. Visitors came from all parts of the country to participate in the dancing. We were only there for the opening night, but that was enough to give us a flavor of the gathering. Again, there were plenty of crafts to see an buy, as well as Native and American food. The dance costumes were quite varied--and exceptionally well done. There was, as I have observed at earlier powwows I have visited, significant inclusion of modern found objects into the costumes. This included the use of CDs as reflectors and other objects worked into the dance costumes. The powwow is well worth going to.
The last stop on our vacation was a morning spent touring the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. These two parks are administered together. The northern part is mostly the Paidted Desert, an area of erosive badlands. There is even a permanent stream, so the erosion is fairly continual. But it is mostly accomplished during monsoom rains and ensuing flash floods. The land is very desolate. Comparing these badlands with those we have seen in Death Valley, Anza-Borrego and South Dakota was instructive. They differ in coloration based on the minerals deposited before the erosion started. However, the general shapes of the land after erosion are very similar. The badlands that we have seen that differ the most are tose of Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. There, calcuim carbonate atop the erosion beds have made those areas into places of spires and hoodoos rather than the ragged hills seen here.
Erosion is the factor that exposes the Petrified Forest as well. The petrified wood is washed out of low cliffs and ridges as they waste away. The scenery would change over a 50 year period, even if we hadn't carted away hundreds of tons of petrified wood. The land is hot and dry, so morning was a good choice for hiking in the area. There are plenty of vistas and hiking trails to take. In addition to going through the major "forest", we hiked through the last ruins we would see on this trip. The hike through the forest was pleasant. The overlook over Newspaper Rock was also fun. The trail there had been closed because people cannot keep their hands off of the petroglyphs.
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