4 Wheels 4 Girls

Yes, the cows were creepy! But, before that…

Sunday April 17th, we drove from Natural Bridges National Monument to Canyonlands National Park. It was dark, and signs kept appearing that showed a cow and said “open range.” And as we kept driving there were lots of pairs of bright yellow signs with diagonal black lines that signaled there was a cattle gate in between them. Jean drove fast, but carefully around each turn of the road through the canyon, but I kept worrying about the cows. The first cow we saw was about a foot from the road. It was pretty scary. The cow looked peaceful though, and kept munching on grass. The cows kept coming, and I kept worrying. Jean had to honk at one and she and Dad were amused at its started reaction.

I didn't see the startled cow, but this is how I think it looked when Jean honked the horn

As Jean sped around twists and turns I finally asked her to slow down and watch out for cows. She did, but also said the worst thing that would happen was that we would bump into one, so I stopped worrying so much. Ellie was terrified of them though. She kept saying, “Let’s get out of here, please,” really nervously. As she tried to fall asleep on the couch (it was, like, 9:15, by the way), we kept going over cattle gates and stopping so suddenly that I was surprised she ever fell asleep.

We searched for a place to spend the night and found nothing. So we decided we’d just spend the night at the Canyonlands visitor center. I had a great sleep, and I think Ellie did too, because in the morning she asked me where we were.

Friday, April 14th, we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. When we drove up to the park early that morning, Dad was surprised to see that the sand dunes were white. He said they were supposed to be brownish. As we got closer, we realized they were covered with snow!

The dunes were covered with fresh snow

I groaned when I realized I’d have to get on all my snow gear. As I reluctantly got on my snow gear, I glanced out the window and spied a pretty little bluebird. It looked just like my little Acoma! They both had a tiny bit of black on their wings and their beaks were short, black, and pointy. Look at my older post about Acoma to compare.

Isn't he adorable?

Wednesday, April 13, Dad’s friend, David, took us to go see his friend, John’s, farm. When we first got there, David was going to take us to see John’s goats. David looked for the goats out in the field but didn’t see them. We didn’t even bother to look in the goat’s pen, which is where they were. I was fascinated by the goats. There were ten goats; all female except one. All the females were pregnant and we saw them right in the season when the baby goats were being born. I really wanted to see one give birth. And I REALLY wanted to see a newborn baby goat. I sat there and watched the goats and there was one pregnant one was laying on the ground right next to me. The biggest goat, which was also a pregnant female, really seemed to think she was in charge. She butted one goat out of the way so she could be closest to the people. But the goat laying on the ground was still the closest to us. The big goat wasn’t okay with that. So she put her head down and butted her out of the way too. Now she was in front.

You may be be thinking that this big goat is mean and like a goat-bully, but really, she just wanted a lot of attention. Actually, she was very sweet; once she was in front, she put her front hooves on the fence and stuck her nose out. When I petted her nose, she didn’t move a muscle, and she just stood there and let me pet her.

When John decided it was time to take the goats out for water, (which was a tiny bit strange because there was already a lot of water in their pen, even though I understand that John would want his goats to have some freedom ), I didn’t want them to leave. I was excited when John said, “Would you guys like to take the goats out with me? I could use some help.” He opened the gate, Dad told us to step back because if we didn’t, the goats would be too scared to come out. My sisters and I stepped back a little and they filed out of the pen, the biggest one in the lead, of course, and the little trotting of the goats was beautiful. Once they made it out into the field, John used a stick to herd them through a hole in the gate, big enough for humans to climb through and goats to easily hop through. The goats seemed to know the way down to the river. I wasn’t surprised when John said, “Follow the goats!” We followed them out to the river and we left the goats alone while John told us stories about dog attacks and how one of John’s goats, Raisin, was killed. It was so sad but I was glad that the other goats survived.

We had such a great time at John’s farm, and now, we have one burning question for David and John: Have the goats had their babies yet?

I enjoyed John’s goats so much that I decided, when I grow up, I’m going to get some goats for myself!

Ellie drew this picture of John in his covered wagon with his mules

Tuesday, April 12, we went to Bandelier National Monument.

I usually complain when I hear that we have to get up and go. And today was one of these days–until I walked inside the visitor center.

First of all, the park ranger was really nice. She gave us our Junior Ranger packets. Then she said if we went on a hike, by the time we got back, the visitor center would be closed. So she gave Jean and Dad Ellie, Ana, Greta and my Junior Ranger patches. She said that we had to complete our packets to get the parents to give us our patches. That was kind of annoying because I knew they would make us do extra work. But the park ranger also gave ME Jean and Dad’s patches. They had to do a packet too; it was called a Deputy Rangers packet. So anyway, she gave me the patches so I would get to grade their packets and if they didn’t do it right or didn’t do as many assignments as they were supposed to, they wouldn’t get the patches. Dad said, “You’ve given them to the right person.”, to the park ranger. I was confused so I asked why. He said, “Well, you’ll… make sure we finish the packet!” And then he and the park ranger laughed.

Scaling a ladder to enter a cave dwelling at Bandelier

Inside a cave dwelling. Notice the black ceiling from ancient fires in the cave. You can see the ruins of the Tyuonyi pueblo below.

The park ranger was also very helpful. She gave us suggestions on where to go, where to hike. She suggested hiking up to the Alcove House. The Alcove House is a tiny village in a giant dent in the canyon wall. I had never been up there before and it looked really cool, especially since you got to go inside the hole homes and the big kiva.

Entering the Kiva at Alcove House

A kiva is an underground room with a ladder that went through a hole in the ceiling. Girls and women weren’t allowed; I guess there were special ceremonies or something that the women and girls couldn’t attend. I was lucky to even be able to go in them!

I begged Dad to let us go up to the Alcove House. Three thirty-foot ladders led up to a kiva and three holes in the wall, homes for people long ago. It really looked amazing and I wanted to have the adventure of climbing up such long ladders that led to a great experience. Of course, Dad said we could hike up there; he loves for us to get exercise. We grabbed our waterbottles and got ready to go. We made it up to the Alcove House with a few stops to climb up ladders into holes in the walls which were also homes.

Climbing one of the three big ladders up to the Alcove House

Jean has reached the Alcove House, 140 feet above the valley floor

In the morning, we had a contest: How many flat tires?

The goathead thorns really messed up our bikes. When I pulled a giant thorn out of my bike’s back wheel the night before, I could hear the air poofing out. It was really scary and we weren’t too close to home; my tire was losing air fast.

My Poor Bike

So in the morning, we had the contest. How many flat tires were there really? I guessed seven. Someone, I’m not sure who, said all. In my mind, I had a small panging that they were right. But I also knew that couldn’t be true. So I was confident with my guess. Do you think I was right? What would you guess?

We counted up the wheels that were flat and guess how many there were? Seven! Just as I had guessed! For me, Ana, and Dad, every single tire was flat, plus one of Greta’s. But Ellie’s, Jean’s, and the other one of Greta’s worked great!

So the contest turned out well for me since I won, but not so much for Jean and Dad, who will have to buy all the new tires….

Saturday, April 9, Ellie, Ana, Dad, and I went on a bike ride into Albuquerque city. At least we started to.

When I got on my bike, the wind was so strong that I almost blew over. We went up to the trail and started biking. By the time we made it ten feet, we were all tired and our legs ached like crazy. Each time I peddled, I only made it about half a foot. We were riding right into the wind.
Suddenly a HUGE, and I mean huge, gust of wind hit me. Since I was leading, I got most of it. Most of it was sand, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to pull over to the side and rest. Plus, I couldn’t see anything with all that sand in my eyes. Dad told us to turn around and go back to the RV. The ride back was glorious, though. We could go as fast as we wanted because the wind was pushing us.

I would take a picture to show you how windy and sandy it was, but nothing would show up except blurry sand. Anyway, you’d feel like you have sand in your eyes. Just like me, sadly.

So when we got back, we ate lunch which was turkey and cheese sandwiches and the fruit salad Ellie, Ana and I made. It was pretty small, the fruit salad, which only had apples, bananas, and oranges, but it was still really good.

Well…. I guess our supposed-to-be-fun bike ride turned out to be a fail!

Thursday, April 6, we visited the Sky City Pueblo. The Sky City is the coolest Pueblo I’ve ever seen, and it’s located on the very top of a 374 foot tall mesa. The Acoma people still live in this amazing town today. You might think the Acoma people just live up there part time, only so people can say it’s the oldest continually inhabited city in the USA. But no, people still live there, even a few kids, and I met quite a few men and women selling jewelry and clay pots with beautiful paintings and designs on them. Here’s a picture of an Acoma woman’s amazing pots. She was selling them on the top of the mesa, right outside her house.

Here's the pots. Aren't they beautiful?

Our tour-guide, Gary, who was an awesome tour-guide, by the way, lead us all around Sky City. As we walked around, we stopped at a man’s little sale set-up. Gary said, “Look at his great bluebirds!” And that attracted our attention. Well, I would have looked at them anyway, but these bluebirds were so cute! I stared at the four sizes of bluebirds, the biggest ones, about the size of golfballs, were five dollars, the next size down, four dollars, next size, three, and the smallest, which I thought were the cutest, were two dollars. I kept eyeing the tiny bluebirds and thought about asking Jean if I could get one, and I finally asked. Guess what she said? No. So I asked again. She still said no. Then Ellie said, “Please momma can we get one?” And I said, “Just the little ones? Please, can we each get a little one? There’s four! And they’re only two dollars!” She still said no. But I couldn’t let her say no! They were so cute and I felt bad looking at the man’s artwork without buying anything. During all this, the man was listening and could tell we really loved them. I couldn’t believe what he did next. He picked up the four little bluebirds and handed one to each of us! Oh my gosh, I wanted to give him something in return really bad! He was basically giving us eight dollars! Actually, more! With all the hard work he put into all those adorable birds, I think they were worth at least twelve dollars, at least I think. I didn’t know the man’s name, so I couldn’t name my bluebird that, so I named him after the tribe he came from, the Acoma tribe.

This is Acoma! Isn't he so cute?!

As we finished our tour, Gary gave us a choice:
Take the bus back down
Or walk back down
You might think I’m joking, but I am being completely serious. Look at the pictures in my sisters’ posts to see that I’m not lying.
We made it back to the RV with all six people, my bluebird, Acoma, Ellie, Ana, and Greta’s bluebirds, a bag of four cookies, and six pies!!!
Even though it was rainy, we had a great day at Sky City.

Sunday, April third, we went to camp at the Goosenecks of the San Juan River State Park in Utah. I was excited because I thought we’d actually get a good place to sleep. But boy was I wrong.
When we arrived I was very disappointed at where we were going to stay. It was pretty much a 100 by 50 square foot area of dirt and dust. With a hole in the ground for a toilet.

There was a cliff though, and when I walked out to the edge of the cliff, which had no fence, by the way, the view was amazing. There was a river a thousand feet below winding through the mountain/plateau things. It was so pretty and it looked like the Horseshoe Bend to me.

We didn’t take a picture of it, but the river was winding like this:

View Larger Map

I drew this picture of the canyon:

Looking down at the San Juan River

Ana drew this picture of us looking down on the river:

Ana's drawing of us looking down into the canyon

It’s hard to read the writing, but it says this, from left to right:
“I’m Jean. Ana be careful. It’s amazing.”
“I’m Ana. It’s cool. I see the sand won river.”
“I’m Van. Ana doesn’t it look so cool?”

But the wind was so strong that I felt like I was going to fall off, and I’m not kidding about that. Really. So I went back to the RV.

Well anyway, when we went to bed, I was really tired. I climbed in bed and tried to get some sleep, but the only thing I could think about was the wind that I could hear right through all the closed windows, which sounded like the sound of someone swinging a stick or rope through the air but 10 times louder and felt like 10 men were pushing the RV with all their might from both sides, and to the edge of the cliff. The RV was also only, like, 20 feet from the edge of it.
I finally fell asleep, but only a very light sleep. It was truly horrifying, especially when trying to slow the pulse of your heart.

I was relieved when I felt the RV bumping up and down instead of side to side. My tired brain decided we were driving. I listened closely, waking up more, now, but didn’t open my eyes. When I heard Dad’s voice giving Jean directions on where to go, I was certain we were going to a different campground or at least somewhere less terrifying to sleep. After that I slept great, not waking up a single time more.

When I woke up in the morning and heard the sound of cars driving by, I realized that we were at the side of the road. How pathetic, I thought, but was also happy because I got a good night’s sleep.

Well that’s the story of Gooseneck State Park, the most horrifying place in the world.
( Almost. But anyway, never go there. )

Friday, April first, we woke up and were ready for the the second day in the Grand Canyon. We were in such a hurry to get to the tour that we didn’t notice until we got there that Ana, wearing five of her junior ranger badges, was definitely ready to get her sixth. We all had a great laugh at the way she wore her badges. She looked pretty hilarious.
Check out this picture of Ana and her unorderly pattern of junior ranger badges.

Ana with her Junior Ranger badges

Here is a picture of the awesome Grand Canyon from the amazing view of the rim.

The Grand Canyon from the rim

We headed off to the tour and it started! We walked along the edge of the canyon and the tour guide showed us lots of juniper trees and a yucca cactus. A yucca plant is like a huge ball of spikes with swirly, curly fiber strings. One thing we learned about the yucca is you can use the fiber to make rope, baskets, and sandals. We learned the yucca plant is used in shampoos.

Yucca plant

A juniper tree is a tall, stringy, hairy-barked desert tree with bright green leaves. We learned you can use the bark for a diaper. Here’s a picture so you can see what it looks like.

Juniper Tree