The Trip in a Nutshell

So there it is - the whole story of our gradual move from Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Hope, Alaska. Here are the statistics:

Transportation:

Amsterdam to Brussels by train
Brussels to JFK Airport in New York by air
New York to Denver, Colorado by air
Denver to Los Angeles, California by car
Los Angeles to Brussels by air - Brussels to Amsterdam and back by train - Brussels to London to Los Angeles by air (Sheri’s trip back to Amsterdam to apply for Dutch citizenship)
Los Angeles to Hope, Alaska by car

Total car miles traveled: 7,155 (= 11,448 km)

Starting date: April 1
Arrival in Hope: May 27

U.S. states visited (10): New York, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (see photo of our route map in the photos web log)

Canadian provinces and territories visited (3): Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory

National Parks visited: Great Sand Dunes (Colorado), Petrified Forest (Arizona), Zion and Bryce (Utah), Yellowstone (Wyoming), Banff and Jasper (Alberta, Canada) and Skagway National Historic Park (Alaska).

Car problems: Rear oxygen sensor in Denver, catalytic converter in Great Falls, Montana, alternator near Dease Lake, British Columbia, and a flat tire also in Dease Lake.

Exchange rate: $1 US = $1.255 Canadian = .797 Euro

Most expensive gasoline: Barstow, California ($2.779 per gallon) although it might have been even more expensive in Los Angeles or San Diego.

Dawson City, Yukon Territory: $1.155 Canadian per liter = $.92 US per liter OR $3.48 US per gallon!!! (1 gallon = 3.78 liters)

Animal sightings: 11 black bears!!! (including one mom and her cub), 3 moose, numerous elk and bison in Yellowstone, bald eagles, lots of deer (mule and white-tail), many longhorn sheep (very close) in Jasper, and almost as many squirrels as mosquitoes.

Highlights:

The Fairyland Loop Trail in Bryce National Park (see photos)

The black bear sightings, especially of the bear sitting at the edge of the lake that allowed us to watch him for a while.

Happy hour at the Embassy Suites in Denver.

Running down the sand dunes at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and not being able to stop running or laughing.

The Jeep ride in Sedona – doing dangerous near-vertical drops with Lance as our very capable driver.

The undiscovered (by other tourists) Beauty Creek hike along an amazing gorge with loads of waterfalls in Jasper.

Many of the Canadians we met and, especially, the ones running the Beez Kneez hostel in Whitehorse.

Driving in British Columbia….It is incredible to realize that we already driven all the way to Montana and because BC is so large, we were still only half way to Alaska.

Finally getting here!

But most importantly, the time spent with friends and family along the way!

Lowlights:

Hangovers from the happy hours at the Embassy Suites in Denver.

Waiting for our alternator to be delivered to Dease Lake and doing manual labor to reduce our motel bill.

The number of visitors at Banff National Park and since many of the alpine hikes were still snow-covered, everyone sharing the same day hikes.

Loud, drunken teenagers at the Jasper National Park campground

Glacier National Park road closure

The weather and the mosquitoes that greeted us in Alaska

Thanks for reading. We will update the log now and then over the summer as exciting things happen or when we have too much time on our hands. Sheri starts her season as a guide for Adventure Alaska (see www.adventurealaskatours.com) on the 22^nd of June and Michiel will soon be cleaning cabins, acting as nanny for Todd and Barb’s 3-year old son, and doing work around our cabin in order to reduce the rent.

Happy Summer!

HOPE!!!

After a short visit with a fellow guide and friend, Kathleen, at the Elementary School where she works and a stop at the grocery store in Anchorage to stock up on supplies for the Memorial Day weekend, we made our way down the usually stunning Seward Highway. On this day, however, it was raining horizontally but there were still some very hearty people out dip-netting for hooligan, a type of small, school fish. The bald eagles were eager to get their claws on the fishies, as well.

It’s great to be in our new home – reunited with all of the wonderful people here who have heard about our arrival (in a town of 180 residents, news travels quickly and easily). We were especially happy to see Todd and Barb, Sheri’s bosses and our good friends who helped set up our current living situation in the guest cabin of one of Hope’s residents.

We spent the first full day here moving into our new home and trying to devise clever ways to manage the fact that we have no running water or bathroom. For now, the answer is that we are using the home-owner’s guest bathroom and a 5-gallon bucket (more popularly known around here as a “honey bucket”) for the middle of the night calls of nature. A more sophisticated solution will come later.

We also looked through the mail that had been accumulating for us and were shocked and surprised to see that Michiel had already received his permanent resident card (green card). He is legally allowed to live and work in the U.S. until April 2007, at which time, we have to demonstrate that we are still married.

Crossing the border into Alaska (again!)

From Dawson to Alaska, one drives over the Top of the World Highway, an aptly named drive along a ridge with sweeping views of lots of spruce trees and mountains in the distance. The border crossing at Poker Creek is a wonderfully low-key affair with a very mom-like border agent who welcomed us “home” and told us to “drive carefully!”

We naturally stopped at the giant “Welcome to Alaska” sign for the obligatory photo for Michiel’s REAL entry into the interior of the great state.
We also HAD to stop in Chicken for a peek into the saloon (complete with baseball hats and women’s underwear hanging from the ceiling). Chicken is a town of about 15 year-round residents and some hard-core gold miners. The town started up when gold was discovered in the area. The residents wanted to call the town “Ptarmigan” after the state bird of Alaska (a sort of grouse), but they couldn’t spell it. Apparently, like many other things, ptarmigan tastes “just like chicken”.

For the first time on our entire trip, the weather turned really ugly (is this some kind of bad omen?) and we drove into Tok (pronounced “toke”) in a cold downpour.

After a night at a newly renovated motel with a rip-roaring drunk manager (after 4 times of trying to run the credit card through the machine backwards and upside-down, Sheri patiently tried to explain that it’s the brown strip that contains the information for the machine to read – not the numbers imprinted on the card!), we continued down the Tok Cut-off Road to the Glenn Highway (two-lane, paved roads – quite a treat after the miles of unpaved roadway.

We ended our journey at the homestead of our friends, Don and Tina, who run an outdoor adventure tour company. They have built themselves a lovely cabin, outhouse, greenhouse, and hot tub, and are now busy with a big storage barn. We enjoyed great company (including several of the guides who work for them), good food, a soothing soak in the hot tub and an incredibly comfortable sleep in a giant tent equipped with real beds! What luxury!

In the footsteps of the gold-seekers

When gold was discovered in the Klondike (the name given to the whole area in Alaska AND the Yukon Territory of Canada where gold was unearthed in great quantities starting in 1896), thousands of people from around the world anxiously made their way to port cities like Skagway and Dyea (in Alaska) to start their climb northwards. That is, they had to carry 2,000 pounds (about 750 kilos) of equipment and supplies (mandated by the Canadian Mounted Police, who had put themselves in place to manage the mad-house and prevent death) over the mountains and then build a boat that would take them the rest of the way to Dawson City, the city that served as the supply base and stopping off point for prospectors.

These days, you can drive or take the scenic White Pass Railroad (which was completed 2 years after the big gold rush started) up to Dawson with your supplies and equipment. It’s a long drive, which we did in about 12 hours, but when you compare it to what those hearty souls did in 1898; we were in the lap of luxury.

Dawson is a fantastic place – dirt roads, restored gold-rush era buildings (lots of saloons!) and lovely setting along the mighty Yukon River and, on the day we were there, warm sun and blue skies. In fact, the sky was so clear, that Michiel got to experience his first true midnight sun. Driving into town at 8:00 pm, the sun was still so high in the sky that it felt more like 3:00 pm in the afternoon and at 11:30 pm, there was still plenty of ambient light. Of course, we haven’t even had the longest day of the year, yet.

We spent the evening enjoying excellent hospitality, good food and drink (Yukon Jack, a whiskey-based liqueur) and chatting with the new “Captain” in charge of the Sour Toe Cocktail. (This is a tale that Sheri has told before, so rather than repeat it here, we’ll refer you to the following website: http://www.donreddick.com/tr_27.html )

Skagway

Alaska is one of the few places in the world where in order to reach some of its towns by road, you have to enter through another country. We had already entered Hyder, Alaska by way of Stewart, BC and, in fact, once you get to Hyder, you can't get anywhere else in Alaska by road - it's a dead end. Given this strange circumstance, it seems quite ridiculous to have to go through immigration check points (American and Canadian).

To get to Skagway, you head south from the Alaska Highway, passing through the Yukon and BC and facing very strict Homeland Security questioning at the US/Canadian border. From Skagway, the only way to continue is by ferry boat, which can take you and your vehicle to other Alaskan towns, to towns in British Columbia or all the way to Washington State.

We left Whitehorse in miserable gray and cold weather and as we approached the high pass of the coastal range mountains, the skies cleared and we dropped down to sea level at Skagway under a gorgeous blue sky.

Skagway has been completely restored as a National Historic District to faithfully re-create the look and feel of a gold rush town (even the crowds of people coming off the ever-present cruise ships faithfully re-create the throngs of gold-seekers waiting to make their way over the pass and northwards.) Even the narrow-gauge train (The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway) that was built to ease the burden of getting to the gold in 1900 is still operating and full of tourists .

After looking around a bit, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the fantastic scenery to take a hike up to an alpine lake. The hike was brutal - steep and unrelenting and we weren't able to achieve our final destination at the lake, but we did get incredible views of the surrounding mountains and had a good time trekking in the snow.

Free Museum Day in Whitehorse

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory, population 24,000. It sits on the Yukon River and developed, as much of the Yukon towns did, during the gold rush of 1898 as a supply base to the gold fields to the north.

On the way into town, we finally got some decent radio reception and we learned that because of the national holiday, Victoria Day, all museums would be free on the day of our arrival. With that enticement, we spent some time enjoying the Beringia Museum, which highlights the ancient history of the region when it was connected (with Alaska) to Russia. The museum has skeletons of all sorts of now-extinct beasts like mammoths, giant beavers and mega-sloths. More interesting; however, was the transportation museum, which gave excellent description, photos, and re-creations of all of the means of transport up to the gold fields.

At Whitehorse, one has the choice of heading west along the Alaska Highway into the interior of Alaska, south to Skagway, Alaska (at the head of the famous Inside Passage, where the cruise ships sail) or north to the Klondike, the infamous gold mining area. After seeing the xcellent exhibits in the museum about the gold-seekers making their way north from Skagway, we decided to head south for a side trip.

The Alaska Highway

Our first stop was Watson Lake, home of the Signpost Forest. This roadside attraction is a collection of 54,000 license plates, stolen town signs, home-made wooden signs, and bumper stickers from travelers from all over the world. The idea was created by a homesick, young army soldier who was working on the Alaska Highway in 1942. He put up a sign showing the distance from Watson Lake to his home town in Illinois. Over the years, people traveling the highway have added their own signs. It is a pretty amazing sight and we were pretty bummed out that we hadn’t brought anything from Amsterdam.

Dease Lake

Dease Lake is a little town on the Cassiar. Nothing much to do there. After getting some gas and groceries we swiftly continued because we wanted to get to Whitehorse before the night. Some 20 miles out of Dease Lake the car started acting funny; the cd player went off and on and all the meters (speedometer and tachometer) fell to zero while braking. Very scary. After checking all fuses we decided that we would continue onwards. We didn’t get very far because the car decided to give up. Being virtually in the middle of the road we were very happy that 2 friendly Alaskans were willing to help us get back to Dease Lake. They figured that our alternator stopped working and our battery was depleted. They jump-started us 4 times in total - each time was good for 9 or 10 miles. Later that evening we bought them dessert as they were having dinner in the same restaurant as us.

We found a mechanic who asserted that indeed the alternator was dead and had to be replaced. Since his personal collection of junked cars, trucks,tractors and piles of spare parts didn’t include anything that was foreign-made, we would have to wait three days before a new one could be brought on the delivery truck from Terrace. At the Northway Motor Inn where we had checked in, we told them that, unfortunately, we needed to stay for 2 more nights, which would be a lot of money on top of the car repair costs. Sheri came up with the unexpected proposal of cleaning rooms and doing chores around the motel to lower our room rate. They found the proposal a bit strange but agreed to give us a kitchenette room (with stove, fridge, and microwave) for $20 per night less than the regular rate and free use of the laundry room in exchange for 14 hours of manual labor.

With nothing much to do in town and a choice of 3 television stations, we figured that it was a pretty good arrangement. To add to our excitement, on Thursday morning, we discovered that one of the tires was flat. The timing was actually very good, because we were able to drive the car to a shop (well, junk-yard/waterdelivery/wrecking service/auto repair“facility”) where they put a patch on the tire so that we would be ready to hit the road when our new alternator finally arrived. When it did, we said goodbye to Dease Lake and finally completed the last153 miles/246 kilometers of theCassiar (sadly, without seeing any more bears).

Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska

Along the Cassiar, we saw 7 black bears (including a mom and cub…see photos) and lots of incredible scenery featuring snow-covered peaks, emerald-green lakes and a few small communities. We decided to take a short side road to the mining town of Stewart. Stewart is reached by a 60 km road passing very closely to Bear Glacier and the gorgeous coastal mountain range that separates Canada and Alaska. (Note: Canadians use the metric system and use their own currency (complete with pictures of the Queen of England) which makes comparing prices to American products and services quite tricky.)

Stewart is the northernmost ice-free port in Canada and there is lots of interest in the proposals to create a rail line to connect to a large container port. At this point, however, the town is quiet and charming. People here were talkative and seemed to be in no hurry to get on with whatever is was that they had to do. We spent quite a while talking to a guy who prided himself on knowing the names of all the famous Dutch skaters. Aside from his statement about Canadian athletes, (“They are less competitive than American athletes; theyjust want to make a personal best in World competitions rather than win.”) he had plenty to say about local politics and the elections that took place on the17th of May.

From Stewart, it’s a 3 km drive to Hyder, Alaska, a run-down town of about 100 people that explodes with tourists in July and August as the grizzlies return to the local Fish Creek to feast on spawning salmon. We went to the bearviewing area even though we knew it was too early in the year to see bears and, lo and behold! Sitting along a sidecreek, was a black bear seemingly just woken up from his hibernation and just taking its time to look around. Including the next black bear that we saw crossing the gravel road on the way to view another glacier, we saw 9 black bears in three days! A new record!

British Columbia (BC)

Jeez, this province is huge! We crossed over into BC after we left Jasper National Park on the Yellowhead Highway. This two-lane highway just seems to go on forever. Coupled with the fact that we just bought a power converter to connect the laptop to the cigarette lighter of the car we have ample opportunity to write for our weblog. We passed lake after lake as well as rivers (notably, the Fraser), streams and creeks, fields full of dandelions in bloom, and freshly leafed-out (beautiful fresh green) aspens and birch interspersed with spruce trees. Along the road, we spotted several moose, a black bear, and a large cat-like critter, not to mention the enormous ravens that are common in these parts. The llamas and ostriches we saw along the way were probably not indigenous.

From the Yellowhead Highway (16), we turned north onto the Cassiar Highway (37), a 450-mile (724 km) mostly paved road that was originally built for logging and mining. These days, with the Liberals in office in BC Government, mining and logging are back in full swing and the road is in excellent shape for the big “rigs”carrying logs or ore.

Banff and Jasper National Parks

Sheri had always wanted to see Banff, but now that we were there it was a little bit disappointing. (We realize that we both have already seen so many beautiful places on earth that we run the risk ofbecoming blasé. We try not to be.) Part of our disappointment came from the fact that we were early in the season and the trails to alpine areas were still snow-covered and thus closed. The park was also rather crowded considering the fact that the summer season hadn’t really started yet.

Jasper National Park has wider valleys than Banff, with nicer views and it also felt much less crowded. Jasper is famous for its very large icefields and its glaciers. Together the parks form a thin strip of land that divides the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Right through the heart of it runs a (scenic)highway with lots of viewpoints, campgrounds and hiking trails. During our stay we saw Bighorn sheep (many posing very nicely for us close to the car), moose, elk and mule deer. We did lots of day hikes that brought us to canyons and waterfalls and through forests.

Oh, Canada!

With the Check engine light off (for the time-being), we continued north on Interstate 15 to the border crossing at Sweet Grass. These days, US/Canadian border crossings are a bit more involved than in the good ole days, but after showing passports, answering questions about booze, firearms and bear spray (yes, some, no, no ), we were waved on into the flat (my God…so flat) farmlands of Alberta, Canada – an area, by the way, that is home to many Dutch émigrés.

We’re happy to be in Canada. The people are helpful, down-to-earth and friendly (though not overly so), the exchange rate is good and there’s loads of open space. It’s also good to brush up on our rusty French (all governmental signage is in English and French). Additionally, Sheri likes to hear them talk (especially when they say words like “about” which is pronounced like “aboot”.)

The weather was pretty ugly (gray, cool and rainy) until we left Calgary (we passed the ski jumps from the 1988 Olympics…very high!) and the flat plains turned into rolling hills and then into the impressive, snow-covered, jagged peaks of the Canadian Rockies. First stop: Banff National Park.

Montana

Exiting Yellowstone through the northern entrance, we passed a pronghorn antelope and lots of flaaaaat farmlands. We were planning on going to Glacier National Park even though the whole "Going to the Sun Road" (the road that completely traverses the park) wasn't cleared of snow, yet...but Sue (our Subaru) had other ideas.

As for the cause of the "Check Engine" light - the no-nonsense guys at a shop in Great Falls told us that if we were going to Alaska, we shouldn’t worry about our slightly faulty catalytic converter, a part that reduces the pollutants emitted by our auto, since the standards in that state are presumably less than, say California. They suggested that we wait to replace the $600 part until we get settled somewhere where we can shop around. We were stunned by their frankness. They turned off the "Check Engine " light and we decided to bypass Glacier and head directly into Canada.

Yellowstone National Park

After having spent 2 days in Bryce we continued our journey north through Idaho to Yellowstone National Park, which sits in the northwestern corner of Wyoming. Our luck with the weather finally ran out and we had only somber skies and showers. We entered the park from the west entrance (West Yellowstone) which is actually in Montana. Our National Park Pass bought earlier for $50 dollars "saved" us the $20 entrance fee. Within 3 minutes, we saw wildlife - a coyote trotting across the park road. This was quickly followed by several herds of elk (without antlers) and LOADS of bison with their babies (very cute).

Michiel had never seen bison so up close and we were both impressed by their bulk and the noise they make when they devoured grass. Several of the park roads were still closed so we couldn't do the circle we had planned in advance. We headed to the famous Old Faithful geyser, along the way stopping to see all lesser known ones. The landscape seemed like a post-war environment, with dead trees and holes in the ground where the escaping steam mimicked smoke.

Although the thermal pools are incredibly hot, micro-organisms are able to flourish and their presence creates wonderful colors (turquoises, greens, oranges, and yellows). Michiel can't stop himself from taking hundreds of photos of the gurgling springs and vibrant pools. We will try not to post them all. Sadly, we cannot reproduce the smells and sounds, too. (If you want, you can try that yourself by eating beans and eggs...)

After seeing Old Faithful erupt and seeing dozens of other geysers in different states of activity (some bubbling mud pools, violently hissing steam vents which are reminiscent of factories, and of course bubbling and spouting hot water), we drove to the Canyon area of the Park. Here, the Yellowstone River has carved an incredibly deep and colorful canyon, called "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone."

After some failed attempts at longer hikes in the canyon (closed due to snow-cover) and one short walk along the rim, we left the park through the Mammoth Hot Springs area. This area is made up of travertine (kalkafzetting) terraces and mounds created by hot springs which deposit minerals they have dissolved lower in the earth.

Wildlife report: bison, elk, 1 coyote, 1 pronghorn antelope, eagle, trumpeter swans, Canada geese, Mountain bluebirds (what a blue color they have! See professional photo at: http://www.roysephotos.com/MountainBluebird.html

Zion and Bryce National Parks

We left the LA area late on Monday (May 2) afternoon but managed to miss the big rush hour traffic. We didn't quite make it all the way to Zion, as hoped, but did get there by noon on Tuesday.

We found a lovely campsite next to a river (which would become our downfall....flowing river water and small bladders = bad combination) and set out for two short hikes in the Zion Valley (Riverside and Emerald Pools).

On Wednesday morning, we stopped on our way out of the Zion Valley to do an amazing hike which brought us to an overlook of the gorge carved by the Virgin River. If you find yourself with little time and have to set priorities; this hike should be in there. Combined with the scenic drive towards it, it could almost suffice (we were not all that impressed with Zion) The drive from there to Bryce gave us our first glimpses of red rock "hoodoos", the strange pillar formations.

Bryce: Unbelievable, amazing, awesome....words cannot describe the scenery in this park. With a light cover of snow in some areas, dark thunderclouds overhead and moments of bright sun, we saw the formations in all possible lighting. Took our first hike down into the canyon on the Queen's Garden and Horse Trails in late afternoon. Perfect timing - as the skies cleared and the quality of light was beyond compare.

At 8,000 feet above sea level, our campsite was chilly but peaceful.

Thursday, May 5: Bryce Point in the morning and the Fairyland loop hike (8 miles) in the afternoon. Again - remarkable sights and a great (possibly one of the top 10 hikes in the US) trail. Our timing was just right (again), as we just ended the hike when fierce thunder/hail/sleet storms began.

It was sad to have to leave Bryce, but there is only so much beauty your eyes can take in and our time is limited.

Onwards to Yellowstone.

San Diego

Yesterday and today we spent in San Diego. Sheri's uncle Harry and aunt Ellie (Liz's parents) live there and they invited us for Passover. Always nice to see them and also a chance to see some more family. I was very happy to finally meet grandpa Mike. Sheri always speaks very lovingly about her "adopted" grandpa and now I know why.

Coming from a Catholic family it was interesting to experience the Passover dinner and learn a little bit about the rituals.
If you want to learn also: www.holidays.net/passover

We also did a 3 mile hike up Pyle and Cowles Mountains, the highest peaks in San Diego. Good to get some excercise after all that lovely food.

Sedona to LA

The desert is in bloom! After a very wet spring, the desert areas of the Southwest are green and flowering, making what is otherwise a dull drive very interesting. We tried to keep track of all the diffent kind of cacti (saguaro, prickly pear, barrel)and flowering plants (ocotillo, rapeseed, century plants and many, many more!).

Tip to travellers: Go to the southwest and southern California in April. The variety, the colors and the beauty of the vegetation is unbelievable. That said...some of these areas had record-levels of rain this spring and I think that the incredible bounty was a bit unusual.

We were abruptly shaken from our wildflower glee by car-shaking winds. The area around Palm Springs, California is known as a wind tunnel (thus the impressive fields of wind mills (I guess "turbine" would be a more appropriate word for this modern equipment.) We stopped at a rest area and could barely stand up. The wind was whipping so ferociously and the dust was flying. They even had police officers on the highways motioning for people to slow down due to the near "white-out" (it was more beige, but that doesn't sound right...a beige-out) conditions due to blowing sand.

If you're keeping track, that's white-out number 2 for our trip. Whooopppeeee!

Soon we joined the insane traffic of LA...I am not referring to the amount, though it was more than we'd yet seen, but more to the number of trucks and the speed at which everyone was travelling (80 mph/120 kph bumper-to-bumper) and the crazy zig-zagging in and out of traffic that some drivers do. Nonetheless, we made it safely to our haven in Santa Monica.

Albuquerque to Sedona

On the way to Sedona, Arizona, we stopped in the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park for a hike. Most people drive through the park and take short, marked trails through designated areas. The park ranger informed us that we were free to hike down into the "painted desert" area and simply wander. Since we had both seen the Desert from the strategically placed look-out points, this was a great way to experience the colors, textures and sounds of the desert and the petrified wood.

We drove south from Flagstaff, Arizona amongst the pine trees and cool air, through Oak Creek Canyon a bit before sunset. The quality of light reflecting off the red cliffs and the rock itself was amazing. Arriving in Sedona at sunset is something that everyone should experience.

We spent the next two days with friends who work for Pink Jeep Tours. They got us a tour to Native American cliff dwelling ruins and took us out in their own jeep for some awesome, near vertical 4-wheelin' on the red rock of the Broken Arrow trail. Very exciting!

We also did a couple of hikes in this gorgeous area to a natural rock bridge and through formations. We never did manage to feel the energy that the New Age (what do you call these people??? practitioners? believers? wackos?) folks talk about in relation to certain rock formations. They believe that at special "vortices", there is either an up- or a down-flow of energy, which they classify as male or female. The whole idea came about as the "brain-child" of a woman who visited the area about 30 years ago. Apparently, she is now finding vortices all over the US. New Age centers are everywhere and there is no shortage of companies making a buck on the spiritual experience in Sedona. Here's just one example: Sedona New Age Center

Painted desert at the start of the trail.

Northern New Mexico and Albuquerque

We took (yet another)scenic drive through high, snow-covered mountain passes to cross the state border into Chama, New Mexico. Sheri lived in New Mexico for 6 years and had heard much about this area and its historic steam train, so it was lucky that she made a wrong turn and we ended up getting to see it.

Our drive took us past the Rio Grande Gorge and into Taos for a spin around the historic plaza and a visit to the mission church made famous by Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. We tried to do the same in Santa Fe, but Sheri couldn't figure out how to get to the plaza with all the construction....no matter....one New Mexican historic plaza is much the same as the others. We decided to hit Albuquerque's plaza, instead.

We spent the next couple of days in Albuquerque staying with friends, driving around a city that was no longer recognizable to Sheri (so much development and a completely re-done downtown area), and doing a little hike in hip-deep snow (well, hip-deep for Sheri - knee deep for Michiel) on the top of Sandia Crest.

Of course, the trip was made complete by a full New Mexican meal of green chile chicken blue-corn enchilada, posole, sopaipillas and margaritas. Ole!