Here you go, Nickie. Now get over to Valle, Arizona and enjoy it.
I wanted to stay longer at the gas station/trading post/casino and enjoy Nickie's parking space, but I kept moving.
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| Almost as good as stealing a parking space. |
A friend told me this is A Duck. NOW I see it!
A fat, happy duck. What a lucky duck! I wonder if she gets tired of the show.
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| The Watchtower. |
A Mary Colter building at Desert View. This is near the eastern edge of the park, near the border of the Navajo nation.
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| Navajo Nation |
Having your picture taken under the bell is reported to bring good luck. I don't need no stinkin' luck! But, I don't turn it down, either.
I've been thinking of a name for the New Mexico cabin. Like Cold Comfort Farm, or Tara. I wonder if Ms. Colter would object to me borrowing this name. It feels right. I could go ahead and do it, and if she minds she'll let me know.
I wasn't crazy about the idea of driving back down 64/180 in the dark, but it was that or sleeping on 64/180 with the elk. I saw two carcasses in broad daylight that reminded me to stay alert. They had been killed by elk. [SOUTH RIM-SHOT!]
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| Mather Point |
There's a thing that should have a name. You're nervously driving at night on a lonely, two-lane, elk-strewn highway. The speed limit is 65 mph, but no way in Elk you're going to do 65.
You get behind someone else who is not going to do 65, and he has his brights on, managing the occasional oncoming car and large ungulate. It feels comfy. Reassuring. He's doing the heavy-lifting of holding up impatient elk-proof traffic, and you just draft behind him. Someone comes up behind you, you shrug. I'd go WAY faster than this, but that guy! Everyone gives you a pass when they pass.
That was the guy behind me for the last 50 miles. Hat tip, Dude, for at least keeping your brights off. It was fun getting to know you. I was happy to realize that when I made Elk Impact, there would be another human who knew about it. And an elk. I think we bonded a little.
33 comments:
SQUAWK! I see the Sacred Raven has made another appearance. This really was your lucky day. :)
Love the pics and copy. You are indeed a great writer if you ever need another way to make a living. Oh, and next time, take a burro to the bottom. You will learn more new words.
Aw, thank you, Jan! Maybe I should have a way to make a living! Once I head down the canyon, I'm riding my ass to the bottom no matter how you look at it.
Brenda, that Sacred Raven is a slut. She sat a beak's distance from every fool who got off the bus. Once they dispersed, she sat still for this one, too.
Wonderful photos today! Especially the photo of the Raven!
Thank you, Nan! That Raven was a ham.
I, too, like having a pace car in wildlife-abundant areas.
Vehicular deflection! THAT'S what we should call it. Yes, I felt like a pace car. Like a cow (elk) catcher.
Love love love the Watch Tower.Love Mary Elizabeth Colter. Love your pictures. But no elk after all that elkin talk??
I did experience elk! It wasn't in a collision, either; it was in a turn-on-my-flashers-and-stop-in-the-road-to-chat way.
Hey, I was told that the hotel in Winslow was a Colter building. Or did I make that up?
La Posada. Someone smart told me. Then Wikipedia told me again.
It's got to be good luck to stand under that bell... it would be bad luck only if it fell on you ;-) Beautiful photos... and... no snow yet!
You're half right. La Posada is a Colter building but someone smart didn't tell you, I did. :-)
Colter was a genius at design. I think she'd be honored for you to use her name. Elk and dark, a very bad combination.
I loved the South Rim and I hear the North is even more fantastic. Maybe I will make it back there someday. You don't look all that cold, when I was there it was late Oct and it snowed.
Jo, the North Rim is a different world. Excellent. Great boondocking outside the park, too.
She really was. Amazing features. And, yes. I suspect the elk hate it, too.
HA Pam!
No snow yet, Sharon. I have a feeling it's almost ... here.
Cold Comfort Farm - funny, funny movie! I thought I was the only person on the planet who remembered it!
Cold Comfort Farm - funny, funny movie! I thought I was the only person on the planet who remembered it!
It's a move?!? I only read the book, but I see it streams from Netflix so I'm going to watch it. Thanks!
Fabulous photography.
Thanks, Contessa!
All right then! You owe me a quarter for parking in my space if you were in that space more than one hour. If your time in my parking space was less, decrease the fee accordingly. OK? Sheesh, how big a sign do I need to post to keep people like you - who stand under a bell that could drop on her head at ANY moment - from trespassing? BTW, did you know your hat kinda resembles the bell above your hat? Or do you resemble that remark?
PS: Ain't that canyon grand?
Nickie, you may need to hang a bell over your parking space. Make it very clear that it could fall on someone's head. I mean, I only stayed twelve minutes - fifteen, tops - but ne'er-do-wells could easily come and park there for upwards of 22 minutes.
Hat/bell ... that would explain the ringing in my ears!
We are silly, and that's good. (I really don't mind sharing my parking space since I'm not there to use it. But if I was there... watch out!)
Did you take the raven pic or did you lift it? :) Great shot in BW. I would call the raven "Dude."
Lift?? Hmmph! I'll accept the compliment, though; I try not to add the watermark if it isn't mine, but "accidents" do happen.
"Dude the Raven." It has a "ring" to it, like my hat.
great information this is article I hope much people likes..good job
What a stunningly beautiful place.
Agreed, Bill.
Quoth the Raven, nevermore!
You can feel free to lift the name. Lots of places have done so. Not exactly a rare place name down there in the desert. You could translate it to Spanish to make it sound really olde.
It just doesn't flow in Spanish. Boo.
Hey, where the duck are you?
Hey Chinle - I'm in Flag through Thanksgiving. Staying indoors! Ooh la la.
Cool! I'm camping but the snow melted, at least. But after T Day, I'll be in a house for a month or so.Hot showers, here I come!
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