United States Air Force Academy

We spent a couple of fun days here in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Pikes Peak out our front window. The people were so friendly, maybe the most friendly group at this Elks club. Happy hour was 5pm in a nice shady area next to the pool. We are looking forward to seeing our new friends Kay & Jim on the West Coast.

We spent a fun afternoon at the Air Force touring the area open to the public. The Cadet Chapel was amazing. The chapel is 150 feet tall, taking 4 years to build and beautiful inside and out.

It contains a separate chapel for each of the three major religious faiths represented in the Air Force. Betty is standing with a soon to be fighter pilot and Cody the falcon.

Parking here was tight to say the least. This is compared to our parking spot at the Santa Fe, NM Elks. There we had about 2 acres to pick our spot in and no neighbors. Here in Colorado Springs we had electric and water but not much air to breath J. Less than one foot clearance on one side and about 2 feet on the other side. The Alfa "See Ya" coach that is parked next to us came in and the driver said he couldn’t back it into that spot, could someone help him. I got into his coach and slowly backed it into the spot shown. Of course I had an interest in how this big rig was backed in, not wanting the paint or mirrors on my coach removed

Albuquerque NM, Sandia Peak

A nice couple days visit here in Albuquerque with a good parking spot at the Sandia Casino. We had a very good buffet dinner at this beautiful Casino/Golf course. We took a short drive to the Sandia Peak Tramway. They say this is the world’s longest passenger tramway. The ride climbs the mountain for 2.7 miles to an elevation of 1,378 ft. It takes a 14 min. ride to get to the top. All supplies for the restaurant are taken up in the tram. Very interesting information can be found at www.sandiapeak.com. Cost for round trip “flight” as they call it was $15 each for seniors. Well spent dollars. We spent a little over an hour at the top taking in the 11,000 sq mile view.

Holbrook, AZ Petrified Forest and Spirits

Greetings from Holbrook, AZ We parked at the local Elks lodge. At this stop we visit the Petrified National Forest and the Painted Desert along with a stop to take some pictures of some rock art left by a group of people that lived here or passed through at some time in the long ago past. This rock art looks like a giant bird trying to eat a small person. Was this a historical record or story or...
We, had a fish dinner with the local Elks members, some good conversation and got a “hot tip” to be sure to visit the haunted court house in town. We did visit the court house but didn’t see any spirits floating around. They say only one may was hung here in the 1800’s and he is still hanging around the area.

Camp Verde, AZ Cliff Dwellings

Our campground is one of our favorites. Camp Verde sits on the Verde River. We have been here several times. This time we saw 3 beavers playing in their pond they made by falling trees along the river. We came back with our camera the next day but no luck at finding the beavers again. Here for a couple days then on to Holbrook, AZ.

This stop gave us a return visit to these 3 ancient dwelling sites, 2 of them are cliff dwelling sites. These sites were used by the Southern Sinagua people. All 3 sites are about 30 miles from our campground. As for the pictures, the large cliff dwelling is Montezuma Castle, a 20 room dwelling about 100 ft above the valley, used in the 12^th century.

The picture with the “little” lake is Montezuma Well that was formed by a collapsed underground cavern now fed by springs. A small cliff dwelling can be seen across the lake in the side of the cliff. The area was home to about 150-200 people in the years 1100-1400.

The picture that looks over and down into a bunch of open rooms it Tuzigoot. This overlooks the Verde Valley. 77 rooms some were 2 stories that were home to about 50-200 people 1125 to 1400.