Tag Archives: New Mexico

The Really Big Adventure, part 2

 

  Woof woof! I have become a backseat driver! I started out in the front seat on this trip as usual and ended up in the back. This made me mad at first and I kept trying to sneak back up in the front, but that is hard to do. At first I though it was because of all the helpful suggestions I make when he is driving. I know I do get a bit talkative and pace a little bit so I thought my commentary on his driving got me put there. He said something about it being safer for me than riding in the front seat since I do not have a doggie seat belt. Matt said his truck was too old to take the right kind so the back seat is now mine, well at least half of it is. I think I finally am used to it, but I did not like it at first. Woof, I do have to admit this was after I was not ready for the bump in the road and my head hit the front window and made the crack longer.

Me and my human!!
Me and my human!!

  Since we left my friend Francie’s house (she is my human’s cousin) we have camped and gone to so many places. Texas is a big place and we have been to two other states after that. My human said we were in it long before we stayed at Francie’s house. In Texas we saw places where wires ran all over in crazy patterns and huge machines that look like they were big birds drinking water, but there was no water there. We hiked on sandy beaches where I could not see or smell water. Then we came to a place called New Mexico, another place that is a lot different from where I live, we found an even bigger beach with no water there. Another had pictures and drawings on the rocks. Matt said they were done a long, long time ago. Not like the painted things you see in the cities. He said these were done long before he was born! We walked along these rocks for what seemed forever while he looked and photographed them.

Then we stayed in a place called Cliff and there were a lot of cliffs there. We stayed for a few days visiting with my human’s friends. We went on hikes every day and I even had to walk on a strange path where you could see below you. Matt said it was a cat walk, but I did not see any cats. They must be special to have their own walk. I wonder if they are okay with all that noisy water rushing below them. I bothered me. I know that water is dangerous and we were way above it I was scary but Matt helped me. I even got to swim in a gentle creek, there was a lot of fast water at other places, but my new friends knew where to go for the best swimming.

I love water, this is in Gila Monsterville!
I love water, this is in Gila Monsterville!

Woof! I was hoping to catch up to where we are now, but I have waited too long to write, I have been so busy. I think I will stop here and continue in the next blog entry. I will let you know we are in another state with a green desert.

Guess where I am!!!
Guess where I am!!!

Woof, bye for now,

 

 

Our Great Side Trip

For those that have just joined us on Jackson’s blog I am adding this note. We are on a month-long road trip visiting the desert canyons in the American west. I enjoy traveling, but I always regret my best buddy can’t go on a lot of my adventures. This is one of two we have planned this year centered around Jackson joining in on the grand adventure. Jackson is going to be doing all of the blog posts. We will be posting our photographs on our Facebook pages (and a few here also!)
– Matt

Woof, woof! So far it has been a great trip but I got bored of all the driving and put my paw down! Too much driving and no fun and I could tell my human was getting tried. I saw him looking at all the big brown signs and saying he would like to go there and finally I told him to go to one. He said we were still in New Mexico and had a ways to go so I thought doing something different would be good. All I have been doing on the trip is taking videos with my camera mounted on the dash of the truck and I wanted to do some real picture taking and hiking, ruff!

On the road to the cliff dwellings.
On the road to the cliff dwellings.

Well  Matt decided to go to a place where people lived up in the cliffs a long, long time ago. He said they left the area way back in the 12th century, now I have no idea what a century is, but it must be a long time! They lived in these big caves and built houses with rocks. He told me it was the Gila Cliff dwellings. Woof, I got to explore a little one on a smaller trail, my human said that trail is called “Trail to the. Past” We also saw some of the  writings of humans that lived there a long time ago, called pictographs (my human told me that word!)

This one looks about the right size for me!
This one looks about the right size for me!
Petroglyph
Petroglyph

After our visit to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, we drove back on the curving windy road, then all the way to a city called Phoenix where my human met some of his pack and visited for a day. He stayed at his aunt’s (who was very kind and nice to me) and saw a lot of cousins. He also also met an internet friend for the first time, woof! I had a good time.

Today we will be driving again, but not the hundreds and hundreds of miles we have been. Matt said we have gone more than 2,700 miles in five days, ruff and he told me I have been in seven new states. I had to get him to remind me what a state was so he tried to make me understand what they are. I’m still not sure but he said there had boundaries like dogs have their territories. Ruff maybe by the end of the trip I will understand fully. Woof, but back to where we are going. My human said we will be going to a place called Sedona and after that the Grand Canyon!

Woof, woof! I can wait to see those and write about them. I’ll be back here soon to report, ruff!