K and J Travels

Day 13: Colorado Again

2007-12-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

After Teton, we drove across the whole state of Wyoming in the dark and into the Colorado Rockies north of Denver and Estes Park. We'd covered the southwestern portion of Colorado on our way up to Utah, so the way home was dedicated to traveling down the central axis or spine of Colorado to the southeastern border at Trinidad.

We woke at a Rockies campground to 19 degrees Farenheit/-7 Celsius and snow.

Day 12 - Part 3: The Hidden Best of Teton

2007-12-26T11:57:00.001-06:00

The end of Day 12 brought us yet another surprise in this journey of wonderful surprises. As usual, one of us was more impatient to get to the next place, but Kain - with his impeccable sense of finding beauty - took us around one more hidden bend in the road that gave us one of the most special hours in our whole trip and definitely the most beautiful pictures. Many of them are now hanging on the walls of our house as a daily reminder that,

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself!"

There was an inn at Teton with a campground and boat launch, but it was all closed for the season. Kain decided to explore the road down to the boat launch. We're really grateful he did. Following are photos of the sun lowering over the lake to sunset. May they bring a touch of grandeur, serenity and the bigness of possibilities in life. Enjoy without captions since words are not enough to capture this experience...We were doing a lot of work in these moments connecting on behalf of all of our friends, families, co-workers, kingdoms of nature, earth and some other places at similar latitude/longitude to share the experience of that time in its very moment.

Look closely, and you will see a Wyoming moose -
the first either of us had ever seen in the wild.

Over the sky,
under the water,
into the core,
out to the edges,
we live and work and have our being as one.
Quietness
and the silence of the center
reign supreme
as the symphony of life
beats in the still places,
water's light slap on a floating dock
as the last rays of light
touch the blue ice.

- J. Wayne, 12/26/2007

Day 12 - Part 2: On to the Towering Tetons

2007-12-26T11:07:00.000-06:00

After our beautiful morning in Idaho and a pit stop at the most Western diner you can imagine, we headed with excitement to Wyoming and the famous Teton National Park.

Welcome to Wyoming: Crossing the border

between Idaho and Wyoming

Wyoming vista not long after crossing border from Idaho

Wyoming autumn colors southwest of Teton

Typical small Wyoming town in Star Valley
(a valley the size of Rhode Island)

Cattle on Main Street!

Real cowboys and cowgirls. Yep, that's a

cowgirl in the back in the blue shirt.

The main street through Jackson, Wyoming

Elk reserve in Jackson, Wyoming. This was
the boys field. We don't know where the girls were.

On the way in to the west entry to Teton National Park

Grand Teton Mountain (over 13,4oo feet/4084 meters)

Closer short of Grand Teton cluster

In front of the famous Grand Teton and Snake River

Happy and relaxed (and cold!) in front of Tetons

As the sun was heading down, we headed to a lake on the map. Unfortunately, most of the Park had officially closed for the winter just days before we arrived, so there were very few places we could visit.

Day 12 - Part 1: Idaho

2007-11-23T12:33:00.000-06:00

Day 12 brought us to one of our happiest unplanned detours of the trip, beautiful Bear Lake State Park, Idaho - a lake area known for its teal waters due to the limestone geology of the area. We were able to take many stunning pictures in this special place as the sun rose.

It was quite a saga getting here. It was very late when we got to the area, and there weren't any other campgrounds or towns around that we could find. We followed signs for the camp area, which was supposedly 11 miles down the dark road. After driving 12 miles, we figured we took a wrong turn and drove all the way back to a different branch in the road. After 4 miles - and back again - on that dirt road, we went back to the small main road where we started. Kain was determined to try again, so we went BACK down the original 11-mile stretch. Turns out we had stopped less than half a mile short the first time! We went around one more turn, and there it was. Cranky as some of us were by the time we found it, the next morning proved that it was worth the extra persistence.

Bear Lake definitely expands one's sense of beauty. It is a timeless, very Western place - quiet and still and full of subtle light and color. I'm not sure there's anyplace else quite like it except for maybe Mongolia. We hope you enjoy this special place as much as we did...

Sun rising around 7 am

Bear Lake reveals herself; we arrived at night as usual so we didn't know what to expect!

Gentle early-morning light

Play of light and shadow as the sun rises

Beach in Idaho???!!! Who knew?

Greeting the morning

A sense of scale; that's tiny JW in the foreground on the beach.

Kain rested and revitalized

Morning sun with marsh grasses

Idaho autumn colors

For VW

A little more Western autumn color

Wish you could hear the wind in these grasses; you'll have to imagine it!

For Gustav Samak; he would have loved it here.

Day 11: Park City, Utah to Idaho

2007-11-23T12:24:00.000-06:00

Day 11 was our departure day after a happy visit to Utah. Thank you, Noelia, Martha and Yasmine!

We headed up to Park City - land of the Winter Olympics, apparently excellent skiing, Robert Redford and Sundance Institute - for a hot chocolate at the end of the day. After studying the map and discovering how close we were to Idaho, we unexpectedly added Idaho to our itinerary, and decided to camp at Bear Lake State Park that night. If you are ever in Park City, stop at the cybercafe there and try their Hot Malt drink.

Dusk in Park City

Days 5-11: Salt Lake City, Utah

2007-11-23T12:07:00.000-06:00

Our Lovely Salt Lake Hosts, Martha, Noelia and Yasmine

Day 5 found us in Salt Lake City, Utah for our seminars, 7 Life Cycles and Wisdom Martial Arts. We were able to do a little siteseeing before settling in to work!

Salt Lake City Vista

Typical Salt Lake Neighborhood

Downtown Salt Lake City

Kain working us hard in martial arts class

A well-deserved meal after 4 hours of martial arts!

Leaving Salt Lake City

Day 4: Arches National Park, Utah

2007-11-04T23:39:00.001-06:00

Day 4 - our last day to our destination of Salt Lake City - finds us in the indescribable Arches National Park, where the stunning landscape is matched only by all the wonderful, friendly people we meet...fellow nature-lovers amazed that more people don't know about this magical place that seems outside time and modern life. We agree that this is on the "100 Places You Must See in Your Life" list. We'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...Nowhere have we seen such magnificence in nature, from the color combinations to the textures to the absolute silence.

ARCHES SUNRISE

OUR ARCHES CAMPSITE JUST AFTER SUNRISE

BEAUTIFUL PINKISH-GOLD MORNING LIGHT

MOON OVER SKYLIGHT ARCH

RADIANT SUN & JW

MARTIAL ARTS IN SKYLINE ARCH

AT ONE WITH THE ROCK

FAMOUS DELICATE ARCH (IN THE BACKGROUND)

DOUBLE ARCHES

SUBTLE GREENS OF THE DESERT:
How many different greens can you find?

IN FRONT OF BALANCED ROCK

THE LOOMING ROCK WALL KNOWN AS "PARK AVENUE"

CANYON SENTINALS GUARDING THE VALLEY ENTRYWAY

A BABY BIGHORN SHEEP ON OUR WAY OUT OF THE PARK

It's on to Salt Lake City after an unforgettable day in Arches National Park.

Day 3: Colorado - Utah

2007-11-04T23:06:00.000-06:00

Day 3 finds us awaking to the splendor of the Colorado Rockies after a surprisingly temperate night camping at Ridgway State Park, one of the few parks still open in Colorado since it's past camping season.

(Double-click on the arrow above to play a video!)

After making some Mexican hot chocolate on the camp stove from Kain's mom and enjoying drawing in our journals for a couple of hours, it's on to Telluride to ride the ski gondola, which we hear is open for free during the off season when there is no snow yet for skiing.

To our great disappointment, the gondola is not running! It's the two-week period when everything closes down so Telluride can take its own vacation between camping season and ski season. It gives us a good reason to come back.

It turns out that Nicola Tesla conducted his AC/DC electricity experiments here in these high and remote mountains. You can see why: The air is so crisp and dry, it almost seems electric itself.

From Rockies landscape replete with snow, dark pines and bone white aspens, we experience a dramatic and sudden shift to wide open, high meadow, desert borderland in Cortez, Colorado just before the Utah border. We catch the beautiful sunset, but don't have time to visit the famed Anasazi cliff dwellings close by. Another reason to come back!

We cross the border in the dark, and head to Arches National Park in Moab for our last night of camping before arriving in Salt Lake City to teach our seminars. We don't know what we'll find in the morning because it so dark and silent, but we see the shadows of enormous cliffs looming overhead through our sunroof and have the sense that the scene will be spectacular. We are lucky to find a camp spot since it's literally the last day of reserved camping in a very small campground. The campground ends up being in "Devil's Garden", a spot recommended by a friend of my mother's. We didn't plan to end up here; it just happened that way! Another instance of happenstance seeming to lead us where we were supposed to be, just like the day of following in Georgia O'Keeffe's footsteps.

Let's see what tomorrow will bring...

Day 2: Colorado Surprise!

2007-11-04T22:46:00.001-06:00

As we pass over the border from New Mexico into Colorado in the mountains, we stop by the side of the road and experience the most profound night sky we have ever seen. It is so dark and silent with such a density of stars that the Milky Way actually looks like a cloud and you can see the curve of the Milky Way Galaxy - a first for both of us. As we are admiring the view by peering our heads out the sun roof, the universe delivers a lovely show with a shooting star crossing the sky. We tried to take pictures, but it was too dark, so you will just have to let our words give you the experience in your imagination! :-)

As we continue on the mountain road, we come to our first town over the Colorado border, Pagosa Springs at 9:30 pm. What a surprise! We didn't know there were actual springs in Pagosa Springs, and better yet, there are resorts with outdoor spring baths still open until 10:30 pm! What luck...The showers at the New Mexico campground had surprised us by already being closed for the season, so we were feeling a little ripe. We never knew we'd get to dip in natural outdoor hot springs AND get to shower afterwards! The best part was going from the 106-degree springs into the adjacent freezing cold river (as cold as the 19-degree dip in Slovenia for those who were there!) and back again.

A truely recommended stop for anyone traveling in southwestern Colorado...

THE SPRINGS RESORT, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

TAKING THE WATERS: Reputed to have healing properties to rival Carlsbad, Germany, a place I think my Hungarian grandparents used to go for vacations during their youth.

After the lovely dip, we head up the spectacular and treacherous mountain road heading north from Durango. We have never seen such high and rugged mountains - even higher than Cuenca, Ecuador - at 13,ooo+ feet. We round a corner to the literally breathtaking Twilight Peak. There are no words to describe how overwhelmingly huge and powerful they were - covered in snow glowing in the moonlight. The universe answered our appreciation again with a huge electric violet-white shooting star that passed right in front of us and left a trail of light all the way across our range of vision from left to right arcing over the spectacular dark pine and snow-covered Twilight Peak. Again, you will have to use your imagination; our camera was unable to catch the moment.

At 4 am, we arrive at Ridgway State Park to camp for our second night in Ridgway, Colorado. Arriving again in the pitch dark to a preternaturally quiet scene, we await what vistas the morning will bring...

Day 2: Santa Fe, Abiqui, Ghost Ranch

2007-11-04T22:17:00.000-06:00

In the Land of Georgia O'Keeffe

Afternoon finds us heading to Santa Fe and an unexpected dream come true. We found the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, where they were showing Georgia O'Keeffe's own works. Pictures of her work do not portray the power, energy and vibrancy of her vision. We are so blown away by the exhibit, we forget to take pictures of Santa Fe! ...But at least we got a picture of the Rio Grande along the way and the road close to the city.

As the sun gets low, we race out of Santa Fe because we discover that Abiqui, the village where Georgia O'Keeffe sometimes lived, was on the road we were planning to take up to Colorado. To our complete delight and surprise, exploring on little dirt roads in Abiqui, we stumble upon an unmarked, very famous site for anyone who knows the artwork of G.O.

Georgia O'Keeffe felt that singing was the most perfect form of human expression and said that since she couldn't sing, she painted instead. She also didn't prefer words and was always surprised when people tried to put her paintings into words.

Abstraction: For G.O.

You preferred color over words,

color the most perfected form.

But did you know your paintings sing?

Life unto song.

JW, 10.29.2007

Now with very little light left, we continue north to Colorado. To our even greater surprise and delight, we find Georgia O'Keeffe's homestead, Ghost Ranch, on the way and have just the last breaths of light left to see the vistas of her chosen sanctuary. Her "muse" for most of her painting life was the Pedernal about which she said,

"God told me that if I painted Pedernal enough,
he would give it to me."

PEDERNAL AT TWILIGHT AS SEEN FROM GHOST RANCH

LAST LIGHT AT GHOST RANCH: CLIFF OVER THE RANCH HOUSE

And now, it's on to Colorado...

Day 2: New Mexico - Taos

2007-11-04T21:46:00.000-06:00

Morning in New Mexico:

Morning found us cold and loving it! A valley surrounded by mountains, temperatures in the 30s, not another soul in sight and beautiful big blue birds with iridescent blue, green and violet tails.

After packing up -
and warming up! -
we head to Taos,
encountering beautiful
mountain roads of
streams and pines
dotted with birches.

Rounding a corner in the mountains finds us in the open vistas of the high meadows outside Taos.

As we came into Taos, we discovered a lovely resort and spa - El Monte Sagrado ("Sacred Mountain") and had an excellent breakfast.

Day 1: Setting Out from Texas

2007-11-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

Leaving for Utah:

We left Texas at 3:10 am Sunday, October 29 with the aim of camping near Palo Duro Canyon, TX.

We reached Palo Duro - the second deepest canyon in the US - at about 5 pm and stayed till sunset. We didn't feel like stopping, so we pushed through the night and drove all the way into New Mexico.

We arrived at Coyote Creek State Park, New Mexico at about 1:30 am Mountain Time with no idea what things would look like in the morning since it was so dark...