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A Jaguar rests a moment.
(Photo © Roger Archibald). GET A SENSE OF THE BEAST!
                                                   Click ANIMAL ADVENTURES, above.
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This site is designed to help you
let your imagination fly. It will introduce you
to some unusual travel books. These books do
not suggest the best hotels or restaurants,
but they do lay out the territory where you
might be able to find one interesting adventure
and link up with some of the finest travel
companies on the planet. So dream a lot,
plan a little. Then go. Enjoy!

Freedom!  Rejoicing in the Grand Canyon.  (Photo © Jim Kruger)
    
                                              TRAVEL!
   Look at it this way: at the end of the Middle Ages when the deadly Black Plague was popping up all over Europe, and everyone knew about it from rumor (the scariest source), people nevertheless went on pilgrimages to holy places. Some went to expiate sins and pray for better times, but others went simply to escape the dreary humdrum of everyday life.

Fast forward to the latest statistics from the Travel Industry of America: Despite the economic turmoil, rollercoaster gasoline prices, threats of epidemics and terrorism, a mere 9 percent of those polled chose a "staycation."  Most said they were planning to trim the frills off their vacations and travel nearer to home.  Twenty-five percent said they believed travel was their "birthright."

Fortunately, the United States is big (it offers two or three climate zones). In addition to some great ocean beaches, it has some mighty rivers and lakes, plus ancient ruins, astonishing natural wonders, Native Americans, cowboys, world-class museums, and an amazing mingling of different cultures in cities deliciously expressed in great little restaurants.
No one to bother you: camping on the edge of the river that you will ride again tomorrow. Most rivers in the Southwest cut dramatically through canyons like these in Utah on the Colorado River. (Photo © Regas Chefas)

TAKE THE RIVER ROUTE
Some rivers in the West have Class VI rapids, but you don't have to be an expert river runner to maneuver the rapids on the Green River in Utah, which cuts through Desperate Canyon, a magnificent swath of rock with all the colors of the southwest from pale orange to deep purple.

Wild horses graze and gaze down from the grassy plains dozens of feet above the river. It was here that Butch Cassidy holed up when the Law was hunting him down. Way before him, Fremont Indians drew figures on the rock, mysterious designs which are as puzzling and interesting as those in French or Spanish caves.

You and your family (age 5 and above) are invited to spend 4 or 5 days on the Green River riding the gentle rapids, stopping to take short hikes off the river to see old abandoned houses and hideouts, and find rock drawings.  At night, you choose a sandy beach to set up your tents. Cook a hearty meal, then sleep like babes.

Western River Expeditions provides an oarboat with an expert guide, but you can take time to try the rapids in an inflatable kayak, if you wish.  June and July, 4 days, about $1,000 (kids to 16: $800); 5 days, about $1,200 (kids to 15, about $900).
Please see www.westernriver.com/trips/green/

Newspaper Rock, a collection of pictographs on a popular site in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. (Photo © Diane Garcia)

                           FOUR CORNERS

Here, literally, corners of four states -- Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico --  lie over what were cities, villages, and trading routes of the Anasazi who lived in the American Southwest from about 900 to 1,300, and disappeared before Columbus was born.  No one knows what they called themselves -- later Navajo people called them Anasazi, which means "not our people"; but they left legends of cities of gold that invading Spanish soldiers died trying to find.

An excellent place  to probe the past and learn more about the ANASAZI is Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado, about an hour and a half south of Denver.  Here, you can join archaeologists in ongoing digs, work in the lab reconstructing pots or identifying artifacts, or take a cultural tour of the area through breathtaking mesa-land with expert guides. 

At Crow Canyon, you share sleeping quarters in Navajo-style hogons -- spacious octagonal cabins; eat hearty ranch food in the main house, which is also where you can hear lectures, watch dvds, or just sit on the long porch in a rocking chair and take in the mountain air. 

Crow Canyon sponsors programs for adults, young adults, and kids.  Prices are reasonable. Please see www.crowcanyon.org.

HOPI Villages, located atop mesas, have been traditionally off-limits to tourists. In September 2009, the Hopi tribe in Arizona will open the Moenkopi Legacy Inn, the first hotel ever built on Hopi tribal land.
Visitors occupying some of the 100 Hopi-designed rooms will have access to Hopi tourguides who will offer walking tours of the area, including Dewa Park, locus of more than 10,000 petroglyphs.  Please seewww.experiencehopi.com.


                                       

Acoma Village is still occupied by several year-round residents, and provides the public square for annual festivals. (Photo © Roger Archibald)

                        ACOMA VILLAGE

New Mexico is known as The Land of Enchantment and with good reason.  Vast stretches of breathtaking landscape, ringed with snow-capped mountains, are broken by massive mesas that rise out of the desert like battleships.

On one of these sandstone mesas, 367 feet above the ground, sits the oldest continuously occupied village in North America, Acoma Village, settled around 1,100.  Invading Spaniards in 1540 remarked on its sturdy two- and three-story buildings, and thought it was one of the fabled seven cities of gold.

Despite steady winds, intense heat, snowstorms, and occasional savage electrical storms, remnants of some of the original buildings exist. With its narrow uneven streets, Acoma feels like a village in the Greek Isles or the French Pyrenees. Artisans come out of their houses to sell their exquisite pottery and jewelry; or offer apple turnovers to hungry tourists.

A local guide meets visitors at the Sky City Cultural Center, a beautifully appointed complex with a museum, gift shop, cafeteria, and continuous history running in the DVD room.  Visitors pay about $20 for the hour-and-a-quarter tour that begins on the mesa after a short shuttle ride to the top.

Please see sccc.acomaskycity.org.



Getting them in the pen is the hard part. (Photo © Roger Archibald)

                       HORSES AND COWBOYS
It might have been novels about cowboys that were made into movies when film was in its infancy in this country that made cowboys a national icon. The good thing is that cowboys still exist: they still round up herds of cattle, brand them, and keep the stables clean, their horses looking spiffy, and their saddles soaped. From sunup to sundown, cowboys work hard.

For a genuine taste of the American West, you can spend a week on a roundup. Double E Ranch in Gila, New Mexico, a working ranch that breeds horses and cattle, welcomes serious riders who are in very good physical shape and able to ride at all gaits over rocky terrain for 6 to 8 hours a day.

 Part of the chores after the roundup are to clean out the stables and feed the horses. You'll put in long hours, but the  food you eat will never again taste as good, and you will go home a different person. One roundup week is left in this year:  September 27 to October 3.  Please see: www.doubleeranch.com/roundups.html.

On the other hand, if easy rides through the wooded Gila National Forest on gentle horses born and bred at Double E are more your style, you are welcome to bring your family and stay a week at the ranch. While you improve your horsemanship, you will be able to explore Anasazi ruins and old silver mines.

The mood at the ranch is very relaxed.  Double E offers a variety of programs for beginners  and seasoned riders, as well as Cowgirl camps and guided rides to ruins and wildlife. One week, including everything and your choice of cabin, is about $1,600. Please see www.doubleeranch.com

 
 View from Toroweap Point on the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon. (Photo © Nick Schlax).

                      THE GRAND CANYON
northern Arizona's wonder of the natural world, offers a
naturally overwhelming experience.  Finding out the best way to get your mind around it is challenging: start with the Omni film in the visitor center. Then choose to fly over it in a helicopter, raft the Colorado River, hike, or ride a mule down Bright Angel Trail (www.grandcanyonlodges.com/mule-trips-716.html).

At the bottom of the canyon live the Havasupai who have been there for 700 years, and meeting them gives a great dimension to the experience.

 With MountainTravelSobek you can hike for 5-days and spend  3 nights camping on the Havasupai Reservation in the Canyon. Expert guides will fill you in on local history and legends, and introduce you to the medicinal plants that grow there. Plus, they will explain the geology of the place as well as some controversies about its formation. About $2,200, with kids from 12 to 15 at a $200 discount. Please see: www.mtsobek.com/cgi-bin/trip.py?tripID=HGC.

For information on the Grand Canyon, please see www.nps.gov/grca/