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The Dolores Diaries
  • Eliana Kille
Oct – Nov 2017

The Dolores Diaries

A 35-day adventure by Eliana Read more
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  • Trip start
    October 25, 2017
    Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Big Hole National Battlefield

    October 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 7 °C

    Farewell Big Hole. You've been an amazing home to me for the last few months. I've met so many amazing people and have learned so much. I will cherish the experiences I've had here.

    The Nez Perce people have a tragic but important story that not enough people know about. If you want to learn more visit the Twitter page @BigHoleNPS because I nailed it this summer.Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Yellowstone day 1

    October 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 -3 °C

    So we made it to Yellowstone last night and camped at Mammoth. It seemed fitting that my road trip filled with National Parks started here. However, my car was having issues starting this morning. Some nice young guys from Massachusetts tried to give us a jump but that didn't work either. We had to be towed to the nearest town where it started right up for the mechanics and couldn't find anything wrong. So hopefully it was just a weird fluke and won't happen again. First real day of road tripping and a car problem already. Hopefully we just got it out of the way and it'll be smooth sailing from here on out.

    After that whole debacle, we went to the Mammoth hotsprings boardwalk and saw some cool geothermal features. It's really pretty here.

    After out little walk it was getting dark so we tried to find a campsite but wouldn't you know it they're closed for the winter. So we ended up driving into a national forest in Idaho. At least I get to check another state off my list!

    More adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Day 2 in Yellowstone

    October 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Last night was very cold. Got down to 20*. Thankfully my toes warmed up pretty quickly but there was a good amount of frost on our tent and snow on the trails. The day started off with a bunch of bison walking in front of my car. Always a good way to start the day, with 20 boofaloo. We went to the Grand prismatic (crazy beautiful colors but it was so cold this morning we mostly just saw steam) , old faithful (I got misted on by a geyser!), and then took a nice hike that overlooked Yellowstone lake (snow!). Pretty great day. We drove into Cody Wyoming where we are camped at Buffalo Bill State Park. It is gorgeous here. The sunset was incredible. I put my face in the water. What more could you ask for in a day?

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Devils tower/ Dead presidents

    October 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    After a 6 hour drive, we went to devil's tower national monument. That's a dope rock. It's 867ft tall! Someome climbed it in 18min! Also it's really crazy looking. Makes sense why it was in that one sci Fi movie. They know it was created by lava flows but aren't sure exactly how. The streaks are where the lava hardened and cracked. Most of the rocks cracked in hexagons because thats nature's strongest shape! Then it was a 2 hr drive to Mount Rushmore. It's smaller than I thought it would be. I remember learning about it when I was little and was excited to go. But Samantha Lynn Larson spoiled it for me by saying that it's located in the black hills of South Dakota, sacred Sioux land. Which our ancestors kicked them off of and then pretty soon after built a shrine to our favorite white people. An interesting symbol of patriotism. Other than that it's pretty cool?

    More adventures tomorrow.    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Wind cave/ Badlands

    October 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 8 °C

    After a night at Custer State Park (Custer ugh), we made the short drive to Wind Cave NP. Unfortunately cave tours don't happen on weekends anymore. But the cool thing about the park is that it's also home to cool things above ground too. We took a nice hike around and saw a million prarie dogs. Then it was off to the Badlands. So many really old rocks. The visitors center talked a lot about all the different kinds of life that used to live here millions of years ago when it was a much different environment. Fossils! We went on a bunch of little hikes where we scrambled up rocks and climbed ladders to get pretty views. It's so windy! Had to stake out tent down really well. We'll see how it holds up over night.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Minuteman Missle / Pipestone

    October 31, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ -5 °C

    From the badands yesterday morning we took the very short drive to Minuteman Missle NHS. That place was really interesting. It was one site where a whole bunch of missles were located during the cold war. The guy working the front desk was a former captain for one of the crews that were stationed underground in charge of firing the missles when called upon. He wasn't really that old either. It was not long ago when children were still duck and covering. Crazy. The visitors center is really well put together. They have lots of music and sounds going that make you feel that fear and tension people on both sides must have felt back in the day. Then we made a 5 ish hour drive to Pipestone NM. Pipestone was a protected area that was established via treaty with the Sioux in the mid 1800s. They have special red rocks there that are really sacred to the Sioux and other tribes and are used to make pipes. The visitors center is filled with beautiful pipes and other things made from this stone. It was really really cold and windy and snowy so we didn't walk around much but it was still a nice place.

    More adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Effigy Mounds

    November 1, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    It was 5 hours drive to Effigy Mounds NM from Pipestone. Pretty uneventful drive. The monument is located on the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. There are mounds there in different shapes. Some are round, some linear, others bear shaped. They know some native Americans made them for ceremonial purposes something like 600 years ago I think. They aren't sure exactly who made them or exactly why but they have found lots of artifacts including human bone, thought to be the people who didn't survive until the annual mound building. It was a really nice place to hike. It's very much fall and there were a bunch of scenic spots that overlooked the Mississippi. Cool place. Then we camped at a near by state park where we made a fire and roasted hotdogs and drank some beer. I kept forgetting it was Halloween but I'm sure we'll buy a bunch of discounted candy soon.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Chicagoooo

    November 2, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Yesterday we left Iowa and drove through a lot of Wisconsin where we bought too much cheese. You have to though right? Then we called up my Great Aunt Peggy who lives in Chicago who was more than happy to let us stay with them. We said we would take Peggy and Ray out to dinner but she said that wasn't necessary and then called back 5 minutes​ later to ask if we wanted chicken or pork. Very sweet lady. Super talkative. And so Brady in the way that she's always the perfect host. Forcing us to eat food and take things. She French braided my hair which she was really excited about because her granddaughters don't like it so much. She and Ray argued a bit about what we should see while we're in the city and how to get there. After a much needed shower and sleep in a real bed, Peggy dropped us off this morning at the L train and we headed downtown. I think we nailed Chicago. We saw Sears tower ( which is now called Willis tower) and the bean (which is called cloud gate), the Picasso sculpture, Birmingham fountain, the public library, lake Michigan, and walked around the downtown area. We had deep dish pizza at a place Ray suggested (delicious). It's a really nice city. I could stay here and look and shops and museums for days. Super shout out again to Peggy and Ray who have been so kind letting us stay with them, feeding us, and for their cheery hospitality. Made my experience in Chicago all the better.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Indiana Dunes / Cuyahoga Valley / Pitts!

    November 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 13 °C

    After leaving Chicago (Peggy gave is so much food!), We headed to Indiana Dunes. A vote just passed unanimously in the House to get it promoted from national lakeshore to national Park and the people working there are super excited. Let's hope the Senate does the same. It was beautiful there. I kept forgetting it's a lake and not the ocean. Apparently there are actual seasons on the east coast. So many pretty trees. That was a recurring theme so today too. Cuyahoga valley had so many nice trees! So many colors! We did lots of hiking and then hit the road again and headed to First Ladies Library. Which I didn't love. It felt like it was supposed to be feminist but wasn't as much as one would have hoped. But now we're at Fiz's place in Pittsburgh for a few days. After months of not seeing her it's been so great to have her around.

    More adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    PITTSBURGHHHHHH

    November 9, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    I had such a nice time spending so much time with Fiz. It was a little gross and rainy so we spent most of the time inside which was fine by me and a needed break from a long trip. We watched all of The Good Place. Pretty good show. Fun and interesting. I did some cuddling with a cat. Pretty great. We realized a while ago that we weren't going to have a real thanksgiving this year for various reasons so we decided to do a really early one together. We made several trips to grocery stores and bought hella food. We invited Miriam, Fiz's sister, and Justin, Miriam's boyfriend. Us girls spent all day cooking and made a rediculous amount of food. TWO TURKEYS!!!! It was a great time. We had a lot of wine and far too much food and enjoyed each other's company. I had a really great time in Pittsburgh and I'm sad that I have to leave now. I'm also sad that my grandpa had a stroke. On fake thanksgiving no less. He's doing fine. He's talking and can move his appendages so that's a good sign. Scary stuff. Get well soon Papa.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Antietam/ Harper's Ferry/Shenandoah

    November 9, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    I left Pittsburgh pretty early to get a jump on the day. The original plan was to go straight to Harper's ferry but I kept seeing signs for Antietam Battlefield and realized I was only 5 miles away. So of course I went. Hell yeah spontaneous road trips. The bloodiest battle in American history. 23,000 dead in 12 hours. That's crazy. Their movie was really interesting. Narrated by James Earl Jones. Then I continued to Harper's ferry which was much cooler and more interesting than I thought it would be. It's a really old tiny Town in West Virginia with 200 years of really important history. From the slave trade to Lewis and Clark to the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. There is so much to see and learn but I wanted go get to camping before dark and it was starting to rain just a little. So I chose to focus on John Brown. That's where he led the raids that jump started the Civil War. His fort was renovated in 1910. Really interesting place. I could have spent days there learning about US history. Then I drove another 2 ish hours to a campsite in Shenandoah. I saw a tiny black bear cub!!!!! cross the road just in front of me. I looked around for the momma but didn't see her. It seemed weird to me that there was a bear that small this time of year. Shouldn't that happen during the spring so that the bear is big enough now to survive hibernation? I'mma do some googling tomorrow. But anyway. It's a little bit rainy. Thankfully we've avoided rain this far and it's not supossed to rain tomorrow. Hopefully it'll just continue to be misty tonight and not hit too hard. I was in 4 states and 3 national parks today!

    Sorry these all posted way late. I had no service for a while.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler
    1

    Shenandoah part 2

    November 10, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    I got an early start to the day and got right to hiking. I decided I should do several small hikes instead of one long one so that I could see more of the park. I started with a nice easy 2 mile hike in the morning. Then I went to a short trail. It wasn't so much a hike as a mile long rock scramble. It was so much fun. There wasn't a real trail, it was just a bunch of boulders on the mountain you climbed up until you reached the top where there was a magnificent panoramic view of Fall in Virginia. It was so much fun. Rock scrambling is the best. It wasn't that far but it was exhausting. Nevertheless I persisted. I went on another hike that ended up being much longer than I anticipated because I got a little lost. Their trail signs are terrible and inconsistent. But it was a nice hike that went down to a waterfall. I put my face in it. That hike was pretty strenuous. My legs ached after all the scrambling. Then I drove a couple hours down the blue ridge parkway. It's so pretty. I'm loving this whole fall thing. I mean the leaves change colors in Cali but not like this. As I was driving down the sun started to set and it was just gorgeous. Them colors.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Booker T Washington/Andrew Johnson

    November 12, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    I woke up super early, before any visitor centers were open, so I took myself out to breakfast in a tiny Town in Virginia. It's weird dining alone. The wait staff is always extra friendly and attentive. Good food, way cheaper than Cali. Then I tried to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway vc but it was closed for the season. It was the 3rd one I saw that was closed already. So then I went to Booker T Washington National Monument. It was pretty cool. I knew nothing about who he was. The park was the plantation where he was born and enslaved until he was 8 and finally freed. Then he taught himself to read, went to schools, taught, advised presidents. Cool guy. Then I drove through Roanoke VA. I figured it's a pretty big town I should drive/walk around downtown. I instead ran into a giant parade. I forgot it was veterans day. So all of the downtown area was closed off and there was no parking. Seemed like it was ending so I just got back on the freeway. Such a big parade though. Old cars and tiny boys dressed like their grandpas. Seemed like a pretty cool city. Andrew Johnson wasn't as cool a dude as Booker. He bought Alaska and didn't get removed from office (which he shouldn't​ have been). So that's good but he was president during much of the Indian wars, veteoed the Civil Rights Act, and didn't get much done. To be fair it was a super rough time to lead a still very divided country. Anyway, not my favorite place. From there I went through Gatlinburg​ TN and into the Great Smoky mountains. I settled into my campsite and made a fire (for the first time ever by myself!). Then I hung out and read my book in front of a nice toasty fire. Pretty sprinkles.

    More adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Great Smokies part 1

    November 12, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    I was driving around in this beautiful place and pulled over at a hiking spot. It said it was 1.75 miles round-trip. I thought great, pretty short first hike let's do it. At first it was steep but manageable. Then I turned a corner and looked at 400 steps. Grueling is how I would describe it. It should really be called "the stair master" just so people know what they're getting into. It was one of those hikes where people who are coming down cheer you on and tell you how close you're getting. It didn't help that my legs were still sore. It was a really pretty view at the top though. After that I was tired but decided to go on the second hike anyway. It was a fairly long 6ish mile loop along a river. Pretty pretty walk. It's still very much fall. I'm pooped.

    More adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Great Smokies part 2

    November 13, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    I drove into the North Carolina part of the park today. Super pretty drive. I talked to the ranger to see what hikes she recommends and she might be the nicest person I've ever met. She was super sweet and told me all my options to which I said "great that's perfect" she said "yes it is. Today is going to be a great day." She was right. It was so nice out all day. I did the first hike she recommended which was really nice. This place is gorgeous. Then I went to do the second hike place. She said to go half way up the mountain and there will be a great blue. But these are the great smokies so it was so densly fogged you couldn't see anything. And then I talked to some people coming down from the summit and they said it was definitely worth it. So I kept trucking on. They were right. The view from up there was spectacular. I'm glad I did it but by the time I got back I had walked 14 miles, much of it up hill. My feet hurt so bad when I got back to the car. My body will not feel good tomorrow. People on this trip have been so nice. From the super cheery lady at the cheese shop in Wisconsin to Peggy being an awesome host to everyone saying hello when you pass them on the trail. A lady today said "hi there! Have a nice hike!" In a way that made me think she genuinely really wanted me to have a good time. Anyway I am so exhausted and achy I'm about to pass out so early.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Nashville

    November 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I'm in a hip swanky sandwich shop in downtown Nashville right now and they're playing 9 to 5. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
    I walked by the CMT headquarters. Seriously considered walking in and demanding they pay Connie whatever it takes to get her back. If there's one show that I think could bring a character back from the dead and I'd be super ok with it it's Nashville. It'd have to be crazy and ridiculous but I think I could brainstorm a way to make it happen. I'm open to suggestions. The Bluebird cafe is real! I went there! I just saw outside and peeked in. It is very small. I don't think the inside is what they use for the show. They're only open 5-10 and you need a reservation because they fill up super fast. But it was still cool that it's a real place.
    I walked into the country music Hall of Fame. Such a cool building. I couldn't afford to actually go in and I don't care that much about country music anyway. (though I did find 2 country songs I kind of like this summer, thanks Thibam). That building has great acoustics, there was a guy playing the guitar in the lobby. Turns out every bar in downtown Nashville has live music. I sat in a couple and listened for a while.
    Then I went to my hotel and took a shower. There's nothing better than a nice hot shower after a week of camping and hiking. Excited to sleep in a bed tonight. Ryan's friend Andrew moved here for grad school and invited me to a taco night he was having. His friends are really nice. Andrew is a great host and the best dancer. So I had a nice talk with him and now I'm back in my hotel.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Memphis

    November 16, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    I went to the Grand Ole Opry in the morning. It's a cool building but they weren't giving tours. Then I went to Graceland to Graceland to Memphis Tennessee! Well I didn't actually go to Graceland but I did explore Memphis a lot and that song was stuck in my head the whole time. I got a really really good pork sandwich from Central BBQ and then walked around town all day. I tried to go to Mud Island as per Peggy's suggestion but it was closed for the season. So I walked about and walked up and down Beale St. I got a local beer at BB Kings bar place and then went to a grizzlies game. So much cheaper than the dubs! Unfortunately Mike Conley wasn't playing due to injury. It was a pretty boring game, they were losing by 11 all game until the 4th quarter when it got exciting. Marc Gasol had an open 3 at the buzzer to push it to overtime but he missed. It was fun though. More live music at all the bars downtown. Nice place. Good day.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Hot Springs/ Dallas

    November 17, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Yesterday I drove into hot springs national park in Arkansas. I did not enjoy it. It was basically just a row of really old bath houses that were naturally heated. There were no bathable hot springs. They were way too hot. But you could pay a lot of money to take a soak at one of the other bath houses. Basically it's just where old rich white people in like the 20s went to socialize and cleanse. So I didn't stay there long. I went to my campsite and fell asleep really early. This morning I drove into Dallas. I waited in line for an hour for the best rated bbq. Worth it. That brisket was so good. Then I drove a lot more until I got too tired and am now about to nap at a rest stop. I've been driving for some 11 hours today, nearly the entirety of Texas east to west. By far the least interesting day this far but also so delicious.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Carlsbad caverns/ Guadalupe Mountains

    November 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Yesterday I went to Carlsbad Caverns NP. Probably my favorite cave to date. It's so big and open. I went on an audio tour which I greatly enjoyed. It was so well done. The stops were relevant and interesting. Good interpretation. The first tour I've enjoyed since interp training. But the cave itself is really cool. It had all sorts of decorations like cave popcorn and bacon and stuff. But the lighting was also really cool. They wanted to light the path but for it to still feel cavernous and not be too light as to encourage animals to come in. So they hired a Broadway lighting expert person. It's a cool cave.
    Then I camped in blm land and in the morning made the 1/2hr drive to Guadalupe mountains. I summited Guadalupe peak which was a rough 9 mile hike but I made it. It was really gorgeous up there. It's literally a desert so there were so many cool cacti and things. And thankfully it wasn't too hot. Then I went back to the blm land where coyotes were howling all night. Pretty cool couple of days.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Chiricahua/Tucson

    November 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Chiricahua national monument is really cool. I don't remember googling it and wasn't expecting much but it was truly spectacular. So many gorgeous vistas and hoodoos for days. I really dig it. I could have spent days there. Their visitor center was terrible but their nature trail picked up the slack. That place is sprinkles. Then I headed to Tucson where I got an oil change and met up with my great uncle Bob. He's a Franciscan Friar who lives at the Mission San Xavior de Bak in southern Tucson on a reservation. He gave me the VIP tour of the really pretty and really old building. The friars fed me dinner and then let me stay in a little apartment in the mission for free. They were super nice and friendly. Bob took me on a drive around the city and we went to the top of a nice mountain. In the morning I watched one of the friars feed hundreds of doves and then we went to an art gallery dedicated to Ted DeGrazia. The artist is a big deal in Tucson. He's known for capturing the SW in his oil paintings. Many thanks to Bob for being a gracious host.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Saguaro

    November 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    I was really confused when people said that to me today. I keep forgetting. In my mind Thanksgiving​ happened like 3 weeks ago. There's a decent amount of people here. More than I expected for a holiday. It's their on season though because it's way too hot to come during the summer. It was 90 today! That's too hot. No clouds and little shade. I got up early and beat the sun. Hiked 8 miles before it got too too warm. Then I did a few smaller hikes before heading back to camp. It's a really beautiful place. Mountains and cacti. They're​ so much bigger than I thought. They can grow up to 40'. I heard some really interesting birds. No idea what they are. Gotta bone up on my bird calls. But yeah now I'm back at my tent celebrating the holiday by heating up an Indian food packet. Pretty great day.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Casa Grande/ Lost Dutchman

    November 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    This morning I made the short drive to Casa Grande National Monument. The movie and vc were really well done. The tour was not. Curse you Rebekah! I can't enjoy tours anymore. It was just an old volunteer guy sputtering facts. No purpose, no engagement and there were a bunch of kids bored out of their minds. As was I. I was brainstorming themes for him as he was blathering on. Anyhoo the great house itself was pretty cool. It's 4 stories tall and 700 years old. And great horned owls nest at the top! The people's who built it were really interesting. No one knows what they called themselves or why they built this giant building. But they farmed in the middle of the desert by making this giant irrigation system. There was no hiking there so I drove you Lost Dutchman State Park and did a short but steep hike. Itbwas really pretty there. I'm a big fan of the cacti/ mountain landscape. I'm not a fan of the crazy heat. 85 today. Too hot. So I got nice and sweaty and then drove into Tonto National Forest to find a place to camp and possibly another shortish hike when it cooled off a little. Turns out there's an awesome lake. So I took a dip. It felt so good. It's been a long time since I've swum (swam?). There was that one time Sam and I floated in circles in the Salmon but I don't think that counts. Anyway I went out to the bouys which conjured up all sorts of memories of camping at lake Mendocino every year in my youth. I floated around and enjoyed the refreshing water for a good while. Then I sat on the shore and bird watched until my butt went numb. So many coots. A really fun spontaneous day!

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Tonto/Montezuma Castle

    November 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    This morning I went to Tonto national monument. The tour for the upper ruins tour was booked unfortunately. This is why people plan ahead. The lower area was still really cool though. They let you actually walk into the ruins! There was a really friendly volunteer lady that I chit chatted with a bit. It was cool. You could see fingerprints from the original builders. Like casa grande, the place was several stories and built 700 ish years ago and then the people just disappeared. Then I went to yet another ruin at Montezuma Castle NM. There were roughly a million people there. It also had the exact same story. All brilliantly constructed in coves faced so the sun hits the perfectly in the mornings. Then I drove to Dead Horse Ranch state park and did some hiking. Now I'm sitting in front of a campfire. It's been great. Going to another cave dwelling tomorrow.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    Tuzigoot/Arcosanti

    November 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    I woke up with the sun this morning and went on a nice sunrise hike. It was about 6 miles and pretty uneventful though I did listen to a podcast about cricket farming and now I want to try it. Eating crickets is the way of the future. Anyway then I went to Tuzigoot NM which was yet another ruin. This one was cool because it was a Pueblo on a hill and not a cliff dwelling. It's really well preserved and they fixed up the top part so that you can go in it and stand at the look out area. It's huge. 110 rooms in all. Again it's the same story. We don't really know who these people were, they built it roughly 700 years ago and then kind of disappeared. Then I drove to Arcosanti which I found in the Atlas Obscura. Super interesting. This arcitect guy Paolo Soleri thought the way we designed cities were all wrong. He thought that suburbs were a waste of space and resources that cars were terrible and roads and parking lots took up unnecessary space and rescourses and that nothing worked with nature at all. So he decided to make his own city. He started in the 70s with an experimental permit so nothing is up to code but then eventually they lost the permit and then had to make everything up to code which was super expensive and slowed construction way down. He also refused money from anyone​ because he wanted to do his own thing. So now it's basically this huge (though only 3% completed ) communal living space where like 60 people live and work trying to eventually complete this crazy project. They don't have money so they make artsy bells out of bronze or ceramics and sell them to sustain the project. It's a really interesting place. The vision is that this complex will eventually be its own city housing 5000 people in like 15 acres in the middle of the desert. The arcitecture is really cool. He tried to make the sun work with the building best he could so he used a lot of the same principles as the Native American ruins did. There's a lot of circular shapes and half dome things. So yeah. Interesting day.

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  • Eliana KilleThe Dolores DiariesTraveler

    La La Land

    November 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    This morning I drove about 4 hours to LA. I hiked a little up to the Griffith Observatory where I discovered it was closed on Mondays. That was a real bummer. I wanted do see if I could magically fly so I could dance on the ceiling and reenact parts of La La Land. I'll get back there eventually. So instead I hiked to the top of Mt Hollywood and then down to the Bird Sanctuary in Griffith Park where I saw some yellow rumped warblers and some western scrub jays. Then I ate so many tamales I almost exploded. And finally I went to the Nerdmelt Showroom open mic which is a tiny theater in the back of a comic book store. There were a bunch of aspiring comics there. And then there was me. It was the classic open mic experience where it was a little uncomfortable and most people bombed and it was a little painful. There were like 2 guys that were pretty good though. Yeah that was LA. I'll be home tomorrow or possibly the day after.

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