Ruins

I checked the election results this morning and was deeply saddened to see the passage of Proposal 3, which codifies abortion for any and every reason into the state constitution.  Two other states passed similar proposals.  This makes Michigan one of the most dangerous places to be an unborn child.  This and other recent developments in our country reminds me of the progression described in Romans 1, where God eventually gives us over to our sin, allowing us as a nation to pursue our own selfish passions, because we have exchanged the truth about God for a lie.  Proposal 3 is certainly one of those lies, denying that the unborn bear the image of God, and are fearfully and wonderfully made, (Psalm 139:14) being knit together in my mother’s womb. (v13)

This clouded my mood for a while today.  Even the weather seemed to agree, with the day dawning cold and blustery, super windy, and dark.  But early this afternoon, as we were driving, we could see a rainbow in the sky ahead of us, a sign of God’s covenant faithfulness, reminding me that God is faithful to the end.  Satan may have won this temporary battle, but the war is already decided.  Sin and death have been defeated, our God reigns! 

Most of this morning was cold, with periods of rain and a hard driving wind.  It was a bit of a battle keeping the RV on the road.  We fueled up in Flagstaff, then drove to nearby Walnut Canyon National Monument. This is a place I have never heard of and it contains a canyon with several ancient cliff dwellings.  The canyon itself is breathtaking, even in the driving rain, with several microclimates all in one small area because of the steepness of the canyon walls.  On one side, the yucca and pinyin characteristic of the desert.  On the other, fir trees characteristic of places that are less arid.  The ancient Puebloan people used this to their advantage, having winter and summer homes just on opposite walls of the canyon.

All these dwellings were built into the steep canyon walls, and a path with nearly 300 steps downward into the canyon was constructed by the CCC in the 1930’s to allow visitors to see all this.

I just wonder how the ancient people did this without concrete steps and paths and handrails.

Back in the RV we quaffed a mug of hot chocolate after removing our soaked coats to warm up.

Going north on US-89, we stopped at Sunset Crater, which is the volcano largely blamed for the disappearance of many of the ancient Puebloans when it erupted around the year 1075.  This national monument was largely closed--the visitor center was closed, the scenic drive was closed and several trails were closed.  The park had experienced a series of fires recently, so most of the terrain was barren and charred when driving in.  But there was still a person in the entry station to collect your $25 when you came in.

There is a short interpretive trail that goes through the lava flows that we walked, but we went quickly because of the wind tearing at our clothing and the chilly rain.  It was starting to mix with snow at this point.

We left and drove north again to Wupatki National Monument, another area of ruins from ancient peoples. These were not cliff dwellers, but they built their homes on high rocks and on the edge of small canyons, farming the bottoms of the canyons because that’s where most of the water was. There were several sites where these ruins were, and we visited all of them.  The sun was starting to peek through, but the wind still tore at our clothes and it was still quite chilly.  But the ruins were interesting.

Leaving Wupatki, we headed north, aiming to get to some lower elevations and perhaps some warmer weather.  Deb found a campsite at Navajo National Monument, and we set our sights on that.  In the nearly two hours it took to drive there, several things happened.  We drove into an ominous cloud bank.  It began to snow.  The temperature dropped to below freezing.  And the sun set.  We drove the last several miles in growing darkness on roads that were beginning to be covered with snow.  After we parked at our camp site, we checked the elevation.  7200 feet.  Well, that didn’t work out so well, but here we are, at 28 degrees, with icy roads, hunkering down for a cold night.  At least we topped off on propane a couple days ago.