ROAD TRIP! Part 4

 Part 4a: Friday

Friday was a kick-back day and there are no photos to show.  That doesn't mean we didn't have a fabulous time, though!

A bunch of us went to DeColores for lunch, where I had cheese enchiladas (Christmas) with an egg on top, which I LOVE--it is my favey. After that, Kevin, P, and I walked the new Canyon Rim Trail.  It is a nice trail, wide and paved, with a fancy bridge over one part where there wasn't enough dirt for a trail.

From the trail, you can see parts of the lab and the particle accelerator facility and a little railroad (who knew Los Alamos had railroad tracks??....you just never know what goes on in this town!).

It is a nice path for a stroll.  We made a hopscotch with chalk rock.

After that, Kevin built a skateboard for Mei and the kiddos hit the skate park.  Fun stuff.

Part 4b: Saturday

On Saturday, Kevin and I decided to hike one of our favorite trails, the Red Dot Trail, into White Rock Canyon to the Rio Grande.  Since we had never hiked the Blue Dot, we thought it would be fun to go down one and up the other, so BobBIE was kind enough to shuttle us so that we could leave a car at one end.

What a fantastic day for a hike!  It was a clear, crisp winter day, probably close to 50º, warm enough to hike in shirt sleeves. Jack went with us, and we were so glad to have him.  He has eagle eyes--he sees everything and can interpret it all!  It was a really nice hike.

We started at the Red Dot trailhead. The trail descends about 900 feet into the canyon in about a mile's distance.  It is quite rocky and scramble-y, but really worth it.  The views are like none other, and there is interesting geology and archeology.  Check out some of the petroglyphs. Not sure if all of these are authentic..... but most of them are, I'm sure.

The views were amazing!

Looking up from where we came.

Jack, the Naturalist!

The bottom of the canyon shows evidence of old farming lands.  I have read that both the ancient Indians farmed here, as well as that the Spanish grazed cattle in the area.  Now, it looks like great cactus fields.

Evidence of an old corral (Thanks, Jack, for pointing it out!)

Pajarito Springs was really running well!

Some places on the trail were icy and snowy, some were muddy, and some were perfectly dry and dusty!

Remember the millipedes I told you about last time I hiked this trail?  They die.

The Rio Grande was running swiftly, and it was so clear!

After about 3 miles along the canyon bottom, we started our ascent on the Blue Dot trail.  What goes down must come up! The trail is a little easier than Red Dot, with less rock scrambling and more of a switch-back type trail. I recommend hiking the loop this way--leaving a car at one end--and of course picking a cool day or early morning in the summer.  There ain't much shade!  It took us almost exactly four hours, including poking around and stopping for a snack along the river.

This has become one of my favorite hikes.  It is an excellent work-out, and simply breathtakingly beautiful.  Go climb a rock!

Road Trip! Part 3

Part 3: Thursday  (See part 1 here and part 2 here)


Touching the past is really moving for me. Visiting the ancient Indian cliff dwellings and fossil-hunting the day before was exciting. We decided to continue the adventure, and so we drove to Bandelier with BobBIE.

We had no sooner entered the park when we found some deer grazing. This young lady was posing so pretty, but we startled her and she bounded away.

We walked the main loop trail.

View from a cave.

Have you ever seen a bluer sky?

Enlarge and look closely for petroglyphs.  They are above the top row of holes.

Ms. Robin, in January!

After lunch in  Jemez Springs, we stopped along the road side and scoured the hillside for fossils.  Here, marine invertebrate fossils are plentiful, and it doesn't take much "hunting" to find 'em.  Just look on the ground.  There they are. Some of them look like they were carefully placed upon the ground, waiting to be picked up.  It is a thrill to touch the past!

Emily was the first to find one:  a big honkin' piece of crinoid stem.  We enjoyed picking up many bivalves, and Kevin even found a couple ammonites, the holy grail of fossil hunting!

Here's my haul.  The rock on the lower left isn't a fossil, but it is a piece of sandstone with what looks like ripple marks.  Cool!

As we left the Jemez valley, we spotted some wild turkeys!

And, though it isn't as stunning as p-doobie's photos from Anderson Overlook, we stopped on the way up the hill to enjoy the view.

Coming to Northern New Mexico always invigorates my soul!

ROAD TRIP! Part 2

If you haven't read the first installation of my Road Trip travelogue, please see it here first.

Part 2:  Wednesday afternoon

Kevin had scoped a website that listed fossil-hunting places, and one suggestion was right off the Interstate just east of Flagstaff. It was a natural destination.  We pulled off the highway toward Walnut Canyon National Monument.  We saw big piñon trees

little piñon trees,

and tiny piñon trees,

but no fossils.  We walked down the road.  No fossils.  We searched a wash.  Still no fossils. So, we decided that the National Monument would be a nice diversion, so we drove the few miles and visited the cliff dwellings there.

The ancients were smart to pick these naturally-occurring overhangs to build their homes on the edge of a beautiful canyon!

After a nice hike (well, stair climbing and walk), we decided we'd try just one more stop outside the park to search the limestone again.  This time, pay dirt!  Or should that be, pay rock! We found a few embedded sea critters, and possibly a shark tooth.  I don't have a picture. They are still embedded in the substrate, and they are very small.

We hit the road again and didn't have enough daylight for any more stops.  Dang Winter sun!

I thought this coal-burning power plant was kinda pretty in its own way.

And the landscape was stunning in the setting sun.

Do not worry, there was no driving and shooting this leg (and only a few on the last leg!)

(Continue on to Part 3 here)

ROAD TRIP!

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."  ~St. Augustine

The next few posts will be a travelogue. Kevin, Emily and I are on a road trip through the Southwest.  This post covers Wednesday morning!

We set out at about 5:00 on Tuesday evening.  Our plan was to travel through familiar California while it was dark and have the maximum daylight for trekking over Arizona.

So, we stopped in Needles for the night!  We woke bright n early to start our adventure in earnest.

The usual Needles, CA attraction:  Motel 6!

"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."  ~Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt

Mr. Kuralt was only part right. We drove on Interstate 40.  You can see plenty if you open your eyes and look out the window! On the Interstate, however, roadside geology is literally roadside geology.  It was unsafe to stop, but we enjoyed the formations! 

Well, some of us did!

We stopped for a break in Seligman!

And on the 497th mile of the trip, we were thinking about Chuckbert.

Somewhere in Western Arizona, we passed through Hell.*

Dang it!  I shoulda slowed to 66mph!

Humphreys Peak near Flagstaff

*Actually, the way things are there these days, I feel that all of Arizona is Hell!


Now, continue on to the afternoon journey in Part 2.

HWK 111

Hiking With Kevin, January, 2011

Kevin and I took advantage of neither of us having anything to do and a beautiful winter day and took to the trails in our beautiful foothills.  We headed to Tunnel Trail, one that we've been wanting to visit.

We soon encountered man's futile attempt to hold Mother Nature at bay. This thing will hold back a mountain?

We enjoyed the geology, of course.

An interesting piece of shale

The uplift is nearly vertical across the canyon....

....and indeed, on this side of the canyon, too.  Cool uplifted sandstone with the shale layer eroded.

 And we enjoyed the sights.

A nice view of Santa Cruz Island

Evidence of the Jesusita Fire

And of course, I love them wild flowers!

I think this is Cliff Aster (close up below)

My favey: Canyon Sunflower

See the ladybug hiding in the leaves?

Chinese Houses?

Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet

Anne Francis died.

She was a lovely woman.

She starred in one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, The After Hours.  Click the link and enjoy it!

24 Years!

Poss commented that we win the prize for longest-married.  That may be so, but it's a little unfair, given that if California were truly progressive, Chuckie and Jerry might've had us beat.  They've been together longer than we've been married.

In any case, it reminded me that I didn't post about our recent anniversary.  Every year we take turns making the plans for the anniversary celebration.  This year was the Squid's turn, and wow, he outdid himself!

He took me to a wonderful dinner at Holdren's in Goleta, and he arranged for us to stay at the Bacara resort, just a few miles up the road.  Wow, it was amazing! I had never been there, and I was really impressed.  It is a beautiful resort, and I felt quite spoiled.  Here was our room.

Luxurious bed!

A gas fireplace!

A pass-though to the bathroom!  (Kinda weird, but neat-o in its way)

In the morning, we had room-service breakfast. Yummy! I didn't want to leave.

Here's to another 24 years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

01/01/11

Happy New Year! 

I am looking forward to a great year!  As I mentioned in my Christmas letter, the year 2011 will be a year full of milestones!

Kevin will leave his teens behind and become a 20-year-old man this month!  During the year, he'll be making decisions next year as to his next school.  An exciting chapter to look forward to reading!

Erin will graduate from high school in June, and will reach her majority during the summer.  An 18-year-old woman blooms in August!  Her plans, also undecided, will be firming up in 2011! 

And, hard to believe, we will be celebrating our silver anniversary this year!  Twenty-five years!  Hard to believe it will be *gulp* a quarter-century of wedded bliss!  I want to celebrate, and since December is such a silly time to get married, I will plan a party for January, 2012.  I'll keep you posted on details!

In honor of the new year, I am changing the name of my blog.  I'm re-naming it Shoe's Net.  I'll be changing the url to www.shoes-net.blogspot.com.

My wish to all:  happiness, health, and peace every day in 2011.

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"New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights."  ~Hamilton Wright Mabie