Alive An' Kickin'

 Yes, we are all still here and with the living!  We just got back from a week long vacation down in St. Andrew's State Park, in the sunny state of Florida, where we had a fabulous time!  As you can see, I finally got to try paddle boarding, which I had wanted to do for some time now, and it was great!  I enjoyed the hell out of that.

 It is a little harder to stay upright that some might think; I was just mildly surprised.  But it's not terribly hard.  It is a great workout on your legs and stomach though. I did fall off one time, in shallow water, and my big butt went straight to the bottom and hit pretty hard!  That didn't do a whole lot of good for my hips and tailbone but it didn't seem to bother me too much later.

 The waters are beautiful and so clear at St. Andrew's so I could see all sorts of sealife below me.  Fortunately, no sharks but I did have 2 dolphins swim right under me!!  and several large schools of fish and a stingray.  The dolphins were feeding on the fish so we all went back and forth and round in circles.  It was great!

 Since we were camping in the park we had time to do all sorts of other things, like hiking.  Their trails are very short but it was interesting and we saw lots of stuff.  I was trying to photograph a squirrel here and just almost got an unintended shot of said squirrel being snatched up by a hawk.  Me and the squirrel were both very surprised!

 Tons of dragonflies but I was not able to get a good shot of any really.

 The beaches here are some of the prettiest I've seen anywhere in the U.S. and I've been to both seas and all around the Gulf.  I also did a fair amount of snorkeling and swimming and had a little group of my own fishes that followed me around anytime I did.  They apparently liked for me to stir up the sand for them because there was something there they liked to eat I guess.  At any rate, they stayed with me every step of the way.

There are tons of various wildlife at SA, as you can see in the following photos.  Most of the creatures are fairly used to humans too, so you can get some good pics.

Did I mention we had a great time? lol!

Our mattresses stayed blown up, we had a nice, shady, quiet camping spot, the amenities here are great; nice showers etc.  The weather was outstanding.  Warm in the day and just cool enough at night to sleep good.  I cooked a nice breakfast each morning but we had dinner out each night so I got lots of great seafood!

And to top it all off, we saw this bald eagle on our last day there!  Almost everyone else on the beach was too busy checking their phones or taking selfies to notice it,

One thing I really enjoyed about being there was actually....no internet, no electronics of any kind.  I'll tell you I did not miss it one bit.

I'll be back soon with another post I think with what little has been going on around here..  Honestly, I have not had a lot of interest in posting this past month, for various reasons I guess, but I think I have a couple of updates for ya'll.  Just lots of busy work getting out of clay and cleaning up, checking out new work leads etc. and the regular yard, garden and chicken work.

Shores Of White Sand

The blog has been quiet because I slipped off for a short vacation down at the Gulf.  This time it was the Ft. Pickens area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  This park was recommended by several friends and was a first for me.  After staying there I would also highly recommend it.  Old Ft. Pickens is way down at the tip of the peninsula, as a lot of forts are, and the photo above was taken there.  The place would be a bird watcher's heaven, in my opinion, as it's just covered up in all kinds of sea birds.

This must also be one of the ospreys' favorite breeding grounds because the trees were full of nests.  My camera was no good for getting up close but as we watched this nest we would occasionally see the little baby pop it's head up for a look around.  lol!
Camping at the beach was on my bucket list, since I've camped just about everywhere else, so that was one other reason we chose this area.  We had a little trouble getting in though, due only to the recent bad weather in the Pensacola area.  This is a barrier island and the elevation is basically sea level.  Flooded roads closed the park twice before we finally got in to stay.  We also were going to stay 3 nights but had to settle for 2 in order to get in before the end of May.  That's okay though.  We still had a very nice time. 

 It was very enjoyable and so relaxing.
For the life of me I will never, ever understand why people want to go to crowded, nasty public beaches when they can drive down the road to this.  Maybe I'm just anti-social.  Haha!
This was also the frugal way to vacation.   I guess the biggest cost was gas to get down there.  But, we saved enough money to indulge our appetite for seafood!  And boy, did I!  Raw oysters, shrimp, clams....mmmm!

This was the nice boardwalk from the camping area over to the beaches.

This is looking back towards the camping area.  You can see a few trees in the distance so yes, our camp site did have some shade.  It was also a full moon while we were down there too and that was nice.

I do have to say though, that only one camping loop was open, due to rain etc., so there was not as many people as there could have been.  However, anyone can come into the park, even if you are not camping.

The first and second days the water was a little cloudy due to the storms but by the third day the water had cleared to a pretty light green.  It was a little chilly for swimming but certainly doable and I swam a fair amount.  As I always say, salt water cures everything, whether it's the sea, sweat or tears.

While walking along the edge I saw 4 large sting rays cruise past, quite close to the shore, and then 2 more a little later.  I decided the water was kinda cold and maybe I had swam enough! lol!

Sweet Home Alabama

Okay, ya'll knew I was going to have to use that song now, didn't you? lol! We are home finally! We had a great time but it is so good to be home and sleeping in my bed and bathing in my wonderful shower with it's non-chlorinated spring water. We stopped at a grocery store near the house to pick up a few things and I swear, when we walked in, the store was playing 'Sweet Home Alabama' on it's sound system.

I put together a few fun facts of our trip I thought ya'll might like:
*We traveled through 6 states (not including AL) for a round trip total of 5,426 miles.
The states included Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.
*We visited 9 National Parks or Monuments and hiked somewhere around 22 miles total within these parks.
*The parks included Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, The Petrified Forest (which includes part of the Painted Desert), Wupatki/ Sunset Crater, The Grand Canyon, Canyon De Chelly, Aztec, Mesa Verde, and Chaco Canyon. Sorry guys, but we did not stop by Palo Duro. We didn't make it to the area until around sunset and the park would be closing soon so we just kept going. Maybe next time.
* We just happen to stumble upon 2 festivals going on in 2 towns. An art fair in Taos and the big Hot Air Ballon Festival in Albuquerque.

. I have several beautiful mementos from this trip. I'll show those to you in the next post and maybe some more scenery photos.
It really was a trip of a lifetime.

Homeward Bound

Sad but true folks, we are on our way home tonight. We visited Chaco Canyon yesterday and hiked around that area for a while. (I just realized the above photo is not from Chaco but from Aztec; oh well) It was very interesting and it made for some thoughtful reflections at times. I'll write a bit more about that when I get home but for now just a quick post to let everybody know what's going on.

We are worn out basically and ready to go home. I'm tired and tired of my nose bleeding for the past two weeks. Apparently this drastic an altitude change has affected my system quite a lot. It has not been drastic nose bleeds but it's gross and I won't say any more. The dry air has wrecked havoc with many things, let's just say. I feel like those little lizards I have seen in the desert out here! lol!

Anyway, we are on our way back while things are good. And while we still have some money. We are both out of work too, you know. I miss my shady valley with it's clear running creek and the cool mornings I know are waiting for me there.

So, we are in Lubbock, Texas tonight and are going to try to hit Louisiana by sleep time tomorrow. Whether this is possible or not I don't know but we are going to hoof it. Therefore, I probably will not post again until we arrive at my home. I will see ya'll then!

Rock Of Ages

The past few days we have been exploring the Anasazi ruins of Wupatki and Mesa Verde National Monuments. I was quite impressed with the ancients stone laying abilities. Not only are the stones laid with a great technical proficiency but there is a true artistic sensibility to them also.

Even a playfulness in some cases it would seem. They just built around anything they couldn't move and would even throw in an odd colored rock here and there to break up the pattern.

This particular wall is at Wupatki and I just loved how they flushed up their wall with the line of the natural stone foundation so perfectly. It's like the laid stonework just grows out of the earth.
Just beautiful.

This is at Canyon De Shelly, pronounced like Canyon De Shea. A absolutely beautiful place but with horrible history. I felt odd here. This was the start of the Canyon del Muertos (Canyon of the Dead). I believe so named because this is the area where Kit Carson and his men slaughtered so many Navajo as he was trying to drive them from their land. He finally did drive them off to another state, then, the federal government decided the land wasn't worth anything anyway and so they let the remaining Navajos come back. Seems the logic and efficiency of our government hasn't changed much over time.

And this is the ever famous Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde. It was impressive but this is the closest you can get unless you pay the park rangers $50 a head. You can walk through a couple of the other sites by yourself though. You will also hear a lot of French and German being spoken at these sites as those countries seem to have an almsot cultish obsession with our ancient southwest. I found that very curious but the phenomenon is large enough that it has even been written about. Who knew?

We also made a trip through the Navajo and Hopi Reservations an a quest for me to find Honan, the Badger. The Hopi reservation is smack in the center of the Navajos so I had to go through them to get to the Hopi. It was very interesting though and the Hopi are very kind and friendly. The Navajo a little less so but we had a great time. We finally stumbled upon a little store on Second Mesa and met a wonderful Hopi lady and her husband, an Anglo. We talked with them and browsed their store for over an hour I bet. As the Hopi do not like photographs to be taken, I have no pictures but I have recorded the experience in my heart as they say we should. I will introduce you all to Honan the Badger when I return home.

Tonight we are in Durango, CO and will head out for Aztec and possibly Chaco Canyon tomorrow. From there I'm not sure. We are getting tired and missing home a little at this point but are still having a great time and seeing so many wondrous things. Oh, we finally got to try Indian fry bread; it is very good. Something like our southern funnel cakes if dunked in honey.

Bright Angel

You that have been to the Canyon may remember that Bright Angel is the name of this trail, the one that I descended to some depths on. It is also the name of a song performed by Paul Winter on an album he and his group actually recorded in the Canyon some years ago. They rafted down the Colorado, stopped here and there to record various pieces. It is one of my favorite albums and now that I have been there, it really does capture the feeling of the place. If you enjoy soulful, instrumental earth-type music you may enjoy it also. Check it out.

This is also the trail that the mules use but did not pass any coming or going. After I came back to the rim I did see a mule train below. I was slightly surprised at the size of the mules. I had in my mind the smaller slim breeds that I remembered from childhood but these are the larger, stocky mules that come from crossing with a Belgian horse. You can tell partially by their coloring and their very striking Roman nose, in addition to the size. They still have a 200 lb. weight limit on who can ride the mules though. I thought this was interesting. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the mules when we passed by the barns. As we crossed through that area I looked up to see a tall man approaching. He had a white beard with a cowboy hat pulled down slightly over his eyes. Very handsome in a rough kinda way. I thought to myself, 'that's the mule handler'. Turns out I was right, as I later saw him organizing the mules for the trip.

Another thing that I thought was interesting was that anytime we were out on the rim trails, where you had to do a lot of walking, you rarely heard English being spoken, only foreign languages. And many, many different ones at that. However, whenever we passed by the eating establishments, or when I was down in the Canyon on the trail, you heard English. That was interesting also. And not to say there were never any foreign visitors near the restaurants but the Americans seemed to flock there.

This was on the way down Bright Angel. There were a couple of these pass-through rocks. I was also surprised, although I'm not sure why, at how close to the edge of the canyon you could get. Of course, they can't block everything but you know how sue-happy people are and afraid of everything these days. But you could just walk right out on the edges and if you slipped just a little...well, nice knowing you. They actually had a sign up that said very few people fall over the edge but there has been about 600 people die in the Canyon since it became a tourist destination. They have actually published a book about it although most of the incidences are quite grisly.

If you look close to the lower center of the pic you my see some hikers who were coming up the trail as I went down. You can see how close I am to the edge and how far it is but there were only a few times that I felt uncomfortable and that was on the rim above, not on the trail.

Well, we are still in Flagstaff just enjoying a day of rest and milling around town. We are also planning where to go next. Probably Mesa Verde or somewhere similar.

Mountain High, Valley Low

Well, these pics are just not going to do these places justice. I know I keep saying that but it's true. You just have to experience this place. These first two were taken in the Painted Desert/ Petrified Forest National Park. This place was very cool. Well, actually, it was quite warm but you know what I mean. We enjoyed the area very much, taking most of the day to wander through it..

We went on about a mile, mile and a half hike near Blue Mesa. That is my favorite area. I think it was the most colorful and there were quite a lot of the petrified tree remains there. Reading about how much of the Petrified Forest was scavenged and destroyed before it became a national park was somewhat disgusting though. This place would have been literally covered up with trees were it not for profiteering white people.

The remaining photos here are of the Grand Canyon. When I first looked out over it my eyes literally could not seem to take it in. I could not focus on what I was looking at. It seemed too much. Gradually though, I adjusted and things became clear. I hiked down about 1 mile into the Canyon. I would really love to hike all the way to the bottom. I believe I could do it and hike back out. You must camp at the bottom though; you can't make it up and down in one day. This pic was taken on my way back up.

The rim of the canyon is very noisy and crowded, as you would expect, but the further you descend the fewer people you encounter. This was nice. After I had gone down about 800 feet there were often times when I could not see another human. I sat down several times to rest and take it all in and then it struck me. It was completely quiet down there. There was the ever so subtle rustle of the wind and every rare once in a while you might hear a bird but other than that, it was so peacefully, tranquilly quiet. I did not expect that for some reason. It was hard to make the decision to turn around and go back up to the people.

I will put some more photos of the Canyon up, I'm sure. Maybe when I get home. We spent the whole day there and even watched the sun go down.

I'll Take The High Road

Here is one more photo of Santa Fe, in from of the Palace of the Governors, I believe it is called. Many of the native artists from the local pueblos will come down and sell their work to the public. Of course, the are scads of high price galleries in town that many of the preeminent native artists sell through but most people would have trouble affording much in those places. I do agree that most of the work warrants such prices however. The technical precision and expertise of their work, especially the pottery , is astounding.

The remaining pics are of Kit Carson National Forest. Always has pissed me that these places are named for the white men that exploited them and not for the native people that revered them.

I fully expected to see some elk or something but we didn't.

This place was gorgeous. We took a short break here and enjoyed the creek.

This is towards the end of the park.

Well, we are in Flagstaff tonight after visiting the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest all day. What a site those places were! I took loads of photos but I will not inflict too many of them on you all! Tomorrow we are off to explore the Grand Canyon and hope to hang around here for a couple of days.

The Way To Santa Fe

Yeah, I know that is supposed to be San Jose but we are going with that! Sorry about these crappy pics but me and this laptop and Blogger are about to go 'round and 'round, so I'm going to quit before I kill something. I don't know why this thing is being such a butt. Anyway, I had a few more pics of Santa Fe but maybe when I get home I can post those. This was a parking deck! I just thought that was so cool. We never build parking decks that look this nice.

Santa Fe was very nice but also very expensive and exclusive. We spent one day and night there before moving onto Taos, which we enjoyed much, much more.

The was part of the Rio Grande on the way to Taos. The high attitude in Santa Fe was also taking it's toll on me. Well, both of us I guess but I felt especially bad. I had to sit down several times during the day just from walking around. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. It was very odd and somewhat disconcerting.

Taos was very nice, the weather was beautiful again and the people were very nice. We said we would like to go back there and stay for a week or more. It was a much more relaxed place and not nearly as crowded, even with a art fair going on. But there was still loads to see and do.

This was one of the many side streets with shops and restaurants. We ate at a place near the end of this street. Very good food too.

We stayed a day and night here also and then drove out through Kit Carson National Forest. That is a beautiful area. I have pics of it too and will try to get those up if Blogger will cooperate. We are in Gallup right now, about to head to Flagstaff, AZ I believe. Just one note, if you are ever in this area, don't stay at the Roadrunner Hotel. We thought we were going to pull a smooth one by staying at a small, mom and pop place, just to sleep basically. Save some of his points for Flagstaff and later. Eeeeeeh. So far we have not heard any gunshots but the trains running all night long were interesting! well, got to go! The Grand Canyon awaits!