Monticello Canyon 4 Wheel Drive Trail Run. 12 Oct 13

On Saturday, 12 Oct 13, Bill and I had a great and fun adventure taking a trail run with several members of the Desert Mountain 4 Wheel Drive Club from Alamogordo, NM.   There were also members of the Ruidoso Ridge Runners 4 Wheel Drive Club.  I also heard there was a vehicle from Deming.  We were also honored to have a World War II veteran with us.

*A reminder:  Any photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.

The Alamogordo people met up at the road block by White Sands National Monument at 8:00 a.m., Saturday morning, to convoy on to Truth or Consequences Wal-Mart parking lot where we met up with the others.  It was about 160 miles from Alamogordo.   There were originally 10 vehicles; however, one had mechanical problems so it was left behind with the driver riding with someone else.  Bill and I rode in the lead vehicle.

From there we proceeded on to the little historic village of Monticello where we again stopped.  This time many of the vehicles aired down their tires while some of us visited and looked around a bit.  Monticello was settled in 1856 and said to be named to commemorate the estate of Thomas Jefferson.  Another story says it was named by a freighter who came from Monticello, NY.  Which is true?  Take your pick.

San Ignacio Catholic Church in Monticello, NM.From Monticello — the village — we proceeded on to the beautiful and long Monticello Canyon.  I heard once it was 17 miles long, but also heard it was longer.  The beautiful Alamoso (cottonwood) River meandered back and forth all the way through it.  It was almost unbelievable how many times we crossed it and also drove in it.  I didn’t count, but heard once that it was more than 80 times, but also heard twice it was more than 100 times.   Believe it or not, I didn’t hear about any of these expert drivers getting stuck although it would have been very easy to have done so I’m sure.  

At the beginning, we had to share the road with a number of cattle with two or three different brands probably on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.  They were in no hurry to give up their resting spots for us pesky humans. 

Time for a lunch break.  What a beautiful spot and what a beautiful day!! Me and Bill standing beside the river.  I hadn’t any more than started over to retrieve my camera afterward when all of a sudden I got hit with a spray of river water from behind.  I’ll give you two guesses as to who did that.  LOL After many miles, we came to the beginning of the so called “Monticello Box” with its very deep canyon walls near the end of the run. After our vehicle had already passed it, someone noticed there was a neat rock they could climb up.  I heard it aptly called “Ramp Rock”.   Some of us splashed across the river to get pictures.  I was wet up to my knees, but it was worth it.  (Good thing it was a warm day with all my encounters with river water that day.  LOL) The vehicles all lined up for a photo shoot after we exited the canyon.   Some of the several picture takers seen below.  I’m still uncertain where the origin of this river is as it was dry a little further out.  I think it comes from warm/hot springs.  I know there is at least one near here known as Ojo (keyhole/eye)  Caliente (warm/hot).  It was about this time that I realized I had been near here before years ago.   When we once rented a cabin at Elephant Butte Lake, we drove from there on over to try to find the ruins of the Minbres or Warm Springs Apache Agency called Ojo Caliente Agency, but maybe also other names.  The famous chief, Victorio, was there as well as Geronimo.  I believe it was the site of Geronimo’s first capture or surrender.  I think there were five captures or surrenders altogether at different locations — the last being in Southwestern Arizona.  We did find the agency ruins back then as there were still some adobe walls standing.  However, this time, although I tried to spot the ruins as we came out to the road, I wasn’t able to.  Not sure what their current status is??? Looking back at the beginning of the canyon from the highway.  What an awesome  trip!!  Hoping to go with the 4 wheelers again for more adventures in the not-too- distant future!!   The following day before going back to Alamogordo, Bill and I went to Hillsboro.  Coming back toward the interstate, we took a little hike in the desert where I spotted this incredible beetle or bug I had never seen before.  It was huge.  Does anyone know what it is??   Enjoy!!  🙂

A White Sands Sunset ~~ April 27, 2013

 

I still need another lens for my Canon so have used it little, but decided to give it a trial run using a borrowed lens.   To do this, son Chris and I went out to catch a sunset on April 27th. at the 275 square mile White Sands National Monument about 15 miles from town.   Here is the largest gypsum dune field in the world.  We arrived a bit after 5:00 p.m.  This first shot was taken near the outer dunes so you see more vegetation than in the heart of the dunes.  In fact, we are near the tallest dune (not pictured) at something like 60 feet.

Now, we have moved to an area called the Interdunes to await the sunset.  It was good to see that there were others scattered near and far doing the same.

These folks were having a great time with their kites.

Looking east toward the Sacramento Mountains.  Looks like it might be raining up there.  If you look closely, you can see the white telescope of the Sunspot Observatory and to the right of it are two at Apache Point Observatory.

I never cease to marvel at how so many plants like these Soaptree Yucca (New Mexico’s state flower) can survive in this hostile environment.  They do this by fast stem growth of as much as a foot a year to keep from being buried by the shifting sands.  I’m sure there are many that lose the battle.  Can you imagine just how far it is down to their roots?

We were intrigued at just how many tracks there were.  Many we didn’t know what had made them, but these we knew.  The ones going up the dune were made by one of the creatures that has evolved to white colorization to blend in with their surroundings — The Bleached Earless Lizard.  You can make out where it’s tail hit the sand.  The fainter tracks going out from the plant were made by a Darkling Beetle.  We were puzzled by the somewhat squiggly line going out to the right and wondered if it could be a root or some such??  We didn’t want to disturb it to find out though.  

When the sand hardens around the roots of a plant, they form pedestals.  The ones seen here are puny compared to others seen in this part of the dune field.

Yikes!  Get a load of this yucca!  It looked very dead, but as the next photo of the other side reveals, it was far from it.  Talk about survival…..

It had only been a few days since it had been windy, but look at the multitude of tracks made in such a short time.

This came out blue, but kind of like the effect anyway.

Oh, oh!  I was in the way of a Darkling Beetle.  I started to let it crawl onto my hand and then chickened at.  Maybe that’s not such a bad thing since  when disturbed they emit a foul smelling odor giving them an alternate name of “Stink Beetle” (not bug).

Now checking the sun’s progress looking toward the San Andres Mountains.  Oh, oh, the sunset is not shaping up to be as red as many we see.

Looking Northeast toward Sierra Blanca Peak.

Looking roughly East, we see that the desert foothills are lit by the setting sun while the forested mountains behind are not.

Another mystery.  We weren’t sure what this was all about.  It suggested that perhaps “something” had buried itself.  Again, we didn’t want to disturb it to find out.

Oh, yikes, I accidentally almost stepped on a Darkling Beetle.  Besides emitting a foul odor when disturbed, they stand on their heads and elevate their rear ends.  It stayed this way for some time, but since I was afraid I might have actually hurt it, Chris moved it with a stick and off it went — it was just fine.  The Darkling Beetle does well in this environment as it needs no water.  It can produce water metabolically.

A Sand Verbena.

This is curious.  Wonder what made this almost perfectly round hole??  Snake?  A tarantula?  Or something else?

Sunset is getting closer now.

You know how I like to look at clouds for shapes ~~ well, this one reminded me of a skunk or perhaps a badger with a bit of steam emitting from his nostrils.  😉

Well, it was time to head home.   It was a lovely sunset, but a little disappointing it wasn’t more colorful.  It was good to get a little experience with the Canon.   Enjoy!

On the Mogollon Rim of Arizona. 4 – 6 May 2013

Our second daughter and I recently had a fun visit with our oldest daughter and husband in the beautiful White Mountains near Show Low, AZ.

A reminder:  Any photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.

I saw this Acorn Woodpecker numerous times outside their front window.  I have only seen them one other time and that was at Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains in Southern Arizona.  It is such a neat looking bird I think and reminds me of a clown.  They eat both insects and acorns.  They will store thousands of acorns by jamming them into specially made holes in trees.  I read once that the reason they jam them in so tightly is to try to keep other critters such as squirrels from stealing them.  Pretty smart, huh?  You can’t see it real well here, but he has a bright red patch on top of his head.

This metal sculpture  of a raven in their yard looks very realistic I think especially from a distance.

Here’s another metal sculpture in their yard of a Horned Lizard (AKA Horny Toad).  I believe it is by the same artist.

This is a scrub jay, a frequent visitor to their yard.

We drove along the Mogollon Rim (pronounced Muggy-Own) to Heber-Overgaard for lunch and then went to a trailhead/lookout called Military Sinkhole.  I know there was military activity there during the 1800s as General George Crook came through here when he was fighting the Indians.  I’m not sure exactly where the sinkhole part was, but did see a little depression near there as shown in one of the photos.  The elevation here is 7,548 feet.  The Mogollon Rim extends about 200 miles (320 km).  It is the escarpment defining the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.   I’m not sure how far it drops, but as you can see from the photos, it is a big drop-off.  We’re basically looking south toward Phoenix although it is many miles away.  They have a Visitor’s Center nearby, but it was still closed for the winter.

Next we headed south on the Black Canyon Road in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest which encompasses about two million acres in East Central Arizona.  As in our own Lincoln National Forest, there are pockets of private land.  Here we found a ranch with both horses and llamas.  We were fascinated by the baby’s markings.  Kind of looked like he had on a white hood.  😉 

I liked the llama, but also was fascinated by the “swiss cheese” rocks there.

It was interesting to see how the forest was doing after the horrible Rodeo-Chediski Fire almost 11 years ago now (June 18 – July 7, 2002) which burned 468,638 acres (732.247 sq. mi. or 189,651 ha).    We have now turned off Black Canyon Rd. onto Forest 300.  It is also called “The Rim Road” .  It runs very near the boundary with the Fort Apache Reservation home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe.    You can see from the photo below, this area is fairly denude of trees.  One would have to assume that this part was burned more intensely than some other areas we saw including the trees you see in the background.

We were looking to see how the forest was doing almost 11 years after the fire, but also were looking for feral/wild horses.  We were so excited when we found these three — stallion, mare, and the cutest little colt.   It seemed a little strange to see them in a forest setting rather than in an open area.  There are two theories as to how they got here, but might well be a combination of both.  One theory is that the fire burned down the fence along the Fort Apache Reservation boundary and that they came from there.  The other theory is that some people had to release their animals they couldn’t get out as the fire approached in hopes they could save themselves.   You will notice that in this area, the trees have survived the fire although it probably burned the underbrush then.

It was good to see in some areas there were baby ponderosa pines growing.  Before the fire, this area was considered the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world and may still be. 

Alligator Juniper is native to Central and Northern Mexico and the Southwestern U.S. (Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas).  We also have them in our mountains here.  You can easily see how it came about its name.

We looked and looked some more and were excited to find two more wild horses.  A stallion and a pregnant female.  There was more underbrush here and they didn’t stay long so difficult to get many good photos of them.  Here is the stallion.  We noted that both stallions we saw only had one mare each, but normally you would expect to see several to many mares per stallion.

The pregnant mare.

We had decided we weren’t going to get any more good photos and were in the vehicle getting ready to leave when the stallion came over by the road where we were for a very short time before heading on out. I thought our daughter and son-in-law’s backlit bottle collection was pretty neat.  The last picture in the series is of their reflection in a window.

This is another neat metal sculpture by the same artist as the raven and horned lizard.

Here you see lupine wildflowers in their backyard.  Before the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, this was as forested with ponderosa pines as where the wild horses were.   Some baby ponderosa pines and oak came up on their own.  The trees you see in the background were set out.  Thankfully, most of the ponderosa pines in front of their house survived the fire.

What a great visit we had, but now it was time to return home.  Here we are in New Mexico once again and come out of a mountainous area to the Plains of San Augustin (elevation 6,970 feet/2,124 m) about 50 miles West of Socrro, New Mexico.  If you look carefully on the right side of the photo, you will see some little white spots.   You are seeing some of the radio antenna of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s VLA (Very Large Array).   More on that later.

The Plains of San Augustin are also a prime place to see Pronghorn,  the second fastest mammal behind the cheetah in the world.   They are sometimes erroneously called “antelope”, but are not.  They are the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.  Both males and females have horns although sometimes they are barely visible in the females as you can see in some of the following photos.   The horns are made up of an outer hairlike sheath over a boney core.  Only the outer sheath is shed annually.  We saw a number of other groups on the drive across the Plains of San Augustin, but many were laying down or were too far away to get a good picture.

The VLA consists of 27 radio antenna (I don’t know if that number includes the spare they always have in the building to the right).   Each is 82 feet (25 meters) in diameter and weighs 230 tons.   The track they are on is “Y” shaped and I think something like 11 miles long.  There are four configurations used depending on what tests are being run.  The current configuration is the “C” formation.   At its highest resolution, it could see a golf ball 100 miles (150 km) away.   It was the setting in part for several movies including 1984’s “2010” and 1997’s “Contact” with Jodie Foster.  It is primarily used by astronomers from around the world.  If you would like to learn more about it or its sister project “Very Long Baseline Array” that is 10 radio telescopes over 5,000 miles (I have seen three of them.), there is much on the internet about it.  Pretty darn impressive methinks!!!   Enjoy!

San Francisco ~~ March 19-26, 2013. Part 4. Cliff House, Sutro Baths, Seal Rocks, & Ocean Beach

Now it’s Monday, March 25, and the last full day of our San Francisco adventure.  It was also the day that we rode eight city buses.  With our half day transfers, it cost us a “whopping” $1.50 each to do that.  Can’t beat those prices!  Our first stop was to check out a thrift store to see how it might differ from the ones we had seen in other areas.  Actually, it differed very little except that they had a uniformed security guard.  While there, I posed the “Flats” next to a video with a warning — if they didn’t behave, they would be “Gone With The Wind”.  LOL

From there, we rode west for a while on Mission Street doing some exploring.  Then back east to Van Ness where we caught another bus up to Geary.  Then it was west on Geary until we reached the Pacific Ocean at Point Lobos.  I’m not sure why they called it Lobos since that mean wolves??  Must go back to a distant time when they roamed the area.

Down below we could see some of the formations off the coast called Seal Rocks.  We learned that the name is a misnomer since the majority of the animals hauling out there prior to the 1989 earthquake were sea lions – – not seals.   So maybe at least some of the sea lions that started showing up at Pier 39 after the 1989 earthquake came from here??  However, at this time we weren’t seeing seals or sea lions — we were seeing birds — lots and lots of birds.

This one had sea gulls on it.

This one appeared to be covered with cormorants and a gull or two. 

Here were brown pelicans on the side with a few gulls above.

Here we are looking down on some ruins with a fascinating history ~~ Sutro Baths.  It was a lavish playground with seven swimming pools, 500 dressing rooms, a grand staircase, and even an amphitheater.  It first opened in 1896.  It was prohibitively expensive to run and was eventually closed.  It burned down while being demolished in 1966.

Just to the south of the Sutro Baths ruins is “Cliff House”.  Actually, it is the third Cliff House.  The first one was built in 1893 — just three years earlier than the Sutro Baths.  It was destroyed by a chimney fire the following year.  It reopened two years later only to burn to the ground in 1907.  The current version opened in 1909.  The photo below was taken from the opposite side of where the Sutro Baths ruins are.   Unfortunately, the “Giant Camera” or “Camera Obscura” was not open when we were there.  I think it would have been interesting to see.  It was built in 1946 and produces 360 degree images of the area through a series of mirrors and sunlight reflecting off a concave disk.

We entered Cliff House where you see the people on the right side of the photo.  There is a Bistro at that level as well as a very elegant looking dining area.  There were no window seats available in the Bistro so we opted to go downstairs to another dining area.  It was pricey, but worth every penny to dine with such a fantastic view.  I had fresh cod and salad while Betty had roasted chicken breast, red turnips, and something covered with tiny seeds that we weren’t sure what it was.  She said it was good though and guess that’s what counts.

This very old carousel horse was on a little balcony in our dining room.  You can more fully appreciate the workmanship that went into it when you compare it to the plastic zebra and dragon that we rode at the double decker carousel at Pier 39 earlier.

When we mentioned that we hadn’t seen anything but birds on these Seal Rocks, the waiter told us to look again at the lower left quadrant of the rock on the left.  What a delightful surprise!!!  There lay a solitary juvenile animal ~~ not a sea lion either, but an elephant seal.  He said it hadn’t been there but a few days and was probably just weaned.  The seal would occasionally pop his head up, but then plop it right back down before I could get a shot.  Sure is a cute little guy and funny that the sea gull seemed curious.

Do you see him or her? (Lower left quadrant of left rock)

We thought these were neat looking shore birds.  I looked in the bird book, but wasn’t able to figure out exactly what kind they are.   Actually, there were quite a number of them on one of the rocks.

Some of you will know the significance of our finding a yellow rose just over the wall.

I don’t know how these two young folks got down there, but she is about to take his picture on the rock.

Looking back toward the ruins of Sutro Baths.

It was a treat to see several brown pelicans in flight.

Just south of Cliff House is four mile long Ocean Beach.  It was a cold windy day when we were there so not many people down there.  Warning in a tour book:  “Cold water and rip currents make swimming there extremely dangerous.  There have been many drownings here over the years.”

In spite of the cold and warnings, there were a couple surfers out there.  I’m sure they had wet suits or some such on to protect them from the very cold water.

Brown Pelican flying by.

Walking the dog along the beach.

From this angle, these two white Seal Rocks look like one.  If you look closely at the one in front, you may be able to see the little elephant seal.

If you put these next three pictures together, you would have a sort of panoramic view.

This was taken as we were going back up the hill to a visitor’s center and from there to catch the city bus to check out another thrift store and then to the hotel.  You can see that there is a cave on the other side of the Sutro Baths ruins.

There were two concrete lions and a deer near the visitor’s center.

What an adventure!!!  We saw so very much and yet there was so very much we did not see!  And Boo Hoo, now it was time to head home.   I hope you have enjoyed going on this adventure with us!!!   I know I’d like to go back one day….

San Francisco ~~ 19 to 26 March, 2013. Part 3. Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf

Oh my, how time flies when you’re having fun!   Here it was March 24 and our time left in San Francisco was becoming short.  We decided to go Fisherman’s Wharf on the city bus.  It didn’t seem that cold so made the mistake of not layering it.  I toughed it out or should say shivered it out, but Betty was smart and bought a sweatshirt there to put under her jacket.  When we arrived, there weren’t very many people there, but by afternoon it became very crowded. We headed for Pier 39 to see the California Sea Lions.  What a noisy bunch!  You could hear them long before you got near them.  ~~ They started coming to Pier 39 after the 1989 San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake.  It varies how many are there with the record being 1,701 in November 2009.  85 to 95% are males with some younger non-breeding females in the mix.  Most females live year-round at or near the breeding grounds which are primarily on the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara as well as on other islands south to Baja California and the Gulf of California in Mexico.   Males develop a bump on their heads when they are 4 or 5 years old.  They can live in the wild up to 20-25 years.  Males can reach 850 lbs. (390kg) and up to 7 feet (2.1m) in length.  Females can grow to 220 lbs. (110kg) and up to 6 feet (1.8m) in length. ~~  It was kind of interesting that some floats had piles of Sea Lions and others were empty.  Who knows why. .

This old fellow was “Zonked”. We took a break from watching the Sea Lions to warm up and walk around the pier.  We visited several shops.  There was a magic act we watched for a time.Then we got to act like a couple kids and ride the double decker carousel.  What fun!   Alcatraz Island (AKA The Rock) is out in the Bay about 1.5 miles.  It was a High Security Federal Prison from 1933 or 1934 until 1963.  Several movies were made about it.  Who can ever forget the classic 1962 movie,  “Bird Man of Alcatraz” with Burt Lancaster?Betty and I showed the “Flats” the sights.  😉The Golden Gate Bridge.San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. 

We had lunch on the Pier (don’t remember the name of the restaurant).  It was pricey, but good.  I had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and Betty had Shrimp Louie (sp?).  There was so much of it, she couldn’t begin to eat it all. This young man was having a ball.  We all applauded and congratulated him on how well he did afterward.   Back to the Sea Lions.  Be sure to have your sound up for this one.  They are a noisy bunch!!          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ11-Ef54j8

This little guy seemed to have some sort of injury which didn’t seem to bother him.

They called jumping up on the floats as one is doing below as “hauling out”.

We were so intrigued with this little guy as he came over near the people and just stared at us for some time before swimming away.  Of course, we stared back with smiles on our faces. As we were leaving, we stopped a while and listened to this “pan flute/guitar” player that put such feeling into his music.  It was a pleasant end to a pleasant visit to Pier 39 and it’s noisy California Sea Lions.  Arf!  Arf!    BTW, there’s a live webcam at Pier 39.Hope you enjoy!  There will be one more San Francisco Adventure entry —  Cliff House and Sutro Bath House Ruins which are on the Pacific side of San Francisco.

San Francisco ~~ 19 to 26 March, 2013. Part 2. Humboldt Redwoods State Park

In the wee hours of Friday, March 22, we headed out to go the 230 miles North of San Francisco to Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  It is 52,000 acres of which more than 17,000 acres are ancient Coast Redwoods.  Of the 180 known trees exceeding 350 ft. tall, more than 130 are at Humboldt.  ~~Originally, the Redwood habitat was something like 2,000,000 acres.  Of that, there are only about 118,000 acres left of older and old-growth Redwoods remaining. ~~  Now time for a quiz.  Look at the pinecones in the photo below and see if you can guess which came from the Coast Redwood (obtained from private land).

Did you guess the tiny ones??  Well, believe it or not, that is the correct ones — no bigger than an olive with the seeds about the size of a grain of rice.  Amazing, isn’t it!?!  The Coast Redwood reproduces two ways — by seed or by sprout.  The tree requires abundant moisture.  Heavy winter rains and fog from the Pacific Ocean keeps the trees continually damp, even during the summer droughts.  Oh yes, the large pincone above is probably from a Jeffrey pine which I got years ago in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the border between California and Nevada.  The next ones over were found locally — exact kind unknown.  The third from the left are Blue Spruce from my home place in Ohio.

The further North we went, the greener it became and even passed through some areas where there were vineyards.  At Phillipsburg, we turned off Highway 101 onto what is called “The Avenue of the Giants” which runs through the park.  There were advantages in being here in the off-season in that there were few other people.  The disadvantage was that many areas were still closed for the winter.

We stopped at the first turnout we found to hug a Redwood!!  Being among these majestic trees can only be described as a “spiritual experience” or so it felt to us.Here’s a YouTube video I did as we were driving to the Visitors’ Center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ihAUYVX7I4M

This log was outside the Visitors’ Center.  You might be able to read it better if you click on the picture to enlarge it.  The pointer nearest the center says “1000. Vikings discovered North America” and the furthest one out says “1928. California State Parks established”.

Charles Kellogg was a vaudeville performer who could reproduce (not imitate) bird songs.  He was also a naturalist sometimes walking with John Muir.  To raise awareness of the plight of the Redwoods, he constructed a mobile home called the “Travel Log” out of a hollowed out Redwood and drove it around the country from 1917 until 1921.  We thought it was cute that they have a giant teddy bear “driving” it in the display.

The beautiful Eel River that runs through the park.

Betty at Founder’s Grove.  We loved the burls on these trees.   A “burl” is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner.  This is caused by the tree undergoing some form of stress such as an injury, virus, or fungus.  

It was so dark, I used a flash on this one to show the effects of several fires, but it continues to live on.  You could go inside of it which I did.

As scientists study the canopy of the Redwood forests, they find many plants, insects, and animals (some unknown before) that may live their whole life without ever coming to the ground.  It was very difficult to photograph these trees to really do justice to their magnificence.  

The Redwoods have very little in the way of a tap root.  Their roots spread out and even intertwine with the roots of other trees.  When one falls down, as it decays, it acts as hosts to many animals, insects, and plants such as ferns, moss, and even other trees.  We heard them called “Nurse Trees”.

From Founder’s Grove, we went to another area along Bull Creek.  What a surprise to see this feral cat near the parking lot!!  No way would it let us get near it.  I reported it to the Visitor’s Center and the lady said they knew about it and had been trying to catch it.  She said she was going to try a live trap and if that didn’t work, she would have to call the Animal Control people since it could be detrimental to the wildlife.  Reportedly, there is a lot of wildlife at the park; however, we only saw a number of ravens, a few other birds, and a grey fox (wasn’t able to get a picture of it).   We had hoped to see a banana slug which can grow up to 9.8 inches (25 centimeters) long, but I didn’t see any.  In hindsight, Betty thought she might have seen one in the distance at Muir Woods earlier.

The feral cat had its eye on this robin.

We took a short hike along Bull Creek, but couldn’t go as far as we wanted since the bridge was washed out.  The highlight was what they called simply “Tall Tree” which you can see in the next three pictures.  What great “burls” it has!  

It was getting late so drove South out of the park to Miranda and spent the night in a cabin there.  The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and drove back up through the park before heading back toward San Francisco.  I’m glad we did as it was neat with no one around and seeing all the early morning fog.

I don’t have any idea what these came from.  I just thought they looked neat.

Beautiful Eel River in the early morn.

We really enjoyed our visit to Humboldt and so happy we got to go there.  We stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s somewhere.  There were a bunch of large Redwood carvings out front of the motel next door.

We again drove by many vineyards.  I’m sure they would be quite a sight to see when the grapevines are active.  We saw some other trees that we think may have been olives.

We decided to try again to drive down this canyon to visit Muir Woods on a nicer day.  Well, that was a mistake as there were so very many people and the only place to park was some distance away.  I’m going to guess it would be a mile or more and so many people so went on back to the hotel.Enjoy!             Next we will go to Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf.

 

San Francisco ~~ March 19 to 26, 2013. Part 1. Muir Woods and Chinatown

On March 19, I met up with my sister, Betty, from Ohio in San Francisco.  The main objective of the trip was to see the Coast Redwoods.  I had seen a few Giant Sequoia near Yosemite, but neither of us had ever seen the Coast Redwoods, the tallest living things on earth.  

Our hotel below, The Castle Inn, was small with only 25 nice guest rooms, but in a near perfect location for us.  The only problem here as well as about everywhere else around San Francisco it seemed was parking.  The hotel had two small and very cramped parking areas so whenever we could, we took city buses.   That was nostalgic for me as I hadn’t ridden a city bus in 56 years.   It was 75 cents and you could get transfers good for all morning or all afternoon.  One morning and afternoon this one day over a several hour period, we rode 8 different buses for all of $1.50 each.  They ran frequently so very little waiting involved.  It worked great for us!

The next day, March 20, we headed out for Muir Woods which is 12 miles North of San Francisco.  This was our first view of the Golden Gate Bridge which we were to cross four times; however, never in ideal weather conditions.  ~It took four years to build the Golden Gate Bridge which opened May 28, 1937.  Until New York’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension span  at 4,200 feet.~

There was a tunnel before the bridge approach as well as one after leaving it.  The other one had rainbow colors painted around the entrance so we called it the Rainbow Tunnel.  There was no toll for the Golden Gate Bridge heading North, but had to pay $6 when we returned.  The joke was on us — we didn’t realize until later that our rental car had a pull down pass on it.  😉

This is what we saw when we looked back toward the bay from North of the Golden Gate Bridge.  To get to Muir Woods, you had to drive down a long hilly road with lots of curves into a canyon.   It was gloomy as we walked to the Visitors Center.  Betty and I decided to surprise our older sister, younger brother, and sister-in-law by taking them with us as “Flats”.  It was a lot of fun and Boy, were they surprised!!  We all had a good laugh about it when we told them later!! It absolutely poured rain the whole time we were there.  We didn’t let it bother us and just added to the fun.  It was very difficult to get photos though .  For some, Betty was my assistant holding the poncho up while I blindly would click away hoping for the best.    ~ Redwoods can grow to 380 feet (115m).  The tallest tree at Muir Woods is 258 feet (79m).  The average age of the trees there are between 500 and 800 years old with the oldest being 1,200 years old.   Coast Redwoods can; however, live to be 2,000 years old.  Muir Woods is 554 acres (224 ha) of which 240 acres (97ha) are old growth redwood forests. ~

The folks you see were here for a wedding, but the bride hadn’t shown up.  Some time later when we came back this way, she still hadn’t shown up.  Wonder if she ever showed up??

Some trees grew in groups or as they called them “families”.  Some “families” were quite extensive.

My sister, Betty, and I with the “Flats” below.  Had to hurry before they and the camera got too wet.  Even with my poncho and Betty’s rain proof coat, we still got wet shoes, legs, and arms.  We had on several layers so really didn’t bother us all that much – until later.We walked a long way and thoroughly enjoyed finally seeing our first Redwoods although we knew the ones at Humboldt Redwoods State Park were more old growth and larger.  After we left Muir Woods National Monument, we went back to a place called Muir Beach Overlook where we could see (sort of) the Pacific Ocean for the first time on this trip.

The next day we decided to walk up the hill  the 3 blocks to catch the Powell-Hyde Cable Car to Chinatown.  We were fascinated with the architecture of San Francisco. This was taken from the cable car.  It was fun riding it even with all the Clang Clanging!!We thought this building in Chinatown was kind of neat.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that there are clothes hung out to dry and a number of pictures painted on it although fading.  Do you see the dragon?  How about the dog?  What else?~Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest Chinese community outside Asia in North America.  It was established in 1848 and has an area of approximately 1.35 square miles (3.5km).  The population was approximately 100,574 in the year 2000.~  We saw only a very few other tourists as we were in an area mostly of local people going about their business.  I took few pictures as it seemed somehow a little invasive plus we just wanted to absorb the culture.  We did buy a few souvenirs and ate lunch there.  Here is Betty showing the “Flats” what this little shop had to offer.  Here’s me with some of my purchases including a couple necklaces (pearls and a lucky jade cicada).  (The pink necklace is just for fun.)

This is a cable car from a different line than we rode.  Ours was the Powell-Hyde Line.  Notice the Chinatown library on the other side of the street.This was taken from the cable car, but shows the same height hill we had to climb to reach the cable car for our return to the hotel.  It was funny when I asked a local if we could catch the cable car up that hill, he told us we should go this other long way to another place as it was more flat to reach.  We decided he thought “Hey, those old ladies probably can’t make it up that steep long hill”.  We fooled him as that’s the way we went and really didn’t have any problem doing it.  We did a lot of walking while we were there and much of it up hills without any problem.  It was made easy for me because of San Francisco’s low altitude compared to where I live which is over 4,000 feet. 

~Next will be our trip to Humboldt Redwoods State Park which is about 230 miles North of San Francisco.~

Enjoy!

Hoot n’ Annie, the Organs, and more. 23 Feb 13

Yesterday was a lovely day so off I went to visit friends near Las Cruces, NM.  We had a wonderful day and the weather couldn’t have been nicer.  While I was there, I had fun playing with Maya even though I wound up needing to have white hair removed from my clothes afterward, but I sure didn’t mind!  She’s such a sweet girl!!

We decided to go check out the Rock and Gem Show at the Farm and Ranch Museum in Las Cruces so off we went via the “Scenic Route” which runs parallel to the very rugged Organ Mountains.  The Organs are about 10 miles east of Las Cruces and are nearly contiguous with the San Andres Mountains that I can easily see from Alamogordo looking west across the Tularosa Basin (Valley).  I can see the Organs from here also, but they are further down than the San Andres and I would be seeing them from the opposite side than the photos that follow. 

The Organs differ from the San Andres geologically.  The San Andres were formed from west-dipping fault blocks of mostly sedimentary strata (limestone being most prominent) while the Organs are primarily of igneous rock (intrusive granite and extrusive phyolite).   You can see why the Organ Mountains got their name since there is a similarity in appearance (particularly to the granite “needles”) with pipes that could be part of a pipe organ.  The highest point (Organ Needle) is 8,990 feet (2,740 m) high.

Notice aircraft vapor trail at top of this one.

We stopped at a picturesque wildlife windmill, which was located where the road we had been following to the south turned west toward Las Cruces.

The rock show was very nice and I bought a few things; however, the big hit for me was not the rocks, it was the owls — Great Horned Owl mated pair, Hoot and Annie.  Say that fast and it comes out “Hootenanny”.   LOL.   We were approaching the main building when we noticed a lot of people looking up toward the roof of  the the overhang above the main entrance.  I thought at first they were fake owls put there to keep pigeons away, but hey, there was way too many droppings for that.  😉   Hoot is to the left and mostly kept his backside toward us.  Annie looked a bit sleepy.  We learned that they have been residents of the museum for about four years and nest in one of the farm barns and have produced  several offspring.

The female, Annie.

The male, Hoot, showing us his backside most of the time.

But not all the time.  Here he turns his head all the way around to peer at us suspiciously.

Here are my purchases, left to right:  The large piece is Calcite from the state of Durango, Mexico.  Next is a silver and natural stone necklace handcrafted by artists from Silver City, New Mexico.  The stone itself is from Montana.  The next one is orange jasper found naturally by the vendor near Deming, New Mexico.  Last we have a polished conglomerate rock.  I’m not sure where it came from, but think somewhere in Mexico.

These last photos were taken at my friends’ home.  It seemed to me kind of early for daffodils, but there they were blooming away. 

There were also crocus getting ready to bloom.

I laughed when I saw this funny large frog flower pot. ENJOY!!

An Attempted Escape, Cooper, and More – 01 Feb 13

This entry is a collection of just some of the kitties and doggies I have crossed paths with in the past year.  These two kittens, Chewie and Kini, were a bundle of furry energy and hard to get a decent picture of.  Here they were curious about something and slowed down enough for me to get a shot.After all that romping around, they finally wore themselves out and fell asleep.  Chewie is a male.

And Kini is female.   Her markings on her lower body suggest a bikini hence the name.

I love Monica’s light blue eyes.

Radar is a cute little guy with boundless energy.  

Monica and Juniper will play tug of war at every opportunity.

This was taken when the sun was low in the sky.  I call this cat Fluffy Short Tail as his/her tail is very short, but also very fluffy.  He/she is the most frequent bird stalking feline visitor to the backyard. This cat seen on the neighbor’s wall has mustache markings so called it “Charlie Chaplin”.   I only saw it once.  BTW, our local cat rescue called Kitty City has a thrift shop (Classic Cats) with a cat very much like this.  They call him “Charlie Chaplin” also and laughingly designate him as CEO on their website.  Also, there is a “Charlie Chaplin” cat living at Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West, FL.  He is the most photographed of the something like 60 cats living there.  

This very long-bodied Siamese is also a neighbor’s cat that came to the yard a few times.  Pretty blue eyes!I liked this cute kitty that caught my eye on a neighbor’s wall, but only saw it one time.  I like the “what do you want” expression on its face. Grandson’s dog, Hope.  Don’t you love that face?!?

Daughter Joan’s Missy.Son-in-law Ed’s Precious. Left to right:  Granddaughter’s Penny and Coco that belongs to son Mark and family.  Boy, can that Penny jump and Coco not far behind! Maya is waiting patiently for someone to throw her toy.

Now she’s happy!!Notice Sidney’s two different colored eyes.  She, Maya, and Seamus belong to friends. Seamus is a very intelligent and stately looking dog.     The Great Escape — well, almost!!  Our neighbor dog named Paws decided she wanted over the wall.  She struggled and struggled……. And when she finally just about made it, she dropped back into the yard.  I came to the conclusion that she really didn’t want to escape — just wanted to see if she could.  She sure worked awfully hard at NOT escaping!!  LOL Now, meet Cooper who came to live here the end of December.  He’s about six years old and is a rescue.  He’s a good boy and has been great company.  I do find it very difficult to photograph an all black cat to show much detail.  The back story on this photo is that I had acquired four dog glove puppets and laid them on the couch until I could give them to the neighbor girl.  Well, Cooper decided they would make a good soft bed for him. Here he is with J Lulu as we call this toy animated cat.  When we first turned J Lulu on he kept sniffing her and then started rubbing his cheek on her.  Here the two of them are “hanging out” together.   He really cracked me up this time.  I was working on the computer and looked up to see him asleep sitting up with his face resting against this feather plume.  I tried to be as quiet as I could to get the camera, but he woke up and sleepily stared at me for a while.  Then off he went to slumberland again with his face back against the feather.  He did the same thing this very day, but didn’t stay there long.   What a silly but lovable cat!   😉 Enjoy! 

Various 2012 Autumn Scenes from New Mexico and Ohio. 30 Jan 13

STARTING IN NEW MEXICO.  Alamogordo is nestled beside the Sacramento Mountains where these first photos were taken on October 16, 2012.  We’re in the Lincoln National Forest.  The aspen are so beautiful with their fall leaves of gold and white trunks set against the green of the pine.  I don’t know the exact elevation, but I’m guessing we’re at a minimum of 9,000 feet or more.  As daughter Carol and I were sitting there enjoying the warm autumn sun, we noticed that there was a trail leading into the lovely stand of aspen on the other side of the parking lot so off we went to explore.

I’m glad we did as it was breathtakingly beautiful!  Of course, Carol’s doggies had to go along.  Here Juniper is doing a bit of exploring of her own.We so enjoyed the peace and beauty of our walk up this trail carpeted with golden aspen leaves.  At the top was a neat little clearing where we found a few fossils once again proof that these mountains were uplifted bringing the bottom of a shallow ancient sea with it.

NOW IN OHIO.  The next shots were taken when I visited Ohio a short time later.  I believe this is a maple tree.  

Here we visit a beaver dam in a little stream in Ohio.  We saw no beaver; however. I loved this tree with it’s twisted roots and captured rocks along with a reflection in the water.  It was very near the beaver dam.

STILL IN OHIO — This is the dam at Caesar’s Creek Lake State Park just down the hill from where I grew up.  In fact, much of my childhood “stomping grounds” are part of this state park and under water or else hiking trails.  It’s a beautiful area in which to grow up.  Of course, like many, I appreciated how special it was more later than at the time.  And speaking of fossils as we were earlier, this area is rich in fossils from the Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era (425 to 500 million years ago).

This bridge near the dam was once part of the road on which we traveled to reach the nearest town, Waynesville, so have ridden and driven over it many many times.   Of course, it and part of the road are closed off to vehicles and now part of the hiking trails instead.

Also below the dam, I saw this tree squirrel.  The leaves appear to be oak.My sister and I hiked a way down Caesar’s Creek to our old Swimmin’ Hole.  Of course, that was before the lake and dam so there was a lot more water in it then.  It, too, is part of the park.I thought this sunrise from my airplane window was spectacular as I headed back to New Mexico.Doesn’t this look like ocean waves coming into the shore??

BACK IN NEW MEXICO.  I went out to the White Sands National Monument in early November to meet up with son Mark and his family for a picnic.  These Rio Grand Cottonwoods in their fall colors are on the outer dunes where there is more soil mixed with the gypsum crystals so you see more plant life than in the inner dunes where it is more pure gypsum.  Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert here and created the largest gypsum dune field in the world.  

The photos of the cottonwoods above were taken from the highway looking west.  Now, I have gone into the park to the inner dunes where there are picnic areas.  Looking East toward the Sacramento Mountains.Granddaughter’s dog, Penny, doesn’t seem to mind being buried at all.  Looking West toward the San Andres Mountains.

I don’t really know these people.  They just happened to be in the right place at the right time. LOL

Looking East again.  If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see some white telescope structures.  The one on the left is at Sunspot Observatory and the ones on the right are at Apache Point Observatory.  It’s a great place for them at that altitude and with very little light or air pollution.  In mid-November, we went up to the mountains to the Mescalero Apache resort near Ruidoso called Inn of the Mountain Gods for lunch and a little gambling in the Casino.  Here you can see Sierra Blanca (12,008 ft. elevation) Peak from a different angle than we see it down below.  This is looking from inside the Inn.  You can see why it is sometimes called “Old Baldy” since it is above the tree lines.   The furthermost ski area of any size in the U.S.  is there and also owned and run by the Mescalero Apaches.  It is called Ski Apache.  Snow came late this year and due to the ongoing drought hasn’t been as heavy as normal. This burden basket shaped fountain is in the lobby of the resort.ENJOY!  😉