by | August 11, 2018 · 12:03 pm

Life on the Snake River Gets Busy

Our life on the Snake River is turning out to be busy.  One day, we got a phone call from Dennis and Jo Lynne, our friends from Kartchner Caverns, who were travelling through the area.  We spent some time with them catching up and finding out about their new adventures.  It’s fun to find out about the volunteer possibilities out there.  And we’ll keep in touch with them to see how they work out.

Then our son Jon from Philadelphia spent a few days with us.  He has never been to the Pacific North West, so we attempted to show him as much as we could.  Of course, we gave him a tour of Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, showing off our new skills at presentation and interpretation.

One night, we had a barbeque and a campfire for Jon.  It was beastly hot that night, but we persevered and ate outside anyway.  Our friends from the park came over to meet Jon and hang out with us.  Lamar and Ron, our co-volunteers, stopped by, Vern and Kayla, the gatehouse attendants were busy but stopped by on their golf cart for a few words and some snacks.  Our new friends, Cathy and Gary, came over to continue their discussion about becoming full time RVers.  It was a pleasant night of conversation and snacks – and eventually slightly cooler air.

Jon, Doug and I took off for an overnight trip to the Grand Coulee Dam.  The drive on Route 97 was breathtaking.  Jon’s contribution of music by Woody Guthrie kept us humming along the way.  And Woody’s songs about the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam brought history and music together.

On the way, we stopped at Dry Falls to see the incredible changes the Ice Age Floods made in the topography of this land.  Dry Falls was the best place to stop for lunch as we gazed at the gouged-out landscape and tried to imagine seeing what had been the largest waterfall in the world – 3 ½ miles wide and over 400 feet high – dwarfing Niagara Falls.

Dry Falls

The whole trip up to Grand Coulee was one beautiful view after another and seeing erratics (giant boulders deposited after rafting down from Canada on an ice flow), and the debris fields (scattered rocks dropped during the massive flooding) – all leftovers from ancient ice flows and prehistoric floods – was pretty exciting for us.

We got to Grand Coulee in time for a Dam Tour.  Security there was like at an airport, but we got to see the pumphouse and take photos on top of the Dam – 550 feet above bedrock.  It is a huge concrete structure that makes the Great Pyramids of Egypt look small (Jon would know because he actually saw the Great Pyramids).  The power coming out of the dam was pretty impressive too – more power than a million locomotives.

Grand Coulee Dam

We stayed at Coulee House, a small motel directly across the street from the Dam.  After a good Mexican dinner and a little rest on our cozy beds, we walked across the street to a little park to watch the Laser and Light Show – projected on the giant spillway of the Dam.

As we waited for the show to begin, we sang the catchy words and melody of “Roll On, Columbia, Roll On” and the lyrics to “Grand Coulee Dam” – “Well, the world has seven wonders, the travelers always tell; Some gardens and some towers, I guess you know them well; But the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam’s fair land; It’s that King Columbia River and the big Grand Coulee Dam”.

I have begun using Woody’s simple words to explain the uncomplicated nature of hydroelectric power: “Roll along, Columbia.  You can ramble to the sea.  But, River, while you’re ramblin’, you can do some work for me.”

So, singing to Woody, looking at Jupiter and Saturn and a perfect crescent moon was a pleasant prelude to the Light and Laser Show.  We listened to these songs sung by Woody, Bob Dylan, and others as we rolled along the highway through the lovely Palouse Hills and the incredibly carved out coulees.  Thanks, Jon, for the perfect soundtrack.

The next morning after a great breakfast, we visited a really wonderful museum of the Colville Tribes.  Great displays, amazing beaded art work, a small gift shop and lots of information about the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nations exceeded our expectations.

With some extra time before we had to head back, we drove another hour to see Chief Joseph Dam.  That Dam tour was the best by far.  Ranger Kyle took us through the depths of the powerhouse, let us stand on an operating generator, peer through the long spillway and entertained us with all kinds of interesting facts.  Then just to top off a truly great experience, we watched as some Native Americans pulled a beautiful salmon out of the river.  All in all, a great road trip with Jon

In front of the Chief Joseph Dam Spillway

On Thursday, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Palouse Falls.  Unlike Dry Falls, which has ancient pools of water but nothing flowing over the cliffs, Palouse Falls has a roar of water streaming down between the gouged basalt rocks.  Continuing our learning about the Ice Age Floods, seeing the Falls and the surrounding area brought it all to life for us.

Palouse Falls

To end our visit, we went to Ice Harbor Brewery on Clover Island in Kennewick for a good dinner and followed it with a stroll around the marina.

We had such a good time with Jon, we didn’t want it to end.  Even with his broken arm in a sling, he was just a pleasure the hang out with.

Then a few days later, Julie, Jake, Paisley and Griffin (and Rosie, their dog) came to stay with us a few days.  The weather turned very hot, with temperatures over 100 degrees, so most of our time was spent in splash parks or in our air-conditioned RV.  Our babies were wonderful!  Paisley, 2½ , walked up to our RV and said, “We’re going on Nana and Papa’s bus” and started singing “Wheels on the Bus.”  She seemed to love living on the “bus” and happily played with her toys.  She slept well in our special spot on the side of the sofa bed and was adorable when she demanded “coffee” every morning.  Her sense of humor, expressed in her baby voice, was just endearing.

Our little 1-year old Griffin greeted us with his big sweet smile and quickly adjusted to crawling and playing in a very limited space.  One night, Griffin entertained us for an hour playing with his ball and “dancing” to Moana songs on his tushie.  After the first night of screechy screams, he settled in and slept most of the rest of the nights.

Rosie, the dog, behaved nicely and I’m sure she enjoyed her quiet time alone in the cool comfort of our RV.

We got out a little every day – taking them to the Dam, a special rock painting party at the Library, and a few rides on the famous Gesa Carousel of Dreams.  We enjoyed the splash park and gave the babies a bath at night in a little plastic pool.  We got used to cheerios on the floor and blockading the danger zones and cleaning up the spilled dog’s water.

For six of us (and a dog) living in a relatively small space, we managed to have a good time, eat well, and even sleep.  We miss the cuddles, the sweet smiles, the silly talk and elephant sounds, and even the cheerios on the rug.  We can’t wait to see them again in August.

Now we are looking forward to Bev and Barry coming to camp with us in their brand-new camper for a few days.

In between our visitors, we are still working about 30 hours a week -thanks to our co-volunteers, Lamar and Ron, who graciously switch days with us, so we can spend time with our company.

The time here at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam is flying by and soon we will start planning our trip across the country to Florida for next winter.  In the meantime, we continue to enjoy our dam tours and especially the interesting people we meet in the visitor center.

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by | June 30, 2018 · 10:28 am

Ice Harbor Lock and Dam – Our New Adventure

Leaving our family in the Portland area was hard but we were expected at our new assignment so we drove along Route 84, then Route 82 – mostly along the Columbia River.  We’ve been as far as the Bonneville Dam before, stayed in a campground around there and have been to the waterfalls along Old Columbia Highway more than once.  But on this trip, we had to stay off the Old Columbia Highway due to the damage from the fires that raged through there.  We saw Multnomah Falls from the highway and there still is access to that falls but not much else.

After a long day of driving, we were here – our rig is parked in Charbonneau Park – a beautiful Army Corps of Engineers Park along the Snake River.  We met up with our supervisor, Heather, and picked out the site we will be living on for the next few months.  We have a view of the river and we’re shaded by huge trees.  It’s a very large grassy site – just perfect for us.

Our site at Charbonneau Park

Heather spent the next day with us orienting us to our volunteer position and the Corps Rules and Regulations.  Primarily, we are assigned to staff the Visitor Center at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. We show visitors around the building – take them up to the Fish Ladder window to view the Chinook and Steelheads that are going up and over the dam; explain some of the artifacts in the history section; discuss the workings of the navigation lock, the powerhouse where the electricity is generated and the wildlife display.  Visitors have a choice of 6 short films in the auditorium.  We also can bring visitors up to the top of the dam to show them the spillways, see the fish ladders from above, show them how we divert and help the juvenile fish, and if they want to walk the full half mile across the dam we show them the navigation lock.  Not all visitors want the complete tour and they can only go up if they wear one of our hard hats and have closed-toe shoes.  The top of the dam is an amazing place to be – not something you see every day.

Ice Harbor Lock and Dam

Click here to download and view shad passing by the fish ladder window!

We love this part of the job and both of us after a week or so felt comfortable explaining and answering questions.  We also took on the task of helping the Rangers get forms and materials from the storage area to the three different campgrounds.  We are still finalizing our schedule but one day of the week we gather the forms and brochures and drive to the parks to distribute them.  While at the parks, we inspect the bulletin boards and make sure the PFD boards are filled.  What, you may say, is a PFD?  Well, it’s a Personal Flotation Device.  The Corps provides loaner boards of life jackets along the fishing, boating and swimming areas.

We are learning so much here – the geological history of the Ice Age Floods, Lewis and Clark’s journey in this area, lock and dam technology, and the life cycle of anadromous fish.  I had the unnerving experience of seeing my first lamprey through the viewing glass.  It’s an eel-like creature unlike anything I have ever seen.  It was disturbingly ugly – a part of the natural world with its own place in the river’s and ocean’s ecosystem.  Something new to get used to.

Pacific Lamprey

To round out our duties we also run the Movie Nights on Saturdays in the outdoor amphitheater at Hood Park.  We helped Heather decide on the movies, she printed the list that we posted at the parks and the local library, and now we are the Movie Volunteers.  It’s been fun – we get to the park early and walk around to each campsite reminding them to come to see the movie.  The first night we showed Bobber, The Water Safety Dog (which is a short Corps of Engineers cartoon) and followed it with another kid-friendly drama about water safety called Safe Passages.  We had a huge turn out!  Over a hundred guests!  But that was because the Boy Scouts were camping in the park and they were doing a presentation in the amphitheater – giving us a captive audience.  This week we showed The Greatest Showman on Saturday and then an extra movie night on Sunday for the Memorial Day Holiday crowd – Madagascar.  The Bobber Cartoon is always the first feature and the kids love it!  We had good crowds (80 and 60 folks) each night.  A perk for us is that we get to see the movies too.

Getting ready to show the Bobber movie at Movie Night

There are two other volunteers doing these tasks with us.  For all this fun, we get our lovely site with full hook ups.  Doug and I, because we are a couple, work 24 hours each week.  We also have the use of a laundry facility in the Power House.  So I wear a hard hat when I do the laundry!  The other volunteers, who are singles, work 32 hours each week.  We work out the week’s scheduled with them and basically provide these services which otherwise would be done by the Rangers.  So we are again working closely with Rangers – interacting with visitors and helping to make the parks and visitor center a great place for education and fun.  Love this job!

We have even had our first visitors – Rocky and Chris Baker, whom we met at Kartchner Caverns, camped right near us for 2 nights and we spent the time together sharing meals and checking out this area.  We took them along the Snake River to a quiet spot where they did a little bird watching.  We saw some birds, some ducks, geese and a river otter.  Then we gave them a tour through the Visitor Center and up to the top of the dam.  We went out for dinner at Sterling’s and followed our meal with a walk along the very high Columbia River.

The four of us spent the next day at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Hanford.  We took the four hour tour, including bus transportation, to see the nuclear reactor that produced the material for the atomic bomb.  Wow!  A part of this nation’s history – a complex and impressive era in our history that brought out many different emotions.  This free tour is provided by a joint effort of the Department of Energy and the National Parks Service – in an effort to educate the public.

The reactor core at the Hanford B Reactor Site

It was wonderful to see Rocky and Chris.  They are off to their next volunteer stint in an Oregon State Park on the beach.  As we talk to all our new friends and read more about the opportunities out there – we realize how diverse and interesting these positions are.  By the start of 2020, we will have lived and worked at a cave, a dam, a beach, and a park and back to a cave.  In between we will have crossed the United States twice and seen the miracles of nature, the amazing museums and cuddled our grandchildren!

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by | June 4, 2018 · 5:21 pm

Portland – BABIES!

No doubt about it – the best part of our stay in the Portland area was being with our beautiful grandbabies.  We spent lots of time with Paisley and Griffin and loved every cuddle, smile and gooey face.  They are both happy and sweet little folk – easy to be with and now hard to be away from.

Paisley was two in December and she enthusiastically talks and sings and dances.  She is rarely still.  Griffin, who will be one in June, smiles and plays happily on the floor.  He started to crawl just a few days after we left.  Both of them are easy to entertain and never gave us any problems.

One day we took them to the Portland Zoo.  We had a wonderful day – both of them smiled the whole day – not a whimper or cry out of them.  Doug and I had much more fun watching them then watching the animals.  We walked and walked through the whole zoo, exhausting us all, but left smiling after a perfect day.

We went to a few parks and took them to a Library Story Time. Our outings were fun but the best memories are just playing on the floor with them or sitting at the kitchen table for meals.

Jake works a lot so our time with him was limited but we love being with him.  Julie works part time, juggling the two little ones at the same time, so we had lots of opportunities to be with her.  We helped set up one of her church activities – Game Night – where we had lots of fun.  We went out for meals with this sweet family a few times.  Our favorite place to eat is Burgerville – this time we remembered to purchase a few jars of their special sauce to take on the road with us.

We had a long but lovely night of cuddling and not much sleep when we stayed overnight with the little ones and Jake and Julie had a long awaited night away.  Little Griffin (Finny) is still nursing and neither of them have been away from Julie (except the one night Griffin was born).  But Paisley was completely cooperative.  We brought the air beds into their rooms so Paisley loved the idea of Nana having a sleepover in her room.  She put her head down in her crib, let me rub her back for a few minutes, smiled and went to sleep.  Finny settled down on Grandpa’s Magic Shoulder and slept for a few hours.  We knew that wouldn’t last long and Grandpa snuggled with him on the couch for a while.  I got up and kept them company.  Finny slept on and off on our shoulders.  Morning eventually came – sure, we were tired – but that special night of sweetness is a tender memory for us.  And that darling little guy may not have slept through the night but he didn’t fuss or cry – just smiled at us.

As an added bonus, we had some time with two other adorable little ones.  We saw Trekker, our nephew and niece’s 2 ½ year old and we met his new little brother Odyssey.  They are adorable!  We had a quick dinner (at Burgerville, of course) with their parents Josh and Jenn, which was a good time to catch up on each other’s lives.

We had a few days with Doug’s dad Creighton – helping him with his TV/computer/phone set up and eating a few meals together.  Bev and Barry took us to Oregon Gardens one day where we wandered through some beautiful landscapes and then ate a great Thai lunch in Silverton.  We are looking forward to camping with them when they get their new trailer.

We got to Orenco Church one Sunday morning – seeing our niece Rachel, her husband Brian and their amazing children – Grace, Beckah and Sam.

We spent our last night with Bev, Barry and Dad at Dad’s favorite seafood restaurant, McGrath’s.  It was a great dinner and a special time together.

The three weeks flew by – it’s never enough time when you’re with your loved ones, but it was a wonderful visit.

Next Blog:  Our first few weeks at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam.

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by | April 11, 2018 · 3:58 pm

Spring In the Whetstones

Time is passing swiftly and now we have to think about leaving Kartchner Caverns State Park.

The caverns are under these two hills which are part of the Whetstone Range

The view of San Pedro River Valley from the cave hill.

Before we arrived, we speculated on how we would adjust to the change from relocating our home about every five days to staying put for almost five months.  Well, the change has done us good.  We loved our time here and have decided to return – in October 2019.

While we were here we took care of a few years of delayed doctor visits – making the 60 mile trip to Tucson at least once a week.  We have new eyeglasses, new wedding rings, new legal documents, and for me – new front teeth.  While in Tucson, we ran all kinds of other errands and spent time with family and friends.  We made sure to eat in some of our favorite restaurants – Tucson Tamales, Chipotle, and Rubio’s to name the most frequented – all Mexican, of course.

Getting to see our family while we were nearby has been great.  Our daughter Amy, her friends Amanda and Chloe, camped with us one night in their tent on our site.  Amy has also come by herself for overnight visits.  Our granddaughter, Sarah, stayed overnight a few times and Sarah and her mom, Ann, also visited us one day.  Our friends Crystal and Jase spent a day with us here also.  We’ve seen Josh, Liz and Sawyer for lunch a few times.  I only got to have lunch with Jodi Tucker once but it was so good to be with her.  All this visiting back and forth feels great after missing them so much and it gave me a chance to cook for my favorite company.

Two family events stand out as highlights for our stay.  Sarah’s Spring Concert at her high school, Tucson High, gave us a chance to hear her sing in the choir and we were so proud of her lovely soprano voice.  And we managed to celebrate Josh and Amy’s birthdays with a joint dinner at Olive Garden.  Being on the road means we are often on the other side of the country when these important family events occur, so being able to celebrate together is a wonderful thing.

In between all the other things keeping us busy we still had to take care of mundane things.  We grocery shopped at the Safeway in Benson where the cashiers accepted me as a regular and I learned about their families and their health problems.  The Benson Post Office was another place that recognized me after many shipments of holiday and birthday envelopes to grandchildren.  The Walmart in Benson saw quite a bit of business from us but we never got any individual greetings there.

About every two weeks we drove the 20 miles into Sierra Vista to get our laundry done at Sierra Laundry on Wilcox Road. The proprietor was ferocious in her constant attempts to keep a clean facility.

We watched that small lady yell and complain when someone tracked in dirt or left the door open.  Yet she was sweet to us – giving us small gifts like flowers and a calendar.  She also would instruct me on the proper techniques of laundry.  This laundry facility was always clean and the machines always worked.  For us, it was a way to do five or more loads of wash in less than two hours.  A luxury to have endless huge dryers to quickly get those clothes dry.  We always had time to stop for lunch at the Pizza Hut Italian Bistro where Doug could get a gluten-free crust.  We are hoping the next place we land for any long length of time will provide us with convenient and efficient facilities and shopping.

Our work at the Caverns has proven to be satisfying – it has added a unique dimension to our lives and has given us a new miracle of nature to appreciate and learn about.  Doug has spent much of his time being a trusted Tram Driver.

After a long full day of transporting 15 to 25 tours of guests up and down the tramway, he is tired.  Doug also works as a Trailer – assisting our Lead Guides with their tours. I too work as a Trailer and I spent my Sunday mornings at the Portal of the caves, standing by in case of emergencies and acting a bit like a traffic controller.  I enjoy my shifts at the Gatehouse where I greet and give instructions to countless visitors.

I also work at the Front Desk.  And to round out our amazing experience here, Doug and I have now been trained by the Cave Unit to clean and close the caves two nights a week.  This new job means that after the last tour leaves, we enter with only the light of our headlamps.  We check the reports of touches in the cave and spray those with cave water.  We set up the foggers and lock all the doors and gates.  We love this particular task – it’s a rare privilege to be alone in the cave – in complete cave darkness – and we relish those moments.  We turn off our headlamps each time we are there to experience the deep darkness and absolute quiet – except for the occasional sound of a water drop – the heartbeat of the cave.  What an amazing experience this is!

A huge part of the fun here at Kartchner Caverns is being an integral part of the community. We live in the Lower Volunteer Village with fellow travelers.  Between the Upper and Lower Volunteer Villages we have about 18 to 20 rigs camped here.  There are also four to six campground host couples.  Our Village has 3 to 4 Rangers living in FEMA trailers.  Across from our site is a covered ramada with picnic tables and a fire pit.  We all meet there at night to enjoy each other’s company and the mesquite fire’s warmth.  It’s perfect for sky-gazing since this is a designated Dark Sky Park.  So – interesting company, snacks and drinks, beautiful sunsets – makes for pleasant evenings.  We call these get-togethers Flamingos because the call to gather is a plastic pink flamingo stuck on top of a tall pole.

The State Park also provides us with events. The staff and volunteers were honored for their contributions at an Appreciation Dinner.  We are now wearing our Volunteer Pins proudly.  We also attended the Regional Volunteer Venture which gave us an opportunity to mingle with volunteers from the state parks in the southeast region of Arizona.  We’ve helped with other events – Cave Fest, Star Party and ate great food at multiple pot lucks.  Can’t help but have a good time with these dedicated co-workers.

So now that Spring is here and the mesquite trees are getting their tiny green leaves, the ocotillos are showing signs of their orange-flamed blossoms, and the cactus wrens are making their final inspections of their nests in the prickly pears – now it is time for us to look towards our next adventure.

When we leave Arizona we head towards the Portland, Oregon area where we can’t wait to spend three weeks seeing our family, especially playing with Paisley and Griffin.

From there we head across to the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers – Ice Harbor Lock and Dam – our next volunteer placement.  It is an Army Corps of Engineers Park.  We begin our work there on May 15th and will stay until after Labor Day.  There our duties will be similar to Kartchner Caverns – giving tours, welcoming visitors, and helping in the visitor center.  We are looking forward to learning about locks and dams, fish, and Lewis and Clark history.

After that stint, our plan now is to cut diagonally across the country after Labor Day to get to our third volunteer position in Florida by December 15th.  We had given up getting any kind of placement in Florida next winter – every place seemed to have long waiting lists.  And then we got a call for Oleta River State Park! It’s perfect for us with similar duties and only about 40 minutes from my brother and sister-in-law in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and less than an hour from our sister-in-law in Miami.  So it’s time to look forward to a warm winter in Biscayne Bay with family for the holidays.

Then we got a call for another placement in Oregon.  This one is at Stubb Stewart State Park, only a short drive from our family in Portland.  We have committed to working there for July and August 2019.  Bringing us close to our return to Kartchner Caverns!  These “jobs” are all exciting to contemplate but the timing is perfect to allow us the travel experiences in between.

For those of you wondering why we would want to “work” again let me explain:  All of these jobs are in interesting parks with duties that are really enticing.  We love the idea of giving back to the parks that have given us so much joy.  And, certainly not the least reason, for any where from 10 hours to 32 hours per week for each of us, we get a free full hook-up site.  Depending on season and state, that saves us about $40 per night.  So our budget loves this!  But we decided we wouldn’t do this unless we really wanted to do the tasks assigned and to be in that part of the country at that time.  We are just amazed at our luck in getting these particular jobs.

The many days of travel between positions takes us through states we have not yet explored and gives us many more adventures to enjoy.  This life just keeps getting better!

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by | January 18, 2018 · 7:56 pm

Catalina State Park/Kartchner Caverns State Park

CATALINA STATE PARK

When you last heard from us we were driving into Willcox, Arizona, where we spent one night before we moved into Catalina State Park.  As we approached that park, we realized that we had completed the loop we had started last March – driving away from Tucson, over to California, through the Pacific Northwest, then across the middle of the country to a lovely winter in the Southeast, adventures up the East Coast, a beautiful trip to Maine, lots of time with family in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, back through the Midwest, a few weeks in New Mexico and then back to Arizona. What an amazing trip!

Our two week stay in Catalina State Park, which is just a few miles from our former home in Oro Valley, was definitely a homecoming.  We had camped a lot in this beautiful treasure of a state park.  We remembered many family gatherings and frequent day hikes. It has always been one of our favorite places to take out-of-town guests and a place to spend some mindful hiking;   We especially love to recall the weekend we spent here with Doug’s parents and some of our children.  We camped in our pop-up trailer and our tent with them.

When I was out of work for a few months, I came to Catalina every morning and grew to love all the trails.  I never made it up to Romero Pools or Romero Canyon and the Sutherland Trail which goes all the way to California.  But the other trails became familiar territory to me.  My favorite is the 2.5 mile Canyon Loop.  After I pant up Killer Hill, there is a long desert walk to the edge of the canyon.  Walk down many, many stairs and you are on the canyon floor.  Here there are beautiful views of the Catalina Mountains, a myriad of Sonoran desert flora – ocotillo, yucca, prickly pear, cholla, agave, rabbitbush, desert broom, and the enormous stately saguaro.  Sometimes there is water in the Canyon del Oro Wash but always there is the fascinating story of geology and rocks to read in the landscape.

So Doug and I hiked Canyon Loop together.  Doug went for an 8 mile hike to Romero Canyon and another afternoon my friend Crystal and I did the Nature Trail and the Birding Trail – enjoying the setting sun and its shadows.

Catalina State Park

Catalina State Park

We had scheduled healthcare and other appointments while we were conveniently located near Oro Valley.  Our daughter Amy slept over during our weekends and our granddaughter Sarah stay over our second weekend.  Our son Josh, his wife Liz and their son Sawyer came for a barbecue lunch;  Doug’s former co-workers camped next to us for a few days.  It was so nice to enjoy family and friends while we reveled in our return to this lovely desert.

It was great to spend a few days with Sarah, who loves our RV.  One morning we took Sarah to the Ranger Gatehouse where we were able to show her a 3-d relief map of the mountains and the trail we wanted to hike.  There Sarah got to see the 2 snakes that are on display.  When we got to the Picnic Area, Sarah got to see lots more snakes.  The Naturalists let her hold the snakes.  Sarah used to hate when I held a snake, but this time she touched it – then held it – then came back and held it again and loved it. It was a pretty chill light beige gopher snake with pretty eyes.  Sarah and I even let a Naturalist put a scorpion on our forearm.  (He held the stinger!)  Doug kept his distance from the snakes while I avoided the photos of tarantulas.  Sarah talked about the snake – “Slitherin”, the whole time we hiked the Birding Trail.

Sarah and Grandma at Catalina State Park

We ran lots of errands, went to lots of appointments, and saw lots of familiar faces.  Catalina State Park gave us beautiful views, nice facilities, howling coyotes, a full moon rising over Pusch Peak and hooting owls.  Then it was time to move on to our next adventure.

KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK

We eagerly set up camp in the Lower Volunteer Village at Kartchner Caverns State Park.  We took a few days to get settled, check out the little town of Benson, meet our fellow volunteers and rangers and then we got to work.

We have been here now for over a month and we LOVE this park.  Every night we enjoy a dramatic sunset – we are surrounded by more mountains here – the Whetstones, the Huachucas, the Dragoons, the Mules, the Chiriachuas, and in the far distance – the San Jose Mountains in Mexico. The sunrises, the sunsets, and pleasant temperatures are only a part of what makes this such a great place.  On our second night, our volunteer neighbors invited us to “the pink flamingo” for a get together.  Tradition in this village is putting a plastic pink flamingo on a long pole near a fire pit and a ramada with picnic tables;  When the flamingo flies it’s time to hang out.

Moonrise over the Dragoon Mountains

Sunset view at Kartchner Caverns State Park

We struggled to remember everyone’s names and who went with whom and who does what, but after a week or two we felt comfortable here in our new home.  We are living and working among people who love to travel as much as we do, who are living a minimalist lifestyle in an RV and who treasure nature and all it has to teach us.

Doug trained to drive the tram, which takes the guests from the Discovery Center up the hill to the entrance to the caverns. We both are now trained in other positions.  We staff the Gatehouse – welcoming visitors, collecting entrance fees, and giving out information on the caverns and trails in this park.  We also take Portal duties.  The Portal is the airlock door all our tours go through. Portal duties include opening the door for the tours, welcoming the guests to the caves, and primarily being available there for any emergency;  In our very first minutes training at the Portal, a young girl came running out of the cave and vomited over the sidewalk.  We quickly learned how to deal with a bio-spill.  If someone has to leave the cave – we go in to get them (sometimes with a wheelchair) and help them get on the tram which takes them back down to the Discovery Center.

Our volunteer attire

Both of us have gone through Trailer Training.  A Trailer is assigned to assist with tours.  The Lead Guides conduct the tours and the Trailer follows at the back of the group.  As Trailers we carry a fanny pack with emergency supplies and we have to know the locations of the safety equipment and wheelchairs.  If someone gets sick, claustrophobic, or just freaks out, we have to get them out of the cave.  If a guest touches a formation, we mark it so it can be cleaned that night.  We both enjoy trailing – each guide has their own style and there is always something new to see and learn about in the cave.  There are two different tours – one through the Big Room which takes about an hour and 45 minutes and the other through the Rotunda/Throne Room which is a little shorter.  We love being in the caves – the formations, the dripping water, the dark expanse is just amazing.  Eventually we will also learn to help at the Discovery Center’s front desk.  I will be training to be a lead guide after the holidays. There is much to learn about this fascinating natural wonder and I’m looking forward to being able to share it with guests.

Right now we are only working three days a week – a full day on Sunday, and two half days on Monday and Tuesday.  We hope to be picking up more hours soon.  We take our work seriously but enjoy it much more than we did in other working life.  We are energized by this lifestyle.    For the past two years on the road, we relished sleeping in – sometimes until 9 am.  Now we set the alarm for 5:30 am – and don’t mind that at all, plus there is usually a really nice sunrise to enjoy.  After a day of work, we are a little tired because this is much more physical work than we were used to.  But it’s FUN!  And for all this fun, we are compensated with a beautiful campsite that has full hook-ups along with the incredible views.

We weren’t sure if this kind of long-term volunteering would work for us.  But it does – we think our five months here will go by very quickly.  For now, we want to concentrate on learning more, enjoying our family visiting us, taking time to get into Tucson, do a little sightseeing in the San Pedro Valley we are living in and celebrating the holidays with new friends, old friends and family.

If you are planning to be around the Tucson area – contact us so we can arrange some time together.  We will be here until April first.

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by | November 13, 2017 · 7:49 pm

More of New Mexico

Albuquerque (ABQ)

Our adventures in New Mexico continue.  Our campground –American RV Resort was the first one we’ve been in that served us a continental breakfast.  This campground was an improvement over the last, especially the well maintained roads.  And we always appreciate a good laundry.

We left Santa Fe and arrived in Albuquerque on Thursday, October 19th.  On Saturday we went to the Nuclear Science and History Center right next to Kirtland Air Force Base.  We saw a movie about the early moments in our country’s history of nuclear weaponry.  The exhibits gave us lots more info.  We saw a replica of the Enola Gay and were intrigued by “the Gadget” hanging outside the building.

Little Boy and Fat Man replicas

Petroglyph National Monument

On Sunday we went to Petroglyph National Monument.  I might have mentioned what a poor hiker I am.  So, it’s hard to believe, that without a moment’s hesitation, fortified by my sturdy hiking boots, my trusty hiking poles, a water bottle, a hat to keep the blazing sun off my face, and my strong and reliable Doug by my side, I stupidly climbed the rocky mountain trail.  I wanted to see the petroglyphs!

Going up was hard – I was still panting because of the altitude as well as the exertion.  I went almost all the way up, up the trail – Doug did the last bit alone.

But what goes up, must come down and down was way scarier to me.  The “trail” between the rocks was too narrow for my feet and there was the dreaded loose gravel.  I had to carry my poles because there was no place to put them down.  A few places on the trail totally freaked me out and I just froze.  Crying doesn’t help.  Either does shaky legs and arms – clammy hands – and poor Doug, who tries to help, but there’s not much he can do when I dissolve into that state.  Eventually, I made it down to level ground.  It wasn’t a pretty descent, that’s for sure.  I made a firm resolve NOT to do that again!

BUT, I wanted to see the petroglyphs!  And in spite of my trauma, they were amazing.  Ancient symbols, communications between the travelers, the patiently etched notes made by shepherds.  There was a very old four-pointed star that was perfectly preserved.  The interpretive signs along the trail suggest that we don’t try to interpret the meanings of the symbols – our own cultural biases would probably get in the way of knowing the originator’s intent.  So we looked and marveled at as many as we could find.  An amazing place!  And there were hundreds and hundreds of petroglyphs located conveniently on level paths – so I really didn’t have to risk my life to see them – something to remember next time a rocky mountain trail tempts me.

Petroglyphs along the trail

Petroglyphs along the trail

Old Town Albuquerque

The next day, we visited Old Town Albuquerque.  Another place we’ve been to before and one we love.  We spent a few hours checking out the shops and galleries and looking for the elusive spicy chile-laced chocolate I remembered.

We didn’t take the “Breaking Bad” tour, but we saw the motorhome!

One of the markets near the Old Town Albquerque plaza

We spent a few quiet days doing chores like washing and waxing the RV, laundry, and grocery shopping.  I started baking my holiday stash of biscotti.

Alamogordo and Pistachios

We left ABQ for Alamogordo.  Our new Boot Hill campground was across the highway from McGinn’s Pistachio Farm.  The Giant Pistachio (the world’s largest!) could be seen from our front window.

World’s largest pistachio

Boot Hill was another great place to stay, with the exception of the dust.  Doug had spent 2 days carefully washing and waxing the RV.  Most campgrounds prohibit this because of the water usage, but Boot Hill allowed it with a charge of $20.  It’s a big rig when you take on this task.  But we weren’t meant to have a clean shiny RV.  Boot Hill’s maintenance staff chose to rake the gravel all day after Doug’s efforts.  The red dust the raking kicked up just attached itself to not only the outside but also a fine layer inside.  Oh well!

Alamogordo (which means big fat cottonwood) will always be synonymous with pistachios to us.  Our camp hosts gave us coupons for the nearby pistachio farms, so, of course, first thing we did was check out the stores.  We liked McGinn’s best for two reasons –  they had a whole salad bar space of free samples of flavored pistachios, pecans and peanut brittle.  I went back for thirds of the chocolate-covered green chile brittle and we tasted enough pistachios to know that the green chile flavored one were just the perfect spicy for us.  And when in New Mexico, green chile is always the best flavor!  Also McGinn’s gave us a big bag of pistachios for our free gift.

Heart of the Desert Pistachio Farm was fancier – no Giant Pistachio but Painted Horses – you had to ask for a specific sample and after we bought a metal flower for outside the RV, we got a very small bag of pistachios as our gift.

White Sands National Monument

After this fun morning of eating and shopping for our favorite nuts, we drove to White Sands National Monument.  The drive there through the mountains and Chihuahua Desert with cloudless blue sky and perfect temperatures was a treat itself.

I was picturing some large sand dune – like the shore without the ocean.  But it is immensely more spectacular than that.  It is 225 miles of glittering white gypsum forming endless moving mountains.

We took the mile long nature trail.  Along this route, fortunately staked with trail markers, you see the fragile foliage that finds ways to survive this harsh environment.  We were lucky to see what was left of the fall yellows and oranges on some of the trees.  We saw children sledding down the dunes on plastic saucers.

View along the Nature Trail

But the remarkable sight is the white!  Huge expanses of white.  So much more than I expected.  After the first beautiful hike up and down and across the dunes, we took a short break and then drove out to the Alkali Flats.  There we saw less foliage and even more pure white mountains of gypsum.  The park wasn’t very crowded (plus it’s so big you hardly have to be near anyone else) so we felt like we were alone in this vast sea of purity and silence.  Once in a while you could see another human crest a distant hill.

Alkali Flats

Trekking through this white vastness is like being on the floor of an ocean – instead of water rippling the sand, it’s the wind that ruffles it.  The gypsum is the remnants of an enormous lake bed so we were sort of walking in on an ocean floor.

We took one more short hike on the Boardwalk Trail where the interpretive signs helped us identify the plants and footprints we were seeing.

More dunes!

We were thrilled to have seen this overwhelmingly beautiful natural wonder and so when we overheard another tourist say she was “underwhelmed”.  We were speechless.  This is a must see sight and one we will no doubt travel back to.

Las Cruces – Hatch and Green Chiles

(Is it “chile” or “chili”?  In New Mexico, chile refers to a capsicum pepper, either red or green, somewhat spicy, and grown locally in New Mexico.  And green chile is the official taste of New Mexico.  Chili refers to any hot pepper –ancho, jalapeno, pasilla, Serrano.  In 1983, Senator Pete Dominici entered the “chile” spelling into the Congressional Records as the official spelling for the New Mexico chile pepper.)

We left Alamogordo on Saturday, October 29th (with lots of good pistachios) and landed in the Las Cruces KOA.  Doug loves green chiles and there is no place better than Hatch, New Mexico to get some.  So our first trip was to Hatch. It was another beautiful drive through mountains and desert.  Hatch is a small (very small) place, surrounded by fields of chile peppers and orchards of pistachios and pecan.  Doug had investigated a few places to eat lunch and we settled on the Pepper Pot (an excellent choice, filled with locals).  There our cravings were fully satisfied – a green chile cheeseburger with homemade potato chips for me and two huge green chile rellenos with rice and beans for Doug.

We had pretty full stomachs but we managed to cross the street to a little shack where we found frozen green chiles.  This was great since first of all it is very convenient to have a neat package of frozen, roasted and cleaned green chiles and also the green chiles were just out of season and the stores only had fresh red chiles.  At this little shack we also bought chili lime seasoning, ground green chile flakes, Mexican oregano, chipotle flakes and a pretty tri-colored ristra.  The prices at this stand were much better than the others we checked out, so on the way back we stopped in for some more items.  Now we are sorry we didn’t buy more of the delicious frozen roasted green chiles!

Dripping Springs and Mesilla

We spent our last full day in Las Cruces at Dripping Springs National Monument.  The long road into the monument had a few tarantulas walking across it.  The sight of them was enough to keep me in the car (my biggest phobia!)  So we ate lunch in the car.  Doug took the three mile hike without me while I stayed back and studied our Volunteer Handbook for our upcoming gig.  He enjoyed hiking at his own much faster pace and shared his photos of the old ranch, sanitorium and water dripping from a pipe.

Old Saniitorium at Dripping Springs

View of Las Cruces from Dripping Springs

We finished our afternoon at Old Mesilla – more pretty shops and galleries around a plaza.  Lots of original adobe homes and buildings in this sweet old place.

We spent our last night visiting with Louise and Richard – new friends living the full-time RV lifestyle.  We shared stories of our travels and our lives and found lots of similar interests.  We’re hoping to reconnect with them – hopefully in Tucson in February.

Willcox and Home

Today, November 1st, we left Las Cruces and will arrive soon in Willcox, Arizona.  This will be just a one night stay before we get to Catalina State Park, our home away from home near Tucson.  We are at the Willcox-Cochise KOA, which is brand new KOA, under some construction, but will be a really nice place to stay.

It’s good to be back in Arizona where we will be for the next five months!

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by | October 19, 2017 · 8:29 pm

New Mexico – Land of Enchantment – Santa Fe, Taos and Bandelier

We left Trinidad, Colorado on October 12th and arrived in New Mexico, our 32nd state!  Living in Tucson, we vacationed in New Mexico a few times and we were happy to visit again.  Our stay in this amazing state included new adventures and revisiting some of our favorite places.  The approach to Santa Fe on I25 is dramatic after the low grass plains we had been seeing.  We drove along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (named by the Spanish conquistadors – The Blood of Christ).  The beautiful landscapes around us distracted us from the gusty winds that pummeled us.

As you get close to Santa Fe, the overpasses are decorated with ancient symbols and are labeled in the language of the Tewa people:  K’uuyemugeh – deer (depicted with a line seemingly outlining its digestive system – prompting someone to call it the “digestive deer”.  Po’suwaegeh – blue corn.  The Nambe (meaning “rounded”) Owingeh pueblo still exists along this road and has been inhabited since the 14h century.

Our first stop was at the Rancheros de Santa Fe Campground.  This was a convenient place to stay but there were a few things we felt could be improved.  The campground roads were rutted and needed major repairs – we experienced some scary bumps and dips as we tried to get in.  The site we were assigned was impossible for us – trees too close to extend our sides; ruts too deep to level our rig.  We moved two sites away and while we were able to put our slides out, we gave up trying to get us level.  After moving around, putting us up on boards, and doing what we could to make us safe and comfortable, we settled in and adjusted to having our last step way too high.  But the staff, the laundry and the campground itself was really a nice place to stay.

*  *  *

Santa Fe

On October 13th, our 21 month anniversary in the RV, we headed out to Old Town Santa Fe.  We loved walking around the familiar plaza in the center of town.  The plaza was hopping with vendors selling food, jewelry, Native American drums and art work.  We sat on a bench and ate our lunch and listened to a talented couple singing, playing a guitar and drums.  Good food, good music and lots of people-watching.  The highlight of our plaza-walking tour included the beautiful old church – St. Francis Cathedral.  We lit a candle, said some prayers for our families and quietly enjoyed the peace and spirit of this ancient sacred spot.

Saint Francis Cathedral

*  *  *

Balloon Fiesta

And then our favorite adventure began!  The Balloon Fiesta!  This was one thing we often talked about but never got around to doing.  So we made sure we did it on this trip.  The Fiesta takes place in Albuquerque and we were 75 miles away in Santa Fe with only 2 more days left of the 9 day festival.  So we got up at 3:30 am on Saturday; dressed in layers, and drove from our campground into the Railroad District of Santa Fe.  There we caught the Rail Runner commuter train to Albuquerque.  This fast, efficient, clean and pleasant train ride took about an hour.  The round trip fare of $25 each included the $10 each admission to the Balloon Fiesta.  It also included the free shuttle from the train depot directly into the fairgrounds.  This shuttle was amazing!  Plenty of school buses were lined up when we got there and they had a special lane on the highway to bypass the thousands of cars trying to get into the fairgrounds.  We felt lucky as we passed by lines and lines of stopped cars – and simply walked off the bus and through the gate.  It was still very dark so we followed the crowds in front of us who seemed to know where they were going.

This year the Fiesta had great weather and the estimate of the crowd on that perfect Saturday was 80,000!  We all gathered on a big field – even in the dark we could see some large shapes around us.  Up in the sky, a few balloons had risen in the Dawn Patrol to check out the winds.  When the balloon pilots opened up the flames the entire balloons would light up.  This is called the Morning Glow.  It was amazing to look up and see these first balloons glowing and gently moving right above us.

  

But then it got really exciting!  As the sun started to rise over the Sandia Mountains and the sky got a little lighter, we watched more and more balloons inflate – then rise – then float.  Incredible!  Hundreds of these beautiful silky shapes were in the sky at the same time.  We were so lucky to be there that day!  It was the perfect weather for the perfect Mass Ascension.  Each balloon was amazing in its own way – some of the older traditional oval and round shapes in bright colors, with local logos were rising along with newer balloons.  The Special Shapes were really fun to watch.  At first you could only guess at the final shape as gases were pumped in.  The balloon crews were adept at filling their balloons and keeping them tethered until the moment of ascent.  And they do this with the crowds so close they are touching the silk as it sits on the ground.  And then, while the crowd cheers, the crew releases the final rope and the balloon rises.  One magnificent creation after another!

The Special Shapes were pretty cool – a giant baby in a stroller, Angry Birds, Penguins, Yoda, an enormous Wells Fargo stagecoach, a winged pig, a pink elephant, Humpty Dumpty, Count Dracula, Smokey the Bear, and an assortment of huge animals,   Our favorites were the family of three bumble bees who started out velcroed together at their hands and then they drifted apart, only to eventually land near each other after executing their graceful dance in the sky.  Many of the balloons were sponsored by local and national companies and organizations.  We cheered the Donate Life, Breast Cancer Awareness, and POW balloons and, of course, the elegant black Dos Equis balloon.

The prettiest site was gazing up as the sun crested the mountain and brightly lit the balloons drifting peacefully above us.  You could take (and we did) a hundred photos and still not quite catch the marvel of this event.  It is the most photographed event in this country.  And yet, how do you film the dance of giant balloons in the bright blue sky?  We were thrilled to be a witness to this event.   And, as it turned out, we picked the best day to be there.  Although this year was a really good weather year, with Mass Ascensions happening every day of the nine days of festival except the last day.  It was disappointing for the huge crowds to be there on that Sunday, when the winds did not cooperate.  We watched on television, as a few balloons inflated in place but were not able to ascend.  Such a contrast from just the day before.

It’s hard to follow an act like a perfect Mass Ascension, but there was still plenty to do and see on the fair grounds.  We saw lots of folks collecting cards and pins from their favorite balloon crews and the surrounding tents sold vintage and collectible pins and other Fiesta memorabilia.  Most of the food vendors did their biggest business selling coffee, donuts and breakfast burritos in the early morning hours.  Pinon Coffee, a New Mexico favorite, seemed to do the most business, warning up the crowd in the early chill of dawn.  But then the vendors switched to tacos and burgers for the lunch crowd.  By 10 am, the sun was bright and the day quickly warmed up, so we went looking for cold lemonade.

We wandered the fairgrounds for a few hours, checking out the tents and listening to a New Mexico Native American group of singers and dancers.  We hung around and then walked to our shuttle pick up point, where we immediately climbed aboard another school bus.  Our luck held (and good planning) and we only waited a few minutes for the Rail Runner back to Santa Fe.  The train ride back was more interesting since we now could see the countryside we were passing.  With just a short ride back to our campground, our amazing day was complete!  We have experienced the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!!

*  *  *

Taos

Our fun in the Santa Fe area was only just beginning!  On Tuesday, October 17th, we drove the scenic road to Taos along the Rio Grande Gorge.  This drive is dramatic – the muddy brown Rio Grande winding through the Jemez Mountains with the flashy yellow cottonwoods outlining the banks of the river.  This is such a beautiful road to travel.

Taos, like most Spanish-Mexican influenced towns, also has a central plaza.  We found Taos to be more authentic and quaint than the larger cities.  We went in and out of many of the shops and galleries surrounding the plaza.  We saw Kit Carson’s home and museum along Kit Carson Street.  Sweet little town!

Taos Plaza

We spent the afternoon of this pretty day at the Taos Pueblo.  Our guide Lewis walked us around the historic community which has been continually lived in for hundreds of years.  We started in the church, a Catholic church, which is still in everyday use by the approximately 150 current pueblo dwellers.  Then we walked to the ruins of the original church and its graveyard.  Lewis gave us a great overview of the history and culture of his people – the Red Willow people.  Then he invited us to wander through the grounds and visit with the community.  We were encouraged to enter any of the homes that had an open sign by their doors.  It was hot in the dirt covered plaza so we went looking for cold drinks.  A nice man, who was feeding his neighbor a bowl of stew, had a cooler of water and soda for us.  We paid a small amount for this and he suggested we write our names in his guest book so that he could pray for us.  We walked in and out of many of the tiny ancient homes and saw the people living pretty much the same as they had for generations.  I couldn’t resist some fry bread (made in the home’s own horno oven) and Doug had some sugared pecans.  We stayed for a while, enjoying the peacefulness of this community who welcomed us with great hospitality.

Horno ovens

Taos Pueblo

The old mission church at the Taos Pueblo

San Geronimo de Taos

On the way back through Taos, we stopped at another church where we spent a few minutes looking at the painted walls and its simple structure was filled with a quiet, lovely peace.

San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church in Taos

Our ride back to our campground was just as beautiful as the drive to Taos.  The afternoon light made the Rio Grande shimmer alongside the road.  The sun made the yellow leaves of the cottonwoods glow. The mountains’ shadows were deep at this time of day.  We are so glad we took the time and made the long drive to experience Taos.

*  *  *

Bandelier National Monument

We have been to Mesa Verde; we have seen ancient ruins all over Arizona from the White Mountains to Flagstaff; and we have visited the Romero Ruins in Catalina State Park many times.  So we were pretty excited to take a trip to Bandelier National Monument.

We hiked up to see the caves and structures that housed the ancients who resided here.  The trail was steep and I had to take my time to catch my breath and watch where I put my feet.  I am the world’s worst hiker – I lack balance; I have no idea where to put my feet to stay safe; I picture myself falling off the trail and bouncing along the rocks on the cliff; I fear being helicoptered off the trail with a broken leg or hip; I shudder with every loose piece of gravel under my feet; and all this fear makes my knees and hands shake plus I pant heavily as I go up in altitude.  But I love the idea of hiking and I really want to see ancient ruins and experience the history that goes along with these kinds of hikes.  So I tramped up the mountain to get up close to the cave homes.  I didn’t take the chance to enter the holes via ladders.  Doug did that.  It was amazing to be up there!  And with the technical assist of sitting on my butt sometimes, I managed to get down the mountain too!

Ruins of a Kiva at Bandelier National Monument

Cliff home ruins and caves

We keep lucking out with the weather – so we took a few other shorter hikes along the more level paths.  Another wonderful day – hiking in nature, learning some history, absorbing new culture!  We are so grateful to be able to travel this country and live these experiences!

We finished this perfect day with an early dinner at one of our all time favorite restaurants – Gabriel’s.  Every time we have visited Santa Fe/Albuquerque we have stopped at this place.  We first were there in 1997 on our long pop-up trailer trip through the Southwest.  We ordered their table-prepared guacamole and fell in love!  On that trip and others, Amy and Julie were with us and, of course, we all shared that big bowl of guacamole.  This time, it was just me and Doug, and that guacamole was just as good as the first time and this time, we didn’t have to share it with two hungry kids.

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Filed under Arkansas, New Mexico

by | October 12, 2017 · 1:00 pm

Gods’ Garden and the Perfect Snow Day

We arrived in Colorado Springs KOA for a short but wonderful stay.  We fortunately headed to The Garden Of The Gods on the day after we got there – Saturday, October 7th.

Garden Of The Gods – aptly named.  Who but the gods could have so carefully placed those red rocks?  Who else would have created a rock garden of such immense size and grandeur?  The Visitor Center was overflowing with people.  We had come on the Harvest Festival and Fossil Day and so had hundreds of others.  As we approached, we saw long lines of cars in every direction looking for parking.  This day’s festivities included a large festival in the park across the highway from the Visitor Center.  It must have been a great day over there but we chose to head to Center first, immediately found a parking space, and there we stayed.

We spent some time enjoying the displays, including the special exhibits of fossils.  We got a kick out of watching a baby armadillo scamper around a plastic pool filled with mulch and sprinkled with his favorite food – meal worms.  We watched a movie depicting the creation of The Garden Of The Gods, which answered the question – who put those rocks there?  The answer is in millions of years of activity of the Earth’s crust.  The red sandstone mega monoliths now stand upright from their original horizontal position.  Their placement is a result of a dynamic fault thrust.  Their shapes and designs were created by the forces of wind and water.  So random and strange.  Earth’s artistry.

We left our car happily parked and took the trail from the Visitor Center to the center of The Garden – about a mile – but an easy trail with views of those spectacular rocks.  The mountains in the far background were beautiful too – especially the highest – Pike’s Peak.  We chose not to drive up to Pike’s Peak since my altitude issues would interfere with our enjoyment of it.  14,000 feet is 8,000 feet higher than the 6,000 feet that gave me a day-long migraine and a week of shortness of breath.  But we took photos of this famous peak and settled for that.

Garden Of The Gods viewed from the Visitor Center

Rock Formations at Garden Of The Gods

Rock Formations at Garden of the Gods

Pike’s Peak through the trees

Pike’s Peak

Our pleasant hike around the rock formations took about two hours and we were up close and personal with some of the more iconic ones.  My favorite was seen from the Visitor Center – The Kissing Camels.

The Kissing Camels

We ate a nice lunch on the Patio of the Visitor Center before our hike and then returned for ice cream cones after.  The Garden Of The Gods is a city park, claiming to be rated #2 in the world.  Colorado Springs proudly maintains this gem.  We looked through lists of the most beautiful city parks and although we didn’t see The Garden Of The Gods listed, our personal rating is #1.

We appreciated the hospitality of the gods, who granted us bright blue skies, warm temperatures with cool breezes as we marveled at their rocks (plus the perfect parking spot).

*  *  *

A Perfectly Cozy Snowy Day

We hustled out of Colorado Springs one day early (really happy that we had such a great day in the Gods’ Garden).  Snow was predicted.  Winter is coming!  We don’t want to be driving the RV on icy roads with poor visibility.  As we were packing up Saturday night, it was clear bright blue cloudless skies and temps in the high 70’s.  Hard to believe in the forecasts of snow.  We arrived at Trinidad State Park and serendipitously found that our reserved campsite was available one night early.  The ranger told us that the camper in our site left early to avoid the snow.

The temperature was still high; the sky was still clear.  Snow?  Are you kidding?  But by nightfall, the temps dropped 35 degrees.  It snowed on and off all day Monday.

The day after the snowfall

Trinidad State Park is beautiful – high cliffs covered in fir trees with a dapple of yellow aspen trees.  Our front window view took in a high oddly shaped mesa; our side views were firs.  When the snow was heavily falling, the mountains disappeared.  When it stopped, the snowy trees sparkled against the blue sky.  Our RV was cozy and warm.  Our fireplace proved to be delightful.  We kept busy – Doug on the computer; me with some sewing projects.  Every time we thought the flurries had stopped, they started up again.  So pretty (when seen from inside!)  A perfectly cozy snowy day in lovely Colorado.

Sunset at Trinidad State Park

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Filed under Colorado

by | October 6, 2017 · 8:20 pm

Living With the Legends in Cheyenne and Colorado

We have been to Cheyenne, Wyoming before and once again, we loved being there.  We got to the Cheyenne KOA on September 29th and made sure that on the very next day we headed to the Cheyenne Farmer’s Market.  Our most exciting find there was the gluten-free booth.  We bought a beautiful loaf of white bread and it was delicious.  It was a pretty big market with lots of produce.  After checking out all the booths and spending some money on yummy food, we tackled the Downtown Historic Walking Tour.  Cheyenne is filled with history from the old frontier days.  All over the city are 6 foot high plaster boots painted by local artists and depicting the history of Wyoming and Cheyenne. After a fun morning of exploring the legends and history of the West, we treated ourselves to a great Thai lunch at Anong’s.

We started to see snow on the grass along the highway and lots of fog as we left Cheyenne.  We took it a little easy as I eased into the altitude in this area.  I become symptomatic at only 5,000 feet above sea level so we walk slowly and stop often.  We drove along the Highway of Legends and started to see the Rocky Mountains.

*  *  *

We passed a sign about the Ludlow Massacre.  I researched it and found that the Colorado National Guard attacked 1200 striking coal miners and their families on April 2, 1914.  Woody Guthrie wrote and sang about the 20 people killed in this massacre, 11 of them children.  It may seem like we are traveling in a vacuum removed from the trials and tribulations of daily news events.  I try not to bring up current events in what we want to be our pleasant travel blog.  But that is not to say that we are not experiencing the sad and tragic events of the day as we drive through this beautiful country.  I have to wonder what Woody would sing today – earthquakes and mega hurricanes; peaceful protestors stormed by white supremacists (today – in 2017!)  Conflict and hate spewing from places that should be encouraging unity.  Woody brought it all together for me as I listened to his song “I Ain’t Got No Home.”  It explains a lot!

*  *  *

Our first stop in Colorado this trip was to Chatfield State Park in Aurora.  Colorful Colorado, the Centennial State, has so much beauty to offer.  This lovely state park on what used to be the enormous acreage of Chatfield Farms displayed the colorful beauty of yellow cottonwoods and Gambel oaks, contrasted by green junipers and firs; the frenetic activity of black and white magpies, cottontails and ground squirrels.  We even saw some cacti, yucca and prickly pear cactus, blue penstemon and yellow mullein, reminding us that we were heading towards the Southwest. Kestrel, prairie falcons and red-tailed hawks competed for the skies with flocks of Canadian geese.  Nature swirling all around us.

Our first foray on this trip was visiting another capital city, Denver.  After reading about all the many things we should do in Denver, we picked the free one-hour tour of the State Capitol Building.  My altitude problems were diminishing by this time and I had no problem walking 4.5 miles around this Mile High City.

We are really glad we toured this stunning capitol building.  Impressive on the outside – modeled after our beautiful US capitol in D.C.  But it was even more breathtaking on the inside.  The Red Marble, quarried from a Colorado mine, fills the halls.  The Grand Staircase features that marble highlighted dramatically by gold balustrades and trims.

State Capitol Building in Denver

Looking up towards to dome you see stained glass windows with likenesses of Colorado legislators.  On one level are U.S. presidential portraits.  We walked past the State Legislature, which was trying to figure out which organizations can legally be doled the taxes from the marijuana industry.

We climbed up a few floors to stand outside of the gold-leafed dome to view the city of Denver’s sky line.  There is even a small museum on one of the dome floors.

Denver skyline from the State Capitol Dome

Looking up inside the dome

Inside the dome

We had an excellent guide whose knowledge of Denver, Colorado, its dignitaries, and the surrounding mountains was impressive.  Her enthusiasm for her job showed in the details she shared with us.  We especially enjoyed learning more about Margaret Brown (the Unsinkable Molly) whose home is nearby in Denver and Emily Griffith whose founding of the School of Opportunity taught job skills to the immigrants populating the city as a result of the gold rush.  And then there was Francis Jacobs, who helped found the Community Chest, which eventually became the United Way, and who also was the impetus for the establishment of the Jewish Hospital, today a renowned heart hospital.

The tour was free and certainly one of the best tours we’ve been on.  The building itself is magnificent.  If you visit Denver don’t just admire the State Capitol’s golden dome, or climb to the step that marks a mile up from sea level.  Go inside – see the beauty of the mix of Greek and Roman architecture, the use of all Colorado-found materials and listen to the rich history that streams from this building as state employees go about the business of governance.

Interesting trivia:  Originally the dome was covered in copper.  But citizens were in an uproar.  Gold brought people to Denver and gold should be on the dome.  The enormous expense of this was assumed by generous donations from the families of gold prospectors.  And the continued expense of re-covering the dome with gold every 6 or 8 years is still borne by those mine owners.

After this great tour, we walked the famous 16th Street Mall.  A mile-long pedestrian thoroughfare filled with shops and restaurants.  Denver proved to be a great place to visit.

On Wednesday, October 4th, we took a picnic lunch on our walk around Chatfield State Park.  This is an outstanding park, one which we would highly recommend for anyone traveling through this area.  Lovely sites.  Landscaping everywhere.  Great facilities, including laundry rooms.  No doubt we will return here when we pass by again.

The beauty of this area kept us exploring and the next day we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens – Chatfield Farms.  The Gardens were preparing for Fall and Halloween fun and we saw skeletons and pumpkins as we took the long nature trail around the grounds.  At the lavender gardens, there must have been thousands of butterflies!  Another beautiful day!

Walkway at Denver Botanic Gardens

Fall Decorations!

Butterflies everywhere!

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by | September 30, 2017 · 12:45 pm

Corn and more

I’ve heard that it’s good to start with a joke.  So here goes:  What do you call someone who only eats corn?  A cornivore!  Ha ha ha!  Sorry for the “corny” joke but I’ve been surrounded by so much corn on this latest segment of this trip that I had to make a joke about it.  Actually, I found out that all this corn is not going to be eaten by people – instead it’s feed corn and some will become ethanol.  There really is a lot of corn growing in this country – we drive for hours and you can’t look in any direction without seeing a million stalks.

View from our campsite – acres and acres of corn!

When we last blogged, we had just left Indiana and entered Sullivan, Illinois.  We took the advice of the campground host and went to the Broom Corn Festival in Arcola.  It was a fairly large street fair with lots of food and vendors and one large tent where we watched demonstrations of broom-making.  We saw a model of a broom house and a display of medal-winning brooms.  Arcola was a nice town.  The festival was great.  We talked to some local folks.  All in all, it, was a nice day and not too much corn.

Our next stop was the Kankakee KOA in Chebanese, Illinois.  We liked the city of Kankakee and it proved to be in a good location to check out some local attractions.

The B. Harley Bradley House in Kankakee, IL

On September 12th we checked out another Frank Lloyd Wright house.  We couldn’t tour the inside of it because there were no tours that day, but we walked around the building, looked in windows and walked down to the river adjacent to the property.  One of the most outstanding features of this house are the windows.  You can see in this photo the intricate leaded designs.  The geometric patterns are a hallmark of Wright’s.

Closeup of windows on this Frank Lloyd Wright designed house

The location of this house was right on the Kankakee River and it had its own small dock – also designed by Wright.  Walking on the lawn from the house to the dock you could imagine the Bradleys engaging in picnics and boat rides along this pretty river.

From the Kankadee campground we drove to a train station called the Metra and commuted into CHICAGO!  The train was a double-decker, impeccably clean and our trip to the city was hassle-free.  We headed straight to Millennium Park to take our photo at “The Bean” – the iconic Chicago sculpture formally known as Cloud Gate.  It reflects the sky and, of course, everyone has to have a photo of their distorted self image.  It was amazing to see it and we loved listening to all the visitors from all over the world.  It was another thrill for me to see Lake Michigan.  We walked through the park, stopped to listen to an outdoor concert and then walked over the pedestrian bridge to see the lake. It was a calm day and the boats and ships in the marina gently moved in the water.  Our photos don’t really do it all justice.  We walked over to the Crown Fountain and then along Michigan Avenue.  We ate lunch at Native Foods and kept on walking and walking back to our train station.  We put 5.3 miles on our feet that day and got to see one of America’s largest and beautiful cities.  Our train rides were relaxing and helped make the day a huge success.

The “Bean” in Chicago Millennium Park

Lake Michigan waterfront

Crown Fountain in Chicago

Our next campground was Rock Island KOA where we only stayed one night.  Then we entered our 31st state, Iowa.  Iowa – Fields of Opportunity!  More corn! We really felt that we were in the west again once we crossed the Mighty Mississippi.  The Newton KOA was near the Historic Valley Junction where we happened upon an Antique Car Show.  We also drove through Des Moines.  We stopped for a walk through the city park outside the capitol dome.  There we spent some time wandering through the lavender plantings and the Holocaust Memorial.  The next day, we drove over to Pella, a little town that truly celebrates its Dutch heritage.  Even the street signs have windmills on them.  We chose not to go through the reconstructed Dutch Village but instead walked around the historic downtown square.  I couldn’t resist buying some really yummy chocolate (in the shape of wooden shoes, tulips, and windmills).  The town of Pella was quaint and we learned about the history of its original Dutch citizens.  One of the best parts of the trip was talking to Jerry in the windmill-visitor center.  His family members were some of the original founders and listening to him talk about his neighbors and the good people they are was refreshing and heartening.  You don’t have to pay the admission fee to the Village to really enjoy the heart and soul of Pella – just be lucky enough to talk to Jerry.

The State Capitol building in Des Moines

A Windmill in Pella, IA (built just for the tourists!)

On September 19, we were in Nebraska at the Eugene T. “Bo” Mahoney State Park in Ashland.  It was a beautiful park but the rain kept us from doing much exploring there.  It was nice to be back in Nebraska.  This was the first state to be revisited on this trip, although we are in a different part of the state.

After three nights, we moved to Grand Island KOA.  There wasn’t much to do around Grand Island so we just hung out in the RV.  We have been traveling all along Route 80 – a pretty good road, but lots of wind and flat landscape.  The wind was pretty strong and, in fact, we saw a sign in the campground and heard the same joke repeated – “One day the wind stopped blowing in Nebraska and everyone fell over.”

We saw lots of signs for Fort Kearny and the city of Kearney.  I mentioned before that I grew up in Kearny, New Jersey and we lived near Kearny, Arizona, so it piqued my interest to see that extra “e”.  All these places are named after the same Philip Kearny who served in the Mexican American and Civil War.  It’s confusing to see the extra “e” in the city of Kearney and no extra “e” anywhere else.  Well, a postman who kept misspelling it is the reason for the discrepancy and apparently the citizens got used to the “e” and adopted the misspelling.  But the important trivia about Kearney, Nebraska is that it is the Sandhill Crane Capital of the World, as well as The Heart of Nebraska.  The celebrity of note here is still Buffalo Bill Cody.

Buffalo Bill was pretty popular in the North Platte area we next stayed in.  Our Holiday RV Park was within walking distance of the Fort Cody Museum/Gift Shop or as Doug puts it “Fort Tourist Trap”.  There was a pretty cool exhibit of hundreds of carved miniatures depicting the whole giant Wild West Show.  One man carved the figures – cowboys, Indians, horses, tents and everything else – and his wife painted them.  The sheer number of figures was impressive.

There is an interesting attraction in North Platte – the Bailey Rail Yard and Golden Spike Tower.  We took the elevator up to the top of the 8-floor tower to look out over the largest railroad yard.  The history of the yard includes Buffalo Bill who made his home base in North Platte because of the proximity of this railroad hub and the trains that took his Wild West Show all over the states. The yard is 2,850 acres and manages 10,000 railroad cars each day.  The yard contains two humps – the system that sorts the cars so they get attached to the right trains and arrive at the right destination.

The Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, NE

Union Pacific Bailey Yard – largest in the world!

We found out that North Platte, Nebraska was also the home Henry Hill relocated to.  You remember, Henry – in “Goodfellas”?  The real life New York City mobster worked in this middle America town as a cook.  It was also the home of Glen Miller.

This morning we left North Platte and drove across more of Route 80, now seeing gently rolling hills of ranch land instead of corn fields.  It was a longer than usual trip so we parked at Cabela’s flagship store for a short rest.  Out front was a memorial to the Pony Express.

We know we are in the west now.  The flat land has changed to sand-colored bluffs.  We saw a giant metal sculpture of a howling coyote and then on top of a bluff was a statue of a Native American carrying a spear and slumping on the back of his horse – Trails End.

Not trails end for us – we’ll be visiting Cheyenne this week.  And then on and on…our journey continues.

 

 

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