FINALLY - the last entry from our spring trip west .

I left off on the last trip post with us just entering Monument Valley. We found their RV "parking area" and unhitched the Silver Dog House. Then paid the $7.00 to drive a trail among the Buttes, Spires, Towers and cliffs. The formations are the result of uplift and then millennia of water and wind erosion. The red color of the sedimentary rock that makes up the formations is a result of large deposits of iron oxide. Monument Valley is probably the most photographed landscape on the planet so I just had to contribute my collection of pictures.



The wind was blowing hard the whole time we were in the valley and we still had Monument Valley pumpkin orange sand in the bed of the truck when we got home.

We spent that night camping on the beach at Lake Powell.

The wind was still blowing and some kids camping in tents had problems with them blowing down the beach if they were not in them. The Silver Dog House was buffeted by the winds all night. Duncan had a swim but cut it short when he became more interested in a neighbor's dog than in minding his manners.

We were beginning to run short on time but still wanted to see Zion and Bryce Canyons. After all we had come this far we could not leave without at least a look at part of Utah.

We made the mistake of breaking one of our own rules - never try to find a new camp site on a weekend. First we tried Coral Sands State Park where the sand was more ORANGE than coral in color and the campground was full.
We pushed on the the east entrance of Zion where we were told that the campgrounds there were full. There were none back to the east and Richard did not want to drive through the tunnel with the trailer so we turned around and went the long way around, back south through Arizona to the west entrance near Hurricane.
After searching out a doggy day care where we could leave Duncan for our tour of the park we finally found ourselves at the only full service RV park we stayed in during the six week trip (except for the Airstream Factory). Early the next morning Duncan was deposited at the doggy day care and we spent the day touring Zion Canyon on foot and with the almost silent propane powered shuttle buses.
We returned to collect Duncan before dark and spent another night cheek to jowl in the very cramped park.


Now we headed to Bryce Canyon. Here the campgrounds were not full but the choicest sites were and we had to choose one on a steep slope. That afternoon we worked our way to the end of the road at the highest point in the park, stopping at lookouts along the way, and drove right into a snow storm. Zion Canyon was the first time in the trip we had been too hot and now we were freezing cold. I took pictures as long as we could stand the cold and wind then returned to the trailer and its heater. The next morning dawned bright and clear and found us as Sunrise Point to catch the first light over the Canyon. It was cold but beautiful. We spent the morning retracing out steps of the afternoon before and taking pictures with sunlight on the scenery instead of snow falling from low lying clouds. Wildlife showed itself in the form of Wild Turkeys and Pronghorn Antelope, neither the least bit afraid of us. The sun on the Aspen trees showed me what Richard has always told me - the Bark was white as birch in the east. The morning felt rushed as we broke camp and headed east at lunch time.

The last part of the trip was a two and a half day mad dash across the continent from Bryce Canyon National Park to the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. There is one large album in Picasa that covers that 1500 mile stretch. Most of the pictures cover the scenic drive north of Bryce Canyon through Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument and then east across Utah and Colorado to the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial tunnels on I-70 which cross under the Continental Divide at 11,000 feet.

Utah 12 is a designated scenic road that twists and turns through some of the emptiest landscape we saw on the trip. It crosses the north west edge of the Colorado Plateau and is as nearly soil less as any landscape I have ever seen.



Utah 12 met Utah 24 and traveled east through Capitol Reef National Park, another area I would like to spend more time. We finally met I-70 and headed east. That night we stopped at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Glenwood Springs.

The next morning was cold and rainy. We drove I-70 through mountains with snow still on the ground. the last section of the Interstate Highway system to be finished goes through the very narrow Glen Wood Canyon. The Interstate is paralleled by the Railroad which of course came first. In order to make the railroad and highway fit in the narrow canyon with the river they are built on three different levels, the highway on one side of the river and the railroad on the other. At Hanging Lake Dam in Glen Wood Canyon there is a tunnel through the mountain that is amazing. My picture is from the highway but I have since found a flicker album of pictures that are much better than mine. There is a rest area there that we unfortunately missed, so there are pictures from different angles. The Flicker album also includes the Eisenhower tunnel. If you run your cursor over this one you will see the rail road tunnel as well. And here an east bound train going under I-70. And this picture shows I-70 divided on two decks at different elevations, plus has information about the canyon I wish I had known before we drove through it. We will have to go this way again. Here is a blog with an amazing photo of the west end of the tunnel entrance, from above. You can see all three tunnel entrances, and the dam on the Colorado tributary.

Beyond we climbed to the Continental Divide and went under it at 11,000 feet through the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial tunnel. By the time we reached the Continental Divide we had returned to winter with deep snow on the ground. Fortunately the cloud cover was out of flakes and we drove just underneath the bottoms of the clouds through a dark morning with the sun actually trying to burn through.

From full winter west of Denver we descended to spring across the plains and spent the next night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Topeka, Kansas. That was a nearly 700 mile drive. The last day's drive was over 700 miles in the rain. We pulled into the camping area at the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio at 10:00 pm Thursday night. They have a nice camping facility they call the Terraport, where your stay is free, the night before, day of and night after, if you are getting service. We met a couple from Alaska who would be staying over the weekend as their service was more extensive.

Friday morning early they came and collected the Silver Dog House and were done with the repairs in very fast order. We took the factory tour in the afternoon and shopped at the factory store.

Saturday we made the relatively short drive home.

Election Day

It is very warm here for November 4. I have several windows wide open listening to the Robins in the yard that were singing in the early morning. Though most of the leaves are off the trees there is still a great deal of color to be found if you just look. So as I wait to go to the poles, in hopes of hitting a time without a LONG line, I took my camera around the yard and found a lot of color. There were soft pastels and bright reds to contrast with intense greens that have not given in to the onset of fall.




Voting took 45 minutes. I was number 583 but only 562 ballots had been feed through the machine. I heard at least 3 people who had spoiled their ballots and had to re-vote. Sure hope they don't run out of ballots. It is NOT hard to follow instructions. Fill in the arrows, and vote for not more than the number it tells you.

There was a really remarkably RED burning bush at the corner of the Township Hall where I went to vote. Of course I did not have a camera with me. But when I went back into town with an errand to run and took the camera with me I was disappointed. I returned to the Burning Bush to find that from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P. M. many of the reddest leaves had fallen and the yellower leaves were now showing through. Now the direct afternoon sun brought out the orange and it was still very bright, even if in a different shade of scarlet.

Duncan

November 1 dawned bright and chilly. Duncan of course was eager to go celebrate another morning, as he does everyday. He found his favorite play thing - a LONG stick. In this case it was an eight foot stake we had used in the garden. His likes to run as fast as he can either carrying, pulling or pushing the sick along.



It entertained him for a long time even when he tangled it in his rope. His enthusiasm eventually broke it in two which made it a bit less fun. But never enough for him to loose interest. He wanted to bring part of it inside when I grew tired of the games.

Winter is on it's way

I spent some time yesterday cleaning up flower beds and creating a pile that will make a Halloween bonfire.

Then this morning we got up to snow scattered around where the cold air kept it frozen. I tried to take some pictures but they did not turn out very well. The snow was not pretty flakes but little lumps like Styrofoam.

The sun came out later in the day.

Then on the way home from Lapeer I stopped and took a few pictures of a soy bean field that I had been wanting to photograph for for a couple of weeks. The trees behind it had been much more colorful a few days ago. But the smooth stretch of tan beans all the same height made an interesting smooth field.

Looking back at summer

I was reading an Airstream forum thread and complimented a contributor on her photos of a trip to the Porcupine Mountains in the UP of Michigan. In return she commented on some of my summer photos. That and the impending snowy weather, made me go back and take another look at summer. I found a group of photos taken after a heavy, early morning hard rain. I had gone out in the mid day sun to see there had been much damage.


The Phlox were lying down with the Day Lilies peeking out from the fragrant white arch of stems.

Some of the Lilly blooms were badly damaged but others were just heavily bejeweled with rain drops glinting in the bright mid morning sun.




More images of raindrops on the garden may be seen at my Picasa album.

Koi Pond

Finally - Spring trip west - almost finish.

I have been putting off the diary of the trip we took west way back last spring - yes April and May. My original plan was to post the diary that I wrote on my lap top as I went. If I had been able to access the Internet that would have been dandy. But instead I tried to recreate the diary as if I were writing as I went, and post date the entries. But life is too full of other things to edit what I wrote as we traveled and so my original plan fizzled out after a few days. Now it is five months later and I give up on that.

I have posted my pictures on my Picasa Album.

Here I will try to write one long entry that is a catch up.

The last entry in this blog was dated May 5 and 6 and was about the "secret" birding spot in Southern Arizona.

From there we headed north into the fascinating state of Arizona. I have fallen in love with Arizona. The variety is wonderful. If you get tired of where you are, you can drive for about half an hour and you are in a totally different environment. As we left the mountains where we had spent the last few days we were bound for the Navajo Indian reservation and Canyon De Chelly. On the way we traveled through hillsides covered with cactus of several species, and spring wildflowers.
























We camped by a huge lake - Roosevelt Lake which is really a reservoir - in the desert, surrounded by cactus and mesquite bushes.











We stayed there one night and then traveled on north climbing onto the Mogollon Rim where we were in forests of large Ponderosa Pine and the temperature had dropped until the perpetual wind was cold instead of comfortably cooling as it had been on Lake Roosevelt. The road then took us back down to desert, through the Petrified National Forest, where we only went into the headquarters, and on to Canyon De Chelly.




We arrived at Canyon De Chelly National park early in the afternoon and found a camping spot in the very congested campground. The only empty place we found, with a number on it, was what we backed into. We thought it might have been a second host spot but the Host's trailer always had a sign on it "gone for the day, back later", so we could not ask. There was never anyone in the booth at the entrance during the single night and two half days we were there, so we never found out what the fee was supposed to be.

The first afternoon we drove the south rim of the canyon taking pictures. There was a strong police presence everywhere both Federal and Tribal. We had been told at the Petrified Forest National Park headquarters to never walk away from our car or trailer, even ten feet. without locking it. We watched sunset over the canyon and returned to the trailer for the night.

We had also been told to be wary of the "res" dogs. We understood that when we walked around the campground. There were dogs everywhere and though they were a bit wary of us were still clearly begging. The next morning we drove the north rim and then headed for Monument Valley.

If you look at a map of Arizona almost the whole north east quarter of the state is the Navajo Reservation with the Hopi Reservation a small holding completely surrounded by the Navajo. Monument Valley is managed by the Navajo Tribe. We took a shortcut across the reservation on a Tribal blacktop to get to Monument Valley. The pictures in my Picasa album show that road and approach to the Valley. The Geology is interesting. almost all of the formations both approaching and in Monument Valley are a result of water erosion of water deposited red sandstone, leaving mostly red but also some white, gray and pink layers in the buttes. There are however several volcanic plugs that are remains of ancient volcanoes. These stick up out of the flat landscape like giant jagged teeth in shades of black and dark green.




Change of plan - - - I am making a break here and posting this part of the "final" entry. More to come another day.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

We had a wonderful camping trip at D. H. Day Campground, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore from September 2, 2008 through September 10, 2008.

Many more pictures are on Picasa.

Desderata: by Max Ehrman, 1927

I found this poem, which sounds old but is early 1900's, quoted on a blog that I visited, after the writer visited mine and commented. I was taken with it and so am repeating it here.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; for they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are the child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Air Show Weekend

It was a good Thunder Over Michigan and we plan to work the air show again next year. (I don't know how long this link will work now that the show is over.) This year's show was dedicated to the P-47 Thunderbolt.

Because the Yankee Air Museum is at Willow Run airport in Yipisilanti, a two hour drive from home, we decided to spend the weekend in the KOA that is just a five minute drive from the airport. We were pleasantly surprised at the KOA. Yes the sites were crammed in tight as all private campgrounds are. But we had a nice shady drive-through, it was acceptably clean and it was quiet. Next year I think I will however choose a site with full hoop up instead of just water and electric. This year was unusually cool so we probably used less water than otherwise and we filled up our gray tank by Sunday night . . . . . . . soooo I think I will spend the extra for a full hookup next time.

I worked the A-Team which stationed me at an admission gate. The A-Team crew takes money and tickets as people come in. The boss of the group has worked out a system that gets cars through fast so the wait was never very long for anyone.

My Dear Husband was a Garbage Grunt. That job is a tough one as most of them took two or three shifts and worked all day. The final clean up on Sunday takes several hours after everyone else has left. But their job has them on the show grounds all day, picking up FOD and being sure the garbage containers are not overflowing.

One of the best perks of being on air show staff is access to the "VIP chalet" tent which is reserved for VIPs, air-crews, and volunteers. We were fed an awesome catered meal at noon each day and when our shift was over we could sit in the shade of the tent or in chairs right on the flight line and watch the show.

The Ramp Crew would also be a really awesome job but that requires a lot of experience and training. That group has immense responsibility handling and directing the aircraft traffic on the ramp.

We had cool weather both days with rather high wind and the threat of rain which held off until after the show was over, then we got heavy rain both afternoons. The wind and threat of storms had some effect on the show but in the end all went well.

The highlights of the show for me were the flight of the bombers, the heritage flight, (This picture of the F-16 and P-51 is not my picture since my point and shoot digital camera just will not do the job, as you can see from the picture above of the B-24s and the B-25, but it gives you a good representation.) And as always the row of B-17s. The bombers included the only two flying B-24 Liberators left in the world, a B-25 Mitchell and four B-17 Flying Fortresses which is about half of those left flying in the US . The B-25 Mitchel is owned by the YAM and is very rare as it actually flew combat missions in WWII in the African theater. Most War Birds that are still flying have survived because they were built late in the war or just after the war was over and found other civilian uses. The B-17 Yankee Lady that is owned by the YAM was built after the war ended and was used for fire fighting.

The heritage flight was an F-16 and P-51 flying in formation with the F-16 tucked in behind and to the left of the P-51. It was an awesome sight. Their final pass over the crowd came from behind, and as they passed over head they did a roll toward each other and then out. It was breath taking.


The Rain held off until the crowds had left. But we got a heavy downpour during the policing of the grounds both Saturday and Sunday. On the drive back to the KOA Sunday evening we were treated to the most intensely colored double rainbow I can remember.

Summer Garden

Here is a red day lily from my garden and a link to the Picasa web album of my July garden.

Summer

Tiger lilies in the morning sun.

Hartwick Pines State Park

Last week we spent a few days at Hartwick Pines State Park with DH's sister and her husband. While there I was gifted by my S-I-L with a set of real, original, official, Don Featherstone, Flamingos!!!! Now we are complete!

We had a very pleasant four days at one of the nicest State Park Campgrounds in Michigan. Though we got almost every weather available in Michigan, NO snow thank goodness, we had a very enjoyable stay. Two days of pleasant coolness and two warmer days with only one afternoon and night of rain. It was clear the next morning.

Here is the traditional view from the door.
And one of Duncan enjoying the view.

I have Flaminogs

Play: Seven things about me

Play: Seven things about me

I've been sort of tagged for a "seven facts" meme by Tandaina So here we go:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

1. I rode horses when I was a kid but stopped when I had kids, then went back to riding when I was 60.
2. I love our Silver camper and would rather be camping, at high altitude in a National Forest.
   
3. When I was a kid I also preferred my middle name to my first name, but I like my first name now and am glad my daughter likes OUR middle name.
   
4. The best job I ever had was working at Seven Ponds Nature Center as an Interpretive Naturalist
   
5. I was the only woman in my Wildlife Department classes at MSU
   
6. I don't much care to cook but am fairly good at it when I set my mind to it.
7. I'm 62.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

OK I'm going to break rule three because like Tandaina I can. So instead I'll be lazy and say that if you want to play consider yourself tagged. Please leave a comment here if you play so we can all go peak. :)