Las Vegas again

Dec 30: Very windy and cool - 45 degrees here in the Boulder City, NV area. Really nice campground and we have our alcohol stove to keep us warm. The libray here is large and accommodating our internet capabilities. We are off to rotate tires and visit the BLM, Red Rock Canyon in west Las Vegas today. For all its negative publicity and over use of electricity - there are great hiking opportunities and really lovely scenery here. Planning to catch the fire works at mid-night tomorrow. Then off to meet friends at Joshua Tree in CA.

Dec 29^th – Just finished a walk across Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. Not really into dams but this is an engineering feat for sure. Can’t read Cadillac Desert and see China town without concerns about the water situation here in the West. And the population shift to this area.

Spent yesterday in Valley of Fire SP, Nevada. What an amazing place. The beauty of these red rocks and the huge valleys and canyons is indescribable. We hiked in one of the canyons to see the petroglyphf's and early today climbed up steep stairs to a petro area that is being preserved. I bought a petro dictionary so we can see if our guesses were correct.

Today we are in the Lake Mead area. Doesn’t compare to Moosehead but with the mountains all around it – quite impressive. Our friends are meeting us in the next day or two. Might hit Las Vegas for New Years. Why not?! We are here!

Merry Christmas

Dec 26^th finds us still in Park City after having a wonderful Christmas with Brad and Trina. We talked or skyped with the family from NH to OR to WA and enjoyed Christmas dinner with long time Hosmer friends who spend the winter here in Park City and live next door to B&T.

Barry had a fabulous time skiing with Brad at Park City and on Christmas day with both B&T at Deer Valley. He started out on the green runs, adjusting to his borrowed skis and his high end duds and equipment. With the expert instructor at his side, he quickly advanced to the blue trails.

Deer Valley was another great day with two instructors. This is a high end ski area and limits the number of ticket sales and snow boarders. Here he elevated his skills and ability to black diamonds! While the turkey was cooking, I enjoyed snow shoeing on the trails outside there apartment building in bright sunshine. While the guys were are Park City, Trina and I did last minute errands and then cross country skied on the nearby trails. I cautiously proceeded on the tracks while Trina whizzed by skate skiing.

Today, Brad is giving me tutorials on using my iphone and itunes while Barry is giving tutorials on using his new tax program to Brad. We’ll be watching the Patriots game today, then heading south tomorrow back to Snow Canyon in St. George on the Lake Mead and then Joshua Tree in Ca.

Happy Solstice

Happy Solstice One and ALL

The 21^st finds us in Snow Canyon State Park in Utah just outside St. George and near Zion National Park. It is a beautiful spot, carefully laid out campgrounds and trails that gives campers loads of privacy, a cover picnic area next to the Casita and full exposure to the magnificent red rock scenery. Further up the canyon which we drove thru on the way to the library because the wash was too full and eddying to drive thru, we could see the black lava fields and sandstone cliffs above as well.

Readers may remember old movies of Butch Cassidy and Jeremiah Johnson which were filmed here. Brings up memories of Robert Redford riding on his horse thru the snow. I think he may have lived a short time during this period not far from us in CT.

On to Park City tomorrow.

Glittering Place

Dec 20, 2010

Looking forward to watching the eclipse on Solstice in Snow Canyon, UT. However, I was able to celebrate the day in advance with my Sierra Club friend, Jane who lives here in Vegas and is one of the organizers of a solstice ritual with candles and chanting! Fantastic. I learned some new rituals for our Maine gathering.

I have been talking for years about touring the country, visiting Sierrans on the way. Maybe this is a start. Jane and I of course lamented about the sprawl, water use, and federal inertia re. GW etc. but spent most the of day hiking in the Red Rock Canyon, BLM conservation area. One would never believe that this exists so close to the glitter of LV. The amount of electricity used here is astounding. Hopefully there is a lot of LED usage.

This area is the Mohave Desert while Tucson was the Sanoran Desert. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is part of the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System which is a diverse program that incorporates Wild and Scenic Rivers Wilderness Areas etc. This program aims at protecting and restoring nationally significant landscapes, cultural, scientific and ecological valuable areas. It is home to among other creatures the threatened desert tortoise.

Lots of ads on TV about how to save water – “It’s a desert out there! Be water smart.” and retail air conditioning sales are promoting the federal tax refund for buying a new air conditioner. They figure is adds up to about $2500.

Yesterday on my own I drove the truck down to the Strip and drove the whole distance gawking at the shows on the walls of the hotel and the folks walking the streets. I felt very powerful in my huge truck among all the other tourist. They say that after Christmas the place explodes with more tourist. Actually the ads on TV for New Years looks kinda fun. I did a bit of walking to “enjoy” the BUILT and BRIGHT enviro. Went by the Hard Rock where we stayed a couple years ago after Thanksgiving. ONLY IN AMERICA!

Las Vegas!

A side trip to Las Vegas for a couple days. Barry has to fly back to MA for his brother-in-law’s funeral who had a heart attack in Fl the beginning of the week. Luckily I have a friend from Sierra Club’s Energy Team here that I plan to catch up with. We are in an RV park that is pretty disgusting, Must be over a hundred rigs– all bigger than us- here not far from the airport. It’s surprisingly, cloudy/rainy and about 55 degrees. But we get 28 channels on our computer TV.

Drove here this morning from Lake Havasu - a lake caused by the damming of the Colorado River boarding AZ and CA. For sure people gravitate to water. As we approached, there were houses and RV parks clustered for miles along the river. Havasu City is a sprawling place that boasts the London Bridge as it central tourist attraction. We had a hard time finding it and then realized we had crossed it. Our campsite was right on the lake – nice to hear some slapping of waves again – boats going by for hours. There are even palm trees here.

Spent happy hour at the local brew pup. They have some really nice local brews that we had a sample of – very friendly folks.

We left Catalina SP on Wed. the 15^th to go south to Organ Pipe Natl. Monument – decided to go boondocking on BLM lands around Ajo on the way. A little scary when we saw a sing saying CAUTION – SMUGGLING OF IMMIGRANTS IN THIS AREA. Lovely sunset with the ragged mountain tops in the background – pretty sandy here in the desert. A few free standing beams - remnants of old homesteads and an old fashioned wind mill were not far from our campsite. Off an on as we drove into the area we noticed a few other campers. We actually go a call from B’s sister out here in the wilderness. Cell phones work just about everywhere here!

Ajo has a nice green town common surrounded by Spanish style buildings, one of which is a train station; another houses a very modern library where we found Barry flights on line. Several old guys were there reading the morning papers.

Missed meeting up with the Welsher’s for Larry’s bday as we headed north on Thurs. for Las Vegas. It even rained on the way to Lake Havasu. – I thought that was unheard of at this time of year. We drove through Quartzsite RVs dot the landscape. And there are miles of “good Buys” on used ones on the main drag. The famous gem and xxx show is coming up in Jan. We’ve heard it’s a real zoo around there then. Looks like a lot of trinket and junk shops as well as gems are available. Larry is anxious to take part in this event, or at least observe it.

The ride here was through the desert, very little inhabitants - only at crossroads where the usual service stations and dismal looking motels were located. WE had planned to go over to Lake Mead today but the weather is rather gloomy so maybe we‘ll go the strip!

along the way

Along the Way

A few side trips while in the Catalina area included a hike in Sabino Canyon, one of the most frequented and well know hiking areas around Tucson. Since dogs weren’t permitted, Marsh and Mo stayed around the base area, scouting out the neighborhoods and houses for sale. She found a nice one next to a preserve area with a hot tub!! She likes the warm weather here.

A chilly ride up the canyon on the tram allowed us ample time to hike the nearly 2.5 mi. down – giving us (Larry, Barry and me) full view of the environment, some exercise and less stress on the ankle which is still slightly misshapen from the pre- election date sprain. A rio runs within the canyon and during wetter times, there were lots of nice sandy beach areas along side the swimming holes - picnic tables and ramadas were strategically placed here. At one point on the way up the canyon, a cluster of AZ live oak trees covered with golden leaves glowed in the sun light – like fall in NE.

A side trip to Ted DeGrazier studio included an eventful GPS excursion in itself. Marsha has a map while Barry is directing Larry with my iPhone GPS. Need I say more?

This studio is a historic sprawling complex. DeGrazier is a legendary AZ artist whose ubiquitous painting of Mexican children most everyone recognizes and is seen everywhere. Most probably don’t realize his place in art history since much of his work is so duplicated on plates, cups, magnets, you name it.

DeGrazier got so angry at the thought of the IRS taxing his heirs once he was gone, he took thousands of dollars worth of paintings out into the desert and burned them.

The third exciting side trip for Barry and I was going to the sports bar to see the Patriots beat the Jets. No one minded my cheerleading either. Barry has tried in vain to get CBS and other networks on our “computer set” but no matter of additional equipment and trips to the hardware store have proved successful. His has sent for a more advanced program and discusses with all the local rig owners the problems while jealously admiring their equipment.

The 4^th side trip as we were leaving the area was to check out the Air Stream. We like it!

December 10 – Its going to be hot today 80 degrees We’re leaving the Saguaro area for Patagonia – not South America but AZ.

On the way there is an opportunity to observe a little of the Spanish history. Stopped at the beautifully restored Mission San Xavier (1692), widely considered to be the finest example of Spanish Colonial archtitecture in the US. The town of nearby Tubac is the oldest European settled city in AZ; a Spanish Jesuit outpost since 1691 with a well established and thriving art colony. The historical district has original adobe structures and ruins. Tubac was the staging site for Juan Baptiste Anza whose expedition to CA eventually ended in founding of San Francisco.

Patagonia State Park has a man made lake, apparently a few ranchers hoped to have a resort around it but that never materialized so the state made it into a park. Lots of ducks, blue herons and several species of hummingbirds live here. If fact, one of the non-migratory hummingbirds came to Marsha’s recently purchased feeder. While hummingbird feeders are okay in the desert parks, they ask visitors not to feed the birds – Seeds etc. – because they become gourmet delights for all the pack rats and mice around.

Collectively, we are starting to rank the campground restrooms:

Catalina – 9.5 – great showers (just like home), tile stalls, soap and paper towels

Gilbert Roy – near Sugaro – 3 – cold water, no showers, no soap, spider webs but

clean enough

Patagonia Lake – 6-7 – Nice hot water in shower, tile around, foot bath sink –

good for washing Mo who ran in the lake and had black legs and chin hair

Karchner – 9.2 Great showers, very clean, no soap

The desert night sky is ablaze with stars – its so clear and silent without a breath of air stirring. Barry is reminiscing about the celestial navigation he used in the olden days of sailing. He wishes he had his sexton with him.

We are in Kartchner State Park near Benson, AZ. A well designed and thought out Discovery Center lets visitors wander virtually through this World class cavern before taking a guided tour. So special is this place that it remained a secret with the two men who discovered it for several years while they kept exploring it and would finally quietly get a bill through the legislature to preserve is as a state park.

The route here from Patagonia Lake seemed like we were going through a gigantic caldera with miles of long golden grasses. Not at all like the desert environment closer to Tucson. Almost like California with golden hillsides and much more green vegetation.

Will join up with the Welchers who are in the city of Benson at the RV park today to do laundry, watch the Patriots and maybe swim in the pool then back to Catalina Park and the Tucson area to celebrate my birthday – out to dinner. Barry and I are planning to go to Biosphere 2 Marsha and me to a spa?

Desert Museum

Wonderful visit to the Desert Museum on the w. side of Tucson near Saguaro Natl. Park. Barry has become an expert on GPS and we are funding our way around this area easily. There are lots of libraries where we can keep in touch with all our friends back east and beyond. More later on other outings and experiences.

Adventure 3

ADVENTURE!


Serendipity has arrived in Tucson! December 3, 2010


The “I’s” (Interstates) through America the beautiful ain’t so beautiful. Perhaps a trip in November isn’t the best time of year to judge the landscape but from the road 100’ towering signs at every inter change of Shoney’s, Applebee’s, McDonald, Wendy, and occasional ADULT after Maryland, Mobile, Pilot, Love’s, Shell, Comfort Inn, Day’s Inn, Motel 6, Hampton Inn, Hilton Suites mainly shows off corporate America.

American Capitalism runs on Corn Syrup and Fossil Fuel!

Yummy Thanksgiving with Dave and Jen and Bennett along with Jen’s family in VT. AN uneventful drive over to the Brattleboro area. The Casita, all rigged up for the challenge of crossing America, was rather cool inside for the VT weather. Thirty five degrees inside and thirty five degrees outside. Needles to say, we dressed quickly in the morn, and high tailed it into the house. This old farm house is quintessential VT with a huge brightly burning fireplace, beamed ceilings and delicious hot coffee and Ellen’s omelets and fresh bread with wild cranberry jam.

An early start on Friday, Nov. 26, anticipating the first stop to be at Promised Land State Park near the Pocno’s. This was an all too familiar drive, having endured the long haul from Pennsylvania back home this summer in ninety degree heat. However, making great time through PA we by passed the Promised Land to another familiar area – western Maryland. We expected Wal-Mart in Cumberland would at least offer a flat space off the highway for the night but we delighted to come across Rocky Gap State Park and Resort a few exits before Cumberland. 10 Hours on the road!

Recognizing that our 30 year old alcohol, boat heater wasn’t up to the task of keeping us warm in VT, we purchased a small electric heater in Danbury, CT at Home Depot; I am embarrassed to say, on Black Friday. First time ever I have been in a store on that day.

Early start thru spitting snow in the mountains of MD and WV, would take us to Mammoth Cave National Park in KY. The gray day and mostly delicious tress made West Virginia rather drab and unappealing, unlike the summer landscape of green mountains and waterfalls we hiked in during the past summer. One wonders if the many hunters, their cars parked along the interstate, were successful in their quest. Sure was a lot of road kill along the high way.

Mammoth Cave National Park - twenty four degrees in the AM. We were warm and toasty. Reminders of my English teacher, Mr. T at GA years ago, side stepping across the classroom. repeating “tites from the ceiling and mites from the floor, RHYTHM, we witches are weird. “ My GA friends will remember DDT’s eccentricity and ability to teach spelling in a not so settle way.

Passed through Lexington on the way to the Park – miles and miles of white fences, beautiful farms, and of course, horses grazing in the pastures. Obviously, a more affluent area of KY. Passed by the National Corvette Museum – only in America!

From the Bowling Green area, we headed south and west to TN and AR, spending the next night in well organized and equipped State Park (Merman Shelby SP) near Memphis on the Mississippi River. We were one of the three campers there. Talked with a local dog walker who recommended the Civil Rights Museum - maybe next time. Hiked toward the river but realized we weren’t up to the nine mile trip to the shores so drove there in the park the next day. Viewed a huge barge taking what looked like ore down the river. Gas prices outside Nashville were $2.54 and have ranged around there the remainder of the trip.

By now we have crossed the Piscataquis, Connecticut, Hudson, Susquehanna, Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers and two continental divides.

Onto Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Passed through Little Rock on the way to Hot Springs. This was our shortest driving day. And inspected by the Park Service Bath House Row on Central Ave. is a view of the Golden Age of bathing when over a million visitors a year came to be cured of their ills. In the ‘60s, traditional bathing began to decline and the bath houses came into disrepair. But, some have now been rehabilitated and are available for leasing. The Quapaw Bathhouse offers a modern day spa – their services are regulated we stayed at the park’s campground but didn’t take the time to go to the spa. However, while looking at our maps to find the library, a police car stopped to ask if we were lost and then gave us a police escort right to the library’s door. Now that’s Southern Hospitality.

Also, I can recommend their medical services. The Convenient Care facility helped me overcome the pain of an ear infection. All the nurses and PA's there wanted to go to Maine. They especially wanted to eat lots of lobster.

Arkansas has over 600,000 acres of lakes, many state parks and natural beauty along with the Ozark Mts., which makes it a state to visit during the summer months. We passed through the Diamond Lakes Region near Hot Springs on the way to Texas.

A long driving day ended after a slow rush hour drive through Dallas onto Mineral Wells Sate Park. Barry is becoming an expert with my iPhone GPS. Nice park with hookups – we even got TV on our latest modern application to the Casita. A small flat antenna that can sit on the roof and our lap top on the newly installed shelf over the bed. All the comforts and more of home.

Another 12 hr day’s driving to “get out of Texas’. Passed though Midland where lots of oil rigs were pumping and then miles and miles of wind mills – thousands. The right place for industrial wind power rather than the mountain sides of Maine – far from the need.

Its obvious driving through these areas there are
TOO MANY CARS TOO MANY PEOPLE! We have barely seen any public transportation and the cities are clogged with cars. Driving through El Paso, TX at rush hour and observing the sprawl here all the way to Las Cruses, NM is mind boggling and for this driver nerve wracking! Highways everywhere and no public trans.

Hooray! We are out of TX and in a fabulous State Park near Demming, NM. We never saw so many stars in the sky in the still mountain air. The Rock Hound State Park allows folks to dig for semi precious stones and even take some home. Morning walk around the botanical garden for viewing the flora of cacti etc. and then off to Tucson, passing through more hilly areas – lots of rocky precipices, arriving there around 2PM and greeted by friend, Larry.

Friday Dec.3 – Marsha arrived today. We toured the multi malls – Ugh Too many people too many cars, but did find a Sprouts Health food Store among several WalMarts. The town Oro valley was incorporated in 1974 No planning for sure with one mall after another all the same stores. Luckily we are in a nice State Park as part of the Coronado National Forest. We celebrated Marsha/s arrival with dinner out. Hard to find a restaurant that isn’t a national chain. This particular one has games every Sun. We inquired about the Mon. night game to see the Patriots vs. Jets. The owner came baby our table to chat. He’s from Pittsburgh and a Steelers fan. No one is from here.

Sat. Dec. 4 Great hike with two park volunteers who were very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna here. Seventy seven degrees this afternoon. Road runner ran thru our campsite this afternoon. Lots of birds – new to us – and many saguaro and other cacti. Learned a lot about the area from the guides. Arts and craft fair near by this afternoon. Different stuff than you would see in NE. Lots of turquoise and copper. Interesting local talent playing Christmas carols on the bass - about 10 tubas among them. Hot out but they all had wool caps in the holiday mode.

Sun/ Dec 5 The desert is an amazing environment- all so dependent on how to get and store water. Getting used to the still, dry air and the mountain sentinels surrounding us. The bird walk trail early in the am didn’t disappoint us, although I need a lot more practice in spotting them and then finding them thru my binocks. .

Just finished an interesting book, Eco- Barons by Edward Humes about visionaries that are helping to save the planet. Among them Roxanne Quimby and Jym St. Pierre. But relevant to this area of the country is how much Ted Turner has done to promote wild lands and resilient habitat protection here in the southwest and around Yellowstone to the Canadian boarder, bringing back species that are indigenous to the areas; including the wolf, much to the concern to some of the ranchers. He is all about creating corridors for the species to flourish and become sustainable.

He was much criticized for saying the cattle industry is responsible for 18% of the worlds GHGs . . U of Chicago scientist has said that if Americans would reduce their meat consumption by one fifth, it would have the same effect as if we traded in all our cars for Priuses.

Turner has the 250,000 acre Ladder Ranch in NM where he has reintroduced the desert big horn sheep (re-wilding) also wolf packs were then brought in - the balance of nature. The ranch is a major connector of the Sky Island Wild lands Project which straddles AZ, NM, and northern Mexico. It is an attempt to link corridors and mountainous habitats spanning four diverse ecosystems. Including the sub-tropical sierra Madre, the Sonorant Desert (Where we are) and the Chihuahua Desert.

Avoiding the traffic, we ventured into Tucson – lunch ala Mexicana including delicious margaritas, followed the turquoise trail to some of the local sites including the historic Presidio, Museum of Art and the Historic Train Depot = My transportation interest/ Good to see a train passing by but the depot looks kind of up scale trendy markets and restraints. Howe, there was statues of Wyatt Earp and Doc on the spot where Wyatt shot Stillman right there at the depot. Gotta love the Wild West.

The museum featured 100 paintings by Charles Fritz tracing the Discovery of: Lewis and Clark across the west to the Pacific. As an amazing feat as the journey was painting these in 1- years. I know the Sierra Club has done some canoe trips along the Missouri River following the expedition’s route. Would be fun to take that trip without any portages of course...