Usery Mountain Regional Park – Arizona
Some kind folks in Big Bend recommended this park and I’m so glad they did. It is technically in Mesa, AZ, but is so close to the east side of Phoenix, that you may as well call it Phoenix. Anyway, I’ve been here since Monday and have been enjoying the warm weather and sunny skies. Average daily temps have been in the mid to upper 70’s with lots of sun and the nighttime temps have been in the mid 40’s to low 50’s. Perfect! This is such a popular park I couldn’t get in when I arrived so got a number and proceeded to the Overflow lot where I spent the day and night. Fortunately I was number 3 on the list, so I was able to get a spot the next day. Today, I noticed the overflow for the overflow lot is full up, so some folks may be waiting a week or more to get in. My, my, my, I’m not sure it’s all that, but whatever.
I’ve had fun hiking, geocaching, and mountain biking the trails. My second bike ride afforded me not one, but two flat tires, so I had to walk and push the 2-3 miles ACROSS THE DESERT back to the campground. Ha! I was suffering in silence only because there was no one around to complain to. I took my bike to a local bike shop yesterday to get it fixed up and interestingly learned that desert riding requires seriously substantial tubes due to the “serious thornage”. The tubes I got are not only much thicker than the ones I had, but are also filled with slime, a self patching substance that is supposed to fill thorn holes on the go. I rode today for about an hour an a half and did not get a flat, so that’s good. The trails are indeed prickly affairs since there is cactus everywhere. In fact, you don’t catch a turn just right, you may wind up impaled on a cactus 9 times bigger than you. No foolin’ take a look!
Did you notice my bike leaning against the cactus? Here’s another shot of the bike/hiking/horse trails.
The day before yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike around a mountain and up over a pass to the other side. Great hike! It took me over into the Tonto National Forest which is pictured below.
Quite a forest, huh?
And here is a shot I took up near the Pass.
Very pretty.
I’m at the laundromat doing load upon load of laundry at the moment trying to get some housekeeping taken care of before hitting the road. I’ve got an appointment early tomorrow morning to have the oil changed in Dora and in her generator along with a few miscellaneous repairs and then its off north to my new home. Home for the next 6 months or so anyway. While Clarkdale is only about 145 miles north of here, the climate is quite different since it’s “over the rim”. I don’t yet know what “over the rim” means, but I do know that the rim is what creates such different climates in the same general area. As far as I can gather so far, Clarkdale runs anywhere from 20-30 degrees cooler than Phoenix. It’s still in the teens and twenties up there at night. Brrrrr. I’ll have to get out my flannel sheets til Spring hits in those parts.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for news from Clarkdale.
Tombstone Arizona and Snow in the Desert
Tombstone
The other day I drove about a half hour or so from Kartchner Caverns State Park over to Tombstone to see what I could see. What I found was a bit of a tired little town trying its best to trade on the fame of Wyatt Earp and the shootout at the OK Corral. I did enjoy walking around and reading the informative placards placed throughout the town noting original buildings like The Bird Cage Saloon and Opera House and The Oriental Saloon. The museum in the Courthouse is wonderful and, among other things, displays a business license for Miss Kitty whose business type was listed as “Ill Fame”, an invitation to a hanging, and the original newspaper page with the article describing the shootout at the OK Corral which had taken place the day before. Shootout reenactments are offered three times daily for which I was prepared to pay money, however, the morning I was there, the early show was cancelled, so I missed out. No sasparilla for me either since the sasparilla store was closed. Oh well, I’m glad I went. It was fun to see, plus I found a few geocaches along the way.
Here are a few shots I took while in Tombstone. This first one is of the Oriental Saloon in which Wyatt Earp had an interest. This is the original building, well, almost original. The first one burned down 1 year after it was built. This is the original “second” one.
And here we have the famous Bird Cage Saloon and Opera House, also an original building.
Next is the shnazzy courthouse built in 1882.
And the OK Corral as seen from the street. You can’t get in unless you pay money for the gunfight. blah blah blah
And my personal favorite. The crazy lady walking her 8 week old Nubian goats on a leash talking to herself all the while.
That’s it for Tombstone. On to…
Snow in the Desert
The weather forecast rang true as the snow fell on the Chihuahuan Desert this morning. Misty, Mosely, and I woke around 6:30 and found about an inch or so of snow on the ground with more falling. As you can imagine, snow in the desert is quite rare. Here are some shots I took in the early morning hours.
Tomorrow it’s off to Usery Mountain Regional Park in the Phoenix area which will be my last stop before I head to my new home of Clarkdale.
Kartchner Caverns State Park – Arizona
How interesting it’s been visiting these Caverns and comparing them to the Carlsbad Caverns. The first and foremost difference is that these caves are wet, “alive”, and growing; whereas the Carlsbad Caverns are dry and “dead”, meaning they are no longer growing.
And secondly, I think it’s pretty cool that these caves were only just discovered in 1974 by a couple of college students, one majoring in etymology and the other in geology. These guys spent their free time looking for caves as a hobby and passed by the small hills that house Kartchner Caverns many times thinking they were too small to be of interest. It was not until they decided to ask a local miner if he knew of any caves in the area that they were told about the sinkhole in the side of one of these small hills. The sinkhole led to a small two room cave that had evidently been visited by others before them. During the exploration of these two rooms, they came across a very small passageway that required them to squeeze through on their stomachs single file. At the end of this passage, they found a 6 inch hole in a rock wall from which warm, moist air flowed signaling the existence of a cave. After several hours of scraping at the hole, they were able to make it large enough to pass through. What they found was a pristine cavern.
It wasn’t until 1978, 4 years later, that they told the property owners, The Kartchners, about their discovery. During the four years of secret exploration, the discoverers realized that the cave’s extraordinary variety of colors and formations must be preserved.
Tenens and Tufts, the college students, continued to explore the caverns and along with the Kartchners kept them a secret for 14 years, so it was not until 1988 that the cave’s existence became public knowledge when its purchase was approved as an Arizona State Park. The State then spent 11 million dollars developing the caverns taking extraordinary precautions to conserve the cave’s near-pristine condition.
For example, the caves are not accessible to the public except through guided tours. Tourists are not allowed to take any personal items into the caves with the exception of a jacket. No cameras, no water bottles, no nothing. Because the caves are near the surface, the temps are in the upper 70’s and very humid, so if a jacket is worn, it is required that you roll it up into a rope shape and tie it around your waist securing any loose ends prior to entering the caves in an effort to cut down on lint. No flapping jackets dangling down about the knees in this cave.
The contrast between the cave’s natural 99%+ relative humidity and the dry desert climate above make this cave particularly vulnerable. Unmonitored air exchange could quickly destroy the cave’s delicate ecosystem, halt growth, and diminish the cave’s natural beauty. Because of this, there are 6, yes 6, sealed doors that must be passed through to get from the outside to the caves within and at one point during this transition, one must pass through a misting system. You see, once misted with water, one is less likely to shed lint from clothing, dead skin, and/or hair while in the cave. Even with all these precautions, the cave is “washed” every night. The walkway inside the caverns was designed in such a way that it can be hosed down each night with the water held in reserve to water the plants in the Hummingbird Garden at the nearby Discovery Center. In addition to hosing down the walkway, if anyone inadvertently touches anything with hand or foot other than the stainless steel hand railing while in the cave, the guide will mark that spot with flagging so that the cave washers can pay special attention to the affected area. They even restored the original opening at the back of the sinkhole to 6 inches. This remains the only natural opening to the caves and is where air is exchanged and where the bats come and go.
Boy howdy, do these guys take cave preservation seriously or what? I guess its good they do otherwise, they’d have a dead cave like Carlsbad before too long or they’d be vacuuming the lint off the formations like they do at Mammoth Caves.
Since there are not cameras allowed in the caves, I don’t have any photos to show. If you’d like to see pictures you can visit the website …….http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/KACA/
And here is a picture of the hills that hold the caverns.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park – SE New Mexico
I had always heard of Carlsbad Caverns, but had never been and didn’t really know anything about them except that folks kept telling me it was worth a visit. The only caverns I had visited previous to this were the Luray Caverns in Virginia and that was a very long time ago. So as I mentioned in the last post, I headed north from Big Bend, passed through another Border Patrol checkpoint, and landed in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It was amazing how quickly the temperatures cooled down as I drove north, I think over 20 degrees in 2 hours. Sights I passed, but did not stop for along the way were the Judge Roy Bean Museum. You guys likely remember him by his more recognizable moniker, “the hangin’ judge”. It seems he was judge and jury in these parts awhile back when the West was wild. I also passed through Pecos, Texas which claims to have held the world’s first rodeo, but I didn’t stop there either I guess because I had Carlsbad on my mind.
Two days ago I found myself enjoying a gorgeous day in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains as I drove south the 20 or so miles from the town of Carlsbad to the Caverns. The caverns are 750 ft below the surface and can be reached via an elevator located in the Visitor’s Center or by walking down through the natural entrance or mouth of the cave. The cave had been discovered thousands of years ago as evidenced by the drawings (pictographs) near the mouth and as late as the late 1800’s, was referred to as the Bat Cave due to the high bat population, but it had never been explored much past its entrance until the turn of the century when a young (16 year old) cowboy named Jim White took the plunge and discovered much of the caverns that we know today. And I’d agree that they are worth a visit, especially if the bats are in residence.
Once down and well inside the caverns, I felt like I was in an underwater reef which my audio guide confirmed. I’ll paraphrase in snippets from the brochure: The story of Carlsbad Caverns begins 250 million years ago with the creation of a 400 mile long reef in an inland sea. The reef was not a coral reef, but was formed from the remains of sponges, algae, and seashells. Eventually the sea evaporated and the reef was buried under deposits of salt and gypsum.
Fast forward to a few million years ago when uplift and erosion began to uncover the buried rock reef and start the development of the Guadalupe Mountains. Throw in the rising of hydrogen sulfide-rich water from below and mix it with the rain water seeping down from above, and you got the formation of sulfuric acid, which dissolved the limestone and opened the fractures and faults into the large chambers we see today. The stalactites, stalagmites and other formations began over 500,000 years ago after much of the cavern had been carved out. It happened slowly-drop by drop- at a time when a wetter, cooler climate prevailed and it took billions upon billions of drops to create the thousands of cave formations we see today. I understand it takes a minimum of 8 months for a drop of rain from the surface to reach the cavern below, but there really are no drops at this present time since the climate above has gotten so dry. With the exception of a few very small remaining pools of water, Carlsbad is a dry cave and is no longer creating formations, but take a look at what it did create while it was active. First we have the natural entrance which, other than the paved footpath leading down into it, has remained basically unchanged over time.
And here it is again looking out from the inside. This is “door” the bats use each dusk and dawn during the summer.
And before I forget, let me tell you about the bats. Unfortunately they were not in residence during my visit as they are away south in Mexico for the winter so I was not able to witness their fantastic evening cave departure. They arrive back here sometime during April or May and will stay until October.
We are talking about Mexican Free-tailed Bats, by the thousands. I understand it is a sight to see watching them leave the cave at dusk, in fact there is an amphitheater at the mouth of the cave for just this purpose. I’ll paraphrase from the brochure again. The spectacular flight of the Mexican free-tailed bat begins with a few bats fluttering out of the natural entrance of the Cavern. Then in a matter of minutes a thick bat whirlwind spirals out of the cave up into the darkening night sky. The exodus can last from 20 minutes to 2 ½ hours. Once out of the cave the mass of thousands of bats undulates, serpentine fashion, toward the southeast to feed in the Pecos and Black river valleys. They will stay out all night feeding and will return just before dawn individually or in small groups. They reenter the cave in a fashion almost as remarkable as their departure. Each bat positions itself high above the cave entrance. It then folds its wings close to its body and plummets like a hailstone into the blackness of the cave, making strange buzzing sounds as it does. Cool huh? I hope the bats are here next time I’m this way since I’d surely like to see them in action.
That’s it for Carlsbad. I am now in southeast Arizona at the Kartchner Caverns State Park where I have signed up for a cave tour later today. I’ll let you know how these compare to those at Carlsbad. In addition to caves, I am most excited to report that I am within spittin’ distance of Tombstone, the Wild West town where Wyat Earp and his brothers along with Doc Holliday had their famous shootout at the OK Corral. I can’t wait!
Big Bend National Park-Texas: An exercise in heat management
I can see Mexico from my house. Does that foreign policy credential make me a qualified Vice Presidential candidate? You betcha!
Ugh. Get it out of my head! This thought kept crossing my mind during my stay at Big Bend since I could indeed see Mexico from my campground, which happened to be located on the banks of the Rio Grande.
Prior to 9-11, it was most common for Mexican folks to unofficially shuttle Park visitors across in row boats so they could walk into the town of Boquillas to have lunch and buy trinkets or whatnot. This practice is no longer allowed which has cut off a hefty source of income to the town. Here is what has sprung up as a result.
These “Border Stores” are regular sights at River access points. Next comes Singing Victor.
Well his tip cup anyway. Alas singing Victor was not present when I happened by his sign, though I’ve seen a picture of him singing while perched on his rock taken by Bill and Lil Eubanks during their Big Bend visit last Spring. Perhaps I’ll catch him another time.
Clearly crossing over from Mexico to the US is easy as a 2 minute paddle.
Boats at the ready in Mexico.
While everyone is supposed to stay on their own side of the River, it is clear from the many paths and footprints leading to and away on both sides that this is not the case. While the traffic in this area seems harmless enough with everyone going back to his or her own side by day’s end, I understand the Park as a whole does see its share of drug smugglers. Drug smuggling is apparently prevalent enough to warrant an article in the Big Bend NP newspaper accompanied by a “What to do if you run into smugglers” advice section. Due to the fact that I no longer have a high clearance vehicle, I didn’t get too far off the beaten path, so fortunately did not run into any of these shenanigans.
What I did run into was daily temperatures of 97 degrees. Boy howdy, was it hot and may I please remind you that it is FEBRUARY? I sure am glad I got that bigger fan and am glad my generator was in good working order because if it had not been, I would have had to pull stakes and head north. National Park campgrounds do not have electrical hook ups, so in order to run my A/C, I had to rely on my generator. The fan I could run off my battery inverter, but when its 97 degrees in the shade, a fan can only do so much. As a result of all this, I had to plan my days accordingly. Up and out hiking early so I could get myself out of the sun by noon and be back to the dogs by 1’ish in order to begin managing the heat for the next 5-6 hours via fan, A/C, and water hose. The water hose was used to hose down the dogs with cool water every hour or so. Really. This is what I did for two of the three full days I was there and it seemed to work out OK. By 6 or so I could hop on my bike and ride around and explore for a bit, which was fun.
The first full day, I loaded the dogs in the car and drove the extent of the Park’s road system taking in the sights from the comfort of air conditioned Lil’ Pea. Big Bend is big, not Denali big, but quite large, so that first day of sightseeing covered almost 200 miles. I chose hikes in the somewhat cooler mountains and within an hour’s drive of Dora the next two days so I could stick to the heat maintenance schedule mentioned above.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Big Bend is divided into three sections: River, Desert, and Mountain. I’d say about 1% River, 1% Mountain, and 98% desert. Take a look.
The River Region:
Here is the river on the eastern end of the Park across from Boquillas.
And here it is on the western end near the mouth of the Santa Elena Canyon.
And here are the Hotsprings. I went to see them, but the last thing I wanted to do in the 90 degree heat was get into 105 degree water.
The Desert Region:
Here’s a shot of the southeast side of the park.
And the southwest side, which I found to be prettier since it had more green things growing.
I was lucky to see these guys. Javelinas (pronounced with an H). A pack/herd of about a dozen crossed the road right in front of me one day. Though they look like cute pot-bellied pigs, I understand they can be on the aggressive side.
The Mountain Region:
I saw this sign on the way up to the Mountains and hiking. While I did not see either a Mountain Lion or a Bear, I saw notices on the trails that a mountain lion was sighted a week earlier and a black bear sow with her three cubs was seen the week before that.
My favorite hike was the Lost Mine Trail which took me up to an elevation of 6850 ft. It was lovely. Here is a scene from toward the top. The highest point in the Park is Emery Peak which sits just below 8,000 ft.
And to wrap up, let’s talk about the old Roadrunner cartoons. Remember them? In addition to Silly Sarah’s foreign policy mishap, I also thought about Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote because Big Bend is full of both. Here we have a Roadrunner pecking its way across my campsite.
And here we have a coyote sauntering along next to my campsite. During the day they come into the campground one at a time, but at night I could hear them running through in packs yipping all the while.
And here is the tunnel I drove though every day.
Doesn’t it completely remind you of those tunnels in the cartoons and don’t you know Wylie Coyote has some doomed to failure, ACME, Roadrunner catching contraption rigged up somewhere nearby and is standing behind some rock holding a string? I can see him, can’t you? Ha! I love it! Beep Beep!
That’s it for Big Bend. I left this morning and after a few hours of driving North, was back in civilized temperatures (60’s). I am presently sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Carlsbad, New Mexico, from which I will depart in the morning and will head to, you guessed it, Carlsbad Caverns located about 20 miles down the road.
Oh, and by the way, I have changed my route and will no longer be heading north from here up through Albuquerque and Santé Fe. Why? Because it’s too cold up there. It’s still in the 20’s at night. Brrrrrrrr. Instead, I plan to head west and come up through Phoenix from the South. I know, I know, I hear myself. What a weather wimp I’ve become. I admit it. It’s too hot here….it’s too cold there…. Blah, blah, blah. What can I say except stay tuned for stalactites, stalagmites, and bats.
Seminole Canyon is one cool Texas State Park
I have Bill and Lil Eubanks to thank for telling me about Seminole Canyon State Park here in Texas. At first glance it is looks quite dry, prickly, and inhospitable, which it is, with nothing much to offer, which its not, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here. I arrived yesterday afternoon, set up my site in the campground located atop a small hill with views all around including the 3-4 miles to Mexico. Misty was extremely hot, poor girl, so I did the best I could to cool her down and make her comfortable, but even still, she was not the least impressed with the gorgeous sunset seen from our site.
This morning I took the tour of Seminole Canyon which included Fate Bell Shelter and the pictographs therein and I’m pleased to report that I found the tour most interesting and the pictographs impressive though they have been severely damaged by both the elements and man. In a nutshell, the Fate Bell Shelter was used for 8,000 years by the hunters and gatherers of the area dating back to 7,000 bc to 1,500 ad. Cool, huh? For anyone interested in learning more, click here http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/bbf01
Down canyon near its mouth at the Rio Grande, there is another shelter called the Panther Shelter with quite stunning pictographs which are some of the best in North America, or so I read. Tours are not offered to this shelter, but I was able to spy the drawings through my binocs when I was down at the confluence of Seminole Canyon and The Rio Grand River.
Here are some shots from the guided tour.
This sculpture greeted us as we began our descent into the Canyon and was influenced by the people and the drawings of the Canyon.
Seminole Canyon is dry except during flash floods. The long tan opening in the wall is the Fate Bell Shelter. The darker opening to its right is referred to as the Annex.
Here are some of the pictographs.
Looking up canyon from Fate Bell.
Once back up toward the top, I took a side trail over to the Springs with a couple of folks from the tour. I had just asked about poisonous snakes and was told that there are 4 types of rattlesnakes in the park when I both stepped and looked down just in time to see a snake slithering away from my foot. I couldn’t help it, but I jumped and screamed like a girl. How lame. Anyway, please take a look at the mild mannered garter snake that had me in a tizzy. Thanks goodness it wasn’t a rattler. Oh my. After living in Alaska for so many years, I am not accustomed to having to think about snakes and spiders and scorpions etc.
After lunch I rode my bike out to the confluence of Seminole Canyon and the Rio Grande River. Very cool. You’ll notice the water is a pretty blue/green and that there is lots of it. This is NOT naturally occurring, but a byproduct of the dam which created the nearby Amistad Reservoir. What you are seeing is actually backed up lake water. The canyon walls here are 160ft tall and the water is about 100 ft deep. It is my understanding that the Rio Grande is really quite brown and muddy and sluggish due to lack of rain over the past 20 years. I’ll get to see for myself when I get to Big Bend, but for now, this was quite pretty.
Here is a google map of the area.
View Seminole Canyon, Texas in a larger map
This is looking up Seminole Canyon just up from the confluence. Look back up at the photo just after the sculpture and you’ll see the same canyon in its natural state. Remember this water is lake water and is only here due to the dam.
And here is the mouth of Seminole Canyon meeting the Rio Grande River with Mexico in the background. Don’t you like this picture? I do. It’s so arty looking through the pricker bush, don’t you think? The Panther Shelter I referred to earlier is just outside the frame to the left.
And here’s the Rio Grande River looking upriver.
And here we have prickly pear cactus, yucca, and whatever that spiney-thorney thing is. Pretty standard fare as far as the eye can see.
And on a completely different note and in a different part of the Park, the Southern Pacific Railroad was built through this area before being abandoned in 1892. Here are the remains of a stone bake oven used by the construction workers during 1882. The top of the arch is about chest high.
That’s it for Seminole Canyon State Park.
Stay tuned for Big Bend National Park, which I’m told has three main regions: River, Desert, and Mountain.
Texas – We’re gonna need a bigger fan.
Although I surely could have stayed and enjoyed Bayou Segnette State Park and New Orleans for several more days, it was time to press on toward Big Bend National Park. The drive yesterday was all interstate and 70mph so I made it all the way to the west side of Houston. 375 miles. Today was about the same and in the middle of the afternoon, I arrived at Seminole Canyon State Park just north of Del Rio, TX on the Rio Grande. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/seminole_canyon/
After two long days of driving (375 miles is long when driving Dora), I’ll be glad to stay here for two nights before moving on to Big Bend. It was interesting seeing the scenery change from green to brown to grayish brown and prickly all the while watching the temps rise from the 60’s to the 70’s to the 80’s, hence the title of this post. Much like Richard Dreyfus’ remark in Jaws when he finally saw the shark, “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”, Misty and Mosely were quick to point out upon our arrival in Texas, “we’re gonna need a bigger fan”. Here they are in front of the bigger fan with the pitifully small old one nearby for perspective.
After crossing from Louisiana into Texas I stopped at this rest area and really enjoyed the sculptures or ironwork or whatever it’s called. I also realized you guys have not seen “Dora” since LoLo Pass, so I brought her out for the photo op. Here she is in front of the Great State of Texas.
It took me awhile to learn why the flags are at half mast. After many “I don’t knows”, I was told by an unsure Park Ranger that he thought a Texas Supreme Court Justice had died.
Today as I apparently neared the border, I came upon a Border Patrol Station for which I had to stop and answer questions like, “are you a citizen of the United States?” and “where are you going?” while the dog gave Dora a 5 second sniff before resuming his position in the shade with his handler. I guess I look about as white bread as they come, so I was told to move along without further ado.
Tomorrow I plan to ride my freshly tuned bike out the trail to the Rio Grande River and have a look see. In addition to that activity, I plan to take the guided hiking tour of the Canyon and the pictographs therein. (For those of you scoffing at me for taking a guided tour, I must inform you that a guided tour is the only way one is allowed into the Canyon). I sure hope the pictographs are more exciting than the ones at the National Dinosaur Monument. You remember how lame those were? Well, I’ll let you know about these.
Just as a refresher, let’s take a quick peek at the main attraction at the National Dinosaur Monument in Vernal, UT-you know, the one I drove 250 miles out of my way to see.
Yup. Those are them. Impressive aren’t they?
While we’re on the topic of Dinosaur Monuments, I will be in Grand Junction, CO in April and understand there is a really good Dinosaur Monument there. I’ll be sure to check it out and will report back. In the meantime…remember….just say no to Vernal.
Until next time.
Its all about the food in NOLA
What fun I had wandering about in the French Quarter yesterday. The sun was shining and it was actually warm…after a below freezing morning and frozen water hoses, that is. I think that Arctic band of cold air is finally loosening up and will soon let the South get back to normal temps. It is another below freezing morning today with frost on the ground, but is supposed to get up into the 60’s and then, beginning tomorrow, into the 70’s for the many days to follow. Lovely. Where’s my sunscreen?
I arrived on the West Bank of the Mighty Mississippi on Friday afternoon and got myself checked into Bayou Segnette State Park, http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ibyusegne.aspx, which has a very pretty campground with all the services one might require, including a wave pool….and here I am without a surf board. From here, it is about a 10 minute drive to Algiers Point where I catch the free Ferry over the river and into the heart of the French Quarter. Since I lived here during 7th and 8th grades, many things I saw yesterday were familiar.
The first stop on yesterday’s agenda was Cafe Dumonde for Bengiettes (sp?) and cafe au lait. We used to go there after church sometimes. Yummy. It being a Saturday, the line was almost all the way down to the other side of Jackson Square, but going inside to find the restroom, I found several empty tables and a sign that said Self Seating, so I sat down and enjoyed a lovely breakfast.
After breakfast, I turned on my gps and commenced geocaching, which is a great way to see the sights since it gets you to areas you may not have otherwise visited. All told, I found 10 including one called “Brangelina”, which is right in front of Brnagelina’s French Quarter “mansion”. For those of you way out of the loop, Brangelina is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They have a lovely house here but were not in residence at the time. How do I know this? Because the man driving one of the many carriage tours came by while I was hunting the cache and announced that if they were in residence, a guard would be posted outside the front door, so no star sightings today.
Here are a few shots I took while walking around. First is an obligatory shot of St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square.
And a street band on the Square.
And next to the street band was a nice selection of Palm Readers and Psychics. I liked this sign in particular…nothing fancy for this guy.
Although tempted, I forewent having my palm read by Jeffy.
For lunch I wanted a Muffalleta from Central Grocery or Gumbo from The Gumbo Shop and since both are well known to locals and tourists alike, both were extremely crowded with lines down the block. Whatever. I just kept walking around and got lucky at the Gumbo Shop and hit it when there was only a party or two in front of me. While eating a delicious bowl of chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, I enjoyed a chat with my friend Marilyn and met the nicest couple at the table beside me.
My half eaten gumbo bowl.
Maybe next time I’m here won’t be on a weekend so I will stand a better chance of getting a Central Grocery Muffaletta.
Mardi Gras begins next weekend and lots of folks had their decorations out in preparation.
I’m pleased to say that one of my caches took me to the tomb of a famous Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. I did my 8th grade paper on the Cemeteries of New Orleans. You’ll notice all the “graves” are above ground. This is due to the fact that the city is actually below sea level making the water table too high for standard below ground burials.
And back at the river before getting on the Ferry I caught the sternwheeler, Natchez, leaving its dock and heading out for a river tour.
And finally a great view of the Mississippi River Bridge. Since we lived on the West Bank and I went to school on the East Bank, we crossed this bridge two times a day during the school year.
Today I had a great time visiting my friend Whitney and his wife Paula along with their young daughters Ella and Camille. We toured around the Garden District and Audubon Park before enjoying a delicious lunch. Our trip home took us down Magazine Street, which has so many wonderful shops and homes. I think if I were to live in NOLA again, I’d like to live in that area. While I had my camera with me, I neglected to take a photo of the Keith clan or their lovely, grown-up home. Bummer.
I’m off tomorrow and headed toward Texas. I’ve got reservations at Big Bend National Park starting on Thursday, so it’ll be mainly just road between here and there.
Stay tuned.
Tickets booked to Alaska!!!!
I can’t believe I forgot to mention in the last post that I have booked tickets to Alaska for the week of July 4th. I am beside myself with excitement! My Massage School has a week long break at that time, so one day while I was supposed to be meditating in Jesup, it occurred to me that the only place I’d want to go would be Alaska, so here I come. Yipppppeeeeeeeee!
Let’s take a quick walk down my Alaskan memory lane.
Here we have a standard view during the summer.
And a not so standard clear view of Denali.
Spring camping at Rabbit Lake.
Eagle River Valley.
Sledding.
Favorite friends.
Another favorite friend who just became a new Mama last week. Welcome to the world Max!!!!!
And another favorite friend who will be meeting my sister and me in Moab, Utah this coming April for some mountain biking.
Lance Mackay starting off on his 2008 winning Iditarod race.
Bull moose grazing in Powerline Pass.
Grizzly bear fishing on the Katmai Coast.
Just wonderful. I am counting the days.
Fun in Florida and Heading West
Well hey there. How’s everybody doin’?
I’m about to hit the road again after spending about 4 days in Jacksonville and a week here in Pensacola visiting friends and family, so I thought I’d get off a quick post to bring folks up to date.
I did indeed get to sit the 10 day meditation course in Jesup, which was even more wonderful the second time than it was the first time. I guess the first time I was so busy trying to figure things and worrying if they were going to ask me to drink the kool-aid, that I couldn’t hear and absorb as much as I did the second go round. Interested parties can click here to see and learn more. http://www.patapa.dhamma.org/
Here we are leaving the Course after being there at the center for over a month. I couldn’t think of a better use of time.
After leaving the big metropolis of Jesup, Ga, I again headed to Jacksonville, Florida where I hooked up with my friends, the Crosby’s, and headed straight out to Ponte Vedra beach to enjoy a few days of sun and warmish temps. Here’s the view from my bedroom.
This is the beach I grew up going to as a small child and when there, hunted sharks teeth. As you will see, I was successful on this trip as well. It is such a given that you hunt for sharks teeth while at Ponte Vedra that when I answered the phone when my sister called, she didn’t even say hello, she said, “what are ya doin’, huntin’ for sharks teeth?” Crack me up.
After getting back to town, my cousin invited me to the Zoo where she spends hours upon hours volunteering. Here she is with a giant Silverback Gorilla. Everyone say hello to Kenyon….see a family resemblance? She looks a bit like me, but is the spitting image of my sister.
And here she is again with Tuzi, her Vizsla when they came over to see Dora. Everyone say hello to Tuzi!
After Jax, I moved west, stopping overnight in Tallahassee to eat oysters with my brother Jimmy on my way to Pensacola to see The Eubanks.
And here they are below with Peg Leg Pete. We went to this fine establishment last night for, you guessed it, oysters. Apalachicola Oysters, that is.
I’ve been here a week tomorrow and its been chilly with some sun and some rain. Bill has kindly helped me with some projects that needed doing on Dora and Lil has kept me fed and entertained. Thanks guys! They happen to have an RV hookup in their side yard since they had to live in their RV FOR A YEAR after Hurricane Ivan dropped a huge Oak tree in the middle of their house.
Here are some shots I took at the beach while over there with Lil one day.
And look at this sunset. Lovely.
So, my plan is to leave here tomorrow and head to New Orleans for a few days and then on out to Big Bend National Park in Texas and then up to New Mexico and finally Arizona. I’ve posted a new route map on the “Route Map” page of the blog, so if you are interested in seeing my route from here out to Massage Therapy School, you can see it there.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Since I’ll be traveling for the next few weeks, I hope to get back to a more prolific schedule with my blog postings, so stay tuned.
Alaskamarge Travels 