Miss Sciency

The great jihad across America has provided many hours to reflect while on the trail.
Even in our reflection we still seek to increase our understanding of the world.

We have been fortunate enough to have Carol "Miss Sciency" leading the charge for the advancement of scientific understanding of the beauty of nature throughout the world.

Enclose see some of the insight she provides along the way

The Ozarks - Mountains that run Sideways

East to West (vice versa) rather than north to south like Appalachia or the Rockies.

Our destination was Mount Magazine State Park near Paris and/or Havana. No shit.
Local towns here in Arkansas.

Got here late from Amarillo and were thankful to find our campsite. Switched off the lights & woke up to hear the pitter patter of rain on the gunship. Our first real rain in over a month.

We piddled about then decided to check into the Mount Magazine Lodge where we have ensconced ourselves for the last two nights. King Size bed, Jacuzzi in the room, room service, happy hour, good restaurant, balcony view of the entire valley.

Definitely all the things one expects from a good campground.
Weather has been patchy for the last couple of days but we did manage a couple of hikes and its nice to smell the smells of a more eastern forest again.
No bears.

Blog back from elsewhere

We timed out for a bit to enjoy the trip.


After Durango we went to Moab where we encountered lots of red rocks.
Moab is the hub for hitting all the big Red Rock Parks in Utah.
It also used to be a Uranium mine way back when.
We did not directly contact radioactive isotopes (as far as we know)  .

As far as the Red Rocks.  THere are millions of them.... Maybe billions.
We did Arches, CanyonLands, DeadHorse, Negro Bill's Canyon.We ate a whole lot of great food and stayed in some decent and not so decent places to sleep.
Utah is pretty backwards when it comes to alcohol.
Who even makes 3.2% beer?
So much for the first amendment, at least in Latter Day Utah..\
 
Moab is pretty much hotels, restaurants and a Department of Energy Nuclear Remediation Activity. But it does have some great hikes!
I can't say there's a better place to hit all the high spots of red rocks of the west.
Unless you actually score free first row tickets to Yanni at Red Rocks.
That would be as good if not better
Anyway

Was it Kierkegard or Mad Max who opined: What's wrong with a little fallout!!!"

Onward we went to Escalante and the Dixie Forest

This was truly a far out part of the trip.
The Dixie Forest was fabulous!!!
Here's a photo from near Posey Lake

We also ate at the Hells Backbone Inn twice. Truly great food and looks like a great Inn.

We had a great hike near Torrey Utah. It was a 9 miler with some vertical gain that kicked our butt!

And I finally found a rattlesnake!!
I ventured off the trail and look what i found

Escalante and Capitol Reef escarpment took me back to my days in the Rift Valley of Kenya.
Sleeping in the desert mile from another human being staring out at the milky way good was a superb night

From there we went on to Tropic Utah and Kodachrome/Bryce etc.
Checking all the boxes as we go



'

Next we headed south to see friends in Scottsdale Arizona.
Man we had fun.
Great restaturants & a super bar scene.
We went to the taco festival and also the Musical Instrument Museum.
The MIM is a place no musician should miss. Its worth a day by itself
Intense

We stopped along the way for some bakery goods

Good fun lasted a few days then we had to start back east toward the homeland
Hurricanes and rain forced us to jog a bit but we got our heading right and ended up in new Mexico

Truly a nice piece of territory. Wish we had found more time to explore. We did manage a nice hotel, a bottle of vodka, quality bakery products and a great breakfast burrito smothered with green chile before we hit the road again.. this time for

We skipped all the crazy crap in downtown Roswell and camped the night in BottomLess Lakes State Park.  THe next day we went to BitterLake Park and ,even though it smelled from all the hydrogen sulfide it has some very nice wildlife including sandhill cranes, which we mostly saw flying.

Many odonates clinging to the bush.

Anyway from there it was on to Palo Duro  Canyon near Amarillo Tx. Whopee Tye Oh !!!

The canyon seemed like a nice place but it was overrun with people. For us it was just an evening in a campsite.

We took off early toward Arkansas

That's about where we are now.
I will try to post some photos over the next couple of days

Durango- Land of Trains and Cowboy poets

October 1 2015

Yes indeed it has  been a long time doing any work on this blog.

Colorado can be so confusing in so many ways. I think its the bakeries.

We set out on Thursday for the town of Durango and a visit with old family friends from New Jersey.
The trip was another beautiful and exciting ride through Wolf Creek Pass.
Here's the team after a nice hike at the highest elevation of the Pass.

 

We made it into Durango in time for an introduction to the Cowboy Poetry Festival being held over the weekend. Next morning we were off to Silverton on the Railroad. What a wild ride. Silverton is a cool town with a really great vibe to it. I understand it gets overrun with tourists in the summertime but it was peaceful and serene when we got there a great furniture maker there also

Here are some train photos

Our friends waving to us as we pass by the "metal mansion".

The coal fired train chugging up the hill.

After a day long event we me our friends and immediately headed back into the Cowboy Poet Weekend.

No Cowboy festival is complete without some burros!!''

Salida- Sliding By

Denver to Salida- What a beautiful trip

On the way to Salida we stopped off in Buena Vista. Very cool town with a great vibe. Not too built up at least not for now

In Salida we caught up with a niece and her boyfriend who wrench at a local bike shop in town. We had a great time visiting and getting a look around Salida proper.

We took a really great hike while we were in town.
Here are some photos

Salida is a real cool place with great food and good beer and lots of trails.

But we've got stuff to do so its time to pack up the chair and fire up the van.

Catching Up

We've spent the last week  catching up with family around Colorado Springs/Denver/Boulder area.

Had a nice hike in Ute Valley Park
https://www.springsgov.com/units/parksrec/maps/mutevall-s.htm
Saw a few birds (magpies, nuthatches, a raptor or two) and many extremely healthy and beautiful Coloradoans out running and mountain biking. I guess I'd better give up the Bloody Mary breakfasts.


Took the obligatory trip up Pikes Peak (in a car) with my nephew, his newly betrothed fiance and her daughter. We walked around the top for a few minutes and then ate some donuts. Then we drove down the mountain without overheating the brakes.

Got back to Co. Springs and took a pile of the roasted green chiles we got from the Pueblo festival, 5 pounds of pork, onions garlic, etc and whipped up a pot of green chile. Let it sit overnight then mixed in a little roux to get the perfect consistency. Off to more visiting.

A very nice afternoon visiting another nephew, his wife and their new baby, Miss Paloma. A cutie if ever there was one. It was so nice to sit back, catch up and enjoy piles of food and mandatory 3 desserts. Colorado beer is first rate!

The fact that the Bronco's won may be lost on me but it put the perfect cap on a weekend.


Monday we made another trip to Castlewood Canyon State park where AGAIN we did not see a rattlesnake. I'm beginning to wonder.

Then we caught up with a nurse friend of ours working in Denver and had a nice meal. Then off to Boulder for dinner & merrymaking with a niece and her family and friends. Drinking fine Colorado beer and eating salmon then picking a little guitar with everyone singing along.

We finished the evening back at my nephews winding down with a couple of beers and an hour or so of great conversation

Tuesday morning we ate at Lucilles (totally great !!) then hiked around Red Rocks a little bit.
Then we pointed the Cobra Gunship toward Salida.

Pueblo- Land of Chiles, Festivals and some Frijoles

Friday 25 September 2015

We headed down to Pueblo for the Annual Chile and Frijole Festival.
In many ways it was a typical festival with lots of vendors selling everything from cell phones to meat on a stick and funnel cake.

Except for the Chiles
That was out of this world !!



















 Ristras of New Mexican Chiles strung up for buying

Guys heaving bushels of red and green chiles into the roasters & blasting them with fire to get the skins off.

Check out this video to see some chile roasting





The chile food was fabulous!!
Chile rolls were everywhere.

We had green chiles stuffed with cheese rolled in a flour tortilla wrapped in bacon then fried in oil

I even had a slopper!   A hamburger on half a bun smothered in green chile with onions.'

We bought all kinds of things (including dehydrated refried beans) and drove back to Colorado Springs with half a bushel of fresh roasted green chiles in the trunk.