Dead Horse Ranch State Park, AZ

Whew. Long day of driving, but we made it to our campsite in time for a nice dinner and a hike. A little weather shock from snow and freezing back to shorts and sweat in the desert. On our hike we were able to see the neighboring national monument of the Tuzigoot ruins. The photo (taken by someone else) is the view from the hike.

The wildflowers here are in full bloom. Clint already has many beautiful photos (I need to put a few up here) of yellows, white, red, and purples. Even the cacti have their fruit. We watched another sunset from the top of a mountain to obtain a full 360 degree view of all the colors. Ahhhh, beautiful.

The park was obtained within the last 20 years or so purchased from the owners of the "Dead Horse Ranch" to preserve the flowing river and wildlife unique to this area. (I haven't seen the water yet.) History states that back around 1940, a man and his family came from the north to buy a ranch. A giant dead horse was in front of this property when they checked it out. The family looked at more ranches over the next few days. The dad asked his kids which ranch they preferred and they answered "the one with the dead horse". The name stuck and it was even a requirement for the sale of the propery to keep the original name.

Personal: overall a fun day and another one where I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to be visiting these great places. I love the geology, the different cultures, and the lessons I'm learning. I'm still amazed at how different an area can feel from it's neighbor.

Nambe Falls - West of Santa Fe

Yesterday was a SNOW day. Our light rain in the morning turned out to be 2 inches of snow in the early evening. We spent the day reading, snuggled under warm blankets, and then played in the snow when it arrived. I explored the City of Cochiti Lake (took about 15 minutes at 10 mph); quaint little town. It's more of a neighborhood of 400 people with a community center.

Today, I traveled in the mountains west of Santa Fe to hike to the Nambe Falls. (Pronounced nom-BAY.) The view was beautiful and the hike very enjoyable. So peaceful. I was treated to an osprey and an owl. The river had camping spots and a group area with a large kiva with electricity and an indoor oven along with an outdoor kiln. Cool looking.

I ended my day watching Harry Potter and admiring the shooting star across our clear night sky. Tomorrow on the road again.

Personal: I learned a lot today, and faced a few fears I didn't know I had. First, I followed through on what my heart wanted to do regardless of my company, drove over an hour through desolate tribal lands to an area I've never been to, and hiked alone through the wilderness. I never felt afraid during any of that, but I now realize that I expanded my world by doing this on my own and following my intuition / heart. I also had to be responsible for my own safety, something I usually don't think about. And on where and what I was to do - to make my own choices based on just what I wanted. A newer experience than what I'd like to believe.

I stuck pretty much to the main trails and kept an awareness of the weather, people and environment. Last year I wanted to go travel to visit the world, the earth because I knew that it had things to teach me. Along my hike up the mountain, I'stopped, sat, meditated, listened, and yet got an urge to keep going. I listened and kept going even though it was an uncomfortably shaky 20 feet. I was rewarded at the top by an osprey coming out of the woods who flew directly to me, circled overhead, flew down the path further into the forest, came back, circled again, and down the path again, and repeated this a third time. So I followed. As soon as I started walking, the osprey disappeared. I followed the trail until it hit a dry river bed. I timidly walked up the bed admiring the different footprints and keeping a close eye on the storm clouds coming closer. Just as I stopped due to a fallen tree, I spotted a giant fist-sized rock that looked and felt like a beautiful sample of citrine. All the rocks in the river bed were beautiful! Large, full of color, even pegmatites. In honor of the tribe's request, I left all the stones where I found them... and felt grateful that others had done the same so I could enjoy such beauty.

The walk back down was a little shaky since I thought I was going on the safer, larger path but it turned out to be on loose slate. I didn't realize the park's season was only a week old and the trails hadn't been re-worn from the winter. I enjoyed the "Lazy Bear" hike along the river reading the interpretative signs that listed the Tewa, common, and scientific names of the plants. I have a photo of one of the signs to recall the Nambe's saying for "Respect Earth Mother" and "Welcome". I remember the Loco Plant as a small-leafed, short plant with purple flowers that the cows and horses can get addicted to... and DON'T EAT them.

After crossing the river, I followed the trail up the other side of the river toward the bottom of the falls. Interesting trail. I didn't have to go far before running into a large boulder blocking the trail. Or I thought so. I discovered very large rocks had been placed in the river around the boulder. On I went... fun. The trail ran into another boulder and this time the workaround was up and over. I had to go past a cave that was too dark to see all the way in to know what was inside. The next boulder had a natural 1 foot shelf around the bottom that needed to be traversed to continue on the hike. Eventually the trail dead-ended to a boulder and the only way to continue was to walk through the river. I saw how read the feet were on the young ladies who did this. They glowed red bright enough for me to see from the top of the falls.

I did see water coming out of the rocks into the river. And I noticed a gravel bed in the middle of the river that could be reached by staying fairly dry. So, on I went. I thought it would be kinda cool. I made it half way, and then saw one rock that had water barely flowing over it. Rapidly, and fully covering the rock, but if I was quick enough to the next rock, I should keep dry. Some fear, but stubborness won and on I went. And yes, the view from that point was beautiful. I took a photo of the river from there, but it doesn't do it justice. When looking up, I see the sides of the river canyon crossing each other so it looks like the river's coming from a giant hole in the side of the mountain.

Now, to cross back. That wet rock looked very slippery. and the water felt like it was a little deeper. and the next rock wasn't a gentle leap, but a "higher than knee level" step up which meant I had to have a good footing on that wet, slippery rock to make it back dry. What's the worse that could happen? I roll up my pants legs and stare at the rushing rapids that are only mid-calf deep where I need to cross. I was shocked to realize that I was frozen with fear. Clint's usually there on the rock to provide me a safe hand in case I needed it. He wasn't there, and the storm clouds are overhead, and I don't want to be in this river if they decide to increase the flow from the dam. But what if I slipped and twisted or broke something? There's absolutely no one here and no new hikers will be coming by until tomorrow since it's near closing time. The storm clouds won. I took a deep breath and went for it. So simple. My grandsons would have just skipped right on over without a care.

On the way back, I stopped again to enjoy, ground, connect and meditate. So peaceful. Just as on top of the mountain, I'm enchanted by how good a place can feel when it's loved. All the love and respect the people give this place emanates back. I know that you get what you give, but it's a different lesson when I experience the difference so strongly. While enjoying the sounds of nature, I felt a bear standing behind me. Not fearful, but definitely strong and big. Enough that I turned around to see. No bear, but a huge boulder was nearby behind me.

I made it back home safely, and even tried a different route based on observations of road signs. It worked. I don't know if it was any quicker, but I did bypass all the stop and goes of the city. I looked up "Bear" and discovered it's about Caution, bravery, good decisions, and curiosity. All of which I learned on my adventure. I was expecting enlightenments while I sat and listened, but they came instead by my doing. I trusted and followed my heart, my intuition. I trusted me and my body to keep me safe. I experienced how different an area feels that is loved and respected and know that people are the same. I enjoyed the beauty of an area that still retains all of it's elements still in tact for all to enjoy. I gained memories that are mine. I grew in confidence that I could go new places alone, follow my lead, and take care of me.

Afterwards, I learned that the puebloan languages have similarities in structure as the Chinese. A common characteristic is the sing-song method of pronouncing the same sound to indicate different items. Example: "p'o" with a high pitch means "moon". "p'o" with a medium pitch means "trail". and "p'o" with a lower and trailing pitch means "river".

In putting together what I learned about languages of the Puebloans, the geology of the land and the history of the Spaniards, I discovered that the basalt escarpment south of Santa Fe separated the development of the Puebloan cultures. All the tribes north of the escarpment have a very common languages with slightly different dialects whereas all the Puebloan tribes south have their commonalities. It's easy to trace that both languages came from the same source but evolved differently. The escarpement limited trade between the tribes and even affected which ones were attacked and which were safe. The Spaniards also couldn't find a way to cross it and tooked the Camino Real around it.

I just realized I've now been on the original Camino Real in at least three different states on this trip.

Overall, I'm very grateful for all the lessons of the day and the blessings from the osprey, the yellow finch who came to see me, the sounds of the owl, the teachings from the "bear", and the beauty of the land.

Lake Cochiti, NM (between Albq & Santa Fe)

Whew, it's COLD! We're currently camping at Lake Cochiti in New Mexico and it's 40 right now headed down to 33. I drove through a mushy snow blizzard on the way home from Santa Fe. Kinda cool! Our trip has included 90 degree weather in February and now snow and freezing weather in mid-April.

We hiked both trails at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It's a place located on Cochiti Tribal Land that has canyons and hoo-doos cut into pyroclastic flows and ash. The hoo-doos have hard rock on top causing them to have caps and look like tipis. (Oh, Kasha-Katuwe means "white cliffs" in Cochiti which is a Puebloan language.)

Afterwards we drove through Pueblo Cochiti. It was interesting to see the modern day kivas in the center of the town. I've learned that "Pueblo" doesn't necessarily stand for a building in the side of a mountain, but stands for a "community". This tribal land focuses around the Rio Grande River and is the northern most community of the Keresan Pueblo.

I drove out to Santa Fe this evening. On the way in, I spotted buffalo and hawk, interesting canyons, snow-peaked mountains, and an awesome sunset overlooking multiple mountain ranges. On the way home, I spotted no cars once I got off of I25, snow, and a lot of dark. No elk yet, but they're supposedly all around us.

Santa Rosa, NM - 4/15/2009 TAX DAY

We're currently sitting at a Love's Travel Stop at Santa Rosa, NM which is 120 miles east of Albuquerque on I-40.

I woke to a beautiful sunrise on Lake Lewisville with scissortails, herons, egrets and HUGE fish jumping out of the lake. The oranges, pinks, and yellows against the sky and reflecting off the water were mesmerizing. It helped that we had some clouds to accent the affect.

Most of our day has been spent on the road. Clint's been driving and I've been catching up on the blogs from March when we were in the internet dead zone.

We may stop outside of Albuquerque for a day to do some site-seeing and stretching our legs. We'll see y'all in a couple of weeks.

Easter - Lake Dallas and Thunderstorms

Happy Easter from Texas!

We miss being with our family. This will be first time EVER to have missed Easter with my grandkids and even some of my kids.

The lightening and thunder hampered the Easter Bunny's deliveries in North Texas. I did spend many hours last night remembering those sleepless April nights in Alvarado too scared to sleep knowing that I was in an open field in an easy to move home with a severe thunderstorm on its way. Like most other nights, we just received a magnificent light show, loud thunder and lots of rain. I did discover that for $12.oo a year I could subscribe to an emergency notification system that would call and/or send a text message if a tornado watch or warning was in my neighborhood. NOAA has fine tuned the process of notification to longitude / latitude rather than county. I couldn't bring myself to buy an annual pass just for one night. I stayed up until the middle of the night until sleep deprivation was too much. Our midnight severe storm finally rolled in around 5am.

We spent Easter with Reba. Very enjoyable visit, but sad to see how much her health has suffered in the past month. She's pale, frail-looking, and has an extremely hard time catching her breath. Tomorrow will be better - she gets an oxygen tank added to her wheelchair and we'll be by earlier in the day.

The remainder of my holiday was enjoyed with phone calls to my kids, grandkids and good friends. Most were hard to catch as they enjoyed their celebration with family, yet we had the enjoyment of touching base with them and sending our love.
(I do know my daughters did an awesome job pulling the family together for the holiday during my absence - THANK YOU with all my heart and gratitude.)

Texas Wildflowers - April 9th (Austin)

Happy Birthday David!

We’re currently stopping over at a Rest Stop just north of Waco on our way to Dallas and then west to California.

Yesterday was laundry and chores day followed by one of the best steak dinners I’ve ever had courtesy of Chef Henri Clint. The full moon woke me around 2:30am. I enjoyed a moonlit hike in the oaks, prairie, and near the lake…along with deer, squirrels, crickets, killdeer, bats, katydids, dogs, motorcyclists, ducks, and a 1/3 of the campers in our section of RVers. The moon was just that bright and intensified with her reflection off the lake lighting up the whole campsite keeping most life awake.

Today, we toured Ladybird Johnson’s Wildflower Center in Austin. (The sign above was posted hroughout the center. Puts a whole new perspective on "Don't Pick the Flowers".)

I was determined to see bluebonnets before I left the state. The Center’s attendants guaranteed wildflowers since they’ve been watering their plants. The gardens were beautiful. I loved how all the wildflowers were very clearly identified and healthy. (See Foxglove example below.)

Clint captured a photo of one of the local water snakes swimming through their pond. .The turtles though are my favorite… two babies and two adults. I haven’t determined why yet, but one of the smaller turtles would go over to an adult that had a small turtle on its back, and tickled her face. The little turtle would go nose to nose to the big turtle then stretch his arms out and wiggle his fingers on the big turtles face. He did this 10 times or more then tried to knock the other turtle off her back so he could climb up. Even though he succeeded, he wasn't able to keep her off, so he went back to tickling the big turtles face. Fun to watch.

Throughout the park, local artists had their statues on display. We caught a favorite of Pooh Bear’s (Eeyore) and then my favorite “The Ghost Dance”. Clint enjoyed

hanging out with the scorpion king. I also enjoyed climbing their rock lighthouse-style observation tower with the spiral staircase.

The Center's fields of bluebonnets though were more like circles of bluebonnets dotted across the meadow. We could tell where the water had been. Fortunately, we were blessed with fields of bluebonnets and wildflowers on our way north of I35 heading to Dallas. Ahhhh…. Satisfaction.

Personal Note: Today is my brother’s birthday – age 51. Smoke was thick ac

ross the western sky due to all the wildfires skirting our path back to Dallas. Everywhere we’ve been and plan to stay has a wildfire 1 to 1-1/2 hours to our west filling the sky with choking smoke from the panhandle down to the coast. Reminds me of the California fires last year. I miss my beautiful blue skies. The preview display of my blog looks so much better than the actual squeezed version that gets published. I didn't realize the display editing wasn't going to be successful. (See journal for Hailey, Reba & health comments.)

Hiking & Shopping in Canyon Lake 4/7/09

A quiet day hiking around the campground looking for fossils with our new found knowledge. Our first discovery - the skeleton of an alligator gar over 3 feet long. Seeing his teeth - EEK! I wouldn't want to upset him in the water.

We did find a lot of fossils of shells and clams plus something that looks like thumb-size rusty stones with circles in the middle. Identification?

While enjoying our oak trees, deer and forest, I've been blessed with seeing two new critters in the wild that I've never seen before....even though I was hunting for them in the desert. Clint turned over a rock to find Yin & Yang - a black and a white scorpion.

On our 30 minute trip to the local grocery store, we saw a pair of roadrunners and prickly pears along the road. The roadrunners made it to the shelter of the trees before we could capture them via camera.

NOTE: I'm attempting to get back to the blogging. I have March notes and photos to go through to post our fun time in Dallas, Houston and Corpus Christi with family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTI (Canyon Lake 4/6/09)

I started my day with a special birthday song to my daughter and chatted a while with Katy. They appear to be having a LOT of fun at Disneyland - ask 'em about Pooh Bear, bubbles, hockey pucks, and Space Mountain.

True to Texas' nature, the weather went from near 90's watching people tube down the Guadalupe River on Saturday, to 60's on Sunday, and tonight Clint pulled in the water hoses because it's suppose to freeze. If we're still here on Thursday, we'll be back up close to 90 and then back down with possible rain for Easter. Every other day we're in Texas, we're reminded of our 20-year old phrase "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a few hours and it will change." It's actually been a lot of fun with the changing weather, just a little challenging to plan outdoor activities.

Today we visited the Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country where we met this nice fellow "Penada" who was built in a garage for a city parade. It seems while my son was being born, a rancher was leveling out his land near Canyon Lake to make an RV Park. During the bulldozing, they discovered a massive trail of dinosaur tracks perfectly preserved. The owner stopped the RV Park plans, had the tracks authenticated, and opened the tracks for public viewing. Since then, the land has changed hands a number of times and was recently donated to the local History Association. They in turn raised funds to build a small museum, place a cover over the tracks, and build a viewing area around the trail.

The museum is a very small 6-room wooden house. But the operator MORE than makes up for it. We spent over two hours at this tiny place and left well informed, entertained and content. The curator guided us through the museum with a customized presentation of their fossils from Canyon Lake, history of the dinosaurs and Texas geology, plus interesting info on the building of the dam and the 2002 "Little Ditch". I enjoyed the map of Texas under water from east of the Davis mountains and south of the Panhandle plus the before and after info on the dam. Seeing the same style post office box Clint and I used when we were first married now classified as museum historical artifacts has me feeling a little funny.

The weather was too uncomfortably cold for hiking around the Canyon Dam to take a view of the Fossil Gorge, aka Little Ditch, aka Canyon Lake Gorge. Like our friends in Silver City, NM, an area altered by man was abnormally affected by water. In 2002, the area flooded, the dam overflowed or spilled out, and voila, a small canyon was created overnight taking out trees, boulders, homes, etc. After it nearly dried up 6 weeks later, the area had a new canyon exposing fossils, fault lines, springs and waterfalls. Photos and info can be viewed at: http://www.canyonlakeguide.com/helpful_info/gorge.htm.

Afterwards we visited New Braunfels. I enjoyed the Courthouse that reminded me of a castle and many of the other German heritage structures. We had lunch at a great little restaurant, Huisache Grill - excellent food.

On our way home, we traveled through the town of Gruene (pronounced Green). Basically the Village was a tourist trap. It does have the center attraction for all these Hill Country towns of old - a Dance Hall. I was fascinated by the new homes we past before reaching our destination - made of white stone and doors (including the garage door) resembling olden wooden barn doors of the medieval times.