The Trips West 2013--Grand Canyon

Parting shot from Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  Looking across the lowlands (elevation of about 3500 ft.) from the parking lot (elevation of about 6500 ft) with the visitor center behind us (all these photos are made with my cell phone, but I did get many more with a better camera that I haven't finished culling and uploading to the computer yet)

The desert has bloomed in the rainy season. Below, the second visit in early August after six weeks of intermittent rain. 

The drive to the caverns in late mid May during the dry season. Quite a contrast from this first visit to our second one. 

We made several stops between Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon, but I will skip those for now.

Grand Canyon. Arizona. May, 2013. Our visit began with a helicopter tour from Grand Canyon National Airport followed by a jeep tour through Kaibab National Forest in order to view sunset from the canyon's South Rim. 

Looking down from the helicopter at part of the Kaibab National Forest near Tusayan, Arizona.  

One of our first views of the canyon from the air. There is really no way to properly capture this spectacular panorama. A few more shots follow.   

The Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The work of running water is amazing. Just look what it did over several million years.

And a few photos from a couple of stops during the jeep tour of the canyon's South Rim. With the sun getting lower in the sky, the contrast made it difficult to get good detail and color in the photos.

No. 2 Son with an awesome background

No. 2 Son and Daughter at one of the stops. Just a few feet behind them is a drop of about a mile.

Cutting across the upper center of the photo is the Colorado River, about a mile down from the canyon rim

The canyon casts a shadow on itself as the sun gets lower in the sky

The last rays of the day from the South Rim

 Next time: Petroglyphs, Sunset Crater, and Wupatki National Monuments

The Trips West 2013--Carlsbad Caverns

[Trying to use the Blogger app for iPhone again. It has been working well lately. However, I just completed a post that I thought was published, but it is not showing up, so I'm trying it again. Just watch. I'll probably have two of the same thing. Here we go again.] 

I haven't posted anything about my two trips west this summer, so I thought that since the national parks are currently closed, I'd share some photos. I made two trips because my children's schedules were not compatible. I took the two younger ones to New Mexico and Arizona during May-June. The older one had to wait until August. He had a request to see the Rocky Mountains, but less time for travel,  so he and I went to New Mexico and Colorado. 

Carlsbad Caverns (both trips; yes, we are cave nuts)

 No. 1 Son at Carlsbad Caverns visitor center in August

Carlsbad Caverns natural entrance. A good, long hike for fit folk who want to attempt the steep, 8-story hike down and back out. We took the elevator down and back. 

Cave stuff (not sure why the lighting in some of these photos looks green; colored lights are not used in these caves)

More cave stuff

And more cave stuff

Waiting for Bat Flight at the amphitheater at the natural entrance to the caverns where between 450,000 and 500,000 Mexican  Free-tailed bats, who live in the cave from about April or May until October or November, emerge every night in search of insects and water. No photos electronic equipment are allowed during the flight because of the possibility of interference with the bats echolocation. Take my word for it, though. It can be pretty awesome.

Next: Grand Canyon

They're Back!!

Replicas of the  Nina and  the Pinta visit the Southeast again. It's been three years since they were here. I saw them at Guntersville on Columbus Day 2010, but missed them here at Ditto Landing Marina. They are currently at Ditto and will head up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, TN next. After that, other Tennessee stops include Lenoir City and Knoxville. If they weren't such tiny vessels, I'd try to stowaway, but where would I hide?

The Nina at her temporary location before getting in place for visitors

The Pinta, the larger of the two 

According to the website, the Nina is "the most historically accurate replica of a Columbus Ship ever built." More info at www.thenina.com

Pinta just arrived at the dock

 Nina slipping in beside Pinta when they first arrived. 

I had forgotten these two ladies were coming to Huntsville and just happened to be at Ditto when they arrived. I was unaware that they were even in the area and did not see them coming up the river. I was being entertained by these folks over on the creek side of the marina 

Suddenly there was a loud blast followed by another about five minutes later. I decided I'd creep around to the riverside parking lot to see what was going on and was very pleased to see the Pinta making her way into the marina. The blasts were the two ships firing their canon to announce their arrival.  The Nina had already docked at a temporary spot. I spent quite some time watching them dock and get into position for visitors. What a happy surprise that I was there.

My older posts of the 2010 visit are Columbus Day 2010 and Two More Photos of the Ladies and Parting Shots

For My Nephew

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

Michael Evans Pace

December 28, 1966 - July 30, 2013

We will love you and miss you always 

Finally, one of us caught on camera

Yes, the sad truth caught on camera and circulated on the Internet for the whole world to see. 

Someone in the Huntsville Fiber Guild found this and posted on Facebook just now. I've been needing something to make me give this Blogger iPhone app another chance.

Brief Update

Hello, everyone. Long time no post on my part. Things have been going on and keeping me busier than I intended. A case of bronchitis kept me dragging for a while and I didn't do much more than messing with Facebook with my iPhone because it is always at hand and convenient to use to waste time on the Internet. Then my husband left for a business trip for Germany and my two youngest kids and I left for a trip west. It was a open-ended as to duration and destinations. Our first goal was Carlsbad Caverns. If we got that far, we'd see what happened next. Our ultimate goal was the Grand Canyon with a possible helicopter tour. After that, if we weren't exhausted from all the driving around out in that part of the country and still had time to do even more driving, we thought we might drive over to Lake Mead and see Hoover Dam. Heck, that close to California, might as well drive over to Death Valley. Well, then why not on up to Yosemite, then across to the coast? We could come back by way of Utah and the Great Salt Lake. Hmm. We decided just to see how things progressed and what we felt like doing. Our only constraint was that we had to be back here by the last day of May. We intended to leave on the 12th after dropping my husband off at the airport for his Germany trip, but the bronchitis set me back several days and we did not get away until the 15th. After meeting our main goals of Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon (and the helicopter tour plus), seeing several sights and sites in Albuquerque and Flagstaff and surrounding areas, we figured we'd head on back to give ourselves time to rest up for the stuff going on the 31st and beyond. Well, eleven days and 3905 miles later, I'm home. I'll try to get some photos and tales of the trip posted when I get around to it.

It was a wonderful trip. We could have stayed longer and done more, but we didn't. It is good to be back. I missed the cats and the rabbits a much as I knew I would. I missed the dogs, too, but not as much as the other little folk at the Lehman Bunstead. It is also nice to be able to get back to reading everyone's blogs, something I could have done, but did not try to keep up with on the iPhone. Small screen, mobile versions of websites, and all that.

One last thing: I think I would move to New Mexico or Arizona in a heartbeat.

Spring at Last?

The weather was finally decent enough to let the buns out to play while I worked on finishing touches on drop spindles. I forgot about making photos until I had already put Yogi back inside, so just the girls in these pics.

Matilda is snoozing in the warm sunshine. They were so glad to finally get to go outside.

Gabby was intrigued by this dry leaf and nudged it around a bit. The violet didn't really interest her.

I hope we have more beautiful weather so that they can get outside more, but I think rain is in the forecast for midweek. Oh, well. Better some rain than drought-unless it floods! In the meantime, we'll enjoy these lovely days while we can.