Monday, January 01, 2001
Summary
Trailer miles 6,840; Truck miles 20,272
Parking $4398.34; Gas $3066.94
Parking $4398.34; Gas $3066.94
Friday, December 29, 2000
Port Aransas, TX - Dec 29
The main event our final day in Riviera was to take a half-day wildlife tour at King Ranch in Kingsville, about 22 miles north. This had been described as a poor man's version of the private tours for a lot less money. Boy! Were we lucky -- we were the only people on the tour and got to go with the head naturalist. It doesn't get much more "private" than that. We saw over 60 species of birds. The ten "new" ones for us were Stilt Sandpiper, Common Yellowthroat, Least Grebe, Long-billed Thrasher, Great Kiskadee, Olive Sparrow, American Pipit, Canvasback, Anhinga & White-tailed Hawk. We saw each of these quite well and were able to note the distinguishing features. Some are south Texas "specialties" so we feel fortunate to seen them. We also saw White-tailed deer, Coyote, Alligator, Javalina, Bobcat & an Armadillo. The Armadillo was standing on it's hind legs with the sun highlighting the folds of skin and was a really special sight. The King Ranch is still a working ranch and there are other types of tours and dinners offered there, also. To complete the wonderful day, we stopped for pizza afterwards and then hit the Wal-Mart before returning home.Wednesday, 12/20 we left Riviera and arrived in Port Aransas, our "home" for a couple of months. Our "target" departure date is currently 2/27. We got a lovely site with a decent view. We are a short walk across the dunes from the most lovely beach. We have been walking on it every chance that we get. It is numbered every tenth of a mile, so you can plan your walks & increase each time. The weather has been much cooler than usual, but is so much better than most parts of the country that we won't complain & be laughed at. It hasn't gotten cold enough to worry about frozen pipes at least.
We can take a free trolley & ride to town to do errands, sightsee, or even visit the local recycling center. The trolley goes to the ferry landing & out on the beach in 4 or 5 places, so it's quite an enjoyable & scenic ride.
We had a pleasant Christmas dinner in the rec center. It was catered and the standard turkey dinner with trimmings. We only ate trimmings and were still quite full. It was fun to be with a group, altho we think the Escapee groups are more welcoming. In the evening we played bridge with a couple we had met earlier at their motorhome.
The Saturday before Christmas we drove into Corpus Christi to see the local Tuba Christmas concert. This was something we had attended often in Denver, so it gave a little familiarity to our first Christmas away from everything that we have grown used to. Afterwards we went to a nearby art center to look at a display of quilts. We had a lovely drive along the waterfront & enjoyed looking at the lovely mansions there.
We will not have any problem keeping amused while here. There are more birding areas around than we will have time to visit. Walking on the beach will take numerous hours -- and we hope to have friends visiting occasionally. Todd & Diane, friends from Boulder, were visiting relatives in Houston and took the long drive down here for a few hours' visit. It was wonderful to see them.
Tuesday, December 19, 2000
Riviera, TX - Dec 19
Continuing our way across Texas, we made our first "repeat" stop at Seminole Canyon State Park, about 30 miles west of Del Rio. This is the park with the 4-6000-yr-old rock art in addition to a lovely secluded campground. We had "planned" a 4-night stay, but unfortunately our timing coincided with a 2-week "public hunt", so the park was only open to the public for Fri & Sat nights. The rest of the time it is full of crazed hunters taking care of the deer overpopulation. And why are there so many deer? Surprise! Because there are no natural predators. The sheep & goat ranchers have been busily eradicating the coyote & other predators from this area. In fact, this may be one of the few counties left in the US that still have a "bounty" on coyote. So you have a lovely remote camping area without the sounds of coyote howling at night. And we didn't see any deer either!We did enjoy seeing the rock art again. Because we were taking the tour on a weekend, our guide was a volunteer from the Texas Rock Art Institute, not of a park ranger. So it was very different from last year. Less attention to known scientific "fact" and more emphasis on personal interpretation. Quite interesting!
Our next stop was Carrizo Springs, motto "halfway between Del Rio & Laredo". We couldn't find much else to recommend it. There was a small WalMart & a decent grocery store.
We then spent 4 nights in Laredo. We stayed at Lake Casa Blanca Intl SP, located just across the road from the runways of the Greater Laredo Airport. We got one of three sites with elec hookups, which was a good thing, because we never saw the sun for the 4 days we were there. Based on the old cowboy song, Willie had always wanted to "walk the streets of Laredo", so that was the main reason for this stop. We did get to do this, but saw no cowboys, dead, alive or dying. It is very much the border town and not one of the nicer ones. It is growing rapidly because of NAFTA and will continue to do so. The SP already has the money for large-scale improvements to the campground, adding over 60 new elec sites (further from the runways!).
We did walk across the bridge into Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican "twin" city. It was quite an experience, with tourism down some because of the weather we were the only targets for large numbers of street vendors. About an hour of that was all we could take.
Laredo itself was a very friendly town to do practical things like mail Christmas packages & do shopping. It was incredible to see the postal clerks helping people interchangeably in Spanish or English without batting an eye. And there wasn't a surly one among them! Everywhere you went people were fluently bilinual -- quite impressive to us. We also managed to track down some of the elusive flu vaccine, so now we are both immunized.
Our final stop before reaching our winter destination is Riviera (pronounced ri-VEER-uh), where we are at a lovely rv park on the bay. The birdwatching is incredible & the days are warm & sunny. I think we can stand being in this area for a few months. The most exciting bird we have seen here is the Green Jay, a truly exotic bird.
Thursday, December 07, 2000
Alpine, TX - Dec 7
After leaving Deming, our next stop was Hueco Tanks SP, about 30 miles east of El Paso. They have wonderful rock art, most of which can only be seen by guided tour. We got a site there for 3 nights -- the maximum you are allowed to stay. The place is quite restricted since they are very serious about keeping away any future vandalism. We were lucky enough to find a guide to take us out both days to see some of the wonderful pictographs. Most of this art is from the Jornado Mogollon period, which is from around 800 to 1200 years ago. The art is incredibly detailed and painted in a variety of colors.We then spent two uneventful nights in Van Horn, which was just a "stop along the way" to Alpine, TX. The most interesting thing that happened to us there is that we found soy chorizo (soyrizo) at the local grocery store (for tasty vegetarian burritos).
Alpine is a lovely town of about 6000 people with a small university, Sul Ross State, and is located near many interesting places, so we planned a 4-day stay. We took a day trip through part of Big Bend NP, planning for a several week visit in the future. It was foggy all day, but in late afternoon, the fog lifted, displaying lovely views of the mountains in both the US and Mexico. We walked on a nature trail by the Rio Grande and waved at children across the river in Mexico.
Another day we visited Davis Mountain SP and the MacDonald Observatory (home to the NPR program "Star Date"). The State Park is another lovely place where we want to return and spend more time, enabling us to attend some of the "Star Parties" held 3 evenings a week at the observatory. We took a tour of the observatory and got to see two of the largest telescopes. MacDonald is the darkest (farthest from city lights) observatory in the US. Its high altitude (over 6000 ft) and lack of humidity also help it be one of the best locations for an observatory.
The nearby town of Marfa, 30 miles west of Alpine, is famous for the Marfa "mystery" or "ghost" lights. These lights appear almost every night in the desert between Marfa and Alpine. They are bright, pulsating lights that move about and seem to change color at times. No one has been able to explain what they are. The lights were first documented in the 1880s when early ranchers feared they were the fires of Indians. People have tried various ways of finding out what they are but to no avail. We went to the viewing site (off of US90 15 miles west of Alpine) and looked and sure enough! We saw them both times we went. They're not very large but quite interesting to see.
In Alpine we visited the Museum of the Big Bend, located on the campus of Sul Ross State. There are historical exhibits of local interest, and there were also two photography exhibits. One was by Diane Lacy, a local rancher, who has a degree in fine arts. She always carries her camera while out "on the range" in the mountains north of Alpine, and shoots anything that looks interesting right as it happens. She has won many awards and has been published numerous times. The other photographer was Donald Hansen, who has combined computer & camera technology to take pictures of birds in flight. He uses an ultrafast strobe to freeze the subject and can sometimes take 3 photos of a bird as it passes through the beam. The results are incredibly detailed photos of birds flying with every feather perfectly still. He and his wife do a bird banding program at Davis Mountain SP which is open to the public several months of the year.
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Deming, NM - Nov 29
We thoroughly enjoyed our last few days in Tucson. We cheered on the Women's Basketball and Volleyball teams with loud cries of "Go Cats!" (you know we are such "cat" fans anyway). A funny thing about the games here is that instead of one of those modern dance groups for entertainment, they still have baton twirlers. For us it's shades of the 60s. Actually, more entertaining though -- not so cheesecakey.
We spent a day at the Pima Air & Space Museum and that wasn't enough time to do it justice. Doug's friend from High School is operations manager there, so we got quite the deluxe tour. It is the third largest air museum in the US and the 10th largest in the world. We got to see their fascinating Restoration Facility, which is "off limits" for the average tour-goer. We spent a lot of time in one of three WWII hangars looking at the B-24, which Doug's dad flew in the war, and learning interesting things about the flyers. They also have a Challenger Learning Center which has programs that are like a mini space camp for sixth graders. The goal is to get kids interested early in a curriculum that would lead to an aerospace career.
We then moved on to an Escapee Co-op in Benson, AZ. We liked the people there and the location so much that we are on the wait list to be lease holders. It will take 4-5 years, so this is not an immediate thing. One of the regularly scheduled activities was bridge twice a week, so we enjoyed that and will look forward to it in the future. We learned another new game called Marbles & Jokers and played it several nights. There is a lot to do in that area, and we did not have time to do it justice. We did do some walking at the Holy Trinity Monastery's Bird Sanctuary and saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We also visited the town of Tombstone and saw lots of grown-up men "playing cowboy". They roam the streets in full regalia advertising the "shoot-em-up" shows that happen during the day. We had our fix of tourist shops for a good while! As you can see, there's no danger of boredom at these places!
We're now in Deming, NM, at another Escapee park (not a co-op). Here, too, there is a lot to see that will have to wait for a future visit. Yesterday we went to a Stitch & Chat group in the morning. We had been missing our stitching group from Boulder and enjoyed this a lot. Doug is starting to quilt on his wall hanging, and Willie is working on Christmas ornaments. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby state park and hiked around some interesting rock formations. We also saw our first Canyon Towhee.
Our first Thanksgiving at an Escapee park was enjoyable, though since we now don't eat any meat except for fish & seafood, it didn't seem like a "real" Thanksgiving. I'm sure that will pass with time and as we get used to having pasta for Thanksgiving. We were really happy to find that none of the side dishes that other people brought had meat in them, so we could eat everything. It was quite delicious.
Our cats still seem healthy & happy, although the onset of winter has caused an marked increase in hairball production. We took Rainbow out on a leash, and she enjoyed it so much that now she frequently sits by the door and looks up expectantly whenever we walk by.
We spent a day at the Pima Air & Space Museum and that wasn't enough time to do it justice. Doug's friend from High School is operations manager there, so we got quite the deluxe tour. It is the third largest air museum in the US and the 10th largest in the world. We got to see their fascinating Restoration Facility, which is "off limits" for the average tour-goer. We spent a lot of time in one of three WWII hangars looking at the B-24, which Doug's dad flew in the war, and learning interesting things about the flyers. They also have a Challenger Learning Center which has programs that are like a mini space camp for sixth graders. The goal is to get kids interested early in a curriculum that would lead to an aerospace career.
We then moved on to an Escapee Co-op in Benson, AZ. We liked the people there and the location so much that we are on the wait list to be lease holders. It will take 4-5 years, so this is not an immediate thing. One of the regularly scheduled activities was bridge twice a week, so we enjoyed that and will look forward to it in the future. We learned another new game called Marbles & Jokers and played it several nights. There is a lot to do in that area, and we did not have time to do it justice. We did do some walking at the Holy Trinity Monastery's Bird Sanctuary and saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We also visited the town of Tombstone and saw lots of grown-up men "playing cowboy". They roam the streets in full regalia advertising the "shoot-em-up" shows that happen during the day. We had our fix of tourist shops for a good while! As you can see, there's no danger of boredom at these places!
We're now in Deming, NM, at another Escapee park (not a co-op). Here, too, there is a lot to see that will have to wait for a future visit. Yesterday we went to a Stitch & Chat group in the morning. We had been missing our stitching group from Boulder and enjoyed this a lot. Doug is starting to quilt on his wall hanging, and Willie is working on Christmas ornaments. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby state park and hiked around some interesting rock formations. We also saw our first Canyon Towhee.
Our first Thanksgiving at an Escapee park was enjoyable, though since we now don't eat any meat except for fish & seafood, it didn't seem like a "real" Thanksgiving. I'm sure that will pass with time and as we get used to having pasta for Thanksgiving. We were really happy to find that none of the side dishes that other people brought had meat in them, so we could eat everything. It was quite delicious.
Our cats still seem healthy & happy, although the onset of winter has caused an marked increase in hairball production. We took Rainbow out on a leash, and she enjoyed it so much that now she frequently sits by the door and looks up expectantly whenever we walk by.Thursday, November 16, 2000
Tucson, AZ - Nov 16
It continues to be 10-20 degrees cooler than normal everywhere we have been in AZ. However, it has been mostly sunny, so it is quite pleasant. As you will see, the birding become quite interesting since we have been in new areas.When we were in Cottonwood, we visited Tuzigoot, Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well, all Natl Mons. They were each interesting in their own way. The biggest surprise was Montezuma's Well, because there was so much more there than we were expecting. The huge pool of water was fed by warm springs and harbored many interesting birds. New for us were Ring-necked duck and Common merganser. Over at the Castle we saw Bridled titmouse and Crissal thrasher. Not "new" but fun to watch were the flocks of Cedar waxwing voraciously devouring whole juniper berries. You could watch the berries go right down their throats.
We spent a day looking around the tourist town of Sedona and driving up the lovely Oak Creek Canyon. It is a very narrow, winding road with lovely views along the way. At the top you can park and overlook the whole length of the canyon. We also visited the old mining town of Jerome, which has quaint shops and good pizza.
We visited the Sinagua ruins (Palatki and Honanki), which are both under the jurisdiction of the Natl Forest Service. These are less-visited ruins than any of the Natl Mons, so it was quite special to see them. Both had quite a few pictographs (painted rock art), too. We visited another rock art site, which was at V Bar V Ranch, also managed by the NFS. This site is strictly petroglyphs (carved rock art) and has over 1000 glyphs. We were the only people visiting at the time, tho two more arrived just as we were leaving. Both sites have interpreters on site who explain the history and show you around. While at Palatki, we saw a Red-naped woodpecker.
We stayed at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. It was a lovely park with stocked fishing lakes and many hiking trails. While there, we saw our first Spotted towhee. When we arrived at the campground, we were greeted by a Greater roadrunner and many Gambel's quail.
After 8 days in Cottonwood, we headed further south to Casa Grande, where we spent 3 nights. We visited Casa Grande Ruins NM, which are the first Hohokam ruins we have seen. These ruins are different because they were made from caliche, an adobe-like mud, so they don't last as well. The ruins at Casa Grande are protected by a roof that was built in 1927, and is on the Natl Register of Historic Structures. So if the mud ruins ever wash away, they will still have Roof Natl Mon. At our RV park we saw Curve-billed thrasher and Cactus wren.
Now we are in Tucson, camped in Doug's dad's driveway. We really fill up the whole thing! The birdwatching in the desert-like surroundings has been wonderful. We have seen Anna's and Costa's hummingbirds, Phainopepla, Verdin and Gila woodpecker. We are also taking care of lots of practical matters here, like maintenance on the truck and new hiking boots for Doug. We attended a U of A Women's Basketball game and plan to attend another as well as a Women's Volleyball game on Sat.
Doug's brother Bob is here for a few days, but unfortunately his brother Rodger & family were not able to make it. So the "family reunion" was cut in half. The rest of our time here will be spent visiting with family and friends. We'll write again soon when we are "on the road again". We'll be on our great push towards the coast of Texas where we will be spending about two months.
Saturday, November 04, 2000
Cottonwood, AZ - Nov 4
We have been in AZ for 11 days, but you wouldn't know it from the weather! We spent the first four days in Page, staying at the Wahweap campground at the Glen Canyon Natl Rec Area. We had a nice site with a view of Lake Powell. It is lovely there but sad to think of the even lovelier canyon that is buried beneath it.
The weather was rainy, and had been raining for many days before, so all slot canyon hiking was out of the question. The road into the north end of the Paria Canyon trail was closed, and the Navajos were not allowing anyone into Antelope Canyon. That was a disappointment and will be reason to return.
We did go on a 2 1/2 hour boat trip, which went into the flooded part of Antelope Canyon. We went in quite far, until the boat almost touched the canyon walls and you could see where the water ended and the dry canyon began. We also went on a short hike to a Colorado River overlook just south of Page, which has a gorgeous view of a horseshoe bend in the river. Quite spectacular and very few people, since it's not an "official" overlook. No guard rails or anything -- you just get as close as you dare and look over!
On the rainiest day, we went on a tour of the dam and learned a lot about the lake and dam. We had a very good tour guide, who was not one to just deliver a script. She made it so entertaining that the tour ran 1/2 hour long! We also went to the John Wesley Powell Museum and learned about early canyon and Page history.
On a nicer day, we drove to Lee's Ferry and looked at the historic sites there. This is also the point where people who raft the Grand Canyon put in, so it is a popular place. The Paria River empties into the Colorado here, so the end of that canyon hike is here. We walked up a little bit and gazed at it longingly. Of course, we would not have been able to backpack the entire length, but we would have liked to go in a couple of miles.
On the same day we viewed Marble Canyon from Navajo Bridge, the first bridge across the Colorado, which replaced Lee's Ferry as the only place to cross the Colorado in this area. There is now a new bridge and the old bridge is open for pedestrians only. A short drive down the road are the lovely Vermillion Cliffs.
We continued on to Flagstaff, hoping to get there between storms. We got there and set up about 1 and were off to a concert at Northern Ariz U at 3. We also attended a lecture by Susan Stamberg of NPR that evening. Both were very good.
The next day we went to Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano Natl Mons, just north of Flagstaff. Wupatki Pueblo was built and occupied during the 1100's. There are several other pueblos at this site. We were able to tour them all, but it started snowing as we headed into the Sunset Crater area. So we were not able to do any of the short, interesting hikes there. The snow continued all night, and we woke up to about 4 inches. Our furnace stopped working during the night. Since the sun was coming out and there was a furnace repair place in our next destination, (Cottonwood), we decided it was time to leave Flagstaff. We will be back, hopefully when it's not snowing!
After a short (60 miles) drive to Cottonwood, almost 4000 feet lower (no more snow danger), we set up at a nice state park and arranged a house call to get the furnace fixed. Luckily, it was quick & easy to fix. We plan to stay here through the election, so we can watch the results on TV.
The weather was rainy, and had been raining for many days before, so all slot canyon hiking was out of the question. The road into the north end of the Paria Canyon trail was closed, and the Navajos were not allowing anyone into Antelope Canyon. That was a disappointment and will be reason to return.
We did go on a 2 1/2 hour boat trip, which went into the flooded part of Antelope Canyon. We went in quite far, until the boat almost touched the canyon walls and you could see where the water ended and the dry canyon began. We also went on a short hike to a Colorado River overlook just south of Page, which has a gorgeous view of a horseshoe bend in the river. Quite spectacular and very few people, since it's not an "official" overlook. No guard rails or anything -- you just get as close as you dare and look over!On the rainiest day, we went on a tour of the dam and learned a lot about the lake and dam. We had a very good tour guide, who was not one to just deliver a script. She made it so entertaining that the tour ran 1/2 hour long! We also went to the John Wesley Powell Museum and learned about early canyon and Page history.
On a nicer day, we drove to Lee's Ferry and looked at the historic sites there. This is also the point where people who raft the Grand Canyon put in, so it is a popular place. The Paria River empties into the Colorado here, so the end of that canyon hike is here. We walked up a little bit and gazed at it longingly. Of course, we would not have been able to backpack the entire length, but we would have liked to go in a couple of miles.On the same day we viewed Marble Canyon from Navajo Bridge, the first bridge across the Colorado, which replaced Lee's Ferry as the only place to cross the Colorado in this area. There is now a new bridge and the old bridge is open for pedestrians only. A short drive down the road are the lovely Vermillion Cliffs.
We continued on to Flagstaff, hoping to get there between storms. We got there and set up about 1 and were off to a concert at Northern Ariz U at 3. We also attended a lecture by Susan Stamberg of NPR that evening. Both were very good.
The next day we went to Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano Natl Mons, just north of Flagstaff. Wupatki Pueblo was built and occupied during the 1100's. There are several other pueblos at this site. We were able to tour them all, but it started snowing as we headed into the Sunset Crater area. So we were not able to do any of the short, interesting hikes there. The snow continued all night, and we woke up to about 4 inches. Our furnace stopped working during the night. Since the sun was coming out and there was a furnace repair place in our next destination, (Cottonwood), we decided it was time to leave Flagstaff. We will be back, hopefully when it's not snowing!
After a short (60 miles) drive to Cottonwood, almost 4000 feet lower (no more snow danger), we set up at a nice state park and arranged a house call to get the furnace fixed. Luckily, it was quick & easy to fix. We plan to stay here through the election, so we can watch the results on TV.
Tuesday, October 24, 2000
Still Glendale, UT - Oct 24
We spent a day driving and hiking on Cedar Mountain, as it is called locally. It is technically the Markagunt Plateau. We went in lava tubes (Mammoth Cave), saw a big spring (Mammoth Spring), had a picnic at Cedar Breaks in the snow, went to where a waterfall is supposed to shoot out of a rock face (but was only a trickle) and out to a lovely scenic overlook (Strawberry Point). We also went to Ice Cave, which is supposed to "amazingly" have ice in it all year long. It's another lava cave. But since we drove (in 4wd) thru mud & ice & snow to get there & it was surrounded by snow, it wasn't too amazing to see the ice.We spent another very full day driving down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There's another place we could easily spend a month! It was technically "closed" but they allow you in and even to camp as long as there isn't a big snow storm. There were still quite a few people. We went to all the overlooks and hiked around some. We left just as the sun was setting and saw a bobcat on the way out. It stopped just before going into the trees to look us over, so we got a real good look at it. We also enjoyed seeing the Kaibab squirrels, a dark grey squirrel with a snow white fluffy tail, which is only found on the north rim. In addition to the NP, there is lots to see & do throughout the Kaibab Natl Forest, which surrounds the Grand Canyon. In our short time there we saw several "new" birds -- Williamson's Sapsucker, Townsend's Solitaire, Ruby Crowned Kinglet (we had "seen" these before but never well enough to identify them on their own, since they rarely sit still!), and Pine Grosbeak. Other interesting birds we have seen recently but forgot to put in the emails are Northern Goshawk (in trees at higher altitudes), American Dipper, Brown Creeper, House Wren, and Plumbeous Vireo.
We went back to Zion for one last hike, and it was a beauty. It was an 8-mile hike with 2150 elev gain up to Observation Point, the highest overlook in Zion. The view was spectacular! And the hike went through narrow Echo Canyon for about a mile as an added bonus. We also hiked in the Paria-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness area, about halfway between Kanab, UT, and Page, AZ. We did a short (about 2 miles in) hike down a slot canyon called Wire Pass. It had several places where we had to scramble down some dry waterfalls (and back up!), so that added to the adventure. At the junction with Buckskin Gulch, there were some interesting petroglyphs.
Everywhere you drive around here has spectacular scenery. You want to take every side road just to see where it leads. Kanab, UT, is a very pleasant little town. It's slogan is "The Greatest Earth on Show" and that is the truth!
We continued to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary every few days. We have enjoyed working with the cats there a lot and will miss spending time there.
We were planning to attend a community orchestra concert last Saturday. One person we met at Best Friends turned out to be the concertmaster. When he found out we had played in many community orchestras, he invited us to play. He even loaned Willie a violin! Since it was a pops concert, dress was casual, so that was no problem. So we made our Symphony of the Canyons debut, sightreading the music!
Friday, October 13, 2000
Glendale, UT - Oct 13
We are staying for a few weeks in Glendale, UT, which is conveniently located for Zion and also close to many interesting places we did not know existed. We decided to extend our stay after learning that Doug's brother Rodger and his family would be in Tucson for Thanksgiving. We will arrive in Tucson 2 weeks later than we had planned and stay through Thanksgiving, so we can see them all.
The first place we found out about was Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Those of you who know us well, know that one of the things we miss most is our volunteer work with the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. Best Friends is the nation's largest no-kill shelter and currently houses over 1800 animals, most being cats & dogs. It is located about 20 miles from our RV park. We took a tour and liked what we saw, so we inquired about volunteering. They LOVE to have people volunteer, even for very short times, and were happy to have us. So we have been over there a couple of times, mostly petting cats (it's rough, but someone has to do it!) and actually doing some cleaning work. We plan to go back several more times before we leave here. It is a truly wonderful place. For more info look on the web at www.bestfriends.org.
Also interesting, Best Friends is the largest employer in the county (about 170 emps), so there is more interesting shopping than we have found in other parts of UT. We can get really nice vegetarian things at the grocery store, plus there is a nice health food store in Kanab. And we found Paul Newman's chocolate there, too!
We have been to Zion three times, twice to the southern section and once to the northern (Kolob Canyon) section. The south part is so large, it takes a day just to get oriented. They have a shuttle into the main canyon, which helps keep the crowds down. It's funny how people almost always talk about Bryce & Zion in the same sentence. There is nothing similar about them except for their location. Each is a truly unique place and should be experienced as such. Zion Canyon is a canyon floor with all the greenery associated with water in an otherwise desert environment, but it is framed by huge walls of sandstone cliffs, rising so high that you get a crick in your neck from looking up all the time. The second time we went, we took two hiking trails. One was to all of the Emerald Pools, which was quite lovely. The other was a sort of nature/bike trail that was quite interesting. We saw an arch on the side of a mountain that we would have not noticed if a sign hadn't pointed it out. We plan to go back for one or two more days of hiking there. We also hiked while in the north part, which was really pleasant and quite uncrowded.
Another day we drove to Cedar Breaks NM, looked out all the overlooks you could drive to and hiked to two more. This place is more comparable to Bryce but much deeper & steeper because of the quicker pace of the erosion process which is still taking place. In fact, it is happening quickly enough that they can't build trails down into the canyon because they would get washed out too quickly. Plus, not many would want to hike the 2500 feet elevation loss/gain. The road to Cedar Breaks passes through miles of lava flows formed only about 5000 years ago.
A lot of the area near Kanab was used as settings for many western movies. Just driving down any road is quite spectacular. The rocks are formed into swirls & mounds and layered with many colors. The drive to Zion from the East is as spectacular as any other part of Zion. It is almost impossible to imagine the forces that created all these amazing rock formations.
The first place we found out about was Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Those of you who know us well, know that one of the things we miss most is our volunteer work with the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. Best Friends is the nation's largest no-kill shelter and currently houses over 1800 animals, most being cats & dogs. It is located about 20 miles from our RV park. We took a tour and liked what we saw, so we inquired about volunteering. They LOVE to have people volunteer, even for very short times, and were happy to have us. So we have been over there a couple of times, mostly petting cats (it's rough, but someone has to do it!) and actually doing some cleaning work. We plan to go back several more times before we leave here. It is a truly wonderful place. For more info look on the web at www.bestfriends.org.
Also interesting, Best Friends is the largest employer in the county (about 170 emps), so there is more interesting shopping than we have found in other parts of UT. We can get really nice vegetarian things at the grocery store, plus there is a nice health food store in Kanab. And we found Paul Newman's chocolate there, too!
We have been to Zion three times, twice to the southern section and once to the northern (Kolob Canyon) section. The south part is so large, it takes a day just to get oriented. They have a shuttle into the main canyon, which helps keep the crowds down. It's funny how people almost always talk about Bryce & Zion in the same sentence. There is nothing similar about them except for their location. Each is a truly unique place and should be experienced as such. Zion Canyon is a canyon floor with all the greenery associated with water in an otherwise desert environment, but it is framed by huge walls of sandstone cliffs, rising so high that you get a crick in your neck from looking up all the time. The second time we went, we took two hiking trails. One was to all of the Emerald Pools, which was quite lovely. The other was a sort of nature/bike trail that was quite interesting. We saw an arch on the side of a mountain that we would have not noticed if a sign hadn't pointed it out. We plan to go back for one or two more days of hiking there. We also hiked while in the north part, which was really pleasant and quite uncrowded.
Another day we drove to Cedar Breaks NM, looked out all the overlooks you could drive to and hiked to two more. This place is more comparable to Bryce but much deeper & steeper because of the quicker pace of the erosion process which is still taking place. In fact, it is happening quickly enough that they can't build trails down into the canyon because they would get washed out too quickly. Plus, not many would want to hike the 2500 feet elevation loss/gain. The road to Cedar Breaks passes through miles of lava flows formed only about 5000 years ago.A lot of the area near Kanab was used as settings for many western movies. Just driving down any road is quite spectacular. The rocks are formed into swirls & mounds and layered with many colors. The drive to Zion from the East is as spectacular as any other part of Zion. It is almost impossible to imagine the forces that created all these amazing rock formations.
Sunday, October 01, 2000
Bryce Canyon - Oct 1
This is our last full day at Bryce Canyon NP, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Also one of the most popular. After weeks of hiking and seeing no more than 10 or 12 people all day, we were jolted to find scores of people gawking and gaping at every overlook, and usually speaking a foreign language. Evidently, every travel agency in Europe (and probably Japan) has a large poster of Bryce Canyon prominently displayed, and people walk in, gasp, and say "I want to go there!" Consequently, roughly two thirds (our estimate) of the people you meet here are from out of the country. We also discovered that there is a certain sameness to the overlooks. The best way to experience Bryce is from its trails, where you look up at the fabulously shaped hoodoos, spot new windows around every turn, and feel overwhelmed by the changing majesty every 50 feet. R.W. Emerson said it best: "When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fabric of your body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out. He is the richest man who pays the largest debt to the shoemaker.""Bryce Canyon" is really a misnomer -- Bryce is not a canyon, but a series of amphitheaters carved from a cliff by water. Running water, however, is not the main culprit here -- Bryce is situated such that the temperature is below freezing during the night and above freezing during the day over 200 times per year. This frequent freeze/thaw cycle is the cause of the weirdly shaped hoodoos, geologists believe.
We spent three days hiking in Bryce -- first we combined Navajo and Peekaboo Loops. Navajo is a 1.3 loop, which drops swiftly down between two fins in continuous switchbacks, then meanders through more hoodoos, and then switchbacks up to the starting point. A spur at midpoint leads to Peekaboo, which is a 3-mile loop that rises and falls over 3 or 4 ridges, offering dramatic views of the surrounding area. The next day we hiked Queen's Garden, which is Bryce's most popular trail. It descends steeply through wide, open terrain before leading into Queen's Garden, home of over 50 named hoodoos. Most of the names have been retired, due to the rapid change of the features. We truly saved the best for last when we hiked Fairyland Trail, the remotest, most varied, and least popular trail -- 5.5 miles of exquisite, ever-changing scenery. This trail alone would beckon us back to Bryce.
We also took a daytrip to Kodachrome Basin SP, named by a 1948 National Geographic Society expedition to the area. Kodak evidently did not take exception to its trademarked line of color film being associated with this colorful area. And yes, that's the only brand of film available at the Visitor Center. Geologists believe that KB used to be a thermal basin similar to Yellowstone, and that the tall spires dotting the park are the visible remains as the surrounding sandstone eroded away. We started down a 10-mile dirt road leading to Grosvenor Arch, but it was raining, and we started to slide, despite 4WD. We had been warned that the worst was yet to come, so decided to save the arch for another time.
Thursday, September 28, 2000
More Capitol Reef & Escalante - Sept 24
We continued our stay in Capitol Reef with several more days of hiking. We hiked to an overlook and could view a lot of the central section of the park from above, stopping by Hickman Bridge (a natural rock bridge) on our way down. We hiked Capitol Gorge, another narrow canyon that until 1962 was the only way to drive thru the area. UT 12 actually went thru Capitol Reef (National Monument then) via the current Scenic Drive and out this narrow canyon. At the end of the short hike, there's a short climb up to some large water pockets (called tanks) in the rocks above. They were quite beautiful, and a little Canyon Wren came down and visited with us while we rested there. We also saw a Rock Wren on the way out.
Our final hike in the Capitol Reef area was the Chimney Rock loop, to which we added a side trip into Spring Canyon -- another beautiful narrow red sandstone canyon. Thursday we headed for Escalante, UT, via scenic UT 12, one of the most beautiful drives we have ever seen. It goes through Boulder, UT, which must be about as unusual as Boulder, CO, since two of the groups that cleaned up along the highway were "Freedom From Religion in Boulder, UT" and "Meat is Murder, Live and Let Live". Whereas in Escalante it was the local schools and similar mom & apple pie stuff. Funny to see all those familiar names -- Boulder Mtn Lodge, Boulder Realty, etc. The highway has one part that goes along the top of a hogback with steep dropoffs on each side. Luckily Doug had seen this before, because he had to keep his eyes on the road with the trailer in tow. The scenery here is quite breathtaking!
We stayed in Escalante three days and did a wonderful hike each day. So much for the planned "rest day"! We hiked in about 6 miles to Lower Calf Creek Falls, a 126-foot high waterfall over sheer sandstone cliffs. It was a beautiful hike, though long because so much of it was through sand. Once we were at the falls, the spray made us delightfully cool.
The second day was partly cloudy and quite windy. We almost took the day off, but in the afternoon decided to check out the Escalante Petrified Wood State Park. We took the Petrified Wood and Sleeping Rainbows (named after the Indian term for the multitude of colors seen in petrified wood) loop trails and saw lots of brilliantly colored petrified wood. It was a relatively short hike but perfect for this day. We never knew petrified wood came in so many beautiful colors -- reds, yellows, green, purple -- even a little blue.
The final hike was the most spectacular, into three canyons of the Escalante River Canyons area -- Dry Wash of Coyote Creek, Peekaboo Canyon and Spooky Canyon. We said WOW a lot in all three. Spooky was the narrowest canyon we had ever been in. We had to take off our daypacks and pull them behind, tucking our bodies around various ways to fit through. The only spooky part was not seeing the sun for so long. Peekaboo was very twisty with lots of little places to peek around and hide in. It is probably the easiest hike to see such spectacular canyons that exists in the US, and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting this area.
You probably have not seen anything like it. A final little picnic stop at the end of the day brought us to Devil's Rock Garden, a lovely set of rock hoodoos (strange shapes) that you can wander through.
Our final hike in the Capitol Reef area was the Chimney Rock loop, to which we added a side trip into Spring Canyon -- another beautiful narrow red sandstone canyon. Thursday we headed for Escalante, UT, via scenic UT 12, one of the most beautiful drives we have ever seen. It goes through Boulder, UT, which must be about as unusual as Boulder, CO, since two of the groups that cleaned up along the highway were "Freedom From Religion in Boulder, UT" and "Meat is Murder, Live and Let Live". Whereas in Escalante it was the local schools and similar mom & apple pie stuff. Funny to see all those familiar names -- Boulder Mtn Lodge, Boulder Realty, etc. The highway has one part that goes along the top of a hogback with steep dropoffs on each side. Luckily Doug had seen this before, because he had to keep his eyes on the road with the trailer in tow. The scenery here is quite breathtaking!
We stayed in Escalante three days and did a wonderful hike each day. So much for the planned "rest day"! We hiked in about 6 miles to Lower Calf Creek Falls, a 126-foot high waterfall over sheer sandstone cliffs. It was a beautiful hike, though long because so much of it was through sand. Once we were at the falls, the spray made us delightfully cool.The second day was partly cloudy and quite windy. We almost took the day off, but in the afternoon decided to check out the Escalante Petrified Wood State Park. We took the Petrified Wood and Sleeping Rainbows (named after the Indian term for the multitude of colors seen in petrified wood) loop trails and saw lots of brilliantly colored petrified wood. It was a relatively short hike but perfect for this day. We never knew petrified wood came in so many beautiful colors -- reds, yellows, green, purple -- even a little blue.
The final hike was the most spectacular, into three canyons of the Escalante River Canyons area -- Dry Wash of Coyote Creek, Peekaboo Canyon and Spooky Canyon. We said WOW a lot in all three. Spooky was the narrowest canyon we had ever been in. We had to take off our daypacks and pull them behind, tucking our bodies around various ways to fit through. The only spooky part was not seeing the sun for so long. Peekaboo was very twisty with lots of little places to peek around and hide in. It is probably the easiest hike to see such spectacular canyons that exists in the US, and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting this area.
You probably have not seen anything like it. A final little picnic stop at the end of the day brought us to Devil's Rock Garden, a lovely set of rock hoodoos (strange shapes) that you can wander through.Tuesday, September 19, 2000
Green River & Capitol Reef - Sept 19
We spent three days in Green River, UT, and did a hike each day. The first one we was a relatively easy hike in Black Dragon Wash, about 15 miles west of GR up in BLM land. There's lots of BLM land in UT!!! There was a really good panel of pictographs near the mouth of the canyon, and then we hiked on up the canyon for about 2 miles. It was beautiful red entrada sandstone and quite deserted. We did run into an older woman hiking, who lived somewhere nearby out in the country and had hiked this area for years. She was sort of a gentle "Ed Abbey" type -- really loved this country and hiked every chance she could get. She told us about LOTS of other places to hike, so now we have a new "list".The second hike was into Horseshoe Canyon to see four panels of pictographs, the most famous of these being the "Great Gallery", also known as the Louvre of SW rock art. Horseshoe Canyon is a separate piece of Canyonlands NP, directly south of GR and a little east of Goblin Valley SP. It was a fairly strenuous hike of 6 1/2 miles rt, with a 800 ft descent into the canyon. And the walking was part on slickrock and part on sand. It was over 90 that day, and we just barely had enough water. The hike was absolutely lovely. The rock was red, the sky was the bluest you can imagine, and the rock art was spectacular.
The third hike was into Little Wild Horse Canyon. This is in the San Rafael Reef part of the San Rafael Swell. The way this area was formed caused the canyons to be forming while the swell was uplifting, so they became quite narrow. We had another absolutely clear day, so no danger of flash floods. We hiked in about 2 miles and then turned around and came back out. The nice thing about canyon hiking is that it always looks different on the way back out, because of the different directions and lighting. This was one of those REALLY narrow slot canyons that you could just barely squeeze through at times, so it was quite lovely.We're currently wrapping up a week in Torrey, near Capitol Reef NP. We arrived fairly early Thursday, and had time to set up, drive back to the Visitor Center, discuss various hikes with the ranger, and take the Scenic Drive up Capitol Gulch. We took two short hikes to Goosenecks Overlook and Sunset Point, which was at its best since it was late in the day. When we returned to our (now full) campground, we noticed a large orange bus-like vehicle two sites down from us, which we found out is called a Ro-Tel (roving hotel). The front half is seating for up to 24 people, and the back has little bed cubbies -- not much larger than coffins with a window at one end. Included in storage are picnic tables and cooking gear. They're apparently quite popular in Europe, and becoming popular in Alaska; then they come to the Western US for fall and Mexico for winter.
Our first day hike was down Grand Wash, which was only 12 ft wide in the Narrows. While not as narrow as Little Wild Horse, the walls were nearly 1000 ft high on either side. Quite stunning. It was also almost 100 that day, so we weren't up for more. The next day, another hot one, we took a scenic drive, down a long dirt road towards Bullfrog Marina, then up some narrow switchbacks back into Capitol Reef, out of CR into Grand-Staircase Escalante NM, just created as a NM in 1966, where the road became paved and ended up in Boulder, UT. We took a side trip to Escalante via UT 12, a VERY scenic road with breathtaking dropoffs on both sides of the road. We will be going back to Escalante later this week with the trailer to stay several days and do some more hiking.
Monday, September 11, 2000
Montrose & Grand Junction - Sept 11
We spent six days in Montrose at a lovely campground with a site right next to the Uncompahgre River. The bird activity was wonderful. We saw lots of Western Wood Peewees hunting insects along the river. We also saw Bullock's Oriole, Western Tanager, and Common Nighthawk.We spent a day at the South Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We walked to all the overlooks and hiked several additional trails. One was especially enjoyable (& strenuous) because it went part way down into the canyon. We were there until dusk, and on our way out we saw a pair of Blue Grouse.
We spent another day at the North Rim of the Black Canyon. We started in Montrose, headed north to Delta, eastish to Crawford and then down a dirt road to the North Rim, back out and southeast on Colorado 92 thru Curecanti and back along US 50 to Montrose. It was a long and very scenic circle. The North Rim is quite lovely. Very few people take the time to drive that far, so you have lots of overlooks to yourself. The overlooks are steeper and the views are spectacular. At the campground, some of the sites are within sight of the canyon edge. Unfortunately, there are no sites large enough for our rig, but it is a beautiful campground nonetheless.
One other place of interest in Montrose was the Russell Stover Chocolate Factory -- with discount candy!! "Seconds" and old holiday stuff were sold at bargain prices. And we couldn't resist a couple of "grab bags". How can you go wrong when there's chocolate inside?
Next we headed for Grand Junction, where we stayed at Island Acres State Park, located about 10 miles east of GJ along I70. We were a little surprised at HOW CLOSE to I70 it was, but we got used to it after a few days and were even able to sleep with our windows open. There was a nature trail along the Colorado River which was quite pleasant to walk on.
While in GJ, we spent a day doing legal things, such as vehicle registration, getting new driver's licenses (we actually got decent photos for a change!), and voter registration. We are now "legal" GJ residents. We looked around the downtown section of GJ and found it quite appealing -- lots of interesting shops and an especially nice quilt store. We also found a GREAT used book store next to Wal-Mart named "Twice Upon a Time."
We spent one full day sightseeing on the Grand Mesa. We drove out to the Land's End visitor's center, which is located at the west end of the Grand Mesa -- you can see forever. We then drove to Cedaredge and saw a bit of the Pioneer Village, but only the outside as it was just closing when we arrived. We then took some back roads through a lot of NFS campgrounds to the town of Collbran. After the 90 degree heat of GJ, the 60 degrees of the Grand Mesa was wonderful. We saw a pair of Golden Eagles hunting. They would hover, stoop and dive, sometimes landing just a few feet from our truck. The sun was hitting them just right, and they truly looked golden.
We spent another day at the Colorado National Monument. It started out warm and sunny, but quickly turned quite stormy. We saw a spectacular lightning show while eating lunch in our truck. NPR was playing Beethoven's Eighth, suddenly lightning hit "just over the hill", and the translator went out. Later, when it had cleared and we were at another overlook, we could see all the translators located on that next hill. We did a little hiking and then walked out to all the overlooks along the 23-mile rim drive. It was beautiful, and we were sorry there wasn't more time for hiking other trails. While there, we finally noticed that the Titmouse we had been seeing everywhere was no longer the Tufted Titmouse but the Plain Titmouse (which still is tufted!), so we got another bird for our list.
Tuesday, August 29, 2000
Cimarron, CO - Aug 29
We had a wonderful time in Buena Vista. Our incredible "timing" caused our visit to coincide with several enjoyable events. The first was a quilt show in Salida (about 25 miles south of BV). We enjoyed the show and enjoyed just looking around at the historic part of the town. We also found quilt shops in both BV and Salida. We managed to only look at both places.We took a scenic drive to Vicksburg and Winfield, two mining ghost towns between BV and Leadville. It is amazing how active these parts of CO were so many years ago. Some of them are so remote. There are historic restorations of cabins and buildings at both sites which were interesting to see. Also, coincidentally, on the day we visited, the parking area at Winfield was taken over by the Leadville 100. This is a 100-mile foot race along the Colorado Trail. The runners had started at 4 am, and we got to see the leaders pass through between 12 and 1 pm. There were 500 runners entered. They had friends at Winfield (the halfway point) to cheer them on. Some people called "pacers" were planning to run back the 50 miles with their friends. I guess they were to "wimpy" to run the whole 100 miles!!
We hiked several places near BV also. One day we drove up to Cottonwood Pass, which is over 12000 feet, and hiked near the Continental Divide for a while, enjoying the breathtaking views. We also hiked to a waterfall near Mt Princeton. This was supposed to be a 1/2 mile hike, but it took 1 1/2 hours round trip. Hmm. Are we that wimpy?
We have seen a few more interesting birds. In BV we saw Pine Siskin, Black-Headed Grossbeak, Stellar's Jay, Pinyon Jay, Gray Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Black-Billed Magpie. Near here at the Curecanti NRA we saw Yellow Warbler and Black-Capped Chickadee. Plus various unidentified flycatchers (the bane of birdwatchers -- according to one of our bird books!).
We have spent a lot of time at the Curecanti NRA. We took a boat tour on Morrow Point Lake one afternoon. This also involved a 1-mile hike along a beautiful trail to get to the boat dock. It was really the dammed up Gunnison River so it was quite spectacular. We also viewed the Morrow Dam and the Blue Mesa Dam and hiked several other trails in the area. The longest trail we did was a four-mile hike from the rim to the bottom of the canyon and back up. There were waterfalls along the way, and it was a beautiful hike. The National Rec Area goes most of the way from Gunnison to Cimarron, with pullouts and visitor centers and hiking trails along the way. We have enjoyed talking with the rangers at the various programs.
Tomorrow we move to a campground in Montrose. We will be a little closer to the Black Canyon there, so we plan to spend several days hiking in that park.
The cats seem to have settled down and accepted this lifestyle. There are still some disagreements over who has dominance, but they usually seem quite content.
Thursday, August 17, 2000
On the road again - Aug 17
We knew we were back in Boulder when the first three restaurants were Ethiopian, Thai, and Nepalese. It was fun seeing our friends, but the longer we stayed the itchier our feet got. So with very little fanfare, on Friday, Aug 11, we pulled out of Boulder heading west.The cats were rather upset, as they thought we had given up the wandering life. They soon discovered that we would eventually stop and return them to their "home", so the second leg was more peaceful.
Our first stop was Cold Springs campground in the Arapahoe Natl Forest. The Rocky Mtn HiLo Club was meeting there. We had a HiLo trailer for a year and joined the club -- we found them to be so friendly that we kept our membership afterwards, as "alumni" (members who no longer own a HiLo). On Saturday we had a group potluck in Russell Gulch, above Central City. One of the club members grew up there, and still owns a cabin on a nice-sized lot. What was most amazing was to see pictures from a hundred years ago -- the community looked similar, but there were no trees, even on the hills.
There was enough vegetarian fare that we could stuff ourselves. Then we all went for a tour of local ghost towns. Many of the ghost towns in CO are experiencing a resurgence in population, since so many people are moving here, and they need somewhere to live, and it's easier to build where somewhere has already built before. Consequently, we are losing many of our ghost towns.
Sunday we attended another potluck -- this one given by Karen & Eugene, a couple that we met during our recent stay in Boulder through our good friends Mark & Susan. The food and company were all terrific, but it was difficult saying good-bye one last time.
Monday we took a couple of nice hikes, getting our mountain legs back (Cold Springs CG is above 9000 ft), and watched the hummingbirds use our new window feeder. The cats love it!
Tuesday was moving day -- we left uncharacteristically early, for us (8:20) in order to try to attend a Escapee luncheon in Buena Vista (and yes, it really is pronounced "Byoona Vista" in CO). Getting there was half the fun -- we had to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel (elev 11000') and back down to Keystone (9000'), then over Fremont Pass (11300'), before gradually descending to Buena Vista (8000'), in plenty of time to set up and attend the lunch. The lunch was delicious and we got a tip on how to fix a problem with our trailer, so it was doubly worth the price.
We are now enjoying the sights in the Buena Vista area. Willie lived here for about 5 months in 1973, but a lot has changed since then. It has become a popular tourist and retirement destination. The scenery is still beautiful, and there are a lot of new parks around. We have a gorgeous view of Mt. Princeton (one of the most beautiful 14ers) right from our trailer.
Monday, June 19, 2000
Lafayette, CO - June 19
Since we wrote last, we have mainly pushed our way across the plains to Colorado. We did stay the extra day at Natural Falls SP and went on a gorgeous canoe trip for a half day on the scenic Illinois River. This is the premier scenic river of Eastern Oklahoma, and it really was lovely. We had some quick lessons in canoeing techniques and were able to maneuver our way along quite well, despite the fact that the river was WAY overused, and the majority of people were intoxicated.
Our next stop was Bartlesville, OK, near the northern border. It is a small town of just under 50,000 people, but it really has a lot to offer -- a symphony, ballet, choral group, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed office tower, and many interesting looking tourist attractions. By chance we were there for their annual OK Mozart Festival, a 10-day celebration of not only music, but a wide variety of entertainment, including trick yo-yo champions, quilts, and other arts and crafts. We were able to attend a chamber concert that evening but missed a lot of good entertainment -- including a lecture by Beverly Sills and a performance by Itzak Perlman. This is no small-town occasion!
Next we went to Great Salt Plains SP near Jet, OK, where we only spent one night. The major attraction here was digging for selenite crystals on the salt plains. These crystals were a special type that could be found nowhere else in the world. Due to 90+ heat and not knowing what we would do with them if we found them, we decided to pass on digging.
We then went north to Coldwater Lake near Coldwater, KS. This was a municipal park which boasted over 100 sites around the lake, but in truth over 90 of them were taken permanently by local residents and only a few were available for travelers. We spent an extra night here and looked around the town and local area. The first night was a little anxious as they had severe storms and there was some fear of tornados. Further north found us at Cedar Bluff SP near Ogallah, KS, just south of I70 between Hays and WaKeeney. Kansas, too, is doing right by their state parks. They had built a whole new loop suitable for large RVs and were in the process of upgrading even more. There were beautiful 150-foot high limestone bluffs topped with cedars that were quite lovely. We managed to drive to view them during a brief respite from the 40-50 mph winds that were buffeting the trailer.
We saw a couple of new interesting birds at these prairie places -- Northern Shrike, Common Nighthawk and Purple Finch. We also saw a lot of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers along the drive.
From there it was just head west on I70 to Lafayette with a one-night stop at Marshall Ash RV Park & Conoco at Stratton, CO -- a very nice place as such places go.
Our next stop was Bartlesville, OK, near the northern border. It is a small town of just under 50,000 people, but it really has a lot to offer -- a symphony, ballet, choral group, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed office tower, and many interesting looking tourist attractions. By chance we were there for their annual OK Mozart Festival, a 10-day celebration of not only music, but a wide variety of entertainment, including trick yo-yo champions, quilts, and other arts and crafts. We were able to attend a chamber concert that evening but missed a lot of good entertainment -- including a lecture by Beverly Sills and a performance by Itzak Perlman. This is no small-town occasion!
Next we went to Great Salt Plains SP near Jet, OK, where we only spent one night. The major attraction here was digging for selenite crystals on the salt plains. These crystals were a special type that could be found nowhere else in the world. Due to 90+ heat and not knowing what we would do with them if we found them, we decided to pass on digging.
We then went north to Coldwater Lake near Coldwater, KS. This was a municipal park which boasted over 100 sites around the lake, but in truth over 90 of them were taken permanently by local residents and only a few were available for travelers. We spent an extra night here and looked around the town and local area. The first night was a little anxious as they had severe storms and there was some fear of tornados. Further north found us at Cedar Bluff SP near Ogallah, KS, just south of I70 between Hays and WaKeeney. Kansas, too, is doing right by their state parks. They had built a whole new loop suitable for large RVs and were in the process of upgrading even more. There were beautiful 150-foot high limestone bluffs topped with cedars that were quite lovely. We managed to drive to view them during a brief respite from the 40-50 mph winds that were buffeting the trailer.
We saw a couple of new interesting birds at these prairie places -- Northern Shrike, Common Nighthawk and Purple Finch. We also saw a lot of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers along the drive.
From there it was just head west on I70 to Lafayette with a one-night stop at Marshall Ash RV Park & Conoco at Stratton, CO -- a very nice place as such places go.
Friday, June 09, 2000
Natural Falls State Park - June 9
We're at another lovely state park -- Natural Falls SP, just about 6 miles west of the OK/AR border along route 412. We have walked to the falls and they are lovely. It is a beautiful park with wide, level, shaded sites that have water & electric hookups. We arrived just in time to get the last available site. Sometimes our luck amazes us! We have been "adopted" by a friendly group of Good Samers -- the Redbud chapter from Oklahoma City -- and have been invited over for games last night and a pot luck & more games tonight. If we want to extend our stay an extra day, there are even more tempting adventures for tomorrow. We will probably continue on our original schedule so we can arrive in CO around 6/20.After Ferne Clyffe State Park, which we found more beautiful as we further explored the hiking trails, we spend one night in Poplar Bluff, MO. We continued on to Hardy, AR, where we spend two nights camped near Spring Creek (the "creeks" out here are rivers by our standards). There was an antique car show right down the road from the campground, so we got to see all the old cars driving past and then later we attended the show. Most of the cars were 50s or 60s vintage, though there were some older; there was also a Corvette contingent with "antiques" from the 80s to mid-90s. It was fun to see the old cars.
We also walked around historic Hardy and visited some shops. Willie succumbed to temptation at the local cross stitch shop. We drove to a nearby state park, Mammoth Spring SP, which is home to the tenth largest spring in the world (over 9 million gallons per hour, on average). It was amazing to see all that water being produced. Due to all the agricultural usage of chemicals, the water was not clean, even though it looked beautiful. We saw several families of Wood Duck on the lake there.
Next we headed for Turkey Creek RV Park, an Escapee park in Hollister, MO, just south of Branson, for four nights. We checked out Branson but did not go to any shows -- they were too expensive for our budget and interests. We did do a "Ride the Ducks" tour of Branson and the nearby lake. These tours are done on converted military DUKW's, an amphibious military craft that was used in WWII. That was quite silly & fun. Our other indulgence was to tour some caverns in West Branson. They were quite lovely. Some RVers from Australia recommended that we check out the opulent bathrooms at the Shoji Tabuchi Theater, so we nonchalantly strolled in and checked them out. Quite amazing! The men's even has a pool table. The women's has hallways of stalls with tall, carved oak doors. Gold fixtures and flower arrangements are everywhere. Branson is very spread out, so you can't just park and walk around. You are forced to drive everywhere and sit in traffic jams. That's good when you are sightseeing and want to look around anyway, but it would be horrible to live there and have to do errands that way. Other activities we did were a winery tour & tasting (free), visit Table Rock Dam visitor center & nature trail (free) and try out a 2.99 breakfast buffet (good value).
Tuesday, May 30, 2000
Ferne Clyffe State Park - May 30
We are currently at a lovely state park in the southern tip of IL. It has an abundance of ferns and rock formations, hence the name. It was named in 1899 and they kept the Old English spelling. There are lots of birds and hiking trails, so we will enjoy a couple of days here. Then we plan to head slowly back to CO, passing through MO, AR, OK and KS on the way.We spent the previous nine days near Paducah, KY. The first three nights we stayed at Canal campground, a beautiful Army Corps of Engrs campground on the northern shore of Lake Barkley. The TVA first dammed up the Tennessee river to form Kentucky Lake. Then, about 20 years later, they dammed up the Cumberland River forming Barkley Lake. The land between the two lakes is now a National Recreation Area managed by the NPS (taken over from TVA just this year) and is called Land Between the Lakes. Canal CG is just 3 miles north of the northern border of LBL. We had a beautiful site on the shore of a small inlet of the lake -- it was sort of like our own private lake.
We watched barges go through the locks of Kentucky Dam two separate days. The whole process is quite fascinating and you can see why the engineers love these projects! The first time we got to see how they completely fill up the lock with nine barges attached together. Then they have to lock the tugboat through afterward. The second day we saw a group of 15 barges get locked through in two groups. They used a little tow device attached to the side of the lock to tow the first nine out because the tug was still back with the last six.
Due to the park having reservations and being full for the Memorial Day weekend, we could only stay three nights. We then moved to a lovely spot on our friend Daisy Holt's land. This worked out well in many ways but especially since it made it much easier to visit and sightsee together. The only down side was limited electric power, so we could only run the most basic things -- no toaster, microwave or a/c. We visited three state parks, Kentucky Dam Village, Barkley Dam and Pennyrile, and enjoyed seeing each of them. We ate very good meals in their lodges. We also visited the Homeplace 1850, a restored farm from 1850, located in the southern part of Land Between the Lakes. It had farm animals, all the appropriate farm buildings, and interpretive staff in period clothing to show how things were done and answer questions. We even got to taste samples of baking done "the old-fashioned way".
Another day we visited Paducah and went to the National Quilt Museum. This is the museum of the American Quilting Society and has award-winning quilts from many of the annual quilt shows. It also had several exhibits that were quite interesting and a gift shop that had more quilting books than you could ever imagine. We wore ourselves out by looking around so much. We also walked on a short nature trail at a city park and looked at the flood walls along the Ohio River, built after the three devastating floods this century. The Tennessee river joins with the Ohio just before the center of Paducah. The flood walls are large concrete walls with gates that can be closed when floods threaten. Very interesting murals have been painted on them that depict scenes from the history of Paducah. In case you're wondering, Paducah was name for either an Indian Chief or tribe, depending on which story you believe.
Nothing too exciting in the birdwatching area. We have seen some new birds for us, but nothing unusual -- American Goldfinch, Eastern Phoebe, Carolina Chickadee, Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher and a cute pair of Eastern Bluebirds feeding their young.
Saturday, May 20, 2000
Dickson, TN - May 20
We are currently at a small private park right next to I-40 about 40 miles west of Nashville. We are not doing any "country music" stuff but are just catching up on laundry & cleaning for two days.
After Tupelo, our next stop along the Natchez Trace was at Tishomingo State Park (named for the last war chief of the Chikasaws) in NE MS. This was a lovely, quiet park right along the Trace and we had a lovely campsite on the shores of Haynes Lake. We did some hiking in the park along limestone edged canyons -- magnificent formations with fallen boulders. We enjoyed seeing if we could see where they fell from, like a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle. We also drove on the Trace and did all the stops and nature trails nearby. Our favorite was one to Rock Spring which we liked so well we hiked it twice! We hiked along one short trail that led to the gravesites of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers. It was sort of eerie.
We also enjoyed just relaxing by the lake and watching the wildlife -- including a snake swimming by! Was it a moccasin? We tried not to think about that! Lest you think we always get the "perfect" site, this one had two major drawbacks -- a very bright security light and a park generator that ran from time to time -- luckily not often at night. We had the normal water & electric hookups here.
Then we headed for Meriwether Lewis CG, one of the three Natchez Trace campgrounds which have no hookups and no fees. We liked it there well enough that we decided to stay four nights. We went south on the Trace one day, north the next, and hiked around the campground for the third. The stops along the trace were lovely with several trails leading to small waterfalls. We also did several drives and hikes along the "old trace" since the road does not always follow the exact path -- in fact it rarely actually follows the original trace. The Meriwether Lewis gravesite was located near the campground, and we read all the literature about his mysterious death. Briefly, there were two gunshots heard in the night, which were not investigated until morning. He was found with two bullet wounds, muttering something about "doing the deed", so suicide seems most likely. He was an amazing and energetic man who did a lot in his 35 short years.
With each passing day the heat and humidity increased, as did the number of ticks we discovered, mostly attached to Willie. By the time we left, we were really glad to be heading for "civilization" and air conditioning, TV, unlimited water and a laundry. Coincidentally, we arrived just in time for a cool front to pass through, so we are enjoying that too.
We saw the northern part of the Natchez Trace about as thoroughly as can be done without actually hiking it, and we recommend it highly for a car trip or bicycle trip. It is quite relaxing to travel at 50 mph and never have to stop. We are looking forward to exploring the southern part in the near future. Tomorrow we will head for Kentucky, where we will stay until the day after Memorial day. We will sightsee and visit with our friend Daisy Holt who lives in Princeton, KY.
After Tupelo, our next stop along the Natchez Trace was at Tishomingo State Park (named for the last war chief of the Chikasaws) in NE MS. This was a lovely, quiet park right along the Trace and we had a lovely campsite on the shores of Haynes Lake. We did some hiking in the park along limestone edged canyons -- magnificent formations with fallen boulders. We enjoyed seeing if we could see where they fell from, like a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle. We also drove on the Trace and did all the stops and nature trails nearby. Our favorite was one to Rock Spring which we liked so well we hiked it twice! We hiked along one short trail that led to the gravesites of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers. It was sort of eerie.
We also enjoyed just relaxing by the lake and watching the wildlife -- including a snake swimming by! Was it a moccasin? We tried not to think about that! Lest you think we always get the "perfect" site, this one had two major drawbacks -- a very bright security light and a park generator that ran from time to time -- luckily not often at night. We had the normal water & electric hookups here.
Then we headed for Meriwether Lewis CG, one of the three Natchez Trace campgrounds which have no hookups and no fees. We liked it there well enough that we decided to stay four nights. We went south on the Trace one day, north the next, and hiked around the campground for the third. The stops along the trace were lovely with several trails leading to small waterfalls. We also did several drives and hikes along the "old trace" since the road does not always follow the exact path -- in fact it rarely actually follows the original trace. The Meriwether Lewis gravesite was located near the campground, and we read all the literature about his mysterious death. Briefly, there were two gunshots heard in the night, which were not investigated until morning. He was found with two bullet wounds, muttering something about "doing the deed", so suicide seems most likely. He was an amazing and energetic man who did a lot in his 35 short years.
With each passing day the heat and humidity increased, as did the number of ticks we discovered, mostly attached to Willie. By the time we left, we were really glad to be heading for "civilization" and air conditioning, TV, unlimited water and a laundry. Coincidentally, we arrived just in time for a cool front to pass through, so we are enjoying that too.
We saw the northern part of the Natchez Trace about as thoroughly as can be done without actually hiking it, and we recommend it highly for a car trip or bicycle trip. It is quite relaxing to travel at 50 mph and never have to stop. We are looking forward to exploring the southern part in the near future. Tomorrow we will head for Kentucky, where we will stay until the day after Memorial day. We will sightsee and visit with our friend Daisy Holt who lives in Princeton, KY.
Tuesday, May 09, 2000
Tupelo, MS -- May 9
We left Rainbow Plantation on Sunday, 4/30, and headed for Paul B. Johnson State Park, 8 miles south of Hattiesburg, MS. We got a lovely camping site on the lake, with lake surrounding us on two sides in a quiet area filled with tall trees. We immediately started seeing new birds -- most notable were the Red-Headed Woodpecker, Brown-Headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Eastern Bluebird and Orchard Oriole.On Tuesday, May 2, we headed for Philadelphia, MS, a small town with a large gambling casino, that was the closest place with available campsites to Noxapater, where Willie's parents live. We had planned to stay for a week, but the campground wasn't great (okay was the best it got -- and half price because of a club we belong to) and it was a little too far from Noxapater. So, with the promise of a nice spot on a lake in Louisville, MS, we headed there on Saturday, May 6. Alas, the former occupants had decided not to leave, so we got to camp in an overflow spot next to the tennis courts. The bad news was that it had only electric and lots of security lights. The good news was that it was FREE! Our comfort level was much enhanced by the acquisition of black-out material from Willie's cousin, Ann Covington, just two days before, so we were able to sleep in darkness.
We visited Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, May 4, and met our full-time friends, Fred & Linda for a few hours of birding. It was fun to see them again, and quite unexpected -- one of the advantages of having email. We also saw some new birds -- Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanager and Prothonotary Warblers. We had hoped to see the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, but it had eluded us. Sunday morning we made a quick trip back to the refuge and were rewarded with a sighting of this adorable bird. It was one of the most memorable sightings of our trip.
We had a wonderful visit with Willie's parents and also visited with several other friends and relatives. On Sunday afternoon we drove to the Jeff Busby campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway and visited again with Fred & Linda. We also checked out the campground for future needs.
Today (Tuesday 5/9), we headed north on the Natchez Trace and stopped at a campground just south of Tupelo, MS. Unfortunately, we won't see Fred & Linda along the way, since they had to return to Georgia due to a family illness. We saw lots of interesting sights along the Trace, including several Indian mounds dating back 1000 to 2000 years. There are also some of these very old Indian mounds near Noxapater, at a site called Nanih Waiya, which we visited last week.
We have to comment on the amazing change in Amber as a traveling cat. She used to be the one who always got carsick -- usually at the beginning of each trip and then she just meowed the rest of the way. Now she meows when we are getting ready to go -- then she curls up and goes soundly to sleep, completely ignoring the other cats' meowing, only waking up when we stop. Now if only she would train the others!
As we slowly head north to Kentucky, we can only hope that the weather gets a little cooler. It has started being in the 90's with humidity in the 80's -- but we know it could get worse.
Saturday, April 29, 2000
Rainbow Plantation - Apr 29
We left Davis Bayou on Saturday, 4/15, and traveled 90 miles to the Rainbow Plantation, an Escapee Park in Summerdale, AL, about 20 miles north of Gulf Shores. It is a beautiful park, with low rent, friendly people, many amenities and large spaces. Since we were only staying for two nights, we decided to "boondock", which means that you camp with no hookups. This was our first time at this, and it was a good test of our solar panels and 6-volt batteries. We were impressed with their performance. So much so, in fact, that we've disconnected our converter (a device that charges your battery whenever you're connected to electricity) and are letting the sun do all our battery charging. That way, when we are plugged into electricity, we can run those special AC things like ceiling fan, cd player, microwave, air conditioner, automatic litter boxes, etc, and when we're not it's just like "camping"! We had a good time at the Plantation, and played Mexican Train (a complicated domino game) one evening. We did not wow anyone with our skill!While we were here, we visited the Weeks Bay Estuary. There are several wonderful nature trails in this park, but the highlight was the Pitcher Plant Bog. The bog is a rare habitat which is rapidly diminishing throughout our country. There are many species of plants and animals that are only found here. The Pitcher Plants are carnivorous plants that feed mostly on insects. In the spring, they have showy blooms to attract insects for pollination. Several species of wile orchid grow here, but they were not blooming.
Monday, 4/17, we traveled down to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores where we, once again, got one of the best sites in the park, a nice, long secluded pull-through. The park was located about 5 minutes from the motel where Willie's parents would stay for five days, so it worked out well. They arrived on Tuesday and stayed until Sunday, so we all had a nice visit and ate lots of wonderful seafood. Saturday night we bought and cooked a wonderful batch of shrimp, and a fine feast was had by all. Our main activities were visiting the Riviera discount mall, walking and reading on the beach, and eating good food.
Sunday, 4/24, we again traveled the 20 miles back up to Rainbow Plantation, where we plan to stay until Sunday. Most of the people who stay here on a regular basis have left for the summer, so it's not as hopping as it is in the winter. We have still gotten to play some games and go to some group activities, so it has been fun to get to know more people. Willie even won a game of Mexican Train, so maybe we are getting the hang of it.
While here, we went back to Gulf Shores for a few hours at the beach and a hike in a wildlife refuge. Only saw one new bird this time -- a Magnolia Warbler. It's just so hard to pin down those warblers! We have heard all kinds of rumors about birds we haven't seen -- but we'll keep looking! We also drove over to Fairhope, a lovely community on Mobile Bay that is a favorite retirement spot for many. It has some nice shops. One was a quilting shop, and Doug got a small project so he could try his hand at quilting.
Today we drove to Fairhope again to get some ground coffee. We also went to the pier and watched the Dauphin Island Regatta boats sailing through Mobile bay. It is the longest point-to-point sailboat race in the Northern hemisphere, and it was lovely to see all the boats sailing along. We also saw a Downy Woodpecker, a Great Crested Flycatcher, and a pair of Great Horned Owls. We continued on to Weeks Bay Reserve and hiked on several trails and saw a Pileated Woodpecker and a Carolina Chickadee. Although the Pileated Woodpeckers are no longer endangered, it is still quite exciting to see them. We also revisited the Pitcher Plant Bog, and it had changed a lot in two weeks. The pitcher plants were larger and had lots of blooms, and lots of the other wildflowers, including several species of orchid, were blooming.
The weather has been quite pleasant -- often cool nights and warm days. Occasionally the humidity gets too high for us and the cats to handle, but luckily, it hasn't been as bad as it could be. Nothing new with the cats. They like it here very much -- for some reason they feel more secure some places than others. Of course, Rainbow thinks this park is HER Plantation, so she is especially partial to it. They have settled down to traveling pretty well, and don't complain much after the first hour or so!! We just tune it out. All in all, they are quite good travelers. They keep shedding like mad but then growing it back as fast as we can brush it out.
Thursday, April 13, 2000
Davis Bayou - Apr 13
Sorry to leave you hanging after our last tripnews -- this is not supposed to be soap opera. We did get our mail -- the day we were to leave Sam Houston Jones. The PO gave us their number so we could call, and it finally showed up -- sopping wet. We have no idea what happened, except that everything inside the envelope was damp -- no, more than damp, WET. That probably explains why it took so long to appear -- they must have had to hang it out to dry. Who knows where in the system it occurred, or what else was drenched.After Sam Houston Jones SP (near Lake Charles), we spent two nights at a KOA in Baton Rouge to catch up on practical things -- like taxes & laundry. It had so many security lights we could almost read by them!
Anyway, we're currently at Davis Bayou in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, near Ocean Springs, MS. We lucked out again and got the most desirable site (at least by our standards) in the CG -- set in the trees and fairly isolated -- it feels so much like "real" camping that we want to build a campfire every evening, only we're not really campfire people -- we enjoy it more if it's someone else's and we can sit by it or a few minutes, then go somewhere else -- away from the smoke & responsibility.
Everything in the park is so green, and the trees all have Spanish moss hanging from them. Much of the park is estuaries where fresh and salt water mix. Swamps have gotten a bad rap over the years -- all the simulation computer games require you to drain swamps before they're useful, and in the card game "Magic" swamps are the source of evil power and death. What we are gradually learning, however, is that swamps are a source of life, so much so that the world would have a hard time existing without them. They're now referred to as wetlands, and efforts are on to save as much of them as possible. Even so, they are gradually disappearing worldwide. Everyone thinks it's okay to just clear this little one.
We hiked the nature trail -- it's a little over 1/2 mile, with an elevation change of only 10 or 15 feet, which isn't much, but the vegetation change in that little bit is remarkable, from cyprus to conifers. The birds all heard we were coming so they hid. However, we still have managed to see least terns (finally!), two red-bellied woodpeckers (inappropriately named, since the red is mostly on the back of it's head!), and a barred owl, which left its roost in early dusk and we saw it mainly due to the scolding of nearby birds. We have seen a few spring warblers, but they hide before we can zero in on field marks.
Davis Bayou is appropriately in the Gulf Islands Nat'l Seashore, since it is truly an island of wilderness surrounded by homes, stripmalls, and casinos. We knew that gambling was legal in Biloxi, but were expecting casinos similar to Blackhawk/Central City. They are actually high-rise buildings like Las Vegas, drawing big name stars and acts. Cirque de Soleil has a continuous performance of Alegria here. Of course, not all is casinos -- our stay is coincident with the 53rd Annual Spring Pilgrimage, a tour of local homes, gardens, and historic places, which we are gladly joining in on. Many of them date to before the Civil War, and all are survivors of Hurricane Camille, which devastated the area in 1969. As one example, we visited St. Michael's Catholic Church, known as the Fisherman's Church for it's 40-foot high stained glass windows showing fish, water, and nets, commemorating the area's former chief occupation. Two priests were caught in the church when Camille hit, and they climbed up two statues on the alter an hung on for over 24 hours as 8-foot deep seawater swirled below them, ripping out the pews and damaging lower segments of the stained glass.
This spring pilgrimage gave us the opportunity to tour Beauvoir, the final home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the site of his library. It was quite lovely and interesting. We also went to a quilt show, which was WONDERFUL, and left us both inspired to do quilting! It was partly a show of items done by the women in a local quilting group and partly a traveling show of quilts representing manhole covers from different cities in Japan and a friendship quilt done by the same women while they were in Japan with military husbands. Towns in Japan have unique designs for their manhole covers, which are quite artistic.
Our cats continue to be endless source of entertainment, desirable or otherwise. When we first got to the warmer climate, the cats were shedding and having constant trouble with hairballs. Part of their regular diet is now Hairball Control food, plus the longer-haired ones get hairball medicine daily. Everything seemed to be under control until this week, when Gracie began gagging and barfing two or three times a day. What's worse, she would always be sitting on the bed, or on the computer, someplace where you would not want her to barf. So then we'd jump up and try to get her to move, so she'd race around the trailer, barfing as she went (fortunately not very much). And of course she associated our reaction with the barfing, not with where she happened to be, so the next time she'd be even more nervous, so even if she were somewhere OK, if we'd so much as look at her she would race around again. She seems to be OK now, having gotten rid of whatever the problem was, one way or the other.Saturday, April 08, 2000
Molly - Apr 8
Thank you all for you very kind thoughts and words regarding our Molly. Unfortunately, Molly B. Denim Haynes Madison Baskin died of old age on Thursday, the 6th of April -- Penny kissed her and told her to go towards the light, and she was gone. Molly joins her snuggle-mate Sunshine, who died seven years ago at the age of 14. Our sincerest thanks go to Penny, who provided a loving, caring environment for Molly in her last few months, and quickly bonded with her, accepting all of her geriatric eccentricities as if Molly had been hers all her life. I only hope we can all exit this world with such compassion and dignity. 