Year 4

We arrived back in time for Christmas this year.  We were welcomed with above average temperatures ranging from 73 - 80 every day.  And next week will still be in the 70s.  Such a great time to leave Oregon.

It's taken a full week to get reacclimated, unpacked, organized, and just getting into the swing of things here.

When Gillian visited we took a few nature walks and were rewarded with some good animal sightings - must be due to the warm weather.

Here are three of four coyotes on the hunt at dusk one evening.

One of a pair of Great Horned Owls that nest near our house.

This owl is a little tricky to see.

This is the palm tree where they have their nest, somewhere.

One of my favorite desert animals, the Jackrabbit.  We were pretty close to this one and he was huge! My goal is to get even better photos this season.

Journey home

Driving home took us through Utah and a small amount of Idaho.  We first visited Zion National Park at the bottom of Utah and did a bit of hiking there.  We only spent the morning and that was enough because it was getting crowded.  Very similar to Yellowstone and Yosemite in that the park is so busy that there is a pretty good shuttle system to get you around since parking is horrendous.  But we lucked out a bit.  It's beautiful there even if we didn't see any animals.

Then as we headed north, Dave wanted to walk around the campus of BYU which is in Provo.  It's a beautiful school in that it is nestled in among huge snow covered mountains.  Lots of stairs.  But very clean.  Dave loved the Athletic building with its "museum" of awards.

The Utah state capitol was the fanciest we've seen and we've been to 11/50 now.  It's also at the north end of Salt Lake City, high on a hill overlooking the town.  Very impressive.  Utah is the Beehive state and there were beehive impressions everywhere.

Our timing was just right and we were able to sit in on a rehearsal of an organist playing pieces in the Mormon Tabernacle.    No choir, but a very fancy pipe organ.

Here we are in the Idaho state capitol in Boise.  One of the least interesting we've seen.  But it is the Gem State.

Bloomin'

It's so fun to see all these blooms this time of year.  Everyone is walking around and taking photos of these beauties in neighbors' yards.  The fact that these prickly cacti can produce such bright, huge blooms is really amazing.  Unfortunately, the blooms are very short lived.  I think they only bloom one or two days, then the petals are just limp and wilted.

These Hedgehog cactus are very little, but have many flowers.  I also see this in all shades of pink and orange.

Puzzle Library

Every day I learn new things about life in AZ.  Yesterday I found out that there an a "lending library" of jigsaw puzzles at one of the clubhouses!  There were easily over 200 puzzles in this armor.  I'd have never known there were puzzles in this piece of furniture if my friend didn't tell me.  Now I am set for the next many seasons with puzzles to borrow.

Last Hike of the Season

And this was the best hike ever!  We drove an hours northeast of Saddlebrooke to a canyon called Aravaipa.  This slot canyon only allows 30 permits per day.  We were with five others from the hiking group.  Besides walking in a gorgeous slot canyon, we are walking in a river about 50% of the hike (total of 6 miles).

This is us walking in the river.  We all wore old shoes that we knew would be totally wet.  Surprisingly, the water was not too cold.  As the afternoon heat kicked in the water felt wonderful.  Much better than walking on the trails alongside the river.

The big excitement on this hike was seeing a rattlesnake! Luckily our hike leader spotted it first and we all watched (from a safe distance) as the snake moved along into some brush.

Tuesday morning was a really rainy mess.  Luckily we had jackets and hats.  We drove about one hour to Bandelier National Monument.

Once we got there the rain stopped!  And we were the only people there, besides the Visitor Center Rangers.  It's weird, but great, to be the ONLY people at a national monument.

Dave is looking into one of the indian homes, set inside these very interesting rock walls.  This place was very similar to Mesa Verde in Colorado.

A view looking into the canyon.  Always more spectacular in person.

I am checking out a different home on an even taller Kiva ladder.

The famous Camel Rock picture taking spot.

This National Monument is called Tent Rocks.  It was an easy, sandy, flat 1 mile hike to explore these unusual land formations.  Also, only about two other people there.

Before heading to the airport for our return home we stopped in Albuquerque to see what there is to see.  There also was a Plaza, like in Santa Fe.  But this one was really just full of a bunch of cheap gift shops and not too much historical significance.  We learned that New Mexico is #1 for drug overdose deaths and #49 for education.  Neither of those facts made me want to live here.  Visit certain cities, yes.  Reside, no.

The best part of ABQ!  I stopped into a candy shop that had a lot of Breading Bad signage outside the door.  Lots of Breaking Bad themed items inside.  Then when I peaked into the back room to see the "meth", the owner told me to put on this gear and she'd take my photo.  Well, she took about 15 photos, but it was really fun.  And then we drove to the airport after circumventing miles of road construction and a car accident, we made it.  

Santa Fe and Los Alamos

We started the morning driving into the area called The Plaza of Santa Fe.  This is where most of the historic and government buildings (and high end shopping) are located.

The capitol building is filled with hundreds of pieces of artwork.  We loved this collage made buffalo.  So this is our "proof" photo of being at this state capitol.  Our number 8/50 of the capitols.

The oldest church in the USA.

The oldest home in the USA, from 1610.

The miracle staircase from the Loretto Chapel.  The railings were added about 100 years ago, but before that addition the engineering of this stairway always seemed a miracle.  Plus a miracle that you wouldn't fall off.

Outside of the Modern Art Museum.  Most of the buildings in the Plaza area look somewhat like this.

Near the Railyard there was this trompe l'oeil mural.  One of the best I've seen.

Finally wandered down Canyon Road.  This is the one mile street that is all art galleries.  Expensive art galleries.  Lots of statues and bronze items.  I liked this fellow.  I think it was titled "Thinking".

Always love statues with readers.

Just some giant bears.

Not all the homes look like this.  Just the people who like the style of the town.

We drove about 40 minutes north to Los Alamos.  This town has a fascinating history from the 1940s.   Basically this town didn't exist until the government chose it as the location to build the Atomic Bomb.  We visited the Norris Bradbury Science Museum and learned all about the bomb.  We also toured around historic buildings and got a real feel for the town.  Dave is standing with statues of Oppenheimer and Grove, credited with the development of the bomb.

Onto New Mexico!

We took a 46 minute flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque, got our rental car, then drove 2 1/2 hours north to Taos.  This is a beautiful town that is quite an artist community, has a lot of interesting history, and really keeps with the Pueblo/New Mexico style.

These shops would look a lot nicer without the cars in front.

The courtyard of Kit Carson's home!  He was an American frontiersman who would have lived in this home in the mid 1800's with his hispanic wife, who was 14 when they married.

Just another building.

Then we headset out of Taos for a 25 minute drive to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  I was nervous about driving across it since I don't like bridges.  But it didn't look like a bridge when driving across, so there was no problem.  It's 565' to the bottom of the gorge.  There were also Big Horned Sheep along the cliffs, overlooking the river.  And beautiful sky.

The Rio Grande, from the bridge.

A Little Exploring in Paradise Valley, AZ

Before we headed to New Mexico we spent the day with my sister in the Phoenix area.  We came upon a beautiful little memorial/park honoring Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona.

This was a very unusual plant, one that we've never seen in Tucson

One of my favorite desert plants because the stalk and blooms look so much like a plant from a Dr. Seuss book!

The man, himself.

Desert Color

The blooming plants are going crazy.  Since we are staying an extra ten days this year we are hoping to see even more things in bloom before we head home.  Here are a few samples of what's happening now.

I love this cluster.  It's a Hedgehog cactus.

Hot pink flower on a Prickly Pear.

Not sure what this is, but I don't think it's Brittle Bush.

Another Hedgehog.  I think this may be the Strawberry variety.