Lynn & Jon Glase

Wondering Naturalists

Lynn & Jon Glase

Jon and Lynn are two sixty-something, retired, PhD ecologists seeking the wisdom from the natural world that can only come from first-hand experience with things and events. Our current arrangement is to keep a house as a home-base near Ithaca New York, where we have lived for the past 35+ years, spend summers in our trailer around New England (where Lynn's extended family resides), return to Ithaca for the fall and early winter, and depart for warmer climes after the Christmas-New Years holidays. We travel with Moxie, a Bichon Frise, in an 28 ft. Airstream trailer pulled by a Ford F-250 diesel truck. The truck's "carbon footprint" has been balanced through purchase of carbon offsets from Terrapass. Our enthusiasm for the environment, birding, kayaking, and local cuisines will doubtless be revealed in our narratives, which we hope to post every several weeks during trips with as many photos as seem interesting. We are not yet full-time RV'ers, but headed in that direction, pending our continued good health, location of our two sons, and any impending grandchildren (!).

Traveling with Friends to El Cielo

North America » Mexico » Tamaulipas » Gomez Farias » El Cielo March 24th 2010

Back in Arizona

Wondering Naturalists

This travelblog covers a lot of distance and time. After leaving our son Nick and the Salton Sea in southern California we headed back to Tucson and the Sonoran Desert. After re-provisioning and some vehicle maintenance in Tucson, we headed south some 40 miles to Patagonia Lake State Park, one of our favorite Arizona State Parks. The plan was to meet Peter and Trudy Brussard and their two dogs, Modoc and Katie, who would be arriving after a quick trip south from their home in Reno, NV. Peter and Trudy travel in a 17 foot Big Foot trailer pulled by a diesel GMC truck. The plan was to travel down the Rio Grande Valley to Brownsville, TX while spending some time at three state parks that Lynn and Jon had really enjoyed in the previous winter. ... read more

Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, Salton Sea

North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree March 7th 2010

Photo 01

Wondering Naturalists

Our next phase of the trip was to meet up with our son, Nick, in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. This was a park that neither of us had explored but Nick knows quite well and we were really looking forward to being introduced. We met Nick in the Cottonwood campground, on the south side of the park. Before he arrived, we were looking all over for Joshua Trees, not knowing that we were in the Sonoran Desert and Joshua Trees don’t grow there. This large park is comprised of the Sonoran in the south and the Mojave Desert in the north and the vegetation and geology are quite different. As shown in the Photo 1, the landscape was rolling and dotted with creosote bushes with mountains in the background. We visited an oasis ... read more

A Quick Trip to California

North America » United States » Louisiana » New Orleans February 5th 2010

View of Coosa River

Wondering Naturalists

Our second leg of the trip began leaving New Orleans. Our plan was to spend ten days in Joshua Tree National Park with one or both of our sons. We had ten days to get to Joshua Tree; enough time to enjoy a few special places along the way. We had a few more thoughts about the Big Easy and Louisiana in general as we left the city. Our first visit there was the winter after Katrina, four years ago. Many parts of the city were wrecked and deserted. However, the French Quarter, although not flooded, was in shock. There were hardly any people and few businesses were open on Bourbon Street, which is usually overflowing with people. Last year when we stayed there, Bourbon Street was really alive. It was several weeks later in the ... read more

Winter Trip 2010From Ithaca to New Orleans

North America » United States » Louisiana » New Orleans January 22nd 2010

Lower Treman Falls, Dec. 2009

Wondering Naturalists

This is the first leg of our 2020 trip. Our intent is to get as far south as quickly as possible with the end of the first leg, a few days of relaxation in New Orleans. After that, we will travel across the southwest to California. On the way we will travel one day with the next day to enjoy locations along the way such as Sam Houston Jones State Park in Louisiana and McKinney Falls State Park in Austin Texas. The western-most terminus of our trip will be Joshua Tree National Park, the Salton Sea, and Palm Springs California where we will spend time with our son, Nick, and possibly our other son, Rob and maybe Rob’s wife Leila. After about ten days in California, we are heading back into Arizona to meet up with ... read more

Lower Rio Grande Valley

North America » United States » Texas » Mission April 19th 2009

Cactus Flowers

Wondering Naturalists

We are coming to the end of a month spent in Mission, Texas, located in the Rio Grande Valley. The RV resort we are staying at is Bentsen Palm Village, next door to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, and the nicest rv park we have encountered in our short history as world travelers. The park has very large sites with abundant native plantings throughout. Moxie has made many canine friends at the huge dog park, which has a complete agility course, giving Lynn an opportunity to help Moxie brush up on her skills. The close proximity of the rv park to the state park is a real plus, giving Jon a short 15 minute bike ride to the hawk tower within the state park. Jon has volunteered to help count migrating hawks as they return to ... read more

The Pool at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort

Our site at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort

Traveling to The Lower Rio Grande

North America » United States » Texas » Comstock April 2nd 2009

Bridge over Pecos River

Wondering Naturalists

Seminole State Park and Amistad National Recreation Area were a wonderful surprise. The State Park was at one end of the Amistad Reservoir where the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande. The Devils River also flows into this reservoir somewhat downstream. The absolutely gorgeous lake and canyons would have been enough of a reward for the visit. The second reward was the Native American history in the area. The rivers cut deep canyons through limestone in this section. At bends in the river, there are cuts in the sides of the canyons that served as living spaces for humans up to12,000 years ago. There is much evidence that these hunter-gatherers lived in the rock shelters and created “rock art” or petrographs. Because of the remote location of these shelters, the area has been remarkably well ... read more

Junction of the Pecos with the Rio Grande.

Jon with the Pecos River Bridge in the Background

Big Bend National Park

North America » United States » Texas » Big Bend March 17th 2009

Following “Bob” into Big Bend National Park

Wondering Naturalists

After leaving Chiracahua National Monument and with a brief overnight at a nondescript RV park in Van Horn, Texas, we set out for a week of exploration of Big Bend National Park. Although Peter had canoed on the Rio Grande through the eastern end of the park before, this would be all new for Trudy, Lynn, and Jon (and of course the dogs, Moxie, Katie, and Modoc). When we arrived so did a warm spell, with daytime high temperatures in the 90's at river level. The pictures and captions tell the story.... read more

Side Trips in Southeast Arizona

North America » United States » Arizona » Chiricahua National Monument March 8th 2009

Traveling to Patagonia

Wondering Naturalists

We left Tucson for a destination that was not on our original itinerary. Patagonia Lake State Park was recommended by several people we met along the way has very scenic and with lots of birds. The lake was also sizable, by Arizona standards, and would allow us to finally use the kayaks we’ve been dragging around the country. The plan was to stay there for six days before heading east to Willcox, Arizona to meet our good friends Peter and Trudy Brussard. They were to arrive pulling their trailer (nickname “Bob”) from Reno, NV. The four of us would then head off to Big Bend National Park after a two-day side trip to the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. This travelblog documents our travels leading to our arrival at Big Bend National Park. As before, the ... read more

Tucson Sojourn

North America » United States » Arizona » Tucson February 17th 2009

Living in the desert

Wondering Naturalists

Two weeks in Tucson have allowed us to savor this marvelous city with all of its nearby natural wonders. Southeast Arizona is truly a naturalist's paradise. But, alas, even here trouble looms on the horizon. The captions of our 47 photos will tell the story.... read more

Westbound Leg--2009

North America » United States » Arizona » Tucson February 6th 2009

Hibernation!

Wondering Naturalists

Welcome to our second travel blog which will cover a trip to the southwest US. This is an area we skimmed by last winter, but promised ourselves to revisit. Our hope is to learn more about the natural history and culture of this great region. The first major stop will be southeastern Arizona with a two week stay in the Tucson area. We expect to get as far west as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, before heading back east to the Guadalupe Mountains, TX where we will meet up with our good friends Peter and Trudy. The four of us will then caravan down to the Big Bend region of Texas/Mexico. We will then work our way down the Rio Grande to Mission, TX for a one month stay at Bentsen Rio-Grande State Park, headquarters of ... read more

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