mountain goats Finally there are mountain goats. I thought for sure you'd be lucky enough to see them up in the northern states as you hiked in the mountains, but at least you got to see a fairly good size herd. Loved the Claret Cup cactus flower. Spring must be the time to visit the southwestern deserts. Love, Mom
hugging cactus You grew up with a little barrel cactus in the house. Don't you remember getting tiny spines in your finger? What do you mean by hugging cactus? Loved the pictures of the desert in spring though. Love, Mom
History repeats The question now is whether you can pinpoint the era when the petroglyphic media started putting the Page Two celebrities onto Page One of the Newspaper Rock and then try to find the independent liberal newspaper pebbles complaining about the devolution of "The Big News Rock" media.
To Obfuscator and Onaxthiel's Mom It's okay, I don't think it was really your influence. What I didn't mention in my rebuttal was that it was a Friday night, which is a notoriously difficult night to eat out in that area of the city. Also we really did have a good time overall (although I must admit for a little bit there I was significantly worried that Onaxthiel was looking pretty grumpy).
If I had the time to add my own lessons learned section it would go something like this: 1) Banana slugs are everywhere (imagine me having lived here for almost two years and not noticed them before) 2) It's good to get a full night's sleep especially if you are going hiking the next day 3) If you plan on going out to eat with Obfuscator and Onaxthiel on a Friday night in a big city, plan ahead and go someplace that take reservations
Well, we actually paid the $7 parking, since we were coming from the Nevada side. We didn't discover the free parking until we were on our way out from the Hoover Dam, going into Arizona.
I don't know how we avoided the traffic on a Sunday. We did get there fairly early in the morning, and were out of there by maybe early afternoon? The traffic could definitely be a good reason to park on the Nevada side, but only if you're coming from that side already anyway, right?
off-peak Just a comment about Hoover Dam. Until the new bridge over the canyon (river? lake?) is finished, driving over the dam when there's traffic can take at least 30 minutes, if not far more. The $7 for parking will be well worth the extra hour round trip were you to try to go over the dam. I am curious as to how you avoided the typically horrendous traffic on a weekend day.
Thanks Thanks for the beautiful flower picture dedication. We are about 1 1/2 feet of snow melt and about 8 weeks away from seeing spring flowers so it's nice to know it's spring somewhere in the world.
to xtvcl Sorry Xtvcl, I was never very good at lines so the boys never got practice standing in lines. I'm really surprised you got them to wait for a table in a restaurant at all.
Picture of me and Onaxthiel I love how in the shot of me and Onaxthiel atop Battery Townsley I look so overjoyed just to have made it up there in the first place and meanwhile Onaxthiel is clearly looking at the next gunnery encampment out of the corner of his eye, plotting how to get over there. That picture pretty much sums up the whole situation quite nicely.
Soda straws aren't helictites, they're tiny stalactites that haven't really fully formed yet. Helictites push out sideways, soda straws are much more conventional, if new and delicate.
cave formations I think your cave pictures are some of the best of the trip. It looks like the cave has a wide variety of formations to study. Love, Mom
folding boat Great museum. I can see why you spent all day there. Wonderful to see electric wheelchairs from long ago and imaginative things like a folding boat. I wonder if it really worked.
Atchison This is one of the trivia questions I was going to use for the President's quiz in February, but it is a bit too controversial as his term technically ended on the same day as Polk. I prefer to think, that for one Sunday, the United States had no President.
Mom
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Palo Duro Canyon
It looks like an interesting place to hike. Very pretty. Love, Mom