Home again, home again, Diggitty dawg

So six weeks and seven or eight thousand kilometres later, we coast back home to discover:

1. The weather is great but about to get colder. Much, much colder
2. The NZ pension folks are threatening to cut off my miniscule NZ pension if I don't reply to their letter (the one I read February 21st when we picked up the mail the PO had been saving for us) by February 7th. Hard to do, that. But they were incredibly co-operative when I called in a panic. Very chatty as well, which was nice, but probably expensive.
3. The car insurance company is threatening to cease coverage on our shiny (sort of) new convertible if we don't confirm we are still alive and living in the same place. By February 17th. Also hard to do when you get the letter on the 21st. Lucky for us we live in a small town where the insurance rep knows who we are and reinstated the coverage with a smile. 
4. The plants have survived, tho' some just barely -- they were kind of hanging out of their pots pleading and whining.
5. No water or other undesirable substances backed up into the basement in our absence. Which happened once. I don't think the person who was checking on the place that time has quite forgiven us yet.
6. There are no mice in the traps. None. Not one. They're having an easy winter, but perhaps that will change. (See #1)
7. Soft water is awesome. Actually, we already knew this but it's always good to be reminded. Six weeks in the desert does not, repeat, not, make you sanguine about the effects of really hard water on your skin. Think itchy, very, very itchy.

And that's all she wrote. Till next time.

On a clear day, you can see San Francisco

For a while now, actually since we arrived in the awesome red canyon country, I've been wondering how to show the immensity and sheer.....  spectacularness of it all. And, just like the computer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I've come to the conclusion that the answer is...... 42. 


No way to do it, really. So here are a few views and snippets of information. To get the full meal deal, well, you'll have to make a little pilgrimage here yourself.


To put this into a bit of context, the Colorado Plateau covers an area of approximately 337,000 square kilometres in the Four Corners area of the American southwest. It includes the Grand Canyon NP as well as Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion.... The list goes on. Yep, it's definitely a biggie.


Arches National Park


This park has the greatest concentration of arches (over 1,500) of all the parks in the area. A few are pretty famous, like Delicate Arch, but most live anonymously off the beaten path as it were.

This is the view from Park Avenue towards the Manti La Sal mountains to the east. 

Double Arch. If you really work at it, you can just pick out a teeny tiny person wending his way to the bottom of the smaller arch.

Pine Tree arch.

The Three Gossips. As one of the displays in the visitor centre explained, "people called 'em like they saw 'em." Whatever.

Landscape arch. They say this one's on its last legs, so to speak. See the really skinny part on the right? People used to be able to walk right in under this one. But in 1991, while a group of hikers was sitting under the arch, a large chunk o' rock (approximately 180 tons) detached itself and fell to the ground below. It could have been a crushing experience, but fortunately there was a lot of noise preceding the fall and everyone scrammed before the reckoning could take place.


Canyonlands National Park

Lookout point to the Manti La Sal mountains. The altitude is around 6000' so there is some snow there this time of year. But like everywhere else in the western half of the continent this year there's a lot less than normal.

Mesa Arch looking east to the Manti La Sal mountains. That's the Colorado River down there, 2000' below.

Heckle and Jeckle checking out our picnic lunch. A lot of birds have been spotted at Canyonlands, but mostly they're an anomaly as there's no source of water other than small potholes in the rocks which are often dry.


Dead Horse Point State Park


This park sits side by each with Canyonlands and overlooks the Colorado River. Its name derives from an unsubstantiated story: there were at one time a lot of wild horses in the area and some enterprising cowboys figured out pretty quickly that a particular point of land made a fabulous natural corral when they blocked it off. They rounded up a herd of said horses, took the ones they wanted and left the rest. Behind the barrier. There being no water and very limited food, the remaining horses died. 

Colorado River (2000' down). It's very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon -- pretty mind-boggling and virtually impossible to capture in a photo.

Another view of the many layers. The water below is actually settling ponds for potash production.


And did I mention that Thelma and Louise did their final drive in DHP park? 


Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park


We hadn't planned to visit this park but on the way down to Arizona we drove by it around 4:00 p.m. and, since it closes at 4:30, had to leave it for the return trip.

Yes, it really looks like that. Nobody could really explain the petrification process as it's not all that well understood. But trust me, you wouldn't be making campfires with these babies.

There's a lot of petrified wood around and more keeps appearing each year (see that little log end peeking out of the soil?) so you might be forgiven for thinking it's ok to maybe slip a little, just a wee wee bit into your pocket. In fact, on average 1 TON goes MIA every month of every year. There are serious penalties for doing that (fines, imprisonment, no-cheese pizza....) and they check you on the way out. We opted for safety and bought a piece in the souvenir shop.


And here's where the San Francisco part comes in.

If you have really, really good eyesight (and a decent imagination) you can see the San Francisco peaks in this photo. Top right, a couple of little lumps. Yeah, it's a stretch, but they're there.


And tho' there's much more and many more photos, that's it for this post. Tomorrow we head out for home, a little glad to be going home and a little sad to be leaving this amazing place. And anticipating a really good cup of coffee soon.

Things to do in Moab when you're cold

There is not really any reliable weather forecasting that happens in and around Moab. Probably there are a number of factors involved (widely diverse topography, distance and remoteness from the Big Smoke of Salt Lake City, low population and therefore few votes, etc.) Whatever the cause, the fact remains that when the weather report tells you it's sunny and warm(ish), it's 50-50 when you look out the window or step out the door. 


Sunday was a prime example. Cold and windy despite the chirpy weather report, it was not a day for leisurely strolling about the national park taking breathtaking photos and eating a picnic lunch en plein air. So, we opted for a driving tour of Moab and environs.


It's surprising how many things there are to do in Moab when it's cold and so are you, to wit:


1. Anthropological data-gathering: 

There are a lot of artifacts, both recent and not-so-much....

Golf course rock art -- Formative period

Milt's Diner

Milt's bills itself as the oldest restaurant in Moab, dating from 1954. It features about a dozen indoor seats in the old style and a bit of outdoor seating.

And posters of Opie, Andy and Aunt Bee:

Remember that? When Ron Howard had actual hair?


Just down the street from Milt's is the trademark '50s motel:

No PC here.... And across the street from the Apache, Dave's Corner Market proudly featuring photos of a young Dave at the Apache with none other than The Duke (sans toupee) who stayed there during filming of The Comancheros in 1962.

And, from the modern era, the local laundromat, The Wet Spot:

Um, yeah.... on to more refined pursuits.


2. Making music


The town park, besides including the extensive bicycle path, Youth Garden Project and off-leash dog park, has an amazing array of musical instruments, just waiting for passers-by to make a little (or a lot of) music.

Only one young musician was at it but it was Sunday, after all.


3. Checking out the real estate on offer


Moab boasts an eclectic mix of architectural styles. 

For a mere $150,000 you could be the proud owner of this fine mobile home complete with.... 

.... school bus with its own deck overlooking the back yard. 


If you're inclined to start from scratch, you could opt for a lovely new bungalow next door to the local VW graveyard.

4. Observing local wildlife

Brew pubs are one of only a few places in Utah where you can buy beer that's more than 3.2% alcohol. This is the only one in Moab, tho' Eddie McStiffs, which was once a brew pub, still offers brew pub beer they tender out to a brewing co-operative in Salt Lake City.


5. Relaxing in the hot tub

And so convenient -- just outside our back door. We haven't made it yet, but there's still time.

Ode to Mother (Earth)

I've been wanting to visit Biosphere 2 for a couple of years now and the other day, en route from Tucson to Holbrook (and ultimately, Moab), we did.


And what an amazing place it is. Built between 1987 and 1991 to conduct research in a closed and controlled environment about life systems in the original Biosphere (planet earth), one of its major projects involved 8 people from various disciplines spending 2 years inside the sealed structure conducting various experiments thought to be of possible use in space exploration amongst other things. Yeah, no sending out for pizza on Fridays after a long work week. And no heading to the mountains in the hot weather or to warmer climes in winter.


The original funding came from private donors and at the end of the seclusion experiments (there were 2 in total), it was given to the University of Arizona in Tucson where, as part of the Science Faculty, it continues to explore questions about earth's ecosystems. A great deal of the current research focusses on the BIG question, global climate change and in particular questions about how to reduce harm to the environment, use resources, particularly water, wisely, etc.


Here is some of what we saw on the tour.....

The centre structure is the main public building which includes an education space for programs and presentations. To the right is the north "lung", one of 2 which "breathe" for the main research building, slightly visible on the left.

This is the inside of the lung. The centre structure (the one with the legs) moves up and down depending on the amount of air inside.

This is the main research building where the 8 scientists spent their 2 years. You can sort of see the plants of the jungle biome through the glass.

Some of the fruit trees from the original Biosphere 2 experiment. Lemons, yum. There were also some banana trees and fig plants.

A section of the rainforest biome.

The ocean biome.

The temperate biome.

Green roof experiments. They're trying various combinations of plants which they hope will be a self-sustaining system that can live on whatever water happens to fall on it and that will replenish nutrients in the soil through in-place composting.

These metal hands are set onto tubes and have a hole in the palm and are set into the ground beside some of the plants. Rainwater funnels through to the roots so the plants get more of the rain that falls.

"Condo" for the kind of bees that don't build hives but, rather, live in holes in trees, etc.

There are a number of these "casitas" which originally housed support staff and now are designated a conference centre. Artists occasionally spend retreat time there as well.


It was so interesting I just wanted to go and live there. Alas, not possible. No further living-on-site projects will be happening. Still, at least one of us is keen to come back for whatever amount of time we can manage.

This time I was ready

We spent a day in Patagonia recently, a small town about 90 km. south of Tucson. We actually spent several days there over the 2+ weeks we were in the area because it's kind of an artsy community and chock-a-block with people of our vintage and, apparently, interests.


It's also the town where, walking on the town common with the dog, we spied our first ever vermilion flycatcher and I didn't have my camera with me.


This time, I was prepared. And, bonus, Mr. T spied a place on our little schematic map called Paton's Hummingbirds. We thought that was a clue there might just be a few other interesting and gorgeous specimens to spy on and photograph.


Not to bore you with the details, here are a few of the photos I managed to get....

The elusive vermilion flycatcher                                         

And again

Pyrrhuloxia. Kind of looks like a composite of leftover parts                                  

Northern flicker

They're shameless and will eat anything                                                    

Finches

Also shameless, they chase off their own relatives from the trough                                                                                                  

Broad-billed hummingbird

White-headed nuthatch

Gambel's quail

No idea -- maybe someone can tell me                                      

Violet-crowned hummingbird                           

All in all, we spent a few hours watching these amazing critters and learning something about them from some very knowledgeable birders who were also hanging out there. 


I would really have loved to have had a lens with a longer focal length to get more close-up shots. So if you hear of, say, a 500 mm. going cheap, I hope I'm the first to hear about it.

Nuts to you

Nogales is a city in both Mexico and Arizona. Its reputation leaves something to be desired, the drug trade being a flourishing enterprise on both sides of the border. 


We ventured down a couple of times during our stay in southern Arizona. The first time, we were looking for interesting Mexican "stuff" that might be fun to put in the garden.


The Tourist Information Centre staff told us in no uncertain terms, "Go to Tubac. There's nothing here."


"Nogales to you," we muttered, and went in search of a grocery store. (Nogales translates as [wal]nuts.)


The second time we were there was en route home from our magical history tour of Tubac and environs. It was a short visit strictly for the purpose of documenting something we'd noticed the first time: in Nogales, you can get all your needs met in one place, the grocery store.


Food

At least one of us loves hominy, but maybe not this much

No comment.

Drink

The sign was swinging in the breeze created by the air conditioning, but you can still see that it was 12 cans for $7.99. Okay, it's light. But still. And regular beer is the same price.


Financial

This may be even more effective than buying lottery tickets. Or maybe not.


Spiritual

Candles (many sizes available)

Statuary (also with many sizes available)

Our Lady of Guadalupe spray (say, what?)

As you can tell, Nogales (the Arizona side -- we opted for dog reasons not to go to the other side) is a very cosmopolitan place. It even boasts an international airport.