The Other Side: Bandelier Backcountry

It was a nice day. Or at least it wasn't snowing and the winds were under 15 mph. And Cyndi wanted to garden, so I headed for Bandelier to see if I could find a nice view of the Rio Grande from the other side of the river.

It was Fee Free day so the parking lot was filled with cars and screaming, laughing kids. So I immediately headed for the back country. I think the best view of the ruins are from up here anyway.

I could only hear the laughter from up here. That was pleasant.

Once on top, I had a nice view of the San Miguel mountains in the distance. They are one of very many old volcanoes around here and this is but one of many mountain ranges named after San Miguel.

There were no footprints visible on the path to the Rio Grande.

Well, there were no shoe prints. There were plenty of hoof prints, paw prints and a few slithering snake trails.

After following the path for a couple miles, I bushwacked a while and got my first view of the Rio Grande at the mouth of Frijoles Canyon.

Looking down into Frijoles Canyon. The small creek has burrowed too deeply into the floor of the canyon to see from up here.

I love the color of the rocks.

I headed cross country southward, towards the Rio Grande. Along the way I saw pretty little things, like this lichen covered rock. 

And I saw a lot of artifacts from the people who lived here about a thousand years ago. Pot sherds, stone flakes, leftover tool cores.

I was bushwacking considerably slower than this.

I arrive at the Rio Grande.

I normally walk in the Caja del Rio, on the far side of the river. It's nice to see that side from this side for a change.

I decided to sit on these white rocks and enjoy the view of the White Rock Canyon for a while.

Sangre de Cristos are in the distance.

Nice view from here.

A nice view both directions.

After a bit, I looked behind me.

Ooops, it's raining over the Jemez. I've got about 4 miles to get back. If I don't hurry, I might get wet.

I got wet.

It started raining just as I started back down into Frijoles Canyon. I noticed many tourists huddling in this slot canyon waiting for the rain to pass.

Slot canyons are cut by flash floods.

It probably is perfectly safe, but it is not where I would seek shelter in a rain storm.

California: The Experiment Continues

Data. We needed more data.

Our eastward RV experiment resulted in a tentative conclusion: RV'ers are weird. We decided to RV westward and gather more observational data. We journeyed for two weeks, explored about a quarter million square miles and now are modifying our conclusion: there is a strong east-to-west gradient in RV variables.

West coast RV'ers are about ½ as old and ½ as wealthy as east coasters. The west coast parks are less frequent, much larger, cost more and, rather than the east coast shantytown park, the west coast parks appear to have been designed and built to code. RV'ers become much more active as they move westward and are much less weird. East coast RV'ers shit in their RVs; the west coasters shit in the facilities.

I prefer the west coast parks and people. In fact, if Cyndi's family wasn't eastward, I would travel only westward.

We spent a week in and near San Francisco, visiting friends, old sights and impressed by all the construction in the City.

Cyndi's favorite word is "juxtapose", so I posed her just been the Marina and Bridge.

This captures how I felt being back in the Bay Area.

During the trip, we stopped for lunch here.

And we had lunch here, too.

And lunch here.

And here, too.
Boy, we sure ate a lot of lunches.

We stopped in Havasu but when we saw planes trailing banners advertising Bacardi and Trojans, we realized it was spring break. We quickly left. We are old.

Wild flowers were in bloom but they were also drought-scarce.
Here poppies accent the hills near Antelope Valley.

And we saw cactus blossons in Anza-Borrego.

A last view of California before we headed back home.