Photos from our January 2010 vacation in Miami and the Everglades
For New Years, we decided to take a mini vacation and go to Miami and visit my girlfriend's family, then spend some time exploring
the Everglades. Believe it or not, in spite of living in central Florida for most of my adult life, I haven't been to Miami since I was a young
child and we there here on vacation from Indiana. The weather threw us a real curve-ball though. We had one of the worst cold-snaps in the last
30 years. So even though
these photos look like they were taken in the tropics, it was freezing cold. We had snow and sleet in central Florida only a few days after
these photos were taken. It was a really cold trip. The airboat ride (see below) was especially brutal due to the cold. We had a great
time though, in spite of the weather.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
I took this photo of the Miami Skyline at Matheson Hammock Park. My girlfriend wanted me to see it because it was a place she spent a
lot of time with her family while she was growing up. It is a really nice park. I'd like to visit it again when the temperature isn't in
the 40s and we don't have to be dressed like Eskimos. I'm quite proud of this photo. I like it a lot.
One neat place we went on this trip was Coral Castle. I'd been hearing about this place since I was a child. I remember seeing the "In Search Of"
episode that featured it as a kid. Coral Castle is always spoken of as a big mystery. How could a 5' 0", 100 lb, Latvian immigrant named Ed
Leedskalnin build this
huge structure and move the immense blocks of coral all by himself? They really hype up the mystery and imply that he knew "secrets" about
using "magnetic energy" to manipulate the huge blocks of coral. This photo was taken in the inside courtyard of the castle and shows some of
the strange coral furniture and decorations. The Coral Castle photos are a little fuzzy. I very cleverly left my camera in the motel that
morning, so all these photos of Coral Castle were taken with my girlfriend's Blackberry. She had been having trouble with the camera.
This photo shows the only enclosed living space in the castle.
This two story tall tower had Ed's very small and Spartan living quarters on the upper
floor, and his workshop below. After seeing how Ed lived, it's really no wonder why the love of his life refused to come live with him. I suspect the average
prisoner in the federal pen has better living conditions, and probably does a lot less rock breaking.
Here I am moving the 9 ton gate with only one finger! No, not really. Much is made of how well balanced this gate block is. I'll admit, it
is well balanced. But that is not especially difficult to do. For Ed to move the block around in the first place, he would have had find its
balance points. My guess that it pivots on a truck axle was confirmed by a guide. Not really a tough guess considering the number of car and
truck parts Ed incorporated into the construction of the castle.
Here I actually am moving the 9 ton gate. It took all my strength (and putting my considerable weight into it) to get the gate moving. Once
the tremendous inertia of the 9 ton block of coral is overcome and it begins moving though, it is very easy to keep it moving. The balance is very good,
and the truck axle bearings allow for smooth, nearly friction-free motion.
To me, there is little mystery about Coral Castle. I worked in construction for over 10 years. To my eye,
it is a straight-forward construction project. It is impressive only in that it was all supposedly done by only one little man over a period of decades.
But since nobody ever saw Ed Working on it, it can't be proved that he didn't have help, at least part of the time.
Moving big blocks of stone isn't too difficult if you have the right equipment (chains, ropes, block and tackles, a truck, etc. in Ed's case) and the
determination to actually do it. How the blocks were quarried is obvious once you get a close-up look at them, especially on the inside of the castle
wall. Ed did a good job of making the outside of the walls that a passerby would see as precise as he possibly could, but the inside surfaces
still show that the quarrying process was not nearly as precise or mysterious as the guides would like us to believe. The gaps between the blocks
and they way they were filled in, and the shapes of the edges of the blocks all speak volumes about the actual quarrying and construction
techniques that were used. I wish I could have gotten
good photos of the joints for illustration, but the lighting was bad and the Blackberry wasn't cooperating. Also, most of the big blocks weren't
moved very far. They were quarried on site, and some only moved a few feet to their final positions. Leverage and primitive tools would be enough
to do the job. Also, the construction technique was not nearly as precise as I had been led to believe. There are few real mysteries there. Don't
get me wrong, I'm not disappointed in Coral Castle. Not at all. I love getting to the bottom of mysteries and debunking myths. I had a great time.
It is well worth the price of admission. The real mystery behind Coral Castle though is why Ed did it, not how.
After leaving Miami, we stayed in Everglades City for a while and spent some time exploring the Everglades. It was freezing cold, but nice and
sunny, so alligators
were hauling themselves out of the cold water and sunning
themselves all over the place. We saw lots of gators on the banks of canals and in shallow ponds. I have lived in Florida (on and off) since I
was 9 years old, but I think I saw more wild gators on this trip than all the rest of my life combined. Big ones too! I saw a couple monsters
beside canals as we were driving, but was too slow with the camera. This one was
in a canal beside the adventure company where we went to take an airboat ride. He doesn't look so big in this photo, but I'd guess he was 10-12
feet long easy.
More big gators! These gators were in a wildlife park run by the adventure company we took the airboat ride with. There were
dozens of monster gators in their park.
What a monster! This was the biggest gator at the wildlife park. It is hard to estimate how big he is. 12-14 feet, maybe more?
He had his own pool all to himself. I guess maybe he liked to snack on the "little gators" in the big pool.
We took a ride through the Everglades in an airboat like this one. It was great. Lots of fun. The driver would crank up the speed to something insane,
then do a sharp turn that sent the boat skidding sideways, sending up big rooster-tails of spray. It was a great thrill ride.
It was educational too. The driver would slow to an idle and point out interesting features or lecture on the flora, fauna and history of the area.
A couple of times he'd shut down the engine all together in an interesting spot so we could have a Q & A session. The only problem was the bitter
cold that morning. The ride was really brutal at high speeds. The wind chill and cold spray left us quite frozen.
Here is a video I shot during some of the high-speed runs in the air boat. The icy wind in my face had my eyes watering so badly that I couldn't see during
parts of the trip. There isn't much to hear on the audio but the roar of the engine. They said it was about 90 Db, so it drowns out everything else. We are
all wearing ear protection and the diver speaks through a very loud PA system to talk to us while the engine is running.
We just had to stop and get a photo of the smallest Post Office in America at Ochopee. It serves a handful of people in a very
out of the way rural area.
One last photo, from deep in the heart of a cypress swamp, with the lengthening shadows of late afternoon. It was time to head back home.
Photos from my September 2009 vacation in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona
Once again I made the long, cross-country drive to my property in rural Arizona. As usual, I stopped along the way to see he sights and
spend time in new and interesting places.
I left a little earlier this year than I usually do for my fall vacation. I was planning on doing some camping in the high Rocky's of
Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. I wanted to avoid any bad cold snaps and/or early snow storms.
I was determined to do some serious camping on this trip. I was thwarted in my attempt to camp during my spring vacation in Georgia by persistent rain.
The rain dogged me on this trip too, but I camped anyway, and got wet and muddy a few times. The rain started on my drive out West. I hit
rain in Louisiana, and drove through it all the way into Colorado. It was relentless. 1500 miles of hard driving in the pouring rain. Once I
got to Colorado, it only got worse. A severe storm spun up as I arrived in Trinidad, CO. There were high winds, torrential horizontal rain and terrible
lightning as I rolled into town. Visibility was about zero. I managed to find a motel and decided to stay there for the night, hoping the
weather would clear by morning. I got soaked just running into the lobby of the motel to register. Fortunately, the rain did clear out overnight, and
the next day I was able to set up camp at a nearby state park. The rain was not finished with me though.
I took over 350 photos on this long vacation trip. This is just a small sampling on them that I think illustrate where I went and what I did.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
I set up my tent in Lathrop State Park near Walsenburg, Co. The state park has a great view of the Spanish Peaks. The indians had a name for
the Spanish Peaks that translates into English as "The Breasts of the World." It doesn't take much imagination to see that. Lathrop
is a great park. Friendly staff, and I had the tent camping area pretty much to myself. My only complaint about Lathrop (and Colorado state parks in general)
is that they rally nickel and dime you to death for everything. They charge a fee to enter the park, then another on top of that to camp. There seems to be a
fee for everything you could possibly want to do there. They even have coin-op
showers, which isn't so bad, except they charge 50 cents for 4 minutes of water, but you have to let the water run for at least 10 minutes before it starts to get
hot, otherwise it is icewater.
People who know me know that I am interested in all the sciences. Geology has always been a passion of mine. On this trip, I really engaged in a lot of
amateur geology. Here I have used my rock hammer to expose a section of the K-T Boundary in Long Canyon near Trinidad, CO. The K-T Boundary is the line
marking the end of the age of the dinosaurs. It was caused when a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth 65 million years ago. The actual boundary is the
light-colored layer just behind the pick end of my rock hammer. I collected several large sections of the boundary with some strata from above and below.
They will be prized specimens in my collection.
I also collected coal from several exposed coal seams (burns great in campfires), investigated abandoned Uranium and Silver mines and studied the strata
in various rock quarries and road cuts on this trip. I really got my geology geek on. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.
I saw lots of wildlife on this trip. Skunks, eagles, hawks, chipmunks, prairie dogs and deer, even a rattlesnake. People always warn me about the rattlesnakes
out West. This is the first time I've ever seen one. Florida is lousy with rattlesnakes. I've seen dozens here at home. It took 20+ years of vacationing
in the West to see my first one there. Too bad I didn't have my camera handy at the time.
The deer were especially numerous. I lost track of the number of times I rounded a curve and found them standing in
the middle of the road, or the times they darted across the road in front of me. They tested my reflexes and my brakes many times. These deer were just wondering
through the campground at dusk and let me take their photo.
I spent a lot of time cruising the back roads in the Spanish Peaks area. There is so much to see. It is really beautiful country. This is a high
mountain meadow near Cuchara Pass and the Spanish Peaks.
I saw this tired old tractor, overgrown with weeds and wildflowers, parked in a barnyard and couldn't resist taking a photo of it.
I call it "Toil No More."
This photo was taken from high up on the flanks of West Spanish Peak. You can see the bald top of the mountain poking up through the trees in the
foreground. I love the mountains, and get out of flat Florida every chance I can to go play in the mountains.
Here is another photo of the Spanish Peaks, this time taken from the little town of La Veta, Co. La Veta is a neat little town. There are a lot of neat
little towns and villages around the Spanish Peaks.
My last morning on Colorado, I was awakened in my tent by a massive peal of thunder. I scrambled outside and broke camp in record time and just
managed to pack everything into my truck before the rain started. I drove South into Northern New Mexico, heading for the next place I planned to
camp, the rain dogging me all the way. I arrived at the Hopewell Lake campground high in the New Mexico mountains, in the rain, and with the temperature plunging
into the low 40s at midday and the wind howling. I was afraid it was going to start snowing any minute. I checked my calendar to make sure it was still
mid-September and still technically summer. But there's no arguing with Mother Nature. So I decided to head to an alternate campground I had
researched at a much lower elevation. I stayed at Heron Lake State Park Just outside the "town" of Tierra Amarilla. Not really much of a town.
If you need anything other than over-priced gas, you need to drive to Chama or Taos to get it. It was much warmer and
the weather was a little drier. Here my tent is set up on the shore of Heron Lake. It is a beautiful park, and they don't nickel & dime you to death like
in Colorado. I highly recommend it.
Here is a view of the lake behind my tent. The lake is surrounded on several sides by huge cliffs. They are very impressive in the morning and evening
light. I had prime lake-front property for only $10 per night.
Here is a view of the lake from near the visitor center. Heron Lake is a no-wake lake. There were lots of boats on on the lake every day, but they
were either fishermen using trolling motors, or sailboats. The sailboats were quite pretty to watch as they glided across the lake.
The day after setting up camp at Heron Lake, I went back up into the mountains to Hopewell Lake, where I had originally planned to camp, to get a look at the
place in the sun. It was beautiful with the aspens turning gold.
I wish I could have camped there. In the afternoon though, the rain storms returned. In fact, it rained every afternoon I was in New Mexico. I'd retreat
down out of the mountains as the afternoon thunderstorms built up and return to Heron Lake State Park. The afternoon thunderstorms usually expended their fury on
the mountains and petered out before dropping more than a light sprinkle on the lowlands where the campground was located. Only one major rain
storm hit the campground while I stayed there.
I love aspen trees. I think aspen groves are about the neatest places on Earth. I am especially enamored with aspen trees when they start
turning golden in the fall.
Here is a view of the Brazos Cliffs not far to the Northeast of Heron Lake State Park. They are quite impressive, and can be seen for many miles in
any direction. There is a neat little community of cabins up a winding road at the base of the cliffs.
You never know what you will see around the bend in the road in Northern New Mexico. Here is a shot of some fantastic pink cliffs near Abiquiu
New Mexico. New Mexico is truly the land of enchantment.
As I made my way South and West toward my eventual destination of my property in Arizona, I spent some time exploring the amazing landscapes on the Navajo
Reservation. I did some hiking and explored the back roads on the reservation. This particular feature is known as "Owl Eyes." If you look closely
at the photo, (click for a larger version), there are the ruins of a 1000 year old indian pueblo building in the foreground of the shot.
On my way out of New Mexico, I stopped at Red Rocks State Park, just to check out the place, since it was on my way. I was surprised to find a large
prairie dog town in the park. There were quite a few prairie dogs cavorting around when I arrived. As soon as I got out of the truck with my camera
though, they all disappeared down the holes into the town. One would pop up out of a hole, then duck back down before I could get a picture. Then
one would pop up out of another hole and vanish just as quickly. It was like playing whack-a-mole with my camera. Eventually I managed to get a shot of
one of the prairie dogs peeking up out of one of the many entrances to the town.
After I finally made it to my remote Arizona property, I set up camp and spent some quality time there. One thing I had always wanted to experiment with is
making adobe bricks with the soil on my property. I noticed one time after it rained that the mud in some areas of the property would dry and become as hard
as rock. I got the idea that it might make good adobe bricks. This trip I finally tried it. I mixed up some mud using the soil, and added some straw gathered
growing wild on the property. I used some actual bricks from my fire pit as molds for the adobe bricks. They seemed to harden up quite nicely. I was surprised
at just how strong they were even after only a couple days of drying. Unfortunately, proper adobe bricks need to dry for weeks. I wasn't there long enough to
see how strong the properly dried bricks would be. I stashed them under a juniper tree, hopefully out of the worst of the weather, and will see if they survive
until I return next time.
It would be neat to be able to build on my property using raw materials from the property itself. It really appeals to the self-sufficiency streak that runs
through me.
While driving down a dirt road a couple miles from my property, I saw this big fellow skittering across the road. I swerved to avoid running it over, and
stopped to take a picture. I've seen a lot of tarantulas in the Southwest over the years, but this is probably one of the bigger ones. It stood there calmly
and let me put my water bottle down next to it for scale and then posed for a photo. I shooed it off the road before I left so the next person wouldn't
run it over.
Photos from our July 2009 trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
We stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge for my birthday. It was the first time I had been to Disney World since I was a kid.
Things have changed a lot there. I always just thought of it as a place for kids, but there is a lot for adults to do there too.
The Animal Kingdom Lodge is a huge resort building that surrounds and is surrounded by an artificial African savanna that has
herds of exotic African animals wondering around it. You can sit on the balcony of your room and watch all sorts of exotic
animals doing their thing out on the savanna right outside your room. The animals can come very close to your balcony and you can get a good look at
them and great photos. There are a couple of dozen exotic species at the park. I got good photos of only a few who got real
close. Some animals never got close enough for good photos, but I took my binoculars, and we got good views of lots of animals
that never came too close to us. We spent hours watching the animals with binoculars and just our eyeballs when they got close.
Besides our balcony, the hotel has lots of other viewing areas that face out onto the savanna. When there were no animals near
our room, we'd go look from the other areas. It was a great time.
Before we left, we took a marathon tour of some of the Disney Resorts. We rode by monorail and boats to see The Polynesian, The
Grand Floridian, the Contemporary and the Fort Wilderness resorts. Neat places. I was impressed with all of them except the
Contemporary which looks run-down, bland and dated compared to the others.
What recession? Disney was packed with people. The crowds in some areas were huge. The economy doesn't seem to be putting
the pinch on Disney. And it is not a cheap destination.
It was a good time and a great birthday. We plan on going back again during the cooler months and when the kids are back in
school when the park should be less crowded and it will be even more fun to be outside and explore the park.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
This is a photo of one of the giraffes that walked by our balcony. We counted as many as 5 giraffes in view at any one time.
You see them on tv in nature shows, but they are a 100 times more magnificent when you see them for real and up close.
Here is a group of four giraffes clustered around a feeding box high in a tree. Like all the animals on the savanna, the
giraffes eat pretty much anything they can reach. However, the keepers put out treats especially for them in high boxes
that the other animals can't reach. I don't know what it they are eating, but they really like it. The keepers called it
"giraffe candy."
Here a group of three zebras passed by our balcony as they munched their way across the savanna. The zebra were smaller than
I expected, about pony size, I guess. Having never seen them except on tv, I had no real sense of scale for them. They are
magnificent animals. Beautiful, and very entertaining to watch.
We never heard the giraffes make a sound. The zebras though are quite vocal. They were snorting and making all sorts of
horse-like sounds as they wandered around the savanna in small groups.
A close-up photo of an African Crowned Crane. They are magnificent birds. There are a lot of exotic African birds on the
savanna. Their wing feathers are clipped so they can't fly away, though they can get airborne enough to get onto low
branches of trees. We saw several African vultures in trees, but too far away to get good photos.
We got close-up looks at several varieties of large African birds. Many manage to cross the low electic fence line that
keeps the wildlife from getting too close to the lodge. They either flap over
(despite having their wings clipped) or just walk right through it. The keepers said their feathers insulate them from the
fence and they don't feel the electricity.
Later on a group of 4 ostriches came wondering by our balcony. They had been off in the distance, out of camera range for hours.
they finally came near enough to get a few pictures.
This big fellow is called a Blesbok, a type of antelope. The reason I have such a close up photo of him is because he likes
to jump over the low electric fence that keeps the animals from approaching the the lodge too closely. The keepers don't seem
to mind when this Blesbok jumps over the fence. He seems too totally focused on eating the tender grass on the other side to bother
anyone. Other animals that jump over the fence are quickly herded back out onto the savanna by the keepers though.
Photos from my May 2009 vacation in Georgia and North Carolina
I was in bad need of a vacation. I had just been through a really stressful period in my life, and things had been very
intense at work. I needed to get away for a while. I only had a week though, so I decided to stay (relatively) close to home.
I love the mountains of North Georgia and North Carolina. I decided to take a road trip to the area where Georgia, North
Carolina and South Carolina all meet.
I had planned on doing a lot of camping on this trip. I took all my camping gear and located a couple of campgrounds in
advance where I might like to stay. As the date of my vacation got closer though, the weather wasn't looking like it was
going to be good for camping. It was turning out to be a very rainy Spring in that area of the country. Sure enough, the
day I left, it rained on me all the way there. I stopped in the town of Clayton, GA and found an inexpensive motel to
hole up in until the rain quit.
I wanted to camp, but camping in the rain and mud is no fun. The next day it rained too. And it rained the day after that.
In fact, it rained almost every day I was there. Usually it would rain overnight and into the next morning with the afternoons
semi-dry. A couple of days though, it rained on and off all day long. Eventually I gave up on the idea of camping and decided
to just spend the whole vacation at the motel.
Aside from preventing me from camping, the rain wasn't too much of a hindrance to having fun on this vacation. It didn't rain
all the time. I still managed to do most of the things I really wanted to do. I got out into the mountains, I did some hiking,
I got to see and photograph some amazing vistas, I went to several auctions in rural Georgia and North Carolina and bought
a lot of bargains, I explored and went places I hadn't been before. Most importantly though, I got to rest and relax and
unwind. The Rabun Gap area between Clayton, GA and Franklin, NC is amazingly beautiful. I'll definitely be back again
someday, hopefully when it's not raining.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
This was the usual misty morning view. Rain clouds and mist rolling over the mountains on the edge of the Rabun Gap. It was so amazingly
beautiful that I almost didn't mind the rain at all.
Even with all the clouds and mist, it wasn't too hard to find amazing vistas to photograph.
All the rain was good for the flowers. There were flowers everywhere. Everything seemed to be blooming. The air smelled
like perfume. Even in town, a breeze blowing out of the mountains or woods would bring the heavenly scent of all the
blooming flowers in the countryside.
This is a photo of Tallulah Gorge in Tallulah State Park. It's impressive. It reminds me of Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona.
There is a stairway to the bottom of the gorge. It's over 1000 steps to the bottom, and of course that many back up. I
figured that while I just might manage to go down 1000 steps, getting back up might be a little problematic. so I
contented myself with hiking around the rim of the gorge and taking photos from the top.
All the rain really had the waterfalls flowing heavy. Every river and creek in the area was flowing heavy and all the
waterfalls were really flowing.
I saw dozens of waterfalls. I have never before seen such a dense concentration of waterfalls. They seemed to be everywhere
I looked. There were short ones, tall ones, wide ones, narrow ones, thundering ones and trickling ones. I took tons of photos.
There were so many though, that eventually I stopped photographing them unless they were exceptionally beautiful. This
particular waterfall is in the campground I would have been camping at if it hadn't been so rainy.
I visited the campground I had planned on staying at, before the rain cancelled my camping plans, just to see if it was
as nice as it seemed on the Internet. It was amazingly beautiful, and totally empty due to the rain. I could have had my
choice of any of the most prime camp-sites. This is a view away from the camping area and down at the day-use swimming and
picnic area at Rabun Beach. Maybe next time the weather will be better.
It didn't rain all the time. Not only did the rain let up occasionally, but a couple of times the sky even cleared out
and the Sun came out. Dazed and stunned locals stared upward in amazement and wondered what the bright orange orb
in the sky was. It had been so long since they had last seen the sun they had forgotten what it looked like. Having just
recently arrived in their cloudy corner of the world from sunny Florida, I assured them that it was a perfectly harmless
natural phenomenon, and they shouldn't be alarmed.
The Sun and clear air gave a whole different look to the land. It was even prettier, if that's possible.
Here a couple of happy horses frolic in the late afternoon sun and enjoy a break in the rainy weather. The Brown one was quite friendly
and wondered right over to me. He let me pet him, but lost interest quickly when I pulled out my camera and tried to take
a close-up picture, I think he had been hoping for a treat instead.
I couldn't possibly take a trip to gold country and not try my hand at a little panning and
sluicing. I had test panned a
couple of creeks in the National Forest earlier, but didn't find any gold. On my last day before coming back home, I moved
down to Dahlonega, GA and did a little sluicing on the Chestatee River. The water was high and swift from all the
rain. I set up my sluice on the bank of the river and built a wing dam of rocks to
divert some water through it. The current was strong and kept washing away my wing dam. I kept having to find bigger
and heavier rocks to rebuild it.
The current was too strong for me to get out into the river and dig paydirt out of the nooks and crannies
in the rock like I had hoped to. So I had to content myself with digging my paydirt out of the river bank. I only
found a little gold, but at least I found some. I was starting to doubt my
prospecting skills after coming up empty
on the other creeks.
Photos from my December 2007 trip to Santa Barbara and Carpinteria California
This was not a vacation trip. The company I work for sent me and a couple of my co-workers out to Santa Barbara, CA on business
on fairly short notice. It was a work trip with little time for fun and sight-seeing. In fact, I only managed to sneak away from
the grind once for an hour or so before dawn (before I had to get to work) to look around and grab some pictures. I left my hotel
and walked about a mile down bike and foot paths in the bitter cold and darkness to get to the Carpinteria seal rookery on the
beach near the Carpinteria pier. I arrived just as the sky was beginning to brighten and there was just enough light for photos.
I grabbed a few photos of the seals on the beach below the bluff, the channel islands out in the Pacific Ocean and the first
rays of the sun lighting up the mountain peaks above town. Then, all to quickly, it was time to hustle back to the hotel to
catch my ride into work. The rest of the trip was work and travel. I have to go back to this place someday when I can spend
some time really exploring it.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
This is a photo looking down on the seal rookery at Carpinteria, California. I am standing on a bluff maybe 100 feet above the
water. I had to zoom my camera to the max to get these photos. The beach was closed to give the seals some sanctuary. There was
no easy way to get down there anyway. It was a pretty sheer cliff in most places.
It was a bitterly cold morning with a stiff and biting wind blowing in off the Pacific. I didn't bring along serious winter
clothes on this trip since I didn't expect to be outside for more than a few minutes. Standing exposed on the edge of the
bluff was rapidly chilling me to the bone. I loved every minute of it though. It was great to watch the seals cavorting
around on the beach below. The sound of the surf and the wind in my ears drowned out most of their barking though.
It was actually still quite dark when these photos were taken. I had to do a little post-processing to make them look this
good. Mainly increasing the gamma. Most of the photos I took were pretty badly blurred because my camera was using a long
exposure in the low light conditions. I didn't have a tripod or even a monopod with me to steady the camera. So most of the
photos were hopelessly blurred. A few turned out decently sharp, but very dark. After bumping up the gamma though, they didn't
look too bad. They actually look like they were shot on a cloudy day, rather than in pre-dawn near darkness.
The seals were coming and going and milling around on the beach the whole time I was there. There was constant pushing and
jockeying for position, as if one bit of beach was better and more desirable than another. Others were out in the remarkably
clear water scouring the rocks for some breakfast. It was fun to watch.
Here is a photo looking out toward the Channel Islands with the sky beginning to brighten. Due to the way the coastline
curves at Carpinteria. I am actually facing more or less South when looking out over the Pacific Ocean. The sun is about to
rise over the water on my left. I wasn't expecting to see the sun rise out of the Pacific. It's just a quirk of the shape
of the coastline in this area. Someday I'd like to visit the Channel Islands. I hear they are magnificent.
Here is a photo of the first rays of the sun lighting up the mountains above town. Beautiful. I'd really love to go
off-roading and hiking up there. No time though. This is a business trip. It's almost time to go to work. I have to
hustle back to the hotel and catch my ride. Oh well, maybe another time.
Photos from our October 2007 trip to Tennessee and Georgia
For this vacation we decided to skip the long drive out West and spend some time vacationing a little closer to home. We
decided to head up to Tennessee to do some camping. Then we moved down into Georgia for a couple of days before
heading home.
We started out camping in Tellico Plains Tennessee. We cruised the Cherohala Skyway, visited the Lost Sea Cavern,
saw some waterfalls, saw the fall colors and went panning for gold. Then we drove down into Georga and camped just
outside the little town of Dahlonega. Dahlonega is a neat little town. We both liked it there. We did some sight-seeing,
some shopping, too much eating, and of course panned for gold. The weather was nearly perfect for camping this trip.
It was warm until the last two nights when a cold snap made it just a little chilly.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
This is a view of the KOA campground we stayed at in Tellico Plains, TN. Here I am looking down on it from a low ridge.
The campground is surrounded by hills and is bounded by the Tellico River on one side. It's a great campground. It was
fairly full when we arrived on Saturday night, but by monday all the tent campers left, leaving just the RVers (mostly
retired folks) and us in our little pop-up trailer. You can just see our little pop-up among all the huge RVs and
Travel Trailers. Patti thinks it's tiny, but to an old tent camper like me it seems huge.
Here is a view of the Tellico River, near Tellico Beach, not far from the campground. The river is very shallow and rocky
along much of it's length. It is also down in a steep gorge, making it difficult to access in many areas. At Tellico Beach
though, there are deep pools that allow for swimming and easy access to the water.
Not far from the campground is Bald River Falls. This is an easy waterfall to get to. Basically you can drive right up to
it. It's very pretty too, even though the water flow is apparently only about 1/6 of normal due to a drought in the area.
Here I am panning for gold in the Tellico River. I had hoped to pan on Coker Creek and some of the other creeks in the
area known for past gold production. Unfortunately, the drought had dried up all those creeks. You can't pan without
water. So I gave it a try on the Tellico River. I only found a little bit of gold here. We didn't start getting large
quantities of gold until we went to Georgia (see below). Visit my Gold Prospecting Page
for more information on my gold panning hobby.
Fall was taking its time arriving in Tellico Plains. We had hoped to see the leaves changing, but everything was still stubbornly
green down in the lowlands. We spent one day cruising the Cherohala Skyway. It took us from the lowlands of Tellico Plains
up into the highlands in the North Carolina mountains. Once we got above about 4000 feet, the leaves were changing, and we finally
got our Fall colors fix.
Here on one of the scenic vistas along the Cherohala Skyway, you can see a whole mountainside of trees changing into their
fall colors. We had a nice picnic lunch at a road-side table high in the mountains. I think the Cherohala Skyway is every
bit as pretty a drive as the Blue Ridge Parkway, but not nearly as well-known or as busy.
This is a photo of another of the many scenic vistas along the Cherohala Skyway. Here we are headed back down out of the
NC mountains and back to Tennessee.
This is yet another photo of a scenic vista along the Cherohala Skyway. The mountains just seem to go on forever.
We left Tennessee and drove south into Georgia. We set up camp in a campground just outside Dahlonega, Georgia.
This is a photo of the old Courthouse building in the Center of downtown Dahlonega. The old courthouse is now
the Dahlonega Gold Museum. Dahlonega is a neat town. Patti and I both liked it. We had a lot of fun there. It is an old
gold mining town. It has a fantastic square in the center of town with the Gold Museum in the center and all kinds of neat
shops and eateries surrounding it. We had a lot of fun exploring Dahlonega. We can't wait to go back.
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time while in Dahlonega to go prospecting out on the local streams. Too bad, since
the Dahlonega area is a hot-bed of past and present gold mining activity. Next time we go there we will make time for
prospecting. However, there are several gold mines in the area that will sell their ore to the public. We bought some
and panned it out. Wow! This photo shows the results of only a couple of hours panning. That's a lot of gold. I was so
happy with the amount of gold we were getting that I bought 3 more sacks of ore to bring home and pan out later. It
felt a little bit like cheating though, to not have dug the stuff out of the ground myself. As more and more gold kept
appearing in our pans though, I got over it.
Photos from our May 2007 trip to New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada
On this trip out West, Patti was able to come with me. She only had a little over a week of vacation time though, so she had to
fly back home half way through. On this trip, I wanted to show her my property in Arizona, and some of the other spectacular
sights in the West. Patti had never been to most of the places we went. I on the other hand have been everywhere. So I got to
play tour guide. It was great to see the wonder and awe on her face as she discovered the majestic beauty and of the Western
landscapes. It brought back memories of my first time out West. After Patti flew home from Las Vegas, I drove back into Arizona
and New Mexico and did a little gold panning before heading home.
This vacation was the first big outing for my new pop-up trailer and my first cross-country trip in my new truck. Both performed
well. The truck is very comfortable to ride in all day and pulls the trailer like it isn't even there. It was a great vacation.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
Patti hasn't travelled as extensively as I have. She was thrilled each time we crossed a state line. She wanted to get a
picture of every welcome sign. I have to admit, it was a fun project. Counting Florida, where we started and ended, we
visited 8 states on this trip.
Most of the signs are the big ones we passed on the Interstate Highways. I took my favorite back-road way into Arizona
from New Mexico though to show Patti the beautiful high country along the AZ/NM border. So the Arizona welcome sign was just a
little thing on the side of a lonely 2-lane mountain road.
We stopped for a while in New Mexico and visited City of Rocks State Park. City of Rocks is an amazing place. A thick layer of
Volcanic rock has been carved by erosion into a huge maze of rocks that greatly resemble a crazy cityscape. We wondered around
in it for a couple of hours taking pictures and generally marvelling at the sights. I'd been there several times before, but
Patti had never seen anything like it. She was blown away by it.
This is a photo of the view from Leopold Vista in New Mexico, looking out on the rugged Mogollon Mountains Wilderness. I love
this spot. If I could, I'd build a house right here and spend the rest of my life enjoying the view and exploring the wilderness.
I stop here every time I pass this way. I just have to.
Click the photo for a higher resolution view.
Here is a photo of the popup trailer set up on my remote Arizona property. On this trip we went out west a little earlier than I
usually do. It was still Spring, and it was still quite cold at the elevation of my property. The popup did a good job
of keeping the wind and rain off of us. The little
propane heater I brought along struggled to keep the inside temperature livable at night though. To an old tent camper
like me, it was no problem. It was like living in luxury. Patti froze though. She was a trooper and didn't complain (much), but
I could tell it was rough on her. Fortunately we were only there for a couple of days before leaving the popup and heading
for the heat of Las Vegas.
Here is a photo of me setting up my home-built wind turbine to provide
electric power for our stay on my remote off-grid property.
This is the second time I have used it to power my stay on the property. It provides enough power for lighting and keeping
a few small appliances running. It doesn't produce enough power to heat the pop-up camper though. Patti was also
disappointed that it wouldn't run her blow-dryer. In the future, I will supplement the wind turbine with some home-built
solar panels I am working on, to increase power production.
We drove through Holbrook after we left my property. This is a picture of the famous Wigwam Motel. It is one of the few
original 1950s era motels to survive along the remains of old Rt. 66. If you need a place to stay the night in Holbrook,
give them a try. You'll get to sleep in a concrete teepee with a classic car parked out front. The whole place is drenched
in equal parts schmaltz and nostalgia.
On our way to Las Vegas, we stayed in Flagstaff and passed through Sedona and the Red Rock country. Patti had heard it was a
fantastic place, but had never seen it. She was absolutely thrilled by the Sedona area. She also liked Flagstaff a lot, which
is also one of my favorite towns.
This is Hoover Dam as seen from the approach on the Arizona side. The water level is really low in Lake Mead behind the dam.
Years ago when I was here last the lake level was almost to the top of the dam. The traffic across the top of the dam was
really heavy and slow. I was glad to see they are building a bridge a little way downstream from the dam to take the highway
traffic off the dam.
Finally we made it to Las Vegas. Vegas at night is an amazing sight. We cruised the strip at night and took pictures. I'd
been there before several times, but it was Patti's first time. She loved it and wants to go back again.
We stayed at the Circus Circus. It is well named, because the place was a freeking circus. Wall to wall people, kids and
noise, 24/7.
We got a free room there (see below), otherwise I would have stayed somewhere quieter and less crowded and with fewer kids.
The Tuscany, which is off the strip, smaller, less crowded and more mature would be my place of choice. The Tuscany also had the best
food of anyplace we ate in Vegas, and at very reasonable prices.
We had to sit through a timeshare
sales pitch in order to get our hotel room for free during our stay. The high pressure sales pitch unnerved Patti. I on the
other hand thrive on that kind of thing. I strung them along and got every freebie out of them we could before telling them
to take a hike. You can't walk through a hotel lobby, shopping center, or even down the street in Vegas without getting hit
up a dozen times by people hawking timeshares. It's bloody annoying. Make 'em pay for bothering you is my philosophy.
We stayed in Vegas for 3 days. We did some gambling (Patti won, I lost), lounged by the pool, went sight-seeing and did
some shopping. It was a great time. The only downer on the trip was when I backed my new truck into a post in a parking lot
and put a dent in the bumper. Patti cried. I just blew it off. The first dent had to happen sooner or later. Virgin no more.
Patti flew home from Vegas because she was out of vacation time. I started driving back East. I stopped in Prescott, AZ for
a couple of days to do some prospecting. Then I drove back to my property
and stayed there for a bit. Then I headed into New Mexico for a couple more days of
prospecting and camping before finally heading home.
I met up with this mule deer in the mountains just outside Pinos Altos, New Mexico. It let me get close enough to get a couple
of good pictures before trotting away into the trees.
Photos from my October 2006 trip to Arizona
Once more I hit the highway in October and went off in search of rest, relaxation, fun, scenery, cool weather and
changing leaves in my new adopted home state of Arizona. Each time I make the long, 2 1/2 day drive out there it
seems shorter and easier than last time. There were almost no traffic or construction delays on this trip, not
even passing through Atlanta, which almost always delays me. It was a wonderful drive with great weather all the
way there and back. There was some rain when I reached my destination in AZ, more on that below.
This year, I went to some new places and returned to some old favorites. I spent time in the Western, desert part
of Arizona, seeing the cities of Kingman and Quartzsite for the first time and exploring the desert around them.
I spent some time cruising what is left of old Rout 66 through Northern AZ. Lastly, I went back to one of my favorite
towns, Prescott, and did some gold panning in the mountains there. As usual, my first order of business was heading
out to my property and camping for a while. This year I was bedeviled by rain after arriving on my property to camp.
I had to wait it out in a motel, but for only one night though. Things dried up quickly and soon I was happily
camping, as usual.
Click on the photos to see larger versions.
This was the state of my camp site when I arrived this time. It had been raining hard, and kept on raining after I
arrived. The whole 40 acres was a sea of mud. It was a regular quagmire. So I decided to wait out the weather in
a motel in a nearby town. Fortunately, after only one day things began drying up nicely. I swear, you could almost
watch the puddles shrink and dry up before your very eyes. Soon the ground was dry and hard again.
After spending a night in the motel, I returned to my rapidly drying property and began setting up camp. Then,
another rain shower blew through. I was afraid I was going to have to retreat back to the motel, but it ended
quickly, and this rainbow formed when it was done.
Here is my campsite after a day of drying out. You'd almost never even know it had rained. This year I bought a new
tent. This is a four season tent which is better at standing up to the wind and stays warmer than my old three season
tent. I bought it because I figured that it would be especially cold since I was camping later in the year than usual.
I was right about that. The days were nice, but the nights were downright frigid. See below.
It got below freezing just about every night while I was camping. In the mornings I awoke to an ice and frost covered wonderland.
The first order of business each morning was getting a nice hot fire going to warm up over until the sun climbed high
enough to actually start warming up the world. My new tent was worth every penny I paid for it. It kept me a lot
warmer than my old tent would have, and shrugged off high winds that would have ripped the old one apart.
As usual, I brought the big, 17.5 inch Dobsonian Telescope with me
to use under the amazingly dark sky my property has.
I had a lot of fun with it, but it was really cold at night. A couple of nights I had to abandon the scope and retreat to
the shelter and warmth of my sleeping bag in the tent. Even so, I hunted down a lot of really faint objects. There were
also an unusually high number of meteors to be seen each night. Several were really spectacular, including one that took
several seconds to cross 2/3 of the sky and ended in a brilliant flash. Another was the brightest point meteor I have ever
seen. A point meteor is a meteor that is coming right at you, so you see it as a point of light instead of a streak.
I just happened to be looking at the constellation Delphinus when a new "star" suddenly appeared in the
constellation. Over a period of a couple of seconds it grew in brightness until it rivaled the brightest stars in the sky,
then quickly faded away to invisibility, all without moving a bit.
On this trip I finally got to give my home-built wind turbine
a good workout. I built it especially to extract
power from the almost constant winds blowing in my part of Arizona. I had 120 volt AC power on my remote,
off-grid property for the first time. It was great. I was able to use a lot of electrical appliances and
gizmos that I couldn't on previous trips.
I spent one full day just doing nothing but roaming around the White Mountains North of my property. This trip was a little
later in the year than usual, so almost all the aspen trees had already dropped their leaves. It was still pretty up in the
mountains though. I always love it there, any time of year.
There had been a snowstorm in the mountains a few days earlier (the same storm that brought rain to my property). There was
still snow on the ground in some places. I did some hiking and generally had a great time.
I found a nice spot in a meadow and had a picnic lunch. Out of the wind and in the Sun, the temperature was quite pleasant,
even though there were still patches of snow on the ground around me. It was a great day to be in the mountains.
This year I went to a part of Arizona I had never seen before. I went to the Western part of the state and
explored the desert around the towns of Kingman and Quartzsite. It's a very different world. This is the
real desert. I'm glad I went so late in the year. It was nice and cool. Summer there is murder. I went there
primarily to look for meteorites, which are often found in these desert areas.
I didn't find any, but had a good time exploring the desert anyway.
I've always found the desert (all deserts) to be beautiful, but harsh places. The kind of place it's nice to visit,
but you wouldn't want to live there. I had a lot of fun hiking around the desert, even though I didn't find any
meteorites. I'll be back here someday, but definitely only during the cooler months.
Here I am looking down on lake Meade from high in the mountains of Northwestern Arizona. That's Nevada on the other
side of the lake. I was within spitting distance of Las Vegas. I resisted the temptation to head on over there.
This vacation was already going over budget, even without a visit to the city of "Lost Wages." Besides,
I'd already been there several times before on previous vacations.
I also spent some time cruising along the remains of old Rout 66. I passed through a lot of towns that the
"Mother Road" had once sustained. When I40 was built and it bypassed all those little towns. Most of
them died off and dissolved away into the desert. A few towns live on though, barely surviving by selling
Rout 66 nostalgia to the few tourists who wander far enough off the interstate highway, or people, like me, who
always like to take the long way wherever they are going. Here is a photo of the Roadkill Cafe on Rout 66 in
Seligman, Arizona.
Another little town on Rout 66 is Winslow, Arizona. Winslow has a double claim to fame. Not only does Rout 66
run through the middle of town, but also was immortalized in the Eagles song Take it Easy. The song refers to
"Standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona." The people of Winslow have built a little park based on that song.
There is a bronze statue of a young man standing on the street corner (Rout 66 of course) holding a guitar.
The mural on the wall behind him depicts imagery from the song, including "A girl, my Lord in a flatbed Ford,
slowin' down to take a look at me." The mural is very well done. The girl in the truck looks like a reflection
in an imaginary window in the wall, just exactly like a real window would reflect a truck on the street beside the
statue. Everything on that wall, including the texture and the vines is part of the mural. It's really just a blank
wall.
The last thing I did before heading home was go to Prescott, Arizona and spend a couple of days in the mountains
panning for gold in the streams there. I found some too!
I'm not getting rich, but it sure is a lot of fun. This picture
shows four flecks of gold in the bottom of my gold pan. There are a lot of smaller ones too that don't show up in
photos. I found more gold on this trip than all my previous prospecting trips combined. I'll definitely be back to my
secret little gold panning spot near Prescott again in the future.
