Holly Days

It's been much too long since the last post. After wrapping up the season, we had a whirlwind drive from El Paso to Liberty, North Carolina to drop off the race car. From there, it was a race with the empty trailer directly to Chicago/Milwaukee, then flights back to the East Coast (ATL for Donny; Boston for me). Thanksgiving flew by catching up with family and before we know it Christmas will be gone as well.

It seems strange not going to work, and stranger still not exploring some new city, mountain or lake each weekend. Being in one spot has allowed us to spend time face to face with friends and get dressed in something that wasn't pulled from a suitcase or worn at least twice a week, every week this year. Phew. I am taking on an odd project now and then to keep some sort of income rolling in for the interim. The last one was part favor for a friend and part crazy way to get in the holiday spirit. It was a promotion for Yahoo that involved being filmed and photographed in Times Square with 160 other Santas. (That's me in the middle to the left, above. We got to keep the suit, making it more than worth it!)

We've got some travel plans in the works, however. The next adventure will be pure vacation, and not a side trip from work. No hints for now, but we're both VERY excited. In the meantime, we hope everyone has a joyous and peaceful holiday. Stay tuned for more to come in 2007!

Gypsum Dunes

As an all-too-appropriate last outing for this tour, we visited the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. These massive dunes of gypsum sand fill 275 square miles of the Tularosa Basin at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. Gypsum is hardly ever found as sand because it dissolves in water, but since the basin has no rivers to drain it, the gypsum basically stays put. Not many plant or animal species have been able to adapt to this harsh and ever-changing environment, but a few, including a pocket mouse, two lizards and several insects, have evolved a white coloration to blend in with the sand. The pictures of them in the museum looked like they had all been bleached. The dunes themselves are impressive. We felt like just over each next one we should see the beach, but it was more like the deserts where people could easily become disoriented and hopelessly lost. We were lucky to have a cool day for our hike. We also got a good shot of the US Gypsum truck among the gypsum dunes. Addl. pics click HERE.

Bomb Your Beer

Our week in Phoenix leading up to the NASCAR race was pretty hectic. We did however get a chance to have Japanese food twice while we were there. We discovered a trend by accident. After ordering a beer the waitress came out with the beer plus a bottle of sake. At first we thought she didn't understand our order. Upon further investigation it seemed that every beer she brought out was coupled with sake.

So our second night out for dinner at another restaurant we noticed on the menu that you could make any beer a "bomber" for a dollar more. We both had heard the term before but it seemed like the Phoenix area was crazy for the Sake Bomb.

VIVA!

If anyone noticed the gap in posts after we visited Zion, it's probably due to our week in Sin City. Being limited by the size of the trailer, and since most of our events were in North Vegas, we checked in to the Fiesta Hotel and Casino. This is one of the "Station" group, known to be more local and not as flashy as the casinos on the strip. We signed up and got an Amigo Card right away, so we could start accumulating bonus points along with our winnings.

Embarrassing as it is to admit, we raced home from work each day to plant ourselves in front of the penny video slot machines. Since it had paid off in Reno, Donny stuck with the Goldfish game. If you bet ten extra credits, the Bubble Bonus is randomly initiated. Different fish swim down and you play various bonus games. There's also a fish food bonus where you have to match cans before picking a turtle at the end. He also boldly stepped up to the table and abused the novice dealer in Texas Hold 'Em.

My system was a little different. I played Coyote Moon for my sister Caroline, the Adonis game for a young man by that name, anything with a water theme (Mermaid Treasure, Dancing Dolphins, Lobster, Shrimp and Crab Mania, etc.), and Hexbreaker in honor of Halloween. Ultimately, as the casinos count on, we came out losers, but we got many hours of entertainment, countless free drinks, and stayed pretty much within budget. Oh yeah, we were able to afford breakfast on the last day with the points from our Amigo Card.

Zion's HIdden Canyon Trail

On our second day in the park we decided to try to get away from the crowds. We read about a Hidden Canyon trail and thought it sounded right on.


The trailhead starts at Weeping Rock, which produces some pretty amazing hanging gardens. According to our shuttle driver the water takes 1200 years to penetrate through the rock and feed the greenery.

Our hike started with a well maintained path and slowly turned into sand and rock. Before reaching the mouth of Hidden Canyon you must use several anchored chains to make your way around some cliff edges. There was little danger of actually falling but there was always a small feeling in the back of your mind, what if...
The floor of the canyon itself is a dry creek bed. This probably has some run off during spring from snow melt, but when we arrived it was like walking on the beach. Hidden Canyon was narrow and steep-walled. The sandstone was carved out by the wind and water in some pretty interesting formations. Near the end of the canyon there is a free standing arch that was about twenty feet across.

The canyon gets more and more narrow until no amount of climbing and scrambling without canyoneering tools will get you any further. We ate our gas station ham and cheese sandwich with a granola bar and a swig of water while sitting on a fallen log, and made our way back.

For more photos, click HERE.

Don't Look Down

With all of the amazing national and state parks we've seen on this trip, Zion really needed to shine to impress us. It shined indeed . . . and glowed, sparkled and dazzled while it was at it. There were a few unique features we really liked. Zion requires visitors to ride a free shuttle along the scenic route from the main entrance. There is another road that crosses the park through a tunnel heading toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but large vehicles require an escort to get through the tunnel. You can get off the shuttle at any point, and the driver gives some general history and tips along the way. We chose to do the 5 mile Angel's Landing hiking trail. It was steep, with some areas passed only by holding onto chains in the rock while looking straight down thousands of feet.

Later in the afternoon, as the sun got lower, we walked the Emerald Pools trail. This hike was more woodsy, with spectacular fall foliage (who knew you could find that in the southwest?). The contrast between the colorful leaves and the stark red rocks was striking. Add to that the Virgin River flowing below, and you really couldn't ask for more. See photos HERE. For a couple quick elk duels click HERE.

Green Cacti, Blue Angels

It's back to shorts weather after the Pike's Peak Colorado snow! Phoenix is still in the low 90s
in the October afternoon. We did a challenging hike in the White Tank Mountains, and placed
our Jeep (see "Green Jeep Bug and Bugling Elk" entry from 10/8) in a new geocache for someone else to find. Click HERE for some lovely desert photos.










For the next activity of the weekend, we scored some VIP tickets to the Goodyear Balloon and Air Spectacular through a coworker in the office. Her brother is Public Relations Officer for the Blue Angels. It was a great show! Those photos are available by clicking HERE. Watch a couple of videos HERE.

Super Hairpins

From Colorado Springs, it's a short drive to Garden of the Gods. There were some neat rock formations, and lots of climbers, but we'd been spoiled recently by Moab, so we opted for a quick look around and continued on. The next stop was the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. These are authentic representations of Anasazi culture over 700 years old. The attraction has been open to the public since 1906! Construction on the three-story building below the cliff dwellings, which now houses the museum and shop, was begun in 1898. Various additions were made over the years, and the buildings were occupied until 1984.

It's about 20 miles up the partially paved Pikes Peak Highway to the summit, 14,110 feet above. The peak is the second most visited in the world, second only to Mt. Fuji. In the mid-1800s, Pikes Peak was a symbol to the gold seekers heading west. "Pikes Peak or Bust" became their slogan. The road has very few guard rails, and the hairpin turns that run the whole way up are truly hairy. The drive offers dramatic views, though, and impressive, sweeping vistas. Travelers are cautioned to watch out for sudden changes in the weather. We got caught in some light snow on the way down. Check out some photos of the trip by clicking HERE.

Green Jeep Bug and Bugling Elk

Just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, we started what was probably the most challenging hike of the season. The trailhead was a few miles down a dirt road, and unmarked. We only found it because its coordinates were listed as a good place to start searching for a geocache. This cache contained one of the much sought after 2006 Green Jeep Travel Bugs. This item just had to be in our log, and a photo of the jeep, with the theme of "Adventure" would also give us an entry into this month's challenge.

Unfortunately, when entering the cache's coordinates into the GPS, the last two digits were transposed, and we did an extra mile at least climbing through boulder fields and bushwacking through dense underbrush and trees on the steep slopes of Palisade mountain. Cell phone service was restored at the summit, and thank goodness our day's savior, Ramon, was able to log into geocaching.com remotely to give us the proper coordinates. The first few photos in the web album (see link below) are from that hike.

Needing to slow the pace a bit, we head into Rocky Mountain National Park. The park has over 350 miles of hiking trails itself, and is home to elk, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep, black bears, coyotes, cougars, eagles, hawks, marmot and more. Our timing was perfect to see large groups of elk coming down from the mountain to graze in the late afternoon in the meadows. Fall is also time for the elk rut, and we heard several males bugling in an attempt to gather a harem. The bugle indicates a bull's size and physical fiteness. Once he has his cows, the bull keeps them in line, herding them in the direction he wants them to go with warnings and bumps with his rack when necessary. Check out this informative article on the elk rut.

Check out the day's photos by clicking HERE.

Also by popular request here a couple videos of the day. Video Link

Holy Moab

Moab, UT is one of the most beautiful spots we've been this year. We wish we'd had more time there. It may even deserve a return trip someday. Just a short trip from downtown Moab you can reach Arches National Park as well as Canyonlands National Park. Nearby Dead Horse Point State Park is where Thelma and Louise took their famous plunge. All three are worth a look. Special thanks to Desert Highlights and our guide Ben who made our canyoneering trip so memorable.

Here is a link to our Moab photos-

http://picasaweb.google.com/heathertamara/Moab

Long-Awaited Coast and Falls Pics

Here they are at last. Take a moment to click the links below and see some beautiful photos of the Oregon Coast, the Trail of Ten Falls at Silver Falls Park and the Multnomah Falls area near the Columbia River Gorge.


Coast-
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Oregon/Coast/

Falls-
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Oregon/Waterfalls/

Oregon Coast

This is just a teaser. We took some gorgeous pictures of the Oregon coast from Tillamook up to Seaside. A link to the photos will appear here soon.

Portland's Gardens

Portland's Forest Park has miles and miles of hiking trails. After wearing ourselves out with a 12-mile hike on Saturday, Sunday was for a little relaxation. The Japanese Garden at the edge of the park was beautiful and very authentic. It includes five formal gardening styles: a pond garden (see above), a natural setting garden, a sand and stone garden, a flat garden and traditional tea garden. Just down the hill, the International Rose Test Garden bursts forth row after row of fragrant flowers. Ever since its founding in 1917, the garden has received the best roses from around the world.

Totally Tubular

At about a mile deep, the Lava River Cave is the longest lava tube in Oregon. It was created by lava from volcanic eruptions flowing through to feed the front of the lava flow. The temperature in the cave is a cool 40°F year-round. There are some geologic formations similar to other caves, and some specifivally volcanic. Hollow cylindrical “soda straws” were formed by escaping gases, and other cone-shaped formations were created by remelted lava dripping down from the ceiling. Toward the back of the tube, sand gets thicker and thicker until it completely blocks off passage. We made it as far as hands and knees would allow.

Boise Area Adventures

Idaho in general has proven to have much more to offer than we'd imagined. After a single event in Sun Valley (most of which is owned, supposedly, by Demi Moore and Bruce Willis), we arrived in Boise. We made the most of the weekend. Saturday was for mountain biking in the foothills. The way up was a killer, but we were rewarded for all that work with a speedy, breezy descent.

Sunday we went whitewater rafting on the Payette River. Cascade Raft Co. showed us a great time on it's tour called "The Rush," which included Class III and IV rapids. Our guide, Dustin, was professional, passionate about the outdoors, and not hesitant to share his opinions. I liked his pro-wolf water bottle that said "Little Red Riding Hood was wrong."

Bikes, Bison, Bears and Bacteria Mats

Waterfall from the Broadway Bridge

The city of Idaho Falls began with miners, trappers, fur traders and early settlers. It's location along the Snake River ensured its survival, and adds to its appeal today. The falls themselves are created by the diversion of a dam that provides hydroelectric power. The original dam was built in 1909. Idaho Falls' three hydroelectric power plants produce 50% of the electricy needed. People, including us, enjoy strolling, jogging and biking along the 6 mile Snake River Greenbelt. 20 miles north of Idaho Falls is the Yellowstone Bear World. We got up close and personal with Stiltz the moose as well as lots of other wildlife. We actually drove the truck through the different habitats for the hooved animals as well as the bear area. For some additional pics: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Idaho/Idaho%20Falls/




Only 100 miles away, Idaho Falls is also a gateway to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Grand Teton's pinnacle is 13,770 feet, but the park as a whole has twlve peaks over 12,000 feet. (For more info on Teton, visit the National Parks Service site). Elk, moose, mule deer, bison and pronghorn roam both parks, as well as black and grizzly bears. Our big sightings were bison and elk. Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world. It covers 3470 square miles in three states (Idaho, Wyoming and Montana). The park is famous for its geothrmal areas including the super-famous geyser Old Faithful. We took tons of pictures. Check them out at: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Idaho/Tetons%20and%20Yellowstone/

Montana Blow-Out

From Spokane to Idaho Falls, we had to pass through some seriously mountainous parts of Montana. Somewhere near Missoula (thank goodness!) we had a blow-out. Not to worry, we didn't even notice it 'til we exited the highway to find something to eat. (There are two tires next to each other on each side of the trailer.) Red's Towing Service saved the day, and, since there wasn't a single hotel room to be found in Missoula, we were back on the road in a few hours. Check out the rest of Montana's highlights, including the tiny town of Dell, pop. 35, here: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Montana/

Chinook Pass

The way to the top of Chinook Pass (5,430 feet) is designated an All American Road. It was historically used as a trading route over the Cascade Mountains. On our drive up the temperature dropped from the high 80s to the high 40s! We hadn't felt anything that cold for months, and there was snow at the top of the pass. We came back down a bit and did a geocaching hike to a waterfall a few miles above the mouth of Menatchee Creek. It was a great hike that included having to cross the creek over a fallen log.

For more photos click here: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Washington/Chinook%20Pass/

Rumble on the River

For the last 41 years, Pasco, WA has hosted an annual event on the Columbia River featuring the world's fastest race boats. Several classes of hydroplanes compete for the Atomic Cup during this action-packed weekend. Civilian and military aerial performances by a Navy F-18 Super Hornet and and F-16 Viper, among other aircraft, provided additional excitement between heats. The event generates publicity, attracts visitors and focuses attention on the water, climate and recreational aspects of the Tri-Cities area. For more pictures of the day, click: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Washington/Tri%20Cities/

Larrabee State Park

This beautiful area is a bit over 100 miles north of Seattle, near Bellingham, WA. It includes 8,100 feet of saltwater shoreline, two freshwater lakes, tidelands and deep wooded forests from sea level to 1940 feet. There are also lots and lots of hiking trails. The one we took was supposed to lead to "Lost Lake." As far as we are concerned, it's forever lost. We walked and walked, but never found it. What we did find were lovely views of Mt. Baker, the San Juan Islands and Samish Bay; fragrant paths lined by cedars, firs and birch; moss covered rocks; curious squirrels and countless chatty birds. In case you history buffs, were wondering, the park was officially named in honor of Charles Xavier Larrabee (whose family donated the land). It became Washington's first state park in 1915. See more photos here: http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Washington/Larrabee%20State%20Park/