Pink Geranium

It is so hard to get any decent photos of the Sandia Mountains and my flowers without getting the power lines in them.

Arches Revisited

Ten days ago I left Hovenweep National Monument and continued north toward Moab. My intention was to stay a few days and spend some time at Arches National Park. I immensely enjoyed my visit there, about a year ago. However, after a stop at the visitor center, where I learned that most of the campgrounds in the area were already full and booked for the weekend, I resumed driving. There is a State Park at Green River about 45 minutes northwest of Moab and, as luck would have it, they still had quite a few campsites available. It was mid-afternoon when I checked in and before the sun set the campground was full.



The next morning (Friday the 13th), I decided to stay at Green River State Park for the weekend. It was a gorgeous day and after doing a few chores in the morning took a drive over to Arches National Park.





One of the numerous formations at Arches. It was late afternoon and nearby formations cast their shadows, slowly creeping ever closer to this formation.





Another formation silhouetted against the skyline.



The snow-capped La Sal mountains rise up in the distance and dominate the horizon



Balancing Rock. From this angle it really does looks like it is doing a balancing act.



But as you walk around it, the angle of view and perspective change; it is securely attached to the base rock. In time, the wind and rain will erode the base further and some day, in the distant future, the balancing rock will be no more.





And, of course, the setting sun marked the end of another beautiful day!

Seminole Canyon State Park

After leaving Padre Island, I headed west on Texas Route 44 connecting to U.S 83 west of Encinal. From there it was north to Uvalde, which has a very nice public library with excellent wifi, where I was able to schedule those posts on Padre Island. The next morning it was west on U.S. 90 with Big Bend National Park as the next destination. I was tempted to stop at one of the camping areas in the Amistad National Recreation Area just west of Del Rio but the campgrounds I saw weren't all that appealing so I continued on a little ways to Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock.

The campground was on the top of a very large hill. The sites were quite nice, with a covered picnic table, which provided some protection from the sun but none whatsoever from the wind!

Arriving at Seminole Canyon in the early evening of February 19th, it was too late in the day to hike the trail to the canyon, a six mile roundtrip, but it wasn't too late to catch a wonderful sunset!

Early Winter Wonderland on the Arrowhead Trail

More than a foot of snow already blankets the landscape along the Arrowhead Trail in Northeast Minnesota on November 23, .

Change of Venue

After leaving Picacho Peak State Park, I stopped in Tucson long enough to use the wifi and check weather reports. It really didn't look good anywhere. It seems that those winds that blew in from California and wreaked havoc in many places also changed weather patterns. There has been a cold spell in southern Arizona the past few days. I checked weather in southern New Mexico and it didn't look much better.



So, I headed toward a place where I've stayed several times. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best of decisions. But it is what it is.



On Saturday, December 3rd, I arrived at Kartchner Cavern State Park (south of Benson, about 10 miles from I-10) and decided to spend the weekend, knowing that the temperatures were going to be cool. At the time I just didn't realize how cold it was going to get! For the next three days the daytime temperature did not get much above 40 degrees and during the night it dropped into the mid 20s.



Actually, I was quite comfortable as long as I stayed in the van! Since being on the road for so long, I've learned a few things – like how to run a heavy-duty extension cord through the window so that no outside air enters... It's quite cozy in the van with a little heater on. So in spite of the cold weather I enjoyed my stay here. It's a great little park. I didn't take advantage of the nice trails but did take several short walks daily to help keep the blood circulating ;-)





This was the view from my campsite at about 8:15 on Monday morning when the temperature was about 28 degrees! I thought that the clouds might be clearing, but Mother Nature had other ideas.





Less than 15 minutes later the dark clouds rolled in. We even had snow flurries for a short time Monday afternoon.



Tuesday, December 6th - - I've left Kartchner Cavern State Park and am making my way further east. I'll be taking my time, and a meandering route, through New Mexico and Texas to northeast Louisiana to spend the Christmas and New Years Holidays with my friends (who are also distant Joslin cousins). It will be nice to spend the Holidays in the company of family and friends.



Below is the temperature map for the time this post was actually written... looks rather chilly everywhere in the U.S. except the southern-coastal areas!! Yuck.





One advantage of staying in one place for a few days is that I was able to get some genealogy posts written and scheduled. So for the next few days that is what you will see here at kinexxions...

At Griffith Stadium

The Village of Eastport

Tuesday, September 18th - - So many things are "the eastern-most" thing here in Maine - the eastern-most campground, the eastern-most town, the eastern-most point, etc. The Village of Eastport lays claim to being the eastern-most port in the United States. It was one of the places that I was told that I "had" to visit - a quaint little fishing town that is the epitome of all Maine fishing towns.



What I found was a quiet little town. Quaint, to be sure, with little shops selling a variety of artistic and crafty goods. And, of course, the harbor filled with boats.