Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Like most everyone else, we have been following risk reduction guidelines throughout the pandemic. But, our social distancing has allowed for some camping trips. Last week we did a short trip to Rockhound State Park, in the Florida Mountains just outside of Deming, NM. It's about an hour west of Las Cruces and we have been there for day trips and camping before. 

The weather did not fully cooperate: It was windy; There was a major dust storm; We saw light rains; And there was snow on the mountains. So we adjusted our plans. 

One adjustment was visiting the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, a remarkably diverse and interesting museum of local collections of all sorts. (There were few other visitors and everyone was masked.) We were particularly taken by the Native American pottery from the Mogollon Culture - dating about 800 to 1200 years ago. 




































There were more modern tribes and artwork represented too: this is Hopi pottery from about 1750.





And these Kachina dolls are actually modern pieces made by a local Deming artist. 





But we did get out-and-about elsewhere too. 
These photos are from our visit to the Faywood Hot Springs.














And these are from a couple of hikes in the desert and mountains.

















The Visitor Center at Rockhound State Park.


The desert as the sun sets.





















Saturday, January 29, 2022

We are continuing our display of photographs taken before we began our blog. This week is dedicated to wildlife that we have encountered along our way:  


Mountain Goats on a cliffside
Zion National Park, Utah


Scrub Jay and a female Cardinal 
Pedernales Falls State Park, Texas


Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
Pine Grove Campground, Arizona


Lizard in the desert sand 
Utah


Rufous Hummingbird 
Mavreeso Campground, West Delores River, Colorado


Dragonfly


Muscovy Duck
Blanco State Park, Texas


Butterfly
Caprock Canyon State Park, Texas


Very colorful Grasshopper
Caprock Canyon State Park, Texas


Snowy Egret
South Padre Island, Texas


Tricolored Heron
South Padre Island, Texas


Black Bellied Whistling Ducks
Estero Llano Grande State Park, Texas


Green Towhee
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado


Great Egret
Goose Island State Park, Texas


Ring Billed Seagull and Royal Terns
Mustang Island State Park, Padre Island, Texas


Brown Pelican coming in for a landing
Corpus Christi Bay, Texas


Butterfly
Matagorda County Birding Nature Center, Bay City, Texas


Great Horned Owl in a palm tree 
Matagorda Bay Nature Park, Texas


Butterflies beside the Meramec River
Onondaga Cave State Park, Missouri





Coyote
Big Bend National Park, Texa











 After leaving Haines, Alaska we immersed ourselves in the Yukon and British Columbia in Canada before emerging in Washington State again. W...