LivingOurDream: November 2013

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Settling in at Tumacacori

Hi All,

We have settled in at Tumacacori National Historic Park south of Tucson. We went right to work setting up a booth at the Grassland Festival at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

One of the exhibitors had this beautiful Harris Hawk.

Sitting by our coach at the park we saw this lovely sunset.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Organ Pipe-Day 2

Hi All,

Today was our last day of "vacation". Tomorrow we drive about 200 miles to Tumacacori and begin another volunteer gig at the historic park there.

We drove and hiked around more of Organ Pipe today. One beautiful vista after another.

The yellow green bushes you see in the foreground are creosote. The bushes are never clumped together, always 5-10 feet apart. It's biological warfare to protect their access to water. The creosote bush roots create a substance that prevents germination of seeds from other plants. Pretty clever for a plant.

The new growth on the Organ Pipes is very pretty.

This rock formation reminded us of the sphinx!

While eating our picnic lunch, we had a visitor looking for handouts.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Monday, November 11, 2013

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Hi All,

Our last desert park visit is snuggled along the Mexican border south of Phoenix.

The cactus the park is named after usually grows in Mexico but exists here on south facing slopes where it is warmer.

Lots of saguaro cactus as well

From the mountainside we could see far into Mexico

While the sun backlit this hedgehog cactus.

When the sun set it was gorgeous. The bright spot on the upper left is Venus.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Friday, November 8, 2013

Joshua Tree National Park

Hi All,

The drive from Death Valley to Joshua Tree was 250 miles of stark Mojave Desert. Joshua Tree at 4,000 ft elevation gets only 4 inches of rail annually but that's double the rainfall on Death Valley.

The Joshua tree is a large branching yucca plant. The other feature of this park is the rock formations.

Is this one a Hershey Kiss or one of the seven dwarfs?

Keys View provides a look across the valley towards Palm Springs. The dark brown line on the valley floor is the San Andreas fault!

Here's a panorama from Keys View

The geology here is fascinating.

The park calls this "Skull Rock"

We found lots of other shapes including breaching whales, aliens, Easter Island statues and the Olympic torch. Great fun.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Death Valley-Day 3

Hi All,

This morning we drove from Furnace Creek 190 feet below sea level to Dante's View at 5,500 ft. The last quarter mile climbed at 15% and, yes, there were bicyclist up there!

The view across Death Valley was awesome

Next we hiked Natural Bridge Canyon.

A curious geologic feature and a nice hike

Last stop was the Harmony Borax works. We remembered 20 mule team Borax but didn't realize those poor 20 mules had to pull these loaded wagons 165 miles through the desert to the nearest railroad.

We had a great time in Death Valley and left a few sites and hikes for a future visit.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Monday, November 4, 2013

Death Valley-Day 2

Hi All,

We started the day at sunrise at Zabriski Point. Unfortunately, since we changed the clocks Sat night, we were up at 5:30 for sunrise. So much for getting an extra hour ;-).

Definitely worth getting up early

After breakfast back at the coach, we drove 60 miles north to Scotty's Castle. This place was built in the early 20's as the winter home of a very wealthy Chicago Banker. The complex is at 3,000 feet elevation, adjacent to a 300 gallon per minute fresh water spring.

Spanish colonial style inside and out.

Quite the gun collection

This huge cottonwood grows near the spring

Next stop was Ubehebe Crater formed 2,000 years ago by a volcanic steam explosion.

Mesquite Dunes came next. Miles of sand dunes loaded with critter tracks.

A great day.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

www.livingourdream2011.blogspot.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Death Valley-Day 1

Hi All,

From the glitz of Las Vegas to the stark beauty of Death Valley National Park in 125 miles!

In the visitor center we learned about the superlatives, highest temperature ever recorded on earth(134), lowest spot in the Americas(-282 ft) and the longest stretch of 100 plus degree days (154!). Then we headed out to see for ourselves.

Our first stop was Golden Canyon, a 2.5 mi trail through stunning rock formations. Judge for yourself.