Please be patient.

After being dragged across the coals, demeaned, threatened, and otherwise criticized (all by one person), for not blogging I thought I would offer a feeble excuse. We went to Riverton, Wyoming for 8 days on family (Denise's) business and if you knew Riverton you would understand why there was no reason to photograph or write.

We arrived in the Black Hills of South Dakota yesterday and are now in the trailer hiding from a repetition of downpours. The campground is just south of Deadwood where this weekend is Cool Nites Deadwood. It is a 50s-60s thing with zillions of restored automobiles and bands playing rock music that has no hope of being restored. The area just got rid of the motorcycles and they attracted cars. This is one of the most beautiful NATURAL areas of the country and they bring in noisy, smelly, polluting machines. Isn't our truck enough? They should have stopped after defacing a perfectly good mountain with carved heads of presidents.

Anyway, check back as I can promise there will be pictures of bison (better than cats on Facebook) and more than likely the 1880 Train. With luck maybe something a tad more rare.

The Eagle has Landed, or maybe just about ready to take off.

Just north of Kremmling, Colorado, is a reservoir lake part of the Wolford Mountain Project. We were pleasantly surprised to find a nest of Osprey. The birds were less than pleasantly surprised. Daddy raised the alarm, or maybe a warning to us, the moment we got out of the truck. As I tried to find a better sun angle he glided toward us but veered off and found a nearby utility pole. I think that these birds might have been introduced, as our bird book suggest they would be very rare in this part of the country.

 

 

Packer Saloon (Give or take a lie or two)

Yesterday I made reference to the Packer Restaurant. As you can see in the photo I misspoke. If you look closely you will see an icon on the sign, yes, a football player. The Packer they are referring to is a Green Bay CHEESEHEAD! They do however have the Cannibal Grill so the relationship to Alferd (you will also see it as Alfred) is not ignored. What is also to be noted is that you will see an overwhelming number of signs, even nearby in town (Lake City),warning you that this is BEAR COUNTRY! Apparently the stupid cheeseheads are disregarding the warning. So, "BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS....'

Lake City, Colorado

The RV park is at 9300 feet and I am able to walk the 100 yards or so to get the two mountain photos on the right. The sheep we had to drive about 5 miles on something laughably called a road. We will be here until Sunday and then move farther, or is that further (?) north. The wifi here is not very convenient so I do not know if I will post very often. The area is so stunning you almost have to say a lot or nothing. Lake City does have the Alferd Packer Restaurant. For those who don't know about Al, do a web search.

 

Fort Union

Sorry for the lack of posting but the wifi is less than great at our current location. We are back in the Taos, New Mexico area. Having seen most of the local sites/sights we ventured east to the remains of Fort Union. It was the main US Army post in the southwest. The first fort, pre Civil War, was built to protect a section of the Santa Fe Trail. It lasted only a short time and the next fort was an earthen "star" shaped fort constructed not only to guard the trail but to block invading Confederates marching north from Texas. It was never tested and was replaced by a large complex, a small part of which is in the photos to the right. The complex included the military post and a quartermaster's depot that received and transshipped supplies for the military posts throughout the southwest. The Park does a very good job at interpreting the scale of the operation. By the standards of the west in the second half of the 19th-century this was a small city.

 

OK, it is the south end of a pronghorn facing north but if you have ever been near one of these beasts you will realize this is the normal view.

Aztec Ruins and arches

Aztec Ruins is a NPS site in Aztec, New Mexico. It has nothing to do with the ancient Aztec Culture. It is a complex community in terms of the architecture, c.1200 AD. The first two photos are the exterior and interior of one of the Kivas. Earl Morris the archaeologist who did the first excavations in the early 20th century reconstructed the Kiva in the late 1930s. It does have the look of a WPA project of that time but it is interesting.

 

 One of the attractions according to the town of Aztec is quite a few natural rock arches. Thanks to the natural gas industry which has cut road everywhere to access their wells which outnumber people in NW New Mexico, the arches can be viewed. Following brochure directions, on unmarked washboard roads you drive 6.2 miles, turn right on the road you find(wheel ruts) drive 3.45 miles turn at the gas well, drive 600 yards, park and hike 17 miles northeast. OK, I exaggerate but do watch out for trucks off side roads that do not bother looking.



Finally, back at Aztec ruins is Sammy the guard squirrel. He took a break from chasing the love of his life to have his photo taken.

THE GRAND CANYON

Robin William's does a bit where he portrays a Russian comparing US culture with Russian. He says the US culture can be summed up in one word, "WOW!" This describes The Grand Canyon. If WOW is your thing, you have to visit. It was very hazy on July 25 so photography was less than good. This is one corner of a larger corner of the place.

Like Brice, I found this just too much. A visit of a few hours may not be enough time to establish an understanding, of course it is not. The size and complexity would, I believe, cause Mr. Spock to ask Captain Kirk for additional time for analysis.