Shooting through Arizona

On Thursday we left Albuquerque for a 350 mile drive to Sedona, Arizona.  Along the way we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, just on the southern edge of the Painted Desert.  There was a 45 minute film about the formation of the park, but the ranger informed us of a huge storm coming our way and we skipped the movie.

It was still sunny, but the wind was starting to whip fiercely.  We couldn't make Sedona before dark so we figured we'd try for Flagstaff.  Flagstaff was right in the storm's path, and at 7000 feet it was sure to get snow.  We were in a race against the storm so we didn't linger long... driving the 28 miles through and making a couple of stops was all we could spare.

The first thing you see in the park is a view of the painted desert.  It's a bunch of eroded earth with gorgeous multicolored stripes.  Something about layers of the Chinle Formation from a zillion years ago that were exposed as the surrounding materials eroded... I dunno, I was rushed.

Eventually you start seeing broken hunks of what look like trees.  What the?!?  We're in the desert!!  Well, a looong time ago the northeast chunk of Arizona was somewhere down around the equator, and somewhere around that time there was a lake covering it.  Then the lake went away and it became a plain.  Or maybe the plain came first?... whatever - streams on the plain carried silt and downed trees and other stuff which eventually got buried in more silt.  Minerals in the soil fossilized the trees and as the silt eroded, these fossilized logs popped out.

The thing that amazed me was how the logs were all broken up into chunks and were near each other, but somewhat scattered.  I guess that kindof thing's gonna happen after a million years of tectonic plates moving around causing a ruckus.  It was incredible how you could still make out the rings and the bark, as if it were still actual wood.

Right about now we started getting antsy about all the daylight we were burning, so we may have exceeded the posted speed limit exiting the park.  By the time we got back up to the interstate, you could see the big clouds rolling in from the left.  And we still had quite a few miles to go.

Luckily we got to Flagstaff before the storm - but after dark.  They were going to be getting a dumpload of snow and we didn't want to get stuck up there, so we pressed on to Sedona.  That drive was a real treat.  It began to rain, then it began sleet... we were on a two lane road, in the dark, with mountain curves and 6-8% grades, surrounded by tractor trailers and all their noise and spray... and my washer pump was broken.  Slow and steady won the race.

We stayed in a part of Sedona known as Oak Valley, at the Bell Rock Inn.  In the morning we saw that it had snowed quite a bit in the mountains.  I hiked Bell Rock years ago but it was too cold and wet to do it now.

I don't know what this rock is called but it was right outside the hotel and I loved the snow on it.

Sedona's absolutely gorgeous - perhaps better in sunshine, and when it's a little warmer - but it's kindof a funny place.  There's a lot of magnetic activity in the area and there seem to be a great many folks trying to capitalize on it... like this shop owner.

Look out for the crystal vortexes!!  I had trouble sleeping one night so I blamed them, but it was probably all the beer.

We found some great places to eat and there are tons of amazing hikes, so we hope to get back here in more favorable weather - maybe next spring or early fall.  After we get out of here we're going to make one more stop at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, then we're shooting on home.

White Sands and Snakes

On Tuesday morning we headed off toward Albuquerque NM, and on the way we stopped at White Sands National Monument.  Whenever I think of White Sands I always think of the missile testing range, but the national monument is a vast and gorgeous natural formation of snow white sand dunes.  We were lucky to get a visit in as the Missile Range had tests scheduled on Monday and Wednesday - which closes the monument AND the highway.

White Sands lies in a basin that's not connected to the ocean, so any gypsum in the rainwater ends up laying around on the surface.  Those crystals (aka selenite) are blown around all day long and they eventually get smashed down into a fine grain.  You can actually see the wind blowing them around, and they ripple across the dunes.

I was hoping to see some bleached earless lizards... but gypsum crystals do not hold heat well, so nobody was out warming themselves.  The dunes were cool to the touch, and don't get hot even in the summer months.  They also constantly change shape and position, often burying plants and anything else in their path.  Anna beat me in a race to the top of this one.

As we explored the wondrous dunes our ears were bombarded by the ridiculously loud rumble of military jets.  Turns out, right next door is Holloman AFB - home of the 49th Fighter Wing that flies the F-22 Raptor.  We watched them screaming across the sky, doing touch-and-go's, and flying in formation.  There was one flying super high and crazy fast - it appeared to be rolling and twisting and you could see the vapor appear and disappear as it went.  I was rapt.  My phone camera failed me miserably, so I stole this F-22 with wingtip vortices off the interweb...

After we left, while driving alongside the White Sands Missile Range on Route 70/54, a tank crossed the highway up ahead of us.  How often do you see that?  The driver looked really serious so I didn't stop for a picture.

The next day we hit Old Town Albuquerque... founded in 1706 by the Spanish, it's 8-10 blocks of adobe buildings centered around a square.  The architecture and colors were beautiful.

There were a lot of shops selling junk, but we found one cool non-profit shop selling goods produced by local elderly craftsman.  I can get behind supporting that kind of business.

We came upon this Christmas tree made of used water bottles.  Damn I hate those things!!  (the bottles, not the trees)  But I figured this was a nicer alternative to letting them collect in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch <EOR>

Passed by the Rattlesnake Museum, so being a pessimist I had to see what kindof crap they were peddling.  It's apparently the largest collection of different species of live rattlesnakes in the world.  There were poisonous creatures everywhere, and tortoises roaming free on the floor.  

We spent 20 minutes waiting for gold fish that was eating off the back of a snapping turtle's head to venture into it's mouth.  He never did.  Then we were entranced for hours by a presentation of David Attenborough's "Life in Cold Blood".  Turned out to be a fun visit.

Wow.  We've travelled 7300 miles in nearly 6 weeks, and our time is almost up.  In the morning we're kicking off the trek home with a big drive out to Sedona, Arizona.  But we've got a few more things we want to see along the way!

etc, etc... That's how we drive in Texas!!

Left Louisiana and headed to Marshall Texas.  While Marshall has some great BBQ, it has absolutely NO beer selection... after a long drive all I wanted was a locally made beer.  I drove to 4 supermarkets, 4 liquor stores and a pharmacy before finding a 6-pack of micro brew... a Real Ale Brewing Company variety pack.  It was tasty too.

From Marshall we popped up to Jefferson... a very cool little town about 15 minutes north.  The original draw was the historic buildings, such as this one...

But as it turned out there was also Kitt's Conbread Sandwich and Pie Shop that specialized in corn bread sandwiches... that's right, sandwiches with corn-bread instead of regular bread, you can do that!  They were awesome, and so was the key lime pie.  Jefferson seemed to be an antique shopper's paradise.

BIG Drive across Texas to Fort Worth to see the Hegerfelds.  Chris is an old friend from high school and it'd been 3 years or so since I'd seen him.  We really just wanted to see their dogs, and their awesome neighborhood that's packed with bunglalows.

Chris and Shannon took us to this awesome lunch place in Ft. Worth... it's an empty lot that got filled with a bunch of food trucks and picnic tables.  We had deelicious tacos and some local brew.  Then we headed down to The Stockyard, where they used to ship and process cattle, and where they now sell beer on the sidewalk.  Every day they walk these longhorns down the street to give folks a little show.

As we were leaving the Stockyard, there was a guy in a jeep next to us that was really antsy to get going.  He jammed on the gas, jumped the sidewalk and flew off the curb onto the road, spinning out and sticking his arm out the window making the "horns" formation with his hand.  At the stop light he leaned out, all smiling (and likely drunk), and yelled "SH*T YEAH!!!  That's how we DRIVE in Texas!!" and then peeled off.  Awesome.

We realized we are starting to run out of time, so we left Fort Worth and made another big drive all the way across to Carlsbad.  There's absolutely nothing out there but oil wells, tanker trucks, pumps, natural gas flaring, and the stink of all that.  It reeeeally smelled like crap out there and I thought the drive might never end.

Rolled into Carlsbad - a crap little town with very expensive hotels - and after looking at a "budget" hotel that was an absolute dump we found a historic bank building that had been converted to a hotel.  For some reason I was thinking we'd be in t-shirt and jeans weather, but it was COLD.  I needed a hat (since I shaved my head) and there was snow on our car in the morning.

Headed off in the morning to Carlsbad Caverns... totally different from Mammoth Cave but still incredible.  It didn't hurt that our tour only had 5 people.  Photos couldn't do it justice, you just have to see it yourself.  Here's an attempt at a shot of the "drapery" formations on the ceiling.

After the caverns we shot on over to Las Cruces - via El Paso - to get in a good position to visit White Sands in the morning.  El Paso is across the Rio Grand from Juarez Mexico, which you can see from the highway.  Both cities are complete and total dumps in my opinion, but Juarez is worse by a healthy margin on account of the whole cartel related killings part.

It's monday night and we just got back from a local brewery/restaurant - High Desert Brewing Company - and had an very good meal and some great beer.  The Pats were killing the Texans and I didn't have the heart/guts to announce to the crowd that I was a Massachusetts boy.  Turns out tonight is our anniversary!  Neither of us ever really knows quite what day it is.

To Cajun Country

After leaving the everglades we spent a night in Fort Myers and checked out Sanibel Island the next day.  Took a spin through the Ding Darling wildlife refuge hoping to see some more Roseate Spoonbills, but only saw some massive white pelicans. Lame. Ding Darling is dead to me now.

The next day we headed up to Crystal River where we kayaked with manatees!  We saw a mother and her calf swimming together, but the springs too crowded with people so we paddled out of there. Nearby we found a secluded spot with 4 manatees that were basking in the sun, and very quietly lingered a few feet away for about a 1/2 hour. Sadly, every manatee we saw had numerous scars and cuts - one had a nasty sawtooth'd tail.  We couldn't get any good shots of the animals, so I stole this one...

Spent the next day driving backroads through Alabama - there was a LOT of cotton being grown out there.  I had no idea.  This was one of the fields.

Around noon we stopped at Conecuh National Forest and talked to an old guy from Alaska named Jim.  He regaled us with tales of salmon runs, catching 20 pounds of shrimp in 10 minutes, and other ways of living off the land. We tried to go for a long hike but none of the trails were marked... we did find a large yellow bellied cooter (turtle) that was walking into the road, so I picked him up and carried him down to the water.  I love how they stick their feet out when they're loungin around.

That night we had amazing bbq - 7.99 for a 1/2 rack of perhaps the best ribs I've ever tasted!

Spent the next day driving Mississippi backroads this time.  So many of the towns in Mississippi and Alabama are hurting badly... most of the downtown retail spaces are empty, and at least one downtown was entirely deserted.  We stopped for lunch in Natchez - a beautiful town - and checked out the Mississippi river.

There was no real great place to spend the night in Mississippi so we drove on to Beaux-Bridge Louisiana, through perhaps the most intense and spectacular lightning storm I've ever experienced.  There was so much lightning in the sky... I wish I could have captured it.

In the morning we took another long drive on local roads to get a feel for the area.  There were dozens of slow moving trucks hauling freshly harvested sugar cane.  Stopped at this amazing bakery in St. Martinville... it was run by an old Cajun woman who was speaking french with one of the customers.  She gave me a blueberry donut... best donut I've ever had.

Later that day we went for a hike in Fausse Point State Park - saw raccoons climbing trees, more gators, and Anna almost stepped on this Cottonmouth.  It's December, so these suckers are cold and can't move that fast... so it wouldn't have been able to flee if we'd gotten too close - and you know how it goes with cornered snakes.  Look at those cheeks!

Finished off the night with some tasty Sazeracs and a fantastic dinner at Cafe Des Amis where we listened and danced to some Zydeco music.  There was a fabulous painting of a horse - named "Richard" - done by a local artist... it made Anna happy so we picked it up.  Hmm... maybe she's got a good painting of a goat.

Florida Everglades

I love the Florida Everglades!  Today was our last day in the park, but we had a great visit and saw a lot of awesome stuff.  I expected to see a swamp, with mossy trees here and there, but it was more like a giant grassy field that was in a foot of water.  I was struck by the expanse of it.

On our first afternoon we did a short walk called Anhinga Trail, named after the indigenous Anhinga bird.  Anyway, we saw this guy - not a bird - about 20 yards into the walk.

That was our first introduction to wild alligators (we've since over a hundred of em)... we also saw a bunch of Anhingas, a couple of green herons, some Florida gar before it started to get dark.  On the way out we saw a big black snake on the path.  Here's a green heron we saw.

The next morning we heading deeper into the park and drove down a washed out unmarked road and ended up at Sisal Pond.  Right away we saw this wood stork (endangered) in a tree... he didn't seem to mind the jeep driving by.

After a short walk we saw a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills fly in - they're pinkish and have spoon shaped beaks.  Anna's been yappin about seeing Spoonbills for a couple of years now so we were pretty excited when they flew in.

Next came the coolest thing we saw all day... we showed up at Mahogany Hammock and there was a sign showing a Barred Owl, describing how they live in the Mahogany trees and if you're really lucky you'll see one.  Well, Anna spotted this one... we watched it for 20 minutes or more, I lost track.  It was very sleepy... yawned a couple of times, looked all around, stretched, and made 4 calls that were promptly answered by it's buddy.  It was very cool.

We stopped at Shark Alley and did a 15 mile loop on some rented bikes... it was fantastic.  Here's Anna on the ride.  Look at her go.

The ride started off cloudy, but once the sun came out these guys came out too.  He was pretty darn big.  Dozens of em came out to catch some rays.

They didn't seem to mind us walking around and riding by them.

I don't know what this guy is but I liked his yellow feet and his intense focus.

Check out this yellow bellied water snake... I've seen plenty of snakes laid out on something warm catching some sun, but never have I seen one suspended about 8 inches up in the grass.  We saw two of them and they both took off before we got too close.

On the drive out of the everglades we saw dozens and dozens of gators, blue herons, white herons, and anhingas just hanging out alongside the road.  If you get the opportunity to check out the everglades, definitely do it!

Miami or Bust (quite literally)

On Tuesday morning we left Georgia and headed down toward Miami.  Stopped in St. Augustine for a few hours that afternoon... it's apparently the oldest continuously occupied European-settled city in the US.  There was this beautiful fort, Castillo de San Marcos, which was built around 1672 after the Brits plundered the previous and pathetic Spanish fort.  It is now the oldest fort in the country.  Here's Anna standing inside the walls right before sunset... notice the stylish new look, courtesy Salon de Tom.

After St. Augustine, we forged onward but ran out of steam in Titusville, right near Cape Canaveral.  I was hoping they'd shoot off a rocket or something really cool, but it didn't happen.  I'd noticed the Jeep wasn't running so well.

Arrived in Miami around 1pm the following day... and let me say that driving in Miami is terrible.  I'd rank Miami drivers right up there with Jersey.  And it didn't help that the Jeep was running very hot - the oil pressure was low, and it varied widely with rpm.  Then we hit the traffic.  So I was a little stressed out from the traffic and from the day-long uneasy feeling that we might explode at any moment.

But we got there, and after a great lunch at a Cuban cafe, we hit South Beach to check out the Art-Deco architecture.  I didn't think Anna would like Miami, but she was in heaven exploring all the buildings.  And seeing the passed out drunk guy with a pet rabbit wearing a Christmas collar.

We spent most of the day in Miami so we figured we'd gotten the feel for the place... and since we didn't feel like getting wasted or doing any E, we took off for Everglades National Park.  Spent the night in Florida City, and the next morning I brought the poor Jeep to Vicar Auto to have it looked at.  Turns out the radiator was clogged, thus causing the extra-hot, low-pressure oil condition.  They were great... they unplugged it, flushed the system, and gave me some fresh 10w-40.

After lunch at a Mexican cafe we headed to the park, stopping along the way at a fruit stand called "Robert is here" (we never found Robert).  For some reason, they had a petting-zoo-ish-like facility out back.  I bought some delicious fresh squeezed orange juice (they're in season!), and Anna of course bought some seeds to feed the macaws, parrots and cockatiels.  She was this guy's new best friend.

I was off feeding some scraps to a couple of unruly goats when I heard some very strange guttural grunting coming from behind a shed to my right.  I figured it was a snoring goat or a lost pug.  It wasn't.  When I turned the corner, this is what I found... even the goat was shocked...

Sorry kids.  As you get older you'll learn that there are some things you just can't un-see.  And that lesson brings us to a good breaking point.  Stay tuned for the Everglades!

North Carolina to Georgia

Ashville is one of those towns that people visit on vacation, and after 2 months they move there and figure out how to support themselves later. A community of cool kids that are super friendly. We dug it. We spent a few nights here, mostly because we loved the town, but also because we were travelling hard for the previous week.


A brief discussion of the joys of food in Ashville... Ashville has a arts district in some industrial buildings by the river, which were ridiculously difficult to find. But it was worth it: some of the best BBQ of the trip at 12 Bones BBQ! Also amazing: White Duck Taco, which had Thai tacos, Fish Tacos, Duck Tacos, and all other sorts of weird tacos by a talented San Francisco chef. 

Also worth mentioning: Ashville is the beer capital of the east coast. Despite our best efforts, we probably only sampled 2% of the beer varieties they make there. And guess who's now setting up shop there?... that's right, Chico's own Sierra Nevada Brewery!

So this is kind of embarrassing, because this is the SECOND picture on the blog of me stuffing my face, but it is an accurate portrayal of our trip thus far so I will allow it. The three baskets of tacos in front of me were from White Duck Taco. All good, and made better because we could eat outside. 

We took a day trip BACK to Tennessee (this museum wasn't open a few days before) to go look for fossils since I (Anna) am a bit of a dinosaur geek. The town of Gray Tennessee was building a highway about 10 years ago, and came across the jawbone of a tapir, which hasn't lived in the United States for some 4 million years. They had come upon a sinkhole which contained millions of years of fossils. Some weird animals that lived back then in Tennessee: rhinos, camels, tapirs, giant short-faced bears, pandas, sabre-toothed tigers (that's right), and giant sloths. 

All of the animals were terrifyingly gigantic. How'd you like to see one of these buggers in the woods?  It's a short-faced bear, of the genus: bearisholyshittacus. Image stolen from wikipedia.

Here is a picture of the dig site that looked more like a hole in just about anybody's backyard:

After more than a couple of days of not knowing what day it was, we realized that Thanksgiving was rapidly approaching... AND we wanted to visit Tom's longtime friend Dan Brady in Georgia. So after some polite posturing, we crashed the Brady/Finnegan Thanksgiving! We had a great time and ate way too much. It was so much fun for me to get to know Dan and Micaela better, and to meet the Finnegan family.

This is a picture of Dan. He let us stay in the Brady mountain cabin, and whipped us up a homemade dinner. Then he pulled out some mix tapes from the 90's and we had some great memories from a few years back. Can't touch this.

There may have also been some moonshine sampling. We bought it off some guy we met on the side of the road (wink wink). It was the tastiest turpentine I've ever had!

The following night was spent at Dan and Mic's full-time house, in their newly built guest suite which felt more like a hip flat than part of a family house.  

After an amazing breakfast and some soccer with the Brady kids, we headed over to Charleston, South Carolina. SO worth a visit: amazing gardens, amazing homes. We sampled local bourbons at The Belmont and popped into Jestine's for some incredible soul food. We are always happy with great architecture and food! A highlight: we ran into Nat, a mansion owner, smoking a big fat cigar outside of his castle... Tom chatted him up and he took us in for a tour of his house! The Southerners are incredibly hospitable.

We had more of the same in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah was one of the first planned cities in the United States... They interspersed the most amazing little gardens with the neighborhoods, so all the old homes were a short walk of the most charming public spaces. I really can't say enough about these towns: they are a couple of the prettiest places I have ever visited.

We popped into a lower level antiques shop in Savannah, browsing (not really) $18,000 bureaus from the early 1800s. The owner mentioned the upper floors of the "shop", which (since we went in the basement's side entrance) we didn't realize was actually a crumbling historic mansion. We got to spend an hour poking around this lovely 1830s home. A previous owner - some poor (but not really I guess) old lady - had an active roof leak, abundant mold, peeling lead paint, and crumbling plaster crown moldings. I thought it was romantic.

The inside:

The outside:

Today we left Savannah are are on our way down to Southern Florida. Next stop: Miami and the Everglades National Park!