March 14, 2015

March 14, 2015

Today is 3-14-15 @9:26.  Hmmm, sounds really familiar??  Ooh,  Pi, that ubiquitous number from my engineering days.  It crept into calculations all the time.  Aimee and I are on the campus of the University of Arizona where they are celebrating this once a century International Pi Day.  Quite by accident, for it is also the site of the Tucson Book Festival.  This event is very popular with hundreds of booths set up on the Main Mall.  While some of the exhibitors are interesting, I really dragged Aimee here because two of the University science labs are world famous and are having a free open house.

Our first stop is the Science City booth where we get the last of the 10am tour tickets for the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab.  A couple years ago we attended a star show at their observatory atop our local Mt Lemmon.  It was outstanding and I have been wanting to see this sister facility.  This astronomy lab has pioneered the manufacture of the world’s largest telescope mirrors.  The 30-minute tour gives us a peak into the cutting edge technology necessary to manufacture these enormous mirrors.  The process starts with Pyrex-type glass from Japan that is melted and spun to approximate a parabolic shape.  The glass is then polished for years to produce the excruciatingly fine level of precision.  The mirror has a honeycomb structure to reduce weight and temperature distortion.  The first mirror took six years to complete.

When finished, seven of these mirrors will be combined in an array and installed in the Giant Magellan Telescope atop a mountain in Chile.  It will have the effective resolving power of an 80-foot diameter telescope.  This compares to the 200-inch Hale Telescope that was the largest for most of my lifetime.  That Hale mirror took 13 years to polish!

While we are on the campus, we also took the opportunity to tour Arizona’s Tree Ring lab.  One of the university astronomers pioneered the science of dendrochronology.  This method of dating involves collecting wood samples from all over the world and counting the number and size of the tree’s growth rings.  By analyzing thousands of overlapping tree samples, scientists have assembled complete tree ring histories going back over 10,000 years allowing dating of unknown wood samples to the EXACT year.

I guess it was appropriate that we toured both of these labs on Pi day, because both involve really big circles, albeit one glass and the other wood.

February 7, 2015

February 7, 2015

We were in bed early last night resting our tired legs.  So it is no surprise we are up before dawn.  We stepped out of our room to watch the Sunrise over the Grand Canyon.  We never tire of the view but the frigid morning weather at 7000-foot elevation is colder than we are used to. 

Before leaving the park we stop at Mather Overlook for a few photos.  I am surprised to see so many tourists out this early.

We drive south back towards Tucson.  Forty miles north of Phoenix we take the exit for Agua Fria National Monument.  The desolate area looks unappealing.  We drive the mile dirt road to the trailhead parking and are amused to find dozens of cars.  A Phoenix-area hiking club made the Monument their destination today.

We make the easy 1-mile hike following the tiniest stream bed to the Agua Fria River, nestled in a small rock-lined canyon.  It is always a treat to discover water in the desert.  At the stream junction we also see two rocks filled with Indian petroglyphs.

Even with another stop at Ikea in Phoenix we arrive home in Tucson before dinner.

February 6, 2015

February 6, 2015

Since it gets very cold overnight in the desert, we take our time getting going this morning.  After eating the 7am late breakfast, we are on the trail out of the Grand Canyon before 8am.  We ascend via the longer Bright Angel trail.  The two trails couldn’t be more different.  South Kaibab follows a spine into the canyon with expansive views and constant sunshine.  Bright Angel, instead, follows a fault line crack.  We are in the shade almost the entire 6.5-hour trek.  The first half is pretty easy; the second half is a steep killer.  Despite being out of shape we aren’t seriously huffing or puffing.  When we get to the top and remove our boots, we both can feel our burning calves. No hiking for us for awhile.

To celebrate we have a big dinner at the Arizona Room and toast our successful mini-vacation.

February 5, 2015

February 5, 2015

Since we made the long trek to Northern Arizona, Aimee decides we should take advantage and do our favorite hike for the third time.  I am not so convinced.  The Grand Canyon is very cold during the winter.  We encountered snow both times we visited in May!  After looking at the unseasonably warm weather forecast, I agree.

It is two hours from Page to the South Rim.  By the time we buy crampons (in case we run into ice in sheltered spots), get dressed and shuttled to the trailhead, it is noon.  The hike down South Kaibab is delightful.  The weather is great and we never tire of seeing the different Grand Canyon view around every corner.  As we descend we are also going back in time.  Every rock layer and every stride is like a step 100,000 years into the past.  It took us almost five hours to make the 7.5 mile journey. Since it is February, we had the whole canyon to ourselves after the first hour. 

At Phantom Ranch, we check into our dormitory accommodations and eat the best beef stew in the country.

February 4, 2015

February 4, 2015

We won the lottery!  Actually we won it several months ago.  Today we cash in our prize.  It is not a million dollars but something worth just as much to me.  After more than a dozen attempts, we finally won our chance to visit an unusual rock formation called “the Wave” deep within Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.  A few days ago on a lark we called to rent a jeep.  Partly because we are thinking of buying one to better explore the backcountry, and partly to protect our car from the eight-mile dirt access road.  Instead of a new jeep, we got a very old SUV, with 170,000 miles on the odometer, and in need of a lot of maintenance.  Not necessarily the vehicle I want to take into some of the last frontier in our country.

We crossed the Colorado River and drove into Utah.  Thirty miles west we take a dirt road south for eight miles.  I am so glad we are in a rental.  The road is very poor and crosses a still muddy deep creek crossing.  I would have turned around if we were in our sedan.

When we get to the trailhead we find a dozen vehicles already there.  We must be late.  The trail to the Wave is short (2.5 miles) but over rugged terrain.  It is purposefully left unmarked to discourage casual visitors.  The BLM provides lottery winners with a map containing photos, pointing out landmarks to follow.  The trail follows a dry wash and then traverses the slickrock edge of Coyote Butte past stunning scenery.  In less than ninety minutes we enter the Wave sitting atop the butte.

The Wave is very special.  The smooth, banded sandstone here has been eroded into sinuous shapes that resemble water waves frozen in time.  Mother Nature is truly an exquisite artist.  There are only a handful of people here and we take turns snapping photos.

Satisfied we scouted the surrounding area to see other formations.  Coyote Butte is full of beautiful and strange shapes.  On our return hike I was disappointed to see no ranger.  Even though the BLM limits the permits, apparently they don’t enforce it.  We ran into several international visitors coming out undeterred.  As with most government regulations these days, they only hurt the honest citizens.

Back at our hotel room, our legs are tired. We must be out of shape. For dinner we had Texas BBQ at a newly re-opened restaurant down the street.

February 3, 2015

February 3, 2015

We left before dawn this morning heading north. A rare winter vacation. It is a long six-hour drive to the town of Page on the opposite end of Arizona. Page sits on the Colorado River in between the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell. Outside Page, we stopped at Antelope Canyon Tribal Park on the Navajo reservation and signed up for a tour of the Lower section known as “the Corkscrew”. Since it is winter, visitation is slow and we get a private tour led by a retired Navajo Indian. We hiked a few hundred yards down a dry wash and then descended a metal ladder into a crack in the ground. Antelope is a narrow slot canyon cut into the sandstone by the occasional summer monsoon deluge. Slot canyons can be deadly at that time. Today it is dry. The allure of Antelope is that the sandstone walls have been cut smoothly in sweeping shapes that look like chocolate mousse. In the summer when the sun is overhead, narrow shafts of light illuminate the canyon floor. Our Navajo guide led us through the narrow recesses. Around every corner he would point out a rock formation that resembled some creature or face. Annoyingly he also kept grabbing my camera to take a photo of Aimee and me. That is not why we are here. We are enjoying the beauty and artistry of Mother Nature’s carving and hoping to get a shot worth displaying on our wall at home.

After the tour we drove southwest of town and hiked out to Horseshoe Bend where the Colorado River nearly makes a complete circle. A million years of downward rock cutting has entrenched this ancient oxbow within a deep canyon. We have been here before, but I am hoping the cloudy weather might display some better colors. We are not disappointed.

We end the day in Page, where we get a room at a motel overlooking Lake Powell and Glen Canyon dam.

September 24, 2014

September 24, 2014

Aimee and I flew back to the Midwest today to visit with my parents. I had a window seat and it was clear skies almost the whole way. I thought I was on a sight seeing tour because we passed over a dozen of the West’s most famous attractions, including the Hollywood sign, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and Monument Valley. Next time I need to remember to bring a detailed map so I can better identify what we cross.

In St Louis we rented a car and stayed with my parents the entire trip. They are both 94 and although age is finally catching up to them, they are still living in the house I grew up in. I only hope I can live as long a healthy life as them.

For a break, I took a couple hours and revisited Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. It literally has been decades since the last visit. This World Heritage site is the largest archeological site in North America. Cahokia was the capital of the prehistoric Mississippian Culture and in its heyday in the 1200’s was one of the largest cities in the world. The Mississippians were prolific mound builders. The largest, Monks Mound, is six stories high and has the same footprint as Egypt’s Great Pyramid.

The state built a big new Interpretative Center since our first visit. The New Visitor Center is filled with lots of artifacts mostly discovered in a small mound that turned out to be the burial site of a major chieftain. The king was buried on a bed a seashells, surrounded by exquisitely carved arrowheads and accompanied into the afterlife with hundreds of sacrificed young women. I remember my first visit inspired me to visit the Mayan pyramids of the Yucatan.

After perusing the museum, I took a brisk walk around the complex’s Grand Plaza and then climbed Monk’s Mound. From the top, you get a good view of downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch. Surprisingly I also see another even taller mound in the distance. I had to laugh when I enquired about it. It has nothing to do with Cahokia. Apparently even the new residents are mound builders… Only this one is full of trash!

September 11, 2014

September 11, 2014

Deserts are famous for having the most terrifying denizens; rattlesnakes, scorpions, Gila Monsters, tarantulas, and centipedes to name only a few. Since moving here we have really seen precious few of them. We thought their existence rare and overblown. So much so I had no qualms whatsoever running around my yard in flip-flops and sticking my hand under bushes to check irrigation lines.

Recently we have begun to realize that these creepy crawlies are really all around us. Only they spend the majority of the year living underground, patiently waiting for Tucson’s summer heat to arrive. Apparently just about the time most of us snowbirds leave for cooler climes, the local residents dig their way out of their burrows and roam the neighborhood. Thankfully most are nocturnal, waiting to come out after we have gone to bed.

If I am going to spend any significant time here during the summer, I need to be a little more diligent when doing maintenance in the yard. I got taught my lesson the other day when I was troubleshooting the irrigation system and I opened the water meter box. Before I leaned my head in to read the meter, I noticed a coiled rattlesnake (albeit very tiny) in one corner and a Giant Hairy Desert Scorpion in the other. Both too big to eat each other; but both not wanting to share this enclosure with me either.

I am making plans to schedule longer trips away next summer.

August 25, 2014

August 25, 2014

Today we sold the RV. For the last few years, as a lark, we put the motorhome up for sale every time we returned from a trip. This time somebody called our bluff. It is a bittersweet event. This motorhome has been our companion for all nine summers of Our Big Adventure. She has gotten us up close and personal with all the wonderful National Parks of this country. But like us she is aging and needs frequent maintenance.

As we close this chapter, we can’t help but reminisce about our journeys with her. We bought her without a lot of forethought but ended up traveling with her 76,000 miles, equivalent to 25 coast-to-coast trips. We slept in her 528 nights, almost a year and a half of our life. She guzzled expensive gasoline, over $22,000. While that is a lot of money, we bought her for less than a new car and she saved us tons of money we would have spent on hotel rooms and restaurants.

But ultimately we didn’t travel with her to save money; it was a lifestyle choice. Owning a motorhome meant we could travel like the wind, stopping wherever and whenever we wanted. No searching for hotel rooms; no unpacking needed. We slept in more than one parking lot, riverbank, cliff side, and deserted forest site. We had countless lunches on roadside pullouts with million-dollar views.

We may be moving into a new phase but Our Big Adventure is not over. There are still many sites to see and experiences to discover in this world. Who knows, another newer motorhome may yet be in our future.

August 23, 2014

August 23, 2014

Some friends invited us to accompany them to a wine tasting in the Sonoita, AZ area. It sounded like fun so we agreed. Every locale in the country seems to have vineyards now, including our own town, so I wasn’t too surprised to hear of one in southern Arizona. We have traveled all over Arizona, so I was shocked to discover how different the terrain is in Sonoita. After we left the interstate and traveled south we gradually gained elevation climbing tree-studded hills emerging into flat ranch country. Since we are in the middle of Arizona monsoon season, the grass is green with the recent rains. And with an elevation 2000 feet higher than Tucson, it is refreshingly cool. This just cannot be southern Arizona. In a way it isn’t; it looks more like Oklahoma, or at least the Oklahoma of our dreams. So much so that the movie with that name was filmed here.

We did tastings at three different wineries, enjoying flavorful wine, delightful weather, and good friends. Aimee and I need to find a summer ranch here.

Afterwards we returned to Tucson to attend the Big Ten Mixer/Charity event. All fourteen schools were represented. To my pleasant surprise I met two Illini alumni who were on the 1963 Rose Bowl squad. That famous team included Dick Butkus and Jim Grabowski. Their stories were fascinating. In those days, college players played both offense and defense. I am hoping some of their magic rubs off onto today’s Fighting Illini.

August 18, 2014

August 18, 2014

Surprisingly our country’s most populous state, California, is also one of our most uninhabited. Vast sections of the state are almost devoid of people because they are too mountainous or too dry or oftentimes both. We spend the whole day driving, crossing first California’s Mojave Desert and then Arizona’s Sonoran Desert arriving back in Tucson in the late afternoon. The only water on the whole journey was the thin green strip of the Colorado River. We arrived home late in the afternoon. Our one tourist stop was an I-40 drive-by photo of Pisgah volcano.

August 17, 2014

August 17, 2014

We are ready to head back to our home in Tucson, AZ. From Pismo Beach, CA we cross the coastal mountains and make a brief stop at Carrizo Plain National Monument. We entered the southern gate of this large enclosed grassland plain. Unfortunately the Visitor Center for this BLM-managed monument is only open during the winter, so we don’t go very far. The San Andreas Fault runs the length of the park. The effect of this sliding transform fault is plainly visible at Carrizo, with the fault like a road cut between the mountain ranges.

We continued east crossing the San Joaquin Valley with its many citrus groves and garden vegetable fields, like onions and carrots. All these farms need huge numbers of migrant laborers to pick the crops. So it is appropriate that once across, we climb into the Tehachapi Mountains and stop at Cesar Chavez National Monument. This park was added by the presidential proclamation of Obama in 2012. I guess it was the honoring of one community organizer by another.

This site is the headquarters of the United Farm Workers union and the gravesite of Chavez. We watch the lengthy park film but it is very poor with little history. It is mostly about several friends saying how wonderful and caring Chavez was. From a Google search, I learned Chavez helped organize the Hispanic migrant workers. Apparently he was initially very successful but his over-controlling leadership-style ultimately limited the movement’s results. Surprisingly he was aggressively anti-immigrant because he felt illegal workers weakened the union bargaining power. We took a quick run through the room of photos, looked at his grave, and continued our journey east.

A hundred miles east in the Mojave Desert, we see a sign for a Borax Visitor Center in the little town of Boron, CA. An air-conditioned tourist spot is a great excuse to stretch the legs when crossing the desert. The Visitor Center turns out to be associated with the US Borax production plant and sits high on a hill overlooking the facility. We watched their movie and then perused the exhibits. The factory sits on an ancient dry lakebed where Mother Nature concentrated boron compounds for millions of years. Now borax crystals are mined from a huge open pit and then purified. Aimee and I laugh at the many now famous stars who cameo’ed in the TV show Death Valley Days and its 20 Mule Team Borax corporate sponsor.

Overheating we stop for the night at a private campground just east of Barstow, CA. Fortunately it has a pool that we jump into to cool off.

August 16, 2014

August 16, 2014

If we were looking for cool weather, we found it. It is downright cold on California’s coast. I am not sure I would live here, but Pismo Beach is a great respite from the summer heat.

We took a second long walk on the beach. We are intrigued by the sea life washing ashore. There is even a dead seal. Big piles of kelp are scattered along the shore. Some of the kelp has thick long hollow rubbery tubes that are incredibly strong; others are flat sheets of yellow. Kelp has to be Mother Nature’s version of the first plastic.

Hundreds of sand dollars also litter the beach. On the walk back we load up with four handfuls of sand dollars. We will have to figure out how to bleach them. There is also some strange blue rubber sea creature with a cellophane-like sail attached. (A later Google search tells us it is a Velella, commonly known as a Sea Raft, that floats on the ocean surface).

August 15, 2014

August 15, 2014

From the San Joaquin Valley of California, we took the highway south heading for home.  Since we are not ready for hot weather yet, we make a detour west.  Leaving California’s breadbasket valley we cross the dry coastal mountains.  After almost two hours of winding narrow roads, we hit the Pacific Ocean in Pismo Beach.  I have always wanted to camp on the beach so I head straight for the beach access and pay for a one-night stay.  I head down onto the compacted sand and Aimee has a heart attack.  She is positive we will be swept to sea over night.  To prevent a family breakup, I do a U-turn and head back to the road.  With some difficulty we find a very expensive site at the local state park.

To see what we missed Aimee and I take a walk along the beach.  There is a constant stream of motorhomes of every style arriving; many are pulling dirt bikes, dune buggies and ATVs.  The line of beach campers stretches for several miles.  And we are missing the party!

August 14, 2014

August 14, 2014

From Sacramento, CA we drive through heavy rush hour traffic toward San Francisco. We are heading there to see Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, a site that sits on an active naval base. It has limited public access because it is a munitions loading port. It is only open a handful of days a year. Several weeks ago in Idaho, I checked the park website and discovered it would be open today; we quickly signed up and rerouted our trip to go past the bay area.

Our meeting point is the John Muir National Historic Site in the suburb of Martinez. We arrive early so we have a chance to visit the remodeled Visitor Center and watch the park movie. John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, is considered by some to be the father of the National Park System.

At 12:30 we meet for the Port Chicago tour. The park ranger starts with a ten-minute film about the event. During WWII Port Chicago was the primary spot where munitions were loaded onto ships for transport to the Pacific theater. Because it was a dangerous and backbreaking job, it was assigned exclusively to Negro troops. Like all tasks during war, it was rushed, short cuts were taken, and safety precautions often ignored. As a result a massive explosion occurred on July 17, 1944. 320 sailors and civilians were killed, the majority black. The surviving black troops were ordered to start loading again with no change in procedures. They refused. Even after threat of death by firing squad, 50 remained adamant. They were court-martialed and sentenced to prison.

After the movie, we were driven by the park service onto the nearby base. The remnants of the destroyed wharf still sit offshore with a memorial built onshore. The ranger talk gave us more details of the munitions loading process and the aftermath of the event. The tragic details remind me that more Americans lost their lives during WWII from accidents than at the hands of the enemy. This includes my uncle who was killed while constructing a base in the Pacific. My father had a near death experience when his brand-new bomber developed an engine oil leak over Oklahoma on the way to the Pacific.

From the Bay area we left town in heavy traffic and spent the night at a private park in Santa Nella, CA.

August 13, 2014

August 13, 2014

From Corning we continued south to Sacramento, the capital of California. In the evening an old roommate of mine from the University of Illinois picked us up for dinner. It probably has been almost thirty years since we last saw each other. Can I really be that old?

We had a delicious dinner with our wives in Old Sacramento overlooking the Sacramento River. After dinner they gave us the dime tour of this restored area. We are pleasantly surprised how nice and big and historic it is. We will have to come back again during the daytime.

Sacramento hit the big time during the California Gold Rush.  John Sutter had a wharf here at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers.  It turned into the major transfer point for supplies going in and gold coming out.  As with all gold rushes, the people who made it rich were those that provided the mining supplies here and in San Francisco.  Today Sacramento is affectionately named Sac-a-tomato for all the tomato processing done here.  Tomatoes decorate local highways near every pothole and sharp curve.

August 12, 2014

August 12, 2014

From Castella, CA we drove south on I-5 past an almost empty Lake Shasta. The severe drought California is experiencing must be the culprit. The hundreds of houseboats aren’t stranded yet but they look unusable.

Farther along we stop in Corning, CA for the night. Corning is the self-proclaimed “Olive Capital” so we feel compelled to stop at an olive store for tasting. We tasted more varieties of olives, olive oils and spreads than I thought existed. I was disappointed there wasn’t any info on how olives are preserved or why the different colors. I guess I need an olive museum for that.

August 11, 2014

August 11, 2014

From Chiloquin, OR we drove south two hours along a river valley that cuts through the Cascades Mountains.  For most of it the snow-capped peak of Mt Shasta loomed ahead of our route.  While not the tallest of the Cascades it is the biggest since it arises out of a lower valley than the rest.  If only it wasn’t hazed by forest fire smoke.

Just past Mt Shasta, we stopped for the night at Castle Crags State Park.  After we chose an overpriced dry camping site, Aimee and I took a long uphill walk to the “cars only” vista point.  Aimee continues to heal.  She made it the two plus miles with little complaint.  The “crags” are the heavily eroded spires of a very old granite upwelling.  Interestingly I “hiked” to the base of this geologic beauty on our health club’s new elliptical exercise machines.  Castle Crags was one of the “simulated hike” videos available.

August 10, 2014

August 10, 2014

From Prineville, OR we traveled west a short way till we finally found some flat land. We took this wide valley south past the popular town of Bend. About an hour south of Bend we left the valley and ascended into the volcanic snow-capped Cascades once again. Our destination today is Crater Lake National Park. We have been here before but I was hoping to improve my photos. That isn’t going to happen. Wildfires in the area are making the scenery hazy. I remember our first look at Crater Lake; we were amazed at the intensity of the blue water. The haze makes it much less impressive.

Crater Lake is an old volcano that blew its top 7700 years ago. It expelled so much magma the center collapsed into a perfect ring. The caldera eventually filled up with snowmelt producing North America’s deepest lake. We travel one side of the ring road stopping at a few overlooks. The wind seems to be blowing some of the haze away. Aimee and I try to get our picture taken with Crater Lake but prove unlucky. The first person we asked was deaf and couldn’t understand us. The second turned out to be an Amish boy who probably never used a camera.

After several hours we left the park looking for a forest campground. Unfortunately it was filled with firefighters. Farther along we happened upon an amateur rodeo contest. It seemed everyone with a horse was competing in this calf-roping event. Aimee was not impressed; not a single young cowboy in tight jeans was to be seen. The contestants were either female or middle-aged and beer-bellied.

In Chiloquin, OR we spent the night at another Indian casino.

August 9, 2014

August 9, 2014

From Pendleton, OR we traveled south thru country that started out as dry grass ranchland but quickly turned into steep forested creek valleys. It was scenic but the very winding roads made for slow progress. Turning west didn’t help. Eventually after more than three hours we arrived at the main unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Like Washington and Idaho, eastern Oregon has seen significant volcanic activity over the last 50 million years. Here much of the early deposits were ash-like burying and preserving a wide variety of mammal and plant life over a very long geologic window.

We first do a short hike along the Island in Time trail into the heart of Blue Basin. The ash bed here is hundreds of feet thick and has eroded into a rock amphitheater with a bright blue-green color. Afterwards we head to the Visitor Center to see fossils being delicately exposed. We then wander through the museum which has lots of examples of the wide variety of fossils found here.

From John Day, we travel east to Prineville, where we get a nice lakeside campsite at a county park. After dinner, we sit and watch the full moon rise over the lake surface. The weather is delightfully cool and dry. A great night to sit out and enjoy nature.