Home again, home again

I bet these dogs got your attention.  They sure got ours when they ran ferociously toward us, growling and barking.    It turns out they were sheep dogs.  (Doesn't the one on the right look much like my Susie?)  The Indian woman we later saw following them said with a shy smile that they were protecting the sheep.   When Tom threatened them, they ran back to the herd.    

This happened when we walking down a beautiful canyon next to a state park: -Blue Water - in New Mexico.  

We had been camping at a park near Show Low, Arizona where I visited my cousin and her husband.   She kindly drove us all around the area, showing us the town and more, especially the beautiful countryside.   We had no idea such beautiful forests and lakes were up in the hills of eastern Arizona.

Driving through a drier part of Arizona as we headed north and east, we saw some wonderful grasses and then rock formations.

We stopped for lunch in one town, Zuni, where each house had one or more of the above out in the yard.   They must be ovens, but we don't know.

Do you see anything valuable lying  around here?  In Arizona, near Flagstaff, we had seen many vehicles pulled over to sides of roads and people out picking up something under the trees,   A ranger explained that they were picking up pinon pine seeds.  Later, in Show Low, we found them for sale, roasted and salted, not shelled, at $5.00 for a small bag. 

After looking for them on the hike through the canyon at Blue Water, we came back to our campground to find the tree by our campsite had as many as we had seen anywhere.

So Tom sweetly set about picking up a bunch for us while I made some dinner.

Now we just have to roast and shell them:  No small task.

And then what will we do?  Eat them or save them to make pesto next year? !!! ?

That evening at Blue Water, it seemed like a simple sunset from afar.

But when I zoomed up on it with my new camera,  this is what it looked like.  This is not lightening.  These are the edges of clouds outlined by the sun!

When we left there and went onto I-40 headed for Arkansas, we couldn't resist one more detour, this time through northern New Mexico.   Our first night there was at a Corp of Engineers lake north of Santa Fe.  Me, above, when we walked a trail along lake.

Driving north from there toward Chama, a small New Mexico town just south of Pagosa Springs in Colorado, I hopped out to get a picture of these Gazanias along the road.

It turns out that this area is as beautiful as any we've seen on the trip.  Great colored rock formations rivaling those in Utah near forests with a variety of trees just coming into color cut through by clear streams and lakes.      We are definitely going back to get to know this area more, maybe this winter.

On the way across the top of New Mexico near Questa, we saw these bighorn sheep crossing the road.  No really big horns here though.

Our last night camping in New Mexico was in Cimarron Canyon State Park.  We got the best site, (!) looking over this lake where people were sometimes fishing.

Now we're back in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  It's warm and humid here.  It's also green and lush, just getting ready to change to autumn.   We may report from here too, once in a while, so stay tuned.

Headed south

To a viewer, these would look like just a conglomeration of pictures - no reason for their order.  But to me, they show clearly where we were and what we noticed.

After Sequim, with a few stops, we came to McCall, Idaho, another place we'd heard would be great to check out for living.  It was beautiful there, a small town on a clear lake.  We camped in the state park nearby and walked and biked trails in that park.   Above is from a trail along a wetland that we walked.

Along that walk was a natural sofa that I just had to try out.

Later, after driving through the Sawtooths in Idaho, we camped in a forest service campground, where I saw a moose crossing a field right in front of me.  But I have no picture to prove it. Tom came and saw it too, but where is that picture! ! !

Later, we crossed the above bridge that crosses the Snake River at Twin Falls, Idaho.

One Thursday, we picked up Tom's son Jon from the Amtak station in Elko, Nevada.  

He rode with us through Nevada into Utah where where we spent a day near Glen Canyon Dam where Lake Powell is.  We camped where we watched the sun change everything as it set. 

The next night, we camped near Flagstaff, where we drove up a hill (alongside many others) to watch the lunar eclipse.

We dropped Jon off in Flagstaff, AZ where he caught a bus up to hike into the Grand Canyon.  That afternoon, Tom and I hiked a loop trail down into Walnut Canyon east of Flagstaff.  The canyon featured many former dwellings of native americans built into the horizontal lines of the canyon.

The next couple of days we spent with my cousin Barb and her husband Jake who live in Show Low, Arizona.  Barb drove us all over the place, and introduced us to her many friends.  We especially enjoyed a visit to a dude ranch where they drive their horses to lower pastures each October.  Above are some of the horses, fattened up by from the grasses grown during this good  year of rain here.

Tom and I both liked the opportunity to get up close and personal with a friendly horse.

We've been staying at a most wonderful camping park near Show Low.  From here, we go to New Mexico, then back to Fayetteville, AR, from whence we started this summer trip "to the West."