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.