Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Pups Across America! - Jerry, Mitzy, and Jessie
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Rearview Mirror

Tuesday we drove to Apopka to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with relatives and friends. On an early morning walk we ran across a pair of Sandhill Cranes.





Thanksgiving Extravaganza
We had a marvelous T-day as I hope all of you did. Here are a few pics.









Click here for more Thanksgiving pics.

Pups Across America

Here are shots of Mitzy and Jerry plus their rambunctious cousin, Jessie.

Headlights

See you next week.

Tags: photography

Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Pups Across America! - The Kids go boating

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Note that this blog is a continuation of last week’s Alaska photo trip. If you missed it and like photos of eagles, check out Blog 69: North to Alaska from October 30, 2011.

Rearview Mirror

Homer, Alaska, is one beautiful place. Known for its fishing (primarily halibut and salmon), commercial and recreational fishermen are abundant in season. Gorgeous scenery everywhere including mountains and glaciers. Nature lovers have lots to see with wilderness parks and wildlife refuges taking up much of the land of the Kenai Peninsula. Along with the large eagle population there are numerous birds of other breeds, lots of brown bears, whales, dolphins, otters, seals, and on and on. Anyone who enjoys nature and beauty will marvel at this place. http://www.homeralaska.org/



Friday: Picture Perfect
Just a gorgeous day with warm light and warm temperatures. Lots of fun shooting birds in flight and a few perched, majestic avian specimens.

Tides: For those of us from Florida and others on the sea, we are used to the rising and ebbing of tides and plan our boating accordingly. However, we ain’t seen nothing like Alaska tides! (Tides range from minus five feet for a low tide to 23-plus feet for a high tide.) We experienced a 23-foot tide, high enough to shut down the road. The good news is that it allowed us access by boat to almost anywhere.



















Saturday: Rain and Snow
The weather went from light clouds and dry, medium clouds and rain, and then dark clouds and heavy snow. Regardless, it was a great day for photography. I also took advantage of the changing weather to practice making blurs. See what you think.

Eagle-Seeking Voyages
The Homer Harbor (home to one of the vessels from the “Deadliest Catch”) is two-thirds down the Homer Spit, right inside Kachemak Bay. Each day the boat captains would take into consideration the tides, winds, and weather and concur with our photo leader as to where to hunt the eagles. Several times, for example, we were in China Poot Bay. Another way to think of it is that China Poot Bay connects to Kachemak Bay, which connects to Cook Inlet, which connects to the Gulf of Alaska, which connects to the Pacific Ocean.































Sunday: Drive to Anchorage



At 9:00 a.m. I met Aussie Mark in the windy dark morning. We drove slowly up the Spit* because the front desk clerk had told me that the combination of high tides (over 20 feet) and high winds was causing waves to toss rocks upon the road. As the skies lightened up and the wind went down, we enjoyed nice weather the first 75 miles or so of our trip west, north, east, and back west. However, from there we shifted from dry, easy-driving pavement to slick, snow-covered highway. We had plenty of time, however, so we just slowed down and enjoyed the view. The trip along the Alaska Scenic Byway took us through Anchor Point, Ninilchik, Soldotna, Sterling, Coopers Landing, and Hope before arriving at Anchorage. We detoured a little taking the Seward Highway and stopped along the way past Moose Pass to enjoy the pristine solitude made up of the black-and-white landscapes











At Anchorage I took the red-eye to Minneapolis, and then returned to Ft. Myers arriving at 1:30 Monday afternoon.

*If you are not familiar with the term, a spit is a deposit of sand that connects to land and extends into the sea--a big sandbar. Our motel, the Lands End, was at the end of the spit.

Monday through Saturday: Back on Pine Island



Fortunately I had no travel planned this week, and after unpacking from Alaska, I was able to “regroup” from our five-month motorhome trip. The weather was wonderful (high 70s to low 80s). While walking, biking, and driving around the island it was great to see the eagles in or around their nests (we have 16 active nests). Friday morning I took this pic of an eagle perched just west of the post office.

Pups Across America

Here are a couple shots of The Kids on a recent boat ride.

Tags: Homer, Alaska, photography, Bird photography

Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Pups Across America! - Jerry, Mitzy and Friends
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Rearview Mirror

After a wonderful stay, we finally left Michigan, taking the last of the Indian Summer weather with us. We headed south and east on back roads until hooking up to I-69. Normally we avoid interstates, but to save time we took them the entire trip back, going through Louisville, Nashville, Chatanooga, Atlanta, near Tampa then over to Auntie’s place.















Raptor Center
On Saturday, Auntie, Jan, and I went to the Avian Raptor Center to view the birds of prey and watch the Harris Hawks during the falconry session. Just a great place.

Pups Across America

Headlights

October 16-19: Visit Auntie in Apopka (Orlando area)
October 20: Arrive back on Pine Island
October 24-31: Alaska

Have questions or comments--send them in.

See you next week.

Tags: Pups Across America, photography, Bird photography

Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Pups Across America! - Boardwalk Mitzy and Jerry Wannabe
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Rearview Mirror

Sunday: Perfect Porkies



Wow! The weather here in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was magnificent--cool in the morning gradually warming to a blue-sky, soft-breeze low 80s.

Just at sunrise we took the Pups on a hike starting close to our campground, a two-plus mile trek that went on both sides of the Preque Isle River. In the course of our hike, we came upon Manabezbo Falls, Mandino Falls, and also Nawadaha Falls. Gorgeous.









After breakfast, we all loaded up in our car and took the South Boundary Road east and north for 36 miles to the park Visitor Center (you guessed it--this is a big park (60,000 acres). At the Visitor Center, along with viewing the exhibits, we took advantage of the free Internet, a nice treat when there is virtually zip for cell phone signals for 30 miles. From there we turned east, leaving the park to go through Silver City and into Ontonagon, where we first fueled up the car and then we fueled up ourselves at a local café (I had the meatloaf plate special and Jan had a taco salad). We also bought a couple tomatoes the size of cantaloupe from an old geezer in a pick-up truck. After touring this interesting town, we headed back into the park, first driving through the modern campground to check it out. Like our primitive campground, this one is right on Lake Superior and has the same awesome views plus water and electricity. Several sites have ample room for BERT, so we would certainly consider staying there in the future.

Next we drove to Lake of the Clouds, one of Michigan’s main natural attractions. The view was nice, but the harsh light made it unacceptable for photos. From here we retraced our tracks and were back in camp by mid-afternoon. We sat outside enjoying the weather and watching our fellow campers.



Monday: Travel Day



We left the campground early, heading south for 16 miles on the same country road we had come in on. At Wakefield we turned east on 28 and drove it a couple hundred miles through the middle of the Upper Peninsula, driving through 26 small towns and one bigger one (Marquette) before settling in on Lake Superior at the Tourist Park Campground in Munising. We parked within 30 feet of the water with a wonderful view. This is about as good as it gets for our kind of camping--great view, full hook-ups, excellent WiFi, close to all sorts of things. We had fresh trout and whitefish at Dogpatch, a local restaurant, and then enjoyed our camp setting and the 82-degree afternoon.



Tuesday: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore



During the night the temperature dropped, the winds increased, and the rains started, so once again we awoke happy not to be tenters!

We loaded into the car and spent the entire day admiring and exploring Picture Rocks National Lakeshore. We took 28 east for just a few miles then connected with county road H58. My plan was for us to drive the entire 52 miles to the end of the park, and then slowly work our way back with the morning sun behind us. Well, there was no visible sun, but I stuck to the plan anyway. For the most part the road was level and smooth, and we were surrounded by trees just starting to show their fall color.

When we got to Grand Marais (this is a place we’d like to re-visit in the future), we got some coffee to go and drove around the town. On the north end we stopped at a viewing station of Lake Superior. We also drove through a campground on the lake that would also be fun to stay at on a future visit. We bypassed Sable Falls, but stopped at the Log Slide Overlook where we took the short trail ending at the site where they used to slide logs down off the bluffs. We drove along the lake and passed by the white sands of Twelvemile Beach. We would have liked to spend more time, but we had to get back to Munising in time for our appointment.











After getting back to BERT (our Big Expensive Road Traveler), having lunch, and walking the Pups, we drove down to the dock for our glass-bottom boat tour of sunken ships. Because the waters were quite rough offshore (12 to 16 footers), the cruise was cut to viewing just one sunken wreck and viewing one old lighthouse. The old wooden iron ore hauler was interesting, but the water was stirred up because of the winds so the viewing was not ideal. Anyway, it was nice to get on the water, and because of the limited cruise the price was cut in half.



Getting back to camp, we decided to go see the things on our driving tour that we’d missed in the morning. So, loading up the Kids, we headed back to Pictured Rock. We stopped at Munising Falls, then drove out to Sand Point to view the old coast guard station, which is now the park headquarters, and looked at the remains of a few wrecks that were torn up by the shore. Next we drove to Miners Falls, taking the mile-plus path down to watch the tumbling waters--very nice. From here we took another short trail overlooking the big lake and the rock structure called Miners Castle.











After that we went back to our campsite where the weather had warmed, the sun had appeared, and the winds lessened. Jan built a fire on the beach where we had dinner and watched the sun go down.

One busy day!





Wednesday: Brrrrrrr!
After a windy night, we awoke to 40 degrees and 35-mile-an-hour winds. Jan and I spent the entire day working and got a lot done. There was an incentive to stay inside as the wind never let up, the rain would start and stop intermittently, and it hailed a couple of times to boot.

The UP
I’d forgotten how pretty Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is. Lot and lots to see--one could easily spend the entire summer here--maybe we will.

Thursday: Heading South



The weather stayed the same so it was time to go. After doing an online services account management recording with my friends from Service Strategies, we rolled out of the campground at 10:15. Jan drove the bus east on 28 as I worked on the computer. At 123 we turned south and then turned south again on I-75. I drove the bus over the Mackinaw Bridge and down into the Lower Peninsula. I turned south on 31 then south again on 131. We took this all the way down to Manton where we found a campground for the night.

Friday: Our Old Stomping Grounds



Jan got us back on 131 south and we drove to Grand Rapids, stopped for fuel, and then continued on another 30 miles to the small town of Wayland. Here we stopped at an RV service center to get more warranty work done. We unhooked our tow car and headed south to stay with our good friend, Jamers, in Kalamazoo while the coach was being fixed up. It was nice to be back in our old stomping grounds. Jan is from the area, and the two of us spent 15 years or so living here.

Saturday: The Big Rivalry
Jan’s brother, Wayne, and his wife Anna invited us to the Big Game. They are big supporters of our old college, Western Michigan University, and have great seats eleven rows up on the 45-yard line. The weather was perfect for football, 70 degrees, and to top it off, this was The Big Game: Western was playing their arch rivals, Central Michigan University. Similar to the other big rivalries in football, e.g., Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, etc., there is some bad blood between the two schools. Hence, lots of nasty cracks about the intelligence and integrity of Central was bantered about in the crowd around us. My favorite comment was, “How do you get a Central graduate off of your porch? Pay him for the pizza!”

Anyway, to put it mildly, Western stomped them 44 to 14. Here are a few pics of the afternoon. By the way, the fan with the big head is Western’s president. Also note that Western is known for its fashion sense and takes pride in starting clothing trends. Note the sophisticated WMU fan wearing a chicken hat, for example.

Pups Across America

Headlights

September 18-October 7: Kalamazoo, MIchigan
October 8 On: TBD

Have questions or comments--send them in.

See you next week.

Tags: photography, Michigan, Upper Peninsula

Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Pups Across America! - Come back next week...
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Rearview Mirror

Sunday: On to Copenhagen
The whole family left our motorcoach BERT (Big Expensive Road Traveler) early to drive the half hour to the Grand Junction airport, where I arrived in ample time to catch my 6:35 a.m. flight--on to Salt Lake City, then Atlanta, before touching down in Copenhagen at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning. All easy flights and I got a lot of sleep on the pond crossing.

Monday: Lund
At the Copenhagen airport I breezed through passport control, walked to the train station, bought my ticket and boarded the first train north. Within 30 minutes I was in Lund, Sweden, where I walked to quarter mile to the Grand Hotel, my Swedish home for many days over the last several months. The skies were grey and the wind chilly--sad to be wearing a jacket in the later part of June. After checking in, I walked across the street to the Old Bull for their lunch special, a wonderful plate of salmon.



I spent the afternoon preparing for the upcoming client meeting, and then met up with Kevin, my Swedish colleague. We worked through dinner doing final preparation.

Tuesday
This was all day at our clients, sharing findings from a study we had done and making recommendations as to how to best build their services business. Good day, but a long day. We had an early Thai dinner and then went to bed.

Wednesday
Another day chocked full of client work.

Thursday
An early train ride back to Copenhagen to spend the day with another client, helping them introduce a new services offering.

Friday: Midsummer’s Eve
An old pagan tradition, dating back hundred’s of years (before Christianity) is the celebration of Midsummer’s Eve, linked to the summer solstice. Several years ago I was in Sweden at the summer solstice and was introduced to their habits of wearing traditional garb complete with crowns of wildflowers around their heads, dancing a strange dance around a maypole to traditional music, staying outside all day--rain or shine, hot or cold--eating very nasty herring and drinking a very-hard-to-describe snaps. Quite the time. If you get the chance to be invited to someone’s home, jump at the chance--just be careful of the snaps! Click here if you want to learn more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer

It is a big deal in Sweden, and today was an official holiday with many people taking time off before and after.

Waiting to board my flight to the States, I took this pic of a good-looking family.



The rest of the day was spent flying. The good news is that I made it to Salt Lake in time for my last flight to Grand Junction. The bad news is that they cancelled the flight due to a mechanical problem. So a complimentary hotel for the night, food voucher, and an emergency bag complete with a range of supplies from toothpaste to a Delta tee shirt. Oh well, so goes traveling.

Saturday: Finally Back to Camp
I took a long walk, cleaned up, had breakfast, and then took the shuttle to the airport. All went well and I arrived on time. Poor light, dirty glass, and a low-resolution iPhone couldn’t stop the Great Salt Lake from being a spectacular sight to fly over.



At the Grand Junction airport I was greeted by sounds of canine excitement and a wagging of tails that rivaled the speed of a Mercedes windshield wiper in a rainstorm. The Pups must have thought I’d been gone for a decade!

After setting my bag down, we quickly retired to the shade by our coach. We sat and chatted with camp personnel and I got a quick shot of Alan the head ranger. Also, I diligently worked trying to capture a butterfly in flight and after a hundred or more shots I finally got one that was acceptable--quick little buggers!









Long week, but a good week.

Pups Across America

Yikes! Nothing this week. I promise to do better next blog.

Headlights

June 26-August 7: We will continue our role as camp hosts at Highline Lake State Park near Loma, CO
September 4-10: Camp with Scott and Deb in Northern Michigan?
September 11-25: Visit Kalamazoo, MI friends and participate in Ribarama
October 16-31: Visit Kentucky friends
November 1: Head back to Pine Island

Have questions or comments--send them in.

Next week should be loaded with pics as we are going to Colorado National Monument a time or two.

Tags: Sweden, Midsummer's Eve, photography

Vegas
Early in the week I facilitated a business trends session for a group of senior services executive in Las Vegas. Great people, great session.

Baby Eagles
Here are a couple of images of young eagles taken in the St. James Creek Preserve on Pine Island. It is quite enjoyable watching these two youngsters start off in life.





Live Eagle Cam
Speaking of eagles, check out this marvelous, real-time close up action of an active eagle nest in Iowa. Here is the URL—take a look.

Also go to www.npr.org and search for “Eagle Cam” and you’ll see several cool postings. And of course YouTube has several video clips as well. This stuff is fun.

Snake!
While looking for birds on the south end of Buchanan Lake I heard rustling and felt movement zip my right leg—I almost stepped on a Black Racer. We both jumped back, and in a nano-second multiple thoughts went through my mind, “Yikes!”, “What was that?”, “Am I in Trouble?”, “Poisonous?”, “It was pretty fast”, “Wear boots next time”, “Watch your step”, “I’m going to live.”, “No worries” “Better take a picture.” Funny how the mind works…





As my pulse rate started to settle back to normal, this black beauty signaled his displeasure with me with some cobra-like moves that would have made Michael Jackson proud and a lacing tongue routine reminiscent of the cowboy lariat performer in a Wild West show. However, after his display, he patiently waited as I took a few images to remember this Kodak Moment.

Miscellaneous
I have also included a few random pics from Island action just for fun.











Pups Across America
Here is a shot of a reflective Jerry.



Also, a few shots from a Schnauzer shoot. Cute pups—check out the Mitzy Wannabe.











See you next week.

Tags: Pine Island, photography

CONTENTS
Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week: Flower Power and Ancient Ruins
Pups Across America! - Our latest canine encounters: Aztec Al
RV Gourmet - Jan shares her on-the-go culinary secrets: Not this Week
Favorite Photographs - Pick pics, pointers, and ponderings: Prairie Dog
Travel Tools & Toys - Gadgets for fun and productivity: Cell Phone Coverage Maps
Camper’s Corner - Thoughts on were we stayed and other RV topics: Ponderosa RV Park
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading: Canyon de Chelly and SW

REARVIEW MIRROR
Start: Austin’s Home, Parker CO
Stop: Colorado Horse Park, Parker CO
Stop: Ponderosa RV Park, Antonito, CO
Stop: Desert Rose Resort, Bloomfield, NM

Sunday
Prairie Dogs
By 6:00 AM I was sitting in the middle of Prairie Dog Pasture, just off of Main Street and 20 Mile Drive in Parker. Nestled right off of a main drag and adjoining a strip mall, 100 or so prairie dogs make it their home. Our pup Jerry loves to watch these little varmints, and I promised him that I’d get him a picture or two for his scrapbook. It was a hoot listening to their tribal calls as these Meerkat-like critters sounded their warnings and maneuvered their tunnels and holes. I could pack a lunch and spend all day (of course, I’m easily entertained :’>>>).



Pretty Flowers
After breakfast we packed our travel gear and drove a half hour to the Denver Botanic Garden. For the next hour and a half we wandered among the manicured gardens enjoying the vibrant colors of nature’s palette and the fragrant smells of spring flowers. Wow, is this a beautiful place, further enhanced by an exhibit of Henry Moore sculptures placed strategically within the gardens. Even the harsh light of midday could not take away the beauty.



Back to the Park
Next we went back to the playground in the Parker park. Lots of kids today, and Austin had a wonderful time running, climbing, sliding, and swinging. This mini-trip was capped off with a chocolate mint cone from Baskin Robbins.



Senior Championship
Ironically, the final round of the senior championship that we watched on TV, was in the city of Parker, less than 10 miles from Austin’s home. However, after a “high-energy” day, I preferred the comfort of the couch over the glory of the gallery. Really fun watching these old geezers (men my age) bogey, birdie, and eagle their way around this classy prairie course. In case you missed it, Tom Lehman won it in a three-way playoff.

Monday
Laid Back Memorial Day
Up early, I edited prairie dog pics, walked the Pups, then took Austie to the playground to burn off some energy. Next we went poolside in Helman’s backyard to watch Austin play and enjoy a quiet Memorial Day.



Bad Boy, Grandma!
At one time during the afternoon, Jan scolded Austin for teasing Mitzi. After some crying at being reprimanded, Austie came up with this: “Grandma, bad boy...Grandma and Mimi take time out.” What can you say to that without a smile on your face?

Tuesday
Global Connection
My workday started with a 6:00 AM phone call followed by several others. Most of them were “foreign” calls--Taipei, Brussels, New York, and LA! I must be “time-zone challenged,” as I have a whale of a time figuring out who to call, when and where.

Back to Normalcy
While I was doing consulting work, Jan was busy getting ready for the return of Austin’s parents. Mid-PM, we picked up Aaron and Kelly at Denver International and brought them back to reality. We quickly grabbed our stuff and headed to the Colorado Horse Park where we had been storing our coach. In ten minutes we had the slides out, water connected, and juice on--we were back camping.

Wednesday
Boring day doing work.

Thursday
Back on the Road
Finally, at 9:30 AM we were back on the road after hanging out around Denver for a month. We’ve had a great time, but it was time to go. Taking Parker Road south, we picked up I-25 South through Colorado Springs and past Pueblo turning west on State Road 60 at Walsenburg. We were retracing some of our steps from last year’s motoring adventure. Viewing the Spanish Peaks to our south, we took in the vista of various shades of green across the valleys bordered by the brightly lit snow-adorned peaks. The Aspen trees were in full bud, and their bright green hue contrasted nicely with the darker pines.

Old Home Week
The state map of Colorado shows a continuous connection of the black dots that designate scenic highways. They are right--just a pleasure to drive through this country. At the junction of 160 and 159 we stopped at Del’s Diner, as we had last year. It has a classic Elvis motif with a little Marilyn Monroe and James Dean thrown in. After a lunch of tacos and tostados, it was south on 159 to San Luis, then west on 142.

New Country
At Romeo, we turned south on 285 down to Antonito where we turned west on 17. My intent was to make it as far as Chama, New Mexico, before camping for the night. However, less than 10 miles outside of Antonito we were viewing down the mountain to the running waters of the Conejo River. Just then we saw a sign indicating a campground in one mile, and it was like a tractor beam latched on the coach turning us into the Ponderosa campground, a gorgeous setting with only 31 sites located on the water. Jack, the owner, put us in a nice pull-through site. However, because of the set up, we had to run our power cord and water hose under the rig. This is not a big deal, but Jan came up with a good idea: why not use our “dog power” to pull the connections under the coach? When I hooked the power cord to Jerry’s collar it almost scared him to death. However, with a little coaxing of a reward, Little Mitzy, our German plow horse, first pulled the power cord and then the water hose to their needed locations.



New Friends
Within 30 minutes of set up, we met two couples who had been coming to this location for over ten years. Great people. Next year, we’d like to come back and spend a week.

Friday
Jan and I took the Pups out on a short hike down by the river then back into the valley. Soon it was back in BALY and we were on our way, heading west on 17 through the mountains, then entering into New Mexico. At Chama, we picked up 64 heading west through Dulce, then south and west through the Jicanilla Apache Indian Reservation and the Carson National Forest. We blinked through Gobernador, Navajo City, and Blanco before setting up camp in Bloomfield, just a few miles from Farmington.

Saturday
Chaco Canyon
The four of us were outside the campground by 4:36 AM driving toward Chaco Canyon in our Honda Element. I’d been thinking about coming to the Chaco Culture National Historic Park for about a year, and it was finally happening. We took off driving southeast on New Mexico highway 550, a smooth four-lane road, and made great time making the 45 miles in about 45 minutes. Just past Nageezi, we turned south on 7900. The first ten miles were paved and fairly smooth. However, the next 20 miles were dirt, the surface being mainly washboard (if I didn’t know better, I’d say the the person who maintains the road takes great pride in making it as rough as possible), and ten miles an hour was about our speed limit. In the pre-dawn light we saw a half dozen horses running free and a small herd of cattle searching for fodder in this barren country. By six o’clock we were at the park entrance just in time for sunrise. At 6:10 a ranger opened the gates, and we were the first car on the the road to the ruins. Within five minutes we were in the parking lot for Pueblo Bonito, the best known of Chaco’s Great Houses. Soon we were on the trail viewing these amazing structures that was the center of the universe for these ancient people, the Anastazi, and the predecessors of today’s Pueblo peoples, the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni. A couple hours into our exploration, we started on a dog-friendly hike on the Pueblo Alto trail. Great views and more petroglyphs were the promise. Alas, our foot trek was ended after a quarter mile as Little Jerry took ill. Hence, we reversed our direction and strolled back to the car. We made another brief stop to see a great kiva, but then pulled into the Visitor Center parking lot before 9:00 AM. As you might have guessed, we didn’t see a total of more than 20 people all morning. We purchased a few mandatory souvenirs, then had an early picnic at a table overlooking some ruins. It was a wonderful morning. The initial drive back seemed longer and rougher, but soon we were back at our motorhome, BALY.



Aztec Ruins
We were parked within ten miles of another location of Anastazi dwellings, the Aztec Ruins National Monument at Aztec, New Mexico. So after only 20 minutes of freshening up, Jan and I (we left the Pups to get some rest) were back in the car heading for another really cool place. We watched an interesting video on the Ancients, then strolled the ruins putting special interest in a meticulously re-constructed underground kiva where one could feel the presence of peoples past. Our visit to this small, but interesting National Monument ended at their museum where we purchased a small engraved Navajo-red plate that was made by a couple artisans who were demonstrating their craft.



Salmon Ruins
Enough culture for a day, you think? No, not for us. Another historically significant site was within five miles of our campground, the Salmon Ruins Museum and Research Library. Here we walked the ruin--an 11th century Chaco Canyon outlier pueblo. Reading the guide composed by the main archeologist of the dig, we moved from station to station. Highly interesting, but after a solid day of archeology and history, one kiva starts to look like the next! However, the museum was extremely well done, with just the right blend of art, history, and science.



Wonderful week!

PUPS ACROSS AMERICA!
Take a look at this shot of Aztec Al taken from the back of his pet parent, Greg’s, pickup truck.



Also, we have finalized dates for our event with the city of Carslbad, California. It will run both days over Father’s Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 19 and 20. More to come very soon.

Schedule Your Pup Shoots

June 6 till June 17
Working our way down to Southern California.

June 18 and June 19 (Father’s Day Weekend)
Two-day pup shoot in beautiful Carlsbad, California. Details available soon.

Please e-mail me at alex@PupsAcrossAmerica, or call me at 239-671-0740 to set up a shoot, or if you have ideas or suggestions.

Pass the Word
Know other Pup Parents that might enjoy this blog and the Pups Across America event? Please spread the word.

RV GOURMET
Nothing this Week

FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHS
My favorite is the prairie dog (see above).

TRAVEL TOOLS & TOYS: Cell Phone Coverage Maps
If you need to keep in phone or Internet contact while traveling in out-of-the-way spots, cell phone coverage maps are really helpful planning tools. For example, I’m writing this as we are driving through the Four Corners and wireless coverage can be very spotty. Since I have scheduled phone calls tomorrow, this impacts were we go and stay.
For AT&T: http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/
For Verizon: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST

CAMPER’S CORNER: Ponderosa RV Park, Antonito, CO.
This small, friendly, laid-back campground is a great place to relax for a night or a week or more. We plan on going back soon and spending more time. Highly recommended. http://www.coloradodirectory.com/ponderosacampcabins/

HEADLIGHTS
June 6 & 7
Probably Canyon de Chelly

June 8 till June 17
Working our way down to Southern California

June 19 and June 20 (Father’s Day Weekend)
Two day pup shoot in beautiful Carlsbad, California. Details available soon. Please let your San Diego-area Pup Parents know about it.

Going to be near? Look us up. Have some suggestions? We are open. Know a Pup Parent in the vicinity? Pass on this Web site and have them give me a call to schedule a shooting of their best friend.

Tags: photography, Pups Across America, prairie dogs, Denver Botanic Garden, Chaco Canyon