I love my mama

at Norris Hot Springs in Montana

sky blue sky

I can't get over the sky here. It is a blue I have never seen, almost purple at times. The way it contrasts with the canyon walls and rocks is something I never get tired of looking at.

These petroglyphs are in Bandelier, near the ancestral Pueblo village of Tsankawi. The spirals are common and probably have a connection with water or some sort of migration symbol. The Park is full of archaeological sites, over 3,000 someone told me! Every day I come across something that reminds me of the people who used to live here.

"hana got ran over by an elkhorse"

I was off trail hiking yesterday and stopped to take a break to look at my map to find the trail that would lead me down into the canyon. I started to hear some commotion in the woods and it sounded like something very big was coming in my direction. I look up and see 2 bull elk jumping over a downed tree into the clearing and trotting right toward me. After I clicked a picture, I stepped to the side because I thought they were going to run me over. Apparently, he hadn't noticed me standing there, because when I moved it sent him and his buddy flying back into the woods.

good thing they are vegetarians

Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

What is now a high, dry and very windy place used to be a floodplain with trees and dinosaurs. When the area was flooded and the trees fell, they were washed downstream and over time covered by silt, mud, and volcanic ash. This was over 225 million years ago and since then the trees have turned into quartz (because of silica in the groundwater) they will forever be preserved as petrified wood.

We had fun- Mexican food and margaritas, late night cookie run, reminiscing about home and catching up on life.

1st day of work

Spent most of the day driving around with Dale, my supervisor, seeing the sites and getting oriented or orientated, whichever. I met some of the rest of the crew at Bandelier and went for a short hike later in the day. Turns out, Steven Soderbergh is directing a spy thriller ("Knockout") right here in the park! So, naturally we stopped by the movie set, ate some of their snacks, met the main actress, and watched them get ready to film a car chase. They had these fake trees, along with...get this...NYS patrol cars! Part of the movie is set in upstate NY, so they had fake cop cars, cops, and changed the road signs to Moose Crossing and Entering Adirondacks.

here i go, or there i went...

It was quite a trip. To start out, I spent a couple nights with Lindsay in Yellow Springs, OH, hiking, eating pizza and trying the local brews. Then on to St. Louis and Tulsa where I would try out couchsurfing, much to Uncle Joe's dismay. As it turns out, it was great! My first couchsurfer friend, Amy, took me out to dinner and then to see the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra perform at Powell Hall (in the picture below). She even made me swedish pancakes in the morning before I left.
Next, i met another couchsurfer in Tulsa, OK and we drank a beer out back of her apartment looking at the Arkansas River, then went out for some Vietnamese food and milkshakes. Got up in the morning and headed to Texas. The next time I was out of my car it smelled like shit and I knew I was close, ha! Kristen showed me around town and fed me well. Last stop: Bandelier National Monument Park in Los, Alamos, NM. For the first couple hours of driving in NM, there was a whole lot of nothing. Then, as Sante Fe approached, I began to see the tail end of the Rockies and some of the canyons and mesas that make up northern New Mexico.

Bouckville to Bandelier