...hummerbird celebration....

...Gus n Us are here in Rockport along with all the hummingbirds and mosquitos...off to Goose Island State Park to fish a while....

...the legend of Tucumcari....

...we tried to make it to Texas, but again needed to stop...this time in Tucumcari...where???...again,we find a very interesting history associated with the town...not only was it on the legendary Rt. 66,it was famous for all it's wonderful murals on the buildings in town...




.... but we learned how the town actually got its name...
it seems that Wautonomah, Chief Apache knew he was dying and needed a successor and a mate for his daughter, Kari...the two braves he chose were Tonopah and Tocom...Kari loved Tocom and hated Tonopah...he gave the two braves each a knife and a challenge to fight to the end...Tonopah killed Tocom, but then Kari killed Tonopah and then killed herself...the Chief was heartbroken and plunged a knife into his heart and cried out in agony "Tocom-Kari"...a slight change to "Tucumcari" and that's their story and they are sticking to it...he he.....

...Uranium Mine Museum...

...the second site in Grants, New Mexico was the Mining Museum...right downtown, in Grants...it is the only Uranium Mining Museum in the World...around 1959 a Navajo found a bright yellow rock and took it to Grants where he had it appraised...it was verified that is was indeed uranium...this began the uranium rush...five uranium mills were built in the area...in 1983 the mills and mines were closed...Grants was once known as the "Uranium capital of the World"...the museum was very well done and very educational...it showed pictures and traced the history of Grants thru the railroads, logging, ranching, farming and mining...we even went "underground" to a reproduction of the uranium mine...it was really worth the visit...

...fire and ice...

...after leaving Flagstaff, we headed toward Albuquerque...by the time we got to Grants, New Mexico, we were ready to stop...we know when to stop because someone begins to get cranky...he he...we were there for two nights...two very interesting sites we would have missed had we not stopped there...did you know only twenty miles from Grants there is a cave with ice and a volcano within a two mile hike...unbelievable....of course, we had to check it out...right there on the continental divide among the Ponderosa Pines at an elevation of 8,000 ft an ancient lava trail leads to a collapsed lava tube...inside this tube is an ice cave...the temperature never rises above 31 degrees...as soon as you reach a certain level, the temperature drops...amazing...the floor of the ice is approximately 20 ft deep...it dates back 3400 years...there is a green tint caused by an Arctic algae...the ancient Indians and early settlers mined the ice, but in 1946 the ice removal was stopped...

...just a two mile hike from the ice cave was the Bandera Crater...it rose in volcanic fury some 10,000 years ago...it is approximately 1,200 feet across and 800 feet deep... the lava trail was some 30 miles and could be seen on both sides of I-40...we were glad we stopped in Grants....
..twisted trees and roots were everywhere...

...highest toilet in Arizona...

...we decided to stay in Flagstaff a couple of nights and take a breather from the long drive from Glendale...it turns out we were in Flagstaff almost to the day two months earlier...seems like yesterday....one of the things we didn't get to do when we were there in June was go to Snowbowl, the ski area....Snowbowl is part of the San Francisco peaks and is one of the oldest ski runs in the US...it started back in 1938....so off we went...it was a short drive and a 25 minute ride up the lift...it was in the low 5os at the top...a very cold 25 minute ride back down....the view was spectacular...seeing the black diamond runs and blue trails brought back all kinds of memories from skiing in Europe when Bill was stationed in Germany....I guess the skiing days are over but at least we can still enjoy the areas and ride the lifts until getting on and off become a problem...he he....

....blue spruce pine cones...

...an aspen grove...

...could not resist taking a picture....

...an unexpected stay in Glendale, Utah....

...we chose Glendale, Utah for our next stop because it was halfway between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park...little did we know it was also only 30 minutes from the nearest hospital....we arrived on Monday, toured Bryce on Tuesday, visited my cousin on Wednesday and Thursday, toured Zion National Park...Thursday nite around 10:30 pm, our friend, Jim, who had had a cough for a couple of weeks and it was getting worse, decided he wanted to go to the emergency room in Kanab, the nearest town... x-rays confirmed double pneumonia....oxygen and breathing treatments were immediately begun....Saturday, he was to be released only the doctor discovered a blood clot in his leg...treatment was then started to dissolve the clot...he was finally released on Wed...almost a week later....as he was sitting in the wheelchair looking great and ready to go, he began having chest pains...we all thought the worst...an ekg was immediately ordered and it was negative...thank goodness, the pains were from the lack of oxygen from taking the tubes out when he was getting ready to go ....Bill wheeled him our and his sons loaded him in the car and off to eat a good breakfast before the long trip to Phoenix...we stayed with them until Flagstaff, Arizona....we took hwy 40 to head to Texas and they drove south to Phoenix...they arrived home that evening...Jim has seen his regular doctor and is on the road to recovery....he was a real trooper...our prayers are with him as he will have a few months before he gets his strength back....

...visit with Cousin Leo and Susan....

...after sitting up camp in Glendale, Utah, I realized we were only 25 miles from Springdale...where my cousin Leo and his wife, Susan lived...we toured Bryce Canyon on Tuesday and decided to try and get in touch with Leo on Wednesday...looking at the map, the 25 miles looked like a hop, skip and jump away....little did I know, we had to enter the Zion National Park and drive all the way thru, with four construction road stops with only one lane...the short distance took a little over an hour and half....however, we were not disappointed...not only was the drive thru the park a preview of what we were to see the following day, but Leo and Susan's house was awesome...standing on their deck, we had a 360 degree view...

...pics from the deck....




...after the inital oohs and aahs, we settled down with a beer and visit....Leo began preparing lunch....

...after the wonderful lunch of ribs, corn, beans and fresh fruit, we took a walk around the house...their property borders the Zion National Park...WOW....Leo explained a little about the plants and landscaping...I'm hoping more visits are in the future...thanks for a great time....



....cousins....

...Zion National Park...

...little did we know we were entering a totally different part of the world...after Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon, we were thinking, "you've seen one rock, one canyon, one mountain, you've seen them all"...FALSE...the high plateaus,narrow, deep sandstone canyons and rock towers and mesas were all so different and unusual...



...before even entering the actual canyon part of the park, we had to drive thru a 1-mile tunnel that took them three years to build back in 1927....

...the Zion Arch...

...we only hiked the 1 mile walk to the entrance to the 16-mile hike thru the narrows...it sounded like an interesting hike thru the Virgin River, sometimes up to your waist, and thru "narrow" walls of stone...maybe another time...


...while hiking we did see the famous Zion Snail, a tiny black snail, found only in Zion...it was right there amongst the hanging gardens...


...the rain, wind, and the pull of gravity etched the sandstone in ways that only nature can...the huge rock labeled "Checkerboard Mesa" clearly showed "mother nature's" work....horizontal lines and ancient sand beds form the checkerboard pattern with the vertical cracks that have been enlarged by runoff rain and melting snow...the picture really doesn't do justice to the formation...

...the swirls...

...the streaks...

...trees growing into the rock....

...after a long day in the park, yogurt was a welcome treat...