Wind in Utah

At the rim of Cedar Mesa you can see into Monument Valley. The wind whips up the cliffs and can nearly blow you off. The drive to the rim from the Moki Dugway is a little rough and on gravel but well worth the drive. Nancy pictured below, is enjoying the views but wow, the wind was strong.

There was no wind on the top of Comb Ridge. Dan had gone out the edge of the rock in the foreground to look over, until I told him it was only a few inches thick. The drop was pretty long and ominous as it fell into the darkness. Climbing up Comb Ridge is not that hard. It's sloping and mostly on slick rock. Coming up the other side would be very difficult.

Fires in Colorado

Many of you have been asking about the fires. Here are some photos which tell a story. The photo below isn't very good, but you get the idea. Information isn't very complete. What we've heard is that 30,000 acres in Colorado Springs burned yesterday, 30,000 homes have been evacuated (although that number sounds high to me), and they have evacuated the Air Force Academy.

This is taken from I-25 going South from Monument. We drive this road 6 or 7 times a year and it will obviously never be the same again.

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. By volume of water, it is the largest lake in South America. When we visited there a few months ago we met the natives and learned how they survived on this high altitude lake set at 13,200 feet above sea level.

The people of Uros literally live on these islands made of reeds which grow in 50 feet of water. Notice Ed on the shoreline as we left. Somehow he got left behind and they had to bring him out to our boat, as we sailed away. I think they wanted to keep him!

Cats win college world series

The Arizona Wildcats won the college world series last night. This is their first win since 1986. It only took two games to get it done against South Carolina, scoring 9 runs to 2 in two games. Sounds like their defense took control. Go Cats!

On our trip to Utah we used the Moki Dugway. What an incredible ride this is with views of Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods. We drove all the way up from the bottom to the rim of Cedar Mesa. As you're approaching the cliffs, you think "how on earth are we going to go up there?"  After we got to the top, we drove 5 miles or so out to the edge of the Western rim and took lots of photos.

As you can see in the photo below, this gravel road is narrow and pretty exciting, especially for passengers on the wrong side of the car. You can see the wrecks of cars below, obviously driven by the inattentive motorists. We were attentive!  The highway is part of the Utah section of the Trail of the Ancients on State Route 261.  It's an 1,100 foot drop in 3 miles.

When we stopped I noticed a passenger our Jim's car antenna. Even the insects were concerned about going on this little drive.

Intrigue and drama

Our trip to Bluff last week involved intrigue and drama. The point of our destinations involved understanding the native American culture better and what they were thinking. Below is a photo of procession panel. Above the two deer is a procession of people migrating somewhere.  Why?  Where were they going? Why is some guy with a staff walking on top of them? What do all these images mean. We sat here for quite a while discussing what we all thought.

Then, we hiked up a little higher to the top of Comb Ridge and looked over the other side. Below, Dan is looking down an impressive cliff to the valley below. I walked around to the side and let him know that the rock he was on, was only a few inches thick underneath and perhaps he should consider moving back. There was the drama. He decided to do exactly that. The views were wonderful, all the way to Cedar Mesa to the West and Monument Valley to the Southwest.

Clement Park

While the kids were up, they decided to go to Clement Park for a picnic. I met them there on my lunch hour and got this photo of Andy contemplating a run through the fountain. What a lot of fun this is on a hot day!

Sand Hill

One of the places near Bluff we visited was Sand Hill. We hiked up a ridge to this point and then traversed over to a nice sandy hill tucked against the rock. A great place to create your art I suppose. It's a great little hike and only about a mile up to the site. We hopped a fence early in the morning and avoided the heat of the day.

This is an example of what we saw at Sand Hill. Around 500 years old or so, there were hundreds of different images (petroglyphs) etched in stone.

Below, we posed for my new camera as it waited the necessary 10 seconds allowing me to stand up, try to run over with everyone else, and nearly trip on the way. At least everyone was smiling.

Sand Hill

Our first morning in Bluff, we hiked up to Sand Hill. To get there you have to hike up a ridge to this canyon wall, and then walk across the natural steps to the site of the rock art.

Here is the sand hill and the rock art is behind us on these bluffs. We noticed many tracks in the sand, mostly insects and lizards. But a few in our group were concerned about snakes. Didn't see one.

Below is an example of one of the petroglyphs we saw at Sand Hill. There were many and we spent considerable time trying to figure out what they meant.

SAD

Looking out the window

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. I've been taking a little vacation in Bluff, UT. The annual outing. While I'm putting some photos together and collecting my thoughts on this interesting trip I thought I'd try to capture your imagination with a few things I saw and photographed while inside the car. Now, I know what you're going to say, "Andy, you can't take good photos looking outside the window of a moving car." Well, you're probably right, but here is my attempt anyway.

Below is a photo of the Recapture Lodge in Bluff, UT where we stayed. Gotta love this place, and what a great little swimming pool. Of course, any pool is nice when the weather is 95 degrees!

I got this photo while everyone was looking at Mexican Hat. I looked out the other other window and found this more interesting. Thoughts?

This road was certainly interesting. It's called the Moki Dugway. You just have to take a picture from the inside of your car here! From the top you can see All sorts of cool things. More on this later.

Below is a photo of the mountains around the Continental Divide going over Wolf Creek Pass. Not bad for 50 miles per hour eh? And no, I wasn't driving.

This was taken in Colorado just North of Trout Creek Pass looking East. The fire is near Lake George and is about 25 miles away, between us and Colorado Springs. We checked and the fire is out of control. Our beautiful state is on fire!

Angels starting pitcher Dan Haren, left the pitchers mound when he felt it was not groomed properly.  All this during an 11-5 route of the Rockies. Evidently there wasn't enough dirt on it. Most of the fans, sitting in 95 degree heat, got pretty agitated. A few minutes after the ground crew fixed the mound, Haren was pulled from the game.  The Rockies hit 5 home runs (all solo) most of the them off Haren and came up short in the game.

Hail storm

Last night we were "stoned" literally by a violent hail storm. The lightning strikes were so frequent, it was constant thunder! This woke us up and then came the hail. So we went out on the covered back porch and listened to the roar of hail hit everything, stripping the trees and piling up. This morning I took this photo of what was left in the front yard.

And wow! was it ever windy!  This morning I saw a zebra glueing on his stripes. Nancy's flowers took the real beating. I wonder if this as anything to do with OKC "Thunder" winning the series last night? Nahhh.

Jim Rome on OKC and Spurs game 5

I like what Jim Rome said on Twitter about the OKC Spurs game last night.  "That was like a nature video-the proud, older wildebeest getting run down and destroyed by young lions." Jim Rome reminds me of the guy who was surrounded by a bull and a lion. He shot the lion first, because he could always shoot the bull!

Maybe another way to reflect on the game would be the lion complaining to another animal (the Spurs), "Every time I roar, I have to sit through another movie!"

Peyton Manning a Rocky

Peyton Manning was at the Rockies game again yesterday. This time as a spectator. Last March he tossed out the first pitch. While at the game he watched his friend Todd Helton have a good game, get a clutch hit, an RBI, and beat the Dodgers 3 - 2.  Nicely done Rocks! The pitching is getting better.  Good luck in Arizona.

Nancy and I went with friends yesterday and hiked a portion of the Beaver Brook Trail and Chavez Trail between Genesee Park and Clear Creek Canyon. It was a really nice hike and had some great views.

We stopped at this creek and had some granola bars and enjoyed our time together. Heather brought her dog and it was fun watching him cool off in the water. I would definitely do this hike again. On the way back up the Chavez trail it rained on us. Afterward, we all went to the Capitol Grill in Golden and had lunch together.