Monday, March 08, 2010

HOME AGAIN

As good as it is to hit the highway it's fabulous to get home again. I must say, traveling with a small dog and five cats might actually be over our limit of endurance. Everyone was exceedingly well behaved - after they settled down - but it's just a heck of a lot of fur, a lot of critters crammed into a fairly small space, and they all need attention. I came home tired.





We have A Lot of Cats.



Death Valley has a lot of rocks. You can hardly believe how many different kinds there are.




We were far too early for the wildflowers but Bad Water had a large, shallow lake. How shallow you may ask? It's only a few inches deep and miles wide. It will bake dry soon enough leaving behind only the minerals. Reading my own link I learned that the lake never dries out completely and actually supports a unique species of fish, the Death Valley pupfish.



We hiked Mosaic Canyon. Lots of marble narrows and of course, mosaic rocks.





We goofed off.




We had a wonderful but rather frigid motorcycle ride up from Stovepipe Wells up to see the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns. We didn't make it because of snow which became rather heavy right after the paved part of the road ended. We even got off the Harley and hiked for nearly a mile before giving up. It wasn't so much that it was uphill and well, covered in snow, but that it was getting late and the sky was full of very ominous clouds.

Rhyolite








We spent one night outside Death Valley in Beatty, Nevada. The next day we visited Rhyolite where there is some rather interesting art along with a ghost town complete with abandoned mines. While walking around Omar flushed out a jackrabbit and had a good chase. It made his day. I'm always impressed with how much trash is left behind when ever mankind comes to visit. The desert is full of broken bottles, rusting equipment, and lots and lots of food cans.





Onward to Phoenix


Nevada and Arizona has a lot of this. It's a long trip.

Phoenix!



The Purple Wonder was finished and delivered (and much appreciated). We met Pip and Max, what cuties. I will never confuse the two again. Night and Day. Black and White (literally). We were happy to see Claire the Moonbeam though she's getting rather old as wonderful grey cats go. Otto (who is orange) too. There was good food, lounging around, movies, and museums. Hubby and Prince Charming had a day of motorcycle riding while The Enabler and I did a little fabric shopping.




While I finished the sleeves on the PW Suzy made me a wonderful beaded bracelet.


...and finally, homeward.





There was rain and snow in Death Valley, rain but no snow in Phoenix. On the way home there was rain, no snow, but lots of wildflowers along the highway in southern CA and the orchards were in bloom. Just think: a plum you might eat this summer may be in this photo. Could happen.


Coming home always signals spring to us. We pull up to hundreds of daffodils in full bloom. I put a few in a vase for indoor enjoyment. Opal says, "Enough with the RV. Let me run around outside!".
































































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