Valley of Fire – March 2009

Valley of Fire State Park

One fine day at the start of spring two fine boys march off to the golden spring. Okay I went on my own, but I did find a spring.  The Valley of Fire State Park is about 40 miles north east of Las Vegas.  It is littered with wonderful rock formations and the rocks are a rainbow of colours.  As it is spring there was some evidence of wildflowers blooming and butterflies sucking on their nectar. 

It turned out to be my lucky day as there was a weapon tournament taking place that fine, breathless day in the park. A group of older men where throwing what looked like very, very long darts made out of wood at fake deer.  When you get to that photo you will have to look  at the deer to see the dart sticking out of it. Poor thing. 

he park is also famous for its petroglyphs some of which are over 4,000 years old.  That is even older than me.  As always don’t forget to click the picture above to see the rest of my amazing photographs.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

Nothing like a two day camping trip in winter to bring you back down to earth. Good thing winter in Southern California is not winter in Minnesota. The nights were crisp, but the days were pleasantly mild. In search of some relaxation and fresh air five friends arrived on Friday night in four cars. Very eco-friendly of us. Although living only 280 miles away, it seemed to take our friend from Phoenix the whole day to get there. I kept saying we should all go to bed, but the others insisted we wait for him as he drove in circles around the park. When he finally arrived he was so cold he had layered up until he looked like a homeless person who wears all the clothes they own at the same time.

Joshua Tree is probably most famous for being the name of the U2 album. No we did not attempt to recreate the album cover…we didn’t have any black coats. Saturday we spent boulder hopping in no particular direction and this was dispite us having an orienteering expert. My guess is North moved and no one told him. The landscape is scattered with giant monoliths that seem to be very popular with rock climbers. There were a number of groups of kids learning to rock climb. I saw one kid trip over his own feet on the way to the rocks he was going to climb. I think he was probably safer just sticking to climbing out of a bath or his bed.

After a night huddled around the blazing hot fire eating hot dogs and Jerk Chicken Sunday was spent in search of the famous Joshua Trees. Although there were none in the part of the park we camped in, lurking just the other side of boulders were thousands of them waiting to be discovered. Sadly the trip was over far too quickly, but we can always dream of what future trips lie in store for us.

PS There is no connection between the photo of me hugging a Joshua Tree and the spent condom. In fact there is no connection between me and the spent condom.

Ice Box Canyon – January 2009

Southern Africa

The first day of a new year is upon us and this calls for my annual ring in the new year hike. Okay this is the inaugural ring in the new year hike, but eventually my kids will be doing it, their kids will do it, their kids kids will be doing it and the day will spread across the world until today will no longer be called New Year’s Day, but Hikers Day.

There is a popular hike during the summer time in Red Rock Canyon here on the west side of the Las Vegas valley.  It is popular because most of the hike is in the shade and hence its name, Ice Box Canyon.  In my infinite wisdom I decided the middle of winter was the perfect time to tackle this trundle through the jungle for the first time.

Well it certainly wasn’t as busy as it is in summer. There were two other cars in the car park. Turns out there was far more ice and snow along the route than I had ever imagined there would be, which probably explained why the hike was so deserted.  Following the trail became rather tricky when it turned out that a significant portion of the trail was walking up a creek. Now in summer this probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but in mid-winter with water streaming down and ice and snow on the rocks it was a very different proposition.  At one point I took a wrong turn and climbed up the side of the canyon.  Was not pleasant at all and it was somewhere around the this time as I was struggling back through the snow on the steep slope of the canyon  trying to come back down to the creek ,after hitting a dead end, that I realised in hindsight I maybe should have told someone where I had gone.

Actually all the boulder hopping and avoiding sliding on the ice into the stream was kind of fun and made the hike a bit more interesting. Finally made it to the top after a number of wrong turns and resulting u-turns taking place. It was worth the effort as the rock structures at the entrance to the canyon were worth seeing and it was nice and quiet up there.

I thought the photo above was pretty cool as the canyon walls framed the red rocks in the distance with the shape of Southern Africa. Click the photo to see the rest of the photos from my hike.

Chloride, AZ – December 2008

The day after Christmas, Boxing Day, and I have this brilliant idea to get out of the apartment. I will drive 90 miles (150km) to a tiny town in the Arizona Desert.  Chloride is an old mining town established in 1860, a living ghost town of around 350 people.  And you are correct, it does seem a long way to drive to see a town with one short street. However, there is one other attraction there, boulder murals painted in 1966 up in the hills behind the town.

Off I set in the morning figuring in VW GTi time it should take a little over an hour to get there. Turns out that is how long it took me just to get to the Hoover Dam, which needs to be crossed to get into Arizona. I went 4 miles in 55 mins. I later discover to my dismay that was autobahn speed compared to the return journey. On the return journey it took over 2 hours to go a little over 5 miles and get back into Nevada. I had planned on taking some photographs of the dam from the Arizona side, but it was dark by the time I got there. On a positive note I did see two mountain goats. I was so hungry I think I could have eaten them.

Turns out Chloride is as small as I had heard.  Dusty old town that looks like a total dump in the middle of nowhere. Just what I was hoping for. Unfortunately it was so damn cold there. It was 37°F (3°C) and the wind was blowing. I was the only idiot out walking around town. The fact that there wasn’t much to see was kind of a bonus as it meant I didn’t have to stay out in the cold for long.

The murals

The next dilemma was whether to drive to the murals or walk. The walk was 3 miles round trip, but it was freezing out there.  I drove my car to the entrance of the wilderness area, took one look at the road and my mind was made up. There was no way my baby was going to survive that dirt road.  Actually the walk wasn’t that bad.  Kept warm with a good pace and the hills shielded the wind.

One problem I have with the cold weather is it causes me to need to relieve myself a bit more often than usual. On the way up, with no one in sight, I ducked into the bushes and found a nice piece of thin icy snow to drizzle.  It looked a bit like a lemon and lime slushy by the time I was finished. Wonder if this is how that guy worked out to put ice blocks in the urinals?  Finally made it to the murals and it was worth the walk. Best part was there wasn’t anyone else around, until I left for the walk back.  I must say I think the artist, Roy Purcell, must have been completely into the ’60s as he must have been on everything to come up with these murals.

A day almost worth the drive. If it wasn’t for those pesky cars I would have gotten away with it.

Florida – December 2008

Bahia Honda State Park

December is the traditional month for sending the workaholics of the office to Florida for a week of training in Orlando.  They room us right in the heart of Disneyworld, but everyone is to busy to ever get out.  If you walk the corridors of the conference center all you see are the workaholics on conference calls.  I decided to stay on for three additional days after I had taken my last conference call of the week and I drove down to Miami in my Mitsubishi Galaxy (there are other motor vehicles available to rent).

I spent Saturday in the Everglades National Park alligator and crocidile spotting. Lots of birdlife as well, but we all know why we are all here. I decided to go big and take a boat cruise. As we are boarding, generally two by two like the boarding of Noah’s Ark, this elderly couple step onto the vessel and move towards the rear, which is where I am seated. The guy goes up to the captain, and his first words are ‘what kind of engine you have on this boat?’ The captain gives him a look of disdain from under the peak of his cap and replies ‘one that works.’ Unperturbed by this the white haired man continues ‘what size engine?’ Captain rolling his eyes says ‘a big one.’ Still determined to establish the instant Bagel rapport the man with the white bum fluff on his face has another go ‘is it a Kawasaki?’ Once again the captain couldn’t care and responds ‘No.’ Will he ask another question? Of course he’s had Bagel training. ‘Oh so it must be one of those that will last longer than me?’ A wry smile forms on the captain face, finally looks up and says ‘if we throw you overboard and you drown or that crocodile over there on the bank eats you, then yes it will outlast you.’

The next two days I spent traveling up and down the keys spending the night and most of my time in Key West. First thing I do as I enter Key West is to stop at the Welcome Center to find somewhere to spend the night. The guy behind the counter, Tommy, looked like a raving alcoholic who hadn’t slept in days. Despite not being able to find anything behind the counter, he manages to find me somewhere to stay and then tries to sell me a booze cruise. In the end he sells me a glass bottom trip that is about to set sail from the other side of town. The only reason I took it was because I felt sorry for him. Tommy in his semi-inebriated state says I can make it not problem and he will call the bed & breakfast to tell them I will be late as I would be out at sea.

Finally I get to the bed & breakfast after the boat trip and there is nowhere to park and reception is closed. Turns out my good friend Tommy never called. I finally get in and get a room. Nice little B&B called Andrews Inn. Next is to go out to eat on the recommendation of Jorge from reception. Very cute and lively downtown. It does, however, seem very gay. Before I came down here a Mormon had  told me he liked Key West, which surprises me considering all the same sex couples and his dislike for San Francisco for this very reason.

There are even lovers spats on the street. Was very cute. Walking down the street is a woman holding hands with one guy and with her other arm she is walking arm in arm with another guy. Don’t ask questions, just keep walking. Now at the restaurant called Mangoes. The food was very good. At my table I get surrounded by gay couples. These two guys come in and one of them is dressed like a sailor boy a mid 40 year old sailor boy. I swear I am not making this up. They sit behind me and the one guy tells the hostess she is so beautiful. Sailor Boy says to his friend, ’Not like you. You are ugly, but great in bed.’ Excuse me! I’m trying to eat. They then have a debate about one night stands and the drugs they have taken. Sailor boy then says he has heard his friend is married to some other guy, which he denies in case you interested. They talk a lot about someone called Princess, who it turns out is a guy.  Definitely made the evening for more entertaining.

On day three I go to the beach at Bahia Honda State Park.  There was this total weirdo on the beach and I don’t mean me. This guy, who is even skinnier than me, is prowling the beach with his SLR camera. He keeps stopping by the girls and just staring at them. And there this is his legs. Wow! They look like every mosquito in the Keys have had dinner on them.

Going through airport security on the way home I have my stuff on the conveyor belt. I wonder if it will come out the other side with chocolate frosting/icing and sprinkles? One of the security officers come to me and say ‘Have you got anything under your top sir?’ I think she means do I have a belt on so I lift up my top doing a Jae (work college who likes to wear belly exposing tops to work) and exposing my belly. She looks at me in horror and says ‘Sir, you didn’t need to show me.’ What I think she really meant was do I have a T-shirt on if so I may need to remove my top.

If you click the image you can link to my photos from my trip.

Travel nowhere

I felt I needed a starter post to kick off this new blog of mine. To be honest I am not sure how much I will be using this blog. The idea is that I will use as a form of electronic postcard. Maybe write a bit about my travels and add a picture or two.  I will try include links to my uploaded photographs in flikr or Picassa. In theory if I were to ever go run around the world for any significant length of time then I could use this to keep everyone up to date on my progress.

Enjoy what is here. Some of us experience and some of us experience through others.