...here's some excerpts from "What I Did On My Autumn Vacation", by Tamara K., 38th Grade... (My hosts have probably been endlessly amused by my constant goggling at the scenery out here, since there's so danged much of it. I'm constantly craning my neck around like a third grader at Disneyworld.)
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| We don't get much in the way of terrain features like this back in Indiana. That's gotta be a bear for growing soybeans. |
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| Just north of Cimarron, NM, the deer are mighty strange-looking. Big, too. |
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| No doubt exhausted by all the entertaining she'd been doing from Los Alamos all the way past Cimarron, Ma Nature took a coffee break from there to the outskirts of Raton. |
I used to look forward to the drive from Idaho Falls to Jackson, WY and back every year.
ReplyDeleteDriving out west can just be awesome, as long as the weather cooperates.
Gerry
You went to Raton, NM!?
ReplyDeleteI want a full report! They have a thousand-yard rifle range.
Bring back lots of travel brochures.
I've been to several Rocky Mountain states. I love the scenery out there and have always toyed with the idea of relocation out there if I could ever talk SWMBO into dealing with the Winters.
ReplyDeleteI have a different perspective on it now since I tried relocation to upstate SC for a career change earlier this year. Things didn't work out like I hoped and we all got painfully homesick. Wound up moving back to where we were.
Now we pray to stay put here in Central AL for the next 20 years at least.
I'll take one of those spike deer.
ReplyDeleteNot much antler but 3 feet wide!!
Hope you had fun.
Ridin' the storm out, waitin' for the thaw out
ReplyDeleteOn a full moon night in the rocky mountain winter.
My wine bottle's low, watching for the snow
I've been thinking lately of what I'm missing in the city.
And I'm not missing a thing
Watchin' the full moon crossing the range
Ridin' the storm out
Ridin' the storm out.
Ha! Back in what passed for Civilicszation, are ya?
ReplyDeleteAbout damn time, I was nearly out of snark.
Back in early Spring, when driving through WA/OR/CA/AZ/NM, yeah, some of those areas I spent a lot of time looking around thinking "Damn, I wish we had time to stop here!"
ReplyDeleteHey, wave when you go by.
ReplyDeleteSmarter Half and I have driven cross the country several times. Things sure get interesting west of the Big Muddy.
ReplyDeleteNow where did I leave that carousel of slides?
Them big hunchback deers is tasty too.
ReplyDeleteTurk, some thousand yard ranges are more fun than others. ;)
ReplyDelete*sigh*
ReplyDeleteHome.
You didn't happen to buzz by Valle Grande Caldera while you were in the vicinity, did you?
Suz: That's roughly on the agenda for tomorrow unless anybody comes up with a better plan.
ReplyDeleteBandelier National Monument is well worth a visit. If you walk down Frijoles Canyon past the ruins and then climb to the kiva on the cliff, you'll be able to enjoy great scenery and a wonderful sense of (pre-)history. Wonderful place!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a good time.
ReplyDeleteHave any problems keeping a cell signal? :) In the northern Rockies, it's always a joke to talk on the cell and say "can you hear me now?" because often nobody can hear you. Cell service is pretty flaky in much of the west and mountains. Not surprised you have trouble connecting to the net.
Malamute
And people tried to homestead Johnson Mesa (the tall, flat thing east of Raton.) I've always wondered if they were optimistic or if they'd been sold a bill of goods by a landman.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
The picture of the cliffs with the soybean comment, west of Cimmaron and called the Pallisades? That area is one of my old stompin' grounds.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteI lived in Angel Fire for three years. The Whittington Center was my home range.
That first photo looks like the Palisades in Cimarron Canyon. There is a curve in the road at the west end which drivers have been known to miss. They gawk at the Palisades, miss the curve, and end up in the water just past it.
Vermejo Park Ranch lies to the west of Highway 64, extending well into the foothills, from just north of the Colorado border south almost to Cimarron. At over 600,000 acres, it is the largest contiguous tract of privately owned land in the country. Ted Turner owns it.
Those bison are on the ranch, and it has the largest bison herd left in the nation. The elk herd (free range, of course) generally numbers about 13,000 or so. I still go back there to hunt cow elk.
You should visit it while you're there. Try http://www.vermejoparkranch.com/
Out West is pretty-pretty and wild.
ReplyDeleteThat rock outcrop you show is what we call a "steep hill" in the west. They're hard to get up sometimes, especially when carrying a canoe and a fishpole, and wearing a backpack.
ReplyDeleteI was driving in the Cimarron canyon a few years ago and got caught in a hailstorm. Dayum. Temps dropped from 60s to 30s, and suddenly it was like driving on ball bearings. Beautiful country, though.
ReplyDeleteI live in western WA and have friends in southern MS. Once while they were visiting I took them hiking from my house and, waving at what I thought an spectacular view, began my marketing pitch.
ReplyDelete"Oh Stephen," said one, "we have scenery back home too. All you have is elevation."