Arizona Part 5 - Family

I forgot to post this last entry...so here it is more than a week late.  I've post-dated it so that it will show up when it was supposed to.

Our time in Arizona went far too quickly and I was not ready for re-immersion in work.  Despite all the running around, I left feeling happy and surprisingly well rested.  :)

Friday and Saturday were our last two days and we spent them around Phoenix - driving up South Mountain to see the city spread out, exploring Dad and Barb's neighborhood, soaking in the hot tub, grocery shopping and cooking for Saturday's lunch with Jodi, Paul and the girls.  It's crazy, but Steve and I hadn't even met Keira, Emylia, and Sophia.  And Kaitlyn we'd only met once, when she was a baby.  We had a blast on Saturday.  Steve took Kaitlyn and Keira for a ride in the golf cart, I colored with Keira, and Emylia was busy building a lego tower that was taller than she was.  It's sad to go home and not know when we'll get to see them again!

Arizona Part 4 - Grand Canyon

 

This wasn't Steve's actual first expression upon seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time (he's always such a joker), but he could be forgiven if it was.  In my opinion, there just aren't adequate words to describe the magnitude, beauty, and...rawness...of the canyon.

We made tracks all over the south rim in our days at the park.  We took the shuttle to Yaki Point, went to history and geology ranger programs, woke up early and watched the sun rise over the Canyon, then stayed out on the road to Hermit's rest to watch the sun set.  We walked part of the Rim Trail, ate an amazing (seriously amazing) breakfast at El Tovar, and ate an impromptu picnic lunch at an overlook.  We never did step foot below the rim.  As we sat in the fading sunlight we talked about how much we wanted to hike to the bottom...and the next time we will.  I'd like to come back in spring or fall and make a couple-day backpacking trip out of the hike down to the bottom and back out.  The two major obstacles in our way are the altitude and the utter lack of humidity in the air.  It was insanely dry in Arizona, and clearly thousands of feet above sea level.  And honestly, I think the dryness was worse than the altitude for me.

Did you know ravens are one of the smartest birds in the world?  They are probably my favorite bird in the whole world too. : )

Before we went to Arizona we both read the book "Death in Grand Canyon".  It is, sadly, a long book detailing the horrible, stupid, and occasionally mean ways people have met their demise at the Grand Canyon.  While the book got a bit depressing - how can it not, it's a book about death? - it was very successful in driving home the danger in such a dramatic landscape. People are stupid in nature.  The week before we were at the Canyon, someone died, and the initial report suggests they slipped on the trail.  There was snow on the rim, mostly just in shady patches and for the first couple hundred feet down the trails.  That's a main reason we didn't hike down even a little bit - we were unprepared for slippery conditions.  Maybe people aren't outright stupid, but I think people often underestimate the conditions and overestimate their abilities.  I'm not immune to this either, but I like to think I'm at least aware of the dangers now. 

Arizona Part 3 - Sedona and Montezuma Castle

 

Wow - I can see why people flock to Sedona.  It's in one of the most beautiful settings I've ever seen and the town is filled with art, jewelry, and good food.  What more does a person need?  (Insert song "If I had a million dollars" because that's what it would take to live here).  Oh.  Right.

It was c-c-c-cold outside (well, cold for us wimpy types) so we didn't spend a lot of time exploring the shops in Sedona, but we did have a great BBQ lunch and found a couple of really neat art galleries.  The one I liked best had hand-blown glass animal figures made out of really vibrant and sparkly glass.  I liked the purple and green octopus best.  The colors were fantasy but they really nailed the octopus shape and made it look like it was moving.  I would love to come back and explore the town and (I'm guessing) the hundreds of awesome hiking trails that must be in the area. 

We also spent a couple of hours visiting Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well (both are National Monuments).  The "castle" is really a 5-story cliff dwelling built around AD 700 by the Sinagua people.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it was quite a ways off the valley floor.  I love going to places like these - you learn so much and because it's a National Monument, they do a pretty good job of teaching you the basics quickly.  Can you imagine living there?  It would have been so hot in the summer, and you'd have to carry all your water (and food, and heating wood) from the river (which was a 100 yards or so from the base of the cliff).  There was an artists rendering of what life might have looked like:

One of the things I like about traveling with other people is that we can occasionally get pictures of us together!  Look at this - two in one day!

Arizona Part 2 - Desert Museum

Inside Saguaro National Park is a small museum.  Actually, it's part art museum, part field museum, and part zoo.  Most of the Sonora Desert Museum is open air, with some of the most natural feeling animal enclosures I've ever seen.  It's absolutely worth a visit.  The focus is on local flora and fauna, and this is probably your best shot of seeing a mountain lion. 

The art features were some of my favorite parts.  This sculpture of a vulture eating a scrap metal horse was awesome, and kind of funny.

We spent several hours at the museum.  Instead of hand sanitizer pumps they have sunscreen dispensers mounted on the walls.  I almost squeezed some onto my hand thinking it was hand sanitizer before I read the label and stopped myself! 

Check out this big horn sheep from the exhibit.  It's alive, and it was staring intently at me.  I don't know if they can see colors, but I was wearing a vibrant red pirate t-shirt, so maybe that's why it was staring so hard. 

Dad and Barb took a guided tour of the museum while Steve and I wandered by ourselves through the exhibits.  Their guide told them that you can eat the cactus fruit, so when we found some (later in the day) Dad, Steve, and I tried it.  It was really sour, but tasted pretty good.  I wonder if they get more sweet over time?

We had a lot of driving time in the RV and I had some fun with self portraits.  This is my "OMG I won the lottery!" practice face.  Pretty good, eh?

Arizona Part 1 - Biosphere and Saguaro Nat'l Park

Loaded up and ready to go!

In 1991 eight scientists were locked into Biosphere 2 for two years.  As a self-contained living experiment, it wasn't 100% successful.  However, as a way to learn about our planet (Biosphere 1), it was (and is) a huge success.  Biosphere 2 is south of Phoenix.  It was really, really cool to visit.  The guided tour takes you through the whole facility and at the end you can visit the original living quarters.  We learned that the average scientist lost 20% of their body fat suring their two year stay.  They were working almost all the time on growing food and didn't have much of a chance to work on their own experiments.  Today, the facility is open for tours and is used extensively for research.  I would have loved to try living in there...what a cool experience!

The water in the picture below is a salt-water 'sea'.

I thought the coolest part of the tour (and Biosphere design) was the 'underbelly' - where the electrical, water, and ventilation systems are housed.  There was a huge lung - a 16 ton aluminum disc and a 4 ton rubber membrane that moves up and down throughout the day as the air inside the Biosphere expands and contracts with the daily temperature changes.  The amount of planning that went into the whole building amazes me.

After visiting Biosphere 2 we headed further south to the Saguaro National Park.  I couldn't believe the number of different cactus species you can see here.  It's a dangerous place to walk - so many things to trip on, bite you (snakes, spiders, scorpions), or poke you.  It was mostly cloudy Saturday and Sunday, which was actually pretty nice since I forgot my sunglasses and it wasn't too warm.  While I prefer cold and rainy, there is something...magical...about the desert.  It smells nice - earthy and warm.  There's a stillness about it, especially in the hour before sunrise.  I woke up early Sunday morning and slipped out of the camper to watch the sun rise over the mountains.  It wasn't a particularly pretty sunrise, and you could hear the community to the south start to wake up, but still, it was so peaceful.

Shriveled eyeballs

Steve and I are in Arizona visiting Dad and Barb this week.  Seca is at home with a dog-sitter, probably thinking we've abandoned her forever.

Our first order of business for the trip was to load the RV and head to the desert.  My one goal was to spend a sunset and sunrise in the desert (and hoped to get some pictures).  It was really cloudy though, so I didn't get the fantastic sunset behind a cactus like I had in my mind.  Oh well.  It was still gorgeous and smelled amazing. 

One thing we're having a hard time adjusting to is the complete lack of humidity.  I feel like my eyeballs are shriveling up in the sockets.  I carry lotion everywhere I go and my hands are still dry.  I think I drank four glasses of water with dinner last night and it still wasn't enough.  I guess you don't realize how humid Charleston is until you go to the desert.

I'm going to post more about all thing things we're seeing in a couple of days since I want to enjoy the company while I can.  Some things to look forward to...Saguaro National Park, San Xavier Mission, Montezuma Castle, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and more.  I'll post-date them to the correct dates when I put them up.  Have a great week everyone!

Santee Canal and Lake Moultrie

 
So bear with me, this is a looooong post because we went to Old Santee Canal Park then decided to run up to Lake Moultrie because it was so close.  Both are northwest of Charleston, about 45 minutes or so.

Even though it's 'winter' here (I say 'winter' because it was 71 today) and there are lots of trees without leaves, I'm amazed at the colors.  I love the mix of green, yellow, and brownish-red in the water plans at the park.

Old Santee Canal is exactly what it sounds like - the old canal that was used to ship crops (originally) downriver to the port of Charleston.  It began operating in 1800, but it took 700 men and seven years to build.  The canal is22 miles long, 35 feet wide and just over 5 feet deep.  I honestly can't imagine digging that canal - it would have been so incredibly hot and buggy.  There's more information about the canal at the park website.  Now, most of the canal is underneath Lake Moultrie (which was created by building the Pinopolis Dam in ~1940). 

Also at the park is an old plantation house, called Stony Landing House.  It was build in the 1840s and sits on a gorgeous, breezy rise above the Cooper River and Santee Canal.  I took a few pictures of the inside of the house from the porch, since it wasn't open.  I love the wood floors and double sided fireplaces.

The Old Santee Canal Park has a couple of miles of boardwalks and hiking trails, and I think we explored almost all of it in about 2.5 hours.  The Canal flows on one side of the path and over the hill on the other side is a backwater creek/pond flow.  We saw some juvenile skinks, anoles, a couple of turtles, and this water snake (maybe an Southern water snake or a brown water snake). 

The water was surprisingly clear, even though the bottom looked pretty soft and mucky.  We saw very few fish or other critters stirring up the sediment, which I think helped the water stay so clear.  We watched this turtle for a while, it swam down to the bottom (it was maybe 3-4 feet deep here) and looked like it was trying to hide in the algae and sediment.

Steve founds some cool aquatic plants in the backwater and seriously considered bringing some home for his aquarium.  This one is a tiny (fingernail size) plant that floats on top of the water like duckweed.  I thought it was really pretty, and it's the plant that is making the brownish-red color in the second photo at the top of the blog.

This plant that Steve found was bigger, and looked like it might grow above water.  That might be nice for the tank someday too.

Speaking of big plants, check out this really old live oak.  I made Steve stand there for scale.  Someday enough soil will erode away and that giant will come crashing down. 

This might be the coolest thing we saw at the Canal.  It's tree wrapped in a vine.  You can't tell the size from the photo, but it was about 8-10 inches in diameter.

As I said, after the Canal (and lunch, boy were we hungry at this point!), we drove up to Lake Moultrie.  We started out by driving to Pinopolis, a small town with the weirdest squirrels we've ever seen. They're Southern fox squirrels - and they're huge.  I didn't take the picture below, I found it online.  They were skittish and I couldn't get a good picture.  These squirrels are about twice the size of the usual grey squirrel, and they had oddly striped tails - they looked like ring-tailed lemurs!

                                                              *photo removed*

There's a boat launch on the south side of Lake Moultrie that is a great place to kayak.  There's protected channels and bays, which is good because the lake is huge and when the wind gets blowing, it can get pretty choppy.  We drove up to the boat launch then went for a hike.  Last time we were here we saw a bunch of alligators - I'm never, ever going to swim in this lake.  Because we've had such a dry year, the lake is really low.  We were able to walk along the beach out on a small peninsula. 

 

Steve, checking out the minnows.

Look - an osprey nest!  When they dammed the river a lot of trees were flooded out.  This one must have looked like a good place to build a nest, and it wasn't that tall - maybe 10 feet off the water or so.

 From the end of the peninsula you can see a wide view of the lake.  Those are all tree stumps in the distance.

 
These are some sort of small insect or insect larva.  There were thousands of them.  Nasty.

Some sort of freshwater clam (or mussel? I don't know the difference).

We had a blast today.  Seeing the lake again made us want to come back up with the kayaks.  It's supposed to stay warm, so maybe we will!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Erosion

2011 was a bad year for storms in South Carolina.  We didn't get any direct hits, but enough storms came up the east coast that there was pretty substantial beach erosion.  Beth and I were both off today and went for a long walk to check out the damage at the Folly Beach County Park.  It's closed now and their website says they're going to be opening again, but they have a lot of work ahead of them.  The old boardwalk is collapsed - the sand underneath was eaten away by the waves.  The parking lot is also undercut and there are dead or dying palm trees uprooted all over.  There used to be some pretty good dunes between the parking lot and the beach, but they are gone now. 

I wonder if the people who own the houses close to the beach get nervous - several are much closer to the ocean now then they were at the start of 2011.  The beach access piers pictured below used to have a lot more dune to cross, just look at how much sand has been eaten away by the waves...

The seagulls were oddly calm today.  It was cold and windy - maybe they were hunkered down.  Although why they stand with their feet in the cold water is beyond me...