January 26, 2016

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

We're spending a few days in this beautiful park. Its not only a national monument, but also an international biosphere reserve revealing a thriving community of plants and animals.  What is a biosphere reserve?  I'll get back to you on that. 

January 14, 2016

Saguaro in the Sonora taken from the Desert Museum.

January 14, 2016

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

We drove into Tucson and beyond to see this wonderful museum.  We took the tour so we learned a lot, but only got to see about half of it.  We'll just have to come back to see the rest of it.  It turned out that the best photos I took here were of birds.

Female Cardinal.  This little girl sat right by our table at lunch
looking for a handout.

Stellar Jay

Costa's hummingbird in the hummingbird aviary. 

January 13 2016

Kartchner Caverns

These caverns are just outside the town of Benson, AZ.  They were discovered in 1974 by local cavers assisted by a state biologist who helped them in its preservation.  Now a state park, the caverns are very well preserved and cared for.  They don't even allow cameras in the caves so I stole a few pics off the internet so you can see how beautiful they are.

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January 11, 2016

Tombstone

We spent this day walking around Tombstone, AZ.  Ir's only a 30 minute drive from Benson where we were camped.  There are many a cool shops in town.  Tom bought a very nice turquoise and silver bolo tie. They had the main street blocked off and there were stagecoach rides.  Men dressed up in the period wear constantly walked up and down the street.  I thought it was cool that this was the real deal. We ended the trip with a tour of the mine at the edge of town they called the Good Enough Mine.  We didn't see any gunfights although there were several.  The only ones we heard about they charged money to see.  Maybe next time.

The Good Enough Mine

January 8, 2015

On to Arizona

On the way to Benson, AZ we drove through Big Bend Ranch State Park.  I don't recommend that road to anyone driving a large RV, especially towing a car.  But we made it.

View from shotgun.  Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Cool picnic area.  Tee pees provide shelter for the
picnic tables at Big Bend Ranch State Park. 

As we continued to Arizona we passed through a pretty intense storm with rain, sleet and snow but it was short lived.  After the storm, the cloud formations were beautiful.

January 6, 2015

Terlingula, Texas

About 5 miles from where we were parked was a ghost town called Terlingula.  It wasn't really completely ghost.  Some people still lived there.  But it was only a shadow of its former self...a "booming" mining town.  There were three mining operations nearby that have closed down.  Now the town has many abandoned adobe buildings.

Once a hotel,

January 6 - 7, 2015

Big Bend National Park

We moved our camp to a little town called "Study Butte" to explore the west side of Big Bend.  On the 6th we drove into Chisos Basin and on the 7th we took the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive all the way down to the Rio Grande.

On the drive through Big Bend NP to Study Butte, TX

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Chisos Basin

The abandoned Homer Wilson Ranch.

Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Redtail Hawk along the Scenic Drive

Rio Grande

The RV park where we were staying was close to an abandoned
cinnabar mine.  This photo was taken from the campground,

We took a short bike ride over to the mine and photographed
the abandoned buildings.

Short hike to the abandoned Sam Nail Ranch

January 5, 2010

Big Bend National Park, Texas

Langford Ruins

Once a hot springs resort, now is just another ghost town.

The road to the Daniels Ranch was excellent for
bicycle riding!!

January 3 - 6, 2016

Big Bend National Bark, Rio Grande Village Campground

Great Blue Heron hung out along the nature walk from the campground where we parked.

The Sierrra Del Carmen Mountains of Mexico as seen from the
 Rio Grande Village area.

Looking down on the now abandon Daniels Ranch from
the Hot Springs trail.

The Rio Grande River from the Hot Springs trail.

The Rio Grande River from the Hot Springs trail.

The Rio Grande River from the Hot Springs trail.

A tiny flower growing in the rocks along the
Hot Springs trail.

The Sierra Del Carmen Mountains.

The Rio Grande from a vista a short hike from
the campground.

Looking in the opposite direction from the same
vista...at sunset.

A few moments later.