Four Corners

Day two of our trip home took us by the Four Corners Monument.  We weren't there very long, but did take a couple pictures which are below.  Then we started the trip on north through the Colorado mountains intending to end up in Rifle Colorado.  However, even with the crooked roads and the up and down the mountains, we made good time and made it to Craig Colorado which is the last town of any size before we get into Wyoming.  We will get an early start tomorrow and hope to get to Hot Springs South Dakota.  That may not happen because of the blizzard in South Dakota.  Have to see what the weather looks like in the morning.  We may just make a late start and stop at Cheyenne Wyoming.  Below are the pictures including some scenery shots that Pat took in the mountains.

 

This is a plaque at the Four Corners monument that tells all about it I think.  It is very hard to read and was there standing in front of it also.

 

 

Pat standing where the Four Corners meet.

 

 

Patrick standing where the Four Corners meet.  Much better expression today.

 

 

Nice mountain

 

 

Several nice mountains

 

 

Now that's a cliff.

 

 

Another mountain

 

 

Mountains with snow slides

 

 

This is one of the very tame turns.  We had several "S" turns that you could only go 10 mph through and also several double "S" turns which we had to go through just as slow. 

 

 

The road continues on down the mountain valley.  Lots of snow up in the mountains.

 

 

That was today's trip.  Weather permitting, we will get to South Dakota tomorrow.

 

Patrick

 

Grand Canyon

Today was the first day of our trip home to Minnesota and on the way we did a tour of the Grand Canyon National Park.  We stopped at several overlooks and checked out the canyon.  It sure is a bad case of erosion.  We took the following pictures as we went from place to place.  Hope you enjoy them.

 

I am not going to comment on most of these pictures.  Just enjoy the scenery.  I will comment on a couple along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Have to comment on this very nice picture of Pat with the canyon in the background.

 

 

 

You can see a hiking trail at the bottom of the canyon in the center of the picture.  Don't think I could make it down there.

 

 

That line down at the bottom of the canyon that looks a little like a trail is actually a dried up creek bed that dumps into the river when there is any rain or melting snow to fill it.

 

 

 

Not sure why I had such an expression, I think it was because the sun was in my eyes.

 

 

 

As we pulled into the last overlook we stopped at, we saw this bird watching the people that were around.  Not sure if it was a Raven or a very large Crow.

 

 

This was a zoomed in view of the Colorado river at the bottom of the canyon.  The next picture was taken in the wide angle view, but you can still see the river some.

 

 

 

This was just another zoomed in view of the previous picture.

 

 

That's Pat in the lower right corner of the picture.

 

 

There were some pretty sights and amazement at the size of the Grand Canyon.  I asked a Park Ranger there where all that dirt went and he said it formed the Delta at the end of the river which is in Mexico south of Yuma Arizona.

 

Tomorrow we hope to end up in Rifle Wyoming after stopping by the 4 corners monument.  So far the weather is okay, but may not be so good in South Dakota when we get there on Tuesday.

 

Patrick

 

Cactus Flowers and 2015 Digs

Many of the cacti are in bloom now.  We have two small patches in front of the house that have been blooming for a few days.  I finally got around to taking some pictures.  Also, took a drive this afternoon and got pictures of the house we will be in next season and also of the one that our friends Carol and Dan will be in.  They are both nice places and only a mile apart.  Below are the pictures.  Enjoy.

 

This is the house that Carol and Dan will be calling home next winter.

 

 

This is the house that Pat and I will call home for the winter.

 

 

This is one of the two patches of cactus that has the most blooms.  There are still more to open yet.

 

 

This is a close up of a few of the flowers in the second cactus patch.  You can see the buds that haven't opened yet.

 

 

The desert can be a pretty place when it is in bloom.

 

Patrick