Katy & co. came up for a visit and while Erin and Charlie downhill skiied, Katy, Lyla, and I joined my friend Gunther for Nordic skating on Lake Morey in Vermont. We zoomed around until the weather turned warm and ruined the skating surface. A reporter for the Boston Globe was on hand to chronicle effects of climate change on outdoor recreation and Lyla was quoted for an article that ended up on the front page of the Sunday paper!
Katy retains some horn skills and could still toot on Tessie's instrument
Heather's gall bladder removal surgery was successful. So far, she hasn't suffered any ill effects.
Tessie was all smiles after her final swim meet of the season
and she was a trooper at her annual checkup with 3 shots
I took a work trip to Europe but came down with fever upon arrival and spent the first 4 days mostly in a hotel room
My plans to tour Copenhagen were pared down
but I enjoyed their National Museum with extensive history of the Danish people
We toured Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine. In their student union is a huge linoleum floor of their previous mascot, the sun. Now they're the polar bears, still a pretty great mascot.
Claire and Rowan came up for few days during their spring break
Rowan bonded with our cats
including cantankerous old Reggie
We enacted our Regina Pizza - Boda Borg two-step plan
And in Science Olympiad, at the state tournament Lexington ran into an A-B team who didn't make any mistakes en route to a convincing win. Caroline took #1 in Ecology, #2 in Forensics, and #4 in Forestry. Next year Forestry cycles out to be replaced by Entomology, but Ecology and Forensics will remain.
Tessie is in lane 1 at the top, and set the family record for 25 meter freestyle, aged 9-10
For February break we traveled to Arizona and New Mexico. We started in Phoenix (the red star on the map) and toured 9 sites in southeast AZ
The first was Casa Grande, yet another pre-Columbian settlement
To me eye, the casa was not very grande
The first half of the trip we shared with Chinda and Mike, who have settled in Phoenix with their 2 cats
The parks in southeast AZ offer a program called "Hike for Health", where if you hike/jog 3-5 miles, you can earn a special pin. At Organ Pipe Cactus NM, the distance required was 5 miles and Mike and I jogged it out.
Mike is in far better shape than me and with the heat and altitude I couldn't do it. The rangers took pity and awarded me the pin for my effort
There are the organ pipe cacti. The Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona is the northernmost limit of their habitat, such that they are found only on the warmer southern sides of hills. Got it?
We rented a house in Tucson and stayed an unheard-of 4 consecutive nights
One day, we didn't visit any national parks, and instead we hiked in the surrounding mountains
That's a dead saguaro cactus and seeing its woody remains triggered the question, is a saguaro cactus a tree? We consulted several park rangers and learned that there is no strict definition of a tree, but based on their size and secondary growth, yes saguaros can be considered trees
Pronounced "Too-muh-kä'-ko-ree", this site south of Tucson preserves the oldest Spanish mission in Arizona, which was established in 1691
Later in the early 1800s the Franciscans built an imposing church that remains
A list of the great Columbian exchange of food items
At Tumacacori the Hike for Health pin required 4 miles and 4 of us headed out
A wrong turn led us to a sketchy river crossing
but we hurdled the obstacle
Our next site commemorated the 1540 Coronado expedition. Like the contemporaneous DeSoto expedition from Florida, the Spanish roamed the land searching for a fabled city of riches
The chainmail was heavy, even for a dwarf
There was a wild cave up in the hills
To complete the 3 miles of Hike for Health we were driven up the mountain and then ran down. That black line stretching into the horizon is the Border Wall.
All of us except Mike rode horses through Saguaro National Park
Chinda was a good sport for the trotting and cantering
Tessie's horse Gary
It takes over 50 years for a saguaro to grow its first arms
At Saguaro, 5 of us hiked the 3 miles for health
From Tucson we moved on eastward to Chiracahua Nat'l Monument, pronounced "cheer-i-cow-ah". It's a native word meaning wild turkey and the park is known for its rock formations. Due to its special geography and wildlife (see below), many think that Chiracahua will be elevated to full National Park status soon.
Up where the trails started there was a snow monorail
but further down the rhyolite rocks were perfect for exploring
Caroline couldn't ID this type of cypress and learned that it is an Arizona cypress and only found in the US in this park
Required photo to document our 4 miles hiked for the pin
and then we ran into a pack of coatis (coh-ahh-tease). They are relatives of raccoons, but infinitely cuter, and forage through the brush using their big snouts to unearth food.
There was a pack of 20 or so that snuffled by us on the trail
Fort Bowie was established in the mountainous territory of the Apaches. Unlike any other site that we've visited, they ask you to hike to the visitor center to experience the ruggedness of the terrain.
It's hard to see, but the natural spring was the most precious resource of the area
The Butterfield Overland Mail route to California ran through Apache Pass. The Butterfield stagecoach operation was the inspiration for the more famous Pony Express, founded in 1860. The Civil War and hostilities in the South ended the Butterfield route in 1861. The Pony Express ceased operations the same year, undone by bankruptcy and the transcontinental telegraph.
At Fort Bowie we received our 6th and final Hike for Health pin
High in the Gila Wilderness of western New Mexico is Gila Cliffs National Monument. With Bandelier, this is the only site that allows you to climb among the ruins
We've now visited all the cliff dwelling Park sites. Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Bandelier, Canyon de Chelly, Montezuma Castle, Tonto, Walnut Canyon, and Gila Cliff
Friends, if you find yourself in southern New Mexico in the winter, make your way to White Sands National Park. In the late afternoon, the sunset on the dunes is a magical experience.
The calcium sulfate crystals that form the dunes are fine-grained and so white that their high albedo reflects the sunlight and keeps them cool. The sand doesn't stick to your body like silicate sand, and it feels soft on your skin.
As the sun set the sky became more and more beautiful
We flew out of El Paso, TX
The Rio Grande flows south through New Mexico and then at El Paso it becomes the border of Texas. Again it amazed me to see row upon row of pistachio trees growing in the desert. With corn, wheat, and even rice one can argue that these staple crops for food production deserve government subsidy. But pistachios? In Texas?? It seems to me that the best practice of farming in the high desert is not farming.
And here's what that life-giving water is producing, a sack of red chile nuts sold alongside cactus taffy in a gift shop
That's Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso. Despite politicians' depictions of US-Mexico border towns as lawless disaster zones, in our experience the border towns seemed lawful and as functional as cities elsewhere.
Chamizal NM describes a US-Mexico border dispute that was resolved peacefully
The Kennedy administration pushed for resolution and the VC movie was played in a 1960s-era living room
The 1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the Rio Grande as the border of Texas with Mexico
At El Paso, starting in the 1860s erosion and flooding pushed the river south and shifted previously Mexican land into the US side of the river
Kennedy's administration worked with Mexico to alter the river's course and return most of the historically Mexican land back to Mexico
Ranger Saul informed us that he started the program that evolved into the Every Kid Outdoors program where 4th graders receive a pass for free entry into all federal lands and waters. All three of the girls used it - thank you so much Saul!!
