Sunset East /  by Dave Hileman

Along the Atlantic at Isle of Palms in South Carolina at sunset. The clouds on the east picked up the color from the dipping sun and changed into these gorgeous colors with a nice reflection on the shore. Magical moment.

One of my favorite walks at Acadia National Park /  by Dave Hileman

This is not a long hike, perhaps a mile and a half. It begins at the Wild Gardens of Acadia and goes toward the golf course. But it is a stunning walk between aspens, along boardwalks, groves of soaring trees, a steam or two and lots of ferns and wild flowers. Great way to step away from anxiety or stress, not worry about the length of the hike nor the steepness of a mountain or needed special gear, just a walk in the woods. Peaceful.

And one more, the common Mourning Dove /  by Dave Hileman

But in an uncommon place. Once again this is the Bean Blossom Bottom Swamp near Bloomington, IN. I have experienced this before where I see a bird that is common to backyards or golf courses etc in a wilder environment creates a different moment. It just feels different to see this dove fly up from the swamp and perch on this snag of a tree. Anyway, enjoy the sneaky Bird Week ending!

Eastern Bluebird /  by Dave Hileman

These are so special to see thriving as a decade ago they were in decline because their traditional nesting sites were disappearing. Now particularly with the extensive bluebird houses across the region, they are doing well. This bright specimen was atop his nesting house in our backyard.

Plumbeous Vireo --New Bird! /  by Dave Hileman

Jill spotted this nest by the trail in Great Sand Dunes National Park (also a new park). We could hear a second bird just above singing and the app, Merlin, identified it as a Plumbeous Vireo, a bird I could not recalling ever even reading or hearing about. Then we spotted the bird in the nest. It matched the description of the vireo but even more the nest was exactly as described. A great treat to add to the North American life list.

Northern Yellow Warbler /  by Dave Hileman

Once again at the Bean Blossom Marsh but this time a different warbler. This is a bit more common but hard to photograph as they seem to be high in the trees or flitting about constantly. This one took a three minute break in a nearby tree to adjust feathers.

Prothonotary Warbler /  by Dave Hileman

I found a really neat spot to search for birds near Bloomington, IN, called Bean Blossom Marsh. It is a 2.5 mile circuit on a raised boardwalk through old farm fields, wetlands and wooded swampy ground. On my first circuit I heard and ID’d, with the help of Merlin, 32 different birds. I spotted 12 but knew another 10 or so with several calls not known to me. I have not seen a Prothonotary Warbler in a few years so this was a treat.

Beauty /  by Dave Hileman

This small pond was built about 1900 to provide water for the large herd of sheep that were raised at this ranch. Today it is visited by scores of birds and animals and feeds a stream across the landscape and gathers in yet another pond about three miles away. This is all at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in NM.

The Longmeir House is just behind me so if you watch that show this pond might be visible.

Last travel day.... /  by Dave Hileman

…and yet one more park! For number 381 we stopped at the Ulysses Grant farm in St Louis. It is on land that abuts the former home of the farm where Anheuser-Busch raised and kept the famous horses. It is still a popular park.

The house that is the center of the Grant Park was the home of his wife, Juila. They lived here for 8 years and than after the Civil War they purchased it but did not live in it any longer. The NPS site is small but in addition to the house there are two outbuildings, a barn turned into a museum and the VC itself. The house is painted “Paris Green” but maintained the original name of White Haven.

Then we were able to get through St Louis so well we chose to not stop for the night but go on to Bloomington. Unfortunately, we had the wrong Bloomington in the GPS and spent over an hour heading to Bloomington, Illinois. When we discovered the error, we were still the original 3 hours and 45 minutes from the correct town and so we got in very late. We solved that issue by sleeping late the next morning. It was all worth it to wake up to the smiles of Mary Evelyn.

  • almost the last day, we still need to return to Knoxville.

Pleasant setting

Yes, it really is that color

Wildflowers on the property

And Two More, #379 and #380 /  by Dave Hileman

Two more parks that I wish did not exist for they are reminders that people can be very cruel to each other, and often beyond cruelty. The first stop that morning was near the very small town of Granada at the Amache Japanese Relocation Camp - for “relocation” read internment and it is more accurate. 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry mostly from Los Angeles were housed here in barracks for the duration of WWII. I understand the anxiety of the potential threat however, the solution was excessive and too often those who were sent to these camps did not recover their homes or businesses.

The second stop was much worse. Here after an hour drive on very rural roads and miles of dirt roads as well, we came to the site of the Sand Creek Massacre. There is zero rationale for this. A large band, 750 estimated, of indians mostly women and children and elderly men who were in the last stages of peace negotiations with the US government, were attacked and slaughtered. Rather than recap this disgusting event, if you wish you can read about it her:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre.

From here we made our way to Salina Kansas where we had dinner with some of Jill’s relatives and stayed the night with Jill’s Sister-in-Law, Greta Lagerberg. It was nice to spend some time there.

Finally --- And, (fanfare) Park Number 378 - Great Sand Dunes National Park /  by Dave Hileman

Crossing Colorado from Mesa Verde we stayed mostly on two lane route 160 through beautiful scenery and a neat pass across the Rocky Mountains that crested at 10860 feet. We arrived at about 4 hours to Great Sand Dunes NP. This is the next to the last NP (not NPS site) I need for all the lower 48 states. The last one is Lassen Volcanic in Northern California. But back to the Sand Dunes. It is an odd site to see these dunes reaching up to about 900 feet over the desert floor against a mountain backdrop. The primary activity is boarding down the dunes and lots of people were. It was otherwise a beach with no ocean! We took a neat hike along a nature trail and a bit of a walk on the dunes. Then across miles of eastern Colorado desert to a tiny town where we spent the night in preparation for two more parks in the morning.

Lots more Mesa Verde /  by Dave Hileman

We were up at on the way early today. The Wetherill Mesa is not open all the time. I have not been here when it was open so this was an opportunity but we had tickets for a 12:30 tour so we had to go early as it is 45 minutes drive one way and an hour back to the tour site. This is a remote section where you drive on several “knife edge” ridges. When we arrived, we walked to several pit houses AD 600, a pueblo AD 800, and an overlook to another interesting cliff dwelling. We tried another hike but were out of time. So back to the main center where we had time to glance around the museum and then on to our tour. The tour is down a couple hundred feet - steps and trail and up a ladder to the largest of the cliff dwellings, Cliff Palace. A name the guide disliked as it was never anything other than a large housing complex. It is so neat to hear the lecture of the well-versed guide while standing in the midst of the dwelling. Getting out after is a neat part of the experience too, as you go up very narrow stairs set in crevices along the rock and up three ladders. Off to lunch and then back for a lecture about the Spruce Tree House. It is currently closed as they are trying to secure the rock “ceiling” above the dwelling and have not been successful for 10 years. They are ready to try another “fix.” We had walked about 7 miles at this point and so we called it a day and ate leftovers in the room. Tomorrow we head East.

Mesa Verde /  by Dave Hileman

We left Arches and headed to Colorado and the Mesa Verde National Park. Located on a high mesa, this park has several canyons, 600 cliff dwellings and nearly 5000 other sites ranging from pit houses built about 500 to farm terraces and pueblos from 1100.. There are so many still being discovered so the park has outlawed ANY off trail or road excursions. Some have been explored and filled in to protect them many have not. We arrived about 4 in the afternoon - but spent some time in Cortez at a famous trading post, Notah Dineh, Found a couple of things to bring home and ate a nice lunch in the town. We are staying two nights in the NP lodge, Far View. Old but great views and nice to be in the park. It is a drive once you get here, 15 miles to the lodge and 8 more to the old visitor center and still many more miles to other sites. We just explored the dwelling, Spruce Tree House and a drive along a canyon with several overlooks to see more ruins. Ate dinner in the lodge lounge.

I forgot to post this photo from Canyonlands. Want to get to the bottom, you drive this road and that road in the distance is NOT the bottom. No thank you.

Complex viewed from the rim drive

Spruce Tree House, a very famous landmark, 90 rooms

Spruce Tree close up. Note the white top, red bottom of the second tier of the left tower. All these rooms were plastered and painted. Inside and out. This was built about 1150

Back to the Arch /  by Dave Hileman

This morning we were up a bit earlier and out to Arches NP again. Today we did the major tourist arches, Windows, Double, Turret and Park Avenue. Except Jill and I gave many of the formations much more appropriate names: Prairie Dog, Mummy, Ink Well, Wise Men, Cathedral, Old Ladies Shoe, Elf Shoe, Lion Head and Lasagna Rock with Cheese. Make sure and look for the renamed features when you make your trip here. After a couple of hours, we returned to town and I had a disappointing coffee. Back to the hotel for laundry. We then took a drive to the Canyonlands National Park. It is due west of Moab but you go north 10 miles and then southeast. It is a stunning canyon. Wind was heavy but it also cleared the view. The sign said you could see 152 miles on clear days. We were close to that.

Back to Moab for dinner at the Baja Grill. It has been here 25 years and the food shows why it has sustained all these years. Fine food, another excellent choice by our scout, Spike. Spike will get his own page inn a week or so, stay tuned.

We pull up stakes (I am starting to talk western) and plan to mosey south to Mesa Verde National Park when the suns up.

Pictures today are most of the “Classic” arches most people view.

South Window Arch

Turret Arch

Double Arch - always looks like three to me

One of ten “hidden” arches in this area

Jill’s Arch