Day 965: Exploring the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Ben

Today we drove out to explore the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area. Our first stop an area that contains the Yellow Hoodoo Gang:

The Yellow Hoodoo Gang:

We found the most well preserved petrified wood I’ve ever seen. It looks like normal wood, but it’s heavy as stone and is very, very old:

More petrified wood:

More hoodoos:

The wash eventually ended, so we had to climb out:

We walked across the plains to return to the truck:

We found remains of a horse:

M fed the skull some grass:

Homestead ruins:

After lunch, we drove to another trailhead and set out to explore the Valley of Dreams area:

More petrified wood:

The ground was covered with a rich assortment of stones and petrified wood:

We approached the Valley of Dreams:

This area had spherical basketball-sized concretions:

More petrified wood:

This hoodoo is called “Alien Throne”:

Petrified wood can be a hoodoo capstone too:

This entire area is as varied as it is stunning:

Here a petrified log is creating an elongated hoodoo:

Heading back:

A tiny hoodoo:

This formation is called “The Three Wise Men”:

Our third stop was the “Valley of Dreams East” area:

M drove his R/C Car:

We did an action photo shoot for the R/C car. Here the car is airborne after launching off a jump:

On the way home, we passed this group of wild horses:

What an amazing day!

Day 961: Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Ben

Today started with a photo-worthy breakfast:

We hitched up and prepared to leave the Camel Rock Casino, where we’ve been parked for a week. Thanks for hosting us, or, as they say in the Tewa language spoken by the residents of the Tesuque Pueblo, Kuunda:

After restocking our frozen meat at Trader Joe’s, we drove south to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument:

One of the “tent rocks”:

The canyon became a slot canyon:

This cave was enlarged by Native Americans hundreds of years ago and still has soot on the ceiling from the original inhabitants:

More tent rock formations. A boulder or tree protected the soft layer beneath it from erosion while the surrounding material eroded away more quickly:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks, but as of now there is no visitor facility where they can be handed in, so we will have to scan them and e-mail them to the BLM field office.

We continued southwest, then northwest. Driving to our overnight location involved a few miles of dirt road, on which we encountered open range cattle:

We arrived at our Shabbos dispersed camping location, Cabezon Peak:

Cabezon Peak stands over 1,000 feet taller than the surrounding terrain. It is the largest of a family of volcanic plugs in this area:

Good Shabbos from Cabezon Peak, New Mexico:

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 960: Purim in Santa Fe

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Ben

This morning we went into Santa Fe for Purim to hear the Megillah reading. When we returned to the RV, M as having trouble with his R/C car charger, so we cut out the section of the cord that was damaged and did some soldering to rebuild the cord:

This afternoon, we returned to Santa Fe for laundry and propane. We also delivered shalach manos to the owners of the tire shop and book store that we visited last week. In both cases, they mentioned they were Jewish when we were there.

We then went to a family for the Purim Seudah. B is sporting new face paint today:

The meal was medieval-themed, and included many authentic dishes from the Middle Ages. There were about 20 people there, and the food, wine, and company were excellent:

Day 959: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Ben

Today we visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum with my parents:

The museum houses some of O’Keeffe’s drawing and painting materials:

Near the museum, there’s an interesting outdoor art installation:

Trish did B’s face painting in preparation for Purim, which begins tonight:

Tricia’s costume:

The synagogue in Santa Fe is very small. It was inspiring to be here, the only Nusach Ashkenaz synagogue in New Mexico, in a town with less than 70,000 residents:

The kids in costume:

My Purim bowtie was a hit:

Freilichen Purim!

Day 957: Touring Los Alamos

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Ben

Today we visited Los Alamos with my parents. Our first stop was the Los Alamos Historical Museum, temporary location for visitor contact for the newly formed Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Unfortunately, there’s no Junior Ranger workbook for the Los Alamos location yet. We did enjoy the museum:

We next visited the Los Alamos Nature Center:

The nature center has a dozen terrariums showcasing animals from the area:

This Wolf Spider was the largest non-Tarantula spider I’ve ever seen:

The kids experimented with the video microscope:

This ant terrarium connected through a hole in the “ground” to this exposed ant colony below:

Our last stop of the day was the Bradbury Science Museum, the de facto visitor center for Los Alamos National Laboratory:

The museum deals primary with atomic weapon history:

This interactive display allowed the kids to explore Los Alamos as it looked during the Manhattan Project:

After our visit to Los Alamos, we returned to the RV where we had a birthday party for B and Bubbe:

After dinner, my parents returned to their hotel in Santa Fe and M played with his new R/C car. It was considerably cheaper to order the car directly from China, but it took 18 days to arrive from China, so we had to carefully decide where to have it shipped, and the intervening days were an agonizing wait for M. We picked up the car yesterday in Santa Fe, and today M drove it around: