Elle's Tells: July 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

New places close to home

We walked all the way around this new to us lake on the Grand Mesa. We swam in the lake, actually was quite nice, not too cold.

In order to walk around some cows near the shore of one side of the lake, we walked far around kind of through a swamp. I had Buddy on a leash and Gary had the rest of the dogs further up. Buddy and I walked into some bushes to try to get back to the main road. I looked down, and 2 feet in front of us was a HUGE porcupine. It looked twice the size of Buddy, but maybe the quills made it look bigger. I think we surprised it, because it was just starting to move when we saw it. Immediately the hair stood up on the back of my neck and my heart started to race, that good old instinct adrenalin. Fortunately, we just turned around and walked the other direction, but it was quite the sight. No picture though.

Griffiths Lake on Grand Mesa.

Mountain Dawg Dude, Gary.

Mamma cools down in Whitewater Creek.

Whitewater creek is also new to us. We have seen it down lower in the valley , but not up higher, as there is really not good access to it. I would love to see where it comes down from the top of Grand Mesa, but will have to search for it some other time. I always wondered why they called the little town Whitewater that we drive through to get to Delta, now I know.

White Sands New Mexico

We had a wonderful trip to New Mexico/Arizona. Stayed few days at Ruidoso in condo with parents, Andrew, Crystal, and Rebecca. Highlights of trip were being asked north of Las Cruces what is our citizenship, which we should have expected, but were still taken aback, and being kicked out of White Sands at 10 p.m. with blast horns and bright lights, some inkling of how "illegal aliens" might feel like as we were running across the sand with our sleeping bags and backpacks, trying to get to our vehicle.

I was able to play some racquetball with dad. He asked if someone wanted to play with him, and I thought this might be the last chance I get to play racquetball with dad. It has been 10 years since I have played. Well, he wooped me. I could only handle 2 games, at least I scored some points, but suffered with right arm pain for days afterward. He is good! I was impressed. After all he has gone through in the last couple of years, he kept up his physical fitness and racquetball skills. What a great example!.

White Sands was very interesting, less like sand dunes we are used to, not really shifting, but more like the consistency of dirt. It is made of gypsum.

An orange in the white.

Andrew was working with a new camera. He really wanted to get some night shots of the milky way, but 1) we were kicked out at 10 p.m., and 2) the nearby Air Force Base had some really bright lights hindering the night sky view, but Crystal and I were able to lay out on a sleeping bag for awhile and enjoy the night sky, including the milky way.