There is a place where the desert is painted, the trees are stone and enough plant and animal fossils have been found to earn the name “Triassic Park”.   Located in northeastern Arizona, Petrified Forest National Park is the place.   Long ago an epic event happened here.   A forest of trees was knocked down and buried in mud.   In time the trees where turned into stone.   Erosion has exposed them, along with the beautifully colored sediments where they were trapped.   Dig into the sediments and you could find more then petrified trees, there are so many types of plants and animal fossils that they bring experts from around the world here.    But they were not the first, as humans have explored and lived in this area for a very long time.   Remnants of ancient ruins can be found in the park along with over 600 petroglyphs representing humans, animals and spirit creatures.   These petroglyphs decorate ancient cliffs, as can be seen at Newspaper Rock.

OK, so in the interest of thoroughness we had to see if there really were aliens in New Mexico, so we ventured to the UFO capital of the USA, Roswell.   And although we are from out of town, we didn’t expect to be escorted to area 51 on our first visit.    Or was it just coincidence that the campground assigned us campsite number 51.  Hmmm….

Well, we have to report we certainly didn’t see any current alien activity in the area.   However, Roswell has a lot more to offer than it’s UFO attractions.    There’s a very nice art  museum that also houses a replica of Dr. Goddard’s laboratory, complete with the actual launch tower and early liquid-fueled  rocket used in his experiments.

But the unexpected find and a place that warrants further investigation is the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, just 7 miles out of town.   Another stop-over for migrating Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese in New Mexico, the wildlife drive seems to provide good access to a large part of the southern refuge.  Labeled an oasis in the desert, it draws water from the Pecos River and artesian water from the surrounding mountains.   Plus, it’s on the border between the Chihuahuan Desert and the Great Plains so there is a wide variety of wildlife to be found in the refuge.

It is cold as we step out of the car under a cloudless night sky still ablaze with stars.   Without the moon, it is difficult to see the pond in front of us, but a moment of silence confirms our early rise was worthwhile.   By the sound, there must be hundreds of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese on this pond, where they have overnighted for safety.   But soon the birds will be off hunting for breakfast, so we have arrived on time.

In the east, the early morning rays of the sun paint the sky pink, then yellow, then orange behind us.   As we stand and watch the sun rise, we see small dark shapes in the sky.   Slowly, almost imperceptibly there is a sound.  It grows louder as the shapes get bigger.    Yep, geese.   Snow Geese to be precise.    In the air and moving this way.    Clearly, the Snow Geese in front of us on the pond can hear them coming, but they seem content to wait for their arrival.    The new geese circle overhead, honking and honking, as they filter down to join their comrades.    Once all the new geese have landed the volume of noise drops but it never goes quiet.    We wait and watch.      Then without warning, a blast of noise as almost in complete unison, the entire flock of snow geese take off.    The sound is almost deafening.    Then, they are gone.

Such is a morning in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico in early February.

The sun shines intermittently on the fresh snow that blankets the desert vegetation of the Plains  of San Agustin, an area 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico .  There are storm clouds to the west threatening more snow, but for the moment the crisp air is refreshing.   The high, broad plains seem empty and isolated, a perfect location for listening to space.

So we should be able to hear something with the Very Large Array or VLA, a collection of 27 large radio telescopes capable of being moved along railroad tracks to form many different configurations.  The independent dishes can be linked together to create a single massive radio telescope or interferometer.  The largest configuration of the array has a diameter of 36 km or 22.3 miles.  Pretty impressive and ingenious.

If these telescopes look familiar its because they have been featured in many science fiction films, most notably “Contact” with Jodi Foster.  However, unlike in the movie, these radio telescopes are not really listening for ET, but are used to “see” distant space objects like planets, stars and galaxies.

Walking the high desert of the Rio Grande Valley on a mild January morning, we were not expecting to find aliens. Sure we expected to find snakes and lizards or rabbits and road runners, but certainly not aliens. But there they were just as plain as day. At least, that’s my interpretation of the strange rock carvings we found in the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was amazed by the number, variety, quality and ease of access to these ancient carved images which are attributed to the Ancient Pueblo Indians. I wondered why there are so many petroglyphs located here, over 20,000 according to the brochure. I asked in the Visitor Center and was informed that the park is located in the area of 5 ancient cinder volcanoes. According to the Ancient Pueblo culture, the volcanoes gave access to the underworld which plays heavily into their spiritual culture.

So if you are ever in Albuquerque, I would highly recommend visiting the park. It is close to I-40 and many of the petroglyphs can be seen during a short walk from your car. To see more photographs from Petroglyph National Monument, click here.

We stopped at Camping World to buy some toilet paper and bought this instead…     Hmmm, rather expensive toilet paper, but Bruce sure does seem happy.    Check out the full gallery of photos here.

Well, this is quite an accomplishment, 17 states visited in less than 6 months.

Although we started off slowly, we really managed to pack on the states this summer. We could also claim 2 Canadian provinces as well, but we don’t have any stickers for Canada yet. We drove the RV from Key Largo, Florida to Bar Harbor Maine in about a week. Looking at a map, the obvious route was to drive I-95 the whole way as it is a direct route. But wanting to avoid the big cities along the eastern seaboard, we took a more indirect route, while allowed us to pick up most of the eastern states of the US. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that we were very close to Rhode Island, but did not actually visit Rhode Island. So we have a small hole in the map that will require us to revisit this area to fix.

On our return home, we spent a day in Philadelphia which was great fun. As we were leaving of course we had to make a grand tour of the area so we could make sure to claim New Jersey and Delaware.

Bruce and I had the privilege of helping at the Marine Mammal Conservancy in Key Largo, Florida.    They currently have 3 short-finned pilot whales, who beached themselves in early May.   Before we could get into the water with the whales we had to go through a briefing, both for our and the whales protection.    We learned that the whales were in a field hospital equivalent of an ICU.   We needed to keep our voices down and our movements slow and easy.    Our jobs in the water were to help support the whales, to allow them to rest.      Bruce and I did two four hour shifts over two days.   We were in the water supporting the whales several times during the two shifts.   We also got to help when the whales received physical therapy and I helped a trainer feed one of the whales.

Our brief  visit to the Conservancy was a real eye opener in the workings of a large animal field hospital.    The dedication and resourcefulness of the staff was impressive, as was their seemly endless patience with both the numerous volunteers and the sick whales.   Clearly, the need of volunteers was critical to the hospitals operation.   The staff was very good about explaining what they needed help with and was constantly on the lookout for the volunteer’s safety.   I personally felt very well looked after by all of the Conservancy’s staff.    All in all a very gratifying experience.

Bruce in our new home on wheels.