Filling Time

It is summer once again and since I retired I have no summer workamping job to keep me stationary for months on end.  That means I have time to fill and places to travel.  And so, I have been traveling.

After my many months in Arizona I said good bye to the tiki bar and my winter family and started my way back to Eugene.

Bye bye Tiki Bar!

I was back at City of Rocks, NM for the Equinox to meet up with friends I met during the Kaypacha Healing Festival and Star Knowledge Conference and met new friends that I would continue to enjoy in Truth or Consequences, NM and Elephant Butte, NM.  I wonder what world I have stumbled upon while at City of Rocks when I can climb the stones to the other side for a drumming circle, watch the sun set atop these magnificent Rock Beings and then climb back over to my side of the park and and attend a star gazing party.  I continue to be enchanted with New Mexico and in particular this state park.

Just one of the campsites at City of Rocks, all of them are unique and amazing!

New Friends

Reunion in Shasta with Kaypacha Healing Festival friends

I spent a week stuck in Albuquerque due to high winds and then headed to the Bisti Wilderness http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/bisti_badlands/.  Spooky and other worldly!

Just a small sampling of these formations

I viewed Ship Rock, NM from a distance and my plans to stay in Farmington, NM were quickly dashed when I pulled into what I considered a VERY unsafe RV park where I quickly made a U-turn and continued down the road to Cortez, CO and a brand new park in the Ute Mountains.

Ship Rock, NM

Park at base of Ute Mountains

And then I went where I have longed to go...Four Corners, where the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet and form a cross.  It did not disappoint and the drive from Four Corners to Moab, Utah was one of the most beautiful of my life.

Another place on my list of "wanna go there some day" was Moab, Utah and Arches National Park.  Words nor pictures can describe what I found at Arches.  It is for each to have their own experience of this profound creation.

Arches National Park.  Love the rainbow effect.

After Moab my mission was to get back to Eugene.  My dad was going in for triple bypass and "just in case" I wanted to be near an airport.  All went well and he is doing well in his recovery and rehabilitation.  I feel so very fortunate to still have both parents living and walking on this earth and enjoying good health well into their mid-80s.

That's my dad....aka Herbie

But returning to Eugene is always a good thing.  I get to spend time with my son, his girlfriend, their dogs and some of the best friends a person could wish for. 

The best gift ever is when I get to watch my son dj

And be there for his girlfriend's birthday

And spend time with Ralph and Bella

I stayed a month before getting the "hitch itch" and then spent a few weeks traveling the Oregon coast, slowly moving from Florence to Newport to Pacific City. 

Mother's Day in Florence, OR

Octopus feeding in Newport, OR

Busy time in Pacific City, OR

Visited the Rogue Brewery and Pelican Brewery

And when I had my fill of the Coast, seafood, brew pub beers and the misty salt air, it looked like Reno, NV had the best weather around so that is where I am now.  Enjoying this border town between California and Nevada and enjoying the very good company of the tiki bar owners from Buckeye.  Thursday we went to Blues on the Porch, fed some burros, bought some farmer's market produce and remarked upon our amazing lives that lead us to such pleasures.  Blues, brews, perfect weather, friends to laugh with, open skies and roads to travel...having the time of my life.