mountains – The Hermits' Rest

Looking and learning

I’m pretty much wiped out, but today was extra, extra fun. I enjoyed listening to and watching birds behind the hotel. I got to watch Lesser Goldfinches eating thistle seeds and the happiest Raven, who had scored an entire biscuit. I also saw unidentified animals in the hills.

Hard to believe this is behind the business district.

Next we met a fun young woman named Alison, who showed us some representative houses here that might work as summer homes. Alison was a lot of fun. We met in a restaurant where her fiancé painted a cool mural.

There was quite a collection of properties to see, ranging from sad small condos to rustic cabins to a house nicer than ours. It reminded me of the good old days when we bought houses and fixed them up.

Of course, I also found flowers that elk hadn’t eaten. This is scarlet cinquefoil.

I didn’t think anything would match all my criteria:

Not too big
No close neighbors
Space to park an RV
Lots of nature
Attractive view

Two did. One rustic place in need of some TLC near town, and one doublewide in a more rural area in really good shape. (There are so many well preserved mobile homes here.) They both are quirky, which I like.

The lady who owned the rural house had taken great care of the yard, which I liked. It was very low maintenance. The other one needed occasional weed whacking. Anyway. Here are a couple things I enjoyed in other houses.

Upstairs family room in a house that was too big

After a lot of driving around, we dropped Alison back off at the restaurant and went back to look at the area where the rural house is. It’s a big, green high mesa with a mix of double wides and nice traditional homes. There are also many horse properties nearby. However, the most interesting thing is in the middy of the neighborhood. A rock shop. Not just a shop, but the place where miners of fancy rocks with geodes and other beautiful formations inside process the raw material!

We got to see all the grinding and polishing stations. It was fascinating! We got to look at beautiful examples of the finished products and watch a slideshow of how they mine the rocks (almost all in New Mexico). after mining, they put back all the dirt they dug and seed it with appropriate plants. I was impressed.

After that, Lee took me to the Noisy Water winery outdoor gathering place, where we sat under trees and drank wine and ate charcuterie. I also listened to birds. Of course. They had a petting zoo, so I went over and said hi to the goats and other residents.

This one licked my hand clean. Yes I washed it.

But wait, you ask. Did you see any interesting mammals? Of course I did. Many elk, of which I just share a few, and a herd of wild horses serenely grazing next to a parking lot. Apparently that’s common. That was the last fun wild animal I was looking for, so yay. No bears. That’s fine.

This was a fun whirlwind trip. I’m glad we are coming back in September so I can do non-real estate activities.

I want to look at more flowers like this Rocky Mountain zinnia

I have no idea if Lee intends to buy a property. I understand why. Texas is getting more scary to us as time goes on. But we love our ranch and don’t want to go away from our family there. A summer getaway would be ok.

It’s a wild life!

Today I did my best to fulfill Lee’s goal of looking at every neighborhood in and around Ruidoso, New Mexico that might contain a residence that fulfills his dream of a summer getaway in a cool Mountain climate. Of course, it was hot today, but ten degrees cooler than home.

Since we aren’t remotely thinking of relocating, the beautiful horse properties and mountain estates we saw were just eye candy. We looked at the other end of the scale, too, such as numerous creatively updated 60s and 70s mobile homes. Mostly we looked at small cabin-like houses.

As Lee evaluated property, I took every opportunity to spot wildlife and look for birds. In fact, between listening at the hotel and looking in trees, I got five new life birds! One was a favorite, the Acorn Woodpecker. Here’s the list. I wish I’d seen that Lazuli Bunting!

My eagle eyes were on the lookout for others, such as these beauties. Poor Lee had to stop and back up.

I was excited to see deer a few times early in the travels. They have Mule Deer here, which are larger than white-tails and have large, expressive ears.

As it got later in the afternoon, I started seeing even larger deer. But, no, I figured out all for myself that they were elk. The first ones I saw here resting in the shade, and none have antlers right now, so they did look like deer.

I did get some plants, too. I’ll share them later. I should tell you our eating adventures. I had to stop with the driving and looking occasionally, because my eyes got tired. So we had an early lunch at a great place called Casitas. There was healthy food and much charm. Probably not to Lee’s taste, but I loved my fancy avocado toast and my dulce de leche latte. Mmm.

After a few more hours of going up and down mountains, being saddened at flood damage, and being jarred by potholes I requested my treat of the day, which was to visit Noisy Water Winery and cash in on my wine club membership perks. Wow, the club members’ lounge was nice, quiet, and beautiful.

I tried four different wines, one that just launched (2022 Demi goddess), one older white that had aged SO well, and the members’ exclusive, which was a rich dessert wine. Oh, and a red varietal I’d never tried, I liked it liked more than I expected. I did come home with three bottles of white wine. As I am the only wine drinker in our household, it will last a while.

The final place we stopped was a park we visited years ago with Anita. It was not great for birding, since a huge motorcycle group went back and forth while we were there. But I enjoyed the scenery and Lee even said my hair looked good. Wow!

Whew. So much mountain beauty, wildlife, and interesting homes. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Feeling sorta enchanted

Today was interesting. We drove to the Land of Enchantment (New Mexico) all in one day. We made it to Ruidoso, where we are driving around looking at property, which is the only thing that’s gotten Lee excited in a long time. So of course I came along. I figured there would probably be birds and wildlife to enjoy, and my favorite winery, which I haven’t visited since before my son went away.

I’ve already hit the jackpot in the wildlife department, so I guess I could go on home. You see, as we were approaching one of the small towns in the foothills, I saw something move next to the road. I was ready for deer or elk, but not for a very large flock of bighorn sheep! I was very surprised, but realized I was next to a rocky mountain— a mountain that is rocky, that is.

I kept saying to Lee that I saw sheep, the ones with the big horns! Duh. After I calmed down and got cell signal, I looked it up. Yes, they are found here. What they were doing all bunched up between the highway and a fence, I do not know.

We are in the circle. Image from Wikipedia.

The sheep definitely made up for the challenges of trying to work in the car, which I did, successfully, but with some effort. The laptop didn’t last the whole trip. And luckily I was finished with meetings while we were still in the flat desert and had signal.

This is exactly what I saw, only it looked more confused. From Wikipedia.

We got here and found the outside of the hotel to be a mess. Why? Because it’s SINKING. There was horrible flooding here again this year (after a worse one last year). It’s the monsoon season, and it’s getting worse, according to the sweet but weird Denny’s waitress this evening.

They are putting pins under the building down to the bedrock.

Oh yeah. Forest fires happen, too, but mostly in the National Forest. That should keep out the riff raff.

However our room is very cute. Has a separate living area and a big desk.

Lee is tired from driving, so we walked next door to a rather quirky Denny’s (with the waitress I mentioned). Everyone there seemed to be tripping or something. Very cheerful, extra funny, but also confused. We enjoyed the wildness. Some of the wildness came from two darling young Apache girls, who were very active but quite charming. They chattered and sang but were so cute you just had to laugh along. I talked to the mom as we were leaving. She was so tired. I think she was relieved that we and the staff were enjoying them. I bet it gets tiring all day every day.

This giant cicada mobile or something was in Roswell.

I’m looking forward to sneaking in some nature tomorrow. I remember this was the first place I ever saw a raven. But I’ll look at whatever Lee wants to look at.

Another Roswell sight. That alien museum exhibit must be a hoot.

Bye!

Mountain Girl Wannabe

Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?

I grew up near beaches and I like them okay, though I prefer marshy land near beaches, which have more interesting birds.

Beach sunsets are pretty fine! I do love Hilton Head.

But I really love mountains and always have. I looked forward to visiting Chattanooga, where my paternal grandmother lived, each summer so we could look at streams, go through tunnels, and drive along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As an adult, I’ve treasured my visits to other mountains in all weather. There are really good birds, too, and each area is so different! if I were rich, I’d head right over to Breckenridge and hike and snowshoe and be just fine. Or maybe Ruidoso, since it’s in another state I love.

Just dreaming. I’m here in Texas looking at a small hill. At least I have all these birds!

Look. I finally took bird photos you can identify as birds. Eastern Phoebe.

Off topic, but I enjoyed watching a huge flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds roosting and then departing en masse this morning. I had the good camera (Cameron EOSR5 Mark II) and telephoto lens in the birding area. Distance shots are from the phone camera.

I also dragged the camera to the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary to practice close-ups. I got lots of chickadees and titmice at the feeders and a few others. I think a couple are pretty good. At least you can see details on them. I’m gonna practice this week so my camera muscles will be all strong for next weekend. Anyway, here are cute titmice.

And here are just a few Carolina Chickadees. They pose well.

I also got a couple of nice shots of water dripping into the birdbath. Look carefully and you will see many honeybees from the nearby hives.

I took lots of photos of new Wildscape plants, but that will be in a Master Naturalist blog. But here are a couple of insects!

So, whee. Mountains are great, but no matter where you are, there are birds, insects, and plants to explore.

Travel with a Bad Tummy

Yesterday I did have fun, but was glad most of our fun was had in the car. I felt okay in the morning when I walked around but started to have tummy trouble after we got going. Ugh.

Still, the drive between High Point and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina was beautiful.

We got to drive a good ways along the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you’ve never done this, put it on your bucket list. The mountains are so perfect, and there are waterfalls to enjoy. We were so high up that the trees hadn’t completely leafed out and many were flowering.

Speaking of flowers, when we made a stop along the way, I was captivated by the beauty of the mountain flowers, especially the trilliums. I could have stayed a long time, but the restroom called. Yuck.

We finally got to the actual Park headquarters where we enjoyed the facilities and bought warm shirts. I was not prepared for temperatures in the low 50s. But that’s fine. My new sweatshirt is nice and soft.

Shirt says Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We visited an old gristmill, where we also saw the first of many elk. They have volunteers who keep people from getting too close to them. Many were tagged and appeared to have been shaved.

The mill was fascinating and the plants around it were also fun. It was hard to hear birds for the water splashing. But that’s fine!

After that we mostly drove through spectacular scenery, but we did pull over so I could walk a little way on the Appalachian Trail. More delightful plants and some good birds were there. If I had felt better (and Lee hadn’t kept saying, “Come on, Sweetheart” in a tone that hinted he wasn’t feeling too sweet), I’d have lingered.

We had to take another break back at the headquarters, and this time it wasn’t me delaying us. Lee took pictures of a herd of elk with the good camera, which enabled me to look for more birds and enjoy a woodchuck.

We enjoyed the rest of the drive as well. First we went through the Cherokee Nation for a while. Then it was just scenery. The road went along rivers that are popular whitewater rafting and kayaking places, plus a huge lake. It was a bit of a challenge figuring out what we saw, due to no cell reception. I do know we saw a flume and a scenic railroad route.

By the time we got to our stop, it was almost 9 pm. I felt bad that it was too late to contact my relatives in Tennessee, but I was so crampy I couldn’t have had fun. I guess the fun the night before messed me up. I assume we will be back by again. I could do that drive again! Enjoy these bonus tunnels and other park scenery.

I took some medicine once we got to the hotel, and slept well. We got out fairly early and got to Lookout Mountain at a great time for photography, when the fog had lifted and the sun was still soft.

I had to get my traditional photo of me with the cannons at Point Park. The first one taken was when I was an infant, which was around 67 years ago. Hooray for tradition.

There were plenty of birds and plants to enjoy and I got two new, the Veery and the Blackburnian Warbler. Veery cool.

I’m sorry I miscommunicated and didn’t get to see Cousin Jan and that we weren’t able to see my Chattanooga cousins. I wish I were a better planner.

No more relatives to miss from now on, just relatives who want me to come home and do my own dang chores (I will!). Wonder where we will end up today?

Going Up and Finding Mountain Wonders

Cathy and I declared ourselves better, though I think she was more healed than me. Nonetheless I agreed to go over to Keystone, where they were celebrating Oktoberfest rather early. What’s a trip out of state without some lederhosen and oompah music?

We had a hard time getting from my condo to the Dillon/Keystone area, because it’s a holiday weekend and the gas stations were full. The one where we finally got gas had a big convoy of huge trucks towing big off-road vehicles. There were at least six of them at a small gas station. Most had Mexican license plates. Serious off-roaders!

We finally got to the resort area and plowed through the exhibits (luckily we were early and it wasn’t rocking too hard). Then we went up! The Keystone gondola goes way up. It’s fun watching mountain bikers snaking down below us.

The views at the top of the ski area were amazing. I can see why Cathy likes to ski here so much. The weather was beautiful, too, neither hot nor cold. And it wasn’t too windy.

The views of other ski resorts from Keystone.

I determined I was healthy enough to embark, so we headed out on the hiking trail, which I vowed to take slowly, and I did. It was a spectacular trail through huge trees with lots of vistas peaking through.

I enjoyed lots of the usual mountain birds, but there was one I’d never seen before. It was a big, solid gray bird with white along its tail. I couldn’t get really close to it or its friends, but I did manage to get clear enough photos that both Merlin and iNaturalist were able to ID them as a bird I’d never heard of: a Canada Jay. Yes, they live here and are birds of high mountains. I think the map of where they are found is interesting.

We rested and looked around the scenic overlook for a while and enjoyed chipmunks and scary ski slope entrances. People hike up here then ski down. It’s not my idea of a good time. Walking is good. In summer.

The walk back down was through some of the prettiest woodlands I ever saw. The wildflowers were almost done, but I found a couple of new ones.

As we headed back to the end of the trail I got tired and had to stop to breathe a lot. The only thing that motivated me was the fact that Cathy found a marmot, which we’d been looking for all day, at the top of the hill. Up up I went and I got my marmot sighting!

We made it back down on the gondola and wound our way past the German fun. We then went to Cathy and Ken’s house so I could meet Aspen the grand-dog. She is a real cutie, full of love and energy. Aspen joined us for a patio Mexican dinner and was very good. My carnitas were incredible, not like the ones at home. It was basically a delicious roast pork.

That was a long and fun day, and I’m glad I was able to relax and watch college football this evening. Tomorrow I have to get ready to leave. Oh boy, laundry and packing.

I Got Enough Exercise

I wonder about me sometimes. I ended up working weird hours today, because I intended to walk for an hour and ended up taking a long horseback ride on it. It made for a long day all right, but it was worth it. I can sure be spontaneous!

Yesterday, I talked to the concierge at the condo place, who really didn’t seem enthusiastic about the idea of me walking up the mountain to the local riding stable. That annoyed me. I know I’m not 20 anymore. But I’m in better shape than I was then!

It’s just a mountain, not the highest one or anything.

So this morning after my first meetings, I wanted to get away from the loud construction trucks (they are rebuilding the road), so I headed up to the ski slope service road and hoped I’d hear some birds and see some flowers. I did, indeed! There were loud Steller’s Jays and crows, and some truly gorgeous flowers dotting the ski slopes.

It was a bit of a climb to get there, and there were more loud trucks, but when I saw horses, it was all worth it!

I decided that, while I was there, I might as well ride. It turned out the only other people there at that time had booked a private ride, so I got one, too. I’d been afraid that I’d be in a big line of horses. But no, little palomino Dreamer and I just followed one butt, that of Ethel, a young draft mare just learning to lead groups.

Both nice horses, though a little scruffy.

Kayley, the young woman leading us, was very personable and fun to talk to about our horses. I did spend a lot of time alternating between enjoying the beautiful woods and mountain streams and trying not to look down when we were in the edges of the steep trails. At least Dreamer did respond to my aids and keep to the inside of the trail.

The horses were so sure-footed. I was thankful! It was a lovely experience and exceeded my expectations. We crossed water, went between trees, and had a blast!

I’m glad I came when I did, because the next ride was full of people. There was a tiny kid, too. He probably wouldn’t even realize he should be cautious on the rocky slopes.

I truly enjoyed the walk back down. I went on the little paths by the woods. Boy did that disturb the squirrels!

When I got back I was quite tired but felt great. I had time to take pictures of tiny, vocal birds.

After working, I roused my tired body to go down to the cozy lounge and had a glass of wine and some conversation with nice folks. It’s fun to meet all these travelers! I’m glad I left the condo to get some new scenery!

Work at 6am tomorrow! Off to snooze!

Writing You from the Mountains

What do you enjoy most about writing?

Thought provoking! I enjoy all aspects of writing, but my favorite part is how it helps me refine my thoughts. Taking the time to write down my ideas gives them another chance to become well-formed and coherent expressions of how I feel or what I think.

Sometimes, though, I just like writing, the act of it. Like today I wrote a ridiculously long Facebook post about my entire day today, even though I’d intended to do something short that I’d expand on here. Oh well.

It feels like I packed an entire vacation’s worth of activities into today, but it was nearly all great fun. How so? Allow me to blather on and share photos.

I had a bit o’ trouble sleeping due to altitude headache, but it ended up fine. After coffee on the balcony I intended to just walk down the road here in Breckenridge, but ended up finding a beautiful trail along a creek. I went down it and listened for birds, until I had to get back to meet up with my local friend.

You should take it easy your first day at high altitude. That’s what they say. Instead, my friend Cathy and I went to the slightly lower altitude of Vail and spent an entire day walking and hiking. I drank a lot of water, so I was fine. We also didn’t do any big ascents on foot.

View from bathroom window that proves where we went. Nice bathroom.

First we went to a wonderful art festival with vendors from all over the country. I’m grateful I don’t have a car here, because a couple of things tempted me, such as these ceramic items that were made with a colored slip technique.

The crow on top had a berry in its mouth

Cathy got us reservations at a well-known Vail restaurant, where we had an amazing breakfast of eggs Benedict. We sat at the counter and watched the cooks, which was fascinating.

After that we took the fancy gondola all the way to the top, which was really cool. No moose were seen, but that’s ok. I enjoyed the views of mountains, trees, and flowers.

Next we hiked from the Big Bear gondola to Gondola 1. That was a beautiful trek with many wildflowers. I saw many new plants that are native to the northwestern US and Canada.

After going down, we hit the Vail Farmers Market, where I got fancy local peaches and regret not getting some bread that looked soooo good. There were many attractive dogs, in addition to great vendors. All rather upscale, duh.

And finally we headed over to Ford Park, where I had an absolute blast at the Betty Ford Alpine Garden. On the way were more plants and a beautiful hummingbird.

That Alpine garden one beautiful place, both in design and plants. It’s a great time to visit there. We got tired and took a couple of buses to get back to the car, but still enjoyed the scenery.

On the way back there was a traffic delay , but I’m always looking for animals. I was rewarded by this pretty mule deer.

In late afternoon, Cathy was kind enough to take me to Walmart (not my favorite store) to get a charger for my watch, which will let me keep my move goal streak going. She did bring her charger to me so I got charged this morning before we headed out so I could collect my 14,000 steps. Whew. I decided to just get some food at Walmart rather than go to a real grocery store. That was a mistake. It took forever to check out.

No photo of the store, so here’s a ground squirrel.

Interesting tidbit is that in fancy Frisco, CO, practically all the workers were African. And they spent a lot of time talking to each other. It appeared many did not speak English much. I wonder if there’s some program helping refugees? I hope they get better at English so they can help customers, but am glad they have a chance to work.

Wise words they could learn. Very existential.

After I got back to the condo and identified the plants and animals I saw on iNaturalist, I went to the owner lounge to see if they had drinks. Nope, the bartender had an emergency. I did meet some other guests and talked a little with them, then I talked a long time with a woman from Austin who owns horses. We both enjoyed that chance to tack about our passions. She even had on horse jewelry.

No photo of her, but here’s a young Robin.

And then I fell asleep writing this. But I woke up to add photos. My point in all this is that I do love writing!

Nature Girl Reigns Supreme

It was a good day for seeing nature in all its glory. After work, Lee and I went on a tour of Sedona and the surrounding area. Wow, was that fun.

By the time we did two of the stops, the tour guide figured out that we were way more interested in scenery and nature than shopping and that we were more to the New Age end of the spectrum than traditional folks.

We ended up going off script because we turned down going into a church. Instead we drove around and looked at all the different terrain and natural beauty around here. I was pretty excited to find some water-carved rocks.

Nice church. Great architecture. Didn’t want to go in.

The highlight for the early part of the trip was driving through Oak Creek Canyon, which has huge trees in it. We even got to see the creek that made the canyon.

We went through town, which was fine, then out to the hills to the west. There were lots of fancy houses, but also places with horses. Then, ah, wilderness. Well, empty land anyway. There was much evidence of the powers that be working hard to shew away campers and people parking on the roadside. I sorta get it.

Our tour guide decided to take the minivan off road and show us some more remote areas. It was fun and very quiet. I liked that. It was fun to find interesting plants out there.

Our final stop was the airport mesa, which has a great lookout. You could see nearby towns.

We were thrilled to find out our tour guide also likes tarot. She also identifies with the Hermit, like Lee. It was sure lucky to get such a compatible guide and to not have any more people than us.

After a wee rest I went for an evening walk to get the rest of my Exercise and Move points. I got bonus adrenaline points when I ran into a guy who said they had just seen some javelinas. Well, of course I wanted to see some (AKA collared peccary). So I went in the direction they were headed (also the way I was heading anyway), and soon saw the whole group of them nonchalantly making their way across the edge of the golf course. It was a big family!

I missed getting a video of them arguing, but here’s one where a wet one shakes off water.

That wasn’t even the end of my nature excitement. I finally got to see the Gambel’s Quail I’d been hearing. I watched them play around in the bushes. And I got to get a photo of a desert or mountain cottontail. I’m not sure which it is. The bonus photos are pollen on the sidewalk and a male Anna’s hummingbird. I do enjoy them.

What a great day. Now I gotta sleep so I can get up real early to work.

Rocks, Crystals, and Stones

Today was excellent. I got lots of work done AND enjoyed Sedona. Waking up at my normal time, which is 5 am here, lets me have a lot of time left over for fun, so today I enjoyed all things rocky.

The fun started when we went to the condo place and got help booking some tours for tomorrow and the weekend. This way Lee won’t have to drive and can actually see the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon. There happened to be some lovely women selling jewelry and I got some small things there.

We drove around Sedona and stopped to get some views of the red rock formations all around us. The drive between Oak Canyon and Sedona is breathtaking.

One place we stopped was the trail head for an equestrian trail. I hope to go hike it, since it’s probably not too steep. I was happy to find out that our National Parks pass covers the entry fees for the hikes. I’m glad I went into a hiking shop to figure that out. I also got the ideal Texas hiking pants: long but weightless. That will keep bugs off but breathe.

In Sedona, we had dinner (Texas time) in a place with delicious fresh food and a wonderful view. We met some other diners who it turned out lived near me when I was raising my kids. We then saw them at the nearby crystal shop. I love me a good crystal shop. No, I did not get my aura read.

Finally we went to a store with real Navajo rugs, which made me swoon. The big Two Gray Hills ones were very impressive. Someday…

Lee talked to this guy so much he froze.

We drove through the fun touristy shop area, found some not-wealthy people housing, then went to the western part of Sedona where there are banks, grocery stores, and non-woo woo establishments for people who live there. Still, very pretty. Lee met someone in the bank who knew where Cameron was! This whole visit has been full of things like that.

And after I finished reading my novel (report tomorrow) I went on another bird walk. My only new bird was a Scrub Jay. Note: It sure smells good here with so many trees blooming. I took one of Lee’s allergy pills, so now I’m fine in the sinus department.