Joshua Tree: Day 1

After a week in Palm Springs for a conference, my friend Kevin and I rented two cars and drove up to Joshua Tree National Park. After shopping for groceries and stove fuel, we drove our cars down a sandy 4WD road to the Covington Flats trailhead. Along the way, we got some good pictures of Joshua Trees after a fire.
We then drove back out to the town of Twentynine Palms. Yes, those are storm clouds above, and it rained as we set up our camp at the Indian Cove campground. We ate an enormous amount of Mexican food in town (ask Kevin about "Señor Burrito"), before crashing for the night.

Catching Up...

Work and travel have made it very difficult to blog lately. Here's an update of some smaller trips from the past few months:

Horsetooth Falls, February 25
Foothills Trail, March 17

Kevin and Sky on the trail

Horsetooth Reservoir

Swim in Lake + Sand = Dirty Dog

Joshua Tree

I've been too busy at work this week to post about my Joshua Tree Backpack, but fellow backpacker Kevin hasn't had this problem. Click here for his write-up and some great pictures from our trip.

I'll be busy for another few weeks, then I should be able to start blogging again. I'll try to avoid posting pictures where I blatantly used the same tripod holes as Kevin.

Nearly-famous Friend

An excellent interview with our writer friend Kim Despins.

American Lakes

Today Dorinna and I took an absolutely fabulous cross-country ski trip to American Lakes. Warm, only a little wind, and only the slightest wisps of clouds. Oh yeah, lots of new snow.

American Lakes Basin


Back side of Nokhu Crags


Dorinna is all smiles anticipating the descent


Turns

Blizzard Update: February 18

Grass!

Arapahoe Bend

Earlier today Dorinna and I took a walk to the Arapahoe Bend Natural Area on the outskirts of Fort Collins. We were going in search of Bald Eagles, but found only Grebes and an unidentified raptor.

Old abandonded ranch house near natural area.

Michigan Ditch

Last weekend, Kevin joined Dorinna and I on a ski trip along Michigan Ditch. This was Kevin's second time on skis, but the trip was mostly flat. We "encouraged" him to try some hills at the end. The weather was windy and snowy, but warm, so it was a fine day with fresh snow.

Bunny and Llama Awarded BTFNDSA Foundation Grant

Recently Bunny and Llama received a grant from the BTFNDSA (Bassett Transportation For Non-Domesticated Domestic Stuffed Animals) Foundation-- a new car!


Naturally, the trouble started almost immediately...

Blizzard Update: February 10

Way back in December, I complained about the lack of snow plows in Fort Collins. So what does our neighborhood look like, almost two months later.

Here's a picture of our street. Note that in our neighborhood, the sidewalk is flush with the street- there's no grass strip between them.


About a block away, the street still only has one lane: