Wordless Wednesday: you know you're in New England when...

 

Wordless Wednesday: trees are resilient!

 

Chama fauna and flora

 

Our trip on the Rio Chama this year was early enough in the summer that we were treated with the sight of several families like the ones above: geese parents and their adolescent offspring. 

Some of the other animals we saw weren't as pleasing, like this scary-looking something-or-other...

But the worse specimens were a lot smaller. We unfortunately hit the river right at gnat hatching season. Amy had the right idea for keeping the critters at bay...

You really had to cover up this completely to get any peace in camp! It would have been nice if they'd met the same end as this guy...

...but unfortunately they were with us all the way down the river.

The early summer flora, however, did a little to make up for this annoyance. Here are some samples:

some prickly pear were in fine bloom

as well as some cholla

we caught a few late-blooming paintbrushes

as well as lots of daisies

anyone know what this is? impressive, no?

Even the guys that were already past their prime offered some good photo opps...

And, of course, there are the fabulous trees...

When I next find time to blog, I'll be taking you across the country. From the near desert to a much more verdant clime. Stay tuned!

Rockhound heaven

 

I know I've told you about the Rio Chama's gorgeous rocks before, and on this trip I told myself I wasn't going to take that many pictures of them. I mean, I have a million (est.) already! But I couldn't resist snapping a few. Here are some of my favorites...

Typical spectacular canyon view

rocks as bird apartment blocks

"desert varnish" on display

another typical day in the canyon

up close and personal

dodging rocks at Aragon Rapid

rock shelves at Big Eddy

not a bad view

Wordless Wednesday: kitchen with a view

 

Wordless Wednesday: Waiting for Henry (not Godot)

 

Sky scenery

 

Every day during our latest Rio Chama excursion, the clouds were almost as spectacular as the rocks in the canyon.

I'll show you plenty of the rocks next time, but for now, just enjoy these lovely desert clouds...

How is it that when you're away from the city, the sky always looks so much bigger?

As the days grew to a close, the clouds still impressed. Yes, it looks like it might rain in this shot, but we only got precipitated on once...

Of course, being the desert, there were times when there weren't any clouds at all. Or perhaps just these cute wispy bits...

Even though I said before we left home that I wouldn't take too many rock and tree photos, since I've shared so many of them from previous trips...well, I really couldn't resist. Here's a tree shot to segue into more earthbound scenery that I'll show you next time.