Reo Grande Big Bend National Park...

Prickly Pears - click

There ain't much there, he said without so much as a grin,
you could tell he knew just from the tobacco juice on his chin;
bunch of old critters and some poisonous snakes is it,
why they ain't even no water, it's so dry a man can't spit.

There ain't a lot of company in there, it's just you,
not even a place where a man can buy chew;
so go in there with them snakes and horned frogs if you will,
at least when it's bedtime it's quiet and still.

Well this is my hand at pure fiction today,
it's good this old geezer didn't have much to say;
try something different, some different style,
or just go back to my old ways, after a while.

The Santa Elena Canyon - click



Pine Canyon Falls - click



Sundown in this West Texas Park



Redwood National and State Parks 2....

Rhododendrons in the wood, wild and beautiful-click

...California, this park is worth two days,
besides there's so much fog and haze;
there's so much to see, so much land to roam,
we'd have no thoughts of going home.

Today is wildflowers, hope you don't mind,
as we go looking around for some different kind,
daisies, lupine rhododendrons in store,
so..let's get going and find some more.

..first take a road out to the fields-click

Some lupine along the river-click

Daisies and Sea Stacks-click

Redwood National and State Parks....

Fog in the woods-click

...California, almost at the Oregon border, and on the coast,
trees big enough to build a whole house, quite a boast,
some of these trees are downright old,
being saved for the future we're surely told.

Logging goes on in this part of the world,
very selective, it may stop, the rumors are hurled,
people that like to work in the woods,
are sometimes scorned, and call no goods.

There are some things that must be understood,
families count, in places, on wood;
environmentalist need to know, they can't have it all,
but the "battles" go on, spring, winter, summer and fall.

(I took time for a little preaching this morning)



Hidden Beach-click



Pacific dogwood, spring has arrived-click

Rainbow Bridge National Monument...

Here it is, huge.-click

...Utah, 234 feet long, 42 feet thick at the top,
spectacular setting makes this a worthy stop;
carved in the last Ice Age, cutting out the softer stone,
kind of like a Thanksgiving turkey, when all that's left is the bone.

It is the largest in North American by far,
there are some in China and Chad, but you can't get there by car;
It should be treated with great respect,
5 native tribes request that we all accept.

By the light of the moon-click

Another, flat and smaller, nearby-click

From 14,000 feet up-click

Quniebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor...

Along the Quinebaug

Learning history can be fun, when it's done out of doors,
while wandering along these two rivers shores,
so let's take the car, it's too far to walk,
we'll take a drive - to hell with the clock.

There are dam sites scattered all along the banks,
and places where Revolutionary soldiers came, of all ranks,
here is New England the history is rich,
and it's nice to preserve the rivers, instead of just having a ditch!

A trail along the Quinebaug

The two rivers combine

Shetucket River near the Occum Dam - click

Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site....

Temple on the hill-click

...where King Kamehameha I, built the Temple of the Whale,
men passes red rocks on a 14 mile human chain-rocks not shale,
in 1780, and on the site of one built in 1582,
now it's open to the public, for all of us to view.

It was a sacrificial temple to gain favor  of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku,
live sacrifice but then until Issac Davis was stranded here too,
he helped the King for long year, with preparations for a war,
now the islands of Hawaii are one, prettiest you ever saw.


Pu'ukohola Heiau (Temple of the Whale)-click



Humpback Whale just offshore-click



Point Reyes National Seashore....

Point Reyes Headlands-click

...California, Oh! My! Goodness!, What a find we've made;
beauty in the weather, equals, made even in the shade.
A wonderful spot north of San Francisco Bay,
almost leaves me speechless, what else can I say.

If you ever get the chance, I was close and wish I had...
we've got to see this place, there is nothing bad.
Room to wander, up and down, sights you see just once;
stay for sunset, spend the day, it only adds more punch.


Yellow Lupine!-click



Point Reyes Light

Sunset at McClure's Beach