Suwanee River

Admit it. You started singing as soon as you saw the name.

I've never been in a canoe longer than an hour in my entire life so a five day trip was definitely stepping out for me. I've taken to hiking mostly because I love it but also because my legs have much better endurance than my arms. When I found out I was going to be on this trip I was staying at the YMCA in Port Arthur, Texas and you'd better believe I started working my poor little arm muscles getting ready.

There were ten adults and three children aged 3, 6 and 8. All friends of my hiking buddy John Calhoun and most of whom had paddled together before. We started in Fargo Georgia and made our way down to White Springs Florida The river itself was lower than usual and mostly flatwater with a few small riffles on the last day. The weather was unusually cold which took a day or so to adjust to. But the weather was bright and clear and there were no bugs or predators to worry about.  



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San Antonio Riverwalk

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It took a whole lot of back and forth before I got there.
Got sick my last day in New Orleans
Got some medicine...Stayed and extra two days
Drove to Florida...Still felt sick
Did nothing for two weeks recovering
Watched a Red Sox game...Felt better
Drove to Lake City...Camped Out
Drove to Pensacola (awesome night sleeping on the beach)
Kissatchee National Forest (Louisiana)
Ouachita National Forest (Arkansas)
NO TRAIL MAPS OF OUACHITA?!!! DOH!!!
Emergency plan B...visit Andrea in Austin
(Sounds like the start of an alphabet book)


After a couple of fun days hanging out with Andrea and her
two cuter than cute kids (ages 3 & 4) I headed off for San
Antonio. My goal was the River Walk and it was just as good
as advertised . The whole thing is down below street level and
it's both a peaceful oasis and a wonderful outlet for all sorts of
colorful cafes, shops and hotels. There are places to sit and relax
sprinkled throughout, historical markers from time to time.
There's even an amphitheater at a bend in the river with the
stage on one side of the river and the seating set into the
opposite bank. I went in the morning when things were just
getting going. Many of the boats were for taking water from
the river and watering the plants. I had a lovely (and slightly
spicy) Mexican breakfast just so I could linger a bit and take it in.

West Texas

Have to admit, Texas had been pretty crowded up to this point.
East Texas or the triangle (Dallas-Houston-San Antonio) is home to most of Texas' 24 million people.

West of San Antonio things are different. 



The desert takes over and you can go for miles without seeing a single house or building. I went through a rainstorm that felt like I was driving into a wall of night before getting to Del Rio. From Del Rio I drove along the Rio Grande with the 'hills of old Mexico' in view. Gradually the Texas side became more and more mountainous as I got closer to Big Bend.



This is the end of the Pecos River where it flows into the Rio Grande. The sides of both rivers are quite steep at this point and one of the reasons the Rio Grande makes an effective border.

I ended up at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, home to the highest point in Texas at over 8600 feet.



Guadalupe Peak. El 8749' (Highest point in Texas). Guadalupe Mountains is a gorgeous park about 100 miles east of El Paso along the border with New Mexico. Backpacking is next to impossible because there's no water. I opted for a couple of day hikes instead.

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New Mexico

Didn't spend a lot of time in New Mexico. I was basically
just passing through on my way to doing some volunteer
trail work in Arizona. But I spent two nights in the Gila
National Forest and a little time in Silver City, NM

Saguaro National Park

The first thing you notice driving into Arizona from the east is cactuses. BIG cactuses. This is the northeast corner of the Sonoran desert, an entirely different and much more varied ecosystem than the more barren Chihuahuan Desert of west Texas and northeast Mexico.


The Saguaro is the big cactus that one typically thinks of when one thinks of the southwest. What I didn't realize was how big these things are, thirty feet high and more. They dominate the landscape and loom large in native mythology so it's no wonder that the National Park takes its name from them.


This was a 'volunteer vacation' that I signed up for while I was still in Port Arthur back in January. My hope was to get an introduction to hiking in the desert west and see how the National Park Service rolled when it came to doing trails.

It turned out to be pretty fascinating going from dealing with the desert to really taking an interest in it and coming to enjoy and appreciate it.

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Grand Canyon

Pictures don't do it justice (particularly my pictures). They don't give you the depth, the layers or the subtle color changes that go with each of the thousands of striations that line the canyon walls and tell the story of how the Grand Canyon was formed.


I was prepared to be disappointed and went mostly because it would have been embarrassing to say that I'd been in Arizona but hadn't gone to the Grand Canyon. Instead I was blown away.



Looking at the trails below I promised myself that I'd return someday and hike the canyon.



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Hollywood

Me and Hollywood. East coast, west coast. My puritan New England forebears and the airbrushed appearance-is-all wannabes of tinsel-town. It's hard not to notice the difference between the suspicious easterners and left coasters who uncritically adopt any philosophy or religion not matter how flimsy. Think of it as the people who lost the Dodgers and the people who are only vaguely aware that the Dodgers arrived here (when they're not busy fawning over the Lakers). Not a match made in heaven I'll admit.


But just as I was sharpening my pen to make fun of all the vacuous left-coasters I had all kinds of fun meandering through Hollywood taking in the walk of fame and some of the other sights on Hollywood/Vine/Sunset Boulevards. It's amazing how much you actually recall and how much fun it is to let all the memories wash over you. So even though I'm still counting the hair/nail/beauty places in my neighborhood I'm also digging some of the best and most creative retail in the US and some of the fun historical stuff like the theater that only shows silent films next to my hostel. Good times.

Monticello

I had often thought about visiting Monticello in passing but hadn't given it any serious thought on this trip. Then I found myself in Virginia with a few extra hours before visiting friends in Maryland and decided to go for it.


It was a little discomforting in some ways. There were lots of people and school groups milling around. The visitors center isn't 18th century at all with its bustle of tickets, shops and galleries. But the tour guide was very well informed even if he was a bit disgusted either with us or the repetitiveness of his job or something.


Monticello was Jefferson's place to experiment on all sorts of things chief among them being the house itself. He built up. He tore down. He tinkered. Even now it has a restless quality to it that reflects Jefferson's curiosity. His true architectural masterpiece is the University of Virginia which is lumped together with Monticello as a UN World Heritage Site.

The grounds around the house are beautiful, full of gardens of all kinds. The inside of the house seemed kind of small. It was after all a private house and not designed for hordes of people.


You need a ticket for the shuttle bus and the house tour but you can wander around the grounds and check out some of the self-guided tours for free if you didn't mind the 10-minute walk up from the visitors center.



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