Next Stop Cathedral Gorge State Park
Next Stop Cathedral Gorge State Park – Made of bentonite clay. We just happened to stumble apon this state park as we arrived in Nevada. A must see place if you are ever in the area.
A beautiful landscape of spires and buff-colored cliffs. The beauty enjoyed today had violent beginnings, starting with explosive volcanic activity that, with each eruption, deposited layers of ash hundreds of feet thick.
after the eruptions ceased, block faulting, a fracture in the bedrock that allows the two sides to move opposite each other, shaped the mountains and valleys prevalent in Nevada today. This faulting formed a depression, now known as Meadow Valley.
Over time the depression filled with water creating a freshwater lake. Continual rains eroded the exposed ash and pumice left from the volcanic activity, and the streams carried the eroded sediment into the newly formed lake.
The formations, made of silt, clay and volcanic ash, are the remnants of that lake. As the landscape changed and more block faulting occurred, water drained from the lake exposing the volcanic ash sediments to the wind and rain, causing erosion of the soft material called bentonite clay.
Wind and water erode rocks and soils at a rapid rate and vegetation cannot grow on the outcroppings. The vegetation-free slopes stand in stark contrast to the valley floor where primrose and Indian ricegrass hold small sand dunes in place.
These mountains of clay are so unique, if you tap on the side of them they sound hollow inside.
Next Stop Cathedral Gorge State Park
Dark Sky’s of Texas
Dark Sky’s of Texas, there are a lot of areas in North America that are still considered dark sky areas. Meaning no light noise from cities, where you can see the stars clearly at night. Texas has quite a few of these places all along the southern edge.
I have to say, we have been meeting some amazing folks on this journey this year. The most memorable place so far is Marathon Texas. Our first place we camped at where astrophotographer’s come together with the most beautiful telescopic equipment I have ever seen. This is my first time ever hearing of this type of equipment and seeing how it works is very exciting to say the least.
This photo below is one of the telescopes I am talking about, we met a young man at this campground and started talking about dark sky’s and photography and he asked us if we have ever seen astrophotography equipment. No, we said. He said come with me and I will show you what it does.
This is his telescopic equipment. He was kind enough to explain the entire thing, how this scope is connected to his laptop and he programs what he wants it to do and the scope will follow what ever nebula he is trying to photograph for hours at night. They have cement pads on the ground for these scopes so there isn’t any motion blur when filming.
My video of Marathon Texas, a peak at an old west town. Here; Marathon Texas
He asked what kind of camera I had, I told him a Nikon. He said bring it over tonight and he will put my camera on the telescope and take some photos. This is the first shot he took with my camera connected.
This is, the Orion Nebula, it is the nearest star-forming region to Earth, located approximately 1,350 light-years away. Just amazing to see something like this photographed right in front of us.
Now, I don’t have the right editing software to edit a clear shot of this nebula. Like the photo below, this is the Orion Nebula as well that I copied from the internet taken with more precise equipment. There are people from all over the country that set their scopes up here and have them in locked building who can control them from their homes in other states.
Some of these professional photos like below, need a least a 3 hour timed exposure or more.
Below are two gentlemen that have a place right here in Marathon Texas and the equipment they use, in a building with a retractable roof that they can operate from home. Here is the link for more on this; Space for Everybody
Below; the Cigar Galaxy from my camera
Cigar Galaxy
Bode Galaxy, my camera. 12 million light years away
Bode galaxy from a bigger telescope.
Oh how small we really are in this beautiful place.
Dark Sky’s of Texas
Lots of New Things to See
Lots of New Things to See, as you may know we have been trying to chase 70 degree weather this winter. Our first time doing this and so far it has been working pretty well. It has been into the freezing temps at night here and there and our water pump froze once on the RV, but husband is really good at fixing anything. He had it back and running in no time.
My bird count has been going up really fast, my last entry into the log book was 124 birds. But I still have more birds to look up because I just don’t know what they are. I believe I will go get a bird identification book. We have been in many places with no internet, so the book would be handy.
Below is a preview video of where we have been. I do have a You Tube channel, because I like to document all that we see with video as well as photos and share them both with all of you. What we see is just temporary, it becomes history the minute I snap a photo.
Eastern Towhee
Road Runner
Scorpion
Hawk, but I don’t know what kind yet. If any one knows let me know and I will add it to my list.
The world is changing fast, but nature is alive and well, we must not trade it for the things of man. Humans tend to destroy but nature will rebuild when it is left alone, nature teaches us how to survive in our creators world.
Shrimp Boats
Shrimp Boats If you have heard of Bayou La Batre, it may be because it was featured in the movie Forrest Gump when the lead character had the only shrimp trawler in this Alabama coastal town after a storm and he made huge amounts of money. It lies along the Mississippi Sound on the Gulf of Mexico in south Alabama.
We went there very early one morning and were surprised at all the colorful shrimp boats docked along the shore line. Beautiful reflections of each one.
Starting in the 1970s through the early part of the 1990s, Bayou La Batre was the shrimp-trawler-building capital of the world, often turning out more than a trawler a day from a dozen shipyards. During the latter part of the 1990s and the early part of this decade, the business of building trawlers almost stopped in its tracks because of several economic reasons including overbuilding, cost of fuel, scarcity of boat financing and plummeting shrimp prices.
Some of the local builders turned to building offshore workboats with great success, while others divided up what fishing boat business was left. For example, Master Boat Builders built scores of fishing vessels until 2002 but only four since that time. Since 2002, over 50 OSVs have come out of that same yard and almost no other vessel type has.
During the transformation away from shrimp trawlers, many types of commercial vessels emerged from the boatyards of Bayou La Batre including ships used in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It was a combination of the skills of the boatbuilders of Steiner Shipyard and of the Walt Disney Company’s magicians that made realistic-looking period warships from small self-contained utility vessels.
Shrimp Boats
What Will You do in 2022
What Will You do in 2022, the world is an amazing place. What is your passion, mine is exploring the great outdoors. My grandfather inspired me to want to be outside all the time. He was an outdoors man. Back in the day when he had to hunt and fish to feed our family. I just always wanted to be with him no matter what he was doing.
So I am still like that today, indoors is just no fun. Fresh air and sunshine is very good medicine to take every day. I mentioned that we are skipping winter this year and this is what we are traveling in. A 28′ RV and we pull our jeep behind it so we can go exploring when we are parked somewhere. You can see my little dog in the window if you look close. Her favorite place to be when the sun comes shinning in.
We love trying to take the roads less traveled and there are plenty of them out there. Below is just one of the campgrounds we have stayed at. I look for the smaller ones when we can, they are cheaper and less crowded at times.
For me this is all created for us to enjoy and take care of. One does not always have to travel to see it, there is also beauty in our own backyards.
I made thee; go forth, a season to·to-give-birth-of
and·you, be-fruitful-you, and·increase-you, roam-you, in·the·earth
What Will You do in 2022
Great Blue Heron to Music
Small Wildlife Around the Water
Small Wildlife Around the Water, these tiny little creatures are called Damselfly, such a strange name. They are not a dragonfly. I did not realize until today that they are two different species. These are so tiny, very hard to photograph also. But Damselfly eyes are separate, there is a space between their eyes and a Dragonfly has eyes that are almost connected, looks like one giant eye on their heads.
Dragonfly
I have not seen any monarch butterflies this year. But this one here was hanging around my porch. Its wings look a bit torn up, probably from the long flight to get up here. But it was flying around just fine all day. It was taking a rest on my porch chair.
It had two tones of color, under the wings it was a brown tone and on top of the wings it was black and white.
So I will leave you with a photo of one of my favorite lakes, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Small Wildlife Around the Water
Duck Duck and Duck
Duck Duck and Duck, I have not seen many ducks or geese this year so far. But, then again I have not gone to any lakes this past week or so. I will have to be getting out there again soon. It has been pretty quiet around my place right now with the birds. They are sitting on nest I imagine.
Duck Duck and Duck
What a Colorful Day
What a Colorful Day to end the week with. I was driving along and saw one of those signs that says Historic Marker here. I love stopping at those. It was a small park and a lovely walk to the lake area. But this garage, boat house type building is what I noticed when I reached the water. The red tree buds almost matching the roof on the garage and the bird house.
Along with, my first sighting of a wood duck. Mr. and Mrs. Wood Duck. So very colorful. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
It did decide to snow just a bit today. Just enough to make everything look pretty for a few hours.
What a Colorful Day
