SE Asia

Leaving for India on January 4th. Stay posted!

Cannon Beach in Fall 2009

 Brenda sent me these pictures she took when we were at Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.

southwestings

F or my latest project I was chainsawing mesquite at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. The area used to be grazed by cattle and that allows unnaturally high levels of mesquite to invade the grasslands. The cattle are gone now but the the mesquite is still there, which makes it harder for pronghorn antelope, which were wiped out but then have been re-introduced. The antelope can outrun coyotes on an open grassland (they are the fastest animal in North America), but when there is lots of mesquite (which is like a big thorny shrub/tree) then the coyotes munch them. There is also an endangered species of masked bobwhite quail that was historically there and has been reintroduced that has similar problems. The refuge was created to try and save the bobwhite, but apparently there are so few that their gene pool is lousy and they aren't doing well. The refuge is right on the Mexican border which entailed tons of Border Patrol around all the time with regular helicopters at night trying to spotlight illegal migrants. There is even supposedly sensors in the ground, a full fence at the border, and super-fancy cameras that take pictures of anything that moves. It was a little weird. The big pointy thing in the picture above is a mountain called Baboquivaria that Native Americans had as a holy spot. The whole place was a grassland corridor between two mountain ranges, so it was quite scenic.

There was lots of nice sunsets.


And cool bugs.


Horny toadReady to get back to civilization..

Arizona

 Funny looking Saguaro

 Looking at a bee

 This place is hilarious. We really wanted to tour in but it cost $20. It was super secretive, they had piled up a ton of dirt so you couldn't even see the thing unless you paid and they had cameras everywhere. If you don't know the story, check it out: http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2005/Biosphere-2-No-Future20feb05.htm. It involves a character named Johnny Dolphin.

 David looking at birds, as per usual

 Cactus Watch 2010

 View from the Apache Trail, a beautiful road (visit apachetrail.net to learn more)

 This tunnel through the rock was carved over thousands of years of flowing water during the rainy season.It was on a hike we took outside of Phoenix.

Pretty cool, eh?
There was also tons of rock art all over!

 Spines on a Saguaro

 This needs no caption

 We saw lots of beautiful sunsets.

 And tons of rock art!

 David looking at birds... yet again

Puerto Rico

 Entrance to old tower in El Yunque rainforest.

Beach at Vieques

 Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan

 An overview shot of  Castillo San Felipe del Morro I found on the internets.

 El Yunque

 Waiting for a flight (in an 8 passenger plane!)

Returning from snorkeling off the coast of Ponce 

Last March, David and I joined some friends from Earlham in Puerto Rico. We had lots of fun swimming, hiking, exploring San Juan and just hanging out with pals.

Pictures from Summer in Bend

At "work"

We reshingled an old guard station in Eastern Oregon. 

One of the previously restored Guard Stations at Cabin Lake, Eastern Oregon

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 Stars at Cabin Lake by an old gas station. Picture taken by Nate. 

 

 Finding old stuff

 Dirtiness level after a day of excavation

Photos from Central Oregon

Beginning of our hike in the Mink Lake Basin

 View from top of South Sister

View of middle and north sisters from a hike David took

 Totally awesome picture of the three sisters and surrounding lava flows and lakes I found on the internets.