Road Amusement.

After leaving Carlsbad Cavern, I headed off towards White Sands NM. Just outside the caverns, I found a small abandoned (for the winter?) amusement park with go-kart track and miniature golf course. There is something that I just like about abandoned sites, so I couldn't help but stop to take a few pictures and look around.

On the road, I passed a couple of small towns. One had in its town square a monument to those that work the drilling platforms. I got out and took a few pics; even one with a sheepishly humored tone. I stopped by a few roadside cemeteries along the way to look at the old tombstones. Several times there were deer to be found along the road that I was able to capture on camera once or twice.

Although it was a long drive, it was fairly pleasant to go through a few small mountain towns and see the really rural areas. Several operated as ski resorts during some of the colder times and I even came across an old train trestle that had a nice setting around it just outside of Cloudcroft.I made a quick stop in Alamogordo at the Space Museum. Even though it was closed for the day, one could still walk around the grounds for a bit to see various historical artifacts, such as a V-2 rocket from WWII Germany, rocket sleds, and even the burial site for Ham, the first chimp that traveled into space. In the geek world, this town is also known as the Atari burial grounds; the site where millions of unsold copies of the E.T. game were buried. I drove to the actual site that had a placemark listing on Google Earth and it is pretty nondescript since everything is filled in and looks like natural landscape, however I was able to see dozens of rabbits scatter in the headlights. All in all, it was interesting enough and I was able to keep myself quite entertained.

Through caverns measureless to man; Down to a sunless sea.

While I would have liked to visit this park during the summer months to watch the thousands of bats as they leave the opening, winter can just be as nice since one is protected underground from the bitter cold above. After getting my NPS stamp for the park, I signed up for a couple of different guided cave tours as I figured I wouldn't be satisfied without doing at least something off the normal beaten path. The ranger leading the tour was quite knowledgeable and excited about the different aspects of the caves. Although the path we took was marked with tape, it was still more of a caving experience than simply walking down a concrete pathway. I really wished I had thought to bring the tripod on this trip, but packing last minute often has one forgetting a few things. I spent two days at the park here and slept in the car off the nearby main road.

The immense size of the place is amazing and hard to fathom. since there were relatively few people around, I just laid back in one of the amphitheaters and stared at the ceiling and listed to the sounds of near silence for a long while.


Yeah, it's pretty big.The natural entrance.
Bat encased by stalagmite.
I found this formation to be quite nice and alluring. Ahh, beauty in nature.


Even the bathrooms had formations.

Looking up through the Natural Entrance.

Diana Ross's husband died afer falling off a cliff. I guess there is a mountain high enough.

After leaving El Paso, I headed up to Guadalupe Mountain National Park. This mountain is the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet. I tried to get in early enough to climb to the campsite, but it was too late and I had to park at a nearby rest stop to sleep for the evening. I met a trio of brothers traveling that had attempted to do the hike that day but had to turn back when one of them started getting hit with altitude sickness. I had forgotten to pack a spoon, so I borrowed one of theirs at camp and chatted for a while as I cooked my dinner.

The hike itself was a pretty tough 4 hour climb (though it only took half that to get back) that fortunately had me in the leeward side for most of the climb. The panoramic views were great and it was nice to have the mountain nearly to myself with only seeing one other person the whole trip. I was a bit disappointed to see some metal monument to American Airlines and stagecoaches at the top (as I prefer a Leave No Trace approach), but the view was definitely grand.


Panoramic view from the peak.The highest bridge in Texas; just below the peak.

Marker at the top.

"If Walt Disney saw this, he'd turn over in his icebox!"

Kristen and I picked up seasonal passes to Disney yesterday so we could start visiting the parks before it got crowded for the year. We decided to hit the Magic Kingdom first. Most of the park is the same as usual, so there isn't a lot to report. I was in pretty rare form and had much of the boat laughing more at my jokes than the guides on the Jungle Cruise, mostly because they were probably more risque than the authorized Disney dialog. My favorites are always the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse as it is always special in some way. We watched the light parade go by and hit the haunter mansion and came out in time to get some shots of the fireworks. the castle was all dolled up in pretty lights that changed color. Next time I'll try to remember to bring the tripod so I can get some decent low-light shots.

Beware of geeks bearing .GIFs

For all those female blog readers that are dating, every have dated, or will ever consider dating a geek, here is a decent little video that might be worth checking out. Yes, the video clip is taken from Diggnation which is a couple of geeks sitting around talking about some of the week's popular user-news stories posted on digg.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG5x7-waI38

I tried sniffing coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose.

Kristen, the girl from whom I had met when I bought my theater chairs, and I went to the ICE! exhibit today. It was supposed to be a surprise, but it was guessed before we even got there. I had first attended last year and enjoyed it enough to return, so even though it was a long day trip, it was kind of nice and enjoyable. The sculptures were well made and seeing this kind of makes me want to attend the Harbin Ice Festival some year.

A person who isn't making waves isn't paddling hard enough.

Yesterday I finally got the chance to do the paddling trip that I had been planning. I kept intending to paddle to Egmont Key State Park from Fort De Soto, but something often got in the way. Last time I actually had the kayak loaded and traveled south, however I had to meet up with someone later in Bradenton to look at, and subsequently purchase, some home theater chairs for the new set up in the den. this time, I finally made it to Ft. De Soto and parked near the fishing pier. After carrying the stuff to the water it didn't take too long to paddle the 1.8-2 miles to the key. Sure, taking the passenger ferry would have been easier and faster, but since when has anyone ever known me to do something like that?

Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge was more expansive and interesting than I had initially thought. Egmont Key has a unique natural and cultural history, including a lighthouse that has stood since 1858. During the 19th century, the island served as a camp for captured Seminoles at the end of the Third Seminole War and was later occupied by the Union Navy during the Civil War. In 1898, as the Spanish - American War threatened, Fort Dade was built on the island and remained active until 1923. Though almost all of the buildings were gone, the 8 miles or so of brick road and sidewalks remained. They offered an eerie feeling at times as the road would often just disappear into the overgrowth. The well on the 'old well' trail was never found, but there were several interesting aspects; gopher turtle, old sidewalks, and even an old tennis court. There were a few seemingly huge logs around that were trip hazards, but overall it was a great experience. Before heading off there was a little bit of time to locate a geocache and relax for a while on the beach and enjoy some cookies, fruit, and some quite excellent homemade sandwiches (who needs Subway?). There was still a bit of time before dark to check out Fort De Soto on the mainland once everything was packed up. With the cool breeze, lovely view, and recent memories of the day, to me it added up to a perfect experience!

I had a really incredible time hanging out with Kristen and even though the crossing was a bit further and more rough than I had expected, I think she had a good time as well. We had an awesome walk around the island and some memorable experiences and I even got her introduced a bit to geocaching when we found a hidden cache along one of the trails. She really is a wonderful person and I am so very much looking forward to getting to know her.




This picture above is a panoramic picture stitched from a series of pictures taken at the intersection of two brick roads. It looks as if four roads are converging on a single point in relation to the viewers stance, however it is indeed a 360 degree view. The first road is looking west towards the Gulf of Mexico, the second road is looking north, third looking east towards Tampa Bay, and the last is looking south.

I hope Santa brings me that mistletoe belt I asked for!

This evening I went to Ybor with some friends for the annual Santa Pub Crawl. We met at my friend Michelle's place and walked down to the strip. Outside of hashing, I really hadn't attended many events like this, so it was great to meet a lot of different people. I dressed up as the Christmas Pleasure Fairy and was one of the finalists in the costume contest, however was beat out by a hot recreation of Cindy Lou Who.

Dream it at home, be it in the theaters.

I went to De Soto National Monument today in Bradenton to check out the park and get a stamp. I had not been here previously and enjoyed walking around some of the trails. Originally I had intended to do some kayaking from the park to just putz around, but instead went to check out some theater chairs that I had seen advertised in Craig's List. I wasn't sure if I would get them, but took the trailer just in case. After seeing them I decide to purchase them and got them loaded up into the trailer. The girl selling them was extremely nice and we were able to chat for a while. after everything was tied down, I actually got the nerve to ask her to dinner that evening; so she lead me to a sushi place where we talked for a long while. Hopefully we'll have a chance to hang out again sometime soon. The chairs are set up in the den and look pretty nice. Funny how fate can work things out.