Launching Earth Shuttle Columbia

Monday, July 14, 2014

Sunday - July 13th Arches National Park

It was 110 degrees today so we left for the park about 6 pm when it was only 104. Still had a great time but worked up a sweat regardless of the "dry heat" :-)

Tomorrow, we'll be at Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park :-)

Our site at Spanish Trail RV Park in Moab, UT.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Saturday - July 12th
Natural Bridges National Monument

Our night camping at Natural Bridges National Monument was our first experience at "dry camping" .... no hook-ups of any kind (no air conditioning). The 98 degree heat of the day was hard to deal with especially with lugging the camera and tripod up and down trails. However, this one night rare occasion marked what is called a "Super Moon" where the full moon is as close to the earth as it can possibly be. It appears larger tonight than at any time we see it. It rose just after sunset and was as bright as the sun almost. It produced some eerie video as you can see.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Friday - July 11th Mesa Verde National Park

Today we toured the park and shot a lot of video, including GoPro footage of the ascent to the top (over 7,000 feet). The pictures below are not representative of the video to follow as the Canon video camera has a much stronger and more sophisticated zoom lens. The pictures will give you a feel for the park however.

Cliff Dwellings

Park Ranger office

Museum

Display in Museum

Visitor Center

Sculpture of Native (at Visitor Center) climbing cliff-face with basket of corn

Thursday - July 10th Mesa Verde RV Resort

We're camped at a great RV park just across from the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park. We have a great site with full hook-ups and wonderful camping neighbors. The bathrooms and showers are awesome and the Wi-Fi actually works. Tomorrow, we'll spend the day exploring the National Park and getting video of the pueblos. Stay tuned for some awesome stuff tomorrow :-)

The road to Mesa Verde

Yoly enjoying her Taco de Pescados onroute to Mesa Verde

Casa De Cobblestone

Our nice large, level site

Mesa Verde view from the RV Park

Roy and Cheri .... our friendly camping neighbors. Both are Native American ancestry and their trailer is filled with authentic artifacts. Roy has a collection of beautiful hand-made flutes including a dual flute that plays a drone accompaniment. I felt priveleged to hear a short demonstration. See video below ......

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Wednesday - July 9th Taos, New Mexico

We had a spectacular drive through Cimmaron Canyon on the way to Taos. We got some awesome GoPro footage but not any photos for the blog. You'll have to wait for the video.

We stayed at a small RV park in Taos that was nothing to write home about. We had a back-in space at the rear of the park so it was very quiet but the WiFi was inoperable. Discovery however was everything we had hoped for :-)

Tucked in our little spot

Yoly awaits dinner with eager anticipation

.Shrimp, pasta and veggies

Watching TV at dinner in our little home away from home

The "mighty" Rio Grande looking south

The "mighty Rio Grande looking North

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

DISCOVERY LAUNCHES ON HIS MAIDEN VOYAGE - July 6, 2014

To the far reaches of western United States

July 7th - Petit Jean State Park

Petit Jean State Park is the first State Park created in the state of Arkansas and is the flagship park in their park system. Lots of hiking and biking trails, a beautiful lake with fishing, waterfalls, a lodge with a restaurant and much more.

This was our first real night of camping in our new earth surface orbiter. As you can see by this glimpse, we had a great time. I shot 8.8 gigabytes of video so great movies to follow.