Slices of America

005 Zion National Park: In Search of a Great Arch (ENHANCED)

2011-10-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

005 Zion National Park: In Search of a Great Arch (ENHANCED)

Park Ranger Mike talks about natural arches in Zion National Park, Utah.

This summer, I spent an action-packed four days in Zion National Park, Utah. While there, I hiked the scenic cliffs of the West Rim, I trudged through The Narrows - an all-water route through the Virgin River, and I spent an unforgettable night atop the East Rim where a mountain lion sniffed through my campsite all night long! These backcountry adventures will certainly be the memorable moments from the trip, but there was another event on the canyon floor that was memorable in its own way.

On my second night in the park, I attended a ranger lecture titled "In Search of a Great Arch" hosted by veteran ranger Mike Large. Thanks to Ranger Large's generosity, I am able to present the entire lecture here on the Slices of America Podcast. This is an enhanced episode. The sound is synchronized with images from the ranger's slideshow. To see these images, please open the album artwork on your software or mobile player.

004 Coach Holmes: Football Stories

2011-04-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

004 Coach Holmes: Football Stories

Coach Holmes of Tallassee, Alabama (now residing in Biloxi, MS) talks about his career in football - both as a player and as a coach. Recorded in the food court of the Edgewater Plaza Shopping Center in Biloxi, MS on April 26, 2011.

2010-07-15T15:14:00.001-07:00

This blog is now set to receive SMS messages from my phone!

Slices Update: Grand Isle, LA - Day 47 of the BP/Deepwater Horizon Disaster by Dave Rhodes and Josh Pitts

2010-06-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

New update to Slicesofamerica.com - Grand Isle, LA - Day 47 of the BP/Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Follow the link below to view photos by new contributors Dave Rhodes and Josh Pitts. Their collaborative entry shows quite a different Grand Isle from the Slicesofamerica essay on May 22.

http://www.slicesofamerica.com/20100605dgi00.html

Here is an excerpt...

A trip down to Grand Isle, Louisiana, to see how things are developing, contribute a bit to the local economy, talk to locals, show some support, and try and make a surreal catastrophe happening a few hours away more tangible. Timing was interesting, sandwiched between Obama's visit and Jindal's.

photo by Dave Rhodes

003 Mardi Gras Indians (ENHANCED)

2009-02-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

003 Mardi Gras Indians (ENHANCED)
Every year, on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Indians wake with the sun and begin their parades through the streets of New Orleans. Clad in beaded and brightly feathered full-body costumes, they travel in small “tribes”, accompanied by bass drums, tambourines, and traditional chanting. The procession snowballs as onlookers become participants and join the pageant.

On this particular Mardi Gras morning, a couple of friends and I stumbled upon a small group of Mardi Gras Indians congregated at The Porch 7th Ward Cultural Center. From there, we ditched our bikes and joined the parade. Special thanks to Elijah Chong for the beautiful photography that accompanies this podcast.

ENHANCED!!!
This version of the podcast is ENHANCED. Upload the podcast to your player of choice, open up the album cover art, and follow along with the photograph slide show as you listen.

- iTunes users click on the triangle button in the lower left hand corner.
- iPod users click the center button until you see photos.

Stumbled Upon Pelicans

2009-02-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I took a bike ride down the river - left my house in the Bywater, headed southeast to Arabie, Chalmette, Meraux, Violet, curled back around the river to Braithwaite, crossed the Mississippi at Belle Chase, bounced all around in the English Turn area, crossed the intracoastal canal, back to the river, through the town of Cutoff, crossed the river again at Algiers Point, and made my way through the Mardi Gras hoards to 13 Restaurant on Frenchman street. One thing I learned on this trip - it is a lot easier to stay along the river on the east side than it is on the west bank. The English Turn area is no place to attempt an extended ride. Anyone interested in cycling around New Orleans should give Hwy 46 a try. At 5 miles you come to the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetary, and by mile 11 you're surrounded by cows.

The highlight of the trip came at approximately mile 20 in a small canal near Braithwaite, LA. It's not that difficult to stumble across a few pelicans in and around New Orleans, but to find a large group of them feeding is a rare discovery. I sat there for probably close to a half hour watching and photographing these beautiful American White Pelicans. The canal ran under the road and gushed out onto the other side. The pelicans had figured out that this constant rush of water meant a sustained influx of fish, so here they waited, treading water, vying for the best angle of attack on the next unsuspecting fish.

002 Austin and Guadalupe NP (ENHANCED)

2009-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

002 Austin and Guadalupe NP (ENHANCED)
June 10, 2008. Winding our way through the Southwest, bound for Yellowstone, Angela Driscoll and I (Taylor Lasseigne) travel through Austin and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. In this podcast we talk about parks, bats, pedestrians, restaurants, breakfast tacos, Austin's capitol building, and a little hiking in the mountains of west Texas.

ENHANCED!!!
This version of the Austin and Guadalupe National Park Podcast is ENHANCED. Upload the podcast to your player of choice, open up the album cover art, and follow along with the photograph slide show as you listen.

002 Austin and Guadalupe NP

2009-01-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

002 Austin and Guadalupe NP

June 10, 2008. Winding our way through the Southwest, bound for Yellowstone, Angela Driscoll and I (Taylor Lasseigne) travel through Austin and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. In this podcast we talk about parks, bats, pedestrians, restaurants, breakfast tacos, Austin's capitol building, and a little hiking in the mountains of west Texas.

6/19/08 Yellowstone Day #4

2008-07-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Day four in Yellowstone consisted of touring the Midway Geyser Basin, hiking to Fairy Falls, exploring the Old Faithful area, getting caught in a Bison traffic jam, and spotting another Grizzly Bear.

To start the day, we traveled to Midway Geyser Basin to view, amongst other sites, Grand Prismatic Spring (Yellowstone's largest thermal feature). The springs and pools at Midway are some of the most colorful in the park. At times blue and red steam, rising from the pools, reflects the colors of the waters. Combine its vivid colors with its massive breadth, and Grand Prismatic Spring is probably the most beautiful of all the springs we'd seen at the park. (The view from the boardwalk left us wanting for a better perspective. Later on in the day, hiking to Fairy Falls, we branched off of the path, climbed up a steep hill, and were rewarded with a fantastic view of Grand Prismatic Spring.)

Grand Prismatic Spring from Fairy Falls Trail

Next on the agenda was the Old Faithful area, where we caught the 5:41PM eruption of Old Faithful. The famous geyser spewed for about 30 seconds and then returned to its resting state - steam exhaust. After the main attraction, we toured the famous Old Faithful Lodge and explored the other thermal features of the area.

Old Faithful

On the way back to camp that evening, we ran into some significant wildlife. First, we happened upon a long line of cars stopped at a heard of bison slowly crossing the road. The multitude of bison and their respective babies held traffic there for about half an hour. I witnessed one drive attempt to squeeze his vehicle between two bison, only to have the larger bison take a head-swing at the side of his car. That was enough to keep me between the painted lines.

Bison Traffic Jam

Later, down the road and only about half a mile from camp, we spotted a Grizzly Bear ambling its way toward the highway. The great thing about this sighting was that Angela and I were the first people to spot the animal. Typically, you only see something like a Grizzly or a Moose after several tourists have pulled off the highway. The bear seemed to heading right for us, so after a few photos, I thought it wise to get the heck out of there.

Grizzly Bear sighting, half mile from camp!

At camp we boiled water, made a meal of dry camp food, and enjoyed a few adult beverages. Over our entire stay in Yellowstone, we took pleasure in consuming a smattering of excellent local brews: Teton Ale, Old Faithful Ale, and Sweetgrass of the Grand Teton Brewing Co. & Headstrong Pale Ale of the Big Hole Brewing Co.

All local brews sampled were delicious.

6/18/08 Yellowstone Day #3

2008-07-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our third day in Yellowstone was a day of short trails but breathtaking vistas. We started with a steep descent down a series of switchbacks to what was quite possibly the most jaw-dropping panorama in the entirety of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This great canyon was carved up to 900 feet deep and half a mile wide by the Yellowstone River, and its walls are colored by the spewing of the surrounding hydrothermal features. All in all, its a ridiculously gorgeous site rivaling even that of the legendary Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Later in the day, after thoroughly exploring the north and south rims, we drove around the park to the west side to view the rest of the Norris Geyser Basin. The remaining section was dubbed the Porcelain Basin and consisted of much more colorful thermal features than the rest of the basin. Living in these thermal features are a host of tiny heat-loving microorganisms called Thermophiles. These are some of the most extreme living conditions on Earth, and scientists study these conditions to better understand similar deposits and the possibility of life on Mars.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from The North Rim

Lower Falls (and a rainbow) from Uncle Tom's Trail

The colors of Porcelain Basin

6/17/08 Yellowstone Day #2

2008-06-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

On Yellowstone day #2, we began with breakfast in Canyon Village's cafeteria, and then headed north toward the Mammoth Springs area via Roosevelt. At about 10:00 AM we spotted an audience along the roadside, most armed with tripods and giant zoom lens cameras, looking out onto the hill. There they were - grizzlies, two of them! We parked, grabbed the zoom lens, ran up the hill to where the other photographers, one of which was a park ranger, had positioned themselves. From what I could gather by listening to the park ranger, these two grizzlies were a mating pair that have been seen many times over the past months. What's better than spotting a mating pair of grizzlies in yellowstone? Probably nothing, but it's pretty neat to watch a newborn baby deer and its mother interacting just after birth. Later on the way to Mammoth, we pulled aside to snap photos of a large elk grazing near the road. Just after that, upon arriving in Mammoth I caught a female elk grazing in someone's front yard. We saw grizzlies, newborn deer, and elk all within two hours of each other!

Grizzlies

Deer

Elk

Finally we arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs for a tour its thermal features. The strange minerals and chemicals in the waters of Mammoth change the rock over time to form a beautiful rainbow of colored rock.

Out last event of the day was a five mile back country hike to Beaver Ponds. On the trail Angela identified tons of wildflowers and we even saw beaver dams at the ponds.

That afternoon, on the way back to camp, we spotted more elk alongside the road.

6/16/08 Yellowstone Day #1

2008-06-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Just a hop, skip, and a jump from Idaho Falls, and we were entering West Yellowstone. Immediately upon entering the park we spotted a fox, an eagle, a raven, and lots of bison. Bison are everywhere! They roam the valleys, hillsides, and even the roads. There were many times when traffic was backed up as far as I could see because bison were on the road. On this first day in the park, we first set up our tents at Canyon Village campground and then motored around, stopping to see wildlife here and there. Later in the day we toured half of the Norris Geyser Basin and saw some really cool thermal features.

Eagle

Raven

Bison

Elk

Yellowstone Lake

Echinus Geyser

VIDEO: Tent Setup at Canyon Village, Yellowstone

6/15/08 Red Ledge Campground, Utah, and Idaho Falls

2008-06-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

The night of the 14th, I took a wrong turn leaving Zion which put us finding a home for our tent quite late. We pulled into the Red Ledge Campground some time past sunset, and in these parts the sun goes down after 9:30PM. We set up camp, the only tent on a grassy knoll amongst several RVs, and passed out.

That takes us to today. For the second day in a row, I woke to a set of eyes peering through the mesh of my tent. This time, it wasn't a Cockapoo but an older man breathing real heavy. I squinted so that I could watch him without letting him know that I was awake. He stared at us for what seemed like several awkward minutes and then he bellowed, the way an old man bellows when he can't hear himself talk, "EXCUSE ME, DO YOU HAVE A KEY TO THE BATHROOM? I CAN'T SEEM TO GET MINE TO WORK." So I sprung up and showed him that the handle was more apt to turn with a little jiggle. We were best friends after that, brushing our teeth together and chewing the fat about our travels. He was on his way to Alaska in his home made RV (Nissan with a cab added).

Now awake, I assessed the situation. Aside from the unnerving resident maintenance lady, who talked, yelled, and grunted to herself, the place was fantastic. The very well kept Red Ledge Campground was furnished with full bathing facilities and a wireless signal!

Red Ledge

Sign at Red Ledge

After Red Ledge we drove north through Utah, only stopping a few times. Our first stop was the Mormon-settled city of Provo, UT, home to Bringham Young University (owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). It was really hard to find an open establishment in Provo on a Sunday, but we finally found a Panda Express. As we ate our Asian fast-food, the Mormons strolled by, dressed to the nines, on their way to service. I don't know much about the Mormons, but I can say this, they keep a clean city, and they're a good looking bunch of folks. Just up the interstate, we stopped in Salt Lake City to pop into the Ikea. Angela found a few things she'd been looking for. Boy, this is a riveting blog.

The one major site-seeing event of the day was on a tip by Angela's dad - the Ogden, UT Union Station. Ogden had a quaint little downtown strip, again everything was closed, as was the Union Station. We did however stroll around the area and climb on a Union Pacific train.

Ogden, UT

Our destination was the Caribou National Forest just south of Pocatello, Idaho. Our goal was to set up camp before nightfall. Neither of these things happened. We made it to Caribou with plenty of daylight left, but the campsite didn't even exist! Here's what did exist - tons of four wheelers, dirt-bikes, and other ATVs "cutting it up" in the park. Sure, a free ATV show is cool, but we needed to sleep somewhere, so we got back on the interstate and continued toward Yellowstone, hoping to find a place to rest our heads.

Snaks in the car included Goldfish

Driving through Idaho we spotted many potato farms and even saw a billboard that simply read, "www.buyhashbrowns.com". We finally came upon Idaho Falls, ID and made our camp at the properly named Shady Rest RV Campground - and I mean "shady" as in "questionable". Again, the only tent, we were told by the camp host to set up somewhere behind the RVs, which basically put us between the sprinklers and the highway. The place was basically a trailer park, with showers that no one in their right mind would enter, and a bathroom just as raunchy. Our tent was the cleanest thing there. The silver lining was that we had driven to within three hours of Yellowstone.

Potato farms at sunset

Idaho Falls, ID

My Shady Rest computer station

Check out this book collection at Shady Rest. My favorite title is the blue book on the second shelf titled "The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow". (click for larger image)

6/14/08 Wire Pass/Buckskin Gulch and Zion National Park

2008-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

For the second day in a row, I woke to a pair of eyes peering into our tent. This time it was not an old man but a small Cocapoo (Not sure on the spelling, but I know that it's a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle). What a weird sight in the middle of the Utah desert. I simply had to get up and see what was going on. Turns out the Cockapoo belongs to a guy named Kyle from Salt Lake, Utah. Kyle was on vacation from his four kids and had the same notion as us, to hike Buckskin Gulch.

Our campsite near Buckskin Gulch (click on photos for larger view)

Kyle and Sparky (the Cockapoo) from Salt Lake

Buckskin Gulch is a slot canyon in southern Utah, superintended by the Bureau of Land Management. We camped at the north end of the canyon (White House Trailhead) but drove around to the west entrance (Wire Pass Trailhead) to begin our hike. For the first 20-30 minutes, we weren't sure if we were even on the correct trail. We ended up walking in a dry wash for most of the time. This eventually led us to the hole in the wall that is Wire Pass.

On the trail to Wire Pass

In the slot canyon

Wire Pass is a short narrow slot canyon that meets Buckskin Gulch after only about 1 mile of hiking. The narrow passage, as the name implies, intrigued me encouraging me to start the hike there. That was definitely the way to go, because Wire Pass was extremely skinny and presented us with excellent photographic opportunities.

After a while of hiking through beautiful red sandstone cliffs, carved by water, wind, and time to look like ripples and waves of stone, you come upon the confluence, or junction, of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch. There we took a right turn and headed farther into the canyon. The walls grew taller and the temperature cooled by 30+ degrees in the smallest, darkest narrows. On the way back we saw two small snakes of which I have not yet identified.

Angela enjoying the cool wall of the canyon

Our hike in the canyons didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would (3 hours as opposed to 6-8). We drove up the highway a bit to Kanab, UT and took advantage of a Subway Restaurant with free Wi-Fi. It was kind of interesting that the Kanab Subway had internet but even more interesting that there were at least five Russian female college students working behind the counter. I inquired about there situation and was told by the young Russian girl at the checkout that they were on an exchange program from Russia at the local university. Nevertheless, we used the internet and figured out that we had time to visit Zion National Park, only an hour up the road.

Zion is amazing, but don't think that you're going to see much of it in one afternoon. We immediately went to the visitor center and surmised that our best option was to get on the tour bus. The Zion tour bus runs from the visitor center all the way up to the top of southern Zion. There are many stops along the way, and passengers way exit at any time, take photos, hike, and get on the next bus that passes. The busses run every seven minutes and are free.

In Zion NP

On this route we took a short hike to Weeping Rock (a large rock face that almost constantly drips - sometimes it drips on my camera). We also saw various peaks and hiked down to the river (where deer were grazing). What really made the Zion experience special for me was the bus driver that drove us from the last stop all the way back to the visitor center. His name was Jim, and he was as ornery as he was entertaining. He'd lived in the Zion area for forty years, and he'll tell ya what's what. Listening to him ramble about park coverups, hidden spots, and how he'd do things if he were in charge. If you ever get up to Zion in southwestern Utah, ask for Jim the tour bus driver.

Our great tour bus driver Jim

6/13/08 Mesa Verde National Park

2008-06-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today we started the morning at the Triangle Cafe in Bloomfield, NM. We were instantly sold on the signage - a giant pie and cup of coffee. They served up a giant hearty breakfast and the service was great. We actually made lunch from the leftovers. Next to us sat an early morning hunting party of mostly Native American men. They were planning a big hunt somewhere in the area.

The majority of the day was spent seeing sites at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is very similar to Chaco Culture in that visitors basically walk through and observe Ancestral Puebloan ruins. The main difference is that Mesa Verde is much more accessible, therefore the crowds are much larger. Still, the park offered an amazing display of ancient ruins presented by outstanding park rangers. I can not overstate this - a good park ranger can enhance a national park experience like nothing else.

At Mesa Verde we took two guided tours: Balcony House and Cliff Palace. Balcony House was as fun as it was interesting (included steep stairs, traditional ladders, and awesome sites). Angela and I decided that the tour guide was pretty much Mr. Rogers, had he become a park ranger. He even had a sweater with pads near the elbows. If he would have changed his shoes before the tour, I think I would have asked for an autograph, but all I got was a photo. There was even a pictograph at the end (pictographs are painted - petroglyphs are carved).

The Cliff Palace tour was equally interesting, led by a ranger from Houston (said he was kicked out of college) who had recently married his park ranger wife. They now both work at Mesa Verde (ahhhhhhh).

The last site visited in the park was a self-guided tour of Spruce Tree House. The coolest thing about this site was that we were able to crawl down into a Kiva - a round dug out room, then covered for privacy, used for ceremonial events in these Ancestral Puebloan structures. It's a big deal that we were able to go down there.

We left the park and made our way towards Buckskin Gulch, a slot canyon in Arizona. On the way we stopped at Four Corners, where visitors can simultaneously be in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The site is either near or on an Native American reservation, so there were many vendors of Native American crafts. I bought a small piece of stone for $1. On it was a child's drawing of a snake and the words "Four Corners".

On the way to the slot canyon Angela took a really cool photo of a guy on a motorcycle. He appeared out of nowhere in my rear-view mirror, draped in a skull mask. I thought I was hallucinating then looked up again and said, "Get the camera!"

6/12/08 Chaco Culture National Historic Park

2008-06-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 12th, we visited Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a series of architectural ruins built between AD 850 and AD 1150 by Ancestral Puebloan peoples. In the park, we toured Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, and hiked the petroglyph tour which passed Kin Kietse and Casa Chiquita. With that said, most of our time was spent observing petroglyphs and taking a ranger-led tour of Pueblo Bonito.

Our one and a half hour guided tour through Pueblo Bonito was led by an AMAZING guide! Sadly, I don't remember her name, but I do have her picture. Surprisingly, I don't believe she was even an actual ranger - she was a volunteer. Her insight into the Pueblo Bonito ruins really gave meaning to a pile of bricks that would otherwise have been, at the most, neat to photograph. Her understanding and appreciation for the Ancient Puebloans was obvious as she enlightened us on all aspects of the structure including original construction, later discovery, excavation, and now preservation. We walked through Bonito, and in almost every room she was able to expound on every nook and cranny.

After Bonito, we hiked to a series of petroglyphs in the northwest corner of the park. It was very hot, but the payoff was huge - real petroglyphs! (and some unfortunate graffiti). We took our time through the glyphs - Angela sketched as I photographed. Incidentally, we saw a small snake and an interesting lizard (neither yet identified) on the trail.

Our campsite in the park was excellent, a raised patch of sand with a giant sandstone wall as backdrop.

06/11/08 Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, and Bottomless Lakes State Park

2008-06-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

We woke at Pine Springs campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park to a beautiful morning - tempeatures in the mid 60s with a gentle breeze as the sun rose over the mountains. We made coffee with the Jetboil stove, had some cereal, took a few sunrise photos, and motored off to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (about 45 miles up the road)

We were rushed at Carlsbad yet somehow still managed to see lots of good things. We took the general self guided tour that comes with admission into the park, and that in itself was simply amazing. To that we added a ranger-led tour through King's Palace - approximately one and a half hours of deeper cave exploration jam packed with insightful information. I should mention that the cave was pretty cold (approximately 65 degrees) compared to the current temperatures above ground (approximately 104 degrees). Oh, and you know what stinks? Tons and tons of bat guano! Holy hell did that cave entrance reek of bat poop! If we had stayed for the night, we could have observed the "Bat Flight Program" where they leave en masse at dusk to feed and drink. Anyway, by the time the King's Palace tour was done, it was time to head up to to ground level and begin our drive to Roswell, NM.

On the surface, its appears to be relatively normal, like every other town along the Southwest's highways. Then, as you crawl down Main St., you look more closely at the street lamp, adorned by two large slanted oval eyes, and you realize that Roswell, NM is unique. As you look around more closely you see aliens on everything: storefronts, sidewalks, murals on the sides of buildings, and even the McDonalds playground. Aliens are to Roswell as Jazz is to New Orleans . Take away that constant, and the communities may have never flourished.

Our only planned stop in Roswell was the International Alien Museum and Research Facility. Upon entry we were greeted by a man with a British accent who charged us $5 each and pointed us to the beginning of the Roswell Incident Timeline. The museum, housed in one large room, consisted of dioramas, first hand accounts, photographs, and documents, all with shoddy matting and hung up on grey wood shop pegboards, as if it were someone's weekend hobby. Actually, with all of these documents and artifacts sent in from around the world, you get the feeling that you're looking through the weekend projects of several hundred people. It is most interesting that this space also functions as a research facility. Alien aficionados from all over the world looking to brush up on their knowledge of extraterrestrials visit the museum to do research in its library. The highlight of the museum for me was the section on crop circles, not for the extensive research displayed on the pegboards, but for the little boy sitting in the middle of the exposition making notes in his book, "CROP CIRCLES One of the sines of alion is a crop circle. A crop circle is a circle - shape of a...." and then below that he scribbled what looked like a bail of hay on fire. I think it was supposed to be a crop circle. His entire family was walking around the museum. They came to check on him twice, but he was too busy to care.

We walked around town a bit after the museum - checked out the gift shops and bought some mexican pastries. One of the gift shops, Zone II Alien Headquarters, had a very cheesy black light hallway filled with aliens in test tubes, aliens on dissecting tables with their guts hanging out, and other strange things that had no business under black light. Our last bit of business in Roswell was to find an internet cafe to upload to the blog. We found a great one in the Out of This World Cafe, whose name has a double meaning: (1.) the obvious alieen reference, and (2.) they brew coffee from other countries. The shop was run by very nice people, the iced coffee was just what we needed to beat the 104 degree heat, and the internet was fast as the dickens (whatever that means).

That night we drove about fifteen minutes east to Bottomless Lakes State Park. There we secured a campsite near Lea Lake, which just like every other lake in the park, was not bottomless. They get their name because for their circumference, they are quite deep. For instance, I probably could have swum from one end of Lea Lake to the other in less than ten minutes, and it was 90 feet deep. After setting up camp we excitedly made our way to the lake, solace from the 104 degree day. It only took one toe in the blue-green water to realize that this was an icy pool of DEATH. Then we remembered that the ranger told us about how the lake was spring-fed and that it always stayed "cool". I thought he meant "not a hot spring", but he actually meant "cold". Eventually, we became fully aquatinted with the water and began to explore the bottom of the shallow end with goggles.

Later that night we successfully identified the Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, and Scorpius constellations in a night sky clear of clouds or light pollution.

6/10/08 Austin to Guadalupe Mtns. National Park

2008-06-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Day two started out with a bang - we picked up delicious breakfast tacos from Taco Express on our way out of Austin. A bearkfast taco is apparently like a soft taco wrap with "breakfasty" items inside. The main difference between a taco and a breakfast taco is that you eat a breakfast taco early in the morning. Angela and I would both wholeheartedly recommend that everyone passing through Austin stop at Taco Xpress on S. Lamar Blvd. for the delicious treat and for their unique spin on a Southwestern motif.

We spent the rest of the day driving across most of Texas. Several hundred miles later we cut North right before the Mountain Time Zone line and drove up to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I had visited this park about three years ago with my brother and his friend Jeremy. On that trip we climbed up to the top of Guadalupe Peak, the tallest peak in Texas. On this trip, we didn't have time to make a summit, but we did have time for a quick hike before the sun went down. At the suggestion of a park ranger, we took the Guadalupe Peak Trail to the Devil's Hall Trail, which took us down into the valley between the peaks. It was a great introduction to hiking in the Southwest.

After the hike, we set up camp, ate a few sandwiches, and attempted to use a star chart. I say attempted because it was sort of cloudy and by the time we actually figured out the star chart, we realized that the mountains were hiding what the clouds were not. Angela and I also began an audio log of our trip highlights. I hope to edit this audio to have a new podcast ready by the time we return. Tomorrow - Carlsbad Caverns National park, Roswell, and Bottomless Lakes State Park.

Today's picture of the day is the potato, egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast taco from Taco Xpress. The water tower photo of the day was taken in Van Horn, TX.

6/9/08 New Orleans to Austin

2008-06-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Really quick, because I'm extremely tired - the first day of our trip was a success. My pimped out car (Ford Focus Wagon with a power inverter to run speakers/ipod and charge gear) worked out really well. We listened to great tunes, and I even played a little Zelda (8 bit) on my laptop. What a way to pass the time.

We arrived at my brother's place in Austin at about 3:45. From there we visited Ikea, drove around town, ate at Threadgill's, and visited the Texas state capitol.

In the future we're going to try to post the water tower photo of the day and the regular picture of the day. Today, I'm just uploading a bunch of stuff:

6/8/08 Preparations

2008-06-09T22:30:00.001-07:00

I thought Sunday would be a relaxed day of tying up loose ends, but the loose ends never stopped! Angela and I woke at about 8:00 AM, had our coffee and breakfast, and then worked constantly past until midnight. To quote Angela, "No matter how many lists I made, I was still up till 12:30 in the morning!"

The dogs were noticeably nervous all day. As we scurried about stuffing gear into bags, Betsy and Jackson followed closely, constantly under foot.

Angela called me into the bedroom to finalize the clothes list. Everything was sprawled out on the bed and she was buried somewhere in the heap of cotton, canvas, and Gortex.

Summer Trip 2008 Eve

2008-06-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

It is the eve of our summer road trip, and I can't believe how much of this trip is still unscripted. Nevertheless, Angela and I leave tomorrow for the West. Our main destination is the Yellowstone/Teton area, but we plan to visit many sites between here and there: Austin, Guadalupe Peak, Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, Bottomless Lakes State Park, Chaco Culture, Mesa Verde, Buckskin Gulch Slot Canyon, and Caribou National Forest. The return trip is wholly After Yellowstone/Teton we'll visit Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Memphis.

Hopefully, we'll stumble across a few wifi spots in God's country, with photos, sounds, and possibly even video to report back with.

Below is an interactive map of the trip. Red markers designate the route to Yellowstone, and the blue markers are a rough estimate of how we'll get home.

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001 Anna Belle Sandras and Carrie Rigaud

2007-12-27T16:40:00.000-08:00

Anna Belle Sandras & Carrie Rigaud talk about hard times on Bayou Lafourche.