Prescott, AZ - October-November 2012

Our first long stop, Prescott. One month.

Time to kick back and take pictures of the grand places in the area.

Thumb Butte

Prickly Pear cactus

Pricklies

A desert pal: Horned Toad

Pears. The coyotes like to eat them.

 

Weed seeds

 

 

The road down into Jerome

 

From Jerome, looking toward Sedona

In the flood plain by Willow Lake, we saw a lone stone

 

We called it "Plumbers Rock"

Willow Lake

Willow Lake

 

 Granite Mountain

 

Something we had never seen in over 20 years of visiting AZ

RAIN!



 

Sunrise at Point of Rocks Campground

Sunrise over Watson Lake



 

Crawdad Towers, Caddo Mills, TX - Oct 8, 2012

On our way West, we stayed overnight in Caddo Mills. It is a pleasant piece of Texas flatness.

They had a pond in the campground, and as we took a walk, we saw towers on the sand! Curious, we asked the CG owners "what up?".

Turns out that the Crawdads (crayfish, crawfish) of North Texas live in the sand and build these towers.  These critters are up to about 6 inches long! They live up to 3 feet down, and as they excavate their homes, they use their saliva to mix with the sand and roll it to the top. The sand is soft, but the wads the crawdads make are quite hard. If the tower gets knocked over, they just build it right back up. Don't know the purpose of the towers, but do know that if it rains they roll up a ball and glue it accross the vertical tunnel to seal out the water.

Tried to catch them using a string and a bit of ham, and I could feel them tugging but could not get them to hang on! Found a couple on the shore in the morning.

This will make a fine video topic for Science Explorers kids!  Kids love critters, ya know?

Cornwall Furnace PA, Sept 9, 2012

We had wanted to see Cornwall Furnace since we came to PA 25 years ago.

We found time!

As the only surviving intact charcoal cold blast furnace in the Western Hemisphere, it attests to the once great iron industry that flourished in south central Pennsylvania. It operated continuously, 1742-1883.

The facilities are magnificently restored and the staff is very friendly and REALLY know their stuff.

Around it developed villages, artisans’ shops, stores, schools, churches, and the home of a wealthy ironmaster. All of the raw materials necessary for the smelting process — iron ore, limestone and wood for charcoal — were found in this self contained iron plantation. The town is still there, with new mailing addresses AND the original house numbers from when the workers lived there.

It was a fine day, and perfect for taking pictures....

Yeah, I liked the windows...a lot!

http://www.cornwallironfurnace.org/

 

Conway, New Hampshire: Swift River, Lower Falls

Conway, New Hampshire: Swift River, Lower Falls, White Mountains National Forest

Lots of folks cooling off in the falls. 

Conway, New Hampshire: Sabbaday Falls

Conway, New Hampshire: Sabbaday Falls

A fine walk in the woods, with a prize at the end.

Conway Scenic Railroad

Conway Scenic Railroad.

They have 2 rail tours, 2 hour and 5 hour. Got the skinny from other tourists: on the 2 hour you see about 10% of the sights as the 5 hour. A grand ride. The telegraph poles have been there since the mid 1800's.

http://www.conwayscenic.com/

J. L. Popp Butterfly Conservatory, Oneonta, NY

 J. L. Popp Butterfly Conservatory, Oneonta, NY

Went there on a guess. Good guess!  About 3000SF of joy. Butterflies all around the room, all around us, to where you could feel a breeze from them as they flew next to you so very close.

And a hedge hog, and a great variety of birds, and a tortous, a huge tree frog, a lizard, fish in the pond....about 2 hours of fun.

http://www.poppbutterflyconservatory.com/