Road Trip Across Nevada

 We went to Moab, Utah last weekend, but in order to get to Moab we first had to cross 400 miles of northern Nevada desert. This was not our first trip east across Nevada, we know the road pretty well, but lately we have started taking travel guides along with us to discover new things along the way.

Our first stop was the Carlin Angular Unconformity.  We have actually stopped here before, but it is always amazing to me that between the reddish sandstone layers in the shadow and the white limestone/sandstone formation in the sunlight roughly 50 million years in the geologic record is missing.

Our next stop was Lamoille Canyon just south of Elko.  Just a few miles from I-80 we came over the hill to see a beautiful panorama of the snow capped Ruby mountains and the green valley of Spring Creek.

It was spring in the valley, but still winter in Lamoille Canyon

Snow on the road stopped us from going to the top, but we were able to take a short nature walk where we saw spring welling out of the ground, you can kind of see water welling up in the middle of the pond. 

A couple of beaver dams captured the water to make a pond before it joined the stream headed down the canyon.

 

And we had great views of a hanging valley left by a side glacier

We tried to go to Angel Lake just south of Wells, but the road was still closed by snow, so we took a short side trip north of Wells to Thousand Springs Valley to see the route of the California Trail. I image it looks about the same as it did in the 1850s. This is right on the edge of the Winecup Gamble Ranch which currently covers roughlyone million acres. It is still a working cattle ranch. It was owned briefly by actor Jimmy Stewart.

So much to see just a few miles off the interstate.

Airboat tour of the Everglades

 Our last adventure was an airboat tour of the Everglades. We drove west about 30 miles to a freeway rest stop where we met out tour guide. We weren't actually in Everglades National Park, just in the Everglades. It was only the two of us and the guide which made it a very relaxed tour.

The tour guide stopped and picked a water lily for me, such a beautiful flower.

We saw some yearling alligators, but they are so small it is hard to see them in the vegetation. It is right in the center in the grasses almost under the big leaf

We stopped at a suburban shopping mall on the way home and I loved this sign in the parking lot.

Day trip on A1A

 I talked Calvin into a road trip north along A1A. We were only going about 30 miles, but it was a SLOW 30 miles.

Our destination was Wakodahatchee Wetlands and nearby Green Cay Wetlands. The wetlands were created to discharge highly treated waste water back into the groundwater. In the process they created boardwalks where you could see get into the natural habitat. Wakodahatchee was a nesting ground for Wood Storks. Wood Storks had been endangered but are now thriving in this environment.  There were probably a dozen trees full of nesting birds.

We also saw common moorhens, 

Cormorants

Great egrets

 and Great blue Herons

along with all kinds of other birds that I didn't manage to photograph. And great views of the wetlands.

You might be able to spot a wll hidden bird in this one.

We had planned to spend a little time on the beach after the wetlands, but just after we got a picnic lunch the rain started, and it was serious rain.  So we ate our lunch in the car and headed back to Ft. Lauderdale on the freeway. It rained all night, which was a rare and pleasant experience for us.

Florida Spring 2021 Around Town

 We decided to join the rest of the "Spring Breakers" in Ft. Lauderdale for our first post Covid vaccination vacation. We chose Ft. Lauderdale because it had the cheapest flight from Reno and didn't really have any expectaions beyond spending a little time in the sun.

We rented a house with a pool in a gated neighborhood about a 15 minute walk to the beach, dining and Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. 

I envied the orchids growing native in the neighborhood.

We shared pool time with a couple of iguanas.

We had dinner one night at Franco & Vinny's mostly because it was close to our house.  It served great Italian food, but we discovered that the 50 year old institution was closing this month.  The 79 year old Vinny decided he wanted some time to enjoy his life a little more.

Walking home after dinner we saw a beautiful crescent moon

Across the street from the restaurant was a Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.  Hugh Taylor Birch was a wealthy Chicago business man who came to Ft. Lauderdale in 1893.  He bought 180 acres of beachfront property for his winter estate and when he died willed the property to the state of Florida. The park is now an island of trees and greenery in the middle of Ft. Lauderdale.  We enjoyed a morning walk there.

And, of course, there was the beach.  We did see crowds of spring breakers, but they were a pretty "cheeky" bunch so we didn't take pictures.

Winter 2021

We have enjoyed a fairly sunny, fairly warm winter this year. We had two big dumps of snow just one day apart. We got about 8 inches in the first snow,

and then another 8 inches the next day. Our garden boxes were completely buried by the second day. And that was about it for snow this winter.

A raccoon left a trail across our front porch on his nocturnal travels.

Sylvan and Ingrid came to our house to play in the snow, because they didn't get snow at their house.  We still had plenty of snow, but it was so crusty that instead of making a snow angel, Sylvan made a snow shadow.

 We did get a small snow storm when the Wrights were here so they could play in the snow on the deck without having to worry about wearing shoes.

And we tried making a little "snow ice cream" with cherry syrup. It seemed to be a hit.

The hot tub got a little action once the snow melted

We also got to celebrate Ingrid's 3rd birthday with her cousins.

Dinner and a unicorn cake were great, but the highlight was the "blacklight" dance party.

Covid Winter

 Our range continues to shrink as we wait for our turn for the vaccine. Usually by this point in winter we would have taken at least one trip to find some warm weather.  Instead we have stayed pretty close to home.  Fortunately there are still things to entertain us here in Reno.

We spent a couple of nights looking at the "great conjunction" in Reno. The first night we drove part of the way up Geiger grade to get a clear shot across the valley.  We saw a beautidul sunset, and then discovered as the lights came on in the city that the sky didn't appear any darker from this vantage point.

But we could clearly see both planets. Sadly a cell phone is not the best camera for star gazing. But it does give kind of a cool impressionist look.

We went out again on December 21, this time we drove up just behind Sarah's subdivision and had great  views, but still not a great camera.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve with the Bordelons before they flew off to Florida.

And once again enjoyed the Nativity flannel board that we have had since 1980

Christmas day we took a walk around Virginia Lake where Calvin tried out his new toy.

We ended 2020 in a celebration with Peter's family.  We had a great dinner followed by dancing and fireworks when the clock struck midnight (on the east coast)