Palm Springs Aerial Tram again

After tooling through Joshua Tree National Park, we decided to eat in
Palm Springs and then take the tram up. Been here before, and it is
always just as cool. I'm in my hiking harness. Took a picture looking
to the south over long valley from the visitor's center. It is very
hot down in the valley - over 100 degrees, but at the top at 8,500
feet, it was around 75. I like alpine areas such as this.

Jumbo rocks!

On to jumbo rocks! The light colored, round rocks are strewn
everywhere around the desert floor! Something must have weathered the
rocks to make them so smooth. What s neat place! Too bad the
campground is closed.

Cholla

Hey everyone - we are now driving through Joshua tree and we stopped
at the cholla garden. They are everywhere! They kinda creep me
out...there is a cool guy on the sign, too.

Desert Bunny!

Camped at cottonwood springs in Joshua Tree last night. It was a very
warm night - started out around 90 degrees & probably got down to 75
degrees. Didn't need my wool jacket at all! Here I am in the morning
near the bathrooms with my desert bretheren, the Jack rabbit. His ears
are way longer than normal. He is pretty calm and let us take a
picture of him very close up. He is in the trail between me and the
picnic table. I love it out here!

Tejon ranch & the grapevine

Been driving south all morning, going from oakhurst back down to
riverside. Lots of flat, yellow/brown fields with green agriculture
mixed in here and there. Heading up the grapevine now. Here I am with
the northbound traffic and tejon ranch area behind me. I don't like it
so much here. I don't think many bunnies live here and it is also very
hot in the summertime.

Glacier Point

Another very cool stop today at glacier point! You can see half dome
distictly behind me. You can also see Nevada falls on the other side
of me. The sun was casting cool shadows with the fluffy clouds all
around. What an awesome trip!

Yosemite

Here I am just before the main entrance of yosemite on the east side.
What a way to start out the day. There are thunderstorms just off to
the west and it started to rain just after we left.

Rainbow Falls!

Continuing on our dayhike, about 2 miles past Devils Postpile is a 101
foot waterfall - Rainbow Falls. Here I am with the falls behind me.
I'm not sure if the camera caught it, but if you look carefully, you
might see a rainbow to the left of me in the picture. Joe and Anne
came here about 10 years ago right after they met. What a beautiful
waterfall and what a beautiful day!

Devils Postpile #2

Hi again - We climbed up to the top of the columns of rock. Up here,
it is easy to see the cool hexagonal patterns that formed when the
molten rock cooled. Very cool. Joe and Anne have talked about going to
Ireland someday to see the Giants Causeway - another formation of rock
like this that goes out into the sea. I hope we go someday!

Devils postpile

Hi everyone! I got to go in the big hike today! We started off hiking
to Devils Postpile - quite possibly the coolest geological formation
ever! Here I am at the base of the main feature in the national
monument. It might be hard to see me as I blend into the scree field
of pieces of balsalt stones that have broken off the long pillars of
rock. Some are up to 60 feet high - I love thus place!

Cornace

Here is another picture from the top. I can't remember the name of the
run, bit Joe flies off the face of it when we are snowboarding. And he
takes me with him! Crazy stuff - I like snowboarding with Joe.

Minerets

Here I am at the top of mammoth mountain. The minerets and a few
mountain peaks (mt. Banner and mt. Ritter) are behind me. I love it up
here!

Crowley lake rainbow

Another hour, another rainbow! This time with crowley lake as the
backdrop. It is nicer now - we are at almost 7,000 feet now and the
temperture has dropped to 70 degrees. I love the mammoth lakes area!

Rainbow3

Almost to Bishop - saw a rainbow again! Haven't seen one for awhile on
a road trip. If you look carefully, it is a double rainbow with
another rainbow between me and the bright rainbow. I love rainbows!

Astro burger

Here we are on our trip to mammoth and yosemite. We are on the 395
traveling north and just passed astro-burger. It isn't the best
picture, but you can see the sign, anyway...I wonder if astro knows
she has a restaurant names after her?!?

Lawrence Welk

Hi - came down San Diego way to meet an old friend, Randy, and his
wife, Kelly. We met for breakfast at the Lawrence Welk resort where
they are staying. Here I am at the entrance with a cool sign and
waterfall. There are neat mountains all around and it is cooler here
than riverside. Too bad there are big power poles by the waterfall.
Had a nice breakfast.

Sleepy Astro again

Anne went to work and Joe is hanging out with me today. Astro is
finding nice sunny spots to lay in again. Here she is laying on the
bed with me after I woke her up. I like hanging out with Astro in my
favorite place to be!

Dust devil

Here I am driving through Perris, CA on the way to San Diego. It is
102 degrees outside! All of a sudden there were over six dust devil's
all around us! Snapped a quick shot as one was dissapating. If you
look closely, you can see it over to the right of me. Only got half of
me as we were in a hurry...glad I am in our cool car! Can't wait to
feel the cool ocean breezes.

Monument valley

Hi - flying from Denver to San Diego right now. Got a great view of
monument valley from the airplane - here I am with the cool rocks in
the background. Last year, we drove through the four corners region
and visited Shiprock up close. Shiprock is not in the picture, but it
isn't too far away to the south and east. I really like cool rocks!

Calves!

Here I am at Karen and Darrick's farm for Michael's b-day party. After
opening presents, we went out to the barn to check out the new baby
calves. They are only about a week old. Some of them were very cute!
But not as cute as Astro and Orion!

Amish @ Walmart

Hi - been surveying since sunup, which is very early in Wisconsin in
early July. Stopped at Walmart for a break and some supplies. We were
surprised it was open on July 4th! On the way out we noticed a horse
and buggy rail that the Amish use and a horsey waiting patiently for
his owner. That was pretty interesting! I like horseies.

Sunrise!

Hello world! Here I am at the property at sunrise. We got up @ 4:30 am
to meet Joe's Dad and Terese by 5:15 to catch the sunrise. We were
afraid it was going to be cloudy and/or rainy, but we were lucky to be
greeted by a spectacular sunrise! This place is awesome!

Gate completed.

Hi - here I am by the entrance to our property and the completed gate.
Joe's dad came up from Chicago today and helped Joe install it. We did
more surveying today, getting most of the top done. It was a little
warmer today and the sun was up for a lot of the morning. It was
raining off to the west and missed us. Pretty neat and pretty lucky
for us!

Gate

Hi - it is Friday morning and we are getting ready to go out to the
property and do more work: installing a gate, cutting more trees/
brush, fixing the ruts in the road, and surveying. Here I am at
grandpa Al's shop in merrillan. We are drilling holes in our steel
pipe for the gate. It sure is loud! Lots of work to do, but at least
all the work now is all forward progress! I like working on the
property with Anne, Joe, and Al!

Surveying!

Hi all - after a long day of cutting brush, we are surveying today.
Everything is going rather well. We have all of the base of the road
done and HWY 54 in and Joe is walking up to the top right now to set a
hub by the picnic table so we can shoot the top. I like surveying! And
I'm rather good at it:-) ÷H

Top of the World

Hi everyone - bunny coming to you from the top of the world! We made
it to Wisconsin and Joe and Anne finished buying the property this
morning. We spent the day cutting brush and trees so we could get to
the top of the hill for good surveying tomorrow. We also brought our
new picnic table up - here I am sitting on it. If you look closely,
you will see a deer antler behind me that uncle Al found in the
forest. Pretty cool stuff! I love it here and can't wait to live here
someday!