Off Yonder

Here’s where you’ll see my excuse for possibly light blogging. So far, so good, but again I don’t know about future internet connections.

I’m out west.

So, near the end of one day’s trip, here I am at a rest area on I-40 outside Amarillo, TX, at the McClellan Creek National Grasslands. What a difference from Ohio.

Amarillo Rest Area

From there, the next day I headed into New Mexico, then headed north towards Las Vegas. This is the Las Vegas of New Mexico. It was of course really starting to look like New Mexico, with mesas in the background.

Far-off Mesa South of Las Vegas

But my destination wasn’t Las Vegas, but Taos. Going throught the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, there was a nice little place to stop for a while:

Agua Piedra (Stony Waters)

It had a nice stream:

Checking Out the Water

In Taos, the wind was blowing like crazy, and there were forest fires to the southwest, in the Gila National Forest. That smoke blew way up our way. Here’s a photo of Pueblo Peak (elevation 12,305 feet), just north of Taos, through all the smoke.

Obscured Pueblo Peak

A bit later the wind had blown much of the smoke away, so here is a better picture.

Less-Obscured Pueblo Peak

Near the end of my visit I went with a friend to see the Rio Grand Gorge. Here I am right at the overlook.

Overlooking the Rio Grande Gorge

Come back on Monday for a look at who I was visiting.