Cloudy Mornin'

Clouds were laying closer to the ground as the sun started coming up this morning. It was spooky and surreal.


*sigh*

Distractions while driving

Oh yeah, driving to work every morning could be really boring ... if it weren't for the scenery. Those gorgeous sunrises! They make me wish I'd carry a camera every morning.

And the past couple of weeks the sunrises have been particularly spectacular, as you can see.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

How do the days go by so darn fast? Even my son, who's 30, complains about time slipping away. When I told him it gets worse as the years tick by, he asked me if I use my clock for a fan. Not a bad idea ...

Mindy came to visit for Labor Day weekend (last weekend). When we have visitors we get to do so many fun things that we don't seem to have time for when it's just us. Chores and everyday life get in the way while we're thinking, "Oh well, we can always do that later." But it usually doesn't happen.

While Mindy was here we got to spend a whole day in the park with Mr. Wizard as our chauffeur. Weather was cooperative all weekend: cool nights and breezy, warm days. So it was great!

Here are some photos from our adventures. Enjoy! (We did!)

We watched Friday night's full moon rise over the Chisos Mountains as we sat on the Porch in the ghost town with friends and tourists.


Then we had dinner and listened to live music at the Starlight Theatre.


Saturday morning we drove the river road from Lajitas to Presidio and crossed over into Ojinaga. First order of business was lunch at Las Cazuelas: chilis relleno, barbacoa, cheesy enchiladas, guacamole ... good stuff!


Then to our favorite bakery for bolillos.


The employees there were busy making the next batch to bake in the giant wood-fired ovens. If we hadn't just eaten, the ones we bought would have never made it back home.


We spent the day Sunday in the national park. Mr. Wizard obliged us by stopping when we wanted to shoot some photos or do a little hiking.


Clouds were hanging over the Chisos Basin.


It was beautiful and eerie, like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie.


Then we headed over to Sotol Vista. Visibility wasn't great, but it was nice and coolish, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves for about 15 minutes.


Our next stop was Santa Elena Canyon, but we couldn't hike in because Terlingua Creek was way up, thanks to the rains the three days previous.


Castolon Peak, looking toward Terlingua.


We had so much fun!
And Mr. W had his own fun while we were exploring.

Moonrise Lightshow

We really enjoy watching the full moon rise. Long before it makes its appearance, there's an other-worldly glow behind the mountains.

Sometimes we can see the glow nearly an hour before the actual moonrise.

The first moonrise we watched at Lunaloca actually took our breath away. We had no idea it would be so spectacular.

We watched the glow grow ... and grow brighter and brighter.

The moon took her sweet time to come up, but the wait was well worth it--an almost religious experience.

The first flash of the full moon was almost blinding, like a laser light shooting right at us.

That's when we decided to name our place Lunaloca. Because it was crazy. Beautiful crazy!

We didn't realize it until several full moons later, but when we watch the full moon rise from the ghost town, we can drive back home to Lunaloca. And then watch it rise again.

Yup. Life is good.

A backyard morning stroll

Another inch of rain last night, slow and steady. The desert smells delicious!

hail

The big rain cloud ahead didn't look extraordinary, so I plowed right into it on my way home from Alpine late Thursday afternoon.

Big mistake.

By the time it started hailing, it was too late to turn around, so I just kept plowing. Very slowly, until I came up on a car that had pulled over. I pulled in behind it to wait out the storm and take a few pictures.


Most of the hail was pea-sized, but there were some larger chunks mixed in. A very few were as large as softballs. They sounded like cannons when they hit the car.


After waiting 25 minutes and no sign of it slacking off, I started inching my way home.


Scary. Very scary!

Spooky sky

Snapped these two photos in opposite directions the other night. The sun was setting with rain falling all around. It looked spooky and beautiful, and the wind blasts were actually chilly enough that I put on a sweater--in mid-summer!

We didn't get any rain at Lunaloca that night (July 20), but we've gotten some since.

The desert is still happy!

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