In Honor of “The World Series of Birding,” which was May 11, 2019

Here are some of the birds we have seen in New Mexico. 

No clue what most of them are. Except for the hummingbirds. And this one, "Beep, Beep!"

http://worldseriesofbirding.org/ 

For more info on the World Series of Birding, read "The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession," by Mark Obmascik. Or just rent the movie.

Tuesday - This One is for My Kids

Making a left turn at Albuquerque

The Very Large Array (VLA)

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) radio telescope has 27 huge dish antennas which pick up radio and microwave emissions from space.  Many astronomical discoveries have come from data collected here.

The “Award-Winning Documentary Narrated by Jodie Foster,” shown in the auditorium, unfortunately dumbed down the science (it described radio waves as “invisible light”). It also had a lot of artsy shots of the night sky (irrelevant to a radio telescope), and was more interested in the movies filmed at this location (Contact! Terminator Salvation!)  In fact, “Movies Filmed Here,” was a recurring theme in NM. After all, what is more important- Great Advances in Science, or Movies Filmed Here! 

Unfortunately the only people on hand to answer questions were the people manning the gift shop and they were not very helpful. At least to answer the questions we had.

Themed bathroom wall tile

Bob standing next to dish (bottom left) for a sense of scale. You may need to click on the photo to enlarge

Not sure if they do research here on methane's effect on the Ozone Layer.

We were here on May 14th. 

Monday, Truth or Consequences, NM

Sitting here in the quirky Pelican Inn and Spa, Truth or Consequences, NM (“T or C” for short) with an internet connection, flush toilet, and our own hot springs soaking tub (therefore “Spa” in name of the place), catching up on this blog.

This town was originally called Hot Springs, due to all the hot springs, duh. Some genius in the city government changed its name in 1950 to "Truth or Consequences", hoping to bring in more tourists by capitalizing on the name of what was then a popular radio show. Today, who has even heard of “Truth or Consequences”?

We are here after 3 days camping and hiking in the spectacular Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument.  Beautiful place to spend Shabbos. Chabad should look into setting up an outpost there.

Hard to believe we have been on this trip for less than 2 weeks. Done so many fun things and seen so many beautiful and interesting places. Some not so beautiful.  

There is a great blog post waiting to be written just about the people we have met. Coming to this blog one day. We have been getting attention for our NJ license plate. Who knew it would be such a great ice breaker?

Heading from here to Albuquerque. Get there maybe today, maybe tomorrow. That is the luxury of having an unstructured trip.  

My workspace at the Pelican 

Our soaking tub

Mineral content of the water, aka Periodic Table of the Elements 

Thursday. At Organ Mountains National Monument, New Mexico

Catching up with some work. Just because he can.

White Sands National Monument, NM

Blindingly white. Surreal. Amazing. 

Tues Afternoon - Getting Gas in Roswell, NM

Tuesday Morning - "Weather" is coming!

Palo Duro Texas. Campground owner stops by this morning to see if we were planning on staying another night because "Weather" is coming. Which means bad weather, which means possible tornadoes. 

Luckily we were planning on leaving anyway. New Mexico, here we come!

View of Palo Duro Canyon from our campsite

Adding Insult to Injury, Palo Duro Canyon,Texas, and Lollipops

Although we are now home, I will continue posting about our trip. This was from early in the trip, May 6th.

Various Native Americans lived in Palo Duro Canyon,Texas from prehistoric times until 1874. The battle of Palo Duro Canyon in 1874 was the last major battle of the Red River War, during which the surviving southern Plains Indians (Comanches, Kiowas, Kiowa Apaches, Cheyennes, and Arapahos) were evicted from their land and forcibly relocated to reservations in Oklahoma.   

In the battle of Palo Duro Canyon, an overwhelming US force attacked the Indians, who fled for their lives, leaving everything behind. The US forces destroyed the Indians’ belongings, homes, and food reserves. On top of that, the US forces slaughtered over 1,200 of their horses. Destroying the Indians' means of survival insured a complete surrender.  

A short time later, now that the land was available, two ranchers drove 1,600 cattle to the canyon and it became part of a much larger ranch across the Texas Panhandle.  

In 1933, the state bought the canyon, (the rest of the ranch is still run by the original ranchers' decedents) and made it into a park. The CCC build a lodge which is now a gift shop, where we saw this display selling lollipops.

The Plains Indians who lived here lost their lives, their land, their way of life, their horses, and their dignity.

This just adds insult to injury. No wonder he looks angry. 

For more info: The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon 

Interesting bit of trivia: The famous crying Indian from the 1971 "Keep America the Beautiful" ad campaign was really an Italian-American.  

Monday - Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

Spent the day in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas. Lots of hiking!

Temps in the 90’s in the shade.

Finally got to ride our bikes which we lugged halfway across the country.

Sunday - Which Came First?

The Chicken?

Or The Egg?

In the Quail Springs neighborhood of Oklahoma City.

Why I Missed Getting Most of the Photos of the "Welcome To This State" Signs

It is traditional for us to take a photo of each"Welcome To This State" sign as we enter it on one of our road trips. But I have had very little success bagging these shots on our trip so far: 

Pennsylvania - I was messing with the car AC controls and missed it

West Virginia - Got a picture of the sign at the first rest stop! Yay!

Ohio - The camera wouldn't turn on

Indiana - I was driving and Bob was sleeping

Illinois - It just crept up on us. What? Another state already?

Missouri - No sign

But I do have proof we were in all these states, mostly thanks to the departments of transportation :

Pennsylvania    A rest stop

West Virginia  There was a sign at the first rest stop, as I previously mentioned

Ohio -  Taken at a rest stop

Indiana - You guessed it, taken at a rest stop

Illinois -  Somehow, I don't know how this is possible, but we did not visit any of the rest areas in Illinois.
So for proof we were in the state, I am posting this photo taken in Effingham Illinois, of America's Largest Cross, which was put up for religious reasons as well as bragging rights. Also to distract motorists.

Missouri -
A new state for me! Yay! Lucky for us, there were restrooms in this location:

FYI:
In case you were wondering, we did not stop at every rest stop on the highway. Also, the cleanest, newest, and nicest rest stops are in PA. Pa rest stop bathrooms (women's, not sure about a men's equivalent)  thoughtfully provide the following, which I have never seen before: