The Parthenon

Wow, there it is, just a short hike up less of a hill than I feared.

We got up early and just followed the directions our hostess, Fortini Logianni thoughtfully wrote out for us last night. For a mere 12 euros each we got tickets good for 4 days of wandering around a lot of old stone. Check it out!

By the way, this is my first attempt at blogging by smartphone. Much more difficult than from a computer.

At it again

Friends

It's been a year and a half since I've used this blog but it's time to update it. The reason? We're about to take off to Europe (Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany) for 9 weeks. It's going to be unusual in that we'll be using just our smart phones and leaving the computer behind so text will be on the terse side.

So what's happened in the past 18 or so months? Lots. First there was our second winter in Gold Canyon. Interesting and relaxing for us but it'd probably bore the reader between golf scores, pool team stats, hike reports, minutes of Healthy Eating Group meetings and the like. That would take us to April 2014. That's when life got a bit more interesting.

We got to Michigan in time for Mother's day in May. We stopped in for our annual med checks and that's when the world turned upside down. I had a PSA (prostate something something - the important word here is prostate) of 13, up from the normal 5 or so from 2 years earlier. A biopsy was indicated and duly performed. Bad news. Not only did it show cancer but a fairly active form, ready to spread. Aw crap! The Urologist was ready to start cutting immediately but my lovely wife found a prostate cancer support group meeting at Sparrow hospital. A very good liaison nurse (Deb Batterbee, praise be her name) navigated us into an expert panel. The doctors recommended radiation and hormone therapy, reasoning that even after removal of prostate the cancer was advanced enough to require radiating the area anyway. Fine, how long will that take? Oh, past the end of October. October, maybe November in Michigan? Wait a minute, it's cold by then and we live in a 5th wheel trailer. Once again, Liz sprang into action. Sparrow has a counterpart in Phoenix that could get us in. Suddenly we were on the road with a vengeance. 5 days from Michigan to Arizona. First quandary: granted, it's cold in Michigan in November. It's hot in Arizona in July, especially Phoenix. There's a compromise. While hormone treatment started immediately, the start of radiation was a little more leisurely, starting in September to allow the hormone treatment to take hold and do setup and tests. So we didn't really have to be near Phoenix until then so long as we kept appointments about every three weeks. There's a part of Arizona that sticks up far enough to not broil in the summer sun in its northeast  called the Mogollon Rim. We had already heard of a town called Show Low (interesting history, look it up) and a nice RV park called Juniper Ridge. It certainly was nice. Even had its own golf course. In order to make the game more interesting and somewhat more friendly to windows they use a type of golf ball called a Point 5  (was called Cayman). Half the weight of a regular ball it flies about half as far and floats. Our trailer was right on the course so we could take off on the third hole and finish off on two. To add to the attraction, this area is subject to a summer monsoon so every afternoon we at least saw rain clouds or had a nice cool rain. In short, a nice green place.

Radiation treatments started in September so there was no real choice but to return to Gold Canyon. We didn't quite miss the worst of the heat. 100-115 most afternoons. Spent a lot of time in the pool. Put something over 1,000 miles on the truck driving back and forth from radiation treatments. After a few weeks the radiation irritated my bladder and intestines enough to keep me near a john. Towards the end of the series we discovered I'd developed a lactose intolerance. Sigh, no more milk for me.

To keep herself busy, Liz began planning a European trip. Now we get to live her plans. Just for variety we left Gold Canyon the first of February and investigated California. We spent a few days near Temecula and then came to Gold Village Palms in Hemet. It's convenient to San Diego and Los Angeles and close to lots of other tourist attractions. Here, take a look.

Welded metal sculptures near Temecula.
Ricardo A. Breceeda, sculptor.

Landmark house overlooking Palm Springs. Modernism Week is celebrated annually in February.  

Starting a hike. Wednesday hiking group in Golden Village Palms
is much like in Gold Canyon.

Polar Bear, San Diego Zoo.

More San Diego Zoo.

Dirt track races in Perris.

The old mission, San Juan Capistrano.
Mostly destroyed by earthquake.

Swallow nests. We missed the return by a few days.

Altar at San Juan Capistrano mission.

Bells, San Juan

Getty Museum

Migs at March AFB museum

A car show at Golden Village Palms.
There are lots of hot rodders around and they love to show off their cars.

Golden Era golf course. The hills in the background recently slid,
rendering part of the 8th hole unusable and causing the state to condemn
several homes between the course and the hills.

Getty Museum

And more Getty museum

Part of golf course at Sunnylands AKA Camp David West.

Liz took a tour of Sunnylands.
 This is as close to the house as they allow you to photograph.

That's not all we did, but we need to finish packing. See you overseas!

A hell of a place to lose a cow

Last week we spent 3 luxurious days in Las Vegas, courtesy of a timeshare outfit that simply wouldn’t take no for an answer. They had a place to stow the 5^th wheel so we accepted the offer, sat through an hour or so of sales pitch and enjoyed the luxurious room for a few days. Even watched Notre Dame edge past MSU.



View from our hotel - pretty close to the airport.

Liz once again found a nice spot from which we could hit a couple of national parks. We’re now ensconced in Lutherwood RV park, two miles and 15 turns of dirt road off Utah 89, 40 miles south of Bryce Canyon and about the same northeast of Zion. Despite the lack of wi-fi (my, aren’t I getting picky) or phone reception Lutherwood is more than you can expect for less than 20 bucks a night. That includes living among herds of deer, flocks of turkey and a new year's celebration by a Christians-using-Jewish-holidays sect.

 

 

Dozen wild turkey in Lutheran Camp Lutherwood

Monday thru Wednesday were spent at Bryce Canyon. Like Crater Lake, it’s misnamed. It’s actually the eroded edge of a plateau. Of course the erosion is something special, due to the soft sandstone of the plateau. It got its name from a local settler whose property backed up on one of the more spectacular box canyons below the plateau. His historic comment was “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.”

 

 

 

 

The park had a definite Grand Canyon flavor, down to the wonderful shuttle service with half a dozen stops on a 5 or so mile route at the major scenic spots and trailheads down into the hoodoos. Ah yes, hoodoos. These are the features that make Bryce Canyon unique. They’re easier to show than explain, so these pictures should explain them better than any words.

 

 

 

 

The hiking trails take you down into the hoodoos, making for my least favorite hiking style – first down, then up. We did about 4 miles a day. At 8,000 feet that was all I wanted, though Liz considered it just moderate exercise. What I get for marrying down half a generation. Actually, the trails are quite smooth and hard packed and wide enough for people to pass easily. Once again, thank the CCC. Really, our tax dollars were never better spent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with the regular shuttle was a twice a day tour 17 miles to Rainbow Point. The name is from all the colors visible in the various geological features below you. From this point you can see up to 75 miles in nearly a full circle. Barely visible is Navajo mountain, a personal favorite of mine. It’s the little volcano that couldn’t. Some several million years ago a magma bubble pushed the ground up 12,000 feet or more into the air, then quit. Thaaaat close to being a real volcano.

 

That faint blue bulge just over the hoodoo, that's Navajo Mountain, 75 miles away.

Liz Here

20 years ago my cousin Bertie from Simbach in Germany and his friend Peter Hoffman flew to the US to tour national parks. They told me that Bryce was the Best! It took me 20 years but I made a point to finally go to Bryce to decide for myself. Bryce is truly great.

Mike:

Thursday and Friday were for Zion. We’d been there before and it will remain a favorite. Spectacular scenery and first class treatment from the park service. Like Bryce, there’s a shuttle service all along its 10 mile length, though unlike Bryce and like the Grand Canyon south rim, it’s compulsory.  Really nice, one comes along every 10 minutes. Hiking trails up the canyon walls are laid out from one stop to another. There are several, graded from easy to difficult. I’ll take moderate for four miles or so, Alec. Sprinkle in about 3 million other visitors a year, apparently half and half U.S. and foreign. You’ll never be alone on the trails.

 

 

 

Now squint. Do you see the penguin?

 

Hiking trail. Yes, we were down there.

 

 


I've been seeing these arches all through the southwest.
A geologist finally explained them to me.
Water percolates down till it hits an impermeable layer, then starts pushing. Hard.
 



Look, the prickly pears are almost ripe!

Friday night was below freezing. It looks as though we’d better be moving along. On our way to Arizona we’ll be investigating the huge federal lands in southern Utah along scenic highway 12. I’ve been having a ball with the dashcam, though the resolution is not wonderful and the files are huge. Fair warning, I’ll be glad to inflict hours of scenery on anyone who expresses even a casual interest.

 

It's now Tuesday and we've finally hit a camp with Wi-Fi. Capitol Reef was closed down due to some Washington silliness. They won't stop us from seeing Monument Valley tomorrow, though. It's all on a reservation and run by some primitive, simple Indian tribe. Nothing like good old American can-do!