Unbelizable! Crossing Belize to Climb a Ruin

Xunantunich, Cayo District, Belize
April 13, 2016

Xunantunich. Before we proceed on our crossing of Belize, I should provide some guidance on how to pronounce Xunantunich since I will be saying it a lot. Although it is a modern name, Xunantunich is a Mayan word meaning “maiden of the rock” or “stone woman”. Since not many people outside Mexico and Central America know how to pronounce Mayan words and letters, the locals provide an English phonetic spelling: “Shoo-nahn-too-nitch”. Say it a few times, and it starts to flow off your lips.

I came to Belize by way of a cruise ship. The previous day we docked in Cozumel, Mexico, but after a half-hour there, I was not a gracious guest and left all of the contents of my stomach on the beach. I high-tailed it back to the ship, and spent the next 12 hours relieving myself of all the other contents in my gastrointestinal system. We were scheduled to reach Belize the next morning, and I had already booked an offshore excursion to visit one of the Mayan ruins in the country. I had not yet had the opportunity to see some Mayan ruins, and this was on my bucket list of things to see and do. I had this opportunity to check off this item, and I doubted that I would ever have another opportunity.  

To the Volcano

Amboy, California
February 13, 2010

At the interstate, I had another direction decision to make. East on Interstate 40 would take me to Needles and then to Blythe where I wanted to end up for the night. Continuing south on Kelbaker Road would take me to Amboy, a wide spot on an old highway which was left to whither when the interstate passed far to the north of it. However, Amboy has a namesake which has stood its ground for many a year:  Amboy Crater.

South to the volcano was my decision. Amboy back in its heyday wasn't much, a meal, lodging and gas stop on Route 66. Now it is even less with only a hardly used gas station and cafe, the closed-but-not-yet-forgotten Roy's Motel, and a few homes. A few miles to the west lies Amboy Crater and Lava Field, an extinct but relatively young (6,000 years young) volcanic cinder cone. With daylight burning, the crater was too far from the parking lot for my liking so I nixed the hike to the crater. Instead I headed out onto the basalt lava field to jump from one rock to another. Something I always do when I see lava.

A Slice of the Mojave

Mojave National Preserve, California
February 13, 2010

South Entrance

Interstates have a tendency to straighten our focus on the freeway and put us into a stupor as to what may be awaiting us if we just get off. That happened to me a number of times when I drove Interstate 15 for Las Vegas or Interstate 40 to get to or from Arizona. I was stupefied into a rush to get somewhere else that I never took a detour into the wonders of the Mojave Desert between I-15 and I-40. Even Congress was not able to get me to detour when it declared this area as a National Preserve in 1994.

Here was my chance as I drove away from Las Vegas on I-15:  Exit 272 Cima Road. Although I was not ready to get intimate with the desert, I thought it at least

Kelso Depot

deserved a drive through as my introduction to this part of the Mojave Desert. My drive along Cima Road and Kelbaker Road provided a 59-mile scenic tour of the National Preserve between I-15 and I-40. The highlights included Cima Dome, the town of Kelso, and the Kelso Dunes. Places that I had previously read about, but now I was able to put sights to the words I read. A couple of hours after starting my detour, I was back on the interstate.

Kelso Dunes

Where's the Mountain?

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
August 31, 2010

I'm not having much luck seeing the great mountains of Washington.  Two years ago I traveled to southwest Washington to see Mount St. Helens and its exploded top. I got to see the bottom of the mountain, but the top of the mountain was engulfed by clouds.  The clouds opened up for only a couple of minutes as I was driving away, the Washington rainy weather spoiling my view and the trip.

So it was no surprise to me when the Washington rainy weather spoiled my trip to Mount Rainier National Park. Yep, I ran into the rain and clouds which obscured the mountain, even up close. Below is a photo of where Mount Rainier should be. I took the photo from the parking lot of the Paradise Visitor Center around midway up the mountain. There should be around 6,000 feet of mountain and 25 glaciers right in front of me, but all I saw was clouds. I will have to take the word of Washingtonians that there is a majestic mountain here at Mount Rainier National Park.

I did get to see lots and lots of trees in the park. I took a short hike to the Grove of the Patriarchs, a small ancient forest  of Western Red Cedars and Douglas Firs that are nearly a thousand years old.

Mount Rainier in the clouds

The Grove of the Patriarchs

Eight Days, Five States, and a Wedding

The Southwestern United States
December 26, 2001 - January 2, 2002

A trip with the Lyons ladies (Karen and her mom Joetta) to reach a wedding in Denver and to take in some sights along the way.

December 26th. We started our drive in Lompoc, California and ended up for the night in Kingman City, Arizona. Highlights of the day were following a bit of the historic Route 66 in Barstow and viewing London Bridge in the evening lights of Lake Havasu City.

Meteor Crater

December 27th. We had plenty of highlights this day—the Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest National Park, the Navajo Nation, the Four Corners, a far off view of Monument Valley and Ship Rock, and dinner at La Placita in downtown Albuquerque where they have a tree growing from the inside up through the roof. We spent the night somewhere east of Albuquerque on I-40.

Petrified Wood at Petrified Forest National Park

The Four Corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah

A distant view of Ship Rock