Venus & Jupiter Snuggle Up!

After months eyeing each other from across the sky and all of June getting closer and closer the two brightest planets will be less than 1/3 of a degree apart tonight; they will look like one star. I'm not sure you'll be able to separate them with just your eyes, it may take binoculars to pick them out as two objects.  The two will still be less than a degree apart on the first night of July and will still be less than 2 degrees of separation until the 5th. Both will continue to sink lower and lower into the early evening sky as July progresses although Venus will make a minor retrograde, eastward, move later in the month.
The waxing gibbous moon last night was east (left) of Saturn and above Scorpio. The first full moon of July is Wednesday night and the second, a blue moon by one definition, will be on the 31st.
Today on Earth finds me in Boulder at the home of Lisa and Joe and Ray on a warming, blue sky, Colorado day. Another wonderful reconnection with old friends, a visit into the heart (Pearl Street mall) of a happening city and dinner filled with more tasty treats. We dined at Salt, a restaurant that Joe had helped build, wildly artistic metal and wood pieces, most all made from discarded materials that the master recycler had salvaged from about the area ( and I thought I was recycling building a tire house…). We had started in the soon to open space next door where Joe is working with an friend and restauranteur, again, taking stuff that someone was throwing away and worked it into magic.
A quick check of the USGS earthquake list finds some interesting spots on the US map - Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan and quite a few quakes in the mid-5's scattered about the plate boundaries of busted up, active planet. Volcano updates won't show until tomorrow, so who knows…there's plenty going on, I'm sure, glad there's none nearby.
So readers, get out and enjoy your day on the big planet but, make sure you check out the sky show, tonight on Earth.
With Lisa

 Prairie Dog

 Venus and Jupiter above Salt on the Pearl Street mall

 In Boulder...

Robert Randolph at Dillon Amphitheater

Summit County, Colorado: lots of summer activities and lovely sites, from world class music to moose in the back yard.  All days at 10,000 feet start near freezing but the thin air warms quickly and 70's in mid-summer is pretty standard for the top of the continent. Blue skies give rise to cumulus clouds everyday and yesterday showed signs of afternoon showers but they never happened, just enough clouds for a break from the intense, little filtered sun of high altitude and to provide wild light shows at sunset.
The end goal for yesterday was a free concert with Robert Randolph and the Family Band at the Dillon Amphitheater. Clouds to the north hinted of rain but cleared and just added to the show on stage, a high energy, dance frenzy crowd and some amazing slide work from one of the masters. His sister sang several songs, his cousins played most of the other instruments, except for the Apostle Paul on guitar, apparently a family band, but Robert was the show, an amazing talent.
Today dawned with two moose in the back yard of Jay and Deb's, big, big animals and unfazed by the homes and dogs and humans they share the mountains with (Deb told me a large bull had listened to Bella the pup bark and bark before rearing up on hind legs, landing hard with a snort and startling the poor dog into the realization that barking was not needed or wanted - the dog no longer barks much at moose). When you live in the woods, you have to share your space with a lot of others, and running off a moose is not a wise move ( I think they kill more people every year than do bears).
To catch up other Earth news, half dozen quakes already today in Oklahoma and only one in California, a 5.2 rocking on the big island of Hawai'i must mean more magma is on the move. Today's largest quakes are all in the low 5's, plenty of shaking for those close by and the weekly volcano list is smaller than of late but new (old…) names are back.Iceland is on watch for volcano induced flooding, Cleveland has kicked up the activity in the Aleutians, and the players have changed in central America but it's still the Ring of Fire, fired up.
The sky show, for me anyway, is still the coming together of Venus and Jupiter, now within 2 degrees of each other and both dropping a little lower each day. Venus is less than 90 degrees from Earth and closing the gap and Jupiter, traveling slower and farther than earth to orbit the sun is dropping because we are leaving it behind; they just happen to be in the same part of the sky for us to enjoy right now. They will be within 2 degrees for the next 8 days, closest on the 30th, keep checking it out, a close encounter this fine has occurred but a few time over the last couple of thousand, yes thousand, years.
It's your planet and maybe you don't have moose in your back yard to start your day but there are wonders to behold where ever you are, Today on Earth.
Buffalo Mountain and the Gore Range and Lake Dillon

 Sun, clouds, mountains…nice

Venus & Jupiter above the Gore Range

 Robert Randolph and his Family Band

Boatin' on Lake Dillon and the Ten Mile Range

Bella checking out the moose, respectfully!

Breckenridge!!

Today brings the cross-county friend, dog and food adventure nearly back to the continental divide, last crossed in New Mexico, and now just a few miles off to the east from high upon the 10 mile range above Breckenridge, Colorado. More wonderful friends and their lovely homes and more dog loving. Leaving my buddy, Arti in Sausalito, crossing 3 states - 3 big states, and finding Bella, the dark chocolate love machine and her buddy, Chelsea in the home of Jay and Deb on Peak 7, underneath the slopes of Breck. I slept through the chill of the 10,000 foot morning and to find today here warming and lovely, the thin, brilliant blue sky, some cumulus now building, the breezes through the aspens, make for a nice vacation Saturday morning. Some live music again in the picture; another wonderful day on Earth.
The last two days have covered over a thousand miles and as mentioned three big states. The delta of California, the Sierra foothills and then the real Mountains over Donner Pass (didn't stop for a snack:) and into the Basin and Range of Nevada, tints of green lingering, Utah and mirages in the salt flats, Salt Lake, and now Colorado.
More later...

Chelsea (above) & Bella (below)

 Selfie and the Ten Mile Range

 Tiny wonders: Pyrite and Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home mine

Marin Headlands and Heading East

Today on Earth will be short and sweet with leave-taking of the Bay area and a long drive, apparently, into the heat.  Likely the next post will be from Breckenridge, in a day or so…
I'm planning on seeing lots of new sights and hopefully making Salt Lake City, where I haven't been in 39 years, hope you have fewer miles to cover but get out and enjoy today on Earth.
San Fran

 Black Beach and the City

 My new best buddy, Arti!

Bill Foote's Hidden Sausalito Tour & Halibut Cheek Tacos

Today on Earth dawns with some fog but that has long evaporated by the time I get up and the standard clear azure sky of the San Francisco Bay area reigns.  It is not hard to see why millions of humans are willing to live very close to millions of other humans and deal with the high cost of everything, intense traffic and a variety of potential shaky planet issues; the place is lovely, the climate sublime.  Those sweltering in the heat and humidity on the eastern side of the continent, that have never been west, can't understand until they visit the golden state.
Even the crowded, tourist filled streets of Sausalito have hidden wonders with no tourists in sight and I got a personal tour yesterday of the backroads of the little gem on the north shore of the golden gate. Bill Foote, husband to Crafty, grew up across an arm of the bay on Tiburon (he pointed out his house from this side yesterday) and knows the area as few do. We biked causally along hidden paths seldom far from the water, past marinas, dry docks, remnants of WWII liberty ship yards and lots and lots of boats, sailing and powered, big and small and in between, expensive and less so (boats are always costly in a variety of ways), stylish and funky. The northern end of the tour to the land of hundreds of houseboats and that's where the variety really goes wild. If it floats and you're willing to pay and live there almost anything seems to go.  Mostly all are charming and would seem a delight way, and place, to live. Hmmmmmm…this trip is a retirement shakedown tour. A month or two a year on a boat in Sausalito, I can think of waaaaaaaaay worse lifestyles.
The tour did lead toward the south end of town and the upscale shops of the heart (or are the houseboats the heart, or the houses on the hills above downtown…) of Sausalito. Lots of action, locals on bike, tourists on foot, a ferry discharging it's human cargo, people pretty much everywhere. We finally darted home, again, not on the main drag of Bridgeway, but through the local's shop filled street just a block away.
And, then dinner: halibut cheek tacos. I had mentioned halibut cheeks in some recent discussion of seafood with Crafty and Bill and since Bill runs the seafood department at a local Whole Foods…being a guest of many wonderful friends continues to produce delight after delight.  I'm feeling like a lucky guy!
For those unfamiliar with halibut cheeks, and not many make it out of the fishing enclaves of Alaska and other west coast ports; they are just too good, rather small and not shared with the rest of the country. But, all creatures with jaws have muscles in their face to operate those jaws, halibut included and if you look they can be removed (remember, humans once ate and/or used every bit of any creature killed for food - actually, we still do just not in a style seen by most). Imagine all the tastiness of lobster and crab combined; that's a halibut cheek. With all the accoutrements you can imagine to mix with tasty meat in a corn tortilla, halibut cheek tacos!! And, now leftovers for lunch.
In other off and on Earth news, heat is cooking the east coast - I'm sure with some storms thrown in, there are likely fracking caused quakes in Oklahoma - prove me wrong oil industry; stop the fracking and see if the quakes stop, volcanoes belch and rumble around the Pacific rim and Jupiter and Venus sidle closer and closer in the western sky of early evening. With the blue, haze free skies of California, I was able to spot Venus again yesterday with the sun still well up in the sky. Hide just barely in the shade, guesstimate the distance away from the sun (I did sneak a peak at my sky view app to get close), wear shades and look for the little white speck. Go for, a planet in the daytime sky, Today on Earth.

An interesting near quarter moon - crane - flag shot.

 Ribs of the hull of the tall ship, the brigantine Matthew Turner.

 Bill on the volunteer built, big wooden boat, Matthew Turner.

 San Fran from Sausalito

 Another new hat, San Fran in the background and a sneaky, mischievous Bill Foote arm!

Sunny and Pleasant By The Bay

A mild warm up for San Fran and Sausalito, still cooking across the bay inland (the weather forecast here shows temperature variety from mid-60's to mid 90's for today, within 30-ish miles) with no fog noted last night or this morning.
Missed the TOE with a busy day yesterday so I'll be playing my usual catch up game. Monday by the bay took me north to San Rafael and Peacock Gap golf course. Lots of activity with a kids Nike golf camp going on and what seemed to be an interminably slow day on the first tee picked up and we waited little and were never pushed. I survived without injury but my score, pretty respectable of late, took a serious beating. Texts from the 18th green to an old friend and leave of the golf course sent me through China Camp state park, a former fishing village by the northern bay for Chinese immigrants and startling view from the bluffs above the bay (more sudden shocks with the road skirting drop offs of 100's of feet). And, as soon as I exited the park I was at Ellen and Rich Helms home and met in person the adorable, Spencer, quite a rascal of a pooch. Ellen and I visited and caught up on the last 20 years before heading down to Sausalito for more amazing dining (yes, I know, it's becoming a food blog).
A walk through a breezy Sausalito, past some serious bocce playing, to Bar Bocce and a choice to dine inside on a brisk night.  (The abuse continues for this southerner about the normal, i.e..cool, bay area temps and my clothing choices…) Ellen's husband Rich joined us and we all dove into calamari in a tomato sauce with largish couscous appetizers, local beverages, tasty pizzas and when pleasantly full outside for more planet, moon, star gazing on the fog-free evening. Jupiter continues its drop toward Venus, the moon slides eastward, 12 degrees each night, and the home covered hillside above the marina sparkled its own light show. Saturn still rules the south eastern sky at dark above Scorpio.
Want to check on your eyes, see if you can spot Venus during the middle of the afternoon. Once I saw the moon yesterday I was able to gage the distance to where Venus should be and picked it up about 2 o'clock. Spotted again on the walk to dinner, sun still up. It's bright and spottable if you look hard ( I suggest sunglasses and the sky needs to be clear and bright blue) and if you have a star finder phone app that will help get you in the area. Star gazing, Today on Earth.
Just heard news of big quake off Japan, will check it out and comment and update on quake blog!! Only 6.3…and no tsunami warning, over hyped tv news has to make news of something...

The North Bay from China Camp

 Selfy from the bluffs above China Camp

 Spencer with his own home brew - brew credit to Rich

 Stargazers: Ellen, Rich and the rambling blogger

Father's Day/Solstice Greetings From Sausalito!!

After a break of a couple of days with lots driving and bad cell service the TOE returns the summer solstice dawns bright, fog-free and cool in the bay side community across the water from San Francisco. From Crafty and Bill's charming house I can see boats in the Sausalito marina and across Richardson's Bay to the exclusive enclave of Tiburon. Hummers are cruising about with their choice of flower's everywhere and the cool breezes are rattling the wind chimes; California, baby!
So, two days of catch up and a lot of miles covered and states crossed with wild changes in temperature, topography, views and population. Leaving Albuquerque in the cool of Friday morning and heading west on I-40 the deserts of the southwest rolled by, still with hints of green and in bloom from the rains of May (long gone but with much of the water collected, used and now stored in the desert flora). My first stop was just past Petrified Forest National Park at Jim Gray's Rock Shop and Petrified wood emporium. Acres, yes acres, of petrified wood and a store that was overwhelming to the senses of a rock hound. Tables and stools and a chair and slabs and nicknacks of petrified wood in all directions. I got out fairly cheaply but I would be back with lottery winnings to have my own personal petrified tree delivered to my new house.
Next stop, just down the road, is the world's most recent reminder that big rocks from space occasionally hit Earth, Barringer Meteor crater. Impressive, hard to fit in a photograph and deceptive in size, rising well above the surrounding desert floor the crater is just wild; hard to wrap your head around that day 50,000 years ago, the forces and randomness involved in it's formation. I'm glad NASA has picked up its search for Earth crossing asteroids and meteoroids, the list, at spaceweather.com now up to about 1,500. Better to know than, SURPRISE, I'M HERE!
Friday's drive continued past Flagstaff with it's big snow dappled volcanic peaks and big trees (elevation means rain in desert regions) and then into western Arizona before turning off I-40/Rt 66 and heading up Rt 93 to Las Vegas. The temperature continued to climb, I didn't notice when it passed 100 but in traffic in downtown Vegas is read 113, I didn't stop. By the time I reached Tonopah the sun was well down and the temp had dropped into the 70's, desert changes!
Yesterday, Saturday, I head out of Nevada and into the Sierra Nevada of California, I had been watching the eastern slope cruising through the silver state. Impressive to approach and then try and get through. Yesterday was switchback day, the longest, steepest drops, most impressive views I've ever seen, on both sides of the range and everywhere in between.
Yosemite, packed with people on a June Saturday, is breathtaking long before you actually enter the park with the larger than imaginable switchback drive up to the entrance at the top of Tioga pass. Olmsted point, a classic view down the valley to Half Dome, caused me to whip the car into the parking area for pictures and just to take it all in. Words, penned by way finer writers than I, still come up short to describe the vistas of the high Sierra.
Down from Yosemite, I pass through the oaks of the eastern central valley, the almond groves, the middle of the day, Saturday traffic jams of California freeways, the new Bay bridge, the energy filled streets of San Francisco, the fog and crowds crossing the Golden Gate and finally to the wonderful hill side home of Crafty and Bill. Then oysters and tempura and sashimi and catching up with old friends and the last few days on Earth unfold, the spectacular journey continues.
And, today, Father's day and the summer solstice, the most daylight to remember the wonderful times we share, shared and may share with our Dad's. Hope you have a magical one, Today on Earth.

Petrified Log - broken into pieces

 Half Dome from a long ways off

 Olmsted Point with Half Dome waaaaay in the background

Meteor Crater, Az.

Rio Grande Ride

It was a long wait, through crossing the river, afternoon rush hour traffic but once out of the vehicle and onto bikes the fun began. A winding, flat (floodplain), dirt and sand path through thick brush and open stretches along the Rio Grande where you could open it up and cruise quickly followed by braking and turns brushing through thickets with no idea where the path was going ten feet ahead.
We spooked a large bird that turned out to be an owl that sat patiently in a nearby tree while we stared and hooted, no doubt interrupting his evening hunting and dining. The Rio Grande is running fast and muddy with recent rains and Jeff had immediate thoughts for getting out the kayaks. Not sure that's going to happen today but we'll see.
While billed as a road trip to see friends it has turned into a dining at friends favorite restaurants culinary treat. Tuna in Asheville, a lobster burrito in Atlanta, the Odd Duck euphoria in Austin and now the chile capital of the planet, New Mexico and last night was no slack taste treat. After the ride we ducked into the Boxing Bear Brewpub, ordered beers (I, a tasty rye IPA) only to discover the kitchen was closed. :(  That turned out to be a godsend: a quick phone search for someplace open after nine revealed that Rudy's BBQ served until 10. Turned out to be across the intersection and around the parking lot from the Boxing Bear and meat heaven (they were out of the T-shirts warning of the danger of veggies - I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables).
Our appetites were wetted waiting to order watching the king of slicing pull large chunks of various slow roasted meats from a warmer and expertly dispatch them into edible pieces, clean his cutting board with a precision bordering on obsession and go at another slab, fork in right hand, a constantly retouched knife in his left. The girl that took our order was patient with us, overwhelmed by the choices, and when we selected pulled pork and asked about sandwiches (all that was on the order board was meat) said they could handle that and asked if we'd like to try it flash grilled. We trusted her and OMG, some of the best pulled pork BBQ I've ever had. Jeff and I wolfed it down, sang our praised to our cashier/culinary guide and then washed up our messy hands in an ingenious and lightning quick hand washer - put hands into openings and wait till the wash and rinse is done (10 seconds), dry and grease free hands.
Time to get out for some rock shopping and more New Mex dining, hope you are out enjoying Today on Earth.

 Sandia and the Rio Grande with and without me.

Quick note- we've had a road tip bad connection break in the TOE.

Another Lovely New Mexico Day

New Mexico weather forecasters seem to have a fairly easy job; cool, cloud free mornings with cumulus buildup as the morning nears noon with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evenings…and repeat. The green hue of the desert belies the fact that there is variety and cloudy days with rain do happen but that is not the norm. The norm is upper 50's for the dawn and low to mid-90's for the afternoon with humidity seriously lacking.
Just to the east, lovely weather is not the case with tropical depression Bill parked over Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas under the gun again for major rain and flooding (the irony of a drought suddenly being over). The northern plains is looking at a potential for rain and severe weather and the cause, a stationary front/boundary, is draped in a sinuous band all the way to the east coast: more humidity and shower chances there, as well. I sure timed my Texas visit (and Nancy her Florida, working vacation) well with nothing but fine weather.
Even as Jeff and I hiked along the base of the granitic Sandia range yesterday afternoon the clouds built but the storms stayed on the east side of the ridge while we were out dodging cactus and admiring and discussing the local rock. The desert is in full bloom (and thorn) after the rains of May and stunningly gorgeous.  But, just look and don't touch is the rule. We heard and later saw a Gambol's Quail with its crazy head piece looking like a Dr. Seuss character.  The desert is quite alive!
Just checked the earthquake list and the largest quake I've ever seen listed along a mid-ocean ridge, a 7.0 on the Richter scale, occurred not long ago under the Atlantic off Brazil. A quake of that magnitude could certainly cause a tsunami but no warnings were listed, a relief, no doubt, for Rio.  The volcano list will not be updated until later today. There are cinder cones off on the western horizon here in the rift valley of the Rio Grande but intrusions of magma here in New Mexico pre-date written history and it's fine with me if it stays that way.
Not sure what my afternoon will bring, more golf, biking, hiking or a shopping trip into the old city but it's another fine day to get out and play, today on Earth.
An arroyo

Happy hiker!

 Granite with intrusions, I just really like intrusions...

 The orange version of the bloom, we saw pink and yellow - same type cactus - ahhhh, variety.

Indian paint brush in the foreground, Albuquerque in the distance.

Arroyo Del Oso - Bear Creek

After a stormy evening in Albuquerque, today dawned cool with the typical deep azure sky of the mountain west; so cool I came back in off the deck with my coffee. Deanna had caught an early flight to the east coast and Jeff was off to work so I headed to a nearby golf course: Arroyo del Oso, the drainage of the bear.
For none desert west folks, an arroyo is the low spot in an area's drainage or watershed and where the water runs when the rains come.  Since this is the desert that means t'storms and lots of water at once and then no water for long stretches. In cities, arroyos are often lined with concrete to cut down on the monstrous erosion flash flooding can bring and that was the case with the arroyo of the bear. I did get pictures of the arroyo but, fortunately, no bears were seen.
I joined up with two local guys, a third joined on # 5 and it seemed we were the only ones on the course. I noticed a roadrunner, the state bird of New Mexico, scooting along the fence line of an early hole, the second half of his run with a lizard in his mouth, just out for a morning snack (they don't slow down for pics).  My morning snack, consumed while I played the first 3 holes was a breakfast burrito, just to keep the chile, green or red, flowing through me.

The clouds have built again today, thundered rumbled down from Sandia Peak during golf, but no rain has fallen yet today. The storm clouds hid the view of Venus and Jupiter last night, except for quick glimpses, the two planets now less than 10 degrees apart (a fist at arms length) and closing fast. Get out and check it out.  That's what Jeff and I are about to do, get out and check out the big planet, I recommend you do the same, beach or mountain, forest or desert, it's all amazing, Today on Earth.

Arroyo del Oso looking east, uphill, toward Sandia.

 Arroyo del Oso looking west - big, flash flooded rocks below the concrete cart path/dam.

 Sandia Peak with cumulus building.

 The golfing blogger

 Insect attracting flower of the Cholla (DO NOT TOUCH) cactus.

Bee Cave To Albuquerque

Today on Earth comes to you from the benches of the Sandia high above the city of Albuquerque. A crystal blue New Mexico sky with no hint of yesterday's storms is cool so far but the sun is beginning to heat the atmosphere and that morning cool is going to fade quickly. I just did a quick binocular scan of the sky near the sun but the waning crescent moon, about 24 hours away from new, is way too thin to be spotted. Look for the waxing crescent sliding up and under the evening Venus and Jupiter show this Friday. Those two planets continue to close the gap, now less than 10 degrees apart, between them leading up to their close dance at month's end.
In more, on Earth news, the earthquake list so far today is a short one, Oklahoma having already had 3 today to lead the US list. The volcano list from the USGS still has the Ring O Fire lit up, two dozen spots ALL around the Pacific that I recommend you avoid in your travels.
Since I missed the TOE yesterday, with 737 miles of driving, I'll catch up that adventure across another broad swath of the US.
I was awakened early (4am) with what sounded like rain and that was later confirmed with the flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder. The final bell that got me up and had both Nancy and I scrambling, her to her flight and me on the road, was the scary flash flood alert that my phone blasted at 5:20. The heaviest, flash flood portion of the rain just missed us but I still had wet car loading and a slow, windshield wiper start to my day's drive. My timing was perfect otherwise as that was the western edge of a system that seems to be drenching the eastern half of the country and before I got down to Rt 290 to head west the wipers were off.
I-10 in eastern Texas: scary busy, I-10 in central and west Texas: a lightly trafficked joy to drive. The hill country and wine country west of Austin gave way to road cuts through flat lying to slightly crinkled layers of sedimentary rock and then to mesas capped with the more durable weather resistant stone and for a time miles of windmills, slowly spinning a cranking out the kilowatts. Just before Ft. Stockton that all changed to a flat nothingness, nothing in the distance but haze. I refueled the car and myself at Ft. Stockton where I got off I-10 to head north on US 285. As I got out of the car I noticed the car behind me had tags from Maryland, a couple recently graduated from college in Florida but on a cross country adventure, leaving Maryland and following almost the same trip plan as I am. It's crazy out there; my guess, it being a small world, I'll run into them again in California!!
The drive north toward New Mexico brought back memories of my oil field days; lots of oil services trucks, drilling rigs, pump jacks, gas flares; someone has to provide the fuel I need for this adventure (just glad it's not me anymore). The flat ugliness of west Texas changed almost as soon as I hit New Mexico, the land began to roll again and mountains, the southern Rockies, showed themselves far off on the western horizon. But, even in Texas and certainly in New Mexico the arid world was GREEN. Yes, the desert was green. The rains of May awakening the desert world to grow and breed after years of drought. I passed vast expanses of yellow blooms ( I don't know what flower), as far as I could see on both sides of the road. Just out of Ft. Stockton I saw a Roadrunner scoot across the road (not sure if he went, beep-beep but he was quick!), then a couple of roadkill coyotes and up in New Mexico I wondered about antelope and there they were, watching the traffic pass with little concern; I was definitely out west!
I bypassed Carlsbad Caverns, seeing the sign to have lunch 750 feet below ground made me realize stopping there would take waaaaay longer than I wanted and then thought of stopping in the UFO capital of Roswell but grew more disgusted with the place the farther I drove into the town. There was absolutely nothing clever or original about it (whoo, the Arby's sign said "aliens welcome"). The main drag was lined for miles, end to end, with every known American fast food chain (some I didn't even know existed anymore), convenience store, big box store, auto parts store…our GNP - grossest national products, on display. There must have been 6 Micky Dees along Main St. Could not get through there fast enough. No pictures, seeeeeeya.
The drive from Roswell to Albuquerque was dominated by fluffy cumulus clouds, appearing 3D in the huge western sky, like on the Gulf Coast and filling the sky in all directions. Their flat bottoms all at the same height above the ground - the elevations where the air reaches the dew point - but seeming lower and lower off into the distance showing the curving away of our big planet from any point you stand on its surface.  While there were hundreds of small cumulus clouds filling the sky there was only one giant cumulonimbus cloud and I drove for an hour (hours?) toward it. I did a short stop at the cross roads, train and auto, of Vaughn but by the time I continued the journey the storm had weakened and moved off to the east and while passing roadside puddles I journeyed on in sunlight.
Siri got me to the Firebaugh's lovely home without warning them (trying to begin to pay them back for the surprise appearance of Jeffrey at my fall party but falling far short). A tour, lots of catching up and out to dinner at El Pinto and the New Mexican treat of carne adobado, pork marinated in red chile until it melts in your mouth. I'm about to have the half not consumed last night for lunch!
I have to admit, this trip is going much better than I ever dreamed it would or even could. I'm a lucky guy with wonderful friends and family, all with gorgeous home in beautiful places, scattered across this amazing country that have welcomed me into their world's. Thanks to all I've visited so far and pre-thanks to those yet to come. And, all my friends have amazing friends and I hope you all get out and see them soon as well as get out for a wander, Today on Earth.

Cumulus

 Selfie while driving - I likely couldn't even see any other cars

 The storm - glad I missed it!

 With the Firebaugh's - Deanna and Jeff

 Carne adobado - tastes waaaaaaay better than the picture shows

Enchanted Rock State Park

Yesterday, the TOE seems to be on a one day delay, was an adventure/hike to a large Pre-Cambrian Granite monadnock an hour or so west of Bee Cave. Lovely pink granite with large Feldspar crystals and enough weathering, erosion and deposition features to write a book. Here are some quick pictures and I'll be back with more details later.
But, I need some coffee.
Or maybe no pictures…the cyber world is not cooperating! Finally photos!!!
ENCHANTED ROCK!!

 Closeup Feldspar crystals

 Cool erosion channel

 Life is tenacious! Follow the fractures.