Texas Trail Riders

Yesterday, the Texas Trail Rides, a tradition of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, ended with a parade in downtown Houston.  Started in 1952, it has grown to over 3000 riders.  The longest trail at 386 miles comes from Hidalgo in the Rio Grande valley and starts on February 3rd for a 3 week journey. 

Crater Lake National Park in Winter

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and widely accepted as the cleanest large body of water in the world.  The shrunken crater is thought to have been formed about 7500 years ago with the island on the left side more recent.  There aren't too many visitors this time of year - saw one car on the way in and one car on the way out.

This is the park hotel closed up for the winter....  REDRUM   REDRUM

Bordertown, Nevada

We were just passing through Nevada and I don't have a picture posted in the blog from that state so...

Mono Lake

Mono Lake lies in a basin near Yosemite National Park with no outlet and is thus very saline and alkaline.  The formations in the photo rise around and above the water and are called tufa.  They are formed by calcium rich springs that form the calcium carbonate formations as they bubble into the lake.

Joshua Tree National Park



A Trip down Highway 1

The view up the coast towards Carmel.

It is mating season for Elephant seals and this one is bellowing to claim territory.  He is a bit on the small side and is about to be chased off.

These two elephant seal bulls are fighting over territory.  They are huge, weighing as much as 4000 to 5000 pounds.  The one on the right ending up losing and was chased off.  The much smaller females lack the proboscus and have a single pup weighing 60 to 80 pounds.  They nurse for four weeks and can gain up to 10 pounds a day.  After a month, they are on their own.

We also saw deer, geese, ducks, hawks, various sea birds, and several of these little fellows.  The scenery along Highway 1 lives up to the reputation.

Mt Shasta