Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Rocks & Comets

Yesterday we said goodbye to Arizona and headed about 170 miles 
Southeast to Deming, New Mexico and one of our previous
homes - Rockhound State Park.

Rockhound gets it's name from the fact that there is a variety
of gemstones that the park allows you to collect.

Our mission this time was to collect enough specimens to
keep my new rock tumbler busy till we head this way again.

So this afternoon we headed up the side of the mountain
in search of.....  rocks.

The view along the trail back towards camp


The campground in the distance below


Kate busy selecting only the finest


A long distance shot of our coach.
You can see our solar panels on the roof.


No post would be complete without the daily self-portrait.


My daypack is filled with rocks and was quite heavy.


Later the as the sun descended towards the horizon the mountains
once again began their nightly show of colors.


Eventually they are ablaze


And as the sun set I eagerly awaited the special show
to begin tonight after the skies darkened.


The comet Panstarrs is making its Northern Hemisphere debut.
See it to the left of the Moon?


These are long exposures - some up to 30 seconds so it looks light out
(it was dark) and the moon moved during that time so there is a slight blur.


The lights of Deming, NM along with the light show above.


Just another day on the trail!
Is this great or what?



7 comments:

  1. Great photos of the comet. I thought I might have had a chance at something you did not know about. I do not track these things. Don took me to the Mesa. I should have know you would be on top of it.
    Safe travels.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As usual, fantastic pictures! Rockhound Park looks very interesting! Enjoy your collecting and tumbling!!! And the comet..... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. YOU ROCK :-) That is a great photo of the moon and comet! WOW, you are good, rock-Boy! We are nearly off the grid, but found some net for $15/100mb! Thanks for the great stories and you guys look GREAT

    ReplyDelete
  4. Son Lindsay (Paul's college pal) sent me this url and I am pleased that you took the time to collect the photos and write captions! Thanks for the journey!
    Larry Schnebly Tucson

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just finished talking to you about the comet and then read your post- Now I know what I'm looking for on the horizon tonight. Hopefully I won't mistake a Chicago billboard for the comet- haha. No matter what, I'm sure it won't be as pretty as your pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I haven't been in Deming in a long time, but the surroundings still look the same...so vast and stark. Kate is probably planning some beautiful jewelry with those NM rocks after they are tumbled. As for the comet, we were hoping to see it tonite, but there was a little rain squall and clouds, so we missed it. No complaints about the rain - our salty boat needed a rinse. Keep on blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW! great shots of the comet!

    ReplyDelete

We love to hear from you... Please leave us a comment and let us know you are reading. If there is something that you'd like to hear about please let us know. Thanks for visiting!