posts on the trip we took from late september thru early nov 2011 visiting the US and Mexico.
these posts are in chronological order - this and the following 8 posts are all on this trip.
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arriving the US from Oz... we caught up with old friends, charles, jill and their son theron. we ate some good mexican (almost as good as south tucson) and visited the Filoli house and gardens.
theron, charles, jill and katherine
Filoli House and gardens
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
we had a nice visit with my aunt marge and cousins bill, pat and her family on bainbridge island. we also had a nice unscheduled "visit" to the sony store and got a camera to replace my adequate though limited old one.
seattle from the b.i. ferry
Pat, Bill, Jeff, Matt, Marge
view from Marges apt
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
we stopped by ashland and visited with chris - an old buddy of katherine's. ashland is a picture postcard town with abundant parkland and an active arts community (we bought some ceramic masks there).
chris and katherine in front of chris and judy's happy home
ashland's lithia natural water - nasty, don't try it!
park right across the street from chris
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
we lived here for five years so it was good to get back to see some of the sites. we took a visit out to the Kartchner Caverns with mitch - it's a relatively recently opened up living cave. beauty - but i couldn't take any pix inside... i ran out to the Desert Museum (a great collection of flora and fauna of the sonoran desert) while katherine helped terry tend to her horse.
mitch and katherine
scott and kath...
good ol' rincon peak from our old neighborhood
horse whisperer?
tucson from gates pass
images from the Desert Museum:
mountain lion
they had a great demo of rattlers and gila monsters
bobcat
humming bird
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
when we lived in tucson a few hundred miles away, we talked about coming down here to check out this rival to the grand canyon but never did. ironically, now that we live in Oz (about 8,000 miles away) we finally got around to it. although i prefer the grand canyon for its arid beauty and light this was still worth the visit for the views and the copper canyon train trip through the valleys.
in Los Mochis - Museo Regional del Valle del Fuerte
Copper Canyon train leaving Los Mochis
Cerocahui - 1552 Mission Church
Cerocahui - valley approaching copper canyon
Cerocahui - kath helping with grape harvest at Hotel Mision
Hotel Posada Mirador on the Rim - view from room balcony
Hotel Posada Mirador - view from room balcony 2
Hotel Posada Mirador from cable car inside the canyon (zoomed)
birds on the rim
canyon vista
guitarist at the Hotel
moonrise over the canyon
Hotel Posada from rim
canyon vista
Hotel Posada from rim
Posada train station
heading back to Los Mochis
heading back to Los Mochis
owner and family of Hotel Mision of Cerocahui
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
for me, this stop was the highlight of the trip - the mayan ruins were impressive with their pyramids rising off of the flat limestone plains of the yucatan. the maya built near to and got much of their fresh water from sink holes called cenotes some of which they considered sacred. we saw several of their ball courts - some speculate that either the losing or winning team captain was given the honor of being sacrificed after the game...
we attended the wedding of the daughter of a friend of katherine's - that is, we at least got to the reception after the wedding ceremony after getting an ambiguously written invitation as to the actual time of the ceremony which we missed! regardless, we had a good time and enjoyed the resort...
[NOTE: this part of the trip is in 2 posts due to blogger limitations]
iguana demo-ed at the Now Jade Riviera resort
weather for first few days at the resort
kath with trae and alisha after wedding
amy and katherine
Mayan ruins - Coba - wall of ball court
Coba - ball court ring
Coba - scott and katherine
Coba - mayan calendar
Coba - the main pyramid (grupo nohoch mul)
Coba - steep climb!
Coba - kath at top of the main pyramid
Coba - steps of the main pyramid
Mayan ruins - Tulum - map and description
Tulum - looking east
Tulum - yucatan geology
Tulum - ruins
Tulum - ruins
Tulum - main temple
Tulum - temple detail
Tulum - ongoing restoration work
Tulum - corner detail
croc next to our hotel after flooding
Playa del Carmen - art shop
small figure we bought
-- j scott watters
j scott watters
"everyone should believe in something,
i believe i'll go fishing" thoreau
