Shar-Pei interlude, Ypsilanti, MI

April 26-27, 2016

When we were at Fort McAllister State Park in Georgia at the end of December, we met Sam and his beautiful Sharpei Kelly.  Wikipedia says:  "The SharPei, or Chinese Shar-Pei, is a breed of dog known for its distinctive features of deep wrinkles and a blue-black tongue. The breed comes from China. The name translates to "sand skin" and refers to the texture of its short, rough coat."   Sadly, Kelly died a few weeks ago.   
Sam has kept in touch and become a friend and we were very happy to have the opportunity to go visit him and his partner Cheryl in Ypsilanti, MI.  We spent the night parked in front of their house, enjoyed a great dinner out and had a wonderful time!  To our delight, Sam and Cheryl now have two new nine week-old Sharpei brothers, Chesty (the black and white one) and Max (the little tan-colured one).

Time for a puppy fix!

Thanks so much for your hospitality and a great visit!

Lakes, lakes, lakes! AZ, NM, OK, AR, MO

April 8-19, 2016

After many, many weeks in the desert states of Arizona and New Mexico, we were both craving water! Dave, especially, was getting quite weary of the starkness of the Western arid landscapes and was craving trees and lakes....

Although several of these lakes were artificially created by the damming of rivers, they did satisfy our yearning to see water!

April 8:  Lake Cochiti, AZ. Army Corps of Engineers campground 

April 11: Lake Ute State Park,NM.

Practically deserted, this park was not all that well kept.  However, it was the site for numerous blooming wildflowers.

April14: Pretty and well kept Lake Eufala State Park, OK.

April 15:  Lake Dardanelle State Park, AR.

We scored THE best site of the campground!  Lucky us!

Our first Canada goose! 

 April 17-18:  Lake Bull Shoals State Park, AR

One of numerous flowering dogwood trees

 April 19:  Lake Wappapello State Park, MO

We couldn't actually see the very large lake from this campground but were only there for the night....

Ozarks, Arkansas and Missouri

April 16-18, 2016

The Ozark Mountains have the unfortunate association in many people's minds of the portrayal of hill people in the classic 1972 movie  "Deliverance".  The movie is actually filmed in rural Georgia's Appalachian mountains, not the Ozarks.  The most famous scene, Dueling banjos (actually a banjo and a guitar...) is seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tqxzWdKKu8 

Nevertheless,  we spent a couple of days driving through the Ozarks which, after the dramatic desert mountains in the west, seemed like gentle rolling hills.

Some of the signs in the tiny villages we saw during our drive along scenic Highway 7:

Booger Hollow...really?

 

 One night we camped at a very remote little US Forest Service campground called Long Pool Recreational Area, where, like so many of the US parks, some of the facilities date back to the Roosevelt administration's 1930s CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) post-Depression job creation projects.  It was lovely!

This campground was reminiscent of the pretty Laurie Provincial Park in Nova Scotia.  Are we starting to feel it is time to go home???

Caprock Canyons State Park, TX

April12-13, 2016
 
Caprock Canyons was recommended by a Texas park interpreter at City of Rocks State Park way back at the beginning of March.  The lure of seeing a herd of bison was a big attraction for me and we detoured at least 50 miles each way from Amarillo, TX on our way East to get to this state park.
We were not disappointed!  Not only did we see the bison, but we enjoyed the beauty of the park, hiked up a challenging trail to be rewarded with spectacular views and delighted in the park's "prairie dog" town. 

A prairie dog (in the foreground) looking at some of the bison

According to the park's website:
"In September 2011, 80 descendants of the great southern plains bison herd were released to roam 700 acres of grasslands in the park.  History was made on Aug. 19, 2014 at Caprock Canyons State Park as cow #120 took the first steps to lead the Texas State Bison Herd into their new range within the park. The herd now has over 10,000 acres to roam. This legendary bison herd was started by famed cattleman Charles Goodnight and his wife Mary Ann in 1878. It is one of the five foundation herds credited with saving this magnificent animal from extinction."

A cow with her young calf

A large male wandering through the campground early on our second morning

For more about the bison herd, see:
http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_p4506_0079t.pdf

 To give you an idea of the size of these animals, see below...

Hoofprint in our campsite

Big animal, BIG poop!!! (I am not actually touching that, just hovering over it for scale....)

Much as we enjoyed seeing the bison, there was plenty of other wildlife to be seen in the park:

An odd trio: roadrunner and two prairie dogs

A pair of burrowing owls appropriated a prairie dog hole where they were watching over their nest...so pretty!

Surprisingly unafraid mule deer...such BIG ears!

We toured the park's scenic drive and had a wonderfully rewarding hike one morning.  Luckily, we didn't check the rating for the hike's difficulty until after we returned...strenuous....hmmm, yes we would agree!  Not so much the vertical distance (only about 600') but the straight up scramble to the top!

The tiny beige rectangle in the middle of the photo is where we parked our vehicle....

We were somewhat sad to have to leave this wonderful park.  It is definitely among our favourites!!!