Three Rivers Petroglyphs

Posted on by Annie

The petroglyphs of Three Rivers are a mystery even now. Over 600 years ago, a band of prehistoric Indians created over 20,000 stone drawings here, but there are no modern descendents of the Jornada Mogollon tribe who can translate their meanings. We can only look and wonder. (The name is pronounced hor-NAH-da muggy-OWN). Circles of several designs are a repeated favorite. Maybe it’s the sun, maybe it’s a religious sign. More than 10% of the petroglyphs at Three Rivers are circles of various designs. I liked this one the best of those I saw. What looks like a face is…

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Carlsbad Caverns

Posted on by Annie

This is one time I’m going to say don’t read this until you’re on a tablet or desktop machine. That tiny phone screen just isn’t going to cut it with these images if you want to get a real feel for how amazing (and huge) this place is. Carlsbad Caverns may be one of my favorite places on earth, precisely because it is feels unlike any other place on earth I’ve been. I kept thinking I was underground on Mars or exploring a new planet As I walked down narrow pathways through rock formations that were incredibly beautiful and weird at the same time,…

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My Alto Battery: The Power and the Gory

Posted on by Annie

Reader note: This post may be fascinating if you own an Alto; otherwise, consider it a possible answer to the insomnia that might be ailing you. And in either case, please remember that this is my experience of Alto power generation and usage, and your experience may (and probably will) vary! Act I: In the Beginning When I got my Alto, it had a voltmeter, which basically showed me how much energy was running through my system at that exact moment. It didn’t really tell me a lot, and so I used this chart to figure out how my battery was doing…

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Carlsbad Creatures

Posted on by Annie

Walking through the dimly lit caves at Carlsbad Caverns can sure fire up the imagination. I grew up on bad black-and-white sci-fi movies that played on Saturday afternoon TV in the early 60s: Invaders from Mars, The Crawling Eye, Godzilla, The Blob. Classics, all of ’em. About halfway through my time deep underground in the caverns, I started seeing things. Things that creeped me out. Things that did not look like they came from Earth. I managed to capture some of them with my camera and I share them with you here. Rock formations or aliens, you decide. I swear I…

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Craters of the Moon

Posted on by Annie

You might never have heard of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in south-central Idaho. I hadn’t, even though I’m kind of a space nerd and the Apoll0 14 astronauts trained here to learn the basics of volcanic geology. As I was driving across Idaho anyways, I figured I’d stop in and check it out. Good decision. It was wild, truly wild. Not many people, as barren as the moon in some corners, and almost as unearthly. If you ever wanted to walk on a lava field, this is the place to go (and save yourself the airfare…

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