Black Mesa, Camping

 We stayed at the Black Mesa Preserve in Northwestern Oklahoma. Camping here was very nice. It was so quiet and the lake wasn't full, so there weren't boats out on it. Just very nice, calm, and slow living for the time we were there. What fun it was to see the boys running around like lunatics or just sitting in front of the campfire. What a great escape!


AGAIN with the wrong dates!!! NOT in April/May of 14... oy vey!

This was during the summer of 2015, not sure of the exact dates.

 One of the little fingers of Lake Carl Etling

 We had a wonderful tree to sit under, with plenty of shade during the day.

 Petrified wood.

We weren't quite sure what this was, thinking it might have been a movie set. Whatever it is, kind of cool!

Sunflowers

 Sunflower Fields

Near Lubbock, Texas.
My son was in Summer Camp, Band Camp to be exact, at the branch of Texas A&M University near Amarillo, Tx... These pictures were taken on the drive home from leaving him... This is the first time he has been to sleep away camp. He's always been to camp either in town or in a town with family, so he doesn't have to be on his own... I don't know why I have been so very protective of him, he's very mature... and heck, my daughter was at sleep away camp when she was just 8. It was so different with her... and it was Girl Scout camp.


You might notice the date on these... Well, you might guess that it is WRONG...
The dead giveaway  might be the picture content... mature sunflowers... in the Panhandle of Texas... NOT known for growing sunflowers that would bloom in April...
We have this camera that... all I can say... is that it is WONKY!
If you take the batteries out, it goes to the build date... and someone obviously didn't set the time/date right... so, the pics say April of 14...  Correct date? Not so much...

BewCastle

 

The Avon River Gorge, Bristol, England

Seems anywhere you go, there is going to be some sort of beautiful, wonderful mixture of old and new, just waiting to surprise and delight you. England is certainly like that. To me, the new is what is surprising. Everywhere you go there are wonderful old, some ancient, wonders... amidst these are oddly placed new buildings. Sometimes they are disguised to fit into the scenery, sometimes as a stark contrast to the old. Bristol is no exception to this, however, it seems that the old and new are nicely melded together, so even buildings that are rather garish and new are not so out of place.

Townhouses next the the River Avon. These have a view daily of the Clifton Suspension Bridge














The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a magnificent work. I'll go into the bridge in another blog post, I wanted to add this picture to show what these townhouses see every day, what a sight!

 This is a view across the Avon River Gorge. Such a beautiful area, worth exploring for days or weeks if possible.

 Another picture of the Avon River Gorge,  such a magnificent, deep valley that has been carved out by this beautiful chalk stream... There is so much to explore here!

Wonderful floral tribute to the Girl Guides. 100 years old, yet just infants compared to the many organizations in this country.