ECUADOR, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: FERNANDINA ISLAND - ESPINOZA POINT

 March 23, 2022, Afternoon

The last expedition of the day was a walking excursion on Fernandina Island, an island next to Isabela Island, where we had spent the morning and the previous day. Our naturalist guide Fernanda told us Fernandina is her favorite island in the Galapagos, and not just because of the similarity to her name. She was excited to show it to us.

With the good omen of a rainbow behind us, we set out in the pangas for a dry docking on Fernandina Island. Our two-hour visit there may be our favorite experience of the entire Galapagos trip, and possibly one of our favorite travel experiences of all time.

We disembarked directly from the panga onto a short length of concrete that acted like a pier. We were the second panga in, and we wondered what everyone from the first panga was taking pictures of. When we got to that spot, we saw this green marine iguana crawling out of the water.

When we were only about 10 yards farther down the trail, we started hearing gasps from those in front of us, and when we could  see what they were looking at, we gasped too. A clearing was jam-packed with completely motionless marine iguanas--hundreds of them--some unceremoniously stacked on top of others, and they didn't even bother to acknowledge our presence. 

NEW MEXICO AND TEXAS: GUADALUPE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK AND WHITE'S CITY

July 1, 2021

We had a day of hiking planned and wanted to get an early start. We were out the door by 6:00 AM and on our way to McKittrick Canyon in Guadalupe Mountain National Park. Low clouds still clung to the Guadalupe Peaks, and the air was cool and fresh because of the rains of the previous two days.

We arrived at the gate to McKittrick Canyon at 6:50 AM. Since it wasn't supposed to open until 8:00, we drove to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park main visitor's center. It also did not open until 8:00, so we walked an easy one-mile loop trail that was nearby.

TEXAS PANHANDLE: PALO DURO CANYON PART I AND QUITAQUE

  March 19-20, 2021

One of the carrots that Bob used to entice me to travel to the panhandle of Texas was talk of Palo Duro Canyon. At 120 miles long, an average of 6 miles wide, and 820 feet deep at its deepest point, it is the second largest canyon in the United States behind only the Grand Canyon. It surprised me that I had never heard of it.

After visiting the Slug Bug Ranch, we made our way across the ever-so-flat Texas prairie, where the wind that once swept all the topsoil into the air to create lethal clouds of dust in the 1930s now powers huge windmills.

This is the best aerial view of the canyon that I could find (and it was on Pinterest without any attribution). You can see how the land just drops off into the canyon, and how the canyon looks like tendrils or tentacles creeping across the land. 

In the canyon itself, it doesn't feel ominous at all. In fact, it is pretty glorious.

The state park part of the canyon is relatively small--maybe a 10-mile stretch or so--and on this first foray we were near the state park but not within its borders. (We were planning a visit there the next day.) I'm not sure why the entire canyon isn't part of the state park--just too big?  Anyway, our first stop was at a picnic area on a hill. From the top of the road we had almost a 270° view.