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Joshua Tree National Park

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In which Moominmama sees a true desert oasis after visiting ancient ruins that reveal the remarkable skills of the Hohokam... Moominmama has arrived in the Joshua Tree National Park though I'm in the southern end, a transition zone between the Sonoran and Mohave deserts. There are a mix of familiar plants -- lots of yucca, cholla cactus and creosote bushes. But I got my first look at a Joshua tree on a drive further north into the park. And they are fascinating, reminding me of Dr. Seuss with their starbursts of green at the end of each branch. In spring, they get white blossoms, and those are reportedly starting to bloom though I will have to go to another section of the park to see them! Check back next week, and I hope to have photos. The park is busy, and my campground is, shall we say, snug. But I am lucky to have a view out toward the desert since I'm on an outside loop. Unlike the oasis pictured above, with California fan palms and a towering cottonwood tree, the hiking ...
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Chiricahua Mountains and Biosphere 2

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  Wherein Moominmama explores the Chiricahua Mountains and finds herself unexpectedly impressed by the human invention of "lungs" for Biosphere 2... The Chiricahua Mountains are in the southeast corner of Arizona, attracting wildlife and birds from the Sonoran desert, Chihuahuan desert and the unusual elevations, called Sky Islands, near the New Mexico and Mexican borders. The whole area was subject to a major volcanic eruption 27 million years ago that spewed tons of ash across 1,200 square miles, covering this area hundreds of feet deep. Over time, the ash formed rhyolitic rock that eroded in unusual ways.  Chiricahua National Monument is full of these strange hoo-doos, or "standing rocks" per the Chiricahuan Apache who called this area home for thousands of years. Geronimo is among the most famous of this tribe and one of the last to lead his people's fight for freedom before they were forced by the military onto reservations. Unlike the sandstone hoo-doos I...
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Location: Portal, AZ 85632, USA
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Moominmama's Adventures: Year Five

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  In which Moominmama reflects on the start of a new year and what it means to reach Year Five of a life on the road... Starting on my fifth year on the road, Moominmama wonders if it's an adventure anymore, or just a lifestyle. Somehow, "Moominmama's Lifestyle" just doesn't have the same ring! But the truth is that not everything is new and exciting! Having picked up the trailer in New Mexico and driven to Arizona, I'm enjoying a Sonoran Desert that's actually somewhat familiar. I enjoy being back among the grandfather saguaro cactus, unique to this particular desert. The Sonoran Desert, unlike others, is marked by two rainy seasons: the summer monsoons and winter rains. But as I've learned, last year there were no significant monsoon rains in the Phoenix area, deepening an already serious drought. This year, no flowers greeted my March arrival. The plants were dry and dormant, and the local park ranger was taking photos of stressed-out saguaros on my...
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Location: Cave Creek Regional Park, 37019 N Lava Ln, Cave Creek, AZ 85331, USA
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Moominmama's Adventures: A Last Hurrah for 2024

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In which Moominmama travels west to Colorado but enjoys a last adventure before she holes up for the winter... Moominmama is washing sand from inside her ears and out of her cup before morning coffee. That is thanks to a visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park, the last hurrah of 2024 before I move into an apartment for the winter. Moominmama loves sandstone, but hiking in actual sand is a different story. Where's a camel when you need one? Still, the dunes here make for shifting shapes and interesting photos. This crazy desert is created by strong prevailing winds that break down the San Juan mountains to the west and move them granularly into a cove of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It's an unusual confluence of features creating these giant sand dunes (can you tell the little dots are people?), and it was my last stop en route to storing the Moominhouse for the winter. This is always a little sad! But I feel like I made the most of 2024, milking the year for all the adventu...
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Location: Grand Junction, CO, USA
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Moominmama in Kejimkujik National Park

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Of baby turtles and petroglyphs... The first morning after Moominmama arrived in Kejimkujik National Park in southwestern Nova Scotia, calm waters on Jeremy's Bay off Lake Kejimkujik invited her to break out her folding kayak. Clear, calm mornings have proved ideal for exploring by boat, which is how the Mi'kmaq traveled here for thousands of years. In addition to being a national park, this is a historic site because it has been a crossroads for First Nation's people traveling between the Bay of Fundy, the Atlantic and this large interior lake.  The smaller lakes and rivers, combined with a couple portage points make it possible to travel across the land from the bay to the open Atlantic. It's also interesting for being different when it comes to foliage. On the coast are wind-battered spruce. Here inland it's white pine, beech and lots of birch. Petroglyphs can be found on certain rocks that jut into the water. One has four compass points and an arrow pointing tow...
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Location: Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, 3005 Kejimkujik Main Parkway, Maitland Bridge, NS B0T 1B0, Canada
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Moominmama in Colorful Eastern Newfoundland

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In which Moominmama explores Newfoundland's biggest city, St. John's, and goes hiking on the Avalon and Bonavista peninsulas... Gray skies aren't uncommon on the eastern shore of Newfoundland, but the people who live here compensate by painting their homes in bright colors. While it's clearly a Newfoundland aesthetic now, there are a couple stories about why this tradition started  The first suggests fishermen used the same paint on their houses as on their boats so as not to waste any -- and since the boats were different colors, the houses were too. The other is that the row houses were painted varied colors so the fishermen didn't wander into the wrong house after a night at the pub! Newfoundland's fishing industry took a hard blow in 1992 when Canada implemented a moratorium on cod fishing because of severe overfishing, mostly by large international trawlers with technology that allowed them to harvest fish at an unprecedented rate for months at a time.  Fis...
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Location: St. John's, NL, Canada
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Moominmama Visits Gros Morne National Park

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  Wherein Moominmama walks the mantle of the Earth, crosses from the Ordovician to the Cambrian, and hikes the boreal forests of Newfoundland... Moominmama had a largely sleepless overnight ferry ride from Sydney, Nova Scotia, but the drama of Newfoundland quickly woke me up as I traveled up the island's Northern Peninsula to arrive at Gros Morne National Park. The mountains and boreal forests of the park are thrilling. And if that wasn't enough, the geology of this area turns out to be incredibly unique. Newfoundland's west coast was shaped initially by a collision of tectonic plates. In the process, a section of the Earth's mantle slid up over the crust instead of below. This has happened in only a few places in the world, and Gros Morne is one of them. The area is called the Tablelands, and it's a rusty red color, with rocks called peridotite that discourage plant life. Apparently, this area has been studied for its similarity to the planet Mars. Peridotite is de...
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Location: Gros Morne National Park Of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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