Tag: moon

Headed to the Texas Panhandle.

We have driven by the Palo Duro Canyon State Park many times on trips to and from Colorado over the last 25+ years.

This week we took a little road trip to go see it. Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. It’s located in the high plains of North Texas; the Llano Estacado. The elevation at the rim is about 3500’ and the floor of the canyon lies about 800’ below. It is called “the Grand Canyon of Texas” and the steep, layered rock walls sure echo those of its namesake.

We took the 8-hour drive up and stayed in a cabin on the floor of the canyon that was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Cow Camp cabin #4 – our little bit of paradise

The park is stunningly beautiful. Being in the heart of nature for a couple of days was unforgettable.

Sunrise at cow camp cabin #4
Sunrise lighting up the canyon wall
Sunset view

The visitor center provided a nice introduction to the geology and history of the canyon.

One of the Texas Longhorn herd

And oh the stars! We sat outside for hours watching the sky.

Milky Way!
And more Milky Way
Orion
Moon
Star gazer

On the way home we made an overnight stop in Lubbock. We enjoy visiting the McPherson Cellars tasting room whenever we are in the neighborhood. We can always find another couple there to talk with over a glass of wine.

We stopped in lots of tiny Texas towns to check out their antique stores, historic county courthouses, and Main Street cafes.

I spied an old postcard in an antique shop that foreshadows a road trip that I just booked!

Home sweet home now – ‘til the next road trip.

Goodnight, moon.

A shot of tonight’s full sturgeon moon shining bright. 🧡

Eccentric.

Today we drove a couple hours into the hill country to see the annular solar eclipse of October 2023. We originally thought we would drive to the center of the path, but decided to head for the eastern edge. This meant we wouldn’t see the complete “ring” of the sun around a concentric moon passing in front of it. Instead, we wanted to see the edge of the moon barely passing by the sun, hoping to see some Bailey’s Beads. That means the passing moon wouldn’t be centered inside the sun, but just barely touching the border. I wasn’t able to capture any Bailey’s beads his time – I think the sun’s light was still too bright. But it was a fun roadtrip. The next eclipse is less than 6 months away!

We drove to the west side of Canyon Lake. Eclipses are pretty cool. 🙂

Pretty much maximal occlusion

Days 9 through 11.

We picked up the anchor at sunrise Monday morning and enjoyed some good sailing across Albemarle Sound and Currituck Sound.

Lunch nibblies aboard

We hit the last bridge openings before rush hour and tied up at Atlantic Yacht Basin in time to watch the local rowing club practice alongside us.

For dinner we biked to a fantastic Italian restaurant for a delicious meal ashore.

Yummmmm

Tuesday morning we caught the 7AM bridge opening at Great Bridge and followed the parade of boats and geese into the lock beyond the bridge for the one foot rise in water level between the canal and the Elizabeth River beyond it.

We reached mile marker 0 of the ICW in Norfolk and kept going on past it and into Chesapeake Bay for some more good sailing. We anchored in the Piankatank River, on the west side of Chesapeake Bay for the night.

Sunset on the Piankatank River

Wednesday we picked up anchor at sunrise again, trying to get as far north as possible before sunset.

We crossed into Maryland before noon, and raced a thunderstorm into our anchorage at the Choptank River on the east side of the bay.

We made it before the rain and high winds came, and watched the full moon rise after the storm passed.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we will arrive at our destination. Annapolis, here comes Trident and her crew!

Again!

I’m off on another sailing adventure: Charleston to Annapolis.

In the Palmetto State

Just a regular moon.

Wednesday morning I set my alarm for 4:30 am, got up, and looked out the window;  overcast skies and foggy.   I told myself that it was unlikely I’d get a shot of the first-in-150years-super-full-blue-blood moon.   I went back to bed without taking a step outside.

So, I don’t have a photo of that.   This, however, was taken yesterday morning while I was freezing and hiking around the woods.  The moon is pretty, most days.

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New day.

I caught a glimpse of the crescent moon this morning as the sun was coming up behind it.  Only a week ago I was watching the moon rise, just past full, over the desert.  It made me think about how Time passes and Life happens.  The James Taylor song Secret o’Life popped into my head.  Give it a listen here.  Enjoy the day.

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The last moon of Autumn 2016.

A photo of the moon overhead yesterday – the day before Winter Solstice.

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On the road. 

Where?  

But no matter where I go, I can still look up.   This is tonight’s crescent moon with Venus closeby.   

Blood red moon.

I woke up in the wee hours this morning to experience the lunar eclipse.  One day I may have a camera worthy of capturing such a moment, but I managed to get a few ok shots with my reliable Canon PowerShot D10.   These are 5 shots, shown in order, as the Earth’s shadow passed left to right across the surface of the Moon.  1-April3

Ace & Deuce.

Our friends Teri and Jim are visiting us this weekend – some of our good sailing buddies who moved out of state a couple years ago. We had a fun reunion party last night. Today we went to the lake and anchored out for a few fun hours. We made it back to the marina in time for a pretty sunset sky. The moon is the nearly full Cold Moon.

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Red sky at night.

We tried a new restaurant tonight. After arriving back at the house, the sky was lovely and pink. Good omen?

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A little later the crescent moon popped into view.
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And my fortune tonight:

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We shall see…

Closer to fine.

Conjunction of Jupiter and the moon.
Conjunction of Jupiter and the moon.

Tonight the sky is clear in Austin.  The gibbous moon and Jupiter appear closer tonight than they will until the year 2026.  So, I went outside tonight with my Canon PowerShot D-10 and tried a number of settings – stopping up/down, increasing shutter speed, etc, etc.   This is the shot.

Gratuitous side note:   As I was drafting this blog post, I was thinking about the fact that Jupiter and the moon will be closer tonight than they will for another decade or so… and for whatever reason a song popped into my head:  Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls, from their album with the same name, 1989.   Don’t know why, but there it is.  I love this song, as much as I did when I heard it two dozen years ago.  Here’s the youtube link for you to enjoy, too.   If you like this, then just listen to the entire album, it’s fantastic.  Heck, listen to all the Indigo Girls’ songs.   Great vocals, great harmony, great acoustic sound.   A little factoid for you… the year after this album came out, the Indigo Girls were up for Best New Artist in the Grammy Awards, but lost out to… (wait for it) Milli Vanilli.  Sad, but true.

Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?

Jupiter, Venus, the Moon and Aldebaran.

I awoke this morning to the sound of Monte getting up and going outside.  He had been planning on watching this morning’s quadruple conjunction of the crescent Moon, Jupiter, Venus and Aldebaran.  So, I hopped out of bed too.  I grabbed my camera and he dug out the tripod.

It was 6 AM and the sun was already starting to come up.   An hour earlier would have been better, light-wise, but the event was clearly visible from our front yard.

In the shot above, Jupiter is on the top.  Venus is below, it is at its brightest this month.  If you look closely, you can see the star Aldebaran on the right side of the frame (vertically about halfway between the Moon and Venus).  There is another faint star to the bottom left of Jupiter, but I don’t know what that one is called.

It was a pretty sight.  It is always thrilling to see the dance of the moon, planets and stars.  This morning the clouds lifted and we were treated to a great view.