My Life Since June, Some Anyway

Well, a lot has happened since I last blogged. My love and I have traveled to Guatemala, Belize and across the U.S.A and back, I held a baby monkey, had another fabulous festival season, saved a family of baby ducks and watched my closest friend and familiar of 15 years pass on.  Here are those stories. 

Athena, Angel in Disguise

Video of Athena

My dearest and most loyal friend passed on recently.  She was an amazing inspiration, so full of love and extremely resilient.  She had four major surgeries last year to remove tumors but the cancer took control in the end.

In her lifetime Athena traveled cross country twice, seeing more sites than most Americans ever dream of.  During her time here she lived in New Orleans, Iowa and Atlanta, met the love of her life and gave birth to 8 beautiful puppies.  She made friends with everyone she met and I never once saw her fight with another dog.

Here is a video of her in her last days. She was so full of life you would have no idea she was ill.  She passed into the next world a few days later, still smiling and happy as ever despite her pain.

Coast to Coast Adventures

After our trip to Central America (see previous posts) we returned home and I went to work for the summer on the Gulf Coast as planned.  Of course you already know that that did’nt last because I got called out to L.A. to work the Big Fair.  (see previous posts)  It was a month long run, very exhausting but worth it for all the knowledge gained and more money than I would have made otherwise.  I was so happy when A came to get me and begin our cross country travels together. We got to really enjoy the airstream and live it up in style in some of the most beautiful national parks and seediest RV resorts ever.  Here is a miscelaneous group of photos from our travels. We were all over the place and the posts to come will show where we went in detail.

Big Sur, Always Like a Dream

So many beautiful sites here but I can only show you a few. It takes days to take the entire highway 1 on the west coast but if you have the time it is so worth it.  This was one of my favorite parts of our cross country tour.  It was a blessing to have all of our family with us for this monumental trip.

Lake Tahoe

Beautiful place.  Slightly too pretentious for me.  Two days was plenty and we were off.

The Gorgeous Southwest US

One of my favorite US regions. It was a blessing to be in this place of such sheer beauty again.  The Grand Canyon was breathtaking. I love Sedonas' canyons as always.  And Native American art continues to dazzle me. 

White Sands, New Mexico

I finally made it to White Sands. 

Gilla Cliff Dwellings

We could almost hear the ancient voices of Native Americans living in the Hilla Cliff Dwellings.  It was a beautifully haunting place to visit, way in the mountains of New Mexico. There are pictographs over 500 years old on a stone wall with an image that looks remarkably like a peace sign.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas was interesting for a minute but the main reason for going was to see the Cirque Du Soleil show, the Beatles LOVE.  It was fabulous! We stayed in the KOA at Circus Circus with the airstream. It was 113 farenheit by day.  Been there done that!

Belize, An Unexpected Adventure

After leaving the wildlife center we decided we might as well check out Belize since we were already so close and now I had more time to travel anyway. So we took a bus to Belize and then a boat to Caye Caulker. We boarded the boat and heard “Welcome to Caye Caulker. Enjoy the Lobster Festival!”. Needless to say we had tons of very tasty lobster during our stay.
The best part of Belize is its ocean and marine life. It was the first time I have seen the actual color of Aqua in nature. The water in the Carribean is the most beautiful blue in the world.
My favorite part of the trip was snorkeling. We swam with the biggest fish I have ever seen. I remember looking down at one point and seeing A swim below beside a sting ray and nurse shark as big as him! We had met the nurse sharks when we first arrived at Shark and Sting Ray Alley and our guide tossed chunks of fish into the water for a school of them to devour. They were so big that they were a little intimidating but after awhile we realized they were harmless, like our guide said, and unless you put your arm right in their mouth you would be fine.
At another stop our guide saw Manatees and we all jumped in to go swim with them. They were beautiful and huge, twice the size of any of us. They just floated there beside us, lounging in the water like they were enjoying time on a sofa watching the show, us. They were the most docile creatures and it seemed they would never hurt a human. I just stared into their big peaceful eyes feeling like one of them and never wanting to leave. It was probably the most precious moment in the wild that I have yet to experience.  Our guide later told us that is was pretty unusual for them to be so close to humans and especially to stay for so long.