End Of The Trail For Famed Monty Python Bronto Theorist

Dateline El Malpais National Monument: Blogger discovers remains of Anne Elk.

On a not-so-dark desert highway (NM117),cool wind in our hair,we pulled off at a roadside picnic area for a comfort stop.

 As is our wont, we took the opportunity to ramble around a bit along in the "Narrows",where the El Malpais lava flow comes up against a series of sandstone escarpments.

Poking around the edge of the lava bed, we saw what looked like a scapula...

Hmmm,we wondered, maybe there are some more bones around...think of the possible photo-ops! Imagine our surprise when we saw this!

Curious as to what might have caused the demise of this particular specimen (hunter? mountain lion?), we stopped in at the nearby visitor center. According to the nice woman at the info desk, the animal had probably fallen into the crevice sometime during the winter and broken a leg.

The Worst Thing That Happened On This Road Trip

I lost one sock.

Pismo Peregrines

TSG is used the the night herons squawking in the trees next to our favorite Pismo Beach Hotel, but this time we got a little bonus. Turns out there are a pair of the world's fastest falcons and their fledglings hanging out just down the street in some ragged pine trees.  It seems to be an odd location for Peregrines , but they appear to be doing well.  (search for "Pismo Peregrines" and you can see some really nice images of the family)