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Steve P

A Broken Promise

A Broken Promise

  • Travel
Leaving Roosevelt Lake, we headed southeast to Globe, Arizona for breakfast at a typical small town cafe. That is to say, everyone in the place knew everyone else. Except us. Didn’t matter. Everyone was either friendly or uninterested and no one got shot.

After downing our tasty scrambled eggs

Tonto National Monument

Tonto National Monument

  • Travel
Back in the day, and by “back” I mean about 900 years ago, a group of people now known as the Salado found a couple of great caves to live in. Two hundred years later, they left.

The higher, better preserved one can only be visited on guided tours that

The Tonto Basin

The Tonto Basin

  • Travel
When they see the word “Tonto”, people of a certain age can’t help but think of Jay Silverheels. A fine fellow to be sure, but he’s not the topic of this post.

A circuitous route through the mountains left us, two hours later, exactly east of Scottsdale at

Halloween 2021

Halloween 2021

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Another “expert virologist” bites the dust.

Étude settles in

Étude settles in

  • News
In the past month it’s become apparent that delivery is not likely to be on time. Small parts are not a problem but Cummins has yet to deliver the engine. Labor is also short and competition for good craftspeople is fierce. There are a lot of boat builders in
Étude moves on

Étude moves on

  • News
Have you ever noticed that sometimes people say “I could care less” when they really mean that they could not possibly care less about something? I mention this because…

Some of you may care less about how a Nordic Tug is built. Tough. Others have expressed interest and I’m

Étude begins

Étude begins

  • News

It’s been quite a while since I announced that we would replace Impromptu with a new Nordic 40. What’s been going on since then, you may wonder.

Les Musées de Tacoma

Les Musées de Tacoma

  • Travel
OK, why the French? Search me.

As I said in the last post, this voyage is light on photos. Just a few things that caught my eye. If you are in Tacoma with time on your hands, I recommend a visit to both the Washington State Museum of History and

Going Down…

Going Down…

I published a ton of photos of South Puget Sound last year. Since we’re covering a lot of the same ground (er, “water”) this year, I’ll just post photos of a few things I found attractive or unusual.

From north to south…

Painted Desert – Part 2

Painted Desert – Part 2

  • Travel
We left the charms of the El Rancho in Gallup, New Mexico, drove west on Interstate 80 for an hour or so, and re-entered the Petrified Forest National Park at its northern entrance. We were early. The park had just opened for the day, not too many people were around,
Home of the Stars

Home of the Stars

  • Travel
If you find yourself traveling along Interstate 40 near Gallup, New Mexico and in need of a place to lay your head, you could do worse than to check yourself into the El Rancho Hotel. It’s an historic hotel built by R.E. “Griff” Griffith, the brother of film
Soda Water

Soda Water

The area along NM Highway 4 south of Los Alamos has a number of hot spring spas. Perhaps it’s because the Valle Grande volcanic area is nearby.

One hot spring, rich in calcium carbonate, slowly built the Soda Dam through pretty much the same process that forms stalagmites and

A Matter of Scale

A Matter of Scale

The Earth will kill you.

This green field beckons. People seem to have a hardwired affinity for green. This particular patch is deceptively huge. There are herds of elk roaming down there that look like ants from there I was standing. In fact, the meadow is fourteen miles in diameter.

Visiting Dr. Atomic

Visiting Dr. Atomic

  • Travel
Prior to the Second World War, there was nothing much to Los Alamos except for a private boarding school for rich Eastern boys and a few homesteaders. When the government decided that Los Alamos was just the place to try to develop an atomic bomb in complete secrecy, the boys
Taos

Taos

  • Travel
Taos has a reputation far beyond its size. You have to endure a long drive through strip malls that your screaming brain thinks will never end to reach the rather charming old core of the village.

Taos has a reputation as an arts community and if your taste runs to