A Tale Of Two Town's Bridges

I saw that which you see above this morning in the Seattle Times. Photos taken from atop the Seattle Wheel. The photo on the left was taken January 13, a few hours after Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct was closed to traffic permanently. The photo on the right, of the same view, was taken May 21.

As you can see a large expanse of the double decker Alaskan Way Viaduct Bridge is now gone, with areas of Seattle out of the shadows and exposed to sunlight for the first time in over a half century.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, during the same time frame.

Simple little bridges being built over dry land, with construction beginning way back in 2014, can't seem to make much progress. Month after month with little to show for the money and time wasted.

During that same time frame whilst Fort Worth can't seem to build three little bridges, up north a double decker four lane tunnel was built under downtown Seattle, with the bridge Viaduct it replaced now being quickly removed.

I do not understand these Fort Worth bridges. In the above photo you can see one of the infamous cement V-piers, supporting the makings of a bridge deck. Why are all those vertical pilings required to help hold up the bridge deck, one can not help but wonder?

Is that one of the design stalemates? Is the contractor not agreeing that those V-piers are of a design sufficient to support a bridge deck? Or is the concern what will happen to the structures if that forlorn ditch is ever dug under the bridges, with polluted river water diverted into the ditch, finally giving a reason for the bridges connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an industrial wasteland's imaginary island?

Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project is costing a few billion bucks. The project was fully funded prior to going into dig and build it mode. This is an actual needed project, due to the fact the Alaskan Way Viaduct was an earthquake hazard. And removing this longtime barrier opens the Seattle Waterfront, which is an actual waterfront, not an imaginary waterfront.

Fort Worth's simple little bridges are just one part of what used to be known as the Trinity River Vision, before the name morphed into Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or just Panther Island project, or more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The Seattle project has been successfully ramrodded by qualified project engineers.

The Fort Worth project has been ramrodded by the unqualified son of a local congresswoman, a low level county prosecutor with no engineering experience of any sort. He was hired to motivate his mother, Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, to secure federal pork barrel funds.

The federal money has not materialized, the hapless project has long been floundering. Yet, J.D. Granger is still being paid over $200K a year, plus perks, and other benefits, such as a cushy job for his most recent wife.

But, this type thing is what is known as the Fort Worth Way. Which, apparently most of the Fort Worth locals are okay with, because they keep electing the perpetrators responsible for multiple ongoing messes, such as non-existent urban planning resulting in actual flooding in areas which actually need infrastructure flood prevention improvements, unlike the area being messed up by J.D. Granger and his co-horts, with claims the project entails much needed flood control where no flood has happened for well over a half century.

This Boondoggle is so bizarrely perplexing...

Wonder Why Washington Is America's Best State Instead Of Texas

A few days ago, or maybe it was last week, I saw an article headline in the Seattle Times which I clicked.

Washington ranked nation’s best state by U.S. News & World Report

Of course I was intrigued regarding by what criteria U.S. News & World Report would rank my former home state as the Best in America, what with that particular news source having a relatively high level of credibility.

Unlike the "news" source, as in an in-house publication of a Washington, D.C. lobbying entity, which named Fort Worth as one of the Ten Most Livable Cities in America (based on a town's use of the Urban Village concept).

Following this earth shattering news, Fort Worth's city government instigated a city wide celebration, including a big event at Gateway Park. Sort of like a homely girl or guy waking up to suddenly find him or herself in the Top Ten of the Miss or Mr. America pageant, giddy with excitement, ignoring feedback from any nearby mirror.

I remember blogging about that particular Fort Worth embarrassment multiple times, but using this blog's search tool I only found three instances, with all three sort of amusing to read again.

The first instance I found was from 2008...

Oh My! Someone in the News has a Texas Connection!

And then again in 2012...

I Have Done Just About All The Holiday Shopping That I Am Going To Do

With the last instance happening in 2014...

Today I Learned Fort Worth Has Been A Model For Other Cities Its Size & Larger

The comments to the above link are particularly amusing, particularly the second one, followed by the third.

I have long been made aware of the fact that my hobby of making fun of the American embarrassment known as Fort Worth is greatly irritating to those caught in the Fort Worth bubble, with little exposure to the rest of America.

Or even Dallas.

Along with the extremists who have not yet figured out that the town's problems are largely a result of the town operating in what is known as the Fort Worth Way.

A Way which has come to be known to savvy observers as being a backward, corrupt, insular, regressive way of running a town, allowing the town, for instance, to permit things like being the world's biggest experiment in urban fracking (yet one more Fort Worth failure) or the town embarrassing itself by having something like Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the regularly polluted with too much e.coli Trinity River.

Searching the blog to see if I can find the earliest instance of blogging about those ridiculous floating beer parties brought up dozens of blog posts, with a particularly amusing J.D. Granger Is A Great Family Man, Faithful Husband & Brilliant Project Manager Rockin' The Trinity River Better Than The San Marcos River one, rendered ironic due to its timeliness, even though it was posted way back in 2011.

Click Rockin the River Happy Hour and you will be seeing a lot of posts about this particular Fort Worth embarrassment. I was surprised to realize this has been going on for so many years now. With no common sense end to the dirty river rockin' yet in sight.

Oh my, my train of thought does go off the rails at times. I'd forgotten this blog post is about my old home state of Washington being ranked the best in the nation.

Going to U.S. News & World Reports Best States Rankings we learn the magazine was "Measuring outcomes for citizens using more than 70 metrics."

And that since U.S. News has been doing this important reporting no state has remained at #1 in subsequent rankings, but there is a state which has managed to rank as the #50th best multiple years in a row.

No, it is not Texas in last place. Last place went to another Southern state, Louisiana.

My old Washington home state has managed to be in the Top Ten whenever U.S. News & World Report has issued one of these Best State in America rankings.

The bottom of the ranking goes mostly to America's southern states, with Alabama nipping at Louisiana's last place finish, coming in at #49. Mississippi is #48, Arkansas #45, Oklahoma #43, Kentucky #40.

With Texas proudly ranking as the #38th Best State in America.

The rest of the South ranks a bit better than Texas, with Tennessee #30, North Carolina #18, Florida #13.

And that old Southern Stronghold of Virginia managing to be in the Top Ten at #7.

Let us end this with the two paragraphs from U.S. News & World Report explaining upon what their Best Rankings were based, which might give us some clue as to what Texas might do to someday manage to be one of the Best States in America (Fixing Fort Worth might be a place to start)...

Some states shine in health care. Some soar in education. Some excel in both – or in much more. The Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety, the fiscal stability of state government, and the opportunity it affords its residents.

More weight was accorded to some state measures than others, based on a survey of what matters most to people. Health care and education were weighted most heavily. Then came state economies, infrastructure, and the opportunity states offer their citizens. Fiscal stability followed closely in weighting, followed by measures of crime & corrections and a state's natural environment.

North Texas Dire Severe Weather Tornado Warning

Today, on this Monday of May 20, 2019, is the first time I have seen this dire level of weather warning since I have been residing at my current Texas location of Wichita Falls.

Since being at this location I have only heard the tornado sirens in system checking mode, never in incoming tornado mode.

Twice whilst living in east Fort Worth I heard the tornado sirens in incoming tornado mode. Both times a tornado did touch down and do damage near to my location.

So, I have learned one must take these tornado warnings serious.

The location of my current domicile is a short distance from where most of the deadly damage was inflicted by the 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak.

Every time I bike around Sikes Lake I roll by the memorial to those lost in the tornado outbreak known locally as Terrible Tuesday. The 40th Anniversary of Terrible Tuesday was last month, on April 10.

Today three storms are forecast to blow over North Texas. The first is scheduled for around noon, the second late in the afternoon, and the third, and possibly worst, after dark.

I have already battened down my hatches, inflated my lifeboat and stocked up on vittles and non-electricity dependent lighting sources, as in candles and flashlights.

I am ready for you Mother Nature, but it won't hurt my feelings if you decide not to visit...

Mount Saint Helens 39th Volcano Eruption Anniversary

This May 18, 2019 Saturday morning in Texas is reminding me of the Sunday morning of May 18, 1980.

Thirty-nine years ago.

This morning I am hearing loud booms, which I am 100% certain are not being caused by nearby Mount Wichita erupting.

A severe thunderstorm is currently raging loud at my Wichita Falls location.

This morning 39 years I was peacefully soaking in a hot tub when suddenly loud concussive booms began rattling the walls and windows.

I got out of the tub. A few minutes later the next door neighbor arrived to ask if we had heard.

Heard what, we asked?

The mountain has erupted was the answer.

There was no mystery as to what mountain had erupted. Mount St. Helens had been in active mode for months, with a large area around Mt. St. Helens with restricted access.

But, not restricted sufficiently. 57 people died in the eruption.

In the months prior to May 18, 1980 I had driven south to the north restricted zone to try and get a look at the suddenly active volcano. But that attempt to see was to no avail due to cloud cover.

That hot tub I was soaking in when Mount Saint Helens blew up was in Mount Vernon, about 150 north of the eruption, as a crow flies.

The eruption created a bit of a panic in the Pacific Northwest, with a rush on stores to get ash masks and, if I remember right, some sort of additional air filter thing for vehicles.

The initial eruption sent ash to the east, not north. One of the subsequent eruptions did send a small amount of ash as far north as the Skagit Valley. I do not remember ever feeling the need to use the ash mask I had ready to use.

Hard to believe that BIG BOOM was 39 years ago. Seems so recent in my memory.

Below is a Mount St. Helens video tribute to Pacific Northwest legend, Harry Truman. According to the video the song was a #1 hit. I do not remember this, but at that point in time I likely was not paying any attention to such things as what might be a #1 hit.

But listening to the Harry Truman Your Spirit Lake Lives On song it seems real clear that this was the first of the genre which was to become known as Seattle Grunge a decade later...

Does Fort Worth Need Trash Pandas Or Sod Poodles Playing Baseball?

It does grow old, even for me, making mock of something I read in Fort Worth's pitiful little newspaper, the Star-Telegram.

This time the subject was Fort Worth's storied baseball ballpark, LaGrave Field, and Fort Worth's equally storied baseball team, the Fort Worth Cats.

Need I mention I am being sarcastic with the use of that "storied" word, which I saw used at least once when reading today's  What will it take to make the Fort Worth Cats a home run? Not baseball article?

Let's read through this article together, copying out some choice bits for your reading amusement...

Baseball won’t save the Fort Worth Cats or LaGrave Field. Experts in minor league sports branding say a team can stack the roster with former Major League Baseball names or young talent looking to make their mark with home runs, but that likely won’t sell tickets. Instead, a resurrected Cats team should focus on entertainment and definitely not be something they’re not: The Rangers.

Okay.

So, apparently there are minor league sports branding experts. And those experts do not think baseball will save Fort Worth's baseball ballpark. So, if the Fort Worth Cats are brought back to life they need to focus on being entertaining, and not focus on something like baseball, which the Texas Rangers are already focusing on, a few miles to the east, in Arlington, in the same county as Fort Worth, with the Rangers playing in a beautiful ballpark, soon to be replaced by an even better ballpark.

You are probably wondering what is this entertainment these minor league sports branding experts are recommending. Well, one of those experts used another town's ballpark entertainment as an example for Fort Worth...

The focus isn’t baseball. It’s family fun, he said. People pay for the sideline antics. Among the circus-like performances: A character called “Coach,” the epitome of the high school P.E. teacher cliché, clad in short shorts and constantly doing calisthenics. Rather than a ketchup, mustard and relish race, fans have donned ears, nose and throat costumes to race around the park. The gags are kid-friendly with jokes that parents enjoy too, he said. “The biggest complaint in baseball these days is how long it lasts,” he said. “You’re not going to complain about a three hour movie if you’re entertained. That’s what we do in the ballpark.”

Oh yes, I see the value in consulting these minor league sports branding experts. What fun that will be, being entertained at the revived LaGrave Field whilst being bored by baseball. I would love to spend three hours watching a "Coach" character goofing around in short shorts whilst doing push ups. What a fun time that will be in Fort Worth, with fans donning ears, nose and throat costumes to race around the park. People will be coming from all over the world to see this.

And then there is this...

Scott Berry, a former Cats executive, hopes his Save LaGrave Foundation can pump new life into the decaying LaGrave Field with the Cats as the cornerstone. This week the foundation reached a 10-year agreement with Tarrant Regional Water District that secures the field for baseball and not redevelopment for the time being.

My eldest cousin is Scott Barry. He used to report regarding baseball for the Seattle Times. But, I think this Scott in the Star-Telegram article is not my cousin, due to the last name being spelled slightly different.

Anyway, isn't it interesting how an article in the Star-Telegram just casually mentions that to play baseball in LaGrave Field one needs to reach an agreement with the TRWD.

But, the Star-Telegram does not tell its readers in this article that the TRWD did not control that piece of land back in the previous era of LaGrave Field being in operation mode. The land was then owned by a friend of TRWD Board Member, Jim Lane, named Carl Bell.

Carl Bell filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Jim Lane then finagled financial shenanigans which resulted in the TRWD buying Bell's land for millions of dollars. I think the sum was $22 million, if I remember right. And this then somehow resulted in the nearby opening of the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, the Coyote Drive-in.  How this drive-in escaped the fate of getting the infamous Panther Island label is not known.

Why it is considered okay for an agency responsible for flood control and providing water owns a baseball ballpark is a mystery. Perhaps this is yet one more example of what is known locally as The Fort Worth Way. Which has come to mean, to many, a corrupt crony controlled way of operating a town.

Back to the article...

Brandiose recommends clubs, even those with a history, start with a naming competition. It sounds quaint, but getting the community involved at the onset is crucial, he said. And he recommends clubs abandon traditional names like Lions, Eagles or anything vaguely associated with the Majors. This process birthed teams like the Rocket City Trash Pandas, a Double A minor team in Alabama or Amarillo’s Sod Poodles. These names are something that can’t be ignored, appeal to kids and foster a storyline, Klein said.

Oh yes, I can see why this is why this ballpark has failed repeatedly. It's all about the name. Cats. What a terrible name. Who would want to watch Cats play baseball? Yes, Trash Pandas or Sod Poodles. Now that would be get me in a ballpark, no matter how boring the baseball playing might be.

Well,  read the entire What will it take to make the Fort Worth Cats a home run? Not baseball article to get the full dose of this latest Star-Telegram goofiness, while we end this by starting that community baseball team naming competition.

How about the Fort Worth Goofballs? Or the Fort Worth Crony Crackpots? Or the Fort Worth Outhouse Keepers? Geez, the best name just came to me, instantly obviously the perfect name...

The Fort Worth Boondogglers...

Seattle's Highway 99 Tunnel Takes Us To Fort Worth's Bridge Boondoggle

I saw that which you see here in this morning's Seattle Times online, an article titled Traffic in new Highway 99 tunnel nearly matches last year’s viaduct use.

Several Texas things came to mind when I read this article. And when I saw the dozens upon dozens of comments the article generated, with that large number of intelligent comments being the norm I note when reading a Seattle Times article.

Meanwhile in Texas.

An article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about any controversial or interesting local subject, is lucky if a single comment is generated. Is this sparseness of commentary indicative of that sad newspaper's low number of readers? Or what?

Today's Seattle Times article about the new Highway 99 tunnel was the first I have seen since the tunnel opened. I had wondered if I had missed noticing such articles. Possibly there was nothing much newsworthy about the new tunnel, other than the fact it was now open.

The new Highway 99 tunnel can trace its beginning back to 2001 and the Nisqually Earthquake which did a lot of damage in the Puget Sound zone, including damaging the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which the 99 Tunnel has now replaced.

Meanwhile in Texas.

Around the same time an earthquake set in motion some big projects in Seattle, in Fort Worth, on one quiet Sunday morning, the Star-Telegram breathlessly announced that something then called Trinity Uptown was going to turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

You reading this in modern America, or Canada, I am not making this up.

Trinity Uptown eventually turned into the Trinity River Vision, touted as being a flood control and economic development project.

Where there has been no flooding for well over a half century.

As the years of the 21st century rolled on the Trinity River Vision went through some additional name iterations, in total the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Which by 2019 has become more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Or simple The Boondoggle.

So, what does any of this have to do with that article in the Seattle Times about the new Highway 99 Tunnel?

Well.

After that 2001 earthquake years of public debate followed regarding how best to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. By 2014 a solution was agreed to, with funding in place, and an almost $4 billion project got underway.

By getting underway I am referring to the boring of the Highway 99 Tunnel beginning with the world's biggest, at the time, tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Bertha, boring under downtown Seattle.

Around that same time, in Fort Worth, Texas, a big TNT exploding ceremony was held to mark the start of construction of three simple little freeway overpass looking bridges, being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

We blogged about this ridiculous Fort Worth explosion in A Big Boom Begins Boondoggle Bridge Construction Three Months Late.

Soon after that big boom Fort Worth's bridge construction ground to a halt, for over a year. With no explanation, and no legitimate local newspaper of record demanding an explanation.

Meanwhile, during that same time frame, after boring for well less than a mile, Bertha hit a chunk of steel, grinding her to a halt. That tunnel boring halt lasted around a year. The problem was dealt with in an open and transparent way, fully covered by Seattle, and Washington media. And the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) aimed a camera at the Bertha excavation site so people could check in on the progress, 24/7.

To this day no Fort Worth media has provided any specific details regarding the supposed design problems which are now blamed as the reason for the slow motion construction, and ever shifting project timeline, of Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges, now with an astonishing project completion some time in the next decade.

Meanwhile, up in the northwest, modern, part of America, somehow another American town managed to finish a tunnel deep under its downtown. Four lanes of traffic now move through that tunnel. The photo at the top shows traffic entering the tunnel's southbound lanes.

Daily thousands of vehicles are zipping under downtown Seattle in that new completed tunnel. A difficult engineering project, engineering by competent project engineers. Completed in less than four years.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, three simple little bridges, which had, way back in 2014, an absurdly long four year project timeline, to build three simple little bridges, are now expected to possibly, maybe, hopefully be ready for traffic sometime during the next decade.

And you can not learn via any Fort Worth media publication, of any sort, what the problem actually is with building those three little bridges over dry land, connecting to an imaginary island, and maybe someday in the distant future having a ditch dug under the bridges, so water can be diverted into the ditch, thus creating that aforementioned imaginary island.

May 4's extremely low voter turnout, and that election's absurd results, have caused many to be of the opinion Fort Worth deserves what it gets; all the embarrassing boondoggles, all the failed projects, all the inept nonsense not worthy of an American town of over 800,000 population.

If only the people of Fort Worth would wise up, and rise up, and boot the Fort Worth Way to being an historical footnote, instead of the town's sad modern day reality...

Again Finding Serious Holliday Spelling Error On Lake Wichita Dam

A few days ago the local Wichita Falls news was reporting an historical marker dedication about an installation historically marking Lake Wichita.

I saw that news, and photo documentation of the "ceremony", and wondered if this was a new Lake Wichita Historical Marker, or was it the one I had made note of being added atop Lake Wichita dam months ago.

I thought maybe this dedication was to a new and improved Lake Wichita Historical Marker, because the one I saw previously had a serious spelling error.

And it seemed to me a serious spelling error is not something one wants to have on an historical marker.

I blogged about that previous instance of seeing that spelling error last December in a blogging titled Saturday Pre-Christmas Lake Wichita Spell Checking Coffin Inspection.

So, today I rolled my bike wheels to Lake Wichita to see if there was a new Lake Wichita Historical Marker, or if the one in the recent news was the one I had seen before,

With the serious spelling error.

Well, above is the photo I took a few minutes ago of the Lake Wichita Historical Marker, and it is the same one I first saw way back last year.

And it still has the same serious spelling error.

The creek which flows into and out of Lake Wichita is named Holliday Creek.

Holliday with two "l's".

As I noted in the previous blogging about this serious spelling subject, "The creek was named after early explorer, Captain John Holliday, who carved his name on a tree by the creek. The town of Holliday, Texas, was named after the creek, as was Holliday Street, a major street in Wichita Falls".

Does whiteout work on something like this Lake Wichita Historical Marker? Can someone maybe see if that would work to blot out that wrongful "l" and thus render this historical marker historically accurate?

Happy Mother's Day To All Our Mothers

That would be my mom rolling along in a park in Chandler, Arizona, having herself a mighty fine March Mother's Day of extreme pampering from all but one of her kids, and all but two of her grandkids, and with only one of her granddogs enjoying a comfortable grandma lap position.

That would be one of mom's kids, my little sister Jackie, doing the motion providing service behind mom.

I think it is about time for mom's wheels to get their 30,000 mile tuneup. I probably should go to Arizona and take care of that.

Speaking of sister Jackie. She is the mother of  my nephews Christopher (known as CJ) and Jeremy (known as JR). I have not been told what special plans CJ and JR have for their mom today.

The mother of my nephews Jason and Joey is my ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, which also makes Cindy the grandma of Spencer Jack, whose mother is Jenny, and Henry, whose mother is Monique.

And rounding up my familial mother collection we have Michele and Kristin, the maternal paternal units of David, Theo and Ruby. We have a few more years to go before the possibility of Michele and Kristin becoming grandmas, and me having some new great nephews or nieces.

Happy Mother's Day to Happy Mothers everywhere...

Linda Lou Leads Us Back To Lake Powell Houseboating

The past couple days Linda Lou has brought us back to the previous century, as in the 20th century, after being the catalyst which brought about the finding of photos long forgotten, on a computer long not on.

Due to this, Linda Lou has reminded us of blueberry picking in the wild followed by remembering some delicate islands in the sky.

Oh, and many of these long lost photos turned out to be a primitive form of what the 21st century calls "selfies".

But, in the 20th century a phone did not take "selfies". It was my now long gone antique Casio digital camera which took these oldie "selfies".

In the photo above the year was 1998, The location was Lake Powell, in Utah. The transportation vehicle was the houseboat you see floating in a location we named Bobcat Cove.

You would need to go to my webpaged Lake Powell Houseboat tale to learn why Bobcat Cove was so named.

I do not remember why I am looking so consternated whilst looking at the camera which was aimed at me and the houseboat. But, that is not unusual for cameras to consternate me, even when I am the one taking a photo.

The consternated Lake Powell selfie was taken the second time I was stuck on a Lake Powell houseboat. The first time I was so stuck, in 1994, was when the bobcat/cougar/panther incident occurred. And so the webpaged multi-page Lake Powell tale is of the 1994 version of houseboating.

On that 1994 excursion on Lake Powell we made it all the way to Rainbow Bridge. No digital camera existed on that trip. But many old-fashioned photos were taken, and later scanned digitally. I think the originals are in a box in my closet which I have not seen in years.

Over 20 years after that first Lake Powell houseboat float I found myself telling the tale again, in blogging form, on another of my many blogs, with that blogging titled Houseboating on Utah's Lake Powell.

I think today is likely the last of these selfie trails down memory lane. Unless I find another one...

Linda Lou Takes Me Back To Delicate Arch With Sky Islands

Yesterday whilst blogging about Linda Lou Leading Me Back To Skagit Valley Black and Blue Berry Picking I made mention of the fact that Linda Lou had caused me to re-locate photos I had not realized I'd sort of lost, and that many of those photos had been taken with my long gone antique Casio digital camera.

Finding those sort of lost photos had me looking at scenes I had not seen in a long time.

Such as that which you see here.

My long gone Casio camera was way ahead of its time. The camera had the ability to rotate the lens which allowed for the easy taking of what we now call "selfies".

I was a frequent selfie photo taker during that era, something I have mostly balked at when doing such became so ubiquitous, and sort of annoying.

In the selfie above I believe the year was 1998. The location was Arches National Park in Utah.

If I remember right the work of Mother Nature behind me in the selfie was known as Wanda. The other work of Mother Nature behind me is known as Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch is one of the iconic symbols of Utah. One sees it on Utah license plates.

The hike to Delicate Arch has some elevation gain, but not enough to be what one might think of as strenuous, but definitely more strenuous than most of the hikes in Arches NP, with the only other actual semi-strenuous Arches NP hike being the Fiery Furnace Hike.

The Fiery Furnace hike is a bit treacherous, and thus requires signing up for it at the Ranger Station, paying a fee, and having a Park Ranger lead the way through the confusing maze of trails.

I have twice hiked the Fiery Furnace hike, and enjoyed it both times.

I would like to see a return to Moab, and Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park, which is nearby.

I think I saw Canyonlands NP selfies whilst strolling through the collection. I will go see if I can find one of those...

In this selfie I am looking at you from Islands in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park. I remember it being windy that day, and cold. The month was October, if I am remembering correctly.

Well, that should end today's selfie trail down memory lane...