Music: Three Dog Night W/ Ambrosia Featuring John Ford Coley At The Astro In La Vista, NE

On Saturday night I went to a concert at the Astro Theatre.  The concert, originally in the Asro's outside amphitheater, was moved into the theatre and where they moved me was awesome – Row G, just 7 rows from the stage.

The warm up band was Ambrosia.  They were pretty good considering the age of the drummer and lead singer, both founding members from the 1970s.  They did a mix of their hits and a few odd covers which I haven't totally wrapped my head around.

Ambrosia featuring John Ford Coley.

They were joined by John Ford Coley who did some of his hits as well as backed up Ambrosia on some of their sets.

Overall, they were a solid warm up for the headliner, Three Dog Night.

Three Dog Night came on and had a solid performance.  They covered all their major songs plus a few more obscure tracks.  Danny Hutton, a founding member, sounded great for being 84 years old and never left the stage the whole time even though he walked like his age, a bit rickety.  I think the secret may be you have to sing like an old man when you are young so people don't notice your voice change with age.  They ended with "Joy to the World."

Three Dog Night.

I had a great time of nostalgia though, I have to admit, seeing how old these artists are is kind of depressing.

Photos and some short videos can be found in my 2026-09-12 Three Dog Night w/ Ambrosia Featuring John Ford Coley, The Astro, La Vista, NE Google Photos album.

2026 Denver - A Day Around Red Rocks.

We drove up a week ago for the John Fogerty concert at Red Rocks and had some time to explore the area.

We arrived late afternoon on Sunday and had dinner at one of our favorite fast food places, In-n-Out Burgers.  Sadly, the closest one to Omaha is in Colorado.

On Monday we were going to have a walking tour of historic Denver but, due to a misunderstanding and crappy communications from the tour conductor, we thought it was canceled.  (The Wife tried to get a refund but the asshole threatened to block her number so "she could scream into the void.")  We pivoted and went to a few places surrounding Red Rocks instead.

Buffalo Bill Cody's grave, Lookout Mountain, CO.

Our first stop was The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave.  This was an interesting museum located on Lookout Mountain.  The views from there were incredible - the mountains in the west and the great plains in the east.

Our next stop was the Mother Cabrini Shrine.  The views from here were nearly as magnificent as those from the museum.  We stopped here because the church the Wife attends is the St. Francis Cabrini Church.

Dinosaur tracks.

Next we went to Dinosaur Ridge and took a guided bus tour of the fossil beds along the ridge.  It was an interesting forty-five minutes paleontologist led tour - though his jokes were a bit lame at times, he kept it interesting.  We had maybe a dozen in the bus and all of us were going to the John Fogerty concert later in the evening.

We ended our pre-concert events with dinner in Morrison, CO at The Cow, An eatery.  The food was good and hit the spot.  We did some shopping at some eclectic boutiques across from the restaurant before heading back to our hotel for a pre-concert nap.

Our Monday was awesome.  We had fun and the weather was terrific (during the day ... not necessarily at the concert).  We're battling humidity here in Omaha and, while it was warm in the Denver area, there was no humidity and it felt awesome.

A few more pictures can be found in my 2026-08 Denver Area Google Photos album.

Music: John Fogerty W/ Hearty Har at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO

On Monday, we went to a concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Morrison, CO.  We'd wanted to go to this venue for awhile so we looked for an act we knew and John Fogerty was the one we selected.  His selection was a bit serendipitous as we were just looking for someone we knew about in the right time frame.  It turned out to be a lucky pick as his performance was incredible.

We drove up early to get good parking.  We went in when the doors opened a couple hours later.  We had great seats on row nine.  As we waited for the show to start we watched the rain approach.  Then the thunder came.  Then the show postponement was announced.  We went back to our car to wait as the rain started coming down.  About thirty to forty minutes later they texted out the all clear and we went back to our seats.  It continued to rain for about half of the concert and the temperature dropped quite a bit but, despite all this, the show went on.

The warm up was Hearty Har, a band led by Shane and Tyler Fogerty, John's sons.  They were pretty good even though I'd never heard any of their music before.

Then John Fogerty came on.  His sons were also part of his backup band.  For the next almost two hours John Fogerty played nearly all of his old Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) hits which he won back the rights to in 2023 after a nearly fifty year battle in the courts.  He even played a song that predated CCR.  Sadly, one of my favorite songs, "Someday Never Comes", was not played.

Have you ever seen the rain ... in the spotlight?

I have to say, this was one of the best concerts I've been to in a long while.  He played non-stop despite being eighty-one years old.  He kinda sounded like what your grandpa would sound like if your grandpa had good pipes.  You could tell he was having the time of his life and he was really grateful to his fans.  It was also obvious that he enjoyed playing with his sons (and his youngest daughter, Kelsey).  His guitar riff with his son Shane was spectacular.  The rain was at worst, a minor inconvenience.

Kelsey, Shane, John, and Tyler Fogerty on guitars.

Photos can be seen in my 2026-08 John Fogerty w/ Hearty Har, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO Google Photos album.

This Reminds Me Of Something ... Can't Quite Place It

Mutual of Omaha is building their new headquarters in downtown Omaha near the refurbished Gene Leahy Mall park.  It is now the tallest building in the city just surpassing the First National Bank of Omaha building on the right by 43 ft (13.1 m).  The building reminds me of something ...

Mutual of Omaha headquarters, Omaha, NE.

2026 Cape Town, South Africa, Part 3: Paragliding ... Food ... Dogs

July 18: Paragliding and more.

Since shark cage diving didn't kill us, today we took an Uber to Signal Mountain to go tandem paragliding.  Signal Mountain overlooks the oceanfront.  The clouds were low this morning and we were concerned about having to postpone.  As we were going through the orientation, the view we had of the ocean and the neighborhoods below us disappeared.  We joked around with our tandem partners as we waited to see what was going to happen with the weather and, as quick as the clouds came in, it cleared up.

Paragliding over Cape Town, the Atlantic Ocean, and the landing zone below us.

I didn't know what to expect.  It turned out paragliding is more like hot air ballooning than skydiving.  Once you get over the idea of running off of a mountain, the rest is very relaxing.  My tandem partner explained everything to me as he caught thermals to keep us up in the air.  The flight took us around one side of signal mountain, over an oceanfront neighborhood, over the Atlantic before landing in a seaside park.  He did offer to let me 'fly' the paraglider but I decided just to go along with the ride and let the professional do the flying.  The Wife and I really enjoyed the experience.

The park was busy with a 5k being run in the area.  Booths were set up selling running paraphernalia including one called 'Ass Magic'.   We were going to Uber to the hotel but realized the park wasn't that far from the Victoria & Albert (V&A) waterfront so we walked it.  We had some lunch there and did more shopping.

Singers and dancers at the Gold Restaurant.
(Photo taken by the Wife.)

In the evening we went to Gold Restaurant to eat local cuisine and watch dancers and singers.  The Wife made the innocent mistake of telling our server that it would be my birthday in a couple days and I ended up with the circle of singing servers wishing me a happy birthday.  Yeah ... not my favorite thing.  The Wife took several videos of the show ... Check them out in the Google Photos album.

July 19: A free day for church, more shopping, and minor distress.

Sunday morning started with ... intestinal distress.  Something I ate was not so golden at the Gold Restaurant.  Fortunately, I travel with medicine for exactly such situations.

We walked to a church for Mass before returning to V&A.  We were caught in the rain but we were prepared with our umbrellas.  This time we visited an enclosed, high-end market.  They had a lot of cool stuff but it was all overpriced.

A set of statues at V&A.
(Photo taken by the Wife.)

My intestinal distress cleared up by the end of the day.

July 20: A free day for the Museum of the Dog, the Iziko Slave Lodge, and a birthday dinner.

For my birthday we walked around old town starting with lunch and another visit to Green Market Square for some last minute shopping (We shop a lot and ... I spent a lot more than the Wife).

We walked to the Museum of Dogs which tells the history of Cape Town, and South African, life through the eyes of dogs and their owners.  It was, actually, interesting.  It helps if you do the scavenger hunt you can pick up at the front desk.

After the more light hearted Museum of Dogs, we walked to the much more serious Iziko Slave Lodge museum that chronicles slavery in South Africa.  We're not big museum people but we seem to be getting better in our old age as we are enjoying them more.

In the evening we went to Nelson's Eye Steakhouse for my birthday dinner.  The food was really good and there weren't any singing waiters or anything.

July 21: Castle of Good Hope and heading home.

Our flight home wasn't until 8:00PM so we visited the Castle of Good Hope, a mix of Castle and museum.  We spent time there going through the various military and historic museums and exploring the castle before we had to go to the airport.

The interior courtyard of the Castle of Good Hope with Table Mountain in the background.
(Photo taken by the Wife.)

We went to the airport early but this gave us time to eat a good lunch before we had to check in and go through security.

The return flight was an hour longer than the outbound flight but it went fairly quickly and we arrived mid-morning which is an odd time for us.

Cape Town is an interesting place and we took full advantage of the time we had there.  As we advance in age, this will probably be our last trip to Africa as we are shifting more to Europe and perhaps South America.  Cape Town's mixture of cultures made it a good place to finish off the continent.

Photos can be seen in my 2026-07 Cape Town South Africa Google Photos album.

2026 Cape Town, South Africa, Part 2: City ... Island ... Penguin Colony

July 15: City Walking Tour.

We didn't realize how tired we were from the shark cage diving the day before but we both ended up sleeping nearly eleven hours. Today we had a walking tour scheduled for the afternoon.  We walked from the hotel to the meeting point.  It was a drizzly day.  We ate at a great brunch place called Egghead before meeting with our guide.

The colorful Bo-Kaap neighborhood.

The gentleman who was supposed to be our guide was sick so he sent us Teresa.  She was a character.  She took us on a meandering walk past museums, historical buildings, parks, and districts like colorful Bo-Kaap.  Teresa was more of a friend showing off her hometown than a tour guide which suited us just fine.  She adjusted the route, avoiding places we'd visited on our free day, and added things we asked about.

The tour ended at the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront, an upscale shopping and eating area which we would visit multiple times during our stay.  V&A was also where the ferry we would take to Robben Island would leave.  We visited a three story souvenir shop and had lunch in a restaurant while watching dancers in a little square.

We decided to walk back to the hotel which turned out to be a little too much for us after walking all afternoon.  I'm not sure how far we walked but I would guess around 8 miles (12.9 km) total.

July 16: Robben Island and Table Mountain.

Today we took an Uber – they were dirt cheap in Cape Town – back to the V&A and took a ferry to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.  While he was imprisoned for a total of twenty-seven years, he spent eighteen of those years on Robben Island.

We disembarked the ferry on the island and got on busses that would take us around the island showing the various prisons on the island and talking about the various people who were imprisoned here.

Nelson Mandela's cell.

The final stop was the prison where Mandela had been held.  Here we were led by a former prisoner who explained about the conditions and the experiences of the prisoners.  He was an interesting man.

After returning on the ferry to V&A, we took an Uber to Table Mountain.

The rotating tram to Table Mountain.

Table mountain overlooks all of Cape Town.  While you can hike up to the top, we decided to take the tram.  The tram is one of three in the world that rotate as they move along the cable.  This allows the riders a complete 360° view during the ascent and descent.  We ate lunch and did some shopping at the top before taking in the beautiful views of Cape Town.  This day turned out to have the best weather of all our days in Cape Town so we were lucky.

A panorama of Cape Town from Table Mountain.

July 17: Cape of Good Hope and Penguins.

Our original itinerary had us going to Zimbabwe and taking a helicopter flight over Victoria Falls but, before we even left the States, we realized we didn't have any way to get to Zimbabwe and the tour was canceled.  Instead, the Wife booked a coastal tour.

One of the coastal overlooks on a hazy day.

The coastal tour picked us up at our hotel and took us along the coast visiting different parts of Cape Town along the coast.  We stopped at viewpoints to see the rough, boulder strewn coast along the Atlantic Ocean.

Some of the seals from Seal Island.

We got out of a van and got on a boat tour that took us out to Seal Island.  Someone onboard had a drone that probably got some incredible footage.

A female ostrich.

Back on land we did some shopping while we waited to join another van with more people which took us to an Ostrich farm before ending near the Cape of Good Hope.  We ate lunch here.

A baboon that passed me on the trail.

After lunch we had three options: A funicular up to a lighthouse, a short uphill hike to the lighthouse, or a roughly forty-five minutes hike down to the Cape of Good Hope.  The wife, a fan of funiculars chose the funicular ride.  The rest of the group, myself included, decided on the longer hike to the Cape of Good Hope.  Unfortunately, due to electrical fluctuations, the funicular closed right as the Wife was approaching the ticket booth window.

On the trail down to the Cape of Good Hope.

I didn't know this as I was already hiking down.  Along the way I was passed by three baboons that didn't seem to care about me ... one passing within six inches (15 cm) of me.  The hike was mostly downhill giving spectacular views of the rocky cliffs and a secluded beach.  Near the end the hike went up a little to a viewpoint above the cape.  The trail down from the viewpoint to the beach parking area was a bit treacherous – I wish I'd had my trekking poles.

African Penguins at Boulders Beach.

The bus picked up everyone at the bottom and we drove to Boulders Beach to see a penguin colony.  We had time to visit the African penguins.

After a brief delay when one of our bus mates went missing, we returned to our hotel.

Photos can be seen in my 2026-07 Cape Town South Africa Google Photos album.

2026 Cape Town, South Africa, Part 1: Three Words – Shark ࢈ Cage ࢈ Diving

July 11 - July 12: Getting There.

We Left Omaha at 8:00pm, one of the latest flights we've ever taken out of the airport.  This was the start of a combined sixteen to seventeen hours of flight time between Omaha, Atlanta, and Cape Town, South Africa.  The two flights and the one layover went remarkably smoothly.

Once we got to Cape Town, getting to our hotel was a bit ... hazardous though that might be too harsh a word for what eventually happened.  We went through a gauntlet of taxi drivers and, it turned out, fake Uber drivers.  We, unfortunately picked the wrong guy.  He got us to our hotel in a timely fashion but he tried to charge our credit card one hundred times the actual fare.  Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the fraudulent Uber driver, my credit card declined the charge.  I blame nobody but myself for walking into that mess.  Fortunately we didn't lose any money and, so far, our card number has not been used fraudulently.  Kudos to our credit card security folks.

July 13: A Free Day To Wander

Our first full day was a free day for us.  We filled it up with a few things.  First we walked to the District 6 museum.  Along the way we saw statues of Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu.  The museum was interesting telling the history of apartheid.  The museum is small but full of interesting, thought provoking  displays.

The District 6 Museum.
(Photo taken by the Wife)

After the museum we walked to the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flight into Egypt.  Unfortunately we could not go in due to restoration work that was going on ... and apparently it was a long way from being finished.  We did stop at a gift shop hoping to find a Mary figure that the Wife read about but they did not have it nor had they ever heard of it.  This would be the first time in years that the Wife would not come home with a new Mary figurine or icon.

One of the attractive walking paths in Cape Town.
(Photo taken by the Wife)

Next we went to Green Market Square to check out the market.  We would visit it several times during our stay in Cape Town.  One interesting thing is most tourist markets here are not limited to South African handicrafts but cover most of South Saharan Africa.  I presume that is because South Africa may be most travelers' one and only visit to the African continent.

From left to right: Ostrich, Kudu, and Springbok.
(Photo taken by the Wife)

In the evening we walked to Marco's African Place for dinner.  The restaurant serves different types of game animals and has live African music.  We had the Pan-African Platter which had grilled ostrich, Kudu, and Springbok.  I have to say, my meat palette really couldn't tell much difference between the three but they were all lean and good.

July 14: Shark Cage Diving!

The primary reason we selected Cape Town for our trip was shark cage diving.  We heard about it from some fellow travelers during our trip to China back in 2012.  Things have changed since 2012.  The great white sharks they were famous for are no longer there due to overfishing and unruly orcas.  Despite that, there were plenty of sharks to see.

A visitor that the crew hand fed on the way out to see the sharks.

We were picked up at our hotel and driven to Simon's Town, a township that is part of sprawling Cape Town.  We got on a small boat with twelve guests and four crew.  We stayed relatively close to shore even though you really couldn't see it.  We passed Seal island to see the seals, and the main meal for the sharks in the area.

We anchored and the cage went over the side.  The cage was lashed to the side of the boat.  We put on wetsuits.  Only ten of the twelve guests were going in (not everyone was comfortable doing this) so we got in the cage in groups of five.  We all used respirators tethered to the boat which allowed us to stay underwater indefinitely.  Now, it's winter time in South Africa and the water is cold.  The water temperature was actually higher than the air temperature but there was an initial shock when I slid into the cage.  I turned on my waterproof camera and I got an error – it couldn't read the card.  Fortunately, after a minute or two, it started to work.  I'm assuming it was a thermal shock to the camera as well.  We spent about twenty-five minutes in the water (The Wife and I were in the second group).  The first five to ten minutes were fine but I've noticed the video footage I took became more and more shaky as I stayed in the water.  By the time I got out I was shivering uncontrollably.  Here is a link to my first, unedited video which should give you an idea of what we saw.

A Bronze Whaler or Copper Shark seen from the boat.
(Photo taken by the Wife)

Despite being cold, I managed to take three videos that showed several sharks up close, lured by the chum that was tossed in the water.  The sharks are Copper or Bronze Whalers that grow up to 11 feet (3.3 m) long.  In some cases, the cage was shaken when a shark hit the cage with its tail.  The Wife and I were both very happy with our one, and most likely only, shark cage diving experience.  Highly recommended.

Note:  While I had three cameras with me, I let the Wife take most of the cell phone pictures I'll be using to document most of the trip.  I was too lazy to pull out my phone most of the time.

Photos can be seen in my 2026-07 Cape Town South Africa Google Photos album.

Our Front Door Is Temporarily Off Limits

The Wife went out to water the petunias on the front door entryway and discovered this in one of the planters:

A dove in the oven.

The nest and egg is a mourning dove egg.  We have seen her sitting on the nest and we have declared the front door closed for use until it hatches.

Mourning doves are not new to our house but this is the first nest in a potted plant.

Ephemera #175

I can't call this post Weekly Ephemera when I haven't been even close to being weekly.   Let's see if I can catch up with what has been happening over the month since my last ephemera post.

• Three weeks ago we went to the Hot Shops open house.  It had been a few years since the last time we'd attended one of these biannual open houses.  It was a beautiful day for it.  We went downtown, had lunch near the stadium, and walked over to Hot Shops.  We browsed the artists' studios and had a nice afternoon.  The Wife bought some Nun note cards and I bought a t-shirt with original art.
• Last weekend we went to Minneapolis to attend the confirmations of three of the Wife's cousins (third removed).  The Wife was sponsor for one of them.  We had a party and attended the ceremony at the cathedral.  It was nice.
• 
  Usually, when we visit family in Minneapolis we usually just do things with the cousins but this time we had some free time and we went to see Paisley Park, the studio, and eventually home, of Prince.  It was a very put together museum and tour.  The Wife was more into Prince than I was but I still found it interesting.  Photos were restricted in most areas but they did allow a few in one area of the complex.  (2026-05-18 Paisley Park Google Photos album)
• The weekend we went to the Brownville Flea Market, market as the world largest which I think is a bit exaggerated.  This is another thing we used to do regularly but haven't done in over five years.  We tried hard but we didn't find any treasures to buy.  We ate some delicious pulled pork and mac-n-cheese and headed back home empty handed.  I wasn't really looking for anything in particular but you could probably find anything you wanted there if you looked hard enough.
• I had my biannual blood draw a week ago.  My glucose and A1C numbers did improve a bit but my lipids inch up.  Most of those are still in the normal range but my HDL (good cholesterol) was well below the good range which sucks.  I have a visit with my nurse practitioner this coming week so we'll see what she thinks.
• My walking has been a bit sporadic.  Since my last Ephemera post, I've walked only 44.3 miles (71.2 km).  I even took last week off which wasn't helpful.  This week i'm going to get back into it ... as I have promises again and again and again and ...

Fifteenth Caminoversary ... How Time Flies

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of me starting my first Camino de Santiago.  I was excited and a bit nervous as I left St Jean Pied de Port, FR on a five hundred plus mile trek across northern Spain.  A walk that would change how I saw myself.  I have tried to recapture that feeling on other hikes but some first times cannot be repeated.

A sunrise full of promise.

This also marks the beginning of the Wife's Camino in 2023.  She also had a meaningful experience.  I guess the Camino has a way of touching people in special ways.

2026 Southwest Meander - Magnet Edition

We purchased seventeen magnets on our Southwest travels.  Some were catch-up for places we'd been before but didn't have a magnet like Ventura and Cambria, CA.  Here are a few of of my favorites:

A blown glass rose from Harmony, CA.

A Ventura butterfly.

A Dia de los Muertos magnet from Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

A sand painting magnet from the Kanab, UT area.

We now have around eight hundred fifty three magnets and I promise you, there will be more to come.

You can see all our magnets in the Travel Magnets tab at the top of the blog or in my 2006 - 2026 Travel Magnets Google Photos album.

2026 Southwest Meander - Days 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, And 13

The last six days didn't have any shows or planned activities.  It was just a visit to our old haunts in California.  While the first week of this trip was fun and interesting, the second half was like slipping on a favorite pair of socks.

Day 8 and 9 - Chinatown, Olvera Street, Oxnard, and Ventura.

We left Las Vegas and headed into California.  We didn't have any activities planned for the rest of our road trip except for destinations.

Our first stop was Chinatown in Los Angeles, CA.  We hadn't visited here since we left California in 2008.  Sadly, a couple of stores we remembered shopping at were no longer there.

From Chinatown we walked to Olvera Street.  Olvera Street was just like we remembered.  We stopped at a shop and bought Marys and magnets.

From Olvera Street we went to Simi Valley to visit a friend of the Wife.  We met him at his school and we talked as he showed us his school.

We ended up in Oxnard where I'd spent twenty years of my working life.  We drove by our old house and were sad that the new owners had torn out all our trees.

Channel Islands Harbor outside our hotel room.

We visited the Rudder Room, a dive bar the Wife used to visit with her coworkers.  As you walk into the Rudder Room you walk through a long hallway, passing by the bathrooms.  The hall reeks of urine.  Apparently the smell hasn't changed since 2008.  One of my old coworkers was in the bar but he didn't recognize me.  We hadn't seen each other for over twenty years so I decided not to approach him.  We never had been close anyway.  The Wife and I had a beer and diet soda sitting on the beach behind the bar.

We ate at In-and-Out Burger for dinner that night.  If you haven't eaten at In-and-Out Burger, you should try to find one.  Worth the trip.

The next day we were going to visit with a couple more of the Wife's friends but, due to bad timing, we were not able to meet with either of them.  Instead we went out for breakfast at Mrs Olson's, a restaurant we used to frequent for breakfast.  The Wife was a bit disappointed that they no longer offered Bubble and Squeak.

We then drove to downtown Ventura and walked the main street that was converted into a pedestrian way during COVID and has remained so.  We bought a few things in our favorite stores.  We ended the day with dinner at BJ's where I had a pizookie ... of course.

Day 10 - Harmony, CA, Cambria, CA and elephant seals.

We left Oxnard and drove north up the coast.  Our first stop was the tiny town of Harmony, population 18.  We'd visited the town several times over the years and we've watched it change.  Originally it only had a post office and a pottery shop.  Restaurants and a chapel were closed.  A few years later the post office closed, but the small wedding chapel reopened and a small glass blowing place opened.  Now, the glass blowing place has grown larger, a wine bar and coffee shop has opened, and a small house that had always been at the entrance of this tiny town is now an AirBnB.

An elephant seals sunning himself.

Next we drove through Cambria.  Cambria is our happy spot.  We used to visit it when we just needed to get out of town for a day when we lived in California.  It was too early to eat so we headed farther up the coast to see the elephant seals.  There weren't as many as before but I think the population of seals varies depending on the season.  It was nice that there were wild life people there to answer people's questions, something that hadn't been there before.

We returned to Cambria and ate at the Main Street Grill that serves very good tri-tip sandwiches.  We eat here every time we visit Cambria.  I bought a t-shirt.  Then we walked through the town and shopped at garden stores, boutiques, and artist's store fronts.  We bought clothes and magnets.  I bought an african bowl made from woven electrical wire, an interesting mix between traditional weaving and modern materials.  The weather was perfect for our Cambria meander.  We stopped for some ice cream before we headed to our hotel to check in.

The Moonstone beach boardwalk.

We crossed the road in front of our hotel and walked the boardwalk along Moonstone beach.  We walked out on the rocks and found anemones in tidal pools.  It was windy and cold along the boardwalk.  I suspect it is always windy and cold along the water here despite the town main street being warm and inviting.

A tide pool anemone.

Day 11 - The World Famous Clown Motel

We left Cambria and drove across California, through a foggy central valley, through the desert, past Manzanar, before taking a windy, twisty-turny, road through the mountains that had drops that made your stomach float up in zero-G.  It was fun ... and a bit harrowing, frankly. 

The destination for the day was the town of Tonopah, NV.  There were two reasons to stop here.  First it was on the way to one of the Wife's students, which we hoped to visit.  Unfortunately their schedule prevented us from visiting.  Our luck with meeting friends on this trip was abysmal.

The second reason was the World Famous Clown Motel ... America's scariest motel. We stayed in the Exorcist room.  I'd wanted to stay here since I first heard of it years ago.  It was a weird place which, naturally made it an awesome place to stay.

The Exorcist Room.

Day 12 and 13 - The drive home

Our last two days were long ... nine to ten hour drives.  The last day, when we left Rawlins, WY the weather was terrible and the highway was icy .  We crawled along with traffic passing several semi trucks in the ditch .

In Nebraska we saw sandhill cranes during their yearly migration.

We were ready to get home after thirteen days on the road but we saw some cool things along the way.  We are starting to get a bit old to be in the car that long but we did this trip well.  Except for the last two days, out drives were reasonable.  The Wife and I tried to split the drive evenly which worked out great for both of us.  The next planned trip will be an international one in late July – Capetown, South Africa.

2026 Southwest Meander - Day 7

Day 7 - Las Vegas, NV

We left Kanab, UT and drove three hours, through beautiful landscapes and barren flats, to Las Vegas, NV.  We've been to Las Vegas many times before, not for the gambling, but for the shows.  This time would not be different.

When I picked a hotel in Las Vegas, I picked one that I'd thought we'd stayed at before a few years back but, totally by accident, I picked one that we'd never been to before but located in the perfect location for what we were planning to do.

The Judges and VIP section of the arena.

The first show we were going to was in the early afternoon and located, literally, across the street from our hotel.  The Battlebots Destruct-A-Thon was located in the Battlebots arena.  We walked over and, first things first, we went to the gift shop for a t-shirt, a magnet, a piece of 'Scrapnel' (a piece of scrap shrapnel from a battle bot with a certificate of authenticity), and a few gifts.

Several BattleBots were on display.

We entered the arena which included the same battlefield you see in Battlebots on TV (now on YouTube).  They were not filming a new show at the time but they hold daily shows.  I learned a few things.  There are multiple copies of each battlebot  When they aren't filming, random battlebots are selected to battle and a group of substitute drivers cycle through the running of the battles.  The owner/designers of the BattleBots only drive when they are filming.  Now before you start thinking these substitute drivers are professionals or anything, I ended up buying Red Vines and chips from one of them at the concession stand where we joked about having to feed the munchies and he looked like he had a lot of experience with the munchies.

They staged four battles which felt like you were watching the show on TV just more exciting in person.  One of the announcers, Bill Dwyer, was one of the original TV hosts for the BattleBots show on Discovery. Unfortunately, the lighting, the protective plexiglass, and the speed of the battlebot movements made it difficult to photograph the actual battles.

The Sphere from the outside, flowers projected on its surface.

After we left the BattleBots arena we walked the one mile to the Sphere.  Here we would be watching an AI enhanced copy of the original "Wizard of Oz".  The sphere is an incredible venue.  The actual venue takes up maybe two thirds of the sphere with the other third being full of escalators to get people to their seats.  We were pretty high up and, I suspect, anyone with a fear of heights would have issues entering the venue.  The stairs are very steep and I held on to the railings as I walked to my seat.

The "Wizard of Oz" in the Sphere.

The movie started with a small projection like a normal movie theater then at the perfect time the movie expanded to fill the inside of the venue.  AI was used to wrap the film around the inside of the Sphere.  Most of this was seamless but there were a few glitches here and there but, having said that, it was very impressive.  A large gasp rose from the audience when the projection expanded.  There were other things to enhance the movie experience like paper leaves flying around the venue during the tornado scene.  I was surprised how much of the movie I'd totally forgotten about.  Scene after scene seemed new to me even though I'd watched this movie a kajillion times.  Shows you how little I'd paid attention, and how much my memory simply forgot, watching it as a child.

Psychedelic Sphere.

The best part of the Sphere, frankly, was the graphics that are projected on the outside of the venue.  I probably could have sat there all day just watching it change.  It was particularly spectacular at night.

We managed to get out of Las Vegas without gambling even once and I didn't miss it.

Next ... Oxnard, Cambria, and the Clown Motel.

Photographs can be found in my 2026 Southwest Meander Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #172

I haven't been very good at writing lately.  I have skipped several Weekly Ephemera posts and I have not documented important things in my life such as the family funeral in Texas.  I have been ... out of my rhythm since the beginning of the year.  I am catching up, slowly but surely.  Hopefully I will re-find my groove sometime soon.

• March Madness (college basketball) started this week so the Wife has hidden away in the she-shed watching multiple games simultaneously.  I have putzed around upstairs, mostly watching "The Repair Shop" on the Roku channel.
• Since I last reported my walks, I have only walked seven times totalling 48.3 miles (77.8 km).  I have struggled to walk longer distances and consistently during the week.  I think I am running into a situation where my diabetic medication may be reducing my energy.  I have noticed that, when I eat more carbs, I feel better on my walks.  Perhaps the medication is finally kicking in and lowering my blood sugar.  It does seem to have lowered my weight as I've dropped five to seven pounds since I started taking it.
• This week I have to take the car in for an oil change after putting over six thousand miles on it in the last couple months.  I also have an MRI scheduled to get my prostate imaged.

Have a good day! ... Take a smile.

2026 Southwest Meander - Days 4, 5, And 6

The next part of our road trip took us to a beautiful place picked out by the Wife.  Our original hope was to get permits to go see the Wave, a rock formation in the North Coyote Butte.  Permits are granted by lottery and are limited to a very small number each day.    We didn't get permits the 'normal' way but the company we went through would check to see if there were any cancellations.  Unfortunately there were none.  This is to be expected since we had heard stories of people trying for permits for five or even ten years unsuccessfully.  The company we worked through did offer us other hikes similar to the wave in the area so it wasn't a loss.  The company package we paid for included lodging in Kanab, UT just north of the area where we would be hiking, two guided hikes, and a dinner in a nice restaurant in our hotel.

I did not do my homework leaving all the planning to the Wife.  Because of this I arrived in Kanab without my Tilley hat, which I always wear when I hike, or my GPS.  So I have no distances for the hikes we did.  Still kicking myself a little bit.

Day 4: Getting to Kanab, UT

We left Oracle fairly early and drove the seven to eight hours to Kanab, UT.  Our hotel was nice with a fireplace in our room.  We went out looking for dinner and got a shock at how expensive the food was.  Having said that, restaurant choices were limited in Kanab and the food was delicious.

Day 5: South Coyote Butte

Undulating layers of petrified sand.

While we didn't get a permit to the Wave, we did manage to get a permit, with the help of the company, to South Coyote Butte.  South Coyote Butte has formations similar to the Wave and, according to our guides, has a more diverse landscape.

We had two guides, one an experienced guide, the other a trainee though he also was experienced with desert hiking.  The drive to the trailhead was two and a half hours with a stop along the way to use the facilities and chocolate chip cookies.

A fossil footprint.
The layers under the fossil have weathered away showing the underside of the dinosaur fossil print.

The hike was three to four hours long with a lunch break.  We saw beautiful wavy rock formations and fossils.  The views along the hike were spectacular.  There was something new to see around each corner.

The varied landscape of the South Coyote Butte.

After returning to the hotel we ate our included meal.  We had $150 worth of coupons from the company and we used most of it.  I ended up ordering the bone-in prime rib which turned out to be two and a half pounds (1.13 kg) of meat.  I ate maybe a third in the restaurant.  Another third would be eaten in our room on our last day in Kanab.

Day 6: White Pocket

The white formations from White Pocket.

Our second hike was in a place called White Pocket.  We had a single guide this time and we were joined by a man, his son, and the father's partner.

Not everything at White Pocket is white but they are all amazing.

We had the same two and a half hour drive to the trailhead.  The scenery and formations here were quite different from those of South Coyote Butte.  Over the next three to four hours we explored the variety of white and multicolored formations in the area.  So close to where we were the day before but with such different formations and colors.

Next ... Robots and Witches.

Photographs can be found in my 2026 Southwest Meander Google Photos album.