Hot rocks and cool coatis: a visit to Chiricahua National Monument
This week I’ll take you on a visit Chiricahua National Monument, billed by the National Park Service as, “A Wonderland of Rocks.” So strap in and get ready for lots of pictures of…
Rocks.
Big rocks. Tall rocks. Round rocks. Skinny rocks.
OK, I’ll stop channeling Dr. Seuss. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah:
Rocks.
Also coatimundi, a/k/a coatis, possibly the cutest animals I’ve ever seen in a national park.
Also memes.
But first: This post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get this party started.
Weekly Weather Whining
For the last week+, we’ve enjoyed a lovely break from Satan’s-anus-level temperatures. We had clouds! We had rain! I fantasized about pumpkin spice donuts and considered getting the Halloween props out.
It was glorious.
And now?
Sigh.
On the bright side:
Chiricahua National Monument
OK, enough about the weather. Let’s visit the Chiricahuas! We spent a night in Willcox earlier this month (see my post about visiting Willcox for photos/details) and drove into the park the next morning.
The Chricahuas are famous for hoodoos. A hoodoo, according to Wikipedia, is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. We saw lots of ’em.
Hoodoos and scenic views
Temps were in the 90s while we were there, so we did most of our sightseeing from the car. We managed one short hike–about a half-mile section of the Echo Canyon Trail to a place called the Grottoes. The trail winds through the bases of hoodoos and other enormous rocks.
Views from the Grottoes
Here’s Long-Suffering Husband doing his Atlas (or maybe Sisyphus) impression:
And yours truly attempting a pose (also attempting to not die of heatstroke):
Clearly Long-Suffering Husband is much better at posing than I am. Good thing I’m not trying to make a living as an Instagram model.
Coatis
Besides the big rocks (excuse me, hoodoos), Chiricahua National Monument is known for coati. Coati (a/k/a coatimundi) are related to raccoons. They’re found in South and Central America, Mexico–and Arizona and New Mexico (thanks once again to Wikipedia for ensuring my posts are not entirely fact-free). Coati are also adorable. We saw several family groups near the main road through the park, but getting photos was tricky, because they move fast. These photos were taken from our car.
So to sum up our visit to Chiricahua National Monument: big rocks and cute animals. Works for me.
The memery
Let’s start off with some language humor:
Let’s keep the English major humor rolling:
And of course:
This one goes out to people of a certain age who watched a lot of TV as kids:
And finally, some academic humor:
I made it nice and big so you don’t miss the fine print. I really want to try this at a library conference. And maybe I will–the year I retire.
How was your week? Posed with any hot rocks lately?
25 Comments
Joanne
Other than the heat at that national monument, we’d really enjoy that! I actually knew what a Coati was since my younger boys spent many years learning about some more obscure animals like Aye Ayes, Sifakas, and the like. We’ve never gotten to see any in the wild though!
Janet Alcorn
I remember learning about coatis, aye ayes, etc. from my son watching Zoboomafoo. It was pretty cool to see coatis in the wild. They really are adorable.
Lydia C. Lee
That proof reading meme is 100% me. I keep thinking I’ll start to do it before send but I never do. And I walk and tweet so it’s a total mess most of the time. As for Coati, I’ve never heard of them. How do you get to be this old and still learn of new ANIMALS!?! The world is such an amazing place! They are so cute. #WeekendCoffeeShare
Janet Alcorn
I try not to walk and Tweet, because I’m clumsy. I almost fell down some stairs once b/c I was texting. Learned my lesson.
You’re right – the world really is an amazing place. I have no doubt there are many animals out there I’ve never heard of. It’s been fun living in a new region of the country and learning about new critters.
Marsha
I just read a friend’s post about hoodoos in Australia. Then you write about them practically in our backyard. I love it. I’m sending her this link. I loved all the proofreading memes. I have definitely done the title one more than once – sadly! I didn’t get 834 views, though! I laughed out loud at the safety of our backseats! Always love your posts. Janet! 🙂
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! It seems like the rare times someone with a large following on Twitter retweets me, there’s a typo in my tweet. *sigh*
The coolest hoodoos I’ve ever seen were in Bryce Canyon. There are also some along the Catalina Highway, a/k/a the road from Tucson to Mt. Lemmon.
Marsha
This winter, I’m going to put them on my bucket list of things to see! Thanks for the info. I wrote it in my journal – yay!
Barbara Ann Mealer
We had enough rain for a flash flood in the wash. And luckily we’ve been below 90 most of the week. And yes, I generally don’t see the typo until after hitting send.
Janet Alcorn
Hooray for rain, but I hope the flood didn’t do any harm. We were below 100 for most of last week, but now the heat is back. 106 yesterday, and I think it’s supposed to be 109 today. *sigh*
Melis
HA! No rock posts here recently but I am a big fan of rocks 🙂 Looks like you had a lovely excursion! Your memery was on point this week, thanks for the chuckles. I fully support creating a poster for the conference but you’d have to record people’s reactions 😉 Hope you have a great weekend!!!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks for stopping by! I love the idea of recording people’s reactions to the fake poster. Definitely a good place for a trail cam (and this is why I probably shouldn’t be allowed out unsupervised 🙂 )
trent
Thinking of English and perhaps misuse of vocabulary taken together with slight dyslexia, when I first read the name of those critters my first thought went on how those cute baby critters were created. Anyway, I won’t take that thought any further…
I am assuming that poster is both the research and the ultimate results of that research. Interesting that the conclusion was part of the experimentation.
I hope you are enjoying your weekend.
Janet Alcorn
LOL. I like the idea of a fake poster as a tool for researching human behavior. Hope you had a good weekend too.
Maria
The Echo Canyon Trail look amazing! I’d love to hike it one day, preferably in the winter 🙂
Janet Alcorn
I think it would be lovely in the fall. Probably cool and crisp with clear blue skies. I’ll have to go back sometime other than summer and hike further.
Scribble and Scran
Loving the pose and those great views! I’d not heard of a Coati, I’d just have said look at the Raccoons!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! We have raccoons too, though I don’t see many here in town. Had tons of them when I lived in Flagstaff, always menacing our chickens. Raccoons are cute but really destructive. I’d rather have coati.
leannelc
That’s a lot of very interesting rocks! and the coatis were very cute – so different to the countryside around where I live.
Janet Alcorn
I never cease to be amazed at the diversity of this world. Even just here in Arizona, there are so many different ecosystems. As much as I appreciate the idea of an unbusy retirement, I hope to travel some when I retire, because there’s so much of this world I’ve never seen.
Gary A Wilson
Yep Janet.
Mangled a title? Check.
I’ll meet your mangled title and raise you how I once copied a previous post for formatting and forgot to change the title – before hitting send. . . argh!
Whined about the heat? double check – a repeat offender I am.
I’m that guy who will actually water the lawn, in the full heat so I can do some of my daily steps in the sprinkler. . . aaahhhhhhh. . .
Had not mapped the word hoodoo to it’s definition. Embarrassed – but check anyway.
I’ve hiked a lot and seen lots of these. How could I have missed the name for them.
I even toyed with the idea of being a geologist in high school but decided that it would be too hard to get one of the 14 actual jobs in the US that were not involved in chasing oil fields for a living.
Had no clue what a coati is. . . Reluctant Check. I try to know such things but in my defense they live where no sane human would . . .
Loved the memes once again.
The weekend coffee shares are so much more fun when you’re around, stirring things up.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks so much, Gary! Your comment about the sprinkler brings back fond memories of playing in sprinklers when I was a kid. Not a bad way to beat the heat!
LOL at geology jobs. You’re right: it’s pretty much the petroleum industry or teaching. Or if you’re really lucky, working on a space mission like the people who will analyze the Bennu sample when it lands. I’ve decided to settle for rockhounding.
I learned about coati from a kids’ TV show my son used to watch. Never thought I’d get to see them in real life.
Natalie
Those are very interesting rocks. I saw coatis when I was in Argentina. Thank you for your weekend coffee share and the memes 🙂 Have a great week!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Hope you have a great week too.
Kirstin Troyer
Yikes on those temps. I couldn’t do it. Those rocks are amazing. I’ve heard of Coatis (probably on the kids show Zaboomafoo when my girls were little), The post meme was funny. So true.
Janet Alcorn
I first heard of them on Zoboomafoo too. My son loved that show. I didn’t realize they lived in Arizona till I moved here.