New Visitors

Thanks to Joe Baker's posts, this blog has received many new visitors since Jim's death. Just so you know, the blog begins more or less at the end but loosely conforms to a time-line. At the end of our trip, I was spending most of our limited time by posting pictures, with very little commentary . These are basically postcards from the west. Jim did not like to be photographed, so there you are. The earlier posts - you will have to page through - are much more Jim-centric. Enjoy.

Above, Jim rises to check out Herman the Sturgeon, a massive fish said to be over 70 years old. This is at the historic fish hatchery on the Columbia river, about 75 miles east of Portland.

Howard Levy 1951-2011

Jim died today. He had been unconscious since Monday, receiving only palliative care at Gilchrist Hospice. His wife, Robin, was shaving his face when I left him at 2:30. He died around 3 PM.

Jim lived life at full speed.

Adios and thank you for everything.

June 3, 2011 ~ Butchart Gardens - Victoria, BC

Here are some photos of our visit to the famous Butchart Gardens in Victoria. We saw the gardens on the evening of our last night on the ship. Victoria is, of course, a beautiful city, teeming with life. The gardens are outside of town in an old limestone quarry in the grounds of an old concrete manufacturing plant.

Above, sailing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to reach Victoria, BC.

Above, our extraordinary facilitator from HollandAmerica, Heather, who arranged bus transport to the gardens for Jim.

(click on the photos for a better view)

Weather

Top - sunset in Salina. Below - sunrise the next morning.

In the past two days we have driven more than 1,300 miles - driving from Grand Junction, Colorado to Indianapolis. Crossing the plains from Denver to Salina, Kansas we had a bad thunderstorm and a funnel cloud follow us down the highway. This morning in Salina we left in a terrible storm but it dwindled to nothing in about an hour of driving.

Leaving Utah for Home

Morning in Capitol Reef National Park. The two pictures, below, show some petroglyphs, about 1,000 years old. The figures are small, and are just above the line of boulders in the lower half of the photographs.
















Leaving Capitol Reef, above, and coming into Moab, entrance to Arches National Park, below.
Below, this is called Park Avenue.



















Below, this is known as the Delicate Arch.


Leaving Arches, we took Idaho 128 north and east to get back to I-70 and our hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. This road follows the Colorado River as it snakes through eastern Utah. We saw only about ten other cars on this 80 mile drive. There are at least two dude rances operating in this valley.


































At least half the photos on this post are by Ernie Conaway, who is also a fearless rock scrambler.

This Is The Place

Above, view from our room at the Circle D in Escalante.

Manager of our motel.

This is what a non-accessible bathroom looks like.

Our superb breakfast cook.

Below, beginning the drive from Escalante to Torrey via Utah Highway 12.



Black Boulder Mesa, just outside Boulder, Utah




Below, view from Nancy Kurtz's land at Black Boulder Mesa.




Below, at the home of Tom and Claire Bartelt, full time residents of Black Boulder Mesa.



























Local residents.





Below, road from Boulder to Torrey, over the mountain. This shot was take at about 8,000 feet.

Gateway to Capitol Reef National Park, below.



























At the Chuckwagon motel in Torrey.






Best Meal of the trip. Cafe Diablo, below.







Above, rattlesnake.


Above, Utah lamb. Below, Ernie's tamale.




Above, Jim's flank steak.





Chefs at Cafe Diablo.



Usual smog-free sunset behind the restaurant.

Time for bed.