It’s my 77th birthday today, and, since this is petroglyph week, I decided to repost a couple of older blogs although I may be a tad sensitive about the ‘older’ designation. (Grin) Actually Peggy bought me a new light weight sleeping bag. She wants us to do Oregon next year following the PCT from the Oregon border to the Washington border. We are still thinking ‘younger’ around here. Anyway, enjoy the petroglyphs of Dinosaur National Monument today and Sego Canyon tomorrow. On Friday, I’ll be back on schedule, maybe, with the Snakes of Three Rivers petroglyph site! Also, I will hold on responding to comments and checking in on your blogs, but I will get there on Friday and the weekend. Now it is time to go play! We are on the Oregon Coast again, this time in Florence.
Peggy and I crossed over the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument and followed the road toward the cabin of Josie Basset Morris, a tough old pioneer woman who had worked her way through five husbands and finally discovered she preferred living alone.
The river, mountains and distant vistas entertained us along the way. Two prominent landmarks, Elephant Toes and Turtle Rock, lived up to the names the early settlers had bestowed on them. I found the big toes particularly amusing.
The true surprise on our way to Josie’s, however, was the Indian rock-art. Huge six-foot lizards had been pecked into the cliff faces high above the Cub Creek Valley. One can only wonder if the Native Americans of the Fremont Culture had somehow made the correlation between dinosaur bones found throughout Dinosaur National Monument and really big lizards. Or did small lizards so prominent in desert environment serve as the models?
Numerous other petroglyphs also demanded our attention. We even found a partial image of Kokopelli, the hunch backed flute player found in ancient rock-art from Mexico to Canada and whose image has been applied on everything from jewelry, to blankets, to pottery in today’s gift shops throughout the West. Kokopelli was both a musician and trickster god, but mainly he was a fertility deity known for his bad behavior. Watch out fair maidens one and all.
NEXT POST: The Aliens of Sego Canyon
Wandering through Time and Place 
Happy B’day Curt! Love these glyphs and graphs.
Thanks, Cindy. Much appreciated. –Curt
Happy Birthday, Curt!! Glad to hear you are still thinking young (Elaine Ooley would be proud!). Love the rock formations and looking forward to what you’ll have for us next!
ENJOY your day!!
Thanks, G! Enjoyed the day and the week. 🙂 More fun petroglyphs coming. –Curt
Happy Birthday Curt.
Happy trails.
Regards Thom
Thanks, Thom. Appreciated. –Curt
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. Love the smiley petroglyph.
Thanks, Peggy. Hard to get a bigger smile than that! 🙂 –Curt
Happy Birthday Curt! Know you’ve got lots of plans for this celebration but hope the actual day was full of fun — somehow think that Peggy will have made sure of that 😀
It was full of great fun, AC. We were in a beautiful location with great weather and Peggy spoiled me rotten! Doesn’t get much better. 🙂 –Curt
Well, I’ve been called an old dinosaur by my kids, and there’s some truth to it. But I’m happy to be on the planet and still kicking! Happy 77th birthday to you. And thanks for these good photos. I love petroglyphs mainly because it gives me hope that I, too, could draw a stick figure on a rock if I chose to do so. But I might not include all those private parts!!!
I suspect you would leave off the ‘private parts,’ Rusha. Laughing. They are quite common on petroglyphs, however. And some are much more graphic! And thanks for the good wishes. Appreciated. –Curt
Great shots as always, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hoping it was terrific one!
Thanks, Ann. And it was/is. Since I get seven days, one for each decade, I have a couple left. 🙂 –Curt
That’s the way to do a birthday!
🙂
Happy birthday, Curt! I’d say the real guy peering over the edge of the rocks is a perfect representation of you: curious, willing to push the boundaries a little, and very, very alert! Here’s to many more years of putting those qualities to work!
Thank you, Linda. That’s special. And I am all for the many more years. 🙂 –Curt
Happy Birthday (belated). These petroglyphs make one think it’d be interesting to be a fly on the wall…
Thanks, Dave. And wouldn’t it be interesting to step into a totally different world. –Curt
Happy birthday, Curt! Hope you had a great day and week!
Thanks, Kelly. The weather on the coast was gorgeous! We had a great time.
Happy Belated Bday Curt. Still goin’ strong I see. I must admit that when we visited Dinosaur, our primary focus was on the dino bones, so we didn’t spend much time on petroglyphs, so as always, your photos are interesting to see.
We’ve just cancelled a month-long trip to South Africa, so we’re sorta bummed, but given the panic, it’s probably for the best. When I see all your photos of the countryside around this area, my first thought is: What a great place for “Social Distancing.” All the best to you and Peggy. ~James
First, James, thanks for the birthday wishes. And we too, just cancelled a trip. Ours was through the Panama Canal. Peggy lived there in the 70s and was ever so eager to return. Oh well. Later. And yes, as you are aware, all kinds of social distancing available in the Southwest. 🙂 –Curt