Working Our Way to Old Faithful...

We bid goodbye to Carol and Duane and Colorado Springs and headed northwest. Colorado is absolutely beautiful, no one will ever argue that statement. As we drove along, on our way to Aspen, (to see one of mom's first cousins), we were reminded time and again of God's Wondrous Works. We decided to stop for lunch at the Westside cafe in Vail. For my friends in Texas, the temperature at about 12:30 was a very breezy 60 degrees...we were cold!

We arrived in Aspen mid-afternoon. Aspen is a very cute town but not easy to get to. It's not "on-the-way" to anywhere so I guess you call that a "destination." Mom's cousin, Frank is better known in those parts as the "Aspen Goldsmith." He has a shop on E. Cooper. Frank is a jeweler and is a gifted designer of jewelry which he sells, of course, in his shop along with pieces from other designers. Unfortunately, we were unable to stay in Aspen long enough to meet up with his wife, Piper, but we did enjoy a good, though short, visit over some delicious coffees. We'll see you at the reunion in October, Frank and Piper!

Soon, we were back on the road, this time headed due North to Wyoming. If you've been following our trip, via my posts, you might remember my description of New Mexico at the beginning of this voyage...I described Southern New Mexico as being so barren of life, there is no excrement to be found. Well, Southern Wyoming may share that distinction. We drove for HOURS and never saw another car nor any other life forms. We stopped at one gas station/potty stop in a town that boasted a population of...wait for it...75. How the heck do you even count yourself as a village when your population is 75. My real question is, how many of the 75 are sheep? We FINALLY came to the town of Rock Springs, Wyoming and spent the night...nothing memorable about that, (in fact, I had to ask mom where we stayed...OK, maybe I was a little tired that night). But, the next day, as we headed for Jackson and points north, like it did in New Mexico, the scenery started to change.

Jackson, (aka Jackson Hole...I don't know why the same place is known by both names), is fantastic! Its sort of a combination of a small "old west" town where you almost expect to see locals riding their horses down main street to the "general store," and a modern city. There are art galleries next to western wear stores which are next to restaurants and ice cream shops. Art galleries, museums and art supply stores, however, are everywhere...very cool, diverse, eclectic feel for this town. Like so many places we visited on this trip, I would love to come back here and explore the area over the course of a week or more.  

There is a very cute park in the middle of the downtown area, its pictured on the right. At each corner is an arch, like the ones shown in the pics, made of antlers. I have no idea whether the antlers/horns were ever a physical part of any deer/elk/antelope species, but the look and feel of the grand entryways is unique and we both loved it. Inside the park, people (locals? tourists? combination?) sat, visited, played, picniced etc. It was idyllic, no question about it. Who wants to go back with me?

Not far North of Jackson is the Grand Teton National Park. The best word to describe the park is WOW! The mountain range is magnificent! (I have a picture of myself pointing to the peak known as "Grand Teton" but I figured the caption "look at those tetons" was just to sophomoric and I decided to be a mature adult about it and chose not to use that particular photo, but, use your imaginations).


We spent more time at Grand Teton than we thought we would, (partly because if is so beautiful and partly because we both had "bootie lock), so we arrived at Yellowstone later in the day than we originally planned--a common theme during this trip. Anyway, it had also started to rain...A LOT! We decided that, despite the warnings we had heard about lodging in Yellowstone being difficult to come by, (our friend Melissa suggested that we book a room there about three days before we started this little journey), we decided to give it a shot. Well, guess what...the people two ahead of me in line got the last room in the park...(expletive-deleted). Oh well, one of the very nice "gift-shop people" suggested that the nearest town, West, Montana, might have rooms. We phoned and they did so we were set.

Did I mention that it was COLD!

West, Montana, it turns out, is on a path that would take us right past "Old Faithful." PERFECT! We drove over to see the geysers. I don't know exactly what I was expecting but "Old Faithful" is actually one of several geysers in the area. Actually, there are several different geyser "basins" within the park...pretty cool...(as long as you don't dwell on the fact that that largest volcano in North America is immediately under your feet and could potentially spew millions of tons of rock, poisonous gas, molten lava etc...well, you get the picture). Anyway, we were there in time to see the show.


One of the most amazing things about the geyser's show was that it really does go off at a regular and predictable interval, (yes, I know that's why they named it Old Faithful, but it was still cool to see that it lives up to its name

So, after the show, we stopped for a bite to eat and headed west, out of the park, to West, Montana. Another very cute town. This was also our farthest planned point west so the morning marked our "turn for home." As much as that sounds like our trip was nearly over, we still saw several exciting sights and had more exploring to do...

ttfn,

Lois

We Hit the Peak!

Pike's Peak, that is. It would be so sad to say that days 3 & 4 of our trip were the peak of what turned into 10 days. However, given the company we kept, it would not be far off to make that statement, either. I'll get to that in a minute...Day 3 we awoke in Manitou Springs, Colorado. What a CUTE little town. It is also where one boards the Manitou-Pike's Peak cog railroad which is the highest cog railway in North America. So, the temperature was cool in Manitou Springs, but it certainly was comfortable. We bought our tickets and boarded the train. Then, mom started coughing so I went to get her a bottled water. While in the shop, there were a couple of "kids" looking for sweatshirts...now, I'm from S-Central Texas. I'm not accustomed to people talking about sweatshirts in August so I asked the sales-clerk if we really needed sweatshirts on Pike's Peak. She responded that the current temperature was 42 degrees but that it had fallen from 44...WHAT!!! Yep, I bought us each a sweatshirt and we were off.

It took us over an hour to get to the top but the ride was pretty straight and no one complained about suffering from motion-sickness and it was comfortably cool. Then, about 2/3 of the way up, we decided that it was a little too cool so we put our sweatshirts on.  As we continued our climb to the top, the conductor regaled us with tales of earlier explorers and adventurous souls who thought it would be great to live on the mountain and try their hand at taming "Mother Nature." However, for most, it's like the old commercial used to advise: "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature"--not advisable either.

temp was 41

windchill was 32

The views from the top and the beauty you see are unbelievable. I do not have the words to adequately explain the immense panorama you find at >14,000 feet. Trees do not grow that high but particular species of mammals are hardy enough to thrive in this environment.
So after too short a time, we boarded the train for our descent back to Manitou Springs. We enjoyed a great lunch and headed for my cousin Duane's house.

Duane is my dad's nephew, (that is, Duane's mom and my dad were siblings) and he was raised in Kansas, near Wichita. Growing up, we visited my paternal relatives on occasion, that is, maybe once a year. My parents had the five of us very close together and travelling with young children, toddlers and infants was certainly not something anyone (then or now) would have dreamed about. As we got older, my sisters and I always wanted to get to know Dad's family. You see, we were (and still are) close to mom's side and wanted the same types of relationships with Dad's. Time, circumstances and distances kept us from getting close to most of them, except Aunt Dorothy, (Duane's mom). She and my dad maintained a close relationship so we did get to know them the best. Duane is an interesting combination of traits. There are so many things about him that remind me of my dad. Physically, they share some likeness but, even more important to me, their personalities are similar. Both highly intelligent, self-motivated and driven to succeed. However, it is their sense of humor that draws me. Duane is a NUT!!! There is just no other way to describe him. He has such a dry sense of humor, you can just never be sure if he is being honest or telling you a whopper of a lie.  

"kissing camels" at Garden of the Gods"

Duane and his wife (the saint) Carol, live in Colorado Springs, very near the Garden of the Gods. Their home is beautiful and they were great hosts. Our first night there, we sat on their back patio and shared drinks, told stories, (mostly true...I think), and reminisced. It was a great time. After a couple of hours, we decided we'd better think about eating dinner...I would have been fine with more of my Gentleman Jack but eating was probably a good idea too. We decided on pizza and Carol ordered. When it arrived, the pizza was rectangular in shape. Duane had his fodder...for the remainder of the night, we heard comments about "square" pizza. Things like: "how in the world can anyone call this a pizza pie...pies are round." Well, obviously this is one of those "location" stories (you just had to be there...) but it was classic Duane and I loved it. I was immediately transported to my youth and the bantering of my dad and my Aunt Dorothy.

Colorado red granite

View from the road to the Peak

Our original plans were to spend only one night with Duane and Carol, then hit the road again. We decided to stay an additional day. Duane and I drove up to Pike's Peak on our 4th day. It was simply, breathtaking! I have to say, I enjoyed both means of transportation to the top. They actually take approximately the same time and they are completely different. The scenery to the top via the drive is much better. Additionally, there are multiple "turnouts" for those all important "Kodak moments."

Duane 

As beautiful as it was, for me, the best part was getting to spend a couple of hours with Duane. We discussed life, work, and family. We told stories, (mostly true...I think) and shared some of the most incredible beauty I have ever seen.

All-in-all, maybe we did hit the peak of our trip on days 3-4...




Come back to see what the next several days were like.
TTFN

Lois

My "Enchanted" Guardian Angel...

South Zone

On day two, we bid good bye to Clovis and turned North toward the "Enchanted Circle." I can't wait to tell you about that place and, more importantly how I found it, but you just have to drive with us through New Mexico.

Middle zone

Mom's idea of how to survive the
drive through New Mexico.

Whiskey for me and beer for the horses.

North Zone

To be fair, New Mexico should discussed in three zones: South, middle and North. The South zone is interesting because it is completely devoid of any type of excrement. The reason behind this phenomenon is that there is not a creature (great or small) that is willing to live in this area of the world. (OK, that's just my theory, it has not actually been proven...yet). The middle zone is more interesting because, as you can see, there are things worth looking at as you drive through the middle zone, on your way to the only real part of the state worth visiting, the North Zone. The North zone is beautiful. There are mountains, streams, beautiful historical towns and should not be missed!
(Regardless of what mom will tell you, you will see some pretty interesting things on the road as you drive. The pic to the left just cracked me up. we saw this house about mid-way through the state. The horses are actually on the front patio of this house and it just reminded me of that Willie Nelson song about beer for horses...remember, my mind wanders...)

So, we finally made it to our first planned site for the day: Enchanted Circle...So, "what the heck is Enchanted Circle?" you ask. Well, my cousin, Duane, (You'll hear much more about him and his wonderful wife, Carol, in a couple of days), suggested I visit this part of New Mexico. (Now, after I tell you about Duane, in an upcoming post, the following will make much more sense), When he first suggested I visit "Enchanted Circle," I was sure it was some  kind of commune in the mountains where people sat around chanting then danced "NECKED" inside standing stones after passing a pipe filled with "wacky-tobaccy." Let me just say that I am not here to judge anyone and if that's your thing...fine, I'm just not interested in participating...with my mother along.

Plaza in Taos

Red River

As it turned out, Enchanted Circle refers to a drive through Northern New Mexico that includes Taos, Quista, Red River and Angel Fire. The area is beautiful and I definitely plan to return (with a group of the most fun people I know), and spend at least a week hiking, rafting and exploring the region. Taos and Red River were my two favorite places on the drive but after learning more about Quista, I can't wait to hike that part of the Guadalupe canyon.

After leaving the circle, (in true road warrior fashion), we continued North toward Colorado. As I mentioned on the first day's post, we had no plans as to where we would stay nor when we planned to be anywhere. So, mom looked at the atlas and found a "grey-line" road that would allow us to shave several miles off of a trip to Canyon City via Walsenburg. Well, it sounded like a great idea to me so we turned east to find our "grey-line" road. This would be a great time give you some information about "grey-lines" used in Rand-McNally's atlas. According to the legend in the book, the condition on these roads may change often and drivers should check with locals before attempting to navigate these roads. As it turned out, we didn't find that particular grey-line road, but the above information will become important in just a minute. Since we couldn't find the grey-line, we found ourselves in Walsenburg (where we stopped for limes for our vodka-tonics we intended to drink as soon as we stopped for the night...didn't happen) much earlier than we thought we might. So, we checked the atlas again for our next tourist attraction and decided to head toward Canyon City and ultimately to Cripple Creek. That meant that we turned once more to the Northwest.

dirt "grey-line" road

Just about five miles (+/-) before Canyon City, we found "Colorado 65 N.--SCORE! 65N was exactly the road we were looking for (we thought). So, we turned due North...this is where the information about the grey-line roads is important. Colorado 65 South is a perfectly great road. It is paved and goes to a perfectly nice little town, Florence. Co 65 N, however, is not anything like that as we discovered. Soon after turning north, we began to see signs that read: "No trucks, no campers longer than 25 feet..." The signs should have simply read: "TURN YOUR DUMB BUTT AROUND AND FIND ANOTHER ROUTE!!!" The next thing we noticed is that the pavement ended. Then, mom noticed that the name of this area was "Phantom Canyon" and it was starting to get dark. Now...those of you who know me well know that being in a place where phantoms may exist, in the dark, is not something I would normally do while conscious and completely sober. Still, we continued.

Guardian Angel

Almost immediately, however, God, (who loves me very much,) sent my guardian angel (who was driving a brand-new, complete with paper plates, red Cadillac). As soon as I saw this beauty behind me, I pulled over and let it pass. Then, I stayed with it like I was at the end of a tow-rope tied to it's bumper. As mom said, "Don't lose that car, we have no service on our phones and that car may be the only hope of our dead bodies ever being found if you go flying over the cliff in the dark and we go hurdling through time and space and end up splatted at the bottom of the abyss...thanks for the confidence mom. OK, maybe she didn't really say all of that but, we were both thinking it! This road was so narrow and windy that at times, I swear we were chasing our own tail-lights!


Now it's dark and we get to a tunnel...not just a regular tunnel...a tiny, narrow, short, "are we even going to fit" tunnel. Well, we watch my guardian angel creep through and we decided to give it a shot. First, though, we pulled in the side mirrors, just in case. Boy, did we breathe a sigh of relief when we emerged to the other side in one piece. So we continued navigating switchback after switchback and one more tunnel for THIRTY NINE miles! When we finally emerged from warring with the phantoms and made our way to Cripple Creek, all I wanted to do was give the Caddy's "Guardian Angel" a big hug and buy him/her a drink...they disappeared!

Well, unfortunately, the only hotels we found in Cripple Creek were,
 what we affectionately named "Whortels. Cripple Creek has reinvented itself into a remake of a historic gambling town. The buildings are very old but most have been reinvented and refurbished into copies of what saloons and gambling halls would have looked like during the 1800s. Mom and I decided that since we escaped the phantoms, we probably didn't want to test our luck with staying in what could be rooms haunted by long-dead saloon girls so we decided to continue on and found ourselves in Manitou Springs for the night.

It was, obviously a very long but very memorable day.
Stay tuned for more from the road.

ttfn

Lois

 

Miles and miles and miles and miles and...........of Texas!

So, we're off again! My wanderlust has been in overdrive again but commitments have kept me locked down to the house. There have been weeks this summer where I haven't even gotten in a car more than one day in 10...WTH?! One of the bonuses of being chained to the house (speaking metaphorically here), is that I've had some time to think about and plan and revise and plan where I want to go and what I want to do on this trip. Initially, I tried talking Haime into going with me. Let's just say that that idea went over like the proverbial "toot-in-church," he was not interested after he learned of my (still sketchy) travel plans. Thankfully, mom was very willing to take his place, so after double checking with a couple of other potential "road-warriors," we elected to hit the road...just the two of us. Our general itinerary includes travelling through the hill

country and part of the panhandle of Texas, through New Mexico from Clovis to the Enchanted Circle area, to Colorado, Wyoming and to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and back home. Our route is very general and the only commitment we made to each other is that we were going to take our time and not be married to any specific plans. If we decide to go to a particular place but then see something else that catches our attention, we were going after the bright-shiny-attention-getter. (Think of the dog in the movie "Up!")

So, as stated earlier...were off! (Oh, I forgot, we also decided that since we were going to be "casual" travelers, rather than our normal "road-warrior" travelling selves, we also decided to leave at a "reasonable" time rather than our 4-6:00 AM departure). This first day, we didn't actually "hit the road" until about 10:00! I can not make you understand how completely different that simple time change is for me, so I won't even try.

 

Our first stop was for lunch. Our travel time put us in Fredericksburg, TX at lunch time. Now mom and I have both been to Fredericksburg hundreds of times. So, we decided to eat somewhere completely different since this was a sort of "new" adventure. So we went through the town to the outskirts to a place known for its German fare.  I love schnitzel and theirs was very good. Now mom, loves liver and onions, however, she normally only eats it at one chain of restaurants. Well, I talked her into branching out and trying the liver and onions...she hated it. Then for dessert, mom loves apple strudel and they had it on the menu. Well, German restaurant, German dessert...what could go wrong? Yep, the strudel. Anyway, we had snacks in the car so we were off again.

 

We must have changed our minds about the route we were taking, no fewer than 5 times. Ultimate we found ourselves heading toward Sweetwater, TX in route to Clovis, NM. If you are like me and grew up with parents who listened to country music, you might remember an old song that spoke of there being "some mighty sweet water down in Sweetwater, Texas." Well, let me take a moment to dispel any thoughts you might have about "Sweetwater" being a mecca for vacationers...NOT! Sweetwater is, however, the "Home of the World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-up." What the heck?! I have too many questions about the kind of person who goes searching for these venomous pit-vipers. What the hell happens to a person during their formative years to turn them into a "rattlesnake hunter?" It will open your eyes to Google this event. So, please take the time to do that...then look at the images of the "Snake Queen." Apparently, if you are the lucky winner of the "Miss Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup," you get to have a ginormous snake wrapped around your shoulders...yes, its still alive!...enough said!   

 

Well, thankfully we missed this annual party gathering of snake hunters. We did make it to mass. Of course, a funny thing happened on the way to mass. We had found a couple of Catholic churches in Sweetwater via Google and discovered that the Saturday evening mass was to be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, on Alabama street. Well, as we approached Sweetwater, there was an exit for Alabama street, so we took it. Then just a few blocks down, we found a church. Mom saw that the name of the church was a "long" name so we surmised that it must be the place...it wasn't. So, we kept going. As we continued through this town, two things came to us. The first, if we were rattlesnakes, this area of Texas would probably seem like Nirvana, (until round-up time); and second, not being rattlesnakes, goodness, we are so glad we don't live there!

 

We made our way across the border and into New Mexico for the night. We congratulated ourselves on our first day's ability to stick with the plan of staying flexible and called it a night. Tomorrow's destination was to be the "Enchanted Circle" so stay tuned...

 

TTFN,

   

Lois