Arches National Monument, Dead Horse, and Driving to Page

October 17, 2008 - Friday


A big day.


We made it to Arches National Park by 8AM and just took our time working our way thru the 18 miles of road and pull-offs. We tried to make a point of taking most of the side-roads and short hikes and really did enjoy the time together and the park - despite it being pretty crowded. I'll say that the formations generally weren't - in themselves - any more interesting than what we'd seen elsewhere, but we enjoyed the interaction with each other and the crowds - and had a good full day. We *did* verify that looking at the formations from even a half-mile away (the parking lot) - was just *not* at all the same experience as being right up on them - so we found that you really *must* hike out to each formation in order to appreciate it. We saw one pair of German girls set up with technical climbing gear and scale pretty-much straight up. Eventually, they set up ropes and got a group going:

We talked to lots of people and took pictures of them with their cameras - while they returned the favor by taking pictures of *us* (rather than just one of us at a time):


We enjoyed one large "double arch" - which had to be hiked to in order to see that it looks like a huge giant emerging from the ground: 2 eyes with a bulbous nose between:

I shared the story of our trip - and our blog - with anybody who would listen. Then as we were walking back to the car, we passed a teenage girl who just *happened* to be wearing a T-shirt that said:


"Nobody cares about your blog"


We had no interaction and she was past me too quickly for me to even take a picture, but it sure made me smile.


Across the street to the big arch. People were climbing WAY up in it:

The weather was nice, but we were getting a bit tired of walking up - and down - so that by the time we got to "Delicate Arch" - where it told us we just *had* to do a 3-mile round-trip, 2-hour hike to see it, AND we couldn't find a parking spot in the trailhead, we demurred. Of course, we were told later that it was beautiful and we really shouldn't have missed it, but I guess we have something to go *back* to Arches for - someday. Meanwhile, a 10x optical zoom on my camera - helped:

The highlight of the day, for me, was the last stop: Sand Dune. It is a huge pair of sandstone walls which surround a gigantic red-sand - well - sand-pit. Families literally brought chairs for the adults to just sit in and bask - while the kids played in this HUGE sand box. REALLY cool.

Meanwhile, in all of the talking to people, a woman told us that we just *had* to also go see "Dead Horse Point" - since it was only 5 miles up the road.


So. We finished with Arches Monument. Click HERE for the full set of photos - of BOTH Arches and "Dead Horse" - and a couple of extras as a surprise.


Then we ran for "Dead Horse". The *entrance* is only 5 miles up the road, but then it is 20 miles back - and the sun was heading for the horizon - so we rushed in, drove up, and - well - WOW. I was ready to be underwhelmed, but it was just SO different from anything else. Just beautiful:

Then we jumped back in the car and ran back *South* - because we needed to get to Page, AZ that nite to be ready for Antelope Canyon tomorrow. The Sprint Aircard was "roaming" as we left "Dead Horse" (not surprising since we were out in "nowhere"), but we fired up "Streets & Trips" on the laptop and looked for hotels near where we wanted, got the phone number, called on the cell-phone and managed to get a room at a good rate. But it was 5-hours drive away, so we had to seriously push along. One stretch of road warned us that it was a heavy deer-crossing area - for the next 15 miles - and we saw a LOT of deer. One sign warned that the average damage from running into a deer (or vice-versa) - was $7000. That was effective at slowing us down and making us look for deer even more.


Ultimately, we wound up connecting with the same route thru Monument Valley - that we had come thru before - and it was dead dark. So we pulled over at a random point and turned off Monroe's lights - and just looked up at the stars. Cooool. We were far enough away from any "civilization" that there wasn't any light pollution - and the sky was just full of stars - including the Milky Way.


We pressed on and kept watching for Monument Valley... and we were literally half-way thru it - before we even recognized that we were *there*: it was DARK at night and we just didn't see it at all until we were literally in the *middle* of the entrance. Great memories. I still think that Monument Valley is my most-memorable stop on the trip so far.


Then it became just "gotta' get there" driving: kind of grind - just pushing to make it to Page for the night - listening to the "book on CD" - a mystery about Edgar Allen Poe's death - to help make the miles go easier.


We pulled into the hotel there in Page and were quite pleased with the room - and managed to book our tour of Antelope Canyon for the next day - right there in the hotel - at 10PM - and the tour left from across the street. Quite convenient.


Lots of activity. Lots of driving. Good day. 4742 miles - 386 miles in addition to 2 parks just TODAY.

Leaving New Mexico: Off to Arches National Monument

October 16, 2008 - Thursday - enroute to Moab, UT

Well. Despite our love of Santa Fe, it was time to move on, so Kathy went to get her morning coffee in the lobby - and was gone a long time. I started loading the car - and found her talking to our now-friend Randy. I got Monroe loaded - and they were still talking. He is just a great guy and was trying to convince us to just stay there - while also giving good advice about what else to see and how to get there. We DO hope to see you again, Randy.

We finally got Monroe on the road and, at Leila's direction, headed *down* I25 - back toward Albuquerque - to pick up State Road 550 toward Moab, UT - which would have us skirt just past Cortez, Colorado again (where we'd stayed to see Mesa Verde). We really struggled with whether to bother with the Arches National Monument since, at this point, it was 300 miles of extra driving, but ultimately "we" decided to go. (smile).

As we got established on 550, we saw signs saying to beware of trucks entering the highway because of a "special event". Uhhh... what? But we kept driving - and passed a turnout with a sign labelled: "Doc". Uhh WHAT??? THEN we passed a turnout and a bunch of trucks with a sign labelled: "Sets".

We looked around carefully and saw a bunch of *teepees* set up - up off the road - and concluded that someone was *filming* in the area. Cool!

The day went by and the miles rolled along as we passed over the Continental Divide - and went thru Cuba, NM. Yeah. We even visited *Cuba* on this trip (smile).

We stopped to get gas in Cortez - and wave "hello" as we powered on toward Moab. Kathy was wearing her new jacket:

The scenery was beautiful as we worked our way thru Colorado - including some sunflower fields (I think?):

up into Utah and finally wound thru the hills down into Moab - to our Rodeway Inn. Nice room - both a King AND a Queen bed in the one room, and a hot tub and water slide at the pool. AND they had a good strong wireless internet connection (which is even-more important than a bed! :) )

We walked down to a local pizza place for dinner and enjoyed the local atmosphere - and found out that everything was *mobbed* because this was a "teacher in-service" weekend in Utah - so the kids were out of school for Thursday and Friday - so everybody decided to hit the National Monuments. OK. We'll have company.

We shivered back to the hotel and enjoyed the beds. Ready for Arches tomorrow.

4356 Miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 4

October 15, 2008 - Wednesday - Santa Fe, NM

Pounded away at email and Blogging, then headed out - this time asking Randy where a Post Office was: about a half-mile away - in a Mall behind the hotel. Oh. Not all the way out in Los Alamos. Sooo... we mailed our ballots for the General Election and happily sent them on their way. We're done. We can TOTALLY ignore all of the lies and garbage in the campaigning and ads and all. Woo Hoo!

We also noticed *snow* capping the mountains in the distance: Santa Fe had gotten *snow* overnite - but we STILL love Santa Fe since Randy said that Santa Fe sometimes does get snow overnite but that it usually melts by mid-morning - while leaving the beauty of it up on the Ski Slopes.

We decided that perhaps we should sample the actual *museum* art - rather than just look thru the art galleries. So we headed down to the "Plaza" area again and finally managed to find a parking space (parking is difficult in that area), then walked back to the New Mexico Museum of Art - and paid the $8 apiece (!!) for entry.

Ummm. Ummmmmm... we were done with the 2 floors of "art" in about 20 minutes. Sure, I'm sure it had "historical significance" in the development of New Mexican art, but it was just *awful*. Ugly, meaningless paintings - with a few exceptions. A *total* waste of $16, so we vowed to go back to browsing the *free* art galleries and shops.

Lunch time. We'd been told by people as far away as Sedona that we *had* to get to "Tia Sofia's" downtown in Santa Fe: *authentic* New Mexican cooking. So we went. We parked in a public parking lot and Kathy admired the Pueblo-style architecture of some of the buildings around the lot:




Then we found Tia Sofia's:

and waited about 10 minutes for the lunch crowd to give us a spot - and we did, indeed, enjoy the genuine-ness of the staff and the food. Nothing to knock you over with HOT - just good food. AND they finished off with Sopapilla's - with honey right there on the table. Very tasty and "comfort food". I really don't understand why most Mexican restaurants seem to have never heard of the sweet Sopapilla's. I do, indeed, think they "make the meal".

Now. Remember that hot green chili I had yesterday at Tecolote's? Welll.... today I was the "Energizer Bunny": I just kept going and going and going... :)

Actually, it isn't fair to blame it on Tecolote's - since it could have been just general "too many different cities in 3 weeks" - but I had rather some delicate moments during the day. That's why Kathy went clothes shopping without me - after Tia Sofia's - and I eventually found her in a rambling shop where she found a really-pretty long skirt - and a jeans jacket - both of which she looked *really* good in, so we acquired them and you'll see them in subsequent days.

We went back to browsing galleries and I happened upon a T-shirt shop which had a T-shirt in the window which says:

RETIRED! If you want to talk to me, you'll be charged a consulting fee!

I loved it and you'll also be seeing *that* shirt in coming posts. Actually, I found that people were afraid to talk to me - and I obviously love to talk, so I need to change it to:

RETIRED! If you want to talk *business*, you'll be charged a consulting fee!

Anyway, I've *already* gotten a lot of comments on the shirt.

Back to the Red Roof for an early nite since tomorrow we leave Santa Fe.

3965 miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 3

October 14, 2008 - Tuesday

We awoke to rain. Cold rain. But we still love Santa Fe. Perhaps that tells you something about how *comfortable* this city feels! I hate rain - and I REALLY hate cold, but I could live here. We just put on our *long* pants - and kept our sweatshirts ready, and forged on.

I took advantage of a nice desk in the Red Roof Hotel room - and the reliable wireless internet connection - and banged out some Blog entries, then made up a couple of DVD's of photos - for folx who don't have internet (I *still* don't understand how ANYBODY can survive without the internet these days...), and then we packed up and headed out for our latest on the list of "Food Network's" "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dive's": Tecolote's:

It's right on the "main drag" so we'd passed it a few times already, but it's really only open for Breakfast and lunch, so we hadn't gotten to eat there yet. The parking lot was full - on a *Wednesday* at 10:30AM. It's a popular place! The staff was very friendly and helpful with menu suggestions - and they instantly knew which items had been featured on the TV show. So. I ordered the Atolé Piñon pancakes with pine nuts - and Kathy had the Huevos Yucatecos. Green chile and a banana on the side. Trust us. The banana is an excellent compliment: the sweetness of the banana taming the chile a bit. They were both very tasty - and Kathy's was quite hot. To the point that we ultimately decided that my pancakes also made a good compliment: combine the Huevos and the pancakes to tame the burn a bit. The prices were quite modest and we enjoyed the experience and do, indeed, understand the recommendation from the TV. But do remember that I had a not-inconsequential amount of Kathy's eggs - with the hot green chile. Keep that in mind....

So. Pack up and head for a Post Office to just quick mail the DVD's before continuing with the gallery tour. I had failed to ask a person where a Post Office was - so I asked Leila.

Ummmm.... Leila is pretty-literal in her searching, so she didn't find any Post Offices nearer than 17 miles. OK. No big deal. We'll just drive the 17 miles. We got on the road, and the 17 miles stretched out. She tells you how far things are *straight-line* distance - until you actually say to GO there. Once we actually had her calculate the route, it turned out to curl around quite a bit so that the actual distance was 30 minutes' drive. So we drove. And drove. Out of Santa Fe - out into the beautiful, rainy, surroundings - and found ourselves at the *Los Alamos* Post Office. OK. So. I screwed up in finding a Post Office, but the postman there was *very* helpful and got our DVD's mailed off - and, well, gee, we had wanted to see the Science Museum there anyway - since it was the site where the whole Manhattan Project development of the Atomic Bomb had been done, so... maybe it wasn't a mistake after all to pick that Post office.

No problem finding the museum:

We read history and tried interactive displays and watched movies and learned some new things about "the bomb" and its development and deployment. Like... I hadn't known that the US *tried* to end the war after the *first* one was dropped, but the Japanese government refused to negotiate - saying that it was an unrepeatable fluke. So. Bomb #2 was dropped - after a campaign of leaflets to warn Hiroshima residents to evacuate - to prove that it was *not* just a fluke. The museum also has a history of supercomputing and a nice treatise on the large herd of *Elk* which has developed around the lab. Quite important and interesting - and the museum is *free*.

The day was still overcast as we followed Leila's direction back to Santa Fe and to the State Capital building. We parked, then walked around the building - not sure it *was* the Capital - until we walked inside and confirmed. It is a *beautiful* building - marble and granite - and very-much in keeping with what *I* think is a wonderful Southwestern feel and motif. We walked thru the main rotunda - then walked up to some big doors that said "House of Representatives". I just tried the door - and it opened - so we walked right in. Nobody else was there, but the chamber was publically accessible - and I think that's *wonderful* that it can be totally accessible. We absorbed the view and the atmosphere - then continued on around the building - to walk thru the Senate as well. It really made us feel that there was an appreciation that the government is *for the people*.... to have it unlocked and just available for viewing.

By that time, it was after 5PM when the galleries close anyway, so we headed back to the Red Roof and, with the thoughts of the Capital Building in our minds - Kathy spent a few hours on the web looking up candidates and issues and we made our choices for the General Election, filled out our absentee ballots, and exercised *our* right to vote. It *did* take *hours* to pore thru all of the Florida decisions. But it is *done*.

Then we celebrated by asking Randy (our very-helpful front-desk-front) where to go for an Italian dinner and he recommended a great place: Pranzo's - which even happened to have special low prices on Tuesday nites.

Good food.

Good company.

Back to the hotel to sleep.

3947 miles.

Santa Fe'ing (and loving it) - day 2

October 13, 2008 - Monday - Santa Fe Day 2

We revelled in the luxury of "sleeping late": 8AM. After getting up at 5AM for the last 3 days, it felt like a real luxury.

Drove to "Canyon Drive" - a long road just *full* of art galleries - perhaps 100 of them. As I've said, we *love* to just browse fine art together, though we never buy anything. Our target this morning was the "Chalk Farm" since we'd seen an ad on the back of a pedal-carriage - for the works of Vladimir Kush - an artist that we - and our daughter - have admired for 5 years or so since we saw his work in a shop in Las Vegas. The Chalk Farm had just had a *reception* for Vladimir. We had just missed seeing the artist in person - by one day - but it was a "by invitation only" event, so we wouldn't have been able to meet him anyway.

So. Parked and walked into an empty shop - and struck up a conversation with the owner, Lisa.

Oooooh, boy. I can talk - and she and I ranged thru politics, religion, art, finances, and a few other topics - and just kept getting more wound up on how *we* knew what would fix the world, but doubting that the world would ever *try* our solutions. She was obviously a very-bright woman to keep offering opinions which agreed totally with mine. :) We REALLY enjoyed talking - and folding in conversations about Kush's works - which absolutely *filled* the gallery - in between. A delightful woman. And gallery. Go buy some art there.

As I said, we've admired Kush's work for years, so we enjoyed looking at his new works as well as getting better looks at his older ones. In all, I think we spent over 2 hours in the gallery - and I feel that I could have talked to Lisa for the rest of my life. To be fair, as I've said, we found EVERY person we encountered in Santa Fe (actually in *New Mexico*) - to be REALLY friendly and wonderful - and Lisa was doubly so. I hope you read this, Lisa, and that someday our daughter can come ride the Arroyo's with you on your horses.

Anyway. Eventually we had to say goodbye and let Lisa get on with her life, so we went next door to the next gallery.

And wound up talking to *that* proprietress for perhaps 30 minutes. It would have been longer, but other customers came into the gallery and cut us "short".
I *do* just *love* doing this with Kathy - browsing, looking at wonderful, amazing art, and talking to people. We'd consumed a whole morning and had perhaps "covered" 2 of 100 shops. NOW you begin to understand why we think we could easily *live* in Santa Fe - browsing art and talking to folx. And have I mentioned that EVERYBODY was so *FRIENDLY* in New Mexico?

Lunchtime, so we drove the short distance back to the "Plaza" area (a kind of a "town square" in the middle of the old district) and decided to try the "Plaza Diner" there. Looked like something that should have been on the "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives". The menu looked good. But... well... the coleslaw tasted really odd - very vineagar-y - and the burger sounded really great but was - OK... just a bunch of things that didn't deliver on the promise - so we see *why* the Food Network skipped this place.

Oh! By the way... there *is* a place on "the list" - here in Santa Fe, but it was closed by the time we got there on Sunday - and they're closed on Monday - so we're anxiously waiting it out - to get to try "Tecolote's" - tomorrow.

Back to browsing art galleries. Really nice time just wandering together looking at crafts and art and stuff. Scupture, paintings, and on and on - hand in hand. Of course, photos of the artwork aren't allowed, so we have nothing to show for that browsing time. But we included one of the old churches there:

Inside is a circular staircase which is a bit of an engineering marvel. There is no center support and no external support - and it has no nails: just word work. Quite beautiful in itself, let alone the craftsmanship shown in building something which seems unsupported:
As 5PM approached, shops began to close, but we wandered into "one last shop" - and wound up talking *Real Estate* with the keeper - since she also has her Real Estate license. Very sweet and helpful. She printed out a few listings for us to drive by (!!).

So. Hagen-Dasz for dinner. Yeah. I know. But my mother wasn't there to scold me for making "dinner" out of a double hot-fudge brownie sundae, so that's what I had for dinner. Tasty.

Then we programmed in a couple of addresses and let Leila direct us to a couple of drive-by houses. One was quite a distance out in the "nowhere's" and our conclusion was - again - that Santa Fe is *expensive*, so we'll continue to visit - and consider moving there, but we probably wouldn't even try to buy a house there.

We *did* decide that we like it so much - that we extended our stay for another 2 nites - so we'll do *4* nites in Santa Fe.

3850 miles total.

Albuquerque - Day 3, Madrid, Santa Fe

October 12, 2008 - Sunday


The alarm went off at 4:59AM as we had asked it to, and we turned on the TV to find out that it didn't look good for launch, but that "we should come on out anyway, because they MIGHT launch". Hmmm.... Fool me once.... BUT we decided - again - that we had come all the way here for the Festival and it would be stupid to miss a launch once we were this close, so we got up and drove up to the Fiesta grounds - listening to the AM radio station which seemed to be more realistic about prospects - I think it was AM 770 - and it didn't sound good. We paid our $10 to park and pulled into a mostly-empty parking lot - but other cars were flowing in and noone was discouraging people from paying their admission fees. We didn't see any "Dawn Patrol" going up - indicating that it was unlikely that there would be a launch - so we just decided to sit in the car and close our eyes (and NOT pay the $12 to get into the grounds) while we listened to the radio reports.


The early reports were bad: 72 knot winds at 9000 ft. Granted, the balloons don't go nearly as high as 9000 feet, but winds were high in lower altitudes, as well. So we just stayed in the car and waited - while gobs of people paid their $10 to park and their admission fees - and trooped on into the park.


FINALLY at about 7:15 they announced that there would officially be no launches: the wind was just too high. That officially ended the 2008 Albuquerque International Balloon Festival since no events were scheduled for that afternoon anyway.


So we just put "Monroe" into gear and pulled out of the parking lot - with other people still streaming in - and headed back to the hotel to pack and get breakfast - and get onto the road North.


Our next stop was scheduled to be Santa Fe, but the friendly folx we'd talked to on Friday morning had told us that it was much prettier to go up "The old Turquoise Trail" around the back-side of Sandia Mountain - than to just go up I25. And, by the way, "Madrid" was on the way. Ooooo! The town where Disney shot "Wild Hogs" with Tim Allen, John Travolta, and William H Macy. Yeah. I'm enough of a movie buff to want to see that. Remember that it's pronounced with the accent on the first syllable - not like the Spanish city.


Pretty drive. Relatively early on a Sunday morning. Just... nice. Peaceful as we drove up the 2-lane road.


Annnd eventually there was Madrid. Quirky and very art oriented now. It used to be a coal-mining town, but has transformed. Pretty:

We stopped and wandered around the art galleries that were open - and talked to the residents. Friendly people, but they - like everybody else - is worried about the economy and what is going to happen. One sweet woman in an art-glass shop told us that they depend on the Balloon Fest crowd to buy art and get them all the way thru the Spring - but that so far this year, things were so depressed that they hadn't even sold enough to cover one weeks' expenses. She really didn't know *what* was going to happen: perhaps lose the house and shop. Quite a stark reminder of how we're all interconnected in the economy: if you don't have a job, you can't buy what I'm selling so *I* don't have a job - and it snowballs.


Nice folx. I wish them well. But I wish us *all* well, and I don't think that wishing is going to do it...


Anyway... on up the road to Santa Fe and the Red Roof Inn that Kathy had selected online. The front-desk clerk turned out to be a GREAT guy and a real asset for us: he is an enthusiastic Santa Fe supporter and was always ready with suggestions on what to do and how to make our Santa Fe visit even better. Thanks, Randy! He suggested that we quick jump back into the car and drive up to the ski resort just 30 minutes out of town - to ride the tram to the top of the mountain. So we did.

We just asked Leila to find it, then followed her directions up "Cerrillos" road - and we instantly found ourselves comfortable and "at home" in Santa Fe. All of the familiar "necessities of life" were there: Home Depot, WalMart, etc - and then we got into the older section of Santa Fe and things got really pretty. They've done a really good job of keeping buildings looking like they belong together - while still allowing variations on the adobe theme. We passed one building on the way and the afternoon sun had just lit it up SO beautifully:

On up the winding, climbing road out of town to the Ski Resort - and we found the same *brilliantly* yellow Aspen leaves we'd seen in Colorado. Glowing in the afternoon sun - just beautiful. I rather hurried Kathy past many beautiful views since we were trying to get to the Ski resort in time to ride the ski-lift to the top - and it closed soon. So we hurried up the mountain and got to the lift - and put on our heavy winter coats and gloves since it was *cold* at 10,000 feet - something in the 40's. We puffed up the trail - and found out that the same high winds which had cancelled the Balloon Fest - had shut down the chair lift, so we didn't get to ride up the mountain. But it was beautiful nonetheless.

So. We headed Monroe back down the mountain and took our time taking pictures of the Aspens. And they were stunning:

It just made us feel even-more fond of Santa Fe - so as we made our way back into town - and we saw signs to an Open House - we decided to follow the signs and find out what it would take to live there. We wound around and were impressed with the views from the houses in this neighborhood:

... and we went thru the house - to find out that it was over 4000 square feet - in the main house - plus a whole separate guest house - and that the asking price was a mere $1.8 Million. (cough cough). Oh. OoooKay. Turns out that Santa Fe is really popular with retirees and celebrities and high-income people - for their *second* homes (or third or fourth...). We did some more checking around of Real Estate while there and concluded that we still love the city and would like to consider living there - but that it is probably twice the cost of Melbourne where we now live. Ouch.

Anyway. Back into town. Down the major road - and we found the following that we just had to take a picture of:

We found a great Indian restaurant for dinner, brought the extras back to our room, then drove down to the "Plaza" area of Santa Fe: the "Old Santa Fe". WOW! Oh WOW! OK. It was beautiful and just *stuffed* with art galleries, old churches, adobe enchantment and charm. We see why people love Santa Fe - and we've got a couple more days planned here to get a better idea. By the time we got there, it was getting rather late, so shops were closing, but we knew we'd come back.

Good times in New Mexico.

3796 miles.

Preview of coming attractions :)

OK. I know that that last post was a bit of a downer, and I know that I'm behind on the Blog, so lemme give you a "Preview of coming attractions": what we've been doing for the past week or so. Yes, I'll get around to a full posting, but for now, here's what you have to look forward to.

Arches National Monument, Moab, UT. Can you find *me* in this picture?

Dead Horse Point, Moab, UT:

Antelope Canyon - outside Page, AZ:

Zion National Park, Southwest corner of Utah. Wow:

Bryce Canyon National Park - Southwest UT:

OK? Will that "keep" you until I can post properly?

Albuquerque Balloon Fest - Day 2

October 11, 2008 - Saturday

Well. After yesterday, it was going to be difficult to live up to the excitement, but the actual result was even-more disappointing. We were wary of cancellation of the Launch because of rain and winds, so when the alarm went off at 5AM, we quickly turned on the TV to watch the weather and the coverage of the Festival. It was not encouraging news - but the reporters were pumping it and trying to make the best case they could to "come on out - because we MIGHT still have a launch". Hmmm... We've experienced this kind of thing with Rocket launches in Florida: nobody KNOWS whether a launch will happen or not - and it's a bit of effort to get up, go to the site, and wait - only to perhaps have it cancelled at literally the last second - so we decided that since we'd driven all of the way to be here, it would be stupid to just go back to sleep and perhaps miss a launch.


So we went to the grounds (using the *northern* exit from I25 this time), paid our $10 to park, paid our $12 to get in, set up our chairs - and waited.


Ultimately, one of the balloonists set up his propane burner and fired it off - which was impressive to watch, but the sun came up and nobody was even setting up, so we got the message that there would be no launch. I don't think they ever even formally announced that there would be no launch. Now... I understand that they can't control the weather, but it *felt* like "they" had gone out of their way to try to get everybody to come out and pay their $22 (parking plus entry) - because they needed the money and because they needed the vendors to be supported in selling their Fair food - not because they actually thought there would be a launch. The "Dawn Patrol" never went up - which says to me that they knew it was too windy at 5:45, but they still encouraged people to come out and pay up. Rather felt like a dirty trick.

So we packed up and worked our way with the rest of the crowd - out of the Balloon Fiesta Park - no refunds - and back to the hotel to Blog (I *do* need time to do that sometimes), email, nap, and try to burn backup DVD's of all of the photo's we've taken. I had a lot of trouble and ultimately found out that DVD-R's really don't work for me, so we drove out to Target - in the overcast, drizzly day - to buy DVD+R's and those finally seemed to do the trick - so the day wasn't a loss: I learned something.

We tried to participate in the Social Hour in our hotel lobby, but it seemed like everybody was pointedly staying to their groups rather than mingling, so we got back into Monroe and drove back to the Balloon Fest for the evening activities - and found that they had, indeed, formally cancelled them, but a helpful gate-attendant told us which radio station to listen to for official updates. It was really quite an extra shame that the evening activities were cancelled since the Chain Saw Carvers were supposed to auction off their big-work creations - donating the proceeds to charity - and that had to be postponed - so we never even got to see the finished works.

We ended the day with a really-good seafood dinner at Pappadeaux's - and found out that "going out to dinner on a Saturday night" was a very-popular thing to do in Albuquerque: we visited 4 restaurants and confirmed that they *all* had an hour wait. But the meal was worth the wait.

Then back to the hotel to go to bed - because we had to set the alarm for 5AM again - to see if Sunday's launch was going to happen.

Hey. Sometimes you *need* a laid-back day to catch up on the "errands" of life - and today was it.

3651 miles.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fest - Part 2

October 10, 2008, Friday - Part 2

We stood talking to the people around us and it turned out that they were "locals" - and were *very* friendly and helpful in making suggestions about how to experience the Festival - and Albuquerque - suggesting a few restaurant picks as well. Actually, this was the first of our many experiences with New Mexican's: every single person we encountered in New Mexico - was REALLY nice. Genuinely friendly and wanting to help. By the time we got to Santa Fe (our next stop) we were seriously considering moving there - and a large incentive was the people.

After "breakfast" (donuts) we wandered thru the crafts tent, then over to look at the Chain Saw Carving event going on. They gave each of 5 contestants a big log to start. A BIG log:

That's one of the logs standing next to me. I am 6 feet tall. A BIG log! Note also behind me - the dolphin sculpture of a previous competition.

Then each contestant had 2 days to carve it into something representing "Launching Dreams" - this year's theme. The artists primarily used "outdoor power tools": chain saws, routers, sanders, etc. One of the guys had at least *7* different chain saws lined up - and the creations were real works of art - but more about that later.

Since Balloons only fly at dawn, we had the rest of the day to figure out what to do with ourselves. We went back to the hotel and tried the hot tub (too hot at 105 deg), and the pool, then headed out to "Old Town" - a delightful shopping area where we again (like in Sedona) - just wandered around, hand-in-hand "shopping but not buying". There was an adobe bench in a courtyard in one area there:

And they are QUITE serious about their Chile's in Albuquerque:
And there's a beautiful old church there - showing off the typical Adobe. I just LOVE the texture of the adobe everywhere. It looks like a cross between leather and chocolate! Then it was time to run back to "Balloon Fiesta Park" for the evening activities. We didn't have any trouble getting into the parking area or into the grounds - and we just set up our camp chairs (collapsable chairs) - see? we got smart from the morning! - and watched the carvers. While we were there, they did a "quick carve" competition. They were given a rectangular board and 1 hour - to make a "Fish". And we got to watch them transform mere "wood" - into fish - in an hour. Representative sample:

And, by the way, here is how one of the big sculptures looked after about 24 hours - with another day to go. Remember that this started off as one of those logs:

Ghandi - complete with scroll. Just amazing!

We wandered back thru the vendor booths and - well - we pigged out on "Fair Food": brats and roasted corn-on-the-cob and funnel cake and a "porkchop on a stick" and gooey cinnamon rolls. Oh WOW! Not exactly "health food" - but VERY satisfying as we sat on our camp chairs and waited for the "Glowdeo" - the evening event where they tether the balloons and just light them up in the night air - not launching.

As we waited, we talked to a couple near us - from Washington - the opposite corner of the US. Nice folk and photographers - so we tried to learn from them.

Ultimately, it was revealed that because of the high winds, there would be no "Glowdeo" - but they *did* launch the planned fireworks - and they even had a few that impressed *me* (really sparkly ones) - and I've seen a LOT of fireworks. Good job!

So. We packed into "Monroe" and made our way back to the hotel - and crashed - knowing that the alarm was set for 5AM again. And we hoped that the weather would get better.

A GREAT day - again.

3607 miles total so far.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fest - Part 1

October 10, 2008 - Friday

The Albuquerque International Balloon Festival. Part 1.

Wow.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5AM since we'd been told to be on the road early to avoid the traffic. On the Interstate by 5:30AM and up I25 - about 5 miles - to Balloon Fiesta Park - taking the first of 2 exits marked "BALLOON PARKING". Don't believe them. The southernmost exit is just for overflow and they seem to frequently put police at the bottom of the ramp - just waving you back onto the interstate to the Northern exit - but delaying you by 20 minutes in the process. THAT was the problem from the nite before. Tip: If you go (and you SHOULD see this at least once in your life), don't believe the signs: take the "Tramway" exit directly to "Balloon Fiesta Park". But this first morning, we did what we were told, and slowly drove with the crowds - watching the "Dawn Patrol" go up at 5:45 - the single Hot Air Balloons glowing in the dark. They send up a couple of single balloons just to see how the winds are blowing - and they are beautiful - shining in the dark from their huge propane burners. Eventually, we got to pay our $10/car parking and find a spot in the lot, then pay our $6 per person entrance and shiver our way onto the field.

It was cold.

It was dark.

And it was a HUGE grassy field with a feeling of anticipation. We didn't know WHAT to expect as we milled around - and we just stood on a spot pretty-much mid-field and shivered and waited:


Yes, Kathy really is there in that picture.
The crowds slowly grew and it began to get lighter - ever-so-slowly.


I'll point out that they say that this is pretty-much the ONLY Balloon festival where everybody is allowed right out onto the field - in the midst of the balloons: you're not just off to the side watching - you're right in the *middle* of the balloons. And there were 680 balloons this year. Full-size hot-air balloons. Over ***600*** of them all in one place. You lose sense of scale and the 100-foot-high (?) balloons become "normal size things".


A single balloon went up - with an American Flag attached to the bottom of the basket - formally opening the morning's event.


And a special note should be made that *this* morning was specifically the "Special Shapes" morning: all of the unusually-shaped balloons were featured.


So we waited. And kept turning around looking at blobs of material on the ground around us - slowly inflating.


And the excitement grew as we poked each other and said: "Look at *that*! What do you suppose THAT is going to be when it inflates?"


Just magical and manic and beautiful.


Then I turned around and saw why we had seen "Storm Troopers" from "Star Wars" on the field earlier:

We had just *happened* to have picked out a spot right beside Darth Vader. REALLY cool to have him "growing" right next to us.

We kept spinning around and the sun kept slowly lighting up the field. It is just indescribable how everything combines: the cold and the surprise and the joy and "aha!" as you recognize a lump of material - as it finally inflates - then slowly stands up - then waits - and finally lifts off with no warning. 600 balloons - like a hive of bees - each individually an entity in itself - but joining the group spectacle.

I stood like a rotating fool - just spinning and snapping - and we took over 200 photos of the morning launch - constantly pointing and telling each other to "Look at THAT!" A joyous "birthing" - and we all got to be right in the middle of it all - watching the "fledgling birds leave the nest". The sky kept brightening and *filled* with huge balloons: Angel and Devil, Stork with sling in its beak, a *pair* of pigs - to show that *now* is the time "When PIGS fly!", Darth Vader, a Champagne bottle, a pair of bees - velcro'ed together so that they held hands until they "kissed" then separated. Constant delights and surprises.

As the brilliant sunrise completed, it illuminated the balloons and the sky was *filled* with colorful shapes. It was just impossible to remember that these are *each* 10-stories high:

Amazing. Wonderful. Beautiful. Awe-inspiring.

And they weren't done. The went directly into the "Key Grab". Look closely in the photo below and you can see long white poles on the field. The Balloonists launch far away, then have to try to maneuver close enough to grab an envelope off the top of the pole - with their hand. Remember that balloons really have *no* control of direction: they go where the wind blows. And the up/down control has a huge lag: you hit the burner and it takes 5-10 seconds before you begin to go up. So it was astonishing that 2 or 3 of the balloonists really did manage to get close enough to grab a prize - without hitting the ground. Really cool to watch:
Wow. WOW! Wow.

About 2 hours of non-stop balloon launches and spectacle.

Finally, they were done and I realized that my legs were TOTALLY stiff from standing and twirling for 3 solid hours. We got smarter and brot chairs for the other time we spent at Balloon Fiesta Park.

Great stuff.

We then wandered the vendors and got "breakfast" (the little mini-donuts that taste SO good) and other wonderful "Fair food". And the day had only begun. The festival actually goes on for 9 days - and we jumped in for the last 3.

As I said, we took over 200 photos of the morning. I've whittled it down to about 80 which you can see HERE.

More to come.

Holes in the ground and "Standing on a Corner"

October 9, 2008 - Thursday

Time to high-tail it for Albuquerque since the ONLY reservation I made in advance - was for the Balloon Fest in Albuquerque - so we need to be there by tonite. Pack up and get onto the road early (7-ish) and leave Sedona going *south* - to then get on the interstate and go north - and struggle a bit: Arizona has the good sense to set the speed limit at **75** MPH which is usually all well-and-good - but not when you're gaining **2500 feet** in elevation while trying to accelerate with a van packed with everything you need for 6 weeks. We played "bumper tag" with the other cars and over-the-road rigs as we got up to join I40 and head *East* to Albuquerque.

We put in a new "book on CD" and cruised along - planning to not stop until we got to the Painted Desert.

But.

A sign on I40 told us to tune our radio to a station - which told us that famous "Meteor Crater" was just ahead - and that we could also stop in Winslow. Uhhh... Crater sounds cool, but who cares about getting their picture with a woman in Winslow?

Anyway, we're being flexible here, so we get to the exit and drive about 5 miles down a road to the Meteor Crater.

But we get to the ticket booth. And see that it is $15 *EACH* - to look into a hole. Yeah. A very-impressive hole used by the astronauts to train for the Space mission. But $30 to look into a *hole*? Uhh... no. Thanks. Maybe we'll be sorry forever that we didn't take advantage of the opportunity - and if any of you can tell us that it is definitely worth the $30 - then it wouldn't be impossible for us to add it to our trip home in November. But we got back into "Monroe" and headed back to the I40 WITHOUT seeing the crater.

And it finally hit me. Winslow. Winslow *Arizona*. Getting your picture taken with a *girl* on a corner! Oh! OH! The Eagles hit song: "I was standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona - such a fine sight to see: There's a GIRL, my lord, in a flat-bed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me". OH!

Well, call me shallow (you probably already have), but I just had to stop and do that. So we got to the requisite exit and exited - and immediately found ourselves in what looked like "the bad part of town". But. No. ALL of Winslow, Arizona, looks that way. No, really. *Except* that they have put together a really-cute tribute to the song - on a corner in the middle of town. REALLY cool. Including a flat-bed Ford truck sitting there. So we hopped out and took pictures. Yeah. Really dumb, but it made me smile. We *did* take pictures of both of us, and it makes more sense to have *me* having a girl slowing down to take a look - but Kathy is cuter than I am, and her picture came out better, so that's the one you get to see:

Notice the reflection of the girl (my lord) in the flat-bed Ford - in the windows. They actually had painted the whole building behind to make the pictures come out, but they also have a real flat-bed Ford truck parked there. Nice effort on their part.

We followed the signs on thru Winslow - to I40 East again - and headed for the Painted Desert. Now, I'd seen "The Painted Desert" in Disney stuff since before I could remember and I had a beautiful, amazing mental picture. We got there. And. Well. We were really glad that our National Park Pass covered the $10 admission. It was really disappointing after all that we'd seen. Drab and lifeless. One other tourist told us that he had entered from the North entrance and had driven all the way thru the park, then got to the entrance and asked where the park was - and the ranger told him: that was it. That's pretty much how we felt. It was. OK. But not really worth bothering with. I *will* include one photo - because - with the polarizing filter, the photo came out better than real life:

Also, at this point, I40 pretty-much parallels the old "Route 66" and they had an old car set up there in the middle of the desert - to let you take photos and look at the still-existing phone lines which *used* to be beside Route 66 - but which now just runs off thru the Painted Desert. That was pretty cool. Sorry. This picture doesn't show the telephone lines:

So. Back onto I40 and put the "book on CD" back on - and power toward Albuquerque. Except that we needed gas, so we stopped about an hour short of Albuquerque and got gas - and noticed a little Chile place across the way - so we went there for dinner - instead of McDonald's as we had planned. It was a delightful little mom-and-pop restaurant that was on Route 66. We were quite happy with our chimichanga and burrito. WAY more memorable than McDonald's and we do recommend it:

Annnd on toward Albuquerque. We gained an hour again going from Arizona to New Mexico (going back onto Daylight Savings Time) - so after Leila lead us to the hotel - which was quite nice and was doing a good job of dealing with the crush of people for the Balloon Festival - we decided to head for the "Balloon Fiesta Grounds" to see the evening "Glowdeo" - where they tether the balloons, but light them up with the propane burners. We understand that it is quite a sight.

We *understand* that, because we never got to see it. It took us 2 hours of *sitting* on the interstate - to get the 5 miles to the Fiesta Balloon Grounds - and we finally just gave up and went back to the hotel because the show was over. We will never really know WHY traffic was so backed up. We went to the Balloon Fest again - for the next 2 days and never had *that* much trouble with traffic. But something was really messed up that evening, so we didn't get there.

But that's OK. We had a great day and were all prepped to head for Balloon Fiesta park at 5:45AM (ACK!) the next morning - to see the balloons go up.

Great day. And now we're at 3568 miles total. Get to bed so we have some chance of actually getting *up* in - well - can you call 5AM "morning"? :)

More Sedona, Great Burgers, and Photography 102

October 8, 2008 - Wednesday

Day 2 in Sedona. Even though I spent my first hours there sleeping, we did really like the atmosphere of Sedona. Actually, perhaps *because* I spent my first hours there sleeping...
Anyway, we decided that we wanted to spend another day there and we had it in our schedule, so we ambled down to the front desk to extend for another nite - and we were told that they were all sold out. For a *Wednesday* nite??? Sooo while I added Blog entries (I really *do* do that sometimes), Kathy got busy online and tried "Hotwire.com" to find us another room for that nite. We were QUITE happy with "Hotwire" (thanks, Penny, for recommending it) - it saved us 30% on the price of the room we eventually wound up in - and we were quite happy with the room - about 5 miles further down the road we were on.

So. We packed up and drove to the "main drag" of Sedona and just ambled down the street and back up - wandering thru all of the shops and not buying anything. We do like to do that - just walk hand-in-hand and look at lots of wonderful, expensive pieces of art - and let the proprietors THINK that we might actually spend $12,000 for that onyx globe or that painting or whatever - and stroll on. A REALLY nice morning. And actually, the photos from yesterday were taken on this morning's stroll around. I *almost* bought a T-shirt which has a picture of an old cowboy on his trusty horse. The cowboy is just totally passed out asleep in the saddle and his *dog* is in the saddle in front of him, with the reins in his mouth. The caption is "Designated Driver". I was thinking of you, Kelly, but decided that you don't really wear T-shirts like that - and you also might be offended about having a dog in control of a horse.... :)

We finished with the main drag, then headed for another "community" of artists and shops - near our hotel. Go ahead and pronounce the name of the community. Go ahead. I dare you:


At about this point, Kathy and I began to realize just how good Kelly's camera really is (thanks again for *making* us take your camera with us, Kelly) - and we started to play with the filters. Yeah. I know. Photography 102, but I didn't know what we had. We found the UV filter and put it on - since a guy in a camera store told us that we'd already gotten the lens dirty and should have always protected it with the UV filter. And then we put on the Polarizing filter - and couldn't figure out how to get it *off*. We were sitting on a bench - nearly doing damage to the camera - when a nice English gentleman tourist gently asked if I might appreciate some assistance - as he was a bit of a photographer himself. How nice. So he explained how it worked and we thanked him, THEN realized that we REALLY wished we'd had the polarizing filter on for the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley shots - but it's too late for that. Bottom line, Kathy spent some time playing with the filter - and discovering just how blue it made the sky show:

By the way, the sky really *does* look that blue in person, but if you don't use the filter, it gets washed out. Yeah. All the rest of you already knew that (Mike? Rick? Do I hear you screaming at us?) but we learned it today.

Annnd Kathy always likes plants, so she snapped a shot of a rose we found:

So! Lesson over, we decided to try the "Bar & Grille" there for lunch. And. OK. More food. But I had the most-amazing Burger I have ever had. WOW! Great meat, prepared well, then with *both* grilled onions and mushrooms AND raw red onion - in addition to lettuce and mayo. Oh YEAH! A truly-memorable burger. Yeah, yeah... Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, pretty flowers but OH! The *BURGER*. (smile).

We spent a few more hours leisurely strolling around the community - really getting to wander thru some great art: paintings, sculpture (we ran into one gallery where the sculptor was right there - carving the clay - with nobody else in the gallery - so we got to talk to him and watch him sculpt Teddy Roosevelt on a horse - and talk about the bronze-casting process it would eventually go to. REALLY cool), and even furniture made from huge stones and steel reinforcing bars. COOL stuff! I tend to like paintings most. Kathy also notices pottery. It is one of those "really nice coincidences" that we both enjoy just browsing art - and we generally even like the same art. Nice afternoon.

Evening. Headed for our new hotel. Checked in and enjoyed the views, then went out to drive around Sedona. It was closed. No. Really. Maybe we just didn't get the "secret code" to find out where things happen in Sedona at night - but there was NOTHING going on after about 8PM so we grabbed Subway for dinner, watched TV while we ate, Blogged, and went to bed.

And now I've begun keeping track of our total mileage as suggested by Barry. Thanks Barry. Now you can all follow our mileage as we finish each day: 3113 total miles since leaving Florida.

New Map! New Map!

OK. We're beginning to take advantage of the flexibility of our vacation, so I figured it was time to update the map to show some new stops we added. The stops shown are:

9) Mesa Verde as originally planned

10) Four Corners - added - where 4 states all come together in a point.

11) Monument Valley

12) Grand Canyon

13) Sedona, AZ - added since we had many recommendations for it and we were ahead of schedule and still had to arrive in Albuquerque as originally scheduled - for the Balloon Festival (but you haven't heard about that yet)

14) Painted Desert

15) Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival

16) Madrid, NM - added because it was almost on our way and it is where "Wild Hogs" was filmed and I'm a movie junkie

17) Santa Fe

18) Arches National Park (back up past "9"). By the way, this is where we currently actually *are*, but I have to catch up on the blog entries.

19) Bryce Canyon (but we may axe this one since we've been told that it isn't as beautiful as the others)

20) Zion National Park (added due to recommendations)

21) Antelope Canyon/Glen Canyon/Slot Canyon - added because it has those cool canyons that you walk thru and are narrow and the sun streams down in amazing patterns - but it is rather far out of the way, so I don't know if we'll get to do it

22) Las Vegas - and on - as originally planned - except that the schedule kicks out a couple of days

OK? Now I'll try to get more caught up on the blogging - so you can follow along.

Sedona? OK. Sedona.

October 7, 2008 - Tuesday


Well. So our "schedule" is already getting "flexible" and we're actually a couple of days ahead of what we had had in mind. We spent the nite near the Grand Canyon and intended to see the sunrise (about 6AM - and we were told to be there at least an hour before - to really see the effects) - but when I woke up at 5AM - after the day we'd had before, I just decided to turn off the alarm clock before it even went off -and let us sleep in. So we missed sunrise, but we got up at around 8, packed, had our breakfast, checked out, and headed back to the Canyon - to get the 2nd half of the photos already in the posted set. Just beautiful.


Soooo. Ahead of schedule. What now? We had consciously decided NOT to go to Sedona, Arizona - despite some recommendations - because we'd gotten impressions (from "Penn & Teller" - among others) that it was just a collection of New Age kooks: Astrology, Pyramids, Astral projections, and such. But we had a few more of the people we encountered - recommend it. And it was pretty-much on our route. And we were a couple of days ahead of schedule. Sooo... to Sedona we went. Beautiful drive in: winding treed road - and rather amazing when we arrived. It is a town of 20,000 people - overrun with tourists like us. It is stunningly beautiful - built in *among* the kinds of formations that we had been seeing in National Parks (see the opening photo - taken on the "main drag" of town - with the mountains showing thru the clear Arizona air - in all directions. That photo was taken by a very-helpful Irish policeman. Yes. Irish. Here in Arizona.) Here are other views taken on the main "tourist trap" strip:

And, by the way, on the drive in, we encountered a man in a long, bright-purple robe, with a long beard (the man had a beard, not the robe had a beard) - in the middle of a traffic circle - so there ARE kooks there.

But we found our hotel and I promptly settled in for a nap: I felt distinctly dizzy and light-headed. Perhaps because of the higher altitudes of the last few days - and perhaps because of the winding roads. Whatever the reason, the afternoon was spent sleeping - for me, then dinner (where we found out that Sedona pretty-much shuts down after 8PM) - then trying to catch up on the BLOG - and sleep.