Vacation - Here to There

After visiting with M for a bit on Wednesday morning, we hit the road headed north.  Our end destination was Longmont (where my cousin Krystal lives), but there were plenty of things to stop and see along the way.  We stopped at Pagosa Springs to get an earth cache (yes, we did some geocaching on this trip too...) and stretch our legs.  That's a cool little town, and someplace we're both interested in going back to visit!

From there, we stopped at the Continental Divide to get a picture.  I think this is the third time during this trip that we've crossed the Divide.  Of course, the other two times were in New Mexico, and there wasn't quite this much snow.  Apparently we'd been gaining quite a bit of elevation in our drive...

We also wanted to stop at Royal Gorge.  According to the literature, it sounded almost like an amusement park or some form of Pleasure Island (the one in Pinnochio, not Fantasy Island) - including a tram, bungee jumping, and other food and entertainments.  Unfortunately for us, we were too late to enter the park, in part because we went to the wrong entrance first (the south side is closed this time of year).  But Greg was able to get pictures of the bridge from just outside, and he got some nice scenery shots from our jaunt to the south side.

 

 

And then it was decision time.  Greg really wanted to see Garden of the Gods, which is on the way, but it's dusk now so there'll be nothing to see until daylight.  Do we continue on, so I can see Krystal?  Or do we stop and see some magnificent scenery?  We opted to do both, in a way.  Travel on to Longmont, that night and I'll visit with Krystal the following day while Greg retraces part of our route to visit the park.  A win-win for everyone!

We stopped in Colorado Springs to get dinner.  As luck would have it, there was a brewery - so we stopped at brewery #4: Brewer's Republic.  Not sure if this one really counts since they don't brew their own beer, but they do get the beer from a local brewer.  I had a mighty tasty lemon-grass brew (and am a bit disappointed that I didn't get to try the curry beer they had a while ago) and the pizza was very tasty!  Interestingly enough, we met some people who currently live in Colorado Springs but are from Alaska and are getting ready to move back. Shout out to Erin and Klark - look us up when you get to town and we'll go do something fun...  =)

Vacation - Farmington, Part II

We spent Tuesday doing more sightseeing, while M was at work.  There are several sites for ruins that are really close to Farmington.  We started in Aztec Ruins National Monument, looking at the 800+ year old structures created by the ancient Puebloans.  It's fascinating to see the workmanship and know that the people creating these structures did everything by hand.  No power tools there - no nail guns, cordless drills, table saws (a lot of what we just used to complete the work on my mom's house).  In some cases they had to go miles and miles from home for the supplies necessary (wood, stone, etc.) to build the 500-room, multi-level compound.  And then there's the speculation on who was occupying it for various time periods.  It was particularly interesting to see the change in masonry styles (obvious - when pointed out - even to an untrained observer like me), indicating occupation by different peoples.

 

We actually went to two different ruin sites on Tuesday: the ruins in Aztec and the Salmon Ruins in Bloomfield.  They both have similar histories, but one (Salmon Ruins) was discovered by the original homesteader, who provided protection for the ruins.  This site is smaller (the compound is approximately 150 rooms, multi-level), but has a Great Kiva (purportedly a social gathering area for the people in residence) similar to the one at Aztec.  A BIG difference is that the Great Kiva at Aztec was reconstructed in the early 1900s, so we have a visual idea of what they might have been like.

 

It's intriguing to try to imagine how things were for the people back then.  The rooms are small; there are no hallways connecting anything.  In order to get from one place to the next, you'd have to walk through the living or working space of anyone in between.  My bedroom is bigger than most of those rooms.  In fact, the space my bedroom has could probably be split to make two of those rooms (with lower ceilings and small doors at both ends).  These people were short and small, and didn't seem to have much need of privacy.  More communal: less worry about mine and yours (did they not have to worry about stealing?); more interdependent as a community, but still independent as a people (as evidenced by apparent trade routes and such).

 

There are still plenty of sites left for us to explore.  The next time we go, we'll have to make sure to visit Chaco Canyon - the ruins there are even more elaborate, and indications are that some of the people that inhabited the Aztec and Salmon ruins were related to the Chacoan people.  Anyhow.  Enough of the ancient culture and ruins stuff - mesmerizing in person, but hard to keep interesting when you're writing about it.

Back in Farmington, we were killing time while waiting for M to finish at work when we came across the store front pictured above.  I just had to get a picture (thanks to Greg - in fact a lot of the pictures I've been using are thanks to Greg and his fancy-pants camera).  As we were wandering Main Street, window shopping and taking in the sights, it was interesting to see how many stores were actually closed.  Seems like the downturn in the economy may have hit Farmington pretty hard.  Hope things get better there.

Once M was done at work, instead of doing any hikes, we opted to get dinner and then spend the evening at home prepping for travel.  M and I made some of the yummiest caramel corn I've had in ages (discounting the fact that I haven't had caramel corn for ages...), and she burned some music CDs for us to listen to (we didn't bring any suitable music, and I intended to get an audio book but never did).  I wake up some mornings with the songs from our road trip running through my head - thanks, M!  =)

And then it's Wednesday - time to head north to Colorado.  We stopped by the hospital to visit with M one more time before heading out.  The facilities are beautiful.  I love the architecture of the building, the water features incorporated inside, and the calming, serene garden-scape alcove.  I'm glad M has such lovely surroundings.  I hope it brings her peace and contentment while she's there.

More endings and beginnings.  I'm sad to leave my sister, but I temper that sadness with the idea that there's still plenty of things we didn't do or see, so we'll be back.  And so we head north on the next leg of our adventure.

Vacation - Farmington, Part I

We arrived in Farmington on Sunday evening, just in time to get dinner at Olive Garden (thanks, Sheri!!).  As usual, it was delicious!  I hear that someday we're actually going to have one here in Anchorage, but I'm not holding my breath.  For years now, each new construction site is first rumored to be an Olive Garden.  Instead it becomes Arby's or TGIF (and I really hoped the IHOP by our house was going to be an OG, but that was just wishful thinking (not even rumors)).  Not that I'm complaining, just feeling a little let down.  So now we have a new shopping center on the other side of town, and supposedly one of the buildings is going to house an Olive Garden. *fingers crossed!*

But I digress.  M still had to work (bummer!!), so on Monday, Greg and I headed out to the Bisti (pronounced Bis-tie or Bis-tea, but I call it Beastie) Wilderness (aka Bisti Badlands).  The area is about 30 miles south of Farmington.  Since M couldn't come with us, I took her Sing-a-ma-Jig doll (we each got one from mom) and took pictures with it instead.  (Side note: I'm going to start a new segment on my blog called Adventures with Amy - the accompanying pictures will have M's Sing-a-ma-Jig doll representing her.  I left mine with M - she said she'd take pictures and post them too.)

 

We walked in (no motorized or mechanical vehicles allowed, including mountain bikes - not that we brought bikes with us...) about 1.5 miles, taking pictures along the way.  We didn't even get to the really cool stuff.  According to some information Greg found, approximately 2 miles in the formations get particularly interesting.  Even so, it was somewhat eerie in a cool way.  A combination of hard and soft rocks with some petrified forest thrown in on top makes for some interesting formations.  Almost as if we were on an alien planet - which was really easy to imagine since there was nothing man-made that we could see in any direction.

Because it was cloudy and threatening rain, the farther we got from the car, the more I started imagining a torrential downpour that created a flash flood and swept us away.  I countered it by telling myself we'd just climb up on some of the higher surfaces, but with no cell service then I worried that I wouldn't be able to let M know what was happening.  Shortly thereafter the winds kicked up something fierce and I just about panicked.  So Greg led us back to the car through the wind storm (talk about alien landscape!) - I had my sunglasses on, looking at the ground, squinting so I didn't get dirt and debris in my eyes (contacts sometimes are a pain, and mostly when something else gets in my eyes (cat hair, lint, dust, desert sand...)).  We were just about 5 minutes from the car when it started raining sideways...  Greg has pictures of our dirty, dirty faces - I had sand in my teeth and the loveliest dirt mustache you've ever seen.  I never thought about how abrasive towelettes can be until I was cleaning up the mess.

After all the fun and excitement in the Badlands, we decided lunch was in order.  Back in Farmington, we found brewery #3: Three Rivers Eatery and Brewhouse.  Good food, and some tasty beer.  It was nice to have a cozy place to sit and eat while we were warming up.  I found that I'd missed a bunch of dirt - particularly in my ears.

 From there, we picked up M from work to go on the River Walk.  Since this is a new town for her too, we wanted to see some of the places that are part of her natural habitat.  We spent a lovely evening wandering by the riverside, watching the sun set and chatting.  They have an amazing veteran's memorial, which we saw as it was getting dark.  I love the color of the leaves, the scenery, and the peacefulness of the area.  Of course, a lot of that may have to do with being able to spend time with M...

It's been fabulous spending time with M for a while.  We missed having her with us at the Family Project, and I know she missed being there with us.  It's also been nice to see her new home.  Her new digs are nice, and Farmington is beautiful - at least what we've seen thus far.  I wish she had had more time to spend with us; I wish we lived closer together; I wish it didn't cost so much to visit. I wish...  Love you, M!

Vacation - Albuquerque

After leaving Ogden, I drove south to Moab while Greg napped, since he planned to be up early and hiking in Arches National Park Friday morning (and I planned to get some much-sought-after shut-eye)...  After the long hours on the remodel project, it was definitely nap time!  We had lunch at the Moab Brewery (the first in our tour of the Brew Pubs of the West - the beer is good, but the root beer is divine!) and then we headed further south to Farmington, NM.  We only stopped briefly, to pick up M, and then continued even farther south - ending in Albuquerque.  It was after 10pm when we finally arrived, but dad was waiting up to spend some time with us and chat for a bit.

The Main Event for us on Saturday (aside from the wonderful time spent with family) was the Scavenger Dash put on by Sierra Adventure Sports.  They have these competitions in several cities throughout the US, and we were lucky enough to be in town to participate.  It's like the Amazing Race, on a local scale.  You get clues, have to solve puzzles, and participate in challenges all within a 4-hour time limit.  In the process, you get to see parts of town you might never have been to otherwise.

 We were originally going to be two teams, but that didn't work out.  I convinced M and Greg that I would stay behind, do a little blogging, then maybe head back to visit with Grandma until they were done.  Yeah... none of that happened.  I was reading my book, minding my own business, when suddenly I was swept into being part of the pit crew for our team.

 Between Todd, Jason, Aaron and I, we were able to help M & Greg get to all but one of the destinations, and our team returned just shy of the 4-hour deadline.  There's a picture of them finishing here and here.  We all had a blast!  The event was hosted by Kelly's Brew Pub (2nd brewery of the tour), and that's where the awards were given.  If you have a chance to go there, you should really try the Award Winning Creamy Green Chile Chicken Soup - it's spectacular!

 

While they arrived last, they actually placed 19th out of 22 teams - probably because they completed more pit stops.  There were 12 total and the team that correctly completed at least 11 tasks in the shortest amount of time was declared the winner.  Looks like there's another Scavenger Dash in Albuquerque next October, and one in Seattle next September...  Hmmmm...  =)

The stay in Albuquerque was a short one, but it was particularly nice to see Grandma and Dad.  Amy and I made cookies on Sunday - some for the road, and some to leave.  It's always fun to cook or bake with people, especially family.  I don't know exactly what it is - maybe the bonding and sharing in addition to preparing food for someone else (and I do love to feed people)...  anyhow.  It was pleasant and relaxing and invigorating and soul-filling all mashed together into those chocolate chip and the white chocolate chip macadamia nut coconut cookies (we made two flavors).  I wish it didn't take so much time and money to go down to visit.  I'd go see them more often.  At least we have some new memories to sustain until the next visit.

Endings and beginnings...  The end of a short, but lovely, visit in Albuquerque signals the beginning of our adventures in Farmington.  So we headed north.

Vacation - Friendly Visit

The trip to Ogden to visit my friend Laurie was great!  Due to various circumstances (primarily that until recently she lived on the East Coast and I live in Alaska), I haven't seen her since shortly after high school.  It's amazing (in a Really?-Are-you-sure?? kind of way) to think that it's been more than 15 years since I last saw her.  But since this year was our 20th reunion (I didn't go), I suppose that it's got to be true.  She was my best friend through junior high and high school.  We sang in the choir, had Mrs. Coon for English, and were part of the year book staff together.  She was my confidante and co-conspirator (early on, we even owned imaginary herds of Arabian horses together - including naming them and giving them pedigrees)...

This visit was especially nice in that we'd lost contact for quite a while, and then about two years ago she found me online.  We've chatted and kept tabs a bit since then, but in-person visits are always nicer.  She met Greg and I got to meet her husband and boys.  We chatted about The Old Days, caught up on the years in between, and made some new memories.  I learned the whereabouts and whatnots of her family, and passed on the updates from my own.  (I'd swear her sister is still in diapers, just like I remember her - not grown enough to be living on her own back East.  She remembers my sister's broken femur and the body cast she had when she was two, but had issues reconciling the current pictures with what she remembers.)  It's incredible and very comforting to reconnect with someone who shares so much history - and to find that the intervening years haven't taken as much toll as I thought they might.  This is someone who knows my warts from the Teen Years (shudder) and put up with me anyway, and now I find that those old ties are still there, still binding.  I'm grateful for that.

It was a short visit - time seems to go so quickly when you're enjoying yourself - but there will be more to come.  I'll for sure be letting her know the next time I'm down to visit family so we can get together some more.  And I always love company coming to visit...  =)

And now we're heading south...

Vacation - Remodel Finis

First off, I just have to say that free WiFi is da BOMB!!  The posts for this vacation thus far are brought to you in a timely manner because of free WiFi.

We're done with the Remodel Project. Yesterday was a long, long day, with lots of manual labor causing even more pain and stiffness.  But the results are *SO* worth the effort!!  We were at the house by 8am and hard at work by 8:30.  I spent most of the day doing touch-up for the painting: a sixth coat on one side of the blue wall, lots of re-coating near the trim (where the rollers didn't get), trim touch-up (where painted hands - or clothes - touched already done work).  Tedious work, but important as the little flaws draw attention.

While I was busy with the paint, everyone else was busy too.  Jeannea and Greg worked in the bathroom - laying the flooring, installing the fixtures, etc. - while Sheri laid the entire dining room and kitchen on her own.  Dave was the cut-guy - making sure the floor-layers had all the boards they needed - and fixture fixer (installing light fixtures, new outlets, etc.).  Aaron and his family had to leave this morning, but he got a couple projects done before they took off (mom has a functional doorbell now!).  And Sara helped wherever someone needed extra hands (laying flooring, making sure we were fed - a very important task! - and installing hand rails, etc.).

 

We were working until after 2am to get everything done. Sore, exhausted, and proud.  In retrospect, it's fairly amazing how much work we were able to get done, in spite of the setbacks that are a normal part of remodeling.  As a bonus, I spent time with my family.  If I've ever got to do something like this again, I'd hope that I could share the... joy?... with my family - especially my sisters.

We had to go back for a couple hours today.  Just some odds and ends to take care of: wash the windows; install the bullnose on the laminate for the landing; clean and prep for carpet installation (that's separate, but will happen tomorrow).  The bonus to this is that we were able to see the tub surround after it was installed.  The surround guy is also going to make and install the bathroom sink counter - which should look really nice. 

So we're dropping folks of at the airport and heading out on our Road Trip.  First stop is north to Ogden, where we'll visit my friend Laurie (whom I haven't seen for more than 15 years), then south...

Vacation - Remodel Continued

Today was another long day, and it looks like tomorrow will be the same or longer.  Started the day at 8am, finally back to the hotel at 12:30am - with showers and whatnot, it'll be close to 2am before we hit the sack.  Tomorrow - or later today, if you want to think of it that way - starts by leaving the hotel at 7:30am...

We got a lot accomplished today.  Painting is a chore, but I'm really liking the way it's coming together.  The blue wall took 5 coats of paint, and the yellow took two.  We're mostly done with the white (it's actually a really, really light blue) in the living room, hallway, and stairwell - just a second coat in some areas to finish tomorrow.  Rolling doesn't take much time - it's the taping and cutting in that take the longest and have the least amount of show for the work done.

I didn't get pictures on my camera of the progress in the bathroom - but it's coming right along.  The sub-sub floor has been repaired and sub-flooring put in place.  The tub and sheetrock are in - we put down more leveling compound on the floors in preparation for the work tomorrow when we lay all the flooring - dining room/kitchen, bathroom, and landing.  Also have to finish the painting, install the bathroom components (toilet, counter, linen closet, etc.), install some lights and the doorbell... among other things.

It's coming together...  Everyone's been working hard, otherwise we'd never be able to make this happen, but we're all looking forward to the completion.  One more day...