Seattle

Ah, Seattle, Seattle, Seattle. Here's a view outside the city of Albuquerque, on the takeoff.

In Seattle, check out the native plants. You know their pretty.

Meet C's family, Zeppel and Sammy.

You know we visited the Space Needle. If we didn't, what a shame. Now JUMP!

Some views from the top of the Needle.



Now, I've been around some tall buildings before, but nothing like this. One other feature of Seattle strange to me is the fact that there are so many multi story buildings. Primary homes / apartments and lofts.

Ahhh, down close to the sea.

And finally, C. himself!

There's more from Seattle, but this will do for now. The trip was good. Ten day's of hanging with C. Saw some other sights of Seattle besides the Space Needle. We'll talk about that later. Also met a number of C's friends as well as a reunion with his parents and sister.

Well it's time to relax some. Will head out tomorrow for a few day's of camping. Now this is a great vacation! I've had a chance to be both a tourist [in Seattle] and will get a chance to hit the great outdoors. Today's been a busy but productive while I've completed a number of chores. More when I return from camping. CHEERS!

Hello There from Seattle

Hello folks, here I am in majestic Seattle, Washington. Had a great flight into the city and am now hanging with C!!!! After 25 years of phone yacken, we are finally talken in person. Seeing in the flesh. Have had a great time so far. Ready for more. Photo's to come . . . eventually.

More later folks. Cheers!!

Talk

Alright, I just gotta comment on something. Over the last few day's, I've been listing to talk radio for a change of pace. Will YOU people stop spending the first 25 - 50% of your glorious airtime praising the person and his / her show. "Oh your the greatest . . .", "I've been listing to your show . . .", "I've been calling for . . .". Give it UP folks. Get out of the hole.

Simmer down now.

Getting stuff done for the trip to Seattle. Cloths packed - check, carry-on bag stuffed - check, to-do checklist made and scanned (a lot) - check, spazzzz - check.

Let's see, tomorrow, perhaps movie at the dollar spot. Thursday night - concert - Shinedown - Sunshine Theater - doors 7 / show 7:30 - all ages, bar w/ ID. Friday - ascend 7000 feet, descend 12000 feet - gum please?!

Now for Savage Nation on talk. Boil thy blood!

Bandelier

Well I'm back from a painful visit to Bandelier National Monument. It was so painful, I had to be pried from the place. Good trip from start to finish. Here's a view of the lower village:

And a view of the cliff dwellings dug into the ash wall.

And more rooms in the side of the wall. The wall is soft enough that it can be dug away with a stick or other such object. The small holes that line the wall where used to support the roof. This was a multistory setup.

Then a trail at a separate section of the Bandelier park. The trench is original trail from the Native Americans.

And Oh!, we can't forget the scenic vista's.



WOW! What a beautiful state I live in.

Now it's time to prep for my next vacation . . . visiting C in Seattle, Washington. And to add to the excitement, got to get ready for my brothers birthday coming up. Now, just what shall I get him . . .

Day 8

Yes, indeed. Another day reliving my vacation. And you thought it was over. Fooled ya, didn't I. So lets start by getting back on the road shall we.

This would have been Saturday, July 28th. We packed up our bags and headed down the road. Our plan for the day is to hit several small "ghost towns." Scary, huh. Along the way though, we passed by Las Cruses, New Mexico (no pit stop, thank God) and headed north. Our first stop was Leasburg Dam State Park.

A swim fest I tell ya. "Where's my swimming suit?" Like it would have done MEEE any good as the water felt pretty cold to me. No deterrent though to a lot of other folks who were having a grand ol time. I did manage to walk in the water around some of the shore and found this little surprise. A large group of spiders that were floating on the water. Take that back . . .

Walking on the water.

We stayed for a while wading a bit longer and engaged in our fare share of people watching.

After that, we headed to Caballo Lake State Park. We found a picnic table overlooking the lake and loading dock.

A short drive away was Percha Dam State Park.

Some algae sloshing around in the water.



That was some R-n-R I tell ya. Now on to the main attraction - Ghost Towns. The primary interest: Chloride. This was a small town that cropped up around the 1870's as a result of a silver mining rush. The town ballooned to around 3000 residents in its heyday. The demise of the town came some years later when the government changed its money standard from silver to gold. The price of silver plummeted. Since the town did not have railroad service yet (all goods where brought in via wagon), it became too costly to not only get the silver out of town, but also to mine it in the first place. The highlight of this place was the general store.

This place is really a post onto it's own, so I'll leave it for another day. The pic above is just to whet your appetite.

As we headed home (it was a late night I tell ya) I just had to pull over for this shot of the moon passing through the clouds.


And alas, that ends my wonderful vacation. Yes, it's over [sniffle sniffle]. It was a good time for all. I'll come back another time with Chloride. Most all the pics center around that general store. What a neat place. Until then, I hope you have had plenty of vacation memories and perhaps gotten in the mood to plan your own adventure in the near future.

Cheers All!
Mighty

Day 7

OK folks, lets get back to the vacation shall we. It's going on two weeks and I already miss the vacation! Well . . . I think we all miss vacations. They just aren't long enough, are they?

Well day 6 brought us to the tourist trap that is Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

Now, magnify that image by ten or so and you've got the idea. But wait a minute. Is this bad? Does this spell disaster for the vacationing team? Not at all! Remember the words SUCKER written on me and moms foreheads? Ahhh they seen us coming and we knew it.

Well hidden away in the in the sleepy town of Cloudcroft is this plush golf course with a view to match. I'd a never seen it.

The drive back to camp had some nice scenery as well.


Well, it was time for chow and then questions. Like - What do we do now? We know! Back to the sand!



Much more pleasant the third time around. The temps were cooler and we just seemed to have a more relaxing time. Why isn't this in our backyard? But then again, if its handy, your not likely to go there as much.

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How about an update on moms chairs. Drum roll please !! BEFORE.

AFTER.

Fix those springs damn it! Survey says . . . much improved.

OK, I've got to inject here. I'm watching this Hell's Kitchen show for some reason. It turns out it's the last show in which the final competition is performed and the winner is announced. I can't stand this tension at the end. The two line up by doors and are to turn their respective handle that opens to a floor below with family and such. Why the crap. Retelling who did what right and wrong and what the winner is going to win. Then the slow ass countdown with the thumping music in the background. Give - me - a - break!

Day 6

Ahhh, waken up to a view like this. Mmmmm. What a treat. A view from the hotel window.

Well, after I was mesmerized by that, we got the day started. After breakfast and other miscellaneous things, our first stop for the day was White Sands National Monument. Just look at how that sand ripples.

As the dune moves, each dune move abruptly.

Go ahead - hold your breath a little longer. We'll come back to this. In the mean time, how about a view of the city of Alamogordo.

This taken from the parking lot of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Our next stop for the day. Turns out it was really hot and really bright on the sand dunes. Luckily, since we'd planned on staying in the city for a day or two, that meant we could go back . . .
For obvious reasons unknown to me, rocket technology seemed to be the theme at this museum.
Uooooooo, those pipes are sexy! Just look at the complexity.

And of course, man made satellites were discussed.

Now, back to our original starting point. White Sands! After supper and a trip to the motel, we went back for a guided nature walk, by staff non the less. Pretty interesting discussion, but nothing really new. That is if you bothered to read the stuff in the visitors center. If not, then this walk was chuck full of information.

The only real excitement was the tour guide (pretty hot!), and the unexpected sunset. WOW !!!

Day 5

Stair steps to heaven. Well, not actually. As day 5 rolled around, we packed up camp and headed out for a few more sightseeing adventures around town. Our first location was Monjeau Fire Lookout. It's WAY up there and the view is . . . well . . . wonderful to say the least.


Here's a little isolated patch of green in the rocks.

And the flowers were out too! Or is that the tail end?



We traveled on a gravel road to get there. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch at a designated campsite along the road. It was nice and the rain just missed us.

Our next pit stop was a walking maze. Neat stuff. We have a corn maze in town that happens every fall. Usually in the month of October. But this one was designated as a year around event tourist trap type of thing to keep the kids out of vacationing moms hair. I did the maze in 16 minutes. The goal is to find each letter of the word MAZE and punch your card as you find the letters, then head to the exit. I find it quite fun.

After that, we hit the road heading south to Alamogordo, New Mexico. But (there's always a but) before we could get there, we ran into more heavy rains on the road. Time to pull over and take some shots.

Gosh, who would drive a car as bent up as that?

We landed in Alamogordo and had not problem finding our accommodations for the evening.

By then, we were all pretty starved. Chow time!

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Didn't have to go in for jury duty today and not tomorrow either.