Longmont, Colorado Springs, and Home

Too busy for photos, but this is close.

 Wow!! My last week in Longmont proved to be busy, strenuous and exhausting. My daughter, Kathy, decided to move, so it was scramble time. A house opened up that fit her needs and she took it. We reserved a truck, started sorting out closets and storage areas, made mental notes of how we'd handle the logistics on moving day, and lined up some helpful friends of the kids.

Moving is always stressful, and this was no exception. The departing owners were very disorganized and did not share our standards of cleanliness. The day we wanted to clean before moving in, they were still moving out, so we spent half the day helping get them out of the way so we could get in.

Even this was too small.

The truck we reserved proved not to be big enough, so a couple of the kids used their pickups to move a lot of the garage stuff and, even that took two loads each. We also loaded every available car to take stuff to the new house. We fed everyone pizza for lunch and take-out Chinese for the ones who stayed for dinner.

Hats off to our 'crew'. Those kids were our heroes, for we could not have accomplished it at all without their willing muscle and 'can-do' attitudes. It was a veritable bucket brigade for both the loading and unloading of all the furnishings and endless bags and boxes. They rocked.

Getting settled in went fairly smoothly. We finished some serious scrubbing, a little painting, lots of deciding where stuff went and hanging artwork on practically every vertical surface. The house finally has my daughter's touch on it and everyone is doing well in their new home, including the dog.

Me, Doug, Carolyn (I have a lot to learn about 'selfies')

I pushed my departure until the last possible moment, staying an extra week, and adjusting my scheduled visits and route home accordingly. I didn't want to be on the road for the week before 4th of July due to all the anticipated traffic and I had promised Mom I'd be back by July 1st.

I drove down to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, Carolyn, and bro-in-law, Doug, as well as my niece and her kids who live there, also. I only stayed a couple of nice, restful days before hitting the road home. I had to cancel a visit to my nephew and his family in the Salt Lake area, and took I-70 west, and I-15 south, then roads through Bakersfield and Paso Robles to the coast.

I drove home in two long days rather than three short ones, and it was fairly uneventful while being somewhat tiring. I was pretty done-in by the time I finally unloaded my car on Friday night. I had the wettest and stormiest June ever in Colorado and came back to a very dry weather pattern on the Central Coast.

It was good to sleep in my own bed and good to see Mom, but always sad to leave my family in Colorado. I was welcomed by a mountain of mail, including a jury summons for the following week, and lots of getting caught up on everyday business. I had a great visit with my family and friends with loads of activity and good times. I'm already looking forward to next year's visit.

Th-th-that's all, Folks!!!

McClave, Loveland, Longmont

Me, Chip & Kathy with their new arches behind us.

After leaving McClave, CO, and my older daughter, Connie's family, I headed back to the northern Front Range and Loveland, CO, to visit my brother, Chip, and sister-in-law, Kathy. They moved back here last summer from the Seattle area and have been doing some extensive remodeling on the home they bought.

I had really strong winds all the way up Hwy 287, but by the time I hit I-70 at Limon, it was all sunny skies and white puffy clouds. I could see in my rear view mirror that everything south of me was solid gray cloud cover. I have been back here in the past, at the same time of year, when the temps have been very warm. I just hit it this year during a cloudy, stormy, and rainy period. I know they have seen dry conditions the last few years and really need the rain, but I sure wish I could take some of it home with me since it has also been dry in CA the last few years.

Kathy, me, Jessie & Sam (the notorious photo-bomber)

I only spent one night at my brother's house since they were preparing to leave on a road trip of their own. It was kind of a last minute plan, or we could've coordinated better, but they will be out in CA later this year to visit Mom and I will see them, then. 

Their house looks great, though. Lots of changes in landscaping, interior tile, paint, countertops, new doorways and arches, etc. They do good work.

Back; Sam & Grace, then, Sawyer, Jordan, me, Jack, Hannah

I returned to my younger daughter, Kathy's house and the busy schedule that resides there. I attended a baseball game that my older grandson, Sam, played in, took him back and forth to practices, drove into Boulder and had my oldest granddaughter, Jessie, cut my hair, and helped with a 16th birthday party for my younger grandson, Jack. Lots of comings and goings to work, volunteer, and practices, and Jack got his driver's license on the first try. Good job, Jack.

Father's Day was quiet here as the kids visited their dads. Jack left for a basketball camp on Sunday, and I had lunch with an old friend I've known for over 40 years; always wonderful to see her.

McClave, CO

Jeff /Bert, Connie/Harry, Amy/Dekker, me, Jessica, & JW

I drove to Denver and had a lovely afternoon with a high school classmate and his wife. We could have visited well into the evening, but I had to get going, so we tore ourselves away and promised to get together, again, next year. I got on I25 south and ran into heavy rain and storms between Denver and Colorado Springs. I had my windshield wipers going as fast as I could and still had trouble seeing the road. That area is a 6-lane freeway and traffic was going 50-60 mph, hydroplaning on a steady sheet of water. Insane.

I got through that thunderstorm, common to the area this time of year, and drove to my sister's house in Colorado Springs, where it was dry. They are on vacation, but I had to drop off and pick up some things on my way south. I visited very briefly with my niece and got going again. It was already 5-ish and I had at least 3 hrs drive to get to my older daughter's house in McClave, a few miles west of Lamar, CO, in the southeast corner of the state.

I went east on Hwy 71, turning south on Hwy 287, hoping to beat or avoid the storms moving in the same direction, but no luck. I found myself on a two-lane hwy, sandwiched in between several semis, facing a solid yellow wall of ugly. Whatever was in there wasn't good, but I figured if the semis were going forward, I'd tough it out, too. I heard a large plop on my windshield, and then, another, and I was suddenly engulfed by a wall of rain, hail, and wind. Again, I had my wipers going as fast as possible, white-knuckling the steering wheel, leaning forward and focusing on the tail lights of the truck in front of me. I even turned on my flashers so the truck behind me wouldn't run into me.

Top to bottom; Decker, Bert, & Harry

I got out of that mess quickly, but not fast enough for me, and arrived at Connie's house by 8:30pm, and it was already dusk because of the heavy clouds. It was weird driving out of that storm because there was a break in the dark clouds and I could see clear blue sky and white fluffy stuff above, while, to the west, I saw a huge, dark red-orange orb between the black of the storm clouds and the horizon. Strangely beautiful, but there was not enough shoulder to pull off and take a picture. I was really glad to get to Connie's house and be off the road and out of all that weather. A rather nerve-wracking day for me. I'm a west coaster, now, and not used to it, anymore.

We had a quiet week, really. Jeff, my son-in-law, was home every night to visit, (he often is out of town for his job as Ranger of the Comanche National Grasslands), I watched Amy and Connie ride for a while, and got to see her prize foal and a couple yearlings they have. I, also, got to meet their new dogs, Harry and Decker, both Russel Parsons, not to be confused with Jack Russel's. They are so cute. Three of the oldest dogs all passed last year, so the new pups are a welcome bunch. They go everywhere with the family. Jeff has Bert, a Border Terrier, Connie and Amy have Harry and Decker, the Russel Parsons.

I've been as relaxed as Bert all week.

Connie, who does web design, advertising layouts, and logos, was busy all week trying to get some work finished before she and Amy leave for a two-week horse show, so it was a little hectic for her. I worked on my genealogy project for their dad's side of the family. It is fascinating to me, but time-consuming. It can get very frustrating with conflicting dates and multiple children with the same name when you go back a couple hundred years, but I enjoy working on it. I can't seem to get around all the day-to-day interruptions when I'm home, so I get more done when I'm back here. I still enjoy being around everyone, taking breaks with them, sharing in their day's activities and visiting in the evenings. I just love being with my family.

 The biggest hail stones I've ever seen.

We had a couple days of heavy storm activity with threat of tornadoes, too. One night, we were watching the storm tracker while a heavy cell was moving right towards us. It lightened up as it passed over us, and touched down south of us. There were other touchdowns north and east, also. While it passed, however, we heard the heavy pounding of hail and, when we felt safe enough to explore, we found the biggest hail stones I've ever seen. Miraculously, the house, barn and horse trailer escaped major damage, with just a few dents to the shed row roof. We had moved all the trucks and cars into the barn and garage and we heard later that a neighbor suffered extensive damage to their vehicles that were left out. We felt pretty blessed.

My grandson, J.W., came home Friday evening from finishing college at West Texas A&M with a bachelor's in business. It was good to see him, again. Amy is also finishing up high school this summer in her home-schooling program. I'm very proud of both of them. J.W. brought home his girlfriend, Jessica, for the weekend, too. She just finished up at Colorado State University, in Ft. Collins, and it was nice to meet her and get to know her, too.

Next stop; Loveland, CO, to see my brother and sister-in-law and, then, Longmont, for my last few days before the long drive home.

Longmont, CO

Sam, Kathy, Grace, Jordan, Jack, Sawyer.

A week with my younger daughter's family over Memorial Day weekend and the week that followed proved to be busy, as usual. We hung out over the weekend and caught up on things. Grace was anxious to be back in her mountains and Kathy took a couple of hikes with her and we watched some movies.

On Monday, we went to Jordan and Sawyer's house for bar-b-que. Everybody was there except Jessie, who had gone to Las Vegas with friends for the weekend. We all had a really nice visit, with several conversations going on at once, and it's always fun when the whole family gets together, even though we missed Jess. (In the photo, the ladies are all leaning on the sofa, hence appearing to have 'shrunk.')

The entire week was a little on the cool side and filled with afternoon thunderstorms and showers. Some pretty impressive lightning and threats of flood. It was hard to get used to after the heat wave and drought in SLO and a week traveling through the southwest deserts. Colorado has, also, had its share of drought the last few years and they need the moisture, too. Just not so much all at once, that it produces the kinds of floods they had last year.

I got caught up on my blog entries when I had the chance, and played taxi for the kids while my daughter went to work, Sam had baseball practice, Jack had basketball, Grace was catching up with her friends. I ran errands, did some laundry and chores, etc. Altogether, a pleasant, busy, and laid back week. Thoroughly enjoyable being with my daughter and grands.

I also had a wonderful afternoon/evening catching up with an old friend that I hadn't seen in almost 10 yrs. We promised to get together every summer when I come back. Saturday, off to see my older daughter's family.

Taos, NM to Longmont, CO

San Francis de Asis in Taos, NM

We got rained on hard overnight and it looked pretty bleak in the morning. I wanted to do so much in Santa Fe/Taos areas because they are so rich in crafts, culture, and history. The things we wanted to do in the morning didn't open until 10-11am and I had to leave before that to get Grace home. She was very anxious to see her family again after being gone almost 3 months. I took some pictures of a famous church that was one of the things painted by Georgia O'Keefe and photographed by Ansel Adams. Then, we hit the road north towards Colorado taking the scenic route on Hwy 159/522. I think I shed some tears as we said goodbye to Taos, but it will still be there the next time I stop by and I will make it up, then. 

You can still see straw in the adobe after all these years.

The weather actually cleared up and we had sunny skies. The scenery was beautiful. The more north we went, the more trees we saw, the greener it became and the more snow-capped mountains came into view. When we crossed the state line, Grace cheered.

We came to a crossroads just west of Alamosa, CO, and just a little south of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We had both been to the park, but didn't have our stamps, so, naturally, we decided to detour there. A hop and a skip and we were there. Took a few pictures, got our stamps, pins, and patches and were on our way again. We decided to continue north through Fairplay and over the mountains on I-70 rather than go on I-25. Who wants to go on a big freeway through big cities on the front range when you can go through smaller towns on smaller highways and see all the beautiful mountains and high valleys up close and personal?

The Great Sand Dunes up against the mountains.

We had beautiful weather and great scenery through the San Luis Valley and South Park (yes, CO has a high mountain valley called South Park), but we hit rain as soon as we crossed to the east side of the mountains, the Front Range. It rained off and on, but not hard, and we made it to my daughter's workplace by 3:30pm. I have to admit it was good to be off the road for a few days. Grace was so happy to be home and I was so happy to see my daughter and other grandkids, too. 

The '50 shades of green' in the Rocky Mountains.

There's a piece of me that will always reside in CO (I've lived here twice for a total of 12 years) and I have so much family here, now, and old friends, that I never tire of the place. My favorite mountain still overlooks my old home and as much as my old town changes, things still remain the same.

So, you can see my trip getting here had high points and low points with some great times in between. Road trips can be fun and adventurous, but are not without stress, mishaps, and surprises, both good and bad. As long as you get where you're going safe and sound, it's all good. Not counting Joshua Tree National Park, since it was closed, I saw nine national parks and monuments and two state capitols, and THAT is definitely all good.

Espanola, NM to Taos, NM

Entrance to Bandelier National Monument

Espanola, NM, is about 28 miles from the entrance to Bandelier National Monument. It's a very pretty drive and was, actually, pretty well forested; a nice change from the desert landscapes we'd seen for days. The road goes through the Los Alamos National Laboratory. My question is why do we have a national laboratory and what do they do there? We saw a gigantuous satellite dish that reminded me of 'Encounters of a Third Kind.' Hmmmm....

The Bandelier canyon used to be accessible only by trail.

At Bandelier, we hit another busload of students. The visitor center filled quickly with the kids and the same busload of tourists we had seen at Walnut Canyon. I can tell I'm getting old because my tolerance for the noise and the crowds has diminished...I'm turning into Hallmark's Maxine...LOL

The upper cliff dwellings - many stairs and many people.

Anyway, we walked around the displays, watched the film, bought our pins and patches, put on our hiking shoes, and hit the loop trail just out the back door. It was very well marked and the park pamphlet explained the what the numbers along the trail were pointing to. We didn't go up the stairs and ladders to the cliff dwellings because they were steep, and, also, very crowded and you could hear the echo of the students throughout the canyon.

A circular village with only one entrance in and out.

We passed a large kiva and a circular village of houses that had only one entrance to the village when it was populated. We followed the trail on a mild climb to more cliff dwellings and a pretty view of the canyon, then back around to the visitor center. We, also, passed on the 1/2 mile trail to Alcove House that you can only access by climbing long wooden ladders. There are 70 miles of trails in Bandelier, so, obviously, we only touched the tip of the iceberg, but the canyon is beautiful and the ruins we saw were impressive. Also impressive was the detritus from last year's flooding after the previous year's fires. Nature in action all around.

Ruins up against canyon wall. Used to be 3-4 stories.

Next, we drove out of Bandelier, back across the valley to a village called Chimayo'. There is a church known for miracles, and the surrounding hills are home to well known families of weavers, wood carvers, and potters. The roads are narrow, but paved, and very pastoral as they wind around colorful houses and yards. 

Sheer wall of the canyon.

We found a weaver first, and it was the main one I wanted to visit. The looms were right in the room as you walked in the door and a small showroom of goods was to the side. A woman was working on one loom and another woman was working on a smaller one in the back. A man came out and explained the first loom was built by his grandfather and he was still using it. In fact, he had a working project on it right there. The loom his wife was working on was built by his father, and another loom he had built, himself, about 30 yrs ago. 

He showed us around and explained all the designs and various products. He even has orders from Japan where they are fascinated by our old west history. He learned to weave when he was a child on a small loom his grandfather built and is the 7th generation of weavers in his family. Their name is Trujillo and they were all so gracious. Grace and I were the only ones in the shop the whole time we were there and they were pleased we were so interested. We didn't take any pictures because we felt that would be too intrusive.

The rubble at bottom of picture from floods last year.

We spent more time than we planned and when we finally tore ourselves away, I found I had locked us out of the car. My purse with my phone, spare key and AAA card was also locked inside. I am so dumb sometimes, it kills me. We had to meekly go back inside and ask if they could call AAA for me. Again, they were so gracious and helpful. We waited another 45 minutes for the truck to show up and spent it visiting and learning more about their craft. 

We finally got going again, but had to forego any other exploration of the area for the other families. We started to go up the country road, called the 'high road' to Taos, but I was low on gas, again, and no stations in sight. We backtracked to Espanola, gassed up and got on the freeway. With the delays, we got to Taos after the museum we wanted to go to had closed. We walked around the plaza, but it was more retail and commercial than Santa Fe had been. Grace picked up some things and we headed for the hotel. I was very disappointed, but I have to admit, the upside of spending all that time with the Trujillos in Chimayo was incredible.

Albuquerque, NM to Espanola, NM

A bird or a spaceship?

After grabbing some breakfast, we got an early start on the Petroglyph National Monument, just on the south end of Albuquerque. It's a small park surrounded by developing neighborhoods. It's basically a lava flow that surrounded hills and were exposed when the hills eroded. Visitors actually have to leave the park and drive through residential streets to find the various areas to come back into the park where the trails are. The petroglyphs are carved on the basalt, which has a tendency to crumble over the centuries. Mind you, the crumbles are huge boulders, but they've moved and tumbled. The most bizarre thing about the drawings is that so many of the figures look like primitive alien forms. They are just other-worldly. 

The 'Circle of Life.'

The trails were mostly easy, but some climbing over the large basalt rocks was necessary. The first trail we came to climbed steeply to the top of a mound, so we passed it over. A woman who was just coming down when we drove by met us a little later and said that the trail had been brutal, so I was glad we had let it go.

Tent rocks often have caps of rocks balancing on the top.

We drove from there to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. This park is so small, it doesn't have a visitor center or gift shop. The gate shack had the park stamp for our passport books, but that was it. Our Nat'l Monuments don't have the status or frills that our Nat'l Parks do. I'm always thrilled when I see one that's been elevated to the higher status of a Park. 

Looking down the canyon at the tops of 'tent rocks.'

We passed on a 'cave' trail (which I later wish we'd done) and just drove through the park. We only went a few miles before hitting a gravel road that continued to the top of a small mountain where there was a veteran's memorial and a beautiful view of a couple of canyons. We ate a light lunch on top before coming back down, exiting the park and heading for Santa Fe. 

Front of NM Capitol Building in Santa Fe, NM.

We found the state capitol building (I love it when my GPS is working) and I explored it while Grace waited in a park. I think state capitol buildings are beautiful, some grand, some plain, but each unique. This one was a round design with three levels opening onto the colorful rotunda. Most capitol buildings try to reflect the history and culture of their states. Even the furniture makes a statement.

I loved the wagon wheel legs of this bench.

This capitol had some beautiful weavings and paintings, but the most unique thing I've ever seen was a buffalo head made from all sorts of materials; fabric, plastics, paper mache, paint brushes, etc. Even fishing reels were used for the eyeballs. It was just fascinating. And this guy is HUGE.

Blow this up and look closely.

When I was done in the capitol, I found Grace and we walked the few blocks towards old town and all the shops and vendors. I had really been looking forward to seeing the Georgia O'Keefe museum since I've always loved her work. When we got there, we found they had a special exhibit showing her work alongside Ansel Adams. They each had photographed and painted many of the same features of the southwest. I regretfully decided not to pay the admission price even though I'm sure the exhibit was worth it. Grace wasn't interested, either, so we browsed the gift shop and walked back to the plaza shops.

Street vendors lining one side of the plaza in Santa Fe, NM.

I really love the culture, history, architecture, colors, and crafts of the southwest and the vendors did not disappoint. There were enough wovens, silver, copper, blown glass, beadwork, leatherwork, etc., to satisfy anyone. We made our contributions to the trades and walked back to the capitol building to reclaim the car and head to Espanola, NM. Tomorrow, Bandelier National Monument.