Good Afternoon ROAD TRIPPERS!!! Well today is our last day in Taos, unless you want to stay another day. We can cancel tomorrow at the Stanley Hotel and just stay there Thursday night. There is not a whole lot in the vicinity so one night there would be plenty. Let me know, its fine with me either way!!! Just need to know within the next 4 hours or so. Earth Ships, Mesa Prieta Petroglyphs, and Tinker Town were fabulous. I did not know any of these existed. Those formations at Earth Ships did look like what people conceive space ships would look like and what we think would be made by ships landing and taking off in a natural setting as opposed to a manmade launchpad. The Petroglyphs were amazing. I love looking at what ancient peoples thought and saw of the world around them at the time they lived. How they saw their lives, their culture and their civilization. And Tinker Town, who knew? Schmet, when did you have time to stealth off and help this guy build this place? He must have had help from a Norrathian Tinker whether he knew they were Norrathian or not. Now we are at Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area. This is a badlands area, like the badlands in South Dakota. They are created by water but now water is scarce and the formations are left behind. The area is rich in fossils and dinosaur bones. They have quite a few giant HooDoos here. They are quite magnificent. There are a lot of tent rocks, fairy chimneys, and earth pyramids or mushroom rocks. Geologically, the area is comprised of layers of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and bituminous coal that were deposited 75 million years ago during the late Cretaceous era. This area is rich in fossils. Regarding collecting, BLM regulations apply. Common invertebrate fossils such as plants, mollusks, and trilobites may be collected for personal use in reasonable quantities. Interestingly, petrified wood up to 25 pounds per person per day may be collected. Cultural artifacts and vertebrate fossils, including dinosaur bones, cannot be taken under any circumstances and must be left in place. Keep in mind we are in the middle of nowhere with no paved trails. So use your red button to call the Cabana Boys to come and get anything you may collect, do not try and haul a ton of stuff around. Its 103 degrees F out here today, so keep drinking plenty of water, we do not want anybody getting heat stroke. This area extends for 6 miles. Now whether we choose to walk the whole 6 miles out and 6 miles back is a different story. I suppose since nobody else is out here and the chance of anybody coming out here is remote, we could port out to the furthest areas in the buses and then port out!! Do not tell anybody that Cyrrena is advocating being naughty!! Gero probably has a way to cloak the buses up his sleeve. After we are done here, we will be moving on to Bosque Redondo Memorial and the Billy the Kid displays in Fort Sumner, New Mexico and then the Musical Highway and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The way I have our time delays set, we will be able to complete the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History by 6 pm local time. I have scheduled cocktail hour for 6:15 pm and dinner for 7:15 pm at the Two Fools Tavern here in Albuquerque. This place has a very interesting menu. They say that it is an Irish Tavern with pub food. But none of the food would be in an Irish Pub. Some of the dishes they are using Scotch Whiskey instead of Irish Whiskey which would never happen. And they are serving a few English Pub dishes which amused me, so I had to see it for myself. I think you will enjoy the food and the drinks, especially the desserts. But I think they will have a shocker when I talk. After dinner, we will port back to Taos and we have the rest of the night to relax, chat and enjoy the hotel amenities. Anybody looking at the update, let me know if you want to stay another day here in Taos. I am inclined to do so, what with all the research Schmet did on Taos itself. *passes out Sombreros to everybody and an 80 slot leather backpack for collecting "shinies", stealths over and puts Ttobey's new Sombrero on him and his new backpack on him, giggles, and stealths off, casts the group speed buff, double checks the time delays, makes sure the Cabana Boys are on stand-by, motions to the Cabana Boy pulling the wagon with the Igloo chests full of ice and water to join the group, and shouts* Lets get moving, we have "shinies" to find and a lot of badlands to look at!!!!
Unfortunately, no. My grandma died just after midnight, my mum died first. While I was taking care of my mum's stuff at the funeral home, my aunt's went through my grandparent's house and removed everything of my grandma's like she was never there. Picture albums and everything were gone. My grandpa talked to me after and he said there is nothing, they even took her hairbrush out of here, its like they erased her. He was off taking care of the arrangements for her remains. I set up a joint memorial service for them on Saturday, and I got a niche and they were put together in the niche. In June of that year, my mother-in-law died. So my girls lost all their grandmothers within 3 months. But in July one of my aunts and my grandpa left on a road trip to Ohio, when my grandpa got there, he found that all of the short pants that he had just thrown in a suitcase without looking at them were my grandma's, they had given all of his to charity and kept hers as they didn't know which drawers in the bureau were hers and which were his. He had to go buy all new short pants, but he was ecstatic, because he has those things that belonged to her.
I think it is rather wired that your aunts would clear out your grandparents house with you grandfather still alive , how dare they that stuff belonged to her husband unless he told them it was ok , sounds to me like they did not like him . I would have been so angry but it's hilarious +that they dragged you grandpas shorts to good will. well maybe they just wanted to help him .
Oh they loved him dearly. They just had these warped thoughts that going in and getting that done when he was not there would make it easier for him to deal with the grief and it made it harder on him. When the older of my two aunts passed, her husband passed 21 days later and had had to be put in a care center for people with dementia so that didn't happen there. And my other aunt her husband passed 7 years prior to my grandma and she didn't have them coming in and doing that at her house because they were all with her making the arrangements. I don't know where they got those warped ideas, but when my grandpa died a year and a half later, they learned it was not that easy to just get rid of everything like the person never existed. I made rules nobody removes anything from our house, my mum and I owned a house together. When I found that stuff was missing, I changed all the locks and put the blocker in the dog door so that nobody could enter or leave if I was not at home, even my brother.
I went ahead and cancelled tomorrow night at the Stanley Hotel and extended our stay at the hotel here in Taos through tomorrow night. We will be staying at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, Thursday night only.
That is a horrible story, I would be more than angry. And what a tragedy for you kids and you also to have to deal with, and then to have to deal with that also. On another note, I loved all the Indian stuff, I have tons of turquoise stashed away, I want to keep my Indian head dress forever and wear it wherever I go. I hope the sombrero doesn't mess up the feathers.
ok well I don't like to burst your bubble Cyrrena , but there is lots to do here Estes Park : what to see : " Aspen and Evergreen Gallery " " Images of Rocky Mountain N.P." " Stanley Steam Car Museum " " Red Rose Rock Shop & Dick's Rock Museum " you can get more rocks here if you did not get enough in New Mexico " The one Cart Rock Shop " " Mac Gregor Ranch Museum " " Mrs. Walsh's Garden " natural setting with lots of wild flowers and very pretty " Estes Ark " do I have to say more about what this is ? " Our Lady of the Mountain Catholic Church " go shopping : " The Taffy Shop " " Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory " " Rocky Mountain Sereni Tea " " Rock Cut Brewing Company " " Snowy Peaks Winery " " the Barrel " German style beer garden " Elkins Distilling Co " " Grandma's Mountain Cookies " " Laura's Fine Candy " " Distinctively Colorado " unique Food and Gifts " Purple Mountain Company " " Mountain Blow Glass " " Patterson Glassworks " what to do : " Wild Side 4x4 Tours " " Rapid Transit Rafting " " Open Air Adventure Park " Zip lines climbing and obstacles fun for the whole family or a bunch of crazy adventurers " Estes Park Aerial Tramway " " National Park Gateway Stables " for those who want to get their behind in to a saddle " Real West Old Time Portraits " to get this authentic looking photo of yourself . And let's not forget Estes Park is one of the gateways to " Rocky Mountain National Park " like always I was only pick some of the shops and some of the sits , I tried to mix it up a little . And this is only one resort town up in the mountains , there are something like 260 places suggested to see in Colorado. I suggest we head on up to Utah to make sure we get to see the fairies and ogres.
My mother's brother stole and sold off a number of things I was supposed to inherit. Some of them were oil paintings she had done. They were quite excellent. But she didn't have a will. Where and when she died, the oldest son gets to decide. The other siblings get no input. As for the large bead loom, I have no idea where it is. But here is what I did. I________| I built one like that, horizontal board, two end boards. I got metal shelf holders to act as braces on the inside of the vertical pieces. After I used wood screws to put that together, I bought a box of finishing nails. Hammered them in a tiny distance apart, being careful not to split the wood, on both vertical pieces. I used cotton thread for both warp and the other threads. I almost typed warp and woof. It being 182 beads wide, I could only pick up about 15 or so beads at a time with the beading needle. After getting all of them on the thread, I carefully pulled the thread sort of tight, and placed each bead left to right, one between each thread. Don't try to visualize that, you could get a headache. I did part of it at summer camp one year. I was asked to stop so I did. I presume headaches and 'oh, mine is only 10 beads wide' complaints ensued. It is tiring. But lots of patience works well with this project. Note that people have told me I have no patience. I think this beading project shows otherwise.
There are no buses up my sleeve. Riiiiipppp ! Bullwinkle stop that ! A certain squirrel, "I told you not to stand too close to him Gero.". Anyway, cloaking devices... Hmmm. Now you see them, now you, oh dear. Forest camo in the desert isn't going to do it. Sorry, my cloaking gear needs work. Or are those trees the buses ? ( Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle Moose, two of my fave cartoon characters.)
nah Geroblue they forgot you got a space ship and we got hover crafts that don't make a lot of noise only sounds like a swarm of angry bees . and we got your prototype model of an air ship but it's only good for 200 miles or so and a lot smaller than what we will need for our Europe trip.
We can come back to this area after our weekend at Evermore. We have tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Evermore. Then we can return to Colorado.
Good Afternoon ROAD TRIPPERS!!! Its Wednesday and unfortunately it is our last day in Taos. Tomorrow morning we are porting to Colorado for our night at the infamous Stanley Hotel, inspiration for The Shining after Stephen King stayed there. Today we are exploring just Taos, no porting elsewhere. This morning it was the Kid Carson House, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge (I stayed over on land, no middle of the bridge for me), and Taos Clay Studio, lookie I made a pot that actually looks like a pot!!! Right now we are at Taos Mesa brewing finishing up lunch and then its off to Taos Pueblo. From Schmet's research, this is possibly the oldest still lived in village in the US. This was believed to be the fabled city of gold by the conquistador Hernando Alvarado. To keep the authenticity the residents are not allowed any electricity or running water, water has to be gathered from the river. The Pueblo is a designated National Historic Landmark and a world Heritage site of UNESCO. Then to cap off the day, we will be going to the Wild Earth Llama Adventure!!!! I love Llamas!!! Thank you Schmet for finding these. I have scheduled cocktail hour for 6 pm at Taos Ale House and dinner for 7 pm at Guadalajara Grill. After that we are back to the hotel for an evening of relaxing or the hotel amenities. Tomorrow, we leave at 7 am to port to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. We will have the whole day to look at some of what Schmet found in her research and then our maybe spooky night in the hotel. Then Friday we port to Pleasant Grove, Utah for our visit to Evermore. We have 2-day passes. Evermore is only open from 6 pm until 11 pm each day so we have all day Friday and all day Saturday to explore other things in the area. I thought it was open Sunday as well on the last weekend but I was mistaken. So we can return to Estes Park on Sunday. *passes out hats to everybody with Hoop Dancers on them, stealth's over and puts Ttobey's new hat on him, giggles and stealth's away, casts the group speed buff, double checks the time delays, and shouts* All right ROAD TRIPPERS, lets head on out to the Pueblo!!!
Only good for 200 miles ?! Hmmm... not in the specifications. Flaps his arms and goes over to the ship. The air ship. "Well, I see some cobwebs on the fuel port. Thats not good. Go up to the helm cabin. I'll be back in a few..." The Air Ship blinks out, and comes back with... a brass band playing in the air near it. "Sigh. Now I remember why I don't like getting fuel for this air ship. They follow me everywhere when I fuel up the air ship. Don't worry, they have flying suits." A woman's arm folds out of the air ship, and waves a Tech Level 75 magic wand. The brass band, "Run Away ! Run..." And they disappear. Gero says, "Thanks ship !" You notice the ship is much larger. It can now hold a few hundred passengers, helium it uses helium, and has various accomidations. Video, restaurants, Internet, rooms, casual and formal dining, etcetera, etcetera, and etcetera. It can travel to any continent on Earth at 50 miles per hour, 100 miles hour, or teleport. But some nations don't like the teleport bit. So I try to avoid that. Afterall ,their anti-aircraft has improved... ooof. And its not a space ship, more a star ship. The Hyperdrive engines are beyond Earth's technical level. And they need a refit. Gero goes around the side of the 'space ship' and again paints over the name BeBop. ( Jet wouldn't like it. ) No, I haven't seen Ed nor Ein.
Good thing this is virtual, because helium pricing is doubling. One of the big gas companies put in a huge bid for the helium, so now the smaller gas companies are having a hard time getting it, because some government agency regulates how much we can pull and sell. So our helium prices went from $186.00 to $250.00 and they are saying it will go even higher. SO thank you huge companies that can pull crap like that and get away with it. Um sorry {rant off}
Well... a few years ago MythBusters did the 'can a child float away if handed the noraml amount of helium balloons a seller of such would have at a carnival' ? The answer is no, but to see how many... they bought up the helium supply in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area. I only know of one helium well, and its in Texas.
First I would take a look at all the gorges National Parks of Utah before we go back to Colorado, and if all we do is a drive through and maybe hick up the Narrows in Zion National park. Yea let's spend a second night at that breath taking hotel on the way back south. I better get more into detail on Utah . Man I did not do this much planning when we went to those places years ago , that means I too had no idea that many of this places exist . Years ago we went by airplane to a funeral in Iowa and came back with a moving van , towing a car . We had bad road conditions a lot of the way. When we left Iowa things were clear and dry. But by evening we hit a cold front with lite rain that froze into one ongoing sheet of black ice on the freeway. I was so happy that my husband drove the little truck. We passed by numerous cars in the ditch and safely got through we kept on driving on I 80 through Nebraska and Wyoming We came down from the mountains through the Emigration Pass towards Salt Lake City . we had winter weather warnings on the radio , but I was not to concerned . That was quite a drive it's a beautiful road but at night in a moving van with trailer is bad enough , but it began to snow , More and more . We made this trip with 3 little children , ages 4 , 3 and 6 months , we would make stops and put up a potty chair for the older ones if there was no real bathroom around . At night my oldest slept so well he wet his pants , wile his younger sister would tell us like clockwork every 2 hours or so that she had to go potty. In the end her " big " brother had worn his backup cloths and hers too . well back to the story , so we went down this windy mountain road with Salt Lake City below looking like a dream . By the time we got down into the city the snow fall had become really thick . We found a open truck stop and learned that the pass we had just come down had been closed do to a snowstorm . So we quickly stoked up and went on , because we wanted to make it to some place in Nevada. so we kept on going on and as we hit the great salt flats the Snow clouds caught up with us and I was driving now , my husband sleeping the sleep of the innocent. It got so bad we had white out conditions and I was not able to see where the road was , unless a truck came by to mark the road for maybe 10 minutes. Finally I woke up my husband , thinking an extra set of eyes would be helpful . He set up with a start and was franticly looking for his steering weal , poor guy thought he fell asleep driving . We made it to Nevada and simply stayed right there on the other side of the state line . The next morning we went home without to much trouble even going over the infamous Donner Pass.
Wow, Schmet, we can surely get storms like that in Utah! Not the last few years, though. I have vivid memories of hiking up the Narrows with my 2 year old daughter on my back - in 1990.
yea that year was a dry winter too , no snow and we come through and they get a blizzard , we make jokes that we should travel through the land as rain makes I belief , I already told you the story about us traveling in Canada and coming across a digital warning sign warning of a Dust Storm , turns out to be a rather heavy Rain Storm , and they should have given people flood warnings. We come to Las Vegas in the middle of summer , and it rains you get the idea.
Ooh, dudette, you gotta tour this poor over-warming planet. We need to go to Europe early and head off that dang heat event heading for the Arctic (if it isn't already there). :-/ Uwk who tried doing a rain dance once in a way too sultry August (still like living in a place that hasn't seen snow in its streets for almost 100 years! ) and got nothing but thunder and dry lightning... :-/
