New Adventures in New Mexico!

We've been all through New Mexico...and just when I thought "we'd seen just about every town", our friends informed us that they had moved to one we hadn't been to before!  Well, we couldn't pass that opportunity by!   We gave them a year to get settled in...and this summer when the Arizona heat was just to much, we decided it was time to check out this "new town" and see if they were up for a visit!  

So, off we went to Silver City New Mexico, altitude, 5900, South West corner...a 5 plus hour fairly easy drive.  When we left Surprise it was already pushing past 80 degrees at 7:30 in the morning and it would reach 118 that day.  We were looking forward to much cooler weather for the next two weeks along with some nice visits with our friends that we hadn't seen in a few years.  

It didn't take us long to find out, that like many other parts of the U.S., they too were having "unusually hotter weather"!  Ugh...It had been, and was going to stay, right around 89-90 with mid-humidity.  Cooler than our area, but not as cool as we had hoped...oh well...

Our first stop (as usual) was the Visitor Center.  Even though we were here to see our friends, that didn't stop Jack; that's the one place he goes into and gathers up all the info he can find and chats with people.  ;-)  Their outside was very interesting...beautiful artwork, all done with tiles.  Found out that the town had a history of making tile and still does some.  There was also a replica of Billy the Kid's boyhood home.  Seems Ron Howard filmed a movie in 2003 there called "The Missing" and built this 1870 cabin and gifted it when they were done.

We quickly discovered two things about Silver City...it's very "artsy", with tons of small art shops of all kinds, along with fun thrift shops and book stores to mix it up some.  The second thing was the crazy hours all of them have!  Every store, shop and restaurant opens and closes on different days and on different hours, with no rhyme or reason to it.  So, if you go on a Monday, you might find two places open from 7am-2pm (coffee cafe and someplace else), then if you go on a Wednesday, you might find three different places open, at three different times!  Crazy!  It was a good thing we were there for the full two weeks, because we needed it to get to all the places we wanted to see, with their funny hours!

If you have read my blogs before, you know I love taking pictures of murals.  Well this town has plenty!  They have a special "Youth Mural Program" that they started in 2003 to teach students about the history and culture of their community through the arts, engaging students in beautifying their community.  In addition, students learn problem solving, working collaboratively while creating something that they can be proud of.  I couldn't have agreed with their philosophy more, and as for the "art", they are fantastic!

I read about a wonderful little coffee shop to visit called Tranquilbuzz that we decided to check out.  What an incredible find!  I have to say, it was the most eclectic, "natural", relaxing, fun place I have ever been to.  As you enter, all the outdoor seating is created to look as natural as possible with smoothed limbs of trees as backing to long boards cut from them interspersed around a small pond and fountain with koi.  Paths and bridges lead you to different nooks for tables and seating areas, one with two bent metal swings (for two) with lovely cushions.  Then you go on up inside to more seating that has comfy chairs and a sofa, along with more wooden tables and chairs.  There is where you order your wonderful coffees and goodies.  They have a "music corner" that has every kind of instrument imaginable available, and a calendar of artists who come and perform.  Along the walls and hanging from the ceiling are all sorts of fun pieces of art, etc to catch your eyes and entertain you. Such a magical place.  Our friends had never been, so of course we came back again and brought them!  

When we were there the first time, we engaged in a delightful conversation (while swinging in one of those wonderful swings) with several local ladies and they suggested that we drive out to Pinos Altos to have dinner and listen to the music at the Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House.  We told our friends about it and they agreed it was a "must do", so we set a date for the following Friday night and I made us a reservation. 

What a wonderful evening we had!  The Buckhorn did not disappoint!  Great looking, and the food was wonderful!  At first I was afraid that our table was a bit far from the music, but once they started playing, I was glad it was where it was because we could see them and hear them just fine and still hear each other!  If we would have been any closer, we couldn't have had any conversation at all.  ;-)  

That night, our friends suggested we should take the scenic drive up through the Gila Wilderness Area.  I asked about seeing the Cliff Dwellings and they said it was about a mile hike and with this heat, it might not be a great idea, but to stop at the Visitor Center anyway.  They gave us a route up and back and to do that would be an "all day trip" that sounded perfect, so we planned it for the next day.

We left around 8am to get an early start and headed out.  It didn't take long to start to see the lovely scenery.  We had seen some of it the evening before when we had driven to Pinos Altos, but the trees just got denser as we climbed and entered the Gila National Forest.  By then we were surrounded by ponderosa pine, spruce, fir and oak and about 7000' up. 

At the Visitors Center for the Gila Cliff Dwellings we talked with a ranger about hiking back to see them.  The temperature was already over 90 degrees and the tour wasn't going to start for another 45 min.  She looked at me and gently smiled and said that they had a great film of the cliffs here and artifacts...I took the hint, and watched the film.  They had a nice Geromino Monument outside.  Seems he was born at the headwaters of the Gila River in 1820.  I've seen other cliff dwellings before...

We went on to see Lake Roberts.  Beautiful fishing lake.  Only two other folks were there while we were there, one still out somewhere on the lake, and one bringing in their boat.  So peaceful and quiet, the sky was so vivid, it left wonderful reflections on the water as I watched a mama duck gather up her little ducklings.  

Next stop was a visit to the City of Rocks!  We had no idea what to expect.  All our friends told us was "you have to swing by and go see this place!"  So, we followed the signs and turned when it said to...paid our $5. to the State...and found out it is a picnic and campground!  ;-)  HUGH boulders, the size of buildings (hence "city") in weird shapes that (may?) suggest buildings, chairs, monsters, creatures...who knows?  Let your imagination soar!  They certainly are fun to look at, and I bet camp at and picnic beside (in cooler weather).  There were a couple of campers there, but otherwise, the place was pretty empty.

We did try and stop at a place for a bite to eat, but they were closing, so all we had was some ice cream.  It was ok...but we had a place we really liked in town that makes homemade ice cream, called  Ice Cream Emporium, that we've fallen in love with!   We made it back home around 4pm.  Nice, wonderful day.   

All to soon our two weeks came to a close...wonderful lunches, sweet ice cream treats and dinner visits with our friends, fun excursions and even a great time at the RV park.  Manzano's turned out to be a delightful spot!  Nothing "fancy", which is fine by us, we just need nice hook-ups, clean place, level spot, shade, some breathing room...and it's nice to meet friendly people.  This place had all that and more!  John and Barbara gave you all that and host a complimentary BBQ on Saturday nights with all the "fixings"!  Great way to not only enjoy good food, but to meet super nice people.  If we didn't have appointments and obligations to come back when we did...we would have stayed longer...even if to have another BBQ!

 

....back in the Arizona heat....Marie

San Angelo...A small town with a big heART!

Every time we “travel” we drive through the big state of Texas.  Mostly because one of my son’s lives there, but also, it’s hard NOT to!  So - I try to route us so that we see different parts of Texas each trip (or as much as possible).  It takes us two days of “one-night stops” then I like to try and take a break and find us a place to stay for at least 2-3 days.  After traveling here for over 8+ years, this has become more and more of a challenge! ;-). Well, doing some scouting, I found that if we got off of I-40 and went over on 158 to a small town called San Angelo, they had a nice state park with a lake, an old historic fort, a nice town with murals and art to view…all sounded great for a couple of days!  So, I booked us for 3 nights.

We arrived at 4 PM and pulled into a nice big roomy spot by the lake and took a walk to stretch our legs after our long drive.  As with most state parks, all the sites were long, level, with lots of room and far apart from the others.  As we ate our dinner that night we watched about a dozen deer outside, enjoying theirs too!  Later, Texas gave us a lovely sunset to end the evening…

The following day we started off at the Visitor’s Center where they loaded us up with maps and information of all the incredible art and fun places to see here.  San Angelo used to be the wool capitol of the world up until 2011 when the drought forced the a decline in Texas sheep.  The area used to produce more than one million pounds of wool a year.  So when they decided to do a promotional fundraising, a fiberglass sheep was a natural selection!  Now they have 100 painted sheep spread out around town!  I had fun taking just a few pictures…



Artists thrive in this town…their talent is everywhere!  One form I admire is murals.  I don’t think muralists get enough credit.  The ability to paint on such a large scale, outdoors, on various surfaces, in all kinds of weather and still produce the detail they do is incredible.  The murals I was able to view in San Angelo were no exception - absolutely beautiful.

No “graffiti” here!  They support art by supplying areas for their artists, calling it “Art in Unusual Places”.  It was so fun, almost everywhere you turned, you found something!  Under a bridge, we found a mosaic VW Bug, Truck and Chair!

Then, there was “Paintbrush Alley” where a whole long alley had paintings, many dedicated to the movie “Giant”, but walls, dumpsters, doors, posters, etc were all painted - large and small works of art!

Then, elsewhere in town was another old empty store, turned into a “Pop Art Museum” with more funky, fun art of all kinds, including painting the tree trunks growing there!  So cool.

100 pictures later…we called it a day, phew!

The following day we started out with a visit to Fort Concho National Historical Monument.  They built the fort from local limestone rock, so it has lasted well all these years.  They had over 400 Calvary and enlisted solders including a troop of Buffalo Solders during it’s operation.  The fort was active from 1867-1889.
 

In one of the buildings a telephone museum was set up called E.H. Danner Museum of Telephony.
Wow, what an amazing collection!  They even had one of only 2  Gallows Frame models still known to be in existence of the original five invented by Alexander Graham Bell.  So many types of phones I’d never seen before, and many from other countries - like a really cool “dual-party line” wall mount from Taiwan.  They included switchboards, teletypes, a telephone pole and lineman equipment, and even a nice wooden telephone booth.  They even had a switchboard like I used to use “back in the day” ;-).  What a great stop that was!

 Another little surprise was the International Water Lily Collection.  Several ponds of various water lilies from all over the world - here in San Angelo Texas!  Many were not in bloom yet, but some were, so, of course I took pictures!  ;-)

Our last stop of the day was at a delightful sculpture that the lady at the Visitor’s Center told me about, called “Lady in Blue”.  The story goes like this...a young cloistered nun in the village of Agreda, Spain reportedly lapsed into deep trances while in prayer and described visits to the New World, where she taught the natives.  She told visitors she made more than 500 spiritual visits to the New World, though she in fact never left her monastery in Agreda, during her lifetime.  In 1629 twelve Jumano Indian capitanes arrived at Isleta, NM carrying a cross covered in wildflowers requesting to be baptized.  Jumanos claimed their knowledge of the Catholic faith was taught to them by a beautiful young lady wearing a brilliant blue cape.  Spanish priests arrived at the Concho River confluence area at present day San Angelo.  Over 2,000 Jumanos were baptized in the first weeks.

For such a small town (only 93,000) it sure packed big surprises!  Just goes to show you…there is always wonderful adventures still around every corner!

…on the road in Texas,  Marie 

If you would like to see the rest of my pictures, just go to   https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Family Time

Back in Washington...It's always good to be back in the US and to see family again.  Canada is a beautiful Country, but it's good to "be home".  (As we were leaving Canada, we did pass through a town with a few more murals I couldn't help capture though!)

We first camped a couple of days in eastern Washington and noticed that Ellensburg had Barn Quilts noted in the area, so one day Jack and I took a drive and photographed a few of them.  Many of the barns themselves here quite old (and lovely!)  The brochure that the Visitor Center gives out has a nice little history about each place along with a map, which is really nice.

My niece has a great spot right beside her home with full hookups that she always makes room for us to park our rig.  So nice.  We lucked out too on the weather and the sun shone for us the whole ten days we were there!  A record for us!  It sure made the time fly.

While we were there, Jack and I celebrated our twenty-third wedding anniversary.  One of my nephews gave me the idea to surprise Jack with a special evening at a dinner show called Teatro Zinzanni -"Decadent Delight" .  He has gone several times, taking my sister, his wife, his son and is planning on taking his daughter for her thirtieth birthday.  It sounded like just the ticket, so I made the reservations and told Jack "just be ready by 4:00 p.m. on Sunday".

What a fun night we had!  It's a little bit cabaret, a little circus, a little comedy, a dinner show, a little magic, all wrapped up in three plus hours!  Wonderful entertainment and  good food.  Jack loved it and complimented me on my choice.  I told him next year he had to choose!

We also caught the Washington State Fair while we were there.  That was fun too.  Being from San Diego, we've enjoyed the Del Mar Fair for years as one of the largest and best we've been to across the US.  This one comes in close.  The one thing I was disappointed in though was that it didn't have a big garden section!  That's the one thing I always loved  about the Del Mar Fair.  But as my niece explained..."Aunt Marie, we don't have a growing season here like San Diego, so no reason to showcase flowers and lawns!"  Guess not...oh well.  They had lots of farm equipment though!

Well, lots of laughter, long chats, wonderful meals and hugs, it was time to say our good byes and head on down the road once again.

Catching up in Arizona, Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Hello Saskatchewan!

From Manitoba, we moved on to the Province of Saskatchewan,  to stay in Moose Jaw for the next 10 days.  It made a great "home base" to explore the surrounding area without having to move from campground to campground...and it was a charming little town with a great name!  ;-)

As you know, the first thing Jack wants to do is stop at the Visitor's Center when we arrive anywhere, and Moose Jaw was no exception.  We were greeted first by "Mac" the 30' tall Moose!  Well...Mac looked a little strange...seems he was missing something here...something rather important for a moose, I'd say...like his antlers?  So, I inquired about them as we entered (probably like hundreds before me).  Seems they are being fixed by a local taxidermist due to high winds and a previous problem they had before that they wanted to avoid, since he weighs in at ten tons!  Mac is quite famous, it seems...he was the tallest in the world, until the Norwegians' moose built one a bit taller...well, that wouldn't do.  So the citizens around here got out the word and people from all over Canada, US and even London sent in money to put their abilities to work and make Mac bigger!  He is back on top as the world's biggest!  Way to go Mac!

One of the best things I loved about this town, was the murals!  Wow, they had a bunch too!  We spent several days just driving around town enjoying them and (of course) taking lots of pictures of them!  Here are some of my favorites (although it was really hard to pick just a few).  I love how they "go outside the edges" on some of them, doing unusual things...very creative artists here!

Canada Mosaic 150 by 150 communities (each submitting individual handmade tiles)

History of the Moose Jaw Exhibition Company

Cruising Mian Street by Grant McLaughlin (c2011)

Living with the Land by Grant McLaughlin (c2013)

The Lady and the Cow by Ernie Bereti (c1991)

As we wandered around town, we ran into a small place called the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre.  I love owls, so we just had to stop and see what this was all about!  A sweet young lady was in the front office and told us it was a "self guided tour" and gave us a brochure, and pointed us to the door on the opposite side...so out we went.  There were about a dozen small enclosures with these small Burrowing Owls inside...mostly hiding.  There was one larger one with displays and explanations of what is happening to these tiny  creatures.  One sad fact...As recently as 1992, Moose Jaw was a hot spot for burrowing owls, with 39 pairs nesting throughout the city.  But by 2006, not a single nest remained.

Because these owls nest on the ground in grasses, small bushes or reeds, they are easy prey, as well as easy for farmers to mow over.  The Centre is trying to educate as well as reintroduce these owls back into the fields.

After we toured the area, we came back inside and chatted a bit with the young lady.  She is studying zoology.  She has spent her whole life (all 18 years!) in Moose Jaw and was surprised to hear we found it fascinating here!  She enjoyed hearing about our travels, and we encouraged her to get a passport and be open to travel and explore the "big world" out there...she was sure wanting to!  ;-)  It was a great little stop...one of those unusual ones that are special finds along the way...glad we took the time.

One other interesting place they had  for us to visit was their Western Development Museum.  It was established in 1949, and we were surprised at not only how large it was inside, but how many things they had that in all our travels, we'd never seen before!  They really had quite a collection of unique items from all over Canada...trains, planes, autos, snowplanes, a horse drawn ambulance, a mechanical horse, I could go on and on...but my favorite, was the cutest little homemade trailer made back in 1946!  Here's just a small sample of what we saw...

Diesel-Electric Locomotive (c1956)

...catching up in Arizona,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Passing the time in Pueblo

We are hanging out west of Pueblo Colorado these days, passing a little time until we can meet up with some friends of ours.  Seeing what there is to see and do...turns out, quite a bit!

Our first venture out, was to check out their "Riverwalk".  We have been to San Antonio's in Texas, so I wanted to see if it was anything like it.  Theirs is along the Arkansas River, and is a loop of about a mile and a half.  It is mostly art sculptures and a few restaurants.  It's more open than San Antonio's (theirs is "sunken", if you haven't been).  I guess this part of the area that Zebulon Pike camped at in 1806 as it is dedicated to him and much of it is about him and his journals.  (Pike's Peak in the Rocky Mtns. is named after him)

Afterward, we went to check out the Rosemount Mansion/Museum.  It was built in 1891 for the John Thatcher family who began in the dry goods business, then started the First National Bank of Pueblo and grew from there.  This 37 room home was built for $100,00 back in 1891, from the best that Colorado, New York  and Pennsylvania had to offer.  Tiffany & Co lighting system, stained & painted glass windows, painted canvas ceilings, and plumbing brought in from a 2,000 gal. water tank that was installed in the attic for to gravity supply throughout the home.

Mrs Thatcher loved roses, so roses were planted all around the home, hence the name.  She also had numerous themed rooms with them.  No pictures were allowed inside the home (I got, so got two inside the kitchen before they told me not to).  Needless to say, the home is beautiful and well maintained.  They left almost all the furnishings to the "museum" after the last child no longer wanted to live in the home (Raymond).  He never married and decided to leave the home to the city as a museum.  He died in 1968.

From there, we drove around town and discovered some really beautiful murals.  This town has some great artists!  What surprised me was that they don't sign them.  Most places not only have their artists sign them, but they even advertise their murals.  I even checked to see if they have a web page, and nope.  To bad, they are huge too...whole building-sized, most of them.  Here's just a sample...

They also have a really cool alley...It does have a web page that I found.  Seems a single man is responsible for this, it's called "Neon Alley".  Joseph Koncija has been collecting neon signs (along with various other signs) for years and has over 41 of them displayed on two buildings downtown.  They look great, even during the daytime!  Hooray for him!  Look at these great signs...

Nearby is a wonderful 1889 Pueblo Union Depot.  They have restored it and use it for functions.  They have done a great job, it's a beauty.  ;-)

Well, that was a full day...time for lunch!

...kicking back in Colorado,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Short trips, Big visits...

We've been skipping through several towns, cities and states as we slowly head in a north westerly direction towards Washington state.  We've tried to hit some areas that we've missed in prior trips, traveling State Roads mostly, staying in different towns & cities, each for a few days. since we are on a time schedule.  It's not a tight one, but one none the less.

Here are some fun highlights...

In Oklahoma we stayed in a couple of fun places, one, in Ardmore where we met up with a fellow who was selling some of his Mom's things, I bought a nice old oak dining chair from him.  We are shopping for some as we travel, to have with our table back home as we sold off all our previous dining furniture except for this small table that Jack refinished.  We now want miss-matched antique chairs to go around it and thought it would be fun to search them out along the way.  This was our first!  As we traveled out in the country to find him, we came across a beautiful homestead with quite a lovely collection of old trucks, windmill and other things decorating his yard.  I couldn't help but stop and take some pictures!

We then stayed in a lovely COE park in Skiatook Lake and used it as our base to visit Tulsa.  The first place on Jack's list to go see was the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum,  in nearby Claremore, OK!  Mr. Davis collected over 14,000 arms and 50,000 other collectibles!  As you can imagine, it took us quite awhile to go through all of it...well, it took Jack quite awhile, I wasn't as enthralled with all the arms as he was!  ;-)  I will admit, as I always do, there were some interesting ones tho...

Downtown Tulsa has a tiny Art Deco Museum that I wanted to go see, so that's where we headed next.  It was small, but absolutely marvelous.  The buildings in that area of town were also from that era, so it was quite nice to just walk & drive around and see the beautiful architecture.

The following day we came back into town and visited their Museum of World Treasures, which was very interesting.  It had a number of unusual pieces that I kept asking myself if they were really real, or replicas???  My most favorite pieces, I must confess were a small display of first editions with biographies and photos of famous authors like Edgar Allen Poe, and Shakespeare, and Robert Frost (even his cape).  Very unique...

Afterward we did one of my favorite things to do in a city, which is to photograph wonderful murals, Tulsa had some fun ones including a great door and a large chicken on a rooftop (I know that's not a mural...but hey, how could you not take a picture?)

We left Oklahoma, headed to Wichita to stay overnight, then headed right back out again and drove right into Nebraska!  I had to "cross another state capitol off my list" so we headed to Lincoln!  We'll save that one for the next update! 

...on the road in Nebraska,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Our last few days in Wyoming...

Leaving Cheyenne, we headed to Rock Springs Wyoming for a few days.  We had heard that this areas was pretty and a great place to explore for a couple of days before heading out of the state.

We made a quick stop in Laramie first, just to see what there was to see.  Our timing wasn't great tho, as a motorcycle group was coming in from doing a fundraising run and ending their trip there, so they closed off several of the main streets for them!  Shops were closed, and restaurants were either full or closed.  ;-(

Oh well, we walked around and took some fun photos of their great murals, peeked into their shop windows and snapped a couple shots of all the motorcycles and chatted with a few of the people from the run, then just headed back out again!

The drive wasn't a total loss, as we had two fun stops along the way.  The road to/from is on I-80, but back in 1881, it was known as the Transcontinental Route, also known as the Lincoln Highway.  There are two memorials dedicated to the building of this highway.  One you can't miss, it's right off the highway, and stands 48.5 feet tall!  It's also on the highest point of the transcontinental route at 8,640'.  It's a bust of Abraham Lincoln on top of a granite pedestal!  It certainly catches your eye!

The second monument you have to drive a bit to go see, but, wow, it's worth it!  It's the Ames Monument, a 60' granite pyramid honoring Oliver and Oakes Ames, the two promoters of the transcontinental railroad.  Built in 1881-82, the monument marks the site of Sherman, a train inspection point before it became a ghost town with the relocation of the Union Pacific tracks.

While in Rock Springs, we took a wonderful drive through the Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway.  What a beautiful drive that was, it certainly lived up to it's name!  This gorge goes through Wyoming & Utah with the dam being in Utah, sending the water through both states and even to Colorado.  John Wesley Powell named the area and after seeing the colors of the gorge, you can see why.  The Green River, which runs through the gorge, is so clear and beautiful, even this late in the summer.

We only saw one boat taking advantage of the lake, but I'm sure on the weekends and during the height of summer, it's kept busy.  It's supposed to be quite the fishing mecca, and one of the ranger stations showed off the record fish for one in Utah.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

It was a great way to end our stay in this beautiful state.  We had visited the "upper portion" of the state before, but never the "lower" part of the state, so this gave us a whole new perspective to enjoy!

Now we will skip through the edge of Utah and head into Nevada for awhile...

...on the road, Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/