We really are back

I had someone email and wonder if I was home yet... Yea. we're home.  And crazy busy which is why you haven't heard from me in awhile.  So without further ado, the last leg of the trip in one blinding barrage of photos.

enjoy.

on the hike

Have I every mentioned that I love this guy!

If an M&M falls in the forest and there's no one around to see, should you still eat it?

It was a very steep drop sometimes.

The destination: Lost Lake

Sometimes you get desperate for food on the trail.  Or you have to do something stupid because your husband won't stop taking pictures of you while you are emptying your shoes of debris.

Church Rock:  this was on the way home. Why bore you with more details.

Last shot on the way home before freeway land and Utah traffic.

The end.

NM Day 3, 9/2/2010

Wednesday.  Wednesday was the day we were going to brave the car once again and do the famed "Enchanted Circle" of New Mexico.  So in the car we got? went? drove? and headed to Eagles Nest.  On the way we saw this:

We named it the Veganess Monster (Vega being field in Spanish since it's clearly not in a Lake)

Check out the pointy teeth.

Wow, that's all I have to say.

When we reached Eagle's Nest and I got over the fact that it wasn't a Hitler museum, it turned out to be just a small town.  There was a lake, but that's all.  And perhaps it was the angst of being in the car again, but I didn't take any pictures.

Next stop was the Vietnam Memorial

Part of the memorial is a chapel.  It was small but it was effective.

David and I went around the front of the memorial to take a few more pictures and there was a Vietnam veteran sitting on a bench overlooking the valley.  We didn't say anything and all we shared was a glance.  But I couldn't help but notice the sound his leg made as he walked away.  At first glance you couldn't tell anything because his jeans covered everything well, but as he walked there was the accompanying mechanical sound and motions.  He had a prosthetic leg.

It got me thinking.  I've never been comfortable with Vietnam.  I am a history major and I eat up everything WWII along with Civil Rights, slavery, etc.  But every time Vietnam comes up I'm all of a sudden uncomfortable... and that saddens me. 

Vietnam was not a popular war.  The men and women who served didn't have the privilege of fighting "the Good War" as WWII was often called.  Vietnam was not about our freedom but that doesn't mean the men and women who served their country are any less than those who serve today.  Or those who served before them. 

I have ignored it because it confuses me.  No clear cut lines.  No clear cut good or bad.  Just confusion. 

I'm glad we went to the memorial.  I'm glad I saw the veteran. I'm glad for the chance to understand it a little bit better if for nothing more than to understand those who had to suffer through.

We did more than just the memorial but I confess, I wasn't it the best of moods.  We went to Toas and the drive there was absolutely beautiful but we didn't stop to document.  The road was too busy and narrow.

We did spend time in Toas, visited the Kit Carson Museum, walked the streets and of course sampled the food.

We enjoyed our time.

On the way back I got a picture of this tree:

It's a bit difficult to tell from the picture, but the vine has almost completely covered the skeleton of a tree.  I thought of the beauty that comes even in death.  A simple flowered shroud to bring beauty for a bit longer.

It seemed an appropriate all considered. 

NM Misc... for miscellaneous

So, there were a few things that we got a kick out of as we spent many an hour on the road... and I mean many an hour.

It's fairly common to see wildlife crossing signs in Utah.  They mostly have deer.  We were quite delighted by the  many other wildlife signs we saw.

Thought it would be fun to share.

Deer, very common

Cow, more common than deer

Ooooh, Elk! Don't see that every day

Ram, another uncommon one

Firetrucks.  You never know when a wild one will cross your path.

(Ok, I know it's for safety and it's serious, but it fit in so well with everything.)

But how about those wild cowboys!  Seriously, gotta watch for those.

Especially when followed by this:

Apparently this is what you get when the cowboy is thrown. Very dangerous wild steed.

And don't be fooled by those tractor lovin' farmers! All crossing the road willy-nilly.

And my all time favorite NM sign:

Never know when you are going to get hit by falling rocks and a cow.

NM day Two 9/1/2010

Day Two: Questa.

We decided that after the 15 hour drive to get to Red River the day before, that perhaps Wednesday would be time to take it easy, relax, see something not too far away.  So we headed to Questa which is part of the "Enchanted Circle" which will be discussed further in another post.

We were hungry so after much searching, we ended up at:

The windows looked like this and it just had so much character:

The best part was that it was family owned and run and the lady in charge reminded me of my Aunt Marie.  Her dress, her height, even some of the things that she said and how she said them.  I curse my personal inhibitions and wish that I would have gotten a picture with her, or at least more of the restaurant itself.

Oh, and her beans brought my directly back to my aunt's house. AMAZING.

We then headed to:

Where the Rio Grande and the Red River meet. 

We saw lots of this:

And then we saw this:

And then some gratuitous pictures of ourselves because hey, it's our trip.  We should look like we're there.

I like this picture because you can see David's arm holding the camera in his sunglasses.

Oh, then we went back to our condo to really relax and saw this outside our back door:

End of day two.  Or at least the exciting/semi-interesting to you parts.

New Mexico, the trip to: Day 1 8/31/2010

We started out Tuesday morning bright and early.  Rather than hit the freeway David mapped out a more scenic route and it couldn't have been better. 

I won't bore you with all the details, but here are some pictures that pretty much sum up the drive.

We started by going through Logan canyon to Bear Lake.  A beautiful way to start a trip!

Even Wyoming has it's pretty spots. Actually it has quite a few, we just weren't anticipating any on this trip.

Forgive the hair and overall "ickiness" to my look. We got up at 5 and left at 6...ish. Gotta have a road photo though.

Driving by Flaming Gorge we came across this bridge and I loved the way the yellow of the flowers stands out against the rust color of the bridge.

We got a new camera and I LOVE what I can do with it!

Seriously love this guy! He is just so dang much fun!

Finally hit I70 for a full 105 miles of the trip.  We did highways the rest of the way. Little traffic, more relaxed. Loved it.  This is the tunnel going through parts of the mountain.

This just reminded me of the Incredibles.  I kept on expecting to see Elastigirl swing up and over.

This was along the highway in Southern Colorado, oh so close to the New Mexico border.  The sun was hitting everything just right and it looked like a golden highway.  Beautiful.

Close of day 1.  I would have taken more pictures to take you into NM with us, but.. it was dark.  The end.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore Toto

Location:  Toas I Diner in Toas, NM

Purpose: To eat wonderful New Mexican food that will make me crave more

Players: One waitress in black leather with a very high side ponytail.  Very skinny, but quirky as well, and David and myself of course.  Oh, and the guy who sat us down was also wearing black leather, he was pierced in several places along the center of his face and had those big black spacers in both ears that stretch them out like native Africans.  He didn't really play a part in the exchange but was very interesting to look at.  Extremely cordial as well.

Lora: I would like the enchiladas with green chile.

Waitress:  Would you like chicken or beef?

Lora: Not sure, what do you recommend?

Waitress: Well, the beef is organic free range beef, completely grass fed and sustainable because it is locally grown as you can see by our table top flier.  (As she speaks of the beef her eyes light up and sheer joy eminates in her every word) The chicken is not local unfortunately but it is still 100% natural, it's just not completely organic. (this is said almost apologetically and a look of concern that I won't judge her too harshly for having non-local almost organic chicken.)

Lora:  Um... okay?  Which one do you think tastes better?

Waitress:  Oh, I don't really know.  (pause with look of deep thoughts) Green chile and chicken sounds pretty good though.

Lora: Chicken it is.

What I Love, thoughts from vacation.

There’s so much that I love right now. The way the light falls on the trees. The way the cool breeze feels against my bare skin. The sound of the creek making it’s gurgling music. I love vacations. Not just vacations, but the right vacations.


David and I are in Red River, New Mexico. It’s a ski town so naturally we’ll never be here to ski, but we will be partaking of the late summer activities that abound just when school begins and the snow hasn’t starting flying.

For awhile I was thinking that September was the worst time to get married, with school starting up and both of us being tied to it. It was the better of the two evils so to speak. We didn’t want to wait till Christmas break (I was in school at the time and besides, a birthday and a major holiday in the same month is enough) so we opted for labor day weekend. With 8 weeks to plan and execute, I think we did fairly well. And we didn’t think it would matter in the long run. I would graduate and then school would no longer be an issue or an hinderment to vacation plans. So naturally David decides to go back to school and I take a job at the University.

Every anniversary now is surrounded by the start of school at USU making it that much more difficult to feel good about taking off for an entire week. Yes, I know, a week off is fairly excessive for an anniversary, but it’s really the only vacation that we plan and take. Totally our choice. We did it for our first anniversary and it’s become tradition ever since. Besides, it’s a good excuse. The “are you out of your mind” look goes away when you explain that “yes, I am asking for the first week of school off because it’s our anniversary.” “Oh, well then yeah, that should be fine.”

However, being the fifth such trip since the blessed occasion of our wedding, I’ve come to look forward to our September time. Not just because I get to leave the catering world all to itself for the first week of school, but more and more because this time really does suit us. We are here in beautiful mountainous place with no tourists to compete with. Actually, that’s not true. There are a few senior couples here as well. But for the most part, we get to enjoy the cooler weather without the crowds. It’s ideal for checking out new places and being able to relax at the same time. And extra special bonus perk, no obnoxiously skinny perfect bodied women to compare myself with in the swimming pool! (that could almost be double bonus points don’t you think…)

So all in all, this really is a great time for us. Neither one of us are big crowd seekers. We’re the quiet, take our time type. I don’t like to be rushed through a vacation. That’s usually when I need to take the extra time to recuperate when we get home.

Did I mention that I love the way the light is hitting the trees right now? The ones in the front look all drenched in gold while the ones in back sit in the shadow content to let the smaller ones shine for now.

Yep, love vacations.

Yellow again.

Yellow. I couldn’t help but think of him as David and I were driving through parts of Wyoming. I was dozing off and that’s usually when half forgotten memories strike. That’s what Yellow mostly is right now. A half forgotten memory.


We had gone on a road trip, 6 people total. Yellow and the German.  (I've never mentioned the German before, but oddly enough they shared the same name.  It was the best way to differentiate between the two in conversation.  One was Yellow, the other the German... on and he wasn't really German.) YellowI was head over heels for. The German I just had fun with. It was a 10 day road trip to Nauvoo and back. We were checking out all the church history sights and visiting some people from my mission. I had invited Yellow to come and my little twitterpated heart was just thrilled as could be that he said yes. Because we had a “thing”. It was something that didn’t need words. It was conveyed in a glance, a touch here and there. The occasional opening of our souls.. or was that just my soul? I was sure he felt the same way for me as I felt for him. No need to clarify, to vocalize. This was born of instinct, of need. Clarification would just muddy the waters.

Wyoming reminded me of the trip back. The portion without Yellow. He decided to catch a train and try to make his way to New York and visit Palmyra and the rest of the church sites there. He was like that. Kind of a free spirit. He seemed to think differently than everyone else. For me it was part of his charm.

The German, the one that I had fun with, the one that I actually did talk with… he tried to warn me. He told me to be careful with Yellow. I hardly remember what he said, I mostly thought it was kind of rude on his part but endearing at the same time. I thought he was trying to be a protective older brother even though he was younger than me.

I found out later that Yellow didn’t really catch the train to go to Palmyra. He went to Chicago. There was a girl there that he met during the road trip that he thought might be “the one”. He let me get up early and see him off at the train station with a supportive but disappointed heart. He let me hug him and wish him well. He gave no indications.

That summed up a lot of our relationship. I was there for him. To give him a boost when he needed it. To be that faithful supporter, the one that laughed at semi-funny jokes. The shoulder to lean on. That was me. Always giving but never getting in return.

Sadly it wasn’t until quite a bit later that in the two years that we had known each other that I realized that he still didn’t know me. After all that time, all those conversations, he still didn’t know the first thing about me.

Vegas... do we really get along?

Some of you may or may not know that I am currently spending my time in the city of sin.  Yes, I have hung my my hat temporarily in Las Vegas. 

My view out the window:

I am here because of this:

and will be here till Thursday afternoon when we fly out.

We flew in on Sunday and being bored out of my mind I finished this:

I quite enjoyed it though I was apprehensive about how it would turn out but that's for another day.

Monday night brought us here:

It was a lot like this:

We were there till midnight.  This morning this helped:

Imagine what it would have been like if I was a drinker!

Speaking of drinking.  There's a fridge in the room but it has this on it:

Which is a shame because of this:

Though I didn't pack a supply of bottled water I did pack this:

and it has helped immensely.

In summary:

The goods and bads of Lora in a Las Vegas night club:

Positives:

#1.  If I went into cardiac arrest the beat of the music would have resuscitated me.

#2.  I was the only sober person so I knew the cover band stunk.

#3.  It's fun to watch unattractive, overweight, older women gush at younger men.

#4.  I actually remember the entire night.

Negatives:

#1.  I actually remember the entire night.

#2.  No one dances unless they are drunk.

#3.  I wear too much cloth on my body to fit in properly.

#4.  I kept on trying to turn into a pumpkin at 10 o'clock.

all in all I still have this on my face: