Trip Journal: Denver for Business, Santa Fe for Fun.
Sunday, June 4 - Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Introduction: As I generally do, once I have a business trip on the schedule, I'll give it a look to see if it is a worthy destination for some additional personal time either before, during or after the work stuff. Some places lend themselves better than others to these add-ons. The AIAA Aviation Forum in Denver looked like a good opportunity for a little extra time after the work event. Lynn and I discussed the options and surprisingly she was not as keen on Denver or someplace within easy driving distance since we had visited Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park not that long ago. But she did like the overall thought of a early summer get-away. So I started looking at other options, like having Lynn fly somewhere else in the region that I could easily access from Denver. Of course Moab was my first thought, but we had just made a short stop there in the fall and will most likely be back in the fall of 2018. Similar story with Sedona. Let's look at the map. OK, there's an idea, Santa Fe. We liked the area during our previous visit and have it on our list of places that require additional exploration. The flights look decent (a one-stop for Lynn from CLE and I can get a direct flight from Denver). That'll work. I found a nice rental casita not far from the place we stayed last trip so we knew we would be within easy walking distance of the Plaza and the Railyard. We had the flights, car and VRBO booked around mid-January, so nothing to do now but look at options for things to see and do, of which there were plenty. Oh, and start salivating over the restaurants. Lots of great options for New Mexican and Southwest dining, which are favorites of ours.
The Plan: This is about as loose a plan as we get on a trip. I'll be heading out on Sunday, June 4, for a week of AIAA stuff in Denver. At the time we set up the trip, my meetings were done on Thursday, so we used that as the start of the vacation portion. Lynn will fly to Albuquerque on Thursday evening and stay at a hotel near the airport and I'll meet her there on Friday morning, flying in from Denver, getting the rental car then we'll start our little excursion. The idea is to spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon looking around the Old Town Albuquerque area before driving to Santa Fe. Alex and I were discussing the Page meet-up in late May and got on the subject of travel this summer; he suggested an alternate path from Albuquerque to Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail (route 14) to check out the "funky" little town (as he put it) of Madrid (that's MAD-rid). OK, that will let us cover some new ground. Once in Santa Fe we will have four full days to hike, check out museums and shops and of course eat. I looked at the National Park units within driving distance. We had already visited Bandelier National Monument and Tent Rocks. Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve looks interesting so we'll take a road trip there one day. Pecos National Monument is also nearby, but it was much lower on the list of things to see and do. Same with a day-trip to Taos. Since we really only have four days, and there is plenty to do right in Santa Fe, one driving excursion is probably enough. So we have options of things we can do and places to eat; we'll leave the details as a day-by-day decision.
The Trip: I'll include some notes from the business part of the trip in Denver but the focus will be on the chill time in Santa Fe.
Sunday, June 4, 2017 - Going to Denver. The packing is nearly done, but I still have preparation work to attend to for the business travel part of this trip. But the travel logistics themselves are all covered. Plenty of time this morning for a walk on the Chippewa Inlet Trail. Started at the north trailhead at 8:22 AM. We've been walking often along the trail, but our route has varied due to rain (the low spots get flooded and muddy). Yesterday was the first time through the nature preserve in a while and today we finally made it to the south end of the trail (we could have made it yesterday but Lynn opted for a shaded route). Still not seeing many waterfowl and certainly not the babies like we have in the past couple of years. Today just one Wood Duck hen with a few chicks. We saw a few Mallards fly over but no Canada Geese at all. We did see four Great Blue Herons, one fishing at the north end, one in the canal and two flyovers along the canal. A nice variety of other birds and critters: Deer, mink, rabbits, painted turtle, bull frog (yesterday we saw eight big ones at the north end, today just at the south end), Red-winged Blackbird, Robins, Cardinals, Goldfinch, Yellow Warblers, Downy/Hairy Woodpecker, Alder/Willow Flycatcher (at least one was an Alder by the song), Flicker, Song Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Tree Swallows, Blue Jay, Turkey Vulture, Cabbage White and Spring Azure (little purple butterfly with no trim on its wings). It was good to get in a walk as I'll be sitting in a flying tube this afternoon.
I'm really not looking forward to the first part of the trip which is unusual for me. I was a few months ago, but not so much now. It will be fine in the end but I am feeling a little too busy at present. Maybe that is how I am supposed to feel. But there is just a lot going on at present with governance, standards and the day job. I was hoping that I would get to dive into the technical program at the Aviation Forum this week, but with a Council meeting and standards to attend to, that time is now limited. Maybe I should just step away from the technical stuff and just focus on the governance and leadership elements. Time to leave.
On the road about 1:20. Lynn drove me to the airport today as it just worked out better for the return trip. She'll get a ride over from work via our "Amigos Taxi Service." When we get back next week, I can use the lab shuttle to collect the car then retrieve Lynn from the airport. In the end it saves the airport parking cost and should not add any time to getting home. There sure are a lot of pokey people on the road this afternoon. Our guess is kids learning to drive. But we were still at the airport by 2:00. No issues with check-in or security. In fact everyone at United and TSA were quite cheerful which is not normal. I was tying my shoes on the airplane side of security at 2:10, so very quick through the entire process. No issues with the flight, well at least nothing out of the ordinary. There was a slight delay as our aircraft was late coming from Orlando, there were mobs at the boarding group signs, and the guy in the middle seat of my row had his arm on the TV controls so my screen keep changing channels (fortunately I was not watching a movie). Once on the plane I reviewed my notes for the week ahead and prepped for upcoming meetings to pass the time.
On time, and maybe slightly early arrival in Denver but that gain was negated by the time it took for the bags to arrive. I ordered up and Uber for the drive downtown. Paul in a maroon minivan connected after some minor confusion on the pick-up location (the app indicated one place but the driver was expecting another). Sort of a hippie guy (ok, what is the term used now for a hippies?) but friendly and very chatty. He told me his life story. He highly recommended the area around the hotel for beer, food and beautiful women (spectacular was the term he used). At least the beer and food are in play for me. There was a fair amount of activity out on the streets of downtown Denver here in the early evening. Sort of a happening place. Paul got me to the hotel about 5:40 and I was quickly checked-in.
Sort of an odd route to get to my room. The check in clerk sent me down one level via the elevator, walk to a second set of elevators then up to my room. The elevator and stair setup in this hotel was an inconvenience all week. But I figured it out. The route took me through the conference area where I started to see familiar faces. I spoke to a couple folks including making dinner plans with Eric Walker. I ditched my stuff in the room, did a little unpacking then went back to the conference check-in to get my badge and meet Eric for dinner.
Eric and I connected as planned at 6:30 then we went off in search of food. After a short internet search we decided on an Asian-fusion type place, sort of reminiscent of Wild Mango back in Cleveland. Sort of an eclectic place, the service was great, the menu was very interesting but most importantly the food was great and brought some serious heat which is always a plus. Eric and I had a nice quiet chat. We were back at the Sheraton by 8:30 and I settled into the room for the night.
Monday, June 5 - Conference and Aviation Museum. The conference kicked off today, so I attended the plenary and a technical session this morning then spent the afternoon working on charts for meetings later in the week. I found a nice soup and sandwich place at the ground floor of the tower building of the Sheraton complex called Zoup. I ended up eating here three or four times during the week (it was that good and very convenient).
But today was not all work as I was invited to the VIP reception at the Wings Over the Rockies Aviation Museum. Nice little museum in a hanger of the former Lowry Air Force Base. Interesting collection of aircraft from across the age of flight timeline with a focus on military (of course) and maybe concentrated on the post WWII through Vietnam eras. Plus a few other odds and ends, like an X-wing fighter. There was also a Di Vinci traveling exhibit focusing on his mechanical inventions as well as also displaying some of his art. This guy was simply a genius. The devices he developed were so far ahead of their time. The ditch digger was amazing. He also invented a tank, you know, a military machine that did not come into it's own until WWI. Excellent exhibit and the docent there was excellent as well. She was very engaging and quite helpful.
While the Di Vinci exhibit and the aircraft scattered throughout the hanger were all interesting from a technical perspective, the display that left a lasting impression was a sculpture of airmen from WWII. "Lest We Forget: The Mission" is a life-size bronze sculpture of 12 airmen at a pre-mission briefing. WWII P-38 pilot Major Fredric Arnold, USAAC (Ret.) created this tribute to the 88,000 airmen who were lost during the conflict. Each of the 12 figures represented a composite of airmen who fought and too often died during the war. Each of the figures had a story that was displayed in the accompanying video; the stories were amazing and tragic. Some of the figures in the exhibit represented pilots who had died but their spirits were still with their comrades who were still fighting the fight. This quote is from the artist: "The sculpture depicts twelve fighter pilots during a mission briefing. The lighter colored spirits of aviators already killed in action look over the shoulders of those still alive. All are destined to die." It was a great tribute to these heroic men.
Introduction: As I generally do, once I have a business trip on the schedule, I'll give it a look to see if it is a worthy destination for some additional personal time either before, during or after the work stuff. Some places lend themselves better than others to these add-ons. The AIAA Aviation Forum in Denver looked like a good opportunity for a little extra time after the work event. Lynn and I discussed the options and surprisingly she was not as keen on Denver or someplace within easy driving distance since we had visited Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park not that long ago. But she did like the overall thought of a early summer get-away. So I started looking at other options, like having Lynn fly somewhere else in the region that I could easily access from Denver. Of course Moab was my first thought, but we had just made a short stop there in the fall and will most likely be back in the fall of 2018. Similar story with Sedona. Let's look at the map. OK, there's an idea, Santa Fe. We liked the area during our previous visit and have it on our list of places that require additional exploration. The flights look decent (a one-stop for Lynn from CLE and I can get a direct flight from Denver). That'll work. I found a nice rental casita not far from the place we stayed last trip so we knew we would be within easy walking distance of the Plaza and the Railyard. We had the flights, car and VRBO booked around mid-January, so nothing to do now but look at options for things to see and do, of which there were plenty. Oh, and start salivating over the restaurants. Lots of great options for New Mexican and Southwest dining, which are favorites of ours.
The Plan: This is about as loose a plan as we get on a trip. I'll be heading out on Sunday, June 4, for a week of AIAA stuff in Denver. At the time we set up the trip, my meetings were done on Thursday, so we used that as the start of the vacation portion. Lynn will fly to Albuquerque on Thursday evening and stay at a hotel near the airport and I'll meet her there on Friday morning, flying in from Denver, getting the rental car then we'll start our little excursion. The idea is to spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon looking around the Old Town Albuquerque area before driving to Santa Fe. Alex and I were discussing the Page meet-up in late May and got on the subject of travel this summer; he suggested an alternate path from Albuquerque to Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail (route 14) to check out the "funky" little town (as he put it) of Madrid (that's MAD-rid). OK, that will let us cover some new ground. Once in Santa Fe we will have four full days to hike, check out museums and shops and of course eat. I looked at the National Park units within driving distance. We had already visited Bandelier National Monument and Tent Rocks. Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve looks interesting so we'll take a road trip there one day. Pecos National Monument is also nearby, but it was much lower on the list of things to see and do. Same with a day-trip to Taos. Since we really only have four days, and there is plenty to do right in Santa Fe, one driving excursion is probably enough. So we have options of things we can do and places to eat; we'll leave the details as a day-by-day decision.
The Trip: I'll include some notes from the business part of the trip in Denver but the focus will be on the chill time in Santa Fe.
Sunday, June 4, 2017 - Going to Denver. The packing is nearly done, but I still have preparation work to attend to for the business travel part of this trip. But the travel logistics themselves are all covered. Plenty of time this morning for a walk on the Chippewa Inlet Trail. Started at the north trailhead at 8:22 AM. We've been walking often along the trail, but our route has varied due to rain (the low spots get flooded and muddy). Yesterday was the first time through the nature preserve in a while and today we finally made it to the south end of the trail (we could have made it yesterday but Lynn opted for a shaded route). Still not seeing many waterfowl and certainly not the babies like we have in the past couple of years. Today just one Wood Duck hen with a few chicks. We saw a few Mallards fly over but no Canada Geese at all. We did see four Great Blue Herons, one fishing at the north end, one in the canal and two flyovers along the canal. A nice variety of other birds and critters: Deer, mink, rabbits, painted turtle, bull frog (yesterday we saw eight big ones at the north end, today just at the south end), Red-winged Blackbird, Robins, Cardinals, Goldfinch, Yellow Warblers, Downy/Hairy Woodpecker, Alder/Willow Flycatcher (at least one was an Alder by the song), Flicker, Song Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Tree Swallows, Blue Jay, Turkey Vulture, Cabbage White and Spring Azure (little purple butterfly with no trim on its wings). It was good to get in a walk as I'll be sitting in a flying tube this afternoon.
I'm really not looking forward to the first part of the trip which is unusual for me. I was a few months ago, but not so much now. It will be fine in the end but I am feeling a little too busy at present. Maybe that is how I am supposed to feel. But there is just a lot going on at present with governance, standards and the day job. I was hoping that I would get to dive into the technical program at the Aviation Forum this week, but with a Council meeting and standards to attend to, that time is now limited. Maybe I should just step away from the technical stuff and just focus on the governance and leadership elements. Time to leave.
On the road about 1:20. Lynn drove me to the airport today as it just worked out better for the return trip. She'll get a ride over from work via our "Amigos Taxi Service." When we get back next week, I can use the lab shuttle to collect the car then retrieve Lynn from the airport. In the end it saves the airport parking cost and should not add any time to getting home. There sure are a lot of pokey people on the road this afternoon. Our guess is kids learning to drive. But we were still at the airport by 2:00. No issues with check-in or security. In fact everyone at United and TSA were quite cheerful which is not normal. I was tying my shoes on the airplane side of security at 2:10, so very quick through the entire process. No issues with the flight, well at least nothing out of the ordinary. There was a slight delay as our aircraft was late coming from Orlando, there were mobs at the boarding group signs, and the guy in the middle seat of my row had his arm on the TV controls so my screen keep changing channels (fortunately I was not watching a movie). Once on the plane I reviewed my notes for the week ahead and prepped for upcoming meetings to pass the time.
On time, and maybe slightly early arrival in Denver but that gain was negated by the time it took for the bags to arrive. I ordered up and Uber for the drive downtown. Paul in a maroon minivan connected after some minor confusion on the pick-up location (the app indicated one place but the driver was expecting another). Sort of a hippie guy (ok, what is the term used now for a hippies?) but friendly and very chatty. He told me his life story. He highly recommended the area around the hotel for beer, food and beautiful women (spectacular was the term he used). At least the beer and food are in play for me. There was a fair amount of activity out on the streets of downtown Denver here in the early evening. Sort of a happening place. Paul got me to the hotel about 5:40 and I was quickly checked-in.
Sort of an odd route to get to my room. The check in clerk sent me down one level via the elevator, walk to a second set of elevators then up to my room. The elevator and stair setup in this hotel was an inconvenience all week. But I figured it out. The route took me through the conference area where I started to see familiar faces. I spoke to a couple folks including making dinner plans with Eric Walker. I ditched my stuff in the room, did a little unpacking then went back to the conference check-in to get my badge and meet Eric for dinner.
Eric and I connected as planned at 6:30 then we went off in search of food. After a short internet search we decided on an Asian-fusion type place, sort of reminiscent of Wild Mango back in Cleveland. Sort of an eclectic place, the service was great, the menu was very interesting but most importantly the food was great and brought some serious heat which is always a plus. Eric and I had a nice quiet chat. We were back at the Sheraton by 8:30 and I settled into the room for the night.
Monday, June 5 - Conference and Aviation Museum. The conference kicked off today, so I attended the plenary and a technical session this morning then spent the afternoon working on charts for meetings later in the week. I found a nice soup and sandwich place at the ground floor of the tower building of the Sheraton complex called Zoup. I ended up eating here three or four times during the week (it was that good and very convenient).
But today was not all work as I was invited to the VIP reception at the Wings Over the Rockies Aviation Museum. Nice little museum in a hanger of the former Lowry Air Force Base. Interesting collection of aircraft from across the age of flight timeline with a focus on military (of course) and maybe concentrated on the post WWII through Vietnam eras. Plus a few other odds and ends, like an X-wing fighter. There was also a Di Vinci traveling exhibit focusing on his mechanical inventions as well as also displaying some of his art. This guy was simply a genius. The devices he developed were so far ahead of their time. The ditch digger was amazing. He also invented a tank, you know, a military machine that did not come into it's own until WWI. Excellent exhibit and the docent there was excellent as well. She was very engaging and quite helpful.
While the Di Vinci exhibit and the aircraft scattered throughout the hanger were all interesting from a technical perspective, the display that left a lasting impression was a sculpture of airmen from WWII. "Lest We Forget: The Mission" is a life-size bronze sculpture of 12 airmen at a pre-mission briefing. WWII P-38 pilot Major Fredric Arnold, USAAC (Ret.) created this tribute to the 88,000 airmen who were lost during the conflict. Each of the 12 figures represented a composite of airmen who fought and too often died during the war. Each of the figures had a story that was displayed in the accompanying video; the stories were amazing and tragic. Some of the figures in the exhibit represented pilots who had died but their spirits were still with their comrades who were still fighting the fight. This quote is from the artist: "The sculpture depicts twelve fighter pilots during a mission briefing. The lighter colored spirits of aviators already killed in action look over the shoulders of those still alive. All are destined to die." It was a great tribute to these heroic men.
Angelo and I bailed on the event about 8:30. He ordered up and Uber an we went in search of a better beer. I reckon there were plenty of options, but we went with the easy one and returned to the Sheraton and went to the Yard House just off the hotel lobby. We found seats at the bar and were soon joined by more of the AIAA gang. The barmaid was a Jersey girl and she was a real hoot. She had a great attitude, was a lot of fun and really knew her beers. She kept the brews coming the rest of the evening. Her initial recommendation was the Codename: Superfan from Odd 13 Brewing, an IPA of course. Great choice. We sampled a few others, but came back to the Superfan. It was a fun time, even if I did stay up well past my bedtime.
Tuesday, June 6 - Walk about Denver. This was sort of my open day, which is good since I was moving slow this morning. No meetings until this evening. After I finally rolled out of bed at 0830 and caught up on some emails, I decided to take a walk, stepping out about 0930. I had seen a walkway along the river, but could not find a close point of access on the map, so I just found a convenient route that took me north through the city to the greenspace along the South Platte River. I found that strolling along 14th Street was a little better than 15th due to fewer lights and less traffic. I reached the river at Confluence Park and continued northeasterly through the park and along the river for quite a ways. There were a number of homeless folks all along the route, but there numbers increased when I exited the park area and continued along the river. There were several small camp areas on both sides of the river housing several homeless. They really did not seem to pay any attention to me. Only one guy spoke to me during the entire walk, a fellow down along the river who seemed to be just waking up. He asked me what day it was. But seeing the number of homeless does make you thing about just how they got to where they are. I wonder if the high numbers are in part due to Colorado's recent legalization of marijuana?
I had been rambling for a few miles and the time was quickly approaching lunch. There has to be a Chipotle around here somewhere. I quick phone search pointed me in the right direction and not too far from the hotel. I also found a Patagonia store along my route so I stopped there for a quick look but there were no hiking shoes that I could find so I kept on trucking. Somehow I missed the Chipotle on my first pass (perhaps the tall buildings confused Baby), but I eventually got my lunch then made my way back to the hotel. I ended up meandering about 8 miles today, so a pretty good little workout.
Tuesday, June 6 - Walk about Denver. This was sort of my open day, which is good since I was moving slow this morning. No meetings until this evening. After I finally rolled out of bed at 0830 and caught up on some emails, I decided to take a walk, stepping out about 0930. I had seen a walkway along the river, but could not find a close point of access on the map, so I just found a convenient route that took me north through the city to the greenspace along the South Platte River. I found that strolling along 14th Street was a little better than 15th due to fewer lights and less traffic. I reached the river at Confluence Park and continued northeasterly through the park and along the river for quite a ways. There were a number of homeless folks all along the route, but there numbers increased when I exited the park area and continued along the river. There were several small camp areas on both sides of the river housing several homeless. They really did not seem to pay any attention to me. Only one guy spoke to me during the entire walk, a fellow down along the river who seemed to be just waking up. He asked me what day it was. But seeing the number of homeless does make you thing about just how they got to where they are. I wonder if the high numbers are in part due to Colorado's recent legalization of marijuana?
I had been rambling for a few miles and the time was quickly approaching lunch. There has to be a Chipotle around here somewhere. I quick phone search pointed me in the right direction and not too far from the hotel. I also found a Patagonia store along my route so I stopped there for a quick look but there were no hiking shoes that I could find so I kept on trucking. Somehow I missed the Chipotle on my first pass (perhaps the tall buildings confused Baby), but I eventually got my lunch then made my way back to the hotel. I ended up meandering about 8 miles today, so a pretty good little workout.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was business meetings and prep for more meetings through the week. I hit Zoup again for dinner. Bowl of chicken chili and a sourdough roll was just perfect.
Wednesday, June 7 - Many Meetings. Just a full day of meetings, but everything ran smoothly. After the meetings were wrapped up, I needed a little time to unwind and opted for another urban hike. I hit the bricks just before 5:00, heading northwest again long 14th, but this time I spotted the walking trail along the creek. Perfect, now I can walk with out all the stop-and-go of the city streets. Now I just had to find out how to get down there. Limited access for sure, but I backtracked just a little ways and found the ramp down to the paved path. Very nice system. Where I entered there was a trail on the west side for bikes and the east side for walking and running. There were a lot of folks on this path but it was a wide walkway so plenty of room. The creek looks like it used to be navigable as there were remains of locks it seemed at a couple locations. I walked this up to Confluence Park and a little ways east along the South Platte before retracing my steps to the point where the walking and biking trails merged again on the east side of the creek. That seemed like a good point to exit and make my way back to the hotel. I was done with meetings for the evening, but knew that most of my friends were still engaged so I again made my way to Chipotle for dinner and added that to my walking total for the day (nearly 6 miles, so another nice urban hike). I saw Jim V. on the walk back from dinner and we had a nice chat about governance. Then it was up to the room to dig into the never ending stack of email.
Wednesday, June 7 - Many Meetings. Just a full day of meetings, but everything ran smoothly. After the meetings were wrapped up, I needed a little time to unwind and opted for another urban hike. I hit the bricks just before 5:00, heading northwest again long 14th, but this time I spotted the walking trail along the creek. Perfect, now I can walk with out all the stop-and-go of the city streets. Now I just had to find out how to get down there. Limited access for sure, but I backtracked just a little ways and found the ramp down to the paved path. Very nice system. Where I entered there was a trail on the west side for bikes and the east side for walking and running. There were a lot of folks on this path but it was a wide walkway so plenty of room. The creek looks like it used to be navigable as there were remains of locks it seemed at a couple locations. I walked this up to Confluence Park and a little ways east along the South Platte before retracing my steps to the point where the walking and biking trails merged again on the east side of the creek. That seemed like a good point to exit and make my way back to the hotel. I was done with meetings for the evening, but knew that most of my friends were still engaged so I again made my way to Chipotle for dinner and added that to my walking total for the day (nearly 6 miles, so another nice urban hike). I saw Jim V. on the walk back from dinner and we had a nice chat about governance. Then it was up to the room to dig into the never ending stack of email.
Thursday, June 8 - One more meeting then time to relax. Another day devoted to business. Today is the technical session on transonic turbulence measurement in which I will be presenting. So we had the speaker's briefing at 0730, then I helped Max with his chart package (his Mac had SNAFU'd his chart deck, so I lent him my Windows laptop so that he could get things back in order). We set up shop in the work area of the hotel lobby. I spotted Angelo at the next set of tables. While we were all dressed in our professional attire and working on a myriad of aerospace topics, I dropped back to junior high, wadded up a sheet of paper and winged it across the aisle, striking Angelo squarely on the chest. Bulls-eye! He was seated looking directly at me, but when struck by my papyrus projectile he turned and looked behind him. He finally turned back my way and I gave him a big grin just to say "gotcha!" Hey, you have to have a little fun at these events (well, my usual gang usually has a LOT of fun!). While Max was working away on his charts, Angelo and I had time for a nice conversation about, what else, AIAA governance. Once Max finished with my computer, I grabbed lunch at Zoup. The turkey Cuban was excellent (I had seen that on the menu all week and wanted to try it. I was not disappointed). On my way to the technical session, I ran in to Jon B. and he asked when he might buy me a beer. This evening would be ideal I told him so we made sure that we had each other's phone numbers and continued on our ways. Finally the last official event of the trip. I was the lead-off presenter; that went well. We rolled through the remainder of the presentations (Max also did very well) and were finished at 4:30.
My work here is done, time for a beer. Erin and I had exchanged texts earlier. She already had dinner plans with high school friends who now live in Denver, but she was free for a beer at 5:00. I invited Max and Mike but they had other plans, she invited Matt who did join us. Time for one beer at the Yard House. We were all highly disappointed that they were out of Superfan (Erin and Matt had also discovered this very good IPA), but we made due with lesser beers. Matt never ceases to impress me; he is as personable as they come and just really smart. In addition to his wind tunnel expertise, he is also a beer guy, so the three of us talked a little about wind tunnels and a lot about beer. That's the proper mix I do believe. We finished our round then Matt had the GTTC meeting and Erin had her dinner, so I texted Jon B. to see if he was up for a beer. He replied that there was a little group going out for dinner and to be in the lobby at 6:30. Bonus! I made a quick trip to the room to ditch the jacket and tie and changed into shorts and a polo. I hope that is an appropriate dress code 'cause that's as good as it is going to get.
My work here is done, time for a beer. Erin and I had exchanged texts earlier. She already had dinner plans with high school friends who now live in Denver, but she was free for a beer at 5:00. I invited Max and Mike but they had other plans, she invited Matt who did join us. Time for one beer at the Yard House. We were all highly disappointed that they were out of Superfan (Erin and Matt had also discovered this very good IPA), but we made due with lesser beers. Matt never ceases to impress me; he is as personable as they come and just really smart. In addition to his wind tunnel expertise, he is also a beer guy, so the three of us talked a little about wind tunnels and a lot about beer. That's the proper mix I do believe. We finished our round then Matt had the GTTC meeting and Erin had her dinner, so I texted Jon B. to see if he was up for a beer. He replied that there was a little group going out for dinner and to be in the lobby at 6:30. Bonus! I made a quick trip to the room to ditch the jacket and tie and changed into shorts and a polo. I hope that is an appropriate dress code 'cause that's as good as it is going to get.
The group slowly gathered in the lobby of the Sheraton. I met Sam as I was walking back into the building. She's an engineer with Honda Jet. John, Jessa and Hanna joined us a few minutes later. The starting point for our evening was the Greedy Hamster on 14th, just around the corner from the Sheraton. We ordered up a selection of appetizers and a couple rounds of drinks. Shoot, I was quite happy with this for dinner, but Jessa informed us that this was just the start of the night as she had a place picked out on Larimar Street. Cool. The rest of the group were having mules to drink but I stuck with an IPA. However, when I walked up to check out the draft board for a second beer, I spotted a watermelon sour on the list. The guy behind the bar said to try it if I liked watermelon Jolly Ranchers. OK, that sounds interesting so I got a taster. Wow, he was right! Watermelon Jolly Rancher in a glass. Pretty darn good, but the sampler was enough and I reverted to an IPA.
We finished our apps and drinks and headed on to dinner. Just a few blocks to traverse on this lovely evening to get to Tag. I bit of a new wave-ish, eclectic joint. The girls were ogling the waiter. Trust me, women are just as twisted as men. But they were fun to watch. And the food was excellent. Jessa and I ended up splitting two entrées, the bison and the scallops. Both were great but the scallops really stole the show. Melt in your mouth. We all enjoyed a great meal and excellent company then staggered, that is walked back to the hotel. We were back home about 10:15. I did a little packing then hit the sack as I have an early start for travel in the morning.
Here's the photo gallery from the Denver portion of the trip (mostly from the aviation museum).
Friday, June 9 - On to Santa Fe. For having a semi-late night, I was awake early, well, local time, at 0400. Nope, not going back to sleep so I just got an early start on the day. Showered, packed, checked-out and in my Uber about 0545 and heading to DIA. No slow-downs this early, so we made good time to the airport. You never know what you are going to get with Uber. On the trip from the airport it was the hippie in the minivan and now I have an older Asian gentleman in a basic sedan. Both a far cry from the rides in the pristine SUVs in DC. No real issues with check-in at the airport. United Premier Access was a plus today as I skipped the rather long line to get to the security check but the scanning at the security point was really slow. Still I had plenty of time so need to fret. Finally through the ordeal, I took the train then a hike to get to gate Bravo 87. I could not find anything for breakfast that looked appealing in the restaurants or delis, so I grabbed some Nutter Butters and Nature Valley oat bars from a magazine stand and called it good.
At the gate I had a chance to start winding down from the hectic week in Denver. Interestingly, for all the times I have flown into DIA, this was the first time that I had spent any time in the city. It is a nice place. I reckon Lynn and I could explore here for a few days, just checking out the museums, beer scene and so on. The location we had for the conference was very good for exploring, so I'll keep that in mind for any future visits. The homeless situation was disconcerting; hopefully the city can work on a solution and maybe help some folks.
Time to look ahead to Santa Fe. The weather looks great for the next few days. Hot to start, but then moderating and no rain in the forecast. I did a little looking at options for things to do in and around Santa Fe; looks like there will be plenty to keep us busy and besides, we want some relaxation time as well so no need to over book the trip.
On time departure and perhaps a slightly early arrival. That time savings was squandered at the Thrifty rental car counter. The wait was only about 15 minutes but there were only two other customers in front of me. Just about all of that time was spent on the customer at the counter when I arrived (so I have no idea how long he had been there before I walked up, but I'm betting it was substantial). Whatever his issue was, once he cleared, the next guy only required about 3 minutes to get his car and likewise for me. Overall not to bad. I was soon on the road in my white Rogue (looks like every car in the lot was white). I thought for a moment that I was getting an Excursion which would have been way too much vehicle as it was the only vehicle I saw as I was going to space number 51. The Rogue was just hiding beside the behemoth Ford.
I fired up Baby and went in search of Lynn. She was ready to roll at her hotel, so I grabbed her bags while she checked out and our New Mexico adventure was underway. It was just a bit after 10:00 AM so we had plenty of time to look around. It was already getting warm and was heading to hot today, with predicted highs well into the 90s F. Baby pointed us toward Old Town. There was a fair amount of road construction but we finally got there, found a place to park and figured out how to pay the automated parking attendant. Three hours should be more than enough time (and it was). We meandered about just a bit, then got our bearings and headed to the Turquoise Museum which is adjacent to Old Town. We arrived right at 11:00 so just in time for the first tour of the day. Buying the tickets for the tour turned out to be a traumatic experience for Lynn as this was the first time that she was asked about a senior discount and actually was able to reply that yes, she is over 55. Well, at least she saved a few bucks! But the tour of the museum ended up being the highlight of our time in Albuquerque. This was an interesting tour and we learned some interesting tidbits about turquoise, where it comes from how it is graded, etc. Joe Dan, the owner and tour guide, provided a several factoids; mining locations, grading the stones, history. This was a family business; Joe Dan's grandfather was a well known dealer in turquoise. Lynn and I had just been talking about the chemical composition of turquoise but we had not idea what it was (I mean, a diamond is carbon, but what is turquoise really made of?). Turns out it is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminum, whatever that means. The chemical formula is CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)84H2O. A couple other points that I retained were that the darker the color the more valuable, the matrix of the stone affects the value (uniformity, often more is better), and the mine from which the stone came from makes a big difference (scarcity of the stone; Dry Creek was a great example as it produced a very small amount of turquoise, so it is very rare). However, his primary advice for buying turquoise was to purchase what you liked. Oddly enough, even though he was an expert and had written books on turquoise, Joe Dan claimed to personally own none and that he never wore any. Not so for Lynn and she added another ring to her collection following the tour.
We walked back over the old town plaza, but honestly I did not find it that interesting. It was way to touristy. I was expecting a more quaint and historic setting. Maybe it was the heat that was impacting my attitude toward the surroundings (it was 92 F and the sky was clear, so overall, brutal!). We walked into a couple shops, checked one place for lunch but the wait was more that I was willing to accept, then just ended up back at the Rogue. We decided just to snack for lunch so that we would be ready for a big dinner in Santa Fe.
We finished our apps and drinks and headed on to dinner. Just a few blocks to traverse on this lovely evening to get to Tag. I bit of a new wave-ish, eclectic joint. The girls were ogling the waiter. Trust me, women are just as twisted as men. But they were fun to watch. And the food was excellent. Jessa and I ended up splitting two entrées, the bison and the scallops. Both were great but the scallops really stole the show. Melt in your mouth. We all enjoyed a great meal and excellent company then staggered, that is walked back to the hotel. We were back home about 10:15. I did a little packing then hit the sack as I have an early start for travel in the morning.
Here's the photo gallery from the Denver portion of the trip (mostly from the aviation museum).
Friday, June 9 - On to Santa Fe. For having a semi-late night, I was awake early, well, local time, at 0400. Nope, not going back to sleep so I just got an early start on the day. Showered, packed, checked-out and in my Uber about 0545 and heading to DIA. No slow-downs this early, so we made good time to the airport. You never know what you are going to get with Uber. On the trip from the airport it was the hippie in the minivan and now I have an older Asian gentleman in a basic sedan. Both a far cry from the rides in the pristine SUVs in DC. No real issues with check-in at the airport. United Premier Access was a plus today as I skipped the rather long line to get to the security check but the scanning at the security point was really slow. Still I had plenty of time so need to fret. Finally through the ordeal, I took the train then a hike to get to gate Bravo 87. I could not find anything for breakfast that looked appealing in the restaurants or delis, so I grabbed some Nutter Butters and Nature Valley oat bars from a magazine stand and called it good.
At the gate I had a chance to start winding down from the hectic week in Denver. Interestingly, for all the times I have flown into DIA, this was the first time that I had spent any time in the city. It is a nice place. I reckon Lynn and I could explore here for a few days, just checking out the museums, beer scene and so on. The location we had for the conference was very good for exploring, so I'll keep that in mind for any future visits. The homeless situation was disconcerting; hopefully the city can work on a solution and maybe help some folks.
Time to look ahead to Santa Fe. The weather looks great for the next few days. Hot to start, but then moderating and no rain in the forecast. I did a little looking at options for things to do in and around Santa Fe; looks like there will be plenty to keep us busy and besides, we want some relaxation time as well so no need to over book the trip.
On time departure and perhaps a slightly early arrival. That time savings was squandered at the Thrifty rental car counter. The wait was only about 15 minutes but there were only two other customers in front of me. Just about all of that time was spent on the customer at the counter when I arrived (so I have no idea how long he had been there before I walked up, but I'm betting it was substantial). Whatever his issue was, once he cleared, the next guy only required about 3 minutes to get his car and likewise for me. Overall not to bad. I was soon on the road in my white Rogue (looks like every car in the lot was white). I thought for a moment that I was getting an Excursion which would have been way too much vehicle as it was the only vehicle I saw as I was going to space number 51. The Rogue was just hiding beside the behemoth Ford.
I fired up Baby and went in search of Lynn. She was ready to roll at her hotel, so I grabbed her bags while she checked out and our New Mexico adventure was underway. It was just a bit after 10:00 AM so we had plenty of time to look around. It was already getting warm and was heading to hot today, with predicted highs well into the 90s F. Baby pointed us toward Old Town. There was a fair amount of road construction but we finally got there, found a place to park and figured out how to pay the automated parking attendant. Three hours should be more than enough time (and it was). We meandered about just a bit, then got our bearings and headed to the Turquoise Museum which is adjacent to Old Town. We arrived right at 11:00 so just in time for the first tour of the day. Buying the tickets for the tour turned out to be a traumatic experience for Lynn as this was the first time that she was asked about a senior discount and actually was able to reply that yes, she is over 55. Well, at least she saved a few bucks! But the tour of the museum ended up being the highlight of our time in Albuquerque. This was an interesting tour and we learned some interesting tidbits about turquoise, where it comes from how it is graded, etc. Joe Dan, the owner and tour guide, provided a several factoids; mining locations, grading the stones, history. This was a family business; Joe Dan's grandfather was a well known dealer in turquoise. Lynn and I had just been talking about the chemical composition of turquoise but we had not idea what it was (I mean, a diamond is carbon, but what is turquoise really made of?). Turns out it is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminum, whatever that means. The chemical formula is CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)84H2O. A couple other points that I retained were that the darker the color the more valuable, the matrix of the stone affects the value (uniformity, often more is better), and the mine from which the stone came from makes a big difference (scarcity of the stone; Dry Creek was a great example as it produced a very small amount of turquoise, so it is very rare). However, his primary advice for buying turquoise was to purchase what you liked. Oddly enough, even though he was an expert and had written books on turquoise, Joe Dan claimed to personally own none and that he never wore any. Not so for Lynn and she added another ring to her collection following the tour.
We walked back over the old town plaza, but honestly I did not find it that interesting. It was way to touristy. I was expecting a more quaint and historic setting. Maybe it was the heat that was impacting my attitude toward the surroundings (it was 92 F and the sky was clear, so overall, brutal!). We walked into a couple shops, checked one place for lunch but the wait was more that I was willing to accept, then just ended up back at the Rogue. We decided just to snack for lunch so that we would be ready for a big dinner in Santa Fe.
Back in the Rogue, I set baby to take us to the Santa Fe VRBO via route 14 and Madrid, per Alex's recommendation. We figured we would pass by a convenient store on the way out of town but no luck on that (I guess we should have stopped in the city after all). No worries, we won't starve. This was a very pretty drive, even if it did add a little mileage and drive time to the trip. But we were in no hurry so it worked out just fine. We did find a little grocery store in one of the little bergs along the route so I grabbed some snacks and H2O for the rest for lunch and we continued on our way. We made a quick stop in Madrid. Actually, we cruised through it to get the lay of the land, turned around and came back once we reached the north end of this sprawling metropolis. It was a hopping place and parking was hard to come by. Lynn had spied a little shop that piqued her interest so we started there. I just stayed in the car since all our stuff was packed inside and I did not want to risk having any of the electronics walking away. Our assessment was that this was a bit too touristy for our taste so Lynn stopped browsing after the one stop and we continued north to Santa Fe.
Baby guided us right to our rental house, Soledad Casita (https://www.vrbo.com/570596). We pulled into the carport exactly at 3:00. We unloaded the Rogue, stashed our gear, checked out the house (a very nice place…more on that later) and then I crashed on the couch for about an hour. I needed that nap. Once I woke up we made a grocery run. Albertsons was just around the corner. We even brought grocery bags with us since we had learned that Santa Fe had outlawed plastic shopping bags and the grocery stores charged for paper bags. Of course we forgot our reusable bags at the casita. But the lady at the checkout did not charge us for the paper bags since I bagged our loot. We only needed two bags so that saved us a whopping 20 cents. But now we had breakfast and snack food plus a nice selection of New Mexico brewed beers and a bottle of wine (from where I know not). We were back at the casita with a beer on the courtyard patio a little after 5:00. Now we are really dropping into vacation mode!
Dinner time. I had a list of options already picked out. We decided on Tomasita's in the Railyard for our first night. Highly rated on TripAdvisor. Short walk from our VRBO; Baby got us there on the shortest route. As I feared there was a crowd ahead of us. Reportedly a 40-minute wait, so we took our buzzer and walked around a bit. A lot of things were already closed for the evening. But other things were just setting up. Looks like some outdoor live music this evening. I reckon we skip. We walked back along the tracks. The Roadrunner was idling there at the station adjacent to Tomasita's. Good timing as we only had to wait a few minutes longer until our table was ready. About 25 minutes so much better than the original estimate.
Tomasita's was very good. Speedy service, nice variety on the menu but only a limited selection of local beer. I ended up ordering the Friday special, the carne adobe, which is pork in a red chili sauce, and Lynn had the Burrito Grande, and it was big! I like the New Mexican restaurants here in Santa Fe as they serve heat. Most of the places we ate at warned us that they use hot chilies. And they were right, the heat was excellent. As expected, dining was a treat in Santa Fe and we were just getting started.
After dinner we meandered back to the casita. We crashed early but not before deciding to check out Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve tomorrow.
Saturday, June 10 - Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve. I rolled out of bed about 0500. Lynn was still snoozing so I crept into the living room and surfed on the phone, doing a little hiking trail research and playing a few games. Once Lynn was up we had a bagel for breakfast. We were in no real rush, which is always a plus. We were on the road about 0730. Baby had us on the quickest route to the park. Unfortunately, the fastest route according to the GPS was via Los Alamos. Little did we know there was no through traffic at that point. At least there was no way through that we could find so we had to backtrack from Los Alamos (all the info I had found said to drive through Los Alamos. I think a sign or two pointing the way would have been helpful. There seemed to be a gate across everyone road, and I don't challenge gates). We eventually got rerouted on the longer way via route 4. We lost about 25 minutes on the drive time but it was no big deal. We passed by Bandelier on the way. We visited here during our first visit to the area. Looks like access to the park is now by shuttle bus.
This was a lovely drive up into the mountains. There were some real twists and turns along route 4. The road was in great shape but it was not a route for complacency, particularly with a few bicyclists making the climb. Hats off to those guys as that would be a tough ride, I think. Our first close-up view of the caldera was from route 4 as we crossed into the park. Quite different from the volcanic areas we visited last summer in northern California and southern Oregon. Here we were looking over the wide, green floor of the caldera which was surrounded but the steep, rim, but still green with trees and grass. Low domelike hills dotted the are within the caldera.
Baby guided us right to our rental house, Soledad Casita (https://www.vrbo.com/570596). We pulled into the carport exactly at 3:00. We unloaded the Rogue, stashed our gear, checked out the house (a very nice place…more on that later) and then I crashed on the couch for about an hour. I needed that nap. Once I woke up we made a grocery run. Albertsons was just around the corner. We even brought grocery bags with us since we had learned that Santa Fe had outlawed plastic shopping bags and the grocery stores charged for paper bags. Of course we forgot our reusable bags at the casita. But the lady at the checkout did not charge us for the paper bags since I bagged our loot. We only needed two bags so that saved us a whopping 20 cents. But now we had breakfast and snack food plus a nice selection of New Mexico brewed beers and a bottle of wine (from where I know not). We were back at the casita with a beer on the courtyard patio a little after 5:00. Now we are really dropping into vacation mode!
Dinner time. I had a list of options already picked out. We decided on Tomasita's in the Railyard for our first night. Highly rated on TripAdvisor. Short walk from our VRBO; Baby got us there on the shortest route. As I feared there was a crowd ahead of us. Reportedly a 40-minute wait, so we took our buzzer and walked around a bit. A lot of things were already closed for the evening. But other things were just setting up. Looks like some outdoor live music this evening. I reckon we skip. We walked back along the tracks. The Roadrunner was idling there at the station adjacent to Tomasita's. Good timing as we only had to wait a few minutes longer until our table was ready. About 25 minutes so much better than the original estimate.
Tomasita's was very good. Speedy service, nice variety on the menu but only a limited selection of local beer. I ended up ordering the Friday special, the carne adobe, which is pork in a red chili sauce, and Lynn had the Burrito Grande, and it was big! I like the New Mexican restaurants here in Santa Fe as they serve heat. Most of the places we ate at warned us that they use hot chilies. And they were right, the heat was excellent. As expected, dining was a treat in Santa Fe and we were just getting started.
After dinner we meandered back to the casita. We crashed early but not before deciding to check out Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve tomorrow.
Saturday, June 10 - Valles Caldera National Wildlife Preserve. I rolled out of bed about 0500. Lynn was still snoozing so I crept into the living room and surfed on the phone, doing a little hiking trail research and playing a few games. Once Lynn was up we had a bagel for breakfast. We were in no real rush, which is always a plus. We were on the road about 0730. Baby had us on the quickest route to the park. Unfortunately, the fastest route according to the GPS was via Los Alamos. Little did we know there was no through traffic at that point. At least there was no way through that we could find so we had to backtrack from Los Alamos (all the info I had found said to drive through Los Alamos. I think a sign or two pointing the way would have been helpful. There seemed to be a gate across everyone road, and I don't challenge gates). We eventually got rerouted on the longer way via route 4. We lost about 25 minutes on the drive time but it was no big deal. We passed by Bandelier on the way. We visited here during our first visit to the area. Looks like access to the park is now by shuttle bus.
This was a lovely drive up into the mountains. There were some real twists and turns along route 4. The road was in great shape but it was not a route for complacency, particularly with a few bicyclists making the climb. Hats off to those guys as that would be a tough ride, I think. Our first close-up view of the caldera was from route 4 as we crossed into the park. Quite different from the volcanic areas we visited last summer in northern California and southern Oregon. Here we were looking over the wide, green floor of the caldera which was surrounded but the steep, rim, but still green with trees and grass. Low domelike hills dotted the are within the caldera.
We rolled passed the entrance sign about 9:00. The access road through the preserve was a well-graded dirt road that wound through the open floor of the caldera. We crossed a pretty stream that was hosting several flyfisherpeople. Looks like a nice day for fishing, or any other activity with beautiful blue sky and not a cloud to be seen. The outside air temperature on the Rogue console read 68 F, so we should be in great shape for hiking. As we continued into the park toward the visitor center we were greeted but several little furry residents of the open plain. Prairie Dogs. They were everywhere. Popping up then back into the burrows. I had to keep an eye out to make sure they did not scurry out into the road.
There were only a couple other cars at the visitor center. We went inside to see if we could secure a backcountry pass, first ensuring that the road conditions were passable for our rented Rogue, and for some hiking suggestions. The two millennial Rangers staffing the desk this morning were quite helpful and very friendly. There were still plenty of backcountry permits available so no worries there. Even with our delay in getting here, I guess we were still ahead of most of the tourists, just not the fishermen. The road through the park was in very good shape having been recently graded so they figured we would be fine in our little cross-over. They mentioned that there were several folks out in sedans. We told Ranger Jacob that we were looking for a hike with nice views and good opportunities for critter sightings. He suggested that we try trail 12 which would take us up the caldera rim so the views should be good. And he guaranteed that we would see elk along the trail. Here's the page with the park map that shows our driving and hiking tour in Valles Caldera.
When we visited Valles Caldera it was listed as the Nation's newest National Preserve. The preserve is 89,000 acres and encompasses a dormant volcano. There is a wide range of topographic features in the park from the expansive valley meadows, or valles (va-yes) in Spanish, forested volcanic domes, meandering valley stream and old growth Ponderosa pine groves. We were looking forward to exploring the park, seeing the variety in terms of terrain and ecosystems and hopefully seeing some critters.
While we were talking to Ranger Jacob, a young family was talking to the young lady Ranger about hikes near to the visitor center. There were trails just across the road. The young lady Ranger asked Ranger Jacob the latest on the bear sighting along the trail that the young family wanted to hike. "Yeah, NO!" was the quick response from Mom, standing at the counter with the baby strapped across her chest, as she nixed the idea of hiking that particular trail.
We bought a park pin, some snacks and Gatorade then headed back out toward the parking lot to saddle up for the drive into the park. I paused to take in the view from the edge of the parking area. I believe it was here that I had that calming sensation that I usually get in a National Park once we have things situated and a plan in place. The relaxation just hits. Deep breath…slowly exhale…ahhhhhhh. We hung our permit from the rearview mirror and hit the road. Lynn opened the gate across the park road (just a chain) and we were off. The time was about 9:40.
There were only a couple other cars at the visitor center. We went inside to see if we could secure a backcountry pass, first ensuring that the road conditions were passable for our rented Rogue, and for some hiking suggestions. The two millennial Rangers staffing the desk this morning were quite helpful and very friendly. There were still plenty of backcountry permits available so no worries there. Even with our delay in getting here, I guess we were still ahead of most of the tourists, just not the fishermen. The road through the park was in very good shape having been recently graded so they figured we would be fine in our little cross-over. They mentioned that there were several folks out in sedans. We told Ranger Jacob that we were looking for a hike with nice views and good opportunities for critter sightings. He suggested that we try trail 12 which would take us up the caldera rim so the views should be good. And he guaranteed that we would see elk along the trail. Here's the page with the park map that shows our driving and hiking tour in Valles Caldera.
When we visited Valles Caldera it was listed as the Nation's newest National Preserve. The preserve is 89,000 acres and encompasses a dormant volcano. There is a wide range of topographic features in the park from the expansive valley meadows, or valles (va-yes) in Spanish, forested volcanic domes, meandering valley stream and old growth Ponderosa pine groves. We were looking forward to exploring the park, seeing the variety in terms of terrain and ecosystems and hopefully seeing some critters.
While we were talking to Ranger Jacob, a young family was talking to the young lady Ranger about hikes near to the visitor center. There were trails just across the road. The young lady Ranger asked Ranger Jacob the latest on the bear sighting along the trail that the young family wanted to hike. "Yeah, NO!" was the quick response from Mom, standing at the counter with the baby strapped across her chest, as she nixed the idea of hiking that particular trail.
We bought a park pin, some snacks and Gatorade then headed back out toward the parking lot to saddle up for the drive into the park. I paused to take in the view from the edge of the parking area. I believe it was here that I had that calming sensation that I usually get in a National Park once we have things situated and a plan in place. The relaxation just hits. Deep breath…slowly exhale…ahhhhhhh. We hung our permit from the rearview mirror and hit the road. Lynn opened the gate across the park road (just a chain) and we were off. The time was about 9:40.
The drive through the caldera was wonderful. As the Rangers stated, the dirt road was in great shape. We were afforded excellent views all along the drive, some across the expanse of the caldera, some taking in the domes and others of the rim, but all beautiful. Not very crowded in the preserve. We let one car pass us as we are not in a hurry and maybe there was one other car going the opposite direction. None of the trailhead parking areas had more than a car or two. We did spot one research team sitting on the hill side along the road with their radio tracking antennae; not sure what they were searching for. We spotted a few birds on the drive but most were on the move. I got a photo of a little brown bird sitting on a fence post along the road. The experts on Bird Forum later identified this as a Vesper Sparrow, which was a new addition to our list of sightings (I guessed Savannah Sparrow but the experts were correct). We also got a nice look and some photos of a Western Meadowlark, another new bird for the overall list. We thought the road might degrade the further away from the visitor center we traveled but that was not the case. It was pretty much smooth sailing the entire trip, just a few short stretches of washboard and miscellaneous potholes that are typical of any dirt road. The only place that was even close to out of the ordinary was just before we reached the trailhead where we had to ford a small creek; very minor obstacle. We were at the trailhead about 10:30. Just under and hour from the visitor center to this point near the northern boundary of the park.
There were two other vehicles at the trailhead for park road 12 where we were starting our hike. One was parked near the road, a big Ford F-250. Probably folks fishing in the stream a few hundred yards out in the meadow. The other was parked near the trailhead sign so these folks are probably out on the trail somewhere. OK, we won't have the trail all to ourselves, but pretty darn close. We had a quick snack, got our packs on and started up the trail. The sky was blue and still no clouds to be seen, the vegetation was green and lush, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was still very comfortable at somewhere around 70 F. Perfect day for a hike. Let's see what we can see!
The initial part of the trail is flat along a meadow and provides views up to the edge of the caldera where we are going. At the end of the meadow we started climbing and really did not stop until we reached our turnaround where the trail basically exits the park. Yep, uphill all the way, so there were many stops to catch our breath due to the elevation and the elevation change. We started at about 8,500 feet above sea level, so we would have been a little short on oxygen even with a flat hike, but we were gaining height as we went. In fact, we ended up just a hair over 10,000 feet as we neared the top of the rim. I tracked the route on my phone using the Ramblr.com app and the hiking track is on the Valles Caldera map page (scroll down for the detailed map).
The is a very nice hike with plenty of variety. As mentioned, the initial portion is along a meadow and relatively flat, then the climb through the forested hillside as we worked our way up the caldera rim and finally out in the open as we continued up the side of the rim but in near in a sparsely wooded area which provided wonderful views in all directions. The trail itself is an old road so very easy to follow. Not much in the way of signage but it was not needed as the track of the road is very obvious. The road still gets some use as we saw tire tracks in places and later in the hike there was a truck driving up the road, but more on that shortly.
We had pretty good luck with critter sightings along the trail. Ranger Jacob told us we would see elk an d he was correct as not long after we started to gain altitude we spotted a cow in the road maybe 40 yards ahead of us. We stopped to see if she was crossing the road or using it as a pathway. Crossing. Good. Then another. And another. Probably seven or eight cows and maybe one bull crossed the road and continued at the trot through the woods below us. OK, that was worth the price of admission (well, admission was free, but you know what I mean).
There were also plenty of birds, but most were gone birds or were hiding in the foliage. Other then a Robin the only one that I got a half-way decent photo of was a House Wren (confirmed again by Bird Forum but at least I guessed it correctly). Loads of butterflies but again they were flitting about so much that photos were nearly impossible. There were several big swallowtails along the lower park of the trail but higher up were swarms made of a variety of medium and small ones: yellows ranging from pale to bright with shades including canary and butterscotch, orange and brown, little blue ones that just would not sit for a portrait, and tiny brown or black ones. I did finally get a few photos that were good enough for identification and posted to ButterfliesandMoths.org. They came back with a Painted Lady and Field Crescent. We saw and heard several woodpeckers as we walked through the trees. It was difficult to get a good look due to their moving about, the cover from the trees and the lighting (lots of shadows), so we never got a firm handle on the exact species. One seemed mostly black with a white color and white on its tail and another certainly had red on its head. The closest that I could guess after looking at the species list after the trip was that maybe these were a Williamson's Sapsucker and a Red-naped Sapsucker, respectively, but no way to know for sure so we'll just go with woodpeckers of some sort.
The initial part of the trail is flat along a meadow and provides views up to the edge of the caldera where we are going. At the end of the meadow we started climbing and really did not stop until we reached our turnaround where the trail basically exits the park. Yep, uphill all the way, so there were many stops to catch our breath due to the elevation and the elevation change. We started at about 8,500 feet above sea level, so we would have been a little short on oxygen even with a flat hike, but we were gaining height as we went. In fact, we ended up just a hair over 10,000 feet as we neared the top of the rim. I tracked the route on my phone using the Ramblr.com app and the hiking track is on the Valles Caldera map page (scroll down for the detailed map).
The is a very nice hike with plenty of variety. As mentioned, the initial portion is along a meadow and relatively flat, then the climb through the forested hillside as we worked our way up the caldera rim and finally out in the open as we continued up the side of the rim but in near in a sparsely wooded area which provided wonderful views in all directions. The trail itself is an old road so very easy to follow. Not much in the way of signage but it was not needed as the track of the road is very obvious. The road still gets some use as we saw tire tracks in places and later in the hike there was a truck driving up the road, but more on that shortly.
We had pretty good luck with critter sightings along the trail. Ranger Jacob told us we would see elk an d he was correct as not long after we started to gain altitude we spotted a cow in the road maybe 40 yards ahead of us. We stopped to see if she was crossing the road or using it as a pathway. Crossing. Good. Then another. And another. Probably seven or eight cows and maybe one bull crossed the road and continued at the trot through the woods below us. OK, that was worth the price of admission (well, admission was free, but you know what I mean).
There were also plenty of birds, but most were gone birds or were hiding in the foliage. Other then a Robin the only one that I got a half-way decent photo of was a House Wren (confirmed again by Bird Forum but at least I guessed it correctly). Loads of butterflies but again they were flitting about so much that photos were nearly impossible. There were several big swallowtails along the lower park of the trail but higher up were swarms made of a variety of medium and small ones: yellows ranging from pale to bright with shades including canary and butterscotch, orange and brown, little blue ones that just would not sit for a portrait, and tiny brown or black ones. I did finally get a few photos that were good enough for identification and posted to ButterfliesandMoths.org. They came back with a Painted Lady and Field Crescent. We saw and heard several woodpeckers as we walked through the trees. It was difficult to get a good look due to their moving about, the cover from the trees and the lighting (lots of shadows), so we never got a firm handle on the exact species. One seemed mostly black with a white color and white on its tail and another certainly had red on its head. The closest that I could guess after looking at the species list after the trip was that maybe these were a Williamson's Sapsucker and a Red-naped Sapsucker, respectively, but no way to know for sure so we'll just go with woodpeckers of some sort.
Once out of the trees, about 2.4 miles from the trailhead, the views opened up. The initial views were looking up at the rim of the caldera but as we continued higher we could look back across the open bottom of the caldera. The best views were along the last stretch as we climbed the mostly bare slope of the caldera rim. Just after we broke out of the woods I just happened to glimpse a piece of plastic laying on the trail. Litter here? Not exactly. It was someone's park pass. The name was illegible but maybe it belongs to the folks who are out here ahead of us (they must be ahead of us as we have seen no one else on the trail so far, which is quite the bonus). Worst case is that we'll turn it in at the visitor center.
The temperature was still very pleasant, probably a degree or two lower than when we started due to higher elevation. The sky was still a brilliant blue and there were a few fluffy white clouds out on the horizon. Ideal for hiking. Now that we were more out in the open there were a few interesting landscapes to photograph, trying to incorporate some lone trees (alive and dead) into the slopes and angles of the caldera rim. I played as we marched a long in part to keep Lynn moving and partly not to break my own tempo up the hillside.
Above half way up the final slope we spotted a truck following us up the trail. It had just emerged from the tree line so it has a ways to go to catch us (as good as the trail along the road it for hiking, it is still not a highway for motor vehicles!). The truck stopped at the bottom of the last uphill section along the face of the caldera rim. In fact, we did not pass the truck until we were on our way back down the trail. We continued up the trail and through the open gate that we reckoned marked the park boundary. The trail leveled out at this point and entered a wooded area. The trail then started to lose some elevation, which we really did not want to do on this side of the ridge line. Since we did not have a detailed map we decided that this would be a good place for our end of the trail and for a snack break. It was not long after our break that we met the truck on the trail. He had also made it through the gate so we were in the wooded section when he caught us. It was kid from New Mexico State, an intern in forestry, out doing chores. We chatted for a bit. Lynn asked him where the road led; basically it continues out into Forest Service land and connects up with another service road. We thought it might switch back and provide access higher up on the caldera rim, but he did not think so. OK, that just confirms that we did good by turning around. We said our goodbyes and all continued on our way.
Downhill is so much quicker than uphill when hiking. Not necessarily easier as there is still stress on the knees (maybe more so going down a steep trail). But we made good time on the return trip. Just about the time we were reentering the forested part of the trail, we saw two hikers coming down from the rim. I wonder if they were the folks who lost the park pass. Maybe they will catch us and we can find out. Spoiler: they never did. We had the trail to ourselves for the return hike. We did not see another soul, human at least, until we reached the trailhead. There were still plenty of birds and butterflies, plus some interesting squirrels (Abert's we think), but we were the only people and we enjoyed the solitude immensely. Back at the trailhead, the fishermen in the F-250 had completed their angling duties for the day and were lounging about, most likely telling stories about the one that got away (that's what me and my fishing buddies used to do after a day of wading the trout streams back in West Virginia). It was around 2:15 when we were back in the car and driving away from the number 12 trailhead.
Since we had roughly an hour of drive time to get back to the visitor center and we had to be back by 5:00, we decided that perhaps we should just call it a day as far as exploring Valles Caldera was concerned. Sure we could have probably squeezed in another short hike, but we just completed a 6-miler with plenty of elevation change, so we're probably good for hiking today (besides, we were still planning on walking to dinner back in Santa Fe). So we just retraced our route back to the visitor center where we stopped to report in and sign out of the park (yes, you have to let the Rangers know that you are back from the back country). Once we had checked in with the Rangers I took a few final photos of the caldera as well as a Barn Swallow that was perched on the fence near the parking area. There were a smattering of high, white clouds floating over the caldera that added a little more interest to the view.
As we exited the preserve, we stopped for a few photos, first at the creek crossing, then the park entrance sign and finally at the overlook along route 4 to get one final vista of the caldera. Then we just headed back to Santa Fe, without the detour to Los Alamos.
Not a lot of photos from our trip to Valles Caldera National Preserve, but here are the highlights. Here's the list of critters that we could reasonably identify from our visit to Valles Caldera:
The temperature was still very pleasant, probably a degree or two lower than when we started due to higher elevation. The sky was still a brilliant blue and there were a few fluffy white clouds out on the horizon. Ideal for hiking. Now that we were more out in the open there were a few interesting landscapes to photograph, trying to incorporate some lone trees (alive and dead) into the slopes and angles of the caldera rim. I played as we marched a long in part to keep Lynn moving and partly not to break my own tempo up the hillside.
Above half way up the final slope we spotted a truck following us up the trail. It had just emerged from the tree line so it has a ways to go to catch us (as good as the trail along the road it for hiking, it is still not a highway for motor vehicles!). The truck stopped at the bottom of the last uphill section along the face of the caldera rim. In fact, we did not pass the truck until we were on our way back down the trail. We continued up the trail and through the open gate that we reckoned marked the park boundary. The trail leveled out at this point and entered a wooded area. The trail then started to lose some elevation, which we really did not want to do on this side of the ridge line. Since we did not have a detailed map we decided that this would be a good place for our end of the trail and for a snack break. It was not long after our break that we met the truck on the trail. He had also made it through the gate so we were in the wooded section when he caught us. It was kid from New Mexico State, an intern in forestry, out doing chores. We chatted for a bit. Lynn asked him where the road led; basically it continues out into Forest Service land and connects up with another service road. We thought it might switch back and provide access higher up on the caldera rim, but he did not think so. OK, that just confirms that we did good by turning around. We said our goodbyes and all continued on our way.
Downhill is so much quicker than uphill when hiking. Not necessarily easier as there is still stress on the knees (maybe more so going down a steep trail). But we made good time on the return trip. Just about the time we were reentering the forested part of the trail, we saw two hikers coming down from the rim. I wonder if they were the folks who lost the park pass. Maybe they will catch us and we can find out. Spoiler: they never did. We had the trail to ourselves for the return hike. We did not see another soul, human at least, until we reached the trailhead. There were still plenty of birds and butterflies, plus some interesting squirrels (Abert's we think), but we were the only people and we enjoyed the solitude immensely. Back at the trailhead, the fishermen in the F-250 had completed their angling duties for the day and were lounging about, most likely telling stories about the one that got away (that's what me and my fishing buddies used to do after a day of wading the trout streams back in West Virginia). It was around 2:15 when we were back in the car and driving away from the number 12 trailhead.
Since we had roughly an hour of drive time to get back to the visitor center and we had to be back by 5:00, we decided that perhaps we should just call it a day as far as exploring Valles Caldera was concerned. Sure we could have probably squeezed in another short hike, but we just completed a 6-miler with plenty of elevation change, so we're probably good for hiking today (besides, we were still planning on walking to dinner back in Santa Fe). So we just retraced our route back to the visitor center where we stopped to report in and sign out of the park (yes, you have to let the Rangers know that you are back from the back country). Once we had checked in with the Rangers I took a few final photos of the caldera as well as a Barn Swallow that was perched on the fence near the parking area. There were a smattering of high, white clouds floating over the caldera that added a little more interest to the view.
As we exited the preserve, we stopped for a few photos, first at the creek crossing, then the park entrance sign and finally at the overlook along route 4 to get one final vista of the caldera. Then we just headed back to Santa Fe, without the detour to Los Alamos.
Not a lot of photos from our trip to Valles Caldera National Preserve, but here are the highlights. Here's the list of critters that we could reasonably identify from our visit to Valles Caldera:
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The drive back to Santa Fe was pleasant and easy; just enjoying the scenery. We were home and on the back patio with a beer at 5:00. Lynn found a convenient place to "hang" our hiking hats, on the wooden figure of a monk near the front entrance of the casita. Works for me so I stacked mine on top of hers. The little guy did not seem to mind. Maybe the figure was Saint Linus, patron saint of hat makers.
Next was dinner. We opted for the Blue Corn Café. This was our first walk to the Plaza area for the trip which was just over a mile from the casita. We went without a reservation but had no issues getting a table. The outside seating was full but we did get a nice table by a window so we could watch the activity on the street below us and Lynn did some window shopping of the stores we could see. The service was excellent and the food was very good but not as good as at Tomasita's. I got a sampler platter but I did not care for the breading on the chili relleno, but otherwise it was a good meal. They also had carne adobe on the menu and I thought about having that so that I could make a direct comparison of the meals but that would have been way to much like an engineer. They do brew their own beer which was not bad. I tried a taster of their triple IPA, Good Guys, which was surprisingly pretty smooth (it is listed at 150 IBU and 10.2% ABV). With dinner I had a pint of the Road Runner IPA which was also very good. It was also very smooth considering the 90 IBUs (6.9 % ABV) and had a nice aroma. Overall a very nice meal.
After dinner we walked to the plaza just to see what might still be open. Many of the stores were already closed for the day, so Lynn just did a little window shopping. The Plaza was covered with the white canvas tents of an art show. Again, everything was closed for the night but it appears that they will be running tomorrow. OK, that's the plan for tomorrow it seems. Once back at the casita I did a little searching on the web and determined that the art show on the plaza was in fact a two-day event so we'll make Sunday our big shopping day.
Next was dinner. We opted for the Blue Corn Café. This was our first walk to the Plaza area for the trip which was just over a mile from the casita. We went without a reservation but had no issues getting a table. The outside seating was full but we did get a nice table by a window so we could watch the activity on the street below us and Lynn did some window shopping of the stores we could see. The service was excellent and the food was very good but not as good as at Tomasita's. I got a sampler platter but I did not care for the breading on the chili relleno, but otherwise it was a good meal. They also had carne adobe on the menu and I thought about having that so that I could make a direct comparison of the meals but that would have been way to much like an engineer. They do brew their own beer which was not bad. I tried a taster of their triple IPA, Good Guys, which was surprisingly pretty smooth (it is listed at 150 IBU and 10.2% ABV). With dinner I had a pint of the Road Runner IPA which was also very good. It was also very smooth considering the 90 IBUs (6.9 % ABV) and had a nice aroma. Overall a very nice meal.
After dinner we walked to the plaza just to see what might still be open. Many of the stores were already closed for the day, so Lynn just did a little window shopping. The Plaza was covered with the white canvas tents of an art show. Again, everything was closed for the night but it appears that they will be running tomorrow. OK, that's the plan for tomorrow it seems. Once back at the casita I did a little searching on the web and determined that the art show on the plaza was in fact a two-day event so we'll make Sunday our big shopping day.
Sunday, June 11 - Urban hike and lots of shopping in Santa Fe. I was up a little after 0500. Just a relaxed morning. We had a light breakfast, got cleaned up and were walking toward the plaza at 8:45. Let the shopping begin. The art show on the Plaza opened at 9:00, so we were there shortly after the fun started for the day. I just followed Lynn as she cruised through all the tents that were of interest to her and then she turned her attention to the shops lining the Plaza and the adjacent streets. I joked with one of the sales ladies we encountered as her yellow trimmed glasses perfectly matched the rest of her outfit, asking her how many pairs of glasses she owned. "A whole drawer full," was her reply. I tracked our route. We covered a little over 5 miles (a little less than yesterday but a totally different "hike"). Lynn scored major loot. The highlight for me was just before noon when Lynn asked if it was time for a beer. Dear Lord yes it is! Perfect timing as Draft Station was about to open so we scooted up the stairs and were able to snag a shaded table along the rail of their second story patio. Perfect.
We sat up here during our previous trip to Santa Fe, so we remembered the view over the plaza. A little different this trip as the plaza was full of the vendor's tents from the art show, but it was still a good perch for people watching and a very pleasant place to sit in the shade of our big table umbrella. We tried the Bosque IPA from Bosque Brewing in Albuquerque (6.5% ABV/90 IBU). Very good! I gave it a solid 4 out of 5 on untapped. For lunch we went with pizza which was excellent (of course I was also very hungry by this time). Since we are in the southwest, we opted for the blue corn crust. As is our habit these days, we stuck with just veggies for toppings but I added jalapenos and green chilies to my half which added great heat. The service was great. Fortunately the pizza took just long enough that I had to get a second beer.
After lunch we checked out a few more shops including returning to a few where Lynn had seen some things that she liked. But she was soon shopped-out and we walked back to the casita, arriving at 3:05. That was more time on our feet than our hike at Valles Caldera. We passed an interesting looking bar on the way back, called the Crow Bar. Great name. I had hoped that we might stop in there one evening just to say we did, but alas we never made it. Something for next time. But we do have plenty of beer and wine at the casita and we we ready for a beer on the patio before dinner. Plus that gave us an opportunity to discuss our dinner options.
We decided to try The Pantry tonight. This was the only restaurant to which we drove during our stay. This was more of a place for the locals, at least from the research that I had done. The entire event was less than an hour from the time we left the casita to the time we were back including grabbing a beer and retiring to the patio. Definitely a neighborhood diner. Nice place but nothing special. Extremely fast service and the staff was quite friendly. The food was good, but not great. I tried the mole enchiladas; a bit on the sweet side for me. Lynn had the brisket tacos which she enjoyed. She said the guacamole was the best of the three places we had tried so far. Overall a good meal, and a great value. But probably not a place that I would frequent (the places nearer to the Plaza are better, in my opinion) but I would certainly try it again.
Back at the casita, we outlined the plan for Monday: a hike in the Dale Ball trail system, then over to the Randall Davey Audubon Preserve and finally we'll check out a museum or two. We again crashed early following a final drink on the patio.
Monday, June 12 - Local Trails. A relaxed morning but we eventually got rolling. Bagel and yogurt for breakfast. I really liking the peach juice that we got at Albertsons. We were finally loaded up and on the road a little before 0900. Baby got us to the trailhead right at 0900. We had studied the map of the trail system last night an decided to take one of the suggested routes that provided great views. We started at the Sierra Del Norte trailhead which is in the northern section of the system. The trail intersections are all numbered and well signed so all we had to do was string together a series in intersections to set our course then follow the signage. Easy enough and it worked really well. So from the trailhead we made a little loop that worked counterclockwise up and around a small hill stringing together intersections 9-8-6-5-10-7-8-9. This was a great short hike with plenty of critter sightings and nice views all along the trail. While we were only a few minutes from the Plaza the area around the trail was not crowded or overly built up. More of a residential flavor. The area was perhaps a bit on the higher end of the scale as there were some very nice houses (some were very large) with great views (I'm sure that you pay a premium for those views!).
After lunch we checked out a few more shops including returning to a few where Lynn had seen some things that she liked. But she was soon shopped-out and we walked back to the casita, arriving at 3:05. That was more time on our feet than our hike at Valles Caldera. We passed an interesting looking bar on the way back, called the Crow Bar. Great name. I had hoped that we might stop in there one evening just to say we did, but alas we never made it. Something for next time. But we do have plenty of beer and wine at the casita and we we ready for a beer on the patio before dinner. Plus that gave us an opportunity to discuss our dinner options.
We decided to try The Pantry tonight. This was the only restaurant to which we drove during our stay. This was more of a place for the locals, at least from the research that I had done. The entire event was less than an hour from the time we left the casita to the time we were back including grabbing a beer and retiring to the patio. Definitely a neighborhood diner. Nice place but nothing special. Extremely fast service and the staff was quite friendly. The food was good, but not great. I tried the mole enchiladas; a bit on the sweet side for me. Lynn had the brisket tacos which she enjoyed. She said the guacamole was the best of the three places we had tried so far. Overall a good meal, and a great value. But probably not a place that I would frequent (the places nearer to the Plaza are better, in my opinion) but I would certainly try it again.
Back at the casita, we outlined the plan for Monday: a hike in the Dale Ball trail system, then over to the Randall Davey Audubon Preserve and finally we'll check out a museum or two. We again crashed early following a final drink on the patio.
Monday, June 12 - Local Trails. A relaxed morning but we eventually got rolling. Bagel and yogurt for breakfast. I really liking the peach juice that we got at Albertsons. We were finally loaded up and on the road a little before 0900. Baby got us to the trailhead right at 0900. We had studied the map of the trail system last night an decided to take one of the suggested routes that provided great views. We started at the Sierra Del Norte trailhead which is in the northern section of the system. The trail intersections are all numbered and well signed so all we had to do was string together a series in intersections to set our course then follow the signage. Easy enough and it worked really well. So from the trailhead we made a little loop that worked counterclockwise up and around a small hill stringing together intersections 9-8-6-5-10-7-8-9. This was a great short hike with plenty of critter sightings and nice views all along the trail. While we were only a few minutes from the Plaza the area around the trail was not crowded or overly built up. More of a residential flavor. The area was perhaps a bit on the higher end of the scale as there were some very nice houses (some were very large) with great views (I'm sure that you pay a premium for those views!).
On a Monday morning the trail was not very crowded. Too bad for everyone else as this was another ideal day for a hike, almost an exact copy of yesterday, with blue sky and 68 F when we left the trailhead. There were only a few cars (four or five maybe) in the lot when we arrived and we only saw a very few other hikers on the trail (two or three other couples then later a couple folks out walking their pooches. Santa Fe is certainly a dog-friendly city). The trail is not wide but is well maintained and as mentioned very well marked. Once across the road from the parking lot, the trail started climbing up the hillside through a few switchbacks. We were treated to critter sightings along this portion of the trail with several lizards (whiptails of some sort) and several birds, including a few Spotted Towhees. I think love was in the air for the lizards as there was one pair that was wound-up about each other, literally. The locust (cicada) were out as well as their loud call punctuated the otherwise peaceful morning.
As we worked our way around the hill to the north east side, we maxed-out on elevation at about 7,800 feet above sea level and got nice views across the wide plain to the mountains in the distance. Closer views gave us a nice look into the local neighborhoods; folks going about their day, several out walking their pups. Along the trail the flowers were in bloom; yellow and pink on the cactus and a variety of other wildflowers scattered about. More bird sighting as well. We spied a Titmouse (once at the Audubon center we learned it was most likely a Juniper Titmouse), a hummer (probably a Black-chinned from the photo) a Bendire's Thrasher (thanks again to the BirdForum for the identification) along with several Crows and Ravens. And of course the ever present American Robin.
As we worked our way around the hill to the north east side, we maxed-out on elevation at about 7,800 feet above sea level and got nice views across the wide plain to the mountains in the distance. Closer views gave us a nice look into the local neighborhoods; folks going about their day, several out walking their pups. Along the trail the flowers were in bloom; yellow and pink on the cactus and a variety of other wildflowers scattered about. More bird sighting as well. We spied a Titmouse (once at the Audubon center we learned it was most likely a Juniper Titmouse), a hummer (probably a Black-chinned from the photo) a Bendire's Thrasher (thanks again to the BirdForum for the identification) along with several Crows and Ravens. And of course the ever present American Robin.
Nice short hike measuring in at 1.6 miles. We took 1:10 to complete the loop, but made a lot of stops to admire the scenery and the animals. More photos are linked here. Here's the list of critters we could (mostly) identify this morning:
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Since this was a short hike we still had plenty of time to get in some more time on the trail. We decided to look for birds at the Randall Davey Audubon Preserve and hike the short trails there. We wiggled our way along the Upper Canyon Road to the preserve; not a lot of activity here at mid-morning. The birders have probably already come and gone. First stop was the little information center where we barrowed a pair of binoculars and looked at the displays. This is where we identified one of the birds from our Dale Ball Trail hike as a Juniper Titmouse. The lady staffing the facility gave us some pointers on the trails and what to look for while we were out. We hiked the two short trails (the loop and the spur that wanders out through the woods) then walked the grounds. We went as far as we were allowed out in the woods and turned around at the "Trail Closed" sign. The trail is closed beyond that point to protect the Santa Fe water supply from "environmental degradation, water contamination and fire hazards." I get it, water s precious out here in the desert. Not a lot in terms of birds along the trail as we got a later start here, but one BIG squirrel and lots of butterflies. The squirrel seemed huge, probably the size of a big Fox Squirrel, but seemed bigger maybe due to his tufted ears. We reckon it was an Abert's Squirrel. Once I studied the photos I determined that the one butterfly we saw was a White Admiral. We met two other pairs of hikers (birders most likely) out on the wooded trail, then a group of day-camp kids on the way back. Other than the kids, it was a nice, quiet hike (the kids were just a local disturbance; just kids being kids so no worries. It was actually a great thing to see them enjoying the great outdoors and learning about nature). One of the ladies we met on the canyon trail mentioned seeing a Spotted Towhee; back at the information station I figured out that this was a what my out-of-date bird book listed as a Rufous-sided Towhee, so I'll have to make some adjustments to the critter list.
Once off the trail, we walked through the garden and the old home of Randall Davey. The gardens were lovey. A few butterflies flitting about but not much in the way of photos, except for one that was willing to pose. The butterflies were lighting on one of the ladies who were also admiring the flowers. She commented that she thought the butterflies would be more attracted to me since I was wearing such a colorful shirt (my coral meet-up tee).
As Lynn and I were leaving, we were buzzed by a hummingbird. Lynn thought it was a Ruby-throated, but it seems they are rare visitors to New Mexico; more likely a Rufous due to the location and flight pattern. Here's our short list from walk around the Audubon preserve:
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We ended up logging another 1.7 miles, so our total for the day is racking up. By the time we walk to dinner and back we'll be close to five miles. Now that we are in the heat of the day (but still very pleasant) we decided to check out a museum, something we really did not do during our previous visit to Santa Fe. Lynn had found some literature at the casita about the Wheelwright Native American Museum that had piqued her interest so we opted to check that out. Back in the Rogue and Baby is leading us to Museum Hill. Here's the gallery from the Audubon Center.
The Wheelright is an interesting place with many fascinating artifacts. The first room is Native American beading, very intricate designs. There's an entire room of jewelry, including a lot of turquoise pieces. Scattered through out was tack particularly bridles, some dating back hundreds of years. The early bridles were of Spanish design and later ones modeled after these pieces, and used ring bits. I had never seen anything that looked like these. These bits looked very severe and included a ring through which the horses tongue was placed. But there was a whimsical side like the painting of Shiva, Jesus, Buddha and God playing blackjack, with the Native America deity, Coyote, serving as the dealer:
The Wheelright is an interesting place with many fascinating artifacts. The first room is Native American beading, very intricate designs. There's an entire room of jewelry, including a lot of turquoise pieces. Scattered through out was tack particularly bridles, some dating back hundreds of years. The early bridles were of Spanish design and later ones modeled after these pieces, and used ring bits. I had never seen anything that looked like these. These bits looked very severe and included a ring through which the horses tongue was placed. But there was a whimsical side like the painting of Shiva, Jesus, Buddha and God playing blackjack, with the Native America deity, Coyote, serving as the dealer:
High Rollers: Eye in the Sky (1999) by Judith Lowry - In a high-class casino, Shiva, Jesus, Buddha and God enjoy a game of blackjack. Behind them a security camera - the "eye in the sky" - makes sure that they don't cheat. The dealer, with her back to us, wears a long braid and a beaded clip and earrings. She is Coyote, and she holds all the cards.
We made a quick stop at Albertsons for supplies for the last two days of the trip. Once again we forgot our grocery bags (brought them all the way from Cleveland and never used them). Then it was back to the casita and on the patio with cheeses and crackers and a Rogue 7 Hop IPA at 2:00. We spent the rest of the afternoon here until it was time to get cleaned up for dinner. I tried called The Shed right around 2:00 to make a reservation but could not get an answer. I reckon we'll just show up and hope for the best. We left for dinner a little before 5:00 so hopefully we'll be early enough to beat the rush. Since it is Monday maybe it won't be too bad.
We took our now standard route to the Plaza on our way to the Shed, with a quick detour through one of the shops we visited yesterday. Lynn decided that she wanted the matching pendant to the turquoise cuff she bought. The same sales lady that I teased about her colored glasses was there, this time in purple, include the frames of her spectacles. We got a chuckle out of that but she got the sale (although she did give us a good deal).
We made a quick stop at Albertsons for supplies for the last two days of the trip. Once again we forgot our grocery bags (brought them all the way from Cleveland and never used them). Then it was back to the casita and on the patio with cheeses and crackers and a Rogue 7 Hop IPA at 2:00. We spent the rest of the afternoon here until it was time to get cleaned up for dinner. I tried called The Shed right around 2:00 to make a reservation but could not get an answer. I reckon we'll just show up and hope for the best. We left for dinner a little before 5:00 so hopefully we'll be early enough to beat the rush. Since it is Monday maybe it won't be too bad.
We took our now standard route to the Plaza on our way to the Shed, with a quick detour through one of the shops we visited yesterday. Lynn decided that she wanted the matching pendant to the turquoise cuff she bought. The same sales lady that I teased about her colored glasses was there, this time in purple, include the frames of her spectacles. We got a chuckle out of that but she got the sale (although she did give us a good deal).
We arrived at The Shed just a few minutes after 5:00 and the joint was already jumping. There seemed to be folks waiting for tables, but we were seated immediately, perhaps since it was just the two of us. Whatever the reason, we got a prime spot in the courtyard in the shade. Our server was soon taking our drink order and once he was back with our libations we put on our dinner order; southwest grilled shrimp for Lynn and I had the Pollo Adobo which was projected to be nice and hot.
We enjoyed our time in the courtyard, reflecting on the day and planning out tomorrow. Since we had tried each of the four restaurants that I had selected we decided that for our last night we would eat at our favorite. It really was up to the Shed; would they beat Tomasita's? Service was a draw so far and The Shed gets the nod for atmosphere and beer. It all comes down to dinner.
Dinner was excellent. While we enjoyed dinner at each place we tried, The Shed was our favorite. We will be back here tomorrow night. I figured a reservation would be a smart move and it was. They had space at 5:00 but nothing after that until 8:00. I took the 5:00 slot for a table in the courtyard.
Lynn did a little more shopping on the walk home. We stopped at Oretga's which was about the only place still open at just after 6:00; things close early here. She also looked again at the ceramic kitten she had been window shopping all week but that shop was closed so no kitten tonight. There was some sort of Native American dance ritual in progress at the city park near the casita. We watched for a few minutes as we passed by. Back at the house we opted for "El Dorado" on Netflix (first time I have watched TV since I left Ohio last week). We also looked at hiking options for Tuesday. I think we have a plan.
We enjoyed our time in the courtyard, reflecting on the day and planning out tomorrow. Since we had tried each of the four restaurants that I had selected we decided that for our last night we would eat at our favorite. It really was up to the Shed; would they beat Tomasita's? Service was a draw so far and The Shed gets the nod for atmosphere and beer. It all comes down to dinner.
Dinner was excellent. While we enjoyed dinner at each place we tried, The Shed was our favorite. We will be back here tomorrow night. I figured a reservation would be a smart move and it was. They had space at 5:00 but nothing after that until 8:00. I took the 5:00 slot for a table in the courtyard.
Lynn did a little more shopping on the walk home. We stopped at Oretga's which was about the only place still open at just after 6:00; things close early here. She also looked again at the ceramic kitten she had been window shopping all week but that shop was closed so no kitten tonight. There was some sort of Native American dance ritual in progress at the city park near the casita. We watched for a few minutes as we passed by. Back at the house we opted for "El Dorado" on Netflix (first time I have watched TV since I left Ohio last week). We also looked at hiking options for Tuesday. I think we have a plan.
Tuesday, June 13 - Morning Hike, Afternoon Walk. Once again we awoke to a bright blue and cloudless sky. The forecast for today was for slightly cooler temperatures and some wind but at present it was looking like another beautiful day. We had our bagel and peach juice, got ready for our hike and were on the road about 8:30. Based on our review of hiking options last night, we decided to try a hike in the La Tierra Trails network, which is sort of northwest of town but still very close (less than two miles from the casita, so not as far as we have to drive to get to our favorite hiking spots back home). I had also looked at the Atalaya Mountain Trail which is part of the Dale Ball trail network, but Lynn nixed that one as it would be a longer commitment for our final day. OK, we can save that hike for the next visit. We started at the LaCuchara Trailhead on the south side of the trail network and took one of the recommended routes from the map we borrowed from the casita, the "ridgetop loop with good views." Like the Dale Ball trail system, there were many intersecting trails in the area, but the trails were quite obvious and very well marked. For our little hike we connected the dots from the trailhead to 24-17-16-14-12-11-25 and back. That made for a nice 2.9 mile jaunt. The temperature was a cool 65 F when we pulled into the trailhead parking at 8:40. Cool enough that I briefly wished I had a long-sleeved shirt, but that quickly passed once we got going on the exposed trail. Pretty quiet here this morning with only a couple other cars in the lot, including the lady in the truck with Texas plates who pulled in right in front of us. Looks like she is connecting with an outfitter for a hike or bike ride.
The trails here are again mostly exposed and work over rolling terrain that is dotted with juniper and other scrubby pines. The route that we picked worked out along one low ridge, down through a wash then back along a second parallel ridge. The high points along each ridge do provide some nice views of the mountains and hills arrayed to the north and south as well as the nice, big southwest style houses to the west end of our loop. So a place to get in a nice walk, but not an overly scenic hike. Not a lot of traffic on the trail this morning. We saw one mountain biker a couple with their two dogs (actually passed them twice along the loop) and an older gentleman with his Golden Retriever. Otherwise we had the trail to ourselves, which was certainly a theme for our hiking this week. While there was no shade on the trail, the cool temperature and breeze made this a very pleasant hike, but I would not want to do this trail in the middle of a hot day!
For the first part of the trail the only animal we would were the locusts, and not many of them. But once away from the trailhead and up on the first ridge we started to spot some birds, mostly House Finches and a Raven or two and some Crows. We did better along the return route. The most interesting sighting was a new bird for our list, a Black-headed Grosbeak. He was singing for us while perched on top of a juniper bush, and while a distance from the trail still close enough for a good view and a decent photo. We also saw a few Mountain Bluebirds, some sort of swallow, probably a Violet-green Swallow due to the white rump, and a couple more lizards (the same striped, whiptail guys that we saw along the Dale Ball Trail on Sunday).
The views along the trail were good, as advertised, but not great. There was a little bit of haze in the distance and the lack of clouds made for an overall average view. Still pretty, but no great images to be captured here today. But it was still fun to look across the valley to the ridge lines bounding the region. Mostly we were just walking through the scrubby pines and junipers, but there were a few splashes of purple and yellow from the flowers along some stretches of the trail. When we hit intersection 11 we thought about extending our hike a bit, but in the end stuck to the suggested route and headed back to the trailhead. We had some other things to check off the list today, plus we wanted our chill time on the patio. Photos from the hike.
We were back at the casita by 10:25 and decided it was time for a snack. My bagel had worn off long ago. We finished up the yogurt then adjourned to the patio with a plate of cheese and crackers. We also had some beer and wine to finish today. While it might seem early, it was afternoon eastern time.
At 12:30 we started walking toward the Plaza with the thoughts of checking out a museum or two and of course looking into a few more shops. We've got this route set to memory now, walking along Alto past the little park on the way to town. More traffic today, but the drivers seem to be alert to pedestrians long these narrow streets. As we have done each day, we kept and eye out for the calico kitty we befriended along this route during our previous visit, but she was no where to be found.
The map below shows the places where we hiked and our general route from the casita to the Plaza. Click on the map to get a larger version. There are plenty of trails around Santa Fe between the Dale Ball and La Tierra trail systems, so we just scratched the surface. The trails we hiked were in great shape and well maintained. The scenery and views were nice but not spectacular, at least along the trails we were on. Perhaps there are more scenic trails that we did not find this trip. I did track each of our hikes and walks using Ramblr on the phone; here's the list of links to the primary hikes in Santa Fe:
So while we did not rack up a lot of mileage in the trails in Santa Fe (6.2 miles) once I added up all the walking around the the town we were well over twenty miles. Plus there was the 6.1 miles along Trail 12 in Valles Caldera and my urban hike in Denver, and that all adds up to at least 40 miles for the trip.
For the first part of the trail the only animal we would were the locusts, and not many of them. But once away from the trailhead and up on the first ridge we started to spot some birds, mostly House Finches and a Raven or two and some Crows. We did better along the return route. The most interesting sighting was a new bird for our list, a Black-headed Grosbeak. He was singing for us while perched on top of a juniper bush, and while a distance from the trail still close enough for a good view and a decent photo. We also saw a few Mountain Bluebirds, some sort of swallow, probably a Violet-green Swallow due to the white rump, and a couple more lizards (the same striped, whiptail guys that we saw along the Dale Ball Trail on Sunday).
The views along the trail were good, as advertised, but not great. There was a little bit of haze in the distance and the lack of clouds made for an overall average view. Still pretty, but no great images to be captured here today. But it was still fun to look across the valley to the ridge lines bounding the region. Mostly we were just walking through the scrubby pines and junipers, but there were a few splashes of purple and yellow from the flowers along some stretches of the trail. When we hit intersection 11 we thought about extending our hike a bit, but in the end stuck to the suggested route and headed back to the trailhead. We had some other things to check off the list today, plus we wanted our chill time on the patio. Photos from the hike.
We were back at the casita by 10:25 and decided it was time for a snack. My bagel had worn off long ago. We finished up the yogurt then adjourned to the patio with a plate of cheese and crackers. We also had some beer and wine to finish today. While it might seem early, it was afternoon eastern time.
At 12:30 we started walking toward the Plaza with the thoughts of checking out a museum or two and of course looking into a few more shops. We've got this route set to memory now, walking along Alto past the little park on the way to town. More traffic today, but the drivers seem to be alert to pedestrians long these narrow streets. As we have done each day, we kept and eye out for the calico kitty we befriended along this route during our previous visit, but she was no where to be found.
The map below shows the places where we hiked and our general route from the casita to the Plaza. Click on the map to get a larger version. There are plenty of trails around Santa Fe between the Dale Ball and La Tierra trail systems, so we just scratched the surface. The trails we hiked were in great shape and well maintained. The scenery and views were nice but not spectacular, at least along the trails we were on. Perhaps there are more scenic trails that we did not find this trip. I did track each of our hikes and walks using Ramblr on the phone; here's the list of links to the primary hikes in Santa Fe:
- Sierra Del Norte Trailhead, Dale Ball Trails (1.6 miles).
- Randall Davey Audubon Center (1.7 miles)
- La Cuchara Trailhead, La Tierra Tails (2.9 miles)
So while we did not rack up a lot of mileage in the trails in Santa Fe (6.2 miles) once I added up all the walking around the the town we were well over twenty miles. Plus there was the 6.1 miles along Trail 12 in Valles Caldera and my urban hike in Denver, and that all adds up to at least 40 miles for the trip.
Another great weather day, just beautiful and the bets temperatures this week. Baby says 73 F, 9% humidity with 23 mph winds. Pretty much perfect for a walk around town. Our first stop this afternoon was Ortega's jewelry and Lynn worked through the store in great detail. Where's the husband chair? Then we went over to the New Mexico Art Museum. Nice little facility. The drawing exhibit was by far the most interesting. The exhibit was called "Lines of Thought" and highlighted the use of drawing throughout the ages. The blurb from the museum website provides a little overview:
The exhibition examines the many ways artists have used drawing as a means of recording and provoking thought from the fifteenth century to today .The internationally recognized line-up of artists is a ‘who’s who’ of artists through the centuries. The exhibition includes work by artists as diverse as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, Piet Mondrian, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Franz Kline and Rachel Whiteread. Combining work from master artists of the past with artists working today, clearly demonstrates the common thread of drawing as the basis for creation. Drawing is one of the most effective mediums for the immediate expression and representation of an artist’s ideas. Drawing often serves as the starting point for other creative arts including painting, sculpture, even basic engineering design and architecture.
There were some very beautiful and creative pieces in this exhibit. I really enjoyed it and many of the pieces really caught my fancy. Many of the drawings were simple due to the medium yet complex by the subject. Even the drawing studies that were done for the development of paintings or sculptures were very cool. I think I would rather have the drawing over some of the final projects. No photography allowed in the exhibit gallery so no images to share. After we completed the drawing exhibit we cruised through the rest of the museum. There were some paintings reflecting life in the southwest and one really weird gallery of artworks made from old photographic paper boxes. OK, whatever. Our backs were done by the time we finished so we decided to save the other museums for the next trip. We walked up to the barber shop jewelry store that Lynn found last trip. The same talkative guy was there but his inventory had gone downhill. It was a fun day of people watching and we also spotted a few critters: Flicker, Nuthatch, House Finch…and the lady that looked like one (that color red does not occur naturally). We thought about a beer overlooking the plaza but both places were packed so we just headed back to the casita to chill for a while.
Time to hit the patio, me with our last beer and Lynn to finish off the bottle of wine. A nice relaxed afternoon. While chillin' on the patio, we talked retirement planning since we are inching closer to that time. Specifically, if we decided to move somewhere how would we try out an area. I think we are both leaning toward some place in the southwest, should we leave Ohio, and we have found several places that we like. Santa Fe is on the list, but not at the top. Sedona or the surrounding area is always in the discussion. Maybe Grand Junction. That way we can get a better handle on everyday life in that area. Lynn's theory is that we need to check out places at different times of year (i.e., is it too hot for us to live in Sedona in July?). We also have to stay some place long enough to get out of tourist mode, so maybe rent a house for a month so that we have to wash dishes, do laundry, buy groceries, not eat out every night, etc. Start acting like as lived there. Certainly something to think about. Yes, it is great to think about these things but retirement is still a few years away.
We were off to dinner at 4:35 and arrived at The Shed right at 5:00. Good thing we had reservations as there were already folks waiting for tables. We did get a table in the courtyard again, as requested. Service was again outstanding. Dinner was an exact repeat of last night, except that we both had margaritas to drink. Why not, it was outstanding the first time no sense in changing horses midstream. Good choices once again. Lynn suggested that we stay one more day just so we could come back here for dinner again. I think that if our flight was later in the day she would have suggested having lunch here. We did opt for dessert tonight as it was our last night. I picked the winner this time as the apple pie was clearly the better selection compared to the lemon soufflé.
We were off to dinner at 4:35 and arrived at The Shed right at 5:00. Good thing we had reservations as there were already folks waiting for tables. We did get a table in the courtyard again, as requested. Service was again outstanding. Dinner was an exact repeat of last night, except that we both had margaritas to drink. Why not, it was outstanding the first time no sense in changing horses midstream. Good choices once again. Lynn suggested that we stay one more day just so we could come back here for dinner again. I think that if our flight was later in the day she would have suggested having lunch here. We did opt for dessert tonight as it was our last night. I picked the winner this time as the apple pie was clearly the better selection compared to the lemon soufflé.
We were back at the casita about 6:30. Lynn hit the sack at 7:30 trying to get back on east coast time. I did a little packing and joined her at 8:00, although I played on the phone a while before crashing.
Here's the collection of photos from our wanderings through Santa Fe.
Wednesday, June 14 - Back to Medina. I was awake at 0415, so getting back to east coast time. I checked a few things on the phone then rolled out of bed once Lynn was awake. More packing, general "get ready for the day" stuff and breakfast, then I settled in to work on the trip notes while Lynn had her coffee. As expected, we were ready to roll ahead of schedule so I texted Barbara that we were locking up the casita and driving off at 8:30.
Another beautiful day in Santa Fe, basically a carbon copy of the previous few. With the nice weather and the light traffic we had an uneventful drive to Albuquerque. We just enjoyed the ride. We did pass a couple of interesting trucks on the highway, or rather the loads they were carrying were interesting. Was one an armored personnel carrier which we could not figure out what it was until we were right next to it. It was brand new, right off the assembly line. The user manual was still taped to its side.
Once in Albuquerque, we quickly dropped off of the Rogue and procedure to the airport shuttle pick-up. On the way into the rental car terminal we were addressed by a hummingbird. It hovered above us for several seconds, shifting positions but staying generally above us. Sort of cool. It seemed much larger than the Ruby-throats we have back east; it was green but no other distinguishing features so I never figured out what specifically what type. It quickly moved on so we did as well. Once at the airport the check in at United was easy and quick but we then hit a wall at security. Lynn scooted through via pre-check. I had premier access which got me through the bulk of the line, but I should have jumped over to the other scanning lane as the hillbillies at the front of the line had everything snarled. Hey, I'm from southern W. Va., so I know a hillbilly when I see one (shoot, I AM one). These characters were clueless. I'm guessing it was Grandma, her son (30-ish), his wife and their two kids (around 8 year olds). The son forgot his ID so could not get through security; the rest of the tribe was just about ready to go through the scanner. Son and wife were yelling back and forth from 30 yards apart. "Tell mama I luv her. Do you have the cigarettes?" I kid you not. Then he ran up past the TSA officer at the checkpoint to give mama a goodbye hug. How did he not get shot? Strangest exchange I have seen lately. Of course the final bit of irony was that the wife/sister/cousin was wearing a Sandia National Labs tee-shirt. Granted, for all I know she was a Ph.D. physicist. Once they got through security the line moved a lot faster.
Here's the collection of photos from our wanderings through Santa Fe.
Wednesday, June 14 - Back to Medina. I was awake at 0415, so getting back to east coast time. I checked a few things on the phone then rolled out of bed once Lynn was awake. More packing, general "get ready for the day" stuff and breakfast, then I settled in to work on the trip notes while Lynn had her coffee. As expected, we were ready to roll ahead of schedule so I texted Barbara that we were locking up the casita and driving off at 8:30.
Another beautiful day in Santa Fe, basically a carbon copy of the previous few. With the nice weather and the light traffic we had an uneventful drive to Albuquerque. We just enjoyed the ride. We did pass a couple of interesting trucks on the highway, or rather the loads they were carrying were interesting. Was one an armored personnel carrier which we could not figure out what it was until we were right next to it. It was brand new, right off the assembly line. The user manual was still taped to its side.
Once in Albuquerque, we quickly dropped off of the Rogue and procedure to the airport shuttle pick-up. On the way into the rental car terminal we were addressed by a hummingbird. It hovered above us for several seconds, shifting positions but staying generally above us. Sort of cool. It seemed much larger than the Ruby-throats we have back east; it was green but no other distinguishing features so I never figured out what specifically what type. It quickly moved on so we did as well. Once at the airport the check in at United was easy and quick but we then hit a wall at security. Lynn scooted through via pre-check. I had premier access which got me through the bulk of the line, but I should have jumped over to the other scanning lane as the hillbillies at the front of the line had everything snarled. Hey, I'm from southern W. Va., so I know a hillbilly when I see one (shoot, I AM one). These characters were clueless. I'm guessing it was Grandma, her son (30-ish), his wife and their two kids (around 8 year olds). The son forgot his ID so could not get through security; the rest of the tribe was just about ready to go through the scanner. Son and wife were yelling back and forth from 30 yards apart. "Tell mama I luv her. Do you have the cigarettes?" I kid you not. Then he ran up past the TSA officer at the checkpoint to give mama a goodbye hug. How did he not get shot? Strangest exchange I have seen lately. Of course the final bit of irony was that the wife/sister/cousin was wearing a Sandia National Labs tee-shirt. Granted, for all I know she was a Ph.D. physicist. Once they got through security the line moved a lot faster.
Since our connection is a little tight at Chicago and we will probably be too late for dinner at Lager Head's we opted for early lunch here at the Albuquerque airport. We found a nice sit down place near our gate, the Rio Grande Brew Pub and Grill. I had a Cuban and a flight of their beers (Rio Grande and Sierra Blanca Brewing), again it is afternoon in Cleveland even if it is still morning here. The Cuban was excellent. The beers were OK. Of course I had to try the Pancho Verde Chili Cerveza, but I really did not get any pepper. Probably the best of the bunch was the Sierra Blanca Pale Ale; it was hoppier that most pale ales. Their IPA and Black IPA were just average. While we were finishing our lunch I received an email from HomeAway indicating that Barbara had already refunded our security deposit. That's a record!
While finishing up lunch I received the initial text that our flight was delayed. That could prove problematic since our layover time in Chicago was already tight. We got in line to chat with the gate agent to see what options we might have. While we were waiting, I checked the United app and figured out that our flight from ABQ to ORD and ORD to CLE were on the same plane. No way we can miss the connection so we are in good shape. We confirmed this with the gate agent just to make sure the app had good data. OK, we may be late but we should make it home tonight. At present, arrival in CLE is 8:00 PM , so less than 30 minutes behind. We are on "float" boarding and ready to go as soon as we get clearance, so we might make up some time.
At 12:43 we got the 8 minute notice for boarding. We started getting our gear in order when Lynn asked about our seat assignments. That's when I realized that I had been moved to a middle seat. Bummer, Dude. I remember the email from United about seat reassignment due to a plane change but I reckon it just did not register. Oh well, at least we are getting ready to leave and the delay is not as long as originally expected. This was exactly when the unexpected happened and I was called to the gate agent. Cool, maybe I will get out of the middle seat. Much better than that! First Class. Seat 1E. Score! first time in a long time that I have received an upgrade. The last time (and only time in several years) was when we went to Death Valley last March and I got the call to the gate agent for an upgrade on the flight out of CLE to Las Vegas. There was only one seat available so I gave it to Lynn that time so I reckon it is my turn. Lynn was pleased that I got a little bonus. I wonder if they have any good beer on this bucket of bolts?
While finishing up lunch I received the initial text that our flight was delayed. That could prove problematic since our layover time in Chicago was already tight. We got in line to chat with the gate agent to see what options we might have. While we were waiting, I checked the United app and figured out that our flight from ABQ to ORD and ORD to CLE were on the same plane. No way we can miss the connection so we are in good shape. We confirmed this with the gate agent just to make sure the app had good data. OK, we may be late but we should make it home tonight. At present, arrival in CLE is 8:00 PM , so less than 30 minutes behind. We are on "float" boarding and ready to go as soon as we get clearance, so we might make up some time.
At 12:43 we got the 8 minute notice for boarding. We started getting our gear in order when Lynn asked about our seat assignments. That's when I realized that I had been moved to a middle seat. Bummer, Dude. I remember the email from United about seat reassignment due to a plane change but I reckon it just did not register. Oh well, at least we are getting ready to leave and the delay is not as long as originally expected. This was exactly when the unexpected happened and I was called to the gate agent. Cool, maybe I will get out of the middle seat. Much better than that! First Class. Seat 1E. Score! first time in a long time that I have received an upgrade. The last time (and only time in several years) was when we went to Death Valley last March and I got the call to the gate agent for an upgrade on the flight out of CLE to Las Vegas. There was only one seat available so I gave it to Lynn that time so I reckon it is my turn. Lynn was pleased that I got a little bonus. I wonder if they have any good beer on this bucket of bolts?
We finally got settled in on the plane. I skipped the pre-flight drink; no sense in being greedy. But the next time the flight attendant came around I asked for the 12th of Never Ale that was listed in the United magazine. She was not sure if they had that one but said she would check. That would be unfortunate as the other options on the list were all mass produced crappy beer. But we were talking past each other a bit as the crew just called it Lagunitas. OK, as long as they have it. That's a pretty good beer!
So I am in the first row on the aisle, so I can see the comings and goings of the cabin crew in the forward galley as well as the passengers as they went to the restroom. That's how I noticed a little, old gentleman making his way back to his seat right behind me. Is that…it IS! That's Vizzini! You know, from "The Princess Bride." I had already logged in to the in flight wifi (burned a few miles to pay for the connection). The actor's name is Wallace Shawn. He was sitting in the row right behind me in the window seat. Inconceivable!
We were making good time to Chicago but the weather beat us to the O'Hare and we were put in a holding pattern. We were circling for a while and finally diverted to St. Louis as we were running low on fuel. Looks like we'll be here at least an hour. First class was a major bonus. Yes , please, I will have another beer. Someone else recognized Mr. Shawn as well while we were in St. Louis; she came up and introduced herself and chatted a few minutes. He did not seem too thrilled about that.
So I am in the first row on the aisle, so I can see the comings and goings of the cabin crew in the forward galley as well as the passengers as they went to the restroom. That's how I noticed a little, old gentleman making his way back to his seat right behind me. Is that…it IS! That's Vizzini! You know, from "The Princess Bride." I had already logged in to the in flight wifi (burned a few miles to pay for the connection). The actor's name is Wallace Shawn. He was sitting in the row right behind me in the window seat. Inconceivable!
We were making good time to Chicago but the weather beat us to the O'Hare and we were put in a holding pattern. We were circling for a while and finally diverted to St. Louis as we were running low on fuel. Looks like we'll be here at least an hour. First class was a major bonus. Yes , please, I will have another beer. Someone else recognized Mr. Shawn as well while we were in St. Louis; she came up and introduced herself and chatted a few minutes. He did not seem too thrilled about that.
At 6:37, Cap gave us an update. We've been sitting on the tarmac here in St. Louis for about an hour but the weather over ORD is starting to break up so we will be getting under way soon. Finally at 7:22 the engines are spooling up. Radar shows the system moving away from ORD. Time to go. We made it to Chicago with no further delays. But the delays continued in Chicago as our flight to CLE was pushed back a few times. But we already knew that we had a plane so not worries. However, the continued delays was now putting the crew in question as they might time-out for the day. But I reckon that issue was avoided and we were finally boarding at 9:30. It seemed like we were taxiing forever. I thought we were going to use a runway at Midway. We were finally off the ground at 10:45 and landed at CLE at 1230 AM, only 4.5 hours behind schedule. But United actually did a good job keeping us informed and getting us to our destinations as best they could. And we will soon be back at the ranch and sleeping in our own bed so all is well. Of course being in first class for the bulk of the ordeal really made this a lot more bearable. The free beer helped as well.
Parting thoughts..... While the trip home was rather arduous, the rest of the trip was excellent. Even the work part in Denver went really well. So what were the "best of trip" winners and other highlights from this time around?
Parting thoughts..... While the trip home was rather arduous, the rest of the trip was excellent. Even the work part in Denver went really well. So what were the "best of trip" winners and other highlights from this time around?
- Favorite beer: Codename: Superfan from Odd 13 that I had at Yard House in Denver.
- Best restaurant: The Shed.
- Best meal: This one was really close as we had several great meals. I will say that the pollo adobe at the Shed just edges out the carne adobe at Tomosita's. I think that dinner with the AIAA gang at Tag in Denve is also worthy of an honorable mention.
- Best hike: Trail 12 at Valles Caldera.
- How many new birds? Three new species: Vesper Sparrow, Juniper Titmouse and Black-headed Grosbeak. Plus I realized that one that was listed as a race is now a species (Spotted Towhee).
- In addition to the new additions to our bird list, we had decent critter sightings overall. Not much in the way of mega fauna other than the elk at Valles Caldera, but plenty of birds, lizards and butterflies.
- Once again the rental house worked out fine. Too small for a retirement home but great for the week. We continue to have great success with VRBO and Home Away.