Another day in New Mexico

On Sunday we went to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. After going, I feel very inspired, but very small.
Check out this video to see what you missed.




If you're ever in Santa Fe, stop in and see what they have. It's amazing.

Goodbye Colorado, Hello New Mexico

We arrived in Moriarty, New Mexico (Michael's folks' home) on Thursday night, after driving through Colorado in 3 days. It has been a whirlwind of a trip; it's hard to believe that we haven't even been on the road for a week. I added the link to the slideshow of our trip; after many hours of fighting with the slideshow gadget, I surrendered to just linking to it.

Spam! Spam! Spam!
We went to the Balloon Fiesta yesterday and, despite not seeing any hot air balloons due to inclement weather, we still had a great time. Above is a picture of June and Michael getting free samples at the Spam-mobile. Yum yum.

It's been raining on and off all day, along with howling winds, so today is a day of rest.
Michael's taking a nap. Gary, Michael's dad, just got up from a nap, and I'm thinking about taking a nap.

Until next time.

Colorado

Aloha!

We are currently in Estes Park, Colorado. This morning we went to the YMCA for some pool time and showers, flirting with the hottie employees and general cavorting. The facilities at the YMCA of the Rockies are nothing short of amazing and the $5 for swimming and showers was a bargain.

Yesterday we started off with the Dinosaur National Monument and ended with the Rocky Mountain National Park. Both were pretty cool. We caught the sunset on the "Never Summer Mountains" which was breathtaking to say the least. Nani!

I seems like there are more elk here than mongoose in Kona!

Today we are going to the Overlook, er I mean the Stanley Hotel, then down to Ft. Collins to visit April's family.

Tomorrow is Central Colorado, then over Wolf Creek Pass to New Mexico.

I am sure April will be posting some photos from our travels soon.

Sunset at the Rockies

As I'm writing this, the Rocky Mountains are looking down upon me through the windows in the Estes Park Public Library. How did it all happen, you ask.


Monday was the big day. We finally got out of town around one in the afternoon. We drove all the way through Nevada, and made it to Vernal, Utah and spent the night at the Utah Welcome Center, the nicest rest stop I've ever been in. Very clean, multiple bathrooms, that kind of nice.

Vernal is popular for Dinosaur Natl. Park. We got up nice and early and went to check it out. After hassling Lindsey, the National Parks Ranger, we took a trail through amazing rock formations, and if the fossils didn't have painted arrows pointing at them, we never would have seen them. In fact, we walked right by them the first time.

After getting back on the road, we reached Colorado, and also the first campaign sign since Nevada. And lo, it was a McCain/Palin sign. Now, Colorado is as close to Wyoming as I'm going to get for quite awhile, so it wasn't quite refreshing to pull over from the highway and see a fresh deer carcass lying in the dried grass. Well, not a carcass, but fresh deer skin. Its head had been lopped off and was roughly ten feet away, and the hooves had been cut off. What a fun sight, yeah?

We finally finished The Getaway Man, our horrible book of the week, and picked up another at a thrift store in Craig, Colorado.
Two of my favorite things about this thrift store:

1. They had Redemption: The City of Board Game for sale. It's a game about saving souls from the fiery depths of hell. I was very tempted to buy it, except that we're on a road trip with 2 dogs, space is a luxury we don't have.
   
2. On the store window, in front, there's a sign that reads "No Guns." I hadn't thought about bringing a gun into the store anyway, nor had I thought I could find one there to buy, but I'm glad that sign was there to warn anyone who may have had those intentions.

Michael, who has never been to Colorado, was quite excited that we drove through the Rocky Mountain National Forest right before sunset. We watched the sunset from above the tree line, at over 12,000 feet elevation. That was pretty cool.

Here in the Rocky Mountains, elk are the equivalent of mongeese in Hawaii. The first time you see them, you think, "hey look, an elk!" After a while, it's more like, "get out of the road, you frikkin' elk!" Unlike mongeese, they aren't going to squish if you ly run them over; it's pretty hard to run an elk over. They're huge, like horses. So you wait for them to cross the street.

We went to the pool today at the Estes Park Y.M.C.A. Talk about awesome! It's an indoor pool, wide enough to have quite a few lanes, but not deep. The deepest it got in the laned area was 5 feet, so don't worry mom, I never thought I was going to drown.

But the best part- the showers. Nice hot water, enough rack space for towels, rubber mat on the floors so as no one slips. So we were able to get a good workout and a great hot shower (very important when your on the road), for only 5 dollars a person.

We just ate at a great breakfast place called The Egg and I. The food was excellent and the prices were nice and low. We definitely recommend this place for anyone visiting Estes Park. Now we're off to the infamous Stanly Hotel (redrum, redrum) and then to the Estes Park Brewery before we go to visit my family in Fort Collins.
Cheers.

It's Aloha Friday

Indeed folks, it is Aloha Friday.

And how are Michael and I celebrating it?
By swimming, drinking Pipeline Porter, and swing dancing.
How else?

With only a few more days here in South Lake, we're taking in the sights, reading up on all great local literature (the Tahoe Daily Tribune, for example)
and pretty much just hikin' around, or holoholo as the Hawaiians call it.

So enjoy your Aloha Friday, and check back after the weekend.

Countdown in T - 2 weeks, 4 days

Welcome to the first of many updates about where we are. Currently, Michael's in the shower and April is, well, geeking out online.

We will be updating this blog throughout our road trip that will loop through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Los Angeles.

If you're curious about where we are and what we're up to this is the place to find out.

There will be a going away luau at McP's Irish Pub on Sep. 29, around 9pm. It's an aloha theme, so really, wear whatever you'd like.
...

"Why on earth, would you be going through the 4 corner states?" we're sure you're all wondering.

To put it simply, it's a last chance for friends and family to see us possibly forever, but most definitely, for a very long time.

(We're not stopping in Utah, for anything, it's just on the way... no offense to any Utah enthusiasts.)

So pull out those atlases and follow our shenanigans around the southwest (plus Northern Colorado) in 28 days.


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Countdown in T - 2 weeks, 4 days

Thanks for stopping by.