Thursday, November 11

Veterans Day .... Honor them.

Beep beep

Or so the roadrunner says (seriously, I know it's true, I saw it on Saturday morning cartoons many many years ago).

When we first arrived at the Elks Lodge, where we stayed in Albuquerque for five nights, there was a roadrunner bee bopping around the lovely plantings at the lodge.  We never saw him (or her, is there any indication from six or seven feet away as to the gender of a roadrunner??) until the morning we were leaving and I just had to get a photo or two.  I never claimed to be an ornithologist but I thought it was kind of exciting to see one of these birds sort of up close - well more up close and personal than a television screen years ago!  Yeah, I get it, simple things for simple minds!

We left Albuquerque five (I think) days ago and I don't remember what we did other than an afternoon in the "Old Town" area.  I really didn't care if we went there or not ~ I sort of have a "bad feeling" about old town areas of cities - that was instilled in me when we visited Old Town San Diego some years ago ~to say the least, it was quite a tourist trap.  In fact that was the first time Rick and I took Connor on a "field trip" and the high light of the day was when Rick couldn't figure out how to make the DVD player in the back seat work (we used Trisha's vehicle since it already had Connor's car seat there etc.) and Connor was getting a bit impatient with his friend Rick who clearly was NOT getting the DVD to play quickly enough and he finally says to Rick ....... "come on come on RICK".  Yup, Connor was about 2 1/2 years old then and we still laugh about it, and hopefully will for many years to come!  In fact I quote Connor and that line often, very often!

So Chester, the photo below was taken in old town with you in mind!

  

putting it in reverse

A couple weeks back we were in Colorado Springs, CO.  While we were there we had two "field trips" that I loaded photos to do a post about but never got around to doing the text for!  Yup, my bad (again)!

We went up up up to Cripple Creek (9,494 foot elevation).  Cripple Creek was an old gold mining town about 50 miles from Colorado Springs ~ well "as the crow flies" it's about 20 miles, but gosh darn that Pikes Peak gets in  the way, ya know, so you have to go arooooound it!  A few years back the voters of CO voted to allow Cripple Creek to allow casinos in their town.  The town very much reminded us of Deadwood, SD (one of Kind Richard's favorite places, in fact it was here in Deadwood that we celebrated his 60th birthday this past July).

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Cripple Creek was to see the Elks Lodge there!  This Lodge has plenty of history - the original Gold Mine Stock Exchange, with the Lodge Room being the original trading floor.  As well as that history, the sleeping rooms available for rent at the Lodge were part of a brothel back in the exchange days ..... I did take some photos of the rooms but they really didn't come out well, so if interested check them out at the link above.

Looking down on the Lodge room from the balcony

Looking up at the balcony from the Lodge Room floor

One of the other field trips we did was to go to the Airplane Restaurant.  What a fun place ~ the owner wasn't particularly warm, welcoming or gracious, but his staff was and we had fun checking the place out.  What he lacks in social skills he's made up for in creating a great theme place with terrific food.

The cabin of the plane is a dining room

Hands on entertainment!

Cabin dining room ~ looks small and narrow huh!

downstairs dining room ~ not part of the plane

Given Rick's love of all things that fly, this was a big hit!

We've been in Albuquerque for four days, leaving tomorrow heading to Tucumcari then through northern Texas and into Oklahoma.  I've taken very few pictures here in ALB so there may be one brief post but then again, maybe not.  Stay tuned!

WOW

WAY TO GO CHAD

CONGRATULATIONS

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU

WHAT AN 


ACCOMPLISHMENT!

http://live.activeresult.com/my_runners.adp?id=35

Run Chadly Run

This mommy wonders how on earth this little boy

Grew up to be this wonderful man who is running his first marathon on Sunday

And that marathon has to do with this little boy.

who grew up to be this wonderful man (and the two little boys who turned into fine men have become wonderful friends to each other!!!  Something I often thought I'd never see during those years of punches, kicks, heads bashed into door frames and thrown forks in the middle of the night!)

And the marathon is in Washington DC and is the Marine Corps Marathon and the fine Marine below will be there watching his brother and cheering him on.

I wish we could all be there supporting all the runners, but since we can't we can follow  them on the Marine Corps Marathon website (linked above) and CSN will be reporting live as well (as described below).

Marine Corps Marathon - Official Page Check out the Comcast SportsNet pre-MCM coverage online NOW with new stories added all week: http://www.csnwashington.com/pages/marine_corps_marathon

Don't forget to have friends and supporters tune in race morning when CSN is live from the start from 7-8:30am and then hosting finish line videos on their website.

Good luck Chad, who oh by the way will be having another knee surgery next month!

There is no perfect, but

We've been in two different parts of New Mexico for the last week or so.  This post is about the last campground we were at.  I've always been a firm believer that there is nothing "perfect" in this world - there are things that come darn close to a 10 and this campground is a case in point.  I was so sad to leave here - it's nearly everything I want in a campground, but we couldn't have campfires.  It was quiet, no foolish security lights at night so you can't see the stars and there was wildlife everywhere!

The first morning we were there these guys were walking in the site next to ours when I took Sir out for his/our morning walk.

The morning we were leaving all these antelope were grazing in the meadow just beyond our site.  This is one of the meadows where the deer and the antelope play!

Not only was there a plethora of wildlife, we were surrounded by these beautiful mountains.

Some of which had New England like colors!

Not to mention an outstanding sunset as Sir and I walked to the dumpster one evening!

So where is this loveliness?  It was in Raton, NM (Raton is the northern most town on I 25, just south of Colorado).  We've been staying at a lot of lodges lately, and there was one in Raton but they had no rv parking space or facilities.  Usually when I choose a campground I first decide on a destination somewhere between 150 and 200 miles from where we are leaving (unless there is an area we want to go to for a specific reason).  Then I go to an outstanding website that I swear by. The site is reviews of campgrounds by real honest "campers" - no advertising, no campground owner reviews ~ I rely on rvparkreviews.com.  Well the campground I found in the Raton area (and there weren't a lot of choices) was the Whittington Center.  

Strangely enough the Whittington Center is affiliated with the NRA - there are many many shooting ranges on the 33,000 acre property.  Hard to believe with all the deer and the antelope that there are shooting ranges.  I must admit, I was a bit concerned about the noise and just the environment of an NRA facility - it was so huge and spread out that I truly didn't realize the affiliation.

Gather 'round, it's story time

"Let me tell you a story 'bout a man named Jed, Poor mountaineer barely kept his..."   Oh no sorry, that's not the story.


Here's the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls..."  Oh darn, that's not the story either.

So here is the long, very detailed, version of what could be a short story, but won't be.

Rick has been wearing his very heavy New England Patriots sweatshirt lately since we've been in areas where it's been below 70 degrees (seems that's when Rick brings out the heavy wear,  but rest assured he is still not wearing socks ~ heck it could be 20 below and he just won't wear them, like when we were in New Hampshire in February 2009 and it's snowing and freezing ~ nope, no socks).  I told you this won't be the short version of the story.

So, wearing Patriots sweatshirts, off we went to Carrabbas (yet another of our favorite restaurants) last week when we were in Colorado Springs.  Rick got up at one point and as he was returning one of the waitstaff (Justin) stopped him and asked him if he was from Boston or something (not sure, cause I wasn't there at that moment, and Rick can't remember the exact conversation).  Rick and Justin continued to converse for a couple minutes and Justin told Rick about a local restaurant that has a Patriots fan club (with 300+ members), where they meet to watch the games etc.

We had originally planned on leaving Colorado Springs last Friday, but when we heard about this group we decided to hang around for a few more days.  It's often an "issue" for us to find places that have the NFL package where we can see the game if we can't get it on our satellite tv ('cause we just can't seem to justify adding the NFL package to our service, to the tune of a few additional hundred dollars a year!)


It's a "standing joke" with Rick and me that more often than not he seems to "find" people along our way who grew up in Weymouth (where he did) ~ Patrick and I love to give him grief about this Weymouth thing.  I just don't get it, Weymouth natives have this sense that there is NO place as wonderful in the world as Weymouth.  Also, when they talk with one another every place they mention is defined by a "square" ~ Jackson Square, Columbian Square or by churches ~ St. Albert's, Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart or St. whomever.  Naturally when we were leaving the coach to go to meet up with the fan club Rick said, "I bet I'll run into someone from Weymouth".  Well heck, we were at a game in St. Augustine, FL and he runs into someone he went to school with, so it makes "sense" that he'd make that statement.


We get to the restaurant and Justin is arriving just as we are so he points the way for us and we get into the room the fan club has every Sunday.  As soon as we get in there he spots the "president" of said club and introduces us.  The official members (as opposed to us visitors) have name badges that list their hometown, as well as their name.  Well guess what?  Yup, Anne is from Weymouth!  Seriously, I can't make this stuff up you know!  So of course they go through the street lists, the squares and the parishes not to mention do you know this person and that person!!!  I left Rick in his Weymouth world and went off to buy raffle tickets for a game shirt (unbeknownst to me, the drawing isn't for weeks so I ended up giving the tickets to Justin - sure hope he wins that shirt).


Game starts, we make very small talk with the people right behind us .... game continues ~ oh my word what a great game.  Have a few cocktails, a pizza and himself has a few beers..... yadda yadda yadda.


Eventually we start chatting with the people in front of us - the usual "where are you from" etc. and we tell them briefly our story and they tell us theirs.  They tell us they are from Greenfield, MA.  I tell them parents lived in Greenfield and Leyden (a teeny town about 10 miles north or Greenfield and that my Dad grew up in Shelburne - about eight miles from Greenfield.  Come to find out they are really from Shelburne but no one knows Shelburne so it's simpler to just claim Greenfield (as we claim Boston initially in a conversation). We continue talking and I mention that I was just back there as my aunt had just passed away and they mention they'd just returned from the area as well as the gentleman's mother had passed away.  Continue the conversation - they wonder where my aunt had lived ~ come to find out they are very familiar with the house as her (Erika) parents live on the same road and his (Denny) family owns apple orchards further down on the road.  I proceed to tell them that my Grandfather owned apple orchards on the same road as well as orchards in Leyden.


Okay, so now it's my turn and this is a better story than any Weymouth story.  Come to find out Denny and I are related (by marriage).  His Grandmother was the sister of my Grandmother.  He was referring to my Grandfather as "Uncle Roger" (which sounded so so strange to me, and to my Grandmother as Aunt Rose (another weird ism).  


So it's like this ~ my Dad's mom passed away when she was 40 (ish) and my Grandfather remarried Rose.  Gramma Rose was the only paternal grandmother I ever knew hence she was always referred to as our Grandmother.  Too weird this whole things was - I still can't believe it.


Below is a picture Erika took of Denny and Rick and me!  Erika is a professional photographer and with that and the excitement of the day I posed - something I rarely do these days since I've put on all this weight, photo shoots are not enjoyable to say the least!

Rick took the photo below of Erika, Denny, me and Anne (fan club president).

Seriously, top this with a Weymouth story!  Oops, it's gonna happen, I just know he will!