Road Trip: A Hole in the Ground: Day Nine

We awoke in the morning to the sound of others tearing down camp. Sleep haze filled my eyes as I walked out of the tent and past the cold dusty campfire ring. We had no more wood and the coals were doused in water; there would be no campfire this morning.

We walked over to the dining hall in Market Plaza and feasted upon the toils of the national park service minions. The coffee was weak, but it was warm. The breakfast burritos were quite filling though: fried peppers, onions, cheese, mushrooms, and eggs; they came with a heaping side of potatoes. The otter kept us company at the table, though he was more interested in sitting there quietly than eating breakfast; the slacker.

Eventually our bellies were full and we had caffeine running through our blood and we wandered back to the campsite to tear down the tent and pack the car for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment as we tore down the tent for the last time this trip; I could feel that we were winding down, and getting ready to rush home. My new tent is quite easy to put away, I feel I should mention. I've worked with tents that take careful folding to get them into their bags and even then you need one other person to hold the bag as you shove the tent into it. This is not the case with the REI Base Camp 4; the bag it came with is quite reasonably sized. I can toss the tent poles into the bag, then roll or fold up each piece individually and shove them into the bag, then still zip without any problem. After a week of setting up and tearing down the tent, I believe we've become rather proficient at it.

Anyway, after camp was torn down and the car packed, we parked the car at Market Plaza and then caught a shuttle to Yaki Point and begun the loop west along the South rim trail. It was fairly windy near the edge and Margaret's hat wanted to run away; it ended up being bungied to the back of my pack.


The hike was beautiful, and we were alone for most of the time when we were farther East. As we came closer to Mather Point it became more and more crowded. At Mather Point we looked at the time and realized it was getting late and we wanted to make it to Albuquerque. We bailed on the hike, but decided we would come back in the fall and attempt to hike to the bottom.

I drove the car out of the park, following the maze of signs for the exit. Upon exiting the park, we discovered a small pizza place to eat. The food was good, but it didn't arrive quickly, so we were delayed for a while.

Eventually we hit the road: East on 40. Cruise control was set and the goal was to not adjust it or hit the breaks. We pulled past trucks and RV's, got passed by small convertibles, and had to hit the breaks when a little sports car pulls parallel to a tractor trailer ahead of us.

Albuquerque was reached after several gas fill ups and hours. We checked into the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn. The towels were in fact quite fluffy and the air did smell like warm root beer. Dinner was served at a 1950's style diner next door the the hotel; neither of us could finish the generous portions of deliciousness. We then went to bed and awaited the next big day.

Road Trip: A Crater and a Canyon: Day Eight

Ah, Subway for breakfast, sounds silly, but they have a breakfast menu with coffee and omelet subs: Delicious. We continued down Meteor road to the actual park, after breaking camp. We pulled into the parking lot and purchased tickets to the main attraction: a giant hole in the ground, yay! Upon entry, we explored the museum for several minutes until the tour of the crater rim began.

"This is a difficult hike, it is almost a mile over rough terrain and at altitude" were the word of the costumed tour guide. Now when I say costumed I mean in a pseudo park ranger outfit, but decorated with an American flag on one sleeve and a Meteor Crater patch on the other. I am convinced the shirts for this "uniform" were old boy scout shirts with the BSA lettering torn off, though I can't say for sure. Uniform aside, our tour guide was quite good; he was genial and quite knowledgeable about the crater history. The hike was also quite flat over a well worn gravel path, mind you it wasn't paved which I guess could be considered rough terrain if you've never left a city. The view from the rim were spectacular, though, and I regret leaving my wide angle lens sitting on my coffee table. Once the tour was over, Margaret and I continued to wander the museum and I over heard several people wheezing about the difficult hike and how they hadn't expected it to be nearly that hard. It occurred to me, that we were at five thousand feet and ninety percent of the people here were likely horrifyingly out of shape and had just driven up from sea level; the tour guide's warnings finally made sense. Oh well, now I feel bad for giggling at the warning, well not really, tehe.


Once we had had our fill of the astronaut hall of fame and the simulator where you could destroy the earth with an asteroid, we drove the car West into Flagstaff. I needed lunch, the Xterra an oil change, Margaret some fresh socks, and the Otter: he needed the new Electric Six album. Everyone got what they wanted except the otter, so I'll have to order the album for him when we get home and we'll be able to rock out to "Randy's Hot Tonight" and "Rip It."

Once our errands were finished, we headed to the park. The trip there was uneventful, until we reached the entrance. There was a line, stretching long, and cars were slowly trickling though. Then I saw the sign, "Lane 1: Pass Holders Only" There was no line; I pulled up passed my park pass and licence to Margaret and she passed them to the park ranger in the booth. We were handed a map, newsletter about the park, and my cards and wished a great day; we were through, across the red carpet; we were VIPs.

We sped to Mather Point, to do the obligatory stare into the pit and say "wow, that's a big hole." After the initial excitement, we set up camp in Mather Campground. This time the tent was set up for full cold conditions (it never did get as cold as that first night outside Raton, but we were prepared). We then had the expensive dinner at the cafeteria next to the general store. I must say, my pot pie was quite good. Post dinner, we rushed to catch a bus to the rim to catch sunset. I suppose it was mediocre as Grand Canyon Sunsets go, but it was still quite wonderful (I really wanted to make it to Hopi Point, or Hermit's rest, but we just didn't have time). The clouds lit up with a dull orange glow, similar to the glowing coals of a campfire. The various canyons in the Grand Canyon lit up in blues and reds. Then the wind picked up, it was chilly.

Due to the cold, we caught a shuttle bus back to Market Plaza, where we picked up a bundle of firewood from the general store. We then started to walk back to our campsite. I must say: pedestrian foot paths in the park are very poorly marked. We had forgotten our headlamps when we rushed to dinner, and were pretty much lost wandering around looking for something familiar. The roads are well marked, and if we had used those instead of the shorter more direct foot paths, life would have been easier. We ended up meeting with a couple heading to a campsite in the same campground as ours; they had a flashlight. This made life less painful.

Once we were at the site, I proceeded to start our first campfire of the entire trip. The small bundle of pine logs lasted about 1.5 hours before it started to run out and we went to bed due to the cold. This was another night that I was thankful for the Kmart blanket.

Road Trip: Cacti and North: Day Seven

Today was the day were were going to meet the other road trip crew at the Grand Canyon; it didn't happen (we knew it wasn't going to happen a couple days ago). We made the decision to spend more time in southern Arizona and delay our arrival at the Grand Canyon by a day or more. I regret nothing, Tuscon was an amazing area.

We got an early start today due to the incessant nudging of the sun's rays. South we again drove; Organ Pipes National Monument was our initial destination today. Apparently there is a really nice campground inside the park, which cost almost nothing to stay there. Since several years ago, people just stopped staying there; they were afraid of mounted Mexican bandits coming North to steal their jobs. Attendance apparently fell to nothing right after 9/11 and security checkpoints were added all over the area. Truthfully, I thought this park was as scenic as Saguaro, and because of it's remoteness more serene.

We were only able to work in a short hourish auto loop in the park before we began to head North again. We are more than halfway through vacation and time is starting to creep up on us. Our goal was to reach Flagstaff for the night.

We did make one pit stop about halfway up to Flagstaff; we attempted to do some mineral hunting from a site listing in one of the books I picked up in Tuscon. It didn't go as easily as we would have liked; the map must have been twenty or more years out of date and have little resemblance to reality. Yes there was a town by that name, and yes there was a highway by that number that went through the town, but no none of the other landmarks were to be found, they were likely there bright as day, 20 years ago, but have since been covered up by new construction.

We finally made it to Flagstaff and headed East forty or so miles to spend the night at the Meteor Crater RV park. We would have been happy as could be at a more primitive campsite, but I wanted a shower and a shave (and oh was I a happier person after the fact). We had Subway for dinner, and washed it down with ice cold Guinness. The tent was set up with the rain fly on tonight, because it was colder out, the the fly does a wonderful job of blocking cold and wind. The windows were left open, so we could look out. It was a bit colder than expected, so we closed the windows later as well as grabbed the Kmart Comforter from underneath our sleeping bags and pulled it over us in the middle of the night. It was much warmer after that.

Road Trip: Hanging out in the Desert: Day Six

We awoke at dawn, the moment the sun crept through the screen of the tent. At a picnic table among the cacti, we sat and ate chocolate chip muffins and drank our Red Bull. Camp was quickly torn down and packed into the car, and off we went to Saguaro National Park. The drive was quick, ten minutes to the park entrance. Once we made it in, we greased up with SPF 50 sunblock and filled our camelbacks. After another quick drive over washboard dirt road, we arrived at our jump off point for our hike. It was a serene walk over a dusty trail surrounded by saguaro cactus, teddy bear cactus, and other various desert plant.

Once we finished the hike, we hopped back into the car and roared south. Through a landscape devoid of anything other than the occasional homeland security checkpoint, sagebrush, and cacti, we headed to the Mexican border. Eventually the speed limit fell, and the amount of traffic rose; we were in Nogales. A parking spot was found: four dollars a day, cheaper than parking near Pearl Street. I grabbed my pack, Margaret her Mokona, and we headed for the border. Following signs emblazoned with "Mexico this Way", "Boarder to the Left" we walked through swinging metal gate shaped of a giant comb, allowing traffic South but not North.

The Mexican Nogales was a series of shops, all selling the same overpriced trinkets. It would have been an amazing wonderland if I drank tequila, needed discount Mexican pharmaceuticals (god knows the quality of this stuff), or cooked with lots of Vanilla (frankly, my only regret from heading to Nogales was that I didn't buy some). We walked a bit through the town, eventually deciding that looking at shops all selling the same things that we weren't remotely interesting in purchasing was boring and headed North. The line to cross the boarder was almost a block long, as if it were some amazing night club frequented by tourists looking to get out of the sun. Eventually, we were able to creep North far enough to reach the actual boarder. After a quick discussion with the official who wanted to know what I bought in Mexico (nothing) and I replied "More clutter is the last thing I need." My passport was swiped through the machine and we were on our way.

We had to go North to make our next destination, and went through a checkpoint I saw on the way down. I slowed to a stop and rolled down my window. The officer inquired if I were an American citizen, I replied "yes I am sir", and he waved me through wishing me a great day. I guess two college age Caucasians driving an Xterra filled with camping equipment and snacks with two dusty mountain bikes on the back doesn't look like a family of Mexicans trying to sneak across the border.

We headed West again, and slid into Why, New Mexico as the sun was setting. We stayed at an RV park ran by the town. It was very quiet, minus the semi regular helicopter going over, and the sirens of the boarder patrol flying down the highway. Again, we fell asleep to the stars over our head.

Road Trip: Around and About Tuscon: Day Five

As the sun arose from the underworld, we awoke from our slumber. We were finally in Tuscon and could begin to hit our major destinations of the trip. Our first item of business was the Sonora desert museum. Just to the South of town, take the Speedway exit from I10 and follow the signs... Yup, that didn't work. The little bit of construction traffic entering Tuscon was just the tip of the iceberg. Every single exit into or around downtown Tuscon was closed, every one. We ended up blasting through the entire town and getting off the highway the first chance we had. We rode upon the frontage road thus enabling us to make our turn.

After a quick trip through a mountain pass where I slid my transmission into first on the descent, we reached the museum. Flowers, cacti, and wildlife were everywhere. This was one of the most amazing zoos I've ever seen (though you might have a hard argument about calling this a zoo; there wasn't a bar or fence to be seen, excluding the two foot high wire to keep small children on the path). We did the grand tour of the park, walking the many loops and paths that circled upon themselves. We stopped to watch an otter exhibit with two river otters playing on a submerged log. We watched snakes burrowed into the ground. But the most amazing part of this park was the flora. Everything was in bloom, everything was lush, and everything was from the local desert.

Eventually our time at the museum had to end. We continued on the road through the desert to Saguaro National Park. We gained admittance from my multi agency pass (the $80 annual pass to all national parks and monuments). We did a quick tour of their automobile loop and decided to come back early tomorrow morning to do some hiking.

We headed out of the park and saw a sign for "Old Tuscon" and decided to check it out assuming it was some sort of historical village about people who lived in Tuscon a couple hundred years ago. It wasn't; it ended up being a $16/person western movie themed amusement park. This was much less exciting than we had hoped, and we decided to skip it.

As we skipped the awesomeness that might have been with "Old Tuscon," we stopped at the "International Wildlife Museum." Again, not quite what we thought. I was imagining a small zoo of something of that sort. Basically it was a museum filled with taxidermy animals. I'm guessing people inherit these huge collections of stuffed wildlife and say to themselves "hrm, there isn't much I can do with 50 stuffed animal heads that some distant relative shot." and they donate it to this foundation which teaches children about wildlife. It was actually pretty cool. Though the display about the history of taxidermy at the entrance got me into the mode of thinking of this as a museum about taxidermy (which rather weirded me out). It was quite interesting to stand next to the animals and see how huge some of them were though.

We made a quick trip back into Tuscon (avoiding the highway like a cow avoids the slaughterhouse) to pick up dinner at the Safeway earlier found. Tortellini was what we decided upon. We traveled out almost all the way to the national park and set up camp at the Gilbert Ray campsite. My tent was nestled between cacti and more cacti. The place was quiet, the restrooms quite clean, and head had running water only two sites away. The best part was the stars that night. A million pinpricks in the sheet of night glittering in the sky, all framed by saguaro cacti silhouettes. After sitting and reading for a bit, again it was time for sleep (this time with no rain fly so we could stare at the stars).

Road Trip: Day Four

We awoke in our remote campsite and had a breakfast of Mountain Dew and day old donuts while sitting in the Xterra to get out of the wind and cold. The extra quilt purchased a couple days before and put over our sleeping bags last night was amazing: no cold feet, no waking up a little cold, just sleeping in confort.

We then proceeded to tear down camp and headed back to Socorro to gas up, brush our teeth with running water, and get our bearings to head out to a giant radio telescope observatory that Margaret and I wished to see. As it turns out the antenna array was just farther down the road that we had been camping on (our campsite was about the halfway point to the array, have I mentioned that our campsite was pretty far out).

We headed out the remote road that seemed to head to nowhere, just a grey line that disappeared on the horizon. Eventually we pass some mountains and there is a series of white dots on the plains ahead of us: The Very Large Array. We did the walking tour of the place, as well as hitting the gift shop. Margaret purchased a hoodie for herself.

We then headed back east to Socorro and gassed up once again. We decided that we've done enough touring of New Mexico and wanted to head for our ultimate destination of Southern Arizona: Tuscon. I revved the engine on the Xterra to 4K RPM and set cruise control for a legal velocity and aimed for the horizon. The road was mine, the miles tore past, the towns flashed past the windshield and finally we reached the promised land: Arizona.

Onwards we went; Tuscon started to appear on the miles-to signs. Our destination was in sight. Then the inevitable happened, the sun started to set. For a while I could flip down the sun visor and cover the sun, then I had to sit up really straight to see, eventually I was holding my hand in front of my face to block the sun. Misery was a yellow-orange dot on the horizon. The sun slid under the line where sky meets ground just as I entered Tuscon construction traffic. We found a quality hotel called Quality Inn to spend the night.

Once we had checked into our hotel, we went looking for a grocery store. Cheese, apples, and bananas were on the menu for the night, and we had none of them. The grocery store was trivial to find, pull onto main road outside the hotel head, head north, you can't miss the big Safeway sign. The bookstore we hit after the grocery store was less trivial. After much driving, and a "There it is!!!" from Margaret we pulled into a Barnes and Noble's to purchase books about rockhounding in Arizona as well as campsites in the same state. The Falcon "Camping StateX" books are quite good; the cover the more primitive campsites the AAA Camp Book doesn't (as we aren't in an RV, hookups for one are rather silly and not worth paying for).

We then settled into the hotel for the night eating our fruit and cheese, and watched the movie Bowfinger. Margaret never saw the movie before and it appears the she thought it was amusing. After the movie ended, the lights were turned out and we went to sleep.

Road Trip: Santa Fe on Easter Day: Day Three

We awoke from our slumber, early in the morning.  We then drove the car to old town Santa Fe after eating a delicious breakfast of waffles provided by the hotel.  I am proud to say I know my way around Santa Fe without a map or directions (perhaps I stop in this town too often).  Margaret and I found an empty downtown with very little open on Easter Sunday.  Though things did start to open as the morning wore on (around 10 and 11 most places opened).

We did end up stopping at Trader Joe's and picking up some snacks for later in the trip.  If we manage to make it back through Santa Fe with enough time, I plan on getting lots of the yummy freezer treats to stuff in the cooler (also a case of wine).  I also got the French Crullers that I crave so much, at Dunken Donuts.

We headed south on a road called "The Turquoise Trail"; I found it in my "Scenic Driving New Mexico" book.  It was as described: quite scenic.  A quick lunch at a place called Jezebel's with the best $7 hamburger from frozen patty I've ever had (economics at work: small supply, lots of demand).  

We eventually made it down to Socorro and picked up some pizza from Pizza Hut.  We then proceeded to zoom west out of town to set up camp in a remote campsite.  As we pulled in, a large family was pulling out, they had apparently did their Easter dinner/family get together at the large picnic shelter at the campsite;  I rather think that is a clever idea.  Though, I think if I were to do something similar I would throw less pastel confetti everywhere.

We set up the tent as it was getting dark and watch as the start slowly became visible, first one, then two, then a half dozen, then hundreds.  It was awe inspiring.

Road Trip: Egads a Volcano: Day Two

We awoke to freezing feet and blowing wind.  The tent had weathered the night, but the cold had crept in (this is what I get for using a $10 Target sleeping bag).  We got up and sat in the car drinking Red Bull and hiding from the wind.  The owner of the RV park eventually wandered over and wondered how we slept, as it had gotten down to 20f the night before, yikes.

We finally tore down camp; it was rather hard to get moving without a campfire or warmth.  I made the discovery that something had happened to my bike rack: the trigger to pull to open it up just stopped working (I guess a cable broke or something).  I could still swing the rack out if I removed all the bikes and worked the mechanism with my hands.  Ugh, loading the car was a pain.

We then drove up to Capulin Volcano National Monument.  We weren't the first there, but it was still fairly empty when we arrived.  We drove to the top of the volcano and hiked the rim, we then walked to the bottom of the crater; it was rather cold and windy up there.

We then took a scenic route north and west back to Raton.  We initially looked for a cafe in the town of Folsom, CO.  There were some old weathered signs on the side of the road, but it appeared that the cafe that was being talked about had been closed for decades (or it was the off season and Folsom man wasn't a huge draw this time of year).

We then made it back to Raton, we stopped at a K-Mart and picked up a huge comforter and two small travel pillows (hopefully to make the next time camping a little more comfortable).  

We then roared south on I25 and arrived in Santa Fe.  We set up camp at a Budget Inn and then walked over to a Mexican Restaurant called Adelita's.  Corona and Mexican food: a winning combination.  We strolled back to the hotel and hit a Home Depot to buy Vice Grips to work on the bike rack; they did the trick.  We grabbed our bikes off the back of the car and rode several blocks to a Borders to pick up a book about rock hounding New Mexico and various campsites in New Mexico (not the RV parks that AAA only lists).

After a bit of swimming and resting in a hot tub, we called it a night and headed up to the room to read for a bit, then sleep.

Road trip: the Beginning: Day One

Ah the time of year for road trips.  As I was loading things into my car, my neighbors were doing the same.  They had plans for a trip to Vegas (they had a hotel there Saturday night, and hadn't planned much farther than that).  They had some concerns about I70 and the chainup advisory on Vail Pass, but they decided to press on anyhow.  

After they left I continued to pack the car and eat some snacks while awaiting Margaret to finish class.  Once Margaret had arrived, we had a delicious lunch of Taco Bell and hit the road.  As we got such a late start we only made it to Raton before the sun was beginning to set.  So we set up camp in an RV park (much to the surprise of the owners, they weren't expecting anyone this time of year).  

I got to use my new REI Basecamp4 tent that I purchased a couple weeks ago.  It preformed spectacularly in the wind (thought it was a pain to set up in said wind, next time we will stake the tent down before we put poles in).  Also it should be noted that on this tent the poles go in the outer holes, that makes life much easier.  

Green beer is apparently not purple!?

St Patrick's Day: a holiday dedicated to the color green and corned beef, whatever that is. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it has something to do with force feeding corn to cows until they explode; perhaps the explosion tenderizes the meat?

Margaret and I had a lovely evening out that involved watching and episode of "Code Geass" while drinking Guiness, walking to Pearl St, eating dinner at BJ's, then meeting up with a few of Margaret's friends at the Pearl St Pub.








We hung out for several hours, then headed back East to home. The Hop was running free service all night so we didn't have to fish out our ecopasses to climb aboard the bus. We disembarked the bus at the 29th st Mall and walked the rest of the way. We did see an interesting display/advertisement thing in one of the windows. I really have no idea what to make of this, other than it's really really creepy. I think they are advertising war paint and striped stockings at this store, or that they will dip you in plastic and turn you into a deformed monster, one of the two, perhaps even both.

Also Nessie lives in Scott Carpenter park. I was surprised to see her there, but here's the picture, and as you can see it is much better quality than any photos from Loch Ness. It's amazing, Nessie was just chilling at the bottom of the sled run, there was even a bunch of foot prints around Nessie; I'm quite astounded that no one noticed her.

Wasabi and Real Fish

So I figured I would start a blog to chronicle my life and what I do on a day to day basis... I've been way too busy to do that, whoops.


Yesterday we (Margaret, Dylan, Darla, and I) went to Anime Wasabi. It is a new anime con in Denver. It was down at the DIA Holiday Inn, and no we didn't run out of lava, nor were we harassed by staff that we might need some more. I had a good time and look forward to next year when hopefully all the kinks will be worked out and there are more panels. Also I would have loved to find the video room, see what was being screened and all.

I suppose the highlight of the con was the various bits of schwag we picked up in the dealers room. I got a Shakugan no Shana wall scroll and a Gurren Laggan sticker to put on my car (how badass is that?) Margaret got a white Mokona backpack/purse (from Tsubasa Chronicle) and a key chain; Darla picked up some manga for really cheap. So, I suppose we all won at going to a con.

After this, Margaret and I dropped everyone off, then dumped my car at home. We then walked across campus to the Fox, stopping for dinner at a new pizza place on the hill en route. I can't remember for the life of me what this place was called, but the pizza was really good. It's catty cornered from Rose Hill Liquors and where the DQ and then the BBQ place used to be.


Post dinner, we went over to the Fox, picked our tickets up at the will-call window, and got in line to see Reel Big Fish. We had to wait for a few minutes and I was glad I forgot to ditch my sweater at home before the concert. As it turns out, it wasn't as hot inside as I'd been expecting (a certain metal concert at the Boulder Theater comes to mind). I have to say, it's nice to go to a concert where you and most of the audience knows almost all the words. The concert was great fun, even if I couldn't join in the mosh pit nor the swing dancing due to my sprained knee. (yes, I did say swing dancing; there were about two dozen people swing dancing near the end of the concert behind the mosh pit). At the end of the show, I picked up RBF's new album and a shirt that is far more work appropriate than my other Reel Big Fish shirt (from their Crouching Tiger/Hidden Fish tour)