Sweet Taste of Salt

Must have been the influence of Talk Like a Pirate Day

Well, we made it home, safe and sound but with the wanderlust still rampant in our blood ... 

Don's discomfort on the camping trip abated the closer we got to home and the Doctor moved his appointment from Wednesday to the following Monday soooooooo; feeling like there was no imminent fear of death or dismemberment we decided to continue roaming.  This time we headed for Southern Texas for a little dose of salt water. We moved to Texas from Puerto Rico where, of course, we were surrounded by salt water. The vibrantly turquoise waters of the Caribbean have a mystical and almost spiritual appeal so we pointed the Dodge Caravan (now named Bianca) to South Padre Island in search of the sweet taste of salt.

View from the tower at the South Padre Birding and Nature Center

This time around we weren't camping...until the Doc gets an opportunity to render an opinion as to what got the hubby feeling so poorly we didn't want to camp.  We were very pleasantly impressed with the accommodations and location of the Super 8 right on Padre Boulevard and for only $35.00 a night! In my book, staying in a motel doesn't compare with the sense of adventure, relaxation and communing with nature that camping provides, but there is a lot to be said for swimming pools, WiFi, Cable TV and a toilet you don't need a flashlight to access in the middle of the night!

We enjoyed the visit to the South Padre Birding and Nature Center; a short film enlightened us regarding the somewhat unique geography of the area.  South Padre Island is a finger of land that stretches along the coast of Texas, creating a natural land barrier.  On one side lies the Gulf of Mexico and on the other side, the Laguna Madre. If you take into consideration the entire length of the Laguna Madre it is around 130 miles long! It is super salty, saltier than normal seawater and very shallow, ranging from 2 to 3 feet in depth. We saw lots of people wading out into the lagoon fishing and they could walk on forever!

The Birding and Nature Center has a well marked boardwalk that takes visitors to different areas of the wetlands where the diverse wildlife is very much evident. We saw many birds of all sizes and beak configurations, turtles, crabs. manta rays, fish galore, dragon flies, butterflies, and all kinds of different grasses.

We ate well, drank adult libations, listened to good music while watching a fabulous sunset and the birth of a wonderful night skyline. Another interesting thing are the many sand castles that are abundant throughout South Padre Island...apparently designated as the Sand Castle Capital of the World.  A sign accompanying one of the grandest of the sand castles explained that these majestic sand sculptures are made from compacted river sand which contains  more clay than beach sand. When finished the outside is sprayed with a combination of water and Elmer's Glue to help preserve the sculpture from the ravages of wind and weather but that it is not the glue which keeps them erect.

According to the sign one can expect each sculpture fashioned in this manner to survive around 14 months!  Of course, depending on the incidence of human intervention which is the most frequent cause of sand castle demise. Ahhhh. human nature!

Our next foray will be Arkansas for the changing of the leaves.  Doctor permitting we will again brave the outdoors in a tent.  We are going to invest in a larger tent that will allow us to stand up though.  Much easier to get dressed!

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT!

On the Downswing-Heading Home

The Freedom to Do Whatever...

One of the results of having to change our plans because of the weather was that all of a sudden we could go anywhere and do anything.  That freedom was both exciting and daunting because it is a great big county out there.

We were headed to Albuquerque, my birthplace, because we had decided to try and get back to our original destination of the Grand Canyon. While having a delightfully healthy lunch at Panera my husband confessed what I had already suspected.  He was not feeling well.  For him to admit that he felt bad enough to want to see a doctor meant that he felt really bad, so we decided to head home. Our route took us to Fort Sumner; a location we had visited before and which was only to be a place to rest our heads.  Since we were not going to camp we drove until later than usual and researched motels on our phones using one of the popular travel sites.

One motel in particular caught our eye...The Coronado.  Billed as being ripe with old world charm, inexpensive and with very high ratings (4.7 out of 5) it seemed like a sure thing.  As inexpensive as camping but with TV and character! What could be wrong with that picture? Read on, fellow travel lovers and the picture will become clear.

The building dates from 1948 and I have to suspect that the rooms have not been updated since then. The heater was partially dismantled, the ceiling fan needed a shave,  the mirror had been wiped with a dirty cloth and the bed was both hard and bumpy!  We brought in our sleeping bags, sheets and pillows and cushioned the bed with them. The room had the added perk of a well used flyswatter which was very thoughtful as we shared the real estate with at least (now deceased) 10 flies.  Two more were incarcerated in the bathroom! Ahh, the bathroom!

The bathroom walls were very dirty, the sink was utterly gritty with grit, the shower faucets were corroded, the shower curtain really needed laundering (or perhaps discarding and getting a new one!), the carpeting was mercifully dark and of mottled color but the stains were still very visible.

There was a microwave, a coffee brewer (replete with homemade packets of ground coffee), satellite TV and WiFi. Under the circumstances the WiFi seemed so incongruous.  This motel was an anomaly, a warp in the fabric of time had allowed it to stay frozen in the past and yet, it had WiFi! Since my husband was not feeling well and it was later than we usually stopped for the night we bit the bullet and never walked barefoot on the carpet.  We took turn killing flies and congratulating each other on each successful conquest of every pesky little diptera.  My father, an entomologist, used to always say that flies were actually very good for humans; in the right population ratio.  When there are the correct number of flies in proportion to humans they provide just the right quantity of germs to keep our immune systems working properly.  Too few and we are susceptible to infection from any little thing, too many and they overwhelm us and make us sick. I am willing to give the Coronado a vote of confidence that they are doing their part at keeping us all healthy by keeping a 1948 population of flies active and buzzing!

Now, the owner of this establishment is a very nice old man named Tito who is also very proud of being born and raised in Fort Sumner, New Mexico and I am very uncomfortable about writing this negative a post about what I assume is his livelihood and life's work. The only reason I am doing this is because the real issue that worries me is the outstanding reviews the Coronado has on the travel website (which I will not name) and the fear that some unsuspecting family with children will be seduced by the reviews and the promise of low price to possibly put their family at risk.  We travel without children and our decision to stick it out was merely a matter of feeling like anything we confronted could be washed off, but if a traveler is with kids there are some issues which may be dangerous.  Like the heater.

Anyway, if you are in Fort Sumner following the footsteps of Billy the Kid who happened to take a bullet there rather than biting it as we did, think twice about the balance between value and comfort.

Good luck!

We're not giving up...just rescheduling the Grand Canyon!

Laramie and Trinidad

Surprise, Surprise...

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we got rained out of Yellowstone and the next destinations on our itinerary were also under the same rain system; Mt. Zion & Bryce National Park.  Our tent and gear were soaked so we headed to drier climes in search of a place to dry out and see if we could salvage our trip. We ended up in Laramie, Wyoming and what a perfectly wonderful little town! The population was under 31,000 in the 2010 census and it is the home of the  University of Wyoming, Wyoming Technical Institute, and a branch of Laramie County Community College. It has maintained it's architectural heritage as a town established in the early 19th century without being kitschy or artificial. Don wasn't up to camping so we looked for an inexpensive motel that could tide us over until he was feeling better.  Well, did we ever find it...

I just realized that Google has place an ad for this
hotel on my blog. I didn't do that.This is a genuine
and unpaid compliment to this business.

A family owned establishment with a very nicely appointed room in what looked like a 60's style motel from the outside.  Nice, large room with a flat screen TV, free WiFi, clean and spacious bathroom.  A real treat. I wanted to plug them because it IS a family business and the young lady who checked us in was there with her 2 month old baby girl late at night and early in the morning.  They are still working on remodeling the place and I highly recommend it if you are in the Laramie area.

And why wouldn't you be? It's a truly charming town. Laramie is named after Jacques LaRamie who in spite of disappearing around 1810 ends up having more things named after him in Wyoming than any other person with the exception of Jim Bridger. One of the things that struck my fancy was the fact that Laramie was the first place in the US to offer suffrage to women and the first place where women sat on a jury.

Statue of Luisa Swain, first woman in the US to cast a ballot; park on 1st Street, the Johnson's Hotel, established 1910; silhouettes of the past on a building site and an old Chesterfield ad.

We didn't spend a lot of time in Laramie, something I might want to remedy the NEXT time I go out west. Because of our change of plans we now had a new mission. 

My husband's parents met and were married in Trinidad, Colorado in 1925. My mother-in-law, Florence Johndrow, was a fabulous story teller and both Don and I regaled in her many stories of how she was spending the summer in Trinidad, Co. with her Aunt, Mrs. F.M. Barth when she met the dashing Julian Johndrow.  He was considerably older than she was and she would sneak away from her rather severe Aunt and meet him behind the bandstand. Our mission was to find THE bandstand. And we did! With the help of the Trinidad Street Department and my rather sketchy description we discovered that the park where the bandstand just HAD to be was the Kit Carson Park.  And, much to our delight they informed me that the bandstand had just been renovated.  So off we took! Trinidad has apparently fallen on hard times as there were many old homes in bad need of attention, but at the same time there were many that were a tribute to an era gone by. We drove by venerable old wooden frame houses obviously cared for with great love, on brick paved streets and with a gentle charm and sense of neighborhood that was very touching.

I can just imagine a 17 year old Florence Gwynne giggling as she meets up with her young man stylishly decked out in a straw boaters hat. I can fantasize about how daring she must have felt and how dazzled she was by his good looks and gentlemanly kindness to her.  I never met my father-in-law as he passed away long before I had the good fortune of meeting MY Mr. Johndrow and being dazzled by his good looks and gentlemanly ways. But Florence's story telling was enough to make it come to life for me! We were blessed to have found the location where the whole story began!

The statue of Kit Carson, for whom the park is named

Next up...Fort Sumner, New Mexico and where NOT to stay!

Yellowstone:Interrupted

Thank You, President Ulysses S. Grant!

I always thought Teddy Roosevelt set aside Yellowstone as a National Park, but to my surprise Congress passed the law creating it and President Grant signed it into existence in 1872 making it the FIRST NATIONAL PARK in history.

Getting there is half the beauty!

The drive from South Dakota to Yellowstone is a dizzying display of natural beauty.  One cannot do justice to the scenes flashing before one's eyes with the camera as there is no way to stop the car with the frequency needed to capture shot after shot of utter beauty. Eventually you just give up and give in to the thrill of being a privileged spectator. We entered Yellowstone through the East entrance and were headed to the West Thumb and our campsite. We marveled at the natural cycle that is so visible there. A forest fire had left  miles and miles of burned pine trunks punctuated with new growth steadily pushing upward.  

The first impression of the park is RESPECT.  The respect with which it has been created, protected and maintained is palpable. Mother Nature did some of her best work here and most certainly the human hand has been hard at work to honor her. 

There is a line to finalize the registration of the site Don had reserved online for four glorious days of communing with nature. It seems that all the employees of National Parks are super perky, with high energy welcoming smiles and sparkling eyes; a façade the young man checking us in manages to maintain as he impresses on us the real and present danger of bears at the campsite, "Let me make it easy for you", he says with an ebullience his drama teacher would be proud of, "Nothing in your tents except your sleeping bags and your bodies; no water bottles, no cosmetics, NOTHING. Place any food in your vehicle or in the bear proof boxes. Keep bear spray with you at all times. Do not brush your teeth at your campsite or at the public spigots..." He went on, with that optimistic enthusiasm for quite a while until I was quite sure I would never make it back alive from my necessary nocturnal visits to the toilets. We had ONE can of bear spray. Do I take it with me as I traipse to the toilet and leave Don as unprotected bait in the tent or do I take my chances in the great outdoors and take the spray with me? More on that difficult decision later,

The campsites are very intelligently laid out. About the center of each loop are the facilities; heated buildings with flush toilets and sinks. In the center of the building is a dishwashing facility with very heavy doors, presumably to keep bears from pursuing the odors of food scraps that might linger.  All in all one comes away with a clear impression that the danger of bear confrontation is very real and very scary. But there was one other threat to our tranquil embrace of the peace of nature...rain. Heavy rain and temperatures to challenge a tropical girl like me. Optimist that I am, I was convinced that the forecast would change and that all would be good...

So, we get our tent up, laying down a heavy carpet we had carted along to try to keep the interior of the tent as warm as possible.  In view of the threat of rain we opted for the cots instead of the inflatable bed as they make for a quicker get-away when breaking camp.  I continued to labor under the impression that the weather forecast was as bogus as the promises of rain in Texas generally are so I conceded to the use of the cots fully expecting that the next day we would exchange them for the bed.  Camp set up, full as ticks on Johndrow chili we had brought from home, we headed for Old Faithful. 

Right on time! 5:26 pm!

We had a delightful chat with a ranger who filled us in on how to properly use the bear spray (again with the bear danger) and where to go to sight Grizzlies. I really did want to see some bears but not up close and personal.  Old Faithful is surrounded by seating and people started to gather, asking "when is it going to go off again?" The ranger was ready with an answer and sure enough, just as predicted Old Faithful sputtered into action at 5:26 pm. OF is not the most impressive geyser in the park, just the most famous.  There are others that shoot much higher but their eruptions are very unpredictable.

Then, as we returned to our car, it started to rain.  And it got cold.  Still full from our Johndrow chili we decided not to try and cook in the rain and took refuge in the car to read. About 8:30, cold rain still pelting down I turned in to bed, bemoaning the fact that weather forecasters in Yellowstone are much more accurate than they are in Texas!  The sleeping bag, recently acquired with the promise of keeping tootsies warm even at 20 degree temps proved to be utterly truthful. I zipped myself into that baby, including my head and fell soundly asleep.  The first time I heard the call of nature, I pulled out my rain poncho as the rain was still falling and confronted the previous question...do I leave my husband unprotected or do I take the bear spray?  At that precise moment some animal, which I later learned was an elk, let out a bone chilling sound.  It was something between the shrill sound of the brakes of a freight train and an elephant in heat.  Screw my husband! I took the bear spray! Click the YouTube video below (not mine, credit is in the video) to hear what it sounds like.  Wouldn't you have taken the bear spray? 

But, I must say, I slept like a baby! The sound of the rain pelting the tent was like music, the warmth of my sleeping bag was like a womb of peace and protection and I allowed myself to be engulfed by that sensation and slumber peacefully. Vaguely aware of the complications that the weather we're going to present in the morning I buried myself even deeper in the sleeping bag. The morning found me with a sleepless husband, a damp carpet on the floor, 41 degrees Fahrenheit, a drenched tent and the imperative need to accept the fact that not only was it going to rain all day Tuesday and Wednesday, it was going to snow on Thursday! We were prepared for the cold nights and had packed everything from wool caps to chemical hand warmers for this amazing adventure. But constant rain and snow was not what we had in mind.  So; with a heavy heart, we pulled up stakes (a cliché that in this case is absolutely accurate.)

We went to a restaurant, within the park for breakfast after stashing a very wet EVERYTHING into the appropriate containers.  Breakfast was shared with an enchanting couple from France so I got to dust off my French. We took in a couple of other sights but sunshine was required to truly enjoy the prismatic pool. We did catch a glimpse of coyote, leisurely hunting near a walkway.

What it looked like compared to what it could have looked like with some sun!

Kepler Cascades

Our next challenge was to reassign the days that we were giving up in Yellowstone to some other destination. We saw with great consternation that the weather system affecting Yellowstone was also affecting every other place on our itinerary toward the Grand Canyon. Zion National Park was reporting the tragic loss of seven lives in flash flooding.  Wanting to find dry conditions to allow our gear to dry out we pointed the car toward Laramie, Wyoming .

Several times during this trip we passed over the Continental Divide...shortly after our first salute to the Atlantic and Pacific divide we ran into a traffic jam; of sorts. Cars were backed up for quite a distance as the motive was not about to be hurried.  We were reminded often, (along with the bear threats) that a bison weighs as much or more than one's car and can run up to 30 miles and hour! We respectfully sat in the long line of cars and watched as they grunted and moved VERY close to our car.

The fellow in the silver car thought he had it made! He pulled out from in front of us, barreled down the empty lane to his left and cut across the stalled cars tying to make an escape through a side road...only to discover that he was then trapped with bison in front and behind him!

Onward, with new and unexpected destinations!

Related links:

Yellowstone National Park
Continental Divide
Bison or Buffalo?

The Beauty of South Dakota

Too Beautiful for Words

Some pictures from South Dakota

On the drive toward Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

The area called The Needles: Stunning! Hwy 87 and 16A

Would love to know what these piles of arranged wood with leaves and pine needles are for.Susan?

Four Faces of History

It is such a pity that popular culture latches on to some words and overuses and abuses them to such an extent that they become so cliché and hackneyed their original intent is lost. Such a word is "awesome". But THAT is the word that springs to mind when seeing Mount Rushmore.  Not only because the physical impression of the sculptural achievement is utterly impressive but also because the thought behind the choice of Presidents and the challenge involved in overcoming the forces of both Mother and Human Nature cannot help but produce a sense of awe. 

Instead of camping in Hermosa, South Dakota we ended up staying in a cabin...pretty much the same as camping since all cooking was still outside and water was from our 7 gallon container, but we had a real bed, a ceiling fan, WiFi and cable TV!  Bathrooms, showers and a coin operated laundry were next to the heated pool. As soon as we had negotiated the change in plans we took off for Mount Rushmore.

The ride was beautimous! Mountain roads, bucolic scenes of cabins and horses behind white fences, long expanses of glorious rock faces seeming to hold up an endless expanse of sky and then, suddenly there's a bend in the road and there it is! The four faces of history strikingly staring off over the great country they dedicated their lives to.  But we had not yet arrived, this was just a preview, a quick but utterly AWESOME confrontation with the marvel we would soon be viewing within the Federal monumental. (More on that later.) This sudden appearance and then disappearance truly took my breath away.  One deep intake of breath, two blinks of an eye and they were gone!

The actual monument, all formalized and official with lots of granite and museums, requisite gift shops and all the expected trappings of a place that hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year does not disappoint but also, does not take away your breath.  A short film narrated by Tom Brokaw is due for a face lift but is very enlightening.

I, for one, was not aware of the rationale behind the selection of the four Presidents on Mount Rushmore...or that the original intent was to use the area called The Needles to create images of famous Western heroes ; Buffalo Bill Cody, Red Cloud & Lewis and Clark as a means of drawing tourism to the Black Hills. Doane Robinson approached the renowned sculptor Gutson Borglum who was excited about the idea but totally changed the concept. First of all, he rejected The Needles because he found them too brittle and he suggested that to do justice to the ideals of America he should portray four Presidents who represented distinct characteristics of the American Ideal. Washington, who rejected the suggestion of becoming a Monarch over the new nation he had helped to establish, Jefferson because he embraced the expansion and exploration of the nation by negotiating the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, Lincoln for preserving the Union and freeing the slaves and Teddy Roosevelt for guiding the industrial revolution away from robber barons and helping the common man find a future in our Capitalist development.

That said, there is some criticism
Patriotism is a very valid sentiment. I applaud the sense of pride that one can feel for the achievements and ideals that unify us as a nation...but the presentation that precedes the lighting of Mount Rushmore at night is sooooo full of kitsch and cloying nationalistic patriotism that it was utterly annoying. Here's the rundown of the presentation:

• Cute female ranger comes out; makes necessary announcements telling us what to expect
• Cute female ranger comes out again and regales us with her personal quest to work at Mount Rushmore and the importance of not giving up
• She then tells us how the sculptor didn't give up
• How Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt didn't give up
• Then she introduces a 20 minute film that talks about how the sculptor and the four presidents didn't give up
• Then we sing America the beautiful
• Lights come on

We happened to be there on September 11 so she also called every member of the armed services, active or retired and all first responders to the stage to participate in the lowering of the flag and then every single one of them (about 75, I would guess) to state their names and what branch of the armed services they represented.  This was very moving and very appropriate.  But she needs to take a course in presentation skills. PLEASE!

South Dakota has enchanted us with the most beautiful scenery! I'm dedicating this post to Mount Rushmore, but there is so, so much more to see and to appreciate in South Dakota.  We could have spent a lot more time there!

Picture This....

Beauty and WOW!

Hydroelectric Plant at Lake McCauneghey,  all right, all right, all right!

My husband Don did a splendid job of planning our adventure. No drive is to exceed 5 hours, most campsites are water focused, some include WiFi and with one notable exception all include water and electricity.  Pretty cool, right? I was singing his praises until we arrived at the location pictured at left.  Obviously water focused, great view and that's just the access to the Ogallala State  Recreational Area in Nebraska. But, the road we were on in this picture goes over the spillway that separates two lakes and the spraying

Toasting to no smell and a successful tent raising

 water you see in the picture is part of a hydroelectric process. The road is under construction so there was an interminable wait while a lady in apparent nuclear protective gear spoke on her cell phone and waited to receive a walkie talkie message from the other side to let OUR side proceed across the remaining single lane.  So why was it so remarkable? There was the most awful stench; rotten egg, sulfur and outhouse all combined into one. Naturally we both started speculating as to whether or not the "fragrance" was going to be a central part of our campsite...clearly visible from our vantage point high above the dam. Frankly, our jokes and ribbing were abundant and only lightly served to veil our sincere doubt regarding the suitability of our next campsite. But, I am happy to report that the smell did NOT migrate to the campgrounds!

The lake where fish were jumping to be caught

 Early the next morning I traipsed over to the bathroom facilities and happened on a very polite man who was eager to converse.  He was an employee of the campground and was extremely affable, eager to know where we were traveling from.  When I told him we were from Texas he launched into a long tale about a hurricane in Texas back when he was working on some sort of field work.  I am not clear exactly what he said as he was missing most of his teeth The narrative went something like "Yup. That was a turble tahm. We was out in the field all daynaht cuttin' them fribbins' n then the storm hit and we had to get back to the field. Ya shudda seen the fribbins' and the whole mithrake that allus had to do affer that."  He then stared at me with that obvious expression that says "I'm waiting for a reply".  Since I had no idea what he had said and asking him to repeat it did not promise to shed any additional light on what a 'fribbin' was I smiled broadly and said with great respect and enthusiasm, "Well, you gotta' do what you gotta' do!" and he seemed quite satisfied.   I did venture, however, to ask him what the smell was.  "Oh, the lake is turning!" OK.  Mystery solved? Upon returning to the campsite I grabbed my fishing rod and tried to catch one of the multiple taunting fish just begging to be caught...they literally were jumping out of the lake.  But I caught nothing! I was patient though.

From Ogallala we drove to Hermosa, South Dakota but not before stopping at a couple of remarkable places.

 Gothenburg, Nebraska has one of the original Pony Express stations. It was dismantled and reconstructed at this site. A truly amazing example of early American building techniques. The docent attending the museum was not only very knowledgable but also extremely passionate about the Pony Express.

Did you know that the Pony Express lasted a mere 18 months and that the transport of 1 ounce cost $5?

Most of the business came from government transport of documents and the $5 per ounce was way too much. Gradually the cost was brought down to $1.00 an ounce but the cost of of maintaining the horses, the riders and the stations made the endeavor far too expensive for popular support.  After the telegraph was introduced

the Pony Express was put out of business.  The backers lost more than $100,000 and for those times that was a tremendous amount of money. But take a good look at the construction techniques shown here.Very interesting, indeed.
For more information: http://www.ci.gothenburg.ne.us/

After our little educational interlude we had a whimsy break...Carhenge. 

 Located near the city of Alliance, Carhenge is a whimsical display that certainly is a reflection of the American pop culture.  Created as a reproduction of Stonehenge it is made entirely of cars!  The idea came about as a memorial following the deathof Jim Reinders' father. The family came up with this remarkable idea, in part because Jim Reinders had studied in England and had been fascinated by the famous Stonehenge.  

Construction of Carhenge, with cars placed exactly proportionate to the original Stonehenge began in 1987 and in the ensuing years the family has gifted the town with the land and the structures.

 Independent artists have been invited to contribute their artistic use of automobiles as well.  According to the literature available at the site, the collection of artistic statuary created from automobile parts is intended to grow with more and more contributions.  

 Click here for more information: http://carhenge.com/

Next up: Mount Rushmore...truly awe inspiring and awesome.

Please leave me comments as it helps to keep me motivated!