Breck and Beer

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This morning, we "slept in" and didn't leave our hotel for the day's activities until nearly 9am. On the way out of town, we stopped at the City Market (as a joke, we never actually pronounce it that way) to pick up some muffins and a styrofoam cooler. The portable cooler I brought from home is probably not really made for ice, but just insulation. So, we had been having some problems with leakage throughout the day.

From there, I got behind the wheel and we went east towards Frisco, CO. We arrived into town around 10am. Although the shopping outlets they had there seemed enticing, we decided to go for a hike instead. About 3 miles up Ryan Gulch Rd. through neighborhoods of apartments and condos, we reached the trailhead for Lily Pad Lake.

Even though this hike was initially challenging as we walked up a gravel service road at about a 30 degree grade for a good 200 yards, it really leveled off from there. Also from the top of this initial hill was a great view of the Dillon Resevoir below - an enormous lake that is surely a destination for boating and sailing during the summer. As we continued along the path, we passed beaver pounds (with no beavers), streams, marshy clearings and spruce forests. At our destination was a small lake completely overtaken with lily pads followed by a significantly larger alpine lake behind it.

We met some other hikers, as seems to becoming a common thread with this trip, who were from Sedona, AZ and locally in Breckenridge. We snapped some pictures of them and they returned the favor. Then, per their recommendation, we decided to try an alternate trail back to our car called the Salt Lick Trail. The local woman said that in parts the trail would become a bit difficult to follow, but to always KEEP LEFT.

So, we started the trek back to the car with that in mind. The trail seemed easy enough to follow at first, but as Justin was tracking us on his Topo Map (through an Iphone app) he just didn't think we were heading in the right direction. We came to the first fork in the trail about a 1/2 mile in and went left...but it literally seemed like the left fork was almost causing us to double over the direction we had just come from. So, we came to a third fork, and at this point we decided to cut our losses and try to make our way back to the original trail. This was not accomplished by backtracking, by any means, but we continued on the route we had started and consulted the map whenever we would get to a fork in the trail.

Eventually, after about 3 more forks in the trail and ever so slowly seeing that we were getting close to the more well-traveled path, we decided to make a beeline for the main trail. There was a decent clearing in the woods with little brush or other debris blocking our way, so we cut across the area and finally made it to familiar territory. It took us about another 15 minutes to get back to the starting point, and we were certainly relieved to see the car in the parking area.

By this time, it was nearly 1pm and we were quite hungry for lunch. We decided to head over to Breckenridge because it seemed like it would be another cute ski town to check-out. Plus, it's fairly accessible since it's only about 10 miles south of the interstate. After parking (and might I mention, it was free for once), we got a table at the Breckenridge Brewery. Since they are known for brewing their own beer, we both decided to get a sampler. In hindsight, we probably could have done with a single sampler between the two of us. There were 8 beers totaling 32 ounces. When it's actually in front of you, it's really intimidating. The beers included a Pale Ale, an Amber, a Vanilla Porter, an Oatmeal Stout, a Belgian Ale, a Wheat and 2 IPA's. I took a sip of each, and then decided to finish my 4 favorites. So, in all, I maybe had 16 ounces of beer.

For the food portion of lunch, we ordered some peel 'n' eat shrimp to share. Justin had a half rack of ribs with fries, and I had a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. With a slight buzz and full stomachs, we walked around to some of the shops in downtown Breckenridge. One of the stores we wandered into was a photography store. Justin was looking for a few minor supplies. As we were talking to the owner and he was schooling Justin on his photo equipment, he mentioned that he had shot for Nat Geo many times and had been published in countless other magazines. He was an interesting character, but he turned out to be very helpful. He offered to give us some tips for our next few days in Arches and Canyonlands if we could find him a map. So, Justin and I left the store and found a book store a few blocks down that sold maps. Once we had our map, we went back to the photo store and our unofficial, professional photographer guide marked up areas on our maps that we were not to miss. This would definitely require a bit of reworking of the schedule I had planned.

When we left the photo store for the second time, it was nearing 5pm. It had been a long day and we were looking forward to getting back to the hotel at this point. Away from Breck we went, and we made it back to our hotel around 6pm.

Following a few hours of winding down, Justin and I congregated with our newly purchased maps to figure out a game plan for the next few days. With such a limited time in the Moab area, we really need to time everything perfectly, particularly in regards to the photo opportunities. Then, about 8:45pm we decided we should probably catch some dinner before it got too late. So, we drove a few minutes to a local sushi place called Nozawa and had a few rolls - it was decent for small-town, Colorado.

The final steps of our evening included packing for the next few days and getting our showers in due to a very early morning tomorrow.

Moose Hunt

Maroon Lake

Today we made the trek from Vail to Aspen. After traveling through some pretty awesome cutouts in the mountainside the road took us through several smaller towns including Glenwood Springs. An hour and a half after leaving our hotel we arrived in Aspen. We turned north and headed up into the mountains traveling about 12 miles to our detination the Maroon Bells area. Maroon Bells is a beautiful valley between several towering mountain peaks and is a popular destination for hikers. Our objective was Crater Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake at the end of a 2 mile hike up into the mountains.

The hike was fairly easy with a small elevation gain of about 800 feet. Along the way we were treated to pretty views of Maroon Lake and dense groves of Aspen encircled by several 14k peaks. Unfortunately as we arrived a Crater Lake we discovered the lake was a bit dried up. Combined with the overcast weather the photo opportunities were limited at best. Both Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak were shrouded in a thick blanket of clouds that refused to budge during our visit.

Crater Lake

We did have the opportunity to meet some very nice folks up at the lake though. A man from Montana with two golden-doodles was just headed out for a week of camping in the wilderness. Another couple was just making their descent from the mountains after camping for 4 days. As we made our descent from the lake the clouds finally parted in the valley below treating us to some very nice views of Maroon Lake.

We drove back down into Aspen and had a nice lunch at the Red Onion. As usual Lauren ordered way to much food and we left with a few leftovers. My Elk Burger with pepperjack cheese was tasty and satisfying after our hike. We spent the next hour or so browsing the shops in and around Aspen. To say that Aspen is not cheap is an understatement. It is a town for the truly afluent. Most of the stores were top fashion designers like Gucci and Prada. We perused the Ralph Lauren store and found the $900 cashmere sweaters to be a bit out of our budget.

During our hike down from Crater Lake we encountered a few patches of light rain and Lauren occaisionally struggled to maintain solid footing - she was wearing regular tennis shoes! After days of trying to convince her she finally conceeded that she needed some hiking shoes. We left the super rich fashion stores and headed into a local outfitter and got Lauren hooked up with some hiking shoes. Success!

Leaving Aspen we drove back to in Avon to catch a free BBQ before heading back out into the mountains. Our final destination for the day was Piney Lake, an alpine lake north of Vail. During a previous hike a local we met suggested we head up to Piney at dusk to catch moose feeding on the lake grasses. After a pretty rough drive up a dirt road we made it to Piney Lake around 7:00 pm. To our dismay it first appeared the area was closed off behind private land, Piney Lake Ranch.

After a few miutes of trudging around evaluting the situation I encountered a few hunters walking up the road. They were camped a bit down the road and were stalking a few elk in the fading light - it is muzzle loader hunting season. The two hunters confirmed that a trail just off the parking lot was indeed public land and would take us to the lake. We grabbed our gear and quickly headed off onto the trail. After a few hundred yards we were at the lake. At first we could not see anything, but we heard deep grunting from the other side of the lake. I trained my long telephoto lense on the other side of Piney Lake to where the forest touched the waters edge and there he was, a huge adult bull moose! Mission success!

Our Moose!

We headed back to the car and met up with the two hunters again. They had come up empty handed but were thrilled that we saw the moose. I showed them a couple of the pictures, we talked a bit more about the wilderness and parted ways. We had a long 10 mile drive down the mountain on a dirt road in the moonlight. On the way we saw lots of critters including a pair of young doe walking up the road. Once we finally got back to paved roads we breathed a sigh of relief and headed home for some beer and snacks.

The Peter's vs. The Mountains

Overambitious, much?? Yep, that's me. The plan for yesterday was to do up to 3 hikes...yeah, we only did one. It's alright though - at least we were still getting in some major calorie burning.

So, this morning we were out the door by about 7:45am. We got to the trailhead for Pitkin Creek by 8:15am, and after some minor confusion due to some signs that said "Path Closed," we exploded out of the gate to tackle about a 600 foot elevation gain in .4 miles. By the time we were a mile in, it was becoming quite evident that this 4.5 mile trail (to Pitkin Lake) would be a bit more than we could handle. The trailhead's starting point was above 8,000 feet, so we were already amongst some very thin air.

We reassessed our goals. About 2.5 miles in, there was a good stopping point with a view of Pitkin Falls (much more attainable). We continued our moderate climb through aspen and spruce forests, wide mountain valleys and occasional encounters with Pitkin Creek. The last .10 mile was a big push and about a 300 foot elevation gain to get to the viewing point of the towering Pitkin Falls in the distance. There were also sprawling views of the peaks to the south from the direction we had been hiking. In total, we had conquered a 1,500 foot elevation gain.

After shooting some pictures and resting for about 10 minutes, we decided to head back. Our food rations were sparse, and we were getting hungry for lunch!

As always, the descent was significantly quicker. We still made several brief stops to snap pictures and take in the views. The wildlife on this hike was unfortunately minimal. We saw a group of marmots bouncing around on what looked to be a former rock slide. Other than that, I'm guessing many of the animals were scared off because there was a family camping near the trail - and the kids were doing lots of running around and screaming. Oh, well.

Also on the way back down, we ran into a group of locals with a beautiful Burmese Mountain dog. They gave us some tips about where to go to see some black bears and full-grown moose. So, we may try to hit those areas over the next few days.

By the time we got back to the car, it was just after 12:30pm. So, that entire hike took about 4 hours. We quickly made up some PB&J sandwiches and had some chips. Then, we decided to do something a little less taxing - some scenic driving.

First, we headed to Shrine Pass Road. This road was mostly dirt and was very marked with many pot holes, but it really took us into the heart of some of the major peaks in the area: Mount of the Holy Cross, the Gore Range and Ptarmigan Pass. From Shrine Pass, we briefly tried to get on another 4WD road called Wearyman Road. Bad idea!! This road was one lane and made out of pure rock - not little gravelly rocks, but big rocks. Once we got to a big ledge in the road that dropped down into a creek, we decided we needed to turn around. It took about a 7-point turn to do so, but we got the heck out of there and saved potentially doing some major damage to our rental car.

We continued on Shrine Pass the rest of the way into a small town called Red Cliff. Then we headed south on Hwy. 24 to do one more scenic drive called Resolution Road (and this was described as Easy). It took a good 30 minutes to get to the end point - where it actually joined up with the other side of Wearyman Rd. The view point that we stopped at was known as Ptarmigan Pass and offered panaromic view of mountains in all directions. It was quite awe-inspiring.

Finally, with our morning-hike exhaustion stil lingering, we decided to go back to the resort to rest up before dinner. We napped, showered and drove into Vail Village for our 8pm reservation at Restaurant Kelly Liken.

They had a prix fixe menu to go along with a weekly event they have called Sunday Summer Harvest. Apparently, Vail has the largest Farmer's Market in Colorado that runs from 9am - 3pm every Sunday. The chef and her staff use the produce and other ingredients that they pick up from the Market to develop the evening's dinner menu.

Justin and I started out with a cocktail - a glass of Viognier for me and a tomato consumme martini for him. Our first course consisted of a salad of field greens, thin red onion, grape tomatoes, radishes and a ginger vinaigrette. It reminded me of a house salad you might have at a sushi restaurant, but way more balanced and refined. For our main course, Justin had pork cheeks with a sweet corn puree and sauteed swiss chard. My dinner was a seared and pan fried black bass on a bed of julienned beans (they were green, but they weren't green beans) with yellow squash and a red beet hash. I finished my plate - that's all that needs to be said. With dinner, Justin had a glass of Cab Franc and I had a Syrah. Finally, a peach tart with a cannelle of fresh vanilla bean cream was served for dessert. We splurged a little and had a glass of ice wine to accompany our dessert - Delish!

We got back to our room by about 10:30pm, and I was ready to call it a night. Justin spent some time editing photos and joined me a few hours later. Another early start for tomorrow as we plan to travel down to swanky Aspen.

Oh, Mountains, How I Have Missed Thee...

Vacation has officially begun! Today, we made our way out to Colorado after a somewhat sleepless night. It was not so much the stress of traveling, but rather procrastination that led to about 4 hours of sleep.

When I got home from work on Friday, I watched a little TV, had a beer, cooked a simple meal, got my Ipod playlists ready to go...before we knew it, it was after 11pm by the time we started packing. Combine that with some choice movies broadcasting on AMC as we were getting everyting together, and it was about 2am by the time our heads finally hit the pillows.

Regardless of this fact, it's amazing how easily it is to get motivated when it comes to a vacation. We left our house this morning about 7:45am to head to Columbus for our $160(!) round trip flight with Southwest Airlines. I snagged a great deal thanks to my dad's tip-off!

Our flight went direct into Denver, CO and apparently the stars were aligned for us on this day. We left Cbus on time, and we actually arrived in Denver 30 minutes early! Of course, once we got our luggage from baggage claim and went to the rental care place, all of that "extra" time was washed away. From the time our flight landed at 11:30am to the time we left the aiport with our rental car, 2 more hours had passed.

So, with our excessive amount of luggage and our GMC Acadia SUV, we got on the road. We made a brief stop before officially exiting Denver-proper to grab some lunch at a Smashburger (what can I say, it's a guaranteed tasty, quick meal). Then, we continued on I-70 W into Rocky Mountain Country. I'm always amazed with these mountains because the landscape literally goes from relatively flat to an explosion of rocky terrain within a handful of miles.

By about 4:30pm, we reached our resort, the Sheraton Mountain Vista, in Avon, CO (just outside of Vail). Shortly after checking-in, my vacation-planning prowess was affirmed as we met with the resort concierge to go over the features of the area. I wouldn't quit my day-job by any means, but I'm pretty damn good. He was impressed with how educated I was about the area without ever having been here.

From there, we went to our room, quickly unpacked and relaxed for a few hours. I don't know why, but plane flights are exhausting! Finally, about 20 minutes after 7pm, we left for our dinner reservation at Vin 48 Restaurant and Wine Bar. It was literally about a 2 block walk to get there. Nice 'n' easy.

Both Justin and I had about 3 samplings of wine with dinner...those 3 oz. pours go down so easy! I had a Sauvignon Blanc, a Syrah and a Red Blend called "The Prisoner." Justin had a Carmenere, a Merlot and a Syrah. Our cuisine included a traditional Antipasti (olives, cheese, proscuitto, almonds, crostini, etc.) and a mussels appetizer. For dinner, I had a homemade spinach papperdelle pasta with mushrooms and Justin has a beef tenderloin with ratatouille and a shoestring potato pancake. We capped off the meal with a shot of espresso.

With renewed energy, we stopped at the Avon Liquor store on the way back to the hotel to pick up some beer and wine for the week. Then, we hopped in our SUV to head to the local grocery store. With the various day trips we are going to take this week, it's nice to be able to eat lunch on the road as well as having breakfast and snacking options.

So, that essentially concludes Day 1. We have some interesting hikes planned for tomorrow, so there will hopefully be some glorious pictures, wildlife and other interesting tidbits on the horizon.

Do a Little Turn...on the Catwalk Canyon

Our cell phone alarms were set to 4:30 am this morning, as there was no clock radio in our wigwam. As early as it seemed, it really didn't make much of a difference from our other mornings because Holbrook, AZ is actually on Pacific time during Daylight Savings. So, basically it was more like 5:30 am since we were on our way back to the Mountain time zone today, ultimately to end up at my parents' house in Las Cruces.

After taking some shots of our wigwam, we loaded up the car, hit up a McDonald's for a mcgriddle and latte, and got on the road by about 7 am (MST). The first 50 or so miles of the drive were fairly boring as we worked our way southward through Arizona. Then, once we hit the Apache National Forest, I got a chance to test my driving skills in curvy, mountainous terrain.

Around 10 am, we approached our first side activity for the day by way of a "ghost town" called Mogollon. The town was about 10 miles from the main highway, accessible only by a one lane road (not to mention that this one lane road was riddled with blind turns and sheer drop-offs the entire way). That was one thing I had not bargained for, but on the way to the town we did not pass one car.

When we got to the town, it was pretty quiet and ghostlike, as none of the little shops or museums were open. You could also tell that there were a few residents in the town, but all was quiet on this Monday morning. Justin took several pictures of the historic buildings such as the theater, general store and museum. I also saw a little gray kitty while I was walking around, but he was a bit to skittish to come out to see me.

Once Justin finished taking pics, we decided to move it a long to our next activity. On the way out, we passed three cars and safely made it back to highway 180 unscathed. Then, we drove about another 10 miles into the town of Glenwood and then out to the Catwalk/Whitewater Canyon area. The road obstacle adventure continued as we had to drive through water wash areas twice, as we made our way to the parking area. Luckily, the current was very light and very shallow...it was more fun than anything.

At the Catwalk Canyon, we decided to do the 1.1 mile trail that weaved it's way up, down and across the canyon multiple times as water rushed below. Even though parts of the trail were labeled as "difficult," it was nothing compared to the Canyon de Chelly trail from the day before. The only major difference is that it was both hot and sunny on this trail, so we were pretty darn sweaty by the end.

When we returned to our vehicle, Justin improvised with his pocket knife and made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Then, we were swiftly on the road again to continue our journey to Las Cruces. We made one more little side trip to the town of Pinos Altos around 2 pm, but a literal drive-by was sufficient as the historical elements were a little too kitschy for our tastes.

As the afternoon wore on, we both started to feel the race against the clock to get to Las Cruces by 5:30 pm to return our rental car. There was about a 30 mile stretch of road through the Gila National Forest that was so mountainous and curvy that there were road signs neither of us had ever seen before. Plus, it's kind of tough to make good time when you have to contest with 10 mph turns. But eventually, we crested our last hill in the range and descended towards Interstate 25 and 75 mph speed limits. We breezed through the last 60 miles of our drive and reached Las Cruces by 5:15 pm.

After dropping off our car, my dad picked us up and we made our way to Casa Palmier. The rest of the evening was spent eating delicious food such as homemade, fresh salsa, grilled potato slices with citrus aioli, grilled shrimp and Mexican corn salad PLUS drinking way to much wine and beer. It was also a cloudless evening, so the stars were in full force as we chilled out on the back patio. I counted at least 4 shooting stars before I basically got too inebriated to pay attention anymore. Eventually, I went to bed and somehow managed to brush my teeth and wash my face on autopilot. I guess it goes without saying that I let loose and enjoyed my first evening in Las Cruces - what are vacations for, right?

Sunrise, Canyons and Gas Fumes

Today began with an early start – our sunrise tour of Monument valley started at 5:30 am. Our fingers crossed, we rolled out of bed at 4:30 AM and saw our payers answered. The expansive clouds that covered the entire horizon last night were gone! Our sunrise would be clear and blue skies.

We left Gouldings Lodge and headed to the View Hotel inside the Navajo reservation that sits in Monument Valley. There in the lobby we met up with our guide Orville a local Navajo Indian. Soon we headed out to the parking lot and loaded up into the tour van. I rode shotgun and Lauren rode in the back with our fellow tourees a familiy from the French countryside just north of Paris. After leaving the hotel lot we immediately turned on to an unpaved (and super rough) dirt road that would take us in the heart of Monument Valley.

After driving over dirt moguls for what seemed like an eternity the sunrise was getting very close. Just as we started to question whether or not we were going to make our destination in time we made it to a field overlooking the Totem Pole formation. We jumped out of the van and headed to the brick red field below. I setup my tripod in the soft, rust colored soil and and started shooting. The view was breathtaking. As the morning sun started to rise the colors of the sky went from midnight black, to orange, and crystal blue. The sun rose directly between two formations giving me an incredible shot of the sun peeking through the rocks.

Our group jumped in the van and backtracked through the valley and visited several other monuments including Indian Head, Sleeping Dragon, Three Sisters, Castle Rock, King on Throne, and many others. Along the way we learned about the Navajo culture and Orville’s family. His family is one of 14 that live in the Valley itself. Throughout the day we passed a handful of residences within the Valley. Talk about having a nice backyard view! Eventually we found ourselves at the end of our tour about 2.5 hours later. We talked with Orville for a few more minutes and learned that one of the mesas near the entrance of the park is called Grey Whisker and is name for his great grandfather.

Leaving the reservation we headed back to our hotel to pack up and checkout. We stopped by the local gas station and grabbed some supplies and hit the road. Traveling south we left Monument Valley behind and headed to the town Chinle, AZ the home of Canyon de Chelly a National Monument. The Canyon is the ancient home of several native cultures over the last 5,000 years. Once we arrived we decided to hike a trail called the White House Trail which took us down to the bottom of the Canyon. I packed my camera backpack and Lauren strapped on her Camel Back water system and we hit the trail. The way down was pretty easy going featuring at least a dozen switchbacks as it descended the 600 feet to the canyon floor. The views, and the sheer rock faces on either side of the path, were incredible.

After about 40 minutes we reached the bottom of the canyon to find a few Navajo homes, a scenic river, and some ancient cliff face ruins. We took some pics, a few sips of water, and began the ascent back up the trail. The going on the way up was quite a bit more difficult. Especially given that I over packed my camera bag and had 40 pounds on my back. We finally made it out of the canyon and completed our 1.5 mile trek after a total of 1.5 hours. Grabbing some quick sandwiches we continued to explore the canyon stopping at several scenic overlooks.

We needed to cut our tour short and get on the road to our next destination the Petrified Forrest National Park a short 90 minutes away. Then we hit the wall. The hike in the canyon coupled with our 4:00 AM rise was too much for us to handle. We resorted to driving in shifts so we could each grab a quick 20 minute nap. We arrived at the Park at about 2:30 PM thanks to an odd section of Arizona on Pacific Standard Time. Our first stop was a short, easy hike that followed a ridge giving us panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We then hit Blue Mesa and Newspaper Rock. Newspaper Rock was a fascinating slab of sandstone with black sides that featured hundreds upon hundreds of petroglyphs. Our final noteworthy destination in the park was Crystal Forrest featuring petrified logs with quartz and amethyst crystals growing inside their hollow cores.

At this point we almost had an interesting event. Lauren had been driving for quite some time leading up to the park and was now driving us out of the park. After refusing to stop for gas at the beginning of the park she was now staring at an almost empty tank with no gas station in sight. With only fumes left in the tank we had to continue on to Holbrook, AZ where we would be staying the night. Twenty nervous minutes later we arrived at Holbrook and filled our tank lesson learned.

Our overnight stay was at an, shall we say, interesting hotel. In another fit of childhood wishes come true Lauren had booked us at the Wigwam motel. Our room was all of about 200 square feet and featured a bed, a super small bathroom and shower, and a 20 inch TV. We caught the first half of the Bengals vs. Cowboys preseason game (holy crap Bengals, learn how to get some points plz) and then headed to dinner. A few hours later we are now retiring to bed early for another early morning – we have a 350+ mile trek to Las Cruces, NM ahead of us on our next leg.

-Justin

Utah and the Valley of the Gods

I will be your storyteller for today's post. Lauren gladly gave me the reigns when I volunteered over dinner.

So this morning we checked out of our hotel in Santa Fe and picked up our rental car at the Santa Fe airport. We bid Rick and Darice goodbye and we were off on our way to our ultimate destination Monument Valley some 300 miles away. The weather was nice, at first, and we were making good time. Along the way we attempted to stop at a few "off the beaten path" type of places but had zero luck. Several were unmarked dirt roads that proved difficult to find and the others were behind "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire fences. We resigned ourselves to stay on the well traveled highways and pushed ahead.

Soon we reached the New Mexico border and crossed over into Arizona...then Utah...then Colorado...and back to New Mexico. No, we weren't driving around in circles we were stopped at the Four Corner's monument where CO, NM, UT, and AZ all come to a single point. I would like to add that this point happens to be within the Navajo lands so of course we had to make a $3.00 contribution per person to have the privileged. For some reason Lauren has a thing for this kind of tourist trap. After paying our dues and parking near some dilapidated buildings we hiked up the gravel path, past the Navajo jewelery booths and made it to the Four Corners - where we promptly stood in line to get a few photos. Lauren's experience as a world champion Twister player came in handy on the Four Corner's and she coexisted in 4 states at once.

Before I completely lost it we were again on our way. We continued North through a small slice of Colorado and were soon back on the road in Utah. Several hours from our destination it began to rain. The clouds poured in and soon the whole sky was a mottled gray. Ultimately we came upon Mexican Hat rock, an odd rock formation resembling a sombrero perched atop an impossibly small cliff. We tried our hand at a little off-roading and got a few decent shots of the hat. Little did we know this was but a warm up for our evening activities...

Turning back on to the main road we stopped for gas in Mexican Hat (the town). We crested a final bluff and there before us lay Monument valley. The road seemed to stretch on forever down into the valley and led right to the feet of the giant pedestals of red stone. We stopped for a few pictures - my favorite being one shot from the center of the road - and drove into Monument Valley. We had originally scheduled a sunset jeep tour of the valley but the clouds were not cooperating. Most of the formations were completely lost in the dense white billows of clouds. The rain just made matters worse.

We rescheduled our tour to the next morning for an ambitious sunrise excursion. And just like that we had our whole evening free. Our original tour was slated to last from 5:30 until 8:30 or so, but now we had nothing to do. And in a town as small as Monument Valley it's easy to get bored. So we opted to hit the road again. After we checked in and changed clothes we jumped back in the car and headed back south to the Valley of the Gods and we finally started to catch some luck. To the south, towards the Valley of the Gods, the clouds had started to break. We might catch some blue skies!

The Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. The stone outcroppings are the result of the same weathering but are smaller and packed into a denser concentration. The Valley itself can be accessed by a dirt road that loops through the park. On the very first turn of the road we began to question our choice. The afternoon rain storms had washed out a section of the road that traversed a dried river bed. The water was mostly gone, but deep ruts remained where fellow travelers had clearly struggled. Luckily the rain had stopped for about an hour and in such a dry climate that's all it takes. We splashed through a few small puddles, climbed over the river bed and continued on into the Valley.

Several hours and several hundred photos later we reached the half way point of the 18 mile loop. By this time the sun was starting to descend to the horizon. I wanted to stick around and see the sunset. After a few minutes I managed to convince Lauren. We found a nice ridge with a good view and waited. We were soon rewarded. Behind us a faint rainbow connected the horizon to one of the towering formations. What luck! After a few minutes the rainbow strengthened and a second rainbow formed alongside.

After waiting an eternity we decided to head back. The sun was still dipping down below the cliffs, but we had to get back to Monument Valley by 9:00 pm or else we would miss out on dinner at the lodge! Lauren put the pedal to metal and we plunged through the switchbacks and washouts. Along the way we stopped for a few photos of the dusky sky. The clouds were still present, but we found a few holes here and there. We made it back to the highway and had about 30 minutes to make it back to the lodge. Zooming down the road we had several close calls with feeding bats. They seemed to relish swooping into our path, narrowly missing certain doom every time.

We made it to the lodge restaurant at 8:58 pm and just barely made dinner. After some country fried steak and a delicious T-bone, we were stuffed. With depressing efficiency we set the alarms and wakeup calls for our 5:30 AM sunrise tour! Let's hope the Gods are with us in the morning!

- Justin

Leaving Our Mark in Santa Fe

This morning, we awoke around 6:45 am to embark on our one full day devoted to sites in and around Santa Fe. After grabbing some complimentary breakfast to go, my parents, Justin and I headed up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The really cool thing about the drive to this summit is that within about 5 minutes of leaving town, you are met with the complete package of mountainous terrain, aspen and pine-laden forests and plenty of S curves and hairpin turns along the road. We made a few stops on the way up to the ski area. The first one was a viewpoint looking down on Santa Fe and several other peaks in the distance. There was one particular peak that we vouched was at least 80 miles from where we were standing.

The next spot we stopped was purely to get a closer look at some of the aspen groves that are so prolific in this area. We hiked a random trail until we lost the sound of the main road (probably not quite 1/4 of a mile), and Justin took some early morning pictures of the trees with the bright, clear blue sky in the background.

Once we got to the Ski Basin, we basically just looped around the road and proceeded with our descent back into Santa Fe. We made one more brief stop-off at another vista. However, it didn't prove to be as interesting or scenic as our earlier stops.

When we reached downtown Santa Fe, we parked in a lot and headed to some of the popular tourist spots. First, we went to the Loretto Chapel with the famous floating spiral staircase. The chapel was quite small, but very impactful. It was probably one of the prettiest churches I've been to in quite some time...not that we step into churches very often. I'm very excited to see some of Justin's photos that he took at this location...they should be quite beautiful.

Next, we headed back to the plaza, where we had spent some time the previous evening. Of course during the day, there's a whole lot more hustle and bustle since all of the shops are open, including many street vendors. Across the street from the plaza was the Palace of the Governors where Native Americans had all of their handmade wares laid out on blankets. I saw some really cool copper bracelets, but I just didn't have the energy to wheel and deal on this particular day.

We continued on our way and went into a few shops as we made our way to our lunch spot called La Casa Sena. One of the stores I stopped in was called Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections. I picked up a half dozen truffles of varying flavors such as dark chocolate with cardamom center, white chocolate with rose hips, chocolate infused with black pepper, etc. So far, each one has been quite enjoyable. I'm sure we'll knock off what we didn't finish today by some point tomorrow.

So, by 11:30 am we were seated at our table in the courtyard of La Casa Sena. My mom and I treated ourselves to a glass of white wine with our lunch and we each order a different trout dish - hers was Ruby trout, mine was Rainbow trout. Both were very good, but a bit hefty of a meal for lunch. Justin and dad had varying burgers - dad's was organic beef and Justin's was antelope. I tried Justin's burger and it was actually very good. It wasn't gamy at all and was extremely lean and tender. One other highlight of the meal was the complimentary blue corn muffins, which were quite similar to a corn bread.

After lunch, we walked about a block to the St. Francis Basilica. It was much bigger than the other chapel and had some fantastic stained glass windows that were catching the midday sunlight beautifully. But, I definitely prefer the Loretto chapel over the Basilica any day. The thing about St. Francis that I probably got the biggest kick out of was that Stravinsky conducted about 3 concerts there in the 50's...and they were public, free concerts as well!

From the church, we walked about 5 more blocks to Canyon Rd., the art gallery hub of the city. The next couple of hours were spent trying to beat the afternoon heat, while dodging in and out of mostly unaffordable galleries. The one disappointment that I had was that we didn't really find one gallery that featured blown glass pieces, which I love. We did, however, come across a really cool gallery that featured aluminum, copper and stainless steel canvases that were painted with various scenes. The gallery was called Mark White Fine Art. Most of the pieces were 3-4 thousand dollars, but they of course, can work out interest-free payment plans to obtain the art. When we get home, we are definitely going to research the gallery some more and consider purchasing a piece.

Also, while we were walking along Canyon Rd., we made Justin take pictures of cool doors along the way - doors in turquoise and red and various degrees of distress. It's silly, maybe, but they could turn out to be some really cool pieces that can be combined into a set if we decide to print and frame them.

Finally around 3 pm, we had had enough and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. I crashed for a good hour or so before it was time to get ready for our dinner reservation at Luminaria. By about 6:10 pm, we arrived at the restaurant and were seated in their outside courtyard. As early as we ate, it actually turned out to be quite beneficial because we didn't have to deal with the dinner rush and crowds. It got crowded by the time we were finishing our meals.

So, what did we eat? First, they brought out a light pastry-wrapped beef wellington appetizer. Then, we each had a bowl of the restaurant's award-winning tortilla soup that they kept bragging about. It was very good, but I just love my good old McAlister's tortilla soup. For dinner, I had herbed pork tenderloin with a goat cheese polenta; Justin had beef tenderloin with a wild mushroom torte; mom had chile rubbed shrimp with pasta; and dad had chicken with mushroom, asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes. I think we all enjoyed our main courses, but the soup was so rich, none of us were able to finish our plates but Justin. Where there's a will, there's a way, right? For dessert (which was included with my parents' meal), they had a champagne soup with sorbet and fresh strawberries.

Following dinner, we went to another restaurant and piano bar a short drive away called Vanessie. The pianist on duty was named Charles, and he weaved his way through familiar broadway tunes, classical music, country and rock. After getting our drinks and getting settled, Justin and I got up and sang All I Ask of You from Phantom. Then, a short time later Justin sang Besame Mucho, and I sang Over the Rainbow. Justin, of course, really hammed it up with the ladies and actually serenaded one of the board members of the Santa Fe Opera.

Anyway, the experience was a lot of fun and was a nice nightcap to our evening as well as a great way to wrap-up our time in Santa Fe before we leave tomorrow. Next time we are in town, we'll probably visit Vanessie again.

We got back to the hotel about 10pm and proceeded to re-pack for our journey tomorrow to a landmark in Utah. More to come then!

Do you know the way to Sante Fe?

It's definitely been a long first day adjusting to the new time zone. This morning we flew out of STL right on time at 10:35 a.m. The flight was generally uneventful except from some initial turbulence due to some stormy weather in Missouri.

Around noon we arrived in Albuquerque and my parents met us at the baggage claim. By the time is was 12:30, we had managed to secure all of our luggage and leave the airport. The way we chose to make our way to Santa Fe on this particular day was via the Turquoise Trail. At first, it was fairly unimpressive as we made our way out away from the interstate. By about the time we got a good 10 miles in, the mountains, rocks and building afternoon storms made the drive quite interesting.

In Madrid, we stopped for lunch at a typical tourist spot called the Mine Shaft Tavern. I ambitiously ordered a burger with green chilies and pepper-jack cheese. I underestimated the heat of this dish and ended up eating very little. But, my Santa Fe Brewery IPA was good!

So, we continued the rest of the way through the scenic byway and eventually reached Santa Fe where we checked into our Fairfield Inn room. After freshening up, we headed out for an evening of drinks and apps.

First, we went to the Ore House right on the plaza for some guac and margaritas. Then, we walked to the Coyote Cantina and had more mixed drinks as well as tempura fried shrimp and duck quesadillas. Our third stop was the Bell Tower Bar at La Fonda hotel. This was the spot where we were able to catch a fantastic sunset after a somewhat stormy afternoon.

Finally, we went to the lounge at the Inn at the Loretto, which was quite relaxing. My mom and I sipped on a glass of Syrah, while Justina and my dad had beer. We also snacked on a tempura fried artichoke and mushroom dish with a fig aioli. Yum!

Finally, we got back to our hotel a bit after 10, and I'm typing this and just about falling asleep at the same time. Hopefully, we'll start to adjust to the time change a bit more by tomorrow night so this isn't as much of a chore! Good night!

Another Year, Another Vaca

Well, here we are on the eve of another vacation. Packing has been a gradual process over the last couple of days, but the excitement has been building over at least the last few months. So, where are we heading this year??

Beautiful New Mexico and Arizona...with a little smattering of Utah thrown in. That's all I can really say for now. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details because I want the reader to experience the great southwest along with me. The really unfortunate thing that I discovered as I was putting together our itinerary was that a week is just not nearly enough to see everything. However, we will have many more opportunities to go back in the future, as my parents now possess a residence in Las Cruces.

So, anyway, here's the deal so far. Tomorrow, we both have to put in a full day's work. I've got all of my projects pretty much together so that it should be an easy last day. But, every time I go into work with that attitude, the shit hits the fan. So, I'm apprehensive, to say the least.

Once we get off work, we will both reconvene at home, load up the car and drive to St. Louis. St. Louis, you ask? No, we are not driving to New Mexico. But, we are flying out of St. Louis on Thursday morning and will be returning there with my parents the following Friday to attend a friend's wedding (Mel) on Saturday. Genius planning on my part, right?

So, I have to say that I will fail in blogging tomorrow, as there will be absolutely nothing interesting to say between Cincinnati and St. Louis (I guess unless we hit some nasty weather on the way or something), but don't count on it.

I will continue, however, on Thursday as we will arrive in Albuquerque right around lunch time...and we'll see which direction we head from there.