My sister, Jill, and her boyfriend, Bill, came up to stay with me for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was really nice to be able to spend some time with them while we all had the time to do it. They pulled in Tuesday night and Jill brought me a few boxes of stuff of Mom's ... stuff she had narrowed down from the 30 boxes or so we had in storage. One of the many little treasures in there is a photo of my mom on her wedding day. If you've never seen old photos of my mom, she was one of the most beautiful people in the world. I have the perfect frame for the photo and I can't wait to hang it in the living room.
Anyway, Wednesday we didn't end up doing much. We visited with Dean and Brooke, and Bill helped me with a ton of hay when it got delivered. He also replaced a few of the electrical outlets with three-prong outlets (yes, this house is that old) and figured out how to hook up his computer to my t.v. so we could get caught up on the new season of Dexter. Dexter rocks. Wednesday night, we went and hung out at Caba's for a while and had a few drinks. Came home and crashed early.
Thursday was spent, for the most part, over at Jaenne's house cooking, etc. (Well, not me. Jaenne and Jill did an awesome job on dinner -- two ham roasts from the previous pigs I had, and one of the best prime rib roasts I've had in a long time!) Thank you, Jaenne, for hosting ... and all your hard work! It made for a very nice day ... a day that always has the potential to be much much worse. If I could get rid of a holiday ... any holiday ... Thanksgiving would definitely be it.
Friday, I took Jill and Bill on a road trip through the Owyhees. It was rather chilly and the wind was whipping, but we managed to see some ... um ... sights. LOL!
Starting out in Murphy. We swung by the courthouse. If you've never heard the story about the Lone Parking Meter in Murphy, it's a kick. Here's a couple of photos of the meter from the other day.
From there, we headed to Oreana ... a place that is hardly big enough to call a "town" ... but I've heard a lot about it, so I had to go check it out. My neighbor Dean's friend did a lot of the stone repair work on the little church in Oreana, so I had to see it. What beautiful work!
Continuing down the road, we stopped at the Black Sands Resort past Grandview. The resort wasn't open, but I still captured a few shots of the area itself. This is probably real pretty in the summer.
I saw a few ducks hanging out, and momentarily wondered if the black one was the Cayuga that recently flew away from my place.
Hmmm ... You know what they say about looking and quacking like a duck. Might be!
Here's a cute shot of Jill and Bill.
Finally, we ended up in Bruneau. There is a bar in Bruneau that my neighbor kept telling me about, so I had to stop in and see it for myself. What a cool place!
The goat-roping arena~!
The brands on the walls were really cool. The owner told me they had a big branding party, and everyone brought their branding irons and put their brands all over the walls and on the bar, etc.
Even the bathrooms were adorable!
The bar itself is very unique. The owner mentioned how they really tried to keep the history intact, so all they really did to the bar was put a new top on it.
Some cool bottles...
The best part of the bar, for me, though was the people. Found some information out about the area that I don't think I would have otherwise run across. Very cool stuff! And good drinks, too!
And our final destination was Bruneau Canyon. I haven't been there in years, but it hasn't changed much. Hahaha. It was very very windy and made it quite chilly. We didn't hang out long, but enjoyed the view for a few minutes anyway.
I think Jill's hair explains it all.
Saturday, we didn't do much ... just kind of putzed around. Took Bill to Cleo's ... everyone that visits me, at some point, has to do the Cleo's walk. It's just ... original. Went back to Marsing for a few drinks, then later met up with Justin for dinner. Jill and Bill left this morning. I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all! :-)
Kahlua update. She is lovely. What a nice, calm, gentle horse. And patient. On Thanksgiving, I tacked her up to see how my saddle fit her. Since I had her saddled, I figured I might as well hop on her. So I rode her around in my little arena for a few minutes. I made a million tack mistakes, but that was to be expected. The latigo is pretty well brand new and I have a hard time getting it as tight as it needs to be. Can't wait till that smooths out a bit. But all is well. She's getting to know and trust me, and figure out that I'm an idiot, but a pretty harmless one.
At the risk of making myself look like a slob, I thought I'd share my experience with you this morning.
There was a really annoying squeak going on. Yes, a mouse. It kept popping out from my floor heater and popping back in. So I enticed it some. I'd tell you to ignore the gigantic pile of dog hair, but it plays a part.
I figured out two things.
1. Vans should get into the exterminator business.
2. I have no patience.
And for anyone who would like to see a real close-up of the end result, I will post the link. Be forewarned ... yes, it's just a little mouse ... but it even grossed ME out when I enlarged the photo! Have fun! Click HERE to see it.
So much to do~! I love winter ... and it is rolling in quick! Lots of paperwork to handle. Putting the trailer back together and moving it out of my driveway. Getting my hay area ready to bring in the hay. Fixing fencing. Raking leaves ... and more leaves ... and more ... leaves. Gonna ask the sheep to help me with some of those. Have a ton of photos to edit from the puppy get-together the other day. Fun to see all the pups growing up. Glad most of them are pretty local.
Colleen was down for a visit. We didn't do much, but it's always nice to see her and spent time just shootin' the shit with her, having a beer, whatever.
Dierks Bentley concert tomorrow ... that should be fun!
Fun fun fun weekend coming up! This is going to be a very long week.
K ... I haven't blogged in a while. It's getting harder to sit at the computer. I've been getting headaches almost daily now, so I went to the eye doctor and have a pair of glasses on order. The corrections are pretty minor, in fact my vision is still 20/20, but I sure hope it is eye strain causing these headaches.
Jammer and Reese are glad it's cold out. They both love eating the little wood pellets that inevitably drop out of the bag when I am pouring them in the hopper of the stove. *crunch, crunch* Yuck. I don't get it.
I got sick of looking at my living room with the ridiculous attempt at curtains and the glorified computer monitor as a t.v. screen, not to mention the lumpy futon mattress on the squeaky frame. I also got tired of seeing those 7 Wonders of Idaho posters. While those are nice ... I have tons of photos I have done nothing with but post on my blog where 2 people look at them. So ... I changed things around.
The couch is a microfiber sofa bed. The sofa bed part is brand new, in the wrapper even. There is a little wear on the couch, but for the most part, it's quite comfortable. The curtains are Walmart specials, which beat the hell out of the other ones I had. Had Walmart also print a bunch of my photos and threw them into the gazillion frames I had sitting around the house. The little frame on the table (notice I now have the complete matching set of tables ... coffee table and two end tables! ... thank you, Phyllis!) is my brother's obituary out of the New York Times. I miss him like nothing else. I can't believe I'll never hear him laugh again. One thing him and my mom shared were great laughs. Their laughs alone made you laugh.
As you can see, I'm not quite done with the room, but here's my new t.v.! The last large t.v. I had was a tube, and it landed on the floor from the infamous, drunken Last Stand with the ex-husband and was never the same again.
I am still looking for a horse. It's amazing the crap people are getting rid of. "Yeah, he's broke. He bucks sometimes, but you usually can stay on him." Ummm ... no. "Oh yeah, he has tons of miles on him, but I haven't ridden him in two years so he might be a little feisty." Ummm ... no. "Yeah, that's a crack in his hoof ... he might need a shoe-ing." Um, ya think???? "I didn't realize that there was no protein in this hay, so he lost a few pounds, but we're fixing that now." Ummm ... if you consider several hundred to be "a few." Good grief!
Took my saddle to my trainer's dad (he's a local saddle maker). He's putting the breast collar rings on the front, turning the stirrups, and shortening up the stirrups for me. It'll be nice when he's done, I'm sure. I also bought a nice saddle pad from him. (I put a foam pad in between the layers which is why it's not laying flat here...)
... and I also bought a new headstall from him also. It matches the breast collar I'll eventually be buying.
So Mark whisked me away to Denver last weekend to just hang out. It was a blast! Last Wednesday, though, Denver got a foot of snow. And today, they got more. But over the weekend, much of the snow had melted and the temps were about 60 or 65 degrees, clear blue skies, and absolutely gorgeous!
We got into Denver about 7:00 p.m., and then Mark drove us around in what was the first of many circles before landing us at the hotel we would be staying at. [ducking and running...] We had dinner at the steakhouse right next to the hotel (Lone Star) and it was awesome! We walked back over to the hotel, watched some t.v. and crashed pretty early. Woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday, and off we went! We were having breakfast by about 6:30 a.m. or so ... maybe 7:00 or something. A very cool thing happened.
We were driving up one of the main road in that part of town, and we passed ... a diner! I said to Mark, "Hey check it out ... a diner. You usually only see those in Jersey." So he said, "Wanna go?" And, with that, he turned around and we went to Davies Chuck Wagon Diner.
Ok, so that's awesome. We get in there, and are looking over the menus (I'm now going blind and need glasses for everything...) and Mark points out the "history" part of the menu to me. Here's what it says:
Diners: For Decent Food At Modest Prices
Besides aging into a classic Colfax store, The Chuck Wagon Diner may well be one of the West's few representatives on an American tradition.
In 1957, this fully equipped diner was bought from a New Jersey manufacturer. The diner, weighing 46 tons, was shipped to Colorado by rail and placed on its present basement foundation. Because of its great weight, it may be as far west as you will find a diner.
These prefabricated diners, having evolved from the horse-drawn trolley cars, turned restaurants, are indigenous to the northeastern states. In 1950, there were an estimated 6,000 of these diners in existence. Now there are only about half that number and "shrinking at a clip."
In 1997, the National Historic Society inducted Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner into the National Historical Registry.
We, here at the Chuck Wagon Diner, greatly appreciate your business. We will strive to make your experience with us a pleasurable one -- one that you'll want to return to.
And return we did ... Sunday morning.
This, to me, was a kick in the pants! I was so wishing my brother was alive at the very moment I read this. My brother and I were supposed to meet in Denver (him flying in from Jersey and me from Idaho) at the end of September to go watch the Rockies play. We could have ended up at the Davies' Diner ... and how ironic that would have been! He would have loved seeing this!
Anyway, I ended up buying t-shirts and getting some post cards and such. Mark said I was grinning from ear to ear.
From there, we headed to Golden. What a cute town!
I loved this sculpture. The detail was incredible!
Stupid thing ... I didn't take any photos of the Coors brewery! Duh! And, because Mark has a very large storage space in his head for useless information, he told me about the history of Coors and the can. I've cheated, and took it from Wiki, but here's the info, which I found quite interesting:
"In 1959, Coors became the first American brewer to use an all-aluminum two-piece beverage can. Coors currently operates the largest aluminum can producing plant, known as the Rocky Mountain Metal Container (RMMC), in the world in Golden, Colorado. RMMC is a joint venture between Ball Metal and Coors, having been founded in 2003."
From there, we headed up Lookout Mountain to the grave site of Buffalo Bill. On the way up, we encountered the first of many deer, who could absolutely care less that we pulled up right next to them.
It was still very early in the morning, the air was crisp, and it was not as clear out as it would turn out to be later in the day. But here are some photos of the grave site, all the same.
On our way over to Red Rocks, we came up on this "preserve" of some sort. I loved the iron work on this railing.
And these lamps.
On our way back down the hill, we saw this house off in the distance.
Made me think of ...
I would have loved to have gotten a tour of that house.
Then on to Red Rocks. I have wanted to see this place since I was real young, and my sister used to bring back the photos from the Dead shows she used to go to here. It's as amazing as I always imagined.
Yes, those are actually people running up and down those stairs. Now remember ... this is at an elevation of 6200 feet. Just thinking about walking on a flat surface got me winded.
We headed down to the gift shop ... very cool.
They had all of the bands who have performed there listed right on the walls. It was fun looking at that.
And other cool stuff on the walls. Jill, this one's for you.
And now ... it's only like 10:30 in the morning! We have the whole day ahead of us! And off we go!
At my sister's suggestion, we headed to the little town of Morrison. What a cute town!
These people were standing on a corner ... looks like they were waiting for some friends to park so they could all head to some sort of costume party, and they were kind enough to let me photograph them. This photo looks like it's against a fake background. Fall bokeh. I love it.
From there, we headed west, through Idledale and Kittredge and into a town called Evergreen. It was all so picturesque! This was another little town with cool little shops everywhere.
I loved all of the water running through the towns. And the bridges. Can ya tell? We found a cool place to have some lunch and then headed back to Denver. Did some shopping, and then we were coming through Littleton, a town Mark lived in for a while. He asked me if I wanted to see Columbine High. Why not? So after driving around in a few circles (yup ... more circles), we found it.
I was very happy to see the kids trick or treating here, as it was a sign of healing.
One thing I noticed in Denver are these really cool bridges. If you notice, there's no center pillar, so instead, they do that arc thing with the supports. These bridges look really cool with a sunset behind them, and they themselves are silhouetted.
We got back to the west part of town, and Mark drove us through some residential areas he was familiar with (and conveniently around in more circles!), and much to my delight, the neighborhood was just covered in deer!
Who has a photo of a deer with Halloween decorations behind its head????
That night, Mark took me to Casa Bonita. What a fun place! Sitting there having dinner, while a mariachi band plays, short pirate-type skits and cliff diving right there in the restaurant! Lots of activities for the kids, and great food! Again, Mark and I went back to the hotel just stuffed.
Sunday morning, we got up and went and had breakfast back at the diner. Again, it was yummy!
We took off and headed up through Boulder and into Estes Park. A cool bridge on the way.
See the big white building with the red roof?
That's the Stanley Hotel. It's where The Shining was filmed, and also parts of Dumb & Dumber.
An amazing place!
From there, we headed up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way, we see this awesome creature ... who could care less about us.
More about this later.
Some of the roads were closed in the mountains, so we drove on the ones we could. The views were spectacular, and try as I might, there is no way for me to capture in a photo the way it makes you feel when you're out there. "Majestic" is putting it lightly.
What you don't see in these photos is that ... the higher we went ... the harder the wind whipped! In the photo below, you can see where the wind is blowing the "snow" off the mountain. At this point, that was almost more like ice and felt like rocks hitting your face.
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! We headed back down the mountain. Right around the area that we saw the bull elk in on the way up, we see this. The longer you look, the more elk you see.
So we drop back down into Estes Park and shopped around a bit. It was here that I found my kokopelli earrings, finally! In talking to the woman at the counter, she tells us what a nuisance the elk are when they come into town, and by golly, they were in town the day before and just walking around, getting in the way of traffic, etc. Apparently, the Denver area has its fair share of tree-huggers, so hunting is a bit ... um ... scarce as opposed to other parts of the country. Anyway, as we were walking around, sure enough, elk poop ... trails of it. You could see where they came in and where they left. Too funny. She told us that occasionally there are also moose that walk through town. Now that I'd like to see!
Mark took a different route back down to Denver, heading for the airport. What a gorgeous drive!
Everyone who knows me knows I love Japanese food. This was kinda funny.
And here's something I found rather ironic.
On Dog Chow? Ha!
Mark, thank you thank you thank you for another awesome trip!
