Monday, June 04, 2012

Home again

Got home the day after Memorial Day, have been catching up on stuff since.

Had a good trip; even lost a few pounds walking around.

We went first to Moab, Utah, one of my favorite areas.
Spent a day there, then went to Durango, Colorado.
Next day we went to Santa Fe, also visited a couple of smaller towns in the surrounding area.
Stayed in Santa Fe until Sunday, drove to Moab that day.
Around noon Monday we started on the road home.

Some pictures of each leg of the trip below.  Click to enlarge.
In a few days I will also be uploading a lot of photos to my Flickr page, if anyone is interested.


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Moab

Mainly took some pictures; also stopped by the two wineries there and got some stuff to take home.

1. Some ocotillo near a lodge by the Colorado River.
2. A canoe on the Colorado River.
3. A shot of the river at sundown, with my back to the sun.
4. Someone's dwelling on the Kane Creek Road alongside the east side of the Colorado River.  There were several of  these; some had houses built against the mountain and had hollowed out into the rock.  I wonder if they are part of a survivalist group?
5 through 10, Some petroglyphs along the river, probably done by Fremont Indians.












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No shots at Durango, we weren't there long enough to do more than eat dinner (some fairly decent barbecue), sleep, and go on our way.

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Santa Fe

Did a lot of walking around Santa Fe, and hit a few museums.  Many of them don't allow pictures, so we only have a few.
Went to a few good restaurants; we managed to get to some that Labrat put on a list for us.  Los Potrillos had some excellent Mexican food, and The Pink Adobe  served me a good steak with a bit of green chiles on top.  The Anasazi Restaurant served me an excellent duck breast, with plantain purée, sautéed onions,  and a tomatillo and orange gastrique.  For breakfasts, we favored the Tecolote Cafe, as we have in the past.
Most of our photos were around the large church there, the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica.
Though I am not religious, I find old churches interesting.  The church was built in the 1800's, around a chapel that was built by the Spanish in 1625.  They have a statue of Mary in there that was brought over from Spain in the same year, and is still in the old chapel part of the church.


I did get some photos at an art gallery of cultures that allowed photos, but no flash.  One of the pictures is below.





We saw some interesting old stuff in the Madrid area, south of  Santa Fe.  There were old mines out there, and a lot of interesting stuff left.

1. Old dentist chair and equipment.
2. Train used at the mine.
3. Some old equipment. 





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Back in Moab, we caught sight of this odd vehicle.  At first it looks like a three-wheel motorcycle, but when you get close and see the engine, it is an eight cylinder car engine.  The lighting was odd, so it didn't turn out very clear.





A trip to Moab wouldn't be the same without a short drive down the Potash Road right outside of Moab.  It goes along the west side of the Colorado and will lead you into the back country if you take it far enough after it changes from paved to dirt road.  These two shots are from a section that gets a lot of mountain climbers who are first learning.  On the bottom picture you can see a light colored vehicle with a couple of climbers getting ready to set out.  The dark vehicle is mine, with my wife standing next to it.

The third picture is from a couple of years ago, to show you what it is like.






































 Went by Ken's Lake just south of Moab, saw this big raven looking over his domain (the area is full of them).




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"Question" by The Moody Blues
"Dirty Water" by The Standells
"I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra
"Domino" by Van Morrison
"Hell in a Bucket" by The Grateful Dead
"Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones
"White Room" by Cream
"Dominique" by The Singing Nun
"The Wayward Wind" by Frankie Laine
"Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles








13 comments:

Kenny said...

great pictures and my mom loved the singing nuns.

James Higham said...

Hey, those cave paintings were really something!

BobG said...

Kenny: not too many of us who remember that tune.
James: they are actually petroglyphs, which are carved rather than painted. They are out in the open on the base of a sandstone mountain. I'm afraid we don't have any cave paintings in Utah.

Comrade Misfit said...

Those machines appear to be Edison dictaphones, probably 100 or so years old.

BobG said...

Comrade Misfit: the office also had a lot of interesting old stuff like typewriters and an old telephone switchboard. I have more pictures at my Flickr site.

Unknown said...
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Mike W. said...

Great pictures Bob!

BobG said...

Mike W: thanks for dropping by, there are more photos (old and new) at my Flickr site if you're interested.

meleah rebeccah said...

Welcome home!

And wowzah! These photos are totes amazeballs.

Irish said...

Great Pictures...Glad you had a good trip :)

BobG said...

Meleah: glad you like the photos, and good hearing from you.

Pissed: we had a good trip, got to see some interesting stuff.

Karen said...

What an awesome trip! I loved all the photos, filled with so much history. I enjoyed each one and felt as if I were there. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

Karen said...

What an awesome trip! I loved all the photos, filled with so much history. I enjoyed each one and felt as if I were there. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!