2 Girls and a Dog

May 7^th – May 10^th, 2026

OK, so southern Utah is rich with breathtaking beauty and five National Parks all within a few hours’ drive of each other.  The five parks in Utah are some of the most visited National Parks in the country, partly because of their sweeping majestic beauty but also because you can pretty comfortably see all five of them in a week.  But first, a geography lesson, don’t worry, we promise it won’t be too long or boring.

The geology of southern Utah was formed over hundreds of millions of years through a cycle of deposition, tectonic uplift and intense erosion.  Ancient seas, rivers and deserts deposited vast sediment layers which were later lifted by tectonic forces to form the Colorado Plateau.  The sediment layers under pressure, became limestone, sandstone and other sedimentary rocks.  These layers were sculpted by water, ice and wind into the canyons, arches and hoodoos (tall, thin spires of rocks).  Now we won’t have to describe how all the shapes, canyons and other incredible sights formed.  All of them come from the process we described above. 

I’m not as old as dirt. This dirt is really old. Mommies are as old as…..

Eddie! Be nice.

Back to Mesa Verde – we’ve posted a picture of the storm clouds that convinced us to save Mesa Verde for another trip and another day and a couple of pictures from inside the warm and safe Mesa Verde visitor’s center. 

After leaving Mesa Verde, we headed for Moab, Utah and Under Canvas for our “glamping” experience.  Below are pictures of us in front of our tent.  As you can see, it’s not exactly roughing it.  The other two pictures are of our view.  Not too shabby, huh?

The next day was all about Canyonlands NP, so we took off in the morning with Eddie in tow to explore the first of our Mighty Five NPs.  The first thing to know if that Canyonlands is HUGE!  In fact, it’s divided into three districts, the Needles, the Maze,  and Island in the Sky.  The Rivers makes a fourth section.  We only explored Island in the Sky as it is the most accessible and was the closest to where we were staying.  We must now tell you one of our secrets to exploring national parks.  It’s an app called GuideAlong and it is fantastic in that it provides GPS-driven audio tours for road trips and national parks.  The narrator has a wonderfully calming voice and tells you all you need to know for your road trip.  We won’t go on and on about the app, but if you love road trips and national parks like we do, it is a must have.  It’s also not very expensive and we’ve saved hundreds of dollars by not needing guided tours.  We sometimes still do them, but much less often since we downloaded GuideAlong.

It’s a little bit weird having some voice guy in the car. He has a smooth voice which is more than I can say for some of these roads moms go on.

GuideAlong directed us to the Island in the Sky portion of the park and off we went.  As the name indicates, we were driving on a plateau and looking down into vast canyons.  It is nearly a literal island as the only access by car (horse, wagon, etc) is by way of a very, very narrow neck. It’s only 100 to 300 yards wide.

The layers of sedimentary rocks are beautiful colors, and each layer has a different name which we won’t bore you with – just know, that the lower the layer goes, the further back in time you are.  A few words about the Navajo Sandstone – it is usually the top layer and is a lot of the red rock people envision when they think of this area of the country.

We had an amazing day driving from one stunning overlook to another.  As opposed to going on and on, we’ll post a couple of pictures below.

After we explored Canyonlands, we drove into Moab and once again grabbed a bite to eat at The Spoke on Central.  Eddie was happy to be out and about, and we were happy to get some grub.  A couple of words about Moab itself.  Under Canvas is about 20 minutes from the town of Moab so we were only there when we wanted something other than protein bars to eat.  It is a very cute town, full of tourists and businesses catering to tourists.  It’s also one of the only “blue dots” in Utah so we felt right at home.  Besides exploring the national parks, people come to Moab to rock climb, do zip and slack lines, base jump and it’s a big off-roading area.  But what it is really known for is mountain biking.  There is an area called “The Whole Enchilada” that consists of 100 different mountain bike trails (that last bit is just for you, Josh).  We may visit this area again and actually stay in Moab for a few days.

I had fun. The road was nice and I had fun at lunch. People like me and stop to pet me. I didn’t see any blue dot. Maybe I just can’t see blue.

We mentioned we don’t go on guided tours as much since we found GuideAlong but we did decide to do a guided tour for Arches National Park.  The only problem is that we couldn’t leave Eddie in the tent at Under Canvas (too hot and not allowed) so we had to find a day care for her.  We found National Bark (ha!) Daycare and Katie, the owner, agreed to meet us at the take off point for our Arches tour to pick up Eddie. 

I thought I was going on a tour. I was there and then, all of a sudden, moms found a stranger and just handed me off. I knew this would happen one day. This lady has a lot of giant dogs. I stayed in her office with the air conditioning. Eventually the moms found me. Whew!

The tour was in a van that could be open air when necessary and also closed for comfort.  Our main tour guide was Sean Paul and he was wonderful!  His knowledge of Arches NP was vast, and he must be an amateur botanist because he was able to tell us the names of the roadside flowering plants and all the other vegetation.  He was training a young woman named Carlie, so she rode along with us on the tour.  We got to talking with her (as we are wont to do) and learned she was trained as an aerialist!  See what we mean about Moab?  It not every day you meet an aerialist, but apparently you do in Moab.   It was such an informative and fun trip and we loved it.  On the tour, we saw amazing arches and hoodoos and we met a mated pair of ravens named Edgar and Midnight.  Edgar and Sean Paul were friendly, and Edgar flew over to us as soon as we parked to ask for food and water.  Sean Paul threw ice out to Edgar but this day, Edgar was looking for chips.  We’re sure some of the people on our tour accommodated him.  Sandy and I climbed up to an overlook and got a great view of the surrounding area.  Truely, the biggest challenge for this part of the blog is choosing from the dozens and dozens of pictures we took of every park we visited.  We picked some out and will post them below, but really no picture or pictures do justice to these incredible landscapes.  Brother David may want to pay particular attention to the last picture; it’s just for him.  Exfoliating rock.  Hmmm.

I like chips, too.

After the tour, Sandy and I decided to grab a quick bite before we picked up Eddie and went to a local Mexican restaurant recommended by Sean Paul.  The food was really good…true it wasn’t New Mexican, but it was still very tasty. 

Did I mention I like chips?

The next day was our last at Under Canvas and we used it as a “catch up” day.  Something we learned from our first 30+ day road trip is that every week to 10 days, we need a day to reorganize, write postcards, catch up on the blog and the like so we include “down days” in our schedule.  We had no WiFi at Under Canvas, so there was no posting for the blog, but we organized our notes and discussed what we wanted to include in our next post. 

I still smell like Smokey the Bear.

We left Moab and headed to an overnight at a geodesic dome on the way to Cedar City and then Washington, Utah (just outside of St. George).  However, as we were driving and Michelle was reviewing the access instructions, she realized the dome did not have an indoor bathroom.  Good safety tip – always closely read the descriptions when you book VRBOs or Abnbs.  Neither of us were interested in going outside to use the bathroom in the middle of the night so we decided to go on to Cedar City and stay there until we departed for St. George. 

With our evening accommodations taken care of (indoor bathroom), we headed to Capital Reef NP.  Capital Reef doesn’t get a lot of respect and is considered the lesser of the five Utah NPs, but we really liked it.  In fact, we loved it!  We loved the petroglyphs at newspaper rock and as with all the Utah NPs, the layers of rocks are fascinating.  It’s especially fascinating to think about sand dunes becoming petrified and eventually turning into rock, specifically Navajo sandstone. 

I liked it too. There were lots of colors. And I wasn’t dumped anywhere.

Capitol Reef is really so wonderful but the WiFI is giving up the ghost so we can’t add more pictures. Perhaps the WiFi will be better in our next city. In the meantime, we encourage all of you to plan a trip to see all these amazing National Parks.

We left the park and headed for Cedar City.  We remembered sister Laura talking about Cedar City and the Shakespeare festival and sure enough, right at the city limits, there was the town boundary marker that prominently featured the festival!  We found a cute place on the main drag called “The Pub” that allowed dogs in their “parklet”.  The food was very inventive and tasty.  Michelle had a poblano bacon grilled cheese sandwich that was delish!  And, Eddie, as usual enjoyed her “martini”. 

I do love my martinis. And I still smell like Smokey the Bear.

We’ll share our impressions of Bryce and Zion the last two of Utah’s Mighty Five in our next blog.

May 4th – May 6th, 2026

Our journey to Farmington was uneventful and we enjoyed the ride.  We were hungry by the time we arrived, so we searched for a dog friendly restaurant and found Porter’s Steakhouse.  After calling to ensure the patio was open, we found the restaurant and realized they opened the patio just for us.  One thing about traveling this country, we find kindness and people who love dogs pretty much wherever we go.  We’ve lost count of the number of times restaurants have gone out of their way so we can eat with Eddie.  The food was great – especially the hatch smash burger.  One more opportunity to get our green chile fix. 

It was nice of them, but there wasn’t anyone else there to pay attention to me.  BOOORING!!!!

Eddie, that’s rude.

But true.

When we finished, it was about an hour before our check-in time, so we drove by Sandy’s old grandparents’ house.  (Both her mom and grandmother were born in Farmington.)  Her grandparent’s home was a converted garage…they always intended to build a house on the adjoining lot they owned.  It never happened.  By the way, the converted garage looks the same, according to Sandy.  She’s not even sure the yard has been groomed since they were there.  We also did a drive by the road named after one of her relatives, Troy King Road.  Troy is in the Cowboy Hall of Fame. 

Fine, fine.  How about a new home for us?

After the nostalgic tour, we reached out to our host, and she agreed to let us access the VRBO early.  Again, the kindness of strangers…Our VRBO was very spartan in terms of décor (like no decor at all, including no throw pillows on the couch) but it contained everything we needed.  They provided bottled water, snacks and a Starbucks gift card so we were perfectly happy.  We needed the washer and dryer since we’re certain there won’t be a place to do our laundry in Moab at the Under Canvas campground. 

I like this place.  There is a big yard for me and I saw a Lizard!   It’s working for me.

The next morning our plan was to visit Chaco Canyon without Eddie, so we took off with, what turned out to be, unwarranted confidence.  On the way, it started to rain and continued to rain all the way to where we were directed by our GPS to turn onto a dirt road.  Hmmm, we were a bit concerned when our GPS indicated we would be on this barely one lane rough dirt road for 19 miles.  Within five miles the concern turned into alarm as the clay-based dirt quickly turned into a slip and slide.  Imagine if you will, a 4500-pound vehicle trying to navigate through a surface as slick as clay on a potter’s wheel.  We quickly realized we were never going to make it to Chaco Canyon and were much more likely to end up in one of the ditches on this lonely road.  Thank goodness Sandy has driven through pouring rain, sleet and snow in the many places she and we have lived, because she was masterful in executing a 20-point Y turn to get us turned around aimed back towards the highway and solid ground.  Then, of course, she had to drive us back the five miles to the highway without us ending up in a ditch and being towed out.  It’s hard to describe how many lighting fast corrections she had to make to stay on the road and out of the ditch.  It was probably 20 minutes in, and 30 to 40 minutes out (or maybe it just felt that long) with us questioning our life choices all the way.  A second thank goodness is that a truck came slipping and sliding behind us so if we didn’t make it out and he did, he could send someone to rescue us.  Oh yeah, just to add to the fun, there was no cell service at all.  But we made it back to the asphalt and with great relief, headed back to Farmington kicking mud from beneath the car for miles.  We even had to be cautious for the first few miles because there was so much clay mud on our tires that they still had very little traction. 

Having survived our slip and slide adventure, we decided we needed food, so we went back to the VRBO and picked up Eddie. But first we needed to rid ourselves of at least some of the mud we carried back to Farmington.  To that end, we found the Monkey Shine Car Wash.  It was a tunnel car wash, so we asked the gentleman who checked us in, what wash level he recommended.  He looked at our car and asked if we had been off-roading.  Yes, but not on purpose, we replied.  At the station where you enter the tunnel where the person there usually spends about a minute spraying the front of your car down, this wonderful young man sprayed blasted the car all around for at least ten minutes! Needless to say, we tipped very well!  Even with all their efforts, we later discovered still more mud on the car.  We’ll find another car wash and try to get the rest off in Moab.

Drama, drama.  If you had just taken me, you wouldn’t have had any problems.  Karma.

Eddie, what?

We then went to a place called The Chile Pod that was highly rated in Trip Advisor, Yelp and Google.  All the praise was justified, because the food was incredible!  Sandy had carne adovada enchiladas and Michelle had huevos rancheros, both with (wonderfully hot) green chile.  AMAZING!  We knew it was probably our last opportunity to get New Mexican food, and we were so glad it met our very high standards.

I had really good chips, even though I had to do tricks to get them. People watched.

The next morning, we packed up and were on the road to Moab by way of Mesa Verde by 8:30 AM.  We arrived at Mesa Verde at about 10:30 and stopped at the visitor center.  It was quite cool, about 50 degrees and cloudy and windy so we were able to leave Eddie in the car with no problem.  And, unlike when we leave her in her crate, she doesn’t seem to mind it at all and just snuggles down into her bed and naps until we return.  We headed into the National Park with the intention of seeing the cliff dwellings but once again the weather had other ideas.  Not long into our journey, it started to snow.  We looked at each other and decided after our experience trying to get the Chaco, that going deeper into the park was just not in the cards.  However, the drive to Mesa Verde and the subsequent drive to Moab, were breathtakingly beautiful.  We went from the farmlands of Farmington to the rolling hills of southeastern Utah to the incredibly beautiful red rocks surrounding Moab.  Once we were away from the storm, shadow clouds waved across the road the entire trip.  We stopped and took pictures at Wilson Arch which is a monolithic piece of deep red sandstone shaped, as one would guess, in an arch.  We’ll include a picture as words don’t really do it justice.  When we arrived in Moab, we looked up dog friendly places and found the strangely named “The Spoke on the Central”.  The food was great and we got to see a bit of Moab.  Afterwards we drove to the Under Canvas campground and checked in.  McKenna gave us a tour of the campground and took us up to our canvas home for the next four days.  This is an interesting mixture of camping and glamping.  We have our own bathroom, including a shower and sink but no electricity other than a couple of power bricks to charge our phones and computers.  The tent is heated with a vented wood burning stove and we have a king size bed.  But, no hair dryers, no TV and no sounds other than the wind and the occasional golf cart passing by that the staffers use to get around the campground.  Tomorrow, we venture into Canyonlands National Park and we have high hopes we will actually get to explore it!

I smell like Smokey the Bear on a bad day.

May 1 – May 3^rd, 2026

Ah, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the City Different.  Sandy and I both love Santa Fe so much.  We took off from Roswell and headed north.  We arrived in Santa Fe a few hours before we were due to check into our VRBO so we took the time to get Sandy’s iphone screen protector replaced (it was cracked) at the local Best Buy and then drove to the Hovey House where we were staying.  The house was built for Hovey K. Thomas who established the first English language newspaper in Santa Fe in 1847 and is next door to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum.  The house was, of course, made of adobe and was plastered over during renovations but in the bedroom, there is a piece of glass where you can view the original adobe.  The place is small, but beautifully appointed and it’s just a 10 to 15-minute walk to either the Santa Fe Plaza or the Santa Fe Rail Yard. 

In the evening, we had reservations at Geronimo on Canyon Road, one of our very favorite restaurants in the world, so we called for a Lyft (the parking is tricky on Canyon Road) and off we went.  We arrived early (I know, you’re all shocked) and they happily seated us anyway.  The experience was perfection from the first minute to the last.  We were celebrating Michelle’s birthday since we were on the road for her actual birthday, so we opted for a bottle of champagne (as one does).  We had an ahi appetizer that was delicious.  Sandy had elk (Geronimo’s specialty) and Michelle had the rack of lamb.  We also had an amazing mixture of mushrooms for a side.  Lastly, for dessert we had a decadent caramel-chocolate flourless cake.  Caramel is Sandy’s favorite and chocolate is Michelle’s, so we were in heaven.  Christine, our food server was attentive and yet not hovering and made the experience even more special.  We called for another Lyft and took our very satisfied and stuffed bodies back to the Hovey House.

Do I even need to say it?  Well, yes I do.  I was incarcerated.  Not even bread and water.  Your meal sounds nice.  I’m very happy for you.  Hmmmp.

On Saturday, we were scheduled to take a train ride on the Sky Railway.  We wanted to do the Stargazer Express ride, but it was sold out even months ahead of time when we made our reservations.  So, we opted for the Lore of the Land tour.  We boarded about 1 PM and pulled out about 30 minutes later.  Our storyteller was Terry and our musical entertainment was provided by Don.  The ride was great and we loved Terry’s stories of old time Santa Fe and all the history of the area.  He told us the rail yard dated from 1888 and that Santa Fe was not originally supposed to have a railroad “spur” leading up to the city, but the city leaders convinced the railroad company to build one anyway.  Santa Fe completely paid for the spur, so the railroad couldn’t say no.  Had they not agreed to do so, Santa Fe might have faded away and not exist as it does today.  He also told us that Santa Fe currently has over 300 art galleries and only NYC and LA have more art galleries than Santa Fe. 

Incarcerated.

We also met a lovely family who had just returned to live in NM after many, many years in Tennessee.  We welcomed them back and bonded over our common love of green Chile.  We especially enjoyed talking to Torri who talked their parents into coming on the train with them.

When we reached the end of the line, the train stopped and we went out to an open air car and Terry gave us a pretty comprehensive geography and geology lesson.  The surrounding mountains were full of turquoise and when it was mined, much of it was sent to NYC to Tiffany and Co and they started the turquoise jewelry craze.  Bet you didn’t know that’s why the tiffany boxes are turquoise! 

Don’s guitar playing and singing was wonderful and his range of music was remarkable as he did songs from Lyle Lovett to Pink Floyd.  Sandy and I sang along with most of the songs and the rest of our cabin mates joined in on a few of the songs.  It was just a super fun time.  After the train returned to the Santa Fe station, we ate at Tomsita’s, a New Mexican restaurant right next to the train.  When we were leaving, we realized Don our train entertainer was also eating at the restaurant.  As we passed, we told him how much we enjoyed his playing and singing.  He said he just did this occasionally as he was mostly retired.  Given his talent, we are pretty sure he was at least a session player and perhaps a member of a recognizable band. 

Ok, fun fact about Sky Railway.  The train station was in great disrepair, and the city was considering bulldozing the entire thing.  Two Santa Fe residents were at dinner lamenting this fact and they decided to buy it and start Sky Railway.  One was a prominent Santa Fe businessperson and the other was George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame!  We guess he had to find something to do with all that TV money.  Second fun fact – the railcar we were in dated to the 1930’s and was used in Oppenheimer and Dark Wings and it is the train that brought the Breaking Bad cast and crew out to where they shot the scene loading the methylamine into barrels after their chemical heist in season 1.  Third and last fun fact, Santa Fe at 7,200 feet in elevation is the highest capital city in the United States – despite what that other “mile high city” says. 

I thought I was dreaming.  Nope, I woke up.  I was in jail.  Sounds like moms had a really fun time.  My leg went to sleep.

Since we left Eddie at the VRBO Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday, we spent all day with her on Sunday.  Most galleries in Santa Fe allow well behaved dogs so we were able to go into quite a few stores and galleries.  We also ate at a Santa Fe favorite, the Plaza Café.  The weather was picture perfect and we enjoyed our walk and shopping.  For dinner, we decided to do appetizers at Joe’s Tequila Bar, and when one is at Joe’s…Sandy had a jalapeno margarita and Michelle choose one that was infused with ginger and prickly pear.  Both were delicious as was the ceviche and guac we shared. 

Today was fun and as it should be, with all of us together!  I like the art galleries.  They all wanted to see my tricks.  I obliged.  I got to ride in a Lyft!  Olga was the driver.  She told fun stories.  Joe’s was fun.  We got to sit in the lobby and everyone who used that little room on the end had to pass by me and they all stopped to love on me.  Ahhhhh. 

Joe’s is at the Inn on the Alameda and since they allow dogs, we were able to have Eddie with us at a table in the lobby.  We also happened to be near the restrooms, so we had a lot of traffic which Eddie loved.  We loved it too because at least half of the people passing by stopped to ask if they could pet Eddie.  Dog people on vacations miss their four-legged companions!  A young woman and her father stopped to pet Eddie and we all got to talking.  They were visiting from Massachusetts.  The young woman’s name is Amy, and we really hit it off.  She sat with us for quite a while and in the 15 – 20 minutes she sat with us we probably talked about a dozen different things including the fact she is trying to decide exactly what career she wants.  One thing we know for certain, whatever career she decides on, she will shine and the people who work with her will have a blast.  She is vivacious, funny, very smart and we loved spending time with her. 

She was fun and really loved on me.  As it should be.

We got up early and packed and hit the road.

We arrived in Farmington and wanted to get this out because we’re not sure if we will have internet access when we are at the Under Canvas campsite in Moab.  If not, we will catch you on the other side of Moab!

Will I like that?

April 28 – April 30^th, 2026

Hello all!  Sorry for the delayed Blog post but we were very busy in Roswell and in a good way!

The last two days in Albuquerque were more low key for Michelle and Sandy.  On Sunday, Laura and Ronni met up with Silvia, a friend of theirs who used to live in Lake Havasu City, and went hiking at the petroglyphs on the northwest side of Albuquerque.  Sandy and Michelle and Eddie had a relaxing morning and then went to lunch at a nearby place called the 12^th Street Tavern.  When we were on a southwest vacation a couple of years ago with our friends Steve and Sergio, we stayed right across from that restaurant and ate there so we knew the food was good.  We also knew they had an outside porch, so Ms. Eddie was good to go. Additionally, our VRBO host had a note in the house indicating that it was dog friendly so off we went with Eddie in tow.

What do you mean ‘Eddie in tow?’  I lead.

The food was as good as we remembered it, and our food server was super friendly, so we got to talking and told her about our 35-day road trip.  And of course, Eddie did all her tricks when we finished eating. 

That was her favorite part.  And mine.

When we were ready to get our bill, our food server said she wanted to comp us a dessert.  We said we were pretty satisfied from lunch, but she insisted and gave us a piece of cheesecake to go.  Well, who are we to refuse free cheesecake?  When she brought it to us, she said, “I’ll tell you why I wanted to do this.  I figured out you are staying at my VRBO!”  Turns out she is our host!  Given this is Albuquerque, we are not terribly surprised because, even though there are over 500,000 people here, Albuquerque is still like a small town in many ways.

I knew it was her.

Eddie, you did not!

Later at the VRBO, when Laura and Ronni returned from their hike, we discussed what to do for dinner.  I know, I know, sometimes vacation is just moving from one eating experience to another!  At any rate, Ronni found an Italian restaurant called Mario’s and we decided to give it a try and we’re so glad she did!  The food was really good, especially Michelle and Sandy’s shared pizza.  It was covered with black olives, mushrooms and green chile (when in New Mexico…) and the crust was incredible.  Ronni very graciously picked up the tab for dinner (thank you again, Ronni) and we all headed home with very satisfied tummies. 

All I got was a pizza bone.  I don’t remember any of those delicious toppings.  I’m sooo glad you enjoyed them.

The next morning, Laura and Ronni took off to return home, but being intrepid travelers like us, they made a couple of stops along the way.  They went to El Malpais (the badlands) and Acoma also known as “Sky City”.  We prepared for our departure to Roswell by doing laundry and repacking the car as we planned on an early get away the next morning.  One of the reasons we stay at VRBOs, besides the yard for Eddie, is that we can do laundry along the way and only have to pack about a week’s worth of clothes.  We learned that from our first long road trip and it makes for a much lighter load. 

I’m pretty sure Mama Sandy packs a lot more than that. 

Tuesday, we headed south to Roswell to, as Sandy put it, “hunt for aliens”.  It was a short three-hour drive so we had some time to spend before we could check into our Roswell VRBO.  Roswell, for those of you who haven’t been, leans HEAVILY into the whole alien thing and the “Roswell incident”.  Main street is chuck full of shops called “Alien Invasion”, “House of Aliens”, “Invasion Station”, “Alien Enchantments” (see what they did there, combining aliens and NM Land of Enchantment?) and of course, “The International UFO Museum and Research Center and Gift Shop.  We like how they add international to the title.  We mused about whether any other country would challenge them for that title.  The museum allows dogs (as do most of the shops as Roswell is a very dog friendly place) so in we went with our four-legged companion. 

I like Roswell.  They seem much more civilized and intelligent.

The museum is actually very interesting.  It details the entire July 1947 incident with recorded 1st person and 2^nd person (as told to) accounts.  There is also a movie with 1st person interviews.  The government’s first “official” statement was that they had recovered part of an actual spacecraft.  Within a day, all materiel had been confiscated and the new and real, this time, “official” statement was that what was found was merely a weather balloon.  The interviews we viewed at the museum were done more than 20 years after the actual incident because at the time, the witnesses were threatened with imprisonment and even death by government and military people.  Given that the “official” explanation from the Air Force and U.S. government that it was just a weather balloon, the level of intimidation does seem a tad overdone. 

I see UFOs all of time.  Really, I see things in the air all the time.  I don’t know what they are. Do you think they will beam me up?

For those of you who don’t know, the Roswell Incident happened in July 1947 as mentioned above.  A rancher, Mac Brazel, found debris in one of his fields and, having no phone, he drove a sample of it into town and gave it to the sheriff.  The sheriff wanted no part of it and gave it to the Air Force.  The Air Force then issued their first official response.  Then came their second response.  Many 1^st person accounts dispute that latest claim and so the Roswell incident “conspiracy theory” was born.  Additionally, some people at the time claimed to see bodies of small grey or green bodies with large heads that were decidedly not human.  Sorry it’s hard to write about this without it becoming a book.  In fact, many, many books HAVE been written on it.

I like little people.  They usually smell good and have food.

Eddie, I think you are thinking of kids.

Oh, do aliens have food?  IF so, I like them too.

After the museum and doing some alien souvenir shopping, we found our VRBO and unpacked.  Now, this account would not be complete without a description of the home’s décor.  It’s a very nice three-bedroom, 2 bath home in a quiet neighbor in the newer section of Roswell.  What makes it a tad bit different than most VRBOs is that it is chuck full of chickens and chicken décor!  Chicken towels, rugs, throw blankets, bed linens, pillows, canisters, and wall hangings.  Everywhere you look are chickens of every shape and size.  The living room is called “the hen house”, and the house itself is called “the coop”.  It’s truly wild.  Even the dishwasher has a magnet that is a picture of a chicken coop with chickens peering out that covers the ENTIRE front of it.  Michelle loves chickens and Sandy was seeing visions of what their house would look like if she could not restrain her love from her chicken obsession.  Michelle is pretty sure she will no longer get grief for the “few” chickens she has at the house. 

I saw them.  They were everywhere but they weren’t any fun.  None of them ran so I could chase them.  Boooring.

The next day we had a “Ghost Adventure” tour scheduled for 8 PM so we found a dog friendly restaurant for lunch and then wandered the town a bit more. 

Lots of aliens here.  Where’s my whistle?

That evening, we met our tour guide Rajn (a very articulate and attractive young man), and our tour mates Stephen and Lala (a very nice couple from Dallas) at city hall.  Rajn took us on a walking tour of some of the city’s haunted buildings.  He told stories of hauntings in city hall, the courthouse, a statue outside of city hall, and a spectrally mobile miniature and collectables shop.  He also gave us some history of Roswell and the surrounding areas.  Rajn’s tour was excellent and if anyone is ever in Roswell and ghosty things interest you, we recommend U.S. Ghost Adventures and Rajn as your tour guide.  The tour ended about 9:30.  Sandy had previously looked up a place to have a drink and a snack after the tour.  The choices were, you guessed it, slim.  In fact, one.  The local Applebee’s restaurant stayed open until midnight.  So, we had a drink and a snack there and then back to the VRBO.  Apparently, the ghosts are the night life in Roswell.

GHOSTS?????   AND YOU LEFT ME ALONE?  Someone call the SPCA.

Our last day in Roswell was all about “The UFO Adventure” tour.  We met at the “Brickhouse” for the tour.  Oddly, the tour starts in a store front that houses a one-million-piece Lego museum, hence, the Brickhouse.  In fact, you walk though it to get to the van we took for the UFO tour.  Paul was our tour guide, and he was incredibly knowledgeable about the Roswell incident, the local history and WWII.  He shared with us that WWII was his real field of interest.  However, he has done extensive research on the Roswell incident and took us to houses where the main participants lived, to the location of the sheriff’s office (since torn down) and to the location of the (since decommissioned) Air Force base that took possession of the debris.  It was truly fascinating and we both agree that the government was covering something up.  Was it an alien spacecraft and “little gray men”?  We don’t know, but something was being hidden from the public. 

Another chance of furthering my education lost.  You two never take me anywhere.

Eddie, we’re on a 35-day road trip with you.

Oh, yeah, well other than that.

Our next blog post will cover our adventures in Santa Fe and maybe Farmington, NM depending on how ambitious we are when we start writing it. 

April 24^th – April 25^th, 2026

Albuquerque!  We so love being here, it’s like coming home every time we visit.  Friday is all about the Gathering of Nations festival.  This is the 43^rd gathering and the last year for the festival which is why this year’s gathering is called “The Last Dance”.  We haven’t been able to get a clear answer as to why it is ending.  The “official” reason is that the gathering has become too large and has intense logistical, financial and planning challenges.  While we’re sure that’s the major reason, we heard rumblings that there may have been other factors as well.  For now, we will just have to take them at their word.

We can tell you that there were far too many people trying to get into the gathering this year.  We arrived at the end of a very long line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot a full hour before the doors opened.  A number of people decided that going to the end of the line wasn’t for them and tried to cut in line.  Ronni, being of kind heart, let one car in and then they proceeded to let another car in front of them who paid $10 for that privilege!  After an hour in line, we finally managed to get in and park the car.  Ronni happened to see the driver of the car she allowed in and asked for her ‘piece of the action’ for the car he was paid to cut in line.  He gave her $5.  It’s an interesting world.  We then walked to the end of another very, very long line of people waiting to get their bags and purses inspected and finally made it into the fairgrounds after another hour.  Yikes!  Lastly, we waited to get into the arena and, amazingly, we found really good seats!  Now, Tingley Coliseum was built in 1957 so it is quite old and people back then must have been considerably smaller because the seats are teeny tiny and the rows are extremely close together.  Think sardines or vacuum sealed humans.  The poor man behind Michelle had his knees melding with the back of her chair. However, one thing that can be said for Tingley, the sound system is certainly working well.  The announcers were super loud; in fact, it was a bit ear-splitting.

I can’t hear it. But who cares?

However, when all is said and done, all the waiting, squishing and ear splitting were well worth it once the Grand Entry of Dancers began.  The dancers come from the U.S., Canada and Mexico and represent 1,000+ tribes. The entry starts out slowly with the female and male head dancers leading the dancers into the floor of the arena accompanied by these incredible drum circles.  The drum circle performers come from all over the U.S. and Canada and their drumming and singing is spine tingling.  As more and more tribal members come onto the floor, dancing in a perfect counterclockwise direction, it becomes a riot of color and rhythmic dancing.  Twenty minutes later there are over 1500 dancers celebrating tribal culture, honoring their ancestors and basking in the shared experience and the diversity of Tribal life.  The dancers come out by age group – golden age, young adults, tiny tots as young as 4 or 5 (they are SO adorable) or by categories – jingle, fancy, traditional or hoop dancers.  A note about the costumes, they are beautifully made and some of the more ornate costumes can weigh up to 60 pounds!

After the Grand Entry finished, we all needed a break from the noise and the crowds, so we left the arena with the hope of visiting the native crafts area and maybe getting something to eat or drink.  That was not to be because as crowded and noisy as the arena was, it was nothing compared to the outside areas.  After a bathroom break, Michelle and Ronni tried to buy t-shirts and after standing in a non-moving line for 15 minutes, Michelle found a Gathering of Nations online store and ordered t-shirts.  Whew!  We all agreed it was time to make a break for it and headed back to the car and back to our VRBO.  Laura and Ronni opted for a nap and Michelle and Sandy went to the University of New Mexico campus.  A visit to UNM is a pilgrimage that Michelle makes pretty much every trip to Albuquerque.  After a shopping experience at the bookstore, t-shirts in hand, Michelle and Sandy returned to the VRBO. 

You know, I can understand your tiny stadium seating.  I’ve been stuck in a one-by-one foot box under a heat lamp for the last few days.

Good grief Eddie.  You were in your crate for just a few hours.  No heat lamp.  You got to play with Laura and Ronnie afterwards.

Well, felt like it.

We had reservations at El Pinto, a classic New Mexico restaurant with excellent food and margaritas with a very New Mexico feel.  We sat on the patio, so Eddie was able to join us.  We all enjoyed our food.  Michelle and Sandy were so happy to be in the land of green chile and blue corn tortillas.  El Pinto has several chairs outside near the entrance of the restaurant that are always occupied because of the charming beauty of the displayed ristras and the surrounding cottonwood trees.  As we walked by on our way out, Ronni heard someone mention Staten Island and, being a New Yorker herself, stopped to visit.  One of the other women asked if she could pet Eddie and of course, we said yes.  While Ronni chatted, Eddie entertained with her tricks and winning personality.  It was a very New Mexican moment. 

I was at my best.  As usual.  I danced, I played dead, I did quite a number of tricks from my repertoire.  How could anyone not be impressed?

Eddie, tone down the bragging.

Saturday, we had dinner reservations at Campo at Los Poblanos, a wonderful farm to table restaurant in Los Rancho de Albuquerque with our dear friends Soozi and Bruce.  But before that, there was shopping to be done!!  Mama’s Minerals is a place that, as rockhounds, Sandy and I adore.  Ronni is also a rockhound and Laura’s been known to appreciate a crystal or two herself so off we went to Mama’s.  We spent an hour or more marveling at all the amazing specimen rocks and minerals and each of us found a few to come home with us.  From there we went to Old Town, shopped at a few of the stores and because we had dinner plans later, we shared a plate of nachos (covered with green chile, of course).  Back at the VRBO, we rested and got ready for our dinner at Campo. 

Moms are diabolical.  They took me outside to do my business and then stuffed me into that jail again.  I thought I was going.  The only good thing was, while I was outside, I saw a SQUIRREL!  It was in the yard, and I got to chase it.  Albu-whatever should have more Squirrels!

As mentioned above, Campo at Los Poblanos is a farm-to-table restaurant that is known for it’s “Rio Grande Valley Cuisine”.  They use organic, seasonal ingredients from the Los Poblanos ranch and other local organic producers.  The food is, in a word, sublime.  The daily special was scallops and Laura, Ronni, Sandy and Soozi choose them as their main.  To a person, they loved them, as Sandy describes them, they were large, perfectly seared and totally delicious.  Michelle and Bruce had pork confit, and it was also incredible.  The pork confit was fork tender and surrounded with bits of house made sausage, perfectly crisp roasted potatoes, squash and blistered black beans.  It was truly a gastronomic experience.  Back at the VRBO, we all slept well after that meal! 

I had kibble when they finally came home.

The next Blog post will wrap up our Albuquerque adventure and then be all about hunting aliens in Roswell. 

April 23^rd – April 24^th, 2026

I was right! I was right! I was right!  I know, because I am now an official BARK RANGER!  Moms said that they weren’t National Dog Parks.  They were soooo wrong. Ranger Lex Shane made me OFFICIAL!  Moms said they will post photos of my certification for all to see and admire.  Yippee!

Yes, Eddie, you are now official as Lex, the park ranger you met at the Petrified Forrest National Park, certified you after we showed him your tricks and how well behaved you are.

Well, of course Moms.  I’m perfect. 

The two-legged members of our trip and Eddie got on the road early on Wednesday morning and headed to our overnight destination of Holbrook, AZ.  But first we stopped to get Sandy a soda and Michelle a chai tea.  We got Michelle’s tea at Starbucks (natch), and Eddie got her first ever “pup cup”! 

Moms, moms, moms!  We should always stop at Starbucks!  That was yummy!

Eddie, it’s only an occasional treat as we need to watch your girlish figure.

We decided to go “news free” for our ride and turned on SirrusXM Classic Vinyl.  Since that is all music of our era, we sang along to Dobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and, honoring a musical giant, Dave Mason.   The songs of our youth.  All three of us were so happy to be on the road and we were grinning ear to ear.  Michelle loves being on the road on her birthday and Sandy and Eddie just love being on the road. 

We planned to visit the Painted Desert on the way to Holbrook, so we confidently plugged “Painted Desert” into our Wyze app and off we went.  However, we neglected to account for the time change because we wrongly assumed that the Navajo and Hopi Nations in Arizona would follow the state of Arizona’s lead and not do daylight savings time.  Alas, they ARE on DST so it was hour later than we realized so suddenly, as we entered tribal land, our GPS indicated we were due to arrive just as the ‘park’ was closing.  But the real and most critical problem was that our trusty Wyze app was not so trustworthy and led us to the middle of nowhere.  Don’t get us wrong, the painted desert was all around us – it just wasn’t part of the National Park.  In fact, it was at least 30 minutes away from the park.  Oh well, we loved the scenery and that’s part of the joy of traveling so we turned around and continued on to Holbrook.  Apparently, we were not meant to see the National Park until Thursday. 

National DOG Park, Mom.

We checked into our usual hotel In Holbrook and had a lovely dinner at Mesa Italiana Restaurant, our go-to place in Holbrook.

Moms took me too, but forgot me in the car.  I think there are drugs to help them with that.  Oh well, I just took a nap.

Thursday we are up and out the door at 7 AM and on our way to the real National Park.  We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn which serves as the park headquarters while the official visitor center undergoes a massive renovation.  This is where we met Lex and he certified Ms. Eddie as a Bark Ranger.  As usual, she utterly charmed him so it’s no surprise she aced the “test”. 

There is no possible way to do justice to the amazing landscapes and colors of the painted desert and to the incredible sight of prehistoric, petrified trees just tumbled all over the hills and valleys of the desert.  If you ever go, Newspaper Rock is a must. It is full of ancient petroglyphs and can be viewed with binoculars at the overlook.  An antelope also visited us from the side of the road, that was pretty cool. All of the amazing scenery was like traveling back in time.  We’ll post a few pictures, but they in no way can convey the grandeur and vastness of the space.  We plan to return and spend a couple of days without the canine just exploring the many, many hiking trails. We’ll add a couple of pictures below.

What?  Say that again?

Alas, after about three hours we left the park and resumed our trip to Albuquerque to meet up with sister Laura and her friend Roni.  In our next blog installment, we will tell you all about the Gathering of Nations and our further adventures in Albuquerque with Laura and Roni!

Mom, mom, mom! I hear we’re going on the road to visit National Dog Parks!

Eddie, they are just National Parks, not dog parks.

But I do get to go, right?

Yes, most of them allow dogs so you get to go.

Well then, they are dog parks, I was right!! Let’s go!!

Eddie, just say hello to all our BLOG friends and family.

Hello, we’re off! Let’s go!!

I don’t remember a drunken goat, but I do recall…

Eddie, shush.

Facts and figures from this year’s trip:

We traveled 6500 miles, which is surprising considering we went 6800 miles last year and crossed the entire country!  We were on the road for 30 days and drove through 10 states (as opposed to 20 states last year) and visited 10 cities.  We stayed in 10 hotels and 3 Airbnbs.  If you followed the blog, you’ll remember that the Santa Fe Airbnb was not a success, so we spent an extra night in Arizona.

I liked the Airbnbs.  They have yards and Moms have fun playing with me and the ball.  I liked all of the beds.    

Last year, we traveled directly east to the east coast and then directly west on the return trip.  This time, we touched Nevada twice and Idaho and Wyoming three times.  And we lost count of how many times we drove through Montana!  Hence, the Drunken Goat Tour.

I get it.  I did get a bit woozy zipping back and forth.  I still don’t recall the goat.

We had a wonderful private tour in Yellowstone National Park and an amazing guide and night of stargazing in Boulder, CO, and had a great time on a tour of the Denver mint.  Exploring on our own worked really well for most of the National Parks and Monuments, but we would probably still go on city tours when visiting more populated areas.  It gives us a sense of the city and where we want to send our usually limited time.

Seems like I got stuck in a crate every time you went to a park.  I like to ride in the car. 

A few shout outs to family and friends new and old:

We loved starting our trip off with a visit with our friends Doug and Cindy Nelson.  Thanks so much for spending time with us.  We may not see each other often but we picked up right where we left off and the time apart just melted away.  That’s a sign of true and lasting friendship.

I like them and their doggie.  She’s big but really nice.  We both got left when they went to dinner.  We thought about a jail break but the Moms and Dad came back too soon.

Thanks to Steve Delavan for flying to the Boise area, showing us where you grew up and introducing us to your family.  Sister Tammy and brother-in-law Bryan hosted a killer make-your-own pizza party, and we so enjoyed getting to know them.  We also got to meet Steve’s brother Frankie and sister-in-law Jamie and were able to spend time with Steve’s father Frank. 

I had lots of fun!  Their doggie is really nice too.  We chased squirrels and birds.  I snuck a bite of pizza.  Jamie played with me lots and everyone gave me scruffles.  It was really fun.

And you all know we are foodies so a special shout out and thanks to all the wonderful people we met in restaurants.  From the talented and entertaining people who served us and made our meals so much better to the other customers who visited with us – we thank you all. 

Lastly, thanks to Michelle’s sister Laura for taking time out of her very busy day to have lunch with us as we traveled back to the desert.  We always love spending time with you. 

I love my Auntie Laura.  I missed Uncle Al.  We had fun at the restaurant staring down Grackles.  I got a martini.

Water, Eddie, water.  You got water.

Lessons learned:

We did much better than last year with the amount of clothes we packed.  However, it really didn’t help because the weather was SO different than we anticipated.  We had lots of warm clothes and no place to wear them other than a couple of days in Yellowstone. 

We need to be a little more discriminating in our Airbnb selections.  We need to inquire about the beds and if they list stairs, we need to explore that in more detail. 

Lastly, after experiencing the food deserts in and near the National Parks and Monuments, we will look for larger towns close to the parks and other sites to stay in, so we have access to better restaurants and food choices.  We’ll always carry peanut butter and jelly.

I really agree with that last part.

Last thoughts:

We do love traveling around this country by car with Eddie and we are already starting to plan next year’s trip.  Our initial thoughts are a week to 10 day trip in the early spring to visit Death Valley and the surrounding area and a longer trip in the fall to focus on a number of the National Parks in the Southwest.  We may change our minds as time goes on, but that’s the beauty of having the freedom of the time and opportunity to travel this amazing country.  We realize we will have to fly to visit some places (Hawaii springs to mind) but we will continue to take road trips whenever possible and as long as we are able. 

There’s lots of places I still haven’t seen.  I like road trips and restaurants and meeting new people and meeting new dogs and restaurants.

You said restaurants twice, Eddie

So?  They are double the fun!  I like martinis.

Until next time, love to all,

2 Girls and a Dog

The Drunken Goat Tour

As usual, Eddie gets the last word.

I love to travel but being home is pretty wonderful too!

October 10th – 15th

We picked Eddie up and headed for one of our very favorite places, Santa Fe, NM. 

How very cavalier of you to say.  It was a mad house there!  A MAD house, I say!

When arriving, we experienced one of the challenges of traveling and using Airbnb, which is you’re never exactly sure what you are getting yourself into until you get there.  In this case, the Airbnb itself was fine, but the parking was a bit weird as you parked outside the unit on an oddly shaped ‘driveway’ that put you right up against a very busy road.  But we decided we could live with that.  We unpacked and went looking for some authentic New Mexican food.  We found it at Café Castro on Cerrillos. 

They were really, really nice!  They let me sit inside with Moms.  I bet they don’t board their dog.

The food was great and covered with delicious green chile (of course).  We were in the mood for a margarita and Castro’s only had a beer and wine license, so we drove to the old Santa Fe Plaza and found a great margarita at Joe’s Tequila Bar located at the Inn at Alameda.  With a name like that, it better have a great margarita! And it did, Michelle had a Cadillac with a reposado tequila and Sandy had a jalapeno infused margarita that had a very nice kick to it.  Eddie, of course, went with us and enjoyed watching all the people as it was a perfect night to be sitting out on a beautiful patio drinking Margaritas. 

I had a martini on ice.  It was very good.

Eddie, sweetie, that was iced water.  Don’t give people the wrong impression.

You say potato…..

The bar is at the Inn at Alameda and is as beautiful and as refined as the Inn.  We arrived back at the Airbnb and expected to have a good night’s sleep.  Our plan was to explore Santa Fe the next day and then take off for AZ the day after that.  As they say, the best laid plans…the bed was a memory foam mattress that had seen better days and was terrible for Sandy’s back.  She tried to sleep on the ‘couch’, which was more of a love seat, to no avail.  So, in the morning, we scratched our plan to stay in Santa Fe another night and booked a room in Holbrook instead.  We did have a wonderful breakfast in Santa Fe at the ‘Tune Up’ restaurant just down the street from our Airbnb.  The food was great, the service was interesting (the people taking our order were surly, but the person delivering our food was delightful) and the outdoor patio serene and relaxing.  Sandy got her diet coke, Michelle had English Breakfast tea, and all was once again good in the world.  We high tailed it for Holbrook and stayed at an Econo Lodge we usually stop at when traveling though AZ.  It is a little long in the tooth, but nostalgic for us.  We also ate at ‘Mesa Italian’ the only restaurant we’ve found in that part of Holbrook that is dog friendly and has really good food.  Even though the patio wasn’t technically open, they opened it for us, so we were able to eat with Ms. Eddie in tow.  Eddie was happy to no longer be incarcerated, we were happy to have a decent mattress, so off to sleep we went in preparation for our Grand Canyon Railway Adventure. 

We go to that Mesa place every time we are there.  They also bring me martini’s and they let me roam around.  It’s fun.

We arrived in Williams, AZ in the early afternoon and after a bit of a struggle, found the kennel where Eddie was to be boarded.  You can imagine how horrified she was to be boarded just two days after we picked her up in Boulder.  Adding to her horror, was the fact that this boarding facility was a series of 4×4 indoor cages and a 6×4 outdoor dog run for each boarder and to get her into it and we had to run a gauntlet of very loud barking dogs to get to her cage.  The look on her face was of abject disbelief that we were leaving her there.  However, if we kept her while in Williams, she would be trapped in a crate for hours while we took the train to the Grand Canyon, so we knew it was best for her in the long run.  We’re quite certain she did not agree. 

You are right!  I do not agree.  It was BEDLAM!  The inmates screamed and cried and dragged their bowls across the cage bars all day and night. It was full of DOGS!   I really hope you slept well.

We then checked into the ‘Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel’ – the lobby is beautiful with original oil paintings of the surrounding area and the Grand Canyon and a large fireplace with inviting couches in front of it. On either side of the fireplace were original Remington bronzes of the west.  That evening, we ate in the ‘Fred Harvey’ historic restaurant and then went to Spenser’s, the pub in the lodge house.  At the pub, we started taking to the two women sitting next to us.  They were both originally from England, but Heather currently lives outside of Las Vegas NV and has for quite a while.  Heather is Irene’s sister-in-law, lives in Bristol and is spending 3 weeks in the US with Heather.  We so enjoyed our conversation with them!  One of the true joys of traveling is meeting interesting people who share a love of traveling. Thank you Irene and Heather for a great conversation. A few words on the restaurant and the pub.  For those of you who don’t know, the Fred Harvey Company was founded by Fred Harvey in 1876 in an effort to improve the hospitality offerings alongside the railroads in the western part of the United States.  Until then, the food was truly horrible and no ‘nice’ hotels existed for the growing number of railway passengers.  He is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the United States and promoting tourism in the American Southwest.  He hired educated, single young women who wanted a more adventurous life than what was typically on offer for refined young women in the late 19th century.  If the Harvey House or the story of the Harvey girls interests you, there is a great book called “The Harvey Girls” by Lesley Poling-Kempes.  We both highly recommend it.

Are they still around?  Do they take well educated doggies who love to travel?

The next morning, we were up early to have breakfast at the Harvey House and be ready for our departure on the train to the Grand Canyon.  A word about the food at the Harvey House.  Full disclosure, neither of us really enjoy buffets, so our opinion may be tainted, but we found the food just OK.  Typical buffet food for both dinner and breakfast that was not quite the right temperature and somewhat mushy in consistency.  Regardless, it was filling and prepared us for our train trip.  The first part of the trip is an endearingly hokey gun fight with the requisite bad jokes and puns and, of course, a shootout where the sheriff wins.  Then we all boarded the train for the 2+ hour ride to the canyon.  We splurged and bought the ‘bubble seats’ so we were at the top of the train and had clear 360-degree views all around.  We were on the “Mary Colter’ car.  Mary Colter was an architect and designer (one of the very few in her day) and designed many landmark buildings for Paul Harvey and in the Grand Canyon National Park so we were in good company.  Nancy, our tour guide and host, was amazingly knowledgeable about the surrounding landscapes, the area and the Grand Canyon and regaled us with stories about the people and places in Williams and the National Park.  We also had music from a ‘traveling’ singer/guitar player who was very talented and did songs from Johnny Cash to Lynyrd Skynyrd.  When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we opted not to take the bus tour and (buffet) lunch that came with our package and went our own way.  We had been told that the ‘El Tovar’ had the best food in Grand Canyon Village, so we ate there and loved it.  Great food, super service. 

I’m very happy for you.  I, on the other hand, happen to love bread and water. No expectations.

Afterwards we visited some of the buildings and exhibits in the village and happened upon a Native American artist who was demonstrating his jewelry making techniques.  Well, those of you who know us well can guess what happened next.  Sandy fell in love with one of his bracelets and so we are now the proud owners of a new silver and turquoise bracelet complete with a picture with the artist, Al Joe.  The Joe family has been making jewelry for generations and the craftmanship, attention to detail and quality materials shows in every piece they produce. 

I have a very lovely collar.

Also, it was colder than we anticipated so Michelle now owns another sweatshirt. It’s just not a road trip if at least one piece of clothing isn’t purchased because Michelle got cold.  We caught the train back to the hotel mid-afternoon and once again, Nancy provided entertaining stories, another musician (who yodeled!) provided great music, and the all-important train robbery took place right before we got back to the depot.  Nancy let us know the best way to avoid the robbers was to roll up a dollar bill and inset it into the air vents above us because that will distract them from looking for better loot.  So, we were only “robbed” of a couple of dollars.  We talked to several of our fellow travels and enjoyed those conversations immensely.  Since our lunch was so good and very filling, we skipped dinner and just had bar food at Spenser’s instead of dinner at the Harvey House.  The next morning, we had a fabulous breakfast at a local diner, Anna’s Cafe, and just wandered around Williams for the day.  We think we will come back to Williams at some point and maybe even take the train trip again – we really enjoyed the entire experience!

The morning found us rescuing Eddie from prison (her definition, not ours) and taking off for Lake Havasu City for lunch with sister Laura.

I bet prisons are nicer.  This was a MAD HOUSE!  Hey, did you say we’re on the way to see Auntie Laura?  I like her and she likes me!

In Lake Havasu City we went to a restaurant called ‘The Red Onion’ that we’ve been to before.  The food was good but getting to see Laura after more than a year was the highlight.  Eddie approves of the restaurant because it has lots of people to watch and fawn over her and grackles to think about chasing.  We said goodbye to Laura and set out on the last leg of our journey.  The traffic was good until we hit some traffic because of asphalt road work just before we got home.  However, as we said to each other, it was still faster than following the bison in Yellowstone.  Not nearly as entertaining, but still faster.  We arrived home in the late afternoon, a bit exhausted, but so jazzed by our experiences on our trip that we are already planning the next one.  We will post one more blog with a summary in a couple of days.  Until then, we hope you enjoyed journeying along with us in the remarkable and beautiful country we all call home. 

Ok, I did have a good time.  It’s true I don’t like prisons, but I really LOVE hotels.  Zoomies and rollies always make me happy.  I like seeing those giant dogs in those parks (Bison) and lots of restaurants were fun.  I also enjoy sharing burgers and fries with the Moms in the car.  All in all, I had fun.  Where to next?

Great authentic New Mexican food!

Beautiful patio at Joe’s tequila bar.

I’ve been liberated from Colorado prison and now I’m having a martini at Joe’s tequila bar.

OMG – SO good!

The famous Paul Harvey restaurant at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. Definitely historic but we’re not sure about the ‘inspired’ part.

Nancy, our fabulous tour guide and hostess. She told great stories!

The Mary Colter car

No picture does the Grand Canyon justice but one must try.

And another view – we could post 100 pictures, but we’ll resist.

Sandy wearing our new bracelet and Al Joe, the very talented artist who created it.

Train robbery!! It’s hard to see, but there is a rolled up dollar bill in the air vent above Lucky’s (the robber) head.

Michelle and sister Laura in Lake Havasu City.

Where to next, mom? Let’s go!!

October 7^th – 9^th, 2024

We decided to take a couple of relaxing days in Boulder so on Monday we read most of the day while waiting for our astronomy tour later in the evening.  We found the tour through an email Marriott sent us with suggestions for what to do while in Boulder.

The astronomy tour looked interesting, so we signed up for a Monday night tour.

Wow.  That really sounds like fun.  Here I am taking the ‘Run the Dog Gauntlet’ tour every day.  Let’s compare notes later.

 We were instructed to drive to a local trailhead where the skies were darker than closer to the city.  We found it quite easily at the end of a dirt road.  There were six of us as well as our guide, Aislynn.  She gave us an astronomy 101 lesson as we waited for it to get darker and for our eyes to adjust so we could see better through the 4 inch, 8-inch and 16-inch telescopes Aislynn brought with her.  Sandy is the backyard astronomer so we won’t bore you with her details, but just image seeing the Ring Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy through a 16 in Dobsonian telescope or a huge Globular Cluster of stars so close together they look like a sprinkling of salt.  Truly amazing.  We also saw what appeared to be the Aurora Borealis for a short period of time.  It wasn’t predicted, but it had all the markings.  Again, truly amazing.

I can’t see it inside you know.

Tuesday morning, we were quite hungry, and Sandy found a breakfast place not too far from the hotel called the ‘Village Coffee Shop’.  As we drove up to it, Michelle remembered reading something about it on some website about the best diners in each state and lo and behold, a copy of the article was on the door! It is as their tag line says “890 sq. ft. of reality surrounded by Boulder.”  The article goes on to say “Village Coffee Shop is an oasis of Formica and bad lighting…with superb sausage gravy, oversized orders of French toast, and other things you don’t normally associate with one of America’s healthiest cities.  It’s like finding a smoking lounge tucked into a destination spa.”  Sorry we couldn’t get a good picture of the article, the sun and people trying to get in and out of the door as we were taking the picture worked against us. 

So, Monday was about Sandy’s love of stargazing and Tuesday was about a massage for Michelle.  Michelle talked to the front desk at the Marriott, and they suggested a place called ‘Boulder Therapeutics’ and Michelle was so glad she took their recommendation because her massage was amazing!  Zoe, her massage therapist, has 15 years’ experience and is also a licensed chiropractor so she really knows how to get into knots and work them out.  After getting home and a quick shower for Michelle, dinner was on our minds.  We picked an Italian place in Boulder called “Sforno Trattoria Romana”, situated on the promenade part of Pearl Street.  The food was good and Peyton, our food server, was charming if a bit distracted.  Michelle’s trout was delicious, and Sandy enjoyed her seafood pasta.  We splurged on chocolate mousse that was made in-house and consisted of scoops of super chocolaty mousse alternating with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.  A heavenly desert!  We headed back to our hotel and early to bed as we had a very early wake up the next day. 

The alarm went off at 5:30 AM because we wanted to go to the Denver Mint, and you can only get tickets at the ticket office which opened at 7 AM and closed as soon as all the tickets for the day are issued.  So, off to Denver we went.  It will surprise no one who knows us that we were one of the first in line and got tickets for the first tour at 7:30 AM.  The tour was really interesting and Derrick, our tour guide really knew his subject.  We were allowed to see the production of pennies – I think most people are fascinated by how things are manufactured with the production of money being especially enthralling.  Did you know that $50,000 of quarters weights 2,500 pounds?  We saw a container holding that amount and it became obvious why our purses/pants pockets become so heavy if we accumulate too many coins.  We also learned that Denver makes all the new coins for the Western part of the country and the Philadelphia mint makes all the coins for the East.  There were displays of money through the ages and the ubiquitous gift shop.  During the tour, Derrick openly admitted one of the aims of the tour is to turn all of us into coins collectors (called numismatists) because that helps creates the demand for more coins.  We’re sure some of you have heard it takes more than a penny to manufacture a penny and more than a nickel to manufacture a nickel.  That is true (3 cents for a penny and 8 cents for a nickel) but the production of the higher value coins can be made at a profit. The mint sells the coins to the Federal Reserve for face value who sell the coins for face value to banks and other financial institutions, so the mint is one of the very few departments in the government that makes a profit.  What do they do with that profit?  It is used to pay down the national debt.  Last year the profit came to about 3.5 billion. Yes, a drop in the bucket for the debt, but nevertheless, it is something.  We’re still not convinced we still need pennies, but it takes an act of congress to get rid of pennies (literally), so that’s a remote possibility.  We also don’t have any pictures from inside the mint because it is prohibited. They made us turn off our phones before we were allowed to enter After the tour, we went looking for breakfast and through the help of a local, found a great breakfast place called ‘Dozens” and yes, the eggs were very good!  We then returned to our car and picked up our purses that were not allowed in the Mint. Then it was off to the capital building.  It was very quiet as the Colorado congress is not in session, but it is a very impressive and beautiful building.  We almost had to hike back to the car (in an all-day lot for $18) because we realized Sandy had a very nice pocketknife in her purse.  The parking lot was a fair distance, so we hid her knife outside the capital building with the squirrels and confidently went through the security checkpoint. 

I carry a Samurai Sword and no one ever stops me.

We spent an hour wandering around the building and admiring the art, architecture and trappings of power and then recaptured Sandy’s knife and walked back to the car.  Once in the car, we realized we were only about 30 minutes away from the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater!  We both have always wanted to see it so off we went, and we are SO glad we did!  It is set amongst stunningly beautiful red rock formations and drop-dead gorgeous landscapes. We only had a few minutes to see the amphitheater because a show was scheduled for that evening and the artist (Still Woozy – I looked him up, he is an indie singer/songwriter) needed to start his sound check.  However, there is a gift shop (nach) and a Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame so we spent some time examining the displays.  There are listings of every act who has been there by year – back as far as 1941 regularly and the early 1900s for sporadic concerts.  We were very tickled to find Joe Bonamassa’s name on a few of the years.  We also went to the trading post just down the way from the amphitheater.  It is just a much bigger version of the gift shop, but they did have better t-shirts and post cards.  For anyone who loves music and rock n roll specifically, this is a must-not-miss experience.  We were able to mark this off our bucket list, though we would still love to actually see a show there – preferably Joe Bonamassa! 

By the way, on the way there we stopped at the Matthew Winters State Park.  This is an extremely beautiful place just outside of the Red Rock Amphitheater.  Our visit there is a shout out to our friends whose namesake donated the land to the state.  A most wonderful gift of conservatory!

The drive back to Boulder was quick and uneventful.  For our last dinner in Boulder, we decided to sample the local sushi.  We picked a place called ‘Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake Bar”.  Wow!  The food was fantastic and Charlotte, our very talented and helpful food server made the experience ever better!  She suggested the Pacific Isle Roll, which contains spicy tuna, tempura asparagus and jalapeno rolled in rice and topped with albacore tuna, cilantro and chili ponzu.  It was amazing, so amazing we ordered another one after we finished the first one.  Back to the hotel to pack up for our journey to Santa Fe tomorrow.  We also get to pick up our little Eddie tomorrow!  We miss her so much!

Really?

As noted above….

The tour was SO cool – we wish we could show you pictures.

Part of the Colorado Capital building rotunda.

More of the rotunda – it’s really impressive.

The view from outside the capital building. This is looking away from the capital. We believe the white building in the background is the state court house.

The aforementioned Matthews/Winters Park right outside the Red Rocks park.

Some of you may recognize this from our Facebook post. One of the magnificent red rock formations in the park.

The amphitheater is surrounded by majestic rock formations. Seeing a musical act here must be akin to seeing opera in Santa Fe. Surrounded by nature’s beauty.

The amphitheater as seen from above.

Just the two of us…

Yummy, yummy sushi!