Road Trip August 2004
From the Road Trip journal....
DAY ONE TUESDAY
Up at four AM to get to the airport for a 7:10 flight, ride in was fine and check in a snap. Arrived in DFW on time. (DFW dreadful as usual). Flight left thirty plus minutes late. Arrived in LAS around 30 minutes late, flight pleasant enough. After about 20 minutes and some wandering around, (cell phone no service), I met up with Gary, and also Pete and Brian. We went to the Barbary Coast for lunch and had some of the most bizarre service ever. Lunch took over two hours for sandwiches, but that was O.K., time to talk with Pete and Brian. After that, dropped them off to check into Bally's and Gary and I went to his house to pack and then leave for Flagstaff. Pleasant drive, with some rain actually, arrived Flagstaff about 8:30 PM and checked into the lovely Super 8 Motel, had a bite from Subway and went to bed.
DAY TWO WED
Up early (65 degrees) and out of the motel by 6:30 AM. Had breakfast on route 66, a trucker kind of place with a railroad theme. HUGE breakfast plate for $5.99 couldn't finish it, we wussed.
Then on the road to Meteor Crater, spent about an hour, then back on the road.
Stopped on the way at another trucker place for ice cream and fudge cake, then on to Albuquerque and then to Santa Fe, arriving about 3:30. After a few wrong turns, found Alex's place.
Lovely house and of course, lovely Alex! Some time for chat, then drove to town and walked around.
A very lovely town, Santa Fe. Stopped in some shops, most galleries were closed but still plenty to see. Temps very comfortable. Ate at a place on the plaza called The Plaza Cafe. Wonderful meal! I had Posole Verde, which was v good. Alex a trout baked in a leaf with lemon, Gary a gyro thing. A couple, he Greek, and she southwest started this place, so the menu offered a lot of great options. The pastry chef came by with a huge coconut cream pie, so we had to have dessert. Alex had the coconut cream pie, which was definitive, Gary a espresso chocolate flan and I had a cherry pie, one of the best I've ever had. Walked about some more as the light began to fade, then back to Alex's. More talk and an early bedtime. Pleasant night's sleep, morning temps cool and delightfully dry.
DAY THREE THURSDAY
Got up around seven and we walked across the arroyo to a little breakfast place near Alex's house. Then back to Alex's and drove to Whole Foods Market. Took pics and visited with Ann, good to see her again! Did some shopping. Then drove up to Museum Hill and visited two museums, one had exhibits of children�s toys and a carnival exhibit and some primitive art. The other featured native crafts, with a really good trading post. Then into the town for a little shopping and lunch, a buffet at a good Indian place; the usual kind of stuff, nicely done.
Back to Alex's for goodbyes. Then we drove up to Taos. What we saw of the town wasn't that inspiring, the ski areas might be more interesting.
We stopped at the Taos Pueblo, which was pretty cool; Gary bought a story teller doll. Then headed out on Route 64 for over 140 miles of stunning scenery through National Forests and Indian lands, really way out in the middle of nowhere, waaaay out.
Got to Farmington where we spent the night in a Travelodge. Had supper at a little place, food was passable. Good nights sleep.
After this, I stopped making daily notes... it was all just too amazing...
Day Four Friday
We got up and hit the road, heading for the town of Mancos for breakfast at a nice little organic bakery called The Absolute Bakery.
Luca and Alex had eaten here on that earlier Four Corners Trip and luca had been back since. It's a lovely little place; the town of Mancos seems to be a bit of an old hippy type of town, really pleasant, probably the best breakfast we had during the trip. From there we drove to Mesa Verde, the thousand plus year old Anasazi cliff dwellings.
We hiked around some, it was all very, very cool. We walked through the visitor center and looked at the exhibits. I'm always a bit suspicious of the kind of science in these exhibits and sure enough there was one thing that stood out right away. In the section on food and cooking, the sign said that they found some caches of salt so "apparently salt was used in cooking", as if this was an option in the ancient diet! Salt is necessary for human life; there's no way that this society would have existed if there wasn't a source of salt nearby, but there has been no attempt so far to identify where these people got their salt.
As we drove back down from the mesa, we stopped for a view of the Mancos Valley, looking back to where we had breakfast, a stunning view! Actually, from here on, it was difficult to take any pictures that truly captured the incredible things that we saw. Everything was just so freaking big! The horizon was just so far away and the things we were looking at were so immense!
We stopped at the Four Corners area, which like most of the areas we drove through, was part of native American lands. It's the only place in the U.S where you can stand on the point where four states meet. There were also lots of places to buy things there; I bought a t-shirt from a very charming Navaho man...
Monument Valley
The pictures just don't do this place justice! I mean it was awesome!
(And not like in "Wow, like your new jeans are awesome man!" I mean like in the true sense of the word: struck dumb, unable to speak, stunned and humbled by what you see.)
We stopped several times to take pictures and the silence in this immense valley with these huge geological formations was total and mind blowing! I almost didn't want to put any of the pictures here, because they just don't convey what this place is like. This is really something that you have to actually do for yourself...
Day Five Saturday
We drove to Page, Arizona to spend the night, got up in the morning and had breakfast at Denny's, (not a lot of choices in Page, but it was good enough). One of the cooks there was stunning... and we watched a large family come in and sit down; one of the kids, prolly 14 years old was sooo future faggot...luca and I spotted him right away... so gay... not sure his family was going to understand when the time comes. I had this feeling that I should go over to the table and tell them, "You know, you have a very special child here...." Totally unwise, hehe.
Page, Arizona exists because of the Glen Canyon Dam. The town was built when the dam was built. It was a totally remote area before that, really hard to get to and no reason for anyone to live there. The area is absolutely beautiful and the town now services the tourism industry. People also live there so they can work at the Navajo Power plant, a modern coal fired power plant.
Zion National Park
Our last park on our trip and it was also stunning! Once again, the pics just don't do it.
Once out of the canyon, we stopped for lunch in Hurricane, Utah, where I finally got cell service again... and tried to call my brother to check on my cousin in the Orlando area to find out how she had survived that hurricane...
Then we hit the big highway through the canyons to Vegas, another really amazing drive! And soon enough we were home at luca's house. We had driven over 1600 miles. It was fantastic, amazing! It was good to do; to see how emormous and empty this part of our country is and how beautiful. And when you look at the map, it's just a little bit of the west! There's so much more of it!
We had dinner and just crashed.
Sunday
Luca and I had toast and coffee and then went to the strip and did some shopping, had lunch at a mall, did the Monet exhibit at the Bellagio, shopped at the outlet mall and then met GC. We went to the Green Valley Ranch Casino, which is a bit south of Vegas proper. We ate at P.F. Changs and it was quite good, the cuisine is Americanized Asian, but tasty and not too expensive. After that, we hit the casino. I lost my allowed $20; it's my limit for betting in any casino. If I don't win, I quit. If I do win, and I have, I quit. (I'm ahead everywhere I've ever done this, it's a good strategy I think..)
Luca lost twenty thousand dollars and GC lost 23 cents. (just kidding! bwahahaha!) We dropped GC off, (it was really great to see him again!) and then headed back to luca's place.
Monday
Lazy morning, toast and coffee, packing and then off to the airport with a stop for lunch on the way. Luca delivered me to the gate, a hug and then I was off into the depths of the Vegas airport and soon enough on a plane to Dallas/Ft.Worth. I spent less than 30 minutes in that dismal place and was back home in New Orleans by midnight. At work by eleven on Tuesday.
What a great trip!
Luca's a good traveling companion, he insists on doing all the driving... and as long as I pretend not to notice the fact that he leaves his underwear behind everywhere we stop, and that he tends to pick up a few things along the way, well, we get along just fine. You couldn't ask for more. He has suggested that we do California next year and I am up for that. (Watch out J2!)
So I'm back in New Orleans... It was good to see Robert again, I had some pressies for him that he liked. Going back to work was good. (My piece on Irish Artinisal Cheeses got published in the national HoFu newsletter...) The summer is almost over and the store will get busy again, especially for the holidays and that will keep me occupied for a while.
There's a lot of possibilities ahead.
And I like that.
durlx
From the Road Trip journal....
DAY ONE TUESDAY
Up at four AM to get to the airport for a 7:10 flight, ride in was fine and check in a snap. Arrived in DFW on time. (DFW dreadful as usual). Flight left thirty plus minutes late. Arrived in LAS around 30 minutes late, flight pleasant enough. After about 20 minutes and some wandering around, (cell phone no service), I met up with Gary, and also Pete and Brian. We went to the Barbary Coast for lunch and had some of the most bizarre service ever. Lunch took over two hours for sandwiches, but that was O.K., time to talk with Pete and Brian. After that, dropped them off to check into Bally's and Gary and I went to his house to pack and then leave for Flagstaff. Pleasant drive, with some rain actually, arrived Flagstaff about 8:30 PM and checked into the lovely Super 8 Motel, had a bite from Subway and went to bed.
DAY TWO WED
Up early (65 degrees) and out of the motel by 6:30 AM. Had breakfast on route 66, a trucker kind of place with a railroad theme. HUGE breakfast plate for $5.99 couldn't finish it, we wussed.
Then on the road to Meteor Crater, spent about an hour, then back on the road.
Stopped on the way at another trucker place for ice cream and fudge cake, then on to Albuquerque and then to Santa Fe, arriving about 3:30. After a few wrong turns, found Alex's place.
Lovely house and of course, lovely Alex! Some time for chat, then drove to town and walked around.
A very lovely town, Santa Fe. Stopped in some shops, most galleries were closed but still plenty to see. Temps very comfortable. Ate at a place on the plaza called The Plaza Cafe. Wonderful meal! I had Posole Verde, which was v good. Alex a trout baked in a leaf with lemon, Gary a gyro thing. A couple, he Greek, and she southwest started this place, so the menu offered a lot of great options. The pastry chef came by with a huge coconut cream pie, so we had to have dessert. Alex had the coconut cream pie, which was definitive, Gary a espresso chocolate flan and I had a cherry pie, one of the best I've ever had. Walked about some more as the light began to fade, then back to Alex's. More talk and an early bedtime. Pleasant night's sleep, morning temps cool and delightfully dry.
DAY THREE THURSDAY
Got up around seven and we walked across the arroyo to a little breakfast place near Alex's house. Then back to Alex's and drove to Whole Foods Market. Took pics and visited with Ann, good to see her again! Did some shopping. Then drove up to Museum Hill and visited two museums, one had exhibits of children�s toys and a carnival exhibit and some primitive art. The other featured native crafts, with a really good trading post. Then into the town for a little shopping and lunch, a buffet at a good Indian place; the usual kind of stuff, nicely done.
Back to Alex's for goodbyes. Then we drove up to Taos. What we saw of the town wasn't that inspiring, the ski areas might be more interesting.
We stopped at the Taos Pueblo, which was pretty cool; Gary bought a story teller doll. Then headed out on Route 64 for over 140 miles of stunning scenery through National Forests and Indian lands, really way out in the middle of nowhere, waaaay out.
Got to Farmington where we spent the night in a Travelodge. Had supper at a little place, food was passable. Good nights sleep.
After this, I stopped making daily notes... it was all just too amazing...
Day Four Friday
We got up and hit the road, heading for the town of Mancos for breakfast at a nice little organic bakery called The Absolute Bakery.
Luca and Alex had eaten here on that earlier Four Corners Trip and luca had been back since. It's a lovely little place; the town of Mancos seems to be a bit of an old hippy type of town, really pleasant, probably the best breakfast we had during the trip. From there we drove to Mesa Verde, the thousand plus year old Anasazi cliff dwellings.
We hiked around some, it was all very, very cool. We walked through the visitor center and looked at the exhibits. I'm always a bit suspicious of the kind of science in these exhibits and sure enough there was one thing that stood out right away. In the section on food and cooking, the sign said that they found some caches of salt so "apparently salt was used in cooking", as if this was an option in the ancient diet! Salt is necessary for human life; there's no way that this society would have existed if there wasn't a source of salt nearby, but there has been no attempt so far to identify where these people got their salt.
As we drove back down from the mesa, we stopped for a view of the Mancos Valley, looking back to where we had breakfast, a stunning view! Actually, from here on, it was difficult to take any pictures that truly captured the incredible things that we saw. Everything was just so freaking big! The horizon was just so far away and the things we were looking at were so immense!
We stopped at the Four Corners area, which like most of the areas we drove through, was part of native American lands. It's the only place in the U.S where you can stand on the point where four states meet. There were also lots of places to buy things there; I bought a t-shirt from a very charming Navaho man...
Monument Valley
The pictures just don't do this place justice! I mean it was awesome!
(And not like in "Wow, like your new jeans are awesome man!" I mean like in the true sense of the word: struck dumb, unable to speak, stunned and humbled by what you see.)
We stopped several times to take pictures and the silence in this immense valley with these huge geological formations was total and mind blowing! I almost didn't want to put any of the pictures here, because they just don't convey what this place is like. This is really something that you have to actually do for yourself...
Day Five Saturday
We drove to Page, Arizona to spend the night, got up in the morning and had breakfast at Denny's, (not a lot of choices in Page, but it was good enough). One of the cooks there was stunning... and we watched a large family come in and sit down; one of the kids, prolly 14 years old was sooo future faggot...luca and I spotted him right away... so gay... not sure his family was going to understand when the time comes. I had this feeling that I should go over to the table and tell them, "You know, you have a very special child here...." Totally unwise, hehe.
Page, Arizona exists because of the Glen Canyon Dam. The town was built when the dam was built. It was a totally remote area before that, really hard to get to and no reason for anyone to live there. The area is absolutely beautiful and the town now services the tourism industry. People also live there so they can work at the Navajo Power plant, a modern coal fired power plant.
Zion National Park
Our last park on our trip and it was also stunning! Once again, the pics just don't do it.
Once out of the canyon, we stopped for lunch in Hurricane, Utah, where I finally got cell service again... and tried to call my brother to check on my cousin in the Orlando area to find out how she had survived that hurricane...
Then we hit the big highway through the canyons to Vegas, another really amazing drive! And soon enough we were home at luca's house. We had driven over 1600 miles. It was fantastic, amazing! It was good to do; to see how emormous and empty this part of our country is and how beautiful. And when you look at the map, it's just a little bit of the west! There's so much more of it!
We had dinner and just crashed.
Sunday
Luca and I had toast and coffee and then went to the strip and did some shopping, had lunch at a mall, did the Monet exhibit at the Bellagio, shopped at the outlet mall and then met GC. We went to the Green Valley Ranch Casino, which is a bit south of Vegas proper. We ate at P.F. Changs and it was quite good, the cuisine is Americanized Asian, but tasty and not too expensive. After that, we hit the casino. I lost my allowed $20; it's my limit for betting in any casino. If I don't win, I quit. If I do win, and I have, I quit. (I'm ahead everywhere I've ever done this, it's a good strategy I think..)
Luca lost twenty thousand dollars and GC lost 23 cents. (just kidding! bwahahaha!) We dropped GC off, (it was really great to see him again!) and then headed back to luca's place.
Monday
Lazy morning, toast and coffee, packing and then off to the airport with a stop for lunch on the way. Luca delivered me to the gate, a hug and then I was off into the depths of the Vegas airport and soon enough on a plane to Dallas/Ft.Worth. I spent less than 30 minutes in that dismal place and was back home in New Orleans by midnight. At work by eleven on Tuesday.
What a great trip!
Luca's a good traveling companion, he insists on doing all the driving... and as long as I pretend not to notice the fact that he leaves his underwear behind everywhere we stop, and that he tends to pick up a few things along the way, well, we get along just fine. You couldn't ask for more. He has suggested that we do California next year and I am up for that. (Watch out J2!)
So I'm back in New Orleans... It was good to see Robert again, I had some pressies for him that he liked. Going back to work was good. (My piece on Irish Artinisal Cheeses got published in the national HoFu newsletter...) The summer is almost over and the store will get busy again, especially for the holidays and that will keep me occupied for a while.
There's a lot of possibilities ahead.
And I like that.
durlx
posted by durlx at 8/19/2004 08:45:00 PM
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