| Spent 5 days in Phoenix where it was HOT AS HADES!!! and humid!! It was apparently monsoon season, but it didn't rain and my car needed a bath so I wished it would. I stayed with my friend Fran who is also a pump wearing diabetic..She has 13 cats...and YES I am still allergic to them...AHCHOOO |
| The Adventure Continues.... |
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| WESTWARD HO After ATHE, I flew back to Denver, got my purple car, and headed West on I-70 to Keystone. My old apartment is now a BAR, and the dive we used to hang out in is now a snooty restaurant - Ahhh...times they are a-changin'. Drove up to Leadville, and over Independence Pass through Aspen and spent the night at a hotel in Glenwood Springs. The next day, I could not pull myself away, so I stayed another night in the youth hostel. I hiked up in the Maroon Bells area - lost my glasses over a rushing stream as I swatted a fly. That night I soaked in the famous, though over priced, hot springs pool. Finally, I could put it off no longer and had to GO WEST, young man, er woman and sobbed as I left the Rockies. I drove through Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, an amazing canyon area with cliffs and spires and unearthly rock formations.. |
| Leaving Moab, I drove south through Monument Valley....I think I saw John Wayne as he rode off into the sunset, but there were so many Navajo arts and crafts sellers crowding the vista, I wasn't sure. I spent the night in a grungy, but homey youth hostel in Flagstaff, AZ (don't forget Winona), on THE Route 66. Next day I drove down through Oak Creek Canyon and for an hour was transported back to Colorado - gorgeous! pine trees, and mountains, very un-Arizona like...then POOF I arrive in Sedona, and I was back in Aspen, Estes Park...or any other tourism driven city you can think of.I didn't feel any vibrations from the rocks, but I did pay WAY too much for a bad cup of coffee...thank god parking was free... |
| MOAB....a dream realized Leaving Colorado, I ran smack dab into Utah. I headed south through Castle Valley, along the Colorado River and into Moab. I dumped my stuff at the Lazy Lizard youth hostel and went straight to Arches National Park. I have wanted to be here since I was 20 years old and read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Maybe it was the altitude, but my heart was definitely beating faster as I drove in. I spent three days here, hiking in both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. If you EVER have a chance to go, do not even think about it...GO GO GO and please call me to go with you! It was HOT as hell, but it was a good hot! I cried as I drove out of here too... |
| So then I headed east towards Tex-Ass(sigh), stopping off in Chirachahua National Monument on the way. Spent the night at a hotel in El Paso. Border Town. yuck. Then, since I had spent so much time in Phoenix and Tucson, I decided to skip Carlsbad, and went straight to Marble Falls, TX (524 miles from El Paso) in the Hill country north of Austin. Had a nice hotel overlooking the lake. swam and hot tubbed and just relaxed for the night and morning, then drove teh rest of the way back to dad's. He was there this time, and so so was my nephew, Sam. Julie came out from Santa Barbara, my aunt Jane drove my papa daddy out and we had such a great few days.....and a month later, papa daddy broke his hip playing basketball and never went home...He died on January 22, 2002 and I am so grateful Sam got to spend those hours with him that day at Ben's. me and Sam and Julie made paper at dad's, then Julie and Sam left, and Dad went to Wisconsin to see him woman, so I went to lake Charles to see my cousin Dana's new baby, Jacob...then back to Houston, and home on September 5th...where did the time go? Did this summer REALLY happen?? |
| TUCSON A little further south and I was in the Sonoran Desert and stayed with my grad school pal Susan. She has a great new house right on the edge of town where you can see the Milky Way at night! I finally washed my car. Suffice it to say that I LOVE TUCSON! The stars, the weather, the food, the people, the blackberry pie at the Mt. Lemmon Cafe. One day, I went down to Tombstone with Jack, Susan's bass player in her band BIG CACTUS...I mean After The Rush...They are really good, but need a new name...I want to move here...let's see if I can make it happen! Tombstone was dead...literally, but it was a nice little side trip |
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| this space will be filled eventually with something about this loss... |
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