Garnerbiker's Journey on planet Earth

This blog started as a trip journal for the summer of 2011 Europe trip of 69 days. My wife Katherine, and I decided to use the entire summer break that teachers get, and go crazy. Everything was new to us. I was surprised at the blog's following. It has now become a tradition to travel on our breaks and blog about it. I write mostly as a journal for myself and students, but also give travel ideas to others that might want to travel like us, or go to the places we have seen. Take a look at what's on here. The experiences that I have had through travel are continuously shaping my life. I recommend you get out there and do it!

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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Santa Fe, New Mexico


13 Aug 2013                         Santa Fe, New Mexico



            The summer in Santa Fe is more than beautiful.  Not only is the weather perfect, but it is peaceful, and full of culture.  The winters can be very cold and snowy, and the summers are warm and sunny.  After living in Las Vegas without much seasonal contrast, I miss Mother Nature showing off the splendor of the different seasons.  The summer is when the Santa Fe Opera season takes place.  The opera house is northwest of town 6 miles, nestled in the foothills of the Sange de Cristo Mountains.  Katherine and I have been going to the SF Opera on and off for 10 years,  and this summer was our second time seeing all 5 performances. 
           
            Previously, we enjoyed ourselves so much that I wanted to share the experience of the opera festival with my parents.  Thankfully, they were interested and we made it a week together in Santa Fe.  Katherine sent my parents little informative emails about the particular performances and notes about what to look out for.  Many people, not knowing about opera, get turned off by the different languages and are over stimulated with the music.  Plus, it is usually at least a 3 hour event, and can be overwhelming.  We wanted my parents to have a good time, so this little bit of “homework” made them more comfortable and gave us stuff to talk about.

            The Santa Fe Opera is a whole evening event.  To do it right, you must “tailgate” before the opera starts out in the parking lot.  This is taken quite seriously and all parties do it a little different.  While camping all summer out of the truck, we had most of the gear needed to host a tailgating party.  Cooler, table, chairs, cutlery, cutting board, and knife would get the job done, but Katherine wanted it to be really nice.  So, we went online and found fancy plastic/reusable glasses, cutlery, and even a white table cloth.  This really spiffed things up, and with the take away gourmet meals, made for a delightful pre opera dinner before the first opera my parents were attending.  I think we did it right!



            We spent the days traveling the streets of Santa Fe and even went up to the top of Santa Fe Mountain.  This is where the ski resort is located.  In the past summers, Katherine and I would mountain bike or trail run the trails, but this time we went on a brief hike with my parents.  I was searching for the elusive King Boletes mushrooms.  I ran farther up the trail and saw quite a few mushrooms, but was unsure of what was the King.  A chef, a few summers before, showed me how to identify, but I had since forgotten.  I just loaded some up in a bag to check them out later.  What I found out was, the one mushroom that I did not take, thinking it was poison, was the only King that I saw.  The others in the bag were not the poison ones, but not tasty enough to eat.  Oh well.  I think I was a little late for the season anyway.  Hopefully next time I can know what I am looking for and be there at the right time.  Or, just travel higher up into the mountains.



            Shopping in Santa Fe is outstanding.  This is even coming from a guy that hates shopping.  I just like to look at all the Native American art and crafts.  There is everything from extreme luxury to inexpensive postcards.  I found a few things, but was more interested in talking and mingling with the shop owners.  The lady that I bought some cuff links from mentioned when I left to wear them in “good spirits” and shook my hand.  Wow!  How different.  I can’t say anyone had ever said that to me before.  I guess I have to then.  She also talked about how her father was the creator of the jewelry and gave me a little info on him.  


Another interesting shopping moment was the guy at the Red River Mercantile shop.  This guy was on the phone ordering a product line and discussing it in detail.  I listened closely as I was trying on many hats.  When he finished he helped me with the hats and was more than knowledgeable.   Our conversation then moved to bicycles and he had me look at a web site selling hand made in the USA custom cycles. He wanted my opinion about what models he should carry and why I thought they would sell. Cool.  From there he showed me another site with watches made in a previously closed down Detroit factory.  There is this new watch company utilizing retrained factory workers skilled in the automotive field to make fine watches in hopes to bring money back to the city.  The site looked great and the watches will surely sell.  I just found it odd that this guys was so interested in my opinion.  

The last night of the opera was probably our best.  Our friends, Joe and Laura came up from Albuquerque and were our tailgating guests.  With my parents being there, this turned out to be a great party.  Joe showed up in his super awesome red suit!  I was wearing my bright yellow pants, so we “kind” of stood out in the crowd.  Katherine and Laura liked to just look from a distance.  I don’t blame them.  This was Joe and Laura’s first time to the opera, so we were all very excited for them.  While we were eating out in the parking lot, some people were pointing and talking about our clothes.  One guy even came up to tell us how crazy we looked, so I also complemented him on his attire (hot pink pants) and we posed for a picture.   


Santa Fe was the last stop on our HUGE summer trip.  I was looking forward to making it to the opera all summer knowing that it would be this much fun.  It was even more fun because my parents came out to visit and Joe and Laura as well.  That night we headed back to Albuquerque, crashed at Joe and Laura’s, slept for a few hours, got up, ate breakfast, and drove the 8.5 hours back to Las Vegas, stopping to have lunch with Emily and Jason Snelson in Flagstaff.   The last day of driving was our longest.  Ouch! 

I can’t believe how much of the USA we saw in 2 months.  It was expensive and put a lot of miles on the truck, but was the equivalent of many smaller vacations.  There is no way we could travel like this unless we were teachers, or trust funders!  It was spectacular!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Albuquerque, New Mexico

10 Aug 2013                         Albuquerque, New Mexico

            The drive from Colorado was one of our longer legs of the trip.  That didn’t matter since the scenery was just so beautiful!  Going from Colorado into New Mexico, you really see the terrain change right before your eyes.  It is like traveling to some distant land.  Nothing is like New Mexico.

            We arrived at the Gershin house in the afternoon, with Laura and Joe waiting to greet us.  They have a beautiful house that has been spiffed up nicely.  Joe used to work at Lowes in Albuquerque, so he has the know-how to do things right.  Anything that he has remodeled looks amazing!  After a tour of the house, we headed to Nexus, a brewery in ABQ that serves “New Mexican soul food.”  Yes.  You heard that correctly.  As strange as that concept sounds, it was excellent.

            The next morning we got out the trombones and played a little bit.  Joe had his friend John come over to join in the madness.  John recently retired from the ABQ school district and was a great third member in the trombone trio reading session.  Music teacher talk is something quite interesting and Katherine was thoroughly entertained! 



            Joe and Laura have some very energetic dogs as well.  We took them to the park to run and I could not believe the training they have put them through.  I threw the ball as far as I could, and Ella, the black dog, brought it back super fast.  Then, she did it over and over again.  She is unstoppable.



            You can’t make it to Albuquerque without hitting up Sadie’s for a real New Mexican meal.  Geeze! I miss this stuff.



            We went on a little run with Joe and Laura too.   They took us on a route through the East mountain streets.  It was right in our old neighborhood, where we lived in graduate school.  We even went by our old apartment on Montgomery Blvd.  Good memories.



            For our last dinner in ABQ, our wonderful hosts concocted delightful pizza creations.   If you could only smell this through the blog.


            My mom and dad arrived in ABQ that evening.  This gave us just enough time to hit some balls at the driving range and try out some of Joe’s sweet clubs.  This assortment came from a second hand sports store and probably totaled $50.  I was impressed that he got a Calloway Big Bertha from 1995 for $10.  We let it rip that night at the range, especially Laura. 



            Joe said, “If you want a real New Mexican breakfast, you gotta go to Wecks!”  So, we met up with my parents and split some huge breakfast platters.  This food will not make you skinny, but it sure is good. 



            ABQ was awesome to visit again, but now it’s time to head back north to Santa Fe.  The opera will be starting soon.

Dillon, Colorado

6 Aug 2013               Dillon, CO

             Dillon was awesome!  We didn’t do much but chill and hand out with our friend Jim.  Jim and his parents have a mountain cabin just down the hill from Keystone Ski Resort that we have visited in the past.  Previously, we have come up in the winter to go snowboarding, but this time it was summer and the whole area has a different feel.  I went on a long walk with Jim on one of the same traisl that was snow covered before.  It rewarded us with some views of the Dillon Reservoir, and the surrounding mountains.  It was great to catch up with a great friend.  Katherine was still resting her sprained ankle and relaxed inside. 


           
            Our travels luckily coincided with Jim’s 50th birthday.  We decided on going up Keystone mountain for a dinner at the Aplenglow Stube.  We enjoyed the restaurant so much before with Jim and his mom, I was happy to get up there again for the evening.  You have to take two gondola rides to the top and weather can be really bad.  Last time is was bone chilling, but this time it was quite pleasant and warm.  Dinner was superb! 

            I had a mild catastrophe at the cabin.  It was my feather pillow that I have had for over 10 years.  It was time to finally give it a wash to clean off all the grime and campfire scent.  Previously, I washed it in a 5 gal. bucket, but this time I thought I would just toss it in the washing machine at the Shoff house.  Little did I know I put it on “normal wash” mode and not “perm press/delicate.”  When I returned to see the wash, this is what I saw.  Oops!



            I spent the next 20 minutes cleaning out feathers….  Yay.  Eventually, the washer was cleaned, and the dead pillow laid in the garage dying a grotesque death.  I lost a real friend. 

            If you have been reading the blog thus far, you might see that I am not updating everyday, but just noting big locations.  In Europe and Asia, I was able to write more frequently about the travels.  The time at the Shoff cabin let me catch up and finish the Yellowstone and Billings posts.  The work environment these is stellar.  I has a view of Tenderfoot Mountain, and a leather recliner chair, and clean clothes.  How nice.  That is why those blogs are longer and a little more descriptive. 


            I went on a few trail runs by myself and reorganized the gear in the truck.  Also, this was a great time to put some practice on the ukulele and the alto trombone.  I thought I would be doing more of that on this trip, but other things have taken over.  We have just seen a LOT of friends and talking with them has been more fun than practicing. 

           Tomorrow, we are off to Albuquerque.  I love getting back to New Mexico.  It is truly beautiful and we will be meeting up with my friends Joe and Laura, and then my parents come into town from Virginia.  We will all then be heading up to the Santa Fe Opera.  I can’t wait.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Billings, MT

2 Aug 2013               Billings, MT

            Our friend Angela got married in Hawaii a few weeks ago and was having a wedding party in Billings.  This stop in Montana fit into our trip nicely.  Angela is a music teacher pal from Las Vegas.  When Katherine and I started in Vegas, she was right there with us as a new teacher.  We even took a long semester class with her, and both ended up working at the same school with her for a year.  Ever since then we have kept in touch.  Angela has been in Chile teaching at an International School and has loved every moment of it.  Even the earthquake that hit Santiago a while back!  It wrecked her music room.  She met Corbet in Chile and has been in love ever since.  How great!  At the wedding party, they played quite a few songs together and even showed off some original tunes.  For those of you that don’t know, Angela tears it up on the flute, and Corbet does the same damage on the guitar.  They are awesome, and a treat to listen to. 


           
            Our friend Steve, another music teacher from Vegas made the journey to Billings also.  He met up with us at a campground in Billings with his sister Carla that was traveling with him.  We all had a great time that evening, but the time flew by too fast.  Steve has been mountain biking all summer and was heading up to Glacier, so we traded stories about what we had just seen up there.  He was then going to head to Portland.  He was pretty much doing our trip, but in reverse.  How sweet! 


            Camping in the Billing KOA has to be mentioned here.  Once we pulled into the campground, and got our site, we noticed a mini residence built in the site next to us.  These campers looked more like drifters and not your average traveling folks.  The site had a full kitchen and different people kept coming in and out of the massive tent.  They looked like drug addicts, but the conversations were mostly intelligible, so I was wondering.  After observing them for 3 nights, I am guessing that they were high school dropouts living in a campground, and had maybe been kicked out of the house?  Also, cars kept coming by with different people, so I thought drug dealers?  Who knows?  I kept a close eye on my gear and on them. 


            Motorcycles were everywhere once again!  The Sturgis, South Dakota rally was going on and many bikers pass through Billing on their way to Mecca.  At about 5pm, the bikers start showing up and fill the campground.  They really are a nice bunch of people and are enthralled to tell you all about their bikes.  It’s quite entertaining.  We have been seeing these guys in huge numbers all across the West.  I think my father needs to get on one of these “Hogs” in Virginia and get out there.  He would love it.  They all carry a little tent and minimal supplies.  How fun!


            Angela has recently posted on Facebook that she has left to go to Tunisia with Corbet.  This is for another teaching position in a far off land.  I can’t wait to hear what it’s like there.  Hopefully, someday Katherine and I will be able to make it there to visit.  North Africa must be WAY cool with so much to see.  I wish the newlyweds the very best on their new journey.  I also can’t wait to hear new music that they will be creating.  Go guys!