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 50^th 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.

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!