Scribble World Travel Blog

Fire Fire! 4th Of July Fire In Salida Colorado

A group of us drove to the Bonanza Ghost Town to look at historic log houses for a while, admiring an old outhouse and other still-standing log structures from the time before indoor plumbing.  Then we drove into Salida, reserved a motel for the night and picked up some beer growlers at Amica’s for the campground party later on.

We drove back to our campground near Villa Grove where friends and family were already gathering.  Steve, the family chef, worked his magic making unbelievably delicious hamburgers and brauts.

We’re getting a free history lesson now from Bruce-learning about how Britain used to send it’s convicts to the U.S. as indentured servants, but after the Revolutionary War, they needed a new place to send them.  So Britain basically founded Australia for the sake of having somewhere to send it’s convicts.  It was primarily just men at first, but then after a while, they realized they needed to get some women over there too- so they started sending their prostitutes.  Wow, problem solved!

I played lots of volleyball, badminton, more volleyball, and horseshoe too. That was fun, for a while we split our volleyball teams up-Mothers against Non-Mothers. Despite a few twisted ankles, it was a hoot.

Meanwhile, back at the canopy, Chris had just gotten up the courage to play some guitar in front of the group, which is funny, because just then we had a couple newcomers to our party-a religious couple from the countryside! The guy whipped out his acoustic guitar and began playing and singing gospel music with his lady singing along.  Chris was a good sport and played along for the fun of it, and also got the guy interested in trying out some of his stuff too (the guy only knew gospel and some of our group’s party weren’t too keen to listen to gospel all night long)…

A heated little political debate started among certain group members and the girls tried to diffuse it by singing songs… with limited success.

We drove back into town again just in time to catch the 4th of July Salida, CO fireworks show.  The show ended abruptly after accidentally setting Tenderfoot Hill on fire!  They ignored the fire for a while, but as it grew more, it was getting a little out of hand and the fire department showed up.  We suspect it was a defective firework that didn’t go out soon enough-so it fell to the ground in multiple spots, and the dry grass caught fire in few different places.  Fortunately, the Salida fire department was prepared and the fire was soon under control, but the fireworks were discontinued.  We waited around for a while, just to be sure that was all, since they kind of skipped the finale, and ended after a few minutes of lighting just one at a time.  But that’s all there was and we got up to leave before getting run over by one of the many cars now driving through the field.  No complaints though, it was an interesting experience. I’ve never seen a hill get set on fire during the 4th of July before! 

Bonanza Inn, Raking Cacti, Colorado Thunderstorm

We had a very comfortable first night at the Bonanza Inn, though I would have stayed in bed much longer had it not been for the delicious breakfast waiting for us at 8 A.M-sure was good though-sausage patties, a home made quiche of some kind with veggies and sausage, a cake of some kind that reminded me of blueberry muffins and orange juice.  There were also individual sized boxes of cereal, but the hot breakfast was more than enough.

We followed Mom & Bruce to their property for a few hours of hard labor. We helped rake up cacti, shovel dirt and rocks, and did our best to help level a 12′x20′ section of land for their new shed.

We were treated to our first Colorado thunderstorm and called it quits on the work and got to take some nice pictures of the storm instead. We also breaked for lunch to munch on huge raspberries, blueberries, cherries, Snyder Beef Jerkey, cheese and crackers.

All in all a pretty good day. We also stopped at the Orient Land Trust Hot Springs to get some information-and when they say “clothing optional” let me tell ya, they mean clothing OPTIONAL   One elderly member of our party had quite the little shock as we toured the place when a fully naked man stood up as she came into view, followed by an equally nude middle aged woman.  She was very embarassed, but a good sport, and we all had fun teasing her about it the rest of the day.  Chris & I plan to go there tomorrow.

We had a luxurious 7 course meal for 9 people in an Itasca RV at the Bonanza Inn campground. It was quite the accomplishment, wish I had a picture to prove it!  We had fun listening to stories while nibbling fresh stream trout, rhubarb pie, and other goodies.  One woman, who would prefer to remain anonymous, was ratted out for a time when she was determined to complete a Sudoku puzzle that was supposed to be easy.  She traced the whole puzzle onto a sheet of paper using a pencil, hours went by and she was getting frazzled because she still had not solved this puzzle that was supposed to be “easy!” Finally, she looks at the original and realizes she’s been erasing the “given” numbers- who knows how many times-no wonder she hadn’t been able to solve it!  We had a good laugh at her expense, but her perseverence is admirable

It was also funny to hear a story of how one woman got her husband to do all the grocery shopping.  She went to the store armed with a pile of coupons and a list of all the sale items…but it somehow slipped her mind to give the coupons to the checkout girl. When she got home and her husband saw the receipt, he was horrified-it was so much more expensive because she had picked out all the odd sizes that were on sale.  Anyway, in the dispute that followed, she dared him to go do the grocery shopping himself then if he thought he could do it better-well he saw it as a challenge and from then on, that’s what he did!

Boba Tea, Unpasteurized Juice, and Gunpowder Iced Tea Austin, TX

My cousin showed us some great places around Austin, TX today to try interesting drinks.  We went to the awesome Whole Foods headquarters, which had all kinds of goodies including fresh unpasteurized juices-they are so delicious, I feel like I’ve been missing out all my life! 

We went to Momoko’s Tea Room located at 705 A W 24th St, Austin, TX 78705, where I was pleased to find bubbletea drinks with a whole menu full of different flavors to try-good thing I don’t live here, I know where I’d be spending all my money! Today I tried a peppermint boba tea, which was good. 

Oh! And we went to our first Hookah Bar. The gunpowder iced tea was super nummy-too bad you have to order a hookah and can’t just go for drinks, it’s a nice place to go for the ambiance.

We also walked around a cool running park with a statute of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Birthday dinner at Lake Elmo Inn

Lake Elmo Inn, known for its pampering service and delicious food, is independently owned and operated.  It’s also the first place I ever worked. Back in the day, I fell in love with their wild duck soup, which I was pleased to see is still on their menu and just as good as ever.

Other options include roast duck, rack of lamb, mouthwatering steaks….delicious pasta, and lots of other choices.

My favorite day to work at Lake Elmo Inn was Sunday.  That was the one day I actually got to sit down for a rushed 10 or 15 minute break and chow on the delectable brunch buffet offerings….all the expected breakfast fare, and a whole array of unbeatable dessert offerings too-like the classic Sin Of The Inn.

When I make it back to Minnesota, it’s cool when I have an excuse to go to Lake Elmo Inn as a pampered guest-kind of a ”Yay! It’s my turn!” moment.  Pretty slick of me to have my birthday in MN this year, made for a perfect excuse to go, and my Mom was kind enough to pick up the check-even better

Just a side note, but Lake Elmo Inn is one of the only places I’ve seen an automatic seat cover changer in the bathroom…you push a button and a new plastic seat cover spins out.  And that’s even before those paper ones started popping up everywhere.

And another innovation, now they have a coat attendent to give you a pickup ticket for your Minnesota bulky winter coat.  As a special birthday treat, our table was offered our choice of complimentary champaign or sparkling grape juice also.

Visit with Billy and simple delights

Billy came over today and it was a good chance to catch up. He thinks it’s great I’m traveling and gave me a “pop can” stove he’s been working on, and demonstrated how to use it. It really works-it’ll boil a cup of water in about 2 minutes, and is just the right size (nice and small).

He told me about his 4 year old daughter Emma’s delight in knowing the outcome of the paper rock scissors game ahead of time-and how they can do that for hours and she’s delighted each time.

Makenna

Here’s my new niece, Makenna.  Born weighing less than 7 pounds, she’s just a tiny little thing.  I like petting her soft head, she is very sweet and easy going.  We’ve had no trouble sleeping through the night on her account.

Minnesota Snow

We knew this day was coming…our first real Minnesota snow of the month.  Chris & I were guarding the fort while my sister and family were running errands.  The snow just kept pouring down and it occurred to us, they might not be able to get back in the driveway-so Chris & I -reverse snowbirds that we are—-from Arizona, but oddly choosing December as the time to come hang out in Minnesota-found ourselves taking turns using a small shovel and a broom to clear the driveway. The broom actually seemed to work better, but it was tiring pushing the thick heavy snow.  I’m glad we were doing it as a favor though and not as a routine consequence of living in a cold snowy climate.  The sheer novelty of the situation made it fun.  It was a cold but pretty night, and our efforts paid off-making the driveway passable until the snow plow could come.

An Aunt in Training…

Tally kept coming downstairs as I was trying to read my book, and hopping on my lap, carrying various plastic toys.  We worked on counting to 20…she’d count to 14-repeat 15,16,17,18,19 after me, and then gleefully shout 20, which sounds more like “tony!” Not bad for a 2 year old.

She gets all excited and expects praise whenever she uses the potty, so after a time or two of blank looks from me & an expectant look on Tally’s face, I’m finally getting the hang of it & so I’ll clap and enthusiastically say, “Good job! That’s great!!” and her face lights up and she goes to tell the next person-it’s quite funny.

No teacher left behind…?

It was very interesting talking to Michelle, the teacher in the family, about the No child left behind act.  I had no idea the testing standards could vary so much depending on what state you’re from….and there’s so much money wrapped up in the whole process.

Meanwhile, it was sad to hear about the funding shortages and how it ultimately hurts both the teachers and students.  A school is supposed to hire the teacher after 150 days, and start providing benefits- and yet, schools get around this by using the teacher to the max-up to 149 days and then letting them go and hiring someone else at the starting rate.

This tedious cycle is hard on students, whose education is undoubtedly interrupted during the transition, but also the hard working teachers who never get the benefits they’ve worked for.  Maybe it’s time for a “No Teacher left Behind” act?

Family & Michigan

Carol worked this morning, but ran to the store first to get some ingredients to make bean soup.  The mouth watering aroma was wafting through the house by the time I woke up.

We’re lightening our load today, storing a few things with family we’d originally planned to bring with, because space is too precious to waste on anything less than a necessity at this point.

We had a nice visit with Chris’s Mom and Grandma today.  His grandma, who worked with special needs kids for many years, told us a story about one of the kids who threw a plate that hit her on the head-she calmly said his name softly and said she loved him.  “You do?” he asked surprised.  “Yes, I do,” she said, and all the anger and fight melted right out of him.  She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

We are staying with Chris’s family in Muskegon, MI and it is nice to have a roof over our heads and lots of home cooking.  Carol went all out with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry-apple-orange relish, stuffing, buns, deviled eggs, gravy, peanut butter pie, brownies, cookies…and it was all delicious!

Chris met his nephew, Gunner, for the first time.  He played pool with his dad.

The four of us went for a night walk, it’s nice to get outside, even if it is getting chilly.