Hotels and Floors

Never having had enough money, hotels were always a luxury. We slept on sofas and floors at friends or went camping. But this trip was going to be different. We would indulge ourselves.

The first leg of the trip was going to take us to Salt Lake City, Utah. And perhaps for the first time I went online to book a room. Did not even use priceline cause I wanted to know exactly where we were going. A little over $100 gave us 2 queen size beds, a couch, a bathroom, and lots of space. We lugged all our junk into the room, even used the fridge. For us it was luxury. But we did not use the pool or the other amenities offered. 

Breakfast was divine. Fresh scrambled eggs or fried ones, hash browns from real potatoes, an assortment of cereals, juice, tea, coffee, and lots of other stuff. 

At Liana's we slept the first night in her bed. A twin bed. That might have been fine in our youth, I remember sleeping for months in such a small bed with a large dog that kept on pushing us out in the night so we had to rotate him to the front again, but alas, we are older. The minute Stephen got to bed and came close to me I started a hot flash. So I moved to the floor under the window with a nice breeze that did not come close to going in the direction of the bed. I was happy and somewhat sore in the morning. 

Toby and Liana were sleeping on the couches in the living room. When I kept on waking up and wanting to read, there was no space in the house to do so except the bathroom. The living room opened to the kitchen and I did not want to wake the kids, but sitting on a toilet reading was not appealing either.

For the rest of our stay I opted for us to sleep on the living room floor and Toby in Liana's bed while she was in Denver. It was one of the coolest spots in the apartment. We survived but I think we are even getting too old for floors.

On the way home we had the 2 experiences of hotels/motels we are more accustomed to. The first night in a luxurious Holiday Inn Express for $90. Again, clean and friendly and large. We had made plans to stay in Moab and to visit Arches National Park, but the Gods and Goddeses were not on our side, or were they? There was not a single bed to be had in Moab. A sign? We decided on the next town and skipped the park. With so many people around, a hike did not sound promising. And we were getting the scent of home. So the Holiday Inn Express it was in Green River.

Next night did not take us home either. After some hours of night driving and various animals deciding to cross the road just in front of us, my neck stiff, my eyes sore, my legs finding no comfortable position, my back wanting to stretch out, we made it to Fallon, I think this is in Nevada. 

I was ready for more luxury though all we ever did in hotels were use the bed, but again a hint of conspiracy. All the good looking places were booked due to a nearby military base doing remodeling and housing their people in town. We finally realized that motels were the only option. The first one had a room so stuffy, I started getting hot flashes right on the spot. Though the Indian manager assured me the a/c would take care of that, I did not trust the promise. I have been to these places before where a thin wisp of less warm air barely manages to cool my big toe. The next place was even hotter. Mind you, all the rooms were nice, but I was looking for cool.

The last place we looked at was the cheapest, around $40some for the 3 of us and I don't know why, we took it. Sheer exhaustion? The room was the stuffiest yet and smelled bad. Someone must have dumped a jar of furniture polish in the room. When the managers, again Indian, like all the other places pointed out the Burger King across the street and I pointed out we were vegetarians, he kept on doing his Namaste, including his wife who appeared from behind the curtain and probably the culprit of the furniture polish incident. We namasteed each other over and over and he came to the room with us, barefoot, fat belly and all. 

He had started life in America in San Francisco and lamented having ended up in Fallon. I understand.

I cranked up the air conditioning and was hoping my incense would not set up the smoke alarm. Toby as usual on the cell phone with his girl friend was lost to us and I wanted to take a walk to the nearby Safeway to get some of their yummy spicy olives. We had just left the room when a car comes speeding into the parking lot a few cars next to ours with a police car and sirens wailing right behind. So we stood at the corner wondering if we should leave our son behind alone. I made sure I was next to a cement wall I could duck behind should the bullets start flying. 

We waited there for a long time, but the process was going to take a while. I finally relented and we went back to our room peeking through the curtains. Eventually the cop got to go on his way and the speeder stumbled to his room. He was an older, homeless looking guy with disability. We were left wondering what kind of dump we had ended up in. No queen beds, but full and Stephen accuses me of having given him hardly any room. How can this be when I had barely enough room?

Everything was decrepit. The kind of room you start itching the moment you enter. Nothing was right, but it was cheap. And the water worked, though I only used it to wash hands, my next shower was going to be in my own home. 

We survived the night and the drive to Reno the next day. Had breakfast at the Pneumatic Diner, but that is another blog entry.

No pictures this time. That is for later.

Disoriented

This blog is not finished. So far I have not arrived home yet. My body is spending its first day at our house, but my mind is in limbo. I walk around aimlessly. Well, not totally, I have done tons of loads of laundry and have started on several truffle batches. All the stuff one can do in one's sleep.

I am waiting for my mind to kick in, a very strange state of mind, one I am not familiar with.

I have done some reflecting on our trip. Last night during my shower it occurred to me that I did a lot of complaining about the landscapes we drove through. Now I come to realize it was not the landscape, but the driving. 

Sitting in a car for hours is tedious. On our last leg I got claustrophobic. Imagine sitting in your tiny seat with no leg room in an airplane with the seat of the person in front of you shoved into your face and you are about to be served a dinner you could do without and need to put the tray down. That is how I felt, but instead of the flight taking 11 or 12 hours, it takes days. And instead of walking up and down the aisles of said airplane, you are stuck in your seat. 

I twisted and turned and could not get comfortable anymore toward the end. It was either too hot or too cold, the ac was never just right. Hot flashes were another obstacle to feel comfortable.

Since the landscape did not change much, it offered no diversion. But looking at this landscape from hindsight, it was magnificent. Vast. I kept on wondering why no one settled in these areas, until we hit towns and villages and I wondered why anyone would live there. 

I determined it must be the lack of water. Imagining that water must come from hundred of miles away it makes more ecological sense to settle where the water is.

Following are some pictures from the way back, starting Colorado.

We were promised to see Bighorn Sheep here, but they refused to make themselves visible to us, but it seemed like a great place to be. Houses at the bottom of a mountain and a river.

Time to tackle the garage. I will write again later. This picture uploading is a hassle, but I will keep at it as there are some stuff I still want to share.

we're back...

Just shy of 10 days, but it feels like we were gone for weeks. The marathon drives to and from Boulder would've been insane -- at Marianna's and my advanced ages -- to attempt in anything short of 4 days each. And we felt so at-home in Liana's apartment and city and felt like we really got to know the place, so that must've been another, oh, coupla weeks. Plus a bit of time in Denver, a visit with Dolores; lots of lounging around reading; swimming hundreds of laps in the apartment pool. I.e., the calendar is just plain wrong: we were away for almost a month. So nice to have been gone, yet so nice to be back home, even if in a daze.

In retrospect, googlemaps was right to recommend 80>25. It really is a quicker, smoother drive, even if a bit longer in distance. But as Marianna has posted, that eastward drive was -- for us -- boring enough to drive us almost crazy. And of course it doesn't help that our 50-something bodies aren't built for sitting in a car that many hours at a stretch, or at a series of stretchless stretches. Then lo and behold, you turn south on 25 into Colorado, and everything looks -- and even smells -- better. That state would have felt welcoming, even if we didn't have a daughter waiting for us. For experience's sake, I'm glad we chose another route back: 70>50. Highway 70, through the Colorado Rockies and along the Colorado River, was worth every sitting moment. And this was a perfect time to take that drive: we dropped Liana off at a Denver light rail station (for work) around 4:30, then got to chase the sun through the mountains for the next few hours. Gorgeous. (I hope M posts some pics....) The Plan was to head to Moab, UT for the night and visit Arches National Park in the a.m. But 'twas not to be: from Grand Junction, we called one Moab h/motel after another after another after..., and there was a grand total of zero vacancies. So we kept going west, spending Sunday night in Green River, followed by the longest single drive -- and therefore, of course, the worst day -- of our vacation, as we crossed most of both Utah and Nevada on "The Loneliest Road in America." Even with 2 of us trading shifts, it was too much. Marianna hates driving in general, night-driving in particular, and night-driving after an entire day of driving borders on Unspeakable Horror. So as we zoomed through the endless, dark desert, trying to dodge whatever rodents were scampering across the road, it became clear that the fantasy of making it all the way home on Monday would have to remain just that. It would have been impossible anyway: with an hour or so between tiny towns, we began stopping at each one, if only to get out of the car for a while. Several highlights among those stops: an actual salad bar in Delta, Utah, followed by a coffee-to-go at possibly the oddest retail establishment I've ever visited. It seemed to be making a vague attempt at creating an 'alternative' cafe/bookstore atmosphere, with fancy coffee drinks, internet-access PCs, a coupla couches.... But the books were by only 3 authors (Anne Rice was one), and the floor-to-ceiling air conditioner was (understandably) blasting away -- and blowing in a scent that resembled... maybe something like fried fish? Onward... our last worthwhile stop was in Austin, NV, where we walked around enough to chat with some nice local folks, have dinner, and head off into a too-early sunset. We chose Fallon as our final stop for the night -- only to find that all hotel rooms were booked. (A nearby air base needed them.) So we made the rounds among the cheap motels and found a room at the cheapest ($49 for the 3 of us), which was seedy enough that someone was arrested just outside of our window shortly after we checked in.

But we made it! Thanks so much to Liana for hosting and spending time with us, and being our late-night tour guide through Boulder, and to Toby for being our companion, driver, and DJ. As much as we enjoyed the vacation as a whole, I think my favorite times were the nights we hung out together as a reunited nuclear family -- talking, walking, eating, and eventually falling asleep.

OK, now to figure out how to re-enter life here in Nevada City....

Last Day in Boulder

Except for a 3 day drive home, we are done with Boulder. We had a great night with all 4 of us talking about dreams and the universe and everything else last night. Stephen and I on the floor, the kids lounging on the couch. This is probably not going to happen very often anymore.

We had breakfast together and now are packing.

Yesterday i took a bunch of pictures and should post them here.

twice we took a walk along a creek to town. Not much of a creek compared to the Yuba, but at least it is a place to cool off for people.

Stephen the peeping Tom. These round windows allow you to take a look at the fish life in the creek, except they are covered in green algae and one can hardly see anything. At one of the windows, legs were visible of some guys standing in the creek, and this is what Stephen was looking at, probably thinking he spotted a fish.

We also went twice to the farmers market. This is the guy we bought our bread from. Delicious bread. 

And these are my two guys standing at a distance at the market. Shortly after we met up with Gabe and Liana.

Pearl Street on a weekend is tourism pure. While watching an escape "artist" Gabe was roped in to help, I am not sure he liked the idea.

Pictures can't do justice to the view from Boulder which sits right at the foot of the mountains. So often you turned and were surprised by a mountain in front of you.

Illegal Pete's was the burrito place Liana recommended and we enjoyed tghe food there, except Liana was not thrilled having her picture taken.

And now I better get packing as it is time to head to Denver. I am sorry there never was time to just sit and write and reflect. A whirlwind trip. 

Last Night

This might be our last night before we head back tomorrow evening, making it a 3 day trip home via Moab. Liana is working tomorrow night and we have seen all we wanted to in Boulder. My feet are certainly ready for a break. We just got home from hours of walking through Boulder. Liana showed us the university and it is huge! And then The Hill and VGs for dinner etc.

Last night Toby and Stephen went to a baseball game and Toby took a picture with his cell phone, pretty cool.

They were hoping the Cubs would win, but no such luck.

Toby also took a picture with his cell phone of one of the buildings we walked by on the university.

I can't believe the university covers city blocks and seems to be never-ending.

It was a great vacation with not enough time to see everything. Perhaps another time.

In case anyone is interested I did not go to bed until after 4 am last night, reading The Girl who played with Fire. I finished it today, my heart pounding all the way. It was not a great translation, but I still enjoyed the book and made friends with the characters. So when is the next book coming out?

Better get some rest now. Thanks for reading.

life in Boulder, skies, music

Marianna's right: it's time for a contribution from me (= Stephen). On the other hand, it's also time for a swim. Tough call. But now that I'm here, a few random impressions to complement Marianna's posts and pics....

Visiting Boulder is a nice reminder of our 3-week housesitting gig in Santa Cruz a year ago. What we like about university-tourist towns: There's so much happening, and even on weekdays -- even late at night -- there's so much Life in the streets. Strolling through the Pearl Street pedestrian zone around 10:30 last night (Thursday), we saw almost as many folks as there were during prime shopping hours, restaurants still open, and crowds around musicians -- and not just a drum circle! On the street were 2 different acoustic pianos(?!), one featuring a 4-hand blues, the other with a sorta Jarretty explorer. And a nearby commercial area was overflowing with people at a free outdoor concert. Greg Brown's show had just finished at the theater where the nationally syndicated radio show E-Town will be taped tonight. Boulder's take on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is about to begin, and... you get the idea. On the other hand... What is it with university students getting younger each year, anyway? Soon, I think we'll be seeing toddlers enrolling in college and being drunk and obnoxious.

A bit more about the skies in general, and sunsets in particular. We're used to living in the Sierra foothills, surrounded by tall pines that limit our horizon views. But, e.g., a coupla evenings ago we drove the half-hour NW from Denver to Boulder, with the full moon rising over the city behind us, and, beginning over the mountains behind and beyond Boulder, one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen -- spanning several versions of Pachelbel's Canon in D, majestically blasting from our stereo. (I'd just paid 99 cents for a kinda bizarre CD, Pachelbel's Greatest Hit, featuring 8 different takes on that piece. Not that it made for the Song of the Week, which Toby wins with his own 99-cent purchase of Aqueduct's 2005 album I Sold Gold; track 3, Growing Up With GNR, is an indie-pop gem of a post-heartbreak song.) There are no cloudless skies, so there's plenty of lighting up to do as the sun heads down. Of course, as Marianna has also pointed out (and Liana warned us), the downside -- make that the downpourside -- is the sudden appearance of thunderstorms. Hmmm, maybe I'd better head for the pool while it's clear outside....

Boulder Walk

Stephen has everything figured out with the help of gazillions of maps and google and local papers. There was a farmers market and we decided to take a walk and get some goodies. The walk was supposed to be along a creek all the way to the market. But the walk to the creek was another story.

Did I mention there is a heat wave here? Incredibly hot. Just in time for our arrival. But here is a picture of this creek. It looked like fun, at least for the people floating down in inner tubes, and it was shady for us.

The farmers market was like any other one without any surprises except that kale was $3 a bunch. Veggies in general were not as good looking or cheap as in California. Another thing I should be grateful for when returning and bitching about food prices. It is even worse in other areas. 

We bought a very yummy bread, almost German, at least in appearance. Though bread is not often on our menu lately, we had to get this one. After some lettuce, 3 raw cookies for $4, a cucumber, garlic, a mixed bag of mushrooms, and some goat feta cheese and another goat cheese, we had dinner all planned out. We ate at Liana's apartment and enjoyed the 4 of us being together again.

Unfortunately Liana got sick the day we arrived, but she is hanging in there and is a good sport about it.

On the walk back we walked through campus and I managed to take one picture, not easy while also carrying bread and cucumber.

Yesterday we visited Dolores. It was so nice to see her again, and she seemed like the same old Dolores we love, except slowed down.

Before heading to see Dolores we dropped Liana and Toby off in downtown Denver where I realized that I hate thunderstorms more than driving. How? I closed my eyes tight shut so as not to see the lightning right above and in front of us and the cracking thunder. The downpour was amazing, flooding the streets within minutes. But as Liana promised, though I had my doubts when she said it, within minutes it was all over and I was able to concentrate on the traffic again and give Stephen directions on how to drive safely ;-)

I believe Stephen wants to say a few things, so I will give him a turn.

Oh, lest I forget, we were at Costco yesterday to get Toby a cell phone and what did I see? Stieg Larsson's follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Well, you might never hear from me again, at least not until I finished the book ;-)

Another Day

Let's start with more pictures from our drive. To be honest, I have taken very few pictures since arriving in Boulder. 

This is still from our drive through Utah or Wyoming. I did like the rocks, though after a while even those became repetitive. I had my sunglasses on most of the time and was often surprised that the landscape was not pink, but actually green. These rocks were a nice surprise with their pinkish color.

Rather crooked, but amazing to see:

And another one:

At a rest stop. The dudes hiked up a hill but my lens makes this look less exciting than it probably was for them. 

Finally a change in scenery. About time!

Ok, IKEA must be right behind this hill. For those shopping at the Sacramento IKEA this comment might actually make sense.

Colorado, finally! And already we have some trees taller than me. This might be OK after all. 

OK Toby I will not shake out our red napkins here.

Kum on!

Colorado has the most amazing sunsets. For the best one I have left my camera at home, but this one shows you the vast skies, in fact, Stephen is pretty excited being able to see sunset and moon rise at the same time.

Time?

When the heck did I think I would have the time to blog? At night I am too tired and all I want to do is sleep. During the day there is no time.

The drive was horrible. I did fine, but I never saw so much boring and repetitive landscape. On a wagon train long ago I would have turned around. 

Once we hit Colorado it got better, and Boulder and Denver were a pleasant surprise for someone craving western civilization. I would compare the two to San Francisco (Denver) and Berkeley (Boulder), except I imprinted on California and would probably never leave that state.

To give an idea of the monotonous landscape I will include some pictures here.

The first one or two might look familiar as I am sure they were taken while still driving in California.

This next one is miles down the road, possibly hundreds of miles down the road, but who was counting at that point. All I knew then was that we are flying next time.

You get the idea, rolling hills, nice clouds, but over and over and over....

After a while giddiness set in and bad joke after bad joke. So I was not able to ignore the sign in the picture below. Proudly displaying the letter of the towns we were passing, we wondered why this town would do so: 

Then the scenery changed somewhat, and out came the camera again.

And again... with moon.

And now it is time for the Boulder farmers market, perhaps there will be time to write more tonight with more exciting pictures.

Salt Lake City

Next morning.

Way too tired to be driving for hours again, but Boulder is waiting, and Liana.

Not much to report from Nevada, except, pretty boring driving through it. By the time we reached the salt desert it was too dark to see anything and the moon was not big enough to be of any help either. OK, we did see some white on either side of the road.

Most of you know our red napkins. I brought several along and yes, with them on our laps it kept our clothes from getting food stained. When I waved them out of the window to feed the birds our crumbs, Toby warned me. He was hoping there would not be a bull around to start charging.

I did take lots of pictures, but am too lazy right now to upload them, tonight or tomorrow.

Hope you are all having wonderful summer days, a little less hot of course.

Stayed up until 2 am and almost finished the book I was taking along for travel reading, sigh....

But we are almost packed:



And we had some visitors to see us off:



But I better pack this computer unless all I plan to do is go bowling ;-)

The Night Before

It is after 9:30 pm and I should be packing, but instead I feel paralyzed. Since we are not leaving in the wee hours of the morning I might just put it off until then. My grandmother who has taken a comfortable place in my conscience since she died is whispering: "Tomorrow, tomorrow, not today, is what lazy people say." Except she is whispering this in German.

Driving in a car is not one of my favorite experiences in life. I don't get to sleep in the car because I have to make sure the guys are driving the right speed limit, taking the correct turns, watch out for cars coming at us at intersections. It is not an easy job, but someone has to do it.

I will try to take lots of pictures but imagine I will not get to upload them until we arrive in Boulder. So patience please.

We are lucky to have a hand-me-down cell phone with a car charger. Knowing nothing about these newfangled things we tried it out today in the car. We have no actual number, just the phone. So all we get to dial is 911. The first thing Stephen assured the operator was that this is not an emergency. That we will be driving through the desert and want to make sure this will work if needed. Of course, will we get reception? Or does 911 work without reception? I am not going to try calling them again to find out, we'll just have to take our chances.

I have all the essentials in piles: the cookies, the kale chips, the crackers, the tofu salad, the muhammara, the truffle ingredients, the tomatoes from the garden, my bowling ball.... Bowling ball you wonder? Yes, free bowling in Denver for us! Liana works at Lucky Strikes and assures me I can bowl until my back gives out without paying a penny. One of those perks having a daughter work at a bowling alley.

Better get some sleep. Will post when I get another chance.

Marianna