The Wedding

The beauty of flight is that it takes you less time to get to where you're going, however, it lacks the adventure of a journey.  It's like driving to the store or walking, every once in a while you have to walk, walking allows you to see the beauty all around us. However, I just saw this section so the flight makes sense besides it's a good marker-point,  like turning the page to a new chapter the flight marks a new entry in my trip.  This is the first time I've flown since Nine Eleven, at least I'm certain it's the first time I have ever been asked, or rather told, "Sir, we recommend that you remove your shoes."  At the airport I looked one last time for an Arkansas 51 cent penny but alas, it was not to be, so on to Albuqurque.

No party should be without the Sheas; they are like a traveling party.  When we have a get together at anyone’s house it doesn’t really matter if any 'friends' show up, it’s always a big party and if other people come then they are pulled into the group like water to ocean.  The Sheas have an amazing ability to make people feel comfortable and welcome, and they really enjoy new people.  Over time the group gets bigger and bigger, even ex boyfriends and girlfriends seem to come back years after the relationship has ended.  Laura is the best example, Keith's ex girlfriend from High School never left.  Now it's not unusual to see her, her husband Brett and their new baby during Christmas, or Thanksgiving.  

Anyway, Keith is getting married, he's Kari's cousin.  The ceremony is at a Catholic Church in Albuquerque, about 60 or so people which if you think about it is relatively small consider we brought 17 in cars from California.  I like small weddings; Kari and I had a small wedding, coincidentally in the back yard of Keith's parents.  The backdrop for our wedding was a waterfall feature that he and his buddy had built there, now 10 years ago to the day.

Our Anniversary will be celebrated this year on the Disney cruise in October, so we haven't planned anything elaborate while we are in Albuquerque.  Tossing around a few ideas here and there Kari suggested riding the tram up 6000 ft, but my thinking is that since we are going to a BBQ at the parent's of the bride the same day, we wouldn't have time to enjoy whatever is up there.  I push for going to the movies and walking through the downtown area, we were there earlier and it is a beautiful area and seemed to present a pretty good area for night life. I'm afraid I ruined her plan, later I found out she had reservations at a restaurant up there and had something else very special planned for me, a wedding ring.

A year ago we were at the beach and the ocean just simply sucked my wedding ring off my finger.  I could feel it as it happened but didn't close my fist fast enough and felt it just trickle right off the end of my finger.  Kari went to the same jeweler that made our original ring for this one, and tried to find something similar.  She picked out a really nice band, with four diamonds in a raised section that went at an angle across the ring.  This one barely fits; it's not going anywhere, I really wish I hadn't messed up her plans though.

It's almost a tradition for us to go out to the movies the weekend of our Anniversary.  It's also pretty normal for us not to celebrate our Anniversary, on our Anniversary so this isn't a big deal.  Our Anniversary is always on or around the Memorial Day weekend, for most couples this would mean scheduling a trip or getting way every anniversary in conjunction with the holiday weekend.  However, since for the last 10 years I've worked at Cemeteries, it was a requirement of my job to be there.   The first year Kari showed up at the Cemetery with a picnic lunch, chocolate covered strawberries, and sparkling apple cider, I almost got fired cause the GM thought she brought alcohol on to the cemetery grounds.  

This refurbished area of Albuquerque is very nice, speckled with small restaraunts and clubs it reminds me of the Gas Lamp district in San Diego.  One of the reasons I was not so hot on going out to dinner was, my stomach is messed up.  I don't know what exactly was wrong but it is not accepting any more food.  I'm not terribly surprised, since I treated Arkansas like an adventure in food and tried every oddity I could find.  Anyway, I haven't eaten anything since yesterday and don't want to eat anything now even, but after the movies we try walking through this area and see if we can find something to do.

I'm definetely getting old.  There is no less than 8 clubs within a four block radius here and I'm not interested in any of them, but we decide on one and go up to the entrance, and get carded!?!  HMM, interesting, Kari left her ID in the car with her purse and regardless of how many stupid looks I gave the bouncer he would not less us in.  We start walking back to the car, but instead, decide to go to a Brazilian restaurant next to the movies where it all started.  I'm afraid this evening is not going exactly the way Kari had planned, but at least she picked the movie, and food.

I'm still not hungry, and this is no way to enjoy the culinary expertise of a Brazilian restaurant for the first time.  I've heard of these places before where they walk around with skewers of meat and cut some off on your plate, but I didn't realize it was an Adkins Dieter's dream.  Pretty much the only thing you can order is a buffet of meat delivered right to your table by an attractive waiter or waitress every few minutes.  Kari chose a 'sampler' meal that came with four cuts of meat of her choice and I got a salad bar.  The sampler plate is enough for both of us anyway, so with the salad it still turned out to be too big of a meal. Back at the Hotel a definite benefit of travelling in a large group is realized, Jacob is staying the night with his cousins in their room.

I got to say something here about the Hotel that Kari picked out for this trip.  Every morning we have the option of a complimentary breakfast in the restaurant downstairs.  And it's a full breakfast with; omelets, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits and gravy.  The rooms were newly refurbished and the staff was great, the only complaint we had was with the maid service.  At one point we had to tell the front desk that there was trash left outside someone's door for two days that had not been picked up, even then it didn't get picked up until late on the day we complained.  All of this for only $69.00 a night, shoot with the three of us, just for breakfast we could have spent half that easily and in one of the other rooms we had, Lori and her kids numbered 6 people, that amount covered breakfast alone.  Great place we really enjoyed it.

Back to the drive

Getting ready to get back on the road I’m excited about the next step.  Albuquerque is a nice city but since I get up first every morning now I’ve had all the time I needed to check out this little city.  Every morning I got up went down to the buffet just to get some coffee, and went for a walk or a drive through town.  It's the Rio Grande that originally fed this town the water it needed to survive and still runs through town like a greenbelt mirage.

The hardest thing about traveling in a large group is dealing with all the different preferences to travel.  Compromise must be reached in order to make things happen.  In our family growing up, Dad was always the extreme, get up early and go.  Now I find in this group and in my family, even though I still don't like to go as early as Dad, that I am the extreme person that every one is upset at for wanting to leave so early.  At the opposite spectrum is my brother-in-law John, and the negotiation of time to leave didn't please either of us.  Regardless, we did leave and got on the road about 10:30.

One of the reasons for leaving early is to not feel rushed to your next destination, having the ability to pull over and check out a neat spot without fear of missing dinner to me makes the trip easier, especially if you’re traveling over new terrain.  About 100 miles into the trip our first opportunity arrives, Ice Caves.  I remember ice caves from my youth up in northern Idaho where I spent a few summers and really wanted to check them out. 

We get on the cell phones and confirmed this was to be a good pit stop and pulled off the freeway.  I think that all of these off the road locations have the same Idea, get you off the highway then delete the road signs until you’re so deep into getting to your destination that you have to continue on since you’ve gone so far already.  About 10 miles off the beaten path there’s a sign that says it’s another 10 miles and now we’re committed. 

The ice caves are part of the Bandera Volcano in New Mexico, which is actually one of 15 volcanoes in the region that you can see on the hike up to the Cinder Cone.  The trading post there was built in the 1930’s as a Tavern and Dance Hall for the logging industry and railway that ran through there at that time.  In 1946 Dave and Reddy Candelaria arrived and began operating it as a tourist attraction.

The Ice cave itself served as a cool place for Indians and then a source of ice for the Tavern and the Candelaria’s.  So much so that a shallower Ice Cave was destroyed by consuming too much ice.  No one knows how the Ice caves got started but once several feet of Ice was built up in the caves the Volcanic Rock around it provided so much insulation that the cave never gets above 32 degrees Fahrenheit and freezes any water that enters the cave, it does this to the extent that since 1946 twelve feet of ice has been added to the thickness.

I am unable to purchase a 51-cent penny from this location either, I keep thinking I got to get online and locate all the machines along this route before we go on, but that’s not possible where we are.  Well time to move on, it takes a lot longer to do a quick tourist stop when there are 15 people involved including 5 under 10 years of age and 3 teenagers.  Take it as it comes becomes my 'Motus Opporandi' for this leg of the trip.

Zuni Reservation

Already on a back road we look at the map and realize that staying on this road takes us in the right direction even if it’s a little slower.  After some convincing of the more hesitant we continue on this smaller highway.  We are in Indian Country, in New Mexico, looking at the map at lease half of the state is reservations for various tribes but this area is made mostly of the Zuni.  The country is beautiful, pristine stretches of roadway untouched by man on either side.  Incredible tan colored mountain ranges dropping right down into endless grassy fields.

On down the road we drove through a couple of small towns and the local drinking establishment, I can’t even fathom explaining it so I’ve included this picture you can enlarge it by clicking on it.  I really thought this was left back in Arkansas…

A (relatively) quick stop for snacks and we are on our way, haven’t made much progress for our first 3 hours of commuting so some are ready to settle in for the drive, but I got one more destination planned just outside our destination.  Jacob lost the penny I bought him at Meteor Crater so it’s is now a mandatory stop for me, however the whole group wasn’t as excited.  John, Pam, the teenagers, and a couple of others went on to Flagstaff while the rest of us stopped for the Meteor.

Fortunately, we give the $12.00 admission fee per person a little more time than the first time I stopped by.  This time we’re going to see this thing, let the kids run around and maybe learn a little more about this giant hole in the ground.  If you ever get by this way I suggest seeing this remnant of one of the early formations of the earth.  Some 50,000 years or so ago a rock about 150 feet wide punched through the atmosphere and created the crater that is 4000 feet in diameter.  This is the best-preserved and youngest example of a crater in the world and is the basis for analyzing craters throughout the universe.  In spite of the unbelievable admission fee it's worth one stop someday, I highly recommend it.  Oh yeah and don’t forget to get the 51 cent penny with the Alien head on it.

We actually only fall behind the other group about an hour and half and we still made it to Flagstaff well before dark.  Tomorrow is the Biggest Hole, the Grand Canyon, Jacob’s catching on to the sequence, first little Ice Cave hole, then Volcano Hole, then Meteor Hole, and Now the biggest hole.

Everybody got up and got moving for this trip quickly this morning. Our Hotel is about 70 miles outside of the entrance so we got a move on.  Driving to the Grand Canyon is one big back road still filled with opportunities to buy land out of civilization but not too far.  I was thinking about it on the drive, some of the cheapest property is only like 30 miles outside of Flagstaff, that’s almost half of the commute I used to do and there’s no traffic. Not bad, I'm going to have to pay more serious attention to those advertisements to buy land in Flagstaff.

I'm finding that I dig national parks and don’t know why it’s not on our family’s vacation plans more often.  When I was young we visited Zion national park almost every year because my Mom’s sister had a small resort just outside of the park and I enjoyed the hiking and beauty of it all.  The last few years our vacations have been somewhat more extravagant, mostly thanks to the company I worked for.  They provided us opportunities to explore places we would have never been able to go on our own at such an early stage of life.

The Grand Canyon is impressive and looks very much like the pictures, in fact it’s so big that it almost looks two dimensional similar to those postcards you always see.  And what a value, compared to the Crater, or the Ice caves this thing is free.  For a modest fee of $20.00 per vehicle (loaded or no, we had 8 in ours) you get five days to visit the park.  There’s a bus system that runs through the park, that’s included.  And the second most expensive restaurant in the place’s priciest meal was only $11.00.  No deal on penny’s though, they still cost 51 cents.

We pull up to the first overlook we can find and park, John is up front and gets lucky with parking right up front while the rest of us have to park outside the parking area on the street, turned out not to be bad at all and close to John's car.  Large groups can lend to misunderstanding and miscommunication and we had a big one at this point.  We all headed out up the path around the pan just to walk for a while and thought everybody was dragging along with us but after a while we realized we had Heather, Pam John and Hailey were not behind us, once we realized we turned back, only to find a very upset and concerned Pam wondering where we were and if we even had her daughter.  Cell phones weren't working and it's amazing how dependent you get with them, to the point that it's easy to get lax in taking normal precautions because you just figure if you get separated you'll just call.  Everybody's together, and a reminder of life before technology is realized, this problem quickly passes and the group moves on.

From the point we all went to the visitor's center across the road where the bus system stops and check out the things available for us to do.  It's getting closer to lunch and the continental breakfast at the new 'Super 8' in Flagstaff wasn't enough to cover lunch so we head towards the main area for lunch.

After lunch we split in two groups, a hiking group and a bus-riding group.  John, and his daughter Heather, Joey (Cousin), Jacob and I get ready to see how far down we can get before we are overwhelmed by the hike back up.  The rest continue on the bus to see the other lookout points. 

  We went down for about a half an hour thinking it would take twice that back up.  We could have done more but when you have 3 kids with you it's important that you keep in mind the possibility they may burn out all of a sudden on a hike.  It's no biggie when you are hiking up, cause then you just go down.  But when the first part is all down hill and there's the thought of carrying a kid back up it's good to be frugal about the length of your hike, at least John felt that way.   I think it actually took us less time to get back up.  As we were heading up we saw that the pack mules were coming up behind us.  This first half of the walk back up we took several stops, once we see the pack mules taking a break was less important than the prospect of being stuck right behind them.

After meeting back up with the group we all set out for a guided hike from Ranger Sally.  She was awesome; she spent two years living at Phantom Ranch, which is one mile down from the rim at the bottom of the Canyon.  The average summer temperature at the Ranch is 120 degrees, no air conditioning, little shade and as a Ranger there you are effectively a servant to the hikers that make the journey down the hill.  She explained the different plant life on the rim, and some of the legends and reality of Canyon life.  It was a great experience for Jacob; he ended up with a ranger badge, a few pennies and a bag of rocks.

Watching the sunset on the canyon is similar to a gecko blending into its surroundings, it starts out as a brilliant red and orange contrast against the green and blue background.  As the sun slowly looses its hold on the Arizona, the colors fade away into the scenery and almost disappear for a short time before they become a darker shadow on the gray background.

After the sunset we stop outside of the park at a local pizza place before heading back to the Hotel.  At dinner it's time to discuss the trip back the next day.  I am determined not to head back the easiest fastest way and had planned a route that took us down through Flagstaff and on to Blythe to the 10 freeway, actually the furthest route we could take away from the ‘Route 66’ group.  We discussed who would go on the journey and who would be going the fast way back, after a long trip heading back quickly has it's advantages but I am more interested in what we'll find this way.