Querky Botanic

The Querky Botanic Gardens are fabulous.  We've enjoyed all the local sights but this was my hands down favorite.  The Botanic ticket includes the aquarium, which is small but nicely done.  The pix speak for themselves, minimal comments needed.

The large conservatory is divided into 2 parts, a tropical/wet climate segment and a desert segment. 

Small attractive succulent garden in hollowed out log.

Heritage Farm is a period piece with early 20th century critters, plants, equipment and buildings.

The person in the lower left is neither part of the exhibit nor a period piece.

Japanese garden with waterfall in middle distance.

Above and below are segments of the extensive model train layout.

Hi Yo, Ant!  Away!

Above and below, the view from our table in the Shark Cafe which shares a common wall with the largest aquarium saltwater tank.  We had lunch here, was disappointed that shark wasn't on the menu, had to settle for shrimp.

A very large jar of jelly............fish.

ABQ Tour

We did the narrated 90 minute ABQ Trolley Tour yesterday and I highly recommend it.  That said, I can only give it 4 stars out of 5 due to hard, uncomfortable seats and a way-too-loud speaker system.  Two UNM (Go Lobos!) grads started the business a few years ago and are doing well with it.  It's narrated all the way, the narration enhanced with interspersed videos and pictures shown on 2 closed circuit TV screens.  Here are pix taken along the way.

The Kimo Theater.

You've heard of art deco?  They call this pueblo deco.

There are lots of large murals downtown.

This is the largest, titled Floating Man.

The narrator commented on this building, don't recall why.

Bart doesn't live here anymore.

Bart does live here, next door to where he doesn't live.  We're talking about Bart Prince, a Querky architect who designed lots of wild and crazy homes, including the 2 above.  The house in the first picture above, where Bart doesn't live, houses his art collection.  Here's a link to more of Bart's exotic designs:

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&q=bart+prince+house+images&oq=bart+prince+house+images&gs_l=hp.3...2997.6076.1.6365.12.12.0.0.0.0.174.1415.1j11.12.0.cpsugrccggmnoe..0.0.0..1.1.15.psy-ab.Ah5BfK9rCHo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.cGE&fp=c6cd012b547d47c3&biw=1241&bih=615

Louie the Lobo on the UNM campus.

This building, one of the oldest on  the UNM campus, used to be a classic bricker.  About 30 years ago, the University president took it upon himself to tear off the roof, cover the brick with stucco and convert it to its present pueblo revival style.  The University board didn't like the conversion one little bit and promptly fired the president for his efforts.  Now, every building on campus has this same style and color.

Querky's AAA baseball team, the Isotopes, plays here.  I assumed the name Isotopes came from the large role NM played in the Manhattan Project.  Nope.  It came from The Simpsons TV show.  Some years back there was an episode in which Homer's hometown baseball team was going to be moved to Querky.  Homer was instrumental in defeating the move so the team stayed where it was.  The episode was, understandably, quite popular with folks in these parts so when the owner of the new team asked the residents to vote on a name for the team, Isotopes won by a landslide.

I like it.

Querky

Can you spell Albuquerque?  A comedian had a routine in which he commented on places with odd names, said the people who named this city couldn't spell very well, for some reason wanted to include 'queer' in the name, tried spelling it twice, failed both times, finally said ‘close enough.’  I can spell it myself - now - but it took awhile to nail it.  Besides being difficult to spell, it's got too many syllables so, when doing our trip planning, we nicknamed it Querky.  And to me, Querky it will always be.

We are in an RV park 10 miles west of downtown.   Elevation here is 5820’, which makes for cool nights (lows around 55) and warm days (highs around 85).  The city is in a valley, about 500’ lower in elevation.   We’ve been here 5 nights and will be here another 3.  It's been too windy to enjoy spending time outside.

The major sights here include Petroglyph Nat’l Monument and the Sandia Peak Tramway.  Here are pix.

Ducky petroglyph.

Couple of birds on the left, star on right.

The middle?  Beats me.

The cable wheels at the bottom of the Tramway.

The Sandia Peak Tramway is the world’s longest aerial tram, covering 2.7 miles while rising from the desert floor to the 10,378’ Peak.

The top of the Tramway, taken on the run as we rushed to catch the next cable car down.

We had a brew and chips at the restaurant at the top of Sandia Peak 

and this is the view from there. 

Querky with ascending cable car taken from our descending cable car.

Tom, a fraternity brother, and his wife, Martha, stopped by to visit on their way through.  They have a home in Casa Grande, AZ, but spend their summers with relatives in Michigan.  They were excited about touring Nashville before heading north to MI.

RV Inside

Today, we get to tour the inside of the Cougar.  For free!

Beds on 5Ws  are at the very front, the stepped-up area that partially extends over the pickup bed when towing.  The cabinet on the far left had a rod for hanging clothes, which I replaced with wire shelves.  Above that cabinet you'll  notice a curtain: it's suspended from a ceiling track and can be drawn to the opposite wall to isolate the bed from the lavatory/shower/WC.  This feature would likely be used a lot if more than 2 people were traveling in the rig.  We don't use it, will likely remove it.  Behind the mirrored door to the left of the bed, and it's twin on the other side, are closets with hang rods.  The bottom half of the bed lifts up to reveal a large storage area, now filled with 6 banana boxes of linens, shoes, etc.

This view is an about face from the first picture.  To the right of the sink is the WC, then the passageway to the living area.  The wood strip visible in the upper right hand corner is the pocket door track.  A corner shower is just outside the picture on the right.  Lavatory, WC and shower are on the upper level, along with the bed.

Looking towards the BR from the galley, you see the bed at top center and 2 steps at bottom center.  That thing in middle center is a trapdoor (open in this picture) that provides access to the basement.  It's called a laundry chute.  If  you looked straight down the hole, you'd see 2 plastic baskets, one for recycling and one for dirty laundry.  I chose not to show our dirty laundry here, being a man of great discretion.  So, you'll need to look elsewhere to satisfy your dirty laundry fetish.  There's plenty of it out there.  State and federal capitals always have an ample supply, dirtier and smellier than most, especially during campaign periods.

Somebody apparently ripped off the cheap-ass 32" TV that came with the rig - long before we took delivery.  We're glad that happened, allowed us to upgrade to a 42" higher quality TV.  We recently watched our first movie, The Sessions, rented from Redbox, enjoyed both the movie and the new TV.  There's a crank-up TV antenna to pick up local stations.

Dinette and sofa are in the slide-out room.  Ranger and Artie blend in nicely with the color scheme.  The ornate window valences and side wings are typical in these rigs and I hate 'em.  Not only do they make the space seem smaller, darker and busier, they're my least favorite style of decor - Early French Whorehouse.  We took off the side wings on the dinette windows because they interfered  with the shades.  I'm lobbying Trish to do the same with the rest of the windows but not betting big $ on the outcome of that effort.

This is the rear end.  Entry door is just out of the picture on the left.  A pair of swivel-rockers originally occupied this space.  They were heavy and cumbersome and uncomfortable, apparently designed by a butt-less person.  They're long gone, sold on craigslist, replaced with these Adirondack chairs, which are great: lightweight, comfortable, stackable, usable both inside and out.

Galley with pantry on left, then fridge, microwave, propane 3-burner stove with oven, sink.

Sky City, NM

Sky City.  Ever heard of it?  I hadn't until we started planning this summer's travels.  Sky City is a pueblo village perched atop a mesa, 365' above the high desert floor.  It is home to the Acoma tribe of Native Americans.  The Acoma are said to be descendants of the Anasazi and to have established their separate identity circa 1300.  They've lived in the area 800+ years, possibly as long as 2000 years, making Sky City one of, if not the, oldest continuously inhabited communities in the USA.

The Acoma have a casino/hotel/RV park just off I-40, 60 miles west of Albuquerque (ABQ) and that's where we're camped.  Trish suggested stopping here and touring the Pueblo.  She, wearing her housing consultant hat, worked with the Acoma several years back.  We toured the Pueblo and museum yesterday.

The impressive museum is

located just below Sky City.

Making a 180 degree turn from where the above picture was taken,

there's this memorial to the Acoma who served in the US military.

The Acoma have a zero tolerance policy on alcohol: the casino doesn't have a bar and no alcoholic beverages are served anywhere on the premises.  I assume this policy extends to the Pueblo itself.  Good on 'em say I!  Native Americans have low firewater tolerance, something in the genes or chemical makeup, I don't recall exactly.  Regardless, it's common knowledge that booze messes them up, so banning it is definitely good policy.  BTW, the Acoma are matriarchal: women are head of household and owners of the homes in which they live.

The Sky City mission dates back to 1640.  Walls are 10' thick at the base, narrower towards the top.  Those walls contain Acoma bodies, planted there by the Spaniards so the Acoma wouldn't destroy the building.  Also,  they located the altar directly over the village kiva, the Puebloan place of worship.  Finally, further endearing themselves to the natives, the Spaniards cut off the right hands of those who refused to acknowledge Catholicism.  The treatment of natives in the new world was similar to the Spanish Inquisition in the old world  - spreading the fine Christian principles of peace, love, good will and tolerance far and wide.

My camera batteries died before I could get a shot of the Sky City mesa.  If you're interested in seeing more pictures, google: sky city nm images.

Homolovi State Park, AZ

Homolovi is a Hopi word that means 'place of the little hills' or 'located in a high place.'  Be it little hills or high location, we can all agree that it is, in fact, a place.  Right after we set up camp here, I looked around and thought to myself, yep, those Hopi got it right; it's a place.  A couple years ago we visited another nearby Anasazi site called Wupatki (tall house).  

This is an artist's idea of how Homolovi II looked back in the day.

The day was 600 years ago.  Now, it's just piles of rubble.

The park contains over 300 14th-century Puebloan archaeological sites, the largest of which had 1200+ rooms.  Anasazi (the ancient ones) is the common name for the folk who lived here and in dozens of other southwestern areas.  As implied above, the Hopi claim the Anasazi as their forefathers.  I don't  think there's empirical evidence to support that claim, but I have no problem with it.  They want 'em, they can  have 'em.

The Anasazi occupied this area for nearly 1000 years.  Then they left.  Why?  Where did they go?  The most widely accepted theory is drought and failed crops forced them to leave.  The second-place theory is other native tribes pushed them out.

Typical construction of the time.

There are also many theories about where they went - but I don't  subscribe to any of them.  I know where they went: Italy.  Given all those words that end in 'i', it's glaringly obvious that they were of Italian heritage.  Homolovi, Wupatki, Anasazi, spaghetti, cannelloni, Mussolini; see what I mean?  The Anasazi got tired of the dry conditions and the heat and the raiding tribes and said ,'The hell with it.  Let's go back to the old country and eat pasta and drink Chianti.'

Homolovi is near Winslow, AZ, which nobody ever heard of prior to 1972 when The Eagles put it on the map with their hit song, Take it Easy, which contains the line, 'I'm standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ.'

The visitor center, creatively built of native rock and iron sheet metal

 that has rusted to a lovely deep rich color.

Flagstaff

We launch within the hour, the start of our summer adventures.  Flagstaff was to be our fist stop, emphasis on 'was.'  Forecast is for chilly and windy both days we planned to be there so we bagged it.  We have wheels and we know how to use 'em.  But I researched Flagstaff, got all this great information on it, hate to waste it, so here it is.

Got trains?  Flagstaffians can proudly say, 'You're doggone right, we got trains!  All day and all night, we got trains: 100 to 125 trains go through here per day!'  If you live anywhere near the Flagstaff train tracks it's the equivalent of a 24/7 Magic Fingers bed.  Free!  Don't need to insert quarters!  Good vibrations!  Or not; I suspect the trains would drive me batshit crazy in short order.  Sure, one would get used to it after awhile.  Would wake up startled at 2:40 AM one day, and exclaim, 'What the hell is that noise!?' - if for some reason, the 2:39 AM Express was canceled.

Locals refer to it as Flag, something I discovered 30 years ago when I first toured the town.  No, 'toured' isn't quite correct: while visiting a friend in Sedona, I developed the mother of all toothaches and had to drive to good 'ol Flag for a good 'ol emergency root canal.  Only thing I toured was the good 'ol dentist's office.

Ever since, any mention of 'Flag' gets me twitching and I get this bad taste in my mouth.  I had hopes that a tour of Flag's finer offerings would offset that painful memory, release me from my 30-year old trauma, and repair the profound psychological damage.  Those hopes have been dashed.  I must soldier on.
 

Invention 2

The Devilishly Clever but Wonderfully Simple

Under-Counter, Cabinet Door, Trash Container Device

Catchy name, don’t you think?  Still, it may need to be shortened for marketing purposes - after it’s patented, goes into mass production and becomes the must-have item for every household in the world.  

The Device in our home kitchen.

It holds a week's worth of trash.

We recycle a lot.

The Necessity: convenient, one-motion access to the kitchen trash container.  If you have a trash compactor, don’t waste your time reading further.  Go watch TV, take a hike, whatever.  On second thought, continue reading: the Device is also handy in bathrooms, laundry rooms, man caves, etc.

The Invention, step by step:

1.      Go stand in front of your kitchen sink, glance down at the cabinet doors, and ask yourself, “Given the way I use the sink and adjacent counter space, on which door should I place The Devilishly Clever but Wonderfully Simple Under-Counter, Cabinet Door, Trash Container Device?”

The Device in home kitchen sans container.

2.      Measure the width of the cabinet door and the opening to determine maximum container height and width.  Determine maximum depth that container can extend inside without hitting the sink, drain line or any of the useless crap you have stashed under there. 

3.      Determine if a support bar is required for the hangars, one that can be screwed into the thicker perimeter area of the door.  Some cabinets have very thin inner panels unsuitable for screwing – unless you’re a masochist who gets off on having your legs mutilated by protruding screws.

   

The Device in our RV galley, showing support bar.

4.      Buy mirror hangers (Lowe's or Home Depot) and an appropriately-sized, rectangular trash container, one that has a u-shaped lip at the top.

5.      Hold the container where you think you want it located on the door and close the door part way to check clearance.  Dry fit the hangers near the corners.  Measure the distance between the hangers, center to center, and transfer measurement to door or support, centered.

6.      Drill pilot holes, screw mirror hangers to door or support, screw support to door.

The device in RV galley sans container.

The white dot is a stick-on felt pad bumper that keeps the container 

from banging into the cabinet door.

7.      Place trash bag in container, hang it, step back and admire your fine work!  Have your friends and family over so you can impress them with your cleverness and handyman skills.

If you just happen to forget to mention that it wasn't your idea, that's okay: I'll get over it.  I'd get over it quicker, though, if gifted with a small portrait of a prominent historical figure printed on green paper.  Both Grant and Franklin are appealing.

Camp Davis, AZ

Davis Dam, looking downriver.

Davis Dam, on the Colorado River, forms Lake Mohave.  It lies between Hoover Dam which forms Lake Mead and Parker Dam which forms Lake Havasu.  Construction started in 1942 but was put on hold due to WWII; it started up again in '46 and was completed in '53.  The construction workers lived in Camp Davis, which had about 100 houses and a population of around 500.

The dam, looking upriver, with interesting dam specs just above.

Camp Davis later became a large county park and that's where we're camped while checking out the Cougar's systems and functions.  The park is just north of Bullhead City, AZ, a twin town to Laughlin, NV across the river.  Laughlin is named after Don Laughlin, a small town boy from Owatonna, MN/shrewd gambling industry entrepreneur who was instrumental in developing the area into a mini Las Vegas.  Laughlin has several large hotel-casinos and big name entertainers perform here.

Wednesday night we enjoyed a great steak and champagne dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse in the Golden Nugget Casino.  We're not big on casinos or $50/person dinners but sometimes you gotta pull out the stops.  We were celebrating the closing of the sale of my OR home, a major event.

Just as we completed our meal, Trish pointed out a sight to behold, an image of sartorial splendor, the likes of which few have ever seen.  This old gent was sporting a bright orange T-shirt over bright red shorts held securely in place by a 2" wide white vinyl belt; continuing southward we are dazzled by knee-high bright red sox and lily white shoes.  The frosting on this lovely cake was a black waist pack that hung at a rakish angle, reminiscent of Wyatt Earp's Buntline Special.

As you can well imagine, I was jealous as hell, and spent most of yesterday at the factory outlet stores trying to duplicate the look.  In vain.  Plenty of red T's and white shoes but everybody was sold out of orange shorts and 2" white vinyl belts.  Damn!

This is the only casino with visual appeal.  The rest are garden variety boxes.

We had lunch here yesterday.

Feeding the koi at the entrance to the Colorado Belle.

No, that's not me in the picture; same hairdo but I'm much skinnier.

About 1/3 of the spaces in this park are occupied by elderly residents in elderly RVs. We chatted briefly with a couple of them.  One guy said he's been here 10 years, absolutely loves it, says he's gonna stay here 'til he croaks.  Across the street is a woman who's been here 27 years!  I don't know when this park opened but I'll bet this woman was the first one in line.  The gates opened, she rushed in, found a spot she liked, nailed it, been a happy camper ever since.  Good on her!  The rest of us should be so lucky.