Great Sand Dunes NP, CO

Sunrise over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, above and below.

The Dunes are at the base of the Mountains.

We'd been looking for a rest stop or a park or a wide spot in the road along US 285 where we could stop for lunch and walk the dogs.  Saw this huge empty parking lot fronting some school buildings so we pulled in and parked.

We'd been there 10 minutes, heard someone outside say, "Hello?"  A clean cut guy of about 35, nicely dressed in business casual, introduced himself, said he was the school superintendent, asked if we were in trouble, needed any help.  Nope, just stopped for lunch.  We chatted awhile, told him where we'd been, said we were headed for Great Sand Dunes.  He called it a geological oxymoron; never heard that one before, had to include it here.

Bronze plaque near visitor center entrance; 3' diameter.

Below: view of dunes from visitor center.

This shallow seasonal creek will dry up soon, after all the snow is melted.  

Very popular with the kids.

Above and below pix taken at the same spot, the one above taken at max zoom (10X).  People climb to the top of dunes and slide down on plastic saucers and rental boards

We would have gladly complied with this directive but didn't have a shovel.

NM Capitol II

The NM State Capitol Building was our favorite art venue when we were here in Santa Fe 2 years ago.  We revisited the Capitol yesterday and were delighted by the first display we encountered - fabric art.  These first 3 pix, 1 above and 2 below, are of fabric 'paintings', 100% thread/cloth.  Amazing detail!

Above and below, a couple native-flavored pieces I liked.

The above sculpture, Mental Floss, made me chuckle.

It's enclosed in plexiglass so there's some reflection distortion. There's probably some slick computer program that removes the distortion but it's one of those Rhett Butler things - I don't give a damn.

Love the color!

Bandelier Nat'l Monument, NM

Bandelier NM, 48 miles NW of Santa Fe near the town of White Rock, is chock full of pueblo-type ruins.  Natives lived there for about 500 years in caves, cliff dwellings and stone structures.  We visited the area and took these pix along the Main Loop Trail.

Trish checks her trail guide booklet beside a large kiva.

The remains of a circular stone village which was 3 stories high in some parts.

Several hundred people lived there.

Lots of natives lived in caves.

These people had a tuff life.  Tuff is volcanic ash that became compacted into very soft, workable rock.  Got a baby coming, need more space?  Grab a sharp rock, scrape and shape, 3-4 days work and there you have it, your new nursery room.

It was the other kind of tough, too; life expectancy was 35.

A restored home of rock.

They must have been avid readers.  Nearly every home had its own newspaper slot. 

Flowering cactus along the trail, a type of cholla I think.

The modern main visitor center in the town of White Rock.

The siding is Hardiplank, 3 colors applied randomly.  Cool!

Close up of big bug and lizard sculptures by the visitor center entrance.

The lizard is 7' long.

Lookout Point in White Rock, a sweeping view of the Rio Grande valley.

Los Alamos, NM

A couple days ago we visited Los Alamos, which is located 45 minutes NW of Santa Fe, our current hangout.  LA was the research/design/build center for the Manhattan Project - the first atomic bomb, aka 'the gadget' - in the early 1940s.  Gadget ingredients were cooked up at the Hanford site near Richland, WA and in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  The first bomb was successfully tested at the 'Trinity Site' near Las Cruces, NM in 1945.

Robert Oppenheimer, left, a brilliant theoretical physicist, was the leader of the Manhattan Project.  General Groves was his military counterpart.  Here, they are pictured at the Trinity Site where the first bomb was tested.

The Project was super hush and super rush because it was feared the Nazis were ahead of us in building the bomb.  The brainiacs at LA, super bright people of varied disciplines, knew the objective but the majority of the 6000 people on site did not.  Security was tight and mail was censored but that didn't stop the spies: there were at least 3, perhaps more - spying for Russia though, not Germany.

The main lab complex.  There are also many satellite locations several miles away.  I assume they're spread out so one enemy missile or bomb (or one major accident) doesn't destroy everything.

Today, LA is an upscale town of 18K souls and the Los Alamos National Laboratory that was founded in 1943 is still active, working on projects related to energy, defense, national security, science and environmental management.  The lab complex is huge; nearly 10K people work there.  The town is said to have the highest average education level of any town in the entire world.

Old Ads II

The brand names and products are:

1.  A little dab'll do ya.  Brylcreem hair conditioner/pomade

2.  Still using that greasy kid stuff?  Vitalis hair tonic; greasy kid stuff referred to Brylcreem

3.  LS/MFT  Lucky Strike cigarettes

4.  See the USA in your.....  Chevrolet cars

5.  I can't believe I ate the whole thing.  Alka Seltzer 

6.  I'd walk a mile for a .....  Camel cigarettes

7.  The cure for tired blood.  Geritol dietary supplement, aka tonic, aka snake oil

8.  Have you ever wondered how the man who drives a snowplow drives to the snowplow?  VW Beetle

9.  99 and 44/100 percent pure.  Ivory bath soap

10.  We really move our tail for you.  Continental Airlines 

11.  Don't be a paleface.  Coppertone tanning oil

12.  Ladies, please don't squeeze the .....  Charmin bath tissue

13. From the land of sky blue waters  Hamm's beer

14. Don't you wish everybody did?  Dial bath soap

15. Finger lickin' good.  Kentucky Fried Chicken

Did any of y'all blog readers correctly name the brands and products?

Old Ads

It's doubtful that anyone under 50 will know what's being touted in these ads.  Fellow seniors, how many of these slogans or key phrases can you ID, name the product and the brand?

1.  A little dab'll do ya.

2.  Still using that greasy kid stuff?

3.  LS/MFT

4.  See the USA in your.....

5.  I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

6.  I'd walk a mile for a .....

7.  The cure for tired blood.

8.  Have you ever wondered how the man who drives a snowplow drives to the snowplow?

9.  99 and 44/100 percent pure.

10.  We really move our tail for you.

11.  Don't be a paleface.

12.  Ladies, please don't squeeze the .....

13. From the land of sky blue waters

14. Don't you wish everybody did?

15. Finger lickin' good.

Church Rock, NM

Although surrounded by Indians last night, we escaped un-scalped.  Don't think any self respecting brave would want my scalp anyway.  What would he do with it, polish it up and use it as a mirror?

Church Rock

  

Red rock, red dogs, white woman.

Pix were taken at Red Rock Park, 10 miles east of Gallup.  Stayed there one night, en route to Santa Fe from Flagstaff.  It's Navajo country but the natives weren't restless, no war parties, no random rogue rapers or scalpers.

 Besides a large campground, Red Rock Park has a huge rodeo complex, a museum and a convention center.  Above shot shows just some of the hundreds of sheltered horse stalls.

The vehicle entrance to the rodeo grounds.  Gotta have vehicle access so they can haul off the wounded cowboys/girls and horse shit.  I assume they also have motorized equipment to smooth out the dirt in the arena.

The rodeo grounds and bleachers.  The place was all locked up yesterday morning when I was on my photo hike, couldn't get inside so found this picture online.  Beautiful  setting, huh?

Riordan Mansion

Tim, Mike and Matt, the brothers Riordan, came to Flagstaff from Chicago in the late 1800s.  Smart, industrious guys they were and it didn't take them long to become wealthy timber maggots.*  Tim and Mike married sisters (no, not their own sisters) and had a duplex designed and built to house their 2 families in 1904.  The architect was Charles Whittlesley, same guy that designed the El Tovar Hotel on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Above and below views show the back of the mansion.  The floor plans of the two sides were virtually identical, initially.  A second story sleeping porch was later added to the left side home, as seen below.

This was not yo mama's duplex.  Uh, uh.  This little puppy had 13,000 SF: 6K SF for each family, plus 1K SF in a central, 1-story common area/game room.

It appears the place was built of logs but it wasn't, except for the framework.  Slab cuts of logs, flat on one side, curved on the other, were used as siding, with planks underneath.  Slabs were typically burned as waste products at their lumber mill.

Above and below are frontal views.

Above: close up view of the entry to the front yard and common area.

Below: main entrance to the eastern half of the duplex.

The structure is truly a modern marvel, had electricity, several bathrooms, central heating, 3-story laundry chutes, skylights that opened for ventilation, numerous other clever, innovative features. This is 1904, remember.  We didn't get indoor plumbing in my childhood home until the early 50s, electricity in the late 40s.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Mansion tour.  Check it out next time you're in Flagstaff.

* Not a typo, it's a nod to the Smothers Brothers.

Arizona Snowbowl

Our first stop is Flagstaff for 4 nights, staying at Woody Mt Campground a few miles west of town.

Located 15 miles north of Flagstaff, the Agassiz Lodge at Arizona Snowbowl is at an altitude of 9500'. From there, you can ride the Agassiz chairlift to 11500' and that's what we did yesterday.  The ride takes 25 minutes one way but they speed it up in the winter so it only takes 12 minutes.

Starting up on the chair lift, there's a disc golf course in this open area below.

At the top, looking southwest.

This building plus a tiny restroom are the only structures on top.

Looking northwest, you can see the north rim of the Grand Canyon in the far distance.

The lift cable is supported by 24 towers averaging 50' in height.

Each tower has 12 cable wheels with zerk grease fittings.  Climbing all those towers to grease all those the wheels has to be a pain in the butt - and the thighs and the calves.  The cable is 1.5" in diameter and 12,890' of it is employed in this chairlift.  That's a lot of weight!  The machinery they use to install the cable must be huge. 

Heading back down.

A Long Day

Was lying in bed this morning, shortly after I awoke, and this popped into my head.  Why?  Beats me.


A Long Day

The day lacked laughter.

It was boring and bleak.

Looking back on it - after,

It seemed more like a week.

Mike Delaney
6/15

It's similar to one I penned 10 years ago but not as edgy.  Getting mellow in my old age?


Go Away!

A person with no sense of humor,

As fun as a malignant tumor.

If serious you must always be,

Stay the hell away from me!

Mike Delaney
12/05