Eclipse 2017!
What better place to see the total solar eclipse of 2017 than in the most visited National Park in the US!?
Read MoreEpic Fail — Summer in the Catskills curtailed!
We had planned to spend six weeks enjoying the lovely weather in the Catskills of New York. Sadly, we had our first full-on housing fail and only spent three days. But the weather was indeed lovely!
Read MoreThe People's Climate March
On April 29th, we joined together with some family — and 200,000 friends — to take part in the People's Climate March in hot & sunny Washington, DC.
Read MoreAustralian Aboriginal Art
Australian Aboriginal art is the longest uninterrupted art tradition in the world, dating back 20,000+ years. Who knew that the only museum in the US to be dedicated solely to this art is in Charlottesville, Virginia!
Read MoreHiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway!
The majority of the trails we hiked this September and October were reached via the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway runs 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Here's a quick round up of what we did.
Read MoreChanging of the Seasons
Unseasonably warm and dry weather in Asheville made predicting the peak of color change a bit difficult. However, we made the most of our proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway to regularly check on how things were progressing...here's some of what we saw.
Read MoreGraceland! Graceland! Memphis, Tennesee
We passed through Memphis, so, of course, we went to Graceland! We were happy to have visited and ready to leave after an hour.
Read MoreChinati Foundation – Putting the "Art" in Marfa
Donald Judd passed through the Marfa, TX area when he was in the military in the 1950s. Fast forward to 1979, he was an established artist in New York, who convinced the Dia Art Foundation to fund the purchase of a former calvary installation in Marfa. The 340 acres and its many buildings was to be used to exhibit permanent large-scale installations by three artists, one being Judd himself.
As we understand it, that's what started the whole "art thing" in Marfa.
Read MoreFM 170: Rio Grande or Bust
We got a tip about taking "River Road", which goes along the Rio Grande, to Big Bend National Park. With daily temps topping out at 105F+ along the river we were leery, then monsoon season hit and things got cooler. Away we went!
Read MoreMeet the Neighbors
On our last night in Cortez we set out to find the PIpe People — we found them, and a whole lot more!
Read MoreColorado's Country Roads
Cortez, Colorado was a great home base for us. Not only was it within 1-2 hours driving distance of a lot of stuff (Mesa Verde, Canyon of the Ancients, Arches, Canyonlands, Durango, and much more), but it also was rather pretty driving. Here's some of what we saw.
Read MoreBehinds the Scenes Tour — Anasazi Heritage Center
We've found that stopping at the visitor center to talk to volunteers and Rangers not only keeps us out of trouble, but also turns us on to some pretty cool stuff. This was the case with the behind the scenes tour of the artifacts held at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Delores, CO, given each Thursday at 2pm. Where do we sign up?
Read MorePilgrimage to Santuario de Chimayo and Nambe Falls
We didn't really take a pilgrimage to this Catholic church and shrine, we just visited. However, it is an official pilgrimage site and receives 300,000 visitors a year, some who walk up to 300 miles to get there.
Read MorePetroglyphs: 400 year old stories!
The Petroglyph National Monument protects over 20,000 rock carvings, dating back 400-700 years.
Read MoreMeow Wolf = ?
Officially, Meow Wolf is: "... an arts production company that creates immersive, multimedia experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of storytelling. " The exhibit we saw in Santa Fe, The House of Eternal Return, is their first permanent installation, which fills an old bowling alley.
Hey what's in here...
Oh, my!
In the farmhouse.
You start off in an old farmhouse, which looks mostly normal, but is a little odd, and is really odd when you discover you can walk through the fridge or the fireplace, into other "worlds". We can't say what this all means, because we didn't do what we were supposed to do.
We were meant to explore the space to solve the mystery of what happened to a family in a farm house..but, due to the large numbers of people, many elementary school aged, that was hard to do. We found the video clue "Part IV" prior to finding "Part I" and only figured out the task at hand after an hour of wandering around.
Even just wandering around the place is impressive for its scale, variety and attention to detail, as is illustrated (we hope!) below.
Playing the ribs!
The kitchen...where nothing moves.
Color was not in short supply.
Yes, that's a deer head in the corner.
There was a tree house beneath this.
Don't forget the big white rabbit...there was also a giant talking raven!
Exploring Ancient Ruins!
A couple of things struck us as we explored the native ruins in the Flagstaff area. One, is their abundance. If this you are interested in cliff dwelling or ancient pueblos, this is good place to be.
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