Puttin' On The Ritz

We headed out to New Orleans on Continental via Houston. It was Pleep's first airline experience. Ed tried to warn him but he was very excited. We hit the first snag in the security queue at KCI. The guy in front of us had 4 bags (one an oversized 70 lbs. plus), a guitar and no clue what he was doing. Pleep wanted to monkey butt him but we stopped it. The flights actually went very smoothly but the number of bus people flying was very high. Pleep did join the frequent flyer program and he enjoyed the banana muffin on the KC-Houston leg. Ed explained it was highly unusual to be given food at all. In the end, Pleep still prefers the freedom of the open road.

We hit the airport in New Orleans and ran into a odd mix of people. The anesthesiologists are all in for their annual convention and the New York Giants fans have descended en masse for the big game on Sunday. Pleep wanted to team up with the Giants fans because they were clearly already in full tilt party mode. He thought they looked as though they would be a lot more fun to hang out with than the gas passers.

When we arrived at the Ritz we were very surprised to learn that our reservations were actually at the Ritz's Maison Orleans their hotel within the hotel. It is an entirely separate wing with full "club" amenities - lounge, library, full bar, 4 meal/cocktail periods, etc. The room accommodations are spectacular as well. Pleep made himself comfortable while we unpacked.

We headed out for a walk through the warehouse and art district, the WWII museum and the Quarter. After enjoying cocktail hour, we had a great dinner at the Bon Ton and concluded the evening with Caucassians in the lounge. Ed has to go to work on Saturday morning so Pleep wants to tour the Quarter and scope out the action. He figures the NY fans will be kicking things up.

The Big Easy

We head to New Orleans tomorrow for a few days. Pleep is very excited about hitting the Big Easy. The first thing he did was to don his Mardi Gras beads and start planning - a quick pass on Bourbon Street, a few galleries on Rue Royale, Cafe Du Monde for beignets and coffee, a little jazz, plus dinners at great restaurants. We have reservations at K-Pauls for one night. It's one place we've never been and it is still getting great reviews.

Right in the middle of planning and packing, the french drain project started in the front lawn. After the driveway was finished, we still had an issue with water draining properly. So, the crew started in this morning to install a french drain that will allow everything to run down the hill next to the house. Pleep went out to inspect because he thought maybe knowing how french drains worked would be a big help in his visit to New Orleans' French Quarter. He thought french drains had something to do with drinking wine in French areas.

On The Road

This was a great reconnaissance trip. We've identified several places for return, in depth visits including the national parks in Utah and Manitou Springs. Pleep wanted to share some of his favorite pictures and songs from the excursion.

Is New Drive The Place For Carnicelli Star & Shoe Imprint?

We had a break in the weather. Temperatures warmed up to the 40s and the rain is holding off for 24 hours. They were here bright and early to start the pouring of the new driveway. It is quite an effort. More dumptrucks, bobcats, r-bar, 2x4s, rakes, shovels, etc. These guys really put in a long day.

One of the crew must be checked out on everything because we've seen him on every piece of machinery plus all the hand stuff. Pleep tried to talk him into taking control of the bobcat or the cement mixer. No luck. There is no monkeying around with this stuff.

Once they had the lower half of the driveway poured, Pleep thought it would be fun to imprint his hand and sign his name. He thought the crew might be a bit more moose-friendly so he talked Delete into going out. Delete chatted the crew up and asked about helping smooth things out. They were on to him too and said they had a special way of dealing with moose or monkey prints. It seemed to involve cement shoes and the lake below our house. Delete came back in and suggested to Pleep that the right course of action was to just post a note on the blog. Pleep commented that if Oscar were here, Oscar could have diverted the crew, leaving Pleep the chance to sneak in a print or two.

We were so happy to have the driveway in that we decided a driveway christening party was in order. Barley's was sponsoring an Indian Summer Brew Masters Dinner. The dinner involves a themed five-course meal paired with five fresh brews (one per course). The chef, head brewer and featured speakers offer insight into the pints and your palate during the meal.

Pleep said he didn't really need all the palaver just the food & beer. We enjoyed the fall beers, their tasting menu, and watching the Jets-Dolphins with Chris Carnicelli, international star of the Carnicelli Shoe Repair video. Pleep thinks he has found the perfect place to put in a star of fame & Carnicelli's shoe imprints. Now if he can only talk Chris into sneaking back here before Peggy & Ed get home. Pleep & Chris were very happy to see the "Fish" beat the Jets. Chris has turned Pleep into a full blown DOlphins fan. Of course, all it took was agreeing to pick up the tab for Pleep's beers - $2.50 for a 24 0z. stein on Monday nights is not too bad.

The Wine Crush

One of the key events that dictated our schedule was the Gainey Winery's annual Wine Crush Party. The Gainey crowd puts on a great event - Santa Ynez style BBQ, cooking demonstrations, grape picking, tours of the winery, tours of the grape fields, etc. They also have an annual grape stomping which the crowd really gets into. The only member of our party to crush was Perry. He did a great job and they kept filling his wine glass while he was in the tub. In fact, they keep filling your wine glasses the entire time. We liked it so much we are already trying to figure out how to return next year. Here's a little montage from the event. Hope you like the audio too. For the younger readers, it is Dino and then Kingston Trio.

I'm A Rover

During our trip, we put Pleep and Delete in charge of finding the best local pubs and brew houses. Pleep took his job very seriously and insisted on trying a lot of places. Here's a sampling of the pictures from his pub crawls in Breckenridge, Santa Barbara, Williams, Durango, and Manitou Springs. He insisted we end the trip at one of his favorite watering holes, Quinton's, in Lawrence, Kansas.

All's Quiet On The Western Front - Today

We've been very busy since arriving home. The biggest project has been replacement of the driveway. Wednesday was very noisy and involved a lot of heavy equipment - dump trucks, bobcats, jack hammers, concrete saws, and, of course, sledge hammers. Removal went smoothly. Several dump truck loads later the crew cleared out for the day. Starting in the early hours of Thursday, the rains came. The end result was a large mudhole with pockets of small pools in several of the low spots. Ed's friend from New Orleans, Mike Power, came over to stay the night. He suggested we start growing rice and crawfish.

Friday morning the rains stopped and the crew showed up. First, pumping out all the water. Next, more dump trucks with gravel and bobcat to grade etc. No luck pouring cement though because we are now having an unseasonable cold spell. Low 30's last night and in the 20s tonight. At least we're not getting the snow Nebraska & Iowa are seeing. Plus we can walk on the gravel. Pleep and Delete enjoyed watching the guys remove the driveway but they were not interested in the mud pit at all.

Pleep got up on Saturday and announced his intention of going to Barley's Brewhaus. He pointed out that we hadn't been in there in three weeks. We headed over to Barleys for an enjoyable afternoon, made more enjoyable because Notre Dame has a bye this week. No angst. To quote our friend Len Muller, Go Irish, Go Away Weiss.

We head to Nawlins (New Orleans) at the end of the week. We're hoping to have a driveway we can walk on by the time we leave. No driving on it for at least 10 days after they pour.

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit!

Many of the Colorado towns host Oktoberfest parties - Denver, Breckenridge, Aspen, Vail, and others. We've been to Munchen many times for the "official" fest and thought it timely to try one of the American versions. Breckenridge's fest was great. They had Paulener Bier, pretzels, schnitzel, strudels, etc. The band was a real German om-pah band. It was interesting to note that when we were in Munchen the bands there played John Denver music. In Breckenridge, they played the polkas and, of course, Ein Prosit. The event was very much a family event with kids, parents and grandparents all having a good time.

Ed Thinks Dorothy Is Right - There's No Place Like Home

We logged over 3,500 miles on the road from Olathe to Santa Barbara and back. Total drive time was 53.05 hours with an average speed of 65.3 mph. Thanks to Garmin we have more data than we need. We saw spectacular scenery, met a lot of great people, ate great food and drank excellent beer and wine.

Pleep wanted the first video posted to be his cowboy pictures. He really enjoyed seeing more of the west and can't wait to go back. More clips are planned so stay tuned.

It's All Downhill

It is all a downhill run from Manitou Springs to home. As we were leaving Manitou, an eagle swept down in front of the car. Pleep insisted it is a good omen signifying a safe journey and eventual return. We think he's been spending too much time playing Cowboys & Indians.

There's not a lot of turns, so Pleep thought he'd take a long nap. This allowed Delete to take control of the IPOD. He was a bit tired of Willie Nelson and dialed in a bit of rock, blues and soundtracks from his favorite movies starting with The Big Chill.

We hit Limon, Colorado early and made a brief stop before getting on I-70 for the final run home. The rest stop there had a large black bear on display and Pleep found an aisle with elk in it. He wanted to get an Elk for Delete but we told him there wasn't enough room so it would have to be either the Elk or him. He decided no Elk was the right answer.

We've done the I-70 drive many times but had never bothered to stop at the Kansas Information Center and rest stop. Delete made the case for a stop. We had stopped at information/rest stops in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California. Plus, Delete said he was still getting emails from fans insisting he deserved more airtime on the blog. It is a great new center and very moose friendly. They have a map of historic Kansas which details the trails, historic cities, and Indian areas. The Mosaic at the entrance shows Indians attacking covered wagons and bears the Kansas state motto "Ad Astra Per Aspera" - To the stars through difficulty.

While we were busy with Delete, Pleep had reprogrammed the Garmin to include another stop - Quinton's in Lawrence. He pointed out that we had to have something to eat and with all the unpacking ahead of us would not want to have to deal with going the grocery store. We thought it was a brilliant suggestion and hit Quintons around 6:00 p.m. It was the perfect end to a great trip.

We pulled in and unpacked the car, the chiles, and the wine. Pleep is planning to organize the pictures with some of his favorite music from the trip. He will be posting the results in the upcoming days. For now, he's happy to be home and looking forward to the trip to New Orleans next week.

Pikes No Peek

Before we headed out of Durango, we loaded up on frozen roasted green chiles at the Albertsons. They were very nice, helping us load everything into the cooler, pack ice around things and then top it off with dry ice. This will keep everything frozen solid until we get home. We figure we have enough frozen chiles to get us through until our next trip west. While we were loading up, Pleep was busy running around saying goodbye to his cowboy friends at the hotel. He spent a little too much time hanging out with Black Bart at the Diamond Belle Saloon and got involved in the gunfight. Now he's on the wanted list in the Durango sheriff's office.

It's about 315 miles from Durango to Manitou Springs on state roads. The drive is very scenic as you climb up and down through several mountain passes. We passes through a lot of cattle ranches and small towns. It is an interesting thing in Colorado the towns never list population - only elevation. Delete kept seeing elk signs but the signs that bothered him most were the ones advertising "We process, package and ship your elk meat."

The most visited mountain in North America and the second most visited mountain in the world behind Japan's Mount Fuji, Pikes Peak forms a stunning backdrop for the drive into Manitou Springs. We made the turn onto US 24 and with 100 miles to go, you could see the Peak. At an altitude of 14,110 feet above sea level, Pikes Peak is the 31st highest peak out of 54 Colorado peaks. It is the farthest east of the big peaks in the Rocky Mountain chain, which contributed to its early fame among explorers, pioneers and immigrants and made it the symbol of the 1859 Gold Rush to Colorado with the slogan, "Pikes Peak or Bust".

We pulled into The Cliff House in Manitou Springs. The Cliff House is a great, historic hotel; originally founded to support the stagecoach traffic, it has housed many famous guests including Wild Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt, and Clark Gable. They have suites named after famous guests. Pleep tried to get us into the Bill Cody suite, insisting he was personal friends with Bill Cody. We finally convinced him Tyler's dad, Bill Cody, was not the same guy the suite was named after. We did get a great room with a view of the foothills around Pike's Peak. Pleep really liked the heated toilet seat.

Because the town is at the base of Pike's Peak, you can't actually see the peak. It was too late to take the Cog Railway to the top and the ND-Washington game had started. We saw the end of the first quarter as we unpacked. Once we had the room organized, we headed down to talk to the hotel staff about the best place to watch the game.

They sent us to a local pub, The Townhouse Saloon. It was a locals place with a lot of tvs and fresh beer. The crew here was serious about football and consumption. Nearly everyone followed the shot & a beer approach to ordering and smoked cigarettes. The one guy was still rolling his own cigarettes. As he explained, he's 67 and he's been doing it this way for a long time. Plus, it means he has more money for beer and cheap whiskey.

The game was nerve wracking but ND pulled it out in overtime. Pleep wanted to celebrate so he headed over to the small amusement area in the center of town. It has old time coin operated rides, skee ball and other games. We pulled him out of there and headed to The Loop to sample the local Mexican food. After a long day, everyone was glad to hit the bed. We will definitely return here when we can spend more time visiting the area around Manitou Springs and make the trek up to the top of Pike's Peak.

These Cowboys Have Hats, Horses & Cattle

We're here for the 21st annual Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering. These guys are the real deal; grizzled, weather-worn poets, musicians, and artists who grace local venues and art galleries. This makes the gathering such a special and meaningful event. The Strater Hotel attracts a large number of the performers and the visitors. Several of the locals showed up on horseback to check in and Pleep was there to greet them. He hopes to see real action with the gunfight tonight in the Diamond Belle Saloon.

We started the morning with a great breakfast at the hotel. The place was packed with cowboys in for the event. One of our favorite items, posole, was on the buffet. The very nice waitress gave us the recipe and we found all the green and red chiles we need at the local Albertsons. It was interesting to listen to all the old timers. There were clearly a number of them who meet up here every year for the gathering and discuss everything from ranching to hunting and, of course, their favorite poets.

One of the unknown 'rules' of this event is that all the poets, musicians and artists who are invited must come from a working ranch background. This means that they have either lived on a ranch, or currently run a ranch, so that they know of what they speak. Or, as my brother-in-law Perry might say - They can't be all hat and no cattle. Their poems, music and paintings are all drawn from true-life experience; these guys are not professional entertainers.

The one big star is renowned cowboy poet and former big animal veterinarian Baxter Black. He kicked things off Thursday night at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. Black's act is a combination of cowboy stand-up with some from-the-heart poetry and music. You can catch him on public radio.

The poets come here from as far away as South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and other parts of Colorado. During Cowboy Poetry week, the word "venue" takes on its own unique definition. Poets perform aboard a special Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train, on a poetry and music trail ride at Rapp Corral, and in an old-time radio variety show at the Henry Strater Theatre hosted by Lindy Simmons, a recently retired Fort Lewis College professor. There were musicians performing at several of the local bars. Plus we went to a number of galleries that were featuring cowboy artists.

Cowboy poetry covers a broad range of topics, and it's not always the 'aw-shucks' kind of stuff. There are funny stories, stories about a rancher's love for his wife, sad stories about losing a good horse and even patriotic stories about our great nation. The Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering is trying to keep this art form alive and bring it to Durango to remind folks that Durango is still a real, Western town.

We spent the day wandering around downtown checking out the shops, galleries and of course the pubs. Delete was very excited to see The Purple Moose Gift Shop. The sign welcoming hunters gave him a good laugh too. He was not quite as pleased with the hunting store that had his relatives on display but he thought it made for good photo ops anyway. Delete claims he's been receiving text messages from readers who are demanding more coverage of his antics. He thinks Pleep is seeing too much air time.

During our walk about today, Pleep spotted a lot of pubs he wanted to spend time in but the one that really caught his attention was the Steamworks Brewery. They brew their own beers including a couple different IPAs, a Pilsner and a Kolsch. To top it off, their Friday Happy Hour runs from 3 to 6 and has all their beers for $1 (10 oz) or $2 (20 oz.). We agreed with Pleep and headed in to hang out with the locals and wait for the evening activities to commence.

Here We DuranGo

Pleep is very excited to be heading to Durango. He dialed in Willie Nelson to help get him in the mood for hanging with the cowboy poets who are all gathering there for the annual Cowboy Poet Fest. Delete was very happy because not long after we turned north out of Flagstaff he finally spotted a few relatives - antelopes. We had to listen to Pleep sing Home, Home On The Range for the next 50 miles.

We headed through the Navajo, Hopi & Apache Reservations towards Colorado. The first stop was just after our turn onto AZ 160, northwest from the Grand Canyon, to see dinosaur tracks. There are 200 million-year old dinosaur tracks along a riverbed in Moenkopi, AZ, 5 miles west of Tuba City. It is part of the Navajo reservation. The tracks are spread over a couple of acres of mottled rock surface; some have been outlined in chalk in case you have trouble seeing them. The Navajo guides pour water into others so that they are easily seen.

A Navajo named Henry greeted us and took us on a hike around the site. The hike itself is easy and beautiful, with awesome views of the Hamblin Ridge, Tuba Butte, and the vast benchlands that stretch to the south. You can walk where dinosaurs once walked, putting your feet in their prints.

The tracks were formed in the early Jurassic period. Several different types of dinosaurs are represented by their tracks, but all of them were carnivores. The ichnogenera include Eubrontes and Grallator. Fossil footprints, also called trace fossils, are classified not according to what animal created them, but rather by their form, since its impossible to know for sure if two unrelated animals made similar tracks. Based on the age of the rocks and the fossils of carnivorous dinosaurs in the area, its likely that animals such as Coelophysis kayentakatae and Dilophosaurus wetherilli made the tracks at the Tuba City site, as well as the other Dinosaur Canyon trackways.

The area was originally a large lake where the dinosauers came to drink, lay their eggs, etc. The meteor that hit and created Meteor Crater wiped out the entire population and created all the fossilized tracks, remains, eggs, etc. It is the same meteor site that was featured in the Jeff Bridges movie Starman. Pleep had a great time checking out all the tracks and fossils. His favoite thing was the fossilized dinosaur head.

The drive along AZ 160 is spectacular. We were on the south end of Monument Valley. A lot of the westerns were filmed throughout this area. There is not much to do here except look at the scenery. The Indians have developed a couple of small areas that provide fuel, food and limited lodging.

We took a small detour (100 yards) off 16o to stop at the Four Corners Monument. It is run by the Navajo and Hopi Indians. It marks the place where the four western states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico) meet. Pleep insisted we stop so that he could lay on the spot and count all 4 states in one experience. He laid right on the marker to cover the 4 states. He pushed Delete over so that Delete only covered Colorado and New Mexico. Delete liked the drive around the monument where it took us about 30 seconds to hit all 4 states in the car. This stop had the most people we saw all day.

We pulled into Durango around 4 p.m. mountain time. The Strater Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Durango and is one of the main places for the cowboys in town attending the poet fest. There were a lot of cowboys in the lobby and even more in the Diamond Belle Saloon. Pleep was craning his neck around to take it all in and started talking about needing a cowboy hat and a six shooter. I think we convinced him six shots were a better idea for a monkey.

Ed, Pleep and Delete studied the local guides to decide what to do for the evening. The, we left Pleep and Delete in charge of tonight's post while we explored Main Street. There are a lot of great microbrew pubs, bars, saloons, and restaurants. We started at The Office right here in the hotel for happy hour. The Diamond Belle Saloon here was still jammed so we wandered up the street finally landing at Carver's Brewpub. Their beers were exceptional and the pub food was great. We stuck our head in the Irish Embassy Pub and Derailed Saloon. These are on the list for tomorrow along with a number of other places.

Pleep and Delete also handled our text messages. We were very sorry to hear the Parkers were stuck at LAX (again) trying to get to Chicago for the ND - Washington game. Ida is clearly cursed when trying to get to Chicago regardless of the time of year or reason.