Month: October 2023

                             For the last week or so we’ve been in Durango, Colorado “Critter Sitting” for Lorelyn and Travis’s Farm(?) Animals. We have been left in charge of nine chickens, three goats, and two cats. I use the phrase “In Charge” with a clear dose of reality. We assumed that we would be “In Charge”, but in reality the cats are, in particular, the fluffy black one, CubScout. The fluffy white one, LingLing, is just along for the ride.

                   Cub is not your normal cat. Especially considering that he is a male cat. He loves to be cuddled, will sit on anyone’s lap, and acts more like a dog than a traditional “I’m going to ignore you because I know that is what you don’t want” cat.

                   LingLing on the other hand is shy and skittish. But that’s only when she doesn’t know you. Once you’re in the LL Club she will approach you, allow you to touch her and if you’re REALLY lucky, she’ll jump up on the couch and settle in next to you. You will then be rewarded by being able to pet the softest animal on the planet.

                   It can take years to gain entrance to this very exclusive Club.

                   I am it’s newest member.

                   Rick has gained entry into the CubScout Buddy Club.

                   Who is this Rick guy you may ask?

                   Rick is the reason that we toured the Four Corners Region while we were out here.

                             The Backstory.

                   Rick is Paula’s brother and just turned 75. He has always dreamed of seeing the West, but alas, was stuck on the east Coast. Enter his HSO, (Highly Significant Other) Patricia. She had asked us a while ago about where to go and what to do in the West as we are just a tad more experienced in this department. We explained about Durango, it’s proximity to the Four Corner region, Mesa Verde National Park, the Durango Silverton Scenic Railroad, and a host of other great places around here.

                             We didn’t think any more about that exchange until Lorelyn and Travis asked us if we would be available again to Critter Sit while they went away for an extended trip to Spain. Our answer was obviously yes, (as we have no schedule) and we love coming to Durango. Then it hit us… Let’s ask if it would be OK if Rick and Pat came for a few days when we were there. The answer is obvious as I am now writing about it!

                             Rick had no idea about where he was going until they went to the airport. He obviously didn’t know that we would be on the other end to greet them.

                             What followed was a whirlwind tour of the Four Corners Region and Durango led by the P&D Western Travel Services Ltd. Their slogan was a very reassuring “Serving the Four Corners Region for about Two Weeks”

                             Anyway, we (and now you) visited most of the great sites around here. We gave them that afternoon and evening to recover from Travel and then at 5AM the next morning reveille was sounded as departure for Utah and Arizona was scheduled for 6AM.   

                             The Troops were ready!

                             It takes about two and a half hours to reach Bluff, Utah, our first stopping point. On our way we passed Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, Colorado, Sleeping Ute Mountain and a ton of other sites and sights. Bluff is an old Mormon settlement, and its fort and stately homes are still in good shape and are actually highly desirable as second homes. We stopped there at the Twin Rocks Trading Post, spoke with Steve the owner, and made a few purchases of authentic Native American wares.

                             Our next destination was the Valley of the Gods, which is of the same geological formation as Monument Valley (which will be visited a little later in the day) There is a seventeen-mile loop that needs to be traveled in order to experience these gigantic monoliths, cliffs, and buttes.

                             The loop exits on the road that brings us to the Moki Dugway, a hairpin, no guardrails, dirt road that climbs the vertical face of Cedar Mesa and exits at the top which is a thousand feet higher than where we were.

To say the drive is exhilarating is to say the absolute least. This road was cut back in the 1950’s by a company that was extracting uranium ore from mines north of here and need to get it down to processors in Mexican Hat.

                    Yes, that’s then name of the little town, and you’ll see why later.

                   Cedar Mesa is the home to thousands and thousands of Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites. Some still need to be discovered. The Ancestral Puebloans, or the Anasazi as they were previously known, lived around the massive Colorado Plateau around a thousand years ago and had been here for thousands of years until various circumstances (prolonged drought?) drove them further south. What remains are many, many sites such as Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Canyon De Shelly and so many other smaller examples of their inhabitance, that they remain uncounted.

                             Our next destination was Muley Point, an overlook like no other. It sits at the very end of Cedar Mesa and drops directly down to the desert floor, a thousand feet below. While that may be dramatic enough, add to that the view directly in front of us was Monument Valley which straddles the Utah and Arizona border.

                                      This spot is where P&D Western Travel Services had scheduled for us to have lunch.

                                      It was quite the view!

                             Onward we pressed, back down the Moki Dugway and across the San Juan River, (one of the major tributaries to the Colorado) into northern Arizona and then arriving at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. That’s right, Monument Valley is entirely ensconced in the Navajo Reservation and is run by them, not the National Park Service. Their Visitor’s Center is top-notch and sits directly in front of the most famous of the monument formations, the Mittens. These are immediately recognizable as they have been in practically every John Ford directed Western Movie (especially the John Wayne ones!) and the old Marlboro commercials.

                             Back across the San Juan, we stopped at Mexican Hat for photos, then we made our way back to Bluff stopping at Sand Island Petroglyphs for an up-close view of these works of art. Most date back a thousand years or so, but the folks who inhabited these parts have been leaving their versions of “Kilroy Was Here” for many years before that.

                             A total of Three Hundred Eighty-Nine miles were logged that day before we arrived back at the ranch.

                             It was a great day!

                             The next day we stayed locally, had lunch at the Diamond Belle Saloon at the Strater Hotel in Durango. This place has been a Main Street fixture since 1888 and has its share of stories to tell. After a stroll on Main Street we drove to the edge of town and wound our way up to the Animas Valley Overlook which tops out at 9000 feet. The view is spectacular, looking north into the San Jaun Mountains and down into Durango. We were just killing time until 5 PM when the Bookshelf and Barber Speakeasy opened.

Yup, you need the password (which changes daily, and can be found on social media) and when you enter the barbershop (It’s real, you can get a haircut and shave!) there’s a guy “waiting for a haircut” who looks questionably at you until you utter the password. He then pushes a button which rings a bell inside, and then pushes on one of the bookshelves and the door swings open to reveal a very dimly lit interior of a swanky hidden night spot. To say it’s cool is a drastic understatement!

The next day was spent on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This historic railway winds its way up the Animas River about 50 miles until it arrives in the old mining town of Silverton. The 1880’s saw its beginning and its been running ever since. The ride is the attraction, powered by an authentic steam locomotive and pulling old railway cars of several types, it now hauls gaping passengers up and down the mountain instead of ore.

          This Scenic Railroad is on the bucket list of every railroad fan on the planet and that is not an exaggeration!

The next day we went back to the Railroad in order to visit their really fine Museum which houses some very interesting artifacts of traveling in those by-gone years and some interesting local items. It is a very well put together presentation, worth an admission price, but it is, in fact, free to anyone walking by.

          The afternoon was partially spent at the Southern Ute Tribes “Sky Ute Casino” where some money exchanged hands and was never seen again. Oh well.

          The final day of exploring these parts was spent at the second oldest National Park, that of Mesa Verde. “Cliff Palace” was “discovered” in 1888 by the Wetherill family who had a ranch at the base of the Mesa. These cliff dwellings are quite the sight and are included in the list of World Heritage Sites with all the respect that they deserve.

That brings us to yesterday, the day of departure of Rick and Pat. It was fun revisiting all of these places, some of which we hadn’t been to since 2015. It was even more fun showing them to folks who now appreciate all of these incredible sights, sites, and experiences that Durango and the Four Corners Region have to offer.

          P&D Western Travel Services Ltd. operates very sporadically, and it is not recommended to engage their services as you may wait for what seems like forever for them to schedule you. What is recommended is that you get yourselves on a plane to Denver, then on to Durango, get a room and a car and wind your way in, around, and through this fascinating area. P&D Western Travel Services will be happy to help you with the planning of your expedition.

Just leave a message here!  😊

I have to go now and tend to the herd, flock, and clutter (yes, that’s what a group of cats are called). In this case, maybe we should call them a “Fluffer”!

                             The past few days here in Fort Lauderdale have been a tad on the idyllic side. Our place of residence since last Friday has been the “Condo” that Sherry’s daughter and son-in-law own. I’m afraid that the word “Condo” when used in conjunction with Florida conjures up images of towers and towers of well-appointed apartment buildings that serve either as residences or vacation retreats for their owners. This location is no exception on that level, but it differs on so many others.

                             Sherry’s relatives are very successful doctors and medical entrepreneurs. They have worked quite hard over the past twenty or so years and have the fruits of their labors to prove it. Our (really theirs’s!) Condo is probably around 4500 square feet, spans the entire width of the building (so you get sunrise and sunsets), has its own elevator that brings you right into the apartment, and of course the property amenities are exactly what you would expect from something this nice.

                             Our days have been filled with Very Important Decisions such as, which game do we play next, when should we go down to the pool, and (giant!) hot tub? Or the most important one…. What should we eat next?

                             I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been to Fort Lauderdale before except to catch a Cruise Ship before it left without me. This place seems to rank right up there with the tippy-top ones. This is not your grandparents Fort Lauderdale. Spring Break invasions are a thing of the past unless of course your family owns one of these little “get-away” spots like we’re currently in.

                             One of the ways to ascertain the type of area that you may be in is to look around and see what the automobiles look like.

                             Hey! There goes a Bentley, and over there is a really cool baby-blue Aston-Martin! I’m afraid that Miss Honda would be just slightly outclassed!

                             We took a trip a few miles north of here to a really nice section of town where their “real” home is. We were introduced to Jessica and Gordon as they welcomed us into their home that Jessica had designed. Modern would be a good description, with “attention to detail” an incredible understatement. One side of the home opens onto the Intra-Coastal Waterway and the other side has the dock for the boats right across the street. I purposely did not take any photos here as I felt that it would have been rude and invasive, so I resorted to some internet photos that I was able to find. You will now be able to envision an 8000 square foot incredibly gorgeous Florida home in neighborhood that Lionel Messi just bought into.

                             The best part of this entire excursion into Florida has been meeting up with Harold and Sherry again, taking up where we left off on the Cruise, and then being introduced to their friends and family like we were old friends.

It is a nice feeling.

                             We are going to pretend that this Post was written a week ago when I briefly thought about it. That way I can claim that it has been exactly three years since we transitioned from Stationary Stewards of Land and metamorphized into The Wandering Gypsies of the Highway. At that time this Blog was born and one thing that I promised you was that I would not post the mundane, everyday happenings of Paula and Don just because we could. Hence the length of time since our last Post.

                             I am happy to report that we are on the road again, sans our usual modus operandi of Travel. Yes, we have left Miss Biggie behind in Texas as we venture out, down, and south of us and head into the wilds of Florida. We are traveling in the Lifeboat which is (as Hondas tend to be) quite a bit smaller than Winnebago Motor Homes. That means that we cannot get up and move around, make lunch, use the facilities, or just sit in large comfortable Captain’s Chairs watching the pavement unfurl beneath us.

                             Nope.

                             We’re now just like the rest of Traveling Public, consigned to Rest Stop bathrooms and hastily consumed passenger side ­­­lap-snacks as our lunch on the go. The reason that we left our home behind was that our destination had all of the amenities that we would need over the next two or so, weeks .

                             It’s time to throw back the curtains and reveal our Destination for this time period……… Fort Myers, Florida!

                             Heh?

                             Yay! Fort Myers! You know, southwest coast of Florida! Home to a bunch of alligators and our Errant Jumbo-Sized Suitcase of World Cruise fame that made its way there, courtesy of Harold and Sherry of the same fame.

                             (Flashback!)

                             When we went on the World Cruise, we had our luggage shipped to Fort Lauderdale ahead of embarkation. This resulted in a rather smashed-up imitation of a large garment container being delivered to our stateroom. This previously usable piece of luggage was given a ceremonial Burial at Sea and arrangements were made for me to visit a Big Box Store in Los Angeles when we arrived there two weeks hence. Procurement of an even larger Traveling Tote was accomplished with the end game still uncertain as I thought that I had purchased the same size suitcase as the now deceased one.

                             Wrong!

                             I had in my possession a container that rivaled the old Titanic-Sized Steamer Trunks of yesteryear’s travel.

                             Oops!

                             When the calculations were made at the end of the cruise it was determined that this over-sized and over-weight item would cost an additional $400.00 to make its way back with us on the airplane to Houston.

Ouch!

                             Enter our new besties, Harold and Sherry who drove to the ship as they live only a peninsula’s width away from Fort Lauderdale, in Fort Myers. By now I’m sure that this picture has focused itself and you can see that there were several reasons to travel to Fort Myers sometime in the future to retrieve our suitcase filled with Tuxedo’s and Gowns and visit with Sherry and Harold!

                             Back to the Present.

                             Since the World Cruise, Harlod and Sherry have been to Alberta, Canada where they went to Banff and Lake Louise, the Adirondacks for an annual family gathering vacation, and Kenya and Tanzania for a three-week Safari.  So, as you can imagine, fitting in a trip South , coordinated with our travels, was a logistical quandary of sorts. No worries, the Garments of Distinction were not needed any time soon as we were not invited to King Charle’s Coronation.

                             It is a good thing that Paula is the more stalwart of the drivers of this set as I, at times, am useless. The maladies that make traveling with me a relative nightmare, RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) and AIMPA (Ants-In-My-pants Affliction) coupled with UIAP (Uncomfortable In Any Position) makes traveling with me a challenge. Throw in the fact that I can narcolepsy with the best of them at any time, keeps Paula behind then wheel a full two-thirds of the time, leaving me to squirm and/or saw the zzzzz’s  in the passenger’s seat. These attributes (?) make driving the Honda instead of the motorhome an even worse situation. Plus there is absolutely no place to put the motorhome down here by Harold and Sherry. They live in a wonderfully manicured and gated community that has zero space to park something of that size and besides, we were staying in their home with them.

                             A visit to Harold and Sherry’s home is like a visit to a museum. Artifacts and treasures from their travels are abundantly and tastefully displayed everywhere you look. Vaulted ceilings supported by lofty walls are the perfect venues for showcasing these pieces collected on their travels. One of their favorite things to collect are masks, and with their affinity for Africa you can just imagine the wonderful examples of these items that have made their way into their collection.

                             I can’t forget the elephants! Lots and lots of different elephant renditions adorn the shelves around their home. And what would elephants be without some other wildlife to engage with? From time to time you can spy an occasional giraffe or lion peeking out from a shelf, looking for a meal. Couple all of this with a collective of eclectic artworks both from Harold and around the world and you come up with a sensory-overloading visual experience.

                             For a sensory overload of slightly different proportions, we went to dinner last night at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille over by Fort Myers Beach. This area was Ground Zero for Hurricane Ian just one year ago. Ian came ashore as a Cat 5 and quickly delivered an enormous blow to this area. 161 lost souls and $113,000,000 dollars later, Ian departed leaving the area quaking in his wake. Doc’s was no exception but press on they did, and the newly re-built facility is now thriving again along with a few of its neighbors. Sherry’s daughter Rachael worked there before Ian and still works here now. We visited her last night for a dining experience that was quite perfect. Just the right amount of culinary skill, topped off with some sincerely friendly service in a waterfront venue made for a memorable evening. We did tour the area before we sat down, and the devastation is still quite apparent and will take some time before things can be considered “normal” again.

                             Today we travel across the state for a weekend on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. No, it’s not Spring Break, just a few days at a condo owned by Sherry’s daughter. With any amount of luck there will be boats galore!

Report to follow 😊