Chasing the Sunrise

13 10 2011

When you think of New Mexico, you tend to think hot…desert…dry…dusty.  You probably think cactus too.  You don’t really think mountains, rainstorms, lush greenery, wildflowers, vibrant fall colours.  At least that was my first assumption coming from a Westcoast perspective.  Imagine my surprise when we rolled into Santa Fe, NM for the first time back in February and almost got stopped because of a white out.  Blizzard conditions and cold cold COLD temperatures.

During our visit at the beginning of October we were able to see a different side of Santa Fe.  For one thing it wasn’t 17 F/ -8 C.  We caught some morning photos of the flowers on Canyon Road after a rainstorm the night before.

The day we flew out of Albuquerque on a 3:45pm flight we woke up early and raced up the mountain to Hyde Memorial State Park.   We figured it made most sense to catch whatever the sunrise was going to bring if we made it to the highest point we could.  Well, you never feel more late than when you are trying to make it to a certain spot to catch a sunrise (or a sunset).  There’s just no stopping the sun.  You can’t call it up and say ‘I‘m running a little late, can you just hold on for an extra 5 – 10 min? ‘  The clouds were stacked up in the sky and they started to get a deep red tinge to them, then they started to turn orange, then bright pink.

We pulled over to catch what we could of the sky, and at that moment I regretted the time I spent putting on a little powder, blush and mascara…..And then as quick as the clouds turned bright pink, the colour started to fade, the clouds got wispier, and that was pretty much it.   We continued heading up towards the ski basin to see what else we could see.

Snow!  The rainstorm that we experienced in town (7000 ft elevation) ended up being a snow storm at the 12,000 ft elevation towards the top of the mountain.  So in one photo we see winter and fall taking place side by side.

It was a little late in the season, but all of the Aspens were turning golden yellow.  From town it looked like the mountain had large bald spots since the golden aspen trees were surrounded by the green pinion and ponderosa pine forest.   But as you stood amongst the tall Aspens it was just a sea of yellow and when the wind and the sun hit the leaves just right, it looked like the forest was shimmering gold.


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Categories : New Mexico

Discovering Santa Fe

10 10 2011

Is there such a thing as a “typical” Santa Fe experience?

Yes, there are the typical historical sites to see, but I feel like this place encourages people to get lost in it.  For one, the streets don’t follow a grid system (so you may get lost for real) but the natural flow of the old town area encourages you to detour off of the main streets, stroll down back alleys where you can discover hidden courtyards full of art galleries, tasty pastry shops and the perfect setting for a local New Mexican beer or a spicy mayan hot chocolate.  Even a short stroll off Canyon Road we saw a picture perfect setting.

Santa Fe has an atmosphere that screams ‘Slow Down!  Stay a while and enjoy yourself!’  If you’re coming from a fast paced East Coast city it can seem painfully slow and if you’re coming from the laid back West Coast it can feel casual but formal at the same time.  And no matter where you’re from you probably say to yourself, ‘what’s with the green chilies in everything?’  Just the local flavour, so take advantage!

From an outsider’s perspective, this is a community that supports working artists, encourages the use and enjoyment of fresh ingredients from local farmers and welcomes visitors who want to inspire the right side of their brain.  Even if you are a city girl/guy at heart, once you hit the streets of Santa Fe don’t be surprised if you get inspired to wake up early to see the sunrise break over the mountains, find yourself running your fingers along the adobe walls because you can’t resist the texture, or discover your inner photographer and start taking photos of everything because the contrasting colours are so dramatic.

For me, what I wanted to do while we were in town was to track down the iconic “colourful mailboxes”.  We walked, and drove, up and down Canyon Road.  We saw pictures in photo galleries of this scene and asked around, but no one would give us any real answers. Some locals had no idea what I was talking about.  But guess what?  Perseverance pays off….


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Just You, Me, and the Balloons

7 10 2011

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top the excitement, smiles and general ‘happy’ feelings that the Balloon Fiesta photos were able to inspire in people, but hopefully I can give you a solid follow up post.

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is noted as the World’s Most Photographed event but even the best photos can’t compare to the sounds and sights of floating balloons launching every minute.  The whooshing sound of the flames heating up the air, the whistles in the background signaling yet another balloon being launched and the silence of the floating balloons.

For everyone who has never been to the Balloon Fiesta, for those who haven’t been back in years, or even for those that were there and are still on a balloon high, hopefully my little blackberry videos (I’m sorry) can give you a sense of the experience.


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Categories : New Mexico

We Found Them!

5 10 2011

Who would think that you could go to Albuquerque, NM on the first day of the Balloon Fiesta and not see a single hot air balloon?  The live news reports showed balloon after balloon being launched at 7am and an estimated 600+ balloons participating in the Mass Ascension.

It’s simple really.  All you have to do is head down to Albuquerque around 11am, when the temperature is rising and all of the balloons have landed and been scooped up by their Chase Crews already.

So you can imagine my skepticism when we planned on heading down to the Balloon Fiesta the second day to watch the Morning Glow and Mass Ascension.  On the drive we joked about there being a conspiracy and that the news coverage was actually from past years.   Even when we arrived on the festival grounds, in the dark, I still wasn’t sure what to expect since there were only one or two balloons being inflated.

Yes, I clapped like crazy when the 10 Dawn Patrol balloons lit up and launched to start the day off.  But this in no way prepared me for the next two hours.

Row after row of ‘sleeping giants’ started to appear out of no where.

These balloons are huge.  It doesn’t seem possible that they can creep up on you, but they do.  And it doesn’t seem like you should be able to have free reign to walk around while all of this is happening.  But this is a full participation event.  You can walk around the balloons as they are being inflated, look straight inside the balloons, help hold down the basket before it launches, get shoo’d aside by the “Zebra” (balloon launching official), and pretty much stand in awe as balloon after balloon launch in all directions right beside you and right over your head.  I even had a balloon lean on me as it was being inflated.

As each balloon launched in front of me I felt it my duty to clap, yell, and wave at the pilot and crew as they floated overhead.  It was almost sensory overload and after 2 hours, we decided to head out and try to find a viewing spot to see the balloons dip down to skim the surface of the Rio Grande River.

Although we weren’t able to get to the exact spot the balloons were touching down (it’s hard to predict the whims of the wind), the further we got from the actual event grounds, the more surreal the hundreds of balloons in the sky looked.

This post was “Freshly Pressed” on October 6, 2011. 

 

 


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It’s Worth It

3 10 2011

There is an art to attending large scale events.  Jostling crowds, heavy traffic, cold weather, over-priced vendor food and outhouses.  It can make a lot of people want to stay home and avoid all of the craziness altogether.  You can talk yourself into staying at home and tell yourself, ‘mmmm is it really worth it?  All the hassle.  It’s probably better to just watch the coverage from home.’

Yes.  It is much easier to avoid the 4am wake up call, the steady line of traffic into the event grounds, the pre-dawn chill, and everything else that goes hand in hand with large events.  But, you would miss out on the feeling of anticipation, the tingle at the back of your neck as you jump out of the car and head to the event, the feeling of camaraderie with people from all over the world that you’re sharing an experience with, the smell of cinnamon, coffee, breakfast burritos and most importantly, you would miss out on the feeling of amazement that you are seeing what you’re seeing and experiencing what you’re experiencing.

The trick:  Wake up early and suck it up!  You only get stuck in traffic when you try to go when everyone else is going to the event.  You only get stuck in a crowd when you join an already established crowd….you need to get there first!  And head to the event ready to take in everything that you can and let yourself be as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, clapping, whooping, and waving alongside everyone else.

40 years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and I’m sure it never gets old to listen to the countdown before seeing ten hot air balloons lined up in a row light up against the black sky and then launch one by one until they are up in the air twinkling like Christmas tree lights as they dazzle the crowd with a flicker burn.

 


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Gems of the North East

29 08 2011

Is there such a thing as too much lobster?  Yeah, I think there is.  We spent the last week taking advantage of being on the East Coast (pre-hurricane) and had a mini working road trip.  There were times when I felt like a traveling salesman.

We found ourselves having dinner in Newport, Rhode Island on a Friday night during the Wine Festival.  Maybe not the smartest idea.  Parking was an issue.  But when a table for 2 would be a 45 minute wait, a table for 5 could get seated right away so we lucked out.  I have no photos to share, but believe me, if you like the idea of a coastal boating community, then you should try to find your way out there.  At dinner we met a group that was heading to Europe the following day on a 170 ft sailboat.

The Back Eddy in Horseneck Beach, MA was a wonderful find.  Steamers in broth and drawn butter, the tastiest heirloom tomatoes, swordfish that rivals no other, and a lobster casserole, which was really lobster meat in a buttery sauce with sautéed leeks and asparagus.   My first of many tastes of lobster during this week.

Mystic, CT was a perfect place to stop for some lunch.  We found a little roadside seafood shack and grabbed a lobster roll and whole belly clams.  Note to everyone that is ever intrigued by whole belly clams.  Don’t do it.  It just means the clam bellies are full, and you eat what the clams ate.  Yuck.  Stick to clam strips.


Asbury Park, NJ?  A hidden little treasure that seemed like it was stuck in a time warp on a Tuesday afternoon.  An old fashioned boardwalk with a plethora of different types of people to watch as you grab some lunch at the waterfront/boardwalk restaurants.   We were drawn to this community because of the lyric, “Asbury Park misses you”, in a Claire Means song.

Falmouth, MA officially welcomes you to Cape Cod.  Even with a cute downtown main street, the main attraction is its proximity to Martha’s Vineyard.  The ferry terminal to Martha’s Vineyard is in Woods Hole and there is a cute waterfront community with tons of restaurants where you can sit right on the dock.

Our first stop:  Shucker’s World Famous Raw Bar.  We were seated outside on the dock and started with a bottle of wine and some steamers.  Well, all I have to say is, isn’t there some sort of quality standard that you have to reach to call yourself ‘World Famous’??  Even though I had my eye on a lobster dinner, we left after a lackluster order of steamers (especially after the tasty gems we had at The Back Eddy) and the bottle of wine.  So now, I am still hungry and slightly drunk.

After a quick lap of the ferry terminal we ended up at The Fishmonger’s Café where we ordered another bottle of wine, a lobster bruschetta appetizer, and finally, my Lobster Dinner!

After we drank and ate our way through Woods Hole, we called it a night so we could wake up bright-eyed and bushy tailed and tackle Martha’s Vineyard the next day.  The most efficient and affordable way to get a taste of Martha’s Vineyard is to walk on the ferry and buy a day bus pass that will let you bounce between Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown.  The wind was a whipping with the pre-hurricane weather but we still enjoyed sitting outside in the sun on our 45 minute ferry ride.

 

Martha’s Vineyard:  lots of beaches, lots of cute knick knack stores, tons of restaurants and ice creameries, and a Secret Garden feel that makes you want to explore the untouched parts of the island and find a beach house somewhere to spend a week reading books, napping with the windows open and riding your bike with a basket full of fresh baked bread and leafy-stemmed carrots.

We got through quite a bit in a week.  And okay, I guess when I said that we went on a mini working road trip I actually meant that we went on an East Coast eating tour….


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Sedona

28 08 2011

Sedona.

The perfect ending to a week of hiking, fishing and ‘roughing’ it.  Red rocks, dry heat and an inspirational landscape.

Get a panoramic view without having to hike up the mountains.  The Sedona Airport has a great scenic overlook that gets overlooked by the masses.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Along the Broken Arrow trail, there’s a 12 mile fault line that marks a straight line through the red rocks. 

Hidden away at Red Rock Crossing is the perfect place to view Cathedral Rock.  A longer drive and a quick walk, or a quick drive and a longer walk and you can get an unobstructed view of one of the most photographed scenes in Sedona:  red rock formations glowing during sunset, cascading clouds and the whole scene reflected in water.


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Categories : Arizona

A Second and a Third Look

26 08 2011

There is a huge difference between ‘seeing’ something and ‘experiencing’ something.

That 9.5 hour trek has bonded me to the Grand Canyon for life.  I can still remember how impressed I was at the scenery as we descended into the canyon, how happy I was when we reached the bottom of the canyon, the feeling of disbelief when we stepped up to the crest of the hill and realized that we still had another ½ a mile until we got to Plateau Point and my desperation for a water station and a tiny bit of shade.

After this bonding experience, to which I still haven’t put my runners back on or gotten rid of all of the red canyon dirt, we were no longer content to walk along the rim of the canyon and ooh and aahh with the rest of the tourists.  There’s only so long that you can stare down at a bunch of rocks in the middle of the day.  Soon enough it starts to all look the same.

Instead we looked for opportunities to see the canyon in a different light.  Like, the light of an approaching thunderstorm.  There’s nothing like feeling the force of a wind tunnel at the rim.

And probably the best light to see the Grand Canyon in…Sunset.  The rocks truly do light up and turn that deep red and orange and purple that you see on postcards.


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Going on an Elk Hunt

14 08 2011

You would think that spotting an elk in the wilderness would be a special occasion.  We did too when we went searching for a herd of elk one evening on an off road trail.  We kicked up rocks and plenty of dust as we drove along the off road trails near the Grand Canyon and we were rewarded by coming across a herd of elk bulls.  We crept into the tall grass to take photos as these bulls with huge racks of antlers were feeding on their evening meal.

Even after we’d gotten back in the car and were far away from the herd we were still whispering.  We saw another elk bull munching on some grass right beside the road.  And a mixed herd complete with babies by one of the watering holes.

 

By the time we’d gotten back from our ride, we’d seen a ton of elk, mule deer, and I realized I may have a little fear of heights after we’d climbed the Lookout Tower at Grandview Point and it made me a little shaky.

We thought we’d really spotting something special seeing so many Elk that night, that is until we woke up the next morning to watch the sunrise and found that they were all over the main Grand Canyon Lodge grounds, and then to find that our campground was filled with Elk during Happy Hour.

So, if at first you don’t succeed…try again at dawn or dusk.


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Categories : Arizona

Yes. It is a Grand Canyon

14 08 2011

Who’s idea was it to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon??  Who’s idea was it to hike an extra 3 miles to Plateau Point to get a glimpse of the Colorado River??

Who’s idea was it to look at the “Warning DO NOT go past Indian Garden as a Summer Day Hike” after we finished our 12 mile, 3000 ft, 10 hour hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and most importantly, back up?

Regardless of who’s idea it was.   We did it.  WE DID IT!   I can’t believe we did it.

August 8, 2011 at 6:20am, Nathan, Jonathan and I started our hike down Bright Angel Trail.  We were bright-eyed and bushy tailed, and skipped merrily along the path, which was still encroached in shade.  We took time to pose for photos, take in the views of the Grand Canyon as the sun was rising over the cliffs, and it was so quiet we heard the stirring of chipmunks in the trees and mule deer eating their morning meal.

We blew right past the first rest area, without even having to top up our water bottles.  Then we started seeing some uphill traffic.  There was no random chatter from the hikers heading back to the top of the canyon, unless it was to ask how far the next rest area was.  Hmmmm…just a little bit intimidating.  People were hiking back up to the top with full overnight packs and camping gear.  Even in this early stage of the hike we felt sorry for them.

We made it to the 3 Mile Rest House and decided to keep on and we were rewarded for our efforts at Indian Garden.  Think lush green trees, vibrant cactus, and the sound of running water through a creek bed.  The best part – plenty of shade!  We made it to the desert floor at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  But did we stop here?  Oh no – let’s keep going? What’s another 1.5 miles to get to Plateau Point and see the Colorado River????

The difference between Indian River and Plateau Point is SHADE.  We hiked 1.5 miles to the edge of a cliff in 110 degree heat in the blazing sun.  But we made it.  Thank goodness there was a water station at the point and a cool breeze.  Once the adrenaline wore off and we started our hike back, it was the sight of the oasis at Indian Garden that kept us moving forward.

It took us 3 hours to hike to Indian Garden (at the bottom of the Canyon) and an extra hour to hike to and from Plateau Point. It took us 5 hours to hike from Indian Garden back up to the top of the Bright Angel Trail Head at the top of the Grand Canyon.

I don’t think that I can describe how difficult this was.  We took cover in the tiny bit of shade that scrappy desert trees give off.  If we hiked for 7 minutes straight, this was a good job.  We drenched ourselves in water to keep our core cool as we hiked.  Sometimes the effort of lifting my legs to step up 6 inches over the logs on the path was too much of an effort and I started to walk along the rocks at the side of the trail so I didn’t have to lift my legs as high.  As we climbed higher the temperature got slightly cooler but the altitude made breathing harder.   There was no random chatter, just the sound of deep breaths, the swish of a water bottle, and two phrases:  “I just need to rest!” and “how far until the next rest house?”.

As we got closer to the top, the trail got busier with people who did not understand what we had gone through and what we were still going through.  Hikers stopping randomly in the trail, people wearing flipflops and eating Doritos, and people that just did not understand how hard it was for us to put one foot in front of the other.  Jonathan got his second or third wind and led the way the last 20 minutes of our hike.  He was the first one to the top.   But we all made it.

SUCCESS!


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