Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts

Friday, July 18, 2008

Tabor Dancing

The weather has been so hot and muggy that hubby and I decided we just had to head to the nearby mountains---nearby being a relative term as it was about a 5 hour drive, carbon footprints be damned. We had visited and even camped in this national park many times, and thus, it was like visiting another home. Some of my blog readers will be able to identify it, I am sure.

We stayed at one of the lodges but I am proud to say that the second day we put in a 10 mile hike. I have not done that type of hiking in years and am glad that I found I still had the stamina.

The initial trails are usually clear and well worn even though you can see the summer has been wet.

The initial signs are usually quite clear for the trails as well even though the Park Service is on tighter and tighter budgets.

As we got farther into the more isolated trails, we found the signs not only less clear but even more telling!

Coming across this on the path gave us pause and also helped us understand the previous sign.

Even though we were above 4,000 feet the mid-day temperatures were pretty warm and we frequently sought shelter under the shade of trees in the high meadows. We were careful when we left the trail, because as you can see from the photo above, the trail can soon disappear. I photo-shopped it with ladybugs to show how camouflaged it could get just a few yards off the beaten path.

This lovely spruce forest floor makes for very quiet walking and that is why I stepped on a 2.5 foot snake without he/she or I being aware in time to avoid each other politely. I had paused to catch my breath when hubby came up behind me and looking at my feet said calmly but sternly, "Keep moving. Keep moving." As I lifted my right foot I glanced down to see the coils and instantly danced to the other side of some rocks skinning my shins nicely. While my legs have some lovely scabs, the poor snake got the worst of it as he seemed to be somewhat lumpy as he scooted away. We had been returning from the day's long hike, and I was being rather heavy footed with fatigue. We, of course, tried to remember what mountain rattlesnakes and copperheads really looked like as we hustled more carefully on down the trail counting our blessings only to see a smooth green snake scoot in the grass ahead and also what we identified as a common water snake just ten minutes further down the trail. We were blessed, I guess. Upon reaching a visitors center we pulled one of the guidebooks and determined that I had stepped on a juvenile rat snake.

In spite of the adrenalin rush the rewards of the hike were many including fresh blueberries for munching and...

...a blanket of wild bee balm.

We stopped at the top of the ridge for a late lunch and had some of the best views above the woods. I don't know of any fancy restaurants that can provide this kind of atmosphere.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Stream of Consciousness Tabor

March 28:

I was in a dark nightclub in a scuzy part of town (rereading this sounds like a Guy Noir skit). We took a cab because daughter and I were too scared to leave a car ANYWHERE IN THE AREA. Nightclub was filled with twenty and thirty-somethings. A very few were "over-medicated." Even though I was one with the beat once the band started, I kept thinking the little flecks of light on the floor and lower backs of people from the turning mirrored balls above was a toddler moving between the adults. Sort of a grandma reaction that took a while to shake. My daughter said the crowd was 'alternative' due to the facial hair and just a few with tattoos. The bouncer wore spiked wrist guards and looked so totally bored. He had that expression on his face that a parent has when he has just put the child in a time-out for the fifth time in an evening. Music was great even though the sound system was mediocre. My son introduced me to a chatty Kathy that was a total fan of the band. Said she was a "band-aid." Seemed to be totally jazzed about meeting my son's mom and sis. Please God, do not make this the final girlfriend!

Left the club after midnight and took a cab back to the car which we found had been towed! They towed it an hour before the meter expired, but have not been able to get justice on this to this day! The extra $100 fine did put a damper on the evening.

March 29:

A whiplash Saturday morning for this old head. Up early with toddler getting ready for a trip to a museum with another toddler friend to have an early celebration of grandson's third birthday. It was far more scary than the night before watching toddlers run beneath displays and climb upon metal chairs and benches. Then back for gift opening and homemade chocolate birthday cake which daughter and I had decorated with a PERFECT Lightning McQueen frosting graphic, if I do say so myself.

March 30:

Sunday was a second birthday celebration with the arrival of the other set of grandparents. While I would have loved to lie around in bed or watch cartoons with grandson, I escaped to the mall to give the grandparents one-on-one time and to give me some sanity time.

March 30, March 31, and April 1:

Took daughter and I three evenings to watch the movie "Rendition" which we had rented while both hubbys were on travel. ("
The story of an Egyptian, married to an American, picked up on the suspicion of links to terrorist organizations and shipped to a friendly (with US) Arab country for "enhanced interrogation.") We could only get blocks of 45 minutes free time before we both were ready to fall asleep. The Egyptian is kidnapped just after arrival in the U.S. from a business trip and the wife spends the rest of the movie in a panic trying to determine where he is.

April 2:

Hubby is arriving - finally - from Korea in the early evening. I get ready to meet him with a call the airport to confirm his flight arrival time. They tell me the arrival time is 30 minutes earlier than I had scheduled, so I tell daughter and rush to the airport. The flight has arrived by the time I get there and for some reason my cell phone is not working. I go ahead and park and head to baggage claim. Many of the passengers have gotten their bags and are leaving. I scan the crowd, but no hubby. I wait until just a few stragglers are left collecting their luggage. I go to the United desk and try to get information. The lady behind the desk is vague and suggests I just go home and wait for his call. (This Rendition movie is beginning to nag at my brain.) I decide to wait for the final flight from Korea which comes in a little later. So, I ask her if by any chance he is on that one. NOPE! I cannot get into my voicemail on my cell...geeze. I head to daughter's house.

I reach there at 9:30 and ask daughter to check her email on her blackberry since I do not have a computer at her house. She doesn't have any messages. She cannot get into my email with her little machine--probably javascripting block.

10:00 PM we get a call from Hubby who was caught in the major FAA/United cancellation of flights--guess I should have been watching the news instead of a movie. He and three others worked the desks at Pusan like a team and were able to get out of Korea that same evening. There were only 8 from his flight who made it out of Korea that night...he is pretty enterprising! The only problem is that he is now in New York and he lost one bag! He has a morning flight home scheduled.

April 3:

I get Hubby without incident and we rush down to the house to pack. We are heading for a week's vacation in Sarasota, Florida. Why the rush? We have to meet daughter and family at the Tampa airport in just two days and we are driving down---with more baby and toddler junk than is found at a Babies "R' Us sale in the two backseats along with two newly installed carseats. We work hard to squeeze in our two small suitcases and a few beach chairs while leaving room for two adults to sit in the back.

April 4-11:


A blur of beaches, aquariums and DisneyWorld. Forgetting the long lines at DisneyWorld, the expense of gas and the strange leg rash Hubby got from wading through seagrasses, methinks everyone should have this much fun in their old age.

April 14:

WE MAKE IT BACK HOME! Had a wonderful time and hope I can get my head in gear before heading back to work on Wednesday.