the view from my seat

Boulder, CO - Albuquerque NM
What an amazing day today was.  It started out with a perfect breakfast with the whole DeBergh crew in Boulder- around 1030am at the same place that Germain and I had breakfast with Marcus last year when we stopped in for a day on our way out west in June.

It was sad to say farewell to them all but I know Ill see them all again soon so I gave hugs and hit the road by 11am.
A few fun random shots I took at the beginning of the trip... Charlie is going to love this first one- a trailer that sells pirate ships... interesting.  And good ol' J.C. he seems to be present all over the back country spots, people love posting signs about him everywhere.

Upon departing boulder, I was a bit uncertain about my first planned stop- a place called Bishops Castle that I mentioned the last time I wrote.  I didn't know much about it but saw it on TV a few years back and figured it could be interesting to see, so I plugged it into the GPS and off I went.  It was a detour off the main highway (RT 25S) that ate up about an hour of time with back roads, but the San Isabel National Forest was very tranquil and I can't say for sure why, but I connected with this area in the type of way that just makes you smile while you are driving through-

and once I arrived at the castle, my smile simply transitioned into much bigger smile... I knew it was going to be a good day the second I stepped foot in the muddy driveway of the castle... The man who has dedicated the past 40 years of his life to building this place must be completely nutz- but I loved it- I felt like I was on a real life goonie adventure- especially because when I arrived, with the exception of one girl, I was the ONLY person on the property.  After wandering around in silence for a while I ran into her and we chatted a bit about the place and she gave me some great into to get me started exploring-  I climbed everything that you could possibly climb, though it seemed a bit unsafe at times, I put my trust in this crazy man and just absorbed every bit of it with a smile on my face.

I climbed to the very top of that tower on the left... that is where the super high areal shots were taken from.  what a rush.

This little shack is also on the property- the owner, who still works on the place, uses this as a second home/ workshop and a gift shop during the summer.  Apparently he has a day job and lives about 45 minutes away, but he is often here on weekends to greet visitors... too bad I missed him.

There used to be a stove hooked up in that big main space, and the exhaust was routed up through the dragons mouth- awesome.

Now that you've seen some of these images, how cool is this place?  The platforms up top were literally swaying when I was on them, but for some reason I just knew Id be safe.  You might be wondering if any building code was utilized while building this... Nope.  Railings are too low- structure is insufficient in some places, welds are broken in some areas- and as a result, this castle can never actually be lived it, it is merely a piece of artwork, but it is a piece of artwork that is free to the public and is a place I highly recommend checking out if you are ever driving south on 25 through Colorado.

Then I was back on the road, after almost 2 hours of hanging out at this place and meeting some really nice people, en route to my second point of interest- hot springs in Las Vegas, New Mexico (which is NOTHING at all like Las Vegas, Nevada).  On my way to the hot springs, I got some interesting photos- check it out:

I presume this trailer occupant must be some sort of musician?

My 2007 VW factory GPS takes me on dirt roads- does yours?

This guy was starring me down so I had to stop in and take a quick picture of him and his friends.

Once I got a bit further down this road, a man and woman in a small pickup truck stopped me by flagging their hands out the windows.  They told me not to go left at the end of the road because they had just been through a hail storm that would crack a windshield!  Based on how dark the skies were ahead, I believed them- so I thanked them and made sure to turn right (thankfully, that was the direction I needed to head anyway- but look at that sky... I had to stop for at least a couple pictures- risking that storm catching up with me...

And then it was safely behind me.

And into New Mexico I went.

It was just an amazing sky kind of day, but sadly, there wasnt much else to see in New Mexico... though I have a feeling that there is a nice view out my window right now- but arriving in dark leaves it a mystery until tomorrow morning.

 I didnt arrive at the hot springs until 815 pm- in the dark.   I was a bit nervous in general about being here, but as Eric DeBergh told me when he could sense that I was apprehensive about doing something like this one my own, "Dennis, you just have to do it" which I did- and it turns out sitting in 108 degree water after a day on the road was JUST what I needed!
 -I am finding that the more that I push my comfort zone on this trip, the more satisfied I am at the end of the day.  Traveling alone can be a bit unnerving at times, especially when you want to do something like going to a hot spring... I had no idea what to expect, but I put my trust in myself, drove to this middle of nowhere location in a strange little town, and I went in.

This was a picture from my car of the springs- its hard to see because it was dark and I just rushed to get a quick picture without my tripod, but down by the orange lights there are big holes in the ground that you just, well, jump into.  There are about 5-6 of them and they are all about 4 or 5 feet deep and vary in temperature from around 100 to 110.  I was in one that was about 108 (according to a guy who comes here often)

10 minutes later, in wet shorts, I got back in the car and drove the last 2.5 hours to the lovely Sandia Peak Inn in Albuquerque, NM, which seems to be a really nice place thus far.  Funny story- the proprietor of this fine establishment is a nice indian lady and when I got here at 1015 this evening the doors were all locked so I had to ring a doorbell- and she came out in her pajama's to check me in- but she was very nice and welcoming, so I feel good about being here.

Well, thats it.  Bed time.  Thanks for following.
Tomorrow's itinerary is still uncertain, but one thing is for sure- West is the direction Ill be heading.

Leaving Boulder- heading southwest

It's that time again... I've stayed the perfect amount of time in Boulder and am now ready to get back on the road.  I have to say, the DeBerghs have been fantastic hosts and I will really miss being a part of the family.  They have such a nice set up here, two brothers and a sister all sharing a big townhouse, all with adventurous spirits, and all great people with great friends.  Everyday I was in town, with the exception of this Monday, one of them had off from work and was able to explore with me and show me around a bit.  The first few days I spent with Jaime riding bikes, hanging on the campus of university of colorado, and going to Denver to see a mets-rockies game.  These last few days I've been with Eric rock climbing, hiking, snowboarding, and just catching up on life.  Sadly, I didnt get quite as much time in with Mark, but since I'm usually the last one awake at night I at least got a chance to hang out with him at night when he got home from work (he works three 11am-11pm shifts at the hospital) and in the mornings for breakfast.  Ill miss them all but I'm also very excited about my sprint out west.

It is 2:00a.m. and I am leaving the next time the sun comes up but I'm still not exactly sure where ill be sleeping on Tuesday just yet.  I am thinking about heading south on 25 and visiting Bishop Castle in Wetmore Colorado, then finding some hot springs near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and sleeping somewhere in or near Albuquerque.  The map above gives a rough outline of my travels for the next 2-3 weeks, but it is always subject to change depending on what pops up along the way.

So before I post pictures, let me tell you a little something about "skiing out west" I had heard the expression before, but never understood what that really meant and how it was any different than skiing back east.  Well, as it turns out, it primarily refers to the scale of these mountains... imagine having all the east coast mountains placed together to make one massive resort...then raise the elevation about 8000 feet above sea level and give much longer runs from the top of the mountain to the bottom and add about 10 more lodges per resort at various points around the mountain.  Bottom line is that with such massive spaces, even on a crowded day there is always room somewhere on the mountain for you to breathe.  


Here are just a couple pics- the rest will be uploaded to an album on flickr that can be seen here- doing it this way because I need to get to bed... ill post more soon.

The four of us (from far left, Brett, Eric, Hattie, and Me) since it was the last day for the season at Vail, everyone got dressed up... well, everyone but those people who like me had no idea this was happening and were ill prepared (though I had a chance to wear a one piece snow suit, but it wasnt exactly comfortable... see below)

The DeBergh's townhouse and garage... aka home #3 on the road.

Enjoying a hot cup of coffee on the balcony at a friend of Brett and Haddies, which is where we stayed saturday night.  It was in Avon, CO.

a flower shot from Pearl Street in Boulder... spring is in the air.


For more pictures from the past 4 days, Click Here Sorry there are no descriptions yet but there are a bunch more images there worth sharing.

Mountain Goats, and Boulder thus far

Schedule update:  Ill be in Boulder until Tuesday morning at which point Ill be leaving to drive through New Mexico, Arizona, and into California to get through San Diego to see Ash and up to LA by Friday.

I believe the last time I wrote was from a hotel in South Dakota... well, the next morning, I woke up around  830, got some breakfast at the coolest little restaurant, and made my way into the hills to see Mount Rushmore.   Upon arrival, I paid my 10 dollar entry fee, grabbed the camera, my tripod, and my coffee and walked up to the monument.  Wouldn't you know it- some wild mountain goats paid me a visit on my walk up and were getting their breakfast right along side the path on my walk up- so I took a few pictures of them.

Mount Rushmore was interesting, and worth seeing, but not worth a trip to South Dakota on it's own... I spent some time, took some pictures, and oddly enough met a couple that were from upstate NY!  

We chatted for a while about our travels and they suggested that I check out Crazy Horse, I didnt really know what it was but when I checked it out on the map it was on my way to Colorado so I decided i would stop.  I believe it was also at this point that I broke my tripod AND realized that my camera's sensor had a lot of dust on it and had to be cleaned...(side note- thank god for a great camera store in boulder, I was able to get the camera cleaned and pick up a new tripod for the rest of the trip- but as a result, I havent gotten many pictures these past two days)

This particular goat had some sort of tracking device attached to his neck- but he didnt seem to mind, he almost looks like he is smiling, right?

Without a doubt- the Black Hills in South Dakota are the most eerie location I have traveled through as of yet.  You can almost sense the spirit of the Native American culture that lived in these hills hundreds of years ago... I loved my time driving through and stopped a few times for some landscape shots.

And from here, about 30 minutes down the road, I arrived at the Crazy Horse Monument.  So, in case you dont know, Crazy Horse is a similar monument to Mount Rushmore, but at about 100 times the size.  It has been under production for over 50 years and the original sculptor has passed away leaving his wife and children in charge to supervise the project.  The native americans that started the project will not accept government funding so the only money that funds the project is money collected from people like me who pass by to see it, pay the 10 dollar entry fee, and hopefully by some goods in the museum or make a donation, but at the rate it is going, it will be another 50 years before it is done.  It would be cool to see it completed during my lifetime, but there is a LOT to get done.

If you look towards the bottom of the monument on the left in my picture, you can see a long yellow line... that is a tractor trailer, to give you an idea of the scale of this.  And the white chalk line on the front is a rough sketch of the horses head that will eventually be part of the monument. You can fit the entire mount rushmore monument on the nose of this face alone... and that entire hill needs to be carved out still.

The crazy horse museum had tons of fun, interesting, native american items along with authentic wild west stuff like guns, clothing, pictures, etc- this is a replica of a nice gun that would have been carried by an old fashioned cowboy, dont know why but I really enjoyed being in this museum practically all alone and spending some time trying to get myself to imagine what it must have been like to have been out here before cars on horseback living the life of a cowboy.  (btw, at this point I can safely say that the black hills, rushmore, AND crazy horse make it a bit more understanding if one were to want to plan a trip out here without just passing through, but still, I think you could see all there is to see at both places in one day.)

Then it was back on the road to head to colorado- which was only about 6 hours from these two monuments.

Not a lot to see out here.  It was this road for about 100 miles, no cell service, hardly any other cars- just a lot of driveways to ranches- it would say the ranches name, and then how far from the road it was until you got there, usually between 5-10 miles off the main road.

They had some interesting ranch names...

Hello Wyoming!

Does anyone know what the deal is with the red roads?  I would be driving, and out of nowhere the roads would turn red- they were much softer and nicer to drive on but I dont understand what the logic is- maybe it is a local material- seemed to be that wherever they were doing road work in wyoming they were putting in this new red road material.

I stopped to take this one... the sky is so big out here!

And then a few miles up the road I saw a HUGE freight train coming my way so I quickly pulled over and grabbed my big lens to grab a few shots of it passing by.  Ive loved trains since I was a kid (since my dad worked on the railroad) so I still love the idea of freight trains traveling at great lengths across the country- and Union Pacific has nice looking engines.

Another interesting landscape.

It said chugwater, and I was thirsty, so i did.  If you notice in the background of this picture, you will see what appears to be a big wooden fence.. well these things are lining the roads all through wyoming and into colorado- apparently they are to prevent snow drifts from entering the roads.  I sometimes forget that I am traveling in the spring and if it were the dead of winter, this might not be the safest place to by in my non 4wd volkswagon.

So once I arrived in Boulder, I spent some time catching up with my old friends the DeBerghs (Marcus, Eric, and Jaime) and since then have just been relaxing, spending time outside, and enjoying myself.  Below are a few pictures from being here thus far but since I havent had my camera until this afternoon, I dont have many.  More can be seen on facebook since i upload to there directly from my phone.

me, playing frisbee with some of Jaimes friends and their dog on University of Colorado at Boulder's Campus (which was a really nice campus i might add)

These next two pics are of this random kid who was dancing his way through the quad while listening to headphones- he just skipped and danced all around and even started dancing with strangers- he provided a handful of laughs for the hundreds of people that were out there that day.  

Jaime hurt her knee so she took a little breather from frisbee to ice it.

Jaime's friend Ben put an 80cc engine on his mountain bike- it's pretty cool.

These last few pics are at a Mets vs Rockies game that Jamie, Ben, Ben's friend Eric, and I went to in Denver.  It was a blast.  Jaime let me borrow her blue shades so I could represent the mets.  Turns out people enjoyed them so much on me that she gave them to me!  Ha (i can hear my mom now "what the hell are those?  They dont look good at all, you look like a fool!")

Well, tomorrow I am heading up to Breckenridge and then to Vail for some snowboarding (my first time out west) and some music festivals at night with some good reggae.  I'm really looking forward to it, but Eric wants to hit the road by 630 so I think it's about time I get to bed.