Planes, Trains, Boats, and Automobiles!

The Landscape of Georgia O'Keefe A Visit to Ghost Ranch September 30, 2017 Today's activities took us to Abiqui and to Ghost Ranch.  We were treated to a short video giving a bit of the history of Ghost Ranch, which I found rather fascinating   The ranch encompasses about 21,000 acres and some of the most amazing scenery that I have ever seen.  Obviously, the first inhabitants were the pueblo Indians, followed by the Spaniards and then the Mexicans.  The Gallegos family were Spaniards who were the first "owners" of the land now called Ghost Ranch.  In the early 1800s their ranch was named Arroyo Seco Ranch.  They survived with water from the Rito del Yeso, which really had just a small trickle of water year round.  The origins of Ghost Ranch as we know it today began in about 1931 when Caroline Bishop Stanley, recently divorced from her alcoholic husband, Roy Pfaffle, moved, with her Steinway piano and her Navajo rug collection to...

Chasing the Cumbres and Toltec in the Rain September 29, 2017   We woke up to more grey skies with just a hint of clearing, so we decided that it might be a good day to do what all good railfans do ... chase the train, stopping at good photo opportunities along the way.  Since Jeff has done this a number of times (about eight or ten), he served as guide for the second car.  Yes, the girls came along and had fun snapping photos with their cell phones!  The clouds were a terrific foil for shots of the fall foliage which was absolutely spectacular.  The deep gold of the cottonwoods here and there and the range of colors for the aspen - from green to yellow-green to bright yellow with pinks every now and then - were jaw-dropping in their beauty.  And, once again, photos cannot do justice.   I think I like this picture the best as it captures the stand of pink aspen in the background, along with the range of greens and yellows in the foreground...

A Trip to Taos Prelude to Winter September 28, 2017   Pete and Chris Hoeffner joined us on Wednesday evening, taking a flight from San Diego, California to Albuquerque and then making the three hour drive to our home-away-from-home.  I made the Black Bean Fiesta Chili and some cheese quesadillas for dinner, and then we chatted the evening away catching up with one another. We woke to a chilly morning and decided to head for Taos Pueblo, a 90 minute drive.  As we headed into higher elevation, we encountered freshly fallen snow!      .     At one point, the snow seemed to accumulate on the highway, much to my consternation!  But it wasn't long before we were headed to lower elevations and no more snow.   Sadly, we arrived at Taos Pueblo only to discover that it was closed to tourists due to a private celebration.  So ... we continued into Taos and found a restaurant Jeff and I had been to on a previous t...

September 26, 2017 On the Road to Chama It's a long, long way from Middlebury to Chama!  We left the house at 5:30 a.m. to go to the airport.  We parked the car and made our way through airport security to our gate.  We took turns doing "power walks" through the airport while waiting for our flight to board.  A two-hour layover in Houston where we had lunch and then resumed our tag-team "power walks".  Finally, we reached our destination - Albuquerque!  We had no trouble renting a car and were on our way north to Chama.  It is a very long drive, and on the final stretch from Abiqui to Chama it started to pour down rain.  The scenery on this stretch is quite magnificent -- red sedimentary layers interspersed with yellow and white layers.  Even with the clouds and the setting sun, it was spectacular! We finally reached our destination at about 7:30 p.m.  350 Pine Drive -- our home for the week.  

March 14, 2017 Today's excursion took us almost two hours south to Port Charlotte, the spring training home of the Tampa Bay Rays.  It's kind of ironic that the Rays, who play baseball in Tampa, should have spring training so far from their home base.  It was a long drive, but we had really great seats about a dozen rows back from the field on the third base side.  Chase Headley was playing third that day, and we had a great view of his play.  Tanaka was the starting pitcher, and he looked great! March 15, 2017 Back "home" to Steinbrenner Field for an evening game.  It was a really chilly night - high fifties with a stiff breeze blowing.  I was glad to have my sweater, but really wished for something warmer too!  We sat on the third base side again, and once again Headley was playing third.  I know he'll be a regular starter since we are paying him a hefty contract, but he still doesn't really hit well.  Today's game was against ...