Relaxing in Todos Santos

 

Thursday we headed north towards Todos Santos. Check in at our Airbnb was 3 pm, so we decided to hang out at a bar until then. On Wednesday, we had met a Canadian musician at our hotel, and learned that he would be playing at Shaka's bar in Cerritos on Friday night. Cerritos is about 15 minutes from Todo Santos, and on our way. We had lunch at Shaka's, a classic funky surfer bar, and hung out. We arrived at our Airbnb before 3 pm and moved in. The road is rough, but the place is nice. The house is decorated in Mexican style, with decorative tile; the owner is a silversmith. The house is almost at the top of the hill; the deck has a great view of the town and mountains. Sandi and I are in the upstairs bedroom. We decided to head to town, and had dinner at Miguel's restaurant. After dinner we shopped at El Sol Supermarket.

Friday we headed to town to go shopping. After a couple of stops, we drove and found Tacos y Mariscos El Sinaloense, where we had tacos, margaritas and beer. After lunch, we found Bodegas Lizarraga, with a good selection of vegetables. We bought shrinp and fish out of the back of a truck across the street, and headed back home. We left the house about 5:45 to drive to Shaka's in daylight, and had dinner there.

The music at Shaka's was a blast from the past,, and started at 7 PM, perhaps keeping in mind the age of the audience. Most of the people there were senior citizens, including the musicians. The music was from our youth. Dave Stone, the musician we met in Cabo, is 69 years old, still rocking, playing the keyboard and singing. His guitar player was about the same age. There were people dancing, and Sandi and I got on the dance floor towards the end of the first set. We carefully drove home in the dark.

Saturday, we drove to the Hotel California for lunch. The story is that the Eagles song of the same name refers to this hotel, but the hotel website denies it. The Hotel is a boutique hotel.  The magazine is from our local REA, which publishes photos of  folks holding their magazine in interesting places.   

Sandi and I walked around the town, looking for shoes and scoping out the stores. Sandi bought artisanal cocoa from a tiny shop. There was a kind of tree in one shopping area, with many anonymous wishes on cards hanging from the tree. Sandi and Pam fixed a nice shrimp dinner. We had seen posters advertising a music festival, with a preview performance at La Morena bar; Richard went down to check it out and learn more about the festival.

We discovered that we are exactly on the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23.4363 degrees north of the equator. The upper deck of the house is 23.4368 degrees north, according to my phone. The road is 23.4365, so the tropic of cancer runs through the yard of the house across the street. Our altitude is 163 feet. To define the Tropic of cancer, it is the northernmost lattitude at which the sun is directly overhead, generally on June 20^th.

Sunday we went to the noon mass in downtown Todos Santos. It was well attended, with an enthusiastic choir. At the end of mass, the priest explained how the new bishop and the old bishop would share the job for three years, and that there would be a big ceremony in the stadium in La Paz for the ordination of the new bishop. All were encouraged to attend the ordination. We had a tasty lunch at Catrina Cantina, with garlic fish that all agreed was outstanding.

We headed north to the nonprofit which releases sea turtles, Tortugero Las Playitas.. They patrol the beach, gather the eggs, and then incubate them in the sand under a kind of greenhouse or hoop house. The Tropic of Cancer is as far north as the turtles lay their eggs, and some do not hatch here without help. They released the tiny black turtles near the water, and they crawled towards the water until a wave carried them out to sea. This time of year, some turtles hatch every day.

Monday we headed downtown to shop; we found tourist items, expensive clothes, and many beautiful things. The ladies bought T-shirts for grandkids, Richard bought sandals, David bought a hat, and we hit mostly the shops north of the church. The sidewalks were challenging to walk, as the town is not flat, and the sidewalks vary a lot. Lunch was at the restaurant Tre Galline, which is Italian for three hens, and was excellent. We dropped off laundry to pick up Wednesday. The ladies cooked fish for dinner.

Tuesday Sandi and Richard went out to visit shops north of the church. Sandi bought some earrings from a silversmithing shop run by a silversmithing family. Her grandmother appeared in a Mexican Silversmithing book. We chatted with a sculptor who had some very nice work in various media. We had huevos rancheros at Tre Galline. We did some grocery shopping, and then came home to pick up Pam and Dave for our cooking lesson at Hablando Mexicano. 

Victoria, the instructor, spoke little English; Richard translated as required. She started with ceviche made with marlin that her father had caught. It takes lots of lemons to make ceviche. We had poblano chiles sliced in thin strips, cooked in light cream, with blue corn tortillas mixed and flattened by hand. She cooked over a hardwood fire. We all had a good time, and the food was excellent.

  

We have to show the dogs who hung around our house.  They were never a problem, except when you had to step over them......

Wednesday we went to Cerritos Beach Club for lunch. Manuel, our waiter, brought a chalkboard to our table with the menu written on it. We enjoyed being next to the water. We drove through Pescadero, which had a commercial district and modest houses. Pescadero is on the east side of the main road, the Carretera Transpenninsular.

Los Cabos

The drama on this trip started days before we left the house. We had booked flights on Southwest Airlines, but Southwest operations had a dramatic meltdown at Christmas, with thousands of flights canceled. Sandi wanted to rebook on Delta, so we did. The schedule was less convenient, but we figured it was a safer bet. Our flight 

 Delta was very early, so we decided to book a room at the airport. As we were pulling into the Hilton Garden Inn parking lot, Delta sent Sandi a message saying that weather was likely to disrupt flights in Salt Lake City, where we were going to change planes. They offered to let us cancel or change our reservation with no fee. Sandi said that in all the years she had been flying on Delta, she had only received a message like that once before. When we got into the hotel room, we decided to try to rebook on Southwest! We were able to get the original flights, for the same money. All in all, a 360 degree turn, before we got to the airport......

Tuesday morning we got on the airport shuttle at 6, waited 30 minutes to check our bags, and headed for the bridge looking for shorter lines; the airport guide sent us to the priority line, and we almost felt guilty bypassing the folks standing in line. Sandy talked to the attendant at the gate, and he volunteered to let us board early, since my hip surgery is recent. The Southwest employees seemed cheerful enough, having survived the meltdown. One of the flight attendants was not quite in uniform, with black tights with big red hearts, and a toy sombrero on her head. We arrived in Cabo on time, but had a long line at immigration. We picked up an X-trail SUV at Enterprise, and headed for our hotel in Cabo San Lucas. The hotel was modest but clean. We decided to head to Mare Nostrum for dinner; it is within the very fancy Pueblo Bonito hotel. The Mare Nostrum was not open that early, so we ate outside off the pool menu, burgers and burritos. The view of the harbor and the rocks at the cape was fabulous. Our waiter was funny and very attentive, and gave us some sweets. We were all tired after dinner, and headed back to the hotel. Sandi and I walked a few blocks to a small Supermarket, and stocked up on water and yogurt.

Wednesday we went two blocks to Wachinango restaurant. Wachinango being a play on the word Huachinango, which refers to a fish. The restaurant was full of funny posters and signs. I particularly liked the satire of a scandal newspaper, referring to the singer Paquita del Barrio, who revealed the secret that Trump was her son.....

Sandi and Richard with the famous Arco de los Cabos in the background

Mama whale and calf

After breakfast we were picked up in a van to go on our Pezgato whale watching tour. The tour was on a 50 foot sailing trimeran, although they never raised the sails. Getting in and out of the marina, the boat traffic was very heavy; the captain had to be very attentive. With one motor, and a fixed propeller, maneuvering is not easy. We paused at the rock formation, El Arco del Cabo, passing the Playa de Amor, and later the Playa de Divorcio. We did get to see humpback whales, including a young calf. Richard enjoyed chatting with the crew in Spanish. The crew was very attentive, and we all had a good time. 

 We went back to the hotel, and then headed to El Metate restaurant for an early dinner. The restaurant was out of town, in an industrial area, far from the bars. The ambiance was simple but elegant, basically outdoors. The food was inventive Mexican food. Victor is the manager, and Daniel was our waiter. The food was excellent, as were the margaritas; Victor shared the margarita recipe. We watched a group making margaritas as part of a cooking class. Sandi was surprised to see a rattlesnake in the mezcal, and a scorpion in the tequila bottle.

Grand Mesa and Black Canyon of the Gunnison

 On Wednesday we packed up the camper and headed east. We saw on and off rain, which became more intense as the day went on. We fueled in Fruita, and headed for downtown Grand Junction, and the Western History museum. It is a modest but professional museum focused on the history of the area. Sandi enjoyed the 1920's dresses. Richard was fascinated by the collection of guns carried by the Sheriffs over the years. The early sheriffs carried big six shooters; around 1910 they switched to semi-automatic pistols, then to police revolvers, smaller than the six shooters of the past, and finally to Glocks, which the police carry today. So they went from revolvers to semi-automatics to revolvers and then back to semi-automatics, which I might call a 720 degree turn. We were surprised to run into Ron and Judy in the museum; but we were all quite a ways from home. Sandi and I had lunch at the Trails Edge Brewery on Main St. Richard was interested in the public art, found on every corner. We headed east towards Grand Mesa. We did not get very far on highway 65 until we ran into a state police roadblock due to a major accident. We headed back towards Grand Junction, and turned off to Clifton and Delta, in order to get to the Grand Mesa from the other side. The rain kept falling, intensely at times. Richard was tired by the time we arrived, around 6 PM. Perhaps we should have stopped earlier. We found a campsite in Little Bear campground, and camped in the rain. The forecast is for more rain......

On Thursday morning,, we woke up in the clouds. We had rain on and off thoughout the day, but we did see some sun. Richard did some fishing in the morning, and Sandi took a walk. The campground host saw Richard, and we paid $20 for two nights, thanks to the senior pass. We walked around the area, and found the Island Lake campground, and the boat ramp. Sandi liked the water gushing down the rocks below the dam. We headed over to the nice visitor center, where Rocky Mountain Conservancy assists the forest service with staffing. We were also able to check email using their WIFI. We took a drive to Mesa Lakes, looking for moose, but they did not show. 

We drove out along the edge of the mesa to Land's End, which had a spectacular view, including Grand Junction and the Manti-La Sal mountains. We saw a Steller's Jay and some Clark Nutcrackers. We saw a lot of cows, and stopped at an old cowboy camp. We came back, and Richard did some fishing while Sandi fixed a good dinner. Richard fished after dinner as well, but no luck. Richard did some research, and concluded that we could fuel and dump in Delta. Our plan is to drive to the campground at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, and then drive to Montrose to see the Ute museum.

1800 feet down

On Friday, we headed down from the mesa to Delta, where we bought fuel and dumped. Sandi suggested that we go directly to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, to arrive early to get a campsite. Most of the sites are reservable, but one loop is first come first serve. We picked a campsite that looked good, but the person who was there the night before showed up with a new stub for today, so we kept looking. We ended up in a site that was tight, but workable; it took a while to get the rig in. We learned that there was a Hispanic event at the Ute Museum on Saturday, so we decided not to go on Friday, and headed for the park Visitor Center. We caught a talk on earth-like planets in other solar systems. We drove the rim road, stopped at overlooks, and chatted with other visitors. We returned about 5 PM, and Sandi cooked dinner on the grille. We walked over to the ampitheatre, and set up our chairs in the back. The place filled up gradually. The speaker was talking about dark skies and lighting, urging us to minimize outside lighting, and suggesting the blue light was not good for our sleep. They had telescopes set up after the talk, but the lines were long, so we returned to our own picnic table to admire the milky way. The Sky Guide app on Richard's phone let us identify stars and planets.

On Saturday, the skies were blue, and we headed to Montrose for the Culture Fest at the Ute museum. We enjoyed the event very much, and chatted at length with the local community radio station manager, the Spanish teacher who was raising money to send students to Peru, and folks from the local Art Council. We ate ethnic food, including pupusas. The museum was also interesting; we learned about the three Ute Indian tribes, and visited Chipeta's grave. Chipeta was the wife of the great Ute chief Ouray. We attended another sky talk at the ampitheatre that night, showing us constellations.  We left in the middle of the second program of “live” photos of stars.

On Sunday we headed east, stopped in Gunnison for fuel and coffee, and drove over over Monarch Pass. We were headed for the mining museum in Leadville. The museum was more extensive than we had expected, including dioramas, a simulated mine, information about mining, and a gift shop. We spent the most time watching the video tour of the Marble quarry in Marble Colorado, especially since we had recently been to Marble. We stayed until the museum closed, and did not see everything. We then headed for Turquoise Lake, and went to the Matchless campground, which looked like a large parking lot near the lake. We drove through the Silver Dollar campground, but saw nothing that looked good, so we headed back to the parking lot. Our site including a fire pit, a picnic table, and a view of the lake, so not really a bad site. Sandi cooked a good dinner on the fire.

On Monday we had a routine drive home.

Green River

This trip has a couple of purposes. Richard wants to work on his quest to paddle the length of the Green River. One of the sections that he lacks is immediately north and south of Green River Utah, from Swayze's Beach to Crystal Geyser. After that, we will do some touring on the way home, including Grand Mesa and Gunnison Colorado.

On Saturday, we drove to Rifle Gap State Park, which neither of us had ever seen. This is north of the town of Rifle Colorado, the home of the infamous congresswoman Lauren Boebert. Our drive there was routine; we stopped for lunch at Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe in Frisco, where Sandi and Tina the waitress compared notes on motherhood. We got off I-70 at New Castle, and drove Bufford road to the State Park. Once we got off the interstate, the driving was slow. We stayed in Cedar campground; it was nice and quiet. The lake was very low; it is only 360 acres when full, so it looked like a pond.

Sunday morning we got up and drove through Rifle, turning west towards Utah. After the usual gas stop at Loves in Grand Junction, we drove to the state park in Green River Utah. We had just missed the melon festival; there were a few floats around from the parade. We bought some melons, and learned how to thump watermelons. The state park campground is a green oasis in the desert, next to a golf course. We went to mass at the tiny Catholic mission church, where we were the only visitors, and one of the few who were not native Spanish speakers. The young priest from India greeted us warmly, and preached enthusiastically in Spanish. (Summary of the homily: Give alms). We ate at the popular food truck parked in the old gas station,Tacos La Pasadita. There was a line to order the entire time that we were there; it has five stars on Yelp, out of 568 reviews. We drove north out of the city to check out the paddle put in and take out.

On Monday we got up early, and drove to Swayzes boat ramp, north of the town of Green River. Richard got on the water at 8:45. The first challenge was the dam; there was a boat chute, and Richard ran it in his canoe, probably class II. At one point he stopped to go to the bathroom and ended up in boot sucking mud, where he fell and got pretty muddy. The float was straightforward otherwise, with farmlands on both sides, and water pumps sucking water out of the river. We had originally planned to get out north of town, but everything was going well; he continued to the state park where we are staying, arriving around 12:30. This was the first real trip in this particular canoe; it worked fine. He worked to rinse some of the mud off the canoe, and Sandi picked up Richard at the boat ramp. Richard worked to resolve an issue with the trailer lights, and was successful, after a few trips to the hardware store. We drove to Crystal Geyser, the take out for Tuesday, and were lucky enough to see the geyser gushing. This is a rare cold water geyser powered by carbon dioxide; the water is heavy in minerals. We had celebratory burgers and beer at Ray's Tavern, a traditional stop after multi-day river trips.

On Tuesday, we drove the a few hundred yards to the boat ramp, and Richard put in. This was a short distance, perhaps 4 miles. He was only on the water about two hours. Sandi drove the truck over the dirt roads, which included BLM 325 – Area 51, to reach Crystal Geyser. We loaded up the boat, went back to the campground, washed the mud off the boat and Richard, and put the canoe back on the truck. We drove next to the town library, where Richard sent off some emails, and we met someone from Nebraska, driving a van with a peace and love license plate. He was a character, who had worked on the Delta Queen riverboat, as well as cruise ships, and described himself as a philosopher/theologian.

After the library we went to the John Wesley Powell museum, where we learned more about Powell and the local history. Sandi was fascinated by the wooden dories used to run rivers before inflatable boats were widely available. The museum also has a River Runners Hall of Fame, with posters giving the history of the key people in river running in the area. It rained while we were in the museum. Sandi cooked up fajitas, and we went for a walk around the campground. We enjoyed talking to two couples from Quebec, who were on a big road trip with their jeeps with tents on the roof. We finished the evening at a campfire lit by Richard using only one piece of newspaper to ignite the kindling. The forecast for the next few days is wet; there are flood watches out for the entire area for the next two day.

State Forest State Park with Jack

We had originally planned two nights in the park, Sunday and Monday, but we received an email listing the weekend activities, and were able to get a campsite for Saturday night. Jack is 8 years old, and has never been camping before.

We left Saturday about 10 AM, and got to the campsite about noon. The bat event was scheduled at 1 PM, but by the time we had lunch, we got there about 1:08, and saw no group. We asked people who had come down the trail if they had seen a ranger, and they said that they had not, so we drove to Craigs campground to check it out. This campground is for tents and maybe small RVs. On the way down we saw a ranger, who told us that the bat walk was going on, but by that time we were too late to catch up. Jack wanted to put his feet in a mountain stream, so we stopped at Agnes Creek. Jack was surprised at how cold the water was, but spent several minutes in it anyway. ;-)

The big excitement for the day was the moose that we saw grazing; we did get some pictures on our phones. We also saw deer, a pika, a turkey vulture, and chipmunks.

We spent some time at the campground, and then headed to the Moose visitor center. There was an animal quiz scheduled, and Abby was happy to have some customers. There were 10 questions, and Jack got all 10 questions right! Sandi and I did well, but not that well. We all won a postcard, and Jack got a sticker and some candy. Jack was wearing his Junior Ranger vest; the employees were very taken by the vest, resolving to get some for their own shop. We walked a bit on the Gould trail, and worked on the Junior Ranger quiz with Jack. We headed back to the camper for dinner; it started to rain about the end of dinner. There was a night sky talk scheduled, so we played the long shot and drove to where the talk was to be. The rain got heavier and heavier, and we were told that the talk was canceled, which was not a surprise.

We were somewhat disappointed to make only one of the activities scheduled that day, but were happy to be in the park.

Sunday we drove into Walden for a 1 PM mass, with an African priest from Granby. We bought some cat food, and had lunch in our camper. We headed over to the museum, a good local museum, with a little of everything, donated by the locals. It continued to rain on and off. Richard did a little fishing. The sunset was beautiful, with light on the mountains.

Monday was sunny and clear. We went on a hike on the Canadian trail. Jack kept stopping to look at everything, or put his stick into the puddles. so it was more of a nature hike. We decided to drive back to Walden, to get gas and buy lunch. We had burgers at the Stockman Bar; they have a large patio area. The kitchen is a food trailer. We chatted with the owner; she is descended from some of the very early settlers, who drove cattle into North Park.

 

We had a smoky campfire, due to the wet wood, but were able make some Smores. A deer wandered through the campsite.

We drove home Tuesday morning.

Paddling Flaming Gorge Reservoir

For me, this trip is is part of my goal to paddle the length of the Green River. Gary and Anne and I had paddled the north half of Flaming Gorge Reservoir a few years ago, and this trip was to paddle the southern half.

Saturday I drove to Green River. I stopped to see Ft Steele, which was built to protect the transcontinental railroad, especially the bridge over the North Platte. I went to Mass at Our Lady of sorrows in Rock Springs, Rock Springs looks economically depressed. I stayed at Little Bear Motel in green River, nice enough. 

 Sunday I met Gary and Anne at Buckboard Marina, where we had taken out a few years ago. It took a long time to organize, which is typical for the first day of the trip, and then we had a long shuttle, so we got on the water at 1 pm. We had nasty headwinds and waves; it took two hours to go 3 miles. We ended up on an Island, according to the map, but really a peninsula at this water level. It took us a little time to figure out where we were. It was a decent campsite, but a grind to get up from the boats on the shore. 

 Monday we got on the water at 9:30. It was very nice and calm, great paddling. The winds hit at 11, but not quite as bad as Sunday. We stopped at 12:30 in a cove south of Brinnegar Ranch, and were happy to be off the water. At that point we had made eight miles in two days, a lot less than we needed to make to complete the trip in a reasonable time. We discussed our alternatives, and agreed to push on, but get an earlier start.

Tuesday we got up at 5:30, and were on the water at 7. It was very pleasant paddling with no wind and a glassy lake. We had a brief stop at Lucerne Marina, and camped at Antelope Flat at 12:30, It was a 14 miles day; we were tired, but our trip plan was back on track.  A north wind started at 12:40. We spent the afternoon in the shade of tree. In the evening, we saw pronghorn, deer, and Osprey. We had a rain shower blew through, with a rainbow. I had to get up at 1 am to restake the tent, in the substantial wind. Our beach campsite provided no shelter from the wind. I had internet coverage, so sent out some messages to Sandi Wednesday at 5 am, there was complete heavy overcast, and already breeze. Without leaving our tents, we agreed no paddling today, and went back to bed. From mid-morning til 2, we hung out in the shade. The storm looked ominous, and came in about 2:30, mostly wind, pushing sand into tents. Our  pronghorn (antelope) visited again, very handsome.

A handsome pronghorn

On Thursday we were on the water at 7:10, pleasant day. The bypass of Horseshoe Canyon was closed due to low water, but the Canyon was not crowded. We arrived at Hideout Campground about 10:30. There are picnic tables, running water and flush toilets; the campground host, Walter, has a houseboat for an office. Nice not to have to filter water. The trees are junipers. The campground was quiet when we arrived, but later there was some noise from day trippers, and then some large families arrived. Quite a change from having a cove to ourselves. We agreed that we did not want to push to paddle out on Thursday, which would have been a long day of paddling, so we will look for a campsite between the Hideout Campground and the Marina.

 Friday we got on the water at 7:20. We looked for the old Goosenecks campground, but did not locate it. We admired an osprey on her nest. We scouted other possible campsites, and found a good one perhaps 5 miles from the take out. We arrived about 11 am. The weather has been getting warmer, so we hung out in the shade and dunked ourselves in the lake. Boat traffic seems higher today; we are closer to the marina, and it is Friday.

 

Flaming Gorge Dam

Saturday we got on the water around 7, and headed for the Cedar Springs Marina, where we had left Gary's truck. When we got to the Marina, Gary and Anne pulled in, to start unloading, while Richard continued to the dam, as part of his project to complete the length of the Green River. Richard paddled back to the boat ramp, and we continued unloading, and loading Gary's truck. It took a while, but we eventually headed back to Buckboard Marina, where Richard's car was. We transferred Richard's boat and gear to his car, and everyone headed home. We got off the water early in the day, so it was reasonable to just head home. I got home around 7 PM, after a routine drive on I-80.

Carbondale Colorado

Earlier in the year, I was notified that my sculpture had been selected to be part of a public sculpture program, Art aRound Town, in Carbondale Colorado. So we planned a vacation around delivering the sculpture.

On Tuesday, we drove from Fort Collins to Carbondale, with the sculpture in the back of the truck. We checked into our very cute Red Door Hideout, an 1888 cabin that had been relocated from a ranch to the back yard of a house in downtown Carbondale. We met our hosts, Brittany and Michael, and their two young sons. We had dinner at the nearby Japanese restaurant, Izakaya.

On Wednesday we drove to the corner where the sculpture was to be installed. We met Laurie and two other town employees who would install the sculpture. The sculpture install was uneventful; they welded it to a metal plate on a large piece of marble. The workers kept trying to find the seam in the Mobius Strip, but were unsuccessful, so I guess I did a good job.

After the sculpture install, we met our friends Charlie and Gail. Richard has known Charlie for more than 50 years, when they went to high school together. We had a very enjoyable and long lunch at the Village Smithy, where we caught up after a year or more of not seeing one another. Sandi and I went for a walk, and had dinner at Fatbelly Burgers, about as informal as it sounds.

On Thursday we took the bus to Aspen, which was very convenient, especially since we did not have to try to find a parking place for a large truck. We went to the Aspen Art Museum; their exhibits were mostly avant-garde video. We both liked the building. We had a good lunch at the informal Silverpeak Grill. We walked down to the river and saw the John Denver Sanctuary, very pleasant and quiet, with rocks with the words to John Denver Songs. We then took the express bus back to Carbondale.

The big deal was the Art Walk, to see this year's sculptures, including mine. People seemed enthused about my sculpture. The reception afterwards was at Marble Distillery. We had a nice chat with Bret and Caroline from Salt Lake City, who were interested in buying my Mobius sculpture for their front yard. We also chatted with Chet, one of the other sculptors, who was impressed that I was also an artist paddler. He works in marble; his piece was a replica of a bone that he found.

Friday we also took the bus to Aspen, where we switched to a local bus to Aspen Highlands, and then the reservations only bus to Maroon Bells. We took the scenic loop hike, and then retraced our steps, for a total of six bus rides in one day. We drove into downtown Glenwood Springs, walked around, and visited the Doc Holiday museum in the Bullocks store. In the evening were two town parties. One was a public Art Walk on Main street; Main Street was closed. Sandi bought some ceramic mugs as gifts, at the Carbondale Clay Center. The other was a community celebration in a park, with some events for kids, some booths for environmental groups, and a Mariachi band. Both events were well attended

On Saturday we decided to go up the Crystal River to Redstone and Marble. The Crystal River Valley is quite beautiful, and not overdeveloped. Redstone is a historic coal mining town, with some of the old coke ovens restored. The Redstone Castle, built by the mine owner, was closed. We visited the art gallery, which had nice work. Then we headed for the town of Marble, where the marble for the tomb of the unknown soldier was quarried. The Yule quarry had been closed for many years, but was recently bought by the same company that runs the Carrara marble in Italy. We had lunch at the highly recommended Slow Moovin BBQ restaurant. We visited the site of the old marble processing plant, and drove up the road to the quarry. It is kind of wild to see huge blocks of marble used for retaining walls at the mine. In fact, there are large pieces of marble in all kinds of places around Marble, used for all kinds of purposes.

 Saturday night we attended a long but well done mass in Spanish for the feast of Pentecost, and chatted with the choir and priest afterwards. Most restaurants were closed that late, but we got a bite to eat at the Brass Anvil.

On Sunday we drove home, uneventfully.

We very much enjoyed our visit to Carbondale. The town just has a nice feel to it, and people were friendly.