A brief pause

Life gets busy.  Too busy these days doing things to spend much time writing about them.  And then, when I do get time, we are out of wifi and I can't get a blog post up. 

Enough excuses. 

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, we were eating fajitas in Texas.  The next day found us in Oklahoma city with my sister and an invitation to run a 5k mud run with her on Sunday.  Being the lunatic fringe sort that we are, this sounded like a wonderful idea. 

So we woke up bright and early and got muddy.

We went home and cleaned up.  The next day we went to Wynnewood, OK to see the GW Exotic animal park.  This is a rescue facility for exotic animals.  I hate zoos.  I wasn't too fond of this place either, but I understand it is difficult to house these animals in the best of circumstances.  The day turned out better when I found a monkey friend to play with.  His name was Ricky.  I was too busy playing to take pictures. 

He was sitting alone in his cage.  He interacted some with Michelle and that gave me to idea to run around his cage like a crazy person. There is video, but I can't upload it right now. Besides, the whole thing was overshadowed by the character who ran the place.  He calls himself Joe Exotic, fancies himself a country star with a video and everything.  Oh yeah, and this...

Yup, that's Joe Exotic.  He also goes by the title, Tiger King.  I do believe his video is titled "I Saw a Tiger." which is much funnier when you have seen the above labeled products. 


We hung out with Miche for a while and then took off the next day for Little Rock Arkansas.  And I will get to that later I hope.  So much to write, too tired to write it. 

Vega Texas.

Back on the road again. 

Santa Fe to Vega Texas.  After talking with Sarah about it and discussing, I decided that Roosters is my favorite restaurant on I-40.  Now, I haven't completely finished driving I-40, but I have done quite a bit.  I'll almost have all of it this trip too. 

So again, if you are driving through the Texas panhandle, stop in Vega and get the fajitas at Roosters.  Worth the wait. 

Another good feature is that they are right across from the RV park. Close enough to walk. 

As we walked home Sarah said this was the first time we had walked to a restaurant since Utah.

???

When were we in Utah? 

Oh yeah.  On the way back to OKC from San Diego.  It took me a minute.  That's what this traveling will do to you. 

Bye Santa Fe!

It has been a wonderful stay here.  The RV park, Santa Fe Skies, has been tremendous.  They were even so kind as to alert us to the skies which were otherworldly at times. 

I have taken a ton of photographs, one or two even came out well.  I ran a half marathon over a mile above sea level.  Sarah and I climbed the highest mountain in New Mexico.  Sarah has been taking hot yoga classes.  We have been to the largest volcanic caldera in North America.  We watched the oldest pagan festival in the country.  We drove around the area where they made the first atomic bomb. 

Wow, what a contract. 

I was thinking last night as I was leaving the hospital for the last time.  I don't know how staff nurses do it.  Every three months I get this sense of accomplishment.  I completed another one.  To a staff nurse, it is just another three months.  Nothing to get excited about. 

I will miss some of my new friends.  I have to take a moment here to specially mention Russell Thornton, Sarah's cousin, who has been awesome and fun to hang out with.  It is great to have a celebrity chef as your tour guide through the culinary delights of a town known for its food.  Thanks Russ.  You were awesome. 

As for the cool people at work, there were too many to name without inevitably forgetting one and pissing them off so I will just say the staff at the ER here is great.  Now if they could just get some equipment. 

Washed and waxed the vehicles today.  Got routine maintainance done.  Ready to roll again.  For a couple of weeks I get to put down the burden and mantle of ER nurse and pick up the title of amateur truck driver.

Let's hit the road.

Gearing up

I worked three days in a row...I know, killer right?  Does the fact that they were 12 hour ER shifts make that sound less whiny?  Oh well. 

When last we left I was shamelessly bragging about completing a half marathon in under 2 hours.  Well, there you go.  Finished that thought.

After that I went to work breaking the car.  Well, I didn't start out trying to break the car, it just happened that way.  I was trying to repair something that broke when we fixed the AC compressor. I had to take the driver's side front wheel off to get to it and when I did, the wheel stud sheared off.  After a few hours of trying, along with the purchase of tools and parts, I discovered I would need a hydraulic press.  As much as I think tools are cool, I can't carry that in the RV.  So I put it back together and off it went to a mechanic.  Sigh.  I try so hard. 

Then work.  Then today.  Today we washed the RV and I changed the oil on the truck.  But first, Sarah and Max had to take a trip. 

It was a trip in a spaceship Max built.

They went to Antarctica to see penguins and the arctic to see Polar bears.

Santa Fe Thunder

Today I ran the Santa Fe Thunder half marathon.  It was pretty cool.  I set a goal to finish in less than two hours. That goal stopped seeming likely when I ran 1:54 in a 11.5 mile training run.  Oh well, the goal was to finish.

It was neat that, unlike the training runs, the Blerch was never a factor.

WOW.  Sarah just came running in telling me to grab the camera so I could take pictures of the amazing sky.

So I did.  Sorry for the interruption, but...

So, the running was cool, but the sky was cooler.

Cell phone camera cleanup

I have been wanting to review some of the pictures from my cell phone camera and this seems like a wonderful time for it.  I have been working quite a bit so that I could have this stretch of five days off so I can run the Santa Fe Thunder half marathon this Sunday.  We had visitors again last week and it seems more fun to visit than it does to post.  Now, back to some pictures.  All of these came from my cell phone.

Russell took us all to Rooftop Pizza for lunch one day.  Everyone was looking and smiling.  Crazy.

I don't know what you are talking about so here is a picture of a moose with a Max on it's head.

Look close, do you notice anything unusual about this triceratops? 

These were taken at a sculpture garden that Russ took us to see.

My sweet baby girl.

Looks fast.  Lighting is everything.

Max was helping us try on backpacks in REI in case we went...

Hiking in Hyde above Santa Fe.  Michael loved the wavy tree.

Of course, Max had to try as well.

Michael wanted it to look like he was punching the tree into a curve.

"Spider? Where?"

Hey ladies.

At the Santa Fe kids museum.   They love this place.

Face painter extraordinaire.

Michael made himself a dragon.

It's all about the lighting. 

Eventually I had to go home and get the good camera.

But not before shooting a few more pictures.

In the very center of the picture you can see Wheeler Peak and Mt. Walter.  The don't look as tall because of the perspective.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge just outside of Taos

Looking up the canyon wall as we drove home from visiting the bridge.

A ristra of red chiles at a roadside stand.

Zozobra

We were lucky enough to be in Santa Fe at the beginning of the fiesta season.  This area has been occupied by native Americans for thousands of years and the Spanish came here a long, long time before pilgrims landed on Plymouth.  The history here is amazing.  The fiesta season is a holdover from the days of Spanish rule.  The season is a three day celebration of the retaking of the city by Don Diego de Vargas in 1692 and the fiesta has been held since 1712  The kickoff to all the festivities is a little younger and started in 1924 with an artist named William Howard Shuster.

This year for the 89th Zozobra festival, Sarah and I arrived an hour or so before sunset to Fort Marcy Park near old downtown Santa Fe.  The park was crowded, but there was still some room.  We got our first glimpse of Zozobra, AKA Old Man Gloom.

Why yes, that is a 50 foot tall clown marionette.  That's not creepy at all!

The park is a baseball field.  We made our way closer and stood on the infield dirt waiting for the festivities to start.  There were  young children riding the shoulders of their parents.  Fair type food was everywhere, the usual suspects: turkey legs, funnel cakes and the like.  I didn't see any beer vendors, but a few folks may have managed to sneak in a flask or the like.  There was a stage with multiple bands.  Good, clean family fun.  Every so often an announcement would go up over the loudspeaker reminding you to get your glooms in.  They had collection boxes where you could write your sorrows on a piece of paper and they would be collected and put into Zozobra, which is Spanish for anxiety.

Closer, still not creepy. 

There are children dressed as Zozobra sprinkled throughout the crowd.

He's cute, but considering what happens...still creepy. 

There are ceremonies re-enacting Don Diego de Vargas' reentry to they city with a festival queen and speeches.

Don Diego de Vargas and his court introduce themselves and give shout outs...just like the first time.

We sat and listened to the bands singing Spanish music and waited for the sun to go down.  There was quite a crowd.

Yes, there were beach balls.  Lots of beach balls.

As the sun went down, lights reflected on Zozobra and the crowd grew restless.  A  contest winner took the stage to start the chant, "Burn him!"  As one of the festival goers had said earlier when she heard it was our first, "It gets a little weird."

First, the children got into the act.  They are dressed as little glooms that lead Zozobra to a party he is told is in his honor.

Aren't they cute?  Just watch them lead that old man to his doom!

The lights dropped out and Zozobra was bathed in an eerie green light.  This was accompanied by a forward rush worthy of any good rock concert.  That's why the picture is so blurry.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

As the kids start dancing in a procession toward and around Zozobra, the sound system kicks in and moans and groans spill out while he waves his arms about.  His head turns and watches the children while his mouth opens and closes.

Then the torch bearers arrive on the scene while the little glooms exit.

Zozobra is not happy about the torch bearers and his groans and gesticulations show that.  Soon, however, the fire dancer arrives.  She seductively taunts and teases him while he waves about and groans.

Then the fireworks start.  While the fireworks are going off, the fire dancer continues to dance more and more frantically.  Drums start pounding over the PA system.

As the dancer exits the stage, the fireworks increase in frequency and intensity.  The drums grow louder the groans reach a fever pitch.  Then the fireworks start inside Zozobra.  The groans turn to screams.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but video...well video tells the story.  Sorry about the focus problems at the beginning.

Video

I couldn't get the video to embed, again, sorry.

The burning didn't take long, just a few minutes.  He continued to writhe and scream while the crowd cheered and chanted.  When he finally collapsed and fell the the ground, the fireworks finale started.  Shortly after, the lights came up and everyone started heading to the gates.  It was a wild and weird experience that was more intense and primal than I expected.  

If you find yourself in the area in early September, you should pay a visit and watch the burning of Zozobra.  It is a unique and fascinating cultural event.