Mesa Verde, I respect you... Jan 17

Epic drive through Texas yesterday:

Lots of windmill farms. Squirrel is an engineer and has worked on bearings for these windmills. He was explaining some of the mechanics and efficiency of wind-powered energy. Sounds like we have  a few more years till its really effective.  We also saw a pretty epic Texan sunset. It was beautiful. What was more beautiful was the stars in the utter blackness of night. You can see stars all the way down to the horizon! So many layers of stars, far and close. Being able to see a flat horizon was really settling for my soul. I often get pretty claustro in the city, never getting that last satisfaction of seeing the sun melt into the earth at night. But here, it is different.

stayed outside Austin in a house that was being renovated.  padded rugs are great for my back.

Squirrel fell in love with a tumbleweed. Figures.

Squirrel Ninja's a good guy to have on a road trip. Besides being easy-going, adventurous, and willing, he's great to talk to about most any topic. On the way to Mesa Verde, we had numerous conversations about the Native people's relationships with one another and with Europeans, both now and when settlers were first arriving from the East & West.  How do we envision America? Is "the great melting pot" a good idea and is the erasing of ancient wisdom/lifeways something we agree with, whether Asian, Native American, African, Latino, etc? Is this a passive or active choice for us? Does the colonization of America ultimately mean the eradication of the Native people of this land? Is that ok with us? Do we, as Europeans now in America for generations, reach back to the Native Americans as "our ancestors" or do we have other people groups whose ancient ways inspire us? If we look to the Native Americans, have we ever talked with the Native people and asked how they feel about that? ....so many questions to wrestle with...

The following pictures are from Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde Spruce Tree house/cliff dwelling:

Mesa Verde is an old dwelling place for the Puebloan Indians. They lived in this dwelling from about 1200-1300 AD. It is believed that about 6 clans lived here together during that time. Their culture was a matriarchal, and our ranger Cathleen (thats her real name) eagerly shared her knowledge of their lives with us. For example, the disciplinarian of the family was the mother's brother, not the father. The father's role was to be loving and supportive to the children, but the uncle had to lay down the law. I thought this was great. The other guy on the tour was from Dallas and he had a harder time wrapping his mind around that concept, or the concept of matriarchal anythings. 

Another great thing were these in-ground living spaces for wintertime. They were engineered specifically to hold a whole clan and be warm, providing a space for storytelling, cooking, and life-sharing. They were built really specifically. It was impressive.

 

This yarn is made of yucca fibers wrapped with turkey feathers. WRAPPED. Wow. 

The drive down from the Mesa, including sunset is shown below. 

This is Pri-pri, my car. She's a trooper.

Dinner out.

 After checking into the motel, we guiltily decided to get crappy Chinese food, so we got back in the car and started driving down Main St in Cortez, CO, where we are currently staying. Then a window & a name caught Squirrel's eye. Change of plans. He insisted that we go to The Pepperhead instead. Talking me out of eating crappy american Chinese food isn't terribly difficult, and I'm so glad we changed plans!  We sat surrounded by a huge mural, painted ceramic animals, plants, and delicious food.  We chatted with the owner before we left and decided that yes, this was the best change of plans we made all day.

this is part of the 4-walled mural. It made me so happy.

 Tomorrow we're driving to Denver.

Austin! Picture time!

We have landed in Austin, Texas. Notably at Mozart's Coffee Roasters on the river. On the way here, we saw a LOT of gas drills pumping on the side of the road. It made me want to protect Pennsylvania even more from fracking. Some of the drills were dressed up like cows jumping over the moon or cows grazing.  I wasn't humored. 

I was humored, however, by Squirrel's choice to re-listen to the Les Miz soundtrack and THEN he chose to listen to the Jeckyl & Hyde musical soundtrack.  I laughed at him and then sang along to most of the songs. He's a good sport.

I'm still fighting this stupid cold. I'm pumping myself with meds, but it's fighting back like a jerk. It's probably not helping that I was in 70+ degree weather for 3-4 days and not its back down to the 30's. I look forward to hibernating at Grandmas for a week, reading, resting, and relaxing. 

Pictures!

Alabama beach:

 

Spear Hunting Museum:

note to self: never recommend this place to anyone. Ever.

New Orleans graveyard in the French Quarter:

Swamp Tour:

More pics from Squirrel Ninja later. My camera died about 30 min into the tour. Doh!

New Orleans:

Squirrel's brother, me, Squirrel Ninja

French Quarter. Kinda reminded me of Rittenhouse on 1st friday

Feathers! Masks! Wigs! The best vintage clothing stores in America!

We began to rate the balconies we saw.  Below is #2, #1, and #3. All amazing.

 

Street musicians. We saw a 2nd Line following a wedding (left) and Doreen & her band. Doreen was the best clarinetist I have ever heard in my life. (full disclosure: I dont remember the last clarinetist I've heard) Her one daughter was playing drums with light-up drum sticks behind her and her other daughter was doing homework behind the guitarist and would ask for help while the other musicians were soloing. We were lured over by her sweet melodies and hung out for a half hour or so.

Look mom. I wore the skirt you gave me. It was perfect for my mood that day. :o)

This was Bourbon Street. These pics were taken before we walked down the street. 

By the end, we both felt like we needed to clean our souls a little bit.  It was pretty gross. 

Beignets on the left and Coop's (where the guys had Jambalaya) on the right. Nom nom nom.

Houston whatWHAT... Jan 15

Houston, Texas. Never thought I'd come here. But Lark is here for one month on a job, so it's a perfect stop to spend some time with her.  We had a good walk around / catch up. It's nice to be with an old friend for a day in the midst of this adventure (...sigh...besides Squirrel Ninja). I've been going from home to home, entering into a new lifestyle every few days, which can be a little jarring when each of the cultures & lifestyles are so different. It's nice to be with an old friend (...sigh...besides Squirrel Ninja), run with old jokes, and be comfortable. Houston's a bit ridiculous, but it's totally been a stop worth taking.

We went to see Les Miserables yesterday, which is something Lark & I have been trying to do since Christmas. We dragged Squirrel Ninja along, which he begrudgingly did but we all enjoyed breaking down the plot, history, and acting/singing afterwards. It was a good movie with some terrible singing and some really beautifully touching moments. And its such a good story that it's worth seeing just to relive the plot. And to see Hugh Jackman. Just sayin.

We also went to Goode's bbq. There was taxidermy on the walls. I got over my knee jerk reaction to run back to the car and took pics of them because they really are so beautiful. Lark reminded me that I started making my paper maché animal busts 7 or so years ago for the mear fact that I wanted a piece of taxidermy in my livingroom but couldn't bring myself to get any. Paper mache is much more ethical in my brain. However, I did eat beef brisket. Ah! After this trip, Im going back to being veggie. But how can you be in Texas and not eat bbq? ...conflict...

Lark & I with the handsomest man in Texas

Squirrel Ninja & I after eating barbeque

Squirrel Ninja in this wasteland of New Orleans we found

found 1 flower in the wasteland

an example of the erosion caused by the rising/sinking of the rivers due to hurricanes

fugly landscape in which we chilled

land ho!

Missed days; was having fun... Jan 13

Friday was an awesome day in Gulf Shores, Alabama. If you ever are passing through, I highly recommend going there. I never went to the bar (MudBugs) that I was supposed to go to, but I walked the beach for hours and then sat and read infront of the waves for hours. And then realized I was pretty sunburned.  Totally worth it.  It’s January! And I’m sunburned and barefoot, dusting sand off my towel!  Totally worth it.

Gulf Shores, Alabama. 

I have to put a small shoutout to Public Libraries all across America.  They are wonderful places, full of wifi, fun books, and friendly smiles, and don’t cost anything.  I appreciate these things.

I also have to put a shout out to the people who make statues/doors like this. You are crazy. And awesome.

Ok, so after spending hours on the beach, some of which included staring out into the ocean and remembering my huge irrational fear of fish that stems from associating fish with death & witnessing the death of fish as a young child, which led to year of fish-avoidence, it came time for me to leave Gulf Shores and head to Louisiana. I was a bit early leaving, but was ready to not talk to the old man who kept telling me that I had pretty hair on the beach, so I left.  However, on the way up Rt 59, I spotted the craziest sign: “Spear Hunting Museum”.  WHAT?!? Who makes a Spear Hunting Museum?!? I immediately turned in and decided this was going to be the icing on the cake to my day, or at least add a little spice.  $3 got me a self-guided tour, which I happily paid when I saw the full-body taxidermied lion that greeted me at the door.  I used to study a lot of taxidermy when I was sculpting animals full time a few years ago and love/hate it when I see these creatures in person.  The lady at the desk explained that I will walk along a number of hallways, which will lead me back out to the entrance. Great. I turned down the first hallway and my eyes were met with 12 sets of glass eyes in taxidermied boars that were all strategically turned to greet me.  Woah. I started taking pictures.  I walked down the middle of skinny hallway, as far from both walls of grimacing animals as possible.  Next to each animal bust was a picture of the animal just after it was killed WITH A SPEAR by the man who had killed every single thing that is in this museum.  Gnarly pictures.  And then there were probably 15 skulls of that animal hanging around each bust.  And skins of snakes, bears, boars, spotted dears.  By the third hall, I started freaking out, seeing all the beautiful animals this man has killed.  He better have eaten all the meat. And I mean all of it.  By the 5^th hallway, I had to start focusing on my breathing to steady myself after facing an African bobcat, a bison, a water buffalo, and a puma, all speared by this man, stuffed, and now baring their teeth at me. This was no longer entertaining. Surrounding every animal is the animal’s aura and spirit. I could feel each one.  The curse of excellent taxidermy is that when you walk past it, you think that the animal could reach out and swat you a good one. By the 6^th hallway, I had my t-shirt covering my mouth to force myself to focus on my breathing more and was walking QUICKLY. I turned down the last hall and was faced with “The Largest Crocodile Ever Killed with a Spear” with its mouth opened nice and wide. It was 10 ft long at least! I walked so quickly! Holy crap! I was seriously freaking out at this point, but also knew that I couldn’t show my fear to the lady at the desk. She had a bumper sticker on her car out front that said “Vegetarian is an Indian word that means ‘Bad Hunter’”, so I knew I had to act cool. Me good hunter. I swears… I fixed my shirt and lowered my tensed shoulders just as I got to her desk, sweetly sang a “Goodbye! Thanks so much!” and gently pushed the door open and got in my car, where I appropriated let myself freak out a little bit.

WHY DID I THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA??? I’ve been a vegetarian for the past year because I fight for animal rights. I currated a gallery show last year about the treatment of animals, and have gotten into fights with people about the ethics of hunting for game vs. hunting to live. I have an irrational fear of fish because I’m scared of witnessing death.  So, yeah, Meg, that sounds like a GREAT idea.  Spear Hunting Museum, I do not appreciate you.  Sheesh. However, I will post pictures later. If you can't wait, the website is http://www.huntingwithspears.com/

I spent the next 4 hours of driving to the New Orleans airport both trying to forget what had just happened and also trying to remember every aspect of it because it was such a ridiculous thing for me to do.  Needless to say, I survived the day, picked up Squirrel Ninja from the airport, had my first delicious dinner on Frenchmen St, and watched my first New Orleans band (The Cotton Mouth Kings) toot their horns as swing dancers swept each other across the tiny dance floor of a dark, crowded bar. Well, heck. I am in New Orleans.  A fantastic Friday all in all.  A thrill is good for the soul.

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Saturday also proved to be fantastic and for very different reasons. Squirrel and I got up early for a Swamp Boat tour, which took us around the Bayou and we got to gawk at everything. There were some hibernating alligators we got to sit by for a while in the boat, and a beautiful 18-inch alligator inside the boat with us, which we all got to hold and pet and talk about.  I have to say that holding an alligator is really awesome.  A live one, that is. …Heh… Its skin is so soft and fleshy and its eyes are so beautiful with layers of eyelids for all different purposes!  And the tails are pretty special too- so fragile at that size.  Apparently, in the winter months, the alligators don’t hunt but feed off the fat they’ve stored in their tail.  Cool!  My heart melted for the little gator, named Louis.  And I was so glad he was alive.

Pictures of the baby alligator are to come later.

We napped pretty hard after the tour. I started feeling ill again with this cold, so had to rest up. But felt like a hero when I got up again. We headed into the French Quarter and wandered around, listening to street music music, watching street shows, eating cheese, rating how beautiful each of the balconies were, meeting up with Squirrel’s bother, and taking pictures with different Mardi Gras masks.  Mardi Gras season has just begun here and… its everywhere. Masks, beads left hanging on fences, parades, feathers, sequins, glitter… We’ve seen it all.  And loved it all.

many strang street performers.  More & better pictures are to come.

For dinner, we went to Coops. Oh! And we have Wonderful hosts here! Squirrel grew up with this guy Dane, who is letting us stay in his apartment. So generous of him! He’s also being a great tourguide, along with his sweet ladyfriend, Irish. We had dinner with them Friday night, and then met up with Dane for dinner on Saturday too.  At Coops. The boys had Jambalaya and I had a salad. It was lovely. Then we had beignets at Café Du Mond and headed to Dane’s improv comedy show at The New Movement Theater. That was awesome and hilarious. A lady told 3 stories and between each story, were about 20 min of improv (loosely) surrounding the topic of the story just told. I was thoroughly impressed.

more later... Jan12

Beaches... a Library... a panic attack at the Spear Hunting Museum... a friend... a dinner... live music in New Orleans... i'm beat.  More later.

Long road... Jan 10

I possibly just ate the best PBJ sandwich of all time. On my way into town just now, I stopped by the farmers market and bought a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread and Oh my word. It was obviously baked just today, and it is the best whole wheat bread I’ve ever had in my whole life. Ever. It made the whole sandwich like a dream.  Possibly because it’s evening and I forgot to eat lunch so I’m also freakin hungry. But no, really. I kind of can’t wait until tomorrow to eat more of it…

Where I got the bread...

Today was driving. All day. I thought it was going to be 5 hours. It was 8 or 9.  I came to this specific town  because of (1) the gulf coast beach and (2) because there’s a bar here that my friend likes. I’m going to skip the bar tonight because I’ve been in the car so long that I started talking to myself… a lot… and I think I’d be really awkward at a bar right now. So I’ll just wait for the beach tomorrow when it’s sunny and that’ll make this trip worth it.  Today it was 77 degrees outside.  AMAZING. This was my face when I first rolled down the window and realized that:

And this is what I saw all day and why I drank a lot of coffee in the car and started talking to myself in the first place:

And this is the song that I re-played about 5 times trying to remember the words and still can’t:

And these are some of my thoughts about life:

• This is a statement I am saying because of some things I’ve seen over the past couple weeks which has caught me off-guard and got me thinking:  Standing up for what you believe in is extremely important. Not soley because it is important for the things you believe in not to loose your support & passion, but also because letting those passions fall away from you may distance you from yourself.  When I turn this inwardly toward myself, I know that I have allowed myself to go slack in the past year in some of my convictions because I was focusing on different aspects of my life. I do think it was important for me to do so for a time, but if I never get back to acting on those convictions, then I will loose a part of myself in the process. It is sad to watch this happening to those who used to stand so tall against injustices in the world.  It is not too late to try again.  Therefore, I am in the process of trying to re-claim the things I care about and how I want to live those things out.  I’m not going to post them here because I don’t want to be held to my word right now.  So there.

And finally, this is the most steril tiny hotel room with creepy dark mirrors that I’ve ever stayed in (but also the cheapest). My reaction is another indicator that I’d be awkward at a bar right now: