Ojo Caliente

Steam Room

Wednesday we went to a spa in Ojo Caliente where there are several hot springs.  There was an Iron Spring, a Soda Spring, and an Arsenic Spring.  There was also a big pool to swim in and a mud pool.  I didn't go in the mud pool but Spenser and Deborah did.  This is a picture of Deborah in the Steam Room.  We also went in the Sauna where it was 160°.  We were there from 6PM until they closed at 10PM and had a really good time.

Taos, New Mexico

My grandson's blog, Ephimerides, has inspired me to start posting again.

At the end of July we set out for Taos, New Mexico.  It's been really hot in Austin for a long time and we decided to go someplace cooler.  Taos is very cool, especially in the evening.  You can see some of the pictures here.  I wasn't a very long drive.  We stopped in Fort Stockton, Texas overnight, and again in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.  It was a good trip.

Taos

My grandson's blog, Ephimerides, has inspired me to start posting again.

At the end of July we set out for Taos, New Mexico.  It's been really hot in Austin for a long time and we decided to go someplace cooler.  Taos is very cool, especially in the evening.  You can see some of the pictures here.  I wasn't a very long drive.  We stopped in Fort Stockton, Texas overnight, and again in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.  It was a good trip.

Deborah's Birthday

Tuesday was a long, busy day and it was after 9 by the time we got back to the 'cottage'. It took over half an hour on the 7 mile rocky road from Grapevine Hills back to the paved highway, the sun set before we got into the car and we drove through the dark through the pass and into the basin. Everything was closed when we arrived at the lodge, with many of the rooms empty and most of the occupied ones dark. No TV or phones or internet, and most people likely as tired as we were from hiking all day.

The celebration was a this cake, a bottle of Chimay, and several rounds of 'Happy Birthday'® followed with decaf coffee. It got even cooler this evening which felt good after the hours in Terlingua during the heat of the day.

There was an English family next to us, their car doors slammed at 6 the next morning and they were off.

Monday afternoon at the hot springs on the Rio Grande, the far shore is Mexico. Spenser wanted to swim across but the water at this point was a bit rough.

Sunday evening, out first day in the park.

The geology here is amazing. After we checked in we went for a 4 mile hike up the sides of the basin. We say deer but no bear or moutain lions. I promised Deborah a rug or a jacket if I find one or the other.

Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend National Park

I'm on the patio outside of the restaurant, the only place with any kind of connection to the rest of the word - Wi-Fi and a pay phone. Cell phones don't work here and there's no phone in our 'cottage'. I forgot to bring my camera, so I'll need to post some pictures later. The mountains are baeatiful as the sun rises. (isn't that true everywhere?) A bird swooped down and grabbed a bug out of the air just in front of me, and a few feet away a humming bird is attacking a the tall flower stalk of an agave plant. Yesterday we hiked to the base of one to the rock cliffs, about 7,000 ft. (I'll need to check my gps) I jammed a finger sliding down a large rock so typing o's and l's is hit and miss.

We drove 2 hours from Marathon (population 400) to get here, 2 hours without cell phone, radio, a gas station, or even a mini-mart. I've never felt quite so isolated. Fortunatly the park has gas station and a small store. We brought, I hope, enough food for the 5 days we will be here. Cooking all of our meals with only a microwave and a charcoal grill will be a challenge.

The bugs are annoying - I guess there are not too many bats in the vicinity...

Crawling

What a change from yesterday...  Dragging myself around, work, lunch in the microwave, phone calls, and finally off to pick up the voting machine and rosters for Saturday.  We planned to go to the gym right away, but procrastinated until 8.  Twenty minutes on the elliptical machine, a dozen laps in the pool and then a nice relaxing period in the spa.  Here's Deb at the gym.

Flying

I like the feeling I get when my life is zooming.  I don't worry that  it's all going to be over too soon.  I can be inside of it, traveling at light-speed; or I can step outside and watch it go.  Sunday I was in a race, the Cap2K, swimming for 39 and a half minutes.  The 20 minutes on the inside could have been an entire day.  It seemed like the other one hundred+ swimmers were on the far shore, maybe I was off course.  I pulled faster, harder, afraid of getting tired too soon, afraid of being the last one to the dock.   After thirty minutes I started to fantasize that I might arrive before most of my friends (I didn't).  But it seemed possible.

That evening we went to the gym, and I enjoyed the feeling of trying to exercise through the exhaustion I didn't know I had.

Monday after work I went to the pool and swam.  It felt good and I knew then that I should have pushed myself a lot more in the race.  Then it was Qi Gong at Saltillo Plaza in East Austin.  Slow movements, deep breaths, and the loud "HA HA HA" for the heart.  There were tiny flies but I wouldn't let them bother me.

Tuesday after work I went to the blood bank and donated a pint of blood, O+.  I wanted to swim more, I wanted to go to the gym, but I wanted to see Debbie more, so I went to her house and drank wine and ate garlic chicken sausage and sweet potatoes and then we talked until we fell asleep.

This morning I woke up at 5 and headed back to my house to make breakfast and pasta for lunch and run some reports for the NAE.  Took a shower and put on a clean white long-sleeved cotton shirt even though it's getting too hot for long sleeves.  Dinah brought in a crockpot full of barbecue so I saved my lunch for tomorrow.  Went home for an hour and cut the grass, hanging my shirt on the handlebar of the Honda.  Afterwards I toweled off and slipped back into the sun-warmed shirt.  It was 90 and there was a ring of sweat around the waist of my pants.

Slipped away from work at 5 and headed for the gym for a Zumba glass.  Racing through traffic on the bike I didn't think I could go back to driving a car, it's been too many years.

I love dancing and I can't dance.  It's unfair.  If only I could wake up one morning and remember everything I've tried to learn.  The class is still good even if I trip over my feet every 3 steps.

After the class there was time for 20 minutes on the elliptical machine and some weights.  It kept going faster, my heartbeat went faster, the music was playing, It felt great.  A shower and off to Deb's where there was cold shrimp.

She'll be back soon and I have some reports to write for the NAS upgrade.  I really should log into the Austin job and do a few things since I took a long lunch and raced out at the stroke of five o'clock.