Day 3 - The Day of Lasts

The day started early driving through Albuquerque. We did manage not to leave anyone anywhere on this day. But it was a day of lasts! The first thing we saw was hot air balloons over Albuquerque. They were gorgeous but I could not get a good picture since I didn't have much time. We stopped at Bosque del Apache. We were told it was a pretty amazing place and it did not disappoint us. Of course my pictures are not that great. We stopped first at the Vistor's Center which had a great gift shop. And Gambel's Quail were hanging out around the Vistor's Center. It was very pretty.

We drove around several lakes.

From there we drove to El Paso and the Franklin Mountains. Our main goal there was to get the Gambel's Quail in Texas for Bill and Bryan's Texas list. And we saw them! They are such gorgeous birds. Of course half the time the dial had moved on the camera and I didn't notice. Oh well.

Bryan and Stephanie.

If you look close you can see the Gambel's Quail.

Then the day of lasts began. We did not notice that the sign said the park closed at 5. Who closes a park at 5 during daylight savings time? I'm sure it's part of Governor Good Hair's budget cuts. So we get to the front gate at 5:06 and we are LOCKED IN THE PARK. Some other people pulled in behind us. They thought they saw some workers so went back to find them. We started calling every phone number on the sign. Of course NO ONE ANSWERED eventhough the sign said FOR AFTER HOURS CALL. Finally Bryan get in touch with the park manager and he gives us the combination to the lock. Ends up the other numbers we called would charge us to come let us out. (More Governor Good Hair's ways to raise money?) Then we didn't know what to do about the other car in the park. Fortunately they pulled up then and we all got out. And we ignored the other phone calls coming in on our cell phones.

Then we drove down the Hueco Tank's Road looking for sage sparrows but didn't find them. So we headed to Carlsbad. Bill was whining, uh, wanted a coke so I told him the next gas station. We drove 30 miles and hit the boarder patrol. So I asked them where the next gas station was and they said 120 miles. What? 120 miles and we had not seen a gas station in over 30 miles? So I check the gas gauge, we have over a half of a tank. And I do the math, we should make it fine. Of course Bill holds on to the door hanger the whole time thinking we will run out of gas.

We get to White's City with a 1/4 tank of gas, but the gas station is closed. But they take cards so I fill up with the most expensive gas ever. We go to the hotel across the street and they inform us they have no rooms. It's 9 at night and Carlsbad is another 30 miles. So Stephanie starts looking up hotels and Bryan starts calling. I wasn't sure when we would get there or if we would change our mind so I didn't make reservations. We finally get a room at a 1 star. So Bryan keeps calling till we get a 4 star satisfaction rating. And cancel the 1 star. We get there and the guy told us he just had a cancellation right before we called and that he had a hundred calls that day that he turned down. Ooops. Last room in Carlsbad. It was spring break.

So we passed a pizza hut and I call in a pizza. When I get there the guy tells me that the pizza is almost ready. OK, I am not sure if I have ever been to Carlsbad, but I know the guy doesn't know me. Well, we got the last pizza they made that night. Good thing we didn't stay in White's City, we would not have any food at all! Everything was closed.

Tomorrow has got to be better right?

Days 1 and 2, Driving to Moriarity and Sandia Crest

We started the day at 5 am by picking up Bryan and Stephanie in Tomball. There trip was pretty uneventful except when I left Bryan and Stephanie at the gas station near Waco. I took off and Bill asked me where I was going. I told him to the highway. He said "without the kids?". And I looked in the back seat and they were not there. When I turned around there was Stephanie with her snacks staring at us. Oops. . After the long drive, we got to NM and the Bucces of NM. Russell's Travel Center was awesome. . We get to Moriarty where we were staying and get checked into our motel. We asked where to eat since the choices seemed to be Blake's Lotaburger, subway, McDonald's and Arbys. The lady that owned the motel told us to go to Buford Steakhouse. Don't let the name fool you. We had the best NM cheese enchiladas. Except for Byran that doesn't do cheese. Enchiladas just like my mom would make! YUM! The main reason for the trip was to see the Black Rosy Finch that had been a nemisis for Bill and Bryan. I had been with them when we looked in Montana for them. On top of Sandia Crest is the Sandia House. . This is the only way to see birds. It was very cold and very windy. There are feeders at the gift shop and cafe. You can either sit on the deck or sit inside with tea, hot chocolate, coffee and watch the birds. Wow! Did we see them. We saw all three rosy finches, black, gray crowned and brown capped. My photography skills are still lacking, but check Bryan's pbase site for good pictures. Here is the black rosy finch, aka the the star of the show. . View from the top . . Another view from the top. . . I loved the rocks! . . Stephanie was loving the snow! . . A view from part way down. . . Bill and Bryan looking for raptors. . . Bill and Stephnie checking the ravine. . . Gray crowned rosy finch. .

We went down the mountain for pizza at one point and ate at the Sandia Crust! The pizza was outstanding!

christmas 2010 shutterfly

Many Memories Snowflake Christmas Card

Personalize your Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Smiles

Sending holiday cards provides smiles all over the world. When someone opens a card and sees a card, they just have to smile.




Shutterfly has long been a place for people to store their pictures and send to their friends to see. I love taking pictures and my New Year's Resolution is to learn how to use the DSLR rather than taking all my pictures on auto.






In this card alone I have shown the hummingbird I took a picture of in Costa Rica, the lovely view from Jo and Roy's in Italy, Bill in front of the Leaning Tower, the cats kung fu fighting and a glorious sunset I caught on the way home from work one day.



Shutterfly provides you with a professional way for you to use your own pictures in Holiday Cards. Think of all the smiles you will get when those fabulous cards are opened!



If you are having a party for the friends and family, what better way to invite them than with the Shutterfly party invitations. You will be the talk of the town with these invitations.



And what better way to say thank you, than with your own pictures on your thank you cards. No one will have cards like yours!



To spread the cheer, jump on the Shutterfly Bloggers Free Holiday bandwagon. You will be hooked and ordering from Shutterfly frequently! Tell your friends, or show them with your one of a kind holiday card!



I can not wait to show pictures from our Costa Rica and Italy trips this year! We were so lucky to be able to go on both trips! Both are fabulous places with fabulous pictures. The moggies will be making appearances too in the photos! They had to stay home with the sitter, but they love having their pictures taking.



Do not miss out on this fabulous offer! The selection is superb!

Day 7 Race to the train stations, trains, trains, trains Day 8 Massa and the hotel from you know where Day 9 the trip home

Roy makes us tea before we leave, and we jump in the car to Como. We make really good time till the last two miles. Then it's panic time. We jump out of the car and make it to the track that is thankfully the closest to the station ( and we don't have to go up and down steps to get to it). The train arrives about 2 minutes later. We get on and we are fine. We see Jo standing on the platform as we go by.

We get to Milan and want to grab something to eat. Of course the café is Italian time and takes forever. First class is at the very end of train, the furthers from the station. As we are walking to first class, they say it is leaving so we have to jump on first class and walk through 3 2^nd class cars, 1 bar car and 1 first class car. We get to our seats and they have the heat on, so Bill is complaining it's roasting hot. We are not in the United States and the standards are different. He goes to stand between cars. The conductor comes and tells me that all the cars are the same. Evidently he has been complaining. Jo said the Italians do not like to be cold.

This is the nicest train we have been on. Free drinks, peanuts, chocolates, newpapers. There is some kind of sound system but I haven't pulled out my headphones to see what is on it. Bill has finally fallen asleep so no complaining for a bit.

We get to Pisa and Marco is there to meet us. He drops us at the Leaning Tower so Bill can see it. We walk back to the car and attempt to find birds. It is just the wrong month for birds.

That night we go to the hotel and get checked in. The hotel is lovely, off the beaten path and has birds chirping! The hotel manager tells Marco of a place we can go to find birds. He tells us that restaurants are not open for dinner until 8. We will be pumpkins long before then. So Marco takes us to a bar and we see pizza next door, so we opt for pizza and go back to the hotel early. The pizza was good.

Day 8 the mountains and back to Milan

We spend the day in the mountains and don't see much. There are marble quarries, a sculptor's house, lovely views but not many birds. We get a sandwich from a place in the middle of nowhere. The bread was fabulous! And so was the cheese. We then go to a city park where there are some birds.

We have Marco drop us at the train station. Everyone there is obsessed with trains that you don't have to change. We are into what gets us there the fastest. Marco wanted us to take one train to get to Pisa when if we took a train an hour and a half later, we got there at the same time. So leaving we got on a train leaving an hour earlier. And if I had not have made a mistake we would have gotten there an hour earlier than the one Marco wanted us to go on. I didn't read the tickets and we got off at the wrong Genova station. But another train was leaving for Milan, and it was only ½ hour longer.

Marco was very expensive not that great of a guide.

When we got to Milan I needed to change some money, so while I was doing that Bill went off to feed the pigeons. I turn around and he is gone. Ends up the cops tried to arrest him because he walked away from his bag. He didn't have his passport because I had it. I had no idea where he was. Fortunately someone else saw what happened and they let him go. We then hop to the bus to the airport. At the airport we take a cab to our hotel because it's late and we don't want to wait for the shuttle, which probably was not running anyway.

We get to the Holiday Inn Express at Milan Malpensa airport. They tell us the shuttle doesn't run until 5:45 and we need to leave at 5. So they will call us a cab. We get to our room and we can't keep the lights on. I can't see to use the phone and have to walk down to the desk. You have to leave your key in a slot which they didn't tell us when we checked in. Then we can't get the air to come on. I call the desk several times before they answer. They tell us we have to shut the window that we never opened and they will set the thermostat. By this time was have 5 hours before we need to be at the front for the cab. We are not happy. The room was nice and the beds comfortable.

Day 9 Taxi to the plane to the plane to the bus to the car

We take the cab and it's 18 Euros! The one the night before was only 10 and we stayed at the hotel because it was supposed to be free! And they were sending one group on the shuttle. We won't be staying there again.

We get to Paris and walk to the other terminal. There were no buses this time! We had 2 hours before planes and after going through customs and security again, we walk straight into the line for our plane. So no shopping, again! We get on the plane and are pleasantly surprised that we almost fit in our seats and are not as uncomfortable was before. The food was good again!

We get to Houston and our bags are the last ones off the carousel. We get home and the cat sitter did a fabulous job. The cats were happy!! I got unpacked and the laundry done before we died in bed at 6 pm! And when we got home, we had an invitation to Moscow!! We are so excited!!

Day 5, Croce, a suburb of Menaggio, Lenno, Lugano, Day 6 Croce, Osteno, Menaggio

I am up early writing in the journal. I'm enjoying my tea and watching the sun come up. And of course taking pictures.

Roy has been in the UK but will be back tonight, with takeaway curries for Jo. Evidently the food here is good, but every restaurant has the same menu! But not as great as Jo's cooking!

We went to Lenno for coffee/tea/coke and biscuits/brioche. Harry and Sam got to swim in the lake. Then we drove around to Como to get our train tickets for the rest of the trip. Our times were too tight on the way to Como.

We then dropped the dogs at the house and went to Switzerland for petrol. I wanted to get my dad a sudoku book in Italian but we found one in German. Lake Lugano is beautiful and so is the town of Lugano. We saw the Mojito bar and we saw people playing chess with two feet tall figures on the ground.

We had a lovely lunch at a café. Then we walked around the city. The views are spectacular, the city is very clean. Bill has decided we are moving there. I need to remind him how expensive Cokes are. We then went back to the house and Roy arrived back from England. So we drank more wine and ate a lovely pasta casserole.

Day 6 Menaggio, Lake Lugano

Jo made us an typical English breakfast of eggs and English bacon (very similar to Canadian bacon) and chocolate chip pastries.

Bill was a told a place to go bird in the mountains, so we attempted to find it. We had a lovely drive through the mountains but it would have been too long for Roy to come back and get us. So we went to a town at Lake Lugano called Osteno and hiked up a road into the woods, but it was not very birdy. This is not a tourist town and I loved it! Osteno is so quaint and quiet We sat and had cappuccinos and cokes at a lakeside café.

Then we went back to the house while Bill walked around looking for birds. When he came back we drove down the hill to Menaggio for gelato and walking the dogs. We found the Italian Sudoku book for my dad while in town.

We had homemade chicken pie and salad for dinner. Then we watched The Boat That Rocked, known in the United States as Pirate Radio. Great movie, great actors.

It is still bugging me who the actor was in Paris. I have not figured that out yet.

Day 4 Trieste, Venice, Milan, Como, Menaggio

Or The Train to the train to the train to the taxi to the boat to Jo.

We get up early but packing takes longer than expected. We do get to eat breakfast at the hotel. There were pears, yogurt, croissants, rolls, cereal, juice and I finally get my first cup of tea other than the plane.

We go to the train station and I really needed to use the facilities. I go into the restroom and it is a hole in the floor. I wish I had taken a picture. You hold onto a bar and do your business. At first I said I would wait for the train, but then I knew I could not wait. It was not as bad as I thought, but I don't want to repeat the experience. The train to Venice is not one of the nicer trains, but since we took the 8 am train, it is virtually empty and we have plenty of room. Venice is so touristy. This is why I didn't like it much in 1974 when I was in college. But everyone assures me that it is a fabulous city when you get off the tourist track, but we didn't. We walked around and took pictures.

Here is the canal in front of the train station.

The yellow boat is a police boat. I did not get a very good picture.

Someone enjoying a gondola ride.

A view of the town from the train station.

Another town view.

Bill feeding the Italian sparrows pizza.

A boat delivering the goods.

We continued the pizza tour. We ate our pizza slices and cokes on the steps to the train station. Bill fed the Italian sparrows and the pigeons pizza. They are true Italians. We stowed our luggage in the train station so walking around was nice.
Now we are back on the train to Milan! The train to Milan was uneventful. In Milan we switch to the train to Como. The Milan train station is incredibly busy all the time. We get on the train to Como and it is packed. All the tourists are on it. It is a small train too, so getting our bags to fit was interesting, but we did. Glad we only had small bags. We arrive in Como which is very lovely!!

Mountains all around with the beautiful lake! We take a taxi to the ferry terminal. The ride to Menaggio was fun, on the world's slowest hydrofoil.

Nothing like the one I rode on from Denmark to Sweden! We stop at the little picturesque towns and let people off.

We arrive at Menaggio and Jo is waiting for us. As we ascend the mountain to her house, the views are breathtaking. The house is beyond belief. And Jo as usual has seen to every last detail, almost. We had robes and slippers on our bed waiting for us.

The only thing missing was the chocolate on the pillow, but we forgave her for that.

We unloaded the car then immediately took the dogs for a walk up the mountain. The views are even more breathtaking!! Of course I am snapping pictures constantly. There are WWI trenches up the mountain.

We are not quite sure what the soldiers thought they were guarding or who would attack them here. We think they were hiding from the war. But they are quite interesting.

We came back to the house and drank too much wine, had a lovely pasta dinner and enjoyed fabulous company. I took pictures of the sunset. The sun sets behind the house but the mountains across turn red.

And they have had their first snowfall, so it is absolutely gorgeous.