Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Soaking wet, again

I stopped by the bank this morning, and Calvin went straight for the artistic fountain in the lobby. Which made me wonder....Why is it that whenever we go anywhere Calvin always ends up soaking wet?

Here he is at Twirl, in Taos.


Thursday, July 16, 2009

I got a picture of the bear, but its terrible!

Last night I was ready for the bear. I had my camera sitting on the window sill of my bedroom. I didn't know if he would come back, but it was the night before garbage day, and I just cleaned out the area under Calvin's car seat, and threw away a half eaten bag of kettle corn, and various bags of goldfish and a half eaten package of baby green beans. P.U.

Sure enough, just after bed I heard the unmistakable snuffling, the crunch of paws in the rocks and the smack of the garbage can against the sidewalk. It was a brown bear. It looked bigger than yesterday. It looked up from the can, as if to say, "Very Tasty."

I was at the window clicking pictures as if I was some famous National Geographic nature photographer..But when I saw the pictures I realized that I'm totally not.

It's hard to take pictures of bears in the dark. This was the best one, and if you squint you might be able to make out the legs.

Mostly I just got the window screen.


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Bears in our yard

I was reading by lamplight last night and I thought I saw something out of the corner on my eye in the window. Something big walking by my window. It sounded like a bear or a werewolf (I was reading about werewolves) and so I was too scared to turn on the light and look out the window. I told my self that it was just my imagination.

Later, when I was in bed we heard more noises. Quinn went to the window and said, "There. is. a. bear...outside."

I rant to the window. Our garbage can was down, and the bear had left. A police car drove by waving a flashlight, looking for the bear. We were hanging out our window, trying to get his attention by waving the curtains. He said, "Which way did they go?"

That way!

We went back to bed and heard, one by one, every dog on our street start to bark. We figured the bears must have gotten all the way to Diamond Drive. We fell asleep again. I dreamed that we had bears and wolves all in our back yard swimming in our pool and we were outside with them.

We woke up and they were back. This time we watched as the bear went after the huge smelly can of Ranch Beans that we had thrown away the day before. Another bear was walking down the middle of the street and a medium sized dog was running loose. The one in our cans looked like it was about 400 pounds.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Hermosa Creek Trail



We took a short hike on Hermosa Creek Trail, which is right next to a skii hill. On the way to the trailhead there were tons of dirtbikes, horses, and there was one of the tracks where you can ride down the side of the mountain.

The trailhead was in a secluded valley where people were camping. These people knew where to find the good camping spots.

Calvin started to sat "lovely" today, and I'm sure you can see why.





Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ranger Shhh!

Last weekend we took a tour of some of the oldest cave dwellings in the country at Mesa Verde. Spruce Tree House was built between 1211 and 1275 AD by the ancestors of the Pueblo people.

I took a seat on a rock to feed Calvin, and while I was there a ranger led a group of 9 Native American teenagers behind the rope barrier, and down into a Kiva. Quinn came back from whatever ladder he was exploring and started to talk in his booming voice, and the ranger SHHHHHed him and said, "These people are doing a real ritual in there. Quiet!"

Quinn left to look at something else, and an old white guy wearing shorts that showed off his psoriasis came by and scowled at the teenagers being led into the off limits part and grumbled, "What? Do they get special privileges?"

He got an even louder SHHHH. Then, when they were all in the kiva she said, "Yes. They're direct descendants and so, by law, they do get special privileges."

There were some soccer ball sized grinding stones on display and a father son duo started to kick them around and try to grind with them and the ranger pushed her way through the crowd and cried "Stop! You can't grind with those. They're ancient artifacts!"

The dad (a gown man who should know better) just had a dopey look on his face. He responded by saying, "Cool!"

I wonder if the ranger has to keep people in line like that every day.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Setting up camp



We got a really nice camping site by a lake. Calvin was really into our new tent and playing in the dirt. The only problem was that we had to spend a lot of time keeping Calvin away from the fire pit. He would go towards it, saying "No, No," and I would try to block him. He sat down on the edge (when there was no fire) and said, "Lap," but then he fell in and started to cry. I brushed him off and calmed him down. The experience didn't make him any less interested.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Rain Dance at Mesa Verde

When we visited Mesa Verde there was a special program where dancers from a Hopi tribe in Arizona came to do a Maiden Dance for rain.


Calvin loved it. He sat still the whole time, only saying a couple of things, like football (because he thought the gourd shakers looked like footballs.

We weren't supposed to publish pictures of them dancing, but I think it's OK to show the pictures of them posing with me afterward.



Anyway, they know what they're doing. Twenty minutes later, it rained.





Roughin' it



After delaying our trip one day, to get over our sluggishness and overall irresponsibility, we plowed ahead to Durango. We've never gone there, but Quinn has heard great things about the Steamworks Brewery, so we entered it into his TOM TOM and three hours later we were robotically led there. So we ate and drank beer for an hour, then I went to a coffeehouse and played with my new laptop for an hour, and finally I made our way to the campsite....without a reservation...in one of the most popular places to camp.....on fourth of July weekend.

(Insert excuses here)

The camp site was beautiful, and after circling it twice we realized that it was full.

I've known Quinn for over ten years. He is so laid back. He is not the type of person to freak out over not having a place to stay. If it were just the two of us he would just drive around till he found another camp site or a cheap hotel.

Calvin's birth has revealed a whole new side of Quinn. If he's worried that Calvin's safety might be in jeopardy, all that logic goes out the window. He panics. So it was getting dark, and Calvin was getting hungry and tired. Quinn started going through the hotels that the Tom Tom listed and calling them. Hotel after hotel said they had no rooms. Finally, he got to the Best Western. "I'll take anything!" he said, and they gave him something.

Calvin was screaming in the backseat, which makes it even harder to think clearly. We found the hotel and Quinn checked in while I waited in the car, feeding leftover pizza to Calvin. Quinn's jaw was clenched when he came out of the lobby. He didn't want to get into the car while I found a parking space. He wanted to just walk. He shifted his feet. I said, "C'mon, just get in!"

So he did, and said that our room (which was the only room in the hotel without a sweet balcony) was $200. I got Calvin in his bath and got him ready for bed while Quinn got our stuff and then threw himself on the other bed, fighting back manly tears. Not only was it really expensive, but he really wanted to camp, not stay in a lame hotel.

I thought it sucked too, but I wasn't as upset. I was really tired for some reason, and fell asleep really early in the bed. What made me upset was that in the morning we realized that there were cheaper hotels all over the place, two hotels per block, and tons of camping places.

But live and learn. We got a camp site the next morning and began our first camping trip with a baby.

Friday, July 3, 2009

We're still in Los Alamos!

We're not very good at planning. Yesterday we tried to leave town to go on a sweet camping trip near Durango, but we were both moving so sluggish, and Quinn had to work, and we had to stop at Wal-Mart to get a bigger tent. Then, when we were in Wal-Mart we realized that we forgot to pay rent! It was already 6:30. We decided to just eat dinner in Espanola and go home to pay rent and leave today. So as soon as Quinn wakes up we'll be on the road. I swear.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

He's got four big shoes to fill.



We're packing up to go on our first camping trip with Calvin in the four corners area, and at Middle Mountain Campground, by Durango, CO. It occurs to us that Calvin's got some big shoes to fill...Shoes that belong to Snickers.

We've gone on several trips with Snickers, and having him there makes every trip more interesting. Now, I realize that traveling with a baby are completely different things, but we're looking forward to finding out what kind of wackiness Calvin brings to our trips.