The Drive to Canada

Sunday, April 26, 2015
When we went to leave the Hotel, Ken said to take a picture.

I reached for my iPhone in my purse and it was not there.  I went into crazy lady mode. Ken turned, got gas, then headed back to the Hotel. I, in a panic went into the Hotel to ask for the key to return to our room. The desk clerk gave me a key without question. The iPhone, of course was not in the room, ugh! I was still beside myself with panic. I looked through some things in the van. There it was in my green bag. I had absent mindlessly stuffed it into the pocket of another bag, not my purse. I have never put the phone in there before. Anyway that was not a good way to start a day or the rest of our trip. At least I found it.

Basically we left Denver area and drove on to Cheyanne, Wyoming. In Cheyanne I had booked an appointment for a hair cut. I was lucky enough to get a great hair dresser, Gina. What is really appreciated was the fact that she told me why she was cutting a certain way in a particular part of my hair. It made me feel more at ease. She also put up with my picky, obsessiveness when it comes to how I want my hair done. Gina was great.

We drove on from there and ended the day sleeping in the van. I was very tired and a bit suspect of camping in the cold and misty rain. In the end it was a good idea.

Monday, April 27, 2015
We woke up in our camp spot to it still raining.

I walked into the heated, clean bathroom with an umbrella. The umbrella having turned inside out almost immediately from the wind. I did not want to ruin my freshly straightened hair by allowing the rain to frizz it up. It did rain off and on most of the day. We were not far from our over night resting spot when it started snowing. This was a bit scary to me. We only have one snow tire now, likely not much good for it's intended purpose. About a week and a half ago I had seen a horrible snow storm and resulting accident on FaceBook. This pile up had happened just a little south of the area we were driving through. Scary to see when you have to drive through that area in a few days time. Anyway, the snow did not stick today and we drove on.

We had breakfast at Subway. We did not want to eat cold cereal after having slept in the van last night. We ate near where we slept the first night of journey south in October. We drove around this camping spot and reminisced about the frost and snow in the area back last fall. We went for coffee where we ate breakfast last October. I ended up getting shaky from the coffee. It was somewhat worth it cause it was the best coffee I'd had since Mexico. I will not, however, be drinking coffee for awhile. I am sick of getting the  shaky thing. Is it because I lost a little weight in Mexico from all the walking, is it from coffee, why am I getting this? It is very annoying.

When we had coffee we saw a poster for Donkey Basket Ball. What? Yes, Donkey Basketball. Each player rides a donkey while playing the game. This is the funniest thing we had seen in awhile. We even drove to the sponsor, the high school, to see if they had donkeys out in the field, relaxing before the big game.

 We stopped at a few little towns to stretch our legs or eat. We stopped at Gillette, Broadus and Mile City. The towns are really reminding us of prairie towns or cities we know of in Saskatchewan. In one little town we saw a fluffy looking dog tied up to a tree. You never know if a tied up dog is going to bark or be crabby. This sweet thing was a darling and only wanted as many pets as we could give it. Someone must love it dearly.

We plan to camp tonight. It will be the last chance we get for many months as we should be at Charlene and Mike's wonderful home tomorrow night for supper.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015
We woke up in a rest area just south of Glendive, Montana. Ken was just too tired to drive to Williston, ND where we had planned to sleep. He had driven lots yesterday and was just beat. It is much better to stop when tired rather than drive on and get into an accident. It was cold for camping, but not bad. We had extra blankets and were fine. Ken ends up wearing a toque to keep his head warm. I had the blankets partly covering my head when I woke up in the night.

We drove on to Glendive, Montana for a hearty breakfast. Ken ordered a short stack of pancakes. These pancakes were huge, bigger than a dinner plate. He could not eat them all.

We drove on to Williston. Ken wanted to get his hair cut as he had given up his appointment for me a couple of days ago. He did not have any luck with the haircut idea. No hairdresser that we tried had no time available to cut his hair. Maybe in Estevan or Moose Jaw in the near future.

We hung out in Williston, ND for a few hours just getting fed and finding last minute food to take up to Canada (salmon on sale).
 
We had to cross the border just south of Charlene and Mike's, not sure of the border crossing name. The lady who checked us through the border was a bit edgy and wanted to know all the repairs we had done on our van when we were in Mexico or away. Then she wanted to know exactly what alcoholic beverages we wanted to take across the border. We actually got the booze our of the van so there was no confusion. That way Ken could be very exact in his calculations of the booze. She was satisfied with that and charged us the duty, etc. for the bottles over our allowed limit.

It was exciting being almost to Charlene and Mike's. They live only a scant, few kilometres from the border. We quickly went into Estevan to hook up our wifi.

It was great to see them. The next day our new niece was to be born and everything was going great so far. Charlene and Mike made us a wonderful supper which was much appreciated. Almost any food that was not from a restaurant would have been great but these two made gourmet as usual.

Denver

Tuesday, April 21, 2015
We woke up really quite early this morning.

We had camped between Pueblo and Colorado Springs. It was quite chilly so that is likely what woke us up. I am worried about my fabric inks because they are not supposed to get cold - hot, yes and cold, no. Likely in the van they should be ok.

We ate breakfast in Denny's in Colorado Springs. I do not know which location but we picked from Yelp the one with the highest ratings that were close to us. I, however, did not like the food at this one. It was tasteless, both the eggs and the hashbrowns. No amount of ketchup or hot sauce could save the meal.

We woke up so early that stores were not open in Colorado Springs even by the time we finished breakfast. That meant all our day could be spent shopping in Denver, CO area. We decided that the southern most Denver stores would be best, then we could move north from there for other days of shopping.

At lunch I felt a Pho Vietnamese restaurant would be best. They advertised a vegetarian broth which is what we had with a seafood soup. I appreciated the deliciousness of the soup and so did Ken. He left me an extra amount of soup at the end cause he knew how much I liked it. He got to pick supper. He chose a little Italian place called Rocco's Restaurant. We had calzones. We ordered them smothered in sauce. Wow! We had not had calzones in a restaurant before. The whole atmosphere of the place was so charming and friendly. Customers and staff were happy to be there.Ken and I discovered that we both love ma and pa hole in the wall pizza joints. After almost 20 years of marriage we are still discovering each other.

Ken went on TripAdvisor to pick our Hotel which, had a good rating. We had been so busy shopping we did not check in until quite late, after nine. Our initial room was on the second floor and we wanted the first floor. We figured since we were so late checking in we had to take what we got. After being in the room for about ten minutes we realized that every time the elevator moved, which was lots, the noise could be heard in our room. A phone call to the front desk solved that problem. The desk clerk nicely had us moved to another first floor room. It was equipped as a handicap room. It fit the bill as being quiet and on the first floor. To keep the story contained, the next day we were asked to move to another room. The other only handicap room had the sink come off the wall and they needed the room for someone with a cane. We willingly obliged. We were moved to another room on the first floor that was closer to the main entrance.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Shopping today. Again, trying to find appropriate clothing for Europe.

I have been combing blogs and Pinterest for ideas on the best travel clothing for men and women for European vacations. The website called travelfashinggirl.com has been the best for my liking. She has lists of appropriate and fashionable boots and shoes for women. They are also supposed to be comfortable. She even tells you have to pack a small carry-on which is all we are taking. I will likely be so sick of my clothes by the time we arrive back in Canada. That is ok, however, because we are not paying much for the clothing we are buying. We can just ditch the clothes once we arrive back in Canada or we can ditch them in Europe and buy different clothes. We might have to pay full retail for footwear but hopefully not. Perhaps boots are on sale this time of year.

We have already driven to many parts of southern Denver, CO. It is definitely in the full throws of spring. There are lilacs blooming. The tree buds are bursting forth into leaves which makes it smell so fresh. Tulips are blooming, too. The grass is green and fresh, but the air is still crisp and cool in the evenings. So crisp and clean, with lots of green. Actually it is down right cold. It even rained last night. Awe, spring!

Denver is a huge city just from seeing is the small portion that we have been to. It appears to be an excellent shopping area. Malls everywhere carrying almost anything your heart's desire. There are repeats of many chain stores like Dillard's, Macy's or TJ Maxx. If one store does not have what you want, well just phone or go to another one to find that certain, special item. The roadways are massive with five or more lanes of traffic going in one direction. Obviously there was plenty of traffic on the highways. According to Ken the drivers were good but drove fast, they drove to win.

We are shopping late. The stores we are frequenting are open until nine, so we have been shopping until they close. Why not? We would just be sitting in our Hotel room watching TV relaxing. Hey, that sounds good. Maybe we will do that tomorrow night.

Thursday, April 23, 2015
Shopping, shopping and more shopping.

We are trying to be very efficient and not buy anything that we would not take to Europe. We both need footwear, outer wear for cold weather (northern Europe in the spring), and clothes in coordinating colours so we can mix and match. We can not take much with us in the small luggage we are taking with us. This will be very weird or should I say unusual for me, the consummate over packer.

We have started to look in TJ Maxx Stores, Plato Closet, Clothes Mentor and Buffalo Exchange. We did not find much to our liking or size. I did, however, pick out a purse at TJ Maxx just did not purchase yet as they did not have the colour I wanted.

We found a boutique, Deja Blue. The girls there were so friendly and helpful. It was such a contrast to any of the other places we went to. We were both impressed by them and by the stock that they carried. They will have a sale on Saturday we will return.

We have been eating at Wholefoods quite a bit here in the Denver area. Some are not as good as those we liked and remembered from the west coast. One was bigger and better than any we had seen before, and that is really saying something. They are a bit pricey but we can each have what we want to eat. Ken can have meat and if you are careful what you pick you can have meals that are less pricey. An example is that potatoes are heavier than some items so limit your intake. Salad can be cheap depending if you pick heavier veggies to accompany it. Go for light because the food is by the pound.

I am starting to get shoppers fatigue. Near the end of the day I have had it and am having trouble putting real effort into my choices. That means mostly I am choosing nothing or having trouble deciding if I should buy or not buy a certain item. I guess I should have quite shopping earlier today. It is mostly great fun but if you get tired it can be kind of annoying.

Friday, April 24, 2015
We shopped and shopped and shopped.

It is fun but stressful. Stressful because we are not finding everything we want for our Europe trip. We both need shoes as we packed all appropriate shoes away and did not bring them with us. I know, what were we thinking? Who knows but we were fine for shoes in Mexico but will not be in Europe if we do not find some. In fact, I do not even have totally appropriate footwear for Saskatchewan.

This is supposed to have been a day off for Ken. He has just about everything he needs for Europe in the way of clothing. Just a few odds and sods to find - shoes, bathing suit, more shorts, not much more. It ends up he did not really get much of a day off. I have to say I have never seen him as enthusiastic about shopping as he has been lately. He does not really like shopping but I think he is enjoying it because he is finding items he likes and wants.

Ken tried to find shoes. Most likely suspects being Merrill Shoes as that had been his choice in the past. When he went to try them on it was difficult to find the style he wanted in black. Then it was not working out to find his size. In the end he did not buy any today and we will be faced with looking for shoes tomorrow.

Later on, we decided to go out for a nice supper and beverages. We found a good drinking place on Yelp and drove there. It was in Littleton, which appears to be a quaint, little, old town plucked down in a big city. We found Jake's Tavern. Our beverages were exemplary as was the service.

Saturday, April 25, 2015
Today was shopping again.

It was the big sale day at Deja Blue Boutique in downtown Denver. You walked in and drew a ticket for a percentage off of your entire purchase. As I am about to draw the girl holding the basket was rooting for me to get a 50% ticket, and I did. Ken came in later and found a pair of black boots and a pair of black shoes. These are just what he needed. Both were wonderful and fit perfectly. I found tonnes of clothes that I could take to Europe (which is tonnes more than I really needed). When prices were already $7.99 for a top or pants and then at half off, well...what more can I say. The girls working there were so nice, and treated Ken and I so wonderfully. It was such a treat shopping there. Sometimes you go in places and the staff as so snooty and not helpful. The gals here were amazing! It made our shopping experience so much fun.

I went and back and bought the ECCO shoes I liked at Dillard's. I got a different clerk this time. This guy was great, too. He was very helpful. At first I did not know which size I had on but soon figured it out. This clerk was another exemplary example of a sales clerk. 

We go back to Rocco's Pizza. We just love the family, small time atmosphere of this small pizza, spaghetti place. This time we actually order a pizza and a small salad. Wow, so delicious! Even the salad was outstanding with green olives and with blue cheese dressing.

At the Hotel we again had the suitcases from Amazon up on the big screen trying to decide on the best luggage to order. We are close to deciding on what is best for us.

Albuquerque, Sante Fe

Thursday, April 16, 2015
We returned to the East Indian Restaurant 'AM Spices' as we enjoyed the food so much yesterday.

I talked to the women who also seems to be part owner and she does all the cooking. This time when we went we saw that there was a buffet with about six to eight different hot dishes to enjoy. Everything was so different and delicious.

We are still not used to the cold. I thought that it would be relatively warm here but it is not. It does get a little warmer in the afternoon, but not much. Instead of trying to walk in the shade you search out the sunny side of the street.

We did some shopping today but did not find lots. Ken is doing better than I in finding his Europe wardrobe. We even tried a Buffalo Exchange which has clothing more for teens and twenty somethings. But it was worth a try.

We were shopped out and decided to move on to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was only about an hours drive. As we got closer to Santa Fe we could see that it was extremely windy and you could see dust clouds. Even on the highway it was blowing hard.

We shopped a bit in Santa Fe then were off to our reserved Motel room. We did not want to risk having to go to a different Motel as we like the location of the downtown Motel 6 in Santa Fe. This Motel room has heat which is very much appreciate.

Once checked in we walked to the very close Wholefoods Market. Yes, they are kind of pricey but we really like the buffet offerings. We have not been able to go to one for about six months. Great clam chowder and salad.

Friday, April 17, 2015
Today was a day to be coordinating our purchases for the Europe trip.

I went through everything we bought. I wrote down what we each had and what we had yet to purchase. I also thinned out my summer clothes that I took to Mexico. Many of the items from my wardrobe are looking worn or tattered. Plus there was stuff I had not worn at all so why not get rid of it.

We went out to The Pantry for lunch. Great food and service. We went here several times in the fall. It serves predominantly Mexican food. The Pantry's fried potatoes are the best.

I decided to go off on my own today. Ken had business type stuff to do today and actually wanted peace and quiet. I wanted to do something in Santa Fe. It is such an nice, artsy city. It is a shame to just sit in a hotel room. I set off on a walk to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and Art Gallery. I was distracted on the way by a high end consignment shop. It was only about a half hour walk to the Gallery. The temperature was brisk but I was dressed for the weather.

The Museum does not have as many of O'Keefe's paintings as I would have liked. It still gives you a great representation of her work and life. There is a twelve minute video about her life which is very informative. I would advise others to go and see that first before walking around the rest of the gallery. There was also a special exhibit of her life in photos. Her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, was a famous photographer. He took most of the photos in that exhibit. Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986) was best known for her enlarged paintings of flowers, New York landscapes and New Mexico landscapes.

After that enriching experience I needed more excitement so I decided to walk into the main square of downtown Santa Fe.  There were artisans set up, selling mostly jewellery. That took up mostly one side of the block. The other two blocks that I explored sold mostly high end clothing. I decided to explore these stores to get ideas. That was a fun adventure. Then I just walked back to the Hotel, finding one more thrift store on the way.

Ken and I went out again to Wholefoods for supper. This time we went in the day light. We could see that tulips were blooming, etc.

Saturday, April 18, 2015
Today we woke up to snow covering the van.

Can you believe it after we had to park in the shade for most of the winter to keep the van cool. The snow had melted by mid-day but all the same - snow, ugh!

I did not sleep well last night. I know, what is new about that, but because I slept good the night before I could see a distinct difference in how I felt both physically and mentally. It was like I was two different people. Not liking the sleep deprived version as much. I could barely function. Hard to explain unless you have the same problem. I went for years of not sleeping properly almost every night. I would get some relief on the weekend or during the summer but wow what a difference good sleep makes.

Ken had business activities to attend to. Mostly sitting at the computer but lots of mental activity. 
I did not do much yesterday. I caught up on the blog. Somehow I had gotten behind which surprised me that I was so far behind (four days). Then I did my Duolingo Spanish. It seems to be getting much more (or should I say mucho mas) difficult than it was. I do, however, remember thinking that back in about January. The part that was difficult then seems easy now so I must keep going with Spanish. The aim is to become conversational and to be able to understand others talking in Spanish.

I went to a nearby consignment shop to search out pieces for Ken. He came by in about an hour but no luck on finding anything for our up coming trip.

Ken is so sweet. He wanted us to get take out (para llevar) from a great little Mexican place, El Parasol, then he would eat with me at the laundry mat. It made doing laundry so quick and easy. First time I did laundry in about six months. We checked on the price of dropping off the laundry and it was significantly more expensive then Mexico.

We had supper at Wholefoods again. It is pricey but delicious.

Sunday, April 19, 2015
We ate lunch at Wholefoods as Ken had paperwork or computer type things to attend to.

I wanted to accommodate his wishes and eat quickly to. Sometimes when traveling, eating just takes up too much valuable time.

Ken drove me to an indoor mall, of which Santa Fe only has two. I guess it is so warm or hot here much of the time that an indoor mall is not that necessary. When traveling it is so interesting to think about why certain cities are set up as they are. This was a big mall that actually reminded me of the old Rutherford Mall in Nanaimo, however, it was much bigger with more stores. It has Dillards, Sears, JC Pennies and Sports Authority as anchor stores. I enjoyed Dillards and tried on a few things.

I walked a few blocks to Target and then on to Ross Dress for Less and TJ Max. I enjoyed TJ Max and actually made a purchase. I usually buy many of my clothes at thrift stores. Sometimes I wonder why I like to shop there, as we really do not need to rely on the cheap prices. Going to actual stores reminded me of the answer to this wondering. I saw tops and bottoms for well over one hundred dollars. I saw really crappy workmanship and materials on new clothes at, sometimes crazy prices. Top brand name purses were made of, well I do not know what, but it was not leather. Most items seemed over priced. I also noticed that there was a lot of clothing out there that has styles that will soon be redundant. I saw, for example, an expensive looking silk knit sweater on sale. I pulled it off the rack to look at it. The back was lace. Now in what climate do you need a warm sweater that has a lace back? Nowhere in Canada I can safely say. Actually TJ Max was at the top of my list as it had reasonable prices for mostly good quality clothes. At least if you find something good at a thrift store it is like finding treasure and it is usually not expensive. Remember, people who buy those hundred dollar type of clothing want a change or for some reason get rid of those items to thrift stores. I must say that I did enjoy my day of shopping.



Monday, April 20, 2015
I knew Ken had to finish up some paperwork kind of work before moving on today.

I had thoughts of walking to some art gallery or store in Santa Fe to amuse myself. We were after all in a great, artsy city. I ended up doing the blog and doing Duolingo instead. Between that and helping to pack up, time seemed to disintegrate. Before I knew it we were ready to move on. The hotel was not as gracious as one might think after we had stayed there for about four or five days. We wanted to stay until about two. Other hotels from the same chain have let us fudge our check out time to accommodate us finishing some business concerns. Not this place - downtown location of Motel 6. They insisted we leave as soon as we could after check out time.

We did not leave Santa Fe until about one-thirty, finishing up items in the motel parking lot. We needed the internet.

We drove through an area of wonderful scenery. Georgia O'Keefe had good reason for wanting to settle in such a scenic area. It is not a place I would want to settle into but I could certainly appreciate the beauty of the area. We took the fastest route and did not go through Taos, NM.

As it was, it took us about five hours of driving to get close to our destination, which changed as we drove along. First, we wanted to make it to Denver. Then we lowered our destination expectations to Colorado Springs. Then we lowered our expectations again to Pueblo. We even had the opportunity to shop for about half an hour in Pueblo before the stores closed. We are all stoked to buy a new wardrobe to wear in Europe. We did not really bring proper attire to wear in Europe. What were we thinking? You can not go to northern Europe in clothes design to wear at the beach in Mexico, mid-winter. We are both seem to be on the same page about this matter, even though Ken does not like shopping. He can also find some techie items that we require.

We end up camping tonight just north of Pueblo. It was kind of a chilly night for camping. The cool air is refreshing but is easy to sleep in. The back of our van is always a treat as the bed is so cozy and comfortable. It just seemed a bit odd to be camping again as we really have not camped much lately.