Taos, Alamosa, and Denver

Pretty Taos flowers

After Arches we moved back into New Mexico, this time the pretty northern town of Taos. Taos has a bit of mythos to it as being this cultural hub for the arts and it did not disappoint. We got to our hotel (our 3^rd in the month and a half we had been on the road) and were delighted to find that they offered a free drink and snacks to guests, something we took full advantage of. We kept it low key that night and generally stayed in to write blog and catch up on some phone calls and most importantly to
BATHE. The next day we spent several hours walking around the arts district doing some light shopping and generally being impressed with the locally grown talent in the area.

Some Custom Guitars in an art studio in Taos

That evening we headed north to a campground that Myk had found outside of Alamosa Colorado. Strangely we had been to Alamosa before back in the first year Myk and I were together. We had gone with some friends to visit our dear friend Katia, (whom you might remember from the Greensboro episode) who was living there at the time. We found a great free dispersed site with a fire pit, picnic table, and a large clean river. This was the first place since we had been on the road where we just stayed for the sake of staying. We had everything we needed (except ice which we had to get on the second day) and the space was beautiful so we took 3 days to just enjoy the solitude. We were visited by some bighorns at one point but they kept their distance and just looked majestic. I got the chance to have the guitar out and about; Myk and I were doing some reading; and we realized that it had been months since we had the chance to just relax.

Solar Powered Perpetual Music Machine (tm)

The day before we left Myk decided to try and bathe in the river. It had been, let’s say, a couple of days since our last shower and we were both due. Now this river was coming down a mountain and most likely a combination of a cold mountain spring and melting snow. So once Myk set a foot into the river it became clear to me that I would just have to wait a few more days. Myk soldiered on in a most hilarious fashion despite intense muscle cramping due to cold and lip bluing she managed to emerge clean and unharmed (though there was a need for a midday fire to get her back up to speed).

Our little buddies, who happened to be huge

After a few well-earned days of recharging we bid adieu to our temporary home and began the journey north towards Denver.

          Some of you may have heard about the wildfires going on and while we were never in any danger they did disrupt some of our plans to do some mid-state hiking. We moved along to the general Denver area however, and boy was it swell. Where southron Colorado has beautiful high desert style-mountains the northron part of the states teems with green making the even higher rockies all the more impressive. We wound around through mountain roads seeking out our campsites during the 3-4 days we were in the area. We got to explore the beauty and check out the tiny but vibrant mountain towns tucked into the nooks and crannies of the mountains (I found Nederlands to be particularly enticing). We only went into Denver proper twice and were pleasantly surprised for the most part with the place. Myk had not had

Team KePow's National Pasttime

Denver ranked very high in the “potential places to live” list due to its reputation for lacking diversity. There was a free jazz concert in the main park one of the days we were there and there were tons of locals around. That swath of Denverites presented as diverse, fun-loving, and seemingly down to have a good time. We went downtown to take in some nightlife and drink beers at a great brewery, and as we left found ourselves in a sea of purple. Wading through I found the source of this oddly colored human wave to be Coors stadium, home of the Rockies who I believe had just suffered a defeat at home. I can’t remember who they played but there was little merriment to be had in that crowd so I can only assume they lost, and handily.

As I am sure most of you have noticed our blogging has flagged over the past month or so and we are trying to get caught back up. I figured a quick update for those of you who we haven’t been in direct touch with might be nice. As of writing this we are in Portland, OR after having gone down and back up the length of California. We are about to embark on a bit of a Phish tour and I will try to sneak another post in either before or during, though it is unlikely that I will have computer time during the run of shows. So, just know that we miss and love everyone. We love getting comments even if we don’t respond to them, it does makes us feel good to know our peeps are keeping tabs on us.

TEAM KEPOW OUT!

Southwest National Parks Part 2

One of the only pictures of both of us at the same time so far.

Hi again family and friends. Writing from lovely Los Angeles lamenting how despairingly far behind we are falling on our blogging but otherwise having a wonderful time. In the spirit of getting ourselves caught up to a more reasonable amount of dereliction we are gonna make this quick.

Bryce Canyon Madness

            When we left you we were just leaving Zion National Park and heading for Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is a much smaller place than the parks we had been to up to this point but what it lacks in square mileage it make up for in sheer topographical insanity. Myk and I hiked down into the canyon and then back up taking in the scenery of the “hoodoos.” The hike through the canyon was only a little over three miles but was consistently simultaneously breathtaking and bewildering. A funny anecdote from our canyon walk was that during a photo op I attempted, and did not fail, to moon Myk just as she was letting an elderly lady walk past her. Myk shouted subtly, “ARE YOU MOONING ME?!” Naturally this led to an older woman seeing my behind for the barest of moments.

More Bryce Canyon Madness

            After making it back up to the rim of the canyon we trekked up to Observation point to get a full panorama of the canyon. We took the rest of the evening off to play some games and plan our trip to Arches. We drove to Moab the next day and took that day off of to do some laundry and get some food that didn’t fall into the category of glump.

            It was during this day off that we fell victim to one of the classic blunders: “Don’t get caught in Utah without buying booze first.” For those that don’t know the “value”-centric voters of the great state of Utah have enacted some pretty stringent laws regarding the sale and distribution of alcohol. Let me sum up: liquor available only in state run liquor stores; beer can only be 3.2% or less; and NO SALES ON SUNDAY. These were facts that had been shared with us repeatedly by several of our friends before and during the trip. We had not been drinking since leaving Texas so we had not thought about when we might decided we wanted to have a drink, such as during a day off. Jacob had provided us with the coordinates for a great campsite just outside of Moab (which is just outside of Arches) and informed us that Moab did have one of the few state run liquor stores. So, once our laundry was done and we had grabbed some dinner we decided to see if we couldn’t get a cheap bottle of whiskey. As I pulled into the parking lot the realization came out of my mouth as soon as it came into my head, “its fucking Sunday.” This led to us purchasing a six pack of Budweiser that was instead of it usual 5% ABV only 3.2%ABV. I thought the irony would improve the taste, it did not.

           

Grrr...

            Luckily when we found the campsite that had been recommended we were more than pleased. Despite the intense heat the campsite was right down on the Colorado River as it ran through a beautiful canyon. That evening we were treated to the sounds of some hippies beating drums nearby and a flurry of bats hunting all the bugs that might have been hunting us. It was a great night and a great campsite.

The next day Myk and I went into Arches and spent the day hiking and driving around the park. We hiked about 7 miles round trip and saw a ton of huge natural arches and amazing overlooks. We took a ton of pictures but about 2/3rds of the way into the hike we realized that the exposure had been wrong for the mega-brightness of the noon-time desert sun so most of those were washed out unfortunately. We returned to our beautiful campsite and rested our bones for the night and in the morning headed out pointing ourselves vaguely in the direction of Colorado.

Yup