Isn't it summer yet?

It started snowing yesterday late afternoon and hasn't really stopped since then. It's only a light snow but it is accumulating. We have a few inches and it is still coming down. I can't really complain because it makes for a nice day off to just hang around and stay warm inside. I might track down Bohb later to make snowmen since a Texan like him is not used to this amount of "white stuff" as he calls it (roughly). Otherwise I mostly plan on staying warm inside and watching a movie or reading.



It's funny because I talked to someone on Friday about floating in his boat on the river today. That's obviously not happening, which is unfortunate, it would have been fun. I do hope the weather improves soon though. I am ready for summertime!

A few pictures...

I have been very busy lately, but don't really have any stories or photos to show for it. We've been working 8-5 or 6 and after work I go out and socialize but there hasn't really been anything worth documenting. It's still pretty cold so I haven't been spending too much time outside, but hopefully that will change soon. Anyway, it's been a while since I posted and I managed to get my pictures from my phone thanks to my wonderful sister, so here are the ones worth sharing.

This is Rio, my friend's dog that I took for a walk where we saw the ram. I love this dog so much! He's adorable and well trained and he's actually a rescue dog--not the kind that was rescued, but the kind that does the rescuing. During the winter he and his owner Cory work at the ski area nearby on ski patrol so he's trained to find people in the snow and stuff like that, which I think is pretty cool.

This is the picture of the ram. If you look really closely, it's on the hillside, just off center. Rio got pretty excited about it. And so did I--my first big wildlife sighting of the summer.

These are a couple of snapshots I took first thing in the morning after a snowfall.

I think it looks neat how it's just on the top of the hill.

Anyway, that's what I have to share for now. Like I said, we've been working a lot and usually we are supposed to work six days a week but we have tomorrow and Monday off so hopefully I'll find some kind of adventure to share. Stay tuned!

BIRTHDAY! LUAU! FUN!

Wow, what a weekend! It has been glorious! The weather has been pretty lovely but a little windy. Anyway, Friday was Molly's birthday and we had a great time making a lot of pizza, which was DELICIOUS. We had cake and ice cream and friends and a fire with s'mores.

Molly, making delicious pizza.

Yummy!!

And then Saturday was the luau! The weather was perfect, just a slight wind. But Molly and I sat out in the morning and I ended up with a sunburn by the end of the day.

This is from Friday when they were loading the pig into the smoker. They towed it through town on the fork lift and I didn't have my camera but I made my friend Bohb snap this on with his phone because it was too good a photo opportunity .

Here it is at Tommy's getting ready to be pulled apart by some manly men.

The butchers.

The tail. It wasn't too appetizing.

Molly, Bohb and I having a grand time at the luau.

There was a "pu-pu" competition so there was plenty of delicious food. If you don't know, pu-pu is basically the hawaiian word for appetizer. So we ate and hung out and played in the sun and it was a grand old time. Yesterday I spent basically recovering from the last two busy days and just taking it easy.

Today is my last day before I start work. I have spent most of it hanging out outside. Earlier I took a friend's dog for a walk and we saw a ram! It was very cool. I have some pictures on my phone that I want to put up here but I'm having a hard time getting them online where I need them to be. But as soon as I get them to work I'll post them here. Molly is coaching a soccer team of 7-10 year olds and in a few minutes we're leaving to go to her first game. So that should be interesting. I'll have to bundle up because it is super windy and very chilly out at the moment. I think that is all for now. I'm feeling a little distracted so I might come back and fix this post later, but that's the basic jist of my weekend. I'll be back with more fun stories hopefully soon!

Welcome Home

That's what people keep telling me: "welcome home." I smile big and say "thank you" because that's all that needs to be said. Creede became my home away from home the moment I arrived last summer and it's the same for 99% of the people who come here and so when I return after being away for nine months, they know what it means for me. The winter certainly didn't seem to fly by at the time, but as soon as I drove into town on Monday evening, it felt as if I had never left. I feel as if I've been here all along; I've slipped right back into my life here as if the last nine months away was just a dream and I woke up as if from a good night's sleep. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to spend the winter at home and see my family, who is more important than anything. But being here is just...right. So, needless to say, I couldn't be happier. Plus, the weather is BEAUTIFUL.

In the manner of Creede, the first place I went when I arrived, at the insistence of my friend Kat who drove me from the airport, was Tommyknocker Tavern, or Tommy's as it is normally referred to. This is my main hang out and the most likely place to see all my old friends, so I have spent the last two nights there hanging out and catching up and playing a lot of foosball. Last night I scored my first goal after endless rounds of playing with people who spend all winter playing this game. It was very exciting.

Tommy's. Probably going there tonight too. Or maybe to the hot tub.

These are the "pods" and the "Bordello" where most of the theatre company lives during the summer.

I went for a leisurely stroll today and found this really cool almost spherical rock. Cool, right?

Snowy mountains on the loonnnng drive from Denver.

Nothing too exciting has happened but I wanted to start up the ol' blog again and keep you all up to date on my life in the wild wild west. I did some work yesterday helping my friend Molly tear out the seats and platforms in the old black box theatre, which is being replaced by a new space down the road. But my contract doesn't start until next Tuesday so mostly I plan on taking it easy and enjoying some down time before the major work begins.

On Saturday Tommy's is hosting a Luau with a pig roast and the whole shebang, so that should be a a lot of fun. I will definitely be taking lots of pictures, so look out for a post about it on Sunday or Monday. For now I think I'll go outside and clean off the patio furniture and sit in the sun and do some reading or journal writing. Can't let this gorgeous weather go to waste. It's good to be home!

Just a little something to hold you over

I am in the process of figuring out my life so that is why I haven't been posting. I was in Durango but didn't get any bites on jobs so I came back to Creede to think about things and explore my options. At this point it seems like I will be coming back to the east coast--probably Vermont-- for the winter. So I'm here until I figure out how to do that. Meanwhile, I guess I've been having kind of an extended vacation.

I got here on Friday and my friend Kat and I went tubing on the river. It was awesome. I went with Molly last week and it was SO COLD and we made it kind of a long trip not knowing and by the time we were done we just wanted to get out and get in the hot car. But this time it was perfect. It was gorgeous out and the water was actually warm. We hit some fun rapids and had a great time.

Yesterday I needed to clear my head and couldn't decide on a trail to go hiking so I drove out on route 149, which is a gorgeous drive. So here are some pictures I took.

Maybe a slight indication of why I want to stay here so badly...

And on one last note, when Molly and I were driving back from the airport last week we saw this:

We couldn't get over how awesome it was and got sort of giddy and giggly like we were "high on rainbows". It was pretty funny and a little bizarre. The brighter one was a full rainbow and at one point the lighter one was too, but it faded a little.

This is the best I could get of the full one.

I'll update you all when I figure out what I'm doing or if I do something worth posting about while I'm here. Which hopefully I do, it would be a shame to waste my last days here.

Polar Caves

Whoops, I said I would post about this yesterday and I forgot until Mom called me out on it last night. Oh well, here it is! On Wednesday I went to New London to visit Tim and Erica and the boys and (except Tim because he was working) we all went to the Polar Caves in Rumney, NH. It was really fun. Also really hot, but I had a great time.

The whole crew. One of Erica's friends came with us with her three kids and one extra.

Before you get to the caves there is this animal farm type area where there are deer you can feed and all sorts of pheasants and a peacock and a duck pond.

It was actually sort of difficult to get the kids away from the duck pond. I think they just liked throwing things at them. Devin was rather taken with the peacock.

All the caves have names. I think this is the first one. That woman down there was forcing her frightened child to go into the cave because he wanted to go there so badly he's going in whether he likes it or not.

There was a lot of climbing involved. And it was hot. But it was very cool in the caves. It was very different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be big caves you just walk into and walk around. But they were mostly just crevasses you had to crawl around and duck and waddle through. It was really cool.

After the cave we went to the "Sculptured Rocks Natural Area", part of the New Hampshire state parks. I didn't get any pictures but here are a few I found online:

This is where we were, plus a billion other people. I would go here everyday if I lived nearby. Just below/between these cliffs is a very deep swimming hole. Deep enough that you can jump off of either of the cliffs into the water. Which Erica and I both did and it was sooo fun. It was the perfect thing to do after the caves because the water was so cool and wonderful after sweating in the heat and humidity all day.

That was my day. It was so good to see everyone and fun to go somewhere I had never been and enjoy the day outside. I'm not sure what other adventures I'll be having while I'm home but if anything comes up, I'll be sure to tell all about it.

Durango, CO

So, last week Molly and I spent Monday and Tuesday in Durango, which is a town about two and a half hours away from Creede. I didn't take very many pictures and there isn't really much to say about it because we spent most of the time just wandering around town, checking it out. But it was still a lot of fun. It's a cool little town with lots of shops and restaurants.

This is the view from Wolf Creek Pass on the way to Durango. The view is amazing and rather impossible to capture with a camera.

The Olde Tymer's Cafe where Molly and I had lunch. It was pretty good, even though my friend who lives in Durango calls it the "Old Slimer's".

This is one of the bars we went to Monday night. Before that we were at the Balcony watching a guy sing and eating delicious fried pickles.

I realize most of this post is about where we ate but we didn't actually do much else. This is where we had breakfast the next day, it was real tasty.

This is a poster I thought Grampa Spike should have but I couldn't buy it so I took a picture of it instead.

Probably the best part of the trip was the sushi we had at a place called East by Southwest. It was indescribably delicious and I can't wait to go back and have more. But that won't be happening until I get a job so I can pay for it...

I was really happy with the trip, which is good considering I was planning on moving there before I had even visited. It's a very cool town and I hope that I will be able to stay there.

I spent the day today with Erica and the boys at the Polar Caves and had a great time. Again, I didn't take many pictures, but I'll post about it tomorrow. It was a great day, I was so glad to see them all.