The Year In Review

As the year 2019 comes to a close let me review of how it went for me...

January- The year started off as any other year in the last few, nothing notable comes to mind.

February- It started with my mother falling, cracking a rib which turned into a punctured lung, emergency trauma surgery, a 10 day stay in ICU, and eventually a move to a rehab facility.

March- Mom home for a short stint before another fall and a repeat of February. This time after the second surgery she refused to eat and drink for several days and we thought we were going to lose her. My daughter visited at the end of the month and things started to look better.

April- Mom moved to a rehab facility again, was weak from the two surgeries and did not respond to rehab, needed 24 hour care in the home along with being oxygen dependent.

May- Rehab stopped and her insurance would not cover in-home care, but would cover long-term care in a nursing facility. I started to explore moving to Colorado.

June- Finished 8 years at Coventry Public Schools, started to clean out my mother's house and made the decision to move west.

July- Bought a new used car, finished up at The Tobacco Shop, and took a 4 day drive to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Everything I owned was backed into the car.

August- Unemployed and living in a strange city, but near my daughter once again, but away from my son.  Relationship with daughter was rough and second guessing my move.

September- Finally found employment, and relationship with daughter improving.

October- Maeve had to put her horse down and then 10 days later her dog, was heartbroken for and with her.

November- Maeve finds handsome young gelding and starts to heal, relationship with her getting much better.

December- Two weeks before the holidays was informed that my job was being eliminated at the end of the month. Panic starts to creep in...found new position and with a raise three days after Christmas.

Here is to a less turbulent 2020...

Colorado: The Land of the Directional Impaired

As I get my bearings in the area, I have become aware that the locals around here do not know or use cardinal directions correctly, or at least how I was educated with them.

Let me demonstrate some examples:

• If you go "up valley" you actually have to travel south...now most maps are laid out with north being the top of the chart. The rest of society will tell you that you go up to go north (As in, "I went up north this weekend."), not up traveling south to your destination. Everyone here will quickly remind you it is an "elevation thing." But if you are south of Aspen and have to go down in elevation are you going up or down?
• The "South Canyon" is located to the northwest of West Glenwood Springs. Everything north of the canyon is desolate and very steep, so not that approachable from that direction, so not sure why they call this the "South Canyon"? The other canyon into Glenwood Springs is to the east of South Canyon and is called Glenwood Canyon not "North Canyon."
• In defense of the locals, I will confirm that the Roaring Forks River flows north until the confluence with the Colorado River (which then flows northwest through the South Canyon), while most of the rivers in the northern hemisphere flow south.
• Secondly, I refer to being from "back east," but to get back east I have to travel to the front. You see they call the eastern slope of the Rockies here the "Front Range." I assume the name is from the time of the expansion west. But the majority of the weather here travels west to east, so can we call it a storm "front" if it is coming from the back of the front range? Just asking...

No one gets lost here with their localized aboriginal system of directions, I guess they are preserving an earlier civilizational way of thinking.

Flying Restrictions

So I just booked a flight to surprise my daughter for her birthday (shhhh, I don't think she reads or follows this blog, but still don't tell). I use one of the many search and purchase sites on the interwebz and they provide great and easy service. This intinerary I will be using two different airlines, but that doesn't matter because they are all the same.

And they are now all out for themselves and have even developed more classes that can be booked for when flying. Used to be just First Class and Cabin, then they added Business Class and called Cabin, Economy. Now they have split Economy into three different levels; Economy, Economy Plus, and Basic Economy. Three different pricing levels and different amenities at each level.

I do not fly First or Business anymore, especially if it is on my dime, there was a time, but not anymore. So I have no idea what is offered for amenities at those levels. 

The three levels and three different prices in the Cabin, have the following as amenities as I understand now...

• Economy Plus- Can have a carry on and personal item, and they supposedly have an inch or two extra leg room, and you get to still choose your seat.
• Economy- Carry on at $25 extra charge and a personal item, no leg room, and you get to chose your seat.
• Basic Economy- No Carry on what so every, even if you pay the extra and a personal item, and you don't get to choose your seat.

Of course in all the cabin, you can pay the checked baggage fees...

I guess customer service in the airlines industry is dead, we are just cattle to be transported.

Colorado-isms Part 2

So last year when I travel west to see my daughter I did a blog about the various quirks I noticed of being in a different region and the people that live there. The following is a continuation and update of that first post.

• I meet a lot of people that live there now, but are not from there originally, including a lot of New Englanders
• I was picked out from not being a local for my vernacular and colloquialisms...use of 'wicked', and few other nor'eastern terms.
• I got to have a rare brew to find that is brewed in CT while I was in Colorado.
• My beard is now long enough to be accepted as a local, I know this because of the eye contact and head nod of approval from other bearded humans.
• I still have not seen any big horned sheep.
• The locals panic when they have no snow.
• The country roads in the mountains are scary, they are twisty and turny, narrow, and have no guard rails.
• My beard likes the climate there better, as I needed less to keep it manageable. 
• Buffalo and elk are delicious.

Until next time...

Colorado-isms

So far my travels to see my daughter has truly been an adventure. So here are some things I have come across while in Colorado so far...

• This is the land of the bearded, I have much competition, not that it is a competition.
• If you think following self involved people on the sidewalk is annoying, try downtown Aspen, they are now self involved wearing and walking in ski boots. (Raise the ante because some are carrying their skis and poles and have no special awareness)
• They do not use cardinal directions or map position here, up means up in altitude and down is down in altitude. I am used to down meaning south....so you go up to Aspen even though it is located south of Glenwood Springs.
• There are many old time cigar ads still on the sides of the buildings in Aspen, but it is not a cigar friendly town.
• The people here a very friendly and the locals know everyone and their business...
• Their idea of snow removal is a lot different then back east, roads are made passable and sidewalks are not salted, traverse with caution on both.

Will post more as I come across them.

Yampah Vapor Caves

Glenwood Springs is known for its hot springs, there are several pools in the area with hotels and spas built around them. There is also caves with the geothermal water and minerals bubbling up in them. So we decided to try the Yampah Vapor Caves. http://www.yampahspa.com/

Totally worth the money and time spent. Came out feeling relax and rejuvenated, and didn't e'ven have to have one of the message experience offered. Even my daughter found it relaxing and she is high energy all the time.

The Caves have been in use as a spa for almost two centuries, and have been visited by many well known people including Doc Holiday and Teddy Roosevelt. The caves have not changed much and have marble benches with water worn depressions in them that take many many years to carve, so we're probably used by Doc and Teddy along now with me.

The caves have a sulfur smell to them that you quickly get used to, your first 10 minute session releases all the dead skin and toxins in pores. You can take a break in the solarium where there is pleasant music and bird sounds piped in, along with large urns of ice water to refresh yourself with.

The next round your aches and muscle tension, along with my sinuses were taken care of. Our last session was the relaxation and rejuvenation period. All of this was finished with a shower complete with a lemongrass body wash., and of course followed up with a nice hot cup of tea.

Of course none of this would be complete, with out an anecdote with The Maeve, they have small basin tubs that allow for filling with cold water. Being the independent child she is, she helped herself, but not before turning on the hose and letting it loose spraying herself and those around her with cool refreshing water, no one complained and all had a good laugh.

Traveling Observations Part Two

So yesterday turned a much longer day then I could ever imagine, and something I will remember until senility sets in. Without further ado here is some more of my travel escapades...

• After arriving in Denver 3 and 1/2 hours late, I was lucky enough to be put on another flight to Aspen. It was delayed due to weather in the Aspen area. Once we were allowed to board, we ended up sitting on the tarmac for an additional 90 minutes of wait time, while they unloaded 40+ bags of luggage and rebalanced the weight on the plane. Once airborne we took the 26 minute hop to Aspen, but the weather has changed again and visibility was about nil. The pilot made an attempt to touchdown, but could not get a visual of the runway so the try was aborted. I am not one to worry about flying but I was nervous, his pull-out game was strong, and we did some aerobatics to get out of there without crashing into any peaks all the while flying practically blind through snow clouds (yes you actually see sprarkly crystals like glitter inside the clouds). We made another nerve wrecking run and once again scrapped the mission and headed back to Denver. Of course the flight that was scheduled after us left first and was one of two of the nine  daily flights that actually landed in Aspen yesterday...
• All the other flights to Aspen, were either cancelled or booked (none made it by the way), United decided to bus us to Aspen at 6:00pm. Usually this is a 3, 3 1/2 hour ride (but the weather predicted it was likely to take about 5 hours), we met the storm just outside of Denver that was preventing us from landing in Aspen. This turned into a 10+ hour tour, that included 15-20 mph speeds and treacherous road conditions the majority of the way. Including a slow motion bus accident. And when I say slow motion, I mean both buses were completely stopped and the one bus slid sideways into ours. This held us up an additional hour and forty five minutes waiting for a wrecker to separate us and get a small repair to get us on our way again. From there it still was an insane 3 hour ride from the Vail area to a closed Aspen airport.
• By the time I arrived at Aspen at 4:30 am, all the local buses were shut down and not scheduled to start for another few hours, and then it would be an hour bus ride down valley to Glenwood Springs. I sweet talked the bus driver from Denver who was going to Glenwood Springs for some rest at a cheaper hotel than what is found in Aspen for a ride. So after getting everyone unloaded and back on the road for another hour long trek to my daughter.

Total travel time with the time zone changes was 30 hours door to door from my house to my daughter, total sleep time during that trip...90 minutes.

Travel Observations

While I have a layover might as well pontificate on the "joy" of travel...

• I got through TSA still wearing my stainless steel watch, oops.
• The restrictions for air travel do not allow for survival if the plane crashes on a deserted tropical island ala Lost.
• United forgot to plug in the heater and the water and sewer lines froze.
• While defrosting and flushing that fun time, the hook got wet and froze to the plane...final result 2 and 1/2 hour delay and missed connection.
• Got later flight, but may be cancelled due to weather...

Look for more updates

Anticipation....

Tomorrow I am off to see my daughter for the holidays, I am excited to travel and get away for a while and super excited to spend time with her and see the adventure she has had and is having since moving west.

I am usually a night before (or day of) packer. This time I have been packed for several days now, even have gone and rechecked and double checked the packing. I was up early so I could check-in on line for boarding passes.

There are several things I am looking forward to besides being with my daughter; the home town of Hunter S. Thompson, the Rocky Mountains, the hot springs and vapor caves, and getting a feel for that area as I still am trying very hard to relocate there.

I nervous of the weather for getting out of CT, as we are getting a short Arctic Vortex with extreme low temps, just hope my car starts at 0 dark thirty. Of course there is the travel which can present snags, but I hope everything runs smooth.

Stay tuned for travel and daughter escapades...