Socchan's vacation log
Jul. 18th, 2006 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetAt long last! Just in case anyone is actually interested.
Thursday
Left Iowa early Thursday morning after last-minute van loading and good-bye post-making. Spent most of the day in the car, with brief stops for gas, the bathroom, and food. Ended up having to listen to Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi on tape =_= Only actually liked maybe a quarter of it. Zoned out for most of the rest, and listened to music instead whenever I could. (Dad caught me after a collective hour, and I didn't have the guts to explain to him that I was trying to enjoy my vacation. Managed maybe twenty collective minutes after that the first day.) Didn't entirely enjoy it. Stopped at last at a hotel in Castle Rock. Lounged around, got some sleep.
Also picked up three paperback Mrs. Pollifax novels in a used bookstore on the way, starting a trend for my vacation.
Friday
Friday was a little better. Mom talked to Dad and convinced him to let me get away with not listening to the rest of the story if I didn't want to. Drowned out most of the rest of it with a few of the CD's I brought along.
Stopped for a while in Colorado Springs, where we visited a cousin of Mom's and her family. (Husband, one of her two daughters, three cats, two dogs, ferret, lizard, small rodent.) Had lunch, then went on our way again. Arrived in Alamosa shortly before four o'clock, the official check-in time at the B&B, but we were allowed to check in anyway. Some of the family had already arrived (Grandpa and his wife, henceforth called Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Jane), and Grandma arrived before too long. We all went out to dinner at this nice Mexican place afterwards, where we saw the bride and met the groom as well as many other people. Conservative uncle is more redneck than I remember him. His son has red hair now, and I didn't recognize him at all. Took me twenty minutes of pretending I did and paying attention to conversation to figure it out =_= Got to sit next to Grandma, and she told me that she had broken her tailbone twice before. Eventually asked her how long it took to stop hurting (I discovered mine still doesn't like me sitting in cushy chairs for hours at a time), and found out it took pretty long; she didn't remember exactly how long, but longer than two weeks, that's for sure. Still, it was a good meal.
Saturday
Saturday was the day of the ceremony. Breakfast was very nice--banana nut pancakes and fruit and whatnot--and we had a few hours to relax afterwards. We started driving out to the mountains around noon. It took two hours, by the end of which my tailbone hated me =_= It was also raining, and I never really got to examine a number of the flowers I saw while driving up ;_; *is incredibly fond of the flora on mountains* It was a nice ceremony, though, even in the freezing cold rain. (There were some odd cloud formations on the way, which my redneck uncle seemed to think were tornados. I thought they were maybe funnel clouds, but they looked a little wispy for it.)
Got a ride home with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Jane. Mostly listened to their conversation; didn't contribute much myself ^^a It started raining really hard on the way back, too. Still, we managed to find our way home (later than my family, even though we started out first =_=), where I got to laze around a few more hours until the reception. Ended up having to leave the reception after ten minutes anyway, due to overpowering stress. Dad was kind enough to drive through McDonald's for me on the way home, so I would have something to eat. Spent the time until my nuclear family returned watching TV and recovering. Slept fairly well.
Sunday
Sunday we got up for breakfast (waffle boats (really skinny waffles with fruit and cereal in 'em--I could've managed at least two, but only got to eat one)) and attended a ten-thirty mass at a local church. Felt more welcome and faithful there than I have in years at the church I attend here, which has presented me with a few problems, but not anything I'll get into just now.
Went to see Dead Man's Chest around one, during which it rained again (really hard) and the van was pelted by millet-sized hail on the way. Luckily, the hail had let up by the time Dad dropped us off at the door.
I will forego movie spoilers for the moment, save one thing, which I will white out: Elizabeth was damn hot in drag. (end spoiler) I, for one, loved every minute of it and would see it again. (Pat? Chris? Thoughts/dates/times? :DDD) Went home pleased, though with the resolve to see fewer movies with Dad. Also with a very sore tailbone ;_; Movie seats are not made for recovering from broken tailbones.
Went out a few hours later to see The Devil Wears Prada with the girls in the family. I enjoyed it well enough, but I liked Pirates better. Have vowed not to see two movies in the same day again unless a) I come up with a portable hard seat I can take with me (similar to a booster seat, but my sized and not boosting) or b) enough time has passed that it will no longer hurt as much. ...Not that I won't break this vow in an instant if I go with the right company, but the idea is sound.
We ate dinner that night at an All-Star Café, whose parking lot was flooded from all the rain they'd been getting. I had quesadillas, and found out more about how much of a redneck exactly my uncle is =_=
Monday
Monday was eggs scrambled with sausage and onion. I managed to eat around the onion bits, and tolerated the sausage, though I probably would've prefered its flavor in link form.
That afternoon we took a two hour drive to Taos, New Mexico. We ate lunch at a restaurant there. I had fish and chips ^___^ *has slowly learned to love fish* I don't think I'll be eating cream-of-chicken soup again for a while, though. Also, it was very cramped--which, considering the sheer number of people who came with us, was not unexpected.
Grandma left after lunch. Sad, sad. But not before extending the invitation to me to come with her to Texas. I turned her down, but told her I might next year. *makes half-hearted plans regarding anime conventions in Texas*
After lunch, Mom and Dad dragged us to a reservation with ruins (read as: perfectly functional houses) that had been lived in for over a thousand years. I was quickly bored by the pace and depressed by the surroundings, and Tomas wasn't long behind me. Mom and Dad let us go wait by the entrance while they explored and took pictures a bit longer.
At that time, I finally got around to doing some souvineer shopping. Before doing the really 'serious' shopping, Mom, Tomas and I stopped in a really neat door shop there. In that there were maybe hundreds of doors set up in the front yard and, from what I hear, more in the back, and knobs and other things for sale inside. Tomas bought a really small doorknob there for himself.
After visiting there, Tomas kinda split off from us to see if he could find Dad or something. Mom and I wandered down to Taos Plaza looking for someplace that would sell small souvineers or handcrafts.
We finally found a nice little shop in which, after some mental debate, I bought ten 'milagros' (Spanish for 'miracles') of varying shapes. I'd seen a video about them in third or fourth grade art class as an introduction to working with tin. My tin 'carving' of a generic bowl of fruit (with marker color added) was later shown in the Iowa Museam of Art =_=a Anyway, milagros. Basically how it works is you take a little tin carving of something that you want, or something that hurts, and you pin it to a saint. The saint is supposed to interpret these wishes and help you grant them. Or something. (Did not like to dwell long on the gun-shaped milagro, as it hinted at things I didn't like to think about. The car-shaped milagro was only a short distance after it in confusion.) Mom also spotted a few penis-shaped milagros on display, which the shopkeeper described as 'Mexican Viagra' ^_~
Shortly after I finally bought the milagros, it started to rain. Really hard. Again. Mom and I were already a few minutes late, and now we were practically running to meet up with the rest of the family. Tomas met us partway back with an umbrella, the wonderful brother that he is, and I also stopped in a shop and comandeered a large plastic bag, which I turned into a poncho.
We stopped by this big gorge on the way back. And I don't really remember what we did for dinner that day. At all.
Tuesday
Tuesday I lazed around the house ¦D Tomas and Dad went to check out 'Splashland', which Tomas kinda thought was going to be a water-park of some sort. It turned out to basically be a large pool with one or two small slides. It was heated by natural hot springs, though.
I also stopped by the coffeehouse, Milagros ♥♥♥ If you could not already tell by the three heartmarks, I found it a charming and awesome place. It had excellent food, pretty art on display, a small used bookstore in the back, and three computers with high-speed internet open for public use ♥ They were payed for through donations, which I made sure to contribute to ;) I didn't stay online long, since I wasn't feeling the need too much, but I had an excellent lunch. Italian cream sodas = teh win. *will be adding to the List shortly*
It was also at some point during Tuesday that Mom discovered what a sorry state my seven-year-old Teva sandals were in, and resolved to get me a new pair, which we finally did on Sunday. *is now wearing new Eccos that were--gasp!--on sale*
We had dinner with the bride and groom at a nice little Mexican place that had a green iguana on 'display' pretty much as soon as you walked in the door. Mom managed to tone her iguana-related nagging down to a website rec and asking them please to not use the hotrock. Overall, it was pleasant.
Wednesday
Wednesday was... something else.
We woke up at the usual time and headed out to visit the Sand Dunes national park. ...It was basically a lot of sand.
Went out to Zapata falls after that. Icy cold water >_O Thankfully, that managed to take my mind off of the pain from both the car ride and menstral cramps, which had started that morning.
Following the falls, we went off in search of a hot springs ...place. Sadly, the only one we found was closed on Wednesdays ;_; The one day of the week they were closed, too. (That was about the only thing I would've struggled into a swimsuit and used tampons for, BTW.)
We ate a really late lunch on the way back at a rustic little place called Billy's. It had historical figures set up all around it, with information sheets to go with 'em. Very interesting place. Lotta character.
Dad and Tom stopped by a Chinese place for dinner and brought me back some beef with brocolli, which I didn't eat much of ^^a Mom wasn't very hungry, considering we'd just had 'lunch' at four.
Thursday
Thursday was a lot more engaging. We went on a train ride to La Veta--a really small town not too far away. Ate lunch on the way. Also saw a herd of elk, and a mule deer. And maybe a hare, I didn't get a very good look at it.
Had an ice cream cone while I was there, and did a bit of shopping with Mom--but not much. There wasn't really a lot to do there without stopping in a restaurant.
Despite getting a late start and not taking any less time in the town, the train managed to get back into Alamosa on time.
We ate dinner at a bar-and-grill place that was supposed to maybe have live entertainment, but Mom, Tomas and I didn't really stay to find out. Instead, we went home shortly after eating and relaxed.
Friday
Friday was the day we headed home. Thus, there was lots of driving. Dad was wonderful and made something of an effort to find us a hotel by seven so Tomas and I could watch the Avatar 'movie' ♥ Unfortunately, we missed the first of what turned out to be episodes, and maybe the first five minutes from the second, so we were a bit lost. But Sokka on cactus juice was still funny as heck.
The only other really notable thing was that we stayed in a really cheap/somewhat bad hotel in Dodge (KA, I believe?).
Saturday
Saturday was more driving. Lots more driving. We finally made it home sometime from ten-thirty to eleven, at which point I stayed up maybe five hours reading things online ^^a This did not prepare me well for church the next morning =_= Or doing anything the next morning, for that matter. But I regret it not!
And that's pretty much it. Got some more relaxation/recovery from vacation in yesterday, and ended up going to sleep around seven-thirty when a thunderstorm hit and made the lights flicker (and me worry for the computer, thus turning it off). Woke up at around six this morning as a result ^^a Have been reading Eyeshield 21, a massive RoyEd CFUD AU (because regular universe doesn't allow sex ^^;;;), and friends list/lurk journals pretty regularly since. I do not wish to think about what this may have done to my brain.
Thursday
Left Iowa early Thursday morning after last-minute van loading and good-bye post-making. Spent most of the day in the car, with brief stops for gas, the bathroom, and food. Ended up having to listen to Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi on tape =_= Only actually liked maybe a quarter of it. Zoned out for most of the rest, and listened to music instead whenever I could. (Dad caught me after a collective hour, and I didn't have the guts to explain to him that I was trying to enjoy my vacation. Managed maybe twenty collective minutes after that the first day.) Didn't entirely enjoy it. Stopped at last at a hotel in Castle Rock. Lounged around, got some sleep.
Also picked up three paperback Mrs. Pollifax novels in a used bookstore on the way, starting a trend for my vacation.
Friday
Friday was a little better. Mom talked to Dad and convinced him to let me get away with not listening to the rest of the story if I didn't want to. Drowned out most of the rest of it with a few of the CD's I brought along.
Stopped for a while in Colorado Springs, where we visited a cousin of Mom's and her family. (Husband, one of her two daughters, three cats, two dogs, ferret, lizard, small rodent.) Had lunch, then went on our way again. Arrived in Alamosa shortly before four o'clock, the official check-in time at the B&B, but we were allowed to check in anyway. Some of the family had already arrived (Grandpa and his wife, henceforth called Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Jane), and Grandma arrived before too long. We all went out to dinner at this nice Mexican place afterwards, where we saw the bride and met the groom as well as many other people. Conservative uncle is more redneck than I remember him. His son has red hair now, and I didn't recognize him at all. Took me twenty minutes of pretending I did and paying attention to conversation to figure it out =_= Got to sit next to Grandma, and she told me that she had broken her tailbone twice before. Eventually asked her how long it took to stop hurting (I discovered mine still doesn't like me sitting in cushy chairs for hours at a time), and found out it took pretty long; she didn't remember exactly how long, but longer than two weeks, that's for sure. Still, it was a good meal.
Saturday
Saturday was the day of the ceremony. Breakfast was very nice--banana nut pancakes and fruit and whatnot--and we had a few hours to relax afterwards. We started driving out to the mountains around noon. It took two hours, by the end of which my tailbone hated me =_= It was also raining, and I never really got to examine a number of the flowers I saw while driving up ;_; *is incredibly fond of the flora on mountains* It was a nice ceremony, though, even in the freezing cold rain. (There were some odd cloud formations on the way, which my redneck uncle seemed to think were tornados. I thought they were maybe funnel clouds, but they looked a little wispy for it.)
Got a ride home with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Jane. Mostly listened to their conversation; didn't contribute much myself ^^a It started raining really hard on the way back, too. Still, we managed to find our way home (later than my family, even though we started out first =_=), where I got to laze around a few more hours until the reception. Ended up having to leave the reception after ten minutes anyway, due to overpowering stress. Dad was kind enough to drive through McDonald's for me on the way home, so I would have something to eat. Spent the time until my nuclear family returned watching TV and recovering. Slept fairly well.
Sunday
Sunday we got up for breakfast (waffle boats (really skinny waffles with fruit and cereal in 'em--I could've managed at least two, but only got to eat one)) and attended a ten-thirty mass at a local church. Felt more welcome and faithful there than I have in years at the church I attend here, which has presented me with a few problems, but not anything I'll get into just now.
Went to see Dead Man's Chest around one, during which it rained again (really hard) and the van was pelted by millet-sized hail on the way. Luckily, the hail had let up by the time Dad dropped us off at the door.
I will forego movie spoilers for the moment, save one thing, which I will white out: Elizabeth was damn hot in drag. (end spoiler) I, for one, loved every minute of it and would see it again. (Pat? Chris? Thoughts/dates/times? :DDD) Went home pleased, though with the resolve to see fewer movies with Dad. Also with a very sore tailbone ;_; Movie seats are not made for recovering from broken tailbones.
Went out a few hours later to see The Devil Wears Prada with the girls in the family. I enjoyed it well enough, but I liked Pirates better. Have vowed not to see two movies in the same day again unless a) I come up with a portable hard seat I can take with me (similar to a booster seat, but my sized and not boosting) or b) enough time has passed that it will no longer hurt as much. ...Not that I won't break this vow in an instant if I go with the right company, but the idea is sound.
We ate dinner that night at an All-Star Café, whose parking lot was flooded from all the rain they'd been getting. I had quesadillas, and found out more about how much of a redneck exactly my uncle is =_=
Monday
Monday was eggs scrambled with sausage and onion. I managed to eat around the onion bits, and tolerated the sausage, though I probably would've prefered its flavor in link form.
That afternoon we took a two hour drive to Taos, New Mexico. We ate lunch at a restaurant there. I had fish and chips ^___^ *has slowly learned to love fish* I don't think I'll be eating cream-of-chicken soup again for a while, though. Also, it was very cramped--which, considering the sheer number of people who came with us, was not unexpected.
Grandma left after lunch. Sad, sad. But not before extending the invitation to me to come with her to Texas. I turned her down, but told her I might next year. *makes half-hearted plans regarding anime conventions in Texas*
After lunch, Mom and Dad dragged us to a reservation with ruins (read as: perfectly functional houses) that had been lived in for over a thousand years. I was quickly bored by the pace and depressed by the surroundings, and Tomas wasn't long behind me. Mom and Dad let us go wait by the entrance while they explored and took pictures a bit longer.
At that time, I finally got around to doing some souvineer shopping. Before doing the really 'serious' shopping, Mom, Tomas and I stopped in a really neat door shop there. In that there were maybe hundreds of doors set up in the front yard and, from what I hear, more in the back, and knobs and other things for sale inside. Tomas bought a really small doorknob there for himself.
After visiting there, Tomas kinda split off from us to see if he could find Dad or something. Mom and I wandered down to Taos Plaza looking for someplace that would sell small souvineers or handcrafts.
We finally found a nice little shop in which, after some mental debate, I bought ten 'milagros' (Spanish for 'miracles') of varying shapes. I'd seen a video about them in third or fourth grade art class as an introduction to working with tin. My tin 'carving' of a generic bowl of fruit (with marker color added) was later shown in the Iowa Museam of Art =_=a Anyway, milagros. Basically how it works is you take a little tin carving of something that you want, or something that hurts, and you pin it to a saint. The saint is supposed to interpret these wishes and help you grant them. Or something. (Did not like to dwell long on the gun-shaped milagro, as it hinted at things I didn't like to think about. The car-shaped milagro was only a short distance after it in confusion.) Mom also spotted a few penis-shaped milagros on display, which the shopkeeper described as 'Mexican Viagra' ^_~
Shortly after I finally bought the milagros, it started to rain. Really hard. Again. Mom and I were already a few minutes late, and now we were practically running to meet up with the rest of the family. Tomas met us partway back with an umbrella, the wonderful brother that he is, and I also stopped in a shop and comandeered a large plastic bag, which I turned into a poncho.
We stopped by this big gorge on the way back. And I don't really remember what we did for dinner that day. At all.
Tuesday
Tuesday I lazed around the house ¦D Tomas and Dad went to check out 'Splashland', which Tomas kinda thought was going to be a water-park of some sort. It turned out to basically be a large pool with one or two small slides. It was heated by natural hot springs, though.
I also stopped by the coffeehouse, Milagros ♥♥♥ If you could not already tell by the three heartmarks, I found it a charming and awesome place. It had excellent food, pretty art on display, a small used bookstore in the back, and three computers with high-speed internet open for public use ♥ They were payed for through donations, which I made sure to contribute to ;) I didn't stay online long, since I wasn't feeling the need too much, but I had an excellent lunch. Italian cream sodas = teh win. *will be adding to the List shortly*
It was also at some point during Tuesday that Mom discovered what a sorry state my seven-year-old Teva sandals were in, and resolved to get me a new pair, which we finally did on Sunday. *is now wearing new Eccos that were--gasp!--on sale*
We had dinner with the bride and groom at a nice little Mexican place that had a green iguana on 'display' pretty much as soon as you walked in the door. Mom managed to tone her iguana-related nagging down to a website rec and asking them please to not use the hotrock. Overall, it was pleasant.
Wednesday
Wednesday was... something else.
We woke up at the usual time and headed out to visit the Sand Dunes national park. ...It was basically a lot of sand.
Went out to Zapata falls after that. Icy cold water >_O Thankfully, that managed to take my mind off of the pain from both the car ride and menstral cramps, which had started that morning.
Following the falls, we went off in search of a hot springs ...place. Sadly, the only one we found was closed on Wednesdays ;_; The one day of the week they were closed, too. (That was about the only thing I would've struggled into a swimsuit and used tampons for, BTW.)
We ate a really late lunch on the way back at a rustic little place called Billy's. It had historical figures set up all around it, with information sheets to go with 'em. Very interesting place. Lotta character.
Dad and Tom stopped by a Chinese place for dinner and brought me back some beef with brocolli, which I didn't eat much of ^^a Mom wasn't very hungry, considering we'd just had 'lunch' at four.
Thursday
Thursday was a lot more engaging. We went on a train ride to La Veta--a really small town not too far away. Ate lunch on the way. Also saw a herd of elk, and a mule deer. And maybe a hare, I didn't get a very good look at it.
Had an ice cream cone while I was there, and did a bit of shopping with Mom--but not much. There wasn't really a lot to do there without stopping in a restaurant.
Despite getting a late start and not taking any less time in the town, the train managed to get back into Alamosa on time.
We ate dinner at a bar-and-grill place that was supposed to maybe have live entertainment, but Mom, Tomas and I didn't really stay to find out. Instead, we went home shortly after eating and relaxed.
Friday
Friday was the day we headed home. Thus, there was lots of driving. Dad was wonderful and made something of an effort to find us a hotel by seven so Tomas and I could watch the Avatar 'movie' ♥ Unfortunately, we missed the first of what turned out to be episodes, and maybe the first five minutes from the second, so we were a bit lost. But Sokka on cactus juice was still funny as heck.
The only other really notable thing was that we stayed in a really cheap/somewhat bad hotel in Dodge (KA, I believe?).
Saturday
Saturday was more driving. Lots more driving. We finally made it home sometime from ten-thirty to eleven, at which point I stayed up maybe five hours reading things online ^^a This did not prepare me well for church the next morning =_= Or doing anything the next morning, for that matter. But I regret it not!
And that's pretty much it. Got some more relaxation/recovery from vacation in yesterday, and ended up going to sleep around seven-thirty when a thunderstorm hit and made the lights flicker (and me worry for the computer, thus turning it off). Woke up at around six this morning as a result ^^a Have been reading Eyeshield 21, a massive RoyEd CFUD AU (because regular universe doesn't allow sex ^^;;;), and friends list/lurk journals pretty regularly since. I do not wish to think about what this may have done to my brain.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-19 10:49 am (UTC)Glad you're back ^__^
And 'nee-cha~~an! If Y!M still doesn't work right on your computer, do you have MSN? I miss fangirling with you, and PotC2 has massive grounds for fangirling D:
no subject
Date: 2006-07-20 01:01 am (UTC)I miss you, too DDD: Y!M is working, I think (I haven't tried it out much, I'm afraid ^^a), so either would work? Though probably not until Friday, unless I make you stay up really really late =_=a Or unless I stay up really really late myself.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-20 07:51 am (UTC)How late is "late"?
Since I already stay up late, sometimes after midnight to speak with Pat :D;;