Thank You Friends, Seth & Alden!

Meet Seth & Alden.  Standing next to the house that Seth built.

 

Sisters Alden & Orley - standing next to the house Seth is now building - Orley's new home.

 

Seth is my "adopted son".  Alden is his soul mate.  Thank you both for having us, putting us up in your beautiful home, crafted by you, and sharing life's travails with us over wine and whiskey.  We are so proud of you two.  The amazing things you have done, the amazing things you do, and the promise of the future.  Hardworking and responsible sums you both up so well.  Creative, ambitious, and caring.  We are so proud.

 

We headed south to Thermopolis and soaked in the spring.  Thank you Orley for telling us how to get that soak in on a budget!  They say they are the biggest mineral hot springs in the world.  At 104 degrees, soaking was really great! 

 

We crawled back into the Honda after a short walk around the park before heading to Riverton.

State Park Hot Springs.

Mineral terraces

Mineral terraces.

 

We landed in Riverton WY for the night.  Steak, wine, and hotel room.  It is 7pm and we are soon to go to bed.  It feels like vacation!!  This has been a very nice get away!!



Another Favorite Museum Picture

Forgot to post this fun picture from the museum.

Today's plan - see Orley's house (Seth is building it), pack up, soak in the Thermopolis hot spring (if we get there in time), wander down to Riverton, spend the night, head into Jackson on Monday. 

Enjoy the long weekend all!

Holiday Weekend Get Away!

Ah, so nice to have a break!  We got out of town and drove six hours to a place that is 60 miles away, as the crow flies!!  Hah - Cody, Wyoming.  Up and over the hills.  Them there hills are covered in lots of snow now, so time for the long drive.  Dubois, Riverton, Shoshoni, Thermopolis, Meteesee, Cody.  Hanging out with Seth and Alden, a few miles up the road from the nation-famous Wapati School and right next to the weird, tall, structure (you would know what I'm talking about if you've been here). 

We got up late, ate fresh eggs, pork sausage, and Alden's cinnamon rolls.  Great start to a wonderful day.  Off to the Cody Buffalo Bill Museum. 

View from the Ballard deck.

Smith Mansion next to Seth's saw mill,

From the museum.

 From the museum.

 Barbed wire art.

 

After a great day at the museum, we went off for a beer at Pat OHara's, shopping at Sierra Trading Post, some amazing drinks at Juniper, and a delicious meal by Alden.  Wonderful day with such great friends!

A Picture is Worth.....

You really have to open this link and check out this cabin in the woods.  Says it all!
Big 2017 Snow

State of Emergency Declared

Yup.  This is a big deal.  Roof collapsing, downed power lines, roads closed continuously due to avalanches - a State of Emergency has been declared.  Read the Declaration Here

It rained all day and most of last night.  The plowed roads are now ice packed with water on top.  Makes for some interesting travel on the side roads. The main roads are clear flooded in some places.  Several areas of the county are simply inaccessible; either due to avalanches or water-covered icy roads.

Mike and I are walking up and down the hill now to our cabin.  No way can we drive up there.  He is working on getting some sand (which will get eaten up by the ice and be of little use in a day or two, ugh!).

And we are a long, long way from this being over.

I am Duty Officer for the weekend.  We'll see what incidents lie ahead.......

Since I've Returned....

Heavy snow loads and down burst winds have created quite a mess here in our little town.  The series of events started when the roof collapsed on the Sears building.  Sears Collapse  The really sad thing is this collapse affects a kids' gymnasium and a just-completed bowling alley (rumor is, they put $3.5 million into its build).  Such a bummer for these businesses.

Next event was a mammoth snow fall.  It snowed and snowed.  By the end of the day, there was about 16" of new snow at our Hoback place.  Mike tried to help the road plow guy get unstuck and by the end of the ordeal his old red truck blew up.  Probably blew the engine.  Now we are without a plow tuck.  That's not good.

Next was the big wind that followed the snow storm.  A downblast of wind sent about 10 metal power poles to their demise along the road to Teton Village.  Power is out for Teton Village, the airport, and several residential areas.  Lower Valley Energy says 5 to 7 days to have power back up.  This is a big, big deal for a tourist town filled with skiers!  Fortunately, no one was hurt as the lines came crashing down.

At home, snow continues to slide off the roof.  This is a good thing, but the mounds are now at window height.  I shoveled the east windows out yesterday, worried about snow pushing them in.  Hopefully, our walls are strong.  Look for pictures to come of the mess around our place.

The weather forecast predicts two days of rain and 6 degree low for Saturday night.  What a mess for all.

Back in Time

Thanks to a low power battery, I was unable to finish the Tour Day adventure story.  After the tour of Park Guell (see more at Tile and Rock ), we drove into town to take a view of Sagrada Familla (see more at Ambitious Project ).  This is such a busy place.  The thought of wading through the throngs of people just did not appeal to any of us.  So we did a good 360, took some pictures and moved on. This place is massive.  The inside must be spectacular.  Gaudi created some monumental works of architecture.  This one is rumored to be completed in 2026!
 

 

We drove on to find two "houses" created by Gaudi next.  The curving lines of the intricate stone work are astonishing.  We marvel at other structures nearby for the ornamentation in design.  Here is an image from each house.  Want to learn more on Gaudi?  Check him out here Talented & Productive Architect

 

 

Guide Thomas then takes us to the old part of Barcelona.  Driving down La Rambla, there are people everywhere!  We park and walk down the narrow alleys, marvel at the old architecture and feel our time with our guide winding down.  There are musicians playing in the open spaces, the notes fit nicely in this old cobblestoned and rock walled space. 

 

 

 

We scurry back to the car and Thomas takes us to our final destination, the Fundacio Joan Miro (see this cool museum at Barcelona Modern Art ).  We walk up to the massive white structure and begin a tour of Joan Miro's unusual work.  Please don't judge - I had no idea who this artist was!  I like modern art, so I was thrilled!!  Hearing his story on the headphones, seeing how the tensions during his time influenced his work, and his curiosity for other medium types was fascinating.  We were allowed to take pictures, so I did!  Here are some sample of Miro's work.

 

 

 

 Man and woman playing with almond blossoms.



 



Last, but by far, NOT least, a gift from friend Alexander Calder, a fountain.  Glassed off and in its own room, the fountain is beautiful.  I like fountains.  I see the troughs, the liquid hits a flapper and circulates around.  Then I read what the liquid was.....mercury!  The surrounding hills have an abundance and it is the liquid contained in this spectacular fountain.  How neat is this?? (Read more about the fountain here )

There is more, there is more!!  But enough for now.  Our day was far from over as we headed to the Open Air Market and found the most unusual bar in Barcelona. 

 

 

Festival of the Calcotadas!

It's not a bad thing to have good luck!  Thanks to wonderful connections, four Americans found themselves part of a unique, traditional event, north of Barcelona.  The festival celebrates the beginning of spring as two year old onions - something like a cross between a scallion and a leek - are pulled out of the ground, strung on a wire, and roasted over wood coals.  The hot steamy onions, called calcotadas, are wrapped in newspaper and passed around to the crowd.  An onion-dipping-finger-licking sauce called Romesco is seen on every table.  We open bottles of wine, eat crusty bread, dip onions, and celebrate life, looking out to the sea.  The farmer is actually from California.  He visits and tells us of the onion's life, from seed to sauce, as we sit under an olive tree filled with local children playing and are surrounded by his emerging crops; new spinach, new lettuce, new cabbage.  Musicians play music, "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue", and the mood is festive.  As the afternoon carries on, dark clouds roll in from the southwest, the wind kicks up and it feels like an early spring day.  The festival begins to pack up and we make our way back to Barcelona on a train filled with handsome young men from a water polo team and a K-9 dog wishing to play.  He falls in love with our new-friend Amanda!

Back at the hotel, packing my bag to leave, I can still tasted the grilled onions, the Romesco, and the wine.  Life is good.  Life is so very good!

Barcelona Tourist!

Well, that was certainly a FULL day!!  A pack of three of us were led around the city today by guide, Thomas.  A young man in his 30s, Thomas took us to many fine places.  Best of all, he navigated the streets and traffic, found parking places, and watched our backs as we gawked and took photos. 

First stop, a very popular stop, the Park Guell.  It is difficult to the place into words.  Hired by a millionaire, this architect and artist built an amazing place from pieces of colored tiles with a really great view of the city.  Here are a few pictures from stop #1.

Have I said yet that there are tourists EVERYWHERE?  This place makes a busy summer day in Jackson look like child's play!  And this isn't their busy season.  Seriously, there are people everywhere.

Next stop was to the top of a mountain in the city where the bunkers from a civil war still remain, Bunker Carmel.  Holy moley, what a view.  I had no idea of the expanse of this city.  It was stunning to look off both sides of this point and see city, city, city. 

Get the sense of this place?  I had no idea!! This was just stop #2!  With still much time, we made our way to the Sagrada Familla - another HUGE tourist attraction.

But, I am about to run out of computer battery.  Recall, the outlets are quite different here.  So, I'm signing out early tonight, with many, many more thing to share, but not enough power to do so!  Tomorrow will be much different, I am certain........talk of a trip an hour north of town....more to come!

Another Day of Learning

The conference comes to a close with a final finale of learning.  Today's topic, prescribed burning, seems to be the theme.  We need to do more, we are not doing enough, put fire on the ground!  These words are practically shouted from speakers coming from all parts of the world; most interesting, from Ireland, where there are very few days dry enough to even think about burning!  It is quite interesting to hear all the different perspectives.  Below is an image of a coffee break prior to the morning/afternoon sessions.  The school has beautiful internal yards which the following pictures illustrate.  There are at least a dozen wild cats in these gardens.

 

The day finishes with a nice standup meal of appetizers and wine.  We visit, tell stories, and celebrate a most successful event. Time to be a tourist!  A group of us are off to see Barcelona tomorrow.  Expect many pictures to come!!

Work and Play

The conference continues from an old building now used by the University of Barcelona.  Figures painted on giant paintings watch over sessions held to bring forth research on all types of fire practices, in all parts of the world.  The place is impressive!  The talks are fascinating. 

 

The day of work finishes around 7pm.  A pack of us join up to find the local brew pub.  We sit, tell stories and drink Barcelona beer.  It tastes good.  As hunger overtakes the desire to quench thirst, we make off for a place to eat.  Someone in the group knows a place in the "old town" and we begin an most interesting walk through the city of Barcelona.  Wide streets with zooming scooters and cars are crossed to navigate narrow alleys.  The city is about 4 stories tall and walking through the narrow alleys is quite different.  There is no one to keep any kind of directional sense.  I give up an know there is a taxi somewhere if we get totally lost!  Our quest lands us at an amazing restaurant.  We drink wine, eat "tapas" (appetizers of fresh mussels, bread with tomato on top, some kind of fried potato, and squid) and each of us finds the meal of choice to savor.  I chose octopus and it is perfect!  We get desserts and the meal finishes around midnight.  The bill is small and we are astonished.  Many say it was one of the finest meals they have eaten - and these are very traveled people! 

 

 

 

We walk and find taxis.  Time to find the motel and charge up for another day of learning and adventures!