Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Catching Up

If you're ever in Cortez, Colorado and want to connect to the Internet, do not stay at the Comfort Inn.

I settled in last night, all set for a nice long blogfest, but found that although I could connect to the wireless network, I couldn't actually do anything beyond that. My call to the motel's front desk got me nowhere ("Gee, I really don't know what to tell you.") Next step: calling the wireless company's customer support. I got a very nice young woman in India with whom I chatted amiably for way too long. We tried changing many settings on my laptop, then changed them back. Many questions were asked and answered. My face began visibly aging in the mirror in front of me.

Finally, when all solutions had been tried, I was told that the wireless company has an incompatibility issue with Intel network cards. Hmmm...... sounds like maybe they should go into sheep farming or something. The young Indian woman apologized for not being able to help me, then offered to give me a "case number" so that I could call them back if I wanted to. I felt like screaming "WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO CALL YOU BACK???". Anyway, no blog last night.

Tonight we are in Moab, Utah, with a wireless connection that works - hallelujah. So time to post yesterday's pictures and a few from today.



The last picture from the cabin in Estes Park. I had to show you the lighted snowshoes. If there's someone on your Christmas list who is hard to buy for, this is the answer.


An old stone church on a mountainside south of Estes Park.

The drive between Montrose and Durango, Colorado was great. The mountains are the San Juans.

More San Juan mountains.


This pictures was taken in the Uncompahgre National Forest in Colorado. Dusty and I just loved saying this word, so we said it over and over for hours. Occasionally we even pronounced it correctly. We also practiced saying Ouray (a town we drove through in Colorado, pronounced you-RAY). So it was "Uncompahgre, you-RAY" all the way down the road. Driving does not have to be dull.



I'm sure there's a good caption for this picture, but I don't know what it is. Dusty looks like she's trying to sell someone a river.


The trip from Montrose to Durango involved ascending several times to just under 12,000 feet, where it was still a little wintry.

This morning we drove through the Four Corners region (where the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona all meet at one point) then through Arizona a ways and up to Utah through Monument Valley. Unfortunately, it was very rainy all morning, so all the fantastic geological formations in Monument Valley were shrouded in clouds. As we got a little further north, it started clearing up. Above is Mexican Hat Rock.

Along the road driving up to Moab, Utah.

A mini-arch. Tomorrow we'll see the BIG arches in Arches National Park.


Dusty and the mini-arch.

We are staying two nights here in Moab, since we want to see both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National park.

For those of you who are leaving comments, first of all, thanks! Secondly, the comments don't show up on the blog until I "publish" them, which I do as soon as I know about them - but that might be the next day. This is to prevent comments showing up that I don't like, such as "What a stupid blog!", or "I can't believe I wasted my time reading this.". All extremely positive comments are encouraged though.


No comments: