Shared Illusions

Howdy. Been a while since posting here,  but as we are on the road for 2 weeks,  I thought I’d provide a bit of travel itinerary.  We left NM  on Thursday the 22nd with plans to spend the night in Mancos (pronounced Man-kiss, which makes me shudder) , CO.  It’s a dear little town, close to Mesa Verde, The Canyon of the Ancients, and Hovenweep. None of which we saw. We do plan to return for those reasons. 

We had a terrible late lunch at the Columbine Café: Philly steak sandwich (me) – more mystery meat than steak with an odd herb? seasoning and a Smash burger (Ed) with not much flavor. I just don’t “get” smash burgers…skinny patties, that can’t be cooked to order,  not that many places do cook to order, as usually when I ask for medium rare it comes medium or well done.  Anyway, it’s a cute place and was really done up for Halloween. I hope other food is better.

We didn’t go out that night as it was quite stormy and our motel room was quite cozy.

On the way there, south of Broomfield, hit a massive rain storm…thunder,  lightening,  and the kind of rain that suddenly falls like a sodden blanket and you can’t see a thing. Scary.

After that though,  the drive was glorious with trees all golden and butterscotch.

The terrible lunch was vindicated by a delicious breakfast here, The Moondog Café. They have a wonderful breakfast menu with creative Benedicts and mouth watering baked goods.

If you go to Mancos,  the Mesa Verde Motel is delightful. Two young couples have invested time, energy, care, creative thought, and money into a comfortable environment.  No photos,  so do a search.

A few more photos from Mancos…

From there we went into remote Utah to visit friends living and creating a parallel possibility of life. It’s a Mormon ranch, but you don’t have to be Mormon to set up your homestead.

We are thoroughly impressed with the passion and commitment required to undertake such a lifestyle. Meeting many of their friends in the community helped me to comprehend the allure of self-sufficiency. But not enough to emulate them.

Driving from Utah to Lake Tahoe, our current digs for 3 nights, was a 2 day journey on the loneliest highway in the US, highway 50. There are long, long, long stretches of flat open road, punctuated by a few forays into curvaceous mountain areas.

We spent one night in Ely, NV in the Red Light cottage,  so called as it sits adjacent to not one, not two,  but three houses of full body massage…ahem.

Ely, sadly, doesn’t have much going on. But we had great burgers and coleslaw at Rax…burgers cooked to order! And there are many murals highlighting the town’s history…

Along Highway 50 we went through Moab (no reason to stay there, it’s a small tourist town hugging the highway) unless you have specific designs on hiking or biking. I didn’t know what to expect of Moab, but not what I saw.

Today, 10.25, we drove by ancient lake beds (Sevier Lake), reminding me of the very early history of the southwest. You do imagine being able to find dinosaur bones. In fact, we saw several signs for archeological digs.

We also drove through salt flats and I wondered at the possibility of harvesting the salt as a gourmet ingredient, akin to Fleur de Sel, Maldon salt, or the salt of the Camargue. Why not? All you need is good PR.

A break stop in Fallon, the oasis of Nevada, found us enjoying a cortado (me) and a beer (Ed) at a rustic café.

Tonight, the 26th, we are in South Lake Tahoe. I could have cried when first I espied the lake from on high. Deep Azure blue, white caps,  expansive and so so gorgeous.

Clearly,  we are here off-season, between summer lake and winter ski. There’s still plenty of traffic, so I imagine high season is horrendous. 

It’s getting late, even though by Pacific time it’s not. And that means good night 😴.