There were no further interruptions on the way to the beauty salon. Even the traffic was running in my favor! (That’s very rare!)

When I arrived, my hairdresser was running a bit late, thus I had to wait. The staff knows my true gender; nobody has an issue with my feminine appearance. And, I was soon was sitting in the chair.

From prior discussions with my tech, I know she has issues similar to mine, with both big toe nails being badly cracked, and she wears them patched with acrylic, just as I do, to avoid having them removed and “possibly not grow back.” But her nails looked a fabulous blue today, and she was wearing some skimpy, very cute – and obviously feminine – sandals. I complimented her about both of them. She returned the favor about my black nails. And somewhat surprisingly, she told me where she got her sandals “in case you want to get yourself a pair. Too bad we’re not the same shoe size – I’d have you try them on! They’d look so pretty on you.” Wow…

Then she asked if I’ve considered white polish yet. (I haven’t.) She suggested talking with my nail tech to see if they have a white polish which will fully disguise the damaged areas because ”White will go very well with any sandals, as well as with any outfit, light or dark…it’s a great neutral. You’ll love it, maybe even for your fingers. You still have your weddings and funerals pants suit, right?” “Yes, it’s women’s, dark gray elastic waist pocketless pants and a matching jacket with faux pockets.” “OK then, a white blouse, perhaps with lace or satin at the neck, a pair of dark flat sandals, with white finger and toe nails for contrast, and you would look gorgeous.” I told her that I would ask her, and it’s possible that the next time she sees me, I might be sporting white toe nails. “But don’t count on fingers – at least not for now…”

When I got home, I specifically asked wifey if she likes the black color on my toes. She said that it was much better than the original turquoise. For local wear, it’s not a problem, but “I’m not a fan of black for our travels.” Since wifey knows the reason why I must keep them polished, I mentioned my hairdresser’s suggestion about white, and asked if she would prefer that to the black. She didn’t have to think about it for long, and then much to my total shock and absolute amazement, said she really would prefer to see them all painted white. “Since we’re in sandal season now, and you’re going to be wearing sandals all summer, white is perfectly summery. You’ll look cool and comfortable in everything you wear.”

Hallelujah! Not wanting to push my luck, I didn’t pursue white gel for my fingers…not yet, anyway. Thus, white is the direction I’ll go with my next pedicure! And hopefully the finished product will meet with her approval…for wherever I or we go. LOL!

Mandy

It was the day of my hair appointment. I got into town early, and was wearing my white shorts, women’s black tunic, and the old pair of white sandals, with black toe and pink finger nails plainly visible, my long hair and purse. I stopped into the pharmacy to pick up some necessities.

As I was checking out, there was a commotion at the store’s front door… two male customers with phone-cameras, and two clerks, one with a long handle window squeegee. Apparently a 4-foot-long snake was tangled up in the folding automatic door, after attempting to enter the store. I stopped on my way out and asked the two clerks trying to keep it out, if I could help. “Oh my gosh, thank you Ma’am. We got it out of the door, but now it’s just hanging around right there, waiting for the right time to sneak back in. And it won’t go away. What do you suggest?”

After my experience with my “greeters” at home, I said to the one with the tool “please get me some ammonia.” “Yes, Ma’am.” And off she went, coming back in a minute with a fresh bottle. The other clerk and the two men just stood and watched while the following proceeded: I told the ladies that from experience at home, snakes hate the smell of ammonia and will move out. So I had her splash the ammonia around the front door area (but not on the snake itself.) She was a bit timid about it, thus I took over, and liberally applied it at the entire door sill, so the snake wouldn’t be tempted to go in. (Anyone would find it easy to see why snakes don’t like that smell – it’s awful!)

As soon as I finished pouring, our loitering reptilian friend got a snout full of the ammonia stench, and as I had predicted, didn’t particularly care for it. (S)he quickly decided to move on to somewhere else that didn’t stink, and started slithering across the sidewalk, zipping under a nearby trash can. So I applied more ammonia to the bottom of two sides of the can, leaving plenty of space for the snake to escape, and suggested that someone move the can. (I tried, but it was fastened down because of wind) to encourage the snake to vacate. And at that point I checked the time. It was nearly appointment time. I told them I had to leave and said “so long.”

They asked me “One more question, Ma’am: how on earth did you find out about ammonia?” I told them a trapper had given me that hint when we were trying to evict black snakes under a porch at home. “Thank you so much, Ma’am, couldn’t have done it without you.” “You’re quite welcome ladies, have a nice day.”

And I headed for my appointment.

Life is still a bit discombobulated, even though the state seems to be opening up a bit. We are hoping to make a trip to our son’s place in TN later this summer, and are trying to be good about staying home prior to our trip. We don’t want to inadvertently deliver the virus to their family ( but hope in return, that they don’t deliver it to us!) It remains to be seen what all the protests, marches, political rallies and the like will do to rates of virus transmission, hospitalizations, and deaths, not to mention possible 14 day state quarantines as people enter certain states (which New York is already threatening.) As that unfolds, it will tell us whether we are going to travel, or wait at home for “later” opportunities – whenever that is.

I’ve been going through our old files of papers, and not surprisingly found a stash of documents (other than tax records) from more than 20 years ago. These are being sorted and shredded, to save space in filing cabinets and boxes. And I’m building a list of things which can probably be disposed of via eBay or other on-line methods, now that tax deductions have been limited. Too bad that the charities lose out, but it is what it is. Getting cash back for unwanted things is better than getting nothing.

My wife showed me the box of various pairs of sandals and shoes that I haven’t worn in a while, and had me retrieve all my sandals to check for fit. “If they don’t fit, get rid of them!” My sandals all fit, but shoes, not so much. Five old pairs had bit the dust. (Those will of necessity go to charity, as opposed to throwing them out.) Since I’ve added a number of pairs of flats since last fall, she gave me an empty box as well. “It’s sandal weather now. Time to pack away your flats, to make room in the closet for your sandals.” I’ll leave out my work boots for yard work, and a pair each of black and tan ballet flats, for rainy days when sandals just aren’t appropriate.

The sandals below are old, probably 7 or 8 years old, and I haven’t worn them in several years. But I only have one other pair of white sandals, so I’ve started wearing them again. I’d forgotten how comfortable they are, and I can’t find any like them on line. I also have a pair in both tan and black as well…

They passed muster with the wife, who had forgotten about them but says she likes them even better than my white slide sandals. “Get used to spending a lot of time in them this summer.” “Even with the nail polish I have to wear on my toes?” “Sure…”

And I certainly have no problem with that!

Mandy

Also not far from the Delta King hotel was the California State Railroad Museum. CSRM is a world-class facility, and can hold its own among the best. Wife and I visited there during this trip, and I returned for a more detailed visit about 10 years later.

Occupying a prominent display position is the former Western Pacific F-7 913, a beautifully preserved locomotive:

One of the more well-known aspects of the Western Pacific was its operation of the California Zephyr passenger train, in conjunction with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The WP handled the “Silver Lady” from Oakland, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah from 1949-1970. The Western Pacific owned several connecting short-line railroads. The largest and most well-known was the Sacramento Northern Railway, which at one time reached from San Francisco to Chico, California. Others included the Tidewater Southern Railway, the Central California Traction, the Indian Valley Railroad and the Deep Creek Railroad.

The Western Pacific was acquired in 1983 by Union Pacific Corporation, which would eventually purchase its long-time rival, the Southern Pacific Railroad, in 1996. In July 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1983, painted as an homage to the Western Pacific as part of a new heritage program.

The F7 can be considered the zenith of the cab unit freight Diesel, as it was ubiquitous on North American railroads until the 1970s (even longer in Canada). The F7 design has become entrenched in the popular imagination due to it having been the motive power of some of the most famous trains in North American railroad history.

Another striking exhibit is the “old #!” of the Central Pacific:

Gov. Stanford (old #1) is a 4-4-0  steam locomotive originally built in 1862 by Norris Locomotive Works. It entered service on November 9, 1863 and was used in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad by the Central Pacific.  Number 1 was Central Pacific’s first locomotive and is named in honor of the road’s first president and ex-California governor, Leland Stanford.

The locomotive was rebuilt on 1878 with larger cylinders and an increased boiler pressure, which increased its tractive effort to 11,081 pounds-force. In 1891 the locomotive was renumbered to 1174. The locomotive was retired from regular service on July 20, 1895, then donated to Stanford University. However, it was not delivered to the university until 1899. The locomotive was disassembled and stored during WW II, but was returned to display at the university after reassembly by retired Southern Pacific engineer Billy Jones.

In the 1960s, the university needed the space where it was displayed for other purposes, thus #1 was donated to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, which had been in the process of collecting historic locomotives and rolling stock to be displayed in what would ultimately become the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The locomotive is currently a centerpiece at the museum where it has been cosmetically restored to its 1899 appearance.

Following is a picture of the Delta King hotel. Note: we did not stay there on this trip. However upon my return to town in 2017, I used it as my base of operations while sightseeing in Sacramento.

Just a bit of Delta King history: Delta King is a 285-foot-long paddleweheel steamboat, and the sister ship of Delta Queen, both built in Scotland and California for the California Transportation Company’s service between Sacramento and San Francisco. The Delta King entered service in 1927 and continued until 1940. After wartime service with the United States Navy, Delta King served as an accommodation ship at Kittimat, BC in the 1950s and then returned to California for static use at Old Sacramento where she remains permanently moored as a floating hotel, restaurant and venue.

Isn’t it great that it survives today, instead of having been cut up for scrap?

This scene was taken a very short walk from the Delta King. Except for paved streets and “autos instead of horses”, doesn’t the following resemble an old Western town? That is typical of Sacramento’s “former” downtown.

We took the Cal Train from Sacramento to Oakland, and then rode a bus to the vicinity of our hotel in San Francisco. There was a lot to see in a short time, so we got right to work on it!

Anyone recognize this scene?

It’s a view of the inlet from the Pacific Ocean into San Francisco Bay, which is crossed by the Golden Gate Bridge. A beautiful sight…

Below is a view of the sea lions that perenially inhabit the piers along the San Francisco waterfront. Memory serving me correctly, this is at Pier 39 at the well-known Fisherman’s Wharf.

This was taken in January. I’m told that the sea lions disappear in colder weather (better fishing elsewhere? ) And then they reappear in the spring. Sort of like they feel safer there… So these few must be stragglers that didn’t want to go out fishing.

Stay tuned…more travels to come!

Mandy

What a trip we planned…a winter trip over the Rockies to San Francisco via train, for a club convention, and to meet with some of our friends! We boarded the Capitol Limited in Washington DC, for an uneventful ride to Chicago. This was very relaxing, as we typically ride this same segment for many of our western trips and know the route well.

The part we were looking forward to: the trip over the Rockies in the wintertime. And it was quite spectacular…with the following “location uncertain” pictures as simply the tip of the iceberg.

Following is the Station Stop at Glenwood Springs, CO, which is the site of a wonderful hot springs resort. It’s a spot to which I someday hope to return, for a summertime visit to a number of tourist sites in the area. Time will tell on that…the virus issue means “not in 2020, probably not in 2021, and 2022 will depend on how things are virus-wise at that time.”

There was a lot of snow over the mountains, but the worst of it hadn’t fallen yet, thus we got only a taste of how bad it really can get. Following are more pretty snow scenes from the trip;

We got off the train in Sacramento, rented a car, and checked out town. Below is the Crest Theatre.

It originally opened in 1912 as the Empress, and at that time was used as a vaudeville palace. It later became the Hippodrome. On September 14, 1946 the Hippodrome’s marquee suddenly fell to the pavement below, killing a bystander, Mrs. Jessie Shirley Potter, 41, of Alta, who was crushed beneath the marquee. Joseph Brady, 40, was struck a glancing blow and sustained a skull fracture, broken collarbone, permanent brain injury and loss of hearing in one ear.

Shortly after the tragedy, in 1949, the building was completely remodeled and revamped to its current form as the Crest Theatre. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the premier first-run movie palaces in the Sacramento area.

As the decade changed and the 1970s arrived, the Crest was reduced to mostly sub-run fare. In the early 1980s, it closed down for a time while several attempts were made to revive it in many forms, including a dinner theatre. Finally, by the end of 1995, the Crest was completely refurbished and today its main auditorium (which has been left in its post-1946 unaltered state) is a multi-purpose theatre showing classic revival and specialty films, occasional live shows and lectures. Two additional, smaller cinemas were built adjacent to the original site around the time of the remodeling. The two subterranean theaters were closed in the 2010s and replaced by Empress Tavern in 2015.

Then it was off to the Governor’s mansion, since Sacramento was California’s Capital. At that time, California’s governor was none other than former actor Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The three story Victorian Italianate mansion was built in 1877 for local hardware merchant Albert Gallatin, who sold it to businessman Joseph Steffens, the father of journalist Lincoln Steffins, in 1887. The State of California purchased the house in 1903 to serve as the governor’s mansion. Many furnishings remain from former governors, including Pardee’s 1902 Steinway piano, velvet chairs and sofas belonging to Governor Hiram Johnson, and Persian rugs bought by the wife of Earl Warren. The structure has been renovated a number of times over the years. In 1967 after the Reagans moved out, the mansion was turned into a museum and opened to the public. The third floor of the mansion has been closed to the public since the 1990s.

The Governor’s Mansion was not occupied by state governors between 1967 and 2015.  In 1974, an alternative governor’s residence was constructed in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael and was completed just as Reagan left office. Jerry Brown, who succeeded Reagan, refused to live in the large residence, and instead, he lived in a sparsely furnished apartment during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983. When he became governor again in 2011, he opted to live in a 1,450-square-foot downtown loft, and other governors^. lived in different Carmichael residences. Arnold Schwarzenegger stayed in a hotel suite at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento when he was in Sacramento, but ordinarily commuted each day by private plane from his home in the Brentwood area of  Los Angeles. (What a commute! Rank hath its privileges…)

After extensive renovations, Governor Brown moved into the Governor’s Mansion during his fourth term^, the first governor to reside there since Ronald Reagan in 1967. His successor, and current, Governor – Gavin Newsom and his family – moved temporarily into the mansion before taking up residence in a house they bought following his election in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks. A spokesman for the governor said that the mansion would be open for tours and state business^.

Then we headed to Old Town Sacramento, where we came upon a bar/restaurant with a rather unusual name:

No, the name had nothing to do with the caloric content of the food they prepared (which from our meal there, was very tasty) or the girth of employees. Read on for details!

From fall 2019 publications in Sacramento, the Fat City Bar and Café, located not far from the paddlewheeler Delta King (now a permanently-moored hotel) in old town Sacramento, “will close its doors on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019.”   ‘Folks will no longer be able to dine with the famous Purple Lady, the historic stained glass piece featuring a woman in a purple dress, which hangs in the main dining room of the restaurant.’

Restaurant owner Jerry Fat said revenue has been on the decline at the historic location for years.  It was strictly a “business decision” to close down, Fat said. Many of the employees were being offered positions at the Fat Group’s other locations in Sacramento.  “We’ve had a great ride,” Fat said. “But due to the steady decline in Old Sacramento business, coupled with rising costs and increased competition for those shrinking dollars, we made the decision to close.”.

Still, the Fat family’s influence in Old Sacramento can’t be forgotten.  Frank Fat was a legendary restaurateur, who died in 1997 at the age of 92. He immigrated from China when he was 15-years-old. The family started there with the China Camp restaurant in 1973, which operates as a banquet hall and catering operation today. The rustic traditional interior is line with bamboo and pays homage to the Chinese laborers who built the Central Pacific Railroad and Delta levees.  Fat City Bar and Café opened right next door in 1976 in what was once the Henderson Brown & Co., a general merchandise store built by Samuel Brannon in 1849. However, the history of the riverfront area is one of triumph and tragedy.

The historic downtown was bustling during the gold rush era in the 1850s, but as the commercial district migrated east, it degenerated into a slum a century later, according to historians. Sacramento’s historic downtown was once considered the worst skid row west of Chicago.  The area faced demolition by the mid 20th century, as California looked toward construction of Interstate 5. However, a group of city leaders fought the idea and instead promised investment in redeveloping the then blighted area.  Investors like the Fat family helped Old Sacramento rise into what it is today. Today, the historic downtown sits on 28 acres and is home to 53 historic buildings.

And it still has the ambiance of the old west town it once was!

But wait, there’s more. Volume 2 will be along shortly…

Mandy

Point of Rocks, MD is the location of a historic passenger rail station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (now CSX Transportation) and a regular stop for Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC) conmuter trains between Washington DC and Martinsburg, WV. It is located at Point of Rocks, Maryland, on the Potomac River and adjacent to the remnants of the C&O canal. It was designed by E. Francis Baldwin and built by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1873. It is situated at the junction of the B&O Old Main Line (freight only – running directly to Baltimore) and the Metropolitan Branch (passenger and freight – running to DC.). “The Met” also opened in 1873 and became the principal route for passenger trains between Baltimore, Washington and points west.

This station building itself is not open to the public – it is used by CSX as storage and offices for maintenance of way crews. In 2008, new platforms and platform shelters were built for MARC commuters traveling east towards Washington DC, replacing older bus shelter–style structures which were erected in the mid-1990s.

Shown is a westbound commuter train operating on “the Met” through the morning mist from the Potomac River. Taken in 1992, this shows E-9 locomotives, all of which have been disposed of by MARC.

There are many other historic buildings along the right of way…

Mandy…

Now that things are starting to open up from the stay-at-home orders, while on the way back home the other day from an essential errand, I was traveling via US-301, a 4 lane divided (but not limited access) rural highway on the Delmarva, which was paralleled by a “ribbon of rusty rails.” On our many previous trips this way, we noticed a long-disused and very dilapidated service station or convenience store along the highway. So I stopped to check it out.

It appeared fully secured, and a would-be burglar probably wouldn’t net much by going in – other than the distinct possibility of a run-in with a rattlesnake, copperhead or black widow spider. However there was no external evidence of what the building used to be, and nothing can be seen about it on that good old standby, Wikipedia.

After wandering around a bit, I detoured out to the railroad tracks (of course), which were behind me in the above picture. We’ve been this way many times and have never seen a train on them, however we knew they weren’t officially abandoned. Looking way down the tracks, what did I see? OMG!!! The familiar triangular light pattern on the front of the locomotive.

Yes, the engineer waved as the short little train passed….

Well, you know me and my trains. Since the train speed was between 5 and 10 mph, I knew I could get more pictures by driving to the next grade crossing…thus began a short (about 2 hour) train chase for me. Mask and all! Haven’t been train chasing in quite a while!

I just wish I could have done it in a skirt!

Now for some railroad info: the Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company (reporting mark MDDE) is a Class III short-line railroad, formed in 1977 to operate several branch lines of the former Penn Central Railroad in both Maryland and Delaware, United States. These branches were omitted from the system plan for Conrail in 1976 and would have been discontinued without state subsidies. As an alternative to the higher cost of subsidizing Conrail as operator of the branch lines, the Maryland and Delaware governments selected the Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company (MDDE) to serve as the designated operator.

The railroad did not own any of the track it uses until 2000, when it acquired a line between Frankford, Delaware and Snow Hill, Maryland, from the Snow Hill Shippers Association. Today, the railroad operates on 120 miles of track and runs out of the restored station in Federalsburg, Maryland.

For any ferroequinologists out there, this locomotive, now based in Massey, MD, started life in August of 1950 as DL&W 902, then EL 1040, CR 5262 and 9926, before going to the Maryland and Delaware. It is an Alco RS3M with serial number 78077.

Trains are where you find them! And lest you erroneously believe MDDE only operates short freight trains, they DO have long ones, depending on the farming season and business cycle. Some even require two engines! However, just not on that line, at that particular time.

Enjoy…

Mandy

I believe the next two pictures actually were taken before getting to Bryce, but in any event, they’re pretty enough to show you even if they are a bit out of order. The following was a remote log cabin at Georgetown, UT. Sure wouldn’t have to worry about noisy neighbors out here. Just maybe noisy cows…

Then we came through a pretty arch tunnel – not much spare clearance, is there?

Enroute to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, we came across a recently-burned area of the forest.

Then we headed to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. As predicted, the traffic and crowds there were much less. But the lodge was very nice.

The dining room at the lodge;

Wouldn’t this be a wonderful view to enjoy at dinnertime?

Here’s the cabin we want to stay in with the “next” visit, if it ever happens!

One of many pretty vistas – you end up swiveling your head all the time…

And yet another pretty vista follows. Memory serving me correctly, at the Vermilion Cliffs.

It was another wonderful trip, one to remember forever…even if the camera didn’t provide the sharpest pictures in the world…

Mandy

The following pictures were taken on a rather long vacation to the great southwest – Arizona and Utah, back in 2008.

First picture (the Cisco post office building) was taken as we drove through Cisco, UT, population zero, now a wide spot on State Route 128. Cisco was founded in the 1880s. At first it was a watering and service stop for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (now Union Pacific), with railroad station and a few adjoining buildings: saloon, water tank for locomotives, some section buildings and a depot. Many small towns like Cisco were erected along rail lines.

The town boomed in 1924, when natural gas and oil were discovered nearby. Although this lasted for only a short period of time, Cisco became one of the largest producers of oil in the state of Utah. In the 1940s and 1950s, ordinary Americans discovered cars, and started to use them for long distance travel. This new way of life brought more development to Cisco:  restaurants, bars, and gas stations appeared, to provide 24/7 service. Cisco flourished, with more than 200 inhabitants during its heyday.

When trains were modernized in the ‘50’s and diesels replaced steam engines, Cisco lost its importance because trains no longer needed to stop there. However, the town of Cisco continued to thrive because of the road travelers, as well as the thousands of miners who came through the area in search of valuable metals, including uranium and vanadium.

In the 1970’s, the town’s economy was decimated upon completion of I-70, which was built about 3 miles from town.  Cisco, and the number of travelers who stopped there for a meal, a drink or gasoline, both declined rapidly. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, businesses closed and most of its citizens moved out. The post office was closed in the 1990s, and Cisco officially became a ghost town.

There are approximately one hundred buildings in various states of repair, most in a ruined condition but a few houses are just as they were left when their owners moved out, with all of the furniture in them.  Roofs of many buildings have collapsed and only those few intact houses are sporadically inhabited. The town has been vandalized over the years, so ‘no trespassing’ signs are scattered around.

A deadly silence now governs the former thriving community. But Cisco hasn’t entirely lost its soul, though its remains are slowly turning to dust, which will be soon be blown away by the endless desert wind.

As a side note, yours truly looks for this little burg on the south side of the train whenever I’m a passenger on the California Zephyr. It’s about 50 miles after departure from Grand Junction, CO westbound, or conversely, about 50 miles before arrival Eastbound. It’s clearly recognizable from the train.

There’s actually a town called Mexican Hat, Utah, on the San Juan River on the northern edge of the Navajo Nation, in San Juan County. population in 2010 was 31, and the elevation is 4,244”. A tourist area, there are about 3 motels, with plenty of sights to visit. Starting with the above: Mexican Hat Rock, which resembles an upside-down sombrero on top of a huge stratified rock formation. Definitely a fun area to visit!

The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad (reporting mark BLKM) was an electrified private railroad operating in northern Arizona within the Navajo Nation, which transported coal 78 miles (126 km) from the Peabody Energy Kayenta Mine near Kayenta, AZ to the Navajo Generating Station power plant at Page, AZ. This line was constructed in the early 1970s and was the first railroad to be electrified at 50,000 volts. It was owned by the Salt River project and the co-owners of the Navajo Generating Station. And it was completely self-contained, with no connection to any other rail lines. (A long way to haul such heavy locomotives by truck…)

During normal operations, the railroad operated three round trips per day, carrying only coal to a power plant. Between 1973 and 1976, six E60CFs locomotives were purchased new. In 1999, several 1982/83 built E60C-2s were purchased from Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico and overhauled, including conversion from 25 kV. Forty brand new aluminumm coal hoppers were purchased from FreightCar America to replace some of the aging fleet of 30 year-old FMC and Ortner hoppers.

However, all good things must end. The railroad’s final delivery to the Navajo Generating Station was August 26, 2019. The power plant shut down in December 2019, due to competition from cheaper energy sources.

All electrical components of the railway are currently being dismantled.

An interesting site to visit near Mexican Hat is the Goosenecks of the San juan River, which cut a meandering path through the desert floor. Fascinating! And though not visible in the picture below, we were able to see folks rafting through the canyon!

And then there is Canyonlands National Park, a little southwest of Moab. It’s almost over 330,000 acres of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires in the heart of southeast Utah high desert. Water and gravity have been the prime architect of this land, sculpting layers of rock into the rugged landscape you see today.

Though the four areas of the park appear geographically close on a map, “you can’t get there from here.” Roads are not a direct route. Thus visiting the whole park takes more than one day. We didn’t have the time, so we had to be satisfied with what we could achieve, which was Mesa Arch in the Islands In The Sky section of the park. The above picture only hints at the views…the park truly was majestic.

Then off we went, to Bryce Canyon…

Remember, this was in mid-to-late May of 2008. Guess what happened? Snow. We had to hit the gift shop on the way in, to buy heavier jackets as we hadn’t prepared for snow. (Yes, we still have – and wear – those jackets today!) Below is the lodge:

Needless to say, I got up early to see if I could get any interesting sunrise pictures. Voila:

And also this interesting shot of the spires, called hoodoos, in the fog and snow.

More pictures of our trip to come!

Mandy

Shiny, light pink nails, fresh from a visit to the nail salon!

Finally things opened up enough around here, to be able to allow having my nails done . What a relief to be pleased to let people see properly trimmed and filled finger nails again! I’m sure many of you ladies have had that feeling!

They were following the rules as to mask-wearing, occupancy restrictions and social distancing. It took me 4 days from when I called to make the appointment, till they could do my nails. And I felt right at home there, with the ladies. Though a man did come in with his wife and they both got a pedicure. He didn’t get any polish, and as he walked past on the way out, commented about how nice “all you ladies look with your pretty nails.” (I was wearing flats, blue capris and a black tee blouse, with my purse by my chair.) And, yes, it’s nice to be appreciated!

A big benefit to my shorter nails: I can type quite a bit more efficiently now… And my wife didn’t even complain, since my claws were quite noticeable and these, though pink and shiny, are much less so.

Next step: a pedicure…

Mandy