Pueblos in NM

We passed two Native American pueblos while driving from Santa Fe to Colorado Springs. Puye Cliff dwellings near Española were more rugged and authentic with nice views of the area. The actively maintained Taos Pueblo had many shops and tourists but was still interesting to see. We didn't have time for Bandelier since it was further off our route, but I was told by several people that Puye Cliff is better in some ways because it isn't as highly visited. We just did a quick self-guided tour but the guided tour to the top looks interesting.

Santa Fe NM

Santa Fe is a great vacation destination and it was a favorite part of our home leave roadtrip. Wikipedia says "it’s renowned for its Pueblo-style architecture and as a creative arts hotbed" which gives it a distinct vibe of all around cool for me. We were only there a couple of days but this will be worth going back to many times in the future to see all of the stuff we missed.

Chickasaw Cultural Center OK

If you're ever in Oklahoma on I-35 between DFW and OKC then I recommend stopping at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur OK. We did during our home leave roadtrip. You can wander around the grounds for free but the museum is well worth the entrance fee. The lunch special for $6 is also good value for some great Chickasaw food. The whole place was a high quality experience. I didn't take any pics inside the museum because it was just too interesting for wasting time with a camera.

a lego logo

Promotion Bridesmaid

I'm a bridesmaid. You can add that term to other odd Foreign Service terms like the "air kiss" used during the assignment process. Obviously it isn't official terminology. However, many people use it to mean a person selected for promotion but not actually promoted because there aren't enough to go around.

Pack Out Phases

I wrote about several categories for sorting stuff during the last move in Sorting Stuff - 60 Days to Departure. In retrospect, nothing was done 60 days out. The reality was more like flailing around wildly a couple of weeks before pack out. I'm tackling my sorting in more distinct phases this time and started the process 3 weeks prior to departure. Eventually I'll have this down to a science, or at least a semi-organized art.

Tomorrow's New Country

It's almost time to go!  It's been terrific to know you / But we really can't stay / Tomorrow's new country / Calls us home…for the day. All of these Marillion songs are great but skip ahead to the 6:35 mark in this composite video to hear Tomorrow's New Country. This is the only video I could find with this song in it.

Marillion - Fear (for tomorrow's scary sky) from Thony Thorn on Vimeo.

Choroní and Chuao

We spent a long holiday weekend at Cacaoni Lodge in Choroní with a beach day and a day trip to nearby Chuao. What holiday? Oh, doesn't everyone celebrate the birthday of Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco? Simón Bolívar is da man! Well, as long as I get a day off for him.

Choroní is about 3 hours from Caracas with the last good bit of it over curvy mountain roads from Maracay through a beautiful National Park area. Playa Grande is near town but the lodge took us and half a dozen other guests to an exclusive beach by boat. We also toured the cacao/cocoa plantation in nearby Chuao which is a town accessible by boat. Choroní has a mountain road but Chuao is completely blocked off by the mountains.