Green Mountain Reservoir

You probably didn’t know we were gone, but I did that on purpose ’cause I didn’t want to jinx anything. We left Friday and traveled up to the vacation condo in Steamboat Springs, CO. My son’s long-time friend, Aaron, came out (he’s my second son, pretty much) and all six of us (Paul, me, Jon, Ivy (Jon’s gf), Aaron and Britt) drove to The Village at Steamboat and stayed till yesterday evening. We finally got home about 10:30 p.m. last night.

We had a great time, and OH MY GOD did we ever need time away to relax! It was nice to get away from the massive load of work I’ve been under and away from people calling/texting/e-mailing about this, that and the other. Paul tweeted about listening and not hearing anything, and how we were enjoying it!

The condo was amazing and was roomy, even with six people. LOVED the kitchen. They even had it stashed with utensils, spices, bakeware, a blender, coffee pot, dishes, cups, glasses, wine glasses, shot glasses…you name it, and it was there. Just bring groceries and you’re good. We also had an in-condo washer/dryer set complete with laundry detergent already provided. Large blue- and white-striped pool towels waited for us under the master bathroom sink (there were two bathrooms). We had a private deck, gas fireplace, complete entertainment center, and mounted tvs in the bedroom along with dvd player. The place was decked out and oh so comfortable! The bed in the master room was HUGE. There were two beds in the second bedroom and a queen-size, pull-out Murphy bed off to the side of the living room.

We spent time without a set schedule, just hanging out and going to the pool, spa, sauna or steam room. There were gas grills throughout the complex, along with an arcade, fitness room and DVD rental shop. The place had an indoor pool and spa as well as an outdoor pool and spa, along with a smaller pool for the little kids. While walking from the outside pool, we ran across a strange critter that looked like a cross between a coyote and a fox. We think this is the critter they’re talking about in this news article: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/3907009/detail.html We didn’t have our cameras out at the time, but in hindsight I wish we had so we could snap a photo of it!

Played cards and actually had some Jack and Coke one night (erm…not much of a drinker, so it was more Coke than Jack). We had some vodka, too, but I never touched that. I rarely drink, and when I do, I’m really more of a wine/Kahlua/daiquiri/frou-frou drink person. At any rate, we didn’t get wireless internet up there (we could have, but chose not to), so if I updated Twitter or Facebook, it was through my phone. In hindsight, I’m glad we didn’t get connected to wireless because I needed to be AWAY from e-mails and such for a few days.

The next day, we went a few miles outside town to visit Mike and Cyndy. I went to high school with Cyndy and we’ve known each other FOREVER. Had never seen their new ranch, so we headed out there to their place. It was an expansive ranch with horses and mules on it (not theirs; they just rent the property out so other people’s horse and mules can feed off the land). They have a two-story home and Cyndy’s breathworking business is in the basement. She has her office, a central room for meet-ups, a private breathing room for clients and a decent-sized kitchen down there as well.

We chatted for a while and sipped on blueberry tea sweetened with agave nectar, then met up with Mike (who was in town on an emergency call) and had a nice lunch at Rio Grande, a Mexican restaurant downtown in Steamboat Springs. I tried the Mahi-Mahi tacos, which were delicious. There were nine in our party, so it was a relaxing, sunny day outside on an upper deck enjoying good company.

Afterward, we walked around the town a bit, went to a new age shop run by a friend of Cyndy’s and said our goodbyes to everyone because it was getting late afternoon and we had quite a drive back. Before we left, the kids wanted to try the alpine slide, so we stopped there and they took a ride down the mountain. There were horses available for rides there too, so I cooed and petted the horses before we left. That was a high point of the day for me, actually!

Grudgingly, we left Steamboat late Sunday after enjoying a much-needed short vacation and headed home over Rabbit Ears pass and back down 70-East, through Black Hawk, Idaho Springs and Golden (yeah, where Coors beer is from). We got home last night, late and tired, but thankful that we were finally able to take a break from the everyday rigors and stresses of life.

Thanks much to Mary M. for watching our kitties while we were gone! They love her and we never have to worry about them while we’re away and they’re in MMM’s hands!

Here’s hoping you all had a nice weekend as well. I’ll post some pics eventually!

In travel-related news, my son Jonathan will be coming home from New York for the holidays. So we’ll be traveling to Denver to pick him up and he’ll be here for about a month. Then he’ll go back to New York City till the middle of May. He currently attends NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and resides in a dorm located in the TriBeCa area of NYC.

Paul and I have actually been very busy this past year as we’ve gotten very involved in our paranormal investigation group and, as a result of media coverage, we’ve been doing a lot of public and private investigations.

We have done some traveling, it’s just that I haven’t been posting anything about our trips here. Most of them have been short jaunts, although we did travel through Oklahoma and Texas in April to visit relatives and friends. We will likely make that trip again in the next few months as it’s a necessary thing. I’d like to get some paranormal investigation in, but it’s just not going to happen with relatives about (who already look at us like we’re half mad!)

Smaller trips we’ve made have been in-state, with multiple trips to Silver Cliff Cemetery in Westcliffe/Silver Cliff. The Board of Trustees gave us official permission to go up there at any time and do investigations at the cemetery — we can even camp out if we want to, but I doubt we will.

We would like to visit Bishop’s Castle in the very near future, as well as see Silver Cliff in the daylight as I understand it’s a stunning view up there at the cemetery.

Upcoming trips for us include a trip to a cemetery and an allegedly haunted farm in Pueblo, as well as a jaunt to Estes Park, California or Vegas. We were set to go out to Anaheim, CA for the annual BlizzCon event, but tickets sold out before we got ours Ah well….

Finally, the biggest news of this year (so far) is that Paul and I took our own personal trip down the aisle and we got married as of August 17, 2008. We married in a lovely ceremony in Garden of the Gods at High Point Outlook. It was a beautiful day and everything went perfect!

With our dance cards being so full this past year, I haven’t had time to update blogs and journals as often as I would have liked, but invariably I’ll post an update when I can manage to do so.

Till next time, take care and happy traveling, whether it be near or far!

Bev & Paul Sninchak
Ghouls on the Go

Britt at the Great Sand Dunes

Feet in sand

Britt & Paul trekking across the Dunes

Britt mugging for the camera

The two intrepid dunes travelers

This is where Medano creek would usually run through the dunes

Moving closer to the dunes

Entrance to the park

Dunes, mountains & clouds

Great Sand Dunes of Colorado

I loved the way the shadows fell across the dunes

Britt decided no shoes was the best way to go

That’s right! We’re on the move this coming weekend for a road trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Mosca, Colorado. It’ll take us about three hours to get there and we’re taking Britt and her best friend Nic along with us. We’re stocked up with camping supplies and such, so we’re going to stay there overnight. Yay! The Great Sand Dunes is one place I’ve wanted to visit for a while, and it’s not that far away, so why not? Paul’s been there twice before and says it’s a great place to visit.

These are the tallest dunes in North America. But you’ll get more than dunes here. You’ll also find forest, wetlands, grasslands and mountains. Talk about a diverse place! If you love to see the Aspens turn, the end of September is a peak time for that. To camp there, there’s a private campground, The Oasis, or the public campground, The Piñon Flats Campground with 88 sites available there. For reservations at The Oasis, call (719) 378-2222. To reserve sites at Piñon Flats (for groups of 10 or more only), call (719) 378-6399. If you have less than 10, then it’s first-come, first-serve (verified by Patrick by phone today).

Entrance fees are insanely reasonable at $3 per adult (ages 16 and over). Children are free. Your entrance fee is good for an entire week – you can’t beat that price! If you want an annual pass, it’s only $15 (what a deal).

To read more about the Great Sand Dunes and to discover what you can do on a visit there, go to this web site: http://www.nps.gov/grsa/

We’re certainly looking forward to this trip and we’ll let you know how things went upon our return. Pics will be forthcoming, too!

Bev & Paul

Location: Scotland/England

Travel dates: October 11, 2001 – October 21, 2001

Travelers: Bev, my mom Shirley, and my kids Jon & Britt

Originally posted on Thursday, December 20, 2001:

The trip to Scotland was marvelous – we saw so many things, it was incredible. We got to see SIX castles and it was SO awesome to traipse around Edinburgh – both the old and the new sections of the city. We ate lunch at a place called The Witchery – they used to hang witches outside of the place in the 1600s! It’s a very well-known place – lots of celebs have eaten there! The atmosphere was VERY pagan – but quite frankly, the food was sparse, expensive, and tasted below average. =( I think people eat there just to SAY they’ve been there! LOL. They DO have a website at http://www.thewitchery.com if you care to check it out!

Edinburgh castle was probably my second favorite (next to Eilean Donan castle) and the view from the castle is magnificent!We saw the crown jewels of Scotland, but couldn’t take pix in there . Saw the room where James I of Englandbe James the 6th of Scotland> was born – he was the son of Mary Queen of Scots – was born.

Also visited the memorial to soldiers/sailors of the Royal Air Force – they had TONS of books with names of fallen soldiers from many wars – it was somber, indeed. The Great Hall which houses suits of armor, various swords, shields, and other assorted finery, nearly took my breath away. There was also a grand stone fireplace and stained glass windows of blue, red, yellow, white and green which had names of some of Scotland’s bravest and best kings/warriors etched in them.

As you enter the section of the castle with the Great Hall, you see the crest of Scotland with the rampant lion and the unicorn on it – both symbols of the country. When I viewed them, along with the weapons, I felt a sense of pride and nationalism sweep through me – all of a sudden I understood WHY the Scottish people preferred autonomy from England. You can still hear sarcastic humor on the part of the Scot’s regarding England and Englishmen. It’s all in good fun, but you KNOW underneath all that that there is a grain of truth in it!

On the grounds of Edinburgh castle stands St. Margaret’s Chapel – a beautiful little chapel that can only fit maybe 10 to 20 people inside, if that! The stained glass windows were exquisitely designed. Inside there’s a small altar with an altar cloth and a Bible on top. This was the family’s private chapel – their personal place of solace and worship. Although I’m not Christian, you could sense the spiritual energy in the place and a quietness wafted over everyone who entered that sacred space.

Edinburgh – what is NOT to love about it?! I just fell in LOVE with that city! The old section is charming and there are so many quaintlittle closes that you can wander through and find neat things – like I discovered a writer’s museum when I walked through one of them! =) The displays were a tribute to mainly Robbie Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson – also got to travel to Robbie Burn’s cottage and to see the churchyard that inspired him to write “Tam o’ Shanter” where he talks about the wild, dancing witches, the leader of the witches is named Cutty Sark – an interesting fact that I didn’t know! I’d heard of Cutty Sark whiskey before, but….

Went to Glasgow and that was cool – not as much as Edinburgh, though . Got to see Stirling Castle, William Wallace’s monument, Loch Ness and shopped till we dropped in the woolen mills – they were AWESOME! Brought back some Lindisfarne mead, which was tremendously yummy! I want MORE, waaah! The shopping in Scotland is incredible! Not that I’m a shopaholic by ANY means – but the bargains were unbelievable. I came home with a fleece coat for 14 pounds and I’m sure if I’d purchased it here in the U.S., I’d have paid $50 – $60 for the SAME coat!

About William Wallace – the statue looked like Mel Gibson and they had a fence around it – cause people keep chipping off parts of stone to take with them! Of all the art/architecture I saw there – and the statues – his was the ONLY one that had a barrierof some sort around it! Wallace was a 6’7″ giant of a man and his sword was FIVE FEET, SEVEN INCHES long! Geesh! I’d have paid to go back in time to see him wield that heavy thing! Needless to say, he was a giant among his countrymen!

Another cool castle was Culzean Castle – the entranceway is amazing – it’s decorated with 400 swords and 900 pistols! When you walk through the elaborately decorated rooms resplendant with period furniture and artwork, you feel like you’ve literally gone back in time hundreds of years. The gardens of the castle were meticulously cared for and you felt like you were walking in the Garden of Eden, so to speak. There was also a herd of red deer nearby, just lounging in the early morning daylight. SO very peaceful!

My favorite castle, hands-down, was Eilean Donan. That’s the castle where they filmed the movie, Highlander. I swear, once I got in there, I didn’t want to leave! As we crossed the bridge over the water making our way toward the castle, I tried to envision what it must have been like to live in that castle. We spent a long time looking out over the loch from the stone overlook there. The wind was quite brisk that day, and I remember standing there alone and closing my eyes, breathing in the air and drawing in the ancient energies all around me. I felt at home and at peace. It was a moment of profound deja vu!

During the tour, we were fed for what seemed like ALL the time – but alas, the food was often a bit bland and I had my fill of “tatties and neeps” for one weekAlso tried haggis several times and had some scotch for the first time in my life! That night I especially remember because we were gathered in the entertainment section of the old and majestic Ben Wyvis hotel in Strathpeffer up in the highlands. A local band provided music – well, it was two guys w/ guitars – not REALLY a band! They were dressed in these god-awful plaid shirts, had a 70s look about them, and they were playing nothing but old American hits – like Roy Orbison, etc.! In between sets, they would tell these lame jokes, but everyone laughed nonetheless.

We had a dear old Scottish couple next to us and they chatted with us for quite a while till we retired to our rooms around midnight. Also had a tarty English gent near us, too. He heard our accents and asked if we were “yanks.” =)

The highlands were SO beautiful – it was like stepping back into centuries long before! The Isle of Skye was my hands-down fave — it’s so utterly green and enchanting up there that you are literally standing in the midst of postcard-level beauty. One thing about the highlands is that they’re racing toward the 19th century. We had NO phones at ALL in the hotel, and for the first night, NO hot water as the big, ancient boilers broke down! The curtains and furniture are old and heavy – and the only real modern-day convenience you
had was an old television set that had maybe three channels on it at best. LOL. Oh – there was an electric tea warmer in there, too. One thing’s for sure – you won’t find many hotels in the UK w/o a tea maker in the room!

During our trip, each night we went on various excursions – to a Best of Scotland show with dancers/pipers/singers, and to several fancy dinners/shows – we also visited world-famous Harry Ramsden’s in Glasgow – that was delish! We also trekked up to see Robert the Bruce’s statue That night we were also treated to recitations of Robbie Burn’s poetry, including the aforementioned “Tam O’Shanter” and the “Address to the Haggis.”

We also saw the cave where Rob Roy and his clan used to hang out – we took a boat across Loch Lomond and the Trossachs were breathtakingly beautiful! During the boat ride, we were treated to coffee and tea, and then, later, to drams of whisky and what tasted like Irish Creme liquor – the Scottish people are always plying guests with something – either food or drink!

Overall, I took 15 rolls of film – some of which are at: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/scribequill It was definitely a trip of a lifetime – and I’d go back in a heartbeat for sure! The hospitality of the people – and the UNIQUE brand of Scottish humor won me over. It sure as hell didn’t hurt to see men in kilts over there on a regular basis, either! Our tour director wore one nearly every day and I must say that he had GREAT legs! =) I say it takes a REAL man to wear a kilt!!

So that was the trip to Scotland – something I’ll NEVER forget. I can’t believe we made it over there – some days I cannot believe it REALLY happened! But alas, I have the photos to look at when I’m older and more sedate, and I can smile, knowing that I had the pleasure of taking both my kids and my mother on a trip of a lifetime!

In the U.S.:

* New England (including Rhode Island because H.P. Lovecraft’s grave is located there)

* Edgar Allan Poe’s grave in Baltimore, MD

* Pretty much every state never visited!

Overseas:

* Eastern Europe

* Scotland/Ireland

* Germany

Bev:

In the U.S.:

* Great Sand Dunes in Colorado

* Arizona

* Nevada (besides Vegas)

* Las Vegas, NV.

* Oregon

* Northern California

* Los Cabos, Mexico

* New England (esp. Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire)

Overseas:

* Paris, France

* New Zealand

* Australia

* Greece

* Scotland (again)

* Wales, England, Ireland

* Canada (British Columbia for sure)

* Jim Morrison’s grave in Pere Lachaise cemetery. Of course, you can go on a virtual tour of the cemetery here: http://www.pere-lachaise.com/

This list is sure to expand!

This past week we traveled up to Denver on business. It’s a drive we’ve made many times, but since it’s a trip of some sort — however small or short-distance — I’m including it here. I like the scenery between the Springs and Denver, particularly around Larkspur and Castle Rock. For those who aren’t familiar with the area, Larkspur is a wonderful little town that hosts the Colorado Renaissance Festival every year. If you’ve never been to the RenFest, you must go! It runs from June 14 through August 3rd in 2008.

http://www.niagarawinetrail.org/

Ah, there’s the ticket! Ghosts and grapes – chilled wines and chilled spines! Though Paul doesn’t drink at all, I like wine on occasion. I’ll admit I’m a lightweight, only able to partake in a couple of glasses before I feel giddy and warm, but I love wine nonetheless.

When Paul came across info on this series of wineries near Lake Ontario today on the Travel section of CNN.com, I knew we had to add it to our travel wishlist.

Called the Niagara Wine Trail, there are ten wineries, all located in Western New York’s Niagara County, who offer tours, wine tastings and even a Hallowine Murder Mystery every year (each winery offers a new clue to the mystery.) How fun does that sound?

*Adds this one to our Travel Wishlist*

Without further ado, here’s the beginning count of where our feet have alighted in the past:

Paul:

UNITED STATES: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming.

OVERSEAS: –

Bev:

UNITED STATES: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia.

OVERSEAS: Germany, England, Scotland, Austria, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, France.