Sunday, July 29, 2018

9:06 p.m.

Rafe and Great-Grandma Joyce, 2015

This is one of my all-time favorite photos!

I need to start tonight's blog by saying Happy Birthday to my cute, loving, sweet grandson, Rafe. He is 7! 

I don't know what happened! How much longer will we be able to hold him on our laps?

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I promised to tell you some good places to eat in Trinidad, and so I shall.

Last time we chatted, I mentioned going to Sonic. A little word about Sonic, then. No matter where you go, if there's a Sonic, you can rest assured that it is the same as the Sonic in your own hometown, and any other towns where you might find one. We sometimes eat at Sonic in Colorado, and we have eaten at Sonic in Oklahoma.

At the Trinidad Sonic, I didn't order food, but I'm positive that if I had, I would have gotten the same food I get anywhere. They are dependable that way.

What I did get was a great big Route 44 Watermelon Slush. It was hot, and those things last all day. It was, predictably, delicious. 

I travel on a tight budget, as I am sure most people do--unless they're rich. We stayed at La Quinta, which has a wonderful breakfast buffet. They are not stingy with food or hours of availability. It's open a good, long time and has a great variety of foods to choose from, including gluten-free selections. You can even make your own waffles. What's not to love? Even when the buffet is closed, fresh fruit can be found in bowls in the lobby area, so no one is going hungry. 

The rooms at La Quinta offer refrigerators and microwaves. You also get a coffee maker, which is priceless, believe me. This gave us the option to hit the market and prepare sandwiches or re-heat leftovers, and that can be a lifesaver. 

But we all know that at some point, we're going out to eat! 

We're quite the crowd, but Trinidad's own Tequila's is more than up to the challenge. The Shablo family was dining in style.

See those chairs? I think they weigh about ninety pounds each, but once you're seated, it's not going to slide away from the table when you get down to feasting. 

The food at Tequila's does not disappoint, and there's more than plenty of it, making those in-room microwaves an even better deal. 

While doing our history museum tour, I took a picture out the window of one of the houses-- it is a shot of Rino's Italian Restaurant, where the waitstaff might burst into song at any time. 

The building was a church, originally, and after a rather interesting and unsettling occurrence in the basement I asked a local if it had any reports of haunting.

Indeed, she told me. 

Now, I'm not crazy. My sister-in-law was with me, and she saw what happened. I went to enter the restroom, and something pushed the door back at me, so I thought someone was in there. When I prepared to excuse myself to whomever I'd nearly barged in on, I discovered an empty room. 

Hmm. Curious, no? 

Anyway, besides being an interesting place, the food was terrific. The waiter did indeed burst into song, and I that was quite a treat! He was a talented guy. 

I tried to upload video, but the file was too big to be supported on this platform, so you'll just have to take my word for it--that was fun!

Once in a blue moon--usually less often than once a year--I will decide to have an adult beverage. Generally speaking, I choose something tried and true, but for some crazy reason, I decided to try something new. It was called a Lemon Meringue Pie Martini. I'm sure you can tell by my expression how very much I LOVED it. Uh huh. 

  

It might be two or three years before I get the urge to have a drink again! Water, water!

I'm sure there are many other great places to eat in Trinidad, but I wasn't there long enough to try them out. Maybe next time.
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Okay, so this doesn't count as an eatery in Trinidad, but if you're ever traveling through Minturn, Colorado, you owe it to yourself to stop in at BC Backcountry Wings on Main Street.

The wings are HOT. They were a hit with my brother, but my sister was still babying her tongue from her one taste an hour after we ate.

Personally, I'm not crazy enough--or brave enough--to try hot wings with "levels". Too scary for me. I got the cheeseburger with bacon jam. Oh. My. God.

I hope we go back soon! Ha ha.
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So, it's the middle of the night and I've made myself hungry with this post. No, I'm not going to eat. I'm just saying, write food blogs before dinner.

Thus endeth the Shablo family reunion saga for this year.

I'm ready for the next one!
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Speaking of the next "reunions", the following weekend it was time for the class on 1978 Get Together.

Stay tuned!

Good night!

Tuesday, July 24, 2018
9:41 p.m.

It took me far too long to get the reunion blog done, so I hope to do better with this one, which will focus on some of the great places we visited while in Trinidad, Colorado for the reunion weekend.

I'm not the sight-seer that I aspire to be, but I think we did okay with our walking tour of an older section of town. Here, the roads are still brick instead of asphalt, the storefronts are picturesque, and the area is rich with history. It's also home to some quirky shops, like The Bizarre Car Garage.

 

 

 

Admit it, this is some fun stuff right here. People come in to do projects, there are contests and parades, and materials are anything and everything you can think of, including old rubber from tires. Amazing!

This location has a great coal mining history. This memorial is a tribute to the miners who risked their lives to provide fuel for the surrounding area. It was dangerous work. My great-grandfather was one who lost his life in a mining accident, and his son, my grandfather worked in the mines for many years. You can see their names clearest in the top photo. 

The Miner's Museum is filled with memorabilia and photos that remind us that miners had a rough job, and suffered at the hands of greedy owners and managers. Fighting for unions and fair labor laws, safe conditions and a living wage were issues that kept miners struggling to feed their families, but those fights paved the way for workers all over the state. 

When in doubt, know this: if there's a music store, I'm going in! This one was pretty great. Check out the electric kitty-litter box guitar! Ha ha! It works!

It was hot, really hot. We had to have ice cream. So off we trotted--okay, sauntered--to Tutti Scoops.

I am guilty of not having taken pictures of storefronts. Whoever knows where we are, please let me know. What I do know is that someone made some fantastic fishing lures and flies. 

Cool, right? (Where are we? There was food in there...)

Amazing architecture. It's all over the older part of town, where Trinidadians care about maintaining that old-time flavor. 

We ended our walk at the Trinidad History Museum. It takes up a whole city block, and the offer tours of the historic Bloom Mansion and Baca House. 

Baca house is an adobe structure filled with old furniture in excellent condition. It has been restored to original plans, which means there is no plumbing or electricity. I am ashamed to admit that I did not get a picture of the widow's walk. Sorry!

Bloom mansion has suffered some structural damage due to--believe it or not--an earthquake.Much of the furniture has been removed and remodeling is in progress. We were surprised to learn that it is possible to rent the place for events. 

Hmm. 

The place has a wrap around porch, beautiful doors and windows, and a claw-foot tub. It may very well be my dream house. However, the third floor is very, very hot! That was where the servants lived, I'm told. They should have been paid extra for painful conditions. Ha ha.

After all the sun and heat, my brother was persuaded to run us to the nearby Sonic for a slushy. Ahh!

Next time, good places to eat.

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I have to apologize for the length of time between posts. This site has been freakishly slow uploading photos this week. I don't know if I should blame the laptop or the server in this area, because I don't think it is Blogspot. I have never had this issue before. 

For now, I shall bid you good night!