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Ashcroft
Once home to two newspapers, 20 saloons, and a school, only nine buildings still stand – and one is an outhouse.
 Ashcroft, CO - Photo by rjones0856 Dearfield
In its hey-day during the early 1900s, about 700 African Americans lived there – it was the only all-black community in the state. Now, because of the hard Dust Bowl years, all that remains is a diner, the founder’s home and a gas station.
Goldfield
Once a booming mining town of more than 3,000, the few buildings still standing can be seen from Road 81 as you drive past. ›Continue reading Top Colorado Ghost Towns
The average life of a tire is five to seven years. If you drive a vehicle every day, you’ll probably wear out the tread in less than five. RVs spend most of their time sitting still. So your tires will probably need to be replaced before the tread wears out. Maybe it’s cracks from the sun or maybe it’s sitting too long with too little air in them. When your tires hit fives year in age, it’s time to think about replacing them. It’s even more important with the kind of weight and load that your RV puts on them.
Date codes
Every tire has this code on the sidewall. It gives the date that the tire was manufactured but it doesn’t just spell it out right. You have to know what to look for and how to read it. It’ll be something like this: DOT PDML AZOF 0508. It’s on one side of the tire, so you may have to crawl underneath to look at the inside of your tires. The date code always starts with the letters DOT and ends with a 3 or 4 digit number. The first two numbers indicate the week of the year. 52 weeks in a year so that is the max. The last one or two digits tell you the year. In this example, 0508 means the 5th week of 2008, or the first week of February 2008. With the year 2000, the date codes have two numbers for the year. Only one for years before. A date code of 157 would indicate the 15th week of 1997 or you are lucky to be alive if this tire is still in use. ›Continue reading How Old Are My RV Tires?
Forget dinner and a movie. Friday nights in Santa Fe allow you to nourish your intellect before you please your palate. Many of the 100 galleries and studios lining Canyon Road stay open later, turning this pedestrian-heavy street into an open market of museum-quality pieces even as the open doors to many of the fine dining establishments waft delectable smells into the cool night air.
A narrow track that leads into the Sangre de Cristos, Canyon Road’s history is diverse and humble. Originally a footpath used by Native Americans, burros later took over the dirt road carrying loads of split pinon back into town for the rich Spanish settlers. By 1915, the once-sleepy rural neighborhood was home to a few professional artists. Now, Santa Fe is the second-largest art market in the nation with visitors traversing the lane to stare, open-mouthed, at some of incredible artwork. ›Continue reading Santa Fe Friday Night: Galleries and Dinner
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What is more bold than firing your entire housekeeping staff at your expensive hotels? Misleading long time employees and having them train their replacements first as “vacation fill in” workers. That is what was reported in the Boston media this September.
Hyatt Hotels Corp. laid off the entire housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Hyatt Regency Boston, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel on August 31 after shift completion. They cited the “challenging economic conditions” as why they cut long term employees and replaced them with workers from an outside staffing firm. The replacement workers are paid about half as much as the dismissed workers. The outsource firm is from Georgia so this hurts the local economy even further as it sends money away instead of keeping it there. They save some of their own money, send money to Georgia and then they probably won’t have a problem complaining to the city of Boston about a pothole or such. This happens in all industries but other hotel brands, including Hilton and Marriott, said they have not outsourced their housekeepers and have no plans to do so at this time. For now, we have a choice on which business practices we should support.
Housekeeping is critical to a hotel. Especially higher end brands that cater to business and luxury minded customers. A recent stay of mine at a Del Mar California hotel was impacted by housekeeping and their disregard for personal property and signage. Why does a company facing less revenue decide that cutting service and responsibility is a way to counter the problem? If you have a problem, you should be able to go to the front desk and have it dealt with promptly and responsibly. With outsourcing, who is responsible if something happens to your business laptop? A third party from another state is involved who may not know who exactly cleaned room 202. The staffing company’s brand is not on the line with the public. Hyatt’s brand is on the line. The hotel brand owns the public face of staff that it may not be able to control or know enough about. They may not know the names or the background checks of the people they are entrusting keys to every room of their customers. I expect that from a $49 motel on Daytona Beach, not $300 a night Hyatt Hotels. ›Continue reading Hyatt Outsources Housekeeping
Prevention is always the best cure to something. But it’s not always possible. Sometimes you just have to minimize what is inevitable. For this kind of prevention, I recommend using a sunscreen with a SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 or more on all skin exposed to the sun. Personally I go with 30 or higher. Apply sunscreen before you head out into the sun. Repeat it a few more times during the day or depending on how long you are out. You can usually feel your skin drying out and the lotion disappearing. Remember to use a lip balm with sunscreen as well.
 credit: jalalspages
Timing
Remember that the sun is the strongest during the middle four hours of the day, 10am-2pm. That is when protection is most needed.
Elevation
The sun is also stronger the higher you are up in altitude. I used to live in Florida at sea level and now I live at 7,000 feet. The impact of the sun was probably the most surprising difference for me. It feels hotter on the skin even when in cooler air. You burn faster. ›Continue reading Avoiding a Sunburn on Hikes
Here are some quick and easy ways to enjoy tasty meals whilst hiking:
Spicing up breakfast:
My staple breakfast is oats, raw cooked and any way in between, but I like variety so here’s how I spice it up.
- Dried fruit such as apricots, cranberries, or raisins added to raw oats add a delicious sweet flavor.
- Cinnamon. Excellent as an antioxidant, cinnamon is also delicious in just about any breakfast cereal. Add it to raw or cooked oats with a dash of lemon juice and sugar and breakfast tastes just like grandma’s pancakes.
- Honey. It’s a little heavier to carry, but a just a small portion is delicious in tea, added to cereal oats or muesli for breakfast.
Lunch time snacks:
As a diversion from tuna and dry biscuits, I like to throw some fresh ingredients into the mix. Here are a few options that are both tasty and travel well.
- Mini rosa tomatoes. They do not need to be refrigerated, and can be added to biscuits, tuna or nibbled on their own. They provide a great source of vitamin c and are a nice juicy treat.
- Mini cucumbers. They too do not need to be refrigerated, don’t get easily squashed, and are a great addition to sandwiches or as a side salad.
- Seed mix. A filling and tasty snack is a combination of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and raisins. A healthier alternative to peanuts as it provides you with an excellent source of omega oils. ›Continue reading Simple Tasty Hiking Food Ideas
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A recent stay at the L’Auberge Hotel in Del Mar, California showed me a beach hotel with good potential but not good enough to recommend to others for a variety of reasons. This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever written so please read through it all and make your own decision for yourself if you are considering this resort. A recent renovation has made the hotel look great with plenty of surface niceties to spare. Unfortunately the renovation brings it to the level of those corporate resorts where they charge a mandatory $25 a night parking fee and a $12 resort fee. So you need to add $37 a night onto however many hundreds you are spending for the room. Even if you get it as part of a package deal and think you have a final price, the fees are tacked onto that total price and you have another charge at checkout.
The lack of direction is surprising. It’s near the beach but not relaxing. It tries to look relaxing but the staff has a touch of an attitude like they are a notch above customers and you are lucky to be there with them.
The hotel guests seem to be the last priority even though they spend hundreds of dollars per night. They added a restaurant and fancied up the courtyard area that has a small pool and a bar. This attracts a huge number of non-hotel guests every night. Are they a hotel or do they want to do parties and be a night club surrounded by rooms? If you’d like to join the party outside, you can wait about fifteen minutes to buy a really weak and watered down $12 drink. The restaurant food at Kitchen 1540 was quite good and even better than I expected. My $18 natural beef burger was certainly not cheap but it was very good and I would look forward to it again. ›Continue reading L’Auberge Hotel Del Mar
I traveled with US Airways from Albuquerque to San Diego and as always, a few thing stand out. First is how US Airways lets you check in and pay $5 for a window or aisle. You can get bumped a bit more to the front of the plane and get on in Zone 2. That is the second group to board the plane. If you don’t pay up, you’ll get the middle. Ironically, I think this was the first flight in years where I had empty seats near me. Middles were taken while some aisle and window seats were empty.
The second leg of my flight, which was from Phoenix to San Diego, brought an announcement. Because of our shorter flight today and number of passengers, we will not be providing the usual drink service. This brought a few thoughts to my head.
- Did San Diego move closer to Phoenix today?
- Was there an earthquake I didn’t know about?
- Did the plane grow in size today?
- I wasn’t given a discount for a shorter flight today and I didn’t make the schedule or select the plane. So why make it seem like we were special to not get service?
›Continue reading How US Airways Amused Me Today
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There is something magical about communicating with animals. Swimming with dolphins is popular, but go one better and bathe an elephant. It is an unforgettable, strangely emotional bonding experience. Visit Sri Lanka, and hire one of the local guides on the beach. These are not the pushy touts found elsewhere, but well-dressed family men who speak excellent English and are proud to show you their country from the local perspective.
Sam picked me up in a hired, air-conditioned car and we headed off into the jungle. In the morning sunshine, the mahouts bring their working elephants down to the shady waters to bathe and enjoy some R&R. We watched as the cumbersome giants waded into the shallow river, ponderously knelt down then rolled onto the stony riverbed. I could almost hear them sigh with pleasure. I took my coconut shell halves and approached with caution. Scooping up the river water I began to massage and scrub the elephant’s hide, gradually working across the huge wrinkled expanse. It was so quiet and therapeutic, and not just for the elephant! After a time the elephant began to rise and the mahout beckoned for me to climb on the elephant’s back. Hanging onto the rope, I clambered up as the elephant rose to stand. Everyone but me could guess what came next. The elephant began to hose up the clear river water and spray it over his back – and me! Time and again I was soaked, laughing. Now you know to wear a bathing suit for this trip!
By Gillian Birch
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