The Unpacking Continues

We came home from Carlsbad, unpacked our suitcases and promptly repacked everything for a quick visit to our Madison digs.  We had theater tickets for Saturday night and figured we could get in a little more unpacking.  We spent all day Saturday - well after a brief morning walk and a stop at the now active farmer's market for some breakfast treats (a cinnamon and a pecan roll) - unpacking more boxes.  We made a lot of progress as we got all the boxed up kitchen, living room, and guest bedroom items unwrapped.  There was enough time left over for us to tackle getting the living room bookshelves organized.  Probably about 95% of the way there, just need to figure out how to now arrange them to allow new additional books to be added without having to move everything again.  We did enjoy having the elevator in our unit to transfer boxes between the two floors.  Although it was challenging a few time to actually get a person in it to operate the controls.

We also decided to completely rearrange the guest bedroom.  Jo decided she didn't like the layout of the furniture from what we told the movers.  So we landed up moving 80% of the items in the bedroom - would have been better for my back if we had figured that out while the burly movers were here, but we managed.  So we are making progress and should only need another couple of visits to get it reasonably squared away.

That evening we enjoyed the Broadway production of "A Bronx Tale".  Excellent show and well performed.  It was a nice way to relax after our day on our feet.

What a Cavern

We spent last week in New Mexico for a combination trip of seeing my folks and finally traveling down to Carlsbad Caverns.  My parents have lived in New Mexico now for over 20 years and in all that time we never managed to find the time to drive five hours south through the wilds of New Mexico to visit what has to be one of the largest cave systems in the Americas.  Of course, I haven't visited that many of the cave systems in the Americas so I'm just guessing there.

We had wonderful weather during our visit, highs in the 70's and 80's with sunny skies which was a nice change of pace as Wisconsin is having a pretty dreary May so far.  It has rained 12-13 days out of 22 so far and we have only had a few days where the temperatures have even made into the 70's.  So finally seeing some sun was a real treat.  Naturally, the food was great as we tanked up on our favorite mexican dishes - although Jo did find out the challenges with letting the restaurant pile on the green chiles for you as she suffered through some really spicy cheese enchiladas one meal, let's just say lesson learned.  The evening games of cards were fun, especially since Mom and I continued our winning streak from our last visit (4 games to 2, not that I'm rubbing it in!!!!).  We also got in a few nice hikes and managed to find a new loop route that took us into the back canyons further than we had managed before.  But, all too soon it was time to head south to visit the giant underground hole.

The drive south from Albuquerque was pretty peaceful as there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road.  Not hard to figure out why not, since there really isn't a lot of anything there.  Lots of scrub, a few ranches scattered far apart and the occasional antelope.  Although, at least for the antelopes we did see they weren't particularly "playing" as the song goes, mostly standing around trying to avoid the heat was my guess.  We stopped in Roswell, NM for lunch at a fun diner (really good barbecue, bacon hamburger and sweet potato fries - although no milk shakes, what kind of diner doesn't have milk shakes?) and afterwards took in the UFO museum.  Fascinating place with an interesting story to tell - were we visited by aliens in 1947?  Maybe, maybe not - at least a dozen people seemed convinced we were.  Fun museum with some interesting viewpoints to consider.  Afterwards that thought provoking stop we headed down to Carlsbad all the while debating whether any alien species had visited earth and if so, why can't anyone take a decent picture of them.  We made it in time to see the bat flight from the cave which was truly amazing.  Thousands of bats come careening out of the cave opening near dusk, for about an hour, looking for their evening meal.  Since we weren't at the peak bat time - when the baby bats are also present and the full flock (or whatever lots of bats are called - I just looked it up it is called either a colony or camp) has completed the migration from Mexico - it was must be spectacular during the later summer (when the bat flight can last up to four hours, instead of just one).  The ranger estimated that there are about 200,000 bats currently present - how did he estimate that, he fully admitted it was just a wild guess.

The next day we got up early for our ranger led exploration of Carlsbad cavern.  On this special guided tour we got to climb down to the lower cave with a small group of twelve and two rangers who provided lots of information about the caverns (e.g., how they were formed, who explored them, and the history since they became a tourist destination).  Very special as we got to experience the complete darkness that caves provide - very eerie and very interesting to see what your eyes do when they are open but can't see anything - as well as seeing many of the cave formations up close and personal.  After the tour we took the grand tour of the upper cave and are still marveling at the shear size of the caverns.  Well worth a trip if you are ever nearby. 

After our day in the cave we drove to El Paso for dinner and to spend the night before hopping on a plane and making our way home.

First Weekend Downtown

Friday was our big day - we no longer own a home in Milwaukee (the person between us in the picture is our realtor).  Our closing went very smoothly and the couple who purchased our home helped everyone celebrate by bringing a bottle of Prosecco to the closing.  Not sure we needed a glass at ten in the morning, but it did a great job of capturing the mood.  We then had our first weekend of downtown living and we tried to make the most of our new carefree living.  We started the weekend off with a bang by enjoying some cocktails in our new place - brandy old fashion for me and a cosmo for Jo - after first enjoying a long walk around the downtown lake front.  Then we cooked up some home made pizza - using our newly found pizza skills - and in my humble opinion made our best pizza to date.  Then we snuggled in and tested our technical skills with finding some TV to watch using a variety of streaming and over the air broadcasts.  We aren't quite the expert yet, but have managed to find a way to enjoy a broad swath of "free" TV shows have now "cut the cord" with cable - well at least until we move again.

Saturday, we were up early to exercise and then utilize the free yoga session our apartment building offers, before heading out to watch the new Avenger movie.  I won't provide any spoilers, but be sure not to drink anything hours before the show.  It is almost a 3.5 hour adventure once you figure in the previews, movie, and credits.  Afterwards we decided to walk to one of our favorite downtown restaurants for BBQ.  We picked up some dessert at the Public Market to enjoy as we sat on the shared outdoor deck to enjoy the last of the beautiful day. 

Sunday we decided to take a long walk along the river partly to get some exercise and partly to hit our favorite east side bakery.  The cinnamon twist and apple, caramel turnover made a nice break in the middle of what turned out to be about a 6-8 mile stroll.  We also managed to take our first ride on the "Hop".  This is Milwaukee's new street car system that covers a couple of miles in the downtown area.  We are such city dwellers now. 

New Digs

We spent the last week moving our stuff around Wisconsin.  Most items went over to our condo, so we finally have a place with furniture in each and every room.  We also decided to put all the boxes in one room for simplicity - leading to a room stuffed with boxes that all need to be unpacked, boxes collapsed, paper smoothed, and then recycled somehow.  Last Friday was the big move to Madison and after getting everything off of the moving truck, we spent a couple of days starting in on the unpacking.  It wouldn't appear we had made much progress even though we had piles of paper and flattened boxes to show for it - amazing how much waste there is in the moving process (we were able to get a few of our neighbors to take some of our boxes and paper, there is always someone in need of moving items it seems).   We managed a little relaxing with a great Mexican dinner the first night that involved multiple rounds of margaritas and then enjoyed an evening and dinner with Kathy and John.  Jo and Kathy got to model clown outfits that made for Halloween in high school before they headed to a garage sale - yes they both still fit into their teenage outfits, although apparently Jo is a bit taller than her younger years.

We came back to Milwaukee to start to get settled in to our other new home.  We had to find spaces for all the miscellaneous items we need until Jo is ready for retirement.  Everything fit, but we have things crammed into every nook and cranny leading to many treasure hunts - as in, we know it is the apartment somewhere, but where???  We are going cable free so I have spent a fair amount of time figuring out what is available for free.  Amazing what you can find - about the only we are missing so far is the ability to tape something to watch later.  Small price to pay to not have a massive cable bill for once.

We were also able to enjoy another basketball playoff game courtesy of Jo's employer, especially as the home town team won.  Great seats, exciting game, and pretty good food - plus with our new downtown location we could walk to the game.  Walking home helped burn off a few of the calories from the designer cookies we had at the game.

We also got to welcome our first visitors to our new place downtown.  John and Linda were in town to enjoy a concert their daughter was playing in.  We joined them for the band concert - which had some nice lively selections (which was good since both Jo and I were a bit weary from our moving events) and afterwards, showed off the great views from our 35th floor followed by a very enjoyable dinner at a nearby restaurant.

So far Jo is enjoying her one block commute and I'm really enjoying not having to patch and paint cracks in the walls.  Also, it is kind of nice that when something isn't working right - I get to call someone and it is their problem.  I'm sure there will be times that I'm going to miss having a yard to mow and gardens to weed - but it might be pretty rare.