Great Sand Dunes National Park

Many moons ago, I drove down to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado with a few friends for a weekend full of the the idiot things 20 year olds do when they think they're in the desert. We got in after the sun had set and after an hour or two of repeatedly getting my Mercury Mountaineer stuck on the sand road en route to our campsite, we found our way and drank red wine until we couldn't hear our sick friend, John, snoring from the tent he had setup for himself.We woke up early the next morning to a caravan of cars leaving the campsites to get to the dunes. It had rained during the night and the streams we crossed going in were now rivers. I decided to take a different route through the water than the rest of my fellow campers and, by the time I got to the other side, my car was dead. Everyone that came within fifty feet of us during the next four or five hours had their own idea as to how to fix the problem, but when the sun started going down and my car hadn't moved, it was time to call a tow truck. The truck took us out of the campsite road (remember: made of sand, not pavement) and took the car for repair in Alamosa, CO. We never even got to the dunes.A park ranger picked us up at the park around 8pm after the car had been towed and drove us to a motel in Alamosa. He spent the whole car ride trying to convince us to buy his wife's Ford Aerostar so we could drive back to Boulder. We declined his offer and stayed in a motel while stuffing our faces with Little Caeser's pizza. We took a greyhound back to Boulder the next morning.Two weeks later, when my car was ready to get back in the world, I finished up watching Diane Lane's naked body in Unfaithful and, at midnight, started the 4(?) hour drive back to Alamosa with my roommate, who had been with me two weeks previous. The sun was coming up as we started to make the drive back and we decided that it'd be crazy to drive all that way to not see the dunes twice, so we drove into the park, hiked up into the dunes a little ways, watched the sun come up and then quietly drove back to Boulder.I hate Great Sand Dunes National Park.MP3: Buckingham Nicks - Crying In The Night

Wisconsin

We took an excursion to Wisconsin last weekend to visit the places of yesteryear, eat some crème de menthe soft serve and fried bluegill sandwiches, scan the radio for Hootie's "I Only Wanna Be With Youuuuuuuuuuuuu", and sit on a boat until we forgot why we lived in New York. We didn't get it all done, but we did come home with some American flag shirts and a renewed understanding that Wisconsin is one of the most underrated states we've got. Bravo.From Wisconsin's bible, Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac:

Thus always does history, whether of marsh or market place, end in paradox. The ultimate value in these marshes is wildness, and the crane is wildness incarnate. But all conservation of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish.

MP3: Songs: Ohia - Old Black Hen (Demo)MP3: Bob Dylan - If Not For You (From The New Morning Sessions)

Lost Lake Pt. 1

Lost Lake is located in the northeast corner of Rocky Mountain National Park, 10 miles from the nearest trail head. If you want to get there, you've got to walk about 4 miles through Roosevelt National Forest, which contains a few minutes of private land, and more than a few minutes of dodging horse apples. You'll follow the Big Thompson River for most of your ascent, which is slow and steady, a moderate climb that still manages to embarrass you if you've got 40 pounds on your back. On the way you might pass a lama or two bringing up packs for those who have finally given up on the idea that carrying the sleeping bags, granola bars, extra layers, and iodine are a means to end, but rather a inconvenience that can be easily avoided. But you got to hand it to these people, they brought lots of beer.Go to Estes Park, find Devil's Gulch Road and head towards Glen Haven. Make a left onto Dunraven Glade Road (2 miles after town) and take the road all the way until it ends. The trail head is impossible to miss. You'll stay in the forest most of the 10 miles, with little to see in the way of postcard views of the great Rockies. It's worth it. There are countless sites to stop and make camp if you can't make it all the way, but of course, don't do it. Keep going. Lost Lake is beautiful to a point of silliness, and the campsites are just as fine. Get a good night's sleep when you get there cause tomorrow is much better...MP3: Pink Floyd - The Gold It's In The...MP3: Paul Simon - Loves Me Like A Rock (Acoustic Demo)

You Say Morocco

I spent last week in Colorado, and on the drive back to Denver from Boulder, we stopped in beautiful Broomfield to buy some T-shirts at the ARC Thrift Shop. Before ARC, all we had was a dead iPod and the radio, so I bought a gift for the car in the form of a cassette of Jackson Browne's first album, Saturate Before Using. Side B came on first, and its' lead off track, "Something Fine", has been in my head ever since. Perfect for any trip on Route 36. East or West.As Jim said, "That's a nice song."MP3: Jackson Browne - Something FineYoutube: Jackson Browne Playing The Same Song in 1976

delaware river song

Gotta say that getting in a kayak or a tube or a canoe or a raft and gliding down the beautiful Delaware River is one fine way to spend a weekend afternoon.  Even if you get caught in one freaky-ass lightning storm.  Then you enjoy your afternoon from the bank of that beautiful Delaware River, and wait for the rainbows.  In any case, if the weather is clear and the water level is high, you can have yourself one chiiiiiiil afternoon.  The drive is short from NYC and Philly, there are plenty of places to rent some gear.  Best of all experience is not required.  It’s a smooth ride.

Oh, and don’t forget your Coozie and a sixer of Budweiser.

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

American Journeys - Delaware Water Gap

MP3: William & Versey Smith - When that Great Ship Went Down

In Country Sleep

Never and never, my girl riding far and nearIn the land of the hearthstone tales, and spelled asleep,Fear or believe that the wolf in a sheepwhite hoodLoping and bleating roughly and blithely shall leap,My dear, my dear,Out of a lair in the flocked leaves in the dew dipped yearTo eat your heart in the house in the rosy wood.Sleep, good, for ever, slow and deep, spelled rare and wise,My girl ranging the night in the rose and shireOf the hobnail tales: no gooseherd or swine will turnInto a homestall king or hamlet of fireAnd prince of iceTo court the honeyed heart from your side before sunriseIn a spinney of ringed boys and ganders, spike and burn,HereMP3: Lovin Spoonful - Darling, Be Home Soon

Creepy Power

Sean Turley is a dear friend of ours, one that provides hours of passionate argumentation, an endless flow of East Coast madness, and our favorite book of rainy day Polaroids. He's our personal gatekeeper to America's great end of the line, and has provided us with a place to sleep every time we feel the need to look out onto a lobster bay and drive on the Atlantic's edge while listening to the past's Next Big Thing. He's a teacher, an eater, an asshole, a man with one of this land's great Old Ladies, and his pictures make us want to get our heads back to "the way life should be." Enjoy Sean's photos here and then check out their soundtracks here.MP3: Arbouretum - Pale Rider Blues