Aventuras: A Cross Country Adventure With Two White Vans and a handful of Actors.: November 2005

My First Sweater--Colorado Springs, CO

Hey y'all...so I knitted my first sweater...and this is what it looks like! I'm so excited! Happy day.

We're in Colorado Springs, CO. There is some crazy weather stuff going on around the country...let's hope we get home to DC on time! Our last two stops are Montana and Idaho...and guess what...it's snowing every darn day!

So today we had a day off, and you know what that means...trouble! We went to a knitting store so I could get some needles to finish my sweater (which was a success)! Then we moved on to downtown Colorado Springs where we found a snazzy boutique with cutie clothes, and I bought a way expensive shirt that is beautimous. I'm in love! Oh well...gotta live like a rockstar sometimes.

Then we found an Irish pub (you know Caitlin was all about it!). So at around 2pm we all had a round of drinks. And I had...(drum roll please) a REAL SNAKEBITE! Yes Emily Vick, that's right :)...a snakebite! Half Harp, half strongbough, and black current! it was amazing. Jordan had his first snakebite and he liked it, too!

Jordan and I had Snakebites for lunch!

This is the drinking before 2pm club. Man, tour is rough.

And I just have to say. Everything has become right with the world. There is a Fazoli's right across the street. Barry is very pleased.

For the love of Barry.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We spent yesterday going to see the much anticipated movie version of RENT and eating our Thanksgiving dinner in the hotel restaurant. As for RENT, I was very disappointed. In my opinion, there was no clear vision with the direction. It was all over the place...flashbacks, fantasy dance numbers, music video montages...pick one! The performances were great, of course. The actors are so talented. But the movie making was poor...lengthy blackouts between scenes, forced musical numbers. I'm so glad I saw it, but I think so much more could have been done with this beautiful musical. Rosario Dawson was great in the part, but way too pretty to be a crack addict. Adam Pascal was weak as Roger. His Bon Jovi style haircut was too pretty boy and distracted me the whole time. Yeah. I feel like, did I really just see this movie? It didn't impact me at all like when I saw the musical on stage.
Jesse L. Martin, however...is hot and awesome. Is he married? :)

So, this movie experience leaves me wondering...with all the money and all the resources and all the talent these people had available to them, why wasn't this movie better? Is the musical dated? Have our standards already been raised by the musicals that came after Rent, which it undoubtedly opened doors for? Will the Producers be any good? haha (of course it will, Pat O'Neill is in it!!!!!)

Oh and by the way, I'm sitting in the hallway of the 5th floor (my room is on the 6th floor), because the internet is not free, and Mike bought a wireless router and hooked it up, but the signal doesn't go all the way to the 6th floor. It's funny...we're staying in a Marriot, but there's no complimentary breakfast or internet...the more expensive the hotel, the less free things you get! Go figure!

In honor of Thanksgiving, I would like to do a dedication to Barry, whom we are all thankful for on this tour. Barry, this one's for you (and your father out in NYC).

We are thankful for Barry, who brings fun to our tour!

Avon, Colorado

So...keeping up with the blog is difficult when we're in fun and exciting places such as Colorado. But, the upside to that is that I have more fun and interesting things to put IN the blog!

Our drive into New Mexico on Saturday was stunning. Here are some pictures from that drive as the mountains of the desert turned into snowy mountains of a skiers paradise.

watch out for runaway cows!

The famous (okay, or not so famous) Double D Ranch...

I think I see snow!

ahhh...here we are.

So, it's cold in Colorado. Forget the pool-side BBQ's of Arizona and California...we're into long john and down coats weather. I've purchased TWO pairs of long underwear so far at our friendly neighborhood Walmarts! I will not be caught unprepared.

So, to get out of the cold and warm our blood, we found a great local authentic Irish pub called "finnigan's wake" right across the street from our hotel. We went there our first night and ate some lovely irish food, drank some lovely irish beer, and played so much darts that my arm was sore the next day!

The next day, I had a visitor coming into town. Phillip decided to stop by Colorado for a visit! It was perfect timing for a vacation in Denver...due to the fact that it's "pre-season" a lot of the really nice restaurants in Vail (the ski town about 10 minutes down the road) are having great specials like 2 for 1 entrees and such. We had a really nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called Vendetta's (after Phillip drove on the "sidewalk" :), and then met up with everybody back at Finnigan's Wake for a little pool and some more darts, and some more beer (or cptn and cokes if you don't like beer...).

The following are some pics from that night...we won the darts game with a super lucky double bullseye throw by...me!!!

hellooo...I see you...

love the guiness!

Eric, I made this face JUST FOR YOU!

Who's that cute boy? He's not on our tour!

We won!!! The P/C team could not be beat, after my FREAK throw of two consecutive bullseyes. The more beer I drink, the better I get at darts :).

What a COINCEDENCE...another 05-06 Alexander tour was in the men's bathroom of this same sports bar! hehe.

Today we had two shows...the breathing thing is still a challenge in this high alltitude...but it's totally do-able. Life is good...and I heart Colorado.

Taos, NM

Taos is a ski town. It's quaint and small and the smell of winter is in the air. It reminds me a lot of Santa Fe, which is about, ooooh, 40 miles away...but smaller. We had a performance today at 1:30, and we will have one tonight at 7. It's probably the smallest venue we've played so far, maybe 500 seats, but it was so packed that they had to set up chairs on the sides. This community is excited to have us here. There is a two page spread on our show in their local arts paper, with pictures and a very detailed article. There are posters for our show up in local coffee shops. We are local rock stars :). The air is thin up here, so the show is really making it hard for me to catch my breath. I'll bring my inhaler back with me to the theater just in case :).

Here's a sign for the Taos Performing Arts Center

Ahhh...we made it on the marquee...hehe

It's our poster!

Well, we have one more show tonight, and then it's off to Colorado tomorrow. A couple of us are thinking about getting up at sunrise to see the Rio Grande Gorge tomorrow mornin. I'll take pictures if we do! Oh, and tonight we're going to see Harry Potter! Yippee!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

We arrived in Albequerqe on Saturday around 5:30, grabbed some dinner and crashed. Sunday was (another) day off, so 8 of us headed to Santa Fe for the day...about an hour away. Moria works there every summer at the Santa Fe Opera, so she knew her way around. We went to the Plaza of Governors where jewelry makers lay out their wares...all hand made....turquoise, silver, gold, amber...beautiful.

Then we walked around the city, the air crisp and the leaves brilliant with the colors of fall. This was definitely the coolest weather we've experienced so far on the tour.

plaza de governors

the colors of fall

the streets of Santa Fe

After we were done walking around, we drove to a local Japenese style spa called Ten Thousand Waves. For $14 we hung out in the communal jacuzzi tubs/sauna out under the stars! It was gorgeous. They had this cold dip that was 35 degrees! I dipped in it once and then ran right back to the hot tub...it was freezing! The spa was so nice, and my pores were very invigorated! :)

here's a pic of the tub from the website...they give you a komono! we chilled in the tub at night, though...so it was dark and the beautiful stars were out.

Well, today we had two shows, and they were good...and tomorrow we go to Silver City.

BBQ fun by the pool...and Goodbye, Arizona!

After the show on Wed, we had a BBQ by the pool! It's November and we're swimming in a pool...yummy...

Friday night we went to Tempe to hang out and played a little pool...Barry got a lot of action...

chug chug chug

This girl sat her butt REAL close to Santi's face. hehe

Barry found his way into Jordan's bum crack. Poor Barry.

Barry doesn't like people making fun of Tina...someone will get punched.

So we left Arizona on Sat. and now we're in Albequerque! We're taking a day trip to Santa Fe, so lots of pics to come I do promise that. Miss you all.

I have the best friends. This is all the mail I got today!!!!

Me. Eating Ramin. Out of a hot pot. With a knife. This moment is so "tour".

Old Town Scottsdale

I like this store!

Patty wanted this to be his "riding in the van poncho". "Hey guys! Hold up the van! I can't find my poncho!"

Ashwee looks good in a Mexican muu muu!

I love my friends.

Today I got a call from Caitlin:

"Hey, I got the fed ex package. You have like 9 things to pick up."

I was a little suprised...I mean my mom usually send me a package once a week, and I get a wonderful occasional package from my dear friends, but today was unreal. I had packages of love from so many great friends...just so you know, guys, I was on cloud 9 all day long. I felt so loved and happy. THANK YOU!

Today Santi, Ashwee, Patty A and I traveled to Old Scottsdale, a downtown area of shops and restaurants with an oldtime western feel. There are lots of jewelry stores with Turquoise and Amber, boots and moccasins, and Mexican imports. There was even a "Flagg's" Gift Shop! Pretty cool :).

I spent the evening in, getting things down and organizing. I sent a box of things home today. It's gotten to that point on the tour where it was time to clean house. We know what we wear and what we don't, what we need and what we don't. We're old pros...