Julie McNiven’s blog

Getting a taste of luxury this week only!

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:27:35 -0400

This is my parent's rich friend from college's guest house in Los Feliz. I was lucky enough to escape from under the 'Pasadena Revenge Stomper's' craziness and live in this amazing house for the week.

I am loving it!

My reaction to it all.......

Ahhhhhh, too bad it's only for the week!.....then it's back to the condo to fight the evil Pasadena Revenge Stomper! Where is my Teela, the Captain of the Royal Guard at the palace of Eternos when i need her!

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pasadena revenge stomper

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:12:17 -0400

(my computer was getting fixed and everything was erased...that's why it appears that i stopped my journey in Gallop, NM!)

on another note....

what do you do when you are being bullied my the woman upstairs...well, i just got here...so i'm not really being bullied, but she's really put the family here at a disadvantage because when they close doors, cupboards and drawers "too loud" she leaves a note saying....."you were very loud this morning!" or when the woman upstairs feels so upset that...after my parents left yesterday at nine am on a monday she left a not saying..."NO MORE NOTES"

which basically means the following...

pasadena revenge stomper woman

I realize that the stomps sound very quiet on the video...i blame it on mac for not having better microphone quality....she is quite loud, take my word!

so really, I don't officially live here...so i can't really go upstairs and talk to her.

She must be very lonely and never been in love....and not have a life

as much as this is annoying, I am completely fascinated by the 'human experiment' of it all....how is it that a 60 year old woman does this time and time.

Apparently the family that lived here before was so fed up with her that the husband smashed in her car windows!

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Gallup, NM

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:21:22 -0400

El Rancho Lobby

All of the Authenticity we desired from Santa Fe....we got in Gallup.
We stayed at the beautiful El Rancho Hotel in the Jack Benny room and walked around town talking to locals and checking out some pawn shops. Gallup is centralized to many reservations so they get all of their items direct.

The downtown area was so cute, keeping it 50's, and 60's charm.

El Rancho Lobby2

The El Rancho served as a home away from home for all the Western stars of the 30's and 40's. We had a couple drinks in the bar and then has some rice and beans salad with fried zucchini for dinner....we were in bed by 9:15....traveling is so tiring.

El Rancho Sign

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Santa Fe

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:09:52 -0400

After our detour to Las Vegas we headed south to Santa Fe. We were both really excited to be going there as we thought it would be a cool, artsy place to live someday......we were very disappointed. The architecture I loved, but it lacked authenticity. It seems like disney came in and decorated and there were so many tourists that I had no desire to explore much of downtown.

I treated Michael for his birthday to a very nice spa that night. Ten Thousand Waves was set up in the mountains a bit above the city and we had a hot tub, sauna and massages before retiring to the Santa Fe Sage Inn.

The next morning we had coffee at a pretty cool cafe called Aztec Cafe,
and hit up a few of the vintage western wear shops where Michael tried on some very '3:10 to Yuma' cowboy hats.....the one that looked amazing was 100 dollars...so it still in the shop.

We drove down to Albuquerque and stopped at a couple more vintage shops and record stores before getting on the road to Gallup.

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Las Vegas, NM

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:56:53 -0400

Las Vegas is where all the old trails would meet up so there is a lot of history in this town. It comes out of no where...which seems to be pretty common here in the SW. They have over 900 buildings on the register for Historic places and they have 2 historic sections of town. One on the north side of the creek where the plaza is.

Las Vegas, NM Historic Plaza

The other Historic area which is 40 years younger is on the south side of the creek, right near the railroad. It has a great mix of architecture because of the train being able to bring in a larger array of supplies.

More of the older downtown....

Las Vegas downtown

Downtown Las Vegas, NM

We really enjoyed this surprise visit to Las Vegas, having our first experience with green chille.....it was way to spicy for my sensitive tongue, but Michael thought it was quite tasty.

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Tucumcari-Las Vegas....NM that is.

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:37:45 -0400

After talking with the owner of the Blue Swallow we decided to take a back road to Santa Fe via Las Vegas, NM.
The 104 was bare with only a few other cars on the road.
We passed this Lonely cow on the way.

Lonely Cow on the way to Las Vegas

About half way to Las Vegas we came upon Cochas Damn and Lake....after miles of the scenery above, the lake smiled in sapphire.

Conchas Lake 2, NM

Conchas Lake, NM

We were greeted at the entrance with a beautiful family of Deer.

Deer family outside of Conchas Damn, NM

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Tucumcari, NM

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:23:56 -0400

Tucumcari was a great stop on 66. So many of the only motels and diners were still there...or at least their signs were. We had dinner at the Pow Wow Restaurant and breakfast the next day at 66 kicks diner.
The big highlight of Tucumcari was the Blue Swallow Motel. The Motel had a great feel to it; with a garage for every room, a cigarette machine with route 66 brand cigarettes still in it, and 2 amazing classic cars in almost perfect shape that I'm kicking myself for not getting pictures of. This town felt like the real 66 spirit was still trying it's hardest to shine.

Blue Swallow Motel

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Tucumcari, NM

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:23:56 -0400

Blue Swallow Motel

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Groom TX

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:53:32 -0400

Groom had a population of 527 I believe and felt just as desolate and eerily silenced as Mclean.
Leading to town:

Groom

Here is downtown:

Groom downtown

A wonderful stop we made today was a visit to the 'Blessed Mary' restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and there is no cash register either...you pay what you can.

Blessed Mary Menu

Blessed Mary inside

Blessed Mary Sign

We had a wonderful lunch....not much for vegans but I had a coffee and fries.....although it didn't much seem be about the food. James and his wife run the restaurant and give all their proceeds to charity. James will greet you and smile as you enter and proceed to share stories and tell you as much as he can about as much as he can, while you're eating:)

I left with them a few of me vegan muffins as they had never heard of baking without eggs and dairy.

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The forgotten Towns

nobody@vox.com(McVegan's World) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:24:42 -0400

Driving today made my imagination run wild....to a different time. A time where there was more than just one run down gas station and motel/cafe after another....where there were thriving businesses in the now boarded up, silent memories of what used to be.
McLean Texas was first:

A refurbished phillips 66 gas station:

McLean TX Phillips 66

The downtown which really made me want to film a movie there:

Mclean TX downtown

Mclean TX downtown 2

Mclean TX downtown 4

Mclean, TX downtown 3

Where did everyone go???

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