LYMING IN UTAH

For years I have dreamt about traveling on a train again and this weekend the dream came through on Thursday 16th June with my trip to Salt Lake City (SLC) in Utah. 

The trip surpassed my imagination in every way. To begin with, I had been following the development of fast trains that travelled up to 700 miles per hour and expected that it might be a bit scary fast. However, I suspect that it is because we have to traverse the Rocky Mountains, ascending to over 9,000 feet at times, why this particular train snaked its way so slowly through the 43 tunnels and dozens of canyons at between 20 and 79 miles per hour. (It was a busy area too as we passed several laden trains hauling coal).

 That suited me fine since the scenery is breathtakingly spectacular. I never expected the train to be so luxurious either, with reclining seats and foot rests, more than ample leg room and even a lounge with picture windows and glass above so one could take in the spectacular scenery from all angles. The Colorado authorities went even further by providing tour guides in the lounge who gave a vivid description about each area as we passed through. 

We were accompanied by the Colorado river for over 250 miles. This river has been swelling and wreaking havoc in some areas, flooding out homes, ranches and parks. In the beautiful 12 mile long Glenwood canyon, the bike path along the river had to be closed as it was covered with water but I had to think of the cyclists who previously used that trail with the greatest respect since there are no rails between their path and the raging river. 

Wild flowers on the roof of the convention centre at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The snow covered Rockies loom in the background.

The river is absolutely serene, inviting and beautiful in some areas and dangerously furious in others. Many rafters were taking advantage of the summer weather to raft and surf.

Although I was going to visit my long lost friend Sharon who had left Jamaica from the early 80's and with whom I had only reconnected with through Facebook, I still had uneasy thoughts about Mormons and going to Utah for one did have a perception that the place was populated by dreary, straight laced non-fun-loving people. It didn't help that as we crossed the border from the beautiful Colorado countryside and entered into Utah, the first section of that state was an arid and very unattractive desert. I felt my worse expectations being manifested.

Soon however we passed the desert and entered the other side of Utah as we approached Salt Lake City. There Sharon was waiting for me at 10.30pm and guess what she had at home for me? Stew Peas and rice with Oxtail. I had actually arrived in heaven! The city is actually situated in a valley surrounded by the absolutely beautiful, snow capped mountains not even half an hour away. 

Then on Friday the real fun began.We started off with a tour of the beautiful Temple Square which  though not as elaborate as the Vatican, is huge and fabulous showing the uninitiated that the Mormons are indeed a very powerful and wealthy religion. The spectacular Temple was built from granite and I was disappointed that we were not allowed inside but it is a fabulous piece of architecture on the outside and the grounds are massive, well kept and luxurious.The Temple square is the centre of SLC  and all the streets are numbered from that square. Their conference centre is the largest in the world,  a massive 1.4 million square feet! Think of this in terms of how many 2,000 square feet houses it could accommodate (700!) and you get an idea of the size.  The roof alone is 4 acres and it is covered in wild flowers. The seating capacity is a whopping 21,000 persons all who have an uninterrupted view of the stage. The furnishings are exquisite and expensive with numerous, huge original, religious paintings covering the walls.

While it is visited by over 300,000 persons annually, since  9/11, no one is allowed to wonder through the building without a guide.

From the portraits of the executives you see on the walls, it leaves no doubt in your mind that Mormonism is an all white religion and very male dominated. Yes they have coloured members and women from all over the world, but absolute control remains in the hands of white males. Interestingly too, the Book of Mormons is supposed to be the translation of writings found on tablets written by native American Indians, but in the initial stages of this religion it was said that Blacks and Indians could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

On Sunday, Sharon's daughter Tracey and her son- in- law Brady along with their kids Morgan and Cameron, took us hiking in the nearby mountains at Cottonwood Canyon to be exact. This is a spectacular area with the Praia river raging furiously beside the trails. 

The hills from which granite was mined to build the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City

Next we went to Temple Stone Quarry where strategically placed plaques tell the story of how the original Mormons mined the granite from the dangerous cliffs to build their beloved temple.

Rappers perform at Juneteenth Festival in Ogden

Then to disabuse me of the perception that there are only a handful of black people in Utah, Sharon drove me to the city of Ogden to the 22nd Annual Juneteenth Heritage festival, a celebration of black heritage. We had a wonderful time there listening to various artists perform, including a band made up of musicians from the nearby US Airforce base. (I also learnt that there are a number of Africans in Utah as the state has a welcoming attitude towards persons fleeing from zones of conflict and civil wars).

Colorado River, just below Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Since for my return trip meant I had to be at the train station at 2 am, we decided not to sleep but just catch up on old times for the entire night. What struck me most is the fact that while Sharon has become a staunch Mormon and I am as irreligious as you can get, our philosophies of life are in sync.                                                                                                                                                     What the heck, who needs religion if you just determine to live a life of treating others as you like to be treated?                                                                                                                                        It was an absolutely wonderful weekend which I would not have missed for anything in the world, and since I have now decided that from now on it is going to be the train for me all the way for overland travel, we are already planing a trip for next summer, when the Cox family, the Mcbride's (Michele's new name) and I will be travelling to to visit Yellowstone park by train.

I am already looking forward to it.

For more photographs see;  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150280987231823.376650.763366822

BANNED FROM PIKES PEAK

I have never in my life been happier to be banned from anywhere than I was yesterday. This was at the entrance to the over 14,000 foot Pikes Peak in Colorado.

This is a place I had been dying to visit for months as it is described as the most visited mountain in the USA and the second most visited mountain in the world.

 According to the information, to get to the peak "....you travel through four life zones from the lush planes and the alpine tundra ( that is, the vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline,) while passing cascading streams .... )  At the top you are guaranteed the most scenic view, taking in four states and the snow covered peaks of the Continental divide. 

So scenic is the view that it is said it inspired Katherine Lee Bates who wrote the words of 'America the Beautiful".

So, you can understand my excitement on going to the peak yesterday. But we were banned from going to the top and with good reason. On reaching the gate, the attendant asked the age of my grand daughter Madelynn who was in her car seat. When we told him 6 weeks, he told us we could not go to the peak as that altitude is dangerous to babies under 7 months. 

So dangerous it is he said, that it could kill her.

We needed to hear no more. And the operators of the park are perfectly correct in adopting that policy, for on researching the matter today, I learnt for the first time about something called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) which according to Wikipedia, is a life threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema (

fluid accumulation in the lungs) that occurs in otherwise healthy mountaineers at altitudes typically above 9,000 feet. It states that HAPE remains the major cause of death related to high-altitude exposure with a high mortality in absence of adequate emergency treatment. According to the attendant at the park, while children over 7 months can start breathing again when affected, it has been shown that babies below that age never do.

The information caused us to get cold bumps  all over for after all we are from a country (JAMAICA) where the highest mountain is just 7,400 feet so such concerns are never raised. 

 We were extremely happy that park attendants in Colorado are so well trained and vigilant. 

We were however assured that it was ok to got to Chrystal reservoir, which is just over 9,000 feet .

This is quite a scenic area in its own right with a good view of the snow covered peak, one of the four reservoirs in the area. After surveying that area, we drove over to nearby Garden of the Gods.

This is an over four hundred acre free park with the most stunningly beautiful huge, rocks similar to those which I wrote about sat Red Rocks, but much larger and with a less chiseled look.One gets a feeling of awesome spirituality just looking at these wonderful examples of the power of the Great Creator while Pikes Peak shimmers in the background.

From there we went to the Old Colorado city established in 1859, where we had ice cream and wondered throughout the old city.

UPDATE

The three of us returned to Pikes Peak in October 2016 and this time we went all the way to the top.

After about 8000 feet the hills were bereft of trees as apparently that is beyond the tree line. The road was smooth but narrow and curvy so we wended our way up at  around 30 miles per hour. Despite the surrounding hills being bare, the view was to die for. It was times like this that I wished I had a really good camera for I would love to remember the scenes from every angle.

At the top it was really breezy and freezing and as expected the air was thin and I immediately became dizzy while my daughter developed a severe headache. While we were in the gift shop waiting in line to purchase delicious fudge that the area is noted for, a teenage girl fainted. Lucky for her her boyfriend was quick and got her before she landed on the ground. I think that is what sent the signal for us to descend.

Despite the air and lack of oxygen at the top, it was definitely worth the trip.

True, we did not get to the summit of Pikes Peak, but my granddaughter Madelynn is safe and sound and I had a wonderful day enjoying the beauty in the fantastic areas around Colorado Springs.

For more photographs see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150275280021823.374603.763366822

THOSE AWESOME RED ROCKS

Yesterday started out quite sadly for me as Shadrach was leaving for New York and I knew I was going to miss him badly and it is not because I wont have anyone to play tennis with on Sundays! Worse yet, I had to take him to the airport by myself and I have this disgust with large international airports (and Denver's is one of the largest I have seen) which I find so confusing.


 I can't forget getting lost in JFK'  driving around in circles for over an hour. And just a few years ago when I was in New York, the idiot of a taxi man who took me to the airport circled forever as he couldn't find the Air Jamaica terminal. Luckily I had negotiated a flat rate with him before we left.


It was therefore with much trepidation that I set off . Amazingly however, when I got there I found everything as the directions were so well laid out and the instructions so explicit. I had to wonder out aloud why the operators of other international airports do not collaborate with Denver to improve customer kindliness.


Anyway we got  through quite easily and as Shadrach is under 18, they allowed me to accompany him though security and to the gate. Anyway I cheered myself up since he will be spending a month of his summer vacation in  good old Jamdown.


So after the sad parting I headed to Beverley's. She is a friend of Michele's who just loves the great outdoors as much as I do and she promised to take me to Red Rocks. I had heard about it briefly as  there they have is a natural amphitheatre which is built in the rocks and  I had heard about some of the concerts there. 
At first it appeared that we might just have to drive around as it was raining. but as Michele once told me "If you don't like the weather in Colorado, just wait fifteen minutes and it will change." That is so true for it turned out to be a wonderful, sunny day most of the time and a little overcast at other times.


I was not prepared for what I saw. It is only about twenty miles from Denver but its like you are in another world. As we drove up l saw these awesome and overwhelmingly huge rocks, all red, jutting out of the mountainside. Its as a super chiseler had gotten to work and chiseled these unbelievable formations in the rocks jutting precariously all around.  In fact, many of the rock formations have names, depending on the image they naturally project. Some names are Creation Rock, Ship Rock etc and it is estimated that those rocks were formed about 296 million years ago. Humbling  isn't it? Before the white man came, that area had been a favourite camping ground of the Utes.


One got a feeling of the supernatural and I even thought out loud that they must film dinosaur movies there for you could almost get the feeling that this is the type of environment that these huge creatures of old would hang out.


Luckily I have been keeping up my exercise by going to City park daily to walk and run and I cycle occasionally, so the hiking trail up and around the rocks was not all challenging. Unfortunately, the amphitheatre was closed as they were rehearsing for  a concert which was to take place that evening so we could not go up there even to take in the view.


The little  town of Morrison which lies below is quaint and inviting, a really lovely place to hang out in the numerous restaurants and bars, especially those by the creek.


What had started out as a sad day turned out to be a wonderful adventure and the good news came as we drove back to Denver, that is that Shadrach had arrived safely in New York.

 As the late great William Shakespeare said, all is well that ends well. I say amen to that.

A Classic

This is a classic.

Today as I drove my sixteen year old grandson to meet his friends, I noticed that the temperature gauge on the car was heating up so pulled into a service station to purchase coolant. I told him I had to stop because the car was overheating and he asked me quite sincerely why was I bothering to stop instead of just turning on the air condition? Wow. That was my hearty laugh for the day!

But should I really have been surprised that a member of the younger generation thinks that all heating problems can be solved by turning on the air condition? On reflection, no.

He is now at the age to get a license in the USA but I know whose car he will never drive!

I think in about ten years when he has his license and hopefully his own car, I will ask him what does one do when the car is over heating.
Hope he knows what to do by then 🤣🤣🤣.

When Will Bureaucracies Operate Logically?

Oh what a disappointment. There I was thinking that there was an exciting aspect to the Denver mayoral elections in that we were about to discover that some electoral fraud and manipulation was afoot, only to discover that it was an element of semi-literacy that was at fault!


These elections use mail-in ballots and when my daughter and son in law both got letters from the electoral office telling them that both their signatures were irregular so their ballots for the May run off had been rejected, my antenna immediately went up. Aha, I said to myself, it means one of the candidates' campaign team had been vigilant enough to do a canvas of the area that they resided in and based on their assessment of how the two residents of the household would vote, they had arranged by some devious means to have their ballots rejected!

Wow, I thought, so there is some intrigue in these otherwise boring elections. I therefore encouraged them to visit the electoral office to find our exactly why 100% of the voters in one household was rejected!

So off we went on Friday last to the electoral office and I really found the experience there quite amusing. As we entered, there was an old lady dressed like a parson (that funny white collar) sitting by the door with a ballot box. I soon learned why she appeared so happy to see us for the big room we entered had ballot boxes, lots of voting machines, people behind the counter but no customers or should I say, voters.

She seemed disappointed that we had not come to drop our mail in ballot in her box which would have given her some form of activity in that she would have had to deliver stickers saying 'I voted." When she heard our problem, she told us to take a number. I wondered if there were invisible persons around for since no one else required assistance from the bored looking staff members behind the counter, I just could not understand the 'take a number ' routine.

Anyway, as the number was drawn, about four of the six people behind the counter offered to help.
You could see that they had not had to deal with other members of the public for a long time, for normally bureaucrats are never anxious to help anyone, but these guys were bored.


While the two enumerated voters explained their problem to a lady behind the counter, a male senior citizen who was also there anxious to help, listened to the complaint about their signatures being rejected, then said to me, "Without checking, I know what the problem is." He said they have around 3% of the ballots rejected at each election because of the problem and he had been trying to convince the 'powers that be' to do a simple adjustment for years but they don't listen to him.

He then showed me the mail-in envelope. In it is the ballot, a big white sheet of paper marked :"secrecy sleeve" to cover the ballot and an envelope in which the ballot and sleeve is to be enclosed and posted to the electoral office. On the back of the envelope, the voter is required to sign an Affidavit, stating among other things, that he is an eligible voter and that the signature and name on the envelope is his/hers. The problem the 3% has however, is that they do not read the envelope properly for if they did, they would realise that they would have to find the name they are saying is theirs!

However, you would never believe where they have hidden the name. It is written upside down just above the addressee on the front of the envelope and is surrounded by bar codes. So if you do not look properly, you just do not see your name. As a result, where there is more than one voter in a household, it is easy to just grab any envelope, mark the ballot and sign the back without checking whose name is written upside down on the front!

This is what the gentleman says he has trying to address over the years. Neither he nor I could understand why the voter's name could not be placed at the back where the person is required to sign. The only explanation we could come up with is that bureaucrats just do not think or operate logically.

So when the other clerk checked why the signatures had been rejected, naturally it was for the same reason the man had outlined....they had signed without checking that the envelope they were signing had the correct name.


According to my wise informant, the 3% rejection of mail in ballots could be eliminated easily and he added that what was troubling is that when the majority of voters are informed that their ballots are rejected, they don't bother to pursue it, unlike my kin. They wanted to vote so they took the trouble to go to the office to sort it out whereas most people don't. And that only makes the number of persons who vote in these elections even smaller, ranging from 20-30% in an election for mayor, he told me.

The system does offer several opportunities to get it right, for the voting period is two weeks and if one votes early, when he /she receives an advice that something is wrong, they have more than a week to make the correction. But very few people are prepared to put up with the hassle caused by upside down names.

What this reinforced for me is that no where in the world is the bureaucracy prepared to make life simple and hassle free!


 And there I was thinking that convoluted bureaucracies were endemic to Jamaica!

Jerk Pork at Last

Today is one of the best days of my life in Denver, Colorado. To begin with its a wonderful summer day at last so I decided to ride my bicycle downtown to visit the Art museum. But first I must go pay for my ticket at the Amtrak depot before they raise the price on me again. A few weeks ago I called to find out how much it was return from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah, and was told $170. When I called to make my reservation today it was $217....a whole $47 more. Absolute highway robbery, but as they say you learn from experience and I did not know that trains set their prices like airlines in that the earlier you book the cheaper it is.

I am only paying the price for this experience because I have not been on a real train (not a subway please!) since I was a teenager and feel like a kid going on my first train ride. I am going to visit my friend Sharon whom I have not seen in probably 20 years and who is now a Mormon living in Salt Lake city. Boy don't I have a lot to learn when I get there. So under those circumstances I had to pay the huge fare increase and not bawl.


Anyway, when I was leaving the train station and going towards the Art museum, I heard music playing loudly and naturally headed in the direction only to run into the Denver Chalk Art fair on 14th Street. The streets were blocked off and people were drawing all sorts of things on the pavements and the road, all in chalk.There was really some good stuff there.

As I once again headed towards the Art Museum, I ran into the People Fair. This is an annual thing where streets around City centre are blocked off and food  and other products are on sale in booths. As I ambled through the crowd, by god, what did I see.....a sign saying Jamaican food. My withdrawal symptoms immediately escalated and I rushed over. Naturally I used my best yardie language and enquired what they had only to be met with a blank stare. So I started my usual tirade about foreigners exploiting Jamaica's good name and reputation only to be joined by a man who assured me in good Jamaican language that it was not so. He said the reason why the people in the booth did not understand me was because they were his family who were born in the USof A.

My first question to him of course was if he had jerk pork and and it was as if God decided to give me a special blessing for his reply was "Den no mus". Oh lord, what sweet words. My next question was about mannish water but drew a blank there. Anyway, I was totally happy to live with mannish waterless jerk pork. I decided to go to the museum first and come back for the jerk pork after, but boy from I got  the ticket I kept thinking of some pork skin and had to just go an get it and postpone the museum tour for a bit.

It turns out the guy's name is Glen and he lives in Colorado Springs. But guess what, he is from Rocky Point in Clarendon. He laughed when I told him Rocky Point people only know to cook fish not pork, but I was perfectly correct for it was not certainly up not up to any quality jerk pork that I know of. Anyway, it had skin and it was crispy so all was immediately forgiven. After all, I have not had a decent piece of pork  (ie.pork with skin!) for almost two months so anything goes at this point.
So I sat down in the park and listened to one of the many bands performing. They weren't too bad and there was a dance area which lots of people were using, so I simply enjoyed the ambiance and the food.

The art  museum is huge with eleven levels of displays ranging from American Indian art to the African experience. This is the second time I have been there and each time it is almost a totally different scenario. I don't think I will ever come back to Denver and not visit that museum.

Designs at the Chalk Art Fair

The artists get down on the pavement at chalk Art fair

So now, finally, I am looking forward to wonderful summer days for the rest of my stay here for although the Denver weather is miserable most of the time, when the summer days come, downtown always has some excellent surprises.

Of Balls and Women!

According to city-data.com," Medieval eyewitness accounts give no doubt that at one time, this chair and others like it were indeed an important part of the papal coronation ritual. But why should the cardinals be so concerned that they would go through the embarrassment of publicly probing their new boss to demonstrate that the pope is indeed a male? (It wasn't done quietly, either."


This is in  reference to something called a "Dung Chair". It is supposed to have been specially built so that when a potential pope sat down, his balls hung through so it could be verified that he was indeed a man.( He has two balls, and they are well hung!)


All this rigmarole  arose because in the 13th century, a female pope named Joan reigned for a few years. She only became pope however, because he she had gone through the system pretending to be a man! 


So obviously the male chauvinist stance of the the Roman catholic church is nothing new.


How is the Roman Catholic Church going to survive in the future when women dominate the world? It may seem far off to them, but when one looks at enrollment and graduation from colleges worldwide, it will only be a matter of time before this happens.


Will the Catholics then bring back the dung chair  as part of the coronation process.....not to prove that the pope indeed has balls but to ensure that it is not a man pretending to be a woman, since at that time, only women will have the necessary qualifications for that high office!(lol) 


Oh how I hope I will have reincarnated as a fly on the Vatican wall during that period!