The end of our Fall 2010 trip to Four Corners

We arrived home, safe and sound, on the afternoon of Day 60.  The night before, we met up with friends in Forest Grove, OR, just west of Portland, to join them at the Verboort Sausage and Kraut Fest. New to us, but their 26th annual. Very fun. 

The whole trip was great. Would we do anything different? Not really...it was pretty close to perfect. Maybe slow down even more. We traveled 7,300 miles, which is a lot of driving, even spread over 60 days. We saw a ton of great sights, had no mishaps and yes, we still like each other. Our house on Bainbridge seems GIGANTIC after so many days in the van. Ruby agrees - she's having a hard time keeping her eye on both of us.

So, what now? Was I supposed to be figuring out the meaning of life, choosing my next career, finding my passion, or developing my creative side? There were no epiphanies, no light bulbs, but I'd say there were a few glimmers. I'm not putting any pressure on myself. Next up is organizing my hobby room and planning some holiday get-togethers.

The Blog has been great fun. I was surprised and truly gratified to see how many of you read and followed. It was incredibly helpful when you made suggestions about where to go and what to see. I will miss it!

 

Recap

Best Mexican Food: Taqueria Cuernavaca on the ave in Ventura. Yes, surprisingly, it beat out everything we sampled in New Mexico, and we sampled a lot. The tacos al carbon are unbelievable.
Best Farmers Market: Santa Fe, by a huge margin, for the roasted peppers and the blue cornmeal.
Best National Park: Capitol Reef, for the orchards and the hikes.
Most Scenic Stretch of Highway: three-way tie between Hwy 410 by Mount Rainier (the green lushness and the alpine lake next to the highway), the Moki Dugway in southern Utah (like gliding off a cliff), and Durango to Ouray (the aspens!!)
Most Impressive Natural Sight: tough decision...we'll go with the bridge at the end of the hike up Negro Bill Canyon near Moab.
Best Base Town: Moab because you will need the oasis - the ice cream, the filtered water for VanMan, the natural foods store, the restaurants, the river. 
Most Impressive Man-Made Sight: any of the many Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.  
Best Brewpub: McCall, because it was funky and had great food as well as great beer.
Biggest Surprise: you can look for days in Utah without finding shade.
Best Thunder & Lightning Storm: sitting in the hot springs pool at Ojo Caliente (although they made us get out till it passed).
Worst Deal: $40/night at a state park in California (which had pit toilets).
Better Deal: $10/night at a New Mexico State Park (full hook-ups plus shower facilities).
Best Deal: no fee, at a gorgeous National Forest campground in Colorado (actually available many places, if you know where to look)
Best Small Town: Bisbee, because, remember, they have the best year round climate on earth. And a weaving shop.


No, we're not home yet. But today is Day 58, and we are on track to be home two months after we set out on September 8. Husband has driven nearly 7,000 miles (me, zero)!   
    

SoCal

Most of the places we visited on this trip were new to us. The Colorado plateau and its history require many adjectives to adequately describe: awe-inspiring, incredible, amazing, mysterious, grand, rugged-beyond-rugged, expansive. My vocabulary is limited; that is only a start. We enjoyed all of it, and we plan to return soon to see more.

But...there is no place quite like the southern California Pacific Coast. There is nothing that compares falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves or waking up to see porpoises playing in the surf. Incredible. 

Husband had not been to his hometown of Carpinteria (halfway between Ventura and Santa Barbara) since we left there in 1989. It's more beautiful than we remembered, though certainly more developed. It was fun to walk down Carpinteria's main street, once small-town-quaint, now more of a mini-Montecito. A visit with Husband's sister & family and then onward north. It's starting to feel like our trip is ending, but we are determined to have a few more adventures before we arrive back in our driveway on Bainbridge Island...so don't stop reading.
 

Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee, Arizona! I always wanted to go there. Well, I didn't remember that I wanted to go there until I saw it on the map, fairly close to our route. And I have no idea why I wanted to go there. A remembered Sunset article, perhaps? Isn't Bisbee the setting for J.A. Jance's non-Seattle novels? Or is it just the name (Bisbee just sounds happy, doesn't it?)? In any case, we are in Bisbee, and it's definitely worth visiting. As the sign says, they have The Best Year Round Climate on Earth.


It's an old mining town (copper mostly), now full of artists, aging hippies, surprisingly good restaurants, coffee roasters, and antique dealers - all of whom seem to be extraordinarily friendly. Except, as an aside, i will just mention that we have counted 27 Border Patrol vehicles since arriving in Arizona - which doesn't seem particularly friendly. Bisbee also has a yarn/weaving shop, a food coop, and an independent bookstore...so it is definitely on our list of Good Small Towns To Live In.

Truth or Consequences, NM

Warm and dry is better than icy and muddy when you are living in the VanMan with a dog, so we headed south to Truth or Consequences. Mission accomplished: 75 degrees and sunny. We stayed for three nights at Elephant Butte State Park on a huge reservoir created by a dam on the Rio Grande. A really awesome place - acres of beach and sand dunes for Ruby's frolicking pleasure - and very quiet this time of year.


T or C itself doesn't appear to have much going for it, first pass though. Its claim to fame is its many hot springs resorts, most of which were built in the 30's during the Depression. They were very basic, typically motor court motels, maybe with a little bathhouse in the middle, or individual soaking tubs In each room. In the following decades, like hot springs resorts everywhere, they fell into disrepair or closed up entirely. But today, it looks like T or C is coming back into its own, with many of the resorts being renovated and reopened. I use the term "resort" loosely. In almost every case, they are being restored In the same modest style as when they were built, in the same buildings using the original names. The result is a quirky, funky little town. There are a number of artists, galleries, a juice bar-natural food store and two great little bookstores. We found it to be quite charming, in spite of the many trailer parks and the Walmart on the outskirts.


As a result of our heading south off the high plateau, we're going to miss some of the big things on our list: Grand Canyon, Chaco, Canyon de Chelly, and the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona. I'm not disappointed; it's the itinerary for our next trip! From here, we'll head a little further south, then west and finally north.

Not in Los Alamos, New Mexico

We are enjoying this area and are trying to see all the sights of northern New Mexico, but we seem to be going around in circles a bit. Partly because the weather just changed...hail, almost-snow, rain, and really cold mornings..and we can't decide if it's time to leave the high country. Should we go south and check out the hot springs in Truth or Consequences? Or stay and check out Jemez Springs. just over the hill from Santa Fe? So, we keep milling around, but hey, what does it matter (see, I'm getting into this finally!)?

Today we ended up in Los Alamos. Briefly. To use a term of slang that fits perfectly, it weirded me out. The Stepford-like feeling we got from everyone and everything. The toll plaza that was manned yet didn't charge anything. The dozens of buildings and businesses that were obviously related to the many numbered "technical areas" indicated on road signs on all sides of town or to the LANLs "Los Alamos National Laboratories." The Bradbury Science Museum. And the banners on the lampposts sporting the Los Alamos tourism tagline: Where Discoveries Are Made. I don't want to know what they discovered, and even if I did, I don't think they would tell me.

I tried to take more photos of weird things but there was someone following us in a white pickup with an insignia on the side. It's not paranoia if they're really after you. We are so outta there. Back to the nearby mountains, local hot springs and a wonderfully deserted remote campsite.

Greater World Earthship Community, Taos

Earthships!! Have you heard of them? Seen them on TV? An Earthship is a passive solar home made of recycled materials - mostly tires, glass bottles and soda cans. Michael Reynolds and his Earthship Biotecture of Taos want to help you build your own earthship, mortgage-free, and design it to be completely off-grid. Michael says that if you live in an area that gets at least 9 or 10 inches of rain a year, and some sunshine, you don't need to be hooked up to those pesky utility companies or reliant on fossil fuels.


We're staying in one! The first photo is inside the front door - there's always a big planting bed next to the south-facing window wall. The second photo was taken from the roof at sunrise. It's cozy and nice inside. It's a studio, so quite small, but as our first stay out of the van in 41 days, it seems extraordinarily spacious. Windows on the south-facing wall let the heat in, and it's partially underground, which provides natural temperature regulation. Thick, dense walls provide thermal mass that naturally regulates the interior temperature during both cold and hot outside temperatures. It works.

I won't try to explain the other systems in this and/or other earthships...the water and sewage...but it is very possible to be entirely self-sustaining. I'm pretty sure, however, that the New Mexico sun will power a lot more laptop time than Seattle's.

Santa Fe

This town has Food and Art in addition to its seemingly never-ending sunshine. We were lucky enough to stumble upon the Friday night Art Walk on Canyon Road. There were at least 100 art galleries within about a mile. And there was a lot of seriously good art, in my humble, business-and-accounting-educated opinion. And Canyon Road is only one of several art districts here. Anyway, it was Serious and I felt out-classed at first when I saw women with tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry draped on their bodies. But it was quite a people-show and there were all types. Plus, as I've mentioned before, no one notices us when we are with Ruby. She was invited into all the galleries, plied with treats, exclaimed over. And she had no intention of buying a thing.

We also were lucky enough to be in town for the Saturday farmer's market, billed as one of the best in the country and I think i have to agree. Lots of farmers. The smell of roasting peppers was intoxicating. We stocked up again and our tiny refrigerator is stuffed.

The restaurant selection is endless, except we hate to leave Ruby behind. Fortunately, there are still tons of outdoor patios available and yesterday we had lunch at a Santa Fe classic called The Shed. Mark had his first Carne Adovada and posole, and I had my first New Mexico style enchiladas made with blue corn tortillas and New Mexico red sauce. Perfect.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe

I had no idea what northern New Mexico would look like. It's absolutely beautiful. Of course, this is likely the most spectacular time of year to see it. All of the campgrounds have been pretty much empty...hard to believe, with the weather still so gorgeous. It's very quiet and peaceful. And Ruby can run around like she owns the place.

There are art galleries everywhere, even on the backroads. Pottery, jewelry, woodcarving and weaving. My favorite by far is the weaving. Husband and I took a weaving class a couple years ago, learning just enough to appreciate the intricacies, the time involved, the looms, the yarns and strings. In my past life, I didn't have time to develop my hobbies...dabbling only a bit in knitting...but I love fiber arts...we'll see where it goes. I also love New Mexico. This sunshine, plus mountains and trees. Wow.

The photos are: 1) and 2) our campground at Chama, 3) and 4) the view from the highway as we drove south toward Santa Fe, 5) our campground at Santa Cruz Lake, 6) the valley near Truchas, on the high road to Taos. Wow, right?

Navajo Lake State Park, New Mexico

"New Mexico Bound" is the name of the directory on our laptop where I keep my trip photos. And we are finally here, in the land of Jim Chee!! Okay, I know I should probably be embarrassed to have read most of Tony Hillerman's New Mexico-based novels, when I could have used the time to read something more valuable, but it's better than watching TV, I think, hopefully, right? Anyway, we started our New Mexico journey in Shiprock, and I expected to run into Jim on every corner.  Shiprock, perhaps obviously, is named for a big rock, which impressively juts up 1,700 feet into the air. We actually saw it when we were many miles away several days ago in Mesa Verde...it's very distinctive. Sorry I couldn't get a good photo of it. 

Traveling east from there through Farmington, we settled in for two nights at a very nice campground on the San Juan River, which was evidently a big fly fishing spot, judging by the numerous fishermen standing in the river and several nearby flyshops advertising Orvis and other brands (though I haven't seen any Sage). Huge old cottonwoods make this a very pleasant spot. The weather is now exactly what I expected: cold nights and warm, sunny days. There was some obvious flash flooding here a few days ago, though, and we had a wet crossing on the road to the campground. We sent Ruby through to check the depth. No problem. 

We visited two more large Anasazi sites yesterday: Aztec Ruins (a misnomer, the Aztecs were not here) and Salmon Ruins (another misnomer, surely). Very interesting, but I have officially seen a lot of abandoned Anasazi dwellings now. On the way back to our campsite, we ran across a winery, stopped and had an unexpectedly good tasting experience. More wineries, fewer ruins, please!              

Life in VanMan, Part 2

I need to confess to having some difficulty adjusting to our life on the road. In my prior life, my alarm went off at 4:45 am. I hurried around doing my morning things before catching the ferry to work. I had a giant to-do list every day. There was a steady stream of people in and out of my office all day long. I received dozens of e-mails. My phone rang often. I rushed to the gym, to meetings, to lunches, to socialize with friends. Then I ran to catch the ferry home, usually in time to spend an hour with Husband and Dog before hitting the hay. 

Just like that lame cartoon game in the newspaper, "how many differences can you find between these two pictures?" What a change. We do not move at my pace. We need to stop and play ball with the Dog. We wait for Husband to take his regimen of drugs and supplements six times/day (but by the way, he is feeling better than he has in many years - doing great). We have an afternoon nap. We have no specific goals to accomplish for the day. Some days I want to scream. Other days, I think I am getting the hang of it (for this trip, at least). Mark and Ruby are easy to be with, let me be clear about that. Living in 70 square feet with the two of them is not the issue and, in fact, you learn to be respectful of another person's space, which is a good thing. 

Now that we have met my major objectives for the trip (seeing southern Utah, Durango and Ouray, CO, and we are now in New Mexico), I'm hoping that relaxing gets easier -  thus far it has taken a lot of hard work.  

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

We continued on the San Juan Skyway, which is a 236 mile loop starting and ending, in our case, in Durango. It can be done in a day, but we haven't finished yet and tomorrow will be Day 4. After leaving our remote campsite, known only to us and half the professional photographers in the western U.S., we stopped in Ridgway, another movie-set western town, to restock groceries and post a blog from the local coffee shop. From there, we visited Telluride. I don't ski, so I know less than nothing about the slopes, but between Telluride, Park City, Whistler and Jackson Hole, Telluride, as a town, unquestionably has the most character. We would have spent the night there, but since we had only traveled about 60 miles, we decided to keep going, pausing only long enough for lunch and to take a call from The Hedge Fund.


Have I mentioned the change in weather? We've experienced thunderstorms in three of the last four days and we woke up this morning to 33 degrees and crunchy grass.

Now, about Mesa Verde National Park. Even Ruby did not begrudge waiting in the VanMan while we toured through two amazing cliff dwellings. We decided to spend the night and see some more tomorrow. There are nearly 4,000 archeological sites within the park's boundaries, 600 of them cliff dwellings. One of them, called Cliff Palace, is the largest cliff dwelling in North America with 23 kivas an 150 rooms, likely housing 120 people. These dwellings probably took them 30 years to build, yet they lived in them for only 80 years and then left. It really is curious.

Durango, Colorado

Durango. I could live here. I'm not exactly sure how serious we are, but as we travel, we look for a new town to call our own. Although we love Bainbridge Island, sometimes we think it's too expensive, a bit too snooty and most of all, too gray. Wouldn't it be fun to find the perfect small town? What we think is important:  
An exceptional natural setting, whether mountain, ocean or river. Not too big, not too small. A good food coop or natural food store. At least one bookstore. A farmers market. Some artists. Good dirt and climate for gardening. A good yarn shop. And, of course, lots of sunshine. Durango scores high all around. Plus it's a college town, which is also a plus. It gets a few demerits for too many condos and golf courses and what looks suspiciously like sprawl. And we'll need to check the weather a couple months from now, but it definitely makes the List. 

We drove north from Durango on what is called the San Juan Skyway. Wow. The fall colors made the drive all the more spectacular, but it would be a big wow at any time of year. We checked out two old western towns enroute, Silverton and Ouray (first photo), which were both very cute and incredibly situated in the mountains, but also a little too touristy and too mountainous to make the List. The road and the drive need to be added to your bucket list, though, no question.

Mark was tired of campgrounds close to major thoroughfares, so he took a chance on a road that said only "National Park Access" and after a seven-mile drive down a gravel road, we found paradise. A beautiful (and free) campground complete with a meadow and a creek, a trailhead and only a couple of other campers spread over many acres. As if we needed further evidence of the spectacular beauty of this spot, a surprising number of photographers came and went (how did they know - maybe it's in a book somewhere?) working to shoot the green meadow, yellow leaves, white bark, soaring mountains and the new snow on the rocky peaks. Again, my camera doesn't do it justice, but I'll remember.

Update: VanMan was evidently in the way of a perfect shot of Mt. Sneffels, so one of the photographers asked us to move In exchange for a 16x24 inch print of the result. Oh boy!
 

Life in the VanMan

It's not always easy. We can't "go full-time", as they say in RV-parlance, in a rig this small, but I think two months is doable...we're halfway there already. Yesterday was a little iffy, I admit. Not sure if someone forgot to take their happy pills but it got a little scary for whatever reason. And you can't just walk away when you're driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere. Wisdom dictates non-escalation (keep your mouth SHUT). All grumpiness seems to have vanished today, though. We are taking it easy and staying a second night in our remote mountain campground. Hiking, reading, knitting, studying energy independence. No e-mailing or surfing because there is certainly no Internet connection up here but I drafted a blog and uploaded photos to the laptop. 

We've eaten a couple of restaurant meals, but mostly we like our own cooking best. VanMan has a two-burner propane cooktop on which we have made many fine meals. We also have an outdoor "oven" called a Cobb that burns charcoal briquets in a clever design, allowing slow and even cooking, good for several hours using less than a dozen briquets. In it, we have roasted chicken, grilled steak, cooked cornbread, baked butternut squash and even made "flapjacks" which are really a healthy trail-mix type bar cookie that is our standard mid-morning and hiking snack. There is no suffering whatsoever in the meal department here in the VanMan.  

For sure, we are looking forward to searching out some good southwestern-style food when we get to New Mexico.  We do love to visit coffee shops to sample the local brews, read the bulletin boards, eavesdrop a little and occasionally converse with locals. By the way, check my Favorite Links section for some good travel information on food and beverage.

The rest of southeast Utah

Wow, I only thought I grew up in the boondocks. Not even close. From Moab, we went south to Blanding, Goosenecks, Mexican Hat, Bluff, the Hovenweep National Monument, and then I was ready to move on to Colorado. 
The good:  No more problems with campgrounds being full, no more conflicts with tour buses, an abundance of amazing vistas, interesting Indian ruins and petroglyphs practically everywhere. 
The incredible:  Coming off the Cedar Mesa on the Moki Dugway dropping into the San Juan River valley and Mexican Hat. Maybe the most dramatic stretch of road I've ever seen.  
The most fortuitous:  In the excellent archeological museum in Blanding, we were just in time to join a program led by author and interviewer Eileen Hallet Stone about how to document your family history by doing oral interviews. Totally fascinating, but too late...if I had learned these things while my parents were living, I might have been able to drag (cajole?) a bit more information out of them. There are some good stories there that I fear have been lost.
The part that made me ready for Colorado:  So hot. You've heard about the Anasazi, and the mystery of why they left? It's a mystery to me why it's a mystery...this is a bleak, brutal desert. We pulled into Durango in the middle of a dramatic thunder and lightening storm. A welcome change, frankly. The sun is incredibly intense in Utah and I've gotten accustomed to Seattle's MUCH more filtered sunlight. We'll snuggle in tonight and wait till tomorrow to explore. I'm a little travel weary, so I'm hoping I can convince Husband we need to stay here at least a couple of days.

The Great Red Hunter-of-Anasazi Ruins

Hiking Moab

We're done with National Parks, at least for now. We were growing weary of following tour buses into viewpoints. Turns out, this is the busiest time of year for these southern Utah parks now that the weather is cooling slightly (although yesterday it hit 100). It is actually not difficult to get away from the crowds since most of the tour bus people don't leave the asphalt, and there are tons of good hiking trails. Our problem was only The Dog, who was not allowed on the park trails.



In the photo of Ruby, she is asking us to please find a hike suitable for her. So we looked, and discovered that God did not put all the cool sights inside the park boundaries...there are plenty outside too. We also found shade. In three days we have done three hikes, up canyons with water for swimming (dog swimming, at least), plenty of shade and not too difficult. I am not good at hiking. I am physically reasonably fit, so it's not that. I find it mentally difficult to focus for long periods of time on where to put my feet, which rocks to step on in which sequence to cross the creek beds without falling on my head, how not to trip over tree roots, etc. After spending countless hours the last couple of years with my friend and personal trainer, well, more of a body coach, really, I have gained some control over my almost freakishly long limbs, as well as better balance, more core strength and greatly increased confidence. I fell two times today, only.


We're still basically in Moab. There's more here than first meets the eye. Did I mention there are petroglyphs everywhere? And we just saw some dinosaur tracks. All out in the open, not behind glass or fences and no admission charge.   

More national parks in Utah: Canyonland and Arches

Just when you think you've seen all the red rock formations you can stand, another comes along that takes your breath away. My photos, all taken with a tiny Canon SD600, don't convey the scale. Amazing. And each turn of the road or corner of the trail brings something completely unexpected.
Slight complaint: we're hot and shade is a rarity. Hard to believe we were worried about encountering snow in the high country. It's early, though. This is Day 20 of 60! Relaxing in an RV park in Moab today - laundry and housecleaning and maybe a dinner in a restaurant tonight for Mark's birthday!

Sometimes you just need to look closer

The very day following my comments about local grocery shopping, we happened upon this place. Miles from anywhere, all by itself on Highway 24. We stopped and found amazing goat cheese made on the premises, tomatoes and purple basil to die for, homemade pesto, bread baked in a wood-fired brick oven and salad greens as fresh as they come. And shade-grown coffee, roasted nearby and preparedi however you like it. Oh, and freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Uh-huh.

It certainly didn't look like a Seattle-style natural foods store or farmers market. Sometimes you just need to look a little closer. In all honesty, we wouldn't have stopped, but we got an e-mail at just the right moment from a good friend who recommended it.

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Definitely feels different than other national parks. More homey, less National. Fewer people visit here, and it feels like it. Most of Capitol Reef has gigantic canyons and impressive rocks, but the campground is in an area called Fruita, and is truly an oasis in the desert. It's next to the Fremont River and there are orchards all around. We picked apples for our breakfast!

It's an interesting little spot. This valley was inhabited by the Fremont indians (who may have split off from the better-known nearby Anasazi) for around 800 years, ending around 1275. They farmed here, growing corn mostly but also beans and squash. When the Mormon settlers arrived around 1880, they actually reused the Fremonts' irrigation ditches, and planted the fruit trees along with other crops. As for the gigantic canyons, if you've never walked down a narrow gorge, flanked on both sides by 800 foot cliffs, I highly recommend it. And it's SO easy here...no climbing down and back up...you can literally just stroll down the canyon bottom. Amazing.

Where ARE we?

I'm a small town girl.  The town I grew up in had a population of 2,000 and was pretty isolated. No McDonalds. No mall. One movie theatre screen, sometimes. No traffic light. So I swear I'm not a fancy, big-city girl. But here, following our map, we eagerly await the next town hoping to replenish our stock of groceries and cash. Many towns listed on the map end up not being towns - I guess they were just "places"? Okay, the next one will be bigger. Yippee, it has a General Store that says "Groceries" AND "ATM." Hmmmmm. Is there something in here we want to eat? A lot of white bread and hotdogs and not-very-fresh-looking iceberg lettuce. Seriously, this is THE grocery store? Where is the sockeye filet? On what aisle can I find the rice milk? Broccollini? Bulk almonds? Okay, never mind. Let's just get some cash. The ATM is dial-up (dial-up????), has a $40 limit ($40????) and, as usual per the person in front of me, is out-of-order. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just an observation. I am actually relieved that there are still boondocks and that all of America has not been paved over and that there is no Internet access to be found for days on end. It's great. Really.   

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

We traversed the 80 miles to Bryce from Zion in two days. A running joke is that we use Google Maps' "by foot" rather than "by car" when we calculate how long it will take us to reach our next destination. One reason is that we're not in a hurry. Another is that, because we are in the middle of nowhere in the off-season, campgrounds are closed already or closing tomorrow and we end up doing a lot of back-tracking. Also, we find Internet access only when we get somewhere and don't need it anymore. Fortunately, we have our kitchen and bedroom with us at all times and pretty much only need a flat spot to park. We are learning about "boondocking" as we go.  

Our national parks are truly incredible. They are also (still) very busy and extremely dog-unfriendly. However, we wouldn't think of missing them because they are all  indescribably amazing or beautiful or deserving of some other grand description. Bryce lived up to expectations - as if you could ever expect this, no matter how many coffee-table-book photos you've seen. Next stop is Capitol Reef National Park, just 120 miles from here. In addition to Bryce and Zion, Utah has Arches and Canyonlands. In adjoining states but not far away is Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and Great Basin. If you haven't been here, you should come. Nature adds much-needed perspective to our lives.