Gila Cliff Dwellings

Today's interesting adventure was in New Mexico, north of Silver City, where we arrived after a four hour drive from Van Horn. After depositing our gear in our hotel, we negotiated our way up the narrow, twisting Highway 15, which is the road that leads to the Gila Cliff Dwelling monument. If you were behind anyone at all slow, it takes from 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get there. With our Ford
Focus rental car helping out by being good on corners, we managed to make it in a little over an hour. The foot path up to the caves takes about an hour--not long, and that includes time to stop and explore through the caves a bit. These cave dwelling were constructed around 1280, dated from some of the wood poles holding up roofs that have disappeared, but the poles managed to survive. A couple of the caves are very large, and probably held dwellings for several families. I have included three pictures that show the caves from outside with some of the exterior walls, some of the interior, and one of a ladder showing how the cave dwellers accessed their homes.
Fascinating, and well worth the twisty drive up.

Charming Oasis in West Texas--El Capitan Hotel

Tonight we have stopped at Van Horn Texas, a small town of 2000 which was established at the crossroads of serval highways leading to national parks, including the well known Carlsbad Caverns. it is about 120 east of El Paso and the Texas border. The primary reason for stopping is a charming, small hotel, the El Capitan, that a friend has recommended. Originally built in 1930, one of five beautifully designed hotels intended to attract people to the parks in this area, it fell into disrepair in the 1970's and was used for an auto parts store and a bank for several decades. In 2007 it was bought by a man who restored the hotel, and now provides a great way station in the midst of pretty barren offerings. The rooms are small, but nicely furnished, and the restaurant serves quite good food. We are glad that we stopped and can support this nice hotel.

My pictures below include the lobby with lovely Spanish tiles on the floor, the front with the fountain court, and our room with doors opening onto a small balcony above the courtyard.

Friends and Family

Our trip to Austin was really "made" by our meeting up with Koko Kishi and Paul Hsbib, friends of Phil's brother Howard. We have met them a couple times in Escalante while visiting Howard, but on their own turf they were able to steer us to (and join us at) a couple of excellent restaurants' as ll as give us tips on what to see in Austin. The four of us are pictured at the brew pub North by Northwest in Austin.

This evening we are in Euless TX, just east of Fort Worth, to see my brother Bob. We joined Bob's son Steve and his wife Tanya, and their four children, for a delicious dinner at an upscale Mexican restaurant with the peculiar name of "Mi Dia-From Scratch." My brother's hobby is collecting baseball and football cards (with a few basketball cards thrown in for good measure.) My pictures include one of Bob surrounded by boxes full of cards, and one of Steve, Tanya and their kids. Really nice family--we enjoyed getting to know them.

My valuable traveling assistant

My iPhone is proving to be one of the most significant helpers as We travel. I use the Maps function multiple times every day. I use it to double check the GPS, to get a broader picture or a more close up picture of where we are while we are driving, to figure distance from one place to the other, and often when walking around cities to help us navigate. I also use it to find specific sights or restaurants. I am still using the Google maps program because the new Apple maps program is still pretty inaccurate in figuring distances--over an hours difference on part of a route that I was looking at yesterday. I also don't trust it's accuracy for finding specific things.

The second most-used function? "Siri, where is the nearest Starbucks?" We use this to refresh ourselves with a latte, or on hot afternoons to cool down with a grande frappucino! Picture below shows Siri helping me find a Starbucks.

Austin

Yesterday afternoon and today were devoted to Austin, the Capitol city for Texas. Late yesterday afternoon I was able to slip into the Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas campus. I was able to view their contemporary collection plus an exhibit of works from the collections of UT alumni. A beautiful museum with some very interesting pieces.

Today Phil and I visited the LBJ presidential library, also on the UT campus and also an impressive building. It was an interesting tour back through the 50's and 60's. We were a little startled to be reminded of the amount of civil unrest we experienced in that decade of the 60's, with the assassination of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, along with the Watts riots, the shootings at Kent State and the marches against the Vietnam war. Johnson was an impressive man and consummate politician. Nice to remember a time when things could actually get done in Congress!

After we enjoyed some Texas BBQ ribs at Stubbs, then walked through the Capitol building. The best feature of our visit has been connecting with friends of Phil's brother, Howard--Koko Kishi and Paul Habib, who live here. They have guided us to great restaurants and sites.

Pictures include an interesting sculpture from the Blanton Museum, Phil being given the "Johnson treatment" as the Presients intimidating presence was called and the state Capitol.

San Antonio

Sunday morning was devoted to San Antonio. We got an early start, arriving downtown around 8am, to be greeted by temperatures in the 50's and an icy, 20 knot wind. Not an ideal day for walking around. We almost abandoned our plans, but then discovered that by using the beautiful river walk, which is below e grade of the streets, were able to get out of the wind somewhat. the River Walk was created after the city dammed the rice that flows through town to pent flooding. That seems to have left a bend in the river that might have become a dry ditch or been paved over, but some clever people decided to control it and run water through it, creating walks along the sides and having restaurants and shopping areas build adjacent to it. It looks like a shallow canal, with concrete sides, but is quite lovely to walk.

We also visited the Alamo, and relearned some early Texas history about the territory that originally Spanish, then Mexican, then an independent republic and finally a state in the U.S. Pictures show the river walk and the Alamo.

King Ranch--Texas Size BIG!

Last Saturday we visited the King Ranch, largest ranch in the U.S, located in southwest Texas in Kingsville, not far from Corpus Christi. We had an interesting two hour tour of the ranch where we learned how they manage the land to keep it producing for agriculture, cattle grazing and conservation, a real challenge in the dry southwest part of Texas. they farm without irrigation. the ranch has 825,000 acres. They grow cotton and sugar cane. They have oil wells. They raise cattle and quarter horses and have developed their own breeds of each, particularly well suited to surviving the hot, dry climate. In addition to their operations at the ranch, they are also the biggest citrus grower in Florida, and the largest pecan processor in the country. it's a privately owned corporation, with many generations of the founding King family still involved. Quite an operation, all started by an immigrant Irishman in the mid-1800's.

Pictures show their Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle, the "running W" brand, developed because it cannot be altered (should someone try to steal their cows), and finally a shot of the grounds around their main ranch house.

Disappointment at Houston Space Center

Our stop today at the Houston Space proved a disappointment, from approach to exit. Our GPS guided us faithfully there but with not a single sign indicating we were getting near the center, we didn't believe it. It was right, and the signing was terrible. Even when we reach the space center, we ended up going into the wrong entrance (not too many yards from the correct one) because there was no sign indicating we should proceed a little further to the visitors center.

The best part of the visit was that we were given half price tickets while waiting in the line to get in (at $21.95 regular price for seniors, that was significant). That was after paying $6 to park. Once in, even with the aid of a map, we found it difficult to find the displays we had some interest in. The primary thing I was looking to do, taking a tram tour of the facilities, turned out to be first come, first served, necessitating over an hours wait in line to take it. We scratched that idea. As a whole, the center seemed to be organized for children rather than for adults, and there were lots of them. We felt like we were in a kiddie park. After wandering around for about an hour, we left. Better to watch the movies on different discoveries some other way.

We scooted out of Houston to make our way southwest, heading towards Kings Ranch tomorrow.
We are bedded down in Victoria TX for the evening.

Longfellow-Evangeline State Park

One of the great things about travel is how it helps you refresh things you learned long ago and forgot. Yesterday's lesson was to renew and expand our knowledge of Longfellows poem Evangeline and its connection to the Acadian culture in Louisiana. Apparently Longfellow heard the possibly mythical story of a young woman displaced from Canada as part of the deportation of the Acadian settlers from Nova Scotia by the British government, which feared them as an unstable (Catholic and French speaking) influence as they took over Canada. Many of them ended up in this part of Louisiana, an area of bayous to the northwest of New Orleans. Though Longfellow was never here, the story caught on and there is now a state park named after him and his lead character, which features Acadian (often termed Cajun) history in the area. We saw a plantation house where the landowner lived (not huge, like the Nottoway), and smaller houses that the farmers lived in. The larger red house is the plantation house, the weathered wood house is the smaller one. In one picture you see Spanish moss hanging out to dry. It was an important commodity, pulled from the trees and processed to be used to stuff chairs, mattresses and even horse collars! Finally there is a large old oak tree that legend says is where Evangeline met her love.

On to The Johnson space center in Houston today.

Nottoway Plantation

We headed northwest from New Orleans to spend a couple hours at the Nottoway Plantation, one of what used to be many plantations along the Mississippi River. This was owned by John Randolph, built just before the Civil War, and was one of the largest, growing mostly sugar cane. Due to intercession by a Northern soldier who had visited the plantation, it was spared the destruction that happened to so many of them ( though not the usurping of all the food it produced). It now operates as a boutique hotel and is a favored spot for weddings, and is also available for tours, which is what we did. It's walls, columns and many of the interior arches of wood are all of cypress. There is also gorgeous plaster work in the interior. Mr Rnadolph hid and bought the best! Here is a photo of the exterior, and two of the interior room called the ballroom--all painted in white the better to show off the ladies dresses!

Interesting display at Ogden Museum of Southern Art

After a morning wandering the French quarter, I spent the afternoon in art museums. There was a fascinating display in the Ogden Museum of southern art about costumes made for a movie series that were modeled on the ones made by the "Indian tribes" that a part of the Mardi Gras festival. The tribes are made up of African American (and perhaps also some Indian) participants who organize themselves into tribes and make incredibly elaborate costumes for Mardi Gras. The costumes are based on themes related to the actual tribal regalia of American Indian tribes, but as you will see, those original regalia are just a departure point. The costumes can weigh over 100 pounds, and the bead work is pretty incredible. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea. One shit shows the front, the other the back and the third a closeup of the large beaded panel.

New Orleans is alive and well

Yesterday Phil and I arrived in New Orleans and found our way to the Hotel Prytania, located in the Garden District. We are quite pleased with the hotel, housed in several old buildings. We are in the historic section, with brick walls on one side and a little balcony overlooking the (quiet at night) street. At $79/ night it's a real bargainer New Orleans, since there is parking on site at no extra fee. The continental breakfast leaves a bit to be desired, but this morning we made our way to Cafe du Monde for their famous beignets. Last night we had a good dinner at a restaurant oSt, Charles street, just a block away. We get to take the street car into the French quarter, about a 15 minute ride. sometimes it takes a while for the trolley to come, but all in all, we are quite happy. Here are pics of our street car, Phil at the Cafe du Monde, and a typical New Orleans street.

The USS Alabama

This morning we visited the 680 ft long battleship, USS Alabama, in Mobile. Dry docked in a very nice park along with the 311 ft submarine USS Drum and a number of military aircraft and tanks, it made a nice morning's tour. I was especially impressed to be reminded of how you have an entire "city" at sea in a battleship, complete with ships stores, dentist, surgery, laundry, large galleys for cooking and post office, alongside all the things needed to do battle. An impressive set of guns on board this ship, which did duty in WWII, mostly in the Pacific, and was never damaged. Here are two shots of the ship, plus one of the submarine (how narrow and tiny it was after touring the enormous spaces in the battleship!)

Tampa/ St Petersburg tourists

Yesterday while Shana worked, Phil and I explored Ybor City, the old town part to Tampa. It's growth came from Cuban immigrants who started making cigars. Now the Columbia restaurant there is famous for its Cuban food and also the lovely tile work on its exterior. Shana and I ate there last year. this time Phil and I just looked. One picture shows Phil beside a George mural of Columbus finding America. Last evening we watched Skyfall, and Shanas two cats decided Phil was the person to be around--it's always the person who doesn't like cats that they choose! Actually he doesn't mind them. The final picture is of me and Shana on the pier at the waterfront in St. Petersburg, where we explored today.

Family History

As we drove from Vero Beach on the east coast of Florida to Tampa, we stopped at Auburndale to see my grandparents and fathers home at 1414 Ariana Blvd. Here are several pictures for the family to enjoy. A lot of memories for me at this place, which I visited from the time I was in college to when Guy was in his teens. The house now has its second story restored (when my grandparents lived there, it was a one story house but from an old picture of the house, we know it originally had a second story). The two stone pillars by the driveway in front are still there, along with the one in back. There is now a swimming pool in the back (nice!). The most interesting surprise was to find that that alley way behind the house, which used to be a dirt road with orchards across the road, is now a paved road with houses where the orchard was. And the road is named.......Edmiston Court! Amazingly enough, the road even showed up on our GPS! We Edmistons live on, even though none of us are there.

First Stop in Florida

Phil and I are off on a cross country adventure, sparked by a visit to our daughter, Shana, who is working this year in Tampa. After flying to Florida, we picked up a car and plan to drive across the south to the west coast, then back up to Seattle. i will be using my blog to chronicle our travels this March of 2013. Our first stop was to visit our friends Art and Jeanne Myers, former boaters we met in the northwest. They have now bought a home and settled down in Vero Beach, Florida. Here they are at their new house.