California or Bust!

California!  We made it!  

Here we are at our first California rest stop—not impressed.  Only two toilets in women restroom worked and only one sink was available.  Along our route many stops were closed or lacked good facilities. 

We drove through this desert; Joshua trees everywhere!  Such interesting landscape!  

Of course, no visit to this area would be complete unless you have lunch along Pacific Ocean! Cool, breezy, foggy but oh so lovely! 

Then, there are wineries and hills covered with vineyards!  And look at those clear blue skies!!!

Oh yeah, we couldn’t pass up Jelly Belly Factory

What to do with Jelly beans instead of eating 

Make portrays 

Takes many colors

Little information on photography 

We did wine tastings at several wineries, Mumm was sparkling at the best! 

Lovely grapes on the vine

Our drive through produce valley was fields of veggies and almond trees!  Miles and miles of trees!  Our country can eat good!

Miles and miles of solar panels!  In places, windmills dominate the landscape.  In city, solar panels are placed on roof tops of parking covers. 

One of the best parts of our visit was having time to have dinner with our dear friends!  It was a joy to see them after 12 years!  Their daughter is winemaker and gracefully invited us to tasting and tour of her winery!

My friend is a fantastic weaver whom I met in 1978 and we became fast friends. Check out her gallery here

Vegas Baby!!

 Vegas here we come!  Not our first visit here—been years through, actually 11 years ago! Always fun to be in this wild and crazy town.  

We left our cozy Gallup lodging to begin our third day moving west.  We love the temperature—cool morning and evening, warm in afternoon.  It is a short drive to cross state lines and hear GPS say “welcome to Arizona”.  Our plan is to drive through Petrified Woods and 

Painted Desert National Park.  We planned only an hour but three hours later we return to our route. 

Visitor center gives an overview

My camera doesn’t take such quality pictures but trust me, this is a majestic location to see nature’s features.  Colorful vast expanse of land! 

Lunch time! Flagstaff, land of Grand Canyon, was our destination.  We didn’t plan to visit GC this trip—we’d visited many times to see the colors change 

Ordered chicken, beef and pork fry bread

Fry bread or Navajo taco is loaded with pinto beans, meat, Lettuce, tomato, tomato, onions, sour cream and guacamole to top it off.  Yummy!!

Back on the road, three hours later, we approached Hoover Dam, a massive feat of skill and engineering!  

There in the distance is Lake Mead.  Soon we arrive in Vegas!  Our hotel is New York, New York!  Oh my!  There is the roller coaster looping around the hotel and people are screaming as they plunge down a sharp incline!  

View from our 30th floor—windows are tinted to give this purple hue. 

Here is view of roller coaster

We could hear riders screaming as they descended the loop!  

Good night Irene! Tomorrow is another travel day! 

Another day, Another Adventure

 Moving on from our Alien stop, our stops in Albuquerque takes us to brunch at El Pinto, Gruet to pick up their 100th anniversary sparkling wine Zozobra 

We continue our travel through Northwest New Mexico to our overnight stop in Gallup—our gateway along historic Route 66.  We are welcomed through multi Native American reservations, each featuring casino resorts.  The landscape is totally different areas with Bandera Volcano/ice cave.  

Some facts about Gallup

A good layout of the town.  Railways run along Route 66 all day and night—moving goods and products

The town of Gallup supports over 30+ murals throughout downtown

Even the trash cans are artistically decorated 

The famed El Rancho hotel

Acoma pottery

These large pots are displayed in prominent locations along Route 66

Why not have a mural to advertise your product?

Mural exhibits local crafts and arts

Each mural tells a story

Navajo code talkers story

Was extensive along a city block

Fabulous study of their history

Did It or Did It Not?

 That is the Question? Was there an alien spaceship that crashed near the little town of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947?  Believe or not--this little town has made their living on this myth or legend in every sense--what do you believe?  Here is what we found during our visit--

first off, read some background.  We never really understood Roswell at all--how many times had we driven through and never stopped, just cruised by; but this time, we spent the night!  Hoping, we would learn some truth behind all the hype!

What we discover—aliens everywhere!

They greeted us at McDonald’s

Advertising burritos

Ice cream

McDonald’s is a spaceship!

More aliens saying welcome in

Big fat aliens too!

Weird ones

Welcome to our hotel even

Even the street lamps downtown are lit with alien eyes

Cosmic murals decorate store buildings

Cue the music!

Roswell has embraced the myth/legend and welcome this with open hours!  If traveling this route, stop and hug the aliens! 

1

Just A Trippin'

 It's just around the bend--I can see it!  There were the days when our family would pile into our Parent's little Coup==don't remember the make or model but it was luxury to us.  We were going to see Granny where she was working.  It was always a Sunday afternoon after our noon meal.  We were living in the RGV (Rio Grand Valley).  We would drive like it seemed forever!  It was what you call "A Sunday" Drive.  Dad was antsy on his day off from working their little grocery store, located on Hwy. 83 in McAllen, Texas.  This is where we settled after his return from Army duty in France--to his death, he never spoke of those days; I'm sorry, he didn't give us a few stories of his time overseas.     

In recent years, mother showed us the spot where the grocery store was located and said as a baby we lived in a trailer behind the store.  I don't remember any of that.  But, close by, she also pointed out the Paris Gum Factory.  

Back on our journey--in actual time, it was only about 20 minutes to Moore Field, which was commissioned during WWII as an Army Air Forces TrainingCenter.  After the war, in 1950, the base was operating as Weaver H Baker Sanatorium.  Granny was a licensed practical nurse employed to assist patients at the facility.  To this day, I can hear myself and my brother yelling, "I see Moore Field" over and over again as we caught sight of the bases towers.  Oh, the joy of that drive!  Alas, those are just childhood memories of the drive--nothing else about the base hits my memory.  To this day, I have never driven that road again as an adult.  We moved away and other travels took over.

We are on another road trip-always love road trips--you never know what you'll find or learn about USA as you tranverse the byways--scenic back roads are the way to go.  For the next few days, ride along with me on this road.....................We'll hit some interesting and unsual places along the way..  Tomorrow, we'll be in Alien capital.