Arizona cowboys and Mexican food

From the New Mexico desert, we headed over the mountains into Arizona. 

the mountains loom ahead

Arriving in the tiny Old West town of Tombstone, we stop to see the historic sites.  Unfortunately, it was a bit more touristy than National Landmark, but we enjoyed being able to see it.

the historic courthouse

downtown, and the site of the O.K. Corral, where the gun battle was held

When it was time to eat, we went to Tucson for some Sonoran specialties.  We had Sonoran enchiladas, which were masa pancakes topped with sauce, cheese, and pico de gallo, which weren't our favorites, but the beans and rice were really good. 

 

We also got some Sonoran hot dogs, which is a bacon wrapped hot dog in a soft Mexican roll, loaded with pinto beans, tomatoes, onions, mustard, ketchup, jalapeno sauce, mayo, and cheese. 

It was delicious!

We made it into San Diego, California, the next day.  What a great 9 1/2 months it has been!  We traveled through 47 of the states, tasted many regional foods, saw lots of interesting and historical sites, toured many major cities, and visited many National and State parks. 

 

What an adventure this has been!

Music, Aliens, Dunes, and Chiles

In northwestern Texas we went to Lubbock, where we saw the Buddy Holly Center.  The museum had his guitars, glasses, music, and life history very nicely displayed. 

 

We drove for hours through the Texas oil fields and cattle ranches. . . . .

 

. . . . .into the alien world of Roswell, New Mexico, where even the street lights look like aliens!

Arby's is alien friendly too!

 

The International UFO Museum and Research Center was an unusual place.  They had personal stories of a possible alien spaceship crash in 1947 with the Air Force response of denial, some alien models, and reports of other UFO encounters of all 3 kinds.  I like their approach of presenting the information and signage that said to decide for yourself!

 

a model of how the space ship crashed into the earth

Aliens with their spaceship... who slowly moved their heads to watch us

an alien being studied in a tube

some friendly aliens I ran into

On we went through miles of endless desert,

where we stopped for some fresh, roasted pistachios, and some Pistachio Crunch,

which was like brittle and toffee!

On through the desert we went, with its Spanish style homes, 

until we reached White Sands National Monument.  This park is stunning with its snow white dunes.



the sand is soft and fine

it looks just like  a snow covered road!

We stopped in Hatch, the "chile capital of the world", for a delicious lunch!

Green Chile plate



Chile Relleno plate

Braided or bagged, how do you want your chiles?

Onward we drove through the changing desert into Arizona . . . .

Bombing, Route 66, and a Giant Burger

Driving north, we headed to Oklahoma City and visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial.  Seeing so much rubble, a destroyed office, and the chairs representing those killed (with small ones for the children), was very moving.  The museum in the building next door was presented in a timeline format explaining how the events unfolded from the early morning of the blast, until the conviction of those involved.   

 

the memorial with the chairs representing each person

a picture of the building after the explosion

a preserved office in the building next door that was damaged
where the museum is now

Next, we headed to Clinton for the Route 66 Museum.  It was a great presentation showing the highway, cars, expenses, and culture for each decade starting in the 1940's with the building of the road through the present. 

In Lawton, once a mining town, now just a restaurant, we stopped for a famous Meers burger, a whopping 7 inches of delicious longhorn beef, and a side of cheese fries, each served in a pie tin. 

Texas

 We drove into Texas, past the cattle ranches into the Houston area.  We stopped for lunch and had the best chicken fried steak ever!  It was tender, crispy, and had delicious creamy gravy.  For dessert we had banana pudding.  What a treat!

We drove into Houston to see the Beer Can House.  Every inch of the house, and garage were covered in cut up beer cans, there were some streamers of cans hanging from the eaves, and even the fence was made of beer cans.

Then we spent several hours at the Health Museum.  It was full of displays of the human body and its workings.  There were lots of hands-on activities, which we loved. 



the spine and brain

into the mouth

what Rebekah might have
looked like with
different genes

 After a restful night, we headed into San Antonio and had breakfast.  I had a delicious plate of Bananas Foster pancakes with a side of smoked turkey hash.  Rebekah had a side of Magnolia Browns (hash browns with onions and garlic) and the Munchener Apfel Pfannekuchen, which was a Bavarian puffed pancake filled with apple slices and topped with European whipped cream.  A great way to start the day!

We went to the SAS shoe factory for a tour of how they hand-make every pair of shoes.  It was interesting to see the workers cut, sew, and polish the shoes. 

Since it was lunch time, we went to Dough, a pizza place and had a Margarita pizza with house made mozzarella, tomatoes and their fresh grown basil.  Delicious! 

We headed over to our cousin's and had a wonderful time with them at the Riverwalk.  We had dinner next to the river, then went for a cruise along the river.  It was so beautiful with all the Christmas lights. 

The next day we went to the Alamo and enjoyed reading all the historical information and browsing through the exhibits.  They have a beautiful garden there.

 

 

After all that walking around, it was time for some delicious Tex-Mex.  We had a crispy Chile relleno and a puffy beef taco,

 

Chicken Laredo,

and a sweet sopapilla for dessert.

The next day before we left San Antonio, we stopped for lunch at a Moroccan place.  It was really delicious!  We had the lamb tagine, rice, and Moroccan bread with mint tea.

On our way we stopped near Austin to get a famous Round Rock Texas size donut, and a kolache. 



 

For lunch we had some Texas BBQ brisket, with beans, cole slaw, and potato salad.

It was tender and very delicious.

 

 

 

In Dallas, we drove past the Old Red Museum, which was a courthouse once upon a time,

 

 

then headed over to Dealy Plaza to see the JFK museum on the 6th floor of the Book Depository, where the shots were fired.  It covered the shooting of the president, the window where it took place is preserved, the investigation of the Warren Commission, the controversies about the shooting, and information about Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.

 

the Book Depository where Oswald was
at, the square window on the top corner,
next to the curved windows

X marks the spot where JFK was shot

Dealy Plaza, and the grassy knoll behind the trees

 

We stopped for lunch and had a cup of Texas Red chili.  It was hot, but tasty!

 

 

 

In Fort Worth, we stopped at the Water Gardens to see all the fountains.  We were really disappointed that the biggest one was off, but the others were going, and it was peaceful and beautiful.

 

this one was off

 

We said goodbye to Texas for now, and headed north into Oklahoma.