Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
WE ARE NOT ALONE?
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| Believe it or Not... |
Mention Roswell New Mexico and you think of Aliens but there
is more to this town. It’s a farming, dairy and ranching community. The former
Walker Air Force base here is now an industrial incubator for economic growth,
and the International Air Center hosts hundreds of aircraft in various states
of repair. It is home to the
International Law Enforcement Agency and the largest Mozzarella Cheese
Processing plant in the world, (remember this next time you call Domino’s or
Pizza Hut.) But we’re not here for the cheese… unless seeking out cheesy alien
tchotskies qualifies.
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| UFO Museum |
The “Roswell Incident” was unsuccessfully covered up for almost
30 years. The UFO Museum here is
dedicated to presenting all of the available information regarding the incident
and other documented UFO phenomenon.
They have some pretty compelling evidence, but only strive to present
the facts as known and let you decide what to believe. We spend a whole day
exploring the museum and all of the Alien themed shops in downtown.
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| Bottomless Lake |
About fourteen miles southeast of town are the bottomless lakes. (They are really about ninety feet deep but seemed bottomless to the
cowboys with a short rope who named them.) This was New Mexico’s first state
park comprised of nine small, deep lakes surrounded by cliffs. There are rumors
that items lost in these lakes have shown up in Carlsbad Caverns some eighty
miles to the south and also in the Gulf of Mexico. We spend the afternoon
hiking and taking photos but we don’t try to prove the theory of traveling
objects.
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| Carlsbad Caverns |
After getting our “Alien Fix” we head south to
Carlsbad. The Caverns open at 8:30 AM
and we are some of the first of the day to start hiking in from the natural
entrance. It takes all of the morning to
explore the self-guided portions of the caverns. After Lunch we take a ranger guided tour of
the King’s palace. These caverns are
enormous and grand and should be on everyone’s bucket list.
Well that’s about it for New Mexico this time through. Next, it’s Texas Y’all…
Monday, March 17, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
THE 3:10 TO ENCHANTMENT…
THE 3:10 TO ENCHANTMENT…
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| The 3:10 to Yuma Stops here |
Heading east from San Diego we stop in the border town of
Winterhaven, CA along the Colorado River.
The River’s Edge RV Resort is full of snowbirds escaping the freezing
north. Although located right on the river, there’s no Wi-Fi or paved roads,
but it’s ok for a quick stop before dashing across Arizona. We venture across the Colorado River into
Yuma, AZ for a quick tour of the infamous Yuma Prison. In addition to the ruins of the prison there
is a museum that gives us a glimpse of prison life.
After blasting 395 miles east from Winterhaven, we pull into
the Visitor Center just west of Lordsburg, NM.
Dimples is injured. A road gator
has damaged the sewer hose carrier, the hose is long gone and the black water
release handle is ripped off. So we spend
a free night of legal boon docking in the visitor center parking lot and figure
out the best place to do the repairs.
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| 8-9-10…blast off... |
The next morning we head for Las Cruces where the SunnyAcres RV Park is home while parts are ordered and repairs completed. Our Space is wide and level and even has a small workshop complete with a work bench, just what's needed to make all of the necessary repairs. It’s times like this that I am truly grateful
that Chris is handy and inventive. Not
wanting to play favorites, we give Dave a little attention too. He heads over
to the local GMC dealer for a spa day. (AKA 50k mile service.)
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| White on White |
There are a few sights around Las Cruces worth
visiting. In nearby Alamogordo is the
New Mexico Museum of Space History and planetarium. We peruse the exhibits that include the
International Space Hall of Fame and catch a short IMAX film about the
Hubble.
On our way back we stop at the White Sands NationalMonument. 275 square miles of gypsum
sand, the largest gypsum field in the world, to view and play in. We drive to the end of the 8-mile park road
and then hike back into the dunes. Surprisingly
gypsum dunes are much easier to hike on than sand dunes. The late afternoon sun gives us some great
contrasts for white on white photography.
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| Mesilla Church |
Adjacent to Las Cruces is the town of Old Mesilla. Lots of historic adobe structures, tchotchke
shopping and most excellent $5.00 green chili Bloody Mary’s on Sunday at the Double Eagle Restaurant Bar. This is also the town where William H. Bonney AKA Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang.
It’s great to be back in the land of enchantment and now
that repairs are complete, it’s time to hit the road and seek out Aliens in
Roswell…
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
UNAPOLOGETIC SLUGS…
OK so we’ve been slugs for a while. Well not total slugs… just not traveling
slugs. The last five months have been
spent with friends and family in Reno, Sacramento, Santa Cruz and Southern
California (Holidays, weddings, and fun oh my!) and just enjoying the warm Southern California winter.
It’s kinda
hard to think about heading out into the 2014 polar vortex…
So while waiting for the rest of the country to warm up, we
perfected our version of the Far East Café Hom Yu:
HOM YU
8 OZ GROUND PORK – (50% ground pork & 50%
Ground pork fat - half pound total)
.2 OZ SALTED MACKEREL (minced) approx 1 tsp
.7 OZ FUN YU (Chinese fermented bean curd) approx 4
tsp
.7 OZ WATER CHESTNUTS (minced) approx 2 Tbs
¼ TSP FRESH GROUND GINGER
¼ TSP SALT
1 TBS CORN STARCH
DASH MSG
DASH FRESH GROUND PEPPER
Chop pork for a finer consistency. Chop
mackerel, fun yu, water chestnuts and ginger into the pork. Mix in salt,
cornstarch, MSG & pepper. Wrap & let sit in refrigerator for 30
to 60 min. Press into ramekins (or small shallow bowl) and steam for 20
minutes. Serve over steamed rice.
Enjoy!
Now that the weather is finally starting to cooperate, we
are finally ready to get back on the road and head east…
k
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
PDX REDUX…
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| Columbia River View |
Every home needs some TLC every now and then and Dimples is
no exception. After chilling out in Toppenish we stop at Maryhill State Park
for a few days and chill some more. Our
spot is right on the Columbia River with outstanding views. We visit Maryhill Winery where we pick up a couple of vintages and the museum where we revisit
some of the permanent collections and enjoy some of the newer acquisitions.
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| Art and Power |
Then it’s on to the Portland area where Dimples gets new
tires and rims, a new cook top, convection-microwave oven and new rock
guards. The leaking back window is
re-riveted and sealed and some popped rivets on the body replaced. We take
advantage of the area’s diversity to stock up on Asian foods for the pantry,
and spirits form Portland’s boutique Distilleries. Of course we stop at Fong Chong and get a huge order of their Hom Yee.
Since Dimples needs to stay overnight, at Airstream Adventures NW, we check into the McMenanins Edgefield in Troutdale. The Georgian revival style lodge and
surrounding acreage was originally a poor farm, which is fitting considering
what we are spending on Dimples LOL. The
resort hosts a restaurant, distillery, brewery, winery, pub, and dine-in movie
theatre (where we catch the cinematic experience of World War Z...
How can you top zombies, cocktails and farm to table cuisine? It’s a perfect spot for an overnight away from home.
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| Checking out the new tires |
Once all of the repairs and upgrades are completed we head
to Dayville and spend some time in our favorite of all time park The Fish House Inn. Now it’s time to keep heading
south...
We try not to make too many plans
in advance but we have plotted out the next month… We’ll be in Reno visiting
with family this next weekend, and then we’ll head over to Sacramento and if
our friends there haven’t forgotten us hopefully spend a week reconnecting.
After Sac, we’ll head to Santa Cruz and reconnect with friends there… (Call us…
you have our cell #s)
k
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