Mission San Xavier Del Bac
Inside the mission
Mission grounds and gardens
The front entrance-beautiful
The mission and grounds
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Tucson
Planes everywhere...
Our son flew on CH 53 in the Marine Corps -
like this one decommissioned and in storage
We also found a B-29 - which Mark's dad trained on
the Air Force during WWII.
Old Tucson
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| Old Tucson would not be complete without a cowboy shootout |
Old Tucson
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| The Palace Hotel and Saloon |
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| The Mission in Old Tucson |
Photos from Tucson
The mountain sides are filled with Saguaro cactus
This is actually just a regular size Saguaro
Lots of cactus everywhere
more cactus
cactus everywhere - everything is covered with spines too-
so you have to be careful walking
Notice the hole at the top of the cactus- woodpeckers
drill holes in the Saguaro cactus and make their homes in them
along with other animals
A couple of days exploring the Tucson, AZ area
We ended up spending several nights in Tucson, AZ. We ended up with a large RV site in the RV park on a corner. The management led Mark/RV to our site where we were diagonally parked on the two end sites which gave us lots of room to park the CRV and we did not have too look in to our neighbors windows. We were also close to the lounge, laundry room, pool and office. We decided to join the "locals"/winter residents for happy hour after we arrived for some "local knowledge" about the area. Most people here were here for the winter and arrived before Christmas. We also agreed to join them the next morning for their weekly breakfast get-together in the social hall.
We drove out to the Saguaro National Park to see the unique Saguaro cactus which are called the monarch of Sonora Desert and a symbol of the Southwest. The national park is the only place where the HUGE - giant Saguaro cactus have been protected since 1933. We also made a stop at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Lots of desert plants and wildlife helped us understand the 100,000 square miles of the lush Sonoran Desert that extend from central Arizona through Sonora, Mexico.
A trip to Old Tucson was also on the agenda for us - located next to Saguaro National Park. Old Tucson is famous for the close to 200 films produced there on the grounds with the Catalina Foothills and plentiful mountains for a backdrop. Movies such as Tombstone and Rio Bravo and more recently, The Three Amigos. Several TV programs were also filmed here such as Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza.
Another day was spent touring the Pima Air and Space Museum where we took the "boneyard" tour and the large collection of aircraft on the field there. The "boneyard" tour was through 4,000 military and government aircraft that has been prepped for storage on the air base located here -some permanently and some go be put back into action if needed. WOW!!! The air and space museum was 80 acres and housed more that 300 retired planes from legendary military aircraft ranging from Thunderbolts and Falcons to seaplanes and amphibians.
We spent more time hiking the trails in the desert which was amazing. Next stop is Phoenix...
Friday, February 20, 2015
Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks
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| Mark in the Big Room part of the cave |
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| Carlsbad Caverns - Big Room |
Carlsbad Caverns -The Big Room
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| Parked at Guadalope Mountains National Park |
New Mexico Sunset
Cactus ready for spring blooms
A Journey Underground at Carlsbad Caverns
We left San Antonio and headed West on I-10 through miles and miles of Texas oil fields (too many oil rigs to keep count) and headed for Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, In 1930, Congress created Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It has since become one of the world's most celebrated cave systems and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1995. The park has since expanded and now includes 46,766 acres and over 100 other caves. We spent two hours on a self-guided tour of the 1.25 mile Big Room Route after descending the 750 ft. to the cave itself. Fascinating tour.From the visitor's center we could 130 miles that day - the ranger said that was a rare event as their is usually haze out over the miles of vast land. The ranger said you can only see that distance one or two times a year. Carlsbad also gets snow at least once a year. There were signs of plants sprouting buds - just as we saw in San Antonio - we were told by the locals that it was a sign of an early spring - a month early actually.
The next morning we headed on back into West Texas to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Guadalupe Mountains highest elevation is 5, 695 - no snow to be seen anywhere on the mountains. The only town near by is White's City - more of a one block tourist location - motel, restaurant, gas station and trading post with a no frills first come-first serve campground. Our plan was to drive on into Deming, New Mexico for the night. The drive was 135 miles to El Paso, TX with no gas stations -(we had fueled up in Carlsbad before leaving)- the views were beautiful.
From Deming, we continued on to Arizona for our stay in Tucson. Looking forward to hiking and enjoying the desert.
Monday, February 16, 2015
San Antonio
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| The Alamo - located in the center of San Antonio now. |
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| Mission San Jose which is a completely restored mission in the United States with its famous Rose Window. |
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| A stroll down the El Mercado after a short shower . |
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| The Texas Buckhorn Saloon with all the wildlife exhibits on the walls. |
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| The cruise down the river through the river walk area. |
Spending some time in San Antonio, Texas...
After leaving Mustang Island, we headed 162 miles West/Northwest to San Antonio. We had reservations at Travelers World RV Resort on the South side of town with 165 full hookups sites. The park is 99% full every night - many nights it was totally full- very busy place with many people here for the entire winter.
We toured several missions - the oldest one being The Alamo, established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio De Valero- the first of five missions built along the San Antonio River. We also visited the El Mercado - filled with lots of tiny shops full of colorful Mexican imports and MANY Mexican restaurants to choose from. We also toured the Texas Ranger Museum and had lunch at the 1881 Texas Buckhorn Saloon. We could not leave San Antonio without walking the San Antonio River Walk and took a boat cruise down the San Antonio River with its sidewalk cafes, lush tropical foliage and boutiques. We also had dinner one night at Rosario's - a Mexican restaurant recommended by several people in the RV park as being the best Mexican restaurant in San Antonio. It lived up to its reputation - a very good dinner.
We also made a stop at the Walmart and grocery store down the road from the RV park. The weather has been great - warm -wearing shorts and sandals until our last day in town when the temps dropped from 65 to 45 degrees in less than 3 hours as the latest major cold front moved through the area. The cold temps only lasted for one day and then temps rebounded back to the 70's.
Treasures found on the Texas beaches
Butterfly shells found intact on the Texas beaches.
There were too many to pick up all of them!!!!
My collection of Texas butterfly shells...we spent lots of time
walking the beaches and searching for treasures during our week on the
Texas coast - Gulf of Mexico
Friday, February 13, 2015
Meeting up with long time friends
While we were on Galveston Island, long time friends of ours from Ohio caught up with us there at the state park campground. They are doing a trip similar to what we are doing in the Southwest this year. They are both seasoned sailors (our former dock mates at Sandusky Harbor Marina on Lake Erie) and we made several cruising trips with them on the Great Lakes and a trip to the Bahamas together. They came on down to Mustang Island to join us there as well. We have really enjoyed sightseeing the area together and doing dinners together while catching up. I am sure our paths will cross again on this trip to the Southwest.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Galveston Island, Texas
Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston Island
from our campsite.
We visited Johnson Space Center Houston and took the tour.
New Orleans
St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square in the French Quarter
We just could not walk past Cafe Du Monde without stopping for
some French donuts and a beverage every day.
Mardi Gras decorations were on many of the buildings
in the French Quarter.
One of the famous parks
Street musicians were everywhere...
We did watch one of the parades in the French Quarter - the
Krewe of Corks Parade complete with bottles of wine and
lots of beads.
Making Tracks through the South
We left Gulf Shores and headed for Mobile, AL to visit an old friend of Mark's. It was wonderful to see Tom again after 11 years. We had a wonderful visit with Tom and his wife before we headed on West to New Orleans.
We seem to be on the Mardi Gras Express train this trip - everywhere we have stopped in the South has been celebrating since January. We always thought the Mardi Gras celebration was just the 5 days before Ash Wednesday - well, not anymore. Gulf Shores was hosting parades and activities the last week of January, Mobile (the real home of Mardi Gras) the first week of Feb. and of course Mardi Gras central is now New Orleans. We spent a couple of days in New Orleans sightseeing in the French Quarter, St. Louis Cathedral, Bourbon Street, the old cemeteries, Canal Street, French Market, City Park, and of course we made daily trips to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and we also tried fresh made pralines. We loved the creole and cajun food as well. We also made a stop at the New Orleans School of Cooking store to pick up some of my favorite seasonings to take home.
Then we headed on to Texas - Galveston Island on the coast. The island is very commercialized and built up island. We enjoyed the historical district and the old homes and buildings. We found a great used bookstore here, so Mark could pick up some more books for the trip.
From Galvaston Island we headed 215 miles south to Mustang Island for a couple of days. Nice state park campgrounds located at both Galveston and Mustang Island located on the beaches. While visiting Mustang Island we also explored North Padre Island and the Padre Island National Seashore. Mustang Island and North Padre Island are more wide open with natural settings and wildlife. We also crossed over the bridge to see Corpus Christi.
This weekend we will head for San Antonio for a couple of days. We are definitely loving the warmer weather and sunshine down here.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
located in Pensacola Naval Air Station Base.
On the Road Again - Southwest Trip 2015
On the Road Again...Southwest Trip 2015
We finally managed to get ourselves out of Indianapolis on Monday, January 26. We drive to a campground south of Nashville to spend the night - there were exactly 6 units in the campground. We were back on the road Tuesday morning at first light headed for Gulf Shores, Alabama. We have reservations for one week here at the state park which turns out to be a very nice place. They have 496 campsites here with lots of amenities available. The weather has also been better than we expected it to be for January.
We have spent our days sightseeing and exploring the area. We made a trip to visit Fort Morgan, built in 1833 on the western tip of Fort Morgan Peninsula-guarding the eastern side of the entrance to Mobile Bay. There are also large oil drilling wells offshore there that are easy to see from the fort area. We had no idea that the oil wells were so close to shore in this area. You can not see them from the beach in Gulf Shores which is nice. You can see Dauphin Island which is located on the Western side of the Mobile Bay entrance with Fort Gaines.
We also made a trip to Pensacola to see the National Naval Air Museum on Naval Air Station Pensacola. This is a must see air museum- right up there with the one at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. On our way back to Gulf Shores we stopped at the famous Flora-Bama - one of the last great American Roadhouses, home of the annual mullet Toss Festival, the Gulf Coast's greatest beach party . We have also taken daily beach walks on the large beautiful beach here and hiked on the trails here daily. We seem to spend every day outside doing something which we love. We have eaten at several good local seafood restaurants and all of the seafood has been delicious.
We will visit with an high school friend of Mark's in Mobile before we head on West to New Orleans.
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