PCH Roadtrip – Homeward Bound

Last morning headed home.  What a trip.  Early start for a 9am flight.  We made it back to Austin in one piece and only mildly tired.  Still no kids so we’re on our own with the dog, Guinea Pig and snake!

What a list of Firsts though!!

Things to do
San Diego
Mustang
Pacific Ocean
Carlsbad
Beach Breakfast
Pacific Coast Highway
Solvang
Choux Buns in the US
Los Angeles
Griffiths Observatory
HollyWood Sign
Graumann Chinese Theater
Hollywood Boulevard
Sunset and Vine
Hollywood Hills
Elephant Seals
Hearst Castle
Cliff Driving
Lost Boys
Santa Carla
Santa Cruz
Merry Go Round
Sky Glider
Redwoods
Covered Bridges
Tiburon
San Francisco
SF Bay
Cable Cars
Fishermans Wharf
Golden Gate Bridge
Get Bored

Want better pictures of our trip?  Try Carol’s album on Facebook.

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PCH Roadtrip – Santa Cruz – San Francisco

Day Four

Carol Blog today.  First one ever.

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean in Santa Cruz. Robert popped out for a morning coffee and we sat on the terrace having our Solvang pastries for breakfast with a beautiful, fresh view.

After breakfast we set out on the road heading for San Francisco.  Not too far into the journey we saw a local park with a covered bridge. Felton Covered Bridge.  A long time dream of mine was to see and photograph an old covered bridge. A few photos later, we are back on the road.

The next part of the journey was simply amazing. Coming off the coastal route today we headed through the redwood forests, stopping at Henry Cowell State Park. Parked the car for an hour and took a hiking trail down to the water…these trees are some size.

Not as big, we hear, as other redwood forests further north but still very impressive and bigger than we’ve seen before in height.

After our morning hike we headed back on the road to our next stop enroute – San Jose. We stopped here so that we could visit the Winchester Mansion. After watching the movie recently, I was expecting it to be spooky and was apprehensive about going on the tour.  However, when we arrived we paid our $40 for the tour as I was pleasantly surprised.  It was such a fun, quirky, beautiful house. Full of amazing craftsmanship and lots of innovative designs for the time. Mrs Winchester deserves quite a lot of credit for this.  Definitely glad we took the tour.

 

Feeling a bit hungry after the tour we stopped off at a local Burrito deli for a spot of lunch.

Excitedly, late afternoon we arrived in the ‘City by the bay’, passing over the Golden Gate Bridge. A first for the me and it didn’t disappoint. Amazing piece of engineering.

We were staying in Tiburon so headed there to check into our hotel before exploring the big city. Tiburon has a ferry service commuting to San Fran…this seamed a more relaxing option rather than driving into the city and trying to find a parking space.

It was a pleasant 5 minute walk from our hotel, the Lodge at Tiburon, to the ferry port. What a lovely 35 minute sail, passing the Golden Gate Bridge , the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz Island. Saved us a Bay Boat Tour.

Once in the city, we wanted to tick off the cable car experience. We were only spending a few hours in the city so we were happy with jumping on the cable car down to Fishermans Wharf for some dinner. The Trolley Car driver was sorry there were no seats for us and we had to hang off the edge. Little did he know this was my dream way of travelling on the tram!

A little bit chilly at this time of day, we were happy to try some clam chowder to heat us up and some Calamari.  Washed down with a local beer.  Tummies full and happy with our San Francisco whistle stop tour we headed back to our hotel. Missing the last ferry we got an Uber for only $5 extra. Arriving back at the hotel for 9pm we decided a night cap was needed at the hotel bar, before turning in. An early start tomorrow for the journey home…☹

PCH Roadtrip – Solvang – PCH – Santa Cruz (Santa Carla)

Day Three.

Excellent sleep in the Lodge in Solvang and we stopped at a bakery in town for breakfast.  Well we had breakfast in the hotel but stopped for Danish pastries for the journey and saw Choux Buns!!  These are a Robert and Carol favourite from back in the UK and we had never seen proper ones here in the US.  There are plenty of cream puffs but the cream is not proper cream.  So we had a couple of those for our Hobbit 2^nd breakfast…They were very good.  Solvang bakery had a great selection of proper European baked goods.  Recommended!

We did grab the pastries for the road as well but ended up eating them the next day!

Next stop was for a Winery/Vineyard.  It was Sunday morning though so we struggled.  We had been recommended Los Olivos  (Thanks Meg!) as a place to go so we popped along but we were too early to get in anywhere and we had a long road ahead of us.  Beautiful area though and worth the visit.

Then we were properly onto the Pacific Coast highway.  What a drive!  The views were absolutely AMAZING.  Like driving the Glens of Scotland only higher and with sheer cliffs on one side!

We stopped off to see some Elephant Seals, Short pit stop at Hearst Castle, Lunch at Ragged Point, decent food but service could have been better, (45 mins wait on a quiet day was not great)   and then headed further on to Santa Cruz.

The Bixby Bridge is worth the drive alone.  Amazing bridge and in an absolutely breathtaking setting.

Santa Cruz

Stopped here purely because as a young man I was a massive Lost Boys fan and this is where they filmed the movie.  It was called Santa Carla in the movie and weirdly other than one poster on the boardwalk there was no other mention of the film.  I supposed being dubbed the ‘Murder Capital of the World’ rubbed them wrong!  It was strange as we were able to walk around some of the locations and even heard other people talking about it but the folk in the shops hadn’t really heard about the movie (although they were teenagers…).

Anyway the Boardwalk is still there, the Merry go round, the sky glider, the bridge where they dangle off and the shops where the parents chat and meet up are all there.  It was amazing.  I was delighted.  We stayed in a nice little hotel called Casablanca on the beach which had a cool artisan vibe about it and we had a nice room overlooking the ocean.  The hotel has a Thai restaurant attached and we ate there.  Decent food.  Really enjoyed the walk around and we even had a go on the Sky Glider which was a little daunting for Carol!

I told you to stay off the Boardwalk!!!

Deep Fried Cheesecake??

Cry Little Sister

Creepy

Sky Glider

Dangle!

PCH Roadtrip – San Diego – LA – Solvang

Day Two

On the road early and headed first to the beach in San Diego (Pacific Beach) which was busy even at 8am and had some breakfast.  The place we had breakfast was right on the beach and the food was decent.  The service not so much and the fact on their menu they claim ownership of any pictures you hashtag them with means we won’t be promoting them as a business.  I doubt they would have a legal leg to stand on but it just strikes me as very cheeky.

Carol and I walked along the beach for a while and Carol took a wee paddle in the Pacific Ocean.  This was her first trip out to the West Coast so it was a historic moment!  After that we got on the road again.

Listening to our California playlist we went about 20 mins before I realized I need to make a short bio break (yes…I should have gone before I left Dad!).  We pulled off at the next random wee town and ended up in a place called Carlsbad (not the caverns one).  It was lovely and pretty tranquil.  Carol actually popped into a nail salon to get her nails done which I tried to find a public toilet.  We then walked around for a wee while and I had a lovely chat with the wee woman in the visitor center about the station building the Visitor Center is in.  It was the main train station till 1957 and was from the 1860’s and was little changed apart from a new floor and a lick of paint.  BTW – if you need the loo – the new station is about 100 yards further up the line!

Then we were onto LA!!

I’d traveled through the airport a few times but never been fully into LA before.  It was an eye opener.  We started by climbing up to the Griffiths Observatory which was the sight of countless movies and TV shows (Rebel without a cause, Adventures of Superman (George Reeves original), Men in Black, La La Land and many more have all been filmed in that location. Note – the is paid parking at the top of the hill but it fills up quickly.  Free parking at the bottom means a 20 min hike up hill to get there but it was a nice walk and well worth the effort.  It also happens to be the best place to see the HollyWood sign!

We hiked up from the free parking (paid was full) and enjoyed the stunning views.  You could see across the whole city from there and it was  good view of the Hollywood sign.  I would like a better camera in my iPhone though as it doesn’t take that sort of picture well!

A wee walk round the observatory and then a drink on their patio before heading into LA proper.

I thought the traffic would kill me but it was actually not too bad (I had psyched myself out) and we found some on street parking only a block from Hollywood Boulevard.  We parked in a wee quiet side street and thought…what was I worried about traffic fine, quiet and calm.  Great start….then we stepped out onto HollyWood Boulevard….OMG…insanity.  I’ve been to Picadilly Circus, Times Square and lots of busy places….not like this.  It was pandemonium.  Tons of people milling around looking at the stars and then a load of people selling stuff and some religious fanatics with megaphones…it was not what I expected.

This was a bucket list item for me and I got the things I wanted done but it was not what I thought it would be.  We did pick a Saturday afternoon just after a holiday so it was our own fault.

Lowlights : Too busy and tourists don’t understand that everyone else is not wrong and they are right.

Now…highlights – Walked along to Graumanns Chinese Theatre.  That was amazing.  We got to see so many of the concrete plaques in the ground.  Everyone from Abbot and Costello, Gregory Peck and John Wayne to Hugh Jackman, Harrison Ford and even wee Shirley Temple!  Very cool.  After a bite to eat at an excellent wee Chinese place off the main road we got out of Dodge quickly before I went a wee bit nuts!

It was mid afternoon by this point and the sun was shining so the top came down on the Mustang and we headed out of town onto Solvang.

The drive from LA to Solvang was amazing.  We drove along the Interstate for a while to get out of town then onto the highway along the coast.  More of that tomorrow but after a wee drive along the coast we cut inland to get to our hotel.  That was quite an amazing piece of driving.  Through the Los Padres national Forest and mountains.  Amazing scenery and it really rivaled the Glens of Scotland for outstanding natural beauty.

Solvang

Interesting wee town this one.  Danish heritage and has a very Danish feel to it.  The US has this thing across the land where some towns retained the feel of their original settlers and it’s definitely here.  Fredericksburg in Texas (German) is like this too.  All the shops have a Danish feel and it has amazing little Danish houses and buildings.  Well worth the detour to get here.  We staying in a wee Motel place in town, Svendsgaards Lodge, which also had a Danish feel and was clean and spacious and very comfy beds!

If you are ever in California and fancy a Snakebite (Lager, Cider and Blackcurrant) which is now banned in the UK but was a staple of my time in University then the Irish bar (Fitzpatricks) here does them!

Next onto the PCH!!!

Roadtrip #3 – Day Five – Islands of Adventure

Ben is the Author today.

Day Five – Islands of Adventure

At the start of the day we found an all you can eat breakfast near the hotel and from there made our way back to Universal after eating our first bit of fuel for the day.

As we entered Universals Islands of Adventure we soon made our way round to Marvel Superhero Island to start. While there we went into a comic bookshop and got our pictures taken with the Green Goblin and Doctor Doom.

Soon after this we went to the Jurrassic park section of the park. There was only one ride there for adults which was the River Adventure. Shortly after this we got lunch in the discovery center made to look like the main building from the Jurrassic Park movies.  We even hatched a dinosaur egg.

This lunch stop was much to dad’s dismay as we soon found a kebab place in another area of the park!

From here we headed over to Hogsmead, where we explored all of our favourite sites from the books and movies.

In the same area we could see Hogwarts castle and went on the ride just below it, which was one of the best rides in the entire park.

Afterwards we went through the lost continent section of the park where we stopped and went into a special effects presentation called “Posideons Fury”.  We passed through the Doctor Seuss area of the park which we did not stay in very long as we were making our way over to the Hulk Rollercoaster (only Dad and Sophie went on) and for some pretzels.

Finally we went back to Hogmead and admired the Hogwarts Christmas lightshow and onto the last ride of the day  –  the flight of the hippogriff.

Finally we topped of the night with some Butterbeer for me, Sophie and Mum, and Dad with Dragonscale beer in the Hogshead.

Back to the hotel after that with 25k steps for the day and some very sore legs.

 

 

Roadtrip #3 – Day Four – Universal Studios

First day at Universal Studios.

Sophie is the Author today.

Day 4

Yet another early start at 7am we quickly hopped out of bed and got ready for a new day.

We decided against using the shuttle  to the park so we grabbed an Uber and finally got to Universal studios as soon as we got in the park we all realized we hadn’t had breakfast.   After looking around for a while to find somewhere we ended up just getting some Starbucks we finally got in the park and very quickly we saw many things we recognized like SpongeBob characters and the Back to the Future car.

After we mapped out a route we made our way around starting with saving ET’s home planet and the moving on to the Simpsons area where we rode through Krustyland and had a drink at Moe’s tavern.

After that we made it to #12 Grimauld place after we took a few pictures and seeing Kreacher in the window we went through the wall and into Diagon alley right away we saw a dragon and Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.

We thought we would look around first before getting

anything but that plan quickly changed when we found butterbeer ice cream so after we ate that we decided to go to Olivanders we looked around but decided to wait to get a wand.

Once we looked around the rest of the area we decided to look in the other areas too, we went to the other end of the park so we could work our way back so first dad and I went on the Rip Ride Rockit Roller coaster but Dad didn’t have the best experience with it because the belt was pushed too tight and he couldn’t breathe the whole time after that “near death experience” we went on the Fast and the Furious and the Return of the Mummy ride.

After all of that we finally made our way back to Diagon alley as we finished off the day by going through the Gringotts ride but it was already a 70 minute wait then when we finally go to the front of the line it broke down and we had to wait another half an hour but in the end it was really fun we finally got back to the hotel and decided to just grab some pizza across the street and bring it back to the room.

Editor note: all tuckered out after nearly 12 hours in the park!  Ate and slept!

 

 

Big American RoadTrip #3 – Day One Round Rock – LaFayette

Another big road trip.  We’ve been North to DC, West to New Mexico and now east to Florida!

We’re changing up a little this trip by having the kids do some of the blogging so the below is day one from Ben,

Before that the journey – We’re headed east from Round Rock and stopping at Lafayette, Destin then Orlando for a few days before coming back via Orange Beach and then New Orleans.  Thanksgiving break.

Day One

Waking up in darkness, the sun was still to rise at 6:00 am and my sister Sophie  and I were the last awake. After finishing up with the last bit of packing filled up the back of the car and clambered in. As we began to make our way across the country, I sat in the back cradling my guitar, due to the lack of space elsewhere to place it, while my sister sits just in front of me headphones on eyes glued to her phone screen. Mum and dad are sitting at the head of the car discussing where to go for breakfast. We eventually decide upon kolaches from Shipley’s donuts.

For the first day we attempted to make it to Lafayette swiftly, so we made few stops along the way, only stopping in Carmine for coffee and a bathroom break then later at Freddie’s Steak Burger and frozen custard for lunch. For reasons I am still unable to explain, most likely because I was tired, I became unreasonably panicked about finding my guitar pick that I lost shortly before. This later caused Sophie to be unreasonably angry due to my unreasonable panic. Dad, throughout all of this, is uncharacteristically calm throughout the trip which makes Sophie think that he might be having some form of stroke. If anyone is worried don’t worry, he’s fine. We checked.

Finally, after reaching Lafayette and checking into the hotel we make our way to Longfellow- Evangeline State Historic Site that Mum found out about online. An old sugar plantation where we learned about the fascinating history of the land and Louisiana in general. For more information on this see the link. We were shown around by a very helpful wee woman, who was 80, who told us about the history of the property and even introduced Sophie to a new game. For dinner we decided on traditional food for the area, so we got some gumbo and catfish at the Cajun restaurant Kajun King. Exhausted from the journey we decided shortly after this to go to bed early.

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Roadtrip 2 (day Five) Roswell to Tijeras via Fort Sumner.

Day Five – Roswell to Tijeras via Fort Sumner.

After day four being a bit of a barnstormer in terms of fitting things in.  Day five was a little quieter but we still got a lot in.

We were a little slower in getting organized in the morning just because we could do.  After breakfast we packed up and headed on the road.  The Road from Roswell to Fort Sumner is possibly the longest straightest road I’ve been on.  We turned about 3 times in 105 miles and changed road I think once!

After a brief stop off to make sure Ben got a Gandalf picture in the middle of the desert we hit Fort Sumner just around lunchtime.  The town is most famous as the place where Billy the Kid was killed (similar to Sam Bass in Round Rock 😉 ).  We visited the Billy the Kid museum first.  It’s a Billy the Kid and Fort Sumner mash up but it’s pretty entertaining.  The staff were friendly and nice.  Everything from Billy’s rifle on display to old cars which were used in the town.  It’s much bigger than it looks on the inside.  It’s good to talk to the folks in these places as they have such a fascinating local insight into what has been going on in the town.

The guy behind the counter told me a fascinating story about the Kid’s grave site.  If you look at the picture you will see that there are no grave stones behind the grave.  This is not because there is no-one buried there but it is because in the 1940’s a wealthy Texan ‘bought’ the grave and though he had bought the whole cemetery and so destroyed all the grave stones behind to make sure the kid’s grave was front and centre!  The locals only found out after the fact and there was nothing they could do at that point as the other stones had been destroyed!

Note no graves behind Billy’s

When we visited the grave later in the day it was a very empty grave site but more to come on that.

After being round the museum and getting the obligatory souvenir crushed penny which Sophie has come to love we were all starving.  We had seen a little place a little bit down the road (Rodeo Grill) which looked good so we headed there.  Unfortunately it was closed when we got there so we went on the lookout for something else.  We found a place called Fred’s restaurant which looked a little dodgy from the outside (one of the windows was taped shut) but we had little choice so we went in.  It turned out well for us again!  Food was cheap but good quality…and lots of it.  I could not finish my Quesadillas…which anyone who knows me means it was lots of food ;-).  We all (5) ate for under $60 including drinks.

After lunch we headed to the site of old Fort Sumner.  The house where the Kid was killed (Pete Maxwell’s house) was damaged and then destroyed in a flood in the 1930’s so there was not a lot to see there but we did visit the grave.  Billy is buried with two of his friends and fellow Regulators Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard – his ‘Pals’.  His original gravestone has been stolen a couple of times so has iron bars over it and the grave itself is also covered in an iron cage.  Carol mentioned it looked like a prison…seems ironic that he could not be caged in life but was after death.

Older headstone showing Billy’s 21 alleged kills

There were only a few graves left in the cemetery after the destruction by the infamous ‘Texan’ mentioned earlier but they were mainly notable.  One of the graves was the ‘famous’ person in the site before Billy.  Lucien Maxwell is buried there and he is notable as the person who has owned the largest track of land in US history…a huge part of New Mexico and Colorado.  He died in the 1870’s and it was at his house (converted from the old Fort) that Billy met his end.

Lucien Maxwell who owned vast lands including Philmot Scout ranch

The story is that Billy fell in love with Pete’s (Lucien’s son) sister and he disapproved of this love of his sister Paulita and got a message to Pat Garret in Lincoln that Billy was in Fort Sumner.  Billy was actually killed in Pete’s bedroom.  Another grave that did survive was Pete’s himself.  Pete’s bedroom had a door to the outside and Billy went in from the outside whilst Garret was inside (unbeknownst to Billy).  One of Garret’s men made a noise on the porch and as Billy turned to see who was there Garrett shot him in the doorway from behind.

The door to Pete’s bedroom where Billy was killed.

After visiting the cemetery we headed for our trip to Tijeras (outside of Albuquerque) where we are staying for the next couple of days.  Along the way we traveled along I-40 which at times is the route of the historic Route 66 and at times veers off.  We did pop off onto the original Route for photos though.

We arrived at the Air BnB we had hired for a couple of days around sundown but that’s a story for tomorrow.

 

 

RoadTrip 2 (Day Four) – Roswell, Lincoln and White Oaks

Lamposts in Roswell

Woke up to a beautiful day in Roswell with not a cloud in the sky.  We were looking to accomplish a couple of things in the day.  The kids wanted to discover the UFO stuff in Roswell and I was keen on exploring the Old West Stuff further west.  We split the day in two so we could get the most out of the day.

Morning.

International UFO museum in Roswell.

Downtown Roswell (and most of the town) has aliens littered all over the place and the economy seems like it is based solely on extraterrestrial beings coming here in the 40’s (or 50’s if you believe the government apparently).

The main centre piece is the International UFO museum which has a lot of paper cuttings and exhibits from around the time of the famous crash in 1947.  It was relatively cheap to get into ($5 for adults(2017)) and we went in for a look around.  Lots of conspiracy theories and lots of good info too on what went on.  I liked the area where they debunked famous pictures of flying saucers – one guy just threw his cowboy hat in the air and photographed it out of focus…that’s not even trying!

The kids liked it though and Ben picked up an X-files (I want to Believe) poster from one of the many souvenir shops along the way.

After we were there we headed out to ‘Billy the Kid Country’.  There is a whole area which has lots to see for someone who likes to explore the old west.  It was a good distance from Roswell but we got to travel across some of the most spectacular scenery we’ve ever seen. 

Whilst travelling we encountered a little town which we had no intention of stopping at called Tinnies.  However the Preacher was one Cowboy Preacher Jack Ferguson so we had to stop for some pictures.  Jack Ferguson was Carol’s dad’s name and he passed away not long after we moved over to the US so it seemed fitting that we stop and take a look.  Ironically we found that in Tinnies and he and I shared more than a few tinnies in our time!

Heading back out we stopped again in a town called Hondo for fuel and ice cream.  I’ve never been concerned that we’d run out of fuel before when the gauge is saying we have more than 100 miles left but that is how far from anywhere we were at this time!!

Billy the Kid country.

First proper stop was Lincoln.  This is one of the best preserved towns from the old west due mainly to the fact it fell on hard times after the boom times of the 1880’s and never expanded like lots of other towns.

The kids outside the Tunstall MacSween store

To understand why I was so happy when we got there I have to take you back to my childhood.  When I was young (about 14) the movie Young Guns came out and I loved it for it’s escapism and when Young Guns 2 came out a couple of years later I liked it also but did like the soundtrack probably more.  They are not Oscar material but good escapist fun.  My brothers also loved the movies and we’d spend many an afternoon watching them and insulting each other with lines from the movie or skelping each other on the head whilst shouting ‘Reap the Whirlwind!.’  So the story of Billy the kid is one which I have liked and I’ve read a fair bit on him and watched other movies and documentaries when they come on.

The spot where ‘Bob’ was killed

I was expecting Lincoln to be built up and to have lost all of it’s old west charm and frankly so did Ben who was expecting me to do my usual by asking him to imagine something was still there ;-).  I could not have been more wrong.  The town still has all of that old charm and the building are still there including actual Bullet holes from Billy’s six shooter!

For $7 (for adults) and free for kids you can wander through the old west and the story of the Lincoln County Cattle wars with actual buildings from the time.  I was especially excited about the County Court house which was first used by a certain Sheriff Pat Garrett and has the room where Billy was held before his daring escape from hanging.  They even have the window where Billy kills his captor Bob Ollinger and where the movie has the famous line – ‘Best Dollar eighty I ever spent’.  It’s not exactly like the real thing but I was surprised I could see the outline of what went on from a Hollywood movie of the 80’s!

The window and the spot on the ground

We then had lunch in the only food place in town which happened to be Jimmy Dolan’s old house.  Dolan was on the ‘other’ side of the wars with Murphy against Tunstall and MacSween and he fell on hard times after the wars and went broke.  His house has been changed and tweaked over the years but it was still a brilliant old home and serves as a lunch place and B&B.  Our waitress, Sage, was superb and told us so much history about the place and the town.  She was a wealth of local knowledge and even told us about her boyfriend who was apparently the great great grandson of Geronimo!!!

There was also some cool stuff you don’t find in books.  She told us about the ghost in the house that folk have seen who looked a lot like Dolan’s wife who died in childbirth at 25 and a great story which happened recently where a metal detectorist came by and found a silver dollar and an old wheel.  What was fascinating was there is a picture in the house of Dolan’s family outside the house and Dolans daughter is pulling an old cart…the wheel they believe was from that!  Spooky but incredibly cool.  I also had some excellent home made Chili…because well…the old west!

After that Sage gave us directions to our next destination and off we went.  We wanted to visit White Oaks which was mentioned in the movie and at that time was the second biggest town in New Mexico.  It’s a Ghost town now and we’re always up for exploring a Ghost town.  Before we hit White Oaks though we stopped into Fort Stanton which is another historic site and was used to house soldiers (especially Buffalo Soldiers) to repel Indian attacks.  It was also a base for General Pershing (commander of the US forces in WW1 and who the tank is named after).

White Oaks was quite a journey away (about 45 mins drive from Lincoln at least) but it was a fascinating place.  Not least of which was the fact that this used to be home to thousands and had 4 newspapers and it’d own opera house and was now some ramshackle houses and a lot of fields.  It was notorious in it’s day for being a place of ill repute with brothels and bars entertaining the local gold miners all looking to make their fortune but when the gold ran out and the locals got a little greedy with the railroads and the railroad bosses ran it away from the town it fell on hard times.

The only saloon left was the fantastically named ‘No Scum allowed Saloon’ which only opens at the weekend and sits alone on the main street which used to house countless places.

We explored the cemetery too which had a few famous names in there.  An ex Governor of New Mexico and Deputy Sheriff Bell who was killed also in the kid’s escape from Lincoln.  The most notable person though was Susan MacSween Barber who was the wife of Alexander MacSween of the Tunstall/MacSween group and really the winner of the Cattle Wars as she came out of it with both her life and her fortune!  (Murphy, Tunstall and Macsween were all killed and Dolan went broke).  She became known as the Queen of New Mexico cattle  and although she fell on harder times later in life she stayed in White Oaks till she died in the 1930’s.

The drive home was long as we had kept pushing out but still beautiful.  Tomorrow we head out for Tijeras and Santa Fe!

 

 

Chapel at Fort Stanton

Outside the Dolan House

The famous ‘Hello Bob’ Scene

The courthouse where Billy was held

The Torreon outside of which Sheriff Brady was killed

Roadtrip 2 (Day Two) Odessa

Day Two.

Still in Odessa

Unlike our previous roadtrip we tried not to go too far each day (we had a deadline last time) so we stayed in Odessa for an extra day to explore the area.  We are glad we did though.  We got to do a lot of things that were great fun.

Morning

After breakfast we headed to Sandhills state park in Monaghans.  This is an amazing area of the world.  Like being on Tatooine with all the sand dunes etc. For a couple of dollars you can hire sand sledges for sledging down the dunes…and slide we did!  Great fun and well worth the effort.  The place itself is beautiful also.  We also bought some excellent walking sticks from the shop.  I got a Moose (Our Boy Scout troop adult troop is called the Moose Patrol), Ben got a Wolf and Sophie got a paw print one. 

‘Talk softly and carry a big stick’ is my new policy.

 

Afternoon.

After grabbing some lunch at a highly rated Chinese buffet in Monaghans (it looked terrible from the outside but the food was good).  We headed to the 2^nd or 3^rd largest Meteor crater in the US (6^th largest in the world) – one sign says it’s the 3rd and the leaflet says the 2nd – the Odessa meteor crater..  We had tried going there first but it was closed till 1pm on a Sunday so it became our afternoon thing.  It looked great but unfortunately we didn’t get to go down into the crater as there had been a rain storm the night before and the clay floor was too slippy.  Cool place though.  Whilst there the leaflet for the place mentioned other things in Odessa to do…so 15 mins later we found ourselves taking pictures next to the largest Jackrabbit in the world!  We’ve seen a ton of Jackrabbits this trip (especially on the road to the meteor crater).  The roadside attractions are one of my favourite bits about roadtrips!

Evening.

Swimming, Hot tub and Sauna followed by a free bar for 1.5 hrs…that’ll do…