Roadtrip 2 (Day Six) Tijeras and Albuquerque

On Day five we arrived at our AirBnB in Tijeras just around sundown.  We’ve not booked with AirBnB before but had heard some good stories and some bad stories but we wanted to experiment after out up and down hotel experiences the past few days.

Treehouse

We stayed at Brinkley House and I was blown away by how good this place was.  I know they are not all like this but we’ve set the bar pretty high!  We wanted something a little away from things which we could use as a base for exploring the area…we loved it so much we kinda abandoned some of our plans for the day and stayed hanging in the house.  It is a beautiful little house with excellent tech gadgets (Apple TV, speakers throughout the house, wifi, SEPARATE wifi in the beautiful tree house which has electricity and a bed!!  It is also only 4 mins from route 66 so was close to the area but far enough away to feel like we are in the country.  Lots of little outdoor spaces for relaxing and even a horse shoe toss area. The hosts were also very friendly and had some great little extras which really made the stay.  That coupled with their friendliness and willingness to help meant they got full marks from us!  The kids would not go down to the mysterious basement though 😉

Sundeck at the back

We relaxed in the morning and then decided that we would explore the close area instead of venturing further afield to someplace like Santa Fe.  We had been given a tip to visit the Sandia tramway which is a cable car up to the top of Sandia Peak.  We headed there after lunch on the porch and were not disappointed.  The mountain rises up to 10,738 feet above sea level and we start below in a cable car which take us up to the top.  The views up there were spectacular!  We also saw snow for one of the first times since we moved to Texas!

Sophie and Ben enjoyed skelping each other (and me) with snow balls.  Sophie was particularly proud of hitting her poor brother straight in the kisser with a well-placed shot.  He puts up with so much that boy and never seems to get annoyed.  I’d have decked my brothers in the snows then kicked snow on them till they had to resurrect Scott and Amundsen to help dig them out…just saying. 

It was our first time on a cable car too which was spectacular which we live streamed on the way up.

After this we headed down the hill.  I had noticed a Breaking Bad tour leaflet in the foyer of the Tramway so I Googled – Walter White’s address just in case.  It turns out it was only 5 minutes away from where we were!  So it would have been rude not to.

We drove over there but I read in places that the owners were a bit annoyed by tourists (especially since some jackasses had thought it would be a good idea to throw pizza on their roof (like the famous scene) and this had gone on for a while now.)  So we just drove by and took some pictures and stayed away from the property itself.

Followed that up with lunch at yet another place which looked poor from the outside but had great food and service!  Huge Chinese food portions in the China Garden.  Yelp has yet to steer us wrong!  We did take a ton of food home with us which I may have for breakfast…don’t judge me 😉

After this we headed back to the house and relaxed playing cards again and sitting on the porch looking out to the wilderness.

View from the front porch

Sun deck

treehouse

Horseshoe toss

Cable car

What a view!

Walter White’s house

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

Mini Scottish road trip Part 3 – St Conans Church

On the way up to the Taychreggan we  saw a beautiful looking church on the side of the road which looked medieval in age and I said to Carol that we should explore on the way home.

On our trip home we were looking for a place to grab a quick break and maybe a cup of tea.  As luck would have it we found a very friendly and nice tearoom run by the friends of St Conans which is the name of the church we had wanted to see anyway…so two birds with one stone.

The church LOOKS medieval but actually is not that old at all.  it was built in the 1860’s (finished the first phase in 1886) and finally completed in the 1930’s!  It was made to look medieval as well as a host of other styles!  The builder seems to have built what they liked rather than stick to one style and I think that adds to the beauty of the building as it is it’s own thing.

The church allows you to walk around by yourself and asks for a donation afterwards.  You can also buy guidebooks, postcards and souvenirs and it is on an honor basis which is nice.  make sure if you go to give a little more as a donation!

There are plenty of things to see and lot of little nuances which are worth looking over like the Bruce Chapel which has a bone from the tomb of Robert the Bruce.

The back of the church is also pretty impressive.  It sits right on the Loch and looks amazing.  If I was getting married again this would be a perfect setting!

It’s a grade A listed building and has an interesting history in itself.  The wooden beams in some of the areas are rescued from previous Royal navy ships for the 19th century such as the HMS Caledonian.

More details on the church and the person who founded it here.

Big American Roadtrip Day Four – Washington – The Smithsonian

Day Four did not involve huge amounts of travel (Thankfully) but was none the less a superb day. I had to go and do some work first thing and so Carol and the kids made their way from the hotel into Washington themselves a couple of hours after me.
Whilst I was meeting with clients they made their way to the White house first and got some pictures taken then over to the Washington and Lincoln monuments and the War Memorial. These are serious icons of the world so the loved it. The kids did say it was a lot of walking and after being cooped up in a car for the previous three days it was probably quite a shock to the system.

Late afternoon I was able to join them and met them all on the National Mall before we went to the Air and Space museum at the Smithsonian. Sophie was desperate to see Amerlia Earharts plane after doing a project on the intrepid airwoman last year but we go all excited about the other stuff too. The Spirit of St Louis had been taken off the roof for the day which meant that we could see it a bit more close up than I had when I visited on my own last year. Chuck Yeager’s plane where he broke the sound barrier and the literally Granddaddy of them all the Wright brothers flyer were also on display. For aviation history this is the place to be it’s quite an incredible walk through air and space exploration. They even had the command module from Apollo 11!!!

After that amount of history we walked out and across the mall over to Ford’s Theatre…this is where Lincoln was shot and is a historic site all on it’s own. Across the street is the Petersen house where he actually died but by the time we got there it was closed (open 9.30-5.30pm) so we didn’t get to see inside. We actually walked past the National Gallery of Art (West) building shortly beforehand which is where President Garfield was assasinated also so two assassination sites in one day (his site used to be an old railway station but this was knocked down and replaced by the gallery).

In the evening we went to a newly opened local Asian Bistro place called East Pearl.  We thoroughly recommend it (and not just because they gave use 50% off our meal as an opening incentive!).  Food was great and there was plenty of it!

We arranged with our congressman for a tour tomorrow of the Capitol building which they have had to rearrange from the afternoon to the morning…because some bloke called Charles is coming and they have messed up the schedules but that’d something to look forward to!

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The Big American Roadtrip Day Five – Washington – The Capitol!

Today was what was supposed to be a rest day for us.  We were travelling nowhere and off the road for a day but that didn’t mean we were completely stopped.  We had arranged through our Congressman for a tour of the Capitol building in the afternoon which was rearranged to the morning when Prince Charles was in town.  i wonder if he had to go through the same number of X-Ray machines as us!

We arrived at the building next to the Capitol (Rayburn building) at 10am and we got ourselves organised.  The nice thing was we could leave our things in the office so that we didn’t need to constantly get bags checked etc as we went through the building.  The Congressman (John Carter) had one of his interns show us around and the tour lasted a good couple of hours.  We started with a film in the movie theater inside which told us about the building itself then onto the tour.  After the main tour we were given passes for the actual houses themselves and we could go and watch Government in action.

The main reception area of congress was full of statues from various states.  My favourite was of Jack Swiggert (of Apollo 13 fame) I had no idea he had such an interesting career after Apollo 13 and such a tragic death just after being elected.  

In the old chamber there were a bunch of other statues as well including one of Ronald Reagan which had a very interesting story.  You can see a small darker piece on the statue base (pictured) this is actually a piece of the Berlin Wall which he helped to bring down in some way…very cool and not obvious when you walk past the statue.
We headed to the house of Representative where they were debating a bill on ‘secret science’ which seemed to be about transparency in scientific work being authorized by the EPA.  It sounded like the standard craziness where the republicans said it was bad for business and the democrats said it was bad for science…What I was amazed by was the utter disregard for actual debate.  Lots of people strolled in – said their piece then walked out again – usually before anyone had a chance to debate.  It looked like a bunch of folk going through the motions!  Which we all know it probably was. The Republicans won btw…despite seeming to be using that well we’re doing it because it’s right thing that right wing people recently seem to love and which boils my blood…

We had lunch in the very nice restaurant in the Capitol building which was reasonably cheap and the food was pretty decent before going back to the Congressmans office to collect our things.

After lunch we headed over to the museum of Natural History and had a wander round there.  Legs were tired by the end but it is a great place to visit and houses the Hope Diamond of all things(curse and all)…which is pretty impressive looking to say the least.  there was also a slightly bizarre section where they had skeleton of various animals and mammals.  Interesting to see that amount of animals without their skins on!

After that we headed out to Georgetown for cupcakes!  Sophie and Carol had been watching some Cupcake wars show on the TV and the winners were here in DC.  It was a bit of a trek as they were 20 mins from the nearest metro station but (don’t tell them) the cupcakes were superb and worth the walk.  I had the Peanut butter fudge cupcake and it was tremendous.

Tomorrow we’re back on the road and headed back to Texas.  First stop Chattanooga…a long journey so we’re starting very very early!

Big American Roadtrip Day Three – Johnson City – Washington. Dirty Dancing Location

A shorter journey was had today but we took in so much in such a short time. We tackled 4 states – Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and DC itself (I know not technically a state but not in a state either.
It was a day of surprise also as we had a wee detour as a surprise for Carol along the way. I had a few calls for work to do early on so Carol did the majority of the early driving and I just gave directions. I had told her that we were going somewhere out of the way for lunch and strangely she just accepted that thinking I had heard of a nice place with a view that we were going to.
So the backstory is that when we first started going out (the first time when we were 16 and 15) carol was obsessed with Dirty Dancing and it was the first movie we every watched together before our first date to see Ghost all those years ago. Anyway on the trip I noticed that we could visits by going about 45 mins out of our way the place where they filmed the majority of the movie. I could not pass this up and the place is still a working holiday place and it said on their website you could eat there so I thought…superb lunch is taken care of and a wee bit a surprise.
The place (Mountain Lake Lodge in VA) is a bit ofa trek as it is literally on top of a mountain and miles from anywhere but it was so worth it. I wasn’t sure if Carol would recognise the place or the significance but as soon as we entered the grounds she got all emotional and knew where we were straight away. Turns out it meant more to her than I had thought and she said it was a bucket list item which I had just surprised her with…bonus points to Robert there!
The place itself looks largely like it did in the film (except global warming had dried up the lake where the famous lift scene (which we recreated at the end of our night on our wedding (thank goodness smart phones were not around then…) but the cottage where the Housemans   were staying and the main buildings were all still there.
Unfortunately when we got there it was shut!!! In the winter and spring times it only opens Thursday-Sunday which I had not noticed. It made no real odds as we were able to walk about with no-one else there so it was a little bit of a bonus (although the kids (unimpressed by the place itself) were hungry so there was a bit of moaning)). We’ve put a ton of photos up and they do have a little tribute to the late Patrick Swayze there and a little hut with details of the filming and what to watch out for (which was open on the day which was great).
After that excitement we made our way back across Virginia towards Washington. It was another long long drive (5 hours drive after the location) which made for a long day but we were up the side of the Appalachians which was stunningly beautiful and well worth the drive.
We arrived in Washington about 7pm and grabbed dinner at the hotel…tomorrow Washington DC (well work for me during the day and Washington at night but for Carol and the kids…Washington!!)

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The Big American road trip Day Two – Forrest City to Johnson City – Graceland

Day two and we’re both starting to recover from our flu and enjoying the day. Our original plans were to make it to Memphis on Day One but the best laid plans etc and we actually timed it wrong. So Day two started with us crossing the Tennessee border and making our way to Memphis early on…and Graceland.

We got to Graceland just after it opened at 9am and the original plan was for me to have a quick look around before us heading out. When we got there however we realized that this might be the only opportunity Carol and kids might have to see this world famous place so we stumped up the $100 for all 4 of us to get in and take a walk around. I am so glad we did.

We’d heard all sorts of stories about it being tacky, too small or too cheesy but frankly and quite honestly I think a lot of people are missing the point completely about a visit to the biggest and most famous entertainer of the 20th centuries house. Elvis’ house is modest (in a I’d love to love there kinda way) but it is set on it’s own 13 acres and the whole surrounding area is just Elvis land with lots of places to buy memorabilia etc and you could call that tack but the house itself was not tacky or cheesy. It is a time capsule to another period in history…the 70’s!! It’s not too small – it’s just right. If I was to choose an ideal size of house for my dream house this would be it. Anyway when you get there you arrive on the other side of the street from Graceland and then they give you an ipad for your tour. The ipad is superb as it’s an audio and video tour which you take at your own pace and you can favorite videos and moments through the house and grounds to watch later. Firstly you tour the house (first floor and basement only – the upstairs is for Elvis and his family even now! Then out to the external buildings. The house has some fabulous 70’s kitsch and the TV’s were state of the art in the 70’s but are a little dated now but you could tell there was some atmosphere to this house back when it was a residence.

The external buildings were the bits that got me the most though. Vernon’s office (Elvis’ Dad) is perfectly preserved and you go through it and through the trophy/gold disc area in stages – early music, movies, charity work, army etc. It’s a great background and introduction. Then you are pointed in the direction of the racquetball court. This is a trick…don’t think you are going to look at a sporting area. I almost missed this piece out but I am so glad I didn’t. The Racquetball court has been transformed from a court to a place to store some more of his gold disc but the poignancy of the place is not evident till you get int there. Before the court is a lounge area with a piano. When you arrive the tour tells you that on August 16th 1977 Elvis played on that court before stopping and playing a couple of songs on the piano (one of which was Unchained Melody) then he told folks he was going for a sleep before leaving for his tour. He played his songs, said goodbye and never did make it out on that tour as he died later that afternoon…the way they tell it is quite moving. Although I blame some southern pollen for my reaction ;-).

After the racquetball you head round to the memorial garden where Elvis, his mum, Dad and Grandmother are all buried. It’s a moment of quiet reflection before you get back on the bus to head back to the tour center. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and people who see only the 70’s stuff (which is excellent btw) are missing out on a glimpse into the life of a superstar in that period of history.

Anyway after that we stopped off across the road for lunch in the Rock and Roll Cafe which was necessary but a mistake as it threw out the rest of our day. We had originally planned to go on a tour of Sun studios afterwards but as we still had 8 hrs of driving ahead of us we scrapped it and headed out on the road.

The weather had taken a turn for the better so our crossing of Tennessee was beautiful. We went the long way by doing the diagonal (the long way across not the longer route) through Tennessee and it paid off beautifully. we ploughed through the journey with a couple of short stops. One in Nashville for ice cream at the fabulous Bobbi’s Dairy dip which is a Nashville tradition since the 50’s and where we got superb ice cream even if they did lay it on a bit thick…even I was ice creamed out by the end of it!!

Taking longer at Graceland and then lunch meant we didn’t get to our hotel (with the time change incorporated) till 10pm at night and we were all completely beat.  After a dinner of Ramen noodles at the hotel (Holiday Inn Express) at this point we were all beat and I’ve never seen the kids fall asleep so quickly!  Tomorrow three more states…West Virginia, Maryland and DC!!

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The Big American Roadtrip Day One – Round Rock – Forrest City. Clintons Birthplace…

We decided that we had to stop talking about a road trip and actually go for it!  I had a work meeting in DC next week and we decided that instead of me flying up alone.  We’d take some time out and drive the 1500 miles to the Capital of the US and see some sites along the way.  Of course we also need to drive the other 1500 miles the other way!  So it’s going to take us 7 days in total (with 3 nights in Washington DC thrown in for recovery!).

 

So we started this morning very early.  A 4.30 start meant that we were able to be away for 6.15am (that seems a long time but in our family that is a minor miracle!).  Our first leg was going to land us up the other side of Arkansas which is about 580 miles away.  The road itself was pretty quiet for most of the way so it was largely uneventful as we headed to Dallas and beyond.  What the trip made us realise was that Texas is BIG…really very very BIG!   We had driven for 5 hours north and were still in the Lone star state!!

We stopped around 8.30 in Waxahachie for a quick breakfast and then were on our way again.  Someone did park a beautiful old car next to our rental which we wanted to swap for.  Roadtripping America in a Ford Fairlane (56?) would have been much cooler than a Kia Optima but I suspect we’d have used up more gas!!

After breakfast we were on our way again and actually didn’t stop again till we were in Arkansas.  we stopped at the visitor center just across the border (where the picture of Ben above was taken) but couldn’t eat there so we grabbed free map and headed out looking for food.  We found out the nearest town was called Hope and it was the birthplace of one of our ultimate destinations (DC) famous ex residents.  A certain William Jefferson Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas so as we were passing we popped into see his old house and Birthplace.   Very interesting that the town itself (like a lot of small US towns is looking a bit run down with the notable and eye catching exception of the local Bank which looks incredible.  There is a story in there to be told I am sure.

Anyway after that we had planned to go check into our hotel (Hampton Inn) then hit Memphis but we got there later than we first thought so we scrapped Memphis till tomorrow.

Interestingly the city of Forrest City is named after the same person that Forrest Gump was named after!  Now he is an even more controversial character than President Clinton so I will leave well alone!   One thing I will say is that we did not have the most friendly of welcomes in Forrest and maybe it was because we were staying well outside town but we ended up scrapping dinner out (after I had an altercation with the rudest waitress ever) and had burgers in our room before heading to bed.  Carol and I both had been suffering from the remains of a flu and although i was on the road to recovery she was struggling so I did the driving and it must have been my biggest day ever from a driving point of view with 587 miles and 2 states down…tomorrow Tenessee!!

Fredericksburg, Texas

Our second day without the kids and we made the trip from Kerrville up to Fredericksburg.  It was bitterly cold in the morning but the afternoon brought sunshine and a thaw.  It’s about 22 miles from our hotel in Kerrville up to Fredericksburg and it was worth the journey.

The place was beautiful but before we got started going through the shops we wanted some brunch.  We checked yelp again and came across the Sunset Grill.  It is only open till 2pm and serves only breakfast and lunch.  It was highly recommended and we saw why.  Some great food.  I had the Big Ass Sandwich which was a Cheese, Egg and bacon ensemble which is well worth trying.

Fredericksburg is an old German settlement in Texas and still has a very strong Germanic influence.  Lots of German food in the restaurants but the shopping was the big thing for us (well for carol).  Art galleries, gifts, unusual furniture and decor ideas line the whole street and there are many, many of them.  We were looking round for about 4.5 hrs and we didn’t visit everyone.

There were also many tourist places to visit.  The National Museum of the Pacific War is here and is based in an excellent old house which is shaped like a steam ship.

It was between Christmas and New year so the Christmas decor and feel of the town was still in place and we got to see the fabulous Christmas displayed which also have a strong Germanic appeal.  The Christmas windmill which moves round with the wind was excellent looking as you can see from my big thumbs up.

Lots of excellent things to see and do.  Well worth a visit.