Andona
Destroyer of the Aussie Dollar
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
Texas definitely lived up to my "cowboy country" expectations. *
From San Antonio we headed south towards the Mexican border, taking the southern route across to Big Bend National Park which lies on the border of Mexico on the Rio Grande river. It wasn't long before we had to stop at an Inspection centre run by the local Border Patrol who were monitoring the area for illegal Mexican immigrants. they asked to see our passports which they examined very closely. I made the *mistake of starting to take a photo and was asked kindly but firmly Not to take photos as they have to protect their identity. They we very nice about it, luckily
We stopped on the road to visit the Judge Roy Bean Museum. Roy Bean was a disreputable character who ended up being appointed the law in these parts. He ran his courthouse out of his saloon and he had the reputation of being a hanging judge! Once a dead man was found in the town with a gun and $40 in his pocket. Judge Bean promptly fined the corpse $40 for carrying an unlicensed weapon and pocketed the fine 
Judge Roy Bean's Saloon
From here we had about a 2 hour drive to get to Big Bend N.P.
the scenery as we drove up the steep and winding Chisos Basin Road to our lodge was spectacular.*The lodge is like a lot of National Park lodges, it's clean and basic. There is no TV and the bathroom is tiny but we enjoyed a tasty dinner in the restaurant
Big Bend National Park
After dinner we waited on the terrace to watch the sunset. There is a notch in the mountains that is called the "window" and through it you can see the valley 5000 feet below. Seeing the sunset at the "window" is one of the premier attractions in the park and there were several people snapping away with their cameras.*
We walked the trail near our lodge, There was a sign at the beginning of the trail advising what to do if you saw a mountain lion ( make yourself look big by waving your arms, act agressive, fight back and DONT RUN ). There was another sign that strongly urged people not to take children on the trail, pretty scary stuff!
After Big Bend we headed North again towards New Mexico so we could visit*Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
At the Park Headquarters we took the elevator that drops down 750 feet to *the heart *of the hills into the *"Lunch Room" .*The lunch room is a little bizarre, a food counter and gift shop and restrooms all underground seem strange, it's a hangover for the 1950s.
Underground lunch room and gift shop
When we started he tour I thought it would be interesting but " hey, Ive seen limestone caves before so it won't be very exciting" I was so wrong! Carlsbad Caverns *are unlike like anything we'd ever seen. The Big Room is one vast space that spreads in a cross shape , over 8 acres in total area. It took us close to an hour to walk the entire path and the stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, straws and columns were fabulous. Another National Park that is so different from anything else we've seen before *
From the park we drove north, back through that flat, featureless land for about an hour to Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell has embraced their connection to the "aliens" with a vengeance. In 1947 "something" crash landed in Roswell that was initially branded by air force reports as a UFO, within a day the official reports changed their story but ever since the true believers have been convinced that a UFO did land that day and that the has been a massive government coverup about it ever since. *Roswell has been UFO central ever since!*
Roswell museum
Street lamps in Roswell
We drove a scenic mountain road down to the little, nothing town of Alamogordo to spend the night before heading on the Tucson, Arizona.
On the way we stopped at White Sands National Park, it was an incredible sight! Great wave-like bands of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert here and have created the largest gypsum dune field in the world.*
There*are a few picnic spots equipped with spacey looking 1950's style aluminium shelters, each with it's own little BBQ. You can stop anywhere along the way and climb the dunes. We had an unexpected photographic *opportunity when we stumbled on 3 brightly colored hot air balloons being prepared to take people on a flight.
From there we continued our western trail.
We had a little excitement (?) just before lunch when a police car came up behind us with all his lights flashing. Officer Rodriguez very politely explained that we had been clocked doing 85 in a 75 zone and asked if there was any particular reason we were going that fast. DH apologized and said he just hadn't noticed that his speed had crept up and handed over his licence. When the offices realized we were foreigners and were driving *a rental he let DH of with a warning, phew!*
We crossed *the border into Arizona in the afternoon and headed straight for*Tombstone, arguably the most famous town in the old West. The historic part of the town has been maintained so that most of the original buildings remain, along with the timber sidewalks. There are hitching posts, saloons, and black coated gunslingers strolling the streets! As we walked along past the saloons and stores you just couldn't help slowing your pace to allay stride and imagining the sound of boots and spurs... So much fun!*
We bought tickets to watch the Gunfight at the OK corral ( which is enacted every afternoon at 2 and 4 pm! ) and passed our time waiting by watching the stage coaches go by and browsing the gift shops. *The gunfight performance was surprisingly good!
Yesterday morning we visited the Pima Air and Ace Museum which is spread over many acres of the Arizona desert on the outskirts of Tucson. They have on site over 300 air and spacecraft, many of very historical or technical significance, for example they have the Air Force One jet used by JFK and Johnson.*. They had a couple of NASA jets including one of the original "Vomit Comets" which are the parabolic flyers used to create temporary zero-G conditions for astronaut training. We'd learned all about those when we were in Houston so it was cool to see one here.
We had also paid extra to go on the bus tour to the nearby Air force base to see the aircraft Boneyard. This is a colossal area where they store over 4000 aircraft that are no longer in active service. The majority of them are kept intact and can be brought back into service when needed. The reminder are gradually cannibalised for parts as needed.*
Next stop was*the Titan Missile Museum. This is the only one of the original 54 missile launch sites that has been kept in its original state, the rest were destroyed or decommissioned and sold.
On the tour DS and I were selected to sit in the chairs of the commander and vice commander of the team, we got to "turn the keys" that initialized the launch sequence. The lights on the console flashed and the alarms rang, and when it was finished we had "launched" a missile capable of wiping out a city the size of Phoenix ( which is a BIG city!)
Then we walked through the 6000 lb blast doors to see the missile sitting in its silo. I'm very glad these things don't work anymore!
Last we drove up into the hills to see Saguaro National Park. The saguaro cactus *are those classic ones you see in all the old Western movies. They are so much larger than I was expecting and they grew thickly all over the hillsides . They grow very slowly and can grow to heights of up to 50 feet!*
Saguaro cactus and me
On to Flagstaff tomorrow..
Andona
From San Antonio we headed south towards the Mexican border, taking the southern route across to Big Bend National Park which lies on the border of Mexico on the Rio Grande river. It wasn't long before we had to stop at an Inspection centre run by the local Border Patrol who were monitoring the area for illegal Mexican immigrants. they asked to see our passports which they examined very closely. I made the *mistake of starting to take a photo and was asked kindly but firmly Not to take photos as they have to protect their identity. They we very nice about it, luckily
We stopped on the road to visit the Judge Roy Bean Museum. Roy Bean was a disreputable character who ended up being appointed the law in these parts. He ran his courthouse out of his saloon and he had the reputation of being a hanging judge! Once a dead man was found in the town with a gun and $40 in his pocket. Judge Bean promptly fined the corpse $40 for carrying an unlicensed weapon and pocketed the fine
Judge Roy Bean's Saloon
From here we had about a 2 hour drive to get to Big Bend N.P.
the scenery as we drove up the steep and winding Chisos Basin Road to our lodge was spectacular.*The lodge is like a lot of National Park lodges, it's clean and basic. There is no TV and the bathroom is tiny but we enjoyed a tasty dinner in the restaurant
Big Bend National Park
After dinner we waited on the terrace to watch the sunset. There is a notch in the mountains that is called the "window" and through it you can see the valley 5000 feet below. Seeing the sunset at the "window" is one of the premier attractions in the park and there were several people snapping away with their cameras.*
We walked the trail near our lodge, There was a sign at the beginning of the trail advising what to do if you saw a mountain lion ( make yourself look big by waving your arms, act agressive, fight back and DONT RUN ). There was another sign that strongly urged people not to take children on the trail, pretty scary stuff!
After Big Bend we headed North again towards New Mexico so we could visit*Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
At the Park Headquarters we took the elevator that drops down 750 feet to *the heart *of the hills into the *"Lunch Room" .*The lunch room is a little bizarre, a food counter and gift shop and restrooms all underground seem strange, it's a hangover for the 1950s.
Underground lunch room and gift shop
When we started he tour I thought it would be interesting but " hey, Ive seen limestone caves before so it won't be very exciting" I was so wrong! Carlsbad Caverns *are unlike like anything we'd ever seen. The Big Room is one vast space that spreads in a cross shape , over 8 acres in total area. It took us close to an hour to walk the entire path and the stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, straws and columns were fabulous. Another National Park that is so different from anything else we've seen before *
From the park we drove north, back through that flat, featureless land for about an hour to Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell has embraced their connection to the "aliens" with a vengeance. In 1947 "something" crash landed in Roswell that was initially branded by air force reports as a UFO, within a day the official reports changed their story but ever since the true believers have been convinced that a UFO did land that day and that the has been a massive government coverup about it ever since. *Roswell has been UFO central ever since!*
Roswell museum
Street lamps in Roswell
We drove a scenic mountain road down to the little, nothing town of Alamogordo to spend the night before heading on the Tucson, Arizona.
On the way we stopped at White Sands National Park, it was an incredible sight! Great wave-like bands of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert here and have created the largest gypsum dune field in the world.*
There*are a few picnic spots equipped with spacey looking 1950's style aluminium shelters, each with it's own little BBQ. You can stop anywhere along the way and climb the dunes. We had an unexpected photographic *opportunity when we stumbled on 3 brightly colored hot air balloons being prepared to take people on a flight.
From there we continued our western trail.
We had a little excitement (?) just before lunch when a police car came up behind us with all his lights flashing. Officer Rodriguez very politely explained that we had been clocked doing 85 in a 75 zone and asked if there was any particular reason we were going that fast. DH apologized and said he just hadn't noticed that his speed had crept up and handed over his licence. When the offices realized we were foreigners and were driving *a rental he let DH of with a warning, phew!*
We crossed *the border into Arizona in the afternoon and headed straight for*Tombstone, arguably the most famous town in the old West. The historic part of the town has been maintained so that most of the original buildings remain, along with the timber sidewalks. There are hitching posts, saloons, and black coated gunslingers strolling the streets! As we walked along past the saloons and stores you just couldn't help slowing your pace to allay stride and imagining the sound of boots and spurs... So much fun!*
We bought tickets to watch the Gunfight at the OK corral ( which is enacted every afternoon at 2 and 4 pm! ) and passed our time waiting by watching the stage coaches go by and browsing the gift shops. *The gunfight performance was surprisingly good!
Yesterday morning we visited the Pima Air and Ace Museum which is spread over many acres of the Arizona desert on the outskirts of Tucson. They have on site over 300 air and spacecraft, many of very historical or technical significance, for example they have the Air Force One jet used by JFK and Johnson.*. They had a couple of NASA jets including one of the original "Vomit Comets" which are the parabolic flyers used to create temporary zero-G conditions for astronaut training. We'd learned all about those when we were in Houston so it was cool to see one here.
We had also paid extra to go on the bus tour to the nearby Air force base to see the aircraft Boneyard. This is a colossal area where they store over 4000 aircraft that are no longer in active service. The majority of them are kept intact and can be brought back into service when needed. The reminder are gradually cannibalised for parts as needed.*
Next stop was*the Titan Missile Museum. This is the only one of the original 54 missile launch sites that has been kept in its original state, the rest were destroyed or decommissioned and sold.
On the tour DS and I were selected to sit in the chairs of the commander and vice commander of the team, we got to "turn the keys" that initialized the launch sequence. The lights on the console flashed and the alarms rang, and when it was finished we had "launched" a missile capable of wiping out a city the size of Phoenix ( which is a BIG city!)
Then we walked through the 6000 lb blast doors to see the missile sitting in its silo. I'm very glad these things don't work anymore!
Last we drove up into the hills to see Saguaro National Park. The saguaro cactus *are those classic ones you see in all the old Western movies. They are so much larger than I was expecting and they grew thickly all over the hillsides . They grow very slowly and can grow to heights of up to 50 feet!*
Saguaro cactus and me
On to Flagstaff tomorrow..
Andona
I don't think we will be visiting Big Bend National Park anytime soon if there are child eating cats around 
. I bet you got a fright when you saw the police car tearing up behind you. I fun tale to tell now though.
Looks like it was nice once you got there though 
