Roadtrip 2013 Day 15: Tucumcari, NM to Home

Today was the last day of our vacation, and we were ready to get home. Starting in Tucumcari we sped north and east, departing New Mexico and traversing smelly bits of Texas and Oklahoma before landing in Liberal, KS. Where I utilized the second of my military museum vouchers granted me by my longsuffering wife and we visited the old standby, Liberal Air Museum, now known I suppose as Mid-America Air Museum, the name changed perhaps to avoid scaring off potential visitors who would scorn to patronize left-wind establishments. Interestingly enough there was a travelling attraction there as well, apparently without regard to continuity of theme, some sort of robotic dinosaur exhibit. And out front, a repurposed Sinclair inflatable dinosaur advertised its presence.


I'd like to say Gretchen was thrilled to see a F4U Corsair but the smaller model in front was more her style.


1950s era jet engine from a fighter/interceptor, I forget which one.


The F86 Sabre's gaping maw.


A Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber. Absolutely huge. You think of single prop planes as being small, but this one felt as big as their B-25, almost.


An F4 Phantom in restoration:


The now requisite shot of the family in the AH-1 Cobra.


So we wound quickly through the collection of old warbirds because everyone was keen to see the dinosaurs, which were filling the hangar with tremendous roars and such. We got to a dark, blacked out section and entered in, and a robotic carnivore raised its head and shrieked a bloodcurdling scream at us:


I didn't get any more shots because the kids were both interested and genuinely terrified, I had to carry Gretchen through. Pretty intense! Debra quickly got through with Peter, and while in safety in the gift shop he was asked several times if he wanted to see the dinosaurs again, to which he vehemently shook his head "no!".

Outside the hangar several old fighters lie in repose.


A quick sandwich shop lunch yielded some sticker earrings for the girl who was quite pleased with it, if not the lunch. I told her to make these last til she's eighteen.


Then further into Kansas, a lovely country to a weary traveller. At a rest stop they had a biplane on display hanging up, Peter was quite interested. Where was this interest when touring the air museum not two hours prior?!


Ahh the green hills. Home beckoning.


Winding down the street to our home we were amazed by the greenery. Not the best shot to show it, but it looked like we'd swapped for Ireland or something.


And so we're back at home. The trivial comforts therein slightly more appreciated! Still, a lovely two weeks, and all of us survived, sometimes just barely. Now, to rest.

Roadtrip 2013 Day 14: Flagstaff, AZ to Tucumcari, NM

Today we left the pleasant town of Flagstaff to strike east to Tucumcari. The hotel there was a pretty one as I've mentioned and the grounds were nice for an old style motel:


Towards eastern Arizona we entered Petrified Forest National Park.


There are vast fields of fallen, petrified trees.


Gretchen was a little cold, but quite interested in finding "fossils".


Petrified wood is beautiful, either when polished or in the raw.


Pete just wanted every rock he could pick up. Unfortunately for him, this is very, very much against the rules. Note the vise-like grip on his arm.


The sun catches this stuff and it is very beautiful!


Further into the park we stopped for Newspaper Rock, a collection of ancient petroglyphs, as the name hints. Sadly access was very limited and mostly by binoculars, so very little can be seen in this snapshot from above but the center rock had some very interesting old carvings, faintly visible.


The Painted Desert on the north end of the loop is always beautiful, and this picture absolutely fails to capture the expanse, vastness, colour, and beauty of what we were seeing.


Closer to New Mexico, an interesting rock formation.


Stopping for gas in Gallup, New Mexico, Gretchen wanted to pose with the giant "come shop here for Indian trinkets!" arrows.


Back on the road winding across New Mexico. We've been watching DVDs of Marty Stouffer's Wild America, an old documentary staple of my youth, while travelling on this trip, and Gretchen loves it...even asking "Can I MEET Marty Stouffer?". Seems like the first whiff of celebrity consciousness with her, and she picked a good target I suppose. I keep thinking of humorous parodies of Wild America, such as outtakes where Marty is narrating and gets so overly excited he runs onto the scene and starts chasing animals, the crew softly swearing and muttering "not again...". Or an offshoot straight to VHS product of the ubiquitous mating sequences that seem to make it into every episode..."Marty Stouffer's Private XXX Reserve". Or best of all, reshoot the famous intro of the bighorn sheep crashing heads with Marty standing in for one of the sheep.

So we passed through New Mexico, with Historic Santa Rosa bidding us via several billboards to "COME SEE THE BLUE HOLE"...we were in no mood for any township, however historic, to show us its hole, so we sped on and arrived in Tucumcari and went straight to Mesalands Dinosaur Museum. Gretchen was in her element.


Pete was at least in pointing and shouting mood, but seemed to really enjoy it as well.


The "bones" are bronze castings of the originals and so may be touched.


How could they resist a saddled sauropod?


Gretchen is a method actor. Be the carnivore!


Crystallized ammonite, stunningly beautiful!


The T-rex skull casting.


A Velociraptor in motion. I should note they had the Jurassic Park soundtrack on repeat.


Saber-toothed cats.


It was an unexpected pleasure at the end of a long travel day.


And so, tomorrow, home.

Roadtrip 2013 Day 13: Sequoia National Park to Flagstaff, AZ

We woke up too early in Sequoia, and looked out our window and saw it was snowing. Each time we've stayed in Sequoia recently we've been greeted by a morning snowstorm and freaked out accordingly in an effort to get down the mountain before we find we need to put chains on.


The family fleeing!


It was a pretty sort of snow, and blessedly not adhering to the roads, so not a problem.


However, thanks to an over-adherence to Google Maps we ventured down, CA-245 turned out to be a beautiful but gut-wrenching swirl of 25 mph driving across sharp turns where we only made 20 miles in the first hour down the mountain, and the girl got sick, but was very, very sweet about the whole thing. We tried to make it better and thankfully had some Dramamine on hand. Once further down the mountain we had to stop to let her walk a bit, and it was an idyllic mountain farmland, with cows mooing in the distance.


It was frustrating a bit to see our day slip away from us, as we had expected a very long day of driving to get to Flagstaff, but the morning delays had slowed us down. As much as we resented the swerving mountainous roads, admittedly they were very beautiful.


As roads began to straighten out, we started to love being able to accelerate to 30, even 40 miles per hour!


So then we made our way south through central California. Bakersfield, true to form, smelled of manure. We then sped on passing Tehachapi of wind farm fame, and stopping to get gas, we stopped unfortunately at the most expensive gas station which coincided with the most abhorrent bathrooms, which had a custom Master lock fitting on the toilet paper dispenser which I only regretted not having my phone to photograph. Tehachapi also reeked of manure. But the wind farm was hard at work at least:


We passed through Barstow, that California crossroads, and kept going. We stopped at a Mohave rest stop, which had a beautiful landscape.


After a brief stop in Needles, which was depressingly depressed economically, the plywood vendors apparently making a killing on window boarding, we passed into Arizona, which had some inclement weather ready for us. But passing through it we saw a double rainbow, faintly visible here:


Arizona is beautiful country.


We arrived in Flagstaff and enjoyed the hotel kitsch...the Little America hotel in Flagstaff feels like a fancy old-school motel from decades ago, well preserved and updated only in the most important aspects. The kids loved it.


Tomorrow, across Arizona and New Mexico, to Tucumcari.

Roadtrip 2013 Day 12: Cambria, CA to Sequoia National Park

Today we breakfasted briefly on cold pizza and endeavored to head inland. Before leaving, we noted this on the grounds...whale ribs allegedly from a whaling station, 150 years old.


We drove northeast through Paso Robles and Fresno. Fresno is a nice city in ways I'm sure, and is a short drive from several varieties of natural beauty. Damning with faint praise perhaps, but after a quick stop for gas and comestibles (the latter from Der Wienerschnitzel), we drove up to Grant Grove in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park. Our cabin wasn't ready that early so we first drove to Grant Grove to see the General Grant tree.


We happened to time our visit with such expert planning to be able to enjoy that most choice time at Sequoia...the hail season.


Providence afforded a unforeseen respite in the form of the long, hollow, fallen log that visitors frequent here...shelter from the hail and rain.


But we had a job to do, so to speak, so we trudged on to the General Grant tree. It's a big fella to be sure.


Gretchen was a good sport, Peter got halfway through and I think tired of projectile ice targeting him from the skies, and so we had to hurry out with the echoing strains of his displeasure reverberating in these sacred woods.


Caught a few pictures on the way out...


The exit of the fallen log:


Gretchen and Debra taking a lead on our egress.


Then another thing we wanted to do was see Panoramic Point, which was said to give a nice view of Kings Canyon. We drove several miles up windy roads to reach the top point, where a short walk followed. I say short walk because it was 350 yards or so, and much of that at a steep grade, and the thin air at 7500 feet didn't exactly put a spring in my step. The others stayed in the car, not really wanting to do the hike to the viewpoint. We were the only ones around for miles...not another soul but us. The silence hung heavy.


The path was wreathed in fog. Waiting for Elijah Wood to bark out "GET OFF THE ROAD!".


Approaching the summit I started to have a premonition of possible disappointment...


Yes, it is as you expected. The panoramic view was vast, stunning, and entirely obscured by fog. Ah well.


With our cabin still not ready we started out on the road towards the Sequoia National Park.


There were some similarly obscured canyon overlooks...like gazing down into a sea of clouds.


Then into Sequoia National Park proper, we happened on the Lost Grove as it is called, some nice groupings of giant sequoias.


Quite large trees.


I remember doing a lot of clambering around on the rocks as a kid here...


The cabin was ready and rather quaint!


We decided to eat dinner down at the restaurant just to have something to do...no TV to sedate the children who have dug deep to discover new profundities of wild and crazy behavior cooped up in the cabin. Trotting back to it after dinner the sun came out briefly.


And then I've just sat down on a bench within range of the lodge's wifi to finish this entry...lovely view of a meadow.


Tomorrow, the long drive south, then east, to Flagstaff, as we make our way home.