April 16, 2013
We arrived home from a wonderful winter in Mexico. We traveled a total of 7,327 miles with our motorhome. Now if only it were warmer weather in Ontario!!! Maybe we will stay away a little longer next year.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Dallas, Texas
April 8, 2013
We stopped at Santo, Texas to book into the Coffee Creek RV Resort, one of our favourites. Santo is located about 50 miles west of Fort Worth. This time around would be a little different. We have driven the highway around Fort Worth/Dallas several times in previous years but had never stopped to visit some of the sites within Dallas.
We phoned the local tour association to book a guide for the next day -- the cost $50 per person for a guide to take the 4 of us on a 3 hour tour of Dallas.
Our first stop was the JFK memorial at the spot where President John Kennedy was assassinated. It was a totally different perspective to stand there and see how close the book depositary was where Oswald took his shots from. It seemed so much closer than viewing it on any film clips. The actual window is on the right side, one floor down from the top. Two X's on the centre line of the road, mark the spots where Kennedy was hit. These were the second and third shots fired. The first hit a stop light cross-bar.
Two years ago the National Geographic team had closed the area down for 3 days while they filmed a documentary "JFK The Lost Bullet" where they recreated the event. The documentary details the latest theories about the assassination using the latest technology. It is hard to believe that the 50th anniversary of the event will be this fall! At the time, we were in high school, Grade 11. It was a huge event in our lives when we were young and impressionable.
Our stop at the Pioneer Park Cemetery was interesting. The cemetery is 154 years old and contained a monument commemorating General Stonewall Jackson, General Robert E Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Albert Sidney Johnston.
Beside the Pioneer Park Cemetery is the Pioneer Plaza which features a trail with a flowing stream and waterfall plus a re-creation of a Cattle drive in the form of bronze statues of longhorns being driven by three riding cowboys.
From there we visited the Southern Methodist University and the Highland Park area (high end housing). If you saw the news clip of the grand opening of the George Bush Jr. Library, we went by it. Impressive from the outside! Sorry no pics.
Our final stop was the Arts District. There are at least 18 large buildings of unique architecture in the complex. And amidst them all is the old Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe which was built in 1898.
We would have never gone to all those areas of the city on our own. Thanks to John and Pat for the inspiration to so something in Dallas while we were in the area. It certainly was worth the price to have our private guide to take us in his car around these areas of Dallas.
The only issue we ran into while in the Dallas area was the weather. We returned to our motorhome after our tour of the city in sunny 85F (30C) weather. There was a severe weather warning issued for that night. We missed the high winds and hail overnight but got lots of rain causing the temperature to plummet. The high the next day reached only 36F (2C). Brrr.... A drop of almost 50F!! That was the end of our shorts and t-shirt weather for the rest of our travels home!! Boo hoo...
We stopped at Santo, Texas to book into the Coffee Creek RV Resort, one of our favourites. Santo is located about 50 miles west of Fort Worth. This time around would be a little different. We have driven the highway around Fort Worth/Dallas several times in previous years but had never stopped to visit some of the sites within Dallas.
We phoned the local tour association to book a guide for the next day -- the cost $50 per person for a guide to take the 4 of us on a 3 hour tour of Dallas.
Our first stop was the JFK memorial at the spot where President John Kennedy was assassinated. It was a totally different perspective to stand there and see how close the book depositary was where Oswald took his shots from. It seemed so much closer than viewing it on any film clips. The actual window is on the right side, one floor down from the top. Two X's on the centre line of the road, mark the spots where Kennedy was hit. These were the second and third shots fired. The first hit a stop light cross-bar.
 |
| Texas Book Depository |
 |
| JFK Memorial |
 |
| original Court House (nicknamed the Red Castle) |
Two years ago the National Geographic team had closed the area down for 3 days while they filmed a documentary "JFK The Lost Bullet" where they recreated the event. The documentary details the latest theories about the assassination using the latest technology. It is hard to believe that the 50th anniversary of the event will be this fall! At the time, we were in high school, Grade 11. It was a huge event in our lives when we were young and impressionable.
Our stop at the Pioneer Park Cemetery was interesting. The cemetery is 154 years old and contained a monument commemorating General Stonewall Jackson, General Robert E Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Albert Sidney Johnston.
 |
| Gen Robert E. Lee |
Beside the Pioneer Park Cemetery is the Pioneer Plaza which features a trail with a flowing stream and waterfall plus a re-creation of a Cattle drive in the form of bronze statues of longhorns being driven by three riding cowboys.
 |
| The statues are larger than life-size by about 1/3. |
 |
| The cowboys are so realistic. |
 |
| Granddaughter Maxine thought they were real. The detail is awesome. |
From there we visited the Southern Methodist University and the Highland Park area (high end housing). If you saw the news clip of the grand opening of the George Bush Jr. Library, we went by it. Impressive from the outside! Sorry no pics.
 |
| One of the $million homes we passed on our drive |
Our final stop was the Arts District. There are at least 18 large buildings of unique architecture in the complex. And amidst them all is the old Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe which was built in 1898.
 |
| The cathedral nestled within the towering buildings of the Arts District |
 |
| exterior shot of the Symphony Center |
 |
| Interior of Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center. |
 |
| Lots of angles in the architecture. |
We would have never gone to all those areas of the city on our own. Thanks to John and Pat for the inspiration to so something in Dallas while we were in the area. It certainly was worth the price to have our private guide to take us in his car around these areas of Dallas.
The only issue we ran into while in the Dallas area was the weather. We returned to our motorhome after our tour of the city in sunny 85F (30C) weather. There was a severe weather warning issued for that night. We missed the high winds and hail overnight but got lots of rain causing the temperature to plummet. The high the next day reached only 36F (2C). Brrr.... A drop of almost 50F!! That was the end of our shorts and t-shirt weather for the rest of our travels home!! Boo hoo...
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Benson, Arizona
April 5, 2013
We left Tucson to move east to Benson AZ, about 45 minutes west of Tucson. We booked into the San Pedro Resort to use as a base to visit the southeast portion of Arizona by car. That afternoon we took an underground tour of the Queen Mine in Bisbee. The tour guides are retired Phelps Dodge employees. They led the group 1500 ft into the mine, recounting mining days, techniques, dangers and drama of working underground. As they point out in their brochure "It is always a cool 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) underground" .
After the mine tour, we headed to Tombstone for dinner but unfortunately we didn't get to visit any of the boutiques in town as they had closed at 4 pm for the day.
The next day we visited the Amerind Museum in Dragoon. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by amazing rock formations. There were displays of American Indian artifacts of the various west coast tribes stretching from BC south to Peru.
We then carried on to the Chiricahua Monument where we followed an 8 mile drive through "a wonderland of rocks". We stopped at Massai Point to visit the exhibit area and follow the hiking trail around that area. The elevation is 6,870 ft at Massai Point. The following are views of the rock formations from the trail.
We left Tucson to move east to Benson AZ, about 45 minutes west of Tucson. We booked into the San Pedro Resort to use as a base to visit the southeast portion of Arizona by car. That afternoon we took an underground tour of the Queen Mine in Bisbee. The tour guides are retired Phelps Dodge employees. They led the group 1500 ft into the mine, recounting mining days, techniques, dangers and drama of working underground. As they point out in their brochure "It is always a cool 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) underground" .
 |
| mine entrance |
 |
| the tour group riding down into the mine |
 |
| we were each outfitted with a hard hat, miner’s lamp and a yellow slicker |
 |
| a view of the rail line for the mine carts |
 |
| It was interesting to learn how the drills have changed over the years and how they improved efficiency |
 |
| A two-seater on wheels! Ya gotta go when ya gotta go. |
 |
| John displays the miner's lamp we used to light our way |
After the mine tour, we headed to Tombstone for dinner but unfortunately we didn't get to visit any of the boutiques in town as they had closed at 4 pm for the day.
The next day we visited the Amerind Museum in Dragoon. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by amazing rock formations. There were displays of American Indian artifacts of the various west coast tribes stretching from BC south to Peru.
 |
| Amerind Museum at Dragoon |
We then carried on to the Chiricahua Monument where we followed an 8 mile drive through "a wonderland of rocks". We stopped at Massai Point to visit the exhibit area and follow the hiking trail around that area. The elevation is 6,870 ft at Massai Point. The following are views of the rock formations from the trail.
 |
| There were lots of rocks with rock caps. |
 |
| John and Pat looking through the telescope at the observation point |
 |
| a close up view of the rock formations seen in the photo below |
 |
| We stop for a photo op of the scenery with John on our route down to the park entrance |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)