2026 Southwest Meander - Days 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, And 13

The last six days didn't have any shows or planned activities.  It was just a visit to our old haunts in California.  While the first week of this trip was fun and interesting, the second half was like slipping on a favorite pair of socks.

Day 8 and 9 - Chinatown, Olvera Street, Oxnard, and Ventura.

We left Las Vegas and headed into California.  We didn't have any activities planned for the rest of our road trip except for destinations.

Our first stop was Chinatown in Los Angeles, CA.  We hadn't visited here since we left California in 2008.  Sadly, a couple of stores we remembered shopping at were no longer there.

From Chinatown we walked to Olvera Street.  Olvera Street was just like we remembered.  We stopped at a shop and bought Marys and magnets.

From Olvera Street we went to Simi Valley to visit a friend of the Wife.  We met him at his school and we talked as he showed us his school.

We ended up in Oxnard where I'd spent twenty years of my working life.  We drove by our old house and were sad that the new owners had torn out all our trees.

Channel Islands Harbor outside our hotel room.

We visited the Rudder Room, a dive bar the Wife used to visit with her coworkers.  As you walk into the Rudder Room you walk through a long hallway, passing by the bathrooms.  The hall reeks of urine.  Apparently the smell hasn't changed since 2008.  One of my old coworkers was in the bar but he didn't recognize me.  We hadn't seen each other for over twenty years so I decided not to approach him.  We never had been close anyway.  The Wife and I had a beer and diet soda sitting on the beach behind the bar.

We ate at In-and-Out Burger for dinner that night.  If you haven't eaten at In-and-Out Burger, you should try to find one.  Worth the trip.

The next day we were going to visit with a couple more of the Wife's friends but, due to bad timing, we were not able to meet with either of them.  Instead we went out for breakfast at Mrs Olson's, a restaurant we used to frequent for breakfast.  The Wife was a bit disappointed that they no longer offered Bubble and Squeak.

We then drove to downtown Ventura and walked the main street that was converted into a pedestrian way during COVID and has remained so.  We bought a few things in our favorite stores.  We ended the day with dinner at BJ's where I had a pizookie ... of course.

Day 10 - Harmony, CA, Cambria, CA and elephant seals.

We left Oxnard and drove north up the coast.  Our first stop was the tiny town of Harmony, population 18.  We'd visited the town several times over the years and we've watched it change.  Originally it only had a post office and a pottery shop.  Restaurants and a chapel were closed.  A few years later the post office closed, but the small wedding chapel reopened and a small glass blowing place opened.  Now, the glass blowing place has grown larger, a wine bar and coffee shop has opened, and a small house that had always been at the entrance of this tiny town is now an AirBnB.

An elephant seals sunning himself.

Next we drove through Cambria.  Cambria is our happy spot.  We used to visit it when we just needed to get out of town for a day when we lived in California.  It was too early to eat so we headed farther up the coast to see the elephant seals.  There weren't as many as before but I think the population of seals varies depending on the season.  It was nice that there were wild life people there to answer people's questions, something that hadn't been there before.

We returned to Cambria and ate at the Main Street Grill that serves very good tri-tip sandwiches.  We eat here every time we visit Cambria.  I bought a t-shirt.  Then we walked through the town and shopped at garden stores, boutiques, and artist's store fronts.  We bought clothes and magnets.  I bought an african bowl made from woven electrical wire, an interesting mix between traditional weaving and modern materials.  The weather was perfect for our Cambria meander.  We stopped for some ice cream before we headed to our hotel to check in.

The Moonstone beach boardwalk.

We crossed the road in front of our hotel and walked the boardwalk along Moonstone beach.  We walked out on the rocks and found anemones in tidal pools.  It was windy and cold along the boardwalk.  I suspect it is always windy and cold along the water here despite the town main street being warm and inviting.

A tide pool anemone.

Day 11 - The World Famous Clown Motel

We left Cambria and drove across California, through a foggy central valley, through the desert, past Manzanar, before taking a windy, twisty-turny, road through the mountains that had drops that made your stomach float up in zero-G.  It was fun ... and a bit harrowing, frankly. 

The destination for the day was the town of Tonopah, NV.  There were two reasons to stop here.  First it was on the way to one of the Wife's students, which we hoped to visit.  Unfortunately their schedule prevented us from visiting.  Our luck with meeting friends on this trip was abysmal.

The second reason was the World Famous Clown Motel ... America's scariest motel. We stayed in the Exorcist room.  I'd wanted to stay here since I first heard of it years ago.  It was a weird place which, naturally made it an awesome place to stay.

The Exorcist Room.

Day 12 and 13 - The drive home

Our last two days were long ... nine to ten hour drives.  The last day, when we left Rawlins, WY the weather was terrible and the highway was icy .  We crawled along with traffic passing several semi trucks in the ditch .

In Nebraska we saw sandhill cranes during their yearly migration.

We were ready to get home after thirteen days on the road but we saw some cool things along the way.  We are starting to get a bit old to be in the car that long but we did this trip well.  Except for the last two days, out drives were reasonable.  The Wife and I tried to split the drive evenly which worked out great for both of us.  The next planned trip will be an international one in late July – Capetown, South Africa.

2026 Southwest Meander - Days 4, 5, And 6

The next part of our road trip took us to a beautiful place picked out by the Wife.  Our original hope was to get permits to go see the Wave, a rock formation in the North Coyote Butte.  Permits are granted by lottery and are limited to a very small number each day.    We didn't get permits the 'normal' way but the company we went through would check to see if there were any cancellations.  Unfortunately there were none.  This is to be expected since we had heard stories of people trying for permits for five or even ten years unsuccessfully.  The company we worked through did offer us other hikes similar to the wave in the area so it wasn't a loss.  The company package we paid for included lodging in Kanab, UT just north of the area where we would be hiking, two guided hikes, and a dinner in a nice restaurant in our hotel.

I did not do my homework leaving all the planning to the Wife.  Because of this I arrived in Kanab without my Tilley hat, which I always wear when I hike, or my GPS.  So I have no distances for the hikes we did.  Still kicking myself a little bit.

Day 4: Getting to Kanab, UT

We left Oracle fairly early and drove the seven to eight hours to Kanab, UT.  Our hotel was nice with a fireplace in our room.  We went out looking for dinner and got a shock at how expensive the food was.  Having said that, restaurant choices were limited in Kanab and the food was delicious.

Day 5: South Coyote Butte

Undulating layers of petrified sand.

While we didn't get a permit to the Wave, we did manage to get a permit, with the help of the company, to South Coyote Butte.  South Coyote Butte has formations similar to the Wave and, according to our guides, has a more diverse landscape.

We had two guides, one an experienced guide, the other a trainee though he also was experienced with desert hiking.  The drive to the trailhead was two and a half hours with a stop along the way to use the facilities and chocolate chip cookies.

A fossil footprint.
The layers under the fossil have weathered away showing the underside of the dinosaur fossil print.

The hike was three to four hours long with a lunch break.  We saw beautiful wavy rock formations and fossils.  The views along the hike were spectacular.  There was something new to see around each corner.

The varied landscape of the South Coyote Butte.

After returning to the hotel we ate our included meal.  We had $150 worth of coupons from the company and we used most of it.  I ended up ordering the bone-in prime rib which turned out to be two and a half pounds (1.13 kg) of meat.  I ate maybe a third in the restaurant.  Another third would be eaten in our room on our last day in Kanab.

Day 6: White Pocket

The white formations from White Pocket.

Our second hike was in a place called White Pocket.  We had a single guide this time and we were joined by a man, his son, and the father's partner.

Not everything at White Pocket is white but they are all amazing.

We had the same two and a half hour drive to the trailhead.  The scenery and formations here were quite different from those of South Coyote Butte.  Over the next three to four hours we explored the variety of white and multicolored formations in the area.  So close to where we were the day before but with such different formations and colors.

Next ... Robots and Witches.

Photographs can be found in my 2026 Southwest Meander Google Photos album.

2026 Southwest Meander - Days 1, 2, And 3

Our latest adventure was a roadtrip through the southwest desert and our old California stomping grounds in Oxnard and Cambria.

Day 1: Dodge City, Kansas

We left on the Monday after the end of the winter olympics.  I based our stops on the experience we had on our last road trip to Key West in 2023.  During that trip we drove too long each day and often arrived in the dark.  On this trip I kept the days shorter, rarely going over eight hours.  This dictated our first stop to be in Kansas and I picked Dodge City figuring there would be something interesting in the famous cowboy town.  Turns out I was wrong.

Dodge City probably is an interesting, if not touristy town, during high season, but in February it is not.  Most of the downtown area was torn up with construction and the hotel I'd picked was ... adequate but not awesome.

The sign that welcomes you to Dodge City.

We drove around to find something interesting and found a few things.  Just outside town is a cross marking the point reached by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado.  Next we stopped at an overlook expecting a view of the Kansas plains or Dodge City, but instead got a view of a large cattle feedlot.  The Wife and I shook our heads at this.  We stopped to get a picture of the impressive sign as you entered Dodge City and took pictures of the various statues of gunslingers and famous cowboys, real and fictional that dot the city.  We ended the day with what I consider to be a mediocre meal at a local restaurant.

We did avoid going to the Mid-point between Los Angeles and Cleveland that is listed on the internet as a five star attraction.  The one photo showed an empty field with no marker or anything.  I think it might have been a joke.

Day 2: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Another seven hours driving got us to our next stop along the way, Albuquerque.  Our newly refurbished hotel was nice and within easy walking distance to the old town.  But, before we could enjoy the old town, I had to find a Toyota service place.  A plastic shield in the front driver's wheelwell had come loose and was making a racket.  They ended up just cutting out the shredded plastic shield.

After that racket was stopped, the Wife and I walked to the old town and did a little shopping and sightseeing before finding a nice restaurant to eat at.  The few hours we spent in the old town were relaxing.

Day 3: Oracle, Arizona and Biosphere 2

This was a shorter driving day but it was also very interesting and beautiful.  Part of the way took you down into colorful canyons and back up the other side.  While the Wife didn't enjoy the twisty-turny road, I always find this type of driving exhilarating.

Biosphere 2 near Oracle, Arizona.

We arrived at Biosphere 2 which is located fifteen minutes outside of the small town of Oracle, Arizona.  After entering the visitor's center and downloading the app, we followed the self-guided tour through the larger than expected facilities of the 'self-contained' habitat. The structure has spacious living spaces, farm fields, jungles, deserts, swamps, and even an ocean.  Everything is maintained, tho the ocean did die out and is in the process of being restored.  Ultimately, Biosphere 2 was a failed experiment when the oxygen levels within the habitat could not be maintained, but it was a fascinating attempt at creating a self-contained environment similar to what a Moon or Mars base might be like.

We spent the night in the only place to stay in Oracle.  The sprawling 'ranch' had many rooms/cottages that were very comfortable.  The property had trees and gardens though they were not ready for the high season yet.  There were only a few guests there in February.  The Wife enjoyed a go on a tire swing outside our room.  The pool wasn't ready yet but the hot tub was and the Wife and I soaked before the sun started to go down.  We had dinner at an italian place which, most likely, made most of its money from pizza sales.  The chicken parmesan we ate was very good.

Next ... Kanab, Utah.

Photographs can be found in my 2026 Southwest Meander Google Photos album.

Our Next Trip: A Southwestern Meander

Next week we will leave on the first trip of the year.  It is a road trip throughout the southwestern US that will take us through some beautiful places, weird places, and old stomping grounds.

Our first stop will be the Biosphere 2 in Arizona.  The Biosphere is open for tours.  I was hoping to stop at Petrified Forest National Park along the way, but it doesn't look like we will have the time due to the Biosphere 2 closing times.

Our next stop Will be in Kanab, UT.  We will be here for three nights.  We are hoping to hike to see the Wave.  Access to the Wave is strictly limited and you get permits via lottery.  We have heard stories of people trying for over five years without getting a permit.  The company we are working with will send people to the Bureau of Land Management office to see if there are cancellations.  If there are none, the company offers hikes to similar wind carved features in the area.

After a couple days of hiking, we will drive to Las Vegas.  Here we will attend two shows.  The first is the BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon.  The second show is "The Wizard of Oz" at the Sphere.  This is more of a way to see what the Sphere has to offer than watching the movie which we have seen umpteen-zillion times already.

After las Vegas we drive to Chinatown in Los Angeles and visit with friends in our old Ventura County stomping grounds.

We then drive up the coast, spending a night in one of our favorite places, Cambria, CA.  Here we will have tri-tip sandwiches and enjoy the shops and the beeches.

Our last planned stop is the World Famous Clown Motel in Tonopah, NV.  We reserved the Exorcist room.

We were hoping to go to the speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats but there are none at this time of year.

The return home from the Clown Motel is currently unplanned.  We may add a stop or two along the way back but we will be playing it by ear.

Travel Magnets - Key West Roadtrip 2023 Edition

What?!?  You thought we wouldn't get more travel magnets on our recent roadtrip?  Of course we did.  We did keep it more under control limiting the number to sixteen new magnets.  Actually, we could have bought more.  We never got a Florida, Tennessee, or Missouri magnet (we did get an Arkansas one).  We didn't get any in Mobile or Birmingham (we did get a few in Memphis).  But we did get a few cool magnets this time around.

Hemingway House.

My favorites include the Hemingway House, Key West, and the Lorraine Motel.

A nice piece of Key West art.

The semi-3D Lorraine Motel magnet.

You can find these and other travel magnets in the Travel Magnets tab at the top of the blog.

P.S. You can also find a magnet from the Historic Park Inn Hotel where we stayed last December.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Epilogue

I enjoyed our roadtrip but it was tough, emotionally and physically.  There is no way to visit three Civil Rights Museums without being torn up emotionally.  These are not happy places.  The rest of what we did - Key West, manatees, NASA, diamond digs, visiting family - didn't quite balance it all out.  It's hard to balance so much injustice.

Our roadtrip felt a lot harder physically than other roadtrips we've done in the past.  This one was 4,360 miles (7,016 km).  The longest, probably our Route 66 trip, was longer but not by much ... 300 miles or so longer.  That one went from Omaha to Chicago to Santa Monica, CA to San Francisco and back to Omaha.  I don't remember it feeling as hard as this latest roadtrip did (this could be selective memory's doing).  Part of it may have been age ... Route 66 was almost twelve years ago ... but I think how we arranged activities and driving was a major part.

On this trip we arranged the activities for the mornings and saved all the driving for the afternoons.  I think this made the driving portions too long.  If we did it again, planning the activities for the early afternoon would work better as it would split the driving into morning and afternoon legs.  The activities, be they digging for diamonds or visiting a museum, would break up the long and tedious driving.

There is evidence for this.  The days between Birmingham, Memphis, and St. Louis were all shorter than four hours driving and none of them felt terrible.  It was the ten, eight, and seven hour driving days that exhausted us.

Things don't stay the same.  We are getting older.  What was once easy may not be so easy anymore.  Live, learn, and adapt.

I've gone back and updated the Roadtrip posts.  I added pictures to a couple and altered the text a little bit on a few more. I added pictures of the mangrove kayak and the manatee snorkeling to my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day Thirteen - The Gateway And The Way Home

UPDATE 02-04-2023

The Gateway Arch looking east.

On our last day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to downtown St. Louis to visit the Gateway Arch.  We'd both been there before but we were both kids. I think I was there in the 1968 - 1971 time frame only a few years after it was finished in 1965.

We went through the museum portion fairly quickly before watching a movie documenting the construction of the arch.  The movie felt like the cheesy films we used to watch in school in the pre-VCR days which is probably when it was made.

After the movie we got in line to go up the arch.  Getting here early on a Tuesday morning has its advantages as the line was only eight people long.  The elevator/tram that takes you up 620 feet (189 m) to the top consists of five tiny cars that hold five people each.  The Wife and I had a car to ourselves.  The door is glass but, since the tram runs on the inside of the concrete and steel arch you only see the interior staircase on the way up.  Apparently before 1967 walking up the one thousand and seventy-six stairs was the only way to the top.  The tram is described as a combination of an elevator, escalator, and a Ferris wheel.  You can feel the cars rock a little as they follow the curve of the arch.

St. Louis, Missouri looking west from the top of the Gateway Arch.

At the top you have ten minutes to take in the sights (a COVID restriction).  We were lucky and we had mostly clear skies this day and could see all the way to the horizon.  The view of the city is pretty cool.

After coming back down we raided the gift shop for shirts and magnets before heading back to the road.  The Wife had developed a wicked cold over the past day so I would be doing all the driving today.  The sixish hour drive back home was uneventful as the ice storm that had been forecast went south of our route.

This roadtrip felt very long and I will confess that I was ready to go home somewhere around day nine.  Not sure why it felt so long.  I may have some thoughts about that in a later post.  Suffice it to say the Wife and I learned some things this trip.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day Twelve - The Lorraine Motel

UPDATED 02-04-2023

The Lorraine Motel where MLK Jr. was assassinated.

We finished the civil rights portion of our travels in Memphis, Tennessee at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.  We normally go through museums quickly but this one was very well done and we spent nearly two hours making our way from slavery to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The museum, located next to the Lorraine Motel where MLK Jr. was killed, gives the place more meaning.  As you work your way through the museum, knowing what is coming at the end, gives more importance to all the exhibits.

True then and true now.

The Wife was coming down with something so on the way out of Memphis we stopped at a drugstore for pain relievers and cough drops.  Hopefully a hot shower and a good night's sleep will get her through this.

The relatively short drive to St. Louis, Missouri was uneventful except for the fact the temperature dropped as we went further north.  At one point we had freezing mist on our windshield.  Fortunately for us it looks like the approaching freezing rain will stay south of St.Louis and shouldn't slow us down tomorrow.

Tomorrow we visit the Gateway Arch before driving home.  Tomorrow night we will be in our own beds.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West 2023 Roadtrip - Days Nine, Ten, And Eleven - NASA, Manatees, And Civil Rights

UPDATED 02-04-2023

Day Nine

We had some breakfast and headed to the Kennedy Space Center.  We arrived right before the parking lot opened and thirty minutes before the gates opened.  We ended up being first in line.  They opened the gates and we walked to the bus tour terminal.  We were following advice the Wife had read suggesting it was best to do the Bus and the Apollo/Saturn V exhibit along the route first before it got crowded.  The advice turned out to be right.

The Saturn V rocket with the insignia of the moon missions.

I'd visited the Kennedy Space Center when I was seven or eight and a lot had changed since I was there.  The command center for the Apollo moon program was now a visitor's center with a Saturn V rocket and displays about the moon landings.  They lead you from one introductory film to another until you exit into the main display room and the Saturn V rocket is revealed.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being transported for reuse.

We got back on the bus and headed back to the main visitor's center.  Our trip back was interrupted briefly when a truck pulling a refurbished Falcon 9 rocket crossed the road.  I was surprised the refurbished rocket, that was being reused, still had carbon scoring from prior missions.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Back at the visitor's center we did the Atlantis exhibit which covered the entire Space Shuttle program.  The exhibit was set up like the Apollo one - a movie opening to reveal the Space Shuttle Atlantis hanging in front of you.  The shuttle is a lot smaller than you think.  The exhibits include simulations of working in a zero-G environment, a model of the space station you can climb through (the Wife did ... I didn't), and a 'reentry' slide (the Wife did ... I didn't).  There was also a section about the astronauts lost during the Challenger and Columbia disasters.  The last thing we both did was a Space Shuttle launch simulator that was interesting and felt surprisingly real.

We ate some lunch and hit a few smaller exhibits about Mars and commercial space partners.  We finished with an attempted shopping spree in the "Largest Space Store".  I say attempted because nearly every shirt I liked was not available in my size.  We still managed to leave with three shirts and several magnets.

The rest of the day we drove back to the Wife's cousin's place for the night.  Google Maps tried to steer us away from congestion but just managed to add an extra hour to our travels.  The algorithm does weird things sometimes.  We filled up the car with family heirlooms to take back home to distribute to others in her family.  

Day Ten

A manatee and friends.

We left Tampa and headed an hour up the coast to Crystal River, Florida where we swam with the manatees.  First of all, it was cold that day with temps in the fifties.  We donned wetsuits and took a pontoon boat cruise through the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.  Manatees need fresh water and there are five fresh water springs that feed into the refuge.

We found one early and we all got in the water.  It turns out it was warmer in the water than on the boat.  I got some good pictures of the feeding manatee and large fish in the area.  The manatees are huge.  Almost hippopotamus size fully grown.  I won't post pictures until I get home and have a chance to process the pictures on my camera.

We got back in the boat and froze out patootees off.  I developed the most severe case of the shakes I've ever experienced.  We did get some relief when we poured cups of hot water inside our wetsuits.

Momma and baby manatees ... they stay together for almost five years.

We moved to another spring and there were manatees everywhere so we got back in.  We saw a mother and baby along with others of all sizes.  We were making our way back towards the boat when a manatee swam under the Wife, turned over on its back, and grabbed the Wife with his fins.  They to cuddle her.  The Wife held still and stared down into the face of the manatee.  It probably was just trying to warm up.  It eventually let her go and swam away.  You can say the Wife got her money's worth on that tour.

A memorial to the victims of
water cannons made more
poignant by rain water running
down her face and chin.

We returned to a hot shower and dry clothes.  We left Crystal River and drove just over seven hours to just south of Birmingham, Alabama.  As we drove north several muscles in my neck, shoulders, and back started stiffening up and hurting.  I suspect it was a result of the shivering and cold water.  

Day Eleven

It was raining off and on this day when we drove into Birmingham to take a civil rights tour of the city.  We met with the guide and one other  tour member and had an interesting combination of walking and driving tour of the civil rights history of Birmingham.  The area was in iron country and back during the civil rights struggles the Klan had access to dynamite.  The result was fifty - sixty bombings against civil rights leaders giving Birmingham the nickname of Bombingham.

We learned about the children marches and the four children killed when a church was dynamited.  The twisting of the laws by white supremacist Bull Connor.  All this was with the backdrop of the dilapidated, run down city streets.  The poverty reeked.

History is important to learn no matter how painful it is.  It cannot be buried by bigotry for long.  It will always come back even stronger.

After the tour we drove towards Memphis, Tennessee in the pouring rain.  We were grateful that the hard rain held off until the end of our tour.  We stopped for the night just outside the city.

Tomorrow we drive into Memphis to visit their civil rights museum and the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.   We are hoping the upheaval caused by the recent killings by police there doesn't hamper our plans.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West 2023 Roadtrip - Day Eight - Heading Towards The Stars

Today was a driving day.  We slept in late and left the Keys heading north-east towards Titusville, Florida.  The last twenty-four hours have resulted in a few changes to our Itinerary.  We decided to cancel our crawl through a cave near Birmingham.  We moved the Civil Rights tour a day earlier.  This gives us a less hectic final four days of our roadtrip.  The cave may have been interesting but I don't think it's going away anytime soon.

We arrived in Titusville a bit earlier than we usually do each day so we looked for things to do.  There is apparently only two things to do in Titusville.  One is to watch rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center - there are none at the moment.  The second is night kayaking through bioluminescent plankton which really looks cool - the plankton is seasonal and peaks between July and September so none for us.  We ended up just driving around looking for a cute downtown (none was found and what we found was closed early for some unknown reason) until we stopped to get milkshakes.

Speaking of hectic, I don't expect I will be posting over the next couple days.  I will try to catch up when things slow down a bit.

Over the next few days we will be visiting the Kennedy Space Center, snorkeling with manatees, and doing a Civil Rights tour in Birmingham, Alabama.  Hopefully I will find time to post after the tour.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day Seven - Key West (Part Two)

UPDATED 02-04-2023

Sailboat.

Today was a day of relaxation.  We really only had one thing planned for the day and that required zero effort on our part.

The day started with a flash.  My alarm went off.  I turned it off and got back in bed.  We both just laid there with our eyes closed trying to decide if we wanted to get up when we both saw a flash.  Since our eyes were closed we have no idea what the flash was.  The sliding glass door was covered with a heavy curtain and the bathroom door was closed blocking the only other window in our room.  We both got out of bed but saw nothing (no sparking or scorching) and smelled nothing (no smoking electrical fire) so we decided it must have been Robert the Creepy Doll's fault and we got dressed.

Which way?

We stopped in Marathon, Florida at a place called Porky's for breakfast.  I had pulled pork for breakfast for the second time ever.  Not sure I'm convinced that anything with BBQ sauce should be considered breakfast food.  It was good though.  (The first time I had it was back in July in Gorham, New Hampshire before my Appalachian Trail hike started.)

From there we went to Fort Zachary Taylor Historical Park ... not for the fort but for the connected beach.  We spent four hours sunning ourselves.  Well, the Wife sunned herself.  I sat in the shade of a rented umbrella while I read my book (My feet and calves were exposed and they did burn to a crisp).  It was a bit windy but it was a nice 85℉ (29℃).  We had some rain yesterday and there is rain in the forecast tomorrow so things worked out for us.  (Thank you Robert?) 

How I spent my Key West vacation.

Tonight we went back to the Florida Boy Bar and Grill for dinner.  The food was good the last time we ate there so why risk a bad meal somewhere else.  My meal was ok - BBQ short rib grilled cheese - but there was fennel in the bread which I do not like.

Tomorrow we drive to Titusville, Florida where we will be close to some space age entertainment.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day Six - Key West (Part One)

UPDATED 02-04-2023

We got up early and drove to Stock Island which is right outside Key West. Here we got in our two person kayak and joined our guide and fellow kayakers on a tour of the mangrove forest. This turned out to be pretty cool. We kayaked through natural trails through the forests that build islands over the centuries, provide habitat to numerous wildlife, and protect the islands from hurricanes. We saw tree crabs, cassiopeia jellyfish that live upside down on the bottom of the shallows, sea hares which are shell-less snails about six inches or more in size, starfish, and nurse sharks. I will add some pictures of some of these creatures when I get home and can process my camera pictures.

Kayaking through the mangroves.

Southernmost point.

After the kayak we drove into Key West proper and tried to find a parking spot.  The first parking lot was full but, to our surprise, I managed to find a spot near the southernmost part of the continental United States.  We stopped at the Southernmost Point Bar for some lunch before exploring the town.  While we ate under the umbrella it poured rain.  Fortunately it was nearly over by the time we finished lunch.

First stop here was the Southernmost Point Marker.  Not much to see here really except a large painted marker.  Still cool though.  So far we have been at the most southern, western, and the most central part of the United States on our travels.

Next we walked to the Hemingway house and learned about the writer, his life, and his wives.  We saw the famous Hemingway cats - there are now fifty-seven of them - who are famous for having extra toes.  One cat we saw had one extra toe on the front paws and two extra toes on the back paws.

Where Hemingway did a lot of his writing.

Our next stop, not on our itinerary, was a lighthouse across the street from the Hemingway house. From the top of the eighty-eight steps you could see all of Key West and it was an interesting vantage point.  (I may be sore tomorrow not only from the kayak rowing but also from the stair climbing.)

Robert the Doll.

The Tennessee Williams exhibit that was on our itinerary was not open so it got skipped.

We returned to our car and drove to the Fort East Martello museum home of Robert the Creepy Doll. This museum actually was fun. We usually don't like museums but this was an eclectic mix of all sorts of random stuff including Robert who was, in fact, a very creepy doll.  The scary music right out of a bad horror movie set the atmosphere perfectly.  We also saw junk art and a few iguanas sunning themselves on the fort grounds.

We ended the day with a relaxing sit on out back porch watching the sun go down over Duck Key.

Tomorrow we return to Key West for some beach sitting and, perhaps, a few more stops in town.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Sunset over Duck Key.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Days Three, Four, And Five - Mobile, Family, And Getting To The Keys.

UPDATED 02-04-2023

Day Three

Mobile - Home of
Mardi-Gras

On day three we had a scheduled tour of the African-American Heritage Trail.   The tour, led by an excellent and knowledgeable guide, took us through the history of the Clotilda - the last slave ship to bring slaves from Africa - through the formation of Africatown by the descendants of the slaves.  The Clotilda was sent on a bet.  A rich landowner in Mobile bet that he could bring slaves from africa (at the time, while slavery was legal, the importation of african slaves was illegal on penalty of death) and get away with it.  So the last slaves brought to America from Africa were brought here on a bet.  *sigh*  The landowners family is one of the prominent families in Mobile today so they got away with it. *sigh*

The tour took us to places where once stood successful African-American businesses that were destroyed and turned into parking lots and vacant lots in the name of 'urban renewal'.  We learned a lot of history on this tour and it was all heartbreaking.

Outside the welcome center, where we started the tour, was Mardi-Gras square.  Mardi-Gras in Mobile, Alabama pre-dates the one in New Orleans.  The Christmas trees in the square and welcome center had been redecorated in the purple, yellow, and green of Mardi-Gras.

We left Mobile around noon in the rain and drove to Tampa, Florida to visit with the Wife's aunt and cousins.  That drive felt like it took forever.  This was likely because a lot of it was either in the rain or in the dark ... or both.

Day Four

Day four was spent with family at Mass and eating lunch at a great tapas bar/restaurant.  Most of the day was spent chatting about all sorts of things which is what we do when family gets together.

We walked around the block, bought lemonade from some girls' lemonade stand (we overpaid on purpose), and ended the day with a homemade chili dinner.

It was nice having a day where the Wife or I didn't have to drive.

Day Five

Day five was a travel day.  We drove from Tampa to Long Key in the Florida Keys.  The drive wasn't that bad until the last hour.  A bus had stalled on a bridge between keys.  The traffic was backed up ten to twelve miles and what should have taken us less than twenty minutes took over an hour.

The view from our back patio.  We share it with a few other rooms and at least one pelican.

Our hotel, the Edgewater Lodge is awesome.  The Wife picked a good one.  Our room backs to Gulf waters and we have a shared patio along the waterline.

The day ended with a steak, mac'n'cheese, and asparagus dinner at the Florida Boy Bar and Grill.  It was one of the best steaks I've had in a long time.

Tomorrow we kayak in a mangrove forest and explore Key West.  I forgot my SD card adapter so pictures I take with my waterproof camera will not be posted until I get home.  Sorry.  Silly me.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day Two - Digging Deeper

Our stop of the day.

On our second day we checked out of our hotel and went to Crater of Diamonds State Park.  The draw of this park are the diamonds that are 'easily' found near the surface.

We arrived, rented our screens and shovels, and headed out to the plowed field to look for our fortune in diamonds.  I figured we would be there for two to three hours.  After about an hour I was done.  We kept at it for another half hour maybe before we decided to quit.  We didn't find any diamonds.  The Wife found some quartz and some calcite that both look very diamond-like but aren't valuable.  I found out I wasn't patient enough to be a prospector.

The diamond field is periodically plowed to help stir up the diamonds.

We, of course, are just amateurs.  While we were there we saw people loading up dozens of buckets full of dirt to be sifted and looked through.  Diamonds one carat or more are commonly found here but not by us.

It was a chilly day but the filtered sun was warm while we unsuccessfully hunted for riches.

The rest of the day we drove to Mobile, Alabama (passing through Louisiana and Mississippi along the way).  We stopped for a great lunch in a little diner in Farmerville, Louisiana.  The Wife did most of the driving today.  The eight hours of driving felt like more than the ten hours of the day before.  I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting too old for road trips.

Tomorrow we take a tour of Africatown and learn about the Clotilda, the last slave ship before driving on to Tampa, Florida to visit family.

Photos can be found in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

Key West Roadtrip 2023 - Day One - Diving To The Deep South

UPDATED 02-04-2023

I got up early to clear the half inch or so of snow and spread deicer before we got on the road.  The road conditions were not nearly as bad as we expected.  Thank you Mother Nature for that.

The first part of the drive was kinda boring.  The vacation feeling arrived when we stopped at a Waffle House for brunch.  As the Wife says, the vacation doesn't start until you eat out in a restaurant you don't have back home.  We aren't picky ... Waffle House fit the bill.

The Waffle House ... the unofficial start to our vacation and famous for the Waffle House Index.

Once we got to southern Missouri the landscape changed to forest covered mountains with outcrops of rock.  The views along the way were very nice and will be beautiful once the trees leaf out.  Fall, with the changing colors of the leaves, are probably spectacular.

The vistas continued into Arkansas.  The last couple hours took us up, over, and around mountains and valleys.  Small towns, where churches outnumbered the people, added variety to the scenery.  The churches have names that look like someone tossed a bunch of semi-religious words into a bag and then randomly drew four or five and strung them all together.

Despite the gorgeous views, ten hours of driving through four states can be draining and I was drained (and a bit irritable) by the time we got to our hotel in Nashville, Arkansas.  My only regret on this day was not stopping at the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.  It was a long driving day and it would have been hard to fit in.  (I'm only somewhat kidding here.)  Looking back I think we should have divided the driving over two days to make it less exhausting.

Tomorrow we dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park.

As I upload photos, you will be able to find them in my 2023-01 Key West Roadtrip Google Photos album.

It's Roadtripping Time!

Today the Wife and I are heading out on a roadtrip.  We are heading to the south ending up eventually in Key West.  We will be visiting the Wife's Aunt and cousin who live in Tampa along the way.

The Wife has planned an incredible itinerary for us.  Here are a few things we will be doing over the next couple of weeks:

• Dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.
• Explore the history of Africatown and the Clotilda (the last slave ship) near Mobile, Alabama.
• Kayak in a mangrove forest in the West Florida Keys.
• In Key West we will:
• Visit the Hemingway house.
• Visit Robert the creepy doll.
• Visit the Tennessee Williams museum.
• Visit the Southernmost point of the United States.
• Visit the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida
• Snorkel with manatees in Crystal Springs, Florida
• Explore a cave at Sims Cave State Park (this will require us to squeeze/crawl through narrow passages and you are asked to bring a set of dry clothing to change into after you exit the cave).
• Take a civil rights tour in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Visit the Lorraine Hotel and civil rights museum (where Martin Luther King was assassinated) in Memphis, Tennessee.
• Visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

Like our other trips, I do not know if I will post along the way or wait until we get back.  For some reason I feel like writing on the road this time but I know this has not worked in the past.  It all depends on how much energy I have at the end of the day.

The Great Getting Out Of The House Southeast USA Vacation Of 2021 - Day 13 And Epilogue

Our last day of our summer travels was a combination of civil rights and literature.  We got up early, checked out of our hotel, and headed up Highway 80 to Selma, AL.  This is the route taken by Civil Rights marchers in 1965.  The route is designated the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.  Along the route there were camp markers where the marchers spent the night on the way to Montgomery.  The National Historic Trail visitor's center was unfortunately closed due to COVID when we stopped.

The Edmund Pettus bridge.

We reached Selma where we went to a Mr. Waffle for breakfast.  From there we were pleasantly surprised to see the Edmund Pettus Bridge visitor's center was open.  We walked through the modest but moving museum and bought magnets before we walked across the bridge named for a senior officer of the Confederate Army who would become a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.  It is where Civil Rights marchers, including John Lewis, were beaten as they tried to march over the bridge on the way to Montgomery.

The plaque on the bridge.

We stopped at a gift shop on the other side of the bridge to purchase magnets.  There is a National Voting Rights museum across the street but it appeared closed and a bit run down … which seems a bit symbolic of of how our country's voting rights are heading at the moment.

The Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.
(Picture taken by the Wife.)

We returned to Montgomery and stopped at the Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum and house.  The Fitzgerald's moved around seasonally and this house was one they lived in in 1931-1932.  The museum was well done and showcased their writing, Zelda's art, and their lives and correspondence.  The really cool part is that the top floor house is an airbnb and we spent the night in the house for our last night in Montgomery.

The sitting room in the F. Scott Fitzgerald room.

The next two days were just driving through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky (Where we saw the largest Confederate flag flying in a public area), Missouri, on the way home.  Our roadtrip was 15 days long and covered around three thousand and nine hundred miles.  It did not come close to covering all the history in the area but I think there is only so much of the sordid southern history one can take at a time.  We will probably go back someday to visit a few more spots we skipped this time but I'm not sure it will be anytime soon.  This was a good trip but it was taxing emotionally and it just proved that this country has a long ways to go.

The Great Getting Out Of The House Southeast USA Vacation Of 2021 - Day 12

Today was going to be a somber day.  We were going to visit three places connected to civil rights struggles and the systemic racism the black people have endured over too many years.

Jars of soil collected at sites of racial terrorism.

The first stop was the Legacy Museum.  The museum covers the injustices starting with enslavement, through Jim Crow and lynchings, to mass incarcerations.  Most of the displays were based on first hand experience and testament of those who suffered.  It was a moving and sadly depressing history that too many are trying to erase.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

From there we visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.  This memorial, opened in 2018, is often deferred to as the lynching museum.  A good memorial should stir feeling in those who see it and this one does just that.  Metal boxes engraved with the names of people lynched are suspended from the roof.  Rows upon rows of rusting boxes, thousands of victims of racial terrorism.  It is hard to visit this place and not feel emotional.  Sadly the amount of security I noticed around the memorial suggests the the emotions stirred by the memorial are mixed in our divided nation.

The hanging boxes engraved with the names of the dead.

Duplicates of the six-footer boxes are laid out beside the memorial in order of state and county allowing for a closer look at the names and numbers. The sides of the memorial are open to the weather so the hanging boxes along the edges will get wet when it rains.  Over time the runoff will leave red rust stains running down the concrete like blood.  The memorial will just become more compelling over time.

The rather modest Civil Rights Memorial.

Our last stop of the day was the Civil Rights Memorial.  The center connected to the memorial is temporarily closed but the memorial itself is outside and accessible.  It is a rather modest memorial displaying highlights of the civil Rights struggle.  Across the street was a simple painted memorial to Congressman John Lewis.

This was a tough day but it was also another highlight for this year's travels.

Photos can be found in my 2021-06 Southeast USA Google Photos album.