My sister Michele and her husband Michael organized a family gathering at the beginning of May in California, at the Jalama Beach county park campground. Susan and I brought our Oliver travel trailer, as my sister Margie and her husband brought their Casita trailer, while the rest of the family stayed in cabins. Michael’s family came, his …
City of Rocks is a National Reserve in southern Idaho run by the National Park service. The name comes from the wagon trains of emigrants in the 1840s and 1850s on their way to California. They described the rocks here in vivid detail as “a city of tall spires,” “steeple rocks,” and “the silent city.” …
We took a spring trip to Moab the last week in March. There are a series of primitive BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River, near Moab. I say primitive because there are no hookups and no water; they provide a firepit, a picnic table, and pit toilets. They do not take reservations, and are first …
On our way back from San Diego we spent the night in Twenty Nine Palms, CA, so that we could visit Joshua Tree National Park. When planning our trip, we weren’t sure we would be able to visit, because of the government shutdown; Joshua tree was one of the parks that suffered damage during the …
San Diego has a wonderful Zoo. We lived in San Diego for eleven years, and early on we discovered that the zoo was so big that you could not see everything in one visit. We learned that they offered Zoo Memberships which allowed unlimited entry to the zoo, and we were members for many years. That …
My work at the University has kept me busy, and I have been slow in getting things posted… We lived in San Diego for eleven years, from 1973 to 1984. Susan and I both went to graduate school there, and we still have lots of friends there. We decided on a Road Trip to San …
The Oaxaca region is also known for Alebrijes, fantastical hand carved animals painted in a whimsical fashion. The word alebrijes is pronounced all-lay-bree-hays. We had seen Alebrijes before in Puerto Vallarta, but we knew that Oaxaca was the epicenter for this art. The history of Alebrijes is pretty amazing. In the 1930s Mexican artist Pedro Linares was …
We booked an all day tour that took us out into the countryside. The major destination was Monte Albán, a large pre-Columbian archaeological site. We also visited several artisan workshops (more on that in the next post), and a monastery dating from the 1500’s. Our guide told us there was uncertainty as to the origin of …
The area is also known for Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday on November 2 focused on remembering friends and family members who have died, and supporting their spiritual journey. I never understood Día de Muertos until I saw the movie Coco. We watched the movie when it came out, …
Oaxaca is well known for its mole sauces (pronounced mol-ay) and its unique cuisine. For any of you who have visited Salt Lake City, you may have eaten at our local dive Mexican Restaurant, The Red Iquana. The Red Iguana is famous nationally for its mole sauces. So the food is one reason we have always …