Albuquerque to San Mateo Road Trip - Jan. 2011
The occasion of Pat O'Neil's 90th birthday precipitated a visit to San Mateo to help him celebrate.
However, there are sights to be seen and enjoyed along the way :-)
Our first night was at a B&B in old Mesilla. Pictured here is the nearby bar in La Posta
In 1846, President Polk declared war on Mexico and sent troops to New Mexico and California under General Kearny. At this time, Mexican troops were garrisoned in Mesilla. By 1848 the war had ended and most of the state had been ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
According to the treaty, the boundary between the United States and Mexico was to extend from the Gulf of Mexico and follow the Rio Grande to a point eight miles north of El Paso and then continue west to the first branch of the Gila River. The boundary was established from a map drawn by J. Disturnell of New York. When the United States sent men to survey the boundary, they found that the Disturnell map was in error. El Paso was actually located 40 miles north of its position on the map and the Rio Grande was actually 130 miles to the west. A settlement was made between the two countries known as the Gadsden Purchase. The treaty was consummated by the raising of the United States flag in the Mesilla Plaza by Fort Fillmore troops. With the protection afforded by the forts in the Southwest, north-south and east-west traffic along the trails increased and Mesilla found itself in an optimum location for economic growth. It became an important stop on two stagecoach, mail and trade routes-- the El Camino Real, which reached from Chihuahua to Santa Fe and the Butterfield stage route, which extended from San Antonio to San Diego.
Our second night included seeing an old friend in Tucson
Saguaro cactus are curious looking but prickly
Our third night we stayed with another friend, a fraternity buddy, at their wonderful home in a beautiful part of Indio
Daryl and Lisa took us to Cafe Italia, a restaurant with a singing wait staff, Here is a mediocre quality cell phone video.
More driving eventually brought the desert dwellers to the ocean at San Simeon and big smiles ensued
Along the beach we found a colony of Elephant Seals
According to this sign, the males can grow up to 5,000 pounds!
Here is a video of two males fighting
We were a considerable distance north of Vandenburg Air Force Base but we did see this contrail from the rocket launch
Vandenberg rocket: The unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:10 p.m. PST carrying a secret satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office, making it the largest rocket launch ever from the country's West Coast.
This photo shows the Delta 4-Heavy rocket sitting on the launch pad in preparation for it's launch at Vandenberg Airforce Base, in Vandenberg, Calif.
Photo from Internet
Portions of the coastal Hwy 1 were under construction as you can see here
An advantage of the slow drive was the opportunity to see whales spouting
Of course there is always the beauty of the California coast to enjoy
We finally arrived at Jane's home and settled in to visit with her and Pat. We drove them down to Palo Alto to see cousin Jane and Larry's new home and joined them at Mayfield's Bakery and Restaurant for dinner
Another day we drove into the city and met Martha for lunch at a Turkish restaurant. This was propitious because she was traveling to Turkey in a week then on to Nairobi.
After lunch we went for a stroll down Union Street
Enjoyed a cup at a coffee bar
Wondered at the architecture
Found this to be curious
Of course while in San Francisco, photographing the steep hills is a must
Pat's 3 daughters; Kathy, Eileen and Patty organized his big birthday party and his son Tim gave a talk while running a slideshow of Pat's life.
Here we were, enjoying the celebration.
After the party, Larry offered to give Pat a ride in his vintage Lancia
And away they go...
Saying goodbye to Jane and Pat, we set off for the trip home.
Joshua trees are a curious shape. It is now late afternoon and we spent an unremarkable night in Barstow.
Crossing the Colorado from California to Arizona
Carol's driving style is to sneak up on the big trucks then shoot by them before they can "get" her
Now we were seeing snow capped Humphreys Peak rising over 12,500' near Flagstaff.
Carol wanted to take an 80 mile side trip to the Grand Canyon but we would have arrived after dark.
We spent our second night in the wonderfully restored La Posada railroad hotel.
Fred Harvey, who “civilized the west” by introducing linen, silverware, china, crystal, and impeccable service to railroad travel. (He was so legendary that MGM made a movie called The Harvey Girls starring Judy Garland.) Harvey developed and ran all the hotels and restaurants of the Santa Fe Railway, eventually controlling a hospitality empire that spanned the continent.
In the 1920s, Harvey decided to build a major hotel in the center of northern Arizona. “La Posada”—the Resting Place—was to be the finest in the Southwest. Construction costs alone exceeded $1 million in 1929. Total budget with grounds and furnishings was rumored at $2 million (about $40 million in today’s dollars). They chose Winslow, then (as now) the Arizona headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway. Winslow was ideally situated for a resort hotel since everything to see and do in northern Arizona is a comfortable day’s drive. They asked Elizabeth Jane Colter to design the new hotel.
Colter worked for the Fred Harvey Company from 1905 until her retirement in the 1950s. Although famous for her magnificent buildings at the Grand Canyon, she considered La Posada her masterpiece. Here she was able to design or select everything from the structures to the landscape, furniture, maids’ costumes, and dinner china. Many people consider this the most important and most beautiful building in the Southwest.
Curved free standing stairway
Turquoise dinning room with Navajo rugs on the walls
Above: The game room
Left: An elaborate punched tin Madonna
Standing beside a petrified log
Walking through the straw bale maze
La Posada was selected as one of the best places to stay in the world by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Originally built for railroad passengers, this Arts and Crafts hotel near Route 66 "is the destination—skip the town." Guest rooms, named for onetime patrons like John Wayne, "are comfortable but not fancy." With a menu of Southwestern cuisine based on Navajo and Hopi crops, the Turquoise Room is "a true oasis in the desert."
This is a main East - West line for both freight and passenger trains. Listed above is the passenger schedule.
Video of passing freight train
Before leaving Winslow, we went to see "Standin' on the Corner". Click for link
We drove the rest of the way home to greet our dogs and unpack. It was a wonderful 12 day 2,688 mile trip!
J