Mexico Riviera Cruise November 2019

Our 7-day cruise left from San Diego on Saturday, November 2nd.  The first day of the cruise was a "fun" day at sea as our ship, Holland America's Eurodam, sailed to Cabo San Lucas, our first port of call.

We didn't have any big plans for Cabo, but once we'd tendered off the ship, we decided to take a short sight-seeing cruise to view Los Arcos & the local wildlife up close.  (That's me above posing in the bow with one of the arches in the background).  Here's another pic of the arches (without me in it!):

We also heard some sea lions barking, and I was able to get a photo of a few of them sunning themselves on some rocks:

The best thing we saw was the sea lions begging for fish from the back of incoming fishing boats.  They are quite skilled at it!  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any photos.  Maybe next time!

The following day, our port of call was Mazatlan, and we had booked a tour with a local guide to visit some of the small hillside towns in the Sierra Madre Mountains.  Our first stop on this trip was a pueblo called Malpica.  We visited a brick factory where workers make bricks by hand.  It was quite fascinating!  

Workers mix dirt, manure, and water together to make the adobe, then another worker fills forms with the mud mixture (literally, back-breaking work!);

Next, the bricks are left to dry in the sun for four days:

Once the bricks are dried, the workers build a kiln with the bricks themselves then add wood to the structure like this:

After about six days, when the bricks have turned red, they are finished and ready to be sold.

From the brickyard, we went to Malpica's bakery located on a quaint cobblestone street.  There I bought three large (& delicious) shortbread cookies that had been baked that morning by the baker in her very old, but very efficient wood-burning oven.

From Malpica, we continued up into the mountains, arriving at the town of Concordia where we visited the Church of San Sebastián which was built in 1785.  

I found these statues located next to the church very interesting.  At first, I thought they had deteriorated, but our guide explained that they had been erected in honor of a couple of gentlemen who had been beheaded by agents of the Spanish Inquisition!  Yikes!  You can see the two statues below, one kneeling on the right & one on the left.

Our final destination was the village of Copala.  There we visited another church, this one the Church of San Jose, which was even older than the last church we visited, having been built in 1748.

Our guide took us to the side of the church and showed us a (highly eroded) chimera of the devil carved into the wall.  He told us local legend said that if you throw a rock at the devil and hit him, it will bring you good luck (or chase away bad).  Obviously, I had to try it, and I nailed him on my first try!!

The following day, November 6th, we arrived in Puerto Vallarta for the tour I was really looking forward to:  Cooking with Enrique!  We met Enrique in the mall across the street from the cruise port, then we loaded up into his van, and it was off to the local market where we visited an artisan tortilla factory:

Next was a stop at the fish market to buy some grouper, octopus, and parrot fish:

After a quick stop at a street vendor's to have a delicious goat taco, we stopped in at a produce store to learn about selecting jalapeños and pineapple.

Then it was off to Enrique's where we met his wife and started cooking.  We had parrot fish ceviche:

Octopus salad (here are some of the other tourists chopping it up):

Noah & a few others worked on the tortillas...

...which were used for the main course of grouper filets marinated in an achiote sauce and baked in banana leaves.  It was SO delicious, I didn't get any photos, because I was much too busy eating!!  The meal was rounded off with a wonderful flan made by Eri (that's her in the blue dress above).  I've never been a big fan of flan, but hers was delicious, very similar in taste and texture to a New York style cheesecake.  Anyway, after five hours of cooking and eating, we were stuffed to the gills.  We waddled back to the ship, and after three days of non-stop activity, we were glad to have two sea days in which to relax as the ship returned to San Diego.

And that, my dears, ended another wonderful cruise.  See you all very soon as I continue trying to catch up...wish me luck!!

Bye for now!

Buckskin Lily

Texas Road Trip May 2019 (Including Side Trip to Branson, MO)

Hello, all!  Trying to catch up on my travel blogging as part of my New Year's Resolution.  Good luck to me!  Have about a dozen outstanding trips to catch up on...decided to start with last May's road trip to Texas.  That was a fun one!

We set out from Quartzsite with the intention of visiting a few tourist attractions we always seemed to miss on other trips.  First stop was Meteor Crater Natural Landmark.  It is located near Interstate 40 and old Route 66 near Winslow, Arizona.  It is billed as the best-preserved meteorite impact site in the world.  It is the result of a collision that happened approximately 50,000 years ago with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT.  Here I am posing on its rim.  The photo really doesn't convey the size of the crater.

After lunch the same day, we drove to The Petrified Forest. I'd been asking Noah to take me there for years, but he always insited there was "nothing" to see there. Being the rock nut that I am, I had to disagree, and I'm glad we finally went. There were lots of awesome "rocks."  Here I am posing at the visitor center located near the park's entrance: 

And here is a photo of one of the petrified trees:

This shot shows how pretty the wood is when it's turned to stone (at least I think it's pretty!):

The next day we stopped at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico. We'd been seeing billboards for it along the way and decided to stop and discover what it was all about. Turned out to be quite interesting.

The hotel was built by the brother of old-time movie director D.W. Griffith, opened in 1937, and used as a base for movies filming nearby. Lots of Hollywood stars stayed there including John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Spencer Tracy, Kirk Douglas, Jane Wyman, Katherine Hepburn & many more. The inside was filled with old photos of past guests and lots of other memorabilia:

After that, we bee-lined to Noah's sister's place in Graham, Texas where we set up our trailer and settled in for a nice, long visit. We joined the gym at the Wellness Center and worked out everyday. I enjoyed spending time with my great-great nephew:

Noah did a lot of fishing at his nephew's place out on Lake Graham. Here he is with one of his fish:

There were a lot of (delicious) fish fries during our visit. They like to EAT in Texas!


One day, we took a trip to Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

I'm thinking I don't need to do much explaining about this particular landmark. Below is a photo I took from the "sniper's nest," the spot where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly hid when he (allegedly) shot Kennedy (after reading several books on the subject, including an excellent one I purchased at the museum the day we visited, I'm still not sure if Oswald was the shooter--or at least the only shooter). Anyway...there is an "X" painted on the street to mark where the fatal shot ocurred. It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but it was visible through the tree branches. I added the arrow and circle to help you see where it is.

Here is a photo of the "X" from street level (much easier to see):

During our time in Texas, we took a side trip to Branson, Missouri.  On our way, we made a couple of sight-seeing stops.  First was the Eisenhower Birthplace in Denison, Texas:

Eisenhower was born in this house in 1890, the first U.S. President to be born in Texas.  However, he didn't live here very long.  His father worked for the railroad and was renting the house when Eisenhower was born.  Eisenhower's family returned to Kansas when he was 18 months old.

Also went to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit the Walmart museum located at the site of Sam Walton's first Five & Dime.  I highly recommend the experience.  (Sam Walton was a genius innovator & definitely doesn't deserve the bad rap he seems to get nowadays).  Here I am standing beside Sam's pickup.  This is the car he drove till the day he died.

In Branson, we took in a number of shows and attractions.  We visited Silver Dollar City, took in a dinner show on the Branson Belle (a paddle wheeler that cruises Table Rock Lake),

went to Lambert's Cafe two times (for throwed rolls!), attended a great show with illusionsit Rick Thomas (formerly of Las Vegas).  Here I am with him after the show:

...went to an escape room (didn't escape!), and finally went to Dolly Parton's Stampede Dinner and horseback riding show.  On the day we returned to Texas, the entire state of Oklahoma was under a severe tornado watch.  All the schools in Oklahoma City were closed and there were travel advisories warning people to stay home!  We got up super early and raced back to Texas.  Thankfully, we were able to outrun the tornados and avoid being carried away to Oz!

One of our last days in Texas, we went to lunch at the most amazing cafe in Woodson called The Woodson Inn (very original, huh?)  The food was incredible!  Melt-in-your mouth brisket and the most ridiculous chocolate sheet cake I've ever eaten...and I ate way too much of it, let me tell you!  Driving by, you might miss it, but if you're ever in Woodson, be sure to stop, you won't regret it!

On our return trip (we had to go back to Arizona to attend Buck Knife's HS graduation in California at the beginning of June before we could get back to our summer digs in Wyoming), we made a couple more stops (mostly eating ones, but not all!)

We had dinner one night at Del's Restaurant in Tucumcari, New Mexico.  It was rated the #1 restaurant in Tucumcari by Trip Advisor & after eating there, I had to agree.  I enjoyed an amazing jalapeño soup/stew and have been dreaming about having it again it ever since!  Here's Noah outside before dinner:

The next morning, I went for my morning walk along Old Route 66.  Tucumcari is like a real-life museum of old motels and curio shops from the hey-day of the famous highway.  Here are just a couple of the cool photos I took that morning:

Our next stop was the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona.  We stopped there for dinner in The Turquoise Room.

The La Posada Hotel was one of the last Harvey Houses to be built.  It was opened in 1930 and closed in 1957.  Since it closed, the building passed through many hands, and was almost demolished, but luckily was saved and restored.  The dining room looks out at the railroad tracks.  If you'd like to read more about this awesome building, check it out here:
http://laposada.org/history/

The final stop on this trip was Montezuma's Castle near Camp Verde, Arizona south of Flagstaff.  We'd tried to visit the previous December during our Christmas trip to Sedona, but unfortunately, it had been closed due to the government shut-down.  Bummer!  But this time, we were able to get in and finally see the cliff dwellings:

Archaeologists believe this dwelling was built sometime between 1100 and 1350 A.D. by the women of the (so-called) Sinagua Indians (you go, girls!)  Anyway, as always, I was awed by these ancient ruins.  The stories these places could tell!!  I'd love to hear them!

Well...that was it for our Texas roadtrip of 2019.  I had a spectacular time & am looking forward with great anticipation to the Texas roadtrip of 2020 scheduled for this coming April.

Happy Trails to all,
Buckskin Lily

South American Odyssey: Chile

Greetings, readers!  (All two of you!)  After Argentina, the grand South American cruise continued on to Chile.  Our first port of call in that long, skinny country was Punta Arenas which we visited on March 1st.  The weather continued cold and rainy, but that didn't dampen our spirits.  After disembarking the ship, we decided to walk to the Salesian Museum.  We spend an hour or so looking at the exhibits which seemed to me like a collection of various priests' taxidermy and rock collections!  LOL!  (You've never seen such moth-eaten animal mounts in your life!  The poor things!)  Anyway, after we left the museum, we stopped at a little cafe that had caught Noah's eye (roasting chickens & racks of ribs in the window).  He ordered an empanada, and I ordered an avocado and tomato sandwich (I'd been going through avocado withdrawls for awhile as there were no avocados on the ship!)  I was expecting something along the lines of a small Subway sandwich, but this is what I got instead!!  It was actually quite delicious (the tomatoes were vine-ripe and incredibly tasty, especially compared to the nearly-green tomatoes we'd been eating on the ship).  I ended up eating 3/4ths of it.  YUM!!

Buckskin's gigantic Chilean sandwich

The rest of that port stop involved wandering the streets, looking into shops, and going to the super market to buy strawberries and avocados to take back on board with me.

The next day, March 2nd, was spent cruising through the many channels that  make up the southernmost parts of South America.  Around 5:00 p.m. we cruised past the Amalia Glacier.  Here is a photo of it taken from our cabin's balcony.

Amalia Glacier, Chile

Next stop was Puerto Chacabuco, Chile on March 4th.  Here we hopped onto an independent tour with a few other passengers and took what we now refer to as the bridges and waterfalls tour.  First stop was the Puente Aysén which the guide compared to The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (though it did have a few less spans!)

Puente Aysén

From there, we visited our first waterfall, the Cascada La Virgen, complete with a shrine to the Virgin Mary. 

Buckskin at Cascada La Virgen

Buckskin at shrine to the Virgin Mary

We were then taken on a long drive to the city of Coyhaique where we stopped at the Puente Piedra del Indio over the Río Simpson.  The bridge is very narrow and only one car is allowed to cross it at a time.  A rock formation over the river looks like the face of an Indian & that's how the bridge got its name.  You can see the formation above my head in this first photo, and better in the close up in the second photo.

Buckskin on the Puente Piedra del Indio in Coyhaique, Chile

Face of the Indian

After that, we  were taken to the center of Coyhaique and given about 20 minutes to browse the craft fair.  However, Noah was hungry and wanted an empanada, so I asked the driver for a recommendation.  He walked us a few blocks to a place called the Casino de Bomberos which turned out to be a tiny cafe tucked behind the local fire station.  It was packed with people, and we purchased two empanadas to go.  They were amazing!  We munched as we walked, and by the time we got back to the van, we had a parade of street dogs following us hoping for a bite to eat!

Back in the van, we commenced our long drive back to port with a stop at Bridal Veil Falls for a look at one more waterfall.  It was a slippery, muddy hike up to the falls, but well worth it.  This waterfall reminded me of Victoria Falls in Glacier National Park in Montana.  And just like our visit to that waterfall, Noah made me pose with it.  Of course there was tons of spray, combined with a good stiff wind which ensured I was soaking wet by the time we got finished.  But we did get a good photo!!

Bridal Veil Falls

Buckskin takes a shower in Bridal Veil Falls

Back in port, we took a quick look into the craft fair where I bought a cute amagurimi doll from a lady & then it was back on-board to to dry off & warm up!

 The following day, March 5th, we arrived at Puerto Montt.  Noah said he wasn't up for another long day being driven around in a van or taxi, so we opted to wander the city looking at the sights.  As we'd done in Punta Arenas, we found a supermarket and purchased some more avocados and a jar of Chilean honey.  We spent a good deal of time walking the streets in the city center.  I bought some wonderful strawberries from a street vendor and Noah had a middling empanada at a bar, so I could use their restroom.  We ended up having lunch at this charming restaurant we discovered up an alley in the fish market.  The proprietress fried us a delicious merluza (hake) fish filet which was served with mashed potatoes and some very tasty bread.  It was more than enough for two!

Cocineria Quinllen

Noah with our merluza lunch

Next port was San Antonio, still in Chile, and again, we decided to just wander around town.  Here we walked along the boardwalk where we saw a group of sea lions lounging on the sand.  However, as soon as we spotted them, a pack of street dogs chased them into the water!  Bad doggies!  Next we visited the mall, then walked along the city's two main streets.  As it was getting hot & I wasn't feeling my best, we wound things up early and headed back to the ship.

Buckskin at San Antonio, Chile

Our final stop in Chile was the port of Coquimbo which we visited on March 8th.  I had been up half the night with a very bad stomach (the ship food was really taking it's toll on my digestive system!)  But by the afternoon, I'd rallied enough to head out with Noah to explore the dock area which included both a fish and craft market.  We purchased some alpaca hoodies (one for me & one for a friend), and moseyed through the fish market where they were selling some amazing-looking ceviches.  And where a woman tried to pick Noah's pocket! It was a fail!

Coquimbo fish market

Coquimbo fish market 2

We met some very smart critters that day, too.  A happy street dog who was playing in the water with some kids, and an intrepid kitty who lived in the fish market.

Dog & pirate ship at Coquimbo

Scratchy's brother at fish market in Coquimbo, Chile

As we were heading back to the ship, we stopped to listen to this gentleman playing the pan flute.  Back on board our ship sailed for Peru, ending our time in Chile.

Pan flute player

Until next time,
Love,
Buckskin Lily