Santa Fe & Tramway

We started our day at the visitor center.  They advised us to go and tour the capitol building and the art work that is displayed there.

We walked trough and enjoyed the art work in the capitol building.

This is the Rotunda.

This is a Kateri Tekakwitha 1656-1680 She is the first Indian of North America to be promoted to a Saint.

This is the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi and Saint Kateri stands in the left corner of the grounds. This church was built by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886 on the site of the old adobe church.

 

This is the small chapel on the North side that was kept from the old church.

Reredos with St. Francis surrounded by saints of the New World.

Central Park in Old Town Santa Fe.

Time to eat and this restaurant was recommended by someone who stopped to ask us if we needed some help. We were pouring over the map we got from the visitor center. I am glad we took his suggestion we had a wonderful lunch.

Our route home was on the west side of the mountain. We stopped at the Sandia Peak Tramway. What fun we had.

 

The top of the tram was up there in the cloud.

View from the tram.

Wonderful rock formations.

A tramway worker rides on top on his way home. What a way to travel.

Hidden Valley, Tijeras, NM

We got to Hidden Valley RV and it was nice to be in the trees again. Our first walk was up old Route 66.

We came across this car on one of our walks

We drove up Highway 14 to Sandia Crest, our first stop was the Sandia peak ski lodge.

We stopped and had a coffee break in the woods and tried to spot the birds we could hear signing.

We drove to the top where there are trails a gift shop small café and many antennas.

Walking the trails at this elevation is somewhat tiring. We did take this trail on a quest to see the Three-toed Woodpecker. Which we did not see.

When we talked to the rangers they recommended stopping at Capulin Springs and we found this great little spot with running water that the birds just loved. 

 

Here are some of the birds that we saw.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Chipping Sparrow

McGillivray’s Warbler, was the favorite. We just saw this bird for the first time at High Island Texas but this was a much better look at one and for a much longer time.

Fort Sumner, NM 6/9/2012

We left Lubbock, TX and the plan was to stay the night in Clovis NM but it was early when we got there so we went on and headed for Fort Sumner. We visited Billy the Kidd’s museum and the graveyard  where he is buried. We found a large parking lot to leave the motorhome while we went exploring.

Interesting museum and not just about Billy the Kid but about the area where he lived and died.

 

Barber Shop

Bunk House

Old Tractors

The Jail. Look who I caught trying out the facility.

Standard and Shell both popular brands.

Old cars and trucks.

The Saloon awaits.

We then drove over to the other museum and graveyard.

You notice this grave and stone are behind bars and the marker is encased in heavy metal bars. Evidently this gravestone is a favorite and it has been stolen twice. The first time was in 1950 and for 26 years it remained a mystery until 1976 when it was recovered in Granbury, Texas.

It was stolen again on 2/8/1981 and recovered on 2/12/81 in Huntington Beach, CA.

Gov. Bruce King arranged for De Baca County Sheriff “Big John” to fly to LA to return the marker.

Chamber officials with Jarvis P. Garrett officially reset the marker in iron shackles 5/30/1981.

Bay Landing TT

After leaving Nacogdoches and Foretravel our first stop was Bridgeport, TX. We are staying at Bay Landing.

Bay Landing is a very large park. We chose a 50 amp site near the activity center so it was an easy walk to the pool table.

They have A-frame cabins and on the other side they have duplex like cabins.

A gazebo with restrooms, electric for picnics and parties overlooks the lake.

The family lodge. They have pool tables there for the kids that are in pretty sad shape and coin operated.

Nice swimming pool area.

After walking around the park for a couple of days and not finding the building with the pool table we found out that the adult lodge burned to the ground and they have not started re-building yet.

Besides the access to Bridgeport Lake they have their own fishing pond.

Bridgeport Lake with the bridge we will take to head West.

A storm came through and tested the front for leaks, I am glad to report we have no leaks.

Next Stop Lubbock, TX for 1 night and fuel at Sam’s Club.

National Funeral Museum

5/17/2012 On one of my trips to Costco in Houston I passed a sign that pointed the way to a Funeral Museum. Our friends Vern & Linda are here so we decided to take a day trip and find this museum.

What an interesting place. They laid out the interior in different sections. Vern & Linda in the section saluting our servicemen.

Presidential funerals

Abe Lincoln was fully laid out

There was a section on the funerals of the Popes

A section on the Egyptians and their mummies.

This led to the section on embalming, how it started during the Civil War and the process they used (no photos of this).

They have one section that displays different types of coffins.

Behind the boat coffin is a chicken coffin a cow and this lovely fish. 

 

There was even a coffin built for 3.

The story was that this couple lost their baby and decided they couldn’t live without her so he was going to kill his wife then take his life. They had made arrangements to have the baby dug up and then all three were going to be buried together. The couple changed their minds and moved away. Strange story.

There was a great display of different types of hearses.

This was a Funeral Bus, It would carry the casket, the pallbearers, and 20 mourners. The bus was originally built on a Kelly Truck Chassis. Initially owned by a San Francisco funeral home it was climbing uphill to a cemetery when the weight of the aft section caused the bus to tip back. Pallbearers tumbled into the mourners and the casket overturned. The embarrassed funeral director removed it from service took it off the chassis and for next 40 years a ranch hand called it home. It has been restored to running condition on a Packard Chassis. The tires and wheels are original with tires made out of hard rubber.

This hearse was made out of hand-carved wood.

There is a new section that hadn’t opened yet that displayed the funerals and death of famous people.

We all really enjoyed this unique museum and now we are getting hungry. We stopped at PPL Motorhomes and both Dick & Vern bought a new TV antenna called a Jack to replace the batwing for local channels. Then onto The Haven for lunch. Linda had met the Chef on an Airplane to Dallas some time ago and he invited her to visit if they were ever in Houston. We had a great lunch of appetizers then drove around downtown gawking at the tall very strange looking buildings.