The Queen of the Missions
“…in point of beauty, plan, and strength…there is not a presidio…that can compare with it.” Father Morfi, 1777 I expect that most people don’t even know that what is probably the most famous Spanish missions, was even originally a mission. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Laurie and I have visited our share of churches […]
Walking into History: Fort Bowie, Arizona
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kanas anymore.” Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz A roadrunner, spooked by our Subaru, started racing us down the dirt road. He pulled ahead and after about 35 yards ducked under a barbed wire fence and disappeared across a field. A match against a roadrunner may be common […]
Our Classroom on the Road
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi On our journey across America we spend many hours in the car—and have cooked up some ways to use that time wisely. One thing we like to do is keep learning. Fortunately for us, our library system has an […]
The Pima Air and Space Museum and the Adventure that Wasn’t
“Man plans, God laughs.” Yiddish Proverb The Pima Air and Space Museum outside of Tucson, Arizona is a world class display of aviation history. There are thousands of stories inspired by that place. I could talk about the US Army Air Corps pilot who got credit for shooting down aircraft from Germany, Italy, Japan—and the […]
Stark Beauty
“We’re [on the] the corner of no and where.” Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly When we were hiking across Spain we often talked to Europeans about how great it was to have such a long and rich history in their countries. They talked about how big America was and the wide-open spaces. We are a […]
Attack on America
Trivia question: What state suffered the biggest attack by Japanese aircraft during World War II? Answer: Oregon I know many of you are thinking, “Hello! Haven’t you heard of Pearl Harbor which is in Hawaii?” But this is a trick question. Hawaii was only a territory during World War II. Besides, our journey across America doesn’t […]
Danger: Sea Lion Crossing
A great part of our journey across America has been learning about the interests and passions of our friends. When we hung out with Mark in the Sonoma, California area, he took us down to the Marine Mammal Center near Golden Gate Recreation area, right across from San Francisco. The center “is a nonprofit […]
Happy Trails, Charlie Brown
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas Shortly after I learned to read I started getting up early every Sunday to read the funnies, poring over each strip from Prince Valiant to Peanuts. One of my favorites has always been the latter which explores themes from the silly […]
The Northwest Rival of Route 66
“Ocian in view! O! the Joy” William Clark, Nov 7, 1805 If the Pacific Northwest has its own version of Route 66, it’s Highway 101 along the coast of Washington and Oregon. We’ve driven to southern Oregon and California many times, but it’s always been down the speedy and semi-sterile I-5 corridor. On Sunday, we […]
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