Touring the Southwest

We went back on the road again on May 12.  The first day, we passed through Southern California and Arizona.  I saw a huge cactus called the Saguaro.  The following day we went to New Mexico.  The next three days were spent in Texas.  We saw amazing sights, and now I would like to share some amazing sights with you.

In Southern California, near the state line (off interstate 10), we saw robotic dinosaurs in a tiny town where it was over 100 degrees.  Those dinosaurs were huge!  The dinosaurs were taller than a house! In that same small town, we went to the General Patton Military museum, and we saw items from the Holcaust to World War II. The museum was really great, and I think that this would be a good experience for anybody to learn about our American history. There were tanks outside, so I took some pictures of them.

There were a LOT of wind turbines, and they were in front of us and behind us, as we exited California on the way to Arizona.  When we got to Arizona, we went to the OK Corral in Tombstone, where the famous battle of the west was held.  The 30 second gun battle featured lawmen Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holiday and outlaw cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom Lowery.  We saw a statue of Wyatt Earp, the leader of the Earps (below).

We went to New Mexico after we left Arizona, and we went to the Farm Museum in Las Cruces.  At the Farm Museum, there were Native Americans praying and singing.  They asked the Great Creator for a blessing by looking to the four directions and praying.  Later, the Catholic Bishop offered a prayer for the land and animals.  Our family had a guided tour given by a volunteer who talked about each farm animal and what their purpose is on the farm.  One thing my sisters did was to talk to a Native woman who was spinning on a loom.  She and some others with her explained how the lamb was sheered and the wool was taken to the loom and spun into yarn.  We felt the wool and it was super soft.  Outside the museum was a blacksmith with his creations for sale.  Inside the Farm Museum, my mother met a Navaho man named David who carves all his own art and jewelry for sale.  She bought a necklace from him.  Inside, there were exhibits on customary ways the Southwestern Indian lived hundred of years ago.  They also had a special show of Ballet Folklorico dancers in the theater.


Thirty minutes after leaving the Farm Museum, we arrived in Texas, where there are only two radio stations on the highway.  We drove straight to San Antonio to spend time with my mother's friend.  Unfortunately, my mother's friend caught a contagious rash from one of the patients in the medical practice that she works in so we couldn't visit.  Instead, we went to Calaveras Lake Park, a pretty campsite.  The bad news there was that we were attacked by mosquitoes.   The next day, while I studied at a nearby Starbucks, my sisters visited the Children's Museum, which has hands on activities in science:  understanding wind motion, connecting circuits in electrical design, developing buildings that can withstand earthquakes, and things like that

Today we are in Corpus Christi.  We visited the nearby beach in Port Aransas, where the water was as warm as bath water.  My sisters and mother went boogie boarding while I worked on my math (boo).  It was pretty unique that my mother went swimming and boogie boarding.  My sister said she didn't even know my mother could swim.  My mother says she plans to swim all summer as long as we are in warm waters.  She said she used to surf and scuba all the time but she doesn't like the cold waters of Northern California.  So, she said she might even surf for us when we get to Florida.  Wow!  So, here are some pictures as evidence that my mother actually can swim.  If I get lucky, maybe I'll get some of her surfing later in the summer, too.

My mother hopes that her friend is well enough and not contagious anymore so that we might visit her tonight.  Either way, we are off to Louisiana next, where we plan to visit New Orleans.  I am taking my online math final this week so I will let my sister write the next blog for me to tell you about New Orleans.  Bye for now!