Top Ten Lists - Attractions

Roger here.... Continuing on with our top ten lists from our first five years of travel in the motor home, this post covers attractions that we have experienced.  The attractions tend to involve less time than the excursions from the last post,  but there are obvious shades of gray between the two categories.

1.  McDonald Observatory, near Fort Davis, Texas.

This facility, which is administered by the university of Texas, was fascinating.  We attended a special program that included dinner and a viewing through the 160-ton Harlan J. Smith reflecting telescope.  We were able to see an M-3 star cluster, as well as the rings of Saturn.  

Lots of telescopes here housed in their own special observatories.  Worth a return visit to this otherworldly mountaintop.





2 (tie).  Potash Road, along the Colorado River, near Moab, Utah.

Three adventures in one on this unexpected day.  We drove along the Colorado River on Potash Road in search of some roadside petroglyphs that we had read about.  We found them -- hundreds of them -- along a relatively long stretch of road.

Down the road a couple of miles we found fossils of dinosaur tracks.  (the two prints on the right side of the rectangular boulder)  I scrambled up the rubble to get a better look.

Further down the road we accidently discovered the movie props from the Disney movie, The Lone Ranger along with the star trailer camp for the cast and crew.

2 (tie).  Umpqua Lighthouse, near Winchester Bay, Oregon.

We took a guided tour of the lighthouse during the day.  

The red lenses were imported from France.

A return visit at night was most memorable.  We loved the way the beams of light reflected onto the surrounding trees.  Like dancing faeries!  --  D.

4.  Miami Metro Zoo.  Miami, Florida.

The day we spent at the zoo was very early in our travels.  We both still rate this as 

the finest zoo we have ever visited.  

5. Luckenbach, Texas.  Near Fredericksburg.

This is a mandatory stop when we visit the Hill Country of Texas.  It seems to be a pure Texas experience, at least to a Indiana boy like me.

It is a great place to take family and friends when they visit.  The pretty lil gal on the right is our daughter, Amanda.

The free live music, the very laid back people, and the Shiner (or Lone Star) Beer truly make this a not-to-be missed Texas experience.

Marfa Lights, Marfa, Texas.

Marfa is an isolated small town in West Texas.  The movie, Giant, with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor was filmed here.

It has a beautiful courthouse and town square.  However, the attraction for us was the mystery of the Marfa lights.  We were staying at nearby Davis Mountains State Park.  It was evening and I was ready for bed.  Dianne insisted that we go to the nearby viewing station in Marfa to see if we could get a glimpse of the controversial lights that appear and move on the horizon on an irregular basis.  There is documentation of Native Americans seeing them before the invention of the lightbulb.  I did not want to go.  I was sleepy.  It was time for bed.  You know who always wins these arguments :-).  What a mistake it would have been to go to bed!  The lights appeared that night.  The feeling that we both felt was surreal.  So glad we saw them.  Still don't know what we saw.

7.  (three-way tie).  Ojo Caliente, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico.

We needed a place to stay in an isolated part of northern New Mexico.  I found a mineral spa that happened to have a few RV sites.  We are not spa people, but we both agreed that this was fun.

There were several different natural hot springs as well as the mud bath that Dianne does not want people to see.  

What a relaxing place and an unexpected adventure.

7.  (three-way tie).  Wolf Park.  Battleground, Indiana.

Wolf Park is a research facility that schedules night howls for visitors.  These are handsome and intriguing creatures that live in a pack in a huge natural setting surrounded by fence.  The audience initiated the howling that the wolves responded to.   The park officials talked about the research being done while wandering through the pack.

7.  (three-way tie).  LBJ Ranch, near Johnson City, Texas.

We skipped this during our first visits to the Hill Country, but finally paid a visit.  We are so glad we did.  The Texas White House, shown above, truly was the location of much of the political world during the Johnson years.

The audio tour allowed us to travel through the expansive ranch and view many of the highlights of LBJ's youth and later presidency. Check out an early version of Air Force One.

The property remains a working ranch.  

10 (tie).  Powell's City of Books, Portland, Oregon.

This is the largest privately owned bookstore in the country.  It is housed in a multi-storied building in downtown Portland.  They sell both new and used books.  We spent quite a bit of time here with our daughters and granddaughter.  Had we not set a prearranged meeting time and place, we might still be browsing.

10 (tie).  River Walk.  San Antonio, Texas.

We have been here a few times and always love it.  The pictures in this post show our time with our granddaugher, Kaia (above)...

... and our daughters, Amanda and Robyn.  

Margarita time for the grown-ups.





HONORABLE MENTIONS:  too many great places not to include these.

United States Air Force Academy Chapel.  Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I was here as a child and wanted Dianne to see it.  I love architecture and this is an architectural classic.  

Loved the stained glass.

Duluth Harbor.  Duluth, Minnesota. 

Just one of those cool places... on the water with water barges, next to a huge lift bridge, a museum, restaurants, Duluth Trading Company, and ice cream.

Dania Beach,  between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida.

We spent an afternoon at the beach here so we could watch...

... the parade of cruise ships leave Fort Lauderdale.

The Desert Zoo.  Desert Hot Springs, California.

An excellent small zoo on the San Andreas Fault that features desert animals from across the world...

... appropriately to a desert zoo, it was a hot, hot day.

Astoria Column.  Astoria, Oregon.

We climbed to the top of this mural-covered Italianate structure with our friends, Jay and Nancy...

... and oh, the view.

The Running of the Ducks.  Peabody Hotel, Memphis, Tennessee.

The ducks take an elevator from the rooftop to the lobby every day...

.... and after a waddle on the red carpet they plop into the fountain in the lobby to spend the rest of the day.

11th Street Cowboy Bar.  Bandera, Texas.

Wow.  This doesn't look like much.  Why would people tell me to go here?

It sure isn't very big.  What are those things hanging from the ceiling?

Go out the back door?  Why would we go out the back door?

Oh my gravy, look at this huge place!  

We were here for a very short time with our friends, Chuck and Cindy.  Worth another visit when the musicians are on the stage.

The next top ten list will highlight our favorite tours.

Miami MetroZoo

Dianne here -- Yesterday we spent the day at the famous Miami Metrozoo.  It was incredible, as the photos will show.  All of you who know me personally and know what an animal lover I am, can just imagine the number of photos I took at the zoo!  I'll let Roger describe it in more detail as I'm worn out from just downloading them all!

First we made our morning trip to the dog park to wear out our "boys" so they would sleep while we were gone.  That being done, I turned Animal Planet on the TV for them (now that we have our cable channels) and zipped them into their crate. 

 The zoo was about  a 45-minute drive from our camp site.

  Just a note to all of Roger's co-workers who are following our adventure:  I know you remember how stressed out he was at work before he retired.  Check out some of his poses in the photos, and you will see that he has dropped his "grumpy old man" persona and has reverted to the playful Roger that I first met in 1970.  The transformation has been complete!!  :-)

Roger here...  Despite Dianne's comments about my playfulness, the practical side that my friends know is still very much entrenched.  I (with Dianne's input, of course) planned the visit on a weekday with record low temperatures to avoid the crowds.  I was right :-)  We had the place pretty much to ourselves, walking the six spacious miles on a beautiful, sunny, but chilly day (by south Florida standards).  At home in Indiana we would have considered the day balmy.  Please note the unnecessary playful risk that Dianne took with the hippo.  I tried to tell her that hippos are especially dangerous, but she did not listen.

The Metrozoo in Miami is without a doubt the best zoo I have visited.  The animals are all in the open in spaces that resemble their natural habitats, arranged logically by continents - appealing to my sense of order :-).  In most of the areas, it appears that you are walking right next to the animals without barricades.  In fact the animals are separated by deep trenches.  None of the animals are in cages.  Since it was not a hot day, many of them were very mobile.  It was great fun to wander from one area to the next and see the animals move and interact.  

Speaking of interacting, we timed a few of our arrivals perfectly.

  The zoo docent was feeding the three Bengal Tigers just as we arrived at that area. 

 She insisted that, by name, they sit in their assigned space before tossing them their snack of raw meat.

  We also were able to watch the dominant silverback male gorilla chase the other gorillas away from his drinking area.

  One of the younger gorillas climbed on his mother's back during their escape.

  I guess he wanted some privacy when he got his drink of water. 

 It was also fun to watch people feed lettuce to the giraffes.  You could walk right up next to them and look into their eyes - know that they were looking only at you and the food that they hoped you had.  

We saw many animals that I had never seen before, including a double-humped camel (huge)

 and an Indian Hornbill. 

 The hornbill, in the Asian aviary, (also very large and very strange looking) hopped from branch to branch and put on quite a show.  It was amazing that it was only a few feet away.  At the same location Dianne took a picture of a turquoise bird that had absolutely no fear of people.  We were able to walk to within a foot of it while it just watched us with curiosity. 

 Speaking of fear, the aviary was enclosed with netting - a good thing because high above several hawks circled the area hoping for a good meal.  I envisioned them thinking, "I am in the mood for some Chinese/Thai/Indian tonight."

One of my favorite areas was the Lemur exhibit.  The only place that they live is on the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa. 

 The sable lemur was beautiful with one of the richest reddish-brown coats I have ever seen on an animal, but my favorite was one of the ring-tailed lemurs.  I was able to imitate the call that it made.  It responded to me every time - what fun!

Dianne again -- As Roger mentioned, the zoo is arranged by continent:  Asia, Africa, Australia, and a new Amazon exhibit that shows great potential.   Don't let the six miles scare you away; there are lots of choices to get around.   We chose to hoof it on purpose, in the hope of burning a few calories.  There are some really nice pedal buggies you can rent (especially nice if you are traveling with young children) that looked like the proverbial "surry with the fringe on top" complete with bicycle bells to warn pedestrians that you're coming through.   There is also a monorail, a tram, and for those techie-types even a Segway rental.   The only Segways I saw out and about were with a guide, so not sure if folks can strike out on their own on a Segway or not.  If I wasn't on such a quest to get back into shape, the Segway looked like a lot of fun.

There weren't just bears, but sun bears and koala bears.  There weren't just elephants, but both Indian and African elephants.  There weren't just camels, but both dromedary and double-hump.  Not just zebras, but "cloud" zebras.  Not just monkeys, but chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, spider monkeys - the whole lot.  There were Australian singing dogs, hyenas, storks, geckos, and too many more to name.   If you get my point, this wasn't just a zoo, but an incredible zoo!!