Go West Young Man 8 - (UFO's, Aliens and Toasted Buns)

     We are in the great city of Roswell NM. The day started out with a bike ride at Spring River Bike and Hike trail. Here are some links to points of interest; http://www.roswellmysteries.com/index.aspx?pk=2, http://www.cleananpress.com/roswell/spring.htm  . This was a great way to begin the day. After the ride we went to the post office to mail some cards and see what else was in store. Then it was time to visit the "Area 51" / "Alien" museum.

THIS IS THE UFO and ALIEN PART

Not being a great fan of Science Fiction I kind of dreaded this museum visit but actually found it interesting. There were recordings of the original radio broadcasts on local radio, the front pages of the local newspapers, and all sorts of things to look at, to read and to listen to. The most interesting was the UFO identification chart. All things were determined by the US Government to be weather balloons.
Below are some links that may be of interest and a few of  the photos we took at that museum as well as a street scene or two. here are links to crash site information; http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11159, http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11160

A model of the impact of the UFO into what is now known as Area 51

 Here are a couple of links to the historical data on this incident;
First from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident
Then the Roswell UFO Museum http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/
An alien autopsy, sounds spooky or should one say spacy? http://theshadowlands.net/alien.htm

Poor alien, being prodded and probed.

Perhaps we should include what is claimed to be the comments of someone once important;
http://www.crystalinks.com/roswell.html

What we have here is a fantastic specimen -
the question is whether the "spook" or G-man on the left or the doctor on the right is the proper specimen.

Where would we be without including a link to the FBI's vault of old cases; http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fbi-vault-reveals-ufo-roswell-files/story?id=13347754

As you can see they are really small fellows and appear rather friendly.

The flying skills of the aliens obviously leave much to be desired.
Here is a UFO that crashed into front of the museum.
According to the US Air Force it is actually an "untethered weather balloon".

A FEW OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST

    Roswell's claim to fame is not limited to the Alien crash and all the "hoopla" associated with this. Roswell was at one time an important city on the Chisum Trail. The link here has a nice piece of audio attached so when you hit it, pause the player on this blog; http://deestory.homestead.com/chisum.html

and here is another good link to some of the history of the Old West http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/People/JohnChisum-CattleKingofth.html.

     We did of course take a picture of John Chisum's statue located in Roswell

This is obviously a true Texas Longhorn, although not made out of hide.

     The next photo is almost a study in contrast, as it is a photo of the mighty Pecos River as it flows just East of Roswell.

It is hard to believe this muddy stream is actually the mighty Pecos.

For contrast see photo below.

This is what everyone expects the Pecos River to look like.

THIS IS THE TOASTED BUNS PART



    On our bicycles we have some rather comfortable seats with gel pads for cushioning of the lower regions. As this is being written, 6 years after the trip in question, these gel pads have seen better days, and on one of the bike seats they are completely gone. This is what the remaining seat pads look like today and as can be seen the pads are missing on the adjacent seat;

     One of the attractions of the Roswell area is a New Mexico State Park named "Bottomless Lakes", the name apparently being coined by the cowboys of bygone years. Folklore has it that the cowboys would drop ropes down into the lakes trying to see how deep they were, but it appears that the ropes never reached bottom. What the good old cow pokes did not realise was that the lakes are in fact the visible portion of an underground river with a fairly strong current and the ropes were being carried horizontally by the current not too far below the surface.

     Norma and I went to visit these lakes and parked the car in the designated parking area as we were going to bike the trail around the lakes - good idea, good exercise, good for the heart, fresh air and so on.

     As our bikes were being carried in a rack on the back of the car the seats were of course exposed to the New Mexico sun which can be brutal. We got the bikes off, dusted them off and after making sure we had sufficient water, mounted the bikes for a good ride - SIZZLE - SIZZLE - OUCH - YIKES - OH (@%A$&*)STUFF . Much to our very unpleasant surprise, the gel pads acted as sponges for the heat of the sun.

The remedy was to cool the seats of with a bit of water, refill the water containers and then do our biking. Here are a few photos from the area;

      Here are some links to Bottomless Lakes State Park; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottomless_Lakes_State_Park, http://newmexico.org/explore/state_parks/bottomless.php,

http://www.stateparks.com/bottomless_lakes.html and those that are so inclined can get a lot more information just by "googling" Bottomless Lakes New Mexico.

      Thus ended a fine day, looking forward for a cool place to sit.

     

Go West Young Man (7)

     The journey continues, but now actually not quite in a westerly direction because the destination for the day is Roswell (space alians, etc.). But a couple of stops where made on the way. The first one at The Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, though not actually a required stop on the mission trail, there is some limited history available and a nice statue of Juan Diego. The link below is from research done by a member of the faculty of Marquette University.
http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/NativeGuide/NM/W-368.pdf

The Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mesilla NM

The statue of Juan Diego with the Tilma

    The church was not open, or at least we did not find any unlocked doors, so we continued our journey now generally in an direction of North East.
    The next stop was obviously White Sands National Monument, this spot of pure white "sand" covering 275 square miles (176,000 acres) or 710 square kilometers (71,225 hectares). While I was stationed at Oro Grande back in the early part of 1967 I wanted to go there but we were not permitted to leave our base since we were training on a top secret weapon, but one could read about it in then current issues of Popular Mechanic.
     What follows below are pictures from White Sands National Monument and some links with additional information.

White Sands National Monument Park Headquarters

Park headquarters.

Our trusted Subaru Forester in the middle of the White Sands

Norma, not at the beach, but in the desert of New Mexico

No beach anywhere close, but lots of whiete sand.
Trying to keep my stomach from protruding into the picture.

A sea of White Sand all around us.

Note the wind pattern in the sand.

The obligatory photo of the Yucca siting in the sand.

This link is from the National Park Service and has links to a wealth of information about the Monument.
http://www.nps.gov/whsa/siteindex.htm
Here is another link from the NPS http://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm
A link to Wikipedia's information about the park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument
Last but not least a link to some great photographs from White Sands.
https://www.google.com/search?q=White+Sands+photos&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADSA_enUS388US390&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Hl05T4b2EaLo2QXn74iUAg&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=540

    We now take leave of White Sands on begin a journey up through the Sacramento Mountains http://newmexico.org/learn/geology/sacramentos.php, having gone through Alamagordo, on our way to Cloudcroft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudcroft,_New_Mexico
     Our first stop on the way up was at San Augustin Pass, elevation 5,710 feet / 1,740 meters above sea level, in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains this is on the level of ant hills.

At San Augustin Pass, elevation 5,710 feet / 1,740 meters above sea level.

Looking on some direction, but I do not remember which, from the San Augustin Pass.

     We arrived in Cloudcroft, an nice little town, but it appears that we were not happy with the photos from Cloudcroft, because none were saved, so here are some links to additional information and links to various photos; http://www.cloudcroft.net/photos-2/, http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g46989-Cloudcroft_New_Mexico.html, https://www.google.com/search?q=cloudcroft+new+mexico&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADSA_enUS388US390&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NmY5T_zYMamg2AXPqpy9Bw&ved=0CGUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=540


     It was time for something to eat and feeling a bit homesick for Texas we found a small restaurant named Texas Pit Bar B Q and here we ate. We walked around town for a bit and took photos. The weather is very pleasant, having come out of the desert below, and here it is only 79 degrees F (26 degrees F).
      Leaving Cloudcroft again we wind our way down the mountains, with beautiful vistas; valleys, canyons and lots and lots of pine trees. 
     Tired after a long day we arrive in Roswell at the La Quinta and check in for the night. We have now driven 1,149 miles / 1,850 km since we left home. More about Roswell and the alians in the next post about the journey West.

Go West Young Man (6)

     The lessons of life are always very educational, particularly when one has not taken the time to do the homework or study ahead of the "test", this became very apparent on this particular day.
     We began the day early, having the usual "free" Continental Breakfast consisting of hard boiled eggs (it is a good thing we were rather active on this trip or our cholesterol levels would have skyrocketed), coffee, orange juice, bagels sans lox but with cream cheese, waffles. Then off to Mass at 7 AM at Saint Pius X Catholic Church which we found close to the hotel the evening before. Being the skeptic of the day, and seeing the name of the church I was wondering it this was a church of the Society of Pius X, in other words, not in communion with the See of Peter. My skepticism was unfounded as in small letters on the marquis it stated "Diocese of El Paso". The presider at Mass was an Columban priest from Australia, who is current a parish priest across the river in Ciudad Juarez, in Mexico. It was rather interesting to hear the bilingual Mass being said in Spanish and English - both with an Australian accent.
    After Mass we had the intention of taking the tram up to the Franklin mountain trail, and this is where the part of doing the homework comes in. We get to the gate and see a sign that the tram is closed for the day, and we are not aware of any other way of getting up there. There are actually several other ways, but we didn't know that (homework or the lack thereof).
    It is an area that should be explored if the opportunity presents itself, but first do the homework. Here are some links to the Franklin Mountains park area and trail. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/franklin/
http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/N_Franklin_Mountain_2320.asp
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=BGS133-001
http://texastrails.org/traildetail.cfm?id=513
     As a result of this oversight on our part we decided to continue the journey rather than wait until tomorrow. We are still on the mission trail pursuit and so we pack up and leave El Paso heading west into New Mexico. But here is an important side note - somewhere along the way while looking at the map of New Mexico Norma notices the city of Roswell. Since she likes science fiction and stuff of that sort, all sorts of bells go off, "area 51", "aliens", "UFO's", and all of this in Roswell. Our itinerary is changed a bit to spend the night in Roswell so we can see all the strange things that are there. She is so lucky to have a husband that doesn't mind, even if he is not much into this kind of "stuff".
     We enter New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment" just after 10 AM (MST) and stop at the "Welcome Center" and pick up some information and take a few picks.

At the State of New Mexico Welcome Center just off of Highway 10

The State of New Mexico Welcome Center - note mesquite fence and old wagon in the back, as well as adobe building.

     Shortly after leaving the Welcome Center we turned off of Hwy 10 and onto NM hwy 28 toward the town of Mesilla. On the way there we drive through an area full of Pecan plantation, and come to a sign that states this is one of the largest pecan plantations in the world. We stopped and took some pictures driving through this tunnel of trees, but somehow I must have deleted them, because they are not in the file of the trip. The plantation is Stahlmann's somewhere between Las Cruces and Mesilla.  Here are some links to Mesilla.
http://www.oldmesilla.org/
http://www.oldmesilla.org/html/history_of_mesilla.html
http://www.oldmesilla.org/html/events_calendar.html
http://www.mesilla.com/
http://newmexico.org/explore/regions/southwest/mesilla.php
     Mesilla's claim to fame is a young man generally known as "Billy the Kid", and here are some links to information about the Kid.
http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/fact_vs_myth.htm
http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWbonney.htm
     There were also some rather heavy "range wars" between various cattle baron factions.
      Here are some of our photos from Mesilla.

Just a street view

As said previously, I am fascinated by interesting gates and doors. This one to a private yard.

We are now in the "Wild West", the side walk.

This building housed the courtroom where Billy the Kid was sentenced.

A wanten poster of Billy the Kid.

Another street view.

Good looking really Western "flavor" building.

    Future posts will have the remainder of this interesting day.

Fame, but not fortune!

     Once in great while one will receive recognition for work well done. Such was the case a bit over a month ago. Our local ABC affiliate did a short special (all of about 3minutes) on one of the ministries I am involved in as a deacon, Apostleship of the Sea at The Houston International Seafarer Center. Aside from the fact that they, (ABC), mistakenly identified me as someone else and that poor person was given my identity, it was a fairly good piece.
     Considering the potentially long lines, autographs will be signed between 4:00 and 4:01 PM (16:00 - 16:01) every Wednesday at a location still to be determined.

Houston Seafarers Ministry delivers gifts to thousands of seamen to open on Christmas Day | abc13.co

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=8473128

     Here is a link the Houston Seafarer Center Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Houston-International-Seafarers-Centers-Inc/111532042278376

Cauliflower

     We are two days from the end of the month of January. We have had a couple of really good rains in this part of Texas. One news caster called the first rain, which gave us over 5" (13 cm) one day and another of about 2 1/2" (6 1/2 cm) on another day, a complete draught buster and we certainly hope so. This kick started the slow growing cauliflower and yesterday we harvested the first head which weighed in at 34 oz (2 lbs 2 oz / 1 kg). It will be part of dinner this evening.

The cauliflower head (bloom) still on the plant.

The cauliflower head next to a broccoli head

     Today I harvested our remaining crop of red beets and will pickle the lot in a few days.
I am sure the pickles are not as large as those that will grow in more temperate climates but they aren't bad for this part of the country.

This are truly "fresh from farm to table" beets

Now we just need the help to wash the soil off so the pickling process can be begun.

     The last batch of beets pickled date from May 2011 and there are only 5 jars left.

A Look at the Vegetable Garden

     Today is January 20, 2012 and the last time we visited the garden was on December 7th. The broccoli has grown rather well and we are now harvesting heads as needed for our meals. The cauliflower is growing but seems to be rather slow.
     Here are a few photos of the broccoli.

This of course is a totally un-biased opinion but this is good looking broccoli.

Some of the heads are 8" from edge to edge.

For those working in mm, cm, m and km the same measurement is almost 20 cm.

    Bon appetit.

Go West Young Man (5)

     As this is being written I am listening to Radio Paloma, a German radio station streaming music of the "good old schlager" kind, presently Kristina Back's "Reden Ist Silber Und Küssen Gold" is playing. This station is streaming constantly without commercial interruptions. Knowing German is a great help, but not essential if one likes good music set to good orchestration, something we could wish for quite often on this side of the Atlantic. Do a Google search for radio paloma, then click on "Radio Paloma - 100% Deutschter Schlager." In that window in the upper right hand section click on "starten" and a smaller window will open, again, click on "starten". You may then close your tab for Radio Paloma and sit back and enjoy the music.
Schlager is a particular genre of German music, literally translated it means"hit(s)", but not in the sense of a hit being the hit today or this week or this month, but literally a hit, and hits are timeless. Part of the lure of the hit is the actual "hit" or the beat, which drives the music, sometimes it sounds a bit like disco.
      The El Paso Mission Trail has an interesting history which I will not bore you with here except to provide the links to the proper information. This link has a short but rather concise write up of the history of the trail which begins in El Paso TX and ends in Santa Fe NM http://www.epcounty.com/history/missiontrail.htm
     My first encounter with El Paso was back in my youth, when one was not nearly as wise as one likes to think one was at the age of 21. I was serving in the US Army and volunteered in early 1967 for an anti- aircraft missile school reported to be at Fort Bliss El Paso (think young man here with a vivid imagination and knowing that Ciudad Juarez is just on the other side of the river). Things didn't quite work out the way imagined, when the bus arrived at Fort Bliss we were loaded into Army buses and driven what seemed like  hours into the New Mexico Desert finally arriving at some little bump in the road named Oro Grande where the school was located. There we learned to shoot airplanes out of the sky with little shoulder fired heat seeking missiles named the "Red Eye". Well this blog is not about the desolation of Oro Grande; 1 mess hall, 2 barracks, 2 class rooms, cactus, scorpions, a rattler or two and not much else.
     Other good links with information about the El Paso del Norte Mission Trail are: ttp://www.elpasomissiontrail.com/.
     After completing the check in at the hotel, and we prefer La Quinta as they are reasonably priced, have clean rooms and by the standards of our country a fair Continental Breakfast, by the way I think all people and companies that advertise a continental breakfast should spend about 4 weeks in Europe travelling from place to place eating Continental breakfast. They would much improve what is offered here. The worst continental breakfast I have seen was in a small place in the middle of nowhere Mexico, in the State of Tamaulipas, and if I remember correctly in the small town Tomasena. The continental breakfast table was set in the lobby (a stretch of the imagination) and consisted of a few cups, one teaspoon, a pot of hot water, a jar of instant coffee, a jar of sugar, a loaf of white bread and a jar of jelly with one knife provided to spread the jelly. But that is stuff for another posting. Somehow I got off topic here for a bit, allow me to return.
    After checking in at the hotel ... we headed out to visit the missions, and remember all of these are still active parishes, as a matter of fact they may be the oldest continuing parishes in the United States. First we  went to the Chapel of Presidio Elizario, which dates back to 1684. This date is about 64 years after the Pilgrims arrived on Plymouth Rock. Here is a photo from in front of this mission as we deliberately did not take any photos inside as there were people gathered there praying.


The chapel at the Presidio Elizario (The Presidio is no more but the chapel stands)

One can almost feel the "Old West" here on the sidewalk,
we are just waiting for a tumbleweed or two to come rolling down the street.

Huge interesting door into - no not the saloon.

Howdy pardner - where's your horse?

     San Elizario holds an interesting historical place. It was at San Elizario that the "First Thanksgiving" in what is now the US took place on April 30th, 1598, say that would be 22 years before the Pilgrims left England / Holland and came across the ocean. Why is this little tidbit not in our history books or taught in our schools?
The community of San Elizario has an interesting history -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Elizario,_Texas

     The next stop was at Socorro Mission which is just up the road a few miles from San Elizario but before getting there we had to stop and shoot a picture of a house, wall and gate; I am just fascinated with interesting houses, walls and gates, particularly when adobe brick is used in the construction. It looks so "Southwest".

At Socorro Mission we managed to take a picture inside the mission and I was invited to participate / con- celebrate (in the truest sense of the word con-celebrate) the Mass but unfortunately our schedule did not permit it on this day as the hour was getting late and storm clouds were gathering on the horizon, and we still had one more mission to see.

A most interesting and simple "bell tower"

Elegant in its simplicity

Mission Socorro with thunderclouds in the background.

     Here is a link to some of the history http://www.elpasomissiontrail.com/ and here is the link to Nation Park Service information http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/tx1.htm and last but not least Wikipedia's link to information on this mission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socorro_Mission.

      The last stop of the day was at Ysleta Mission which had a festival going on so we got to see the inside of the church as well as Indian dancers and for reasons of accuracy it should be noted that these "Indians" are not really Indians in the sense that we think of Indians of the Southwest. Most likely the dancers were Mestizo of Mexican origin and they are doing dances that relate how they were evangelized when the Franciscan missionaries first came to the New World.

A beautiful mission church with the parish administration bulding ruining the view. 

From a more pleasing angle.

The inside of the mission.



Youngsters in their "drug store" Indian costumes.



Watch out for that really pointed arrow and strong bow.

     Here is a link for more information on Ysleta Mission http://ysletamission.org/about/ and http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/tx3.htm

    Since we happened to be there during July we did witness some of the celebration of the three day festival
http://ysletamission.org/festival/ . Had we known the festival was taking place we would have scheduled more time in El Paso; lesson learned, do more homework.

The day ended with us having dinner at a just opened Brazilian restaurant that did not yet have its license to sell alcoholic beverages but which did provide complimentary beer, although I am sure the cost was covered somewhere within in the price of the meals. However, it was a good meal. A long enjoyable day with more than one memorable moment - beginning with my passing of an 18 wheeler probably loaded to the maximum, meaning a gross weight of about 80,000 lb and going uphill. I should feel so proud for doing that in our little 2.5 L 4 Cyl. Subaru Forester with all 173 HP doing their best.