While we were on the other side of the bay, another box on my "to do" list was to hike Mount Tamalpais. The mountain towers over the bay with breathtaking panoramic views. Tamalpais towers 2,576 ft from sea level. It's summit is part of Mount Tamalpais State Park.
We had a list of places we wanted to visit before leaving San Francisco. And then we left San Francisco. We tend overestimate how much time we really have. So, we have a list of unvisited points of interest. Top of the list is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model. Two years later, here we are.
After wandering through the wilderness, we return to the city where we first launched this journey. This time, we are only visitors to San Francisco but that didn't mean we lacked plenty of old haunts and new destinations.
We were looking for a place to sleep. There is no shortage of options along the California/Arizona border. Snowbirds flock to expansive RV parks for the warm weather. But we weren't interested in parking in a lot, staring into the windows of neighbors right next to us. No, we wanted something rugged and beautiful. We wanted the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
Some stops we plan. Others we do not. We were speeding along highway 8 to the California border so it was not as if we were anticipating any stops. Then I saw the sign for the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and we had to stop.
We raced through Texas. We have plans for that state for a little later in the winter. Right now, we have some people to see further west. For all the fury of travel, we do make a point to get out of the car each day. Today, that stop is along the very small wedge of New Mexico that is traced by the 10: the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
Back in Texas, we finally saw the sun and were treated to blue skies. Up until this point, we had traveled under constant cloud cover. At the beginning, I loved the moody atmosphere set by the clouds. But, after enough shots were abandoned due to the lack of any color at all, I was ready for some brilliant blue to set off my shots.
Cracklings are fried pork skin akin to pork rinds. They were chopped into greasy bitesized rectangles. When asked how much we wanted, we looked at each other questioningly. The woman behind the counter clarified: "in pounds."
Medicine may be one of the most expressive examples of how society has progressed and improved over time. Doctors have done a lot of crazy and down right dangerous things in the attempt to heal people, whether their malady is real or perceived. When I asked a doctor friend "at what point in history was visiting a doctor more likely to help the patient than harm?" he didn't have to think hard. He immediately replied: with the invention of penicillin.
The Great Gumbo Excursion was conceived at the House of Blues when we tasted their gumbo and wondered: is this legit? The broth was so brown, it seemed rice and sausage heavy with a shortage of shrimp and absence of other sea food. It was still delicious and the small appetizer bowl for $7 was an apt entry into the gumbo game. What else could we find and what other music? We had one night in New Orleans and we were going to spend it eating as much gumbo as we could.