These photos are from a trip I took to Portland Oregon. Unfortunatety it was for business so I didn’t get to get out much.
El Paso, Texas & Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
I wanted to take my Girlfriend and her boys to Carlsbad Caverns since none of them had been. I had been there once before. Since her sister lived in El Paso we decided to visit here for a day and go to Carlsbad the next day. I had never been to El Paso before and was expecting a dirty run down city. Being so close to the Mexico border and Juarez, Mexico. What I found there was a city bigger than Albuquerque and very historic.
The trip down Interstate 25 from Albuquerque to El Paso has nothing interesting to see. But it only takes about 4 hours. In El Paso you can see Mexico from the freeway. The Rio Grand is the border between Mexico and the US, and the river isn’t that wide at the border. Looking at the Mexican side of the border you see a lot of brightly painted houses and small streets. I can imagine what the US side looks like to the Mexicans with our tall buildings for shopping and industry. As if were mocking them with our prosperity.
We did not go into Juarez and the people we met there hadn’t been either/ They mostly told me that there wasn’t much there unless you want to go and party. On the next visit I don’t plan to go either. However on the next trip I hope to stay longer and check out the more historic parts of down town El Paso. On our way out of town there was a border patrol stop. It was interesting that it was there as it was. I wonder if they have one on every exit out of town. They just asked us if we were all Americans and then sent us on our way. It was a mostly boring ride down highway 62/180. But there was some interesting parts like Salt Flat, TX the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. El Captain is visible along the drive. Along the drive I saw quite a few abandoned gas stations and hotels. I often see them along I-40 when I drive to Arizona. I suppose there was a time in the early 1900’s that cars were less capable and it took longer to get from place to place so people needed to stay at hotels along the way.
The Caverns are just south of Carlsbad New Mexico. Prices are reasonable at the cave and they don’t charge for parking. It’s a long into the main part of the cave, half of which is just walking down. But don’t worry there’s is a elevator to take you back up. Bats live in the cave. At night there is a sitting area where people can watch the mass exodus. We did not stay to see that.
The drive back was the most horrible. I figure it takes 6 hours to get to Carlsbad going south of it via El Paso. There are no major high ways into Carlsbad and going north you have to take smaller state roads where the speed limit is 55-65 MPH. This makes a big difference on how long it takes and it must have taken us 9 hours to get back. Our route was north to Roswell the west to I-25. Since you pass through many towns along the way that slows you down even more, and just before we reached I-25 it seems like we had been driving for ever. Which we had. These sort of trips remind me that there was a time when people rode horse through this country with no road or stops along the way. There was some stuff to look at along the way and they were thinking I was lost. I kept assuring them I wasn’t lost, it just was taking a long time.
Lincoln New Mexico was in between Roswell and i-25. I had no idea this place even existed. There is a It is certainly a historic town, nestled in the middle of Lincoln Nation Forest. This National Forest is the birthplace of Smokey the Bear. If we ever go to Carlsbad again, for my Family’s sake I will drive south through El Paso
2003 Disneyland Vacation Trip Report
The people who work at and run Disneyland are certainly the most courteous, friendly and attentive people I have met. I have been to other theme parks where the employees couldn’t care to give you the time of day. That alone sets Disneyland apart from the rest.
They have an area called Downtown Disney. Its full of shops and restaurants and does not require admission to the park to enter. It’s in between the Disneyland Hotel, The Grand California and the entrances to the parks. I sure they created this area to get people to enter the part by giving people at Conventions something to do if they stay at their hotels. It has a Rainforest Cafe, a ESPN Zone restaurant (Don’t forget ESPN is owned by ABC which is owned by Disney), a House of Blues. Plus a ton of shops including a Lego Store that I really liked. Like all food at the park its expensive. A meal at the Wetzels Pretzels in Downtown Disney for the 4 of us including 1 pretzel and 1 pretzel hot dog would have cost at least $40,00! Thats without a drink.
I always remember getting on the Monorail right from the Hotel. To get on it you have to walk some distance into Downtown Disney. According to an employee there they knocked down a bunch of buildings between the hotel and the monorail so maybe at some point you could. Speaking of the Monorail, I have to say I was pretty disappointed with it. Sure in 1955 it was high tech but even today it could be. I feel though that its underutilized. It does go through the front of the California Adventure (cross the Golden Gate Bridge) and goes right through the Grand California Hotel, but doesn’t stop anywhere. It only go through Tomrrowloand. THey should make the Monorail the transportation system of Disneyland.
Speaking of Tomorrowland, it was apparently renovated in 1998 but wasn’t that impressive. I would say they still have some work to do. Space Mountain was closed until 2005 (for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary). I’ll be interested to see what they do to it. There is a weird little ride that use to run through TomorrowLand (replacing the Wedway people movers) called the Rocket Rods which opened in 1998 only to be closed in 2000 for “electrical problems” or so I was told by one of the employees. The Submarine Voyage was removed, so there is just a big pool of water there. There is a large attraction called “Innoventions”, but to me just seemed like advertisments for the companies that had attractions there. Star Tours and Honey I Shrunk The Audience was cool. Overall I was pretty disapointed in Tomorrowland. It didnt seem to offer much.
We did ride the classics, including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Both good rides that are as good as the day the were put in. New rides for me was the Indiana Jones ride. Very good and was like being in a movie. Big Thunder Railroad was a good roller-coaster. The Jungle Cruise was good. We couldn’t figure out where the line was for the Matterhorn.
We didn’t do A Small World. Seems good for the kiddies and was looking a bit dated. Mickey’s Toon Town was actually pretty interesting even though it seemed for the kiddies too.
Finally onto the California Adventure. This park looked brand new and everything was working unlike Disneyland. Yet for some reason there weren’t as many people there as were at Disneyland. The California Adventure looks more like a theme park somewhere other than Disney, which might explain it. Not a lot of Disney stuff around.
The Hollywood Studios Back-lot was cool. Looked like a “movie town set”. They had a Muppets show there that looked just like theater that was on the TV show with the hecklers in the balcony and the penguin orchestra. If you liked the Muppets then this is a must see. There is also a place called Disney Animation. That was pretty interesting also as it had a nice show on how they choose characters for their movies and other interactive exhibits.
There was a flight themed area with a IMAX like theater that took you flying over California. THere were moving seats and air and smells that made you feel like you were flying.
The most noticeable was the California Screamin’ roller-coaster. A very smooth ride that pulled a lot of G’s. I was dizzy every-time I came off this ride.
You can view all the pictures on Flickr.
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