San Jose – Alamogordo

30 April –  8 May

Saturday:

Our flight to San Jose is a little under 5 hours.  We knew we wanted to fly to somewhere on the West coast and San Jose was the one place we could get fairly cheap, direct flights.  We arrive at 11pm (having lost 3 hours, putting us at 8 hours behind UK time) and pick up a car.  We stop at the first dodgy motel we see (it’s not really dodgy, but all motels look dodgy at midnight) and then head to the 24hr Dennys across the street to grab a late bite to eat. 

Sunday:

We struggle a little getting up this morning as our bodies are still 3 hours behind, but we manage get going reasonably early.  We’re heading to Monterey, about an hour and a half away on the coast.  On the way there we stop to pick up some shopping and then eat our sandwiches overlooking the sea.  We’re lucky: it’s nowhere near as hot as we’re used to, but we’re being treated to typical Californian sunshine and blue skies. 

Once in Monterey we head straight for the aquarium. Monterey is renowned for it’s marine life and between the car and the main door we’re already distracted by the seals and sea lions on the beach. 

 Being a Sunday afternoon the aquarium is a bit manic, but we still have a fun time checking out the sea otters, jellyfish, seahorses and dragons, octopus etc.  The highlight for me is the cute bat rays that you can gently touch.

Once we emerge it is time to find a motel and get settled.  A little later we head out for some food and end up in Mexican restaurant right on the water where we can watch the seals/sea lions play while we eat. 

Monday:

We’ve set aside a little time this morning to see the rest of Monterey.  It’s a lovely and fairly prosperous town with a gorgeous setting in the middle of a bay.  We spend some time wandering around the wharf once again being entertained by the seals and sea lions. 

After that we stroll through town taking in the historic buildings.  By lunchtime we’re ready to move on.  We’re heading south to San Diego.  Although we’ve driven highway 1 before there’s really no excuse not to do it again. 

Except that it’s closed.  Something we only find out once we’re already 60m down it.  The only detour we can find is a tiny road that winds torturously up through the mountains and then down the other side.  It’s both a blessing and a curse.  This is adding hours onto our journey time, but we get fantastic views as we climb up through the mountains.

Eventually we reach civilization again and manage to blast away some miles.  As evening falls we find ourselves a motel in what feels like the middle of nowhere – officially it’s called Buttonwillow.  We were lured here by promises of an Indian restaurant (curry would be a welcome change from the standard burger and chips), but when we arrive the restaurant is closed and it’s burgers after all.

Tuesday:

In the morning we’re straight on to the interstate that will take us all the way to San Diego.  It’s a fairly scenic drive through the mountains until we bypass the urban sprawl of LA and eventually join the coast at La Jolla, just north or San Diego.  We drive the length of Mission Beach and then get out to stretch our legs.  If it’s long, white beaches you’re after, San Diego has got them.  

Unfortunately it’s also got a pretty impressive smog belt – invisible once you’re in the city but just the slightest elevation reveals the thick haze.

Southern California is having a mini heat wave at the moment and the temperatures are hovering round the low 30s.  Ahh, this is what we’re used to.   We’ve booked a motel in the historic Gaslamp area of the city.  As evening falls we take a walk out for a couple of drinks and some food (Mexican of course).

Janet adds: found another favourite drink today in a little tequila bar that Nick dragged me into.  The Mexican Martini: it’s basically the posh way to do a tequila slammer.  Tequila and fresh limejuice are shaken over ice and served in a martini glass rimmed with salt.  Mmm.

Wednesday:

Another blue skies day today.  We walk through the gaslamp district and downtown to the port.  The first thing we see is the USS Midway, a massive WW2 aircraft carrier that’s been turned into a museum. 

We surprise ourselves by going aboard.  Neither of us are particularly into military history, but it is fun exploring the ship and checking out the collection of aeroplanes and helicopters.  We even get to climb into the cockpits of some and pretend to be fighter pilots.  Well, one of us does.

Once we’ve had enough we get some sandwiches on the waterfront and continue exploring.  By chance we find ourselves at the baseball stadium, which is buzzing with activity.  We go over to investigate: there’s a game starting in 15 minutes and there are still tickets.  We can’t resist and go in to watch the San Diego Padres take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

It’s a perfect day for baseball.  We pick up some caps from the merch stall, which help us to blend in but more importantly keep the sun off our heads. 

It’s a lot of fun but the padres put in a pretty poor performance and the fans go home disappointed.  We grab some pizzas on the way back to the hotel and then call it a night.

Thursday:

After we check out of our motel we drive up to Balbao Park.  It’s a big green space littered with museums and galleries.   We don’t have time to do them justice, so we satisfy ourselves with a stroll around the grandly tacky buildings (I think they’re grand, Nick thinks they’re tacky). 

It’s time to hit the road again.  We’re heading east now and with every mile it gets hotter and drier.  For the first while we’re following the border with Mexico and can see the heavy fences stretching across the horizon.  Twice we go through border control inspections. 

We cross over into Arizona just before we arrive in Yuma. We’ve come to see the Yuma territorial state penitentiary. 

Built into the rock overlooking the Colorado River, this prison was legendary in the Wild West.  It’s an atmospheric place and we spend a good hour touring the grounds and cells.

Once we’re done we walk down through the cemetery to the banks of the Colorado River to dip our feet in and cool off.

It’s still fairly early so we drive on for another hour or so, stopping in Gila Bend at a dump of a motel with an air-conditioning unit that probably dates back to the fifties. 

Friday:

We survive the night more or less unscathed and keep heading east.  Late morning finds us at Saguaro National Park, just outside Tucson.  As it’s name promises, it’s full of the iconic saguaro cacti.  

Saguaros are unique to the Sonoran Desert.  They can live for 150-200 years and can reach heights of fifty feet.  We take a scenic drive, stopping off for a few short walks to admire these giants close-up.  It’s flowering season, so the cacti are in bloom – each white blossom lasting for no more than 24 hours.

Our last walk takes us up signal hill, where apart from sweeping views we also admire the petrogyphs left by Hohokam Indians.

Next we cut south to San Xavier del Bac, a beautifully preserved mission church rising up out of the desert on the fringes of the San Xavier Reservation.  The ornate façade leads to a gilded interior where pilgrims are paying their respects.  It’s a touching place

We find a motel on the outskirts of Tucson and take a couple of hours to get some washing done.   In the early evening we drive into Tucson’s old town to explore.  Neither of us expected much from Tucson but find it enchanting.  The historic buildings with their cactus gardens are beautiful in the golden evening light and the city has a serene atmosphere.

We find a restaurant courtyard full of people being entertained by a live band.  We wander in for a look round before realising we’ve gatecrashed a wedding.  Oops. 

Nick has done some homework for tonight and drives us to Mi Nidito, a Mexcian restaurant.  It’s a cheap and cheerful place renowned for it’s authentic Mexican food.  It’s 7pm on a Friday night so we’re expecting it to be a bit busy, but there are queues out the door.  I guess it’s a good sign.  We’ve got a 45 minute wait for a table, but it turns out to be worth it.  Cactus chile for me and a giant shredded beef chimichanga for Nick.  Best Mexican food ever.

Saturday:

We’re tackling another Wild West classic today: Tombstone, home of Wyatt Earp and the famous shootout at the OK Corral.  On the way into town we stop at the Boothill Cemetry. 

The souvenir shop filled with tat (yes, a cemetery with a souvenir shop) is a small indication of just how tacky Tombstone is going to be. 

It’s so touristy that it’s almost more a theme park than a town.  Still, you can’t blame the residents for giving the tourists what they want. 

Despite the tackiness there’s still a lot of history here and it’s fun to walk the creaking boards of the wooden shop fronts.   We can’t leave without watching a re-enactment of the famed shout-out.

We put in a few hours driving in the afternoon, crossing over into New Mexico (and losing an hour in the process).  We find a strip of motels in Lordsburg and settle in for the night.

Sunday:

Our day starts with a 3 hour drive to El Paso, taking us into Texas.   On the way in we try to check out the Border Patrol museum, but it’s closed on Sundays.  Next we drive to Chamizal National Monument – which is not much more than a patchy bit of lawn, but it’s a good enough spot to eat our lunch.  The border dominates everything, but there are so many fences and concrete boundaries that we can’t see anything of the Rio Grande and our only glimpse of Mexico is the flag. 

Finally we make our way to downtown.  We’ve both wanted to come to El Paso for a while, but now we’re wondering why.  It’s a bit of a dump.  The city is rundown and dirty looking, the streets lined with shops selling cheap mass-produced crap.  It doesn’t help that it’s a Sunday (and mothers day) – a lot of shops, museums and even the tourist information office are closed. 

A walk around the streets reveals a few historic buildings, but nothing to persuade us to linger.  We had thought about crossing over to Mexico for a couple of hours, but the queues at the border are massive.  On the other side is Ciudad Juarez, which with 3111 murders in 2010 doesn’t seem like the place for a Sunday afternoon stroll. 

In the end we decide to cut our losses and get driving again.  We’re soon back in New Mexico.  We’ve got a bit of extra time to kill now, so detour into White Sands National Monument.  This is a vast area of white sand dunes ringed by mountains.  Although they’re not actually sand but fine gypsum.  The dunes are so white that they look like mounds of snow. 

The roads have been cleared of sand drifts by snowplough, which furthers the illusion.  Once we’ve driven a few miles into the dunes we get out and walk.  Soon we’re surrounded by towering dunes.  

Our only link to civilization is the rough line of poles leading back to the car park.   We have a good play, then dust ourselves off and head back.

We find the usual strip of motels at Alamogordo and decide to stop for the night.  According to the guidebook, Alamogordo is so conservative that it held public book burnings of the Harry Potter books.   We’re thinking it can’t be that dire, but after a quick look around decide that it probably is.  After surveying the local restaurants it looks like Dennys is our best option.