el Paso

Monday, April 13, 2015
We woke up in El Paso, Texas.

It was rainy and cold (to us). We reserved the morning to do paperwork type tasks. I did my Duolingo Spanish and worked on the blog. Not sure what Ken was doing but it required concentration and quiet.

The employees at the Hotel must have trouble getting people to leave at the check out time. Four different people asked when we were leaving. Way to make customers feel welcome!

We ate lunch at an Oriental restaurant. It was great to have good oriental food again. That is something that is somewhat lacking in parts of Mexico. We had tons of food, enough for supper.

We drove around to malls and a few thrift stores. We are looking for some mix and match items for Europe. Perhaps a bit upscale and a bit more drab than we are used to. I need boots as I did not bring any with me. I have cold feet, literally. Ken is looking at the computer scene and Europe. We might buy an iPad mini. We need some European adaptors, etc.

We are so not use to the cooler weather. Considering about two weeks ago we were in Merida and it was oven hot for the early afternoon. It feels weird to wear so many clothes, too.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015
We shopped to day for items for Europe.

We know we need to cut down on the amount of items we take and must change out style slightly. I guess what we find will influence our style slightly. We are fortunate to be able to shop in the US before going on our trip. There is such a variety of clothing to choose from and price ranges to go along with that. We also need things like luggage and converter plugs for different countries.

The day was spent shopping. What can I say. Some days that is what you need to do. Big American cities are fun to explore but they are also fun to shop in. To day that is what we have to do.

At supper we were enticed by a huge Mexican restaurant. We both thought we might be not wanting Mexican food for awhile, not so. It was delicious. They had a big salsa bar that could have also served as a salad bar with lettuce, cucumber and radishes. We walked around it this area, too. We were able to stand by the tall skinny cactus with red flowers on the end. They are very tall, you could not tell from driving by them on the highway. We also saw the little clumps of yellow flowered plants.

After supper we were off to Albuquerque or close to it. We knew we would be driving in the dark but in the States that is relatively okay so long as the weather holds out. I was not thrilled with staying at a rest area because we had not done it for so long. By the time we got there I was so tired I did not really care anymore. It was very cold outside, too. The desert can be very cold after dark.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015
We mostly did shopping today.




We are trying to get a new wardrobe for Europe. We have read travel blogs so we would have some idea of the weather where we are going and the types of clothing needed. We want a wardrobe that coordinates nicely so that we can take a limited amount of items. We will be taking short plane flights from one destination or city to another. The prices are cheap compared to flights in Canada. The one clincher is that they charge for anything but overhead luggage. We are going to buy luggage that will fit overhead, so we do not get charged. This also cuts down on the amount we have to dig through when looking for something. I think it will streamline out entire trip.

We ate lunch downtown at a place we chose on a previous trip. It is a vegetarian, East Indian restaurant - A&M Spices. The food it so delicious. We split a dish and were full. It came on a big divided, stainless steel tray with little stainless bowls. Both of us made sure we complimented the owners on the good food.

At some point while on our whirlwind shopping expedition Ken discovered we had a flat tire on the rear, driver's side tire. We were lucky enough to be in a parking lot with a garage on the corner. We had a little air so Ken just drove up to the garage and a mechanic put air in for us. We drove to a Big O Tire shop (our brand) to get the tire fixed (free repairs) but it could not be fixed. Long story short, we got quotes and will figure out our tire situation tomorrow. On with more shopping.

We walked a bit in the area. It was pretty cold for us two since it seems like not that long ago we were in Merida where it was almost too hot. Somewhere in the middle would be nice. Cold is definitely not as good a hot.

Texas

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Heading to Donna Texas tonight!

This morning we woke up early in preparation for getting an early start tomorrow. We arrived at the new mall Zacatecus Gallerias to check prices on good quality pots and flatware.  Very expensive was the price verdict, much more than Canada.  I also checked Liverpool, same price line.  We also discovered that two for one buffets at Liverpool are not all created equal.  All our needs for particular worldly goods were not satisfied, so we moved on to Walmart and La Playa.  Satisfaction at last.

At the hotel I rested, still recouping from the nasty cold.  Ken worked on the blog.  Near 6:30 we walked to the Cantina Musica to meet Hildana.  We arrived there to find it closed.  Once Hildana and Monica arrived we hugged in greeting.  Hildana showed us the wonderfully artistic leather bound travel logs she was hand binding.  We were happy.  She was happy, but had to leave to catch a bus.  We took pictures and bid each other well.  I wish we could communicate with each other better.  We again, for the third night in a row, ate supper at Teponeives – ice cream – yum!  Good for the spirits, not the waistline!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

We were up and at ‘em early today, wanting to get all the way to the border and on into Texas.








I am not anxious to leave Mexico, as per usual, but we must head back.  Zacatecus is such a wonderful city, making it harder to want to leave and the weather is refreshingly cool compared to the past weeks.

We drove through desert like area with forests of Joshua trees.  They now have seed pod attachments.  There were many young and old Joshua trees.  We saw herds of goats and a few donkeys along the way.  Once close to Salteo we came to the Sierra Madres Oriente. They are almost as grand as the Canadian Rockies.  I thought at one point they must be mist filled at certain elevations, but came to the realization of dust, not mist.  The ground was very rocky, with a green or rose/rusty colour.  It is the dirt (likely iron filed) that majestic house tiles are made from.

Monterrey found us taking several wrong turns.  With Google Maps and our own ingenuity, we maneuvered out of the third largest city in Mexico.  It had skyscrapers, plus colonial architecture.  It appeared to be built along a dry river bed (likely full in the rainy season).  A very huge city.  We crossed into the USA at Reynosa at the Kika de la Garza United States Border Station.  We paid Texas state tax on our liquor, about $90.00.



Thursday, April 11, 2013

We woke up in the morning to sunny weather, even though it rained much of the night.

It is noisy in the van when it rains and hard to sleep.  Our sleeping arrangements are cheap so we treated ourselves to a breakfast out.  It seemed we didn’t drive out like we did yesterday, but we made our destination of Houston.  We seemed to be stopping more frequently.  Major stops were to purchase an AT&T sim card.  Once you have had an IPad with Google Maps you don’t want to be without it, especially for going through cities.  When we had that little item we found a Toyota dealer.  They fixed our windshield wipers for free and it must have taken an hour.  Can’t beat the price point.

Houston is huge. We arrived just as it was turning dark.  I wanted to see where the big quilt festival was held each year in the fall.  We have sent my quilts to be there, but I had not been.  Now I need to picture one of my quilts going to the World of Beauty contest held here.

Friday, April 12, 2013

We started the day in a close to new rest area in Texas.









Brand new buildings and garden area.  The building was built up over the low ground with pathways that are bridges.  The landscape is still flat, but is becoming more green and lush.  More trees.

We were told by an elderly avid traveler to eat Creole food in La Fayette, Louisiana.  We found a highly rated place and went.  They even served alligator.  We had seafood with wonderful sauces with crawdads – yum!  We took a short walk in the university district with a little lake.  Trees were growing out of the water.  These trees had shoots or roots growing out of the ground.  They had many ferns growing or hanging out of the branches.  It is a type of Cypress tree.  We saw squirrels and we drove for miles on four-lane highways raised above swamps.  We even drove over a causeway 24 miles long that went over a lake here in New Orleans – Pontchartrain Lake.  I saw some of the houses that were absolutely devastated by Hurricane Katrina or the flooding aftermath.  I can’t imagine being in such a catastrophe.

Once at our reserved hotel…well let me tell you. 


 





First we went to the wrong hotel – glad because that one was scary.  Next we got here and there were fire trucks – the hotel was flooded from a fire alarm having gone off.  Thankfully, our room was behind and not affected.