JUNK BOAT TRAVELS: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

We drove the entire Palms to Pines Scenic Byway from Palm Springs, CA and back a few years ago. We had driven portions of this on other trips to Palm Springs but never the entire length at once. This was a fun trip with a lunch stop in Idyllwild. Idyllwild is a city in Riverside County in Southern California. It is situated at mile high elevation in the San Jacinto mountains. The views from town are beautiful. Tahquitz peak and rock are probably the most photographed. Marion mountain is also visible from town. Panoramas of Hemet and the greater Los Angeles area are visible from many lookouts near town. You can even see the Pacific Ocean on a clear day.

View of Palms to Pines Scenic Byway Route74 from a viewing point. This area of California desert boasts 350 sunny days every year and almost no humidity. The scenery is unforgettable, from snow-capped mountains in the distance to brilliant blue skies and a periodic lush oasis to break up the desert browns with a splash of color. You start from almost sea level and climb to an elevation of 6,165 feet at Banning.

Lunch was at the Good Times Pub in Idyllwild and the burger was incredible but huge!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Skywatch Friday

New York New York Hotel and Casino January 2013

Food on Friday

Carole's theme this week is peas and beans!

Carole's image immediately reminded me of this sign we saw in London England in 2010 on a restaurant.
It is a sign for the fast food restaurant called Hummus Bros located at 37-63 Southampton Row.

Orange You Glad it's Friday!

This is now being hosted by Maria at Writings of Maria Life's Sweets and Spices.

We were driving the Red Rock Scenic Loop in Sedona and there was construction taking place so we had to wait for the "pilot car". I wonder what they do after work hours?

Weekly Top Shot

We stopped at an incredible travel stop on Tuesday and we took this photo.

Day 2 - Ultimate Road Trip Homebound

Click here for Day 1.

We awoke in Santa Rosa NM, had breakfast at the hotel and headed out to take photos of Route 66 in Santa Rosa.

Much of the following information was provided by the Santa Rosa NM Route 66 site.

Click here and here for more photos of Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa is an old Spanish town on the Pecos River, it began as a large Spanish rancho. It got its name in 1890 from a chapel built by Don Cleso Baca to honor his mother. In the early days of Route 66, 1926 through 1937, the old alignment of Route 66 left Santa Rosa to continue on towards Santa Fe, the capitol of New Mexico then drop back down to Albuquerque and Los Lunas. In late 1937 Route 66 was straightened out to go directly to Albuquerque and by pass Santa Fe completely.

Roadside dining was an important Route 66 experience. Santa Rosa’s. home-owned and home-operated roadside cafes were famous up and down the highway.

The “Fat Man” symbol of the Club Café was a familiar icon and appeared on the highway as early as 1937. The Route 66 landmark is now closed but was operational from 1935 to 1992. Joseph’s Bar & Grill, family operated since 1956 is now the home of the grinning “Fat Man.”

Gloriously neon-lit roadside cafes include the Comet II (circa 1952) and the Sun n’ Sand Restaurant (1966)

Bozo and his wife Anna have taken is hobby and created a museum which welcomes all Route 66 travelers. We didn't go in but I have only read good things about it.

It was time to get on the road as we were booked in Oklahoma City for two nights with a visit to some friends. The drive is approximately six hours but we would be making several stops along the way.

We needed a pit stop and were trying to find the town of Endee in New Mexico so we pulled into Russell's Truck Stop which appeared to be your average highway travel centre. We ended up going back to the car for the camera and spent some time visiting the fascinating car museum that also contains some great memorabilia.

There is also a Subway and a diner that is supposed to be excellent, it was too early for lunch.

I'll be featuring more of the photos from the museum in upcoming posts.

Even the washroom signs were a delight.

We were going to find the town of Endee but when we saw it was a sixteen mile dirt road we decided not to invest the time.

We crossed into Texas and had lunch in Amarillo at a great diner Blue Sky with fantastic burgers and fries. We realized that we would not get to OKC at a reasonable hour to meet our friends as we had crossed into Central Time and lost an hour so we sent a message that it would be better to meet tomorrow.

I was browsing in our Route 66 an came across a reference to the Slug Bug Ranch in Conway TX which is a play on the Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo which we saw on our southbound trip back in December instead of cadillacs planted into the ground Conway has VWs.

Texas is only 1,700 feet on average above sea level but it is very flat and very dusty.

We cross into Oklahoma which is at 1,300 feet above sea level, more green and definitely more red.

We reached Oklahoma City and got settled into the Wyndham on Meridian near Will Rogers Airport and went to dinner at Shorty Small's next door for ribs.

The ribs were dry and had too much burnt charcoal flavour.

Day 1 - Ultimate Road Trip Homebound

On Monday we said a sad goodbye to Sedona and started our drive home. It will take longer than it took us to get here when we left home on November 26, here is a recap of our southbound trip.

We headed through Flagstaff where there is still snow on the top of the mountain as a result of the snowstorm that greeted us two weeks ago as we drove through Flagstaff from LA back to Sedona.

At Interstate 40 you have two choices.

Arizona is on average 4,100 feet above sea level so the temperature slowly dropped as we climbed.
The drive is seven hours and 465 miles to Santa Rosa NM.

We headed into New Mexico which is at 5,700 feet above sea level on average so the temperature continues to drop to around 7C. Lunch was a quick stop at a Subway so we could save as much time as possible.

The landscape is very different from Sedona's warm red rock.

The road stretches in front of us.

At least there are billboards to keep us entertained.

We didn't really make any other stops and checked into the Hampton Inn in Santa Rosa, put our feet up and ordered a pizza for dinner.

Menu Plan Update - Week 12

Sunday - Sedona Pines
Lunch -
Dinner - we have a BBQ!! Hamburgers

Monday - DH golfed
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - steak, baked potatoes and broccoli

Tuesday - Uptown Sedona
Lunch - egg and onion sandwiches
Dinner - burgers (again to finish off)

Wednesday - DH golfed/camera class
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots

Thursday - Red Rock loop/Dry Creek/Enchantment
Lunch - Vineyards Cottonwood pizza and Italian sub
Dinner - pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots - time to finish up the food

Friday - moving to Poco Diablo for the weekend. Airport Rd
Lunch - Full Moon Saloon (awful)
Dinner - Steak and haddock in dining room

Saturday - DH golfed
Lunch - chicken salad on a croissant at resort
Dinner - cheese and crackers

52 Photos Project

This week's theme is LAYERS.

This photo was taken from the car on Monday as we drove from Santa Rosa, NM where we spent the night, to Oklahoma City. This is somewhere in Oklahoma and I chose it for the LAYERS of colour that are displayed.

Theme Thursday

This week's theme is COMPLEXITY.

I chose this lovely hard top convertible taken in New Mexico on Monday as we drove to Oklahoma City. It is located in an amazing gas station/restaurant/museum/grocery shop called Russell's.