Memphis, Tennessee

Mud Island Park along the actual Mississippi River features a 1/2 mile long scale model of the Mississippi River and its flood plains, where 1 step (30 inches) equals a mile of the river. You can enjoy the sculpture any time, and when the water is running, you can cool your feet in the river or in the big wading pools at the end, which represent Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee

Front row seat for Elvis!!!

 

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock got its name from a rock used as a landmark on the Arkansas River. Over the years, the original rock was almost completely destroyed by construction, but this one piece was preserved. It's been hauled from place to place, but it now seems to have found a permanent home near the river bank.

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Arkansas

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site has a small, excellent museum telling the story of nine black students who in 1957 braved angry mobs to begin the process of integration at Little Rock Central High School. 

 

Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas

Oval Office!!!

 

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

The hot springs are really hot! You can stick a paw in one of these pools, but you can't leave it in for long!

 

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

View from Goat Rock. Although the clouds look a bit menacing, no rain materialized to put a damper on our hike.

 

Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas

 

Arkansas reenactors commemorating the 161st anniversary of the momentous day the Confederates walked into a fort that had been abandoned by Union troops. 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Picking up a few hours of work at the Cattlemen's State Bank in Prosperity Junction, an old-timey western town at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

 

Amarillo, Texas

Making a new friend at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum. (If you have any doubt that some in the horsey set have money to spare, visit this place!)

Amarillo, Texas

Cadillac Ranch is a participatory public art experience installed in 1974 along old Route 66. Visitors are allowed/encouraged to apply spray paint to ten Cadillacs that are buried nose-down in the dirt. It was a windy day, so we kept our distance!

 

Roswell, New Mexico

Close Encounter!!!

White Sands National Park, New Mexico

It's hard to beat an early morning walk on pure white sand dunes that go on for miles in every direction!

 

Alamogordo, New Mexico

I like big nuts and I cannot lie!!

 

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

A picture can't capture the enormity and beauty of Carlsbad Cavern. The cavern is composed of a series of gigantic "rooms" filled with breathtaking features, and it goes on for miles. Carlsbad Cavern is the Grand Canyon of caves!

 

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

 

Hanging onto the hat on the windy summit of Guadalupe Peak, the Texas high point.

Fort Davis National Historic Site, Texas

Cindy totally thrashed Kelly in a covered wagon race from San Antonio to El Paso!

 

Marfa, Texas

Marfa, a rising mecca for art tourists, is as much about what is outside of town as in town: mystery lights in the desert (we saw them), a fake Prada store that people drive 30 miles to for the photo, and these enormous cut-outs on the location where the movie Giant was filmed in 1956. That's Rock Hudson in the car, which is at least twice life size. James Dean and Liz Taylor are easily 3 stories high. 

 

Terlingua, Texas

Our most unique Airbnb to date - a camper in the desert! Terlingua is the closest "town" to Big Bend National Park, and while it has a small amount of conventional lodging, visitors there are far more likely to pay to stay in a camper, an RV, a tipi, a small wooden A-frame, an adobe hut, a furnished cave (yes, really, a cave!) or any other creative options the locals can come up with.

 

Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas

A beautiful morning on the Rio Grande river. The U.S. is on our left. Mexico is on our right. Not sure which country we are in!

 

Big Bend National Park, Texas

 

This distant rock formation is named Mule Ears, but it looks like Dog Ears to me!

Big Bend National Park, Texas

The scenery in Big Bend is spectacular, and even more so from the top of a mountain! (Or maybe it just seems that way after a good climb?)

 

Big Bend National Park, Texas

Mama bear and two cubs welcomed us to our motel in Big Bend National Park.

 

Alpine, Texas

 

Alpine, Texas is full of murals. There's something for everyone, whether you are a fan of landscapes, folk art, local history, or Bonanza!

Langtry, Texas

Texas seems inordinately proud of their corrupt and scheming, but also colorful, Judge Roy Bean (1825-1903). The actual saloon where he meted out his peculiar form of "justice" is tenderly preserved.

 

Seguin, Texas

Pecans are huge in Seguin, Texas. Then again, everything is bigger in Texas.

 

Schulenburg, Texas

On the outside, the Nativity of Mary, Blessed Virgin Catholic Church is a simple, unassuming brick building in the middle of nowhere. Built in 1906 by German immigrants, it is one of more than 20 "painted churches" in Texas, whose interiors are replicas of the beautiful churches Czech and German immigrants left behind in Europe. 

San Jacinto Battlefield, Texas

The San Jacinto Battle Monument commemorates the battle where Texas won its independence from Mexico. It's huge, fifteen feet taller than the Washington Monument.

 

Houston, Texas

Enjoying the mosaic creatures at Smither Park. Q: "How do you get down off an elephant?" A: "You don't get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck."