The Inn (La Posada)

One of Sandy’s clients was visiting The Southwest for two weeks. She and her husband were attending a seminar in Santa Fe, and then going down to the three Hopi mesas in Arizona to visit a friend who works on the reservation.




Hopi

The client knew that we had been to this area many times, and asked Sandy what they should do and see, and where to eat.



On their own, they found La Fonda Hotel, Loreto Chapel, Taos, El Morro and Acoma Pueblo. Sandy said, among many other things, "Have lunch at La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona -- and sleep over." Emphasis on SLEEP OVER.



Yes it is the same “Winslow, Arizona” that the Eagles sing about. Experienced travelers to this area always stay a night at La Posada.


Apache

The wife drove while the husband complained about traveling so far out of the way for lunch at a hotel in some small western town. But you guessed it. They were both blown away by the hotel and the food. The husband had to be pulled away to the next destination. They will go back.



Kathy and Charles of Albuquerque, thank you again for taking us to this treasure so long ago. Sandy and I have been back a number of times, and Kezia and Chris, and Tom and Eileen, have been there since. When you go, Bob's World Reader, let us know how much you loved it.

p.s. Santa Fe had a big festival going on, and the travelers kept trying to get into Tia Sophia's for lunch, but the line was always long down San Francisco Street. But did they get to Jackalope? Next time.



Also go to Canyon de Chelly. The Spaniard asked the Navajo "What's the name of this beautiful place?" The Navajo replied, "Chelly (pronounced "shay")," which means "canyon" in Navajo. So the Spanish named it Canyon de Chelly, or in English, "Canyon the Canyon."


Canyon de Chelly. Look closely for petroglyphs of Spanish Conquistadors.

Mini Family Vacation with Wedding & Stop at Manassas

Just back from a wedding in Virginia. Wonderful time. Kezia's first marriage performance. Martha Heberlein -- daughter of our longtime friends/neighbors Enid & Jerry Heberlein -- married Paul Jacobs.





Neil, one of Enid & Jerry's grandsons, sat with us.




photos by Sandy


Marnie did a 27 person yoga class.



Our 4 year old grandson put on a dancing exhibition at the reception that had everyone howling.


photo by Sandy



When asked where he learned the moves he said they came to him in a dream. By the end of the three-day weekend EVERYONE knew Abel.



A baggage handler at Dulles Airport asked Abel how old he was. Abel answered, and then asked him how old he was.



We even had time to swing over to Manassas before flying back, to show the girls and Chris where Daniel Webster's son Fletcher died in the Second Battle of Bull Run. (We live on one of Daniel Webster's 1,200 acres -- that's why so much interest. Fletcher Drive, down the street from us, is named after him).

Shot through the right arm and chest, Fletcher, a Union Captain, stayed alive long enough to ask a Virginia Rebel soldier to please send his wallet home. Three months later the wallet reached the house on Webster Street in Marshfield.



Members of the 12th Massachusetts hauled a large rock all the way to Virginia to mark the spot where he died during Second Bull Run in 1862 -- or as the Rebels called it, Manassas. The spot is up on Chinn Ridge where the 5th Maine and 12th Massachusetts Infantry, led by Webster, were overrun by Longstreet's Division. The Federals lost both battles.

Nine hundred men died at the 1st Bull Run (also known as First Manassas) and 3,300 at the second. Bull Run is a small stream that still flows north of the battle field. First Manassas is also where Rebel General Barnard Bee said of General Thomas Jackson's Brigade, "There stands Jackson like a stonewall."



It is a beautiful, carefully preserved, part of Virginia farmland where two great Civil war battles were fought. Citizens of Washington D.C. came out in their wagons and carriages to see the first battle in 1861 -- but you can get there in your car in no time from D.C.

All photos © CDB Photography (son in law)except where noted.

Marshfield Super Mercado

. . . now stocks all the things that the Isla Mujeres (island of women) super mercado has, with the same brand names. But they are in English, not Spanish or Mayan.









Black beans, salsa, mole sauce, rice, chiles (in a can), enchilada sauce and caliente sauce. Sandy couldn't find Sol Cerveza at the Marshfield market. Oh wait! You can't buy beer in a Massachusetts supermarket. You can buy it at the Isla mercado in Centro when you buy your food, but not after 9 and NADA on Domingo. Well, it IS right across from the church.













But we still have to go to Isla Mujeres, Mexico for the homemade tortillas.

We are going again (23rd year) in Febrero, but we will drive two hours north to the island of Holbox (whole - bush) for three days first. There are no cars there and all the streets are white sand. I hear that the water is light greenish, not Windex blue like Isla. Jeez, maybe it has oil in it!

On the drive back down we are going to explore a Mayan ruin, El Meco, that is within walking distance of Puerto Juarez, where you catch the ferry. It certainly must have had a major connection with Isla being only eight miles away by water 1,000 years ago. Puerto Juarez was just a small town on the Caribbean when there was no Cancun.

Mañana,
Tocino

Oh !! I think I have found another Yucatan driving trip. It was in Condé Naste Magazine. It starts in the Gulf of Mexico city of Beracruz and goes west.



I mean Veracruz. Vs are Bs in Mexico. Veracruz is west of Isla Holbox. Check out the article in the latest Condé Naste. Especially the church photo.



Hasta la bye bye.

Custer's Luck

For Fathers Day Kezia got me "The Last Stand." It is the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. I am currently reading it down in the casita behind the pool every night.



On George Armstrong Custer, Mr. Philbrick wrote:

His rise was meteoric. He started the war in the summer of 1861 as a second lieutenant; by July 3, 1863, just two years later, he was a freshly minted twenty- three -year-old brigadier general at the last, climactic day of the Battle of Gettysburg. As Confederate general George Pickett mounted his famous charge against the Union forces, a lesser- known confrontation occurred on the other side of the battlefield. The redoubtable Jeb Stuart launched a desperate attempt to penetrate the rear of the Union line. If he could smash through Federal resistance, he might meet up with Pickett's forces and secure a spectacular victory for General Lee.

As it turned out, all Stuart had to do was punch his way through a vastly outnumbered regiment from Michigan and victory was his. But as the Confederates bore down on their northern counterparts (who were outnumbered by four to one), an event occurred that changed the course of the battle and arguably, the war.

Custer, dressed in an almost comical black velvet uniform of his own design that featured gaudy coils of gold lace , galloped to the head of the First Michigan and assumed command. Well ahead of his troops, with his sword raised, he turned toward his men and shouted, " Come on, you Wolverines!" With Custer in the lead, the Michiganders started out at a trot but were soon galloping, "every man yelling like a demon.

When Custer's and Stuart's forces collided on what is now called East Cavalry Field, the sound reminded one of the participants of the thunderous crash of a giant falling tree. "Many of the horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them," a cavalryman remembered. The bodies of some of the combatants were later found "pinned to each other by tightly-clenched sabers driven through their bodies." Custer's horse was shot out from underneath him, but he quickly found another mount and was back in the fray.

Soon the Federals had the enemy on the run. As one Union officer later commented, it had been "the most gallant charge of the war." But for Custer, it was just the beginning of a long string of spectacular victories that ultimately prompted General Philip Sheridan to award Libbie Custer the table on which Grant and Lee signed the surrender at Appomattox. Included with the gift was a note: "Permit me to say, Madam, that there is scarcely an individual in our service who has contributed more to bring this desirable result than your gallant husband."







My good friends Tom Egan and Allan Sylvester were at Yellowstone this past week. They just called me from Montana today at four PM. They had stopped at the Little Big Horn. A Cheyenne had just given them his side of the story of the battle. They both sounded very excited. Their cell phone call certainly made my day.

Check out my story on my blog called "Como Se Llama," and even better yet, buy Philbrick’s latest book, "The Last Stand." You thought that you knew everything about the Pilgrims but then you read his book "The Mayflower" and were flabbergasted. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer and he also made the New York Times ten best books of the year with Mayflower. Well I think he is doing it again. Did you know that he has lived in Nantucket since 1986? He came to the 1699 Winslow house for a reading and book signing here in Marshfield a couple of years ago. It was standing room only with twice the number of people turned away. The Cerris, Sylvesters , Donovans and Bacons attended and had their Mayflower books signed. That was a very good day also.

An Evening in Providence

We went to Water Fire last evening in Providence, Rhode Island. Oak wood fires in the river, gondolas from Italy, Italian opera from Eeetaly . . .

The city was packed. Swing dancing and jazz listening there for the taking. If you have never been to Water Fire you need to go. Maybe you were there but we didn't see you. Grazie, Mayor Buddy Cianci!

It was a steamy night in more ways than one. Last night on Federal Hill the young beautiful Italian girls made me feel old. Some so gorgeous you just burst out smiling. At the plaza some young crooner was singing Frank Sinatra tunes. Giovanni commented on all the beautiful automobiles parked in front of Andino's: Porsches , Ferraris, BMWs and even low riders. You can get a tattoo or a cigar on the Hill, no problem. Helmet-less motorcycle riders cruise the avenue. It is always a shock to cross into Rhode Island from Massachusetts and see that.

John and I were ahead of Sandy& Barb, walking back to the car along Atwells Avenue, when we came upon the best looking girls yet. I doubled back and asked Sandy for my high blood pressure medicine. She and Barb got the joke and just laughed.

The highlight of the night of girl watching for John and me was either the two bartender girls in low-cut black tops and short skirts at the bar at Zooma's, or the black chicks, goin’ out dancin’ , at midnight, in dresses as tight as socks. Their asses sticking WAY out. More than Jennifer Lopez. I burst out laughing at that one. Remember the Supremes? It was quite a fashion show on the Hill last night.

"Makes a young man smile, makes an old man moan" -- lyrics from an old song. How appropriate.