BritishTicos

Today promises to be hot, but not as brutal as the day before, high of only 98! We decide to skip breakfast in the hotel after our previous dinner experience and head out to the Riverwalk to find a nice spot. We try to yelp somewhere, but are having trouble locating anything that’s open at 8am and eventually stumble onto a riverside place named Ostras. We have a very nice breakfast while fending off various finches that have obviously learned to mine a potential food source. We are complaining about the heat from yesterday and our waiter informs us it was the hottest day since 2013. It reached 105 with 40% humidity. After breakfast, we head towards the Alamo. It’s only about 5 minutes away and we exit the Riverwalk and head North a couple of ... read more

The drive from Roswell, NM to San Antonio, TX is a long one; 513 miles or 8 hours, plus another time zone jump. We are on the road by 8.00am. The drive East out of Roswell is relatively level and it’s already over 80 degrees with a forecasted high in the triple digits. The land is almost completely treeless and comprised of dry grasses and desert scrub. A couple of hours later and we cross into Texas, losing an hour in the process. Almost immediately oil derricks spring up as if confirming our location, looking like nodding donkeys with their slow and ponderous swing. Pretty quickly we enter farmland on a gigantic scale. Enormous irrigation circles are carved out as far as the eye can see, sucking water out of the ground to allow the green ... read more

The sun is out this morning and I head out early to drop the car off for an oil change. I’m surprised to see that we have already traveled over 3,000 miles despite being less than a third of the way across the country. We have clearly been taking the scenic route. The hotel has free bikes and I cycle the mile back from the Garage to eat breakfast. Antonio and the kids have already begun and we enjoy our third and final buffet at the hotel. After we eat, I walk with the kids back across town to pick up the car, giving Antonio time to pack. He’s bought a bigger and improved tarp but its enormous! We fold it approximately four times and make a suitcase burrito. I threaten to cut it but he ... read more

I’ve been hankering to do an ATV tour since we were in West Yellowstone. The four seaters are strategically placed on prominent street corners in order to lure unwitting tourists such as myself. In West Yellowstone, they only rented the four seaters for a full day, more than we were willing to tackle, and in Moab we didn’t really have time to look into it. I see a bright yellow Can-Am in Kanab and check the website. They offer a half day excursion including a tour of a slot canyon which sounds perfect. The hotel provides complimentary hot breakfast each morning which is a nice bonus. After loading up, we head over to the Kanab Tour Company to try our luck. They are just opening at 9am and as luck would have it, their morning tour ... read more

Despite the consistent rain last night, the sun is shining this morning and Moab looks again as though it has never seen a drop of precipitation. Everything has dried and the bare red rock cliffs look as parched as ever. It’s as if this area is somehow water repellent. We have an excellent breakfast at the Jailhouse Café which is just a block down from our hotel. They have outdoor seating in specially constructed huts without walls. Custom canvas sides can be deployed for inclement weather, but this morning is in the high 70s and very pleasant. AJ takes the first meltdown as he wanted to drive to the restaurant and I enjoy a time out with him in the sun. Canyonlands National Park is split into four distinct and quite separate areas, none of which ... read more