Category Archives: travel

November 20, 2017 · 5:35 am

Hatch Valley Road Trip—Clint Eastwood was hanged near here

Along the Rio Grande

One of our favorite weekend day trips is along the back roads between El Paso and Hatch, New Mexico. It’s scenic. It’s historic. It’s delicious. Deliciously spicy, that is. Hatch is home of the world famous Hatch chile. And what is Hatch’s green chile good for? Glad you asked. A while back I posted my chile rellano recipe using poblano chiles, but Hatch green really makes that recipe shine. And let’s not forget that modern culinary miracle, the green chile cheeseburgers. You’ll see one of the best of those on this week’s Fun Food Friday.

Chile field

By the way, did you know that Clint Eastwood was once lynched here in the Hatch Valley? That occurred along the banks of the Rio Grande not far from where these photos were taken, very close to Fort Selden (topic of a future blog article). The year was 1968, and poor Clint was mistaken for a murderer by a posse that included, of all people, kindly Skipper from Gilligan’s Island (Alan Hale, Jr.) in the movie was Hang ‘Em High.

Surrounding hills

But to heck with Clint Eastwood. This is chile country! And lunch is right up the road!

Chiles

Another great feature of this recent road trip is that the foliage was just beginning to succumb to fall.

Mesilla Valley fall colors

We’ll continue with narrative on Wednesday, but for now I’ll leave you with some more sights from this drive through the country:

Salt cedar in fall

Alfalfa?

Red and green chile

Chile field

Along the Rio Grande

Hills

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Filed under Automobiles and Driving, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Tagged as Hatch, Hatch chile, New Mexico, photography, R. Doug Wicker, road trip, travel, travel photography

November 10, 2017 · 5:35 am

Fun Photo Friday — Quito Hop-on/Hop-off Favorites 2

Streetlights

This series on Ecuador began nearly five months ago, and the images presented during that series are but a fraction of the many taken during our ten days there. My first photos of Ecuador were taken in Guayaquil on February 14, 2016. The last shots were taken in Quito on February 23. In between we saw a cocoa plantation, walked the streets of Cuenca, stayed at the beautiful La Andaluza resort, traveled to Alausí and took the Devil’s Nose train, journeyed deep into the Amazon River Basin for another fantastic resort stay at La Casa del Suizo, visited a hummingbird preserve and crossed the high Andes, stood on the Equator at the Middle of the World, and finished in Quito.

Door Light

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the tour these past five months, and that you’ve not grown bored with Ecuador.

Independence Monument

Today’s Fun Photo Friday is the end of the road for this look at Ecuador, so here are some final images:

Reflections

Colors

Monumento a los Héroes del 10 de agosto de 1809

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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Tagged as Ecuador, photography, Quito, Quito Hop-on/Hop-off, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

November 8, 2017 · 5:35 am

Ecuador — Quito, Hop-on/Hop-off Part 4

Quito Tour Bus sights

In this final Ecuador series on Quito we’ve discussed some of the many things to see and do in this city of nearly 2,700,000 people. So, beginning last week and continuing through this week I’m letting some images do the talking. These images are some of the many shots taken from our Hop-on/Hop-off tour aboard the red double-deckers of the Quito Tour Bus company. Of course, the favorite photos will be reserved for Fun Photo Friday.