When the Red Chair visited the Innkeepers of the Serendipity Ranch Bed and Breakfast, they sat for hours talking about this wonderful, small little town of Oak Glen.  One of the interesting places, they mentioned, was the Oak Glen School Museum.  The first Oak Glen School was a wooden structure, replaced in 1927 with a more modern rock faced structure.  Many of the current Oak Glen residents actually attended school in this one room building!

Innkeeper Dawn, of Prescott Pines B&B, took the Red Chair to check out Prescott's famous Whiskey Row, where Red visited The Palace, which opened in 1877 and is the oldest frontier saloon in Arizona.  In the late 1870's Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Doc Holliday and Big Nose Kate were patrons of the Palace, and re-enactors were on site this weekend, gearing up for Prescott's Sesquicentennial celebration this summer.  What a cool place to visit!

The Red Chair and Innkeeper Elaine headed to Madrid, New Mexico, the tiny town between Cedar Crest and Santa Fe on the Turquoise Trail and setting for the movie Wild Hogs.  Madrid began life as a mining town and is now a ghost town, home to artisans and their crafts. Its charm lies in the Old West feel carried over from its heyday. This was as far up the Turquoise Trail as Red wanted to go on this trip, but it was well worth the visit!

Innkeeper Amy decided to start the day off at the famous “Friendship Oak” in Pascagoula which is located off of Highway 90 directly across from the new location of the Round Island Lighthouse. Red had heard this particular lighthouse's history was quite a wild ride so Amy happily explained from the very beginning:  The lighthouse originally sat on Round Island, a barrier island in the Mississippi Sound off of the Gulf of Mexico, for nearly 150 years. In 1986 48.98 acres of Round Island, including the lighthouse, were sold to the City of Pascagoula. It was then nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and shortly thereafter, the Round Island Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed. On September 27, 1998, Hurricane Georges swept through the area creating a ten-foot storm surge which undermined the foundation and caused the tower to topple over. Attempts were made to rebuild the lighthouse using as much of the original structure as possible until August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina dealt a devastating blow to the project, toppling the base of the lighthouse inside its protective caisson. In April of 2007 plans were officially announced and work began to relocate the lighthouse to a waterfront site in Pascagoula. As you can see it has been restored to its original splendor and is a new and historic landmark as you enter from the west into Pascagoula.  Red was so glad to get a chance to see it in person!

Innkeepers Judith and George of the Sandhill Crane Bed and Breakfast took the Red chair to visit the Corrales Winery to try some of their amazing wines.  Red had a chance to visit with the winery owners and discuss some of their award winning wines and sample them too!  Red learned that Corrales lies in the Rio Grande Valley and that grapes and winemaking has gone on here for over one hundred years.  There are several wineries in Corrales; it even has a wine tour! Unfortunately Red discovered it wouldn’t have time to visit them all.  I guess that means it just has to come back then!

Red was intrigued with what he discovered during his visit to the Earthship Biotechure Community, where it saw radically sustainable buildings that were constructed from recycled materials.  What an amazing experience it was to check out these buildings! This is just something you have to see in person and the Red Chair Travels highly recommends.  Thank you Innkeepers of Casa Escondida Bed and Breakfast for making sure Red got a chance to check this out!

As soon as the sun was up Red was off to Tent Rocks National Monument for a hike up a slot canyon of volcanic ash to take in the spectacular scenery of this magical place called Santa Fe, NM.  After getting stuck in the slot canyon for a short period of time, it was off to explore the cave among the spires.  How beautiful and magnificent the nature made structures that surround you here are!  Definitely a highlight of the Red Chair's stay at Sister Inns: El Farolito Bed & Breakfast and the Four Kachinas Inn.

Who knew living the ranch life at Hotel Matador, in Matador, TX could be so much fun!  There were pickups and trailers filled with horses and cattle, and cowboys walked the streets on errands in their chaps, spurs, and hats that have seen a morning of work already.  Wow and Red thought it was an early riser.

Since it was a Sunday, the Red Chair and Innkeeper Marilynn just rested for a few minutes until one of the owners, Caron, came in to let them know that she needed help feeding her cattle.   So donning work boots and hat they headed east of town.  Those cows were hungry what with new calves and all and devoured the offering in short order.  It was so much fun to get the full experience and also to pet a few friendly cows as well!