We're Off again!

Just as the news weather forecast tell us that snow is coming, we are preparing to leave Albuquerque for Seattle.  We are avoiding the direct, I-90 route, because the passes going that way will be much more difficult than the passes on 1-5.  Still, we will have 5 mountain passes to deal with:

1. Tejon Pass, CA (elevation 4,183 ft/1,275 m) between Los Angeles area and the San Joaquin Valley. - click link for google map.

2. Siskiyou Summit, OR (elevation 4,037 ft/1,230 m) between Northern California and Oregon. *NOTE: Mountain driving begins several hundred miles prior to the summit BOTH DIRECTIONS. - click link for cool YouTube Video of the drive (during summer)

3. Sexton Mountain Pass, OR (elevation 1,970 ft/600 m) Just north of Grants Pass en route to Smith Hill Summit (1,727ft). - click for approximate location

4. Stage Road Pass, OR (elevation 1,830 ft/558 m) Just north of Smith Hill Summit). - Click for location.

5. Canyon Creek Pass, OR (elevation 2,020 ft/616 m) Just north of Stage Road Pass. (From Winter/Mountain Driving Tips )

But before we approach these challenges we will be going to Tucson, the place of my birth, to deposit a bit of my dad - who loved AZ greatly.  We plan to leave him by the place where him and my mom met, and had many happy days.  I will also show George the house I grew up in because, well, why the hell not!

Our first stop, however, will be Lordsburg, NM.  Founded in 1880, in 2000 this city spouted a population of 3,379.  It is also known as the birthplace of New Mexico's state song: O Fair New Mexico.

But this city also has a controversial and sad history from WWII, since the city "held as many as 1,500 Japanese Americans in a Japanese American internment camp operated by the U.S. Army during World War II" (Wikipedia, Lordsburg, New Mexico).

If you would like to follow our trip back to Seattle come back to this blog, and trace the trip on this Google Map:  Trip to Seattle.


Work Cited:
Lordsburg, New Mexico. (2010, September 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:38, November 30, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lordsburg,_New_Mexico&oldid=385298379