Starling Travel

The first time we drove to San Diego, we took a break in Barstow, California. We were tired and wanting to get to our hotel, but we were many miles away. We stopped at Barstow Station and ate at the Havana Hut inside. The Cuban empanadas were so delicious that we have stopped at Barstow Station every time we’ve driven through ever since.

This time, we took some pictures before we ate so you could enjoy the flaky pastries and beefy goodness with us.

Barstow Station is a tourist trap of the best kind. There are kitschy items to buy, many varieties of food to choose from and a spot to rest when you’re just sick of driving and wish you were in San Diego already.

Even though your gas tank doesn’t need a fill up in Barstow, take a few moments and eat a beef empanada at the Havana Hut in Barstow Station. You’ll thank me for it. I promise.

The Colorado River snakes its way through Austin, creating Town Lake and many other waterways. Along that river floats the Lonestar Riverboat.

• Welcome to LonestarRiverboat.com

If you have ever had fantasies about taking a riverboat ride, you can have them fulfilled in Austin. Take a sunset cruise and watch the sky turn red over the water while resting on the deck. The evening cruise is a great way to see the bats of Austin as they come out of the Congress Bridge.

Interestingly, Google Maps captured the Lonestar Riverboat when it was at dock. If you zoom in by the water on 1st Street, you can see the dock and the riverboat on the water.

Where: Lonestar Riverboat 1st Street & Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas Google Map Phone: (512) 327-1388

I remember as a child, my parents would watch Austin City Limits every week. This was before there were several music stations on television. If you wanted to see music on television, you had a choice between Lawrence Welk, Hee Haw and Austin City Limits. Strangely, my parents watched all three.

• Austin City Limits

Until I started researching Austin Texas, I never made the connection between the television show of my childhood and the city. Every year they have a festival. This year it’s September 15-17, 2006, so I won’t be there to see it. They still show Austin City Limits on PBS every week, which makes me smile. They outlasted Lawrence AND Hee Haw.

When I think about road trips, my perfect vision of them is embodied in a song by “Weird” Al Yankovic called The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota from the UHF Soundtrack. You can see the full lyrics here:

• XVR27’s “Weird Al” Yankovic Homepage – Lyrics – Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota

I took many road trips with both my parents and my grandparents as a child, so I have many fond memories of pulling off the freeway to see what strange thing the locals had built for us roadway tourists.

This is my favorite line in the song:

I gave our camera to Bernie and we stood by the ball
And we all gathered ’round and said, “Cheese.”
Then Bernie ran away with my brand new Insta-Matic,
But at least we got our memories.

Not even the theft of their brand new camera could dampen their enjoyment. That’s what a road trip is all about. Enjoying the trip, even when a smelly hitchhiker steals your camera. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is the perfect road trip song.

There actually IS a makeshift pagoda over the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. It claims to be the largest in the world, but there is some debate about that with a contender from Kansas. For more information, see Roadside America’s piece about the world’s largest balls of twine.

• Roadside America – World’s Largest Twine Balls

I have never seen the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota, but it’s definitely on my list of things to see before I die. The Louvre, I might miss, but the biggest ball of twine, NEVER.

The Luxor Hotel has one of the world’s largest atriums. The camels near the Cairo Bazaar are happy to tell you that nine Boeing 747s could be stacked within the Luxor’s atrium. I’ve never seen that demonstration, but when I am standing underneath the inside of the pyramid, it’s impressive. They say it has 29 million cubic feet. That means nothing to me, but standing within it, I am awed.

The atrium is so large that I can’t take a picture of it. I have tried several times. The pictures from the balcony of my hotel room, look like they were taken from a rooftop and the pictures taken from below can’t encompass the enormity of it. I have to just remember it, since I can’t document it with my camera.

The first time Mike and I noticed birds in the atrium, we were looking at the attractions level from our balcony. (Continue Reading…)