Touring the Copper Canyon

Our own tourist spots

Last Wednesday, I was enjoying chatting with a gentleman who was planning a trip to Morocco for the Spring. He is just back from a photo expedition to South Africa, and we were swapping stories about travel in Europe.

Had he been to theCopper Canyon, I asked. No, he hadn’t. Had he seen the 300-year-old missions in Baja California? No. Had he visited Loreto, the beautiful little town founded by Hernan Cortes? Nope. Had he seen the whales in the Sea of Cortes? No, but he had seen the whales in Antarctica. But not the places so close they are practically in our own back yards? Nope. Maybe it doesn’t sound as impressive at the Elkins Lake soirees?  

Another couple has been to every state in our own country,and to nearly every country worldwide. He rode the Copper Canyon train years ago, but she has not been on it. He has been to the northern parts of Baja, but never the south.  I invited them to join our Copper Canyon trip to finish out their bucket list of places to travel. Theyare getting elderly, and their time is running out. Will they go? I hope so.

What is it about the tourist attractions and places of natural beauty in our own neighborhoods that are so unappealing? So often you hear people say dismissively, “Oh, I haven’t been to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum,” when they have lived in Huntsville all their lives. The only time they might go is if there are friends in town or they are 'struggling' to find someplace of interest to take a visiting brother.

This is Alumni Weekend here in Huntsville. How many of those returning students never stepped across the street to see the 200-year-old log cabins at our own museum? How many never went to the Prison Museum? Or the Veterans Museum? Or the Samuel Walker Houston Cultural Center? And certainly, never to the Walker County Museum in the Gibbs-Powell House. Those are all places to take a relative or friend.

And now, more and more people are moving into the area without any idea of our town’s history or fascinating past. Do they know Sam Houston’s story here in Huntsville? Or the long, long history of the prison? Or the University with its Female Academy on the opposite hill? Couldn’t have the boys and girls in such close proximity you know! And now, with our Tiny TownTours, we get to learn the history of the local towns around us.

And that is why I take such pleasure in offering tours!

The Copper Canyon to Cabo trip is a chance to see an engineering marvel – a train that literally wraps over itself to descend 5,000feet to the coast. A Historic Huntsville tour that includes a visit to Sam Houston’s haunts, the Gibbs family’s homes, and, of course, our very own BodyFarm – although, no, you don’t get to see the rotting bodies studied by our forensic students! All of it in the limousine luxury of the Joye Mobile,yes, with its stripper pole.

And it’s all in our own neighborhood! So check us out at www.historictoursoftexas.com.

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