As readers of this blog know, I’m on a quest to visit as many US National Parks as I can. Although this story is about the three NPs I recently visited, it’s much more than that. It’s about two guys who’ve lost their wives, but are committed to living to the fullest the years they have left. They know that’s what their…
Travels
Best Laid Plans…
In the post Out of Hibernation, I mentioned a planned visit to three National Parks in California (Pinnacles, Kings Canyon and Sequoia). The trip had to be postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, but was back on for the fall of 2021. However, it looked like the wildfires racing through the Sierra Nevada might force another postponement. On Saturday September 11,…
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park had been on my radar for years but thought I might never get a chance to visit. In September 2019, on a road trip from southern California into Oregon, Washington, and finally western Canada, it seemed like a no-brainer to make a quick side trip into the park. The park is located in southern Oregon, about…
Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks
Founded in 1967, Teton Science Schools is a non-profit educational organization whose goal is to educate folks from around the globe about nature and, in particular, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This ecosystem includes both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. In September 2018, I traveled to the TSS main campus in Jackson Hole, WY to spend a week exploring and hiking both of…
Pacific Surfliner to San Diego
From an Amtrak brochure… The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner route meanders along the majestic California coastline from San Luis Obispo through prime destinations such as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Juan Capistrano and San Diego. Along with business and vacation travelers, cyclists and surfers are welcome on board with bikes and boards. Lose yourself and the stress of Southern California traffic while…
Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
I was born and raised in Quincy, Massachusetts. First settled in 1625, my hometown is known as the “City of Presidents” as both Presidents John and John Quincy Adams were born there as well as John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. The Adamses have no libraries you can visit. As a matter of fact, neither do any of those men memorialized…
Ocean/Desert: Two State Parks
Only 125 miles separates Crystal Cove State Park and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California. But, on a visit with friends in April 2018, I found the two parks to be worlds apart. OCEAN: Crystal Cove Crystal Cove State Park is located along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. It consists of over 3 miles of beach…
Channel Islands National Park
You’ve probably heard of the Channel Islands in the English Channel off the Normandy coast of France – a chain of eight inhabited islands including the major islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Perhaps not so familiar, are the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. Also a chain of eight islands, five of which (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Anacapa, Santa…
A Day At Mt. Rainier National Park
When in Washington state last year there wasn’t time to visit Mt. Rainier National Park. However, after finishing up a visit to Montana in September 2017, a quick flight from Kalispell to Seattle had me in Rainier’s backyard! Mt. Rainier is approximately 50 miles (as the crow flies) from Seattle. Standing at 14,410 feet, this snow-capped mountain provides a spectacular…
Glacier National Park
In the years following the Korean War, to prevent a surprise communist attack, the US established a network of radar stations to protect our airspace. These stations were built in some of the most isolated places in the country. In the early part of my Air Force career, I was a radar operator. Generally, this meant assignments to those remote,…