Sharing photos, videos, vintage images I've discovered, and -- occasionally -- commentary and thoughts from retired life and travels.

travel journal

Estes Park

January 5, 2012

estes_park_streetOn our four previous visits to Rocky Mountain National Park, we stayed one or more nights in the adjacent town of Estes Park. This time, we didn’t, as we were able to get reservations at Moraine Park Campground in the park for the duration of our planned visit.  As a result, we actually spent less time in Estes Park than any other visit – other than traveling through town and stops for fuel and groceries, just a short visit before and after lunch on September 15th, followed by an afternoon alpine hike back in the park.  It was an nice stroll along the street and into some of the shops – and much less crowded than our last visit on Labor Day weekend, 2009.

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This image is from a photo Karen snapped of me
while I was taking a picture of the Wishful Thinkin’
sculpture  of the cowboy pouring water out of
his boot.

Estes Park, a town of just under 6,000 permanent residents, is a popular summer resort in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, though there are plenty of recreational opportunities during the rest of the year. Located at 7,522 feet above sea level, the town is at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Tourism has been a primary business for the town for most of its history.  Lodging includes The Stanley Hotel, inspiration for the setting of Stephen King’s novel The Shining.  (We stayed in the hotel during our 2001 visit.)

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The word “park” used in place names in the Colorado Rockies often refers to a valley or meadow. Estes Park, then, originally referred to the valley and was named after town founder Joel Estes.

The town experienced severe damage in July 1982 from flooding resulting from the failure of Lawn Lake Dam.

Additional information on the Lawn Lake Dam Failure, July 15, 1982:

Blog posts from this visit to
Rocky  Mountain  National Park:

Selected Information
Resources:

Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park
Grand Lake

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Hot cars.

December 10, 2011

2011 09 12 027carvedWe spotted this “cute” car in a parking lot for some popular trails in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s a Lotus Elise, certainly a nice looking and sporty car and, at around $50,000, is more than we would want to spend on a car.

There was one other “sporty” car that I caught sight of last summer on the 4th of July weekend.  As we were coming out of the parking lot of the Lake Village Tourist Information Center in Southern Arkansas, I saw an orange car that was shaped much different than most of the other cars on the road, but didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it.  Now, I’m by no means an expert on automobiles and can seldom identify one without the help of the internet.  For some reason, though, Lamborghini came to mind, even though I didn’t get a very good look at it.

lamborghiniA couple of hours later, after crossing a small corner, I spotted the same orange color on a car in a rear view mirror.  We were on I20 east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, heading for Biloxi.  I don’t know if it was the same 350px-Lamborghini_Logomake and model of the picture on the right (from Wikipedia), but the color was very close to this, if not identical – and, as it passed us, I spotted the logo on the back.

Like I said, I’m no expert on automobiles, but these sure seemed like a couple of hot cars.

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A Windy Texas Travel Day–2011.

October 19, 2011

Lubbock dust stormWe missed the big dust storm in Lubbock, Texas, on Monday by just a couple of hours. Even though we fought the wind all day, we managed to make it past Lubbock before the storm hit.

We were on the homeward leg of a 6 week trip and had planned to go further south, crossing Texas below Dallas and Fort Worth.  Saturday and Sunday nights, we had been camped near Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We were able to get online Sunday night, barely, and checked the weather forecast for where we were thinking of going – wind and blowing dust, with temperatures in the mid to high 90s.  The forecast for the Lubbock area was cooler and windy, but blowing dust was not mentioned. After talking it over for a bit, we decided to head north instead of east.

I did get a some video from our windy day’s trip and produced a short YouTube video.

On this trip, I decided that I was not going to try to keep up with a travel blog.  My intent was to keep a written journal and take lots of photos and video and to incorporate the journal and images into blog posts after we got home.  I was only partially successful.

While I did take lots of photographs and videos, the written journal fell by the wayside after only a few days.

I did read quite a few books over the last six weeks, though.

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26 of my photos at once!!!

July 24, 2011

If I were to post a photo a day – or even 5 a day –  it would take quite a while just to share those that I have selected for posting.

By putting together a video, I can share a large number at once – and create a video library that we can view on a TV screen.  The original of the video below is higher definition than what I uploaded to YouTube.

 

 

The photos, in the sequence that they appear:

  1. Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, September 2009
  2. Menor’s cabin and store, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, September 20, 2007
  3. Canton Lake, Oklahoma, August 29, 2009
  4. Canyonlands national Park, September 23, 2007
  5. Pronghorn, Custer State Park, South Dakota, August 22, 2007
  6. Wild burro, Custer State Park, South Dakota, August 22, 2007
  7. Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, March, 2011
  8. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August 27, 2007
  9. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August 28, 2007
  10. Texas Interstate HighwayI40, eastbound rest west of Alenreed
  11. Devil’s Tower National Monument, August, 2007
  12. Cottonwood Tree, Lake Ogallala, Nebraska, July 8, 2010
  13. Clouds, Lake Ogallala, Nebraska, July 8, 2010
  14. Lewistown, Montana, August 30, 2007
  15. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 14, 2009
  16. Nuthatch
  17. Ouray, Colorado, September 2010
  18. Rest are at Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge and Kansas Highway 52
  19. Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 2009
  20. Rocky Mountain National park, somewhere trail to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, & Emerald Lake, 2009
  21. Pea Ridge National military Park, Northwest Arkansas, July 15, 2011
  22. Abyss Pool, West Thumb, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 12, 2007
  23. Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah, September 24, 2007
  24. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Visitor Center, Colorado, 2009
  25. Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas, April 13, 2010
  26. Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, Montana, September 13, 2007

Creative Commons LicenseThe music,  Improvisation On Friday… by Alex, is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

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Driving to the deep South in a very hot July–What were we thinking?

July 6, 2011

Our preference is to flee the heat and humidity of Arkansas by heading to the mountains – when we can.

US 65 in southeast Arkansas, July 1, 2011.

This year, that’s not an option.  I’ve got contract work through the hottest part of the year, so we’re not planning on a trip until later.

This fourth of July weekend, though, I had the opportunity to make it a four day weekend, if, on Thursday, we were able to get done with everything that needed to be done at work so we didn’t need to finish up on Friday.  I texted Karen to let her know, “May take tomorrow off and make it a 4 day weekend if we can finish this exam on the simulator tonight.”

“Ok, you probably need a break,” she replied, and then a little while later, she asked, “Do you want to take a day trip or overnight for something different to do?

I texted back, “Don’t know as hot as it is.  It’d be different if it were cooler.”

Karen: “Biloxi MS is to be in the mid to low 90’s maybe a shower or two. – Day drive look around – just an idea.”

US 65 in southeast Arkansas, July 1, 2011.I liked the idea, but decided to check to see just how long a trip that would be.  “That’s over an 8 hour drive by google,” I texted.

So there we were the next afternoon, south of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with the heat mirages shimmering off the blacktop, without even a clue of the road construction traffic backup we would run into east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, or that we would end up in an extended crawl in Friday rush hour traffic in Jackson, Mississippi going into a long holiday weekend.

We didn’t take our motorhome, though there were plenty of recreational vehicles on the road.

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2007 Travel Journal — Madison, Wisconsin, June 10th

March 29, 2011

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

2007-00736(Click on any of the thumbnail images for larger versions of the photos)

We got a little bit of a late start on June 10th, a Sunday, when we headed for Madison for a picnic and a hike. It was a beautiful day and I was skeptical that we would be able to find an empty table at a park in the city. We were following our daughter, Jessica, and son-in-law, Shane — the grand-kids were with us. Since we had never been in Madison before, and didn’t have a clue where they were heading, it could have been very interesting. However, Shane drove slow so the “old man” following him — me! — could keep up and we ended up finding a table at Tenny Park, a small park near Lake Mendota on the Madison isthmus.

After the grand-kids were done playing following lunch, we headed out again. I really didn’t have a clue where we were going and, for a while wasn’t sure Shane did either. However, before long, we stopped at a University of Wisconsin gardens.

2007-00737The Allen Centennial Gardens are open daily from dawn to dusk and there is no entrance fee. The gardens serves as a 2.5 acre outdoor classroom for the Department of Horticulture. Allen Centennial Gardens is centered around a beautiful Victorian gothic house known by several names, including “the Agricultural Dean’s Residence.” One of the first buildings on the agricultural campus, the house served as residence for the first four deans. Today it is home for the offices of the Agricultural Research Stations.

Allen Centennial Gardens was dedicated in October 1989. It was designed to compliment the house and existing plantings, including a larch tree planted in 1899. (See more at the Allen Centennial Garden web site.)

2007-007392007-00741From the gardens, we walked past Porter Boathouse to the shore of Lake Mendota and took a pedestrian/bicycle path along the shore over to Memorial Union. Round trip, we walked a little under 2 miles. It was a nice stroll through the woods along the lake. There were a lot of other folks out walking, running, and bicycling.

Memorial Union is one of two buildings that comprise the Wisconsin Union. The other is Union South, located in another area of this very large campus. The Union is the “social, cultural, and recreational center of campus” and “serves as a daily gathering place for students, faculty, staff, community members, and visitors.”

The 19th annual Isthmus Jazz Fest was in it’s last few hours on the Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota when we got there. We stopped inside for some ice cream and then went down by the lake with the grandkids while Professor Les Thimmig was playing the sax.

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Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

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The town of Louisiana in Missouri–June 2007

March 24, 2011

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post from June 12, 2007, was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 8, 2007, after leaving Clarksville, we drove up the road to Louisiana, Missouri. Since there was minimal cell phone reception at the campground, we stopped at a city park on the bank of the Mississippi and made some calls to let family know where we were and what we were doing and to catch up on some things.

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The bridge in the picture is the one that we needed to cross the next day. We had already checked it out the night before and I was not looking forward to having to deal with oncoming traffic on what seemed to be a long and excessively narrow bridge. (Fortunately, there was no traffic and I can’t say that I strictly stayed in my lane driving across it.)

Louisiana, Missouri is a town of murals. We did a little bit of exploring and found a few of them, and, since we will be coming up to Wisconsin on a fairly regular basis, we will probably go back to look for some more.

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Other links:

Great River Road

Louisiana Missouri Visitor’s & Convention Center

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post from June 12, 2007, was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

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Post image for Travel Journal — Clarksville, Missouri, June 2007

Travel Journal — Clarksville, Missouri, June 2007

March 23, 2011

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 8th, we took some time to walk through a park on the west bank of the Mississippi and through part of Clarksville, Missouri. Founded in 1817, the town is the “southern anchor of one of America’s newest National Scenic Byways-the Little Dixie Highway of the Great River Road.”

While in Clarksville, we stopped in several shops and watched the artisans while they worked.

At the Clarksville Glassworks, Nicolas Philips created a glass vase as we watched. We’ve always liked glass, having done a little stained glass work years ago, and it was a pleasure to be able to sit and watch as the vase was formed. While we were there we also talked to another of the glass artists, Lance Stroheker, who was very helpful in explaining what Nicolas was doing.

We also stopped and watched Amanda Moon in her Sunfire Pottery store on Front Street in Clarksville. She had some very interesting and original creations.

At The Bent Tree Gallery, we talked for a short while with Stacy Leigh as she worked with leather.

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Amanda Moon’s Sunfire Pottery:

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Nicolas Philips at Clarksville Glassworks:

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The vase

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Stacy Leigh

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Other links:

Clarksville on Great River Road site.

City of Clarksville, MO

Clarksville, Missouri – Wikipedia

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

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Travel Journal, June 2007 — Clarksville, Missouri

March 22, 2011

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Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

On June 7th and 8th, we stayed at the campground at Tievoli Hills Resort, near Clarksville, Missouri.

From the time that we left Springfield, Missouri, until we got to the Mississippi River, we fought the wind. All across the state, the radio stations broadcast wind advisories from the National Weather Service.

We arrived at the campground around 4 in the afternoon and, after setting up and relaxing for a bit, drove north up to Louisiana, Missouri. I wanted to drive across the bridge over the Missisippi to see what it was like — and it was pretty darn narrow for hauling a high profile, 32 foot fiver over, especially on our very first extended trip and after we had an accident on our last trip. After going across, we decided that we would make an early departure when we left, in the hopes that there wouldn’t be any significant traffic on a Saturday morning. After that, we stopped at an old Dairy Queen for burgers and fries and did a little driving around Louisiana and Clarksville.

The following day we went back to both towns, walked around a bit and took some photos. It’s a little late right now, so I’ll be adding more information about the area later and adding photo galleries to the site here.

The glassblower in the photo is one of several artisans in Clarksville that we talked to and watched while they worked.

More later!

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

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Travel Journal — Rainy Day Turns Very Clear — August 28, 2007

March 18, 2011

Note: This “lost” Haw Creek Out ‘n About post was recovered from the Internet Archive WayBack Machine.

The morning started out very cloudy with a forecast of 60% chance of rain. We had been planning on taking a 2.8 mile loop trail, but decided to wait awhile to see what the weather held for us. When the clouds lowered and it started misting, we decided to go for a drive back to Spearfish in South Dakota, do some shopping and see some different country on our way back.

On the way back it was still raining intermittently.

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In one section of Wyoming 24, the fill dirt under the road had settled a lot earlier this summer. Until just the last couple of days the road had been closed as a result.

We had gone over that section of road the day before and had been wondering whether the workers would be out in this kind of weather. Having lived in this kind of country before, we were not terribly surprised to see them out in the misty fog. There is not a lot of time left before the weather could get inclement to the point that the job will have to be shutdown until late spring.

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While the road is open now, there is only one lane open — and it is nasty muddy. It was a bit windy and cold and the flaggers were all bundled up. In just a short section of road, the truck got dirty enough that we need to take it to a car wash so that we won’t have to be careful of leaning or rubbing up against it.

On the way back from Spearfish the conditions must have been just right to entice deer to come out in the open. We counted 95 deer — almost all of them white-tails — between Belle Fourch, South Dakota, and Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, and I’m sure that there were many more that we didn’t see.

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Three of them were pretty close to the road and I got some close ups of one of them. I was very pleased with her doe eyes, but when I saw the second picture, I was surprised that it looked like she was sticking her tongue out. She’s really in the middle of eating, but it is one of the oddest pictures of a deer that I’ve seen.

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By the time that we got back to the campground it had cleared up considerably. Deciding to take a walk while it was clear, we first went over to the front of the KOA store. At the entrance to this campground, there are 2 artistically painted large boots. The first boot has the KOA logo on it and it is also painted on all sides.

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This is the other side of it.

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The other boot is also painted on all sides. The back of the boot has an image of Teddy Roosevelt and the front has an image of Sitting Bull. The side that is in this image is interesting in that it depict Devil’s Tower and above and behind it is the real Devil’s Tower.

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When we got to the overflow camping area on our walk , I changed lenses on the camera replacing the telephoto zoom with the closeup zoom so that I could get more area into the shot. However, just after I did, we spooked two deer and they took off running for the national monument. I didn’t have time to switch back to the telephoto zoom, so the images of one of the deer as she ran and then jumped the fence are not as clear and crisp as I would like.

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The area at the rear of the campground is by far the prettiest. It is wide open with a lot of tall cottonwood trees. One side borders the national monument and on another the campground property ends at the Belle Fourche River, with a red rock cliff on the opposite side of the river. There are a lot of photo opportunities in that part of the campground.

This photo is a twisted dead tree with the Belle Fourche (pronounced foosh) River, part of the cliff and other land in the background. The buildings in the picture are KOA Kamping Kabins.

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This is a similar image, except I’ve focused in on the grasses along the river, with the background intentionally blurred.

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The monument boundary fence ends right at the river and then picks up again at the top of the red rock cliff, as shown in this picture:

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Every month during the summer and when weather permits, a nighttime walk is conducted on the night when the moon is full. In the morning the weather looked like it would likely cause the walk to be canceled. However, after we got back to the campground from our drive earlier in the day, the sky just got more and more clear. By the time we headed up to the trail head where we would be hiking from, the sky was almost perfectly clear. This photo was taken with my camera held in my hand, no tripod. The night by that time was too dark for any other photos without using the flash. I didn’t want to use the flash because it would momentarily impair the night vision of the other hikers.

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We enjoyed the walk, though when we stopped for the park volunteer to talk, the breaks lasted too long. The temperature has dropped into the low 50’s and there was a slight wind blowing. Even though everyone had bought flashlights, the moon light was bright enough in the open areas away from the trees that you didn’t really need them. We started out on the trail at 9 P.M. and got back to the truck at 10:30 P.M.

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