Thursday, September 23, 2010

 

Today we visited Dead Horse Point State Park, Canyonlands National Park and did Canyonlands by Night.

First - Dead Horse Point State Park.  The park got it’s name because when cowboys were trying to break some wild horses, they drove them out onto this point (peninsula) because it was a natural corral.  This point, or mesa, is surrounded by cliffs 2,000 feet high. Legend has it that one group of horses was left without food or water, and they all starved to death.  Today this area is a beautiful state park that overlooks the Colorado River. 

The entire area around Moab has been the scene of many movies.  The final scene of Thelma and Louise was filmed in Dead Horse Point State Park.  Early westerns like Stagecoach and recent films like Mission Impossible were filmed here in Canyonlands NP.

Canyonlands NP is 527 sq. miles of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires.  Fins are narrow vertical sheets of rock that look like the fins on a fish.  Spires are tall rock columns that stand alone.  You probably already knew these definitions.  I just learned about them in the past few days.   The park was established in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson was president.  Prior to it becoming a national park, it was under the control of the Bureau of Land Management.  The park is divided into three sections by the Green and Colorado Rivers.  The views are similar, but on a smaller scale, to the Grand Canyon.

For dinner, we went to a ‘Cowboy Dutch Oven’ dinner.  After dinner, we took a two hour boat cruise and light show on the Colorado River.  The package is bundled as ‘Canyonlands by Night.’ A ‘Cowboy Dutch Oven’ dinner is a marketing phrase for a buffet dinner.  The cruise left at about 7:00 and after sunset, they did a light show against the canyon walls with music and a narrative of the history of the area from creation to present day.  It was a nice ride and show. We were not allowed to take pictures, but they told us we could download pictures from their website: canyonlandsbynight.com., but I couldn’t get them from the website to our blog. 

Now, the photos of the day:

These shots are from Dead Horse Point State Park.  The Colorado River is in the background behind me.  The right photo shows what the cowboys might have laid up as a fence at the end of the mesa.

On the left is where we are today.  Next is Buck Canyon, Canyonlands NP.

These are two photos from Grand View Point Overlook, Canyonlands NP.

The arch on the left is Mesa Arch, Canyonlands NP.  The arch on the right is the improved version of Mesa Arch, thanks to Connie.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Today, we returned to Arches NP to take the trail back to ‘landscape arch.’  This is the arch that is shown in promotional photos of Arches NP.  The arch spans over 300 feet.  Several years ago a visitor was in the right place, at the right time and took video of a large section of the arch that collapsed. It was a relatively easy 1.6 mile hike and well worth the walk. 

Here’s your history lesson for the day.  Arches NP is one of 58 National Parks. I would bet that if you asked someone how many National Parks there are, they would guess many more that just 58.  Many National Monuments are considered National Parks.  Herbert Hoover signed legislation that made Arches a National Monument in 1929.  It became a National Park in 1971.  The park is 119 square miles and contains over 2,000 sandstone arches and they feel there are more to be discovered. 

Yesterday, I described the photos as top, middle, and bottom row.  That’s how it looked when I wrote it in “Windows Live Writer;” a new blog program that we got with our new computer.  When I published the blog it put three photos per line.  Whatever.

Here are the photos for today:

These describe themselves.

This is ‘Landscape Arch.’

This is just one of thousands of great views in Arches NP.

These are two photos of rock climbers.  On our way out of the park we stopped at a pullout and spotted these ‘free climbers.’  These guys are hundreds of feet up.  Connie thought that the lower climber gave up.  He didn’t move all the time we watched them.

The area around Moab, Utah is beautiful.  These National Parks are real treasures!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

 

Happy Birthday Summer!!  Summer is our second-oldest grand daughter.  She is 14 today!

Today grandpa and grandma visited Arches National Park just outside of Moab, UT. 

The top left photo is our typical “This is where we are” photo.  Top right is called’ wall street.’  Center left is ‘the three gossips.’  Center right is ‘balanced rock.’  Lower left is ‘south windows’ and lower right is ‘north windows.’

Tomorrow we will do one more trip into Arches and then visit Canyonland NP. 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were in Hyde Park today. There are five different National Historic Sites here: the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt's home (Val-Kill), Top Cottage (FDR's cottage), FDR Presidential Museum, and the Vanderbilt's mansion. We made it to three of the five. Both the homes of Franklin and Eleanor were guided tours. To date, by the way, we have now been to 9 of the 12 official presidential libraries and a total of at least 69 national historical sites/parks (most this last year).

The two photos above represent the beginning and the end of FDR's life. The "beginning" because he was born in this house in 1882. The original house did not have the two story wings or the third story; these were added after FDR and Eleanor were married. The "end" because he was buried in the rose garden next to the house in 1945.

The above photo is the front of Val-Kill (kill means river). This was the private home of Eleanor. She had wanted to get away from her mother-in-law and remodeled this building as her private residence. The building was originally built by Eleanor as a factory for Val-Kill Industries, built in 1926 to make high quality furniture. The factory closed in 1936 and Eleanor converted it into her home. (FDR never spent the night at Val-Kill; he promised his mother that he would always stay at the family home. Do you think his mother, Sara, was dominating?)

The gentleman to the right of FDR and Eleanor is Louis Howe. Louis had a room at the White House, at Campobello, and at the family home. Louie was in the newspaper business and became the politial advisor for FDR very early in FDR's political career. FDR relied a lot on Louie's opinions. Louie convinced FDR to run for president even though FDR thought his polio would keep him out of the race.

Eleanor was quite a "First Lady." We have not had as strong a "First Lady" before or after. While we were at Val-Kill,one of the park rangers said that Ken Burns will be doing a special on the Roosevelts, maybe next year. The special will star Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor!

The dog was FDR's and its name is Fala. FDR took him almost everywhere and when FDR died the dog became Eleanor's dog.

Here's an EXTRA for today: If you look very close at the photo above (double-click it), you will see that the name of the store is the Rhinebeck General Merchandise Co. This is in Rhinebeck, NY. If you have been following the upcoming marriage of Chelsea Clinton, the wedding is suspected to be at the Astor estate in Rhinebeck, NY. The wedding is estimated to cost $2,000,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go figure!

Monday, July 26, 2010

We just arrived in Saugerties, NY at another KOA campground. The past three days we spent at Nelson's Family Campground in East Hampton, CT.

Over the past several winters at Grace Epsicopal Church, in Weslaco, TX, we have had the pleasure of getting to know Nelson Gustine, the owner of Nelson's Family Campground. Nelson had given us a brochure on the campground and we tried to stay there last fall, but they were closed for the season. We called several weeks ago and made reservations for last weekend. When we got to the campground, the office people told us that we staying there for free! Thanks, Nelson! We spent a lot of time with Nelson; went to a benefit spagetti dinner for Nelson's granddaughter''s soccer team, to Christ Episcopal Church on Sunday, and to breakfast afterwards, and to coffee on Monday before we left.

The campground is huge; 300 sites and many are seasonal sites. There are many ammenities; it's a beautiful place!

We also met another couple from East Hampton; Floy and Gail Hodge, friends of Nelson's. We found we had many things in common. They have a home is Flordia, but travel to the RGV each March. They used to have a place in the Valley (South Texas).

Wednesday-Thursday, July 21, 22, 2010

(This photo is of the Wayside house and should be further down in the blog, but it's too difficult to get it where it belongs. )

Wednesday we drove toward Boston to the end of the "T", the subway, or MTA, and took it to the Kennedy/ UMASS stop. We then took the free shuttle to the Kennedy Library and Museum. The center has a nice film and has all of the displays of his campaign and presidency. One interesting display was of his winning the primary in West Virginia. Early in the presidential primary, he was leading in West Virginia, but then it became known that he was a Catholic. He then lost his lead and went to West Virginia and made several notable/historic speeches and ended winning the state in the primary.

The photo to the right is inside the south end of the museum and overlooks the harbor and Logan airport. We had lunch at the JFK Cafe and then got back on the "T" and went to the Quincy stop.

The Adams National Historic Park is in Quincy. The church pictured is where the second and sixth presidents are buried, along with their wives. We toured the church while we were waiting for the tour of the Adams' homes. We sat in the Adams' pew. It was the family pew of John Quincy Adams.

This is a statue of Abigail Adams in front of the visitor center.

This is the original Adams' home where John Adams was born.
They are right next door to each other.

This home was purchased by John and Abigail and is where John Quincy was born.












After John and Abigail returned from Europe in 1788 they moved into this home (not exactly as it looks today) which they called "Peace Field." This is where John Adams died on July 4, 1826. As you might know, this is the same day that Thomas Jefferson died.

This building is the "Stone Library" and was built by John Adam's grandson well after his death. It contains over 12,000 volumes of books belonging to the Adams family.

Thursday, we visited the Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord, MA. The picture at the right is of Paul Revere, who history tells us, was famous for his "midnight ride." "One if by land, two if by sea." Well, Paul Revere was captured by the British the night of his famous ride and one of the others in the group completed the ride. This was the night before the famous battle at North Bridge. The date of the battle was April 19, 1775.

This is Hartwell Tavern on the road from Lexington to Concord. It's important because it's still standing and pretty-much original.

The very top photo is of the "Wayside" house. This house is famous for all of the 1800's authors and their literature.
Louisa May Alcott grew up here and this home inspired her to write Little Women. Many other authors lived in this area

including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau (Waldon's Pond which is near here), Hawthorne and Margaret Sidney who wrote The five Little Peppers and How They Grew.

The end of the day was at North Bridge. "The shot heard 'round the world" was fired here. The statue is the Minute Man Statue placed here in 1836.

So much history!!!!