Category Archives: National Landmark

National landmark or historical place

June 1, 2015 Colorado Springs, Colorado

We continued our time in Colorado with a four night stop in Colorado Springs. At first the weather continued to be cool with gusty winds and afternoon thunderstorms. After a couple days we had temperatures in the 90’s and the mosquitoes came out in force at dusk. We had very gusty winds in New Mexico and the winds followed us to Colorado. We camped at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado’s newest state park. It is a very nice park with terraced campsites and full hookups. Our campsite had a view of Colorado Springs which was especially pretty at night with the twinkling lights of the city shining below us. Nearby is Fort Carson and in the evenings we could hear the sound of bugles as the flag was lowered.

We camped at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, a very foreboding looking mountain. Perhaps the history of the mountain makes it more mysterious. The underground operations center for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was built in the early 1960’s during the Cold War to monitor the North American airspace for missile launches and Soviet military aircraft. The command center is buried 2,000 feet underground in the granite mountain on five acres and was designed with a bunker to withstand bombing and fallout from a nuclear bomb. Today it is still off limits but many of its functions were transfered in 2006 to Peterson Air Force Base nearby. On top of Cheyenne Mountain is an antennae farm visible for miles around with transmitters for cell phones, radio, television and law enforcement.

We wanted to tour the Peterson Air and Space Museum located on the Peterson Air Force Base. We read that for security reasons you had to go onto their website at least 24 hours in advance to request a visitor pass. When we went online it said they were not accepting visitors at this time due to security precautions.

On our last day we rode the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the longest and highest cog railway in the world. The trip began in Manitou Springs (elevation 6,320) for an 8.9 mile, hour and a half ride through high plains with aspen groves and dense pine forests to an alpine tundra. As we neared the top the snow was piled high along the tracks, higher than the windows. When we reached the summit of Pike’s Peak we were at an elevation of 14,110 ft. The snow was ten feet high and the temperature was 36 degrees with a wind chill of 28 degrees. We had read that at 14,000 feet you may experience breathing problems and nausea. The air at Pike’s Peak has 50% of the oxygen pressure compared to sea level. Since we had both been suffering quite a bit with allergy problems this spring we invested in a little spray bottle of oxygen at the gift shop before getting on the train. Bill used it a few times. I didn’t have any problems until we reached the summit. When I stood and walked off the train I suddenly felt very lightheaded and dizzy. After several sprays of oxygen I felt better. They do have Medic services at the summit for people who experience serious problems.

Bill had to climb over some slippery snow drifts to get some pictures, including a memorial to Katharine Lee Bates. Her visit to Pike’s Peak in 1893 inspired her to write a poem which later became the lyrics of “America the Beautiful”. Pike’s Peak is nicknamed ” America’s Mountain”.

We lucked out on the right time to visit Pike’s Peak. Less than a week earlier the train had not yet been able to reach the summit of the mountain due to ice and snow on the tracks. Besides taking the train you can reach the summit by car and hiking. The driving road has still not yet opened for the season. Pike’s Peak has the possibility of snow any day of the year!

Pike’s Peak is named after Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, an American explorer who was sent to the southwest in 1806 to explore the source of the Arkansas River. He attempted, but never reached the summit, but they named the mountain after him anyway.

After grabbing a late lunch we drove to the nearby Garden of the God’s Park, a National Natural Landmark. This beautiful city park was once owned by railroad magnate Charles Eliot Perkins. In 1909 he bequeathed the land to the city of Colorado Springs with the stipulation that it remain open and free to the public. It is obvious people love this park. One of the nicest and most elaborate Visitors Centers we have visited is in the park, staffed by volunteers. It has a first class nature center as well as over 30 interactive exhibits on the geology, ecology and history of the area. It has the world’s only Theiophytalia kerri dinosaur fossil replica. The dinosaur skull was discovered in the park in 1886. The park has nature talks, guided walks and guided rock climbing opportunities. There are beautiful views of Pike’s Peak from the observation deck of the visitors center. There is a nice loop drive around the park which we decided to do since it was late in the day. The red sandstone formations were beautiful.

We had mixed feelings about Colorado Springs. I expected more breathtaking views of snow capped mountains and a funky, quirky little town with boutiques and an active downtown area with restaurants. Instead the town came across as old and tired. The roads were terrible with constant potholes which made driving around town feel like driving an obstacle course. On the positive side I saw my first revolving McDonald’s sign!

May 29, 2015 Trinidad Lake State Park, Colorado

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Driving from the Albuquerque area we made the short drive to Springer, New Mexico for a one night stay. Before heading to Colorado the next morning we drove to the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. Bill had been looking forward to visiting Philmont for a long time. In 1938, an oil magnate who was very impressed with boy scouts who visited his ranch, donated 35,857 acres of land to the Boy Scouts of America. Today the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch, whose name is derived from Waite Phillips who gave them the land, is a National High Adventure Base where Boy Scouts take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities. It is one of the largest youth camps in the world in land with over 23,000 Scouts and adults leaders visiting each summer between the beginning of June and middle of August. While we were there Bill toured their Philmont Museum and Seton Memorial Library. The only documented Tyrannosaurus Rex track in the world was discovered within the camp’s boundaries in 1993. We noticed that the Santa Fe Trail ran thru the ranch.

On the way to Colorado we stopped in Raton, New Mexico at the NRA Whittington Center, the largest and most complete shooting and hunting complex in the United States. Bill was able to spend some time doing some pistol shooting practice.

As we passed through the end of the dusty plains of New Mexico into Colorado we were met with the green mountains to our west and the sight of even more snow capped mountains. We climbed and dropped in elevation until arriving at Trinidad Lake State Park (elevation 6300 ft) outside of Trinidad, Colorado. The 800 acre Trinidad Lake was created in 1978 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a dam. The Trinidad Lake State Park is a very popular area for fishermen.

While there we drove into the small town of Trinidad and did a bit of sightseeing. We visited a statue of Christopher (Kit) Carson an American frontiersman and found a geocache nearby. We drove a dirt road to the top of Simpson’s Rest, a sandstone bluff on a mountain with great views of Trinidad, Purgatoire Valley and the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range, part of the Rocky Mountains. It was amazing to see the combination of rolling prairies, hills and mountains. Across those prairies the pioneers and traders traveled along the Santa Fe Trail. This trail wound through what is now downtown Trinidad and across the mountainous Raton Pass which we crossed over on the way to Trinidad. On the top is a Trinidad sign which lights up at night as well as the grave marker of George S. Simpson. Simpson was a famous trail blazer, scout, trader and explorer in the area. Legend says that in 1867 Simpson was confronted by warring Ute Indians. He fled up the sandstone bluff and hid for three days. He was thankful for the sandstone bluff that saved his life and requested to be buried there. Simpson is credited with the first discovery of gold in Colorado which led to the famous 1859 Rush to the Rockies.

We stopped by the town’s Mount San Rafael Hospital to see a 28 by 12 foot ceramic mural designed and created by a nun, Sister Augusta Zimmer. The history of Trinidad is depicted in the beautiful mural.

We enjoyed our time in Trinidad and it is always fascinating to see the history found in these small towns in America!

May 24, 2015 Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Sunday we made the short drive to Old Town Albuquerque. This area was not as large as Old Town Santa Fe and was mainly restaurants and souvenir shops. Both Old Towns had a central Plaza where tourists seemed to gather to listen to live music or magic shows. In both Old Town Santa Fe and Old Town Albuquerque we saw chilies hanging to dry. Chilies are a staple in

: Chilies hanging everywhere

San Felipe De Neri, oldest church in Albuquerque, serving since 1706

almost every southwest dish. Bill enjoyed chatting with two men who served in World War II as Navajo Code Talkers. They were signing copies of their book. During World War II the Japanese were able to intercept radio military communications so Navajos spoke their own code in the Navajo language and the Japanese were unable to break the code.

Saturday while on the way to Santa Fe we stopped by the Sandia Peaks Aerial Tram. Since it was a Saturday and a holiday weekend there was a three hour wait to ride the tram so we decided to return Tuesday. On Tuesday there was barely a line and we were able to get on the next tram. We don’t know why they call this a tram since it seems much more like a gondola to us. It is advertised as the world’s longest single span aerial tramway. We rode 2.7 miles across deep canyons with rocky walls to the top of the Sandia Peak at an elevation of 10,400 feet. It was much colder at that elevation and we had a view of 11,000 square miles, including Albuquerque in the distance. This is a double reversible passenger aerial tramway so we passed another tram both going up and coming down.

Also on Tuesday we drove to Petroglyph National Monument. Here they have the world’s largest accessible collection of prehistoric rock art. There are more than 17,000 ancient petroglyphs carved into the remnants of boulders of dormant volcanoes by Native American and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. The monument was established in 1990 to protect the petroglyphs and surrounding area. No, we did not find all 17,000 petroglyphs, but Bill did take pictures of a few.

May 23, 2015 Santa Fe, New Mexico

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We made the short drive from Los Alamos to our campground in Bernalillo right outside of Albuquerque. We had a nice long pull through site with our own ramada. We noticed in the southwest and Mexico it is quite common to have these ramadas, but it is not everyday each campsite gets their own. We planned on staying here five nights to explore the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area.

One day we drove into Santa Fe, which is the oldest capital city in the country (1610) and also the capital city with the highest elevation (6,989 ft). Santa Fe has the nickname “The City Different” and it truly looks very different from any other city in the country. Thousands of years ago the Pueblo Indians used adobe, a mixture of earth, straw and water which was shaped into bricks and dried in the sun. In 1912 a code was passed requiring the use of a style called Spanish Pueblo Revival which meant an architecture of earth-toned, flat topped buildings, wood beamed ceilings and doors and window frames painted white or turquoise. Most of the buildings are stucco that resemble adobe called non-authentic adobe. Consequently everything in Santa Fe looks adobe, including McDonald’s! They also have a regulation that no building can be taller than three stories, or the height of the cathedral.

We concentrated our time in the Old Town section of Santa Fe. We began by taking a 90 minute trolley tour that gave us a nice history of the town and took us to some areas we may not have found on our own. We rode past a statue of Sacagawea, some interesting art and metal work, and ended up at a huge bronze replica of a stagecoach on the Santa Fe Trail. This section of New Mexico is full of information on the Santa Fe Trail and there are signs everywhere showing where the trail came through. Likewise there are signs denoting Historic Route 66 along the roadways.

The Palace of the Governors was built in 1610 and is considered one of the oldest public buildings in the U.S. Along the sidewalks around the building you find many Native Americans selling handmade items. Our tour guide said they have to show up very early in the morning to participate in a lottery system to get a spot on the sidewalk amid the tourists.

The San Miguel Mission Church, constructed in 1610, is thought to be the country’s oldest active church.

The beautiful Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi is one of the few buildings in the city that is not adobe. Since it was a Saturday the church bells were frequently ringing as one wedding ended and immediately limousine doors would open and another bride emerged to enter the church.

Santa Fe was a very unique town and we really enjoyed our time there.

May 20, 2015 Los Alamos, New Mexico

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We left Mancos, Colorado and drove five hours to White Rock, New Mexico just outside of Los Alamos. There is plenty of nothing between Mancos and White Rock in the way of towns, but the scenery was beautiful. Southwest Colorado looks very much like New Mexico. The snow capped Jemez Mountains provided a gorgeous backdrop to the towering red rock formations in northern New Mexico.

We arrived at the White Rock RV Park which is located next to the White Rock Visitors Center. The park only provides electrical hookups, but since we had originally planned on dry camping in the area and the nights were cold, we were very thankful for the electricity.

We had two main reasons for visiting this area. One reason was to visit Bandelier National Monument. Established in 1916, this park is one of the National Park Service’s oldest sites. Evidence of Ancestral Pueblo people is shown by petroglyphs, multi-story adobe dwellings and dwellings in the rock cliffs going back over 11,000 years. The park is made up of over 33,000 acres of canyons and mesas. The Rio Grande River, a mere trickle now, flowed nearby. To reach the park entrance you have to drive up an elevation change of 1,000 feet and then down 800 feet to the visitor center.

We first stopped by the Visitors Center in Frijoles Canyon to see a movie about the park. They had a large area of exhibits about the Pueblo people. We noticed on the time lines they had BCE or CE after the dates. I walked over and asked one of the rangers about the initials. He told us the initials BCE stood for Before Common Era and CE stood for Common Era and those initials now took the place of BC and AD. Bill and I both found that troubling and will make a point from now on to see what appears on other park displays around the country.

We walked the main loop trail that took us past the remains of ancient homes called the Tyuonyi Village. Starting in approximately 1150 AD, the Ancestral Pueblo people began to build homes in this area, the Pajarito Plateau. The interesting walk included walking up and down stone steps through narrow passages which led us to cliff homes built into the rock face. We could climb ladders into the homes like the Pueblo did thousands of years ago. By the mid 1500’s the Ancestral Pueblo deserted these homes and moved further south along the Rio Grande. One thing we especially noticed was the pumice appearance of the rocks in the cliff face.

This is a back wall of a three story high adobe dwelling

By the way, the park is named for Adolph Bandelier, an anthropologist who studied and explored much of the southwest.

Our second reason for visiting the area was to learn more about the Manhattan Project. It was in Los Alamos that some top scientists and engineers, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, perfected new nuclear technologies in World War II that led to the world’s first atomic bombs.

Formerly the Los Alamos Ranch School, established in 1917 and closed in 1943, the buildings and roads from the school were just the right remote location for the United States Government’s Project Y of the top secret Manhattan Project. “One way the Los Alamos school differed from other health schools at the time was its integration with Boy Scouts. Boys in the school belonged to Los Alamos Troop 22, the first mounted scout troop in the country and now one of the nation’s oldest continuous troops.” see History of the Los Alamos Ranch School

We made the short drive from our campsite at White Rock up another 1,000 feet in elevation to the mesas of Los Alamos and first toured the Los Alamos Historical Museum with several rooms of exhibits and artifacts of Los Alamos from the times of the Ancestral Pueblo to the Manhattan Project, with emphasis on the latter. We then drove to the nearby Bradbury Science Museum, a magnificent and impressive museum with movies and over 40 interactive exhibits on the Manhattan Project and the ongoing science and research of Los Alamos National Laboratory. There were three main galleries focusing on Defense, Research and History. In the Defense gallery they had models of Little Boy and Fat Man, the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan that ended World War II. A movie told us about the Los Alamos National Laboratory and its current mission to maintain the country’s aging weapons without nuclear testing. In the History section of the museum we saw an excellent movie about the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos from 1942 to 1945 that showed us what life was like back then.

We have visited many museums over the years and almost all of them have charged an admission. Both the Los Alamos Historical Museum and the Bradbury Science Museum were free of charge. The Bradbury Science Museum is funded by the Department of Energy, so I guess we are paying admission in a round about way!

Located today in Los Alamos is the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The facility is called one of the premier scientific institutions in the world. It has an annual budget exceeding $2 billion, has 2,100 individual facilities across 38 square miles of Los Alamos, and employs 11,000 people. The Lab is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Los Alamos National Security. The core mission of the Laboratory is national security in regard to ensuring the safety and reliability of nuclear deterrent, reduce the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to counter terrorism.

There are no tours of the Laboratory and security around the facility is tight. When we were driving from Bandelier National Monument back to our campsite the road took us through land owned by the Lab. As we were exiting the area we had to go through a checkpoint where Bill had to show his driver’s license and explain where we were going. The guard then said, “Do you vouch?” Bill said, “What?????” The guard then said, “Do you vouch for your passenger?” Strange. Why didn’t he just ask for my driver’s license too!

We enjoyed our time in the White Rock/Los Alamos area. We found the drivers to be especially courteous and the people friendly. We loved our campsite where we could look out the windows at snow capped mountains. The weather was chilly during the day and cold at night. During our time there we had some very heavy rain and a few thunderstorms, one of which presented us with a gorgeous rainbow.

May 5, 2015 Grand Canyon National Park, Part 4

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We continued to explore more areas of the park. It is a huge park with so much to see. We rode the shuttle bus to the western most point of the park which is only accessible by shuttle bus. Our first stop was Hermit’s Rest. In the early 1900’s a French Canadian took up residence in the canyon for twenty years and became known as “the hermit of the Grand Canyon “. He ended up being a valuable source of information and one of the area’s primary guides. Hermit’s Rest is named in his honor. The building is one of seven in the park designed by southwestern architect Mary Jane Colter. She is known for her Native American architecture and use of materials from the area.

We hiked part of the way along the Rim Trail and found a few geocaches before hopping back on the shuttle bus. We were very impressed with the park shuttle bus service during our time in the park. The bus drivers were friendly and helpful and the buses punctually arrived at convenient stops every 10 to 15 minutes. Considering it was sometimes standing room only on the buses, they were well utilized by tourists visiting the park.

We stopped at Powell’s Point which is named after Major John Wesley Powell, the first explorer to journey down the entire length of the canyon on the Colorado River in 1869. This feat is even more amazing considering he lost an arm during the Civil War. He began the journey with nine men and four wooden boats. Several months later he completed the trip with five men and one boat. Several men had deserted the group along the way and were never heard from again and four of the boats had broken up. Powell made a second trip in 1872. There is a large monument to Powell and his men at Powell Point.

I think the western viewpoints are among the prettiest in the park and we had great views of the Colorado River from the rim. The Colorado River is one of the only rivers in the world that classifies its rapids on a scale of 1 to 10 instead of 1 to 6 like other rivers. There are many rapids in this part of the Colorado River with the Lava Rapid being the highest rated commercially run rapid in North America. The majority of the rapids in the Grand Canyon are caused by debris that is funneled into the river from side canyons.

Another day we drove to the eastern end of the Grand Canyon. Shuttle bus service does not extend this far. Along the way we saw a large male elk feeding alongside the road and several other elk close by. At the eastern end we visited the Desert View Watchtower, another Mary Colter design and one of the most prominent architectural features in the park. Built in 1932, it is modeled after ancient Pueblo watchtowers found in the Four Corners region. The tower is 70 feet tall and since it is the highest point in the South Rim, it provides stunning 360 degree views. The inside of the tower was amazing with a staircase climbing to the top and walls displaying petroglyphs and murals by a Hopi artist and crafts by local Hopi artisans.

On the way back from the Desert Tower we stopped at several rim viewpoints. Here are some pictures from the Grandview Point including a video.

use this if you don’t see the above video “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXj2VUueks&feature=youtu.be”

On our last day in the park we hiked three miles with an elevation drop of 500 feet into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. We had really hoped to do more hiking and biking while at the Grand Canyon, but we both had colds/allergies that lingered for over two weeks, and with the 7,000 foot altitude, we were just not up to it. But by the last day we were feeling better and were determined to hike a little of the famous trail. The day was a little cool and windy but had bright blue skies. The trail is great and the same one is used to take visitors down by mule. The hike down was fairly easy but the hike back up took twice as long. We passed two really cool tunnels. I loved the camaraderie of the people hiking the trail of all ages and fitness levels. People greeted each other in passing and often asked how far they were hiking or if they had returned from hiking to the river. We recognized those planning to hike to the river and back since they had large backpacks with supplies. There were signs warning hikers not to attempt to hike down and back in one day due to the strenuous nature of the hike. It usually takes half a day to hike to the bottom and a full day to hike back up.

Our ten days went by much too quickly and the park is on our list of places to return to someday.

March 11, 2015 Wellington, New Zealand

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I forgot to mention in the last blog when we arrived in Napier we couldn’t figure out why there were cars parked everywhere…on every side street, full parking lots, and up on the grass. Turned out they were having one of the 2015 World Cup Cricket championship playoffs. New Zealand was playing Afghanistan. There were quite a few Afghanistan fans staying at our hotel and dining in the restaurants. Cricket is so popular in New Zealand and every restaurant TV had cricket games playing. Seemed like a weird form of baseball to us!
Before leaving Napier we stopped by Pak n Save to pick up a few supplies. I stopped by their bakery department and bought some fresh blueberry muffins. They were delicious! I told Bill at last I found something better here than back home. Our sales receipt gave us four cents off per liter at their gas pumps so we decided to get gas there too. Their gas pumps are without attendants so you put cash in the machine and push your pump number. If you need money back you have to trot back into the store and wait in line at the service counter. A bit of a hassle but with the price of gas here it is worth it to get the four cents per liter discount.
The drive to Wellington is four hours and with stops for lunch and rest it took us over five hours. We took turns driving. We have found driving here to be tiring. It is as if you are constantly fighting your brain which is yelling that you are driving on the wrong side of the road. And so much to remember with the turn signals on the right of the steering wheel and the passing lane to your right.
We arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand around rush hour but fortunately most of the traffic was driving out of the city. Wellington reminded us of San Francisco with its high density housing dotting the hillsides and the hilly streets.
We settled into our motel and asked the hotel proprietor for a restaurant recommendation. He said there was a restaurant at the bottom of the hill with great fish and chips. We made the short walk down the hill. After two weeks I have come to the realization that I am happiest ordering off the sides part of the menu instead of the entrees. I can make a delicious dinner from a garden salad, fresh mashed potatoes and fresh bread. Here I ordered a garden salad and some garlic bread. It was the best salad I have had since leaving the States. Bill said his fish and chips were the best he has ever had.
The next day we caught the city bus to the cable car. When you board the bus you place your $2 coin in a small tray next to the driver. A machine prints you out a ticket. Seemed like a waste of paper to us but the purpose is to show proof you paid should anyone ask for it.
There was a line at the cable car ticket booth because there was a cruise ship in town and everyone wanted to ride the cable car. We enjoyed chatting with a young lady who was a librarian at the local public library. She had hoped to make a quick run home via the cable car to pick up something she left, but got caught in the cruise ship line. The cable car was fun to ride, especially the trip down when it was less crowded and we stood in front and Bill chatted with the very friendly cable car operator. The trip up and back was steep and went through two tunnels. Quite different from the cable cars in San Francisco. The two cars are connected by ONE cable where the cars are balanced, one car is going up and the other car slides down using gravity. As you can see the cable looks pretty small. At the top we walked through a cable car museum and enjoyed the great views of the Wellington area.
After lunch we walked to the New Zealand Parliament building. After going through security we signed up for their next tour. IWe had an hour to spare and they said we could sit in the public gallery and watch a Parliament session. We went through additional security where we basically had to leave everything behind with the guards except what we had on and Bill’s wallet. Today’s meeting was a question and answer session. On one side of the room was the government and on the other side the opposition. The opposition was asking questions of various government members. The session was presided over by the Speaker. We were amazed as the government and opposition members yelled at and interrupted each other and shook their heads and rolled their eyes. We received a copy of the twelve questions being discussed. There were such questions as:
To the Minister of Climate Change: Is the Government’s objective to increase New Zealand’s net greenhouse gas emissions or is the Government’s objective to decrease New Zealand’s net greenhouse gas emissions?
To the Minister for Economic Development: What reports has he received on GDP growth in New Zealand’s regions?
To the Minister of Justice: What advice, if any has she received about Iriheke Pere given that it is over 18 months since he was shot in the back while he was handcuffed and not resisting arrest.
To the Minister for Social Development: What recent announcements has she made on steps to protect children?
Some of the greatest heated responses came came from questions related to roads. One member of the opposition asked the question to the Minister of Transportation: How much has been spent in total by the New Zealand Transport Agency on roads in the Northland region under the National Land Transport Programme set by the current Government since it was elected in November 2008? This question led to a lot of yelling by each side and eye rolling by the opposition. The man who asked the question then held up a big photo of the road mounted on poster board. This infuriated the Speaker who asked him to remove it. When the opposition man got up to take it out he held it up and paraded it out for all to see. This infuriated the Speaker even more and he told the man to collect all his things and leave the session which he did. It was all very entertaining and fascinating and we were sad when our hour was up and we had to leave for the tour.
We had a nice tour of the Parliament building, a beautiful old building. Next door is a building called The Beehive which is very much like our White House except it is not a residence. Their elected government is confusing to us and we still don’t get the government vs opposition thing. The Crown (currently Queen Elizabeth) appoints the Governor General. For the first time since arriving in New Zealand we met some Americans also taking the tour who where from California and Utah.

We finished the day with a drive through Mt Victoria Tunnel and a drive up a steep, narrow and winding road to the Mt Victoria Lookout which gave us a nice view of Wellington and the harbor.
The road was extremely narrow made worse by residents being allowed to park on the side of the road, making it a one lane road in places. You never knew what might be coming at you as you rounded each curve. A real nail biter for me!!
The next day we caught the Interislander car ferry from Wellington to the South Island. Our ferry was named Arahura meaning “Pathway to Dawn”. It is capable of carrying 125 cars and 550 passengers with a crew of 45. It has eight decks. We got there early and were near at the front of the long line of cars, motorcycles and campervans.
The trip took about 3 hours and we sailed 50 nautical miles. It was a perfect day for sailing with blue sky and calm seas. We sailed through Queen Charlotte Sound and Cook Strait. James Cook first sighted land here in 1770, but he wasn’t the first European to do so. More about that in the next blog post.
We landed at Picton, a small seaport on the South Island and began the drive to Nelson, our next overnight destination.
Some observations:
They only put the house dressing on salads, they never give you a choice of dressings. Fortunately most of them have been very good. A couple times I have been disappointed to find beans in my salad….lima, kidney, etc. Love the roasted pumpkin seeds in my salads.
Pharmacists are called chemists.
Catsup is tomato relish or tomato sauce and is not as good as the ketchup back home.
Churches in New Zealand are small and plain, usually made of stone or wood. We have not seen any large, grandiose churches.
Eggs are not refrigerated in the grocery stores.
There are no artificial sweeteners on the tables in restaurants. Only sugar and raw sugar.
They do not put salt and pepper on the tables in restaurants.

January 27, 2015 Boulder City, Nevada

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After ten days in the desert at Quartzsite we sadly packed up to leave. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to return in several years.

We headed back into California with a brief stop at a California agricultural checkpoint. Agriculture is very important in California so anytime you enter their state they stop you and ask what fruits, vegetables, nuts, plants and firewood you have with you. We had heard some RVers had oranges they had been given in Arizona and those were confiscated at the border.

Lake Mead Recreation Area

We arrived at the Lake Mead Recreation Area where we stayed for two nights at their Boulder Beach campground. We had a beautiful view of Lake Mead from our campsite. We visited the Lake Mead Visitors Center where we saw a movie and learned that Lake Mead is the largest man made lake in the United States and the largest reservoir by volume. Currently it is down about 40 feet from the severe drought. We could see the white oxidation line where the lake should be.

Towers that feed water from Lake Mead to the generators

Our purpose for coming to this area was to visit and tour Hoover Dam, known as one of the seven wonders of the Industrial Age. We made the very short drive from our campground to the Dam and paid for a tour. First known as Boulder Dam and later renamed after President Herbert Hoover, it is a concrete arch gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River half in Arizona and half in Nevada. While touring the dam you are at times in Arizona and then other times in Nevada. The Dam was constructed between 1931 and 1936, with its dedication in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The building of the dam was a massive effort involving thousands of workers and the loss of over a hundred lives. Our tour guide told us contrary to what some have said, there are no bodies buried in the concrete. Life was very hard for the workers with long hours and back breaking work. If they missed one day of work they were fired, so they worked sick or well.

Model showing top view of dam layout

Inside view of the Nevada generators

What a generator looks like inside. This one was currently under maintenance.

Our tour took us 530 feet down an elevator in 70 seconds to a tunnel drilled through the rock wall of Black Canyon. The tunnel was drilled in the 1930’s construction to the Penstock Viewing Area. Here we were atop one of the four huge thirty foot diameter pipes that can transport nearly 90,000 gallons of water each second from Lake Mead to the dam’s hydroelectric generators. We then got on another elevator which took us to the power plant balcony on the Nevada side where we had a panoramic view of the 650 foot long wing of the power plant where eight of the dam’s seventeen huge generators are located. The dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona and California.

Arizona generators in the top building and Nevada generators in the bottom building. We were standing in the bottom building during our tour

On both the Nevada and Arizona side are spillways that are designed to direct high water from Lake Mead around the dam and through tunnels in the canyon walls. The spillways are so large that a World War II battleship can be floated in each one.

We also visited the excellent visitor center where they had many audio, visual, and interactive exhibits as well as a very interesting movie on the construction of the dam.

December 6, 2014 Oahu, Hawaii Part 2

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You absolutely cannot visit Oahu without going to see Pearl Harbor. The tickets to see the Arizona Memorial are free but I forgot to order them online and they only give out 2,000 tickets a day at the memorial. We were a little nervous about being sure we could secure tickets while we were on Oahu because when I tried to get two of the 300 tickets available online each day, it said the next available date was a week from when we were due to leave! We arrived early in the morning and we were very pleased when there was no line at the ticket counter. The lady handed me two tickets with no problems with a very short wait for our turn to take the boat over to the USS Arizona memorial. I had read that during busy tourist season the wait could be as much as 3+ hours. We purchased headphones which gave us an audio tour of all the exhibits at the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center as well as an audio tour at the USS Arizona memorial.

While waiting for the boat we were taken into an auditorium where we watched a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor. We then boarded a boat for the very short trip over to the memorial. I have no adequate words to describe our time there. How does one possibly write anything that would do justice to such a hallowed spot? The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the sunken hull and honors the 1,177 crewmen who died. The memorial was dedicated in 1962 and the hull is a tomb for over 900 sailors who died inside.

Display of what the USS Arizona looks like underwater

No smiles, just deep emotions here

The names of all those who died are on a wall inside the memorial

Some survivors later chose to be buried inside the memorial

Also nearby is the USS Oklahoma honoring 429 sailors who died when the ship capsized, as well as the visible hull of the USS Utah Memorial commemorating its 58 dead.

When we returned from the Memorial we spent some time touring the Visitors Center with the

The ships in red were sank during the attack

aid of the audio tour. The Visitors Center has excellent detailed exhibits on the attack and aftermath. While we were there they were beginning to set up for Dec 7th ceremonies the next day.

After lunch Bill took a tour of the Battleship Missouri Memorial which was docked nearby. The USS Missouri was launched on January 29, 1944, and is the last U.S. battleship ever built. We toured the USS Iowa battleship in a previous blog “October 18, 2014 Huntington Beach, California” both ships are identical but have important but different roles. She is three football fields long and towers over 20 stories tall. Most importantly, after joining the battle of Okinawa, she became the site of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

We visited Pearl Harbor on December 6, the day before the 73rd anniversary of the attack. We were excited to learn that the next day, December 7th, there would be a Pearl Harbor parade down the main street in Waikiki, a block from where we were staying. We walked down the street from our condo and found a seat on a lava rock wall. The parade was very patriotic, with the grand marshals being four of the survivors of Pearl Harbor. There are only nine remaining survivors of the USS Arizona and approximately 2,000 to 2,500 Pearl Harbor survivors alive today of the approximately 60,000 survivors on the day of the attack. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,400 people and sank or damaged 21 vessels and 323 military planes.

In the parade we saw many bands, all playing patriotic music, including bands from Roanoke, Virginia and Sanford, Florida. Bill and I love to watch the TV show “Hawaii 5-0” and we were excited to see in the parade the guy on the show who has the garlic shrimp truck. Since the parade was held at night it was especially hard to get clear pictures of moving people.

December 3, 2014 Oahu, Hawaii Part 1

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Hello, Oahu! The last island on our Hawaiian adventure. We picked up our rental car and headed to Waikiki Beach where we had rented a condo for our seven day stay. We immediately noticed that compared with the other islands there was lots more traffic and people. And we do mean lots! We had a nice view from our balcony on the 17th floor, but it was noisier than the other islands with city noise.

Can you find Bill?

Having onion rings with a pretend flower behind my ear

We spent most of our time exploring the island by car, dividing Oahu into four sections. Like on Kauai, Bill was able to purchase and download to his phone an app that gave us an audio driving tour of the island.

The first day we explored the Waikiki and east side of Oahu. If you love to shop, love beautiful beaches, and don’t mind hordes of people, you will love Waikiki. We were able to walk to eveything from our condo, and it was especially nice to have a wide selection of restaurants to choose from each evening within a short stroll.

Houses are built everywhere

Getting ready for sunset on Waikiki beach with Diamond Head Crater in background

Asian tourists have their own bus

We followed our audio tour as it took us to Diamond Head, the most recognized landmark in Oahu. The actual name of the volcano is Le’ahi. It is believed to have been formed about 300,000 years ago during a single brief eruption. The broad crater covers 350 acres with its width being greater than its height. The southwestern rim is highest because winds were blowing ash in this direction during the eruption. Since the eruption the slopes of the crater have been eroded and weathered by wind, rain, and the pounding sea.

Diamond Head got its nickname because in the late 1700’s, Western explorers and traders visited Le’ahi and mistook the calcite crystals in the rocks on the slope of the crater for diamonds. Imagine their disappointment when they discovered it was not diamonds! Because of its panoramic view, Diamond Head has been used over the years as a site for coastal defense. Most pictures of Waikiki will have Diamond Head in the background.

We stopped at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve to do some snorkeling. We had high hopes for this location because it was advertised as the best snorkeling in Oahu. It is the only place during our month in Hawaii where we had to pay to park and snorkel. We were required to watch a short video on protecting the coral and sea life before we were allowed to ride a trolley down to the beach. It was low tide and the coral in that area is very tall, so in some places we had to be very careful not to touch the coral or scrape ourselves. While we saw some fish, the experience was not nearly as good as the wonderful snorkeling we did in Kona on the Big Island.

Hanauma Bay has a big reef to snorkel over

After changing clothes and eating a picnic lunch, we continued driving along the coast and came to the Halona Blowhole. Since it was not high tide the spouting was not magnificent, but we still got a picture.

Kalaniana’Ole Highway

Halona Blowhole

Eastern shore

We stopped by the Puu Ualakaa State Wayside Park which is on a cinder cone with a breathtaking sweeping view of downtown Honolulu and Diamond Head. We reached the park by driving on Tantalus Drive, a narrow winding canopy-covered road that steadily climbed to the park. We were rewarded not only with a great view but also with a lovely rainbow!

Overlook of Diamond Head Crater and Waikiki Beach hotels

Houses are built everywhere

We ended the busy day by visiting The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, otherwise known as the Punchbowl. The cemetery is located in Punchbowl Crater, an extinct volcanic tuff cone that was formed 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Hawaiian name is Puowaina which means “Hill of Sacrifice” because the area was first used as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods. In 1948 Congress approved funding to make it a national cemetery as a permanent burial site for the remains of thousands of World War II servicemen.

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

It is a very lovely, peaceful setting with beautiful views of Honolulu and Diamond Head.

Beautiful end to a perfect day.

Sunset on Waikiki beach

Night view from our hotel balcony

Through the Eyes of the Selphs

Bill and Diane's travel notes and pictures

Category Archives: National Landmark

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May 23, 2015 Santa Fe, New Mexico

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December 6, 2014 Oahu, Hawaii Part 2

December 3, 2014 Oahu, Hawaii Part 1