36 Hours in Ohio
This was another short trip. I planned to revisit Cuyahoga Valley National Park, this time to actually see more of the park than I did when I visited for the total solar eclipse last April. The game plan was to arrive in that part of Ohio early enough to take advantage of the Tuesday-only senior discount at the NFL Hall of Fame, then spend Wednesday riding the park’s Scenic Railroad and exploring the featured parts of the park that were accessible by car. I had to purchase the ticket to the surprisingly popular train ride well in advance online to be sure I would get a seat on the day and time I wanted. Unfortunately, this limited my timing, which I jeopardized by leaving too late to get to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday, and forced me to condense my activities to that Wednesday. So, I started that morning…
Thoughts about My Latest Long Stretch and Upcoming Plans
So, I finally got that bucket list entry, Glacier National Park, taken care of! After so many aborted attempts, I just wasn’t letting my hopes get too high until I actually steered the Silver Bullet through the park entrance. Anyway, it was definitely a visit that didn’t disappoint, even with the winter storm that cut the trip short and the parts of the park I wasn’t able to see. Before I left for that trip, I acquired a set of National Park postcards that also include several memorials and other sites that are part of the US Parks System. I’ve started work on a display of the parks that I have visited in the order I was there, with lots of space for more cards. National Parks Planned and Those So Far Visited It’s already August, but I have several trips planned for the remainder of the year. This includes…
Seein’ the DMV: Memorials at Night–Black Lives Matter Plaza to MLK
During my first excursion Seein’ the DMV, I accidentally let my phone’s charge get so low, I couldn’t take any pictures of the evening tour sites we visited. It took me nearly two months, but I finally decided the time was right to address this by revisiting the memorials covered by the tour, plus an additional stop. I also wanted to test a new camera I had just purchased that I’m hoping to take with me to Hawaii later this year. By that point, I want to know it well enough to be able to take some decent photos on the cruise. This was a Saturday night, two weekends after July 4th. My luck with crowds was spotty at best sometimes, and this was the midst of DC’s busy season for tourists. I seem to have really lucked out this time, though. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic was mercifully lighter than…
Business and Pleasure–Days Seven and Eight: Another Shot at Yellowstone
The night fell… and so did the snow. The next morning, I made the decision to take advantage of the low number of visitors due to the snow to see parts of Yellowstone I had not seen previously. I worked my way to the easternmost park entrance, taking lots of pictures along the way: Yellowstone’s bison roam freely across the park. This one got a bit too close for my comfort: The rest of my pictures of this Yellowstone winter wonderland are available at https://singin1.pics/piwigo2/index.php?/category/glacier-and-yellowstone-nps-may-2024-day-6. I guess most folks would find it hard to believe that all of this was happening the week before Memorial Day weekend, but I had had a similar experience ten years earlier and had lived in Iowa for eighteen years. Winters here can be intense and long, even when the calendar says it is Spring. I exited Yellowstone from its East Entrance Road and made…
Business and Pleasure–Days Five and Six: More Glacier
The forecast on Tuesday morning was, if anything, more ominous than the one from the night before. But even if I hadn’t been checking the forecast, I could see that darker clouds already beginning to form in the distance. My GPS routed me through a back road rather than the main roads between my hotel and the park. It was not crowded, so I could take my time and enjoyed the scenery. I went by the Apgar Visitor Center to get my usual walking stick medallion and magnet, as well as to talk to a ranger to get information about the best use of the time I had available. Even though I had looked at information on the website, the ranger’s info is always up-to-date, and they can answer specific questions I have. I learned that, not only was the middle portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road completely closed due…
Business and Pleasure–Days Three and Four: Glacier at Long Last
And thus began two days of marathon driving, over 1100 miles from Minneapolis to the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park. I’ve driven distances like this before, but I was trying to beat a strong winter storm that was forecast to approach from the west by Wednesday. If I met my schedule of arriving by Monday afternoon, I would have about a day and a half to enjoy the park. Interstates took me from Minneapolis into Montana, primarily via I94 through North Dakota. The interstate actually cuts through the south portion of another national park, Theodore Roosevelt NP. I didn’t stop since I had already visited the park less than a year before (see http://singin1.com/a-quick-trip-theodore-roosevelt-np-day-two/). This was also not my first visit to Montana, having driving through initially ten years earlier during my first Goin’ West trip. The scenery was glorious, and I hadn’t even reached the park yet. I…
Business and Pleasure–Day One: Mammoth Cave National Park
This trip would allow me to combine a little business (receiving recognition for my second book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022) and a lot of vacation. My initial plan was to visit two national parks, including finally getting to Montana’s Glacier National Park. I left home base before midnight on May 16th because I was scheduled to be at Mammoth Cave National Park in time to join a tour of the caves specifically organized for those with accessibility needs. Along the nearly 700-mile route, the Silver Bullet hit her 50,000th mile. I barely arrived in time, thanks to the park’s location within Central Daylight Time. We took the elevator down approximately a quarter mile to the Snowball Room. The caves were previously privately owned, and the spaces were treated as a commercial venture for the wealthy. The writings on the walls were left by visitors. The park ranger who…
Call Me Crazy, But…
I am planning to attend the 2024 Association of Recorded Sound Collections conference to receive an award for my book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022. The conference is in St. Paul, Minnesota, so I want to take advantage of the opportunity to get some of the national parks–especially Glacier in Montana. The current proposal is mapped below: The route is available at https://bit.ly/3xSOaRK and includes a final stop at Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. I’ve previously visited those celebrating the administrations of Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton. Still keeping an eye out for the opening of Barack Obama’s. A few days later,… I completely rerouted my trip. I learned that there is a major balloon festival at Mesa Verde National Park in early October, so I cut out all of the southwestern stops and created a new map that adds a third visit to Yellowstone:…
Totally Eclipsed–Cuyahoga Valley National Park
I got up Sunday morning before the scheduled solar eclipse, feeling better than I had in several days, but I wasn’t convinced that I should make the approximately seven-hour drive to Cuyahoga National Park to observe the total eclipse. From my residence in Maryland, I could set up on the outside deck and get the 87% effect anticipated in that location. In fact, much of the United States would experience some level of eclipse, but the area of total eclipse would cover a specific line from Texas through Maine. But I wanted it all! The next total eclipse isn’t scheduled in the United States until 2044, and if the Lord keeps me here that long, there is no guarantee that I will be able to see it. So, I grabbed my new eclipse t-shirt, and a lunch box, my telescope, and cellphone and left Sunday evening, heading northwest. I try…
Cherry Blossoms Cruisin’
I invited my DC siblings (Debra, Chuck and Gerry) to join me on a lunch cruise to view the flowering cherry blossoms lining the Washington Channel and Potomac River in Washington, DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival connected to the blooming of these trees is a major event held during the Spring. Traffic to and from the area makes reaching activities then a major challenge that I’ve previously avoided. However, this year, I wanted to to experience the beautiful scenery and share it with the sibs. I checked the options and discovered that there were cruises available that were specifically organized to view the trees and was able to get a reservation for a lunch cruise on a Tuesday when I hoped would give us an excellent view without the congestion that would come with any effort to drive there. The day of the cruise was a little cool, but it…