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…
A Quick Trip–Theodore Roosevelt NP (Day Two)
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is made up of three “units” in western North Dakota. I reached the town of Medora and the entrance to the Southern unit around 6:45 a.m. Sunday morning. Since the visitors’ center was not scheduled to open until 9:00, I sat in the Silver Bullet and started reading to kill the time. Fortunately, a ranger saw me there, and he kindly gave me a map of the park and suggested I not wait to drive the scenic route (BTW, I had already informed him that I had my senior pass so the entry fee was not an issue). He said that the badlands provided stunning views whether I stayed in the car or hiked the available trails. I’m so glad I took his advice. The early morning was beautiful with clear skies–a concern I had had about the entire trip with the smoke from forest fires…
A Three-Day Tour… of National Parks
I’ve been back from my three-day tour of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Voyageurs National Park for two days at the point I created this post, and both parks are still on my mind. What an impression each made on me in such a short time! Folks crowd onto Yellowstone, Yosemite and other big parks–and with good reason. But they miss out on the various wonders of the small- to mid-size parks. Below is the map of the entire 2,235 mile trip: More about each park in separate posts, but I wanted to briefly update the complete list of national parks to include the ones I recently visited. I’ve bolded those that I have visited as of today and added links to the blogs where I’ve described the visits. Acadia Arches Badlands Big Bend Biscayne Black Canyon of the Gunnison Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Carlsbad Caverns Channel Islands Congaree…
Afterthoughts about Goin’ West 2014
This is the map of my 16-day, Goin’ West 2014 trip: This surpassed my previously longest car trip from Grinnell to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, by a whole 17 miles!! I stuck pretty closely to my original route, with some new additions–especially Little Bighorn National Park and North Cascades National Highway–and only two major deletions. After the magnificence of Yellowstone, I didn’t feel the need to deviate 250 miles from my westward trip to see Glacier National Park in Montana, although I’d heard many wonderful things about it. I also didn’t cross into Canada to visit Vancouver. The trip included visits to seven national parks: Little Bighorn (Montana), Yellowstone (Wyoming), North Cascade, Olympic, and Mount Rainier (Washington State), Redwood, and Yosemite (California). The parks were fantastic and more than worth the cost of the annual season pass. My favorites were Redwood and Yosemite, but none disappointed. There were other parks…
Day 3: Memorial Day at Little Bighorn
Before hitting the road, I headed to the nearby zoo but didn’t go inside. The weather was a little cool, and I was still getting over the flu. So, I visited the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. They had just concluded a Memorial Day program, and there were WWII posters on display in the corridors. The main displays featured animals from prehistorical eras and Native American artifacts. There was also a small display of gemstones. My next scheduled stop was Billings, Montana. I heard, however, that the Little Bighorn Battlefield was not far from my planned route. Since this was Memorial Day, it seemed like a most appropriate place to visit. This visit was indescribable, seeing the many markers where soldiers had fallen and imagining how many Sioux must’ve died there, too. Drove into Billings, Montana–also a first visit for me (this was the second of four states…
Day 2: A Little Bit of History
Although this is not my first visit to Minnesota, I want to stop somewhere new in each state, whether or not I’ve previously visited the area. This time, I visited the Runestone Museum in Alexandria. They have historical displays of cultures that developed in the area. Town’s getting ready for Memorial Day, but I’m hoping to be at least a state away by then. RB and I crossed into North Dakota–my first visit to the state. Got as far as Bismarck before calling it a night. The full range of pictures I took during the first six days of what I’m calling “North by Northwest-2014” is available at http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/north-by-northwest-2014-days-1-6. To see those from specific parts of the trip, click on the indicated regions on the map at the top of the album.