Rambling with Russ: April 2020

National Parks

What to do while “sheltering” during the Spring 2020 coronavirus pandemic? Catch up on reading, binge watching on Netflix, whatever. Travel is quite limited ˗ and we’ve already had a trip canceled (ironically, it was highlighted by the Oberammergau Passion Play, begun nearly 400 years ago in response to the plague) ˗ so no new trip posts for a while. But I’ve created other posts organized around “themes,” from religious sites to seasons to holidays. So I decided to pull out a selection of National Park photos, from a variety of trips taken from my childhood and college years to quite recently. By my count, I have visited 30 of the 61 American National Parks, ranging across the country from Maine to the Rockies and West Coast to Hawaii and Alaska; plus another 6 Canadian National Parks, from the Maritimes to the Rockies. These travels have been made by automobile, train, and boat. They provided wonderful panoramas of nature, and wildlife including bears, elk, caribou, killer whales, big horn sheep, and others. I’ll organize this post geographically, starting with the US and moving on to Canada. (These have all been included in other, more extensive posts on this blog; you are invited to look at those posts for more details.)

East

Several trips have taken me into parks in the Eastern US. A family trip when I was young went into the Everglades. Marjorie and I had an early trip to the Smokies that included Mammoth Cave and some views of Shenandoah (1973); we’ve revisited through the latter area (2003, 2016), with a more extended stay in the Smokies in 2016. Acadia was visited in 1976.

Acadia

Mammoth Cave

Great Smoky Mountains

The Smokies offer some fabulous panoramas, especially in the Fall.

Shenandoah

Everglades

The only photo I have from my childhood trip is one my brother took of lightning during a ferocious thunderstorm while on a tour.

But a later trip in 2022 provided lots of photo ops,

including lots of wildlife.

West

Rocky Mountains

Travels into the Rockies have included a whirlwind driving tour with a friend in college (1967), stops along a train trip (1974), and parts of 2 more recent trips (2012, 2019).

Glacier

Our stop on a train trip included an overnight stay in Lake McDonald Lodge. The photo above shows St. Mary Lake in Glacier.

Badlands

The Badlands are in South Dakota, so not really the Rockies, but a stop here was on the way West to Yellowstone on my college trip.

Grand Teton

This was also a brief "drive-through" after touring Yellowstone.

Yellowstone

Between 2 trips I've spent more time in Yellowstone, including a stay with Marjorie at Mammoth Springs Hotel in the park, which offers a wonderful array of scenic panoramas: thermal & geyser areas,

canyon,

mountain meadows,

and wildlife.

Rocky Mountain

Rocky Mountain was another relatively brief "drive-through" on my college Western trip.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde was also a very brief stop on the college trip, but a later trip included an overnight following a train excursion in Southern Colorado that allowed more time to enjoy the plateau views and admire the cliff dwellings.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Another "drive-by" during my college trip.

Southwest

Southwestern parks were visited during the 1967 college trip and other trips to the region: Arizona in 1987, Utah in 1997 & 2019, and Santa Fe in 2012.

Great Basin

The wonders of Great Basin vary from high mountains to desert to cave, and amazing night views thanks to the darkest night sky in the contiguous US.

Arches

Bryce

Celebrated my birthday at Bryce Canyon Lodge in the park.

Canyonlands

Capitol Reef

Grand Canyon

The "Granddaddy" of National Parks, and I've been lucky to visit twice: another "drive-by: on the college trip and a longer stay with Marjorie as part of an Arizona trip in 1987.

Zion

Petrified Forest

California

Visits to Californian parks ˗ Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Yosemite ˗ occurred during a belated honeymoon in 1972.

Pacific Northwest

Marjorie and I have traveled to parks in the Pacific Northwest in 1986, 2008, and 2013, visiting Mt. Ranier, Olympic, and Crater Lake.

Mt. Ranier

Our visit to Mt. Ranier included a stay at aptly named Paradise Inn in the park.

Olympic

Olympic is another park that contains a wide range of beauty, from mountains to rain forest to seashore. And we again enjoyed stays inside the park at Kalaloch and Lake Crescent Lodges.

Crater Lake

Hawaii & Alaska

We traveled to Hawaii in 1989, visiting 3 islands.

Hawaii Volcanoes

A drive around the Southern tip of the Big Island Hawaii for early morning views, steam rising from lava reaching the ocean.

Haleakala

Another very early drive up to the summit at sunrise.

We traveled to Alaska in 2001, a combination of car and Inside Passage cruise.

Denali

We stayed in the park at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, had a wonderful nature tour into the park.

Glacier Bay

Cruising on the "Ocean Princess."

Kenai Fjords

We drove down from Seward for a beautiful boat tour of the park, glaciers and wildlife.

Canada

Parks visited in Canada have ranged from the East, including the Maritimes of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (in 1981 & 1990 via ferry and car) and the Thousand Islands bordering New York (1984), to the Canadian Rockies (by car in 1992 and train plus car in 2014).

Cape Breton Highlands (Nova Scotia)