Places I've Been... By State

Death Valley National Park is the poster child for the term "Hostile Environment". We were there in September, and it was still 105 degrees (41 for you Celsius types) in the shade.

In the rain shadow of three mountain chains and depressed into a large basin, Death Valley is it the driest place in the northern hemisphere, and the lowest point in the western hemisphere. That was enough tourist bait to get me there!

Disneyland Resort was to be our mid-2005 Road Trip break. Three days and three nights are the other "Happiest Place On Earth".

As a Disney World veteran, it was an interesting experience visiting the park that Walt built. And the one he didn't.

The Grand Californian at Disneyland is the top tier hotel at Disneyland. No room interiors, but there are images of the lobby.

This link will take you to the Disneyland page.

I was at Disneyland Park in 1969 for a day, and most of the memories of that trip were probably wiped out by my many visits to Magic Kingdom and definitely wiped out by a half century dying brain cells. One thing I do know, it pretty much looks nothing like Disneyland today.

If you want to put things in perspective, Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon a couple of days before this Disneyland visit.

My visit to Marineland Of The Pacific in 1969 would have been completely over-shadowed by my trip Disneyland, and I remember few things from that trip to Disneyland. Thus, I remember even fewer things from Marineland. To be fair, we do have a local Oceanarium/Dolphin Show, so it wouldn't have been a completely unique experience.

For those that remember it, this is a memory that hasn't existed in decades.

Yosemite National Park actually turned out to be a more impressive park that I thought it would be when planning the trip. That's what you get for watching the Travel Channel.

The park is full of superlatives, from granite mountains to the waterfalls to the peaceful meadows to the truly immense sequoias. This park is definitely in my must visit list...

Wawona is a historic hotel in the park, close to the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias. I had to pay an extra $55 for a room with a bathroom, but totally worth it when the next morning it was in the 30's and I didn't have to freeze my buns off.

The images for Wawona reside on the Yosemite National Park page.

Mono Lake is one of the oldest, continuously existing lakes in North America. It is also a basin, which means there is no water outlet, so the salts leeched out of the surrounding mountains make the lake 2.5 times as salty, and 80 times more alkaline than the oceans.

An interesting indigenous insect, the Alkali Fly lives here. They're so thick that the ground looks dark ahead of you, but the darkness moves out of the way as you approach. Ugh.

The Colorado River starts as a small stream in Rocky Mountain National Park, and gathers hundreds of other streams and rivers along the way to become the lifeline of the Southwest, providing water, electricity and recreation to millions in the five states the river flows through or touches.

I've actually followed the river in one form or another, from Rocky Mountain National Park to Grand Canyon. I've also done more river miles on the Colorado than any other river...

Rocky Mountain National Park is pretty much the very definition of the phrase "Purple Mountain Majesty". The views in this park are mind-boggling as you try to wrap you head around the scale of the scenery you're looking at.

And more than that, it's the birthplace of the Colorado River, and two of the most scenic roads you'll ever want to drive.

Let me also say that I've encountered snow twice in this park, in September.

I really don't think I've given Colorado National Monument a fair review. They're just a victim of circumstance.

If you're coming from the West, you have just seen the San Rafael Swell or Arches and Canyonlands. If you're coming from the South, you've just been on the Million Dollar Highway. If from the East, the Rocky Mountains.

At this point, Colorado National Monument... is just a nice scenic drive.

Dinosaur National Monument is really two parks, the original Dinosaur Quarry, and the 1938 addition of the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers.

The original Quarry is fascinating. If you ever wanted to see where Dinosaur fossil skeletons come from, this place will show you. There is also access to the Green River, showing some interesting bits of twisted and bent layers of rock...

The Million Dollar Highway is a spectacular mountain road which crosses the mining country of Western Colorado.

I drove it from Durango to Montrose in Colorado, a magnificent drive I'd recommend to anyone.

I drove US-50 (in Colorado) from Montrose to Salida, where I stayed for the night.

Along the way is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which was much more stunning than I expected, then through the Curecanti National Recreation Area, and over the remarkable Monarch Pass in the San Isabel National Forest.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was a surprise, a narrow, deep river canyon with two thousand foot drop-offs just beyond the railing.

There is also a steep drive down to the Gunnison River, where you can see the East Portal of the Gunnison Tunnel that was dug through the mountain to supply the city of Montrose with water.

I only passed through Curecanti NRA as a consequence of driving US-50 through Colorado.

Since there are only seven images, they're on the US-50 (Colorado) page.

I stopped in while I was touring the Colorado Springs area. Unfortunately, I was shooting film, so only have a few images.

Pikes Peak Highway is a single purpose highway, specifically built as a tourist attraction. And it's a pretty good one, climbing to 14,100 feet via a few dozen switchbacks, with pull offs to enjoy the incredible views. You can also get to the top via a cog railroad, but what's the fun in that?

I thought the air was thin at almost 12,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park, but the (lack of) air at 14,000 was actually noticeable.

Garden of the Gods is a city park in Colorado Springs.

This first surprised me, but after some thought, most cities have city parks. Just not ones with sandstone fins that jut out perpendicular to the ground with Pikes Peak as the background. Where I live, I get squirrels and some trees.

I drove US-160 from I-25 to the Four Corners. It's a nice drive, with several major attractions along the way, such as Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde National Parks, and a place you can stand on four states at one time.

This page only has images from Colorado.

Great Sand Dunes National Monument is now a National Park, but it was a National Monument when I was there, so it's still referred to here as a Monument. It's also supposed to be haunted, but I can't attest to that.

These dunes exist because the sand blown into this pocket of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains can't make it over the peaks, and drop out into the dune field.

Mesa Verde National Park is different from most National Parks, in that the subject of the place is human history of a (mostly) vanished civilization.

The ruins of the cities of the Anasazi are remarkable, and impressive, considering they were built a thousand years ago. Also here are pit dwelling of an even earlier civilization of some 1500 to 2000 years ago.

Four Corners Monument is the only place in the U.S. where four States meet, perhaps the ultimate place for a stupid tourist photo in the Southwest. I should know, I've been there twice! If I ever go back, I'm taking my GPS to see if it's really in the right spot. :-)

In addition to the monument (there is an entrance fee), there are stalls around run by (rented by?) the locals selling locally produced merchandise. Oh, try the fry bread. Mmmmmm...