I grew up before there were satellites, astronauts, and intercontinental communications. What we knew about the stars and planets was from looking through optics. Radio telescopes weren’t invented. The Big Bang was still a theory, and no one had listened to the hiss of the cosmos echoing its birth. Continue reading
Category Archives: National Park Service
Twenty Nine Palms Parks
We woke up later than anticipated, which was fine, but immediately after turning off the alarm on the phone it went off again. I thought there was a problem with the phone until I looked at it and discovered it was my buddy Frank, from New Jersey, giving me a call. Frank forgot I was three hours earlier than he, and although it was 11:45 AM his time, it was only 7:45 AM my time. I was up already, so we had a great chat and while I was able to let him know that it was 60° and beautifully sunny in Twenty Nine Palms, he told me it was snowing back in New Jersey. Things like that always make a trip away from home so much better. Frank’s a great sport, and he laughed like heck. Continue reading
Touring Rocky Mountain NP
We’re on summer vacation, I suppose, and we had to run the heater this morning because it was 54 degrees in the coach. I’m glad that we weren’t out on the ground in a tent. We did that back in the day. For some reason I don’t miss it at all. With the heat turned up, we slept or another hour and got up sometime after 8AM. It is called vacation, and we were on vacation from retirement! Continue reading
Heaton Bay, Colorado to Rocky Mountain NP
There was no rush to get to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were within three hours of the park, and the route avoided the Berthoud pass. We had been to the pass once before, just for fun, and the road is a steep, curving, tall bastard. I had difficulty with the altitude the night before, and sleep that night was a dear commodity. I woke up feeling like I was swimming in oatmeal. We were not in a rush to get going anywhere. Continue reading
Touring Arches
We were both beat from the long drive the day before, so we weren’t out at the crack of dawn. It didn’t really matter, because we wanted to get a better campsite, and no one leaves a campsite straight away in the morning. There is always cleaning and organizing before you cast off. We had run out water, so it was nothing fancy for breakfast. Continue reading