Archive for category Travel
Tracy Arm Fjord
Our trip really began today with a day-long journey out of Juneau to Tracy Arm Fjord where we saw several glaciers and a variety of wildlife: whales, eagles, seals, sea birds, et al.
In front of Sawyer Glacier
Seals
Juneau
The first small leg of our trip went very smoothly. Landed in Juneau early in the afternoon, picked up our rental car and spent a couple of hours at the Mendenhall glacier just a few miles north of the airport. The weather, however, is a bit of a shock: it’s about 82 degrees. For dinner, we took the Mt. Roberts Tram and ate with a lovely view of the Juneau harbor.
Finally On to Alaska
Gee… We began planning this trip just after Christmas. Way too much lead time even for an obsessive type like me. We leave for the airport in a couple of hours and expect to be at the foot of the Mendenhall Glacier by mid afternoon.
At Bandon Dunes Again
After my truly pathetic play on my February trip to Bandon Dunes I was antsy to get back. So I was on the road by 7:30 and at the practice facility around 3:45. With the longer days, I had time before dinner to snap a bunch of photos on the always lovely Bandon Beach. I like this one of the driftwood.
And, I finally got an interesting view of the famous “Face Rock”:
Red Rock Canyon
Following an exhausting first day of golf school, I decided to visit the Red Rock National Conservation Area about 20 miles west of downtown Las Vegas. This has been on my informal list of places to visit. Unfortunately, the light wasn’t very good for photographs but I wandered around a bit and enjoyed the wind-down from the intense six hours plus of golf instruction.
Off to Alaska
We just made a deposit on a full week trip to Alaska in June.
Two days in Juneau, three days in Anchorage and two days in Denali. We’ll travel by seaplane, rubber boat, jeep, bus, catamaran, small cruise ship, rental car and train. It should be an adventure.
National Parks Roster – 28 Down, 31 To Go
Many of our friends and family are aware of our quest to visit as many of the U.S. National Parks as we can. We only added four to our list last year but we’re almost half way. Here are the parks we’ve been to so far:
- Arches National Park, Moab UT
- Badlands National Park, Interior SD
- Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon UT
- Canyonlands National Park, Moab UT
- Capitol Reef National Park, Torrey UT
- Channel Islands National Park, Ventura CA
- Crater Lake National Park, Crater Lake OR
- Death Valley National Park, Death Valley CA
- Glacier National Park, West Glacier MT
- Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon AZ
- Grand Teton National Park, Moose WY
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg TN
- Haleakala National Park, Makawao HI
- Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Volcanoes NP HI
- Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms CA
- Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mineral CA
- Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave KY
- Mesa Verde National Park, Mesa Verde CO
- Mount Rainier National Park, Longmire WA
- Olympic National Park, Port Angeles WA
- Petrified Forest National Park, Petrified Forest NP AZ
- Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park CO
- Saguaro National Park, Tucson AZ
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, Three Rivers CA
- Wind Cave National Park, Hot Springs SD
- Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone NP WY
- Yosemite National Park, El Portal CA
- Zion National Park, Springdale UT
Death Valley – Ubehebe Crater
Almost on a whim we decided to check out the Ubehebe Crater at the northern-most end of the park. What a great surprise. The crater is very impressive as are the views in all directions from the crater’s edge. ⇒photos
Death Valley – Badwater Basin, Devil’s Golf Course
Badwater Basin is the epitome of Death Valley: salt flats at the lowest point in North America… 282 feet below sea level. On the way to Badwater we stopped at the famous Devil’s Golf Course.
Me at the Devil’s Golf Course
Death Valley – Dante’s View
Dante’s View is just 15 miles or so from Furnace Creek and at 5,500 feet it offers great views of the Death Valley Basin (including the Devil’s Golf Course). I hiked about half a mile south to get better panoramic views of the valley.
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