Great Sand Dunes National Park

Well, this is one of those places which might not be high on one's list to visit but once you see it it is truly a natural marvel!! Got up this morning at Valleyview and drove the 50 miles down the center of San Luis Valley and headed back up to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos mountain range where the park sits. Over many decades (probably centuries) the silt and sand from the San Luis Valley was deposited in this one area with the de Cristos range on one side and the San Juan range on the other side of the valley, creating a place for these dunes to deposit. We only hiked up into the "foothills" of the dunes which took us almost an hour, probably to reach the top of the closer dunes it would take one 2-3 hours to reach them and a lot of water. I now have empathy for Lawrence of Arabia and his desert adventures. Grilling tonight and hopefully we'll have another beautiful sunset over the San Luis Valley, tomorrow back to Denver. Take care, J&S

San Luis Valley

We spent three good days at Durango at a pretty nice B&B doing good tourist stuff. Went to Mesa Verde for a day where we climbed ladders, thru small openings and up a rock wall to see the cliff dwellings. Then spent another day on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge RR going thru a beautiful gorge (the Animas River gorge). Today took about a four hour ride leaving Durango and reached a rustic mountain resort called Valleyview which sits high up in the San Luis Mt. Range overlooking a very large arid valley. This evening we took a 1 hour hike up into the mountains to see an abandoned mining cave which is the home for nearly 200,000 Brazilian freetailed bats coming streaming out (at dusk) to head out over the valley catching their insects. This area is known for its mineral springs and pools which are readily accessible while you're staying here. Tomorrow it's off to Great Sand Dunes National Park (which we could actually see down the valley even though it's almost 50 miles away). Take care, will try to download some pics once we get back to Denver. J&S (sorry the one shot from Mesa Verde is sideways)

Lightner Creek Inn, Durango, CO

Long haul here to Durango, took us about 8 hrs., with a lot of photo and rest stops, to reach our B&B in Durango. Saw some more beautiful scenery on the way, coming thru the mt. town of Uhrey, then left there headed up into the Rockies. Tomorrow our day will be at Mesa Verde, hope to bring the blog up to the present with some new pics. Take care, j&s

Nirvana, I've Finally Done It!!!!!!!!

A nice picnic at Ken&Darrell's on Sunday, did quite a bit more walking around their very organized new neighborhood built on the old Denver Stapleton airport. Today was the day, though!! For all those other Coor's drinkers out there, I made it to the mecca of our brew, Golden, CO. Learned much about my beloved Coors, from their new name of Miller-Coors to the fact that they also brew and bottle Blue Moon, Killian's Red, and Keystone beers! Off to the Mesa and Durango tomorrow. Take care, j&s.

Arrived in Denver

Got back on the Zephyr at 4AM this morning and made it to Denver around 5:30PM. Will spend several days before heading down to Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes NP's. Had a good Friday evening at Ken and Darrell's place, toured around Denver for awhile and then got to bed early for Sat. Today (Sat) we helped K&D do some weeding around their rental buildings and just drove around Denver, Sheila was able to locate a quilt shop which she visited. Quiet evening in Denver, tomorrow I'm not sure what we're doing yet, very hot (90+) here today. again, take care, j&s

Visiting Salt Lake City

Have spent the last two days touring the area of SLC, very interesting history and development. Visited the Kennecott Copper Mine, largest in N. America, quite a place, again pics do not represent how immense it is. (sorry the mine pic is sideways but catch the size of those tires and then look at the trucks in the preceding blog pic and then look on the far side of the mine, look like little toys!!) Toured the area around the Mormon Temple (this concert hall is where the tabernacle choir practices) and then today we did a 30 minute hike in the mts (right next to our friend's place) and then went for a ride to the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Sheila and I did a zipline ride right beside the main long jump venue, the highest zipline in the world, that was an experience! Traveled at a top speed of about 55mph and then the braking mechanism slows you right down at the end and you can stand right up (after taking off your harness). Traveled to Park City for lunch and are now back at Jim's friend's home sitting above the city. Will catch some sleep and are due to be back on the Zephyr about 3:30AM (I can't wait to get up at 2:45AM to catch our cab). Anyway, tomorrow off to Denver for our next stopover, will update from there. Hope everyone is having a great summer in Happy Valley, Lancaster, Camp Hill, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Seabeck, or wherever else you're located. Take care, j&s

The Zephyr to Salt Lake City

We had a very enjoyable time with my brother, Stewart, and his wife, Kathy, in Palo Alto, getting to walk around and meet their neighbors and see the urban side of Palo Alto, not just tourist stuff. We did tour Stanford's campus which was very nice and on Tuesday morning, 8/18, we boarded the California Zephyr in Emeryville, CA, which heads to Chicago every day from the West Coast. Our first destination was Salt Lake City, arriving there at 3:20AM (!!!). Great time to get off a train in try to find someone's home, thank goodness for GPS units. The cabbie had one and we just plugged in my old elementary school buddy's name and off we went to his home. Although we did have a sleeper on the train, which is a story by itself, neither Sheila nor I did get much sleep although the train itself was neat. Going through the Sierrra Nevada range leaving California for Nevada was beautiful and we spent a lot of time in the dome car just looking at scenery. Very nice seats in that car that swivel around and let you see landscapes on both sides of the train, even can visit the lounge car and sip a brew (or wine) as you're watching the scenery go by. The sleeper compartments are interesting, that's a story in inself. I'm just glad we had many years of experience with our VW camper bus and how to negotiate small areas and "try" to sleep. Leave SLC Friday morning at 4:30AM, getting into Denver at around 7:35PM, another 17+ hour ride, but it should be good going through the rockies to Denver. The blog has been updated to include pics from our adventure up through Yosemite, tx for looking!!! Everyone take care, we're on the last two weeks of this journey. j&s

Out of Order?? Sorry!!

Well, as you might notice from the dates when I accidentally deleted a blog entry and redid it, it was placed at the top ahead of some of our other sidetrips. Oh well!! We are now, since last Friday evening, in Palo Alto, CA, spending some nice time with Stewart (my brother) and his wife, Kathy. Went into San Francisco on Sat. afternoon and spent almost two hours watching hang gliders along the coast on the way up. Went into the city, via the Twin Peaks overlook, and saw my nephew's art show that was on display in a gallery. Have been having just a nice relaxing time here in Palo Alto, sightseeing locally and taking walks around the neighborhood, meeting some old friends of my brother's. Weather has been very nice here and its been relaxing to just unwind here before we head into the last phase of our journey. Head out on the California Zephyr tomorrow morning, destination is Salt Lake City where Jim is visiting his old friend from grade school. Take care, j&s

Seabeck, WA, to Crater Lake NP via Mt. St. Helens

Well, sorry about the recent blog entries (deletions). I was attempting to download some more pics and I deleted an earlier entry. Now I'm trying again. We left Seabeck (Ben's Place) on Tues., 8/4, and headed south through Washington State, stopping by the Mt. St. Helens observation area on the way. Very desolate area, impressive that the mt. was so large. Leaving St. Helens we stopped by Portland, OR, and visited with friends who gave us an afternoon tour of the Columbia River Gorge. A beautiful spot to visit. Spent Tues. evening in Tualatin, OR, and the following morning left for Crater Lake, OR, which is located in the central part of the state. Arrived there the afternoon of Wed., 8/5, and found another amazing natural wonder (see photos). Stayed at Crater Lake Lodge and enjoyed ourselves living on the rim of the lake. Took a hike our 2nd day there and once we were at the top of our climb overlooking the entire lake it started to hail and then rain as we descended. After two days at Crater Lake Lodge we began the longest automobile leg of our trip (400 miles), headed to Mendocino on the Northern California coast.

Back from Yosemite

Hello out there. Sorry it's been awhile but my access was rather limited in Yosemite although the next to last day I did find a good signal in the Ahwahnee Hotel which worked pretty good. Got to Yosemite on Tues., stayed thru today, then came back to my brother's place in Palo Alto. Yosemite was as beautiful as it was on our trip out here in 1994 with the boys. The Valley, Half Dome, and El Capitan are just natural places that my pics won't be able to capture very well. Four was a good number for this part of our journey, four days at Yosemite, four hours to do a pretty tough hike up to Vernal Falls and the John Muir trail above Vernal (just about did us in that day), and four bear encounters during our stay!! One of those was very close, a young adult was walking down the lane through our tenting area in Curry Village looking for people food (not people to eat, just scraps). He was about 40 feet from me and, like a good tourist, I did manage to get two shot of him before someone chased him away. All in all a beautiful repeat visit to Yosemite, one of my most favorite national parks. Sort of resting here in Palo Alto until Tuesday when we get on the Amtrak California Zephyr headed towards Salt Lake City. Bye for now, jim and sheila.

Hiking in Pt Reyes National Seashore

Spent a good overnight at the Inverness Valley Inn. The next morning we had a good breakfast with Stewart & Kathy and then went on a 4 mile (roundtrip) hike out to the far end of the Pt. Reyes National Seashore to look for mating elk. Nice day for the hike and we then drove south to Palo Alto and met with Jim's nephews, Christopher and Matt and Christopher's expectant wife, Kelly. Had a nice time with all. Tomorrow headed to Yosemite until Friday.

Arrived at Pt. Reyes, CA

Got an early start and left Mendocino around 9:30AM, headed down Rt 1 along the N. California coast. Very high cliffs along the way and the road winds its way along the coast. Met up with Stewart&Kathy at Pt Reyes National Seashore for lunch, then checked into the Inver-
ness Valley Lodge. Toured the park some more and finished off the day at Pt Reyes for dinner at the Pt Reyes Station House.

Mendocino, California

This quaint little town sits on the cliffs above the Pacific in N. California along Route 1. Numerous "hippies" stroll the streets and it is a town of small shops and restaurants. Spent much of the day walking along a trail at the edge of the cliffs, weather was pretty clear so the pics were pretty good. Dinner outside at a second story restaurant where you could see the hugh rocks and ocean waves coming in. Tomorrow we head to Pt. Reyes to meet up with my brother and his wife, overnight there at the Inverness Inn. Take care, j&s

Quiet Time In Seabeck/Poulsbo

Spent a more leisurely day around the Seabeck and Poulsbo areas with Ben, cruising in the old Altima. Pretty hot again today so good day to sort of take it easy. Sheila just missed a nice quilt shop in Poulsbo by about 10 minutes (it closed!!) but we may be able to swing by there tomorrow on our way to Seattle via ferry. Hopefully tonight we're doing a short hike near Ben's which sounds nice although the visibility isn't the best today. Ben got his Dad an "old guys rule" teeshirt, guess that will be seen on the tennis courts in State College this Fall. Take care, j&s

Arrived in Port Angeles, Washington

Well, we had an early start on the ferry leaving Victoria around 9:45AM Saturday morning. The Straits of Juan de Fuca were a little choppy on the way over to Port Angeles but we pulled in around 12noon. Ben came to pick us up and we headed directly out to the Washington western coast to see a few sites. It was quite a long ride out to the Olympic Nat. Forest and the Hoh National (rain) Forest. The coast was sort of fogged in from the Strait so the weather and scenery was pretty cold, yet a mile away inland it was bright and sunny. Unfortunately this is the dryest time of the year for the Hoh rainforest so it was also pretty dry there. Back to Seabeck and Ben's place where I'm going to attempt to download a few pics from the trip. Take care. j&s