Memphis and St. Louis

Friday, November 13, 2015

Here we go again!  This time it was just a short weekend trip down to visit my sister. We had a morning flight out of Detroit and landed in St. Louis a short while later. It was nice to have such a short flight. The flight was smooth and we ended up with awesome seats right near the front – we were thinking that maybe not spending the extra cash to pick a seat was not so bad after all.

Bollinger Mill State Historic Site

Once we picked up the rental car (Budget – super cheap and a very short line!) we headed south towards Cape Girardeau, MO. My sister had to work part of the day so we stopped by the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site along the way. It was a nice site (free, except if you wanted to tour a part of the mill).

We had lunch at My Daddy’s Cheesecake in Cape Girardeau. I had the Apple Harvest Salad -it was yummy. Mike had the Cuban sandwich – he enjoyed it.  I tried the Red Velvet Cheesecake – was not impressed. Mike had a frosted brownie, which he though was good.

Downtown Memphis

After picking my sis up, we headed south to Memphis, TN. We arrived in Memphis around 5pm and decided to check out Beale Street. There was a lot of parking around – mostly $10. BB Kings Blues Club was our dinner choice. There was a $5 cover to pay the band. The band that was playing while we were there. Will Tucker Band – they were good. The food was good and reasonably priced.

To book the hotel, I used a website that was linked from KAYAK.com.  Hoteltravel.com was the name of the booking website. I was a little worried – I should have researched before I booked – the site had mixed reviews.  Luckily everything worked out great.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn near “Mud Island”. Our room was on the 14^th floor and we had a lovely view. The room appeared to have been recently updated. The bathroom was a little run down, but everything else was good.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

National Ornamental Metal Museum - Art

Once we finished the normal breakfast fare at the hotel, we walked around for a while. We attempted to go to Mud Island, but it was closed for the season.  After the adventure walk, we decided to head to the National Ornamental Metal Museum – mostly because it was the only thing that opened at 10am. It was a neat place with some very interesting metalworks. There was a $6 fee to view the displays in the buildings, but I think you can walk the grounds for free. We spent about 45 minutes at the site.

Visiting Graceland was our main objective for the day. Before heading there, we stopped for lunch at a local BBQ place – we choose Central BBQ. We were disappointed – it was not anything special, it was just normal BBQ.

Graceland was pretty neat, despite not being a big Elvis fan.  We opted for the Graceland Platinum Tour ($40 or $36 with the AAA discount). The tour is guided via a tablet. Once inside the mansion it was a bit rushed feeling. Eventually it thins out a little and you can actually see everything as the tablet is telling you about it. The tour got really congested once it got the award building. It did not seem to be an overly busy day based on the parking lot. I would hate to see it on a “busy” day. Also be sure to take photos of the front of the house before entering the mansion. It is kind of a hassle to afterwards – the line is for the bus. You can tell the person you want to take photos of the front but then you will have to get back in the bus line again. The problem with this is that there were other people still waiting to start the tour so the front of the house was never really clear of people. The “Jungle Room” was by far the most hideous room of the house. Viewing the cars was neat – they had nice displays. The archives were kind of neat also. We probably spent about 3 hours visiting all things Elvis.

Heading back to Cape Girardeau, we stopped at Lambert’s Cafe – Home of Throwed Rolls. It was a very big restaurant and a lot of fun. Wait staff comes around with rolls, black eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, macaroni and tomatoes (yum!), and apple butter. Some things rotate around more than others, for example I wanted to try to macaroni and tomatoes but it came by before we had got the food that we had ordered. We were all done and paid our bill before it came around again. It is a lot of fun watching a roll get tossed across the room – people are pretty good at catching them!  I had the chicken potpie – very tasty. Make sure you visit when you are hungry – you will be stuffed when you leave! From Lambert’s we had about a half an hour drive back to Cape Girardeau.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Forest Park

My sister took us for a tour of the town and then we headed back to St. Louis. In St. Louis, we visited the Ulysses S. Grant Home NPS. We had visited this site back in 2012. The video had been updated so we watched that and then headed to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. The custard was really good – I am not a custard fan usually. After the custard, we headed to Imo’s Pizza. The pizza was mega thin crust and had awesome cheese. We also tried the baked ravioli - that was also pretty good.  It was recommended to use to try the above food items – I can totally see why!

Originally I had planned to go check out the botanical garden, but then decided to check out Forest Park instead.  Forest Park was okay. It would be a lot prettier when the fountains were going and there were flowers.

We got the rental car returned and sat around the airport for a while. The security lines were probably about the shortest I have ever seen. The not picking our seat thing did not work nearly as well on the return flight. We ended up at the second row from the back. It worked out okay though, since when we landed and arrived at the baggage return our luggage was waiting. The flight arrived about 25 minutes early. We had our luggage picked up by the time we were scheduled for arrival. All and all we had another great trip!

CA - Day 8 & 9 - Pinnacles NP

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Last full day of vacay. Originally, we planned to spend the day at Kings and Sequoia National Park, but the wildfires made us change our plan. We decided to head to Pinnacles National Park, since we had not visited that park. We were joined by Mike’s brother and wife for the day, which was very enjoyable!

Pinnacles National Park

We hiked to the Talus Caves along the Bear Gulch Cave which connected to the Moses Spring Trail, which leads to the reservoir (it had a little bit of water). The cave was not a cave in a sense that we were used to. It had a ton of openings to the sky and was never really closed in. It seemed more like a slot canyon. Once we were done exploring the reservoir, we continued to the High Peaks Trail. At first we were not going to hike that complete trail, since it was pretty long (6.7 miles), but once we were up to the top it was so scenic we decided to continue.

The importance of the park is the condors. Condors were reintroduced to the park in 2003. Currently, there are 27 of them in the park. High Peaks trail was one of the best places to see them. We are not positive that we saw any (they have lighter colors on the underside of the wing and the flight pattern is really smooth) – there were a lot of turkey vultures flying around. The High Peaks trail is considered strenuous and it is advised to bring a lot of water. By the time, we reached the trailhead we were out of water (I think we started with 6 bottles).

Pinnacles National Park

The visitor center was really small at this park and there was not much for food, just some snacks and stuff that could be microwaved.   Dinner was at the Running Rooster in Hollister - yummy wood fired cooking. Traveling back towards Sacramento, we stayed at the Best Western Andersens Inn Santa Nella. It was not the best...the carpet was in desperate need of cleaning and the room did not smell the best. I definitely would not have called this place a 3 star type of accommodation. Breakfast was not up to normal Best Western standards.


Sunday, September 6, 2015

The drive to the airport was as expected - uneventful. My only complaint about the airport is there are not many options for food (3 in the terminal we were in). We had a layover in Atlanta – which had great food choices! We each got a cupcake (carrot cake and strawberry) – yum! The flight to Detroit and drive home was good. 

CA - Day 7 - Yosemite Valley

Friday, September 4, 2015

Yosemite - Vernal Falls

Another day at Yosemite, the day started with a hike to Vernal Falls. The Mist Trail was relatively easy until the footbridge. There was a bathroom and water fountain available before heading closer to the falls (at the footbridge). Mike continued beyond Vernal Falls and checked out Nevada Falls. The trail got quite busy after 11. After making it back down, we checked out the Happy Isles Nature Center. It was a neat place and there was a passport stamp there.  Lunch was at Curry Village, not bad; we had burgers (pizza was also available). The store there was also much larger than the visitor center so we did some shopping there. 



We then hiked the Mirror Lake Trail, which was 2 miles. The lake was dry, but the trail provided great views of Half Dome. The trail is paved, but there is a horse trail on the other side of the dry river bed if you are looking for more of a challenge.

Yosemite - Mirror Lake Area

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Merced for the night. The hotel was probably the nicest Holiday Inn Express that I have ever stayed at, but it did not have the best views, and there was a bit of freeway noise. Dinner at Black Diner was fab (ranked #3 out of restaurants in Merced). I had the chicken potpie and we split a slice of coconut cream pie.

CA - Day 6 - Yosemite Valley

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Yosemite

The entire day was dedicated to exploring more of Yosemite. We entered at the Tuolumne Meadows area. During our previous visit, it was mentioned that a volunteer would be at the Olmsted Point overlook with a telescope for visitors to see the hikers climb up the famous Half Dome. It was pretty neat seeing the climbers.

Next we stopped to check out a Sequoia Grove. The main grove (Mariposa) was closed for restoration. We visited the grove named Tuolumne Grove.  The paved path hike was 2.5 miles. The grove only has about a dozen trees. There is one tree that you can easily walk through and another than you can crouch your way through (both are dead). The main parking lot was full, but there was plenty of additional parking just down the road.

Yosemite

Yosemite

Next, we headed to the village area. There were a few lunch options available – all which were affordable. Since we were near the visitor center, we checked that out. The displays were okay. Two videos are also available for viewing, both were very good (about 30 minutes each). Also in that area is an Indian Village. There are some signs and displays of the types of housing. There is also a museum of Indian artifacts.
Near the visitor center is a hike along the valley floor. The trail (Valley Loop) was really hard to find/follow, we were not sure which way to go. The boardwalks and bridges were nice, but then again we probably were not on the trail we thought we were.

We stayed at a place just outside of the park - Yosemite View Lodge. The place was okay (a bit outdated). We opted for the mountain view, which was about $50 less a night than the river view option. The room had amenities which would allow you to cook your own meals. There was a restaurant and a little store also on-site. If you wanted internet access it was an extra $10 for 24 hours.

Yosemite

CA - Day 5 - Devils Postpile & Manzanar

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Devils Postpile NM

We had a busy day, first visiting Devils Postpile National Monument. The monument is in the Mammoth Lakes area. Visitors are required to park that the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and use the shuttle bus. The shuttle bus runs from 7 to 7 and the wait between buses is only 20 minutes or so. We arrived at the park around 9:30. There are 10 bus stops, but in general the first stop (which is bus stop 6) will be in the middle of the park at the visitor center. The Devils Postpile is an easy 0.4 mile one way hike. The hike to the top of the pile is well worth it, but it is about a 15 minute hike to the top.

Devils Postpile is assumed to have been created about 100,000 years ago. Lava flowed from an unknown location and ran down the valley until it ran into something which dammed the lava’s path.  Lava pooled up to 400 feet behind the dam before cooling. The lava is believed to have cooled at a very slow rate and as it contracted and cracked it formed hexagonal columns. 80,000 years after the piles were created a glacier pushed through the area exposing the sides and tops of the columns.

Devils Postpile NM - Rainbow Falls

Once we were done marveling at the postpiles, we continued heading down the trail (about 2.1 miles) towards Rainbow Falls. The falls are 101 feet down and named after the number of rainbows that are usually displayed at the bottom of the falls. It was not clear enough during our visit to see any rainbows (darn wildfires). The park was by far the smokiest park we visited during our trip.

Devils Postpile NM

We hiked back to bus stop 10 to get on the bus. In hind sight hiking back to bus top 9 would have probably been a lot flatter. The hike to 10 was quite steep. There is food available at stop 10 (the only site within the park). We managed to do all that hiking by noon and only had a short wait for the bus. The bus took about half an hour to get back to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.

Overall there are about 8 miles of trails at the park. A bad wildfire occurred at the park in 1992, the effects are largely observed during the walk to Rainbow Falls. That fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike, burned 82% of the National Monument.

Manzanar Cemetery

Our last site to visit for the day was Manzanar National Historic Site. Manzanar was a World War II relocation and internment of Japanese Americans from the west coast. The site is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  Our visit started at the Visitor Center. The park was not too busy; we were able to watch the 22 minute film, called Remembering Manzanar, before looking at the displays. The video provided great insight to the conditions that the internment people had to live with. The visitor center is quite large with very well displayed information. Outside of the visitor center, there is a 3.2 mile self-guided driving tour. There are two reconstructed barracks to observe – one displays what conditions were like when people first arrived (minus the holes in the ceilings) and one what the barracks were like after then had been there a while (they built furniture). Also along the driving tour, you can visit some of the unearthed rock gardens as well as the cemetery. We spent roughly two hours visiting the site.

After checking in at the Best Western Bishop Lodge for the night. We headed to dinner at Holy Smoke Texas Style BBQ and it was good - I had the redneck taco (cornbread with pulled pork and coleslaw on it). The hotel room was decent, somewhat recently remodeled. Breakfast was normal hotel fare. 

CA - Day 4 - Bodie State Historical Park

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Bodie State Historical Park

Another interesting place to check out for the day – Bodie State Historical Park. The park is owned by state and there is a $5/person fee. In 1888, Bodie was considered to be one of the most lawless, wild and toughest mining towns in the west. Gold was discovered in 1859 by W.S. Bodey and E.S. “Black” Taylor. Bodey died in a blizzard while returning with supplies. Temperatures are extreme in both summer and winter (3-6 feet of snow on flat ground and up to 20 foot drifts) and winds can be up to 100 mph. Due to the location, mining did not boom until the mid-1870’s.  Nearly 10,000 tons of rich ore was extracted from the mine, netting around $15 million over 25 years. By 1879 the population was nearly 8500 people with more than 2000 buildings. By 1881, the mines were depleted and companies were going bankrupt. The population was down to 1500 by 1886. In 1894 a fire destroyed many homes and businesses. Cyanide process in the 1890s and the use of electricity made mining profitable. In 1932 another fire roared through the town, only 10% of the towns buildings remained.

Bodie State Historical Park

Today, Bodie remains in a state of “arrested decay”, meaning the way it was left as residents left the town. Often residents would leave possessions behind since when they went to settle in a different town they were charged by the weight of the possessions that they would bring with them.

You may be asking yourself “Why is the town spelled as Bodie when one of the guys that discovered to riches was spelled Bodey?” Simple answer - the person that painted the sign did not like the way it looked with the y so they changed it to ie.

The site is defiantly worth a visit, it is unlike any other ghost town that we have visited. Allow at least 2 hours to wonder about the site.  There is also a tour of the stamping building available (for an additional fee), we did not take the tour.

We had a late lunch back in South Lake Tahoe at The Brewery. The food was just okay, but the staff was very friendly. Mike enjoyed the beer selection. After lunch, we headed back to the Gelato place for yummy gelato.

After lounging around for the afternoon, we had dinner at the Bear Moon Restaurant, which was good.

CA - Day 3 - Yosemite - Tuolumne Meadows

A view from the top of Pothole Dome

Monday, August 31, 2015

The Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite was our destination for the day. It was a bit of a drive from Tahoe, but luckily we happened to stop by the Mono Lake Visitor Center to stretch our legs, use the bathroom, enjoy the great displays and get some great information that was useful for our next few days. The views outside of the visitor center were incredible! The entrance to Yosemite was only a short drive once leaving the visitor center. The park is $30/vehicle (or use your annual park pass). We arrived just in time for a guided hike at Pothole Dome (about 2.5 hours). The talk dragged on a little, but it was very informative.  We learned all about Belding Ground Squirrels – very interesting (they hibernate for 8-9 months a year)! The four types of predominate granite that exists in Yosemite was also discussed. Once we finally reached the top of the dome, we were rewarded with a view of many peaks of the park. Unfortunately, nearby wildfires caused the park to be a little hazy.

A view from the Valley

Getting the National Park Passport Book stamped was the next activity. The visitor center was small with minimal displays and gift shop selections. On the positive note, there were bathrooms; however, there were not water refill stations available. There is a small restaurant, post office and general store a couple of miles down from the visitor center. We grabbed lunch at the restaurant (very affordable) and then headed to the Soda Springs area. The soda springs were not very impressive. The Parsons Memorial Lodge near the springs was a nice building with some nice displays. The trail to the springs was 1.5 miles round trip and was an easy walk.

Mono Lake - South Tufa Area

We spent about five hours at the park before heading to the Mono Lake South Tufa Area. The cost is $3/person or you can use the National Park Pass.

Mono Lake is rather interesting. The South Tufa Area is the area where the most tufas are present. Tufa is a type of limestone that is formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals. Scientist figure that the lake was created at least 760,000 years ago. The lack of an outlet causes the salt level to be high – approximately 10%. There are a ton of little flies at the water edge, back in the day local Kutzadika’a people relied on the papae of the alkali flies for food. Brine shrimp live in the waters also. The lake also is a major stopping location for migratory birds. We spent about an hour walking down to the water edge and checking out the formations.

CA - Day 2 - South Lake Tahoe

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Vikingsholm Castle courtyard area

Based on prior research, we determined that we wanted to start the day at the Vikingsholm Castle. Apparently the parking lot normally gets full by 9:30-10:00. Arriving before 9:30, there were many spaces available; however when we left around noon the parking lot was full and cars were circling for a space. A parking fee of $10 was charged. There was free parking along the side of the road (probably about a quarter mile down the road).

Given that we had arrived before the first castle tour time (10:30) we had a leisurely walk to the area of the castle. The walk was about one mile down a steep, but paved road. The walk was quite scenic – lots of nice views of the lake as well as some small trickles of water along the road. With some time to kill, we hiked to Eagle Falls (not impressive at this time of year). The trail head was right by the ticket booth for the castle. Getting back from the waterfall hike, we waited around by the visitor center to get the tickets for the castle. No one showed up, but we were able to buy tickets at the door instead ($10/person).

Vikingsholm was built in only six months back in 1929 (200+ workers that were provided barracks to live in). There is about a half an hour talk about the home and then you are left to explore the space on your own. The home is decked out in Scandinavian motif – there are, I think it was mentioned, 60 dragons located throughout the home (both inside and out). Another interesting feature is the sod roof.

Emerald Bay and Fanette Island

There is a small island located in the bay (Emerald Bay) across from Vikingsholm, Fannette Island, where a tea house was located. Guests at the home were invited out to the island for tea. Currently, the tea house is roofless and in decay. Visitors are welcome to rent a kayak (by the hour, adjacent to the castle) and venture to the island (apparently only about a 10 minute paddle or so).

Venturing back towards Tahoe for lunch, we made a pit spot at Inspiration Point. Inspiration Point is about 600 feet above Lake Tahoe and provides dramatic views. Parking is mega tough around that area – lots of cars park illegally along the road.

For lunch, we headed to a little place called Macduff’s Pub (ranked #11 out of 103 at the time on TripAdvisor). Portions were large, which was good since the prices were a little steep. We were all happy with the food that we ordered (onion soup, fish and chips, and the kona pulled pork sandwich).

After lunch, our CA friends headed home and we were on our own. We spent the rest of the day wondering around by the water and had some gelato at Art of Gelato. It was very yummy – lots of flavor choices. It was a little expensive at $3.50 for a small dish, but I would have to say it was worth it!

CA - Day 1 - South Lake Tahoe

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The trip did not get off to the best start, the plane for the flight came in late and then there were some issues with some of the seats (seat covers were not fully on or something along those lines). After leaving the airport, about 40 minutes late, we were a little bit concerned about making our connecting flight in Salt Lake City. Luckily, we arrived to the gate around the time that the boarding started. After arriving in Sacramento and picking up our rental car, we had a relatively easy drive to South Lake Tahoe. There was a bit of traffic the last 10 miles or so.

Taylor Creek 

We were excited that some friends that live out in CA were able to spend some time with us in Tahoe. We checked out Taylor Creek (free parking and entry), which has some nature trails and a stream profile chamber. The stream profile chamber sounded cooler than it actually was. The fish in the chamber were quite small. There is also access to the beach from the park.

Tallac Historical Home

Adjacent to Taylor Creek is the Tallac Historic Site. There is a trail that connects the two parks. The Tallac Historic Site was known as the “Grandest Resort in the World” about a century ago. The site is comprised of three summer retreats that socially elite families from the San Francisco area owned. A few of the buildings are open to the public (for a fee). There is also beach access at the site.

After checking into our accommodations (Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort) for the next few days, we headed to the Heavenly Village area for dinner. South Lake Tahoe has a concert series throughout the summer and one happened to be going on – the Mark Sexton Band. Deciding on the California Burger Company, we were able to snag a table right by the stage. The concert was good, as was the food. Mike and I both had the Ohana Burger. Upon returning to our hotel, we walked around the Heavenly Village and got a caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Utah Day 2

June 21, 2015 (Sunday)

Arches National Park - Balanced Rock

We were up bright and early and waiting for the 6:30 breakfast to be set up. After a super quick breakfast, we headed to Arches National Park. The previous day got over 100 degrees so we wanted to do hikes before the temps got too high for the day.

Arches was a pretty cool park. We did not have a ton of time to spend there, since we wanted to shower at the hotel before the long drive back to Denver for our 11:50PM flight. Our first stop was the Balanced Rock. There was a very short trail around the rock. We hiked the Windows loop trail, which gave us a close up view of the North and South Windows as well as the Turret Arch. The Windows Arches are the largest in the park. Also in the same parking lot (opposite side) we hiked up to the Double Arch.

Arches National Park - Turret Arch

Arches National Park - Double Arch

Arches National Park - Delicate Arch

We also drove to the Delicate Arch Viewpoint. We opted for the short walk for the view. Delicate Arch is the world’s most famous arch, honestly I am not sure why – maybe because we did not hike to the arch, but the viewpoint?

Ice cream was calling our names so we made a pit stop at the Dairy Queen in Glenwood Springs. The ice cream there was really creamy – yum!

On our way back to Denver, along I-70, we spotted some long-horn sheep with some lambs walking along a mountain.

An old high school friend lives in Denver and we had to pleasure of meeting up with her at the Ruby Tuesday near the airport. It was great to get a visit in with her.

Colorado Day 3 / Utah Day 1

June 20, 2015 (Saturday)

Colorado National Monument

Another early morning…our first stop for the day was the Colorado National Monument ($10/car or free with NPS pass). We arrived via the East Entrance. We hiked the Devils Kitchen Trail (0.75 miles one- way), which was recommended by the ranger at the toll booth. We then drove thru the park and stopped along some view points along the way. The visitor center is near the West Entrance. We watched the video, which totally was not worth it – it was a photographic slide show.

Colorado National Monument

Continuing west, we made it to Canyonlands National Park. We visited the Island in the Sky portion of the park, which is the most easily accessible. We hiked the 0.5 mile loop to Mesa Arch. Sarah broke away from us to hike the Aztez Butte Trail while Pam and I drove to scenic viewpoints – Grand View Point being our favorite.

Canyonlands National Park

After our adventures at Canyonlands we headed to Comfort Suites in Moab. The hotel was great – the room was super clean and had very nice décor.

The dinner choice was Moab Brewery. It was better than the previous brewery food quality wise, but the girls were disappointed that beer flights were not served.

Colorado Day 2

June 19, 2015 (Friday)

Hanging Lake

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we hiked the Hanging Lake Trail. Research stated that the parking lot fills quickly. There were plenty of spaces when we arrived at 7:30ish, but by the time we left (10ish) there was a wait for parking spaces. The trail was considered moderate-strenuous. The trail follows the Dead Horse Creek and has a few foot bridge crossings. The top portion of the trail was very rocky and steep – thank goodness for handrails! The trail was 1.2 miles long (one-way) and is a 1000 foot climb. The view at the top is lovely.

View along the Hanging Lake Trail

For lunch, we headed back to downtown Glenwood Springs. We decided to try out CO Ranch House – excellent choice! We all loved our meals – pulled pork, elk quesadilla, veggie pot pie. We enjoyed sitting in the outdoor patio. It was by far the best meal we had on the trip.

Once lunch was complete we wandered around at the downtown shops. The Strawberry Festival was also going on all weekend, but we did not make it that far into town. Later in the afternoon, we dropped Sarah off to attend the wedding, which was about 20 minutes outside of Glenwood Springs. Pam enjoyed the hot tub and pool for a bit and then we walked to Tequila’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. The portions were large, but the food was just okay. The service also was not the best – a lot of high school age kids worked there.

On our return trip from picking Sarah up from the wedding we got stuck in traffic. The tunnel was closed. After about 50 minutes the tunnel reopened. There was a car upside down on the side of the road – yikes! It was a good thing we were not a few minutes earlier or it might have been us.

Colorado Day 1

June 18, 2015 (Thursday)

Girls weekend vacay! This adventure took us to Colorado and Utah. We had the 6AM flight out of Detroit to Denver. It was my first experience with Frontier Airlines. The baggage check-in line was short and overall we had a great flight in both directions. We rented a car through Hertz, this was also a first for me. I am not sure if all locations have the same type of check-in process, but I did not really care for it. The check-in was relatively fast, but it was weird to have to talk to the agent through a phone and computer screen. Returning the car was odder yet. No one was there to direct you where to park the car, so we just put it in a line and then had to go inside the building and try to figure out where to go to report the mileage, time and amount of gas in the car. The shuttles were very quick, so that was a positive.

Petrified Wood that is trying to be preserved

The main purpose of the trip was for my friend Sarah to go to one of her old college friends’ wedding in Glenwood Springs.

The first stop for our trip was the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument ($3/person or free with the NPS pass), which was near Colorado Springs. Arriving near 11AM, we were able to join a ranger guided hike along the Petrified Forest Trail. The hike was about an hour long and was easy. There were some really neat flora, insect, butterfly fossils on display. There was a video available but we did not watch it. There is also a Fossil Learning Lab set up in a Yurt Tent – unfortunately it was not open during our visit.

A view from Florissant Fossil Beds NM

After the park were able to find a place somewhat close by for lunch – Lake George Pizza. The pizza was super good, and the potato skins were pretty good also.

With fully tummies, we headed to the Holiday Inn Express in Glenwood Springs. The drive was quite lovely. We enjoyed beautiful mountain and river views.  About half way thru our drive, we stopped at the Brown Burro for ice cream. The ice cream was just okay, I had strawberry. The hotel was nice also, clean and pretty décor.  The hotel was just a short walk to the downtown area.

 Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub was our dinner choice for the evening. They had quite a few beer options – Pam and Sarah, my travel companions, both enjoyed a sampler flight. Over all the food was not that great. The salad was good, but the burger not the best.

Boston Area 2015 - Day 7 & 8

May 28, 2015 Longfellow, JFK, Olmsted, Samuel Adams

Inside the Longfellow House

Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site was an interesting site. Parking was tough in the area. Metered parking was available, but Harvard graduation was going on. Luckily, we were able to find a meter. Apparently if you want to risk it, parking tickets are $20. The house is available only by tour. Tours are free and last 45 minutes to an hour. The gardens outside of the home are very lovely. The home as a ton of history. The home was built in 1759 for John Vassall, a merchant and ardent loyalist. The Vassals’ were forced to flee to England in 1774. In July 1775, General George Washington came along to command the Continental Army. Then in 1791, Andrew Craigie (and his wife), the nation’s first Apothecary General, bought the house and expanded the home. The home became known as “Castle Craigie”; however the lavish living caused the couple to become into debt.  Once Mr. Craigie passed the wife began to take in boarders. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a young Harvard professor and up-and-coming poet began renting rooms at the home in 1837. Longfellow married into a wealthy family which bought the home as a wedding gift to the new couple. 

JFK NHS

The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site was our next destination. Free parking was available near the home. There was a 20 minute video that talked about the Kennedy family and audio tours for the home. All items in the home are original to the home. The home is the birthplace of JFK.

Our last National Park site for the state of Massachusetts was Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. The home is known as Fairsted. Olmsted is considered one of the nation’s greatest landscape architect. Some of his more known sites include the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, the U.S. Capitol Grounds, New York’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace. There was a seven minute video, which was informative. Parking was available at the site.

Samuel Adams Tour

Nearby was Samuel Adams. We went on a tour, which was free (but they ask for a $2 donation that is distributed to local charities). The tour was quite short (45 minutes – 1 hour). Parking is tough and apparently tours usually fill up fast, but we were able to nab the last parking space and get on the next available tour time. The tour guides were quite funny. If you sit at the end of the far end of the table you will be sure to get plenty of beer to sample. They send a pitcher down each side of the table. You get to keep the glass that you use for the samples. Three samples were passed around.

Using my IHG reward points, we were able to book a $400 room in Cambridge (for free using my points), but decided we had had enough of Boston and headed home. We were able to cancel the room and keep all my points. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites East Greenbush in Rensselaer, NY. We stayed at the same hotel back in 2012, I think it had some updates since that time, regardless we had a good stay.

May 29, 2015 Homeward Bound

The drive home was uneventful. We stopped at Seneca Falls to visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. We had visited this park back in 2012, but I really wanted to collect the trading cards the site had. The displays were recently updated.  Also, stopped by the Anchor Bar for Mike to get some chicken wings from the original Buffalo Wings location.

Boston Area 2015 - Day 6

May 27, 2015 Lowell, Saugus, Salem

Boott Cotton Mills at Lowell NHP

It was a busy day, visiting three national park sites. Our first stop, Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center. There was a recently made video that provided a good background of the importance of the site. Parking was available at the park, with validation available at the front desk. The sites that are included with this national park are all a short walk (or trolley ride) away from each other. The park seems to have a lot of special events that run throughout the summer – art in the park, folk festival, canal rides. Not a lot of the stops along the walk were open, but we were able to visit the Boott Cotton Mills. The cost for the mill was $6/adult, but with the annual National Park pass it was half off.  It was really neat the see/hear the 1920’s weave room in action.

Saugus Iron Works NHS

Saugus Iron Works National Historical Site was just an okay site to visit. There was an interesting video in the museum. The buildings at this site were reconstructed over the original 1640’s foundations. Saugus was the first successful location in the New World for the integrated production of cast and wrought iron. The last recorded blast at the site was 1668. Financial problems ultimately caused the closing of the iron works. An hour is plenty of time to see everything, unless you take a tour. Unfortunately, the tours were all late in the afternoon and did not work well with the time we arrived. 

Derby House at Salem Maritime NHS

We finished the day off with a visit to Salem. There is a lot of on street parking available for a small fee, as well as a few parking garages. Our first stop was the National Park Regional Visitor Center. The visitor center was very nice. There were a couple of films and a few displays. The Salem Maritime National Historic Site building is closed for the year for renovations. We unfortunately missed the tours of the U.S. Custom House, which was built in 1819 and two local homes that date back to 1675 and 1762. The walk along the wharf was nice, with a few displays along the way. The lighthouse at the end of the wharf was not anything to special.

We had dinner at Longboards Restaurant & Bar, which was on one of the piers in historical Salem. The food was okay, but nothing special.

Holiday Inn Express Andover Lawrence was the hotel that we ended up in. We discovered that we probably should have booked rooms in advance; the price we were willing to pay was often hard to find. Our stay was nice.

Boston Area 2015 - Day 5

May 26, 2015 Bedford, Providence

First stop for the day was the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park. There was plenty of metered street parking in the area, as well as a couple of parking decks. The meters let you pay via credit card, which was nice.

Seamen's Bethel

The video at the visitor center was very good. There were also some other displays at the visitor center. After exploring the visitor center, we headed down by the water. Interesting fact: scallops make New Bedford the number one fishing port in the country in terms of the dollar value of its catch.

 The Seamen’s Bethel is near the water. Seamen’s Bethel is referenced in Herman Melville’s book Moby-Dick. The building was constructed in 1832. Every year the Bethel hosts a 25 hour Moby-Dick reading marathon. We were told that if you last for the entire reading you receive a free copy of the book.

Scrimshaw at New Bedford Whaling Museum

Our next stop was the highly recommended New Bedford Whaling Museum.  It was $14 for adults, but there was a 10% discount for AAA members. The content of the museum was very in depth.  My favorite part was viewing the scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and/or carvings done in bone or ivory. Personally, I did not greatly enjoy the museum. 

Next on the docket – Roger Williams National Memorial. Roger Williams’ left England with his wife because he disliked the religious turmoil. Williams fought for the idea that religion should not be subject to state regulations, but should be a matter of individual conscience. Williams’ was a minister in Salem, but his separatist beliefs forced him out of Massachusetts. He settled in Providence and ultimately created a colony. 

Rhode Island Capitol Building

Another capitol building is checked off our list – Providence, Rhode Island. The capitol is neoclassical in style. The current State House is the seventh in the state’s history and was constructed from 1895 to 1904.

Our last stop in Rhode Island was one of the stops for the somewhat new Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. There are many different locations to visit along the corridor. We visited the Pawtucket location. There was a nice video at the visitor center. The area of the visitor center was a little sketchy (lots of people lingering waiting for buses). Along the river was the original mill dating back to 1793!

Minute Man Statue

Heading north, we arrived at the Minute Man National Historical Park. The video at the visitor center is good. There is a lovely trail that connects many locations throughout the park. It was 90+ degrees outside so we opted to park at a few of the parking areas hand opt for a short walk rather than a couple of mile walk. Unfortunately, many of the buildings that we thought would be open were not – apparently we arrived a few weeks early. We did not make it inside of the North Bridge Visitor Center before it closed, but we were able to walk to the bridge and enjoy the beautiful flowers.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Chelmsfords Inn, was okay...but I do not know what was so Plus about it, the room was probably not at nice as the standard Best Westerns that we stayed at earlier in the trip.