Category: Terrain
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Minnetonka Cave
Caribou-Targhee National Forest , Bear Lake, Idaho, USA (July 2011) We’d heard about Minnetonka Cave while we were visiting Bear Lake and decided to check it out. It’s set high within the Bear Lake Range in Cache National Forest (administered by the Montpelier Ranger District of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest) at an altitude of 7,700…
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Stone Mountain
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA (April 2010) Stone Mountain rises above the plain just a few miles northeast of Atlanta, a solid monolith standing alone like nothing else around it anywhere east of the Appalachians. It started out millions of years ago as magma that hardened below the earth’s surface. Slowly, over time, the surrounding landscape…
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Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial
Washington, DC (2007 & 2009) Few things are nicer than a walk on Theodore Roosevelt island on a beautiful day. The Setting We visited Theodore Roosevelt Island, often referred to by its shorter name “Roosevelt Island” an 88 acre nature preserve set amid the Potomac River and the surrounding urban landscape (map). The National Park…
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Rocky Mountain National Park
Larimer and Grand Counties, Colorado, USA (October 2002) We came to Denver for a wedding but we arrived early so we could travel up to Estes Park, Colorado (map). That serves as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Summer quickly transitions into winter here. Trail Ridge Road through the upper elevations of park closed…
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Mesa Verde National Park
Montezuma County, Colorado, USA (May 1992) Mesa Verde National Park, the “green table” of Colorado’s contribution to the Four Corners region contains some of the most spectacular and largest cliff dwellings ever constructed. Precolumbian native Americans, sometimes referred to as the Ancient Pueblo People or the Anasazi after the Navajo word for “ancient ones,” inhabited…
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San Diego Zoo and Safari Park
San Diego, California (2005) If you’ve been reading these travel pages you know our little guy loves animals. Naturally in San Diego we had to go to the famous San Diego Zoo and its affiliated Safari Park. The zoo was great (map), but the Safari Park had smaller crowds and more open space so that…
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La Jolla Coast
San Diego County, California (2005) Next we went to La Jolla with some of our family who live in the area that were kind enough to act as tour guides. We wandered down to the Ellen Browning Scripps Park along the Pacific shoreline (map). The southwestern corner led to the crescent shaped Children’s Pool, also…
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Harding Icefield
Kenai Fjords National Park, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) Flightseeing is a great way to view the expansive Harding Icefield (map) on the southeastern side of the Kenai Peninsula, a part of Kenai Fjords National Park. Tours operate from all of the major towns in the vicinity including Seward, Homer and Soldotna. Options…
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Kenai Fjords National Park
Near Seward, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We continued on our exploration of the Kenai Peninsula, leaving our base in Cooper Landing heading towards Seward (map). Here we’d booked a day-long sea excursion through one of several companies that operate moderately-sized boats that cruise through Resurrection Bay and Aialik Bay, two of the…
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The Homer Spit
Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA (July 2010) We drove along the Sterling Highway, curving south and passing towns like Clam Gulch, Ninilchik, and Anchor Point, heading ever further down the Kenai Peninsula until we could drive no further. We arrived in Homer and headed towards the famous Homer Spit. Part of the appeal, naturally,…