LAZY Blogger

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park ~ Colorado

2011-12-21T14:01:00.000-08:00

This my friends is a really exciting National Park visit for me. Not only is it the third (of four) National Parks I have visited in the state of Colorado, but more importantly to me, is the fact that it is also the halfway point on my Bucket List for all 58 of the U.S. National Parks. I have now visited 29 U.S. National Parks leaving 29 still left to visit.

If you are wondering what other parks there are that I have already visited in Colorado; they are Mesa Verde National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The only one left in Colorado now that I have not visited is the Great Sandunes National Park.

But getting back to this particular blog post, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison's unique and spectacular landscape was formed slowly by the action of water and rock scouring down through hard Proterozoic crystalline rock.

No other canyon in North America combines the narrow opening, sheer walls, and startling depths offered by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. And as you can see from these pictures I have posted here, it is a really spectacular park. In fact I wondered why I have not heard much abotu this park. I am sure there are a couple of reasons for that.

One reason is probably that it is not all that easy to get to and there don't seem to be many large towns (and airports) around it. But the biggest part may be that in the age of National Parks, this is a relatively new one. In fact it was only upgraded to a National Park in October of 1999. So I guess the word has not yet gotten out? But this place was spectacular in my opinion.

The Gunnison River through Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park drops at an average of 95 feet per mile. By comparison, the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile.

While the people of the Ute bands knew of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it was an obscure geographic feature to explorers for hundreds of years. The Spanish were the first Europeans to canvas western Colorado with two expeditions, one led by Juan Rivera in 1765, and the other by Fathers Dominguez and Escalante in 1776. Both were looking for passage to the California coast, and both passed by the canyon.

Fur trappers of the early 1800s undoubtedly knew of the canyon in their search for beaver pelts. They left no written record of the canyon, though, probably because they couldn't, in fact, read or write.

By the middle of the century, exploration of the American west had captured the nation's attention. In turn expeditions came to the Black Canyon searching for railroad passageways, mineral wealth, or in a quest for water. Eventually explorers came to see the canyon, not for commercial wealth, but for the renewal and recreation that it offered.

Today, you can walk in the footsteps of some of these hardy and inquisitive forebearers. The canyon still offers a rugged and demanding experience, even as it did more than a hundred of years ago. This point was made when a hiker at the visitor center asked if he needed to check in and they told him; "no not really!" As I looked as those sheer cliffs of granet going down into that canyon I thought... "good luck buddy!"

I would rate this National Park as one of my Top 10 U.S. National Parks becuase of its ravishing natural beauty. Yet another example of the beauty that God has created for us all to enjoy. "The canyon has been a mighty barrier to humans. Only its rims, never the gorge, show evidence of human occupation – not even by Ute Indians living in the area since written history began." ~ Left by the Kolb Expedition of 1916.

Akaka Falls State Park ~ Big Island of Hawaii, HI

2011-08-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

From a dark and hot volcano to a peaceful and serene waterfall seems like a nice transition to me. Even though that is not exactly the way our trip happened, but at this next location in my blog posts we got to see two water falls at the Akaka Falls State Park on the Big Island.

The Falls are located along the northeastern Hamakua Coast, you can see two gorgeous waterfalls on one short hike. You'll have a very pleasant 0.4-mile uphill hike that will take you through a lush rain-forest filled with wild orchids, bamboo groves and lovely draping ferns.

As you follow the paved footpath, you'll first see 100-foot Kahuna Falls which is also impressive even if not as large as the Akaka Falls is. Then you can continue to follow the loop around the bend, and you'll discover towering Akaka Falls which plummets 442-feet into a stream-eroded gorge. Beautiful Akaka Falls is perhaps the Big Island's most famous waterfall. It is also easily accessible (if you don't miss either of the two signs to it). This hike takes less than an hour and it is just breathtaking. Maybe even more so as I get older, but truly the sights are just awesome and around every corner is something else to make you stop and ponder for a while at the beauty that God has created here.

The falls are on the northeastern side of Hawaii’s Big Island, just north of Hilo, in an area called the Hamakua Coast. This area has 84 inches of rainfall a year, this area is mostly known for the Hamakua Heritage Corridor drive, a road trip along the coastline that passes by lush tropical rain-forests, waterfalls and lovely seaside views. In my humble opinion, this was one of the more gorgeous sights on the island of Hawaii. And it gets the LZ approval for whatever that is worth to you.

"As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can." — John Muir

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park ~ Big Island ~ Hawaii

2011-07-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

What can you say about a first trip to the Big Island other than... it sure is big? Well there is plenty that can be said about it. But its bigness is the first thing I noticed about it other than how much black lava there is on the island. It is so big in fact that it is almost twice as large as all of the other Hawaiian Islands put together.

Of course you know that my first adventure on any trip that has a National Park is to knock off one more line item from my personal "Bucket List". For me this National Park was one that I was really excited about because of the fact that it had a real active volcano in it.

This park was founded in 1916, and it encompasses 333,000 acres from the summit of Maunaloa to the sea. Here you'll be able to find 150 miles of hiking trails through volcanic craters, scalded deserts, rain-forests as well as a museum, petroglyphs, a walk-in lava tube called Nahuku (Thurson's Lava Tube) and two active volcanoes: Maunaloa, which last erupted in 1984 and Kilauea which has been erupting since January 3rd, 1983. In fact this caldera in Kilauea was making lots of gas and noise when we were there and then the very next day after we were there, it erupted.

The extraordinary natural diversity of the park was recognized in 1980 when it was named a World Biosphere site by UNESCO and in 1987 when the park was again honored as a World Heritage site. As you can see from several of these shots below and the one with the title, Thurson's Lava Tube was a highlight to my park visit. You started off in a beautiful rain forest and then you got to what looked like a fern covered cave opening. Then as you strolled through the lava tube, it was lit in several places by lights so that you could see where you were going because the tube was long enough that you could not see the other side where it came out.

As you exited the tube, you had to climb up what looked like 15-20 feet worth of cement steps. At that point you were back in the rain forest again. It was a wonderfully beautiful walk and the trip through the tube was one of many highlight features of a wonderful trip just I will expand on later blog posts.

Kilauea is sometimes called "the world's only drive-in volcano." This prolific volcano currently produces 250,000-650,000 cubic yards of lava per day, enough to resurface a 20-mile-long, two-lane road daily. As of January 1994, 491 acres of new land have been created on Hawaii's Big Island. The current eruption may last another 100 years or stop tomorrow. Pele, the volcano goddess who the Hawaiians say lives here, is very unpredictable. But the chance to watch Kilauea's blistering lava flows meet the sea is just one of the reasons to visit. It was really a wonderful sight to see but at the same time, it was a rather eerily scary and deadly looking one too.

The shots I am adding to this post hopefully will give you some kind of vision of what we saw while in the National Park itself. But you can't really appreciate the smells and odors that came with these shots. Nor can you feel the sense of heat and deadness that the black lava everywhere had.

“The glowing magma emerges like redhot toothpaste from a long, wide crack and then crawls into the Pacific, creating a tall, furious cloud of steam." ~ Robert Gross

Redwoods National Park ~ CA

2011-06-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

The next step in my "bucket list" knock off just happened to be the Redwood National (and State Parks) that are located along the coast of northern California. They are really not too far from our visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park and the path that led us through the City of Redding, California.

There are several areas that comprise Redwood National Park and California's Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP contain 133,000 acres. Located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, together, protect 45% of all remaining Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres.

I am not sure if any of you saw the program that National Geographic Magazine did on these Redwood Trees in this area or not but if you get a chance to see it, it is definitely a must see for me. You can even stream it on NetFlix if you have it. It relates two different stories about the Redwoods. One is about trying to photograph them and the other is about tow people who try and find the most southern and northern groves of Redwoods. It was a quest that they did on foot and it took almost a full year and they traveled about 1,500 miles.

These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In fact they are said to be the largest living thing on the planet. In addition to the redwood forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams, and 37 miles of pristine coastline.

In 1850, old-growth redwood forest covered more than 2,000,000 acres of the California coast. The northern portion of that area, originally inhabited by Native Americans, attracted many lumbermen and others turned gold miners when a minor gold rush brought them to the region. Failing in efforts to strike it rich in gold, these men turned toward harvesting the giant trees for booming development in San Francisco and other places on the West Coast.

After many decades of unobstructed clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward conservation began. By the 1920s the work of the Save-the-Redwoods League, founded in 1918 to preserve remaining old-growth redwoods, resulted in the establishment of Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks among others.

Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90% of the original redwood trees had been logged. The National Park Service (NPS) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) administratively combined Redwood National Park with the three abutting Redwood State Parks in 1994 for the purpose of cooperative forest management and stabilization of forests and watersheds as a single unit.

The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened animal species such as the Brown Pelican, Tidewater Goby, Bald Eagle, Chinook Salmon, Northern Spotted Owl, and Steller's Sea Lion. In recognition of the rare ecosystem and cultural history found in the parks, the United Nations designated them a World Heritage Site on September 5, 1980 and an International Biosphere Reserve on June 30, 1983.

The Park was spectacular and even though there is no way (short of using the National Geographic Magazine's photographer) to even try to get the huge perspective and enormity of these trees, I have tried to capture at least some of the magnificent size of these giant trees and the beauty of this National Park for you to enjoy.

"Our redwood trees are treasures that need to be protected and preserved. By adding more than 25,000 acres to Redwood National Park , this legislation would help conserve the redwood forest, provide watershed protection, and protect wildlife habitats." ~ Diane Feinstein

Sundial Bridge ~ Redding, California

2011-04-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hey take a look at this... a blog post of mine that is not about a National Park and not even on my "Bucket List". But best of all it was a surprise to us when we left Lassen Volcanic National Park and spent the night in Redding, CA. Who knew that this relatively new bridge was in this quaint little city? Well not us... that is until we saw a photo of it when we checked into our hotel. The first thing we did was to find out where this bridge was located and how to get there.

The person at the front desk told us how to get there and then told us that we should go right before dusk in order to see it as the sun was going down and then to be able to see it with its pathway across it lit up at night.

The Sundial Bridge provides pedestrian access to the north and south areas of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, a complex containing environmental, art and history museums and the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens, and it forms the gateway to the ten-mile-long Sacramento River Trail.

Drift boats of fishermen are often seen passing beneath the bridge as they fish for salmon, steel-head and rainbow trout. In the distance, Mount Shasta is barely visible. Shasta Bally is visible to the West looking upstream in the Sacramento.

It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2004 at a cost of US$23,500,000. The bridge has become iconic for Redding. Sundial Bridge who's Official name is really Sundial Bridge and it Carries Bicycles and pedestrians as it Crosses the Sacramento River there in Redding.

Its design is called a Cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge. Its Total length is 700 ft (213 m) and its Width 23 ft (7 m) with a clearance below of 26 ft (8 m) In opened July 4, 2004 and as you can tell from its name... spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, United States and forms a large sundial.

The bridge celebrates human creativity and ingenuity, important themes of the 300 acre Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The steel, glass, and granite span evokes a sense of weightlessness and the translucent, non-skid decking provides for spectacular viewing at night.

The bridge is also environmentally sensitive to its river setting. The tall pylon and cable stays allow the bridge to avoid the nearby salmon-spawning habitat there are no supports in the water while encouraging public appreciation for the river.

Plazas are situated at both ends of the bridge for public use; the north-side plaza stretches to the water allowing patrons to sit at the river’s edge. We did go down to the one at the other end of the bridge from the Park side and determined there was not much down there to see (at least at night) with the exception of the lit up bridge from the bottom side.

All in all we really did enjoy this little surprise side trip. Sometimes a destination can really be a trip... other times the trip is really the destination. I am not sure exactly what I meant by that, but it sounds profound... or is that more that is sounds confusing?

“Too often. . .I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” ~ Louis L’Amour

Lassen Volcanic National Park ~ California

2011-03-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well...while still on our quest to check off all of the U.S. National Parks from my "Bucket List"; our next stop is here at Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is in Shasta County, California. The park's border itself is about 45 miles from the closest city of much size, which is Redding, California. And... in case you wondered, Redding is just about 210 miles north and a little east of the San Francisco Bay area. It is also about 150 miles south of the Oregon border with California.

The source of heat for this National Park is actually volcanism in the Lassen area is totally attributed to subduction off the Northern California coast of the Gorda Plate diving below the North American Plate. The area surrounding Lassen Peak is still active with things like; boiling mud pots, stinking fumaroles, and churning hot springs. Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the few areas in the world where all four types of volcano can be found (plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and strato).

Lassen Peak's May 1914 eruption launched three years worth of volcanic outburst. In its largest eruption on May, 22, 1915, the peak blew a huge mushroom shaped cloud of ash in excess of 30,000 feet in the air.

The park is accessible via State Routes SR 89 and SR 44. SR 89 passes north-south through the park, beginning at SR 36 to the south and ending at SR 44 to the north. SR 89 passes immediately adjacent the base of Lassen Peak.

Lassen Peak was formed 27,000 years ago (who knows this stuff?) as a volcanic vent on the northern side of Broke-off Volcano and it is one of the world's largest plug dome volcanoes, rising 2,000 feet to an elevation of 10,457 feet.

There are a total of five vehicle entrances to the park: the north and south entrances of SR 89, and unpaved roads entering at Drakesbad and Juniper Lake in the south, and Butte Lake in the northeast. The Park can also be accessed by trails leading in from Caribou Wilderness to the east, as well as the Pacific Crest Trail, and two smaller trails leading in from Willow Lake and Little Willow Lake to the south.

A large lodge (the Lassen Chalet) with concession facilities formerly was located near the south-west entrance, but was demolished in 2005. A new, full-service visitor center was constructed in the same location, and opened to the public in 2008. Near the old lodge location was also located Lassen Ski Area, which ceased operation in 1992; all infrastructure has been removed.

The drive here seemed somewhat long without seeing a whole lot of anything but trees and very old lava flows, but it was still very picturesque in many areas. In some ways it reminded me of some of the areas in Yellowstone. At least the smell of sulfur and the steam that could be noticed in many areas in the park that still seemed to be somewhat active (at least volcanically speaking that is). But I am sure that you will get more of an idea of exactly what I am talking about from the pictures that I took while we were there and which I have posted here.

"Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers." – George Carlin

Going-to-the-Sun Road ~ Glacier National Park ~ Montana

2011-02-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

After spending the night in Kalispell, Montana we were up early and on the road anxious to visit more of the beautiful Glacier National Park via one of what just has to be the most beautiful drives in America. That road being... the "Going-to-the-Sun Road" which cuts through the park from the southwest corner from the park headquarters at West Glacier all the way to the Logan Pass visitors center and then on to the most Eastern part of the park at the Saint Mary Visitor center. The only thing I can say about this drive is that it is spectacular even if somewhat scary in certain areas. Those areas make you have a complete understanding of why the road is closed in the winter.

Around almost ever corner you see the park from a completely different perspective. The drive itself takes at least 2½ to 3½ hours depending on how many times you stop to take pictures and view the wildlife. We saw big horned sheep, mountain goats and a myriad of other little creatures and birds while we were on the road.

I wondered why the road was named the way it was when I found out that the road officially received its name, “The Going-to-the-Sun Road,” during the 1933 dedication at Logan Pass. The road borrowed its name from nearby Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. Local legend, and a 1933 press release issued by the Department of the Interior, told the story of the deity, Sour Spirit, who came down from the sun to teach Blackfeet braves the rudiments of the hunt. On his way back to the sun, Sour Spirit had his image reproduced on the top of the mountain for inspiration to the Blackfeet.

An alternate story suggests a white explorer in the 1880s concocted the name and the legend. No matter which version is accurate, the road named Going-to-the-Sun still inspires all who travel it. is a spectacular 50 mile, paved two-lane highway that bisects the park east and west. It spans the width of Glacier, crossing the Continental Divide at 6,646-foot-high Logan Pass.

The road passes through almost every type of terrain in the park, from large glacial lakes and cedar forests in the lower valleys to windswept alpine tundra atop the pass. Scenic viewpoints and pullouts line the road, so motorists can stop for extended views and photo opportunities.

The road is well worth traveling in either direction, as the view from one side of the road is much different than from the other. In 1983 Going-To-The-Sun Road was included in the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 was made a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The one word that encompasses the feeling of the Going-to-the-Sun is simply "spectacular!" We will never forget it. In fact... I have now elevated Glacier National Park as the best national park I've seen and due mostly because of our traveling the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

"The glacier was God's great plough set at work ages ago to grind, furrow, and knead over, as it were, the surface of the earth." ~ Louis Agassiz

Glacier National Park ~ Montana

2011-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

Moving on from Theodore Roosevelt National Park we traveled back on I-94 still moving westward toward Montana until we came to a town called Beach just a few hundred yards from the Montana border. Once there we decided to stop and have a latte and a chai tea at a local espresso cafe where we found a local who told us that we might really enjoy the route to Glacier that the National Park Ranger had told us about while we were in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

As it turned out, this was a wonderfully pretty way to go north on highway 16 from Beach up to a town called Sidney which was just across the North Dakota border into Montana. This involved taking highway 68 west from 16 and then catching back up to highway 16 which ran into highway 2. At that point we drove on some of the most untraveled roads I have seen in a while. Most the the traffic (if you could really call it that) seemed to be trucks who seemed to be involved in the oil pipeline construction that was going on in that area.

This highway 2 was within 10 miles of the Canadian border of both Saskatchewan and Alberta (further west). We stopped in Glasgow, Montana for the night after a long day of driving.

The next morning we were up and off on our westward adventure to Glacier National park, but I did stop several times along the way because of some really pretty shots taken as we were going in and out of some thunderstorms which only helped the scenic ride. We made our way along miles and miles that all seemed to be either in or around Native American reservations like Peck Indian Reservation, Belknap Indian Reservation and Rocky Boy Indian Reservation.

The towns around the highway were very small and we were glad that we had picked Glasgow as the place we spent the previous night instead of trying to get closer to Glacier and have a shorter drive this morning.

By the time we made our way through Montana and got to Browning, we decided to go on into the East Glacier Park entrance to the park (at Two Medicine) and drove around to the Apgar Visitor Center and stopped to find out about the park and the best way for us to see it over the next couple of days. While we were there we saw Lake McDonald which was getting a strong wind through that area at that time. At that time we found out that there is a Canadian National Park that is actually attached to Glacier National Park The name of that park is Waterton Lakes National Park. It is in British Columbia.

The south part of Glacier National Park borders on Flathead National Forest, Great Bear Wilderness Area and Lewis and Clark National Forest.

It seems useless to try and describe the beauty of this national park and I am sure that the photos I took of this place can't do it justice either, but I sure took a lot of shots there. I think it has now moved to number one on my list of National Parks now.

"There is no voice in all of the world so insistent to me as the wordless call of these mountains. I shall go back. Those who go once always hope to go back. The lure of the great free spaces is in their blood."~ Mary Roberts Rinehart, American Playwright, describing Glacier National Park, 1925

Theodore Roosevelt National Park ~ North Dakota

2011-01-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

Leaving the the Enchanted Highway we finally got back on the road to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. It was on the eastern part of the state fairly close to the border of Montana. The park was basically divided into three areas that were very much alike except for the things that there were to do and see in each of them. The South section right off of I-90. The North section about 35 miles north of the southern part. And then the old farm section which is just about in the middle of the two other sections.

For all of you have been to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, you may see some similarities in it and Theodore Roosevelt National Park here in North Dakota. In fact you may think you are there. It even has an area called the Badlands within the park too.

Theodore Roosevelt came to the North Dakota Badlands in September 1883 to hunt buffalo. By the end of his 15 day hunting trip, he had entered the cattle business with the purchase of the Chimney Butte Ranch, also known as the Maltese Cross Ranch.

After the disastrous winter of 1886-87, Roosevelt lost approximately 60% of his cattle. Although now living full time in New York, he continued to maintain both his ranches; the Elkhorn remaining his center of operation. After a late summer visit to the Elkhorn in 1890, Roosevelt apparently abandoned the ranch. On October 20 he wrote to a friend (Sewall) stating, " ... This is the last year I shall keep the ranch house open; I have just parted with Merrifield. Sylvane will take care of the cattle now."

Roosevelt's last known visit to the Elkhorn was in 1892. He sold the ranch and buildings to Sylvane Ferris in 1898. Gradually the buildings were stripped of their furnishings and, according to a local stockman, by 1901 "every scrap of the Elkhorn Ranch had disappeared with the exception of a couple of half rotted foundations."

It is said that if Teddy Roosevelt had never come to this area for his cathartic life changing event process, he would have never turned out to be much of anything in life, let alone the President of the United States. Of course I didn't have that feeling, about it, but maybe if I would have stayed there through the winter, I may have felt different about it. But when I found out that Winters are cold and windy with brief warming spells.

Average highs are in the 20s and 30s and average lows are in the single digits and snowfall averages 30 inches per year, I decided that I wanted to be neither a Rough Rider nor President of the United States anyway.

Theodore Roosevelt said the badlands were "so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth." It's easy to try and discover the "grim fairyland" of Theodore Roosevelt National Park's geologic formations just by looking at any part of this park.

Theodore Roosevelt's experiences here in the North Dakota badlands shaped his adult life, helping him become the Rough Rider, the President, and the world's leading land conservationist. Today, by car (or back packing) you can explore the rugged badlands terrain, watch wildlife (a lot of bison), relax in the shade of a cottonwood tree, and enjoy the lifestyle and scenes that charmed Mr. Roosevelt.

"It was here that the romance of my life began." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

The Enchanted Highway ~ Regent ~ North Dakota

2010-12-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been on your way to some place in particular and then on the way there you decided that you just must have to stop at a place that you never intended to be in the first place? OK... so Mrs. LZ and I are the ONLY people who actually do that. But the truth is that many of those places were ones that we just luckily ran into on our trips to knock off more U.S. National Parks this last year. One of those surprises (as we sometimes refer to them as) was a place we came across that was right on our way to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. While it was not a very pretty day and in fact was just a little foggy and breezy. But in spite of that, we made our little journey off of Interstate 90 and made a trek down to the city of Regent, North Dakota.

On the way to Regent off I-90 at exit 72 south for 32 miles on what is called the Enchanted Highway you will find the largest collection of the coolest looking characters you have seen in quite a while. Even though the drive to Regent is pretty much straight south, it makes it fun to look over each and ever ridge to see if you can be the first one to spot the next giant sculpture.

The one thing that I found most unique was that each of these sculptures were just huge, but they each one seemed to have their own personality. And strangest of all (at least to me) was the fact that each one seemed to have no relationship to any of the others. Other than that perhaps they could have all been made from the same old bunch of sheet metal.

In fact the Enchanted Highway features the World's Largest Metal Sculptures produced by artist Gary Greff. It is my understanding that Gary is a native of Regent, North Dakota. He was a teacher and a school principal and had never done any art work or welding prior to 1989. They say he then began dreaming of ways to bring people and businesses to the small community of Regent -- fearing the town would someday die if it relied solely on farming.

A hay bale strongman built by a farmer inspired him. He watched people pull off the road to snap photos of the oddity. He wondered how many people would stop for huge metal sculptures. He began designing, welding, and painting. The Tin Family was erected in 1991; Teddy Rides Again in 1993; Pheasants on the Prairie in 1996; Grasshoppers in the Field in 1999; Geese in Flight in 2001; and Deer Crossing in 2002. He worked on Fisherman's Dream from 2003 to 2006and it is also now erected.

I think you can see from these photos which ones are which ones just by looking at the shots, but it was nice that at each one they had a little sign that told about the sculpture. We went into the town of Regent and they were extremely nice folks living there. Although the guy working in the U.S. Post Office there did tell me, that he only had three post cards stamps and didn't know where to find any more of them because it was his first week working there. I just found that a very humorous thing to say. But it fit in with the rest of the trip down the Enchanted Highway to Regent, North Dakota.

“I have climbed several higher mountains without guide or path, and have found, as might be expected, that it takes only more time and patience commonly than to travel the smoothest highway.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Gateway Arch ~ St. Louis ~ Missouri

2010-10-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well in case you thought I was going to leave St. Louis without seeing the the Gateway Arch... you would be totally wrong, becuase that particular site was the one thing in St. Louis that I really wanted to see the most. So here goes.

Seeing the Arch from a distance and then trying to get to it was not as easy as I had first thought it would be in spite of people telling me you can't miss it. But in to tell the truth, I thought that I almost had. I say this because the street that runs right along the water front on the Mississippi River was closed because they had high winds that were blowing the water from the river right up on the street in that area so they had those closed, which made it all the more difficult, but I persisted and we final found a parking lot that was not inhibited access by the street being closed.

My first thought when we arrived at the arch and starting walking up to it, was; "boy this is a lot bigger than I thought it was!" I said that, even knowing that I could see it from miles away, but still found it to be much bigger as I stood under it.

Rising up from the west bank of the Missouri River is this 630 foot stainless steel monument designed by Eero Saarinen, and it dominates the skyline of downtown St. Louis even if some of the buildings around it seem to be taller that the structure itself.

The next kind of shock to me was that they let you in underneath the arch in a big open under ground area (which is actually called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial). Under there, is the Museum of Western Expansion which chronicles the wave of humans that swept the American frontier westward progress to the Pacific.

Yet another shock was found as we were taking a ride in a tram / elevator device that transported us to the top of the arch. In that tram compartment (which held only 4-5 people) in a small rather cramped area, I found out that these little trams (which are attached together with maybe 7-8 or so cars, they actually let you out of those cars in an area where you can walk around and even have a view the city from up there too. My surprise was that they let you out up there, but also that you have a great view from the large windows up there. You can actually walk down stairs from the top, or you can wait for one of the cars coming up to unload before they go back down.

The view was very nice and in all the thousand of pictures of the arch that I have ever seen, I never noticed those little windows in the center top of the arch on the underside of the arch. In fact one of my shots from inside the top of the arch actual shows its shadow on the ground as well as a view of the viewing windows on top from under the arch.

So really, the whole experience sort of blew me away. I took way too many pictures of the arch, the museum and especially from the top of the arch looking at St. Louis' downtown area. In fact if you look real close, you can even see the stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play baseball. They even happened to be playing a game while we were in town.

"We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend" ~ Robert Louis Stevensen

Missouri Botanical Garden ~ St. Louis, Missouri

2010-10-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

What's this... a trip to St. Louis, Missouri and NOT a blog post about the St. Louis Arch? Well as many of you know who have followed this Lazy Blogger around the world, we almost always try and visit the botanical Gardens of the larger cities that we visit. This trip to St. Louis was no exception to that ritual. The garden here in St. Louis was founded in 1859. This timing sort of explains why the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark and thus it is my first post from St. Louis, Missouri.

The Garden is a center for botanical research and science education, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis. That fact made it a walk from having to park on the neighborhood streets around there because there was not enough parking inside the garden complex itself to accommodated all of the people who were trying to see it. There is no charge for parking at the Missouri Botanical Garden. In the event that the parking lot is full, as it was for our visit, they say that visitors should use the free parking at the Metro multi-modal lots at the corner of Shaw Boulevard and Vandeventer which we could not even find, but we thought the small few block walk seemed like a small price to pay to see such a totally beautiful garden.

The Missouri Botanical Garden was founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw and was, from its inception, it was a public botanical garden and a place to study and display plants. Within the walls of these 79 acres, magnificent gardens and rare collections of botanical, horticultural, and historical materials reside with architecturally significant buildings and inspirational fountains and statuary. Today, the Garden is a National Historic Landmark, the oldest botanical garden in the United States, and a world leader in botanical research.

The grounds of the Missouri Botanical Garden feature gardens, modern and traditional, and living collections of major groups of ornamental and practical plants. Greenhouses and conservatories display plants native to lands far removed from St. Louis.
150 years after opening, local parlance still refers to “Shaw’s Garden." Shaw's gift to the city of St. Louis is a memorable today as it was in 1859.
Some of our favorite sites there were: the Climatron, the Children's Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Bakewell Ottoman Garden and the Victorian District. In fact the Doris Waters Harris Lichtenstein Victorian District is home to the Kresko Family Victorian Garden, the Kaeser Maze, and the Piper Observatory.

This 19th century inspired garden of attractions is home to Tower Grove House, garden founder Henry Shaw’s 1849 residence.
Structures and landscaping have been added to the area to recreate features built by Shaw. This includes the Mausoleum Garden, which is Henry Shaw’s final resting place.

So who exactly was this guy Henry Shaw? According to what I could find out... at age 39, Henry Shaw retired from his successful hardware business and spent time both at his city townhouse and at Tower Grove House, built in 1849. In retirement Shaw focused his attention, skills and resources on real estate, buying and renting many city and rural properties. He also traveled to Europe on three trips that totaled about a decade. Shortly after returning from his last trip in 1851, Shaw began to investigate gardening and spent his remaining years at Tower Grove House developing one of the world’s top botanical gardens on this site.

As one of their brochures stated... The Missouri Botanical Garden's mission is "to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life." Today, 151 years after opening, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark; and a center for science, conservation, education and horticultural display. And from my point of view, it looked as though they did a very good job of living up to their mission statement to both Mrs. LZ and I. I hope you enjoy the shots and if you ever happen to make it to St. Louis, I'd make sure that this was one of your stops while in the city.

"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden." ~ Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666

William J. Clinton Presidential Library ~ Little Rock ~ Arkansas

2010-09-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

Even though you may think that I would never be one who would make a visit to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock Arkansas, you would not only be wrong, but you may even be surprised to find out that I actually enjoyed that visit there (at least much more than I did the drama of his presidency.

The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum is located within the Clinton Presidential Center and Park. In what looked to me as though it was built in a previously run down and old part of the town of Little Rock, but even having said that, it was now a very nice area and a beautiful facility. The Center also includes the Clinton Foundation (Little Rock office) and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

The archival and museum holdings at the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum are the largest within the Presidential Library system. Included in these collections are approximately 76.8 million pages of paper documents, 1.85 million photographs and over 84,600 museum artifacts. Official records, as well as donated materials, will be made available to researchers.

In addition to the archival collection and research facilities, the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum features exhibits, special events, and educational programs. Many of which we also spent time viewing. The museum includes replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. These were actually very interesting. They also had permanent exhibits utilize documents, photographs, videos and interactive stations. A time-line and alcoves highlight domestic and foreign policy, as well as life in the White House.

Beginning a tradition that continues to this day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt raised private funds and built a library, which he gave to the U.S. government for operation through the National Archives. In 1955, this process became law when the U.S. Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act. But I did in fact wonder about how much Saudi money went into helping build this particular library.

As one of the library's statements explained; "The American Presidency is part of a unique heritage that is yours to explore through archives, museums, and special programs, Presidential Libraries preserve the documents and artifacts of our Presidents and provide insight into the times in which these Presidents lived and served the nation."

This place even had a dining room that was on that particular day that we visited, being set up for some Mexican celebration event. So the bottom-line is... that I really did enjoy the library and thought it was very well done. Many people that we told about our visit here to Little Rock wondered if they had the infamous "Blue Dress" on display there. I am sure that for most, that was just a common joke by people, but the truth is that there was actually a section of the library that did deal with that situation through the impeachment of the President by the House of Representatives. In fact I have included a shot of that particular area in this blog post.

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word is means. If is means is, and never has been, that's one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement." ~ Bill Clinton (In the 1998 grand jury testimony on Monica Lewinsky affair.)

2010-08-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

In order to celebrate the beginning of Elvis Presley Week, I have to start it off with photos I took on our trip to Elvis' Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee this summer.

When we first rolled into the city of Memphis, we started to look for Graceland and as we got closer and closer we saw more and more Elvis themed stores and tourist items on our trail. This reminded me of getting to places in Anaheim, CA that are close to Disneyland. It seems as though everyone wants to take advantage of whatever the attraction might be in order to make a buck or two in the process. Not that I am against capitalism, far from it, but i do think it sort of detracts from the experience somewhat.

But in spite of that small detail we kept going on until we got to where we thought Graceland was and paid to park and paid for the whole "All Inclusive" Package that got us into Graceland and all of its associated side attractions like Elvis' jets (with the Lisa Marie) as its biggest drawing card.

Included in our package were two reservations for the Graceland VIP Entourage Tour, which included an audio-guided tour of Graceland Mansion and grounds, and a self-guided tour of Elvis's two custom jet airplanes, Elvis's Automobile Museum, Private Presley and the Sincerely Elvis Museum. This made for a very nice day for anyone who was (and is) an Elvis fan.

The first thing we did was jump on a tram which actually just drove us across the street (Elvis Presley Blvd.) where the actual Mansion stands. This was the first surprise of the trip because we assumed we were already on the grounds of the mansion, but in reality... it was just across the street but behind large gates and a big fence. As we drove up to the actual mansion it seemed smaller than I had expected and more like a house of a wealthy friend which actually made it a little more endearing to me than a "real" Mansion like the Biltmore Mansion or even the Hearst Castle.

Our first act was to put on CD players that had earphones so that you can go at your own pace and listen to the information provided on the recorder. Each are in the house had a sign to tell you which numbers to push to hear about that particular room or area of the house. This was kind of neat in some ways, but in others it was a kind of a pain. But the good thing was that you could go at your own pace or listen to it over again it there was something you wanted to hear again. The downside was that you couldn't really ask questions if you had them.

Our first stop was in the entry and on the left was the formal dining room and then on the right was the living room. Both of these rooms were beautiful, but it was obvious that this decor was at least 30 years out of date, but it was also obvious that in its day, it must have been state of the art and the best decorating of its day.

The other rooms were just bedrooms except for their entertainment room which had three TV's on it because according to the story, Elvis saw that President Nixon had three TV's in his office in order to watch the news on ABC, CBS and NBC all at the same time. I am sure that for its day, that was also very high tech.

The one area I found interesting was the old gym which had a racquetball court in it. This area had been turned into sort on a museum to show off a lot of Elvis' awards including his Gold and Platinum Albums.

The outside of the house also had some interesting buildings including one that used to be a smoke house and was turned into a shooting range for Elvis and his friends.

The pool area was fairly normal with a kidney shaped pool like one of 10,000,000 just like in the country, but at the top of the pool there was a little burial area there which included Elvis, his mother (Gladys), father (Vernon) and Elvis' paternal grandmother (Minnie May). There was also a maker for the memory of Elvis' twin brother (Jesse Garon) who died on the day Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. While this was a beautiful area, I can't ever seeing myself wanting to swim in that pool.

We were there this summer so we were part of the 75th Anniversary of Elvis' birthday and all in all, for any true Elvis fan, Graceland is a must stop for anyone who makes their way close to Memphis.

“Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it.” ~ Elvis Presley

Anthony Chapel & Clarillon ~ Hot Springs ~ Arkansas

2010-06-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

Many of you may have never heard of this chapel before, but several of our friends (who have never even been to Hot Springs) actually told us that we just had to go there and check this place out for them... so we did.

Usually those are the kind of challenges that LZ is not to thrilled about doing (especially if) I have never even heard of it before, but in spite of that, I am sure glad that while we were on my National Park "Bucket List" quest in Hot Springs, that we took a couple of days to check out some other things before getting back on the road again.

As you can see from the shots that I have offered here, it was well worth the time we invested to check this place out. We just really thought the place was beautiful and also in a very peaceful setting virtually hidden back in this forested area.

We found out that the Anthony Chapel architects Maurice Jennings and David McKee are partners in the Fayetteville, AR firm founded by E. Fay Jones, an internationally recognized architect who once studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. Jones, who died in August 2004, also had created the inspirational Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, AR, which was selected by members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as the best American building constructed since 1980.

In 1990, Jones received from Britain's Prince Charles the prestigious AIA Gold Medal award for his design. Jennings was Fay Jones' partner for over 25 years and was involved with many of his designs, including Thorncrown Chapel. In recent years, chapels designed by Jennings + McKee can be found in Ann Arbor, MI and Sewanee, TN at the University of the South; however, both architects agree that neither of these structures compare to the Anthony Chapel. According to Jennings, "it is our finest creation to date." We can't tell you how excited we are to see the "new" Chapel section on the web site.

As an aside, retrospectively Mrs. LZ and I had actually had in opportunity to visit the Chapel in Eureka Springs, AR a few years ago when we were on a vacation and staying in Branson, MO.

As for more on the history of the place, Anthony Chapel was officially dedicated in October of 2006. The elegant wood, glass and stone structure, designed by the Jennings + McKee firm, features a soaring 57' ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows that provides beautiful views of Lake Hamilton and the surrounding wooded landscape.

In addition to the chapel, other buildings included in the complex are the Millsap Bride's Hall and the Evans Grooms Quarters. The bridal hall is designed to serve not only as a dressing room for the bridal party but also as a site for receptions and small corporate meetings. The building contains a catering kitchen and comfortable great room area, complete with stone fireplace.

But as if all of this was not enough, there is also this Anthony Carillon which was designed by the nationally acclaimed architectural firm, Jennings + McKee of Fayetteville, Ark., the Anthony Carillon is supported by pillars of steel weighing 2,200 pounds each. The intricate cross-bracing of the columns is made of eight 950-pound members and eight 1,500-pound members. The spacing of the columns allows for activities within and around the open carillon.

According to the architects’ description of the tower, it echoes the form of the obelisks adjacent to some European churches. As with bell towers in traditional churches, the Anthony Carillon will communicate events held at the chapel complex to a wider audience. A metal lantern and speaker box are suspended from the center of the copper columns and designed to chime and play music.

The Anthony Carillon structure itself is a 55-foot-tall, square carillon comprising 16 copper-clad columns, is a gift to the Gardens from the family of the late Garland and Flora Autrey Anthony.

The Gardens’ marketing director, Marla Crider, said visitors won’t have to wait for a special event to hear the bells or listen to music. There is a schedule of carillon performances at specific times of the day during regular operating hours but we heard them on the hour while we were there. So if you are ever in this part of Arkansas and while you are in Hot Springs area specically this stop gets both the Mr. & Mrs. LZ seal of approval.

"I've just come back from Mississippi and over there when you talk about the West Bank they think you mean Arkansas." ~ Patrick Buchanan

Hot Springs National Park ~ Hot Springs ~ Arkansas

2010-05-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Water! That’s what attracts most people to Hot Springs National Park, but oh no... my "LZ Bucket List" has priority over the water on my National Park quest and trips priority. But that really doesn't change the fact that people have used these hot springs for more than two hundred years to treat illnesses and to relax. Both rich and poor came for the baths, and a town built up around the Hot Springs Reservation to accommodate them. Together nicknamed "The American Spa,” Hot Springs National Park today surrounds the north end of the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Mrs. LZ nor I had ever knew a thing about this National Park and actually found it one of the most individually unique National Parks that we have visited so far. This was not because of its beauty, but rather it was just because is was just so darn unique.

We we drove into the City of Hot Springs, Arkansas is when we realized that the park itself has its headquarters in Downtown Hot Springs. It was almost as if the U. S. Government just came into town one day and said; "We are going to take all of the bath houses on this side of the street and turn it into a National Park.

The first thing we did after our arrival was to find the highest point in the park and then found out that there was actually a viewing tower on the top of it that was an additionally about four more stories higher than the top of the mountain. From the top of this tower, you could see for miles and miles in a 360° in every direction.

Other than the hills around there and the interstate, one of the most visible objects you could see from up there was a very large and old hotel. Later that same day, we also visited that hotel and were able to see it beautiful interior. It really most have been something in its day, but a had many references to it's hay-day in the 1930's-1940's era. It even had an old 1930's vintage Cadillac in its lobby. I guess that "Hot Springs" was a big destination for some organized crime figures from the 20's, 30's and 40's.

Hot Springs National Park has a rich history. The park has prehistoric American Indian novaculite quarries. It was the destination of the Dunbar-Hunter Expedition sent by President Jefferson in 1804. A bustling town grew up around the hot springs to provide services for health seekers. Central to the American Spa was the bathing industry. The Public Health Service Clinic that was in conjunction with the Government Free Bathhouse was one of the first facilities in the United States to use penicillin.

Another cool thing about this place is that it now has its own U.S. Minted quarter made after it. I didn't even realize it until AFTER I was given one of these quarters in change while we were in Arkansas.

While we were there we also managed to find an old bank that had been converted into a wood burning stove pizza parlor that was called "Angel's". When we are on the road, we often consult our AA Guide Books for ideas of places that wee want to eat or things that we want to see while we are there. That is where we got the name of Angels from as well as the Arlington Hotel (which we saw for the top of the tower).

There was a little park are right around there that had several plaques that were dedicated to several Arkansas people of note who had been raised in Arkansas. We did know of several of them, but probably the most notable would be President Bill Clinton, who was born in Hope, AR raised in Hot Springs and then after becoming Governor of Arkansas moved to Little Rock, AR until being elected President. There were many things around Hot Springs that made reference to President Clinton who they are obviously prode to call one of their native sons. But more on that in some other blog post.

The first bathhouses were crude structures of canvas and lumber, little more than tents perched over individual springs or reservoirs carved out of the rock. Later businessmen built wooden structures, but they frequently burned, collapsed because of shoddy construction, or rotted due to continued exposure to water and steam. Hot Springs Creek, which ran right through the middle of all this activity, drained its own watershed and collected the runoff of the springs. Generally it was an eyesore-dangerous at times of high water, and mere collections of stagnant pools at dry times.

In 1884 the federal government put the creek into a channel, roofed over it over, and laid a road down above it. Much of it runs under Central Avenue and Bathhouse Row today. This allowed room for sidewalks and landscaping in front of the bathhouses, creating the Bathhouse Row you see today.

The water that comes from the Hot Springs is a constant 140 degrees Fahrenheit which is too hot for a bath, but they cool it down a bit before actually using it in the bath houses. (Many of which are still in operation today). But the one we toured was just a non working one that showed what they looked like in the hay-day.

Even though this park was very different to most of the ones we have explored before, it was still an experience we will long remember and re-live in my photos.

"Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening." ~ Bill Clinton

Leadville ~ Colorado

2010-04-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

It is hard for me to imagine us ever getting to the Colorado Rockies within 100 miles of Leadville and not stopping on our visit to make it up to Leadville. In fact this time while there we decided that we were going to go in and visit the Colorado Museum of Mining while we were in town.

This visit was not only nice, but it was also pretty informative about something I have never given much thought to. That being where ore comes from and just how many products may have found their way out of the mines in this area over the 150 plus years they have been around this part of the Rocky Mountains.

The Colorado Museum of Mining was laid out quite well and it sort of followed they history and technology of mining right up to and including the 21 century. The building itself was very unique and had a lot of art in its structure and exterior.

Mrs. LZ always enjoys browsing in the gift shops where ever we happen to be but the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum is also home to not only an excellent gift shop but also to the Mother Lode Art Gallery. The Hall of Fame & Museum Gift Shop is NOT a souvenir shop, but a wonderful, and changing collection of fine gifts with a historic mountain mining town theme to it.

As the Persimmon Hill National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center put it “Nowhere is the mining industry, past and present, better displayed than at the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum in Leadville, Colorado.”

As you old time blog followers may remember from my previous post about our trips to Leadville, Leadville is one of the most historic towns in all of Colorado. You may even want to plan several days to see all the museums, take the walking tour, the Mineral Belt Trail and of course enjoy the exquisite beauty of the surrounding mountains and lakes. In fact I have shown the Leadville Lake in my top shot on this post too.

Situated at an elevation of 10,152 feet (3094 m). So... the photo of the sign that I show here may have a little bragging in it, but Leadville is still the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States. As a former silver mining camp that lies near the headwaters of the Arkansas River in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the city includes the Leadville Historic District, which preserves many historic structures and sites from Leadville's dynamic mining era.

In the late 1800s, Leadville was the second most populous city in Colorado, after Denver. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population has shrunk to only 2,688 in 2005, but it looked as thought there could have been at least that many people in town just the day that we were there.

They state that famous Younger Gang lived here; Doc Holliday had his final shoot-out here; Bat Masterson and the Earps were here. And of course perhaps the most famous rags-to-riches- and-back-to-rags story began here with Horace and Baby Doe Tabor. As colorful as Colorado’s early days were, Leadville typifies it more than any other boom town in the state. Leadville’s story starts in 1859-1860 when the Slater Party made the $8 million gold discovery up the California Gulch.

As you can see from the shots I have taken and added to my post here, the architecture in Leadville is really very cool! And reminded me of a movie set from at 1800's era western film project. We had a lot of fun looking around at the old shops and looking at all of the antiques they had in them. This town is definitely worth a stop by even if you are not an an antique hunter and it is not necessarily your destination for a trip.

"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." ~ Ronald Reagan

U.S. Air Force Academy ~ Colorado Springs ~ CO

2010-02-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

This place (like most places run by the military was a fantastic place to visit. It was very well run and at every corner of this place there was a unmistakable sense of order and discipline. But then when you look at the photos, you can see for yourself that everything seems to be in its very precise and ordered position. When we arrived at the front gate the guard there told us in very precise terms how to proceed to the visitor center.

When we got to the visitors center we were assigned to a group that then formed up around our guide who then started our guided tour of the campus. She was very knowledgeable of the campus, but as we walked along a path from the visitor center, she would point things out and then she told us about the history of the academy. Things like the fact that the idea of an Air Force academy became a reality on April 1, 1954, when then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill establishing the U.S. Air Force Academy. And that many of America's pioneer Airmen advocated the creation of an academy to prepare officers especially for the air service. One of them, Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, tried in vain to persuade the government, then private interests, to establish such a school.

In 1948, the Air Force appointed a board of leading civilian and military educators to plan the curriculum for an Air Force academy. The idea made little progress outside the Air Force until 1949, when Secretary of Defense James Forrestal appointed a board of military and civilian educators. This board, headed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, and Robert L. Stearns, president of the University of Colorado, was tasked to recommend a general system of education for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In 1950, this board found the needs of the Air Force could not be met by a desirable expansion of the older service academies. The board recommended that an Air Force academy be established without delay and proposed that, in peacetime, not less than 40 percent of the regular officers taken into each service should be academy graduates.

Congress authorized creation of the Air Force Academy in 1954. Harold E. Talbott, then secretary of the Air Force, appointed a commission to assist him in selecting the permanent site. After traveling 21,000 miles and considering 580 proposed sites in 45 states, the commission recommended three locations. From those, Secretary Talbott selected the site near Colorado Springs. The state of Colorado contributed $1 million toward the purchase of the property.

On July 11, 1955, the same year construction began, the first class of 306 men were sworn in at a temporary site at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. Lt. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon, a key figure in the development of the Academy since 1949, was recalled from retirement to become the first superintendent.

Two years later, Maj. Gen. Briggs took over as the Academy's second superintendent. During his tour, on Aug. 29, 1958, the wing of 1,145 cadets moved from Denver to its present site. Less than a year later, the Academy received accreditation. On March 3, 1964, the authorized strength of the Cadet Wing was increased to 4,417 and later reduced to its present number of 4,000.

Perhaps the most controversial event in academy history was the admission of women. President Gerald R. Ford signed legislation Oct. 7, 1975, permitting women to enter the nation's military academies. Women entered the Air Force Academy for the first time on June 28, 1976. The first class with women graduated in May 1980.

As with any other institution, the Air Force Academy has suffered growing pains. But in its relatively short period of existence, the school has excelled in its quest for excellence to a degree that similar organizations achieved only after much longer periods.

The Academy has provided the Air Force with a corps of officers dedicated to upholding the high standards of the United States. The Air Force has provided a proving ground for these officers and a source for the dedicated staff members who have come to the academy to educate and train these future leaders. Throughout its history, one theme has been constant and persistent - a Commitment to Excellence. It is with that theme that the Air Force Academy looks forward to the future.

I guess there were a couple of things that sort of stuck with us from this visit was that as we continued on our academy tour over to the Chapel, she pointed of that the chapel was not only a protestant chapel, but it is also has services (and defined areas inside of it) for other religions; like catholics, Jews and Buddhists. I have included shots I took in each one of those chapel areas inside the large chapel. Another point that was very interesting to Mrs. LZ and I was that fact that she pointed out that it was above every other building on the campus as homage to God.

Another thing that stood out was the fact that everyone on the campus has a structure in which the students (cadets) go everywhere in formation. In fact if you notice there is one group there that is holding something in their hands as they are marching. As we found out from our guide, they were actual holding their dirty laundry on their way to the laundry facilities to clean them. Talk about structure! At any rate, we were very impressed with this facility and admired the young men and women on this campus who have given their lives to help protect our country in this manner.I personally salute each and every one of you.

"... I am an American Airman;
Wingman, leader, warrior.
I will never leave an airman behind,
I will never falter,
And I will not fail."

~ Taken from the last part of the "Airman's Creed"

Garden of the Gods ~ Manitou Springs, CO

2010-01-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

When we first arrived at the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center, we were really surprised to see people climbing all over all of the beautiful red rock formations without even having paid to get into the park. Then after we got to the entrance to the park and the gift shop, we found out that it is free according to the wishes of Charles Elliott Perkins, whose children donated the land to the city of Colorado Springs in 1909.

Elliott thought that this area should be shared with everyone without even having to pay for the privilege of visiting this beautiful place. The actual name of the park dates back to August 1859 when two surveyors who were helping to set up nearby Colorado City happened to be exploring the nearby areas. Upon discovering the site, one of the surveyors, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden." His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." Over the years since then, the beer garden never materialized, but apparently the name stuck forever.

The park contains many recreational opportunities such as numerous trails for hiking, walking, mountain biking and even horseback riding. One of the most popular trails, (named Perkins trail), has been paved in an effort to combat the erosion of the park's central garden caused by its continuing and numerous visitors. Visitors receive frequent reminders to watch out for rattlesnakes in the hot days of summer and trust me, we did!

This is a very popular bicycle-riding area because of the scenic views, safe one-way recently-paved roads, and healthy clean air. But because of the unusual and steep rock formations in the park, it is an attractive goal for rock climbers too.

Rock climbing is permitted, with an annual permit obtained at the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. The only requirements are reading the rules, proper equipment, climbing with a "buddy", and always staying on established climbing routes. Due to the often unstable conditions of the sandstone (particularly after much precipitation) several fatalities have occurred over the years. Which by the way, helped me to not go too high up on these formations and still gave Mrs. LZ a chance to catch me making a fool out of myself yet again. And... in fact there was one place that seemed easier to climb up to, than it did to climb down from. This seemed to cause both me and Mrs. LZ a little angst, but I eventually made it back down.

Some of the many Geological formations that you can find here are; a row of hogbacks. The "Kissing Camels" formation is the nearest hogback on the right. The "llama's heads" are above the hole in the rock through which sky can be seen. I’ll let you try and figure out which ones are which, (from the pictures I’ll post here). But sometimes, if you look at them from a different angle, they look like something different than perhaps their name would imply.

These outstanding geologic features of the park are the ancient sedimentary beds of red, blue, purple, and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Pikes Peak massif. Evidence of past ages; ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, alluvial fans, sandy beaches and great sand dune fields can be read in the rocks. A spectacular shear fault can be observed where the Tower of Babel (Lyons Sandstone) contacts the Fountain Formation. As just a little aside, the name Colorado is said to have come from the color of the sandstone. There are many fossils to be seen: marine forms, plant fossils, and some dinosaur fossils.

The hogbacks, so named because they resemble the backs and spines of a pig, are ridges of sandstone whose layers are tilted. Instead of lying horizontally, some layers are even vertically oriented. Each hogback can range up to several hundred feet long, and the tallest (called North Gateway Rock) rises to a height of 320 feet (98 m) tall. A notable rock feature on this hogback, the Kissing Camels, appears to be two very large camels sitting face to face with their lips touching.

There is an outstanding view of Garden of the Gods from the other Visitor's Center (the newer one) called Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center and it is located near the park entrance and offers free nature presentations daily. Natural history exhibits include minerals, geology, plants and local wildlife, as well as Native American culture. Programs include nature hikes, a Junior Ranger program, narrated bus tours, movies and special programs. Proceeds from the center support the Garden of the Gods Park. The center provides useful information for the experienced hiker as well as the armchair tourist.

Near the other entrance to the park is the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, a recreation of rustic ranch of the late 1800s. The walking tour features a restored ranch house, demonstrations of black-smithing and facts about Native American activity in the area, including a small recreation of a Native American campsite. Rock Ledge Ranch is not part of the park, and it actually charges an admission fee.

Another interesting point is that in 2006 a dinosaur species discovered there, was named after the park: Theiophytalia Kerri. But I failed to make her acquaintance. But in spite of that fact, needless to say, we really enjoyed this park and its location right on the edge of the Colorado Rockies.

“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Royal Gorge ~ Colorado

2009-12-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

Near Canon City, Colorado is a place called the Royal Gorge. It is cut 1,053 feet deep by the Arkansas River; it is only a quarter-mile wide. Although not lacking for superlatives, the folks at Royal Gorge say you can cross it on the world's highest suspension bridge, view the Royal Gorge from the world's longest single-span aerial tram or from the steepest incline railway.

A plethora of related (and unrelated) amusements are arrayed around the Royal Gorge Bridge. You can ride a carousel or scale-model train, visit the petting zoo, learn how to load and shoot a flintlock rifle at the Mountain Man Encampment, or view Colorado animals at the Wildlife Park.

Mrs. LZ and I both did do almost everything else in the park though. First after paying the admission to this park (which without it) gives you scarcely even a view of the Royal Gorge Bridge, you are allowed to go on just about everything in the park. So the first thing we attacked was the Ariel tram that goes across the gorge to the other side. As you can see it is very much like a tram large gondola at a ski slope, but instead of going up, it just went across the gorge.

After we got over to the other side, we saw the Skycoaster. For an extra fee, they'll send you soaring suspended in a harness 1,200 feet above Royal Gorge and the Arkansas River on this Royal Rush Skycoaster. And... even though I thought about doing this little adventure for a very short time, before having viewed some young people actually doing this Skycoaster; both common sense and a terrified Mrs. LZ made me re-think that momentary lapse of judgment.

This is the highest suspension bridge in the world. You might say; “Enough said”; except that it gets even better... with this ride ("Sky Coaster") they call the scariest in the world as you swing over the Royal Gorge! This thing (as soon as she saw it) Mrs. LZ, said; “You are NOT going on that thing are you?” But,I think that might have been more of a direction than an actual question to me though.

But at any rate, I decided NOT to try it out. But it did remind me of the time we were in Acapulco, Mexico and Mrs. LZ who was tired of playing and laying in the sun, decided that she was going to go up to our hotel room and get a shower and into some non-beach wear clothes, only to then see this idiot go by the hotel parasailing, who looked exactly like me. Go figure! But I think Mrs. LZ had that memory in mind and decided not to let me out of her sight while we were on the side of the Gorge that had the infamous “Sky Coaster” on it.

While on that side of the Gorge, we got to watch a shootout in the Old West town over there. It was sort of fun and I guess they have actually shot some western movies in that area too. It was kind of like being on a Hollywood movie set for a circa 1960’s western movie, except that the actors were no Clint Eastwood’s, even though they could have been called "The Good, Bad and the Ugly”. They pulled a couple of attractive ladies out of the audience to participate in this quasi remake of "High Noon." But I didn’t really hear anyone yelling out “Oscar” or “Writer” after the show’s conclusion. But at least there was some polite applause at its conclusion.

After spending as much time as we wanted to on that side of the gorge, we decided to walk back over the bridge where we found the line for the world's steepest Incline Railway. This in fact looked like a multi-leveled screened in angled elevator. In fact I think it was made by Otis. But it was still a lot better than trying to scale down (or especially climbing up) the cliffs of the gorge. That was actually the only time we had to really queue in any lines for longer than just a few minutes for the whole time we were in the park.

It was actually a lot of fun once we got down in the gorge and to be able to see the white water rafters “close up” cruising down their river trip. It was also nice to see the bridge from the bottom side. It gave you a whole new perspective of how far it actually was from the bottom of the gorge all the way up to the area where the bridge crossed the gorge. The only thing that would have made it even more fun would have been if the train would have been going through the gorge at the same time we were down there.

This is another one of those places that is not too close to a big city, but Canon City, Colorado is not too far from the bridge and the city (of Canon City) had most things you would want to have if you were on the road traveling here. But as you can see from the pictures, the views were just spectacular. (As always, you can double click on any photo I’ve posted anywhere on these posts and look at a larger view of it.)

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Voyageurs National Park ~ Minnesota

2009-11-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Moving yet further north on our fall foliage trip to Minnesota we found ourselves almost into Canada. In fact, we brought our Passports with us just in case we decided to cross the U.S. / Canadian border as we passed through International Falls, MN. But this particular Rainy Lake Visitor Center was up at the Northwest end of the park and was actually the only one (of the three) that was open at this time of the year and I wanted to make sure that I got my “National Parks Passport” stamped and you can only do that at a parks visitor center. But we did manage to visit the two other visitor centers (Kabetogama Lake and Ash River) in our travels through the park.

Before visiting this National Park, I had no idea what a voyageur was let alone the reason for the park’s status as a national park. While we were in the Rainy Lake Visitor Center the Park Ranger there explained to us that for over one hundred years, French-Canadian “voyageurs” left Montreal for the adventures of the fur trade. Traders and trappers ventured into the Ojibwe Indian territory to trade with them. The traders, trappers and Ojibwe Indians traveled these waters in birch bark canoes. The voyageurs carried tons of European-made trade goods in their canoes and bartered them for furs trapped by the Ojibwe Indians.

The voyageurs canoed the waters in a customary route that became the border between the U.S. and Canada. A portion of that historic route is commemorated in Voyageurs National Park. And as we looked at all the birch trees in the park, we could not help but think of how much work that musts have been to build those canoes, but also the 12 hour days they had to endure to get there goods to market.

Although the first proposal to designate the area as a national park occurred in 1891, it wasn't until 1975 that Voyageurs National Park was established after a lengthy legislative battle that began in 1962. Many people were involved in the movement to establish Voyageurs National Park, including Ernest Oberholtzer, one of the founding members of the Wilderness Society in 1935.

Rich in the history of the early, exciting exploration of our great country, Voyageurs will serve as a living legacy linking generation to generation and century to century.” On April 8, 1975, Voyageurs National Park was established “to preserve for the inspiration and enjoyment of future generations, the outstanding scenery, geological conditions, and waterway system which constituted part of the historic route of the Voyageurs who contributed significantly to the opening of the Northwestern United States.”

The peninsula is Voyageurs’ largest landmass and can be reached by water in summer or over the ice in winter. Rainy Lake is 60 miles long and 227,604 acres in size; it has 929 miles of shoreline. The park includes 36,418 acres of Rainy Lake. Within the park Rainy Lake has a maximum width of 12 miles, maximum depth of 161 feet, an average depth of 35feet, and 200 islands. Kabetogama Lake is 15 miles long and 25,760 acres in size. It has 78 miles of shoreline, a maximum width of 4 miles, a maximum depth of 80 feet, and 200 islands.

Today, around 250,000 people visit the park each year. Visitors can access the park via four points along U.S. Highway 53. From Orr, County Road 23 leads to Crane Lake. County Road 129, also called the Ash River Trail, leads to Ash River. County Road 122 leads to the third entry point, Kabetogama. The fourth road providing access to the park is Minnesota Highway 11 east from International Falls to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. The park also has visitor centers at Kabetogama and at Ash River. Crane Lake has a Ranger Station. Visitor destinations include the historic Kettle Falls Hotel built in 1910, and Ellsworth Rock Gardens begun in 1944, as well as many other historic sites.

Visitors to Voyageurs National Park have miles of waterways to explore, hundreds of islands to enjoy, dozens of fish to catch, and over 200 boat in campsites to call home on a quiet evening. Nature abounds here. Because of the combination of forest, bog and lake environments, Voyageurs has a wealth of habitats that support a rich diversity of life.

Park naturalist programs allow visitors to safely explore the park. You can even become a modern- day voyageur on a North Canoe adventure. Or you can take a cruise with a naturalist to the Little American Gold Mine, Kettle Falls Hotel and Dam, or the Ellsworth Rock Gardens. In fact our Park Ranger is one of those boat guides during the summers up there. He happened to have spent his whole life up there as a fisherman prior to becoming a Park Ranger.

The park is located 300 miles north of Minneapolis-St. Paul and stretching across 55 miles of the border country between Minnesota and Ontario, Voyageurs National Park is Minnesota’s only national park. The Park is one of the nation’s wildest, most remote and unique national parks, and is widely loved for its beauty and recreational opportunities.

Adventures really abound in the Park. One can explore the four major lakes dotted with hundreds of isolated islands, or escape into the wild heart of the park, the Kabetogama Peninsula, which is ringed by water and strewn with inland lakes, towering pines, rugged cliffs, and swamps. But, the summer is the prime season for boating, canoeing, camping, fishing, and hiking, and in the winter the Park is a choice destination for snowmobile vacations, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and winter camping, but if you love falls colors, I can attest that is a very time in the park.

Voyageurs Park is a boater’s park. And, as the Park Ranger told us; “Visitors must leave behind their car and explore by boat.” But (given the time of year of our visit), that was not an option for us. But in spite of that we still fully enjoyed the beauty of the park anyway (as you can see from the photos I captured) while we were there.

“The uniquely scenic and historic Voyageurs National Park, stands as a monument forever to the dedicated citizens and conservation organizations whose vision, ingenuity and courage match the splendor of this superlative wilderness area.” ~ Richard M. Nixon (January 8, 1971 on the occasion of the creation of Voyageurs, the 36th National Park)

Split Rock Lighthouse ~ North Shore Drive ~ Minnesota

2009-10-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we have just returned from a fall foliage trip up in Minnesota and we could not have been there at a prettier time of year. The drive from Duluth, Minnesota along North Shore Drive around that part of Lake Superior was to say the least, was as absolutely spectacularly colorful and adventurous trip.

As we made our way from Duluth, we came across lake shore towns like Knife River, Larsmont, and Two rivers. While at Two Rivers we found another light house was appropriately called the Two Harbors Lighthouse. Even though it was a nice light house, it in no way was as exciting or picturesque as was the Split Rock Lighthouse, so we only took a few pictures of the Two Harbors Lighthouse and preceded back on our drive through the Silver Creek Tunnel and then the Layfette Tunnel only stopping to check out Gooseberry Falls on our way.

When we got to the light house at Split Rock, we were welcomed by a very state of the art visitor center and accompanying light house tour. This included a very nice and energetic young college grad aged guy who was very excited to tell us about the history of the light house and how it was built and why.

This tour of his included the fact that the year before the lighthouse was approved and funds were allocated for it, that there were 28 shipwrecks in that area. He also pointed out that because the water was so deep around the cliffs that often times ships’ captains in stormy or foggy weather often thought that they were in deep water and as such, were further from the coastline that they were in reality and would crash their ships loaded usually with iron ore and sank along that area of the North Shore of Lake Superior. He also made one point that I found amazing was the fact that in the 99 years since the light house was built, there has not been even one shipwreck after the light house began its operation in 1909.

Just when we thought the tour could not get better, he passed us off to a lady dressed in period clothing who was in one of the three identical light house tenders quarters. The lady explained how they needed three light house keepers, because the light house had to tend to the light house 24 by 7 for 365 days a year. After she explained how the families of the light house tenders lived on a day to day basis, she handed us a plate of homemade cookies that just came out of the hundred year old over and they were delicious.

Next on our tour was a guy also in period clothing who took us on a tour of the actual lighthouse itself and explained about the cost of the light itself which was made in France at a cost of $70,000 which in today’s dollars would be about one million dollars. His demonstration and actual winding up of the weight that drove the light mechanisms was nothing less than amazing. I was fascinated with its mechanical genius that was a hundred years old. He explained that Shipwrecks from a mighty 1905 November gale prompted this rugged landmark's construction.

Completed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1910, Split Rock Light Station was soon one of Minnesota's best known landmarks. Restored to its 1920s appearance, the lighthouse offers a glimpse of lighthouse life in this remote and spectacular setting.

In the early years of the 20th century, iron ore shipments on Lake Superior doubled and redoubled. United States Steel's bulk ore carriers became "the greatest exclusive freight-carrying fleet sailing under one ownership in the world," so the demand for a new lighthouse on the lake's inhospitable North Shore was hardly surprising.

A single storm on Nov. 28, 1905, damaged 29 ships, fully one third of which were the uninsured property of the steel company fleet. Two of these carriers foundered on this rocky coastline, which some called "the most dangerous piece of water in the world." A delegation led by the steamship company president descended upon Washington, D.C., and in early 1907, Congress appropriated $75,000 for a lighthouse and fog signal in the vicinity of Split Rock.

The guide told us that the light house light alone would now cost over a million dollars to replace, it even has the original lens in the light.

The station closed in 1969 when modern navigational equipment made it obsolete. The State of Minnesota obtained the scenic landmark in 1971. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources operates Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, a 2,200-acre state park that offers hiking, picnicking and tent camping to visitors.

In 1976, administrative responsibility for the 25-acre Split Rock Lighthouse Historic Site was given to the Minnesota Historical Society. The Society continues the dual goals of preservation and interpretation of Split Rock Light Station for the generations to come.

The U. S. Lighthouse Service completed the 7.6-acre facility in 1910 and operated it until 1939, when the U.S. Coast Guard took command. By that time, Split Rock's picturesque setting near the North Shore highway, built in 1924, “had made it probably the most visited lighthouse in the United States."

Needless to say it was a wonderful trip and a wonderful tour of the lighthouse. As you can tell from a couple of the shots, we even got a little snow to accent the beautifully colored trees on our return trip. I also threw in a couple of the other lighthouse we passed at Two Harbors and one of the tunnels. As with all the shots I post, you can double click on them for a bigger view!

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining - they just shine.” ~ Dwight L. Moody

Canyonlands National Park ~ Utah

2009-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

As we still find ourselves moving backwards in our adventure, the next step is also another National Park to cross off of my bucket list. Additionally, it was also one that I knew almost nothing about, but at first glance, it looked very much like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon to me. Which, if I really think about it… could be the reason that it has the name that it does too?

The view from Green River Overlook was one that I really enjoyed, and it really was reminiscent of the parts of the Grand Canyon National Park only not so overwhelming in its depth. I was surprised that the river that we happened to be looking at was the Green River and not the Colorado River.

I was however relieved to find out that both the Colorado and Green rivers wind through the heart of Canyonlands. They both cut through layered sandstone to form two deep canyons. Both rivers are calm upstream of the Confluence, ideal for canoes, kayaks and other shallow water craft. Below the Confluence, the combined flow of both rivers spills down Cataract Canyon with remarkable speed and power, creating a world-class stretch of white water.

The Island in the Sky mesa rests on sheer sandstone cliffs over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. Every overlook offers a different perspective on Canyonlands’ spectacular landscape. But the Island is the easiest district to visit in a short period of time, offering many pullouts with spectacular views along the paved scenic drive, which actually prompted Mrs. LZ to ask; “are we stopping again already?”

Much of canyon country's annual precipitation falls during summer monsoons. These dramatic storms often last less than twenty minutes but can cause powerful flash floods despite their brevity.

The Needles District (which is in the southeast corner of Canyonlands) and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate the area. The district’s extensive trail system provides many opportunities for long day hikes and overnight trips. Foot trails and four-wheel-drive roads in the area lead to such features as Tower Ruin, Confluence Overlook, Elephant Hill, the Joint Trail, and Chesler Park.

The Maze is the least accessible district of Canyonlands. Due to the district’s remoteness and the difficulty of roads and trails, travel to the Maze requires more time, as well as a greater degree of self-sufficiency. Rarely do visitors spend less than three days in the Maze, and the area could easily absorb a week-long trip but we only had a half of a day there.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Moab ~ Utah

2009-09-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

No, this is not the same Moab that was an ancient nation located in the uplands of the Dead Sea, (now part of Jordan).

That area was unprotected from the east; hence its history is a chain of raids by the Bedouins. The Moabites were close kin to the Hebrews, and the language of the Moabite stone is practically the same as biblical Hebrew. The relations of Moab with Judah and Israel are continually mentioned in the Bible. As a political entity, Moab came to an end after the invasion (c.733 B.C.) of Tiglath-pileser III.

Its people were later absorbed by the Nabataeans. The Moabite religion was much like that of Canaan. Archaeological exploration in Moab has shown that settlements first occurred in the 13th cent. B.C., but what in the heck does “all of that” have to do with this post? Well actually… nothing. They just happen to have the same rather unique name.

Even though that is NOT the Moab we are discussing here in this post and although maybe even without some of the long Biblical history of the Mideast, it is however still a pretty cool place. Well, now that I think about it, the weather is not too unlike the weather that you might find in the Mideast as well especially in the summer.

When you start discussing the history this particular Moab you’d need to move past that Mid-Eastern Moab by some 1,500 years or so just for the starting point of this Moab in Utah. Because this Moab (in Utah) has a history that basically starts just prior to the construction of the railroad in 1883. Moab, Utah at that time was primarily known as a strategic place to cross the Colorado River.

A toll ferry service across the river ended when a permanent bridge was built in 1911. This particular bridge was replaced with the current bridge in 1955. The highway that uses this bridge has been renumbered multiple times and is presently numbered U.S. Route 191.

Moab gained freight railroad access in 1962, when a spur railroad line (now the Union Pacific Railroad's Cane Creek Subdivision) was built to service the Cane Creek potash mine. Moab has never had passenger rail service, although the California Zephyr has advertised service to Moab in the past via the stops at Thompson Springs (no longer a scheduled stop), Green River or Grand Junction, Colorado.

Moab currently does not have regular bus service, although charter busses and shuttle service to Salt Lake City or Grand Junction in Colorado are available most times during the year.

In 1949 the famed Western movie director John Ford was talked into using the area for the movie Wagon Master. Ford had been using the area in Monument Valley around Mexican Hat, Utah, south of Moab, since he filmed Stagecoach there 10 years earlier in 1939. A local Moab rancher went, found Ford, and persuaded him to come take a look at Moab.

There have been numerous movies filmed in the area ever since, primarily using the beauty of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park as their backdrops. Since the 1970s tourism has played an increasing role in the local economy of Moab.

In fact Mrs. LZ stayed in a place called the Moab Valley Inn which when we checked in had all sorts of pictures of the movie stars, cast ands crews of some of the movies that were made using Moab as it base of operations. I happened to notice that one of the movies was called “Road To Redemption” and after we got home we rented this movie just to see if we recognized any of the Moab locations in the movie. Many of them happened to be scenes that we actually remembered seeing while we were in and around town.

If you are perhaps wondering what other movies have been filmed in and around Moab, here’s a short list of some films: Rio Grande (1950), Warlock (1958), The Comancheros (1961), Cheyenne Autumn (1963), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1963), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1988), Thelma and Louise (1990), City Slickers II (1994), Baraka (1992), RocketMan (1997) and Mission: Impossible II (2000).

For all of you Star War junkies, you may be interested to know that the course for the pod races in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) is a computer-generated imagery montage of Moab area landmarks, including Angel Arch.

Partly due to the John Ford movies, this area has become a favorite for photographers not unlike myself, as well as rafters, hikers, and most recently mountain bikers. Moab is also an increasingly popular destination for four-wheelers as well as for BASE jumpers, who are allowed to practice their sport in certain areas around Moab.

In recent years Moab has seen a surge of second-home owners too. The relatively mild winters and enjoyable summers have attracted many to build throughout the area. Controversy has arisen over these new temporary citizens and their homes which remain unoccupied through most of the year. Many citizens in Moab are concerned that Moab may soon become like Vail or Aspen in Colorado, which I guess they don’t care for too much according to their comments. Sunset magazine's March 2009 issue listed Moab as one of the 20 best small towns in the west. Although Mrs. LZ and I really had no desire to start building a second home here, it was still a very nice place and the people their seemed genuinely friendly and hospitable.

Riding along the road not far from the city of Moab is where I happened to catch this picture of the “Hole In The Rock” sign actually written on the red rocks. I laughed when I first saw it, but then the more I though about it, the less funny it seemed to me. I quickly thought to myself something like… if that was in a National Park it would be about the worst graffiti I had ever seen, but I guess on private property it would be called advertising? And it looked as though some entrepreneur was hard at work there.

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." ~ Ancient Indian Proverb

Mesa Verde National Park ~ Southwestern Colorado

2009-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

There are probably only a few of you who know, that something that is on my own personal “Bucket List” is to visit ALL 58 of the U.S. National Parks, but having said that; this particular park was one of those that I was not terribly excited about visiting. But after having now done it, I would have to say that this park actually turned my opinion of it completely around now. It was much more interesting than I would have ever expected.

There were some really interesting things that happened while we were in the park though. One of those was the fact that I always "thought" there was just one of these cliff dwelling sites in the park, but actually there are over 20 mesa top sites and view points which may be visited on your own while in the park.

By being unoccupied for many centuries, they have been weakened by natural forces. Some were so badly damaged by looters before the area was made a national park. So they make sure that maximum protection is given to the dwellings in order to preserve them. One regulation that is strictly enforced, is that visitors may enter cliff dwellings ONLY when accompanied by a Park Ranger. However, there are over 4,000 known archeological sites in Mesa Verde National Park, 600 of which are cliff dwellings. Only a few of these sites have been excavated so far.

Archeological sites of many different types are accessible to visitors. They range from pit-houses built during the 500s to the cliff dwellings of the 1200s. So you can actually see how they progressed over that 700 year period. Of all the things there are in the park to see, the cliff dwellings are the most spectacular, but the mesa top pit-houses and pueblos are equally important. Seen in their chronological order, these sites show the architectural development of Mesa Verde.

Mrs. LZ and I actually viewed them in the wrong order (chronologically speaking) but it may have been even more impressive than doing it the other way around. And, although I did take a picture in one of the ceremonial rooms (with the ladder into it) It was really just an empty room. To think that they basically started in a hole and worked their way out and up with very rudimentary tools just seemed amazing to us.

Another point that the park rangers made was that area was inhabited for about 800 years by agricultural people who began to drift into the area shortly after the beginning of the Christian Era. The National Parks rangers call the first farming people in the Mesa Verde area the Basketmakers (A.D.1-400), because weaving excellent baskets was their outstanding craft. At this early date, the people did not make pottery, build houses, or use the bow and arrow. No sites dating from the early Basketmakers have been found within the boundaries of Mesa Verde National Park. Then around the year A.D. 400, the people began to make pottery and build roofed dwellings.

Around the year A.D. 750, they began to use the bow and arrow. Although the people were still the same, the culture was changing. Archeologists call these people the Modified Basket-makers (A.D. 400-750). The pit-houses were built in alcoves and on the mesa tops. Scores of pit-house villages have been found on the mesas, and two pit-houses have been reconstructed at Mesa Verde.

Starting about A.D. 750, the people grouped their houses together to form compact villages. These have been given the name of "pueblo", a Spanish term meaning village. The name, Developmental Pueblo (A.D. 750-1000), simply indicated that during this period there was a great deal of experimentation and development. Many types of house walls were used; adobe and poles, stone slabs topped with adobe, adobe and stones, and finally layered masonry. The houses were joined together to form compact clusters around open courts. In these courts were pit-houses which grew deeper and finally developed into ceremonial rooms we now refer to as kivas.

During their last century, some Pueblo Indians of Mesa Verde left the mesa tops and built their homes in the alcoves that abound in the many canyon walls. This last period marks the climax of the Pueblo culture in Mesa Verde and is known as the Classic Pueblo Period (A.D. 1100-1300). The exact number of dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park is unknown, but over 600 cliff dwellings have been documented.

There were several things that we noticed about these Cliff Dwellings, like the fact that you can see the blackened areas where there campfires were. The other noticeable thing for us was that these places all seem to be located so that they were protected from both the sun as well as the elements. Another thing was the fact that many of these structures could be seen on both sides of the canyons. And from the road driving around this area you could view many of them.

Lots of people have asked us why these people left this area and we were told by the park rangers that beginning in A.D. 1276, drought struck the region and for 23 years precipitation was scarce. One by one the springs dried up and the people were in serious trouble. Their only escape was to seek regions which had a more dependable water supply. People left village after village. Before the drought ended, these people had left Mesa Verde area.

In 1906 two new things happened in the United States. Mesa Verde National Park was created and Congress passed the Antiquities Act. Mesa Verde was the first National Park established to protect a historic feature, the famous cliff dwelling houses built by Native Americans over 600 years ago. The Antiquities Act did something equally important. It allowed the President to set aside government-owned lands as National Monuments.

Mesa Verde National Park is located in the high plateau country of Southwestern Colorado. The park itself lies atop a high mesa that rises from the canyon of the Mancos River, a tributary of the San Juan River. The Mancos has cut a deep, broad valley along the eastern and southern edge of Mesa Verde, which in turn is dissected by 15 canyons formed by smaller streams. This erosional action has thus created many smaller mesas. Two of these, Wetherill and Chapin mesas, provide the primary access to most of the park's public archeological sites.

Mesa Verde National Park encompasses 52,122 acres, about 81 square miles. It runs about 9 miles both east-to-west and north-to-south. Elevation on Mesa Verde varies between 6,000 and 8,500 feet.

So to all of you who may not have been excited about a visit to this particular National Park, let me advise you to move it up higher on your own National Parks “Bucket List!” Also I'd watch out for climbing in the bushes where you can see that one sign while in the park too!

“Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.” ~ Chief (Luther) Standing Bear

Four-Corners Monument ~ Arizona, New Mexico, Utah & Colorado

2009-08-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

Even though this part of our trip was a little off of the beaten path and perhaps just a bit disappointing, (compared to all the other things we had done) it was still kind of fun... at least for my part of the story. As the signs tell you as you approach to site, “The Navajo Nation cordially welcomes you to one of our most unique landmarks - The Four Corners.”

The fun part of this is that this is the only place in the United States where four states intersect at one point: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. This location is very remote as you will experience when visiting it. It seems like the only access to this place via road is controlled by one of the tribes and you have to pay on a per person basis to even keep going down the road to where the Four-Corners Monument is placed. The surrounding area around the monument itself seemed a little like a native American carnival or street fair to me. But… maybe I am just being a little cynical here?

The original marker was erected here in 1912 and was a simple cement pad, but has since been redone in granite and brass which you can see in the pictures. The Visitor Center is open year round, and features a Demonstration Center with Navajo artisans. Navajo vendors also sell handmade jewelry, crafts and traditional Navajo foods nearby. In fact there are people selling stuff all around here and the purchases can be from Navajo Tacos to Turquoise Jewelry and Ice Cream Bars. To me the commercialism here was just a little sad.

Picnic tables and self-contained restrooms were available. But overall, both services and accommodations around the Four Corners area are very limited to small cafes, grocery stores and self-service gasoline stations within a 30 mile radius of the Four Corners; but having looked at a map before venturing off there, I made sure I wouldn't really need any of those things while we were there.

If you ever visit there, I’d recommend that you have plenty of water, food, snacks, hand wipes and extra toiletries when visiting. The area is very remote, no running water, no real electricity, no telephones etc.

In fact the nearest Gas Stations are in: Teec Nos Pos, AZ - Shiprock, NM - Cortez, CO - Mexican Water, AZ - Bluff, UT.

Even though Teec Nos Pos, Az. is the nearest community (approx. 6 miles away). But as we left this Four Corners area (in the exact opposite way in which we had gotten there), the next big thing I saw was this huge rock extrusion which to me looked like a gigantic rocket ship out in the middle of “Nowhere Desert” (my description of the area) not really it’s name.

As we traveled closer to it and our angle of approach changed, it looked more like a sailing ship than it did like the rocket ship I had initially compared it to. It seemed a little hazy that day so I apologize for the shot here, but it was the best I could come up with at the time.

Guess what? This geographic feature is called (of all things) Shiprock! And the closest town to Shiprock is also called Shiprock, New Mexico. The town is located in northwestern part of the state of New Mexico, but it not really around the geographic feature. It (Sailrock the rock) was actually several miles from the city of Sailrock, but you could see it (the rock) for several miles after yolu could no longer see the city.

The Shiprock (the rock) feature itself is a most impressive example of a volcanic neck, or a central feeder pipe found anywhere around there. It is actually the remnant of an eruption around 30 million years ago (give or take a few days here or there) during the Oligocene era and it is actually the basalt core of an extinct volcano.

Near the main peak, you can see small pinnacles, the remains of smaller auxiliary volcanic vents. When the magma solidifies before ever reaching the surface, it is referred to as a "diatreme". The local Navajos consider it sacred, being a main character in their folklore. They call it Tse Bitai, meaning "the winged rock". Which, I suppose may be one reason the town is not very close to the Rock. It could be hallowed ground to the Indians?

The central part of Shiprock is visible from many miles away, and it is roughly 1,640 feet in diameter. Stretching almost 2,000 feet into the sky above the surrounding terrain, Shiprock is part of both the Navajo and Chuska volcanic fields in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, extending north into Utah and Colorado. It is also within the boundaries of the vast Colorado Plateau, known (of course) as the Four-Corners area.This region of extinct volcanic features covers approximately 20,000 square km of this area.

Shiprock (both the city and the rock feature) were an unknown entity to us as we travelled away from the Four-Corners area, so it was kind of nice to see it and to learn all about it too. And, even though our side trip to the Four-Corners was less than I had expected, it was nice to get to make a fool of myself and have four bodily extremities in four different states (at the exact same time) and to be able to tell about it afterwards.

P.S. That cross is in Groom, Texas 40 miles East of Amarillo (off of I-40) and really should have been in the Route 66 post but I forgot it. It is actually over 150 feet tall. It was put up by a religious group in 1995 and can be seen for miles in any direction. It is made out of stainless steel.

“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?” ~ Will Rogers

Historic Route 66 ~ New Mexico & Texas

2009-08-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well folks... Mrs. LZ and I have just returned from a pretty extensive road trip of some almost 3,500 miles. So rather than just doing this chronologically, I thought I'd mix this up a little and start with the ending and move backwards and confuse both myself and the reader.

I am not so sure I can say that I have ever done a post about a road before, but in our travels this summer, we came across the signs for the old historic "Route 66" in many of our travel destinations. Any of you who may have seen the "Great American Travel Adventure" on TV this summer will already know about this historic route and where it goes and its derivation, but for those of you who may not, here's some facts that may be useful.

Officially, the numerical designation 66 was assigned to the Chicago to Los Angeles route in the summer of 1926. With that designation came its acknowledgment as one of the nation's principal east-west arteries.

From the outset, public road planners intended U.S. 66 to connect the main streets of rural and urban communities along its course for the most practical of reasons: most small towns had no prior access to a major national thoroughfare.

While legislation for public highways first appeared in 1916, with revisions in 1921, it was not until Congress enacted an even more comprehensive version of the act in 1925 that the government executed its plan for national highway construction.

Albuquerque boosters began pushing for a straighter route, and in 1931, federal money was designated to realign the road to a more east-west direction. By 1937, the entire route from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California was paved.

The new road carried thousands of GI's longing for a better look at America and yearning to see what the country held in store for them. Route 66 was fixed in the memory of many by John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath and Bobby Troup's lyric "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" as well as CBS TV's "Route 66". Today I-40 runs over much of the original roadbed, but many parts of the old highway can be seen today just beside I-40.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe as well as many other then relatively small towns grew up along Route 66. Near Route 66, you'll also find the Albuquerque Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science and the National Atomic Museum.

Walking or driving along Central Avenue in the downtown area, you can enjoy the majesty of this vibrant district. Step into the Pueblo-Deco KiMo Theater and the ambiance of diners and boutiques along the way. You can stop for a bite at one of the revitalized diners and other restaurants that line the route. We found many many of those in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but we were trying to find Maria's (a favorite of our youngest son and his wife). We finally gave up that effort and just decided to keep moving toward home. But in spite of that the revitalized Route 66 was a real treat for us.

As you can see from several of the photos I have attached to this post, many familiar old signs could be seen all along those Old Route 66 Highways all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. In fact I was so taken by a Texas Highway Rest stop about 50 miles outside of Amarillo, Texas that I included many shots that I took not only of the rest-stop, but also from the inside of the ladies room (which Mrs. LZ consented to help me with).

This highway technically is now called US Interstate 40 (which we took) all the way to Oklahoma City before parting ways with it. One of the other signs I have posted as the top picture here was one of the "Historic Route 66" signs we took while in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

You may also notice that one of these signs in the Texas rest area was particularly concerning to us. I am sure you can figure out which one I am referring to? And... you can believe me when I say that neither Mrs. LZ nor I either one ventured in the rocks or grasses around that particular stop. Most of the other signs were actually hung inside the rest stop.

Mrs. LZ did manage to find us a couple of our new favorite delicacy called a Texas Cinnamon Bun. While probably not on the Zagot's List as a classic dining facility, we did enjoy our restful stop there on our way back home.

"About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation." ~ Will Rogers

Rocky Mountain National Park ~ Estes Park ~ Colorado

2009-05-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Not too far from the location of my last post from Denver, Colorado is a place called Estes Park, Colorado and it is the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park which just happens to be one of those National Parks that should be experienced rather than just viewed. But frankly, the viewing is perhaps as staggering to the eye as many of the other National Parks in the United States.

Although having said that, I still plan to upload several of my favorite shots of the park along with this post. But, as you can see from these pictures, the park itself has a very diverse population of not only plants and trees, but also of animals who inhabit the park in almost every corner of its huge size and the fact that it's also a living showcase of the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, with its elevations ranging from 8,000 feet in the wet, grassy valleys to 14,259 feet at the weather-ravaged top of Longs Peak, provides visitors like us with opportunities for countless breathtaking experiences and the many adventures to be found everywhere you look in the park. We also picnicked in the park, but I will spare you the shot of our picnic table, but it was right near to where I took the moose picture.

Throughout its 416 square miles of rock-ribbed wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park truly is a land of superlatives. Here you will find that at least 60 mountains exceed 12,000 feet, topping off at 14,259 feet on the football field-sized summit of Longs Peak. Names such as Cirrus, Chiefs Head, Isolation, Mummy, and Storm evoke the grandeur of this high landscape.

Among its many attributes, Rocky Mountain National Park has also been the home to Native Americans for at least the last 12,000 years. This even makes me feel young, but the remains of all the known prehistoric cultures except Folsom (ca. 10,000-8000 years ago) have been found in the park. The basic prehistoric sequence is Clovis (11,000–10,000); Folsom; Early, Middle and Late Archaic (7,500-2,000); and the Early, Middle, and Late Ceramic cultures (2,000 to 300).

The major inhabitants of the Park area in historic times were the Ute and Arapaho. Ute origins may have been in the Great Basin and/or the mountainous areas of the State and we strongly suspect that Uto-Aztecan speaking ancestors of the Ute have occupied the Colorado Mountains for at least 6,000 years. The Apache appear to have been in the park for at least 400 years as based on the presence of their pottery and historical accounts of a battle with the Arapaho in the 1830s in Upper Beaver Meadow.

The Arapaho homeland was originally in Minnesota, and they migrated into Colorado by about 1790. No less than 36 place names in the Park are of Arapaho origin. By about 1880, the Ute had been moved to reservations in Colorado and Utah, and the Arapaho to Oklahoma and Wyoming. Due to the high altitude and severe winters, occupation for these hunter-gatherers in the park was confined to the warmer months. Major occupation may have been in the fall of the year when the high altitude elk game drives were in operation. Present evidence indicates that winter occupation was at lower altitude along the Front Range, and in Middle and North Parks.

Historic archeological sites include the remains of roads, resorts, ranches, mines, mining towns, cabins, sawmills, water control structures, three CCC camps, signs, and several old National Park Service campgrounds and entrance stations. Some 400 prehistoric and 600 historic archeological sites have been recorded thanks to a five year long survey of the park by the University of Northern Colorado.

Although the great peaks comprise the essence of the park, the delicate alpine flowers, clear lakes, rushing mountain waters, and impressive forests appeal to all the senses. An array of wildlife - bighorn sheep, ptarmigan, coyote, elk all adds life to the landscape almost around every corner. As you can see I caught a few shots of many of those my self as well as a marmot which look a lot like the woodchuck I found in my yard last summer. Can you see it on the rocks in the first (top) shot? Well, if you can't a also put in a closer shot down below.

The wide variety of elevations and habitats create a choice of activities for visitors. From scenic drives and short strolls along a gentle trail to more ambitious daylong hikes to vertical mountain climbs, Rocky Mountain National Park offers many ways to experience nature in all of its splendor.

Going to the highest point of the road that runs through the park from a starting point in Boulder Colorado then up to Estes Park then on to the Beaver Meadows Entrance Station of the park we went all the way through the park from visitor center to visitor center and finally exited the park out of the Southwestern corner of the park which finally lead us down to Grand Lake and eventually south back to Highway 70.

This day long auto trip through the park made for a whole day of stopping and looking over the views of the valleys below and seeing the interesting wildlife around almost every corner of this wonderful park.

I can’t wait for another trip around and through this wonderful National Park someday in the not too distant future.

"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."~ Barry Goldwater

Denver Botanic Gardens ~ Denver ~ Colorado

2009-05-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, when Mrs. LZ and I are in a different (either medium or large sized) town, we usually try and venture out to check out the local botanical garden to see what they have to offer. Some of these have turned out to be real treasures and not always necessarily expected.

I would say that was exactly the way we thought about our experience at the Denver Botanic Gardens. We were not expecting anything as nice or certainly as large as perhaps the Chicago Botanic Gardens but also nothing as nice as what we found there.

The Denver Botanic Gardens are located at York Street right downtown between Cheeseman Park on the West and Congress Park on the Southeast of gardens. The gardens actually presents a very wide range of gardens and collections that illustrate an ever-widening diversity of plants from all corners of the world. Not just from the Colorado area. These distinctive gardens define and celebrate their Western identity and a unique high altitude climate and geography.

An additional uniqueness about the gardens here in Denver is that many of their innovative gardens are in fact models of drought-tolerance and they also showcase native and adapted plants that thrive in many Western gardens in several of the adjoining states.

Throughout the Denver Botanic Gardens, there are time honored traditions of European horticulture merged with a dynamic diversity of plants and design that represent the best in local horticultural achievement.

Denver Botanic Gardens is an accredited museum by the American Association of Museums, with scientifically documented living collections and two preserved collections. The garden’s Plant Records Department manages botanical and horticultural information for over 16,000 taxa (plural of the name applied to a taxonomic group in a formal system of nomenclature) in over 250 plant families.

While there we had to evade several little downpours, which could help explain my "less than normal" amount of photos. Of course it could be that I was just busy enjoying the beauty all around me.

This Denver Botanic Gardens was a hit in LZ's Places to see while you are in Denver.

"Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country." ~ Margaret Thatcher

Niagara Falls in Winter ~ Ontario ~ Canada

2009-04-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

So you might ask; “Where in the heck have I been?” Well the truth is that in the last couple of months (and in a three week period) I have had to take two separate week long trips to upstate New York. It wasn’t bad enough that I had to take one trip there, but with just one week at home, I had to turn right around and do it again. While I was flying over Buffalo, NY., I could not help but think of the (then recent) plane crash just outside of Buffalo. But at the same time I saw Niagara Falls from the air.

The cold and whiteness of the ground outside reminded me of a trip that Mrs. LZ and I took several years ago to view the falls in the wintertime from the Canadian side. Even though I am sure than many of you may have seen the falls in the summertime, but I doubt if many of you have ever seen the falls in the wintertime. But those of you who have, I am sure that you will agree with me, that it a totally different than it is in the summertime?

I did a blog post about the falls many months ago, but it really dealt with the normal history and experiences around the falls. But the summer falls bare little similarity to what the falls look like in the dead of winter. The only thing that seemed the same to me about the falls was the noise that was generated by the falling water of the falls over their precipice which still had that almost deafening sound that the falls generated.

They even have what is called the “Winter Festival of Lights” there at this time of year. Of coarse we didn’t stick around on our day trip there to see the falls lit up at night, but the pictures that we saw of it seemed that they were just beautiful. In fact, you can experience the illuminating beauty of the lights located along the Niagara Parks Winter Wonderland lighting route and throughout the City of Niagara Falls! Their event’s fireworks illuminate the winter sky above the falls every Friday night! The mighty falls glows with color nightly during this Winter Festival of Lights.

Also as part of the festival, you can enjoy fantastic stage productions throughout the Festival. In fact, past performances have included Disney's® Beauty and the Beast and Seussical the Musical! You can also have a barrel of laughs at the Niagara Falls Comedy Fest with top comedians from around the world. Past performers at these events have included John Pinette, Brent Butt, Nikki Payne & Jeremy Hotz! If so inclined, you can get your cheer on at the Annual Festival of Lights Cheerleading Competition!

During the Winter Festival of Lights, the 3 plus mile lighting route along the Niagara Parkway is known as the Niagara Parks Winter Wonderland. Within the Niagara Parks Winter Wonderland, you will notice the Life in Niagara lighting displays, which feature the award-winning Niagara grape and wine industry, an historic 1812 battle, and Fort Erie Racing. A wide variety of winter activities like skating, skiing, ice hockey and carriage rides are also displayed throughout the Niagara Parks Winter Wonderland.

And while we didn’t do any of these, it was still nice to know that they were available to us for a price. While I can’t recommend the falls location weather temperatures in the winter, I can still honestly recommend the view!

“No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.” ~ Joan Rivers

"With This Ring, I Thee Wed" Orange County ~ CA ~ Dec. 1968

2009-01-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Before I get to this somewhat unique post, I want to apologize to all of you who have been wondering where in the heck I have been for the last month or so. The truth is that not only are the holidays a busy time of year for our family... what with birthdays, wedding anniversaries, Christmas and New Year, but this year we even threw in a wedding and several other events to boot.

In addition to having all of that going on, our PC has been having some issues too. Issues so bad in fact, that we had to put it out of its misery and secure ourselves a new one. That event has just been completed this last weekend. But the trying to recover data and photos has been well... TRYING!

Now on to the post… The hands you see here are actually those of Mrs. LZ and me. At least how they looked 40 years ago. It is really hard to believe that Mrs. LZ has put up with being married to me for exactly 40 years last month! Wow! What courage, what guts, what backbone and what tenacity this woman has shown. But really, what I would say in all seriousness is "What LOVE she has shown me over all of that time!"

When I think about the fact that after our wonderful honeymoon night on a round bed in the Honeymoon Suite at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California, we followed it directly by our snow-bound honeymoon week in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California (by the way... we spent it in a cabin) hidden away in Lake Arrowhead, California. It all seems not all that long ago and many of those memories are still fresh.

I could also tell you all about the first meal I tried to make for my new bride, but then you'd "really wonder" why she has stayed with me for these four decades. (Really that part hasn't changed too much over 40 years). If I can't grill it, you're better off not trying to fill it... (Your stomach that is). Ask Mrs. LZ sometime about my Honeymoon biscuits covered with baked marshmallows... ah... NO scratch that! She may have forgotten that "particular instance" in these last four decades, and I'd really hate to remind her of it if in fact she has forgotten it.

Then when I think about moving into our new (newlywed) apartment which was shortly followed by my fourteen and a half months in the jungles of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, it seems like millenniums away from today. But we did what we had to do, and thankfully I came home to her in one piece and a few pounds lighter and a lot tanner.

For everyday that I spent in Vietnam we wrote each other a letter and because out in the jungles, the mail is not always as good as it was "Back in the World," we both used to number the back of the envelope so that if we got more than one delivered in the same day, we would know which one to read first.

I also took a deck of cards over there with me and once every week I would put a card in one of my letters. I told my new bride that by the time she had the whole deck of cards at home, that I would be home to her very soon too. When I actually extended my tour of duty over there for another two and a half months, I started sending her the jokers from that deck.

I am not sure how funny she found either of those two actions, but she abided with my decision and never really discussed my decision with me in our letters. I had my reasons for doing that, which were mostly driven by the fact that when I got back to the world, I just wanted to put Vietnam and the U.S. Army experience behind me and go back to my civilian job and the wife that I loved and missed.

I think that experience is something that I will never forget and retrospectively I am honored to have been able to serve my country. But like I have told many people, I think it may be even tougher on the spouses of servicemen and servicewoman than it is on those who are actually involved directly in the service of their country. I think they serve differently, but none the less, they TOO serve. Every time I see a soldier kiss his young bride "goodbye" at an airport, I just want to run up to them, hug them both and say; "I know how it feels!"

If someone was to ask me; “What is the secret to being married for 40 years?” I would have to say that you just can't give up on each other ever! Sometimes the things that bring you the most strife in your life are actually the things that make your love stronger and bring you closer together. You have to work at a marriage every day and you don't get to take a day off from it. But at the end of each day, you know that you have done the right thing in order to keep your marriage strong.

Because most of you were not able to make it to our wedding... (Because many of you may not even been born then) but regardless of that, you can now vicariously re-live that day through our photos of it that I have posted here and this slide show I put together for my wife to help celebrate our 40th Anniversary via this musical slide show of our wedding.

Our 40th Anniversary was celebrated by our sons and their families. The first thing they did was to invite us over to lunch at our youngest son’s house, where he and his fiancé made brunch for all of us included guests were my Mother-in-Law (who was spending the holidays with us) and then my oldest son and his wife and our grandson and two granddaughters.

After the brunch was over we were presented with a card with reservations to a very nice restaurant here in the city with a nice amount of cash to pay for a very lavish dinner that is probably not something we would have done on our own. After we opened the cards, I played the Wedding Video (above) we then played “Guitar Hero” for a while and then they said we had to all take off for our oldest son's house where they had a cookie and punch celebration for us too.

When we got over to his place, we noticed that our neighbors and really good friends pulled up right in front of us. After we went into his house, the door bell kept ringing with more and more of our best friends who were also there for the Surprise Party they had put together to celebrate our special day. Our kids had really pulled off the SURPRISE part of the party and none of the guests had given away the surprise. It was truly a wonderful day and the dinner was wonderful. Mrs. LZ and I could not have been prouder!

Even though I have picked up a few more pounds and a few more wrinkles and (for me) a lot more gray hair, I love Mrs. LZ today even much more than I did on the day that I married her. She was truly a gift from God for me! Mrs. LZ; "I will love you tell death do us part... and still… even long after that!" You are WONDERFUL! ALL MY LOVE!

"So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself." Ephesians 5:28

Hoover Dam ~ Boulder City ~ Nevada

2008-12-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

This was one of those tours that I really was not all that wild about doing, but I could not have been more wrong about this dam. From the minute we pulled into the parking lot and got our first real look at the dam, boy was it impressive! It was really a lot bigger than it looked as we were flying into Las Vegas. But if you get to Las Vegas sometime, it is worth the drive out to Bolder City to just see it, if for nothing else.

We found out all sorts of things about the dam and its history. Like that fact that in 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam and it was the largest dam of its kind at the time. Despite its remote location and harsh working conditions, it was completed in less than five years. That was actually two years ahead of schedule and unlike most government projects it was well under budget too.

Of course the dam is named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who also played an extremely large role in bringing the nearby states into agreement about water allocations, thus settling an ongoing 25-year controversy. The dam has been called Boulder Canyon Dam as well as Boulder Dam, but Hoover Dam was reinstated as the official name by Congress in 1947*.

As a National Historic Landmark, Hoover Dam is the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere, standing at more than 725 feet above the Colorado River. With 17 generators producing 4 billion kilowatts of electricity a year, it also is one of the country's largest hydroelectric power facilities. Operation and maintenance of the facility are solely supported by revenue from power sales.

Two tours of the dam are available and well worth the time and money spent. For $11 per person (and discounts were available for children, seniors and active military) is the actual Hoover Dam Power Plant Tour. This tour is broken up into several components at numerous locations. The unique tour format allows guests to pick and choose which locations they want to see and the complete tour generally lasts about two hours.

The Hoover Dam Power Plant Tour begins like a lot of the tours we’ve been on, with a brief video presentation depicting the history of Hoover Dam and how it came to be. Afterwards, a guide will escorted us to an elevator for a 500-foot descent to get an up-close look at the power plant generators housed at the base of the dam. The dam is 726.4 feet high, 1,244 feet across at the top, it is 660 feet thick at the base and 45 feet thick at the top.

It weighs 6.6 million tons and can store up 2 years 'average' flow from the Colorado River. Total storage capacity can be measured in 30,500,000 acre feet and the surface area of Lake Mead is 146,000 acres, the maximum water surface elevation of Lake Mead is 1229 FT, the maximum depth of Lake Mead is 590 FT, the length of Lake Mead is 115 miles.

One of the shots I have here (below) was of two of the "Winged Figures of the Republic" by Oskar J.W. Hansen, which is part of the monument of dedication on the Nevada side of the dam. I just thought that it was very cool and in fact it reminded me of something that could have been built by the same architects of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It also had many signs and symbols of the marble slabs in front of the Winged Figures of the Republic. It was really one of my favorite parts of the dam area.The dam has a power generating capacity of 2.8 million kilowatts, and it cost ONLY $49,000,000 to build Hoover Dam, $165,000,000 to complete the Boulder Canyon Project which includes the Imperial Dam, Hoover Dam and the American Canal. If you look at it closely, see if you don't fell the way I did upon viewing it?

The dam contains about 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete. There are 96,000,000 pounds of steel and metalwork used by the dam - but none of it is actually IN the dam. In spite of some rumors to the opposite, NO ONE IS BURIED IN THE DAM (because Jimmy Hoffa went missing long after the dam was completed)! About 16,000 men and women worked on the project and about 3,500 people were employed at any specific time. Officially, there were 96 'industrial' fatalities during the construction of Hoover Dam.

Guests on the dam tour can also see the original diversion tunnels and stand atop a giant, 30-foot pipe where they can feel the rumble of Colorado River water racing through it. It was so busy around the dam with all of the cars and all of the tourists that it is no wonder that Project Management Team (PMT) was developed to oversee the design and construction of the project. The PMT has representation from each of the major project stakeholders including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the States of Arizona and Nevada, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and the National Park Service (NPS). Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD) will act in the lead management role for all elements of project procurement, design and construction.

Construction of the Colorado River Bridge is advancing with construction of the 1,060 foot twin-rib concrete arch. The Colorado River Bridge is the central portion of the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. Construction on the nearly 2,000 foot long bridge began in late January 2005 and the completion of the entire Hoover Dam Bypass Project is expected in June 2010. When completed, this signature bridge will span the Black Canyon (about 1,600 feet south of the Hoover Dam), connecting the Arizona and Nevada Approach highways nearly 900-feet above the Colorado River. It was easy to see where the work was going on there, but I still wasn’t too sure that anything was going to hurry traffic along in this area unless they make the new bridge a NON-tourist route. But then, I could be wrong!

"This morning I came, I saw, and I was conquered, as everyone would be who sees for the first time this great feat of mankind. . . .Ten years ago the place where we gathered was an un-peopled, forbidding desert. In the bottom of the gloomy canyon whose precipitous walls rose to height of more than a thousand feet, flowed a turbulent, dangerous river. . . . The site of Boulder City was a cactus-covered waste. And the transformation wrought here in these years is a twentieth century marvel." ~ From a Speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Dedication of Boulder (Hoover) Dam, September 30, 1935

*P.S. For those who care about this historical detail, on May 8, 1933, Harold Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, decided that the name of the dam should be 'Boulder Dam', its original name. The reason for this was no doubt political. Then on April 30, 1947, the resolution renaming the dam back to Hoover Dam was passed by congress and signed by President Harry S. Truman.

Barbados ~ West Indies

2008-11-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

What can you say about a place with such natural beauty as Barbados? Well I read the “Travel & Leisure” Magazine every month and this month they have about 10 pages about this wonderful little country. So it made me want to do a post about it for those of you that may want to go there some time.

One thing I caution you about is what side of the road they drive on, to say nothing about where they happened to place the steering wheels in their rentals cars, but that only takes a few mistakes to make you think carefully while driving around the island.

Barbados is the most eastern island in the Caribbean and is a tiny dot on most world maps with an area of 166 sq miles. Barbados has a population of about 260,000 which is quite high considering its size. With 60 miles of coastline, Barbados has much to offer its visitors in terms of water sports and beach activities. I hope you will be spending much of your day relaxing there! We did, but we did a lot of travel around the island as well.

In researching for our trip we found out that the island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

The country is close to Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and just Northeast and right off of the coast of Venezuela. Their primary Industries include: Tourism, sugar, financial services, information services, light manufacturing, component assembly for export. And of course the world famous Barbados Rum production.

In our travels around the country, we saw not only lots of this famous sugar cane, but we also saw sugar beets crops being grow. They were carted around in horse driven carts (just like this guy that I have added a picture of) at the bottom of my post here. The one thing that we were cautioned about was trying to take pictures of the Bajans themselves. They have a fear that it captures part of their soul to be photographed. But for a few bucks… this guy was more than happy to give up a little of his soul.

There were several things that we did that we really enjoyed. One of those adventures was called "Harrison’s Cave", which was like a smaller version of the Carlsbad Caverns. I’ll post a couple of shots from inside the caves too. The caves are geographically located in the center of Barbados, Harrison's Cave is a natural phenomenon, unique to the tropical world. The really cool part about it was that you get to ride through them. This specially designed transport takes you down through the underground tunnels to a sight so beautiful, that few can compare. In the specially lighted caverns, you can view the majestic stalactites and stalagmites which have been growing from the floors and ceilings for many centuries.

Cascading through the caves, the crystal blue waters form magnificent pools and waterfalls, filling the senses with sights and sounds of such pure wonder, that it is guaranteed to be the experience of a lifetime. It was one of the highlights of our trip and not something you would ever expect to find in Barbados.

Another very enjoyable side trip away from the beautiful white sand beaches of this lovely island country was a trip to what they call the “Flower Forest of Barbados”.

It was located in the heart of St. Joseph and is called the Flower Forest. This 50 acre attraction offers an explosion of greenery and commanding vistas of the island's stunning Scotland District.

You can see from my pictures here that the owners aptly consider this attraction "a cross between a botanical garden and a nature trail", since you can take an hour or a day to leisurely stroll the Forest’s winding paths while eyeing a virtual wonderland of tropical flora (as you can see Mrs. LZ doing here). The paths are all amusingly named, and while you will never get lost, you might get really confused as there are several short and long cuts coming off the main paths. "Don't worry, be happy" as there is no time limit and no fixed way to travel through this forestland. The Flower Forest has a main lobby with gift shop and snackette (as they called it).

Another thing we did there was to check out the capital of the country. It is the historic Bridgetown and is one of the oldest cities in the Caribbean with many historic landmarks and a variety of restaurants and Duty-Free shopping. Of course Mrs. LZ wanted to spend more time here than I did, but it was a bustling little city. It also had many old historic buildings, most of which looked like they would have fit right in anywhere in the U.K. in the 19th century.

Another place that we really enjoyed was the Old Codrington College in the St. Johns part of the country. You may actually remember this post from several months ago? So I won't add shots of it again. But if you want to see the post, (again or for perhaps the first time) you can see it by clicking on its name in this paragraph.

More than 70 per cent of the island's 260,000 people are direct descendents from the forced mass Africa migration of the late 1600s and 1700s-the slave trade. The island also has a peaceful blend of European (primarily British) settler blood with the Afro descendents, as well as small but vibrant Hindu (India), Arab (Lebanese and Syrian) and Jewish communities.

African influence is readily seen in the art, craft and literary works produced on the island, as well as many of the foods and figures of speech. Bajans are a quick-witted, fun-loving people and their gift for the double entendre or turn of phrase is most visible through calypso and literature. Local festivals, particularly the island's biggest national festival, Crop Over, (think Mardi Gras) reflect specific elements of Bajan life.

The primary driving force of the economy and lifestyle is the sugar crop. It was the island's largest income-earner from the late 1600s until the late 1980s, and remains a powerful influence in both the lifestyle and the economy. "Crop Over" is a celebration of this agricultural mainstay. The other prime economic influence is, of course, the fishing industry and festivals hailing this trade are also held.

We also noticed a lot of farm animals (like goats and cows) wandering around many of the areas that looked like they could have been family farms without fences. If you happened to be in the center part of the island, it was not very easy to figure out where you were, but after all it is an island, so how lost can you get? (Don’t ask!) But in spite of that, this still gets the LZ stamp of approval.

"We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot". ~ ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in a speech delivered before the first Republican state convention of Illinois, Bloomington, Illinois, May 29, 1856

The Sunken Gardens ~ Lincoln ~ Nebraska

2008-10-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, I love to photograph both plants and flowers. So, an opportunity to visit the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln, Nebraska was one of the highlights to our trip there. Even though there are many tourist activities that would rate much higher on some other peoples' lists of things to see in Lincoln, Nebraska, this one rated about the highest with me. As you can see from these pictures, it was just a beautiful day and an ever prettier garden.

The gardens themselves are at the southwest corner of 27th and D Streets, and have been the pride and joy of citizens since its completion in 1931. This 1.5 acre lot was constructed over the winter of 1930-31, during the worst financial depression the United States ever experienced. Well that may be a sign that it might be time for a new wing to this place given the current economic times and our own stock market woes, but this project was part of a program used by the City of Lincoln as an opportunity for unemployed men to earn money to support their families. The program helped families survive those hard times, as very little money was available for employment in any line of work.

In the early 1900s, Antelope Park extended from Sheridan Boulevard to O street, following the meandering path of the Antelope Creek. The construction of a new bridge over 27th street and Capital Parkway required straightening and relocating the stream several hundred feet to the north through D Street. Completion of the bridge left a large depression in the middle of the lot with a sheer bank on all sides, preventing development. As a result, for many years the area was used primarily during the winter by the neighboring children for sledding.

Incorporating the corner of 27th and D streets into an active part of the parks system had been a desire for many years. The piece of land that makes up the base of the Sunken Gardens was donated by Mr. Henry H. and Mrs. Sarah H. Frey in 1906. During this time, several lots in this area were donated to the Parks Department, adding to the linear nature of the park along Antelope Creek. In the fall of 1930, J.C. Seacrest donated two adjacent lots on the west side of the block to the Parks Department. The addition of these lots to the site provided the opportunity to create a garden of beauty for Lincoln's residents.

E.M. Bair, city commissioner and park head, (in those days) was the driving force behind the acquisition of this parcel of land and its development. Many newspaper articles credit Commissioner Bair as being one of the main government officials responsible for much of the development in the Parks Department. During this time, Bair created several different city improvements projects, of which he was able to assign temporary jobs to more than 200 unemployed men. This government sponsored program was put into effect to benefit the city and those in need Crew members were able to work an eight-hour shift at the rate of 40 cents per hour, twice per week, earning $6.40 per week. These temporary crews were sent out to work in many different areas of the parks to perform tasks ranging from tree trimming to construction projects. It was from this work force that at least 15 men were added to existing parks staff to help construct the Sunken Gardens.

In the beginning, the Sunken Gardens was referred to as Lincoln's "Rock Garden" to reflect its design. In fact when we first saw this place, we were somewhat surprised because we sort of thought that the gardens would have been under water rather that just under the street elevation from which it garners its name.

During the 1930s, in the United States, building rock gardens in progressive communities such as Lincoln was very popular. These gardens, including the Sunken Gardens, used rocks to form the garden's skeleton and contained rocks structures, such as water fountains or memorials. Rock retaining walls at different heights created terraced levels in the garden. Each level could be filled with different types of ground hugging sedum, a succulent perennial. Rock gardens were often located along and designed to mimic natural ravines using winding patterns and irregular widths. These design elements can still be seen in the rock walls of the Sunken Gardens.

Construction of the garden began with the removal of the old disfigured trees on the site. Then several truckloads of rock were brought to the site to lay out the rock walls. The rock used in the walls of the garden was harvested entirely from Lancaster County, of which Lincoln is the county seat. The cost of hauling the rock and the labor to install it were the only expenses for building the walls. The lower retaining walls were constructed of white limestone, while the reddish-colored rocks, which were collected from land south of where the Nebraska State Penitentiary currently stands, provided the main color scheme for the walls.

Semicircular flower beds were used to decorate the slopes along the north and east banks of the garden next to 27th and D streets. These beds were designed to accentuate the bright hues of the plantings on the bottom of the garden, contrasted by white gravel paths that wandered throughout the garden.

Three cement-lined pools were built in the bottom of the garden to create peaceful sights and sounds of water. The southern-most pool was used exclusively for a water lily display and contained several species of tropical and hardy water lilies. Henry Goebel reported that the majority of the lilies had been purchased from the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, Missouri. The garden's main water display was the four-level waterfall, which flowed down the southern terraces. Water was pumped approximately 20 feet to the top and then trickled down four large steps into a pool stocked with colorful fish.

"I expect to make this spot the most beautiful place in the city, either in or out of the parks. The ground lends itself perfectly to the making of a sunken garden, and at the same time a spot rich in beauty, at a small expense." ~ E.M. Bair, Lincoln NE city commissioner and park head during the years of the Great Depression

Palm Springs - Palm Desert ~ CA

2008-09-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hailed as "America's Desert Playground" and a refuge for Hollywood's brightest stars, Palm Springs offers miles of palm-lined canyons, cascading waterfalls, desert flora, and big horn sheep. The city blends a rich heritage — steeped in Indian, Mexican and Western cultures — with world-class entertainment and a sophisticated business district. Palm Springs is referred to as "The Golf Capital of the World," with more than 100 championship courses. As you know from my previous post, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes sightseers from the sun-drenched desert to snow-capped mountains.

The popular Village in Palm Springs is alive with a variety of restaurants, trendy shops, historic sites and annual festivals. Towering in the background, of these cities is the majestic Mt. San Jacinto offers hiking and horseback riding. As I am sure that you remember that this is also at the top of the Arial Tramway.

As for the best season to visit... Palm Springs is said to be sunny and warm 354 days a year. If you are so inclined, you can take a tour in Palm Springs to see how the rich and famous live via a tour of the Palm Springs Celebrity Tour. This glamorous tour drives past 30-40 homes of the celebrities. If you can only imagine yourself living in abodes formerly occupied by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Walter Annenberg. The tour also includes a great commentary and a bit of Palm Springs history thrown in for good measure.

You can also visit the cities of Cathedral City (The re-born city), Rancho Mirage (The Playground of the Presidents), Indian Wells (The wealthiest city in the nation), Palm Desert (Home of El Paseo Drive). This street is often called the “Rodeo Drive” of the Desert and could actually been a post in and of itself. But most of the stores that you see on Rodeo Drive you weill find on El Paseo Drive as well . But the closest Mrs. LZ and I actually got to entering one of these stores, was a trip to the Rudy’s Resturant for a large Strawberry malt!

Palm Desert (which by the way, is where we just happened to be staying our week on our visit to the Palm Springs area). While on this leg of the tour, you can see the estates of Frank Sinatra, Walter Annenberg, and even the church that Dolly Sinatra re-furbished. You can also walk through a nature garden and much more. We happened to be staying at the Marriott Resort Villas there in Palm Desert.

The tour takes a short break to experience the natural Dates of the Coachello Valley. The Coachella Valley is a large stretch of land in Southern California that is populated by close to a million people and which includes the famed tourist mecca of Palm Springs. After this short break, you will head into the heart of the “Old Movie Colony” of Palm Springs and the Las Palmas area of Palm Springs. You can even get up close and personal with the stars on the second leg of their tour. You also get to see the homes of stars like Bob Hope, Dina Shore, Alan Ladd, Elvis, Liberace, Celine Dion, Arnold Schwartzenagger, Ronald Regan, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and several more.

I have never seen so many golf courses in such a small area in my life. There may be some, but I sure don’t know where they are. It is amazing to me just how all of these perfectly manicured golf courses were so green and beautiful, when the truth about that particular area of California is more adept to the Sand Traps than it is to beautifully manicured “greens”. If you go just a few miles from any of these beautiful resort golf courses, what you find is a nothing more than a stark desert.

Even though the desert can also be beautiful, but perhaps the next time we go there, we’ll wait until winter. Palm Springs, California has been called a desert oasis with a cosmopolitan twist and LZ agrees! Well... and where else can you get a "Ruby's" Shake, an "In & Out" Burger and an "Island's" burger and a "Karl's Jr.'s" burger all in one afternoon?

"Not to have known- as most men have not-either the mountain or the desert is not to have known one's self. Not to have known one's self is to have known no one."- Joseph Wood Krutch