2018 Summer Road Trip Part 3

This was an epic road trip - 4 weeks and 6600 miles (11,000 kilometers)! The last leg took me to my sister's home in Fresno, then on to visit my friends' home in Alameda, California, when I found out that my younger son, Natan, was visiting his girlfriend in Berkeley. So, breakfast with Natan and Mia, a visit with Roger and Tom in Alameda, then north. It took 3 days to get to Seattle from Fresno, with stops at the national parks at Mount Lassen and Crater Lake.

Natan and Mia

Mount Lassen National Park:

Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California was designated a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. It has the largest “plug dome volcano” in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. Mount Lassen Park still has boiling mud holes and hot springs. 

Crater Lake National Park:

Crater Lake National Park in South Central Oregon was established in 1902. It is the caldera of the volcanic Mount Mazama, which exploded about 8,000 years ago. Crater Lake is 1,949 feet deep (594 meters), which makes it the deepest lake in the United States. The road which traverses the rim of the crate is 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level.

View to the north

2018 Summer Road Trip Part 2

After a week in Las Vegas visiting my parents and friends, I headed to Fresno and a visit with my older sister. This morning I am driving to the Bay Area and then returning to Seattle.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is located 15 miles west of Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert. It was designated a National conservation area in 1990. The canyon’s sandstone walls are up to 3000 feet high (914 meters). The highest point is La Madre Mountain, at 8,154 feet (2,485 m). I have a special affinity to Red Rock Canyon, as it was one of my favorite locations. I feel like it as saved me from the insipid Las Vegas culture as I was growing up, but only fully appreciated its beauty after my travels around the world.

Yosemite National Park
In the Spring of 1978, during my Freshman year at university, I participated in the UC Extension program, backpacking for 10 weeks (and getting college credit - imagine that!). There were 3 groups of 15 students. We would go into the park for 2 weeks at a time, then come out for a day to pick up food. We had a naturalist to guide us, and a philosopher who roamed between the three groups. We had required readings of biologists and naturalists, and had to do an independent research project. I studied edible plants.

Yosemite Valley was designated a "protected area" by President Lincoln in 1864. Later, John Muir led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the valley, but surrounding mountains and forests as well—paving the way for the U.S. National Park system. Yosemite was declared a national park in 1890, the third national park in the US. The park has an elevation range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet (648 to 3,997 m)

Heading towards the Eastern entrance of Yosemite, over Tioga Pass (elevation 9943 feet or 3031 meters)

Lake Tenaya (8150 feet)

First view of Half Dome (8,839 feet)

Half Dome is a granite mountain that rises 4737 feet (1,444 meters) above the valley floor. 

Yosemite Valley

El Capitan (7,569 feet), a granite mountain that is 3000 feet (900 meters) from base to summit.

Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet to the valley floor.

My last view of Half dome as I exited the park

2018 Summer Driving Trip Part One

If there is anyone out there who is still following my blog, I apologize for not posting for so long. Thank you for your patience. To update, I am still coordinating the Global Studies Program at Evergreen School (I have been now involved in this program for 31 years, since its beginning), and every summer I still go on an extensive driving trip. In 2017 at Evergreen School we studied about and then traveled to Peru. In the 2017-18 school year we returned to Vietnam, starting our two-year rotation of Vietnam and Peru. 

2018 Summer Road Trip 

I first headed from Seattle to Madison, Wisconsin. It took three long days since I prefer to drive on the small roads with lots of towns. I met my son, Natan, for his 23rd birthday, then headed north one hour to the Dells, where the National Jump Rope championships were being held. My niece, Ricki, and nephew, Rory, are super jump ropers. They each competed in 12 different events and both won numerous awards. Ricki was declared the number one all around best female jump roper in the nation. 

My sister Amy holding Ricki's "Best All Around Female Jumper" award

Below are video links to a few of Ricki and Rory's jump roping events (it is super amazing what they can do while jumping rope):

Ricki 3 person Double Dutch at Nationals

Rory 3 person Double Dutch at Nationals

Ricki and Rory pairs at Nationals

My younger son Natan at his work at Epic systems outside of Madison

After visiting with my son for a couple of days I headed southwest to Colorado to visit my sister (2 long days) and then another 2 long driving days to visit my parents in Las Vegas. On my route to Colorado, when I was in the Southwest corner of Missouri, I remembered that my older son, Noah, was in a business trip in Omaha, Nebraska. A short 2 hour detour took me to Omaha, where I met Noah at the airport and we had dinner together. 

Dinner with my older son Noah in Omaha

On my drive to Las Vegas, I had to change my route as fires broke out in Colorado. This did not greatly affect my drive, as I wanted to go on roads I had never been before and visit some national parks on the way to Las Vegas.

Ouray, Colorado

Near the southwest corner of Colorado on Highway 550, just north of Mesa Verde National Park. 

Mesa Verde National Park:

Mesa Verde became a national park in 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt created the park to preserve the iconic cliff dwellings. It is home to numerous ruins of villages and dwellings built by the ancient Pueblo people, sometimes called the Anasazi. They lived in the dwellings from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. There are over 4000 archaeological sites and over 600 cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people at the site. The people of Mesa Verde were farmers who grew beans, corn and squash. They supplemented their diet by gathering other edible plants and hunting deer, squirrels, rabbits and other animals. Mesa Verde was likely deserted by the year 1300 C.E. No one is quite sure why. Some researchers blame crop failures.

Natural Bridges National Monument: 

Natural Bridges National Monument, in southeastern Utah, was established in 1908. It contains three natural sandstone bridges. The largest bridge, Sipapu, rises 220 feet above the stream bed and has a span of 268 feet. The other two natural bridges are Kachina Bridge (210 feet high and 204 feet across) and Owachomo Bridge (106 feet high and 180 feet across). There are many Native American ruins in the vicinity, and pictographs are found on Kachina Bridge, carved by Anasazi cliff dwellers. 

Sipapu Bridge

Kachina Bridge

 Owachomo Bridge

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: 

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, covering over 1.2 million acres, was established in 1972. 

Bridge crossing the Colorado River

The Colorado River

Bridge crossing the Colorado River

The Colorado River

 Capitol Reef National Park:

It was not established as Capitol Reef National Park until 1971. The name 'Capitol Reef' was used as the name of the park because “reef” refers to an extremely rugged section of a rocky spine called Waterpocket Fold contained within the park itself, and because the white dome formations look similar to the American State Capitol Building.

Native American petroglyphs

Zion National Park:

President William Howard Taft designated a protected area in 1909: Mukuntuweap National Monument. 10 years later President Wilson designated it a National Park, and its name was changed to Zion. One is dwarfed by the spectacular drive through Zion’s massive sandstone cliffs. The canyon is approximately 2600 feet (800 meters) deep.

Native people have lived in the area for at least 8,000 years. Remnants of their life exist throughout the park. There are abandoned cliff houses and rock art in the park that were left behind by the Anasazi people 800 to 1,500 years ago.

Kolob Arch is one of the world’s largest arches at a little over 287 feet long -- second only to Landscape Arch at Arches National Park.

Prius "Selfies"
My Prius was feeling left out. It wanted its own photo series, so here it is.

There you go - a happy Prius