After our visit to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, we headed a bit further south to Tucson. Our goal here was to visit the Saguaro National Park. While here, we started learning a lot about the Sonoran Desert. It was pretty interesting to discover. Some of what we learned related to the places we visited earlier in the year. And we found that the next stop, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was also in the Sonoran Desert. Continue reading “A Sonoran Sojourn”
Category: Locations
Lake Michigan and Sand Dunes
Our last stop on the way to Michigan was the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore which is on the southern edge of Lake Michigan. There is also the Indiana Sand Dunes State Park in the middle of the national park. It is not a contiguous park as there are several parts that are separated from the main section. This park encompasses a variety of habitats to see and learn about. The eco systems represented here are: lakes, beach, dunes, interdunal, marsh, swamp, savanna, prairie, rivers, bogs and fens.
There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills
As Bev mentioned in the last post, we decided to revisit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas on our way back east. The first time we visited was in July 2017. The grasses were only about 2 feet high. So, like many, we asked the rangers, “Where’s the Tallgrass?” They patiently explained (seems everyone asks that question) that the grass grows during the summer months and reaches its full height during the September/October timeframe. Then you can see the grass at around 5-6 feet depending on the amount of rainfall during the summer. Continue reading “There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills”
Wandering Through Washington, Part VII
Finally, after 6 weeks in the beautiful state of Washington, we made our way to the last stop, Mount Rainier National Park. It lived up to its fame.
“Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.” – John Muir
More Mount Saint Helens Pictures
Here are some more (better) pictures from Bev on Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. Her Nikon takes much better pictures than my cellphone. ….
Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Rebirth and Today
The devastation brought about by lahars and the pyroclastic flow was extensive. Besides the 230 square miles of forest destroyed, animals were also killed in large numbers. It is estimated that 1,500 Roosevelt elk, 5,000 deer, hundreds of bears, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, etc. were killed that day. The monument was made into a very large observatory to examine how nature recovers from such a disaster. Where they could, the mountain and surrounding areas were left as they had been after the explosion in 1980.
Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Rebirth and Today”
Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Devastation
The day after arriving in Castle Rock, we hopped into the car for a drive to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. We wanted to take a look at the mountain that blew its top in 1980. As we drove along, we kept expecting to see the mountain. We stopped in at a few viewpoints and visitor centers, but still no view of the mountain. It was hiding in a low cloud bank. The devastation was easily visible in the valley below us, but not that mountain. We finally decided to turn around and return another day to take it in.
Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Devastation”
Wandering Through Washington, Part V
After exploring the Olympic Peninsula for 10 days, we finally pointed our RV south and made our way to our new hub town, Castle Rock. From this point, we would get to visit Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. This blog post will cover the Fort Vancouver site which is located on the north shore of the Columbia River.
Wandering Through Washington, Part IV
After our visit to Seattle and the Klondike, we headed further west to the Olympic Peninsula for a visit to Olympic National Park. We set up base camp outside the little town of Sequim (pronounced “Sqwim”). The day after we got there, we drove to the main visitor center in Port Angeles. But first, we stopped at a small local restaurant called Nourish! for lunch. What a great lunch. Best we have had in quite awhile. Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part IV”
Washington Interlude or A Little This and That…
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
True. Only we need to extend the lyrics of that popular 1958 song. For us it has been smoke gets in your eyes, nose, and lungs. While the smell of smoke lingers in your clothes, fills your RV and blurs everything you see in a smoky haze. This is the way it has been since we first arrived in late July. We are now headed into mid-September and the smoke has been inescapable. There have been times where the smoke has been so dense we could barely discern the skyline of Seattle, see the peaks of mountain tops, or even more than a 20-30 feet across Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park! It has definitely been a challenge! Continue reading “Washington Interlude or A Little This and That…”