 
Aboard the USS George
Washington Aircraft Carrier in Norfolk, Virginia with our two chaplain
friends Gene and Doug. They took us on a private tour of their home
away from home. Both men served as chaplains aboard this
ship. |
We are sitting on the boardwalk at Canaveral
National Seashore watching the plutonium-powered rocket (on right)
probe to Pluto. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event. The fire
from the rocket was incredible as well as the speed that it
traveled. Both photos have video links. Click the photo to
view short video clip. |
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Feeding the birds at Parrot Jungle
Island in Miami.
Of course you can find Mickey Mouse and Shamu in Florida,
but did you know about the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead,
Florida that has hundreds of living
fruit, spice and nut trees ? They let you eat everything there from Mangos to Macadamia Nuts?
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Seaworld is a great
place for animal lovers. Paul is asking this guy if he is ready to
go to the dentist.
If
you are in to roller coasters, as we are, you will want to go to Busch
Gardens in Tampa. This is one of the best planned and designed
amusement parks in the country. They have something for everyone
from a Safari Ride to a dive coaster called "ShieKra". Click
the photo below for a quick video of the DIVE COASTER! We went there in 2006, 2007 & 2008.
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We enjoy biking on the Shark Valley Trail in the
Everglades National Park. However, this day we got drenched.
Click the photo above to view a short video clip of "Biking with the
Gators." |
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While in Jackson, Mississippi we
stopped off at the Museum of Natural Science. To the left is Paul
with a Mastodon. |
 
The Mississippi Petrified Forest is
located in Flora, Mississippi and has a great trail with many huge
petrified trees.
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Vicksburg National Military Park-Vicksburg was
known as the Gibraltar of the Confederacy |
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The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is
located in the Flint Hills near Strong City, Kansas. |
 
At McPherson Museum located in McPherson,
Kansas we were able to see the world's first man-made diamond.
Hershey made this diamond in 1926 there at McPherson College. |
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Ft. Larned National Historic Site is
located outside of Larned, Kansas. At this park you can tour the
restored fort facility and actually see Santa Fe Trail Ruts. The
Santa Fe Trail was active between 1821 and 1880 and was a primary commercial
route between Missouri and Mexico. The fort served as a distribution
point and the troops were a peace keeping force for the trail
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| It
was so windy the day we were at Midway USA we couldn't even open the
motorhome door. It took us over two hours to drive the 60 miles
between Larned and Dodge City because of the strong winds. |
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Another park service secret and our dream home is
known as Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site between La Junta and Las
Animas, Colorado. This adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail was
the largest American-owned commercial center in the 700 miles between
Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. |
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In April we traversed the melting
snow and ice along the Calypso Falls Trail in the beautiful Rocky Mountain
National Park in north central Colorado |
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| Caribou,
Maine claims to be the most northern city in the continental United
States. s south of Caribou near Presque Isle we went to small park
which commemorates the site of the first Transatlantic Balloon Flight.
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 In
Muncie, Indiana you will find the home of the Academy
of Model Aeronautics. This is the organization for radio controlled
enthusiast. We visit the AMA facility in August to attend the
International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association Fly In. The
AMA has a great museum on site and during most months there are planned
activities on the large property that the whole family will enjoy.
Click
here to see Paul flying his r.c. helicopters. |
Ashfall Fossil Beds located in
northeastern Nebraska is home to hundreds of fossils buried in ash.
The specimens are incredibly preserved. |
Nebraska
has many wonderful places to visit. There is the Homestead National
Monument, Ashfall Fossil Beds, Toadstool Geologic Park, Bison
Boneyard, Ft. Robinson, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument,
Carhenge, Scotts Bluff National Monument, and Chimney Rock National
Historic Site just to name a few.
We
especially enjoyed Ashfall Fossil Beds pictured here and Scotts Bluff National Monument. |
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Above is
a replica of fossils found at the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in
western Nebraska. To the left is a fossilized daemonelix, a
corkscrew burrow. |
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Bison Boneyard located adjacent
to Toadstool houses the remains of thousands of bison which were killed
probably by natives of this area hundreds of years ago.
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We enjoyed a great
hike through the Toadstool Geologic Park hidden in the Oglala National
Grasslands of northwest Nebraska.
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While at Ft.
Laramie National Historic Site we were able to see a cannon being fired as part of a reenactment
by the park service. |
Hiking around the grounds of Ft.
Laramie National Historic Site in southeast Wyoming. |
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Would you have wanted to live during the 1800's and traveled
in a covered wagon to find a new life out West? Hundreds of
thousands of brave men and women hit the dusty trail and did just
that. You can drive along much of the former Santa Fe Trail and
Oregon Trail where Jedediah Smith and Lewis and Clark once explored. At various places you can actually see and stand in
ruts which were formed by the wagons as they traveled across the plains.
This photo is taken at Scotts Bluff National
Monument, Nebraska and is a
part of the Oregon Trail. The photo on the left
shows Oregon Trail ruts found in Guernsey, Wyoming. |
Register Cliff is located just west of Guernsey,
Wyoming. Overlanders on the Oregon Trail would sign in at
"Register Cliff". |
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Just outside of Thermopolis,
Wyoming is the famous Legend Rock Petroglyphs. We found this pterodactyl
on the walls there. This is an exciting excursion,
because you have to get a gate key from the Chamber or Holiday Inn to get
to this out of the way property. It is a great adventure.
There are many things to do and see in Thermopolis, like the Tee Pee
formation, the buffalo in the park and the excellent Wyoming Dinosaur
center which also takes people out to actual dig sites. |
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To
give justice to America's Best National Park we have devoted a page
especially for it. We have been to this park 3 times and plan to
return as often as possible.
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Everyone should
plan to spend at 3 days at this terrific place. It is America's very
first National Park. It is non other than YELLOWSTONE
NATIONAL PARK. The photos on this page are from our visits in May
01, September 05, and August 06. |
We made a stop at the only
continuous working farm in the national park system. It is called
Grant Kohrs Ranch and is located in south central Montana. |
We walked the somber trail around
the Whitman Mission where Marcus and Narcissa Whitman lost their lives
trying to help the Indians. They were raising children who were
orphaned on the Oregon Trail at the time of their death. Nothing
really remains, but a well and apple trees. This spot is
located in beautiful southeast Washington, The Oregon Trail also
cross through the park. |
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When you think of
Oregon do you think of orchards and fossils? Probably not. But
we found an orchard with "pick your own" peaches, plums and pears. We
also visited one of the largest regions in the U.S. where fossils are
found in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. |
Lava Beds National Monument is one of the Park
Systems best kept secrets. Located near Tulelake, California just
south of the Oregon border this park is definitely worth the side
trip. You can tour the caves 24 hours a day, because it is always
dark in them. We hiked in them during the day and at night.
Take along a flashlight for each person (it is pitch black in the caves)
and a bike helmet for the kids, maybe you too. You will bump your
head. Dozens of caves with varied colors and even ice caves are
waiting to be explored. The photo above is from the hike to the fire
tower in the center of the park.
 
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Lassen Volcanic National Park near Mineral,
California is a beautiful park in northern California. All four
types of volcanoes are found at this park along with pristine lakes, huge
lava pinnacles, and Bumpass Hell. Bumpass Hell is found at the
end of a several mile hike and leads you to a surreal land of
bubbling mud pots and steaming fumaroles. They also have new
rocks here.
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Take
a Hike!
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While
in Washington state we made a return visit to Olympic National Park to
visit the Hoh Rain Forest and Kalaloch Area where you can view the awesome
sea stacks along the Pacific Ocean like here at Ruby Beach as shown below.
This is a huge park and needs several days to visit, but time well spent.
Click the photo on the left for a mini walk thru the rainforest! |
We had previously been to the
northern side of the park and had the pleasure of a private plane ride
over Mt. Olympus itself in 2005.
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We also made a return visit to Mt. Rainier
National Park to the remote northwest entrance to a beautiful rain forest.
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