Honey Island Swamp Tour, Slidell, Louisiana

We took a tour of Honey Island Swamp. Our guide grew up in New Orleans and was very educational. He knew all about the area and the history of the swamps, animals and trees. 

San Jacinto State Historic Site, La Porte, Texas

On this strip of coastal prairie in 1836, a volunteer army of Anglo-American settlers and Tejanos decisively defeated a larger Mexican army and won Texas its independence. This 1,200 acre historic site and monument commemorate their struggle and achievement. By preserving the San Jacinto Battleground, a portion of the natural heritage of coastal prairie, forests and marshlands was also preserved. The site of one of the most significant conflicts in American history does not look the same as it did when General Sam Houston's troops defeated the Mexican army under General Santa Anna.

Reflecting Pool

Big Energy: A Texas Tale of People Powering Progress, San Jacinto Monument, La Porte, Texas

San Jacinto Monument periodically hosts special exhibits. This exhibit is special for our son Josh as he used to work for Shell Oil Company, which has its hub in the Deer Park subdivision near Houston, Texas. The exhibit is about the impact oil and gas has had on Houston. Oil and gas, its production and its products, affect the lives of all Texans. The discovery of oil fields throughout the state in the early 20th century led to the founding and flourishing of numerous Texas towns and to the establishment of companies that would evolve into multinational conglomerates. It was along the Houston Ship Channel a commercial waterway that would become one of the busiest in the United States, that the town of Deer Park was founded just a few short miles from where Texas had won her independence from Mexico in 1836.

Tank Wagon

Gamblers, Gunmen & Gun-Toting Ladies of the Wild West in the 1800's

While visiting Cody, Wyoming, I found magazines that talked about the history of the gunmen (and women) of the 1800s and their impact on history. Reading about them was quite interesting, and I wanted to share what I learned about them. I hope you find it interesting as well.

The following story highlights Doc Holliday, however, his life connects with some of the other gunmen listed below, then I move into the lives of the gun-toting ladies. These people lived in the 1800s in the Wild West. It was a fascinating time, but I don't think I would have wanted to be around during this time.

Young Doc Holliday

The Money Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Money Museum is one of the largest museums dedicated to bringing culture to life. The museum includes history, science, art and much more. There are three main galleries with spectacular rarities and incredible findings about the world's history with money. 

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Garden of the Gods red rock formations were created during a geological upheaval along a natural fault line millions of years ago. Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the Gods about 1330 BC. At about 250 BC, Native American people camped in the park; they are believed to have been attracted to wildlife and plant life in the area and used overhangs created by the rocks for shelter. Many native peoples have reported a connection to Garden of the Gods, including Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Ute people.

Balanced Rock

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The Story of the American West is framed by an iconic image of the land, chapter after chapter devoted to the freedom, exploration and optimism it inspired. The story is forged by Native Americans, pioneers, cowboys, ranchers and settlers -- people with vision, courage, strong backs and hardy beliefs. People like William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who imagined what could be and created a lasting legacy. More than a century ago, Cody dreamed of developing a special place that would "teach people by seeing history." Today, we've expanded on that dream at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the only museum in the world where people can immerse themselves in the story of the real American West. 

Draper Natural History Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The Draper Natural History Museum highlights the extinction of animals and the possibility of extinction of species still around. The causes of Ice Age extinctions remain a mystery, however, some scientists hypothesize that hunting by humans may have caused the late-Pleistocene extinction of large North American Animals. Other scientists disagree with this hypothesis on the grounds that the human population was too small and technologically primitive to cause such extensive extinction. Of the many kinds of animals that became extinct, only two ~ the mammoth and mastodon ~ have been directly associated with large-scale hunting by humans. Other explanations for late-Pleistocene extinctions include disease and ecological changes related to a warming climate. The extinctions may have been caused by a combination of many factors. There is limited hard evidence, so the mystery remains unsolved - for now.

Jade

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

With no foothills to obstruct your view, the jagged peaks and deep canyons of the Teton Range rise abruptly from the Jackson Hole valley. This landscape was born out of an ancient past and shaped by recent geologic forces. The 2.7 billion year old rocks found in the core of the range are some of the oldest in North America, but these mountains rank among the youngest in the world.

This is the only moose that we got to see on our travels. I took the following pictures of Jenny Lake with the Teton Range in the background.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah

The driving force behind and founder of The Church of Latter Day Saints was Joseph Smith, and to a lesser extent, during the movement's first two years, Oliver Cowdery. Throughout his life, Smith told of an experience he had as a boy having seen God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate beings, who told him that the true church had been lost and would be restored through him, and that he would be given the authority to organize and lead the true Church of Christ. Smith and Cowdery also explained that the angels John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John visited them in 1829 and gave them priesthood authority to reestablish the Church of Christ.

Statute of Brigham Young

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah

Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park. On clear, blue-sky days it is difficult to imagine such violent forces -- or the 100 million years of erosion -- that created this land boasting one of the world's greatest densities of natural arches. Over 2,000 cataloged arches range in size from a three-foot opening, the minimum considered an arch, to the longest, Landscape Arch, measuring 306 feet base to base. While several large arches are visible from the road, towering spires, pinnacles, and balanced rocks  -- perched atop seemingly inadequate bases -- vie with the arches as scenic spectacles here.

Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah

Canyonlands National Park preserves a wilderness of rock at the heart of the Colorado Plateau. Water and gravity, this land's prime architects, cut flat layers of sedimentary rock into hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires. It is divided into three areas called Island in the Sky, The Maze, and The Needles. We only made it to Island in the Sky as getting to the other places were from different entrances, and we did not have enough time. There are many canyons and mesas wedged between the Green and Colorado Rivers. 

Valley of the Gods, Bluff, Utah

This 17-mile loop through the Valley of the Gods was supposed to be a fairly well kept dirt road. Instead, we discovered that there were sharp turns, washboard road, and several washes. Some of the washes were so rough we went through them about 1 mph. However, the scenery was quite stunning. The statuesque formations were sculpted from Cedar Mesa sandstone dating to the Permian period, around 250 million years ago. Eroded by water, wind and ice over millions of years, the rock was carved into the unique buttes, monoliths (single massive stone or rock), pinnacles and other geological features as seen today.

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

The natural bridges encompass old age, youth, and maturity. In 1883 prospector Cass Hite wandered up White Canyon from his base camp along the Colorado River. In search of gold, he found instead three magnificent bridges water had sculpted from stone. In 1904 National Geographic Magazine publicized the bridges; in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Natural Bridges National Monument, creating Utah's first National Park system area.

Sipapu Bridge

The Dinosaur Museum, Blanding, Utah

We were hesitant about visiting the Dinosaur Museum, but what a great museum it turned out to be. We were told that the person who donated the bones and skeletons are paleontologists who collected the specimens from around the world and donated them to the City of Blanding, which then built the building to house the dinosaur exhibits. This place is a must visit, if you are in this area. 

Allosaurus

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Dolores, Colorado

We went to the Canyon's Visitor Center to get my passport stamped and visit the museum. We did not go to the actual monument as it was quite a drive from where we were; and it encompasses more than 170,000 acres of high desert in the southwest corner of Colorado. So the pictures I have posted were taken at the Visitor Center and Museum.

Galloping Goose, Dolores, Colorado

The Galloping Goose No. 5 was built in 1933 in the railroad's round-house in Ridgway, Colorado. Its front cab was a 1927 Pierce Arrow series 36 limousine widened to carry the motorman and passengers. The rear 24-foot trailer carried mail and freight. It was powered by a six cylinder Pierce Arrow gasoline engine.

Mesa Verde National Park, Wetherill Mesa, Mancos, Colorado

The second mesa we visited in Mesa Verde was discovered by the Wetherill family, and thus named after them. Of the five houses that one can see up close, there was only one that we decided to see. The others required tickets and a ranger led guide. The one house that we walked to see was Step House, as it was a self-guided tour. Step House had a reconstructed pithouse, petroglyphs, and a cliff dwelling. 

Mesa Verde National Park, Far View Community, Mancos, Colorado

There are a few different sections to Mesa Verde; we took two days to tour them. The first section was Chapin Mesa, which I just highlighted. The Far View Community is in also on Chapin Mesa. The next section will be Wetherill Mesa.

Far View Community is more than 750 years old. In 1050 AD, this community would have been filled with the smell of juniper smoke and sounds of everyday life. It was one of the most densely populated regions of the Mesa Verde. In the mid-1100s, there may have been at least 35 occupied villages and surrounding farm and garden plots within a half-square-mile area, including the sites in this area.

Mesa Verde National Park, Chapin Mesa, Mancos, Colorado

Mesa Verde preserves the record of the ancestral Pueblo people who made this place their home for more than 750 years. The park includes over 4,500 archeological sites; only 600 are cliff dwellings. The Pueblo people grew crops and hunted game on the mesa tops. Hand-and-toe-hold trails connected the mesa-top fields to alcove villages and canyons below. The soil was fertile and, except in drought, about as well watered as today. The ancient people cut pinyon and juniper for building materials, firewood, and to clear fields.  

Natural Arch, Del Norte, Colorado

I had this bright idea that we had to go see the Natural Arch. It was listed as something to see while we were in Del Norte, and the map showed it was not very far from where we were camped. The only bad thing is that it was 12 miles on a Rio Grande National Forest road of dirt full of pits and washboard. Jim was not happy about beating up the Excursion going to see the arch. But once we got going on the road, we kept going. There was actually a subdivision out there in the middle of the Forest Land. Anyway, when we got to the end, I thought we were going to have to hike some more to see the arch, but I turned around and there it was. 

Underground Mining Museum, Creede, Colorado

It is amazing to me that there was so much mining going on in Colorado. We visited the Underground Mining Museum, which highlighted the Humphrey's Mine.  We saw the remnants of the Humhrey's Mine when we drove a bit past the museum. I found this website (mining artifacts) that talks about all the mining that took place in Colorado.

Urraca Cemetery, Great Sand Dunes Oasis Campground, Mosca, Colorado

We stayed at the Great Sand Dunes Oasis Campground when we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I look at Google Maps when we get to a campground and in the middle of the tent sites I saw an icon for Urraca Cemetery. I walk the dogs on the roads that go around the tent sites and today I actually found the cemetery.  There are three grave sites in this particular cemetery, so I had to do some research to find out the history of the three occupants.

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, Mosca, Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park was established in September 2004. Before 2004 it was a national monument. Our first trip to the Dunes was in 1993. There was quite a bit more greenery and the Medano creek was running. We camped near the Dunes and since becoming a national park, it has been completely redone. New campgrounds have been built, a Visitor Center established and a picnic area with access to the Dunes. I think it was the picnic area where we first camped back in 1993. We took our nephew Jonathan on our first trip. Below are a few of our pictures from the 1993 trip.

Josh & Jonathan

St. James Hotel, Cimarron, New Mexico

The St. James Hotel was established by Henry Lambert along the Santa Fe Trail in 1872. By that time countless men, mules, oxen and freight wagons had passed this way for 50 years on this major trade route, 800 miles long, between American and Mexican frontier settlements. The hotel sits along the mountain route which came through Raton, New Mexico. Even though the Santa Fe Trail was no longer used to navigate goods, travelers continued to arrive at the Hotel via stagecoach. It was a welcome oasis, taking a night's rest in Cimarron, even though it was a community whose violent and lawless reputation in 1880 rivaled any Kansas cowtown.

Front of St. James Hotel

Ludlow Massacre Memorial Site, Ludlow, Colorado

We visited the Ludlow Massacre Memorial Site back in 2004 and decided to make another stop to see it again. The site marks the area where coal miners and their families lived in the 1900s. They went on strike demanding better wages, an eight-hour work day, a safe workplace, less company control over their lives, and the right to organize. After the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) called the strike in September 1913, the coal companies evicted thousands of miners and their families from their homes in company towns. The UMWA leased the land, provided tents, and even issued a small allowance. Ludlow was the largest tent colony, with about 200 tents made of canvas and wood and 1,200 people. The tents averaged 10 x 14 feet in size and were reinforced with interior wooden panels and wooden floors. This provided a buffer from the weather. Cellars offered additional living area, storage space and protection from occasional gunfire.

Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Over a century ago up to one million prairie chickens lived in the Texas and Louisiana gulf coast prairie. Each spring males gathered to perform an elaborate courtship ritual by inflating their yellow air sacs and emitted a strange, booming sound across a sea of grasses.

Today, less than 1% of the coastal prairies remain, and the prairie chicken has come close to extinction. The Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge offers one of the last hopes for survival of this endangered bird. We did not see any when we visited but were told that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is in the process of raising chickens in certain places on the refuge to eventually release them into the wild. 

Lone Star Flight Museum, Houston, Texas

Josh is a member of the Lone Star Flight Museum which membership entitled him and his family to tour the B-17 Flying Fortress airplane on July 4. Jim & I were planning on leaving Lonestar Jellystone on July 4, but since Josh invited us to go to the museum with him, we left on Tuesday. Luckily we did since there was a severe rain storm that came through on the 4th and it rained most of the day. We got soaked running from the truck into the museum, even with umbrellas.

Leonardo Da Vinci: Machines in Motion

We visited George Bush 41 museum in College Station, Texas. One of the exhibits on display this year is Leonardo Da Vinci's Machines in Motion. Da Vinci  lived from 1452 to 1519. He was a painter, architect, inventor, and student of all things scientific. His natural genius crossed so many disciplines that he epitomized the term “Renaissance man.”

Armored Tank

George H.W. Bush ("41") Bush Presidential Library & Museum, College Station, Texas

We drove to College Park to get my bike worked on and were going to go on a bike ride, but Jim said that he wanted to go to the Bush Library instead. It just so happened to be just after Barbara Bush passed away and they had a tribute to her and George Bush. 

Big Bend National Park ~~ Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive & Santa Elena Canyon

Since our days were numbered in Big Bend, we had to get in as much sight seeing as possible, so the next day we took off again, this time driving the 30 mile Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Santa Elena Canyon. Our first stop was Homer Wilson Ranch. It's a long way down to the actual ranch, and I did not walk down there. The ranch was abandoned in 1945. There is a foreman's house, bunkhouse, corral, and a dipping vat for sheep and goats.

Big Bend National Park ~~ Boquillas Canyon & Chisos Mountains

Our first stop in Big Bend was at Panther Junction Visitor Center, which is the park's headquarters and the major visitor center with lots of exhibits and a film about the park. The film was great, narrated by Peter Coyote, telling about the park and how it came to exist. Big Bend lies in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert, one of North America's four major deserts. It also hosts the Chisos Mountains, which is the only mountain range to exist solely within a national park.  

Whitehead Memorial Museum & Judge Roy Bean, Del Rio, Texas

While in Del Rio, Texas we visited the Whitehead Memorial Museum, which also had an exhibit about Judge Roy Bean. We then stopped at Judge Bean's original exhibit on our way to Big Bend National Park. 

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Glen Rose, Texas

We finally made a visit to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center located here in Glen Rose. The Wildlife Center consists of 1,800 acres with around 1,100 animals that roam freely in large pastures among near-natural conditions. They offer various types of tours, but we opted to drive through ourselves so we could stop and go at our leisure. The large pastures these animals live in enable them to behave, socialize and reproduce similar to the way they would in the wild. Many of the species' populations are dwindling and endangered, so ensuring their survival requires a cooperative effort. The "Gosdin Scenic Drive" is 7.2 miles long and took us about two hours. At the half way point they offer a Children's Animal Center, Nature Store, and Overlook Cafe. 

Aoudad