Next up – the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. At the Ranger Station on the way in, they asked us not to feed the animals and especially the ravens. There were lots of ravens. We did have to wear masks in the buildings around the Petrified Forest.
It is a 346 square mile park and has some absolutely stunning opportunities for beautiful pictures. From the Painted Desert to the ancient homes of people 13,000 years ago to the zebra-striped mountains of the Tepees and the Blue Mesa in the badlands with the striped hills of blue, purple, pink and gray. At the Crystal Forest, you could walk right up to the petrified logs.
Petrified wood is very colorful because of impurities present during the fossilizing process. The trees lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million ears ago, before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. That’s a long time ago!!
We saw lots of Petroglyphs made by the Puebloan people (petroglyphs were made by carving designs and pictures into a rock on the ground. These were very important to their society and religion).
We went to the Painted Desert Visitor Center for information.Then off to look at the Painted Desert from some of the overlooks. It is amazing and beautiful with lots of colors in striations. We saw the Painted Desert Inn. We also saw the Blue Mesa. Its is called Blue Mesa for a reason – beautiful blue coloring and gorgeous striations there too. We saw the Newspaper Rock area where you could see over 650 petroglyphs, some 2,000 years old!
We went to see the Jasper Forest with lots of petrified wood all in one place. Studies have shown that some of the petrified trees date back 211 to 218 million years! We went to the Agate Bridge which is a 110 foot petrified log spanning a gully. The ranger said it would eventually fall into the gully.
The Crystal Forest has a short trail (0.8 mile loop) where ancient 200 foot tall conifers existed and are now petrified and on the ground in pieces. These particular trees have a high concentration of crystals inside (small pockets where trees have become filled with deposits that eventually turned into quartz and amethyst crystals). From the trail you could view the beautiful petrified wood as well as a panoramic view of the Crystal Forest ad the Blue Mesa.
Leaving the Park, we saw the rusted 1932 Studebaker which is near the original Route 66 that cut through the park.
Then off to Albuquerque. This was one of our family stops but we made good use of our time there. We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. It is a great museum with lots of history and information about people from the atomic age, nuclear medicine, the history leading up to the creation and use of the atomic bomb in WWII. They have bomb casing of the Fat Man and Little Boy bombs, airplanes used, information about the Cold War, nuclear waste transportation and all things nuclear. It was very well done and had lots of great information.
There is a Critical Assembly room which is an exhibit based on the laboratory environment for the assembly of the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project. A room exploring the Cold War and the political conflict existing after WWII along with lots of military weapons. Exhibits about sources of radiation that are around, there uranium comes from and how it affects us and the process of changing uranium into a usable form for nuclear power or weapons and how to dispose or recycle it.
There are displays of the Manhattan Project and the people involved, especially at Los Alamos and the journey that led them to the first explosion in 1945. The devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the after effects are covered. There are even displays about the history of nuclear medicine and how it contributed to the advancement of medical technology as well as green energy options. There are classrooms where children were learning science and a lab where you could play and learn the concepts of physics.
The next thing we did was go to Roswell, New Mexico.
After visiting Carlsbad Caverns, we drove on and went to Roswell, New Mexico. We are both science fiction fans and wanted to see Roswell and all the information about that reported UFO landing. The town was so much bigger than I expected! I thought we would be able to walk to see whatever we wanted. Nope, it is so large, there were two Tractor Supply stores, a Penny’s, Hobby Lobby, Target, etc. I never expected it to be a city.
Lots of businesses capitalize on the UFO landing that they are famous for, especially downtown. A doughnut place had a huge green alien holding the sign up, (most of the alien depictions looked the same, green alien that is common to UFOs) as did a gas station, lots of businesses had alien theme signs on the windows and store fronts. It was kind of fun. Like seasonal decorations but there all year. Of course, there were several UFO shops. We also went in the International UFO Museum. Very well done, informative and worth the visit. Very factual with international UFO information as well as a neat map which showed every reported sighting site. If you touched the site, it would tell you where it was, when it was and what was reported. The also had displays on some of the better UFO movies.
Most of the roads we were on (and we didn’t do interstates, all back roads so we could see the country) were in excellent shape, nice and wide divided 4 lane roads – even the back roads we were on. SC could use some tips from them! We kept seeing signs that said, “Rough Road”. We seldom knew where the rough road was. If they wanted to see rough roads, they should come to SC. And very little traffic on any of those roads. It was very pleasant to drive them.
The first touristy thing we did was to visit Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Mike had applied ahead of time for an entry time (based on where we stayed the night before and how long to get to the caverns). Reservations are required at this time. It didn’t take us very long to get our instructions and information to start our tour.
Carlsbad has self-guided tours as well as Ranger lead tours. The Ranger lead tours went deeper into the cavern but we opted not to do that. We decided to do the self-guided tours. There is also the option to walk down into the cavern or ride the elevation. We decided to walk down (but NOT back up). It is a 1.25 walk into the cavern.
It is 750 feet down (equivalent to walking up or down a 75-story building) and pretty steep. We walked down, some steps, some slopes. Most of the time there were handrails but occasionally you could venture off the path and get up close and personal with the sides of the cavern as well as the deep look into the lower areas. We didn’t do any of that. They actually ask you not to so as not to harm any of the structures as well as for safety.
We went all around the “Big Room” – 8.2 acres. The walk around this area is 1.25 mies. The Caverns are beautiful and well worth the visit! It was so much more than we expected! It wasn’t just a little walk around, it was massive in size and had a huge number of different formations. Most of the structures and rooms are named and you can usually tell why they had that name such as the Totem Pole, Temple of the Sun, Hall of Giants, The Whale’s Mouth, Iceberg Rock, etc.
Carlsbad Cavern is one of over 300 limestone caves in a fossil reef laid down by an inland sea 250 to 280 million years ago. The Cavern stays about 56 degrees F. It has been called one of the seven wonders of the world.
The “Big Room” measures 2,000 feet long and 1,100 feet wide at its greatest extent with amazing formations everywhere and you can walk around all of it! The ceiling arches 255 feet above the floor. It is the largest chamber in North America. The calcium deposits have built stalactites and stalagmites, some eventually joining as columns. Nature has decorated the caves with mineral features of draperies, thin straws, popcorn-shaped nodules and oddly curved helictites.
We didn’t, but you can watch 400,000 Brazilian free-tail bat bats leave the cavern on summer evenings. Reservations are required. The bat area can be seen as you walk down into the cavern. We heard from some people who had seen it that it was amazing!
The elevator ride back up is 62 seconds (at 9 mph). Much quicker than walking back up. We did see some dedicated people walking up as we were walking down.
WOW! What an adventure driving out west was! We have been wanting to do a road trip out there for several years. Mike has been to a lot of places out there but I have never done any sightseeing in the west before. I have been to several cities in California and Texas, but that was about all my seeing the sites consisted of.
Think about it, most people including us want to go to exotic foreign places with beautiful scenery and beaches and mountains without ever considering the cornucopia of places to visit right here at home. From sea to shining sea, there are awesome parks, towns, cities and attractions for every taste, So for us as travel advisors, and just for ourselves, this was a journey of exploration of the wonders in the West of the United States.
We decided late last year that if we didn’t plan it and do it, we never would, so we started by setting a date. We wanted to go at the end of the summer this year. We thought maybe several weeks would allow us to do everything we wanted to do. That ended up growing to 5.5 weeks.
Mike did all the planning. I had input in lots of the sites but he has been to some and knew what we should see better than I did. He spent weeks checking out different sites and planning a possible route to see the things we wanted. Then he started planning the exact route. We also had to consider how long we wanted to spend at each site. Then look for any other sites near the top things that we might enjoy looking at. He did extensive planning and it went perfectly!! Every hotel was planned ahead and reservations made (we did leave plenty of leeway to stop for things we found along the way), all the parks reservations were made (some are required, some are not) and he planned the route for every day – mileage, time in route, and what time we might leave and arrive.
We visited friends and family all the way out to California, not just sites. We started on a southern route first. On the way out, we went through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. We wanted to see as many National Parks in Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and California as possible, as well as as many things near the parks as we could. Of course, several caverns and trains since they are always on Mike’s list of things to do.
So join us on our adventure of 40 days and 40 nights over just shy of 10.000 miles as we explore just a very few of the things to do and see in the western part of our great nation. The hope is that inspiration will follow, and you will take to the road or the skies to make a journey of discovery as well.
Deedee and I have done a lot of cruises from the largest cruise ship to our favorite river cruise. All of these have one thing in commom. Some one else is driving the boat. Most people that cruise would say thats a really good thing. Being on a boat with a very professional crew that takes care of your safety, navigates, serves you food, and entertains you is what everyone thinks of for a cruise.
In September 21, we tried something completely different. We cruised on a narrow boat where we were the crew, the cooks, and the entertainment. We were responsible for everything. Now I’ll admit that it was fairly difficult to get into too much trouble at the blinding speed of 3 knots, but we tried a couple of times.
Our route was from the Chirk, Wales base down to Ellesmere in England where we spent the night, turned around and headed back upstream. We made it as far as Trevor after doing the Aqueduct (more about that later), then returned to Chirk base in 5 days.
Our boat was the Catlin, and a good boat was she. As with all narrow boats, it is seven feet wide, but the length can vary between 45 feet to almost 70 feet. This depends on the number of bedrooms, and bathrooms on board. Our boat was 53 feet long, had two bedrooms, and a central bath. Essentially it is a floating Camper.
Our friends had done this several times and recommended Black Price Boats as our source. We were very pleased with the company and the boat. She was clean, tidy and reliable. The layout is very comfortable, if a bit tight, especially passing in the narrow corridor. The kitchen, while small, was very well equipped with a gas range, small oven, a refrigerator, and all the other stuff it takes to prepare a meal. Considering how much fun we had and what a great adventure it was, the price was very reasonable.
The bedrooms are very small, with limited storage, however that is the same situation on a camper so no issue there. Our boat had one bathroom, but there are boats with two.
All in all a very comfortable place to spend 5 days. There was a radio and CD player on board along with a small TV, neither of which we used. I did discover camera mounts on the roof at the front of the boat. Made it very easy to mount the 360 degree camera for videos and pictures.
I am used to extensive checkouts on airplanes including weeks of simulator training for a new aircraft I would fly. This was not that kind of a checkout. They showed where the switches were, how to start the engine, how the throttle and rudder worked, then said if you have questions, its in the manual. That took twenty minutes, and we were on our way. In truth that was enough, we learned very quickly how the boat operated and after the first hour or so, we were an experienced crew.
One of the first things we did was go through the Chirk Tunnel. – a one boat affair. (Chirk Tunnel is 459 yards, completed in 1801. It is a brick lined tunnel, one of the longest of the three tunnels on the Llangollen Canal. It and Whitehouse Tunnel were the first tunnels built in Britain to be built with a towpath – walking path alongside.) The guy at the marina had told us we could see the other side – to look for other boats and turn our headlight on. What I thought was the headlight was the circuit breaker for it. In the meantime, we thought we saw a light coming through the tunnel so we stopped on the right. We waited for awhile then actually did see a boat come through without a light on! He said no one was behind him so we started through. With Deedee holding a flashlight in front. It seemed like a long tunnel – 459 yards. And it was dark!! People walking on the walkway beside us had to have a flashlight. Finally made it through and there were 2 boats behind us! It went right into the 1 lane Chirk Aqueduct which blessedly has a passing basin between the tunnel and the aqueduct. So we pulled over because we could see 2 boats coming over the Chirk Aqueduct. We pulled almost to the bank. The 2 boats behind us pulled up beside us to let the other 2 boats from the Aqueduct go into the tunnel. We let the other 2 boats go first. Then we went over the Aqueduct. It is 70 feet over the River Ceiriog. Beautiful view of the country below and beside us was a railway line with 10 stone arches. It was very pretty!
After the aqueduct, it was pretty easy sailing until we tied up for the night. As with all things the learning curve can be steep at first. Our checkout included instructions for some clips that are used to tie up with. It looks like a massive paper clip. All along the bank are metal strips that look like road barriers, but are bolted to the canal side so there is a small gap. The idea is that the hooked end goes between the bank and the rail. It jams in and locks the clip in place. Then the rope just loops through, and ties to the bollards on the fore and aft of the boat. Of course, I didn’t get it right the first time, so I just pounded stakes in the ground and tied up to them. This was the first night we ate on the boat. Next day we did both locks on our route with some help.
Most of the videos we did on the way back, because we were still trying to figure it out, and it rained hard on us all the way to Elismere. In fact the video of the tunnel is the one we did on the way back upstream.
We spent the next night in Elismere. It stopped raining so we went to town and ate at the Red Lion pub. Very famous old establishment dating from the 1500’s. Wonderful pub food. Fish and Chips, along with Guinness Lamb Stew.. The next morning was gorgeous, so we filled the potable water tank and headed upstream. About two hours later we came to the first of the two locks.
The locks are one boat affairs, and are manually operated. The drill is to wait for a boat coming out of the lock, so you can just go in. The aft gate is closed and the upstream paddles (the valves that let the water in or out) are raised by turning a gear drive with a windless. Every boat has a windless and you had best keep track of it. When the water level equalizes, the fore gate is opened and the boat is moved out. In the meantime the crew member working the lock insures that all paddles are closed for the next boat. This video gives a much better idea of how it works.
This canal had just two locks to pass through during our journey. As newbie’s on the narrow boats, we didn’t want to have to do a lot of locks. Our concerns were not warranted. Once you do one, it becomes obvious how to do it. Another issue for us was that it was just us doing it. This meant that Deedee had to stay on the boat while I operated the lock. She was not particularly thrilled with the idea of keeping the boat centered in the lock while the water was going up or down. If there are more folks on board, it makes the process go a lot smoother. On some canals, there could be as many as twenty locks, including some step locks that have multiple gates one right after another. Not what we wanted to tackle first time out, but not an issue for a future trip. The locks are completely manual. Once the boat is in the lock, the gates have to be closed behind the boat. Then the paddles, which are gear driven up and down by a windless, have to be opened. Depending on which way you are going, the water fills the lock, or drains from the lock. When the water level equalizes, you can push open the gate at the front of the boat and sail out. Still the operating crew member then has to lower the paddles, get the boats windless and get back on the boat. In most cases, for us, there were other boats waiting to go through, so lots of people on the banks to assist. Once you said this was your first time on the canal, they would help you get through. I believe it was the kindness of the folks but also a desire to not let the newbie slow up the process.
The truly spectacular feature on this canal is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. It was completed in 1805 after 10 years of construction and 1 death caused by carelessness. The Aqueduct is 1007 feet long, 11 feet 10 inches wide, 5 feet 3 inches deep and is 126 feet above the River Dee. It consists of 18 piers and 19 arches each with a span of 45 feet. The towpath (walkway) that runs along side it, just over the trough has railings running along side it to protect the towpath but the trough has no railings. The Aqueduct was named a World Heritage Site in 2009.
That’s all very interesting information, but going over it in person is just awesome. The view is spectacular, especially since the view from the edge of the canal is straight down. The pictures are not ours, but show the aqueduct from different views. The video is of us crossing it.
As we go across, you can hear the boat occasionally scrape the metal sides of the channel.
A great deal of the attraction for this kind of cruising is how serene and peaceful the journey is. On the canal, the sound of the boat is very low, so the birds and the wind, and conversation are all easy to hear. The pace is languid and the scenery is very pastoral. Everything is done slowly. Rushing to do anything seems pointless, although when docking or tying up, there is a small amount of monkey motion to get it done.
One other small feature we found on the canal was a manual lift bridge. This is a geared bridge that the boat must stop for. A crew member gets out and uses the windless to crank the gear to raise the bridge. When the boat is through, it needs to stop and the crewman lowers the bridge, then hops back on. In our case, there was a gentleman at the bridge who was kind enough to operate it for us.
The upshot of any experience is – would I do it again. In this case the answer is a resounding yes. This is a trip that combines so many things. Probably first and foremost is a sense of control because it’s you doing it. You are driving the boat, determining the speed, not some one else in a bridge far away. On the other hand, you are constrained by the canal and the slow pace of the boat, so the chances for serious mistakes are low.
Then there is the beauty and the peace of it. Watching the small part of the world go by at 3 Knots is an almost magical and fantastical experience. So do it again, yep, and we are working on that with another couple for the not to distant future.
A couple of years ago we sailed on the Windstar Windsurf from Barbados. We stayed a couple of days before boarding, and came across this wonderful museum called the Concorde Experience. This was an amazing place, as there is a Concorde that can be toured. This is a video of our tour in the Concorde. Unfortunately, it closed in 2019, and certainly has been closed during the pandemic. We are hopeful that it will reopen. If it does, please stop by, you will love it.
This is a video of a circuit around the patch at our airstrip at the farm. The airplane is a Maule M5-235C that we owned for a number of years. The strip is just 1600 ft long with TALL trees at both ends. The Maule handles it like it is an international airport. It is a challenging strip at the best of times. Since it is private, I only allow people that I know are good with short fields, and have the airplane that can perform.
I hope you find this entertaining. I do miss the flying, but I stay in touch with all my flying buds, so we swap lies quite regularly.
We have been users of the Sonos wireless music system in our house for many years. It provides music to almost every room reliably and with excellent fidelity. Music can be sourced from almost any online source, or from a local cache of music files.
Our preference is to use the local source, since that does not use any of our very limited internet bandwidth. We have had these music files spread over several different computers on the network, and in lots of different formats. This created a host of problems that needed a solution to consolidate all of those files in one place. I didn’t want to use the main HTPC computer as it’s function is just to do movies and provide music to the main listening system. I also didn’t want to use an office computer as they get turned off at night.
This server needed to be small, reliable, headless (meaning no keyboard or display) and connect directly to the LAN after the hardware firewall. The Raspberry Pi turned out to be an ideal solution to the problem. In the picture you can see two small black boxes. The one with the blue light is a 500GB hard drive in a generic USB enclosure. That disk contains some 12,000 mp3 and flac music files. The other small black box is a Rasperry Pi model 4 computer. Don’t be taken in by that tiny box. It is a full featured mini pc that can do anything a desktop can do. It can run any program you desire including full office software suites.
In this case all I wanted was to connect the hard drive to the computer and then to the network, where the Sonos controller software could request the desired music from that drive. In short it works perfectly. The little Pi runs 24/7 and unless something causes the power to fail, no intervention with it is needed. Even then, I can remotely log into it to restart it if necessary, however it is setup to just start the music service on its own on boot up.
If anyone is interested in creating an NAS music server using the Pi, I will be glad to send you the instructions for doing this. It will take a bit of tinkering with some settings and editing some configuration files on the Pi, but nothing really heavy duty.
There are lots of other automation tasks I am considering for this gadget, and I will post about those later.
Viking Ocean cruises is known as the best cruise line in the world. They have won this award every year since the inception of the ocean fleet. Part of that is the attention to detail evidenced in the design of the ships and the interior spaces. This video gives an excellent insight to how Viking promotes and honors the tradition of the Nordic ancestors that gave the name Viking to this cruise line.
Being in the business of providing guests to Viking to partake of these ships is something we always look forward to. We have never had a guest return from any Viking voyage, be it on River or Ocean without singing the praises of the entire experience. Deedee and I are devoted travelers on Viking, and we are so looking forward to our Christmas Cruise on the Danube later in 2021.
Please watch the video, and I’m sure you will come away with a new understanding of why Viking Cruises is what they are.
