U.S.A. National Parks, Sites and Areas

Golden Spike National Historic Site (23 January 2021)

by Ray WhydeJanuary 25, 2021October 6, 2022

Since moving to Salt Lake City, this is one of the places I wanted to visit. Sometime, over the last 10 years, I read Stephen E. Ambrose’s Nothing Like It In The World, about building the transcontinental railroad between 1863 and 1869. This year, we decide to drive the 1.5 hours for a visit. Even with the bad weather on the way and the cold, blustery winds at the site, it was well worth the trip. We will go back in better weather, but this time we almost had the entire site to ourselves. The Golden Spike National Historic Site …

Nevada-Utah (July 2019)

by Ray WhydeJuly 24, 2019September 10, 2022

We got the call – I’ve got to go! It’s kind of what we do. Jenny had an extra ticket for the Penn & Teller show at the Rio in Las Vegas and didn’t want to waste it (Tom had to leave because of filming in Chicago). Lucky me! I immediately booked a flight to Las Vegas for the next day. The plan was to stay in Las Vegas for a few days, then drive to Utah, with a destination east of Park City. Saturday, July 13 I arrived at the Luxor Las Vegas Hotel. After checking in, I met …

Everglades National Park (23 March 2019)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMarch 23, 2019September 10, 2022

We now live in South Florida and the Everglades National Park is only a couple of hours away (map). Although we had been to parts of the park that is accessible off the Tamiami Trail (the southern-most portion of US Route 41), back when my parents lived in Naples, we had never actually been to the park headquarters, near Miami. When we got to the Visitor Center, the first thing I noticed was a sign listing events happening that day. The event that stood out was an open house at a Nike Missile Base within the park boundaries. After picking …

Western U.S.A (01-30 Sep 2017)

by Pat & Ray WhydeOctober 1, 2017October 7, 20220

We’ve been traveling the world for the last several years (England, Singapore, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Denmark, Germany and France), so it was time to see more of the U.S.A. and some National Parks. Pat’s cousin Susan lives in La Conner, WA (an hour north of Seattle), we set out for there on the first day of September; but first a long, Labor Day weekend in Franklin, TN, visiting friends we had met in Singapore. When we moved to Singapore in 2014, Susan and Woody took us under their wings to introduce us to life out …