“One month, one week, and a half” is how Kelsey describes my 39-day, 10,000 mile road trip which ran from coast-to-coast along northern routes focusing on National Parks and Monuments. A jazz festival on Catalina Island and family visits in the Pacific Northwest were other highlights. Looking back, it was a remarkable and gratifying trip.

As I traveled across the great distances I planned many stops. Most of what was new lie between the Mississippi and the Rockies. Once I entered the red rock country of southern Utah until I left Yellowstone I was visiting old friends. In both instances I came away with the reinforced belief that we really have preserved something special in this country. Our National Parks and Monuments are amazing and there for us all to visit and appreciate ... not just one time but again and again.

Below you’ll find a coarse depiction of my route. It turns out that Google Maps can’t handle the detail I threw at it so this rough semblance will have to do and it is vaguely accurate. Probably only I care about the details.

Blog entries of my six week trip are listed below in chronological order:

1. Westward Ho!
   

2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater
   

3. Cincinnati Lights
   

4. Lincoln’s Boyhood Home
   

5. Giants on the Rampage
   

6. South Dakota National Parks
   

7. A Devil of a Tower
   

8. Milestones of Westward Migration
   

9. The Climb Begins at Fort Laramie
   

10. Six Lake Hike in the Rocky Mountains
    

11. Colorado National Monument
    

12. Brilliant Red Utah
    

13. Fiery Surprises You’ve Never Heard Of
    

14. Descending in to Los Angeles
    

15. Hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail
    

16. JazzTrax in Paradise
    

17. Kings Canyon and Amazing Sequoias
    

18. Yosemite Rain, Rocks, and a Flat
    

19. Idyllic Lassen
    

20. Crater Lake with Birds and Caves
    

21. Family Around Portland
    

22. Columbia River Gorge
    

23. Walking on the Moon
    

24. Impacted by Road Construction
    

25. Roosevelt’s Badlands North
    

26. Who Says Fargo’s Not Interesting?
    

27. Wisconsin has a Thumb!
    

28. Across the U.P. to Canada
    

29. Two Days of Lighthouse Hunting
    

30. The Heart of U.S. Manufacturing
    

31. Lights along Lake Erie’s South Shore
    

32. Along the Historic National Pike
    

As I see the length of this list I guess I’m surprised. Either I’m chatty and boring and nobody will read and comment on my blog or, hopefully the other extreme, I’m concise and interesting and many will read and comment. Likely the results will fall somewhere in between. In addition to these 32 blog posts I’ve generated 19 photo albums. No wonder I’m so tired!

A good trip to remarkable places must bring out the photojournalist in me!

One last thought ...

On the home stretch as I drove along the shore of Lake Erie I was struck by a realization. In the past four years I have driven most of the shoreline of this country! Only bits and pieces remained to be traveled. A new goal emerged ... complete the circuit. It’s not something I’ll strive for separately but if ever I’m “in the neighborhood” to complete a stretch I’ll certainly make the effort.