Category: Roads
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Driving Up Puget Sound
Tacoma to Snoqualmie Falls to La Conner to Bellingham, Washington (May 14, 1998) We stayed off I-5 to avoid spray coming off the trucks and followed a path through the town of Snoqualmie and its eponymous falls (map). A large inn sat aside wide cliffs of water. The cold, wind, and rain made us miss…
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Dinosaur Land
Near Winchester, Virginia (December 2007) In the days before Interstate highways, before large corporate theme parks and fast food restaurants, little mom-and-pop attractions provided the traveling public with a few moments of amusement and perhaps a brief rest as they traveled through rural America on rolling, winding two-lane asphalt. Kids hung their heads by the…
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Green Mountain Railroad – White River Flyer
White River Junction to Thetford, Vermont (October 2010) A beautiful early fall day is a perfect time for a ride on the Green Mountain Railroad. They offer three routes for tourist excursions: Burlington to Charlotte (“Champlain Valley Flyer”); Bellows Falls to Chester Depot (“Green Mountain Flyer”) and White River Junction to Thetford (“White River Flyer”).…
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Golden Spike National Historic Site
Promontory Summit, Utah, USA (July 2011) Most of us remember the Golden Spike, Promontory, Utah and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. They featured prominently in long ago history classes when we were kids. Now we arrived in northern Utah. There was no doubt that we’d have to stop at the Golden Spike National Historic…
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Finishing Pennsylvania, Part 4 (Western Loop)
Only five of Pennsylvania’s sixty seven counties remained to be visited. They all aligned neatly to the west of our base in Clearfield. I felt pretty excited that morning. I knew I’d finish the statewide quest within the next few hours. Once again my older son decided to come along on the journey while the…
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Finishing Pennsylvania, Part 3 (Northern Loop)
The initial push to capture a dozen remaining unvisited counties in Pennsylvania took a decidedly northern turn. This loop led nearly to the New York border. It also reduced my punch list by half while taking only 4 ½ driving hours. New counties encountered: Elk; Cameron; Potter; McKean; Warren; and Forest. Roadside Aliens My older…
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Crossing South Dakota
Adventures Along Interstate 90 (June 1992) We had already completed most of our RV tour of the southwestern and interior western National Parks, and we pushed into the final stretch. We still had some time to catch a few more sites as we sped towards our home and the end of our expedition. The entirety…
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South of the (Carolina) Border
Dillon, South Carolina (July 2006) We rode through hundreds of miles along Interstate 95 with a constant barrage of “Pedro Says” this and “Pedro Says” that signs. Finally, a giant sombrero beckoned us to an offramp (map). Roadside advertising beat us so badly that we felt compelled to stop. Our older son still recites Pedro’s…
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The Cleetwood Cove Trail
Crater Lake National Park; Klamath County, Oregon, USA (July 2012) Crater Lake National Park offers many different trails to choose amongst. The Cleetwood Cove Trail leading down to the shores of Crater Lake at Cleetwood Cove would be a good option for anyone with limited time available (map). The trailhead begins right next to Rim…
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Chaco Culture National Historical Park
San Juan Co., New Mexico, USA (May 1992) We spent much of a day and drove more than four hundred miles without ever leaving the state of New Mexico. That morning we left Carlsbad in the far southeastern corner destined for Chaco Culture National Historical Park in the for northwest. First we passed Roswell, looking…