Travel destinations, what are your favorites # 2

We saw moose, caribou, wolves, grizzlies, and dall sheep

Sounds like some exciting trips are planned....would love to see photos from Cuba, Patti.

Have a great adventure, Patti

Just catching up on lots of missed posts. I am embarrassed to admit that I've been watching the Bachelor too. I don't really even like the show; but it's so ridiculous that it's almost fascinating. Bill, you forgot to mention that this season bikini's are optional. That should get Victor on board...

National Parks.

Which of them are bikinis-optional? Will my season pass get me in?

Don't miss the opportunity to take a bush pilot flight over any of the glaciers in Alaska. We went to Wrangell-St. Elias in 2005, and it was absolutely unbelievable.

I didn't realize they opened Cuba to travellers again

Have a great trip SOJ - optional is right there was a skinny dipping and one can only guess what happened in the fantasy suite :) I am sure that is why she is still around - i digress

patti cuba sounds like it will be an interesting trip - your mom is a wonder

The US govt. has some sort of "Cultural Exchange" travel permits that are silly and a sham, but available if you travel with a small group. We are allowed to bring back educational material, art, books and CD's (music) but nothing else produced in Cuba. No cigars or Rum. We had to jump through a million hoops to get approved by both sides. I am not sure if the Cuban requirements where worse than the US's permits. Many of our Canadian friends go often, but we never wanted to circumvent our laws, no matter the politics and fly down from Canada or from Mexico. We had to get Canadian dollars as they charge a huge amount to exchange US dollars and greenbacks are not an accepted currency. I dug around and found some Euro's, Swiss Francs and a few other possible paper currency from past trips to take and spend. I doubt they will want the few dollars we have left from Papua New Guinea. We aren't big shoppers so we will spend our cash mostly of it on food as the rest of the trip has been prepaid for by dear old mum. She will be 97 on March 12th. I can't wait for all the yummy Cuban food and hope we can get her a cool cake. Patti

VV, suppose I could take a detour and go flying like you did in Alaska. Beautiful. Patti

Educational material from Cuba?!! ^_^

Victor, I'll bring you some. I am hoping I can find interesting books on plants, cooking, music and maybe a promising baseball player or two and a lost Hemingway manuscript and then for Castro to graciously give us back the families land or at least a fat check for it. I guess I will have to settle for a cook book. Patti

We are thinking Colorado for summer vacation. Anyone been? Recommendations? We will hit Rocky Mt. Nat Park. Prob a day or so in Denver and Co Springs and hit the Air Force Academy.

We did RMNP, and some skiing. We did the Silverton Durango excursion train, very pretty area at the top. Mesa Verde NP too.

Thanks, Deb. I will look into those. We like trains.

That is an awesome train. Narrow gauge, hugs the mountain. The million dollar highway is a pretty drive with lots of switchbacks. Near Oury I think.

Did you like Mesa Verde?

Not my favorite, more history than natural beauty. It's interesting, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to see it.

Yeah, that was my impression. Think I'll skip it. There are 13 NPs in CO!

Really?

Here is the NPS page. If you uncheck all the options excepts National Parks, it will say 13.

http://www.nps.gov/state/co/index.htm?program=all

Only stopped in Denver while on the train across the country....elevation gave me problems.....

Colorado is awesome, Victor! I agree with Debi.....the Durango-Silverton train ride is great. My stepdaughter just finished the renovation of the school house in Silverton. It's a fun little town with lots of history. I also think Mesa Verde was low on my list after we saw it. There are some very cool Indian ruins there though. If you haven't done Zion and Bryce Canyon, they are awesome and close enough to couple with Colorado if you have a week there. You pick great places to take your kids! They are getting a wonderful education through travel, IMHO. You can't go wrong with the National Parks. Now that I've turned the corner on my descent into thyroid hell, I'm hoping we can do our western trip next summer since we had to cancel it this past fall. 🚗 ⛽

Thanks, Louise and so happy you are feeling better!

Colorado parks...where to begin? We've been through a couple times (October 2004 and July 2005), and I'd love to go back again.

Fall 2004

Mesa Verde was quite interesting - Marianne was hot to go there because of her interest in archaeology and past civilizations. It wasn't far off the path we chose to drive from KY to Salt Lake City for the ASLA conference in 2004 - which included Pike's Peak, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Silverton/Durango, and Arches in Utah.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison is simply unreal.

After the ASLA conference - and a breeze through the southern Utah national parks - we hit Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction. That is worth the price of admission as well.

Summer 2005

On this trip, Marianne and I were squiring David - our oldest German nephew - around some of the impressive sights of the western United States.

We started out going through Rocky Mountain National Park, and proceeded on to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison again. That drive through the northern course of the Colorado River is spectacular in itself. We then went down the little-traveled State Route 149. You must pay homage to the site of the Slumgullion Pass mass wasting. Get your geology geek on...
http://landslides.usgs.gov/docs/schulz/FieldTrip_C.pdf
http://slumgullionecotrade.com/services

Finally, we visited Great Sand Dunes National Park (in a flooding rainstorm, at that) before heading south into New Mexico. On the way back to Denver, we got to see the immense surprise canyon of the Rio Grande - which is not evident from just driving around southeastern Colorado or northeastern NM.

Cool - thanks, vv. I love geology so I'm up for that. Sounds like I will have a tough time narrowing the list!

That's always the way. Have extra choices in pocket, in case weather (or other considerations) goes south where you want to go...

We will probably be there 7-8 days.

Looks like that NPS site is incorrect. Think they included other sites like monuments, forests, etc. Looks like four nat parks - Rocky Mt., Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

check out the coors brewery :)

Victor, Hope you will be doing some dwarf conifer hunting while out there. I heard that the Denver Botanical garden is worth a visit. I would check on DG Rocky Mountain Gardening forum for current information on local gardens and nurseries as well as restaurants. I lived in Colorado, but too long ago to make any cogent statement except that it is the scenery is breathtaking. Patti

buffalo bill museum?

Victor, check this site out to drool over some alpines and conifers posted by a great Colorado blogger. The whole site is amazing but this posting is about a nursery that you might want to visit. I found this site, Prairie Break, awhile ago when looking for articles about plants from South Africa. I now dip into often.

http://prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2012/04/alpine-treasure-trove-laporte-avenue.html

Cool - thanks, Patti!

Don't like Coors at all - no taste to me.

We took the Coors tour and the guide asked if we knew the nickname for Coors light. I said water?

Hee hee! I like Blue Moon these days.

I think we sampled that there and where I learned to drink it with an orange slice. First time I tried it.

There are a number of wineries in the Grand Junction area - not too shabby Cabernet, if I recall.

My sis lived just North of Denver, I was only there once but not for site seeing. I'll find out from her any other recommendations
Lots of punkers there

Thanks, Jen.

Anyone do Pike's Peak?