Joshua Tree National Monument

We spent the afternoon with Micah, Noah, Shigemi and Kurt investigating the park where the kids got their National Park Passports

stamped and received a Junior Ranger Booklet with photos and checklists for them to discover within the park. Kurt was interested in the wildflowers especially as photo opportunities, Noah was 'animal hunting' and found a ground squirrel and lizard to mark in his book. Micah played bingo as she identified wild flowers and other parts of the park, placing an X when she spotted one of the items to be found. Judy and Shigemi found it all so interesting and enjoyed the walk. A hike on a short trail brought discoveries of huge California Fan Palm Trees at a spring which provided water to nourish them, places to climb on the rocks and generally having a great time as a family.

Palm Springs

Kurt, Shigemi, Micah and Noah met us in Palm Springs to spend the weekend enjoying the pool and the super sunshine we always find there.

Flowers Brighten our Way into Palm Springs

The past winter must have been a good one for precipitation as there are many wildflowers blanketing the ground in the desert areas of Arizona and California. You can tell it's spring because of that AND seeing the green tinge on all the mountains instead of the brown that it evident in all the other seasons. I so enjoyed seeing all the blooming purples, oranges and yellows on the roadsides as we made our way to Palm Springs where we had a swim and hot tub soak and where we'll be staying till Monday afternoon.

More about Vicksburg Battlefield National Park on March 23

USS Cairo

Before the siege of the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, the Union
side in the Civil War was trying to carry supplies south of the
city in order to supply the troops before they mounted another
campaign on the city, the capture of which was proving to be a difficult, if not
impossible, task. They employed seven city-class ironclad warships
that were specifically designed for river travel to attempt the passage
past the guns on shore protecting the city. The USS Cairo was sunk in
its attempt, disappearing in the waters of the river in 12 minutes on
December 12th, 1862.

One hundred two years later it was found and raised and then, later
restored as much as possible to be the only surviving example of this
type of ironclad warship which resembled nothing more than an iron
shed floating on a raft. The restoration utilizes a process called
ghosting where the surviving parts of the ship are supported by
laminated beams showing the original outline of the vessel and also
replacing missing parts.

The pictures show a photo of the original ship with the crew, various
views of the restored ship with the original wood, iron on the front
and ghosting beams.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

March 25

The Guadalupe Mountains are part of one of the finest examples of an ancient marine fossil reef on Earth. Here's how the brochure describes the process of their formation: the reef was formed into a 400-mile long, horseshoe shaped reef. Eventually the sea evaporated. As the reef subsided, it was buried in a thick blanket of sediments and mineral salts. The reef was entombed for millions of years until a mountain building uplift exposed part of it. Other parts of the reef are exposed in the Apache Mountains and the Glass Mountains in West Texas.

The park can be explored mostly on foot on the many hiking trails. There are pine and fir forests in the higher elevations with much different habitats than are found in the surrounding desert at the base of the mountains.

Time

Arizona doesn't participate in the annual dance most of us do of changing their clocks to and from daylight savings time. Each day as we've gotten into a new time zone we've gained an hour and when we are on the trip home we will gain an hour. I wasn't sure, yesterday as we stopped in Arizona, if we would gain or lose an hour and even now, the next day, I, being easily confused, am not sure what happened but I do know that we are on CA time now - three hours earlier than the east coast. So all will remain the same as we venture into CA and Palm Springs this afternoon.

Underground

March 25

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is extremely well-maintained and staffed. We thoroughly enjoyed our brief visit there. The caverns are cavernous to say the least. There are many various formations there: stalactites, stalagmites, column, straws, popcorn, draperies. It is just amazing that all this was formed millions of years ago in an area which is now 750 feet below ground. The Big Room, as it is called, is the size of 14 football fields and takes more than an hour to walk around once.

It is difficult without a lot of photographic skill and great equipment to make really good pictures in the low-light conditions. Here are some from my tiny Lumix with a few saturation adjustments in Photoshop Elements so that you can get an idea of our experience.

It was good to get into familiar typical Texas terrain with the prickly pear cactus clusters, live oaks and fields with cattle. This picture is NOT of that but the West Texas landscape we traveled through seeing many fields with the remains of last year's cotton and others just being plowed - each field seemingly being miles long. Very boring to plow I imagine.

Tonight we're in Carlsbad relaxing a bit. Tomorrow we'll visit the Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Tuesday, March 23

Yesterday I was able to get this process going again but was too tired last night from all our sitting in the car, I guess, to do everything here that I had hoped to.

Before leaving Vicksburg we drove the self-guided tour of the terrain where the terrible seige of Vicksburg occurred during the Civil War at the National Battlefield Park there. The introductory movie was a chilling insight into what this war was like in the midst of battle. It's difficult from our perspective today to understand how the men on either side kept up the fight for months as they marched all over Mississippi chasing the enemy or defending their position while ill and on short rations. Many monuments to the men who fought and those that died dot the roadside as you drive through the park.

More about Vicksburg in the next post. We're off to Carlsbad today, traveling along I-20 as we have been since Atlanta.

Riverfront Murals

The Sultana carried too many Confederate soldiers
even though it had sprung a leak. They were paid
$5 for each soldier they carried. The boat was designed for
somewhat over 300 passengers but 2700 were jammed
inside and when it sank, 1700 lost their lives.




Jefferson Davis hearing that he has been selected to the
responsibility to be the President of the Confederacy. Not
a welcome burden to him.

Vicksburg Mississippi

We saw the sunset at this self same Mississippi River that I mentioned in a former entry along with murals along the riverside showing the history of Vicksburg. Very impressive. Actually the body of water we saw, we suspect, was really a spur of the Mississippi called the Yazoo River.

We're Off!!

In the long tradition of the Rapelje family, a cry was heard this morning along about 9 a.m on Spy Glass Lane in Salem.: "We're off the Captain shouted as he staggggggggggered down the deck!!" And so we get rolling with a few miles to get accustomed to our journey before hitting and navigating through the Atlanta traffic. After accomplishing this feat it should be clear sailing to our aim for today of Jackson, Missississippippi. Well you learned how to spell it in school, maybe better than I. I just got carried away...........

Itinerary for the Journey

Getting excited about getting on the road - visiting people and places on our journey to and along the Pacific coast! Even gonna squeeze in a stay in good ol' Palm Springs for a couple of days at the excellent suggestion of Kurt and Shigemi who will meet us (not quite) halfway or at least on our way to LA for the weekend.

Here's the bare bones of what we're planning with the view that everything is flexible. We'll be playing with Kurt and family for the first leg of our CA trip with a possible visit from Karen to LA where we're used to seeing her before we take Micah and Noah to stay in San Marcos and visit Legoland and other sights south of LA as well as relaxing in the pool with them, playing games. Then we head north to visit with Dan and Julie in Santa Barbara who are friends of many years on our way to visit with Karen and Patrick in their new home in Santa Rosa. Looking forward greatly to that event and investigating all the many sights in the area from Point Reyes to the beautiful wine country to Stockton where the Annual Asparagus Festival will be on while we're there. Yummm! Karen says I'm goin' LOVE the area and she knows me so I'm getting ready to be wowed!

Itinerary for Judy and Harry

March, April, May 2010

March 22 Leave Home Stay near Jackson Mississippi

March 23 Drive Stay past Dallas/Fort Worth

March 24 Drive Stay near Carlsbad New Mexico touring Guadalupe Mountain National Park

March 25 Tour Carlsbad Caverns Stay past Tucson AZ

March 26 - 28 Arrive in Palm Springs. Stay at Ramada Inn

March 29 Arrive in LA Stay at the Gardena Terrace Inn

visiting with Kurt and family

March 28 – April 3 Stay in LA at Gardena Terrace Inn

April 4 Brunch with Kurt and Family Stay in San Marcos

April 4, 5, 6, 7 Stay in San Marcos Visit San Diego Wild Animal Park and Legoland, etc. with Micah and Noah

April 8 – 11 Stay at Gardena Terrace

April 12 Leave about 2 p.m. Stay at Dan and Julie’s in Santa Barbara; arriving for dinner

April 12, 13, 14 Stay at Dan and Julie’s

April 15 Leave after breakfast Stay near San Francisco

April 16 – 25 Stay at Karen and Patrick’s in Santa Rosa

April 26 Leave for home

April 26 – May 6 Drive for home stopping in Lake Tahoe, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois etc. as the spirit moves

Heading to the California Sun

Still going to hit Palm Springs

Kurt and Shigemi suggest a weekend in Palm Springs as we arrive in CA before we get to LA. Sounds like a winning idea so we've adjusted our itinerary to reflect that and will be staying at the Ramada there poolside just so we can soak up the sun and live it up with them.

Beginning a blog to emulate our friends who are reporting on their cruise. We're getting down to the wire for planning and considering what we're taking as far as belongings and routes to travel for this spring's trek to the Pacific coast . We're planning on beginning our drive on Monday morning, March 22 with our first final destination in the LA area where we'll visit with, play with and enjoy Kurt and his family, Shigemi, Micah and Noah. Looking forward to the journey. Have to start packing soon.