National parks that we have visited.
I posted in early March about our visit and cruise to Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California.
Well, those photos were taken by my iPhone, but Jenn also took a bunch of photos with her big camera, a Nikon D7200. She has just gone through those photos, and shared her favorites with me, so I thought I’d do a followup post with her pictures. Enjoy!
Whale tail:
Oil rig:
Lioning about:
Dolphins:
Whale tail:
Dolphins:
Birds:
Arch and island:
Having done a guided tour of the Grand Canyon by train and bus, we visited it again a couple of days later in our truck; just an hour drive from the campground. This time, we went later in the day, to catch the sunset.
Here’s the canyon from the South Rim Village area:
The Hopi House, an Indian gift store:
The El Tovar hotel:
Views of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point, near the Visitor Center:
Several miles further east, the Desert View Watchtower and viewpoint:
Heading back west, from Navajo Point (with a glimpse of the Watchtower):
From Lipan Point:
Back at Mather Point for the sunset, and some nice alpenglow:
A magical experience.
We visited another national park: the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona:
The park consists of two sections joined by a narrow portion; in the north are painted hills, and the south has petrified trees. Click the map to go to the NPS map page:
The northern visitor center was being renovated, so they had a temporary one set up:
Jenn peeking over a stand, with clocks showing Arizona time (which doesn’t observe Daylight Savings time), Navajo Nation time, New Mexico time, and California time:
Jenn bought and stamped a National Parks passport as another keepsake of our park visits. Though later decided to switch to a larger one:
A cafe and gift store:
More clocks and other decorations:
As mentioned, the north part of the park has desert painted hills:
The Painted Desert Inn used to have food and accommodations back in the 1920s, but is now a museum:
More painted hills:
Where a discontinued part of the famous Route 66 crosses the park, there is a rusted 1932 Studebaker (the only national park that includes part of Route 66):
Rocks:
Petroglyphs:
More painted hills:
A petrified log:
An interesting trailer in a parking lot:
A random structure; nothing inside, so kinda just a fancy arch:
A petrified log bridging a canyon, supported by old concrete:
Painted hills:
Petrified logs:
An amusing sign:
Petrified logs:
The southern visitor center and museum:
Petrified logs behind the visitor center:
Having visited the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks, we added a couple more stickers to our coach:
While staying at the Grand Canyon Railway RV park, and the reason for staying there, we took the train to the Grand Canyon.
This was a special wedding anniversary treat for us; we did the train trip on a day when they used the historic steam train, and went to the park in the Luxury Dome train car, did a bus guided tour, and returned in the Luxury Parlor train car.
Before boarding the train, there was a little cowboy show:
All aboard! Here’s the Luxury Dome train car; a double-decker car, with a lounge below and a full-length dome above:
After that car, at the end of the train, was the Luxury Parlor car, where we boarded:
Us in our seat in the dome car; the TSA was still requiring masks except when eating and drinking:
The Luxury Dome car, built in 1955:
Each car had a Passenger Service Attendant:
A glimpse of the front of the train out the dome window (don’t worry, better pics later):
Snacks and beverages:
The train newspaper:
A photographer took some pictures:
Here are a couple official photographs of us, in the dome and on the rear platform:
The Luxury Dome car was only about half full:
I walked the length of the train, starting from the rear platform:
The Luxury Parlor car, built in 1947:
Passage between cars, with the steps to the Luxury Dome visible:
The lower floor of the Luxury Dome car:
One of the Observation Dome cars; they have smaller domes:
The dining car:
The historic 1923 Pullman car:
A Coach car:
Singer:
Looking over the train from the frontmost observation dome:
Arriving at Grand Canyon village:
Tour bus:
On board the bus:
Ranger operations building:
A bunch of pictures of the Grand Canyon:
Lunch was included in the bus tour; it was supposed to be a buffet, but in these COVID times, it was instead a sack lunch:
Jenn found a hat in the gift store:
More angles of the big hole in the ground:
When we tipped the bus driver/guide, she gave us a snowy canyon pic she had taken:
Back at the train station in the park, I got some pictures of the 1923 steam train engine:
An assist from a diesel engine:
The power car:
Coach cars:
The rear of the train, with observation dome cars, the Luxury Dome car, and the Luxury Parlor car:
The rear platform of the Luxury Parlor car:
Champagne toasts in the Luxury Parlor car:
The conductor making a PA announcement:
Snacks:
Singers:
On the rear platform:
View from the rear platform:
The cowboys stopped the train:
Cowboy train robbery:
The sheriff going after the robbers:
Lastly, an official photo of the steam train engine:
This was a fun way to spend our anniversary, and quite the experience. Highly recommended.
Since visiting all 63 national parks in the US is one of our goals in this adventure, in addition to commemorating our visits in Jenn’s national parks book, we decided to add stickers to the driver-side slide-out of our coach (since the states map is on the passenger side):
We’ve visited seven national parks since getting our coach, so have added those stickers, in the order we visited them, starting from the bottom-left:
We have visited others in the past, but aren’t counting them for stickers until we visit them again in an RV, like with the states map.
A timelapse of driving our truck through the east and west parts of the Saguaro National Park.
We visited Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona.
In fact, it’d be more accurate to say that this park surrounds Tucson. It is split into two parts, west and east, on either side of the city. Here’s a map from the NPS site:
The Google map better shows Tucson between the two parts of the park:
We visited both parts, starting with the east one. Here’s the entrance road; a not very clear picture of the Saguaro National Park sign:
A fairly small visitor center:
Outside the visitor center was a nice botanical garden; we had a picnic lunch in a shelter near the garden:
An info sign, showing a map of the one-way loop road in the park:
We drove the loop road. A warning to “brake now” before a steep hill:
Curvy road:
Lots of interesting cacti to see:
The road was popular with bicyclists:
A stop at Javelina Rocks:
We passed through Tucson to the west part of the park:
It has a larger visitor center:
Info sign:
We were amused by the “sus picnic ground”:
The visiter center bookstore was limited to 10 people at a time (but no masks required), with numbered tickets for entry:
A cacti forest and hills behind the visitor center:
While we waited for our turn, we walked along a path behind the visitor center:
Tomorrow, a timelapse video of driving through both parts of the park. (Actually, it’s live now; if you’re a subscriber to the YouTube channel, you would have been notified as a sneak peek.)
In our ongoing mission to visit every national park, we did one of the ones we can’t drive into — Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California.
We could drive to the visitor center in Ventura, California, though:
After that we stopped for lunch at a nearby place in the marina, Boatyard Pub:
Fish and chips:
Burger and fries (most excellent fries):
Good vibes:
Then we headed to Oxnard for an afternoon boat cruise into the park. Here’s an info sign:
The marina:
Our tour boat was the Vanguard:
Boarding the Vanguard:
Time to go:
Departing:
We were fortunate to see several whales; here’s a blowhole sign of one:
Whale tail:
Low-flying pelicans:
One of several oil rigs:
We also encountered a few pods of dolphins:
A couple of animated GIFs of the dolphins:
More dolphin pics:
Our guide:
Another whale encounter:
Whale GIF:
Pelicans:
The coastguard is still requiring masks, even in an outdoor situation like this, for some reason. So here’s a masked selfie:
East Anacapa Island:
Arch:
There were hundreds or thousands of birds in the air and on the island:
Lighthouse:
Arch:
Birds:
Building:
Sea lions:
We drove in the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park in California, around a campground, to some possible hike locations, down a dirt road to a nice place for a walk, then out the west entrance. Enjoy this timelapse of the drive; the first half is less interesting, but wait for the interesting rocks and joshua trees.
We visited Joshua Tree National Park when last in the Palm Springs area back in December, but decided to visit it a second time in early February, specifically to go for a short hike.
We went in the south entrance (where we exited last time), and stopped at the visitor center there. There was a singing park ranger:
After exploring a campground (too small for our coach), a picnic lunch, and considering a hike near the visitor center, we continued on towards the joshua tree part of the park. Passing some interesting rocks on the way:
Some joshua trees:
The parking areas were too full to do more popular hikes, so on a whim we turned down a dirt road:
Some interesting rocks by the road:
We stopped at an access point for rock climbers, and explored that area as an informal hike:
If you look closely, you may spot several rock climbers:
A selfie:
I’m valiantly holding up a rock:
A wave-shaped rock:
Young joshua tree:
Rocks:
Me taking a photo:
Of this:
Jenn and me:
Another rock climber:
More rocks:
A small cactus:
Joshua tree:
Rocks and joshua trees:
A bird:
I like the glowing effect of the sun behind the tip of the rock:
More lens flare with the sun touching the tip of the rock:
Joshua trees:
We’re liken the lichen:
Three colors:
Rocks and joshua trees:
Jenn on a rock:
Me joining her:
Jenn posing:
Me:
Shadows:
More interesting rocks:
