02.25.08
Never Vacation Along I-90 During Sturgis
This beautiful sunrise shot in Montana was courtesy of all hotels along I-90 having no vacancies during the Sturgis bike rally in August 1999. We had made our cross country trip from Milwaukee, WI to Seattle, WA and were now on our way back East, with the intention of paying a visit to Yellowstone NP. I think we started looking for hotel rooms in Eastern Washington or Idaho, but with no room in the inn, Eric had to continue driving through the night. He took a break along the side of the road and I got this photo of the sunrise.
As a result, we got to Yellowstone NP about 12 hours earlier than we had expected. I couldn’t stay awake to help drive, so when I got to the park, I was refreshed and ready to go, while Sheryl, Eric and Mom all needed to take a well-deserved nap.
02.21.08
Old Faithful Live Streaming Webcam
Yellowstone National Park has launched a real-time streaming video of Old Faithful Geyser.
Naturally, this news ought to remind us of some Yellowstone stories. Do share.
Other National Parks also have webcams, but many of them still just offer static images refreshed anywhere from every 30 seconds to every 30 minutes. Their purpose is often to offer the ability to monitor weather conditions, air quality, or the most scenic views. The streaming video will be popular for things like geysers, wildlife viewing (Bigfoot!) and volcanoes. I’ll try to see if I can put together a list below of the current streaming video webcams in the coming days.
Update: There are no other live-streaming video webcams, currently, that I can find. So the one in Yellowstone is a National Park first!
02.19.08
Paw Paw redux
See what happens when you trot out the “Year of the Yard?” I’m forced to append additional pictures of Paw Paw, starring . . . you.
(Actually, I had wanted to post these anyway once you posted the Paw Paw pics.)
More from that same trip!
02.17.08
Hampton Was Well Worth the Wait
Saturday was pleasant enough that I decided to make good on my promise to go see Hampton NHS. I wanted to see the inside of the mansion, which has been closed for renovation these past two years, before I moved to Utah. After all, I couldn’t see how visits back East were likely to ever include an excursion to the north side of Baltimore to visit the home of a family that only native Marylanders, or even just native Baltimoreans, would have heard about.
Mom and her friend, Marie, also decided to join me; which nullified my stampage. But that was okay. In fact, it was a good thing, because I really thought that the interior was something to behold. I would’ve wanted her to see with her own eyes the sort of lavishness that I couldn’t begin to describe. Having seen other late 18th and early 19th century homes in the “area”, like Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, Haberdeventure, Monticello, or Montpelier, Hampton made them look like guest cottages. It was well worth the wait. The interior is beautiful. Our guide said that 95% of the furnishings were original to the family and very little of it is foreign; most of it was made in Baltimore. For example, in the red room picture below, the table top is Italian, but the rest is local.
With regard to the stamps: there are two available in the mansion’s visitor entrance. The first is the expected Hampton NHS stamp. The second is an Underground Railroad stamp. Now…Hampton wasn’t a station on the Underground RR. Quite the contrary. They had around 350 slaves and the Ridgely’s were active at retaining their services. But the Underground RR program includes “any place where freedom was sought or the solace of freedom was discussed by those in bondage,” in the approximate words of the ranger at the Hampton farmhouse. Sounds like she memorized the NPS press release, ’cause she was reciting that explanation by rote.
In summary: Hampton had slaves. The slaves wished they weren’t slaves. Therefore, they wanted to buy tickets to freedom on the Underground Railroad. That makes Hampton NHS an Underground RR site. Apparently 60 slaves at Hampton tried to escape at one time or another.
02.14.08
The 2007 Award Ceremony
This was the scene at this year’s passing of the trophy from the winners of 2006–Sheryl & Eric–to me: Champion of 2007.
Judging by the broken hand, it was a brutal competition down the stretch; making the taste of victory even sweeter! Sheryl’s being a gracious loser, though Eric looks genuinely disappointed to be giving up the trophy.
02.13.08
I Visited the Past
Looking at the muffin stamps that I collected on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, in pursuit of The 19, I noticed that the date on the Korean War Veterans Memorial stamp I got is Jan 21 2007.
This particular passport cancellation stamp was at the Lincoln Memorial bookstore, with 3 other correctly dated stamps (look at its neighbor to the right). However, for at least 21 days in 2008, this stamp has probably been stuck a year in the past. For all I know, it still is.
Now, this isn’t as bad as the situation at the Brunswick, Maryland, C&O Canal visitor center, where time stopped on Dec 31 2004 or 2005 (I forget which) because no one has sent them a new stamp that can cancel passports into the future. I’ll have to look to see if I wrote in the year or wrote over the last digit while I was there. I should have gotten one of the rangers to verify my visit with their initials.
Still, only the desperately lazy will argue that this stamp doesn’t count.
