Parks in Winter

by Erik Olsen on

One of my new favorite blogs on the National Park Service – Park Remark – has got a post on some info put out by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. Don’t let the “retirees” part fool you. The list is about the best parks to visit during the winter, and the suggestions are NOT about Bingo and Backgammon, let alone erectile dysfunction. The piece is titled “Beyond Yellowstone: Seven Winter Travel Favorites” and Park Remark rightly points out that too much is often made of Yellowstone and that lots of other parks around the National Park System offer stuff to do in the colder months. Here’s the brief list courtesy of Park Remark:

  • Apostle Islands National Lakeshore – Wintertime magically transforms the Lake Superior shoreline at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore into a frozen fairyland.
  • Mount Rainier National Park – Storm tracks in the northwest bring enormous snowfall to this area, in some years exceeding 1,000 inches of snow for the season.
  • Dry Tortugas National Park – Not all winter national park visits have to involve waist-deep snow and sub-zero temperatures! (located among the Florida Keys)
  • Big Bend National Park – “For birders, Big Bend is a great place to build those all-important life lists. “
  • Yosemite National Park – “For those who want to get away from civilization and are willing to engage in a bit of strenuous activity, Ostrander Ski Hut is a wonderful destination”
  • Cabrillo National Monument – Between mid-December and March, it is possible to see pods of gray whales as they migrate from summer feeding areas off Alaska to sheltered bays in Baja California.
  • Statue of Liberty – To avoid long lines, plan a winter trip when visitation is way down.

Snacking on the Road

by Erik Olsen on

On most USA road trip I’ve been on, I find myself hungry on the road and basically helpless when it comes to finding anything healthy to eat. The American roadside can sometimes seem to be one long strip of fast food joints, offering the kind of greasy, fatty fare that gives Americans a bad reputation as bovine hordes. I have to say that I am not totally down on fast food. In fact, living in New York, but having been brought up in California I sometimes dream (literally) of In N Out Burger. I wake up and my head is swirling with images of Double Doubles, regular and grilled onions. Or Taco Bell. Don’t even get me stated on Taco Bell. Yes, it is sad. I am a fast food fanatic.

But I know that the stuff is bad for me, and so I am on the lookout for alternatives while on the road. Looks like others are too. In a nicely written post, Martha over at our new sister blog That’s Fit has got some ideas for how to get by on the road without adding to your cholesterol count. She starts with the basics: Granola and yogurt, and then moves on to ways you can stay active on the road as well.

I for one recommend some wind sprints and push ups at every rest stop you pass, but that may be too extreme for some. And of course I write that as if I actually DO that, which is not always (or often) the case. But still, we are purveyors of information here, not always practitioners.

“Hiking” Glacier

by Erik Olsen on

Going on about the wonder and glory of the National Parks here has become something of a cliché. Sorry, the parks are one of the best things for the traveler and outdoorsman that we have to offer.

The problem is, too many people know that. And so when you hit places like Yosemite during the summer (or God forbid, Labor Day) the bovine hordes descend upon these places as if they were offing e-ticket rides to the Rapture.

But one park has managed, by virtue of its remoteness and lack of, say, a geyser named Old Faithful, to keep the hordes at bay. It is Glacier National Park. To let you know how relatively unvisited Glacier is…well, I’ve never been there. So how’s that?

But Susan Hegger with the St. Louis Dispatch did get to go, and in this so-so piece she tells the tale. Now, let me say here that the title of the article “Hiking in glacier” is a bit misleading. If I read the article correctly the writer seems to be doing more driving than hiking as she makes her way through the park. That’s rather lame. But you do learn a bit about the park, and I like to take advantage of every opportunity I can to bring attention to the parks and, in particular, places like Glacier, even though that is a rather absurd thing for me to do since I prefer they stay idyllic and yet try to promote them as much as I can. I guess I’m just schizophrenic that way.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of October 8

by Adrienne Wilson on

Happy Friday the 13th all! Time for a little weekly deja vu… Nothing to be scared or panicked about, just relax and review.

5. Dying to Travel:
If avian flu and pandemic disease worry you dare not look at this plug on the interactive risk maps based off the Maplecroft Avian Influenza Risk Index. They might just reveal that avian flu is closer to you than you think. Or you could just be paranoid.

4. Miracle Camping Tub:
Not going to lie – I want one of these. While trying to help his own friend’s overcome some of their camping woes like showering and staying clean, he points us to a spectacular $6,000 gear piece called the Dutchtub and helps all and anyone out that has $6,000 bucks to spend on the equipment. Until that day arrives for me, bird baths it is!

3. Hidden Gems: Crazy Horse:
The Crazy Horse Memorial found in South Dakota’s Black Hills isn’t the most hidden of gems and I’m sure you may have heard of it at some point in your life, but have you been? If your answer is no then my question is what on Earth are you waiting for? Check out this Native American great in this Hidden Gems review.

2. Slum Tourism:
Some of us avoid slums by all means while others are out with video cam in tow. Could touring someone’s poverty stricken life be the latest in tourist trends or a insensitive means of dropping in and getting out when things get too real, too terrible, and too poor? Check out the story Erik directs us to and see what side of the picket-fence you’re on.

1. French Say NON! to Smoking in Public Places:
I think this one says it all! Cheers to good health prevailing! But, oh, yes, there is that part of French culture you have to worry about as Erik mentions in his blurb, that one must think about and hope isn’t necessarily ruined by the no smoking in public places rule. I think it’s marvelous and the French, they’ll be okay.

Patagonia in the Star Trib

by Erik Olsen on

If there’s one place that I’ve blogged about here that I sometimes dream about, it’s Patagonia. It seems like a century ago that I was there with a friend of mine, trekking the Torres del Paine circuit in Chile, and trudging my way (by horse at one point) to the base of the Grey Glacier. The landscape in Patagonia is awe-inspiring. I like to tell people that it is a mixture of Yosemite, Yellowstone and scenes from a science fiction novel. In regards to the latter, not only are some of the gaping spaces there other-worldly, but there are animals like the guanaco and the reah (also known as the Nandu, an awkward, flightless ostrich-like bird) that roam the countryside and sometimes stalk unsuspecting passers-by (we were followed by a curios rhea for about three miles).

So given my enthusiasm for the place, I can hardly pass up the opportunity to post about new articles on Patagonia as I fine them. To wit: here is one from the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Writer Chris Welsch finds the allure of the true land down under nearly as inviting and fascinating as I did. He’s on the road with several fellow travelers including some Aussies and an Argentine makes a fine story of his trip down there. Of course, he make the obligatory nod to Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia and rather conspicuously throws in a couple of foreign words like cebadora, but that’s OK. We’ll forgive him the travel-writing cliches. It’s otherwise a fine piece.