Photo of the Day (8/22/07)

by Jamie Rhein on

Ywlstonegirl’s shot of Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park reminds me of the Glass Eye Studio globes that I saw the day before yesterday at the Ohio Craft Museum. But, the difference is, instead of looking into the marble from the outside, the angle here gives the impression of being pulled towards the center of the scene. I missed this geyer when we went to Yellowstone two years ago. Maybe the timing was off. It only errupts every 10 to 12 hours. We did see Old Faithful do her thing. I have to say, as touristy as it is to do the thing that everybody else does, it’s worth hanging around to see that geyser shoot up to 8,400 gallons of water into the air. (Old Faithful does a show every 65 to 91 minutes.)

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, head to the Gadling Flickr site and post it.***

National Parks Traveler Gets Facelift

by Erik Olsen on

One of my favorite Web sites about the National Parks, National Parks Traveler, has received both a face and content lift, and I highly recommend you give it a spin. It is lovely and they have a much more sensible web address now.

NPT is run by the ever-diligent, park-loving Kurt Repanshek who has done a stellar job over the years bringing to light issues and developments within our nation’s national parks. Seems he has teams up with the folks that do Park Remark to create a fantastic new site dedicated to the parks.

I wax rhapsodic about the parks frequently here because I deeply believe they are the crown jewels of our national heritage. We should all thank Teddy Roosevelt Ulysses Grant for having the foresight all those years ago to set off Yellowstone as a place that would be protected from development and where all Americans (and others) would be welcome3 to enjoy. The parks are in peril…well, there is a large backlog of much-needed repairs, and it is our duty to pay attention to what is happening to them. Now, that said, I am a realist. My first job out of school (my first REAL Job…after being a photographer in Tahoe) was with the Department of the Interior, the government agency that contains the National Park Service. At that time, there was a serious backlog of repairs, a shortage of qualified rangers and various threats to the sanctity of the parks (i.e. snowmobile issues, planes over the Grand Canyon, etc.). So many of these issues are not new. Not that we shouldn’t continue to pay attention, especially during these “difficult” years.

Anyway, I’ve given the new National Park Traveler a once-over and it is loaded with new features and lots of useful, interesting info. So I urge you, as we move swiftly into summer during which time your plans might include a trip here and there to the parks, to check it out.

Memorial Day Type Place: Gettysburg

by Jamie Rhein on

If you live anywhere near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania perhaps you were one of those kids I saw on a field trip when I was on my own fifth grade outing. Here, on what now is pristine rolling hills and wooded countryside, 50,000 people died in three days during the American Civil War. A friend of mine, a Civil War buff, considers Gettysburg his most favorite place on the planet. He swears the place has some sort of vibe he can feel.

It’s been awhile since I was in the 5th grade but I still have the blurry photos I took and clearly remember the Electric Map (at the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center), the wax museum, and the site where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. The Electric Map, still part of the visitors’ center, shows the movements of the northern and southern armies with colored lights that represent each side.

The wax museum, now called American Civil War Museum doesn’t seem like it’s changed much from its Web site description. I remember one exhibit scene had a wax soldier whose chest moved in and out with his breathing. Another scene I remember, Jennie Wade baking bread in her sister’s kitchen where she was shot and died, is also there. I forgot about her until I read the Web site for the museum.

Hovering somewhere between history and kitch, Gettysburg knows what people like to see. In a world where many places don’t stay the same from one year to the next, it’s comforting to know that in some corners things are like we remember. Here’s a read from The Washington Post about traveling to Gettysburg with some well-put commentaries.

Mail A Postcard from Underground: Carlsbad Caverns

by Jamie Rhein on

Willy ‘s post on underwater mailboxes reminded me of my own experience mailing postcards at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. At the end of the tour, before you head up the elevator to the surface, you can buy a postcard, write a “Wish you were here missive,” affix a postage stamp and drop it in a U.S. mailbox. There’s an ink pad and message stamp so you can add, “Mailed at 750 feet underground.”

Since Carlsbad is a wet cave, I seem to remember a certain dampness about this endeavor. Mailing a postcard isn’t the only thing you can do underground at Carlsbad. There’s a restaurant/snack bar as well.

Mailing a postcard and eating lunch underground aren’t really the reasons to head here; the caverns are enough. In the summer, if you stick around until dusk, you can watch the hundreds of Mexican free-tailed bats swarm out of the cave’s entrance. These bats are what tipped off, cowboy Jim White in 1901 that there was something unusual in the distance. He thought he was seeing smoke.

For someone else’s account of mailing postcards, check out Carlsbad Caverns National Park on Tour of America Airstream Life’s Web site.

Biking Grand Tetons

by Erik Olsen on

We’re not yet in biking season. Especially in Wyoming where winter has been in full swing as opposed to New York where we’ve had record warm temperatures). But I’d like to help you in you planning for spring/summer trips by suggesting you take a look at biking in the Grand Tetons.

Remember that excellent scene in Forrest Gump when he runs across country? Remember when he passes through the Tetons, running with his full beard and that dashing Nike sweatsuit? Well, that could be you, sans dim Southern accent…unless you have a dim Southern accent.

No matter. The skinny is this, that the Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway encompass approximately 100 miles of paved roads for your cycling enjoyment. You can get more info here (pdf) at the Park Service site and secure rentals (if you don’t have your own bikes) at Dornan’s in Moose. This really is one of the epic bike rides of all time, and is worth considering.

Here is an article on the subject at Gorp