Tag Archives: film

New Mexico

White Sands National Park

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Overview

You might know gypsum as the white powder inside drywall panels.  Gypsum readily dissolves in water, but here it forms sand dunes because no river drains the Tularosa Basin.  The white color of the dunes does make for extra intense albedo, so be sure to bring sunglasses and carry plenty of water.  Most of the wildlife here is nocturnal, but during the day you may spot a lizard species evolved to camouflage in the sand.

Update: As of December 20, 2019, the former National Monument is now called White Sands National Park.

Highlights

Scenic views, sledding, Interdune Boardwalk, wildlife

Must-Do Activity

Dunes composed of gypsum make a great destination for snow sledding year round, especially after a rainfall.  It is fun to see children wearing T-shirts and shorts sliding down the sparkling white slopes.

Best Trail

Follow markers on the five-mile round trip Alkali Flat Trail that goes up and down dunes with views of the San Andres Mountains.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The white dunes take on the colors of the sunset if you decide to backpack or take the ranger-guided Sunset Stroll.

Peak Season

Spring and fall, since it can be very hot in the summer.

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/whsa/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

$5 per person or America The Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

Mostly paved and the packed dirt road is drivable by all vehicles.

Camping

Only backcountry camping is allowed in 10 designated sites for $3 per person, but that is dependent upon whether the military is conducting missile tests overnight so call ahead or check the schedule online.  Oliver Lee Memorial State Park offers a full service campground south of Alamogordo.

  • Bleached earless lizard
  • Scott’s mother getting ready to sled down a sand dune in October
  • The white sands blooming in October
  • Scott’s mother sledding at their backcountry campsite in December
  • A raven about the park
  • Sunrise in December
  • Tiff getting ready to sled in May
This design we created to celebrate White Sands National Park is available on a variety of products at Cafe Press and Amazon.

Explore More – What happens to the deep root system of a soaptree yucca when the dune it is growing on blows away?

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Tennessee

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site

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Overview

At age 15, Andrew Johnson fled his apprenticeship in Raleigh,North Carolina and eventually started a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee.  In 1829, he began his political career, ultimately serving as a U.S. Representative, Governor of Tennessee, U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.  He was the first President to be impeached after vetoing the Tenure of Office Act (later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) and was acquitted by the margin of one vote.

Highlights

House tour, tailor shop, museum, film, National Cemetery

Must-Do Activity

Start at the visitor center, which offers a film, a small museum, and the enclosed tailor shop where Andrew Johnson worked before going into politics.  Dress-up clothes are available if you want to take a photo straight out of the mid-1800s (no smiling for authenticity).  There you can also pick up a free timed ticket for the homestead tour and a ticket to vote in Johnson’s impeachment trial. 

Best Trail

None

Instagram-worthy Photo

The small National Cemetery atop a hill in Greeneville, Tennessee contains the graves of Andrew Johnson, his wife, and about 200 soldiers.

Peak Season

Open year round

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/anjo/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads paved with designated parking lots at the visitor center, homestead, and cemetery.

Camping

Cherokee National Forest offers campgrounds southeast of Greeneville.

  • Original Johnson home and Visitor Center
  • Tiff and her mother waiting for the homestead tour
  • Many of the artifacts were original
  • Johnson family homestead
  • Playing dress-up in front of the tailor shop
  • Tiff casting her ballot in the Senate Trial for Impeachment
  • Tiff and her father at the Johnson grave and National Cemetery

Explore More – Why did young Andrew Johnson flee North Carolina six years before his apprenticeship contract expired?


WONDON WAS HERE

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park

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Wyoming, Montana, Idaho

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1872

2,221,766 acres

Website: nps.gov/yell

Overview

The geothermal features here inspired the creation of the world’s first official “National Park” in 1872.   Most of Yellowstone is actually a supervolcano where the magma heats up underground water producing 10,000 hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots on the surface, as well as 300 geysers.  Incredibly, over 50% of the geysers in the world occur within this one park, which is equally famous for its wildlife diversity, including grizzly bears, bison, gray wolves, and elk.

Learn more about how to visit this National Park in the expanded second edition of our guidebook A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks. 

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Highlights

Old Faithful geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, countless waterfalls, wildlife in Lamar Valley, Mt. Washburn, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

Must-Do Activity

The most famous geyser here is Old Faithful, which can shoot water up to 185 feet in the air.  Since the occurrence of several earthquakes it is no longer as consistent as its name suggests, but its eruptions can be accurately predicted every 60 to 110 minutes throughout the day.  Arrive early to get a seat or take the trail up the nearby hill to watch it from above.  Afterwards, hike the boardwalks through colorful Upper Geyser Basin.

Best Trail

A hike into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone on Glacial Boulder Trail is one way to find the solitude lacking at the drive-up overlooks (you should still hike to the Brink of Lower Falls with the crowds).  Instead of staying in the packed campgrounds, consider getting a permit to backpack camp in the canyon.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The trail is steep, but paved down to the Brink of Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River for unforgettable view of the canyon, especially on sunny days when a rainbow appears in the spray.

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Peak Season

Summer, but Old Faithful Village can seem busy in the winter with all the snowmobiles during the day.

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

$35 per vehicle or America the Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

Very few roads are not paved, but the majority close for seven months in the winter.

Camping

There are many campgrounds in the park, but they fill up quickly the summer (especially at primitive Slough Creek).  The surrounding National Forests offer campgrounds and dispersed sites as well.  We have enjoyed backpacking at designated campsites in the park with a permit, especially in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Related Sites

Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)

Gallatin National Forest (Montana)

Fossil Butte National Monument (Wyoming)

Bison traffic jam
Wapiti Lake Pack of gray wolves
Coyote
Bighorn sheep
Fort Yellowstone/Mammoth Springs
Yellowstone River
Grizzly print with a grizzly cub print
Red fox leaping to capture rodent beneath the snow
Osprey
Grand Prismatic Spring
Old Faithful Inn
Baby bison
Dipper or Ouzel
Trumpeter swans
Lower Falls of the Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs
Ravens about the park
Raven about the park
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This design we created to celebrate Yellowstone National Park is available on a variety of products at Cafe Press and Amazon.

Explore More – How many of the park’s 4-million annual visitors arrive in June, July, and August?

Know someone who loves National Parks? Gift them our travel guidebook A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks. 

Mississippi

Vicksburg National Military Park

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Overview

During the Civil War, control of the Mississippi River was “the key” (in President Abraham Lincoln’s words) to preserving the Union by dividing the Confederacy and limiting its supply movement.  By 1862, Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the only fortifications not under U.S. control.  The numerous failed attempts to take Vicksburg by force are evidenced by the 17,000 soldiers buried in the National Cemetery here.  Following a 46-day bombardment, the city finally surrendered on July 4, 1863.

Vicksburg

Highlights

USS Cairo ironside ship, museums, 1,330 monuments, interpretive film

Must-Do Activity

The most fascinating exhibit in the park is the partially reconstructed USS Cairo, an ironclad gunboat which was carefully salvaged from the Yazoo River during the 1960s.

Best Trail

There are a few short trails with interpretive panels, but instead you might consider hiring a licensed guide to ride along with you for 2 hours on the auto tour.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Gates close precisely at 5 p.m. for the 16-mile auto tour, but the end of the day provides the best lighting on the Shirley House, the only surviving structure inside the park from the time of the Civil War.

The only house still standing from 1863

Peak Season

The weather is nicest in spring and fall

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/vick/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm

Fees

$20 per vehicle or America the Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

27 miles to the south, the National Park Service runs the Rocky Springs Campground (with running water) on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Sunset over the battlefield

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Tiff on steps of Illinois Memorial
The Illinois Memorial is the largest of approximately 1,330 located inside the park.

Mural of Illinois Memorial dedication day
A mural along the Mississippi River depicts the opening day for the Illinois Memorial

Scott with USS Cairo
USS Cairo is a well-preserved specimen of an ironclad ship, and the museum next door displays thousands of its artifacts.

Tiff with cannon

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Explore More – Why did many residents flee their houses to live inside hand-dug caves during the Civil War?

1WonsTiny2

WONDON WAS HERE

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Alabama

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

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Overview

Aircraft developed at an incredible rate between the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 and the 1940s.  Yet at the outset of World War II, African-American men were not allowed to be pilots in the Army Air Corps (before the 1947 creation of the Air Force).  In 1941, an experimental program was started at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to train hundreds of pilots, bombardiers, and navigators for the looming war.  The site is housed in the old hangars at Moton Field airport where historic airplanes and excellent interpretive panels  tell the story of the group of African-American men that came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

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Highlights

P-51 Mustang airplane, interpretive film

Must-Do Activity

Start your tour inside Hanger No. 1 then watch the film inside Hanger No. 2, where you will learn about the Tuskegee Airmen’s goal of Double-V, victory over the enemy abroad and victory over racism at home.  After the war, in 1948, President Harry S Truman signed an order calling for “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services.”

Best Trail

No trails

Instagram-worthy Photo

Get a shot in front of the P-51 “Red Tail” hanging from the ceiling inside Hanger No. 2.

Tuskegee

Peak Season

The site is open year round, but every Memorial Day weekend there is a big celebration at Moton Field and many of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen visit the site.

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/tuai/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The site is handicap accessible, and if you contact the NPS before your visit they can arrange parking closer than the main visitor lot on the hill above Moton Field.

Camping

Dispersed camping is allowed at nearby Tuskegee National Forest.

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Jump at any chance to meet some surviving Tuskegee Airmen.  This event was in Cheyenne, WY.

Explore More – The 72 Tuskegee Airmen combat pilots shot down how many enemy aircraft during World War II?

1Wons

WONDON WAS HERE

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.