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American Safari

by Brian on January 30, 2012 in Travel, United States

When we think about wildlife viewing trips our minds immediately conjure images of a long coveted African safari, or maybe a sail through the Galapagos Islands. We don’t normally think of the American mid-west.

A travel truism is that we appreciate the far off and discount the nearby. I spent nearly two decades in one of the best cities on earth but didn’t really understand New York as a travel destination until after I left. Similarly, we have some pretty spectacular wildlife right here in the U.S. that often gets overlooked.

The good news is that we didn’t need a reminder to marvel at all the fabulous critters that crossed our path over the past six months. Here’s a partial tribute to what we saw, both great and small.

Bandelier National Monument

by Brian on January 9, 2012 in New Mexico, Travel, United States

With a cataclysm of fire and ash, the earth began preparing a home for the Ancestral Pueblo people more than one million years before they arrived. The eruption of Valles Caldera in Northern New Mexico rained cinders over a 1,500 square mile area and created ash flows up to 1,000 feet thick. The ash eventually cooled into a soft rock, called tuff, suitable for carving into the cliff-side dwellings found at Bandelier National Park.

Using hand tools, the Ancestral Pueblo people enlarged natural holes in the rock to form “caveate” shelters, often accessed by ladders. In some instances, they also constructed apartment-like facades along the cliff wall.

Speed and Splendor Down Pikes Peak

by Brian on December 23, 2011 in Colorado, Travel, United States

In retrospect it seems a little stupid. Jostling to be in the front of the pack with the fastest riders wasn’t necessary. I could have, maybe I should have, slowed down and simply enjoyed the view. But it isn’t everyday you get to fly down the 14,100 foot summit of Pikes Peak on a mountain bike. I was going to make the most of it.

A Walk Through the Garden of the Gods

by Brian on December 14, 2011 in Colorado, Travel, United States

15 miles of hiking trails wind through gloriously upended sandstone formations in Colorado Springs’ Garden of the Gods. Free to the public by decree of railroad magnate Charles Eliot Perkins, whose family donated the land to the city in 1909, the property was named as one of the nation’s top ten public places in 2011. With sites like these, it is easy to see why.

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Rocky Mountain High

by Brian on December 9, 2011 in Colorado, Travel, United States

Rocky Mountain National Park left us feeling breathless. Not because of the scenery, which is stunning, but because of the altitude.

For a couple of east-coasters whose home state averages an elevation of 246 feet above sea level, the heights of the park required some adjustment. Even a week in the “mile high city” didn’t acclimatize us enough for the Rockies’ 8,000 foot valleys and 14,000 foot peaks.

Our drive to the park took us through some of the most unbelievable scenery of our trip; winding through narrow granite canyons so tall they rose completely out of view. So mesmerized were we by the landscape that we barely noticed the relentless climb or the resulting lightheadedness that indicates altitude sickness. It wasn’t until after we stopped for a while that it really hit us.