Passport Cancellations – Page 4

Happy National Train Day!

May 10, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

If you are looking for train-themed accommodation near Olympic National Park in WA (because who isn’t?), I highly recommend the Red Caboose Getaway B&B in Sequim, WA. All of the “rooms” are converted cabooses, each with its own theme. We stayed in the Casey Jones caboose, dedicated to railroad memorabilia. The multi-course breakfast was delicious and served in the “Silver Eagle” dining car, where you can watch birds and ducks in the pond outside (and apparently the occasional bald eagle making off with one of the ducks).

Sequim (pronounced “squim”) is a 20-30 min drive from the Olympic National Park visitor’s center in Port Angeles and can serve as a base for visiting the Hurricane Ridge area and northeastern part of the park. Sequim itself is a small town that is apparently the “Lavender Capital of America” (many lavender and other farms are open to visitors) and home to the train5 Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park

May 9, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

While I’m always scheming my next national park getaway, the truth is I still have NPS sites to visit here in my own backyard in the Bay Area. Earlier this spring, I took advantage of a nice sunny day to check out the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. This part of town caters to the tourist crowd, but crowds and T-shirt shops aside, I do enjoy the occasional cable car ride or visit to Ghirardelli Square for an over-the-top ice cream sundae 🙂

The main visitor center for the historic park is in a brick cannery building on the corner of Hyde and Jefferson. Inside, they have multimedia exhibits highlighting the importance of maritime trade and travel in the city’s history and some fun facts about the city. For example, I learned that the MUNI tunnel under Market St. actually goes right through the middle of a Gold Rush-era ship, one of many buried under the financial district. The visitor’s center also has information on other Bay Area and CA national park sites if San Francisco is just your first stop. Across the street from the visitor’s center is the historic Hyde Street Pier, where you can tour historic ships and other exhibits.

1907 steam tug Hercules with Alcatraz in the background

Before hopping on that cable car, it’s nice to walk along the beachfront around to the municipal pier side of the park. Across from Ghirardelli Square is the Aquatic Park Boathouse and Maritime Museum. This Depression-era building is used for events and as a senior center in addition to being a small museum associated with the park. It’s worth poking your head in to check out the art deco design, the WPA murals, and the model ships (and there is a bonus stamp of a ship for your Passport book in addition to the park stamp).

If you continue past the municipal pier, you can take the Bay Trail around (or go up and over the hill) to Fort Mason. Fort Mason is technically part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but it also houses the Maritime Park Library (open weekdays). It seems like there’s almost always something going on whenever I’m there, whether it is a farmers market, a food truck meet-up, or a craft [beer/chocolate/distilling] expo, and the buildings also house shops & restaurants (including the famous vegetarian restaurant Greens).

The Steel City and the New River Gorge

May 2, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Parks & Lex is in the great city of Pittsburgh this weekend for a conference. This is my second time flying into my husband’s hometown, and I find it fitting that you are greeted at the airport baggage claim by statues of Franco Harris (Pittsburgh Steeler and recipient of the Immaculate Reception), George Washington (our nation’s first President), and T-Rex (our nation’s biggest, baddest ex-resident). This pretty much sums up this city to me – they are quite proud of their history, their sports teams, and their science & technology. While not in the national park system, I highly recommend checking out the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History and the Phipps Conservatory in the Oakland area (NPS tie-in, many of the dino bones and reconstructions in the museum came from the sites now associated with Dinosaur National Monument in CO). The Warhol Museum is also worth a visit, even if you do end up enjoying the rotating guest exhibit more than the experimental 60s video art… (we saw a great exhibit on comic book artist Alex Ross).

Carnegie Dinos — The Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The reason I bring up the airport is that previous trips to Pittsburgh when we were living in North Carolina always meant long drives up Route 19 through West Virginia and always meant a stop at the New River Gorge. The New River Gorge National River spans 53 miles of the New River, and admittedly all I’ve seen of it is its iconic bridge along Rt. 19. The Canyon Rim Visitors’ Center, on the North side of the bridge, has information and exhibits on both the bridge and the river area. A boardwalk and stairs lead to views of the gorge and bridge and are a good way to stretch your legs.

New River Gorge

New River Gorge Bridge

Fayetteville, WV on the South side of the bridge, is purportedly the “Coolest Little Town”, and who am I to argue? The town services the recreation associated with the river, such as climbing and rafting, and has a lot of little restaurants that make good lunch spots. I was always a fan of the vegetarian soups (not to mention the coffee) at the Cathedral Cafe when we passed through during the winter holidays. Once a year, in the fall, the bridge closes down for a day of repelling, base-jumping, and other activities known as “Bridge Day”.

Back in Pittsburgh, I hope to someday check out some of the NPS sites in Western PA. Pittsburgh is on the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail and part of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. Further out are Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Friendship Hill and Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Sites, and the Flight 93 and Johnstown Flood National Memorials. For now, off to find me a Primanti Brothers sandwich!

Joshua Tree National Park

April 30, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

This February, I made my first trip to Joshua Tree National Park. I knew it was a popular park for people from Southern California and rock climbers, of which I am neither, but we decided to make the 8-9 hour drive from the Bay Area for a long weekend. Joshua Tree encompasses portions of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and is fun for checking out desert flora and fauna as well as exploring geology (whether or not you are climbing on it). We spent most of our time in the Mojave portion of the park, but at some point I’d like to head back and check out the Cottonwood Spring area in the Southern part of the park, which we didn’t hit up this trip due to time constraints and trail closures.

Desert flora Of course one highlight of the park is seeing the eponymous Joshua trees in all their Seuss-like glory. In mid-February, we were a little early for wildflowers (perhaps worsened by the fact it hadn’t yet rained this year due to the drought), but we did get to see a few Joshua trees with their fluffy white pinecone-esque blooms, particularly as we drove up to Keys View, where you can see the entire Coachella Valley, including a quite ominous-looking San Andreas Fault line.

We spotted lizards of several varieties throughout the park, and the oases and more inhabited areas were teeming with birdlife – we saw hummingbirds, finches, wrens, and Bartlett’s Quail amongst others. I was keeping my eyes open for big-horned sheep and the elusive desert tortoise, but no luck this trip. One day I will find a desert tortoise!

View of the San Andreas Fault from Keys View

I picked up four cancellations plus bonus stamps of a Joshua tree and a desert tortoise. The Twentynine Palms and Keys Ranch were available in the Twentynine Palms Visitor’s Center at the Oasis of Mara; Black Rock Nature Center is at the campground; and the Joshua Tree, CA cancelation is at the Visitor’s Center in the town of Joshua Tree. I did not collect Indian Cove or Cottonwood this trip. More on our trip to Joshua Tree in later posts.

San Juan National Historic Site

April 27, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Since my work schedule prevented me from getting out and enjoying National Parks Week, here’s a post about my first two Passport cancellations:

San Juan NHS in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, consists of 2 sites, the fortresses of El Morro, located on a point above San Juan Bay, and Castillo San Cristobal, located on the Eastern side of Old San Juan. As San Juan was a strategic position in the Caribbean, the initial structures were first laid by the Spanish in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, and the sites were utilized by the U.S. even through WWII. I thought it was cool to be standing in a modern city in structures with origins dating back to the earliest days of European settlement in the Americas, predating the Jamestown colony. The fact that you can still see shrapnel in the walls from the Spanish-American War drives home the importance of this port in the region’s history.

In addition to getting your history fix, El Morro and its large grassy bluff appeared to be a popular spot for picnicking and flying kites. Paseo del Morro, which can be accessed from gates within the city, is a nice walk (and stray cat repository, apparently) that passes along the water at bottom of the structure. San Juan deftly caters to tourism while maintaining the charm of the old city and a vibrant culture, so the city is well worth a visit. We stayed at Hotel El Convento, a charming hotel that used to be a convent, and ate a lot of good food, in spite of one major stomachache for this vegetarian after a seemingly innocuous (and admittedly delicious) breakfast mallorca (a sweet bun that is apparently chock full of lard).

Penguins on a catboat, of course. — Statue near our hotel. Enjoy strolling the flower- and tree-lined streets of Old San Juan.

Lardy yumminess. — Mallorca. Don’t eat this if you avoid pig… (or ask first as some bakeries may use butter or shortening).

Two cancellations are available, one at each of the San Juan sites. When I was there in 2011, the Passport 25^th anniversary cancellation was also available.

San Juan NHS Cancellations — Clearly I needed to work on my stamping technique.