Southeast Region – Parks & Lex

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

November 11, 2017parksandlex@gmail.com

As an add on to our Great Smoky Mountains trip, we stopped in at Carl Sandburg’s estate in Flat Rock, NC before flying out of the Asheville airport (or not, as it were). The house itself was undergoing renovation, but probably all as well with the time we had and with a toddler. The estate itself was worth the stop even if we skimped on learning more about the famous author. From the parking lot, you walk around a reflective lake toward the house at the top of the hill (more of a rugged climb than I anticipated when I opted to bring the stroller — we had sent the hiking carrier home with Dad). From there, little guy had fun spending time in the goat barn with some kitties and the descendants of Mrs. Sandburg’s goats. In the late summer, we watched goats frolicking in the field with the sun hitting the first of the falling leaves like flecks of gold ~ poetry!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

October 6, 2017parksandlex@gmail.com

By the time I found about about this year’s solar eclipse, sometime last February-ish, the entire state of Oregon appeared to be booked already, so I looked along the path of totality for other interesting spots. I never made it out to Great Smoky Mountains NP when I lived in North Carolina, so seemed like a good time to correct that!

We spent several nights near the park, the first few in Townsend, TN. This was a great location just outside the park near Cade’s Cove, a rural valley that preserves some of the park’s settlements. There wasn’t too much in the way of concessions in Townsend, but it was definitely more my speed than Gatlinburg, a bustling tourist town sort of like a boardwalk in the mountains. We spent a morning driving the Cade’s Cove Loop, and stopping to look at the historic structures & mills, etc.

Great Smoky Mountains turned out to be an awesome park to visit with a toddler, but really would be great for anyone. On the not-so-toddler-friendly end of the spectrum, you could hike the Appalachian Trail, but for the under-two crowd, there are numerous “quiet pathways” and nature trails that are shorter in distance that still let you get out of the car and into nature. You don’t have to go far to find rivers, waterfalls, fun insects, and rocks to put down your shirt.

We had a few missed opportunities ~ here was the best sighting of a black bear we had (he’s in there, I swear!) and the view from Clingman’s Dome on the day we tried to hike that:

But the highlight of the trip was getting to see the total eclipse in Bryson City, NC. Dad had to go home early, so little guy and I stayed on our own a few nights. We had a great time riding the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, throwing rocks in rivers, and watching the eclipse! If/when I go back to the park, I would definitely make Bryson City my base if not camping inside the park – we stayed at a little inn with great hospitality (including the other guests!), and the town has restaurants and shops to serve the park crowds without being overwhelmingly touristy like some of the towns in TN. As for the eclipse, it was totally worth traveling alone with a toddler, even with the unplanned overnight in Asheville due to aircraft maintenance ~ it was an amazing sight!

Did not get a great picture of the eclipse.

Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve

July 6, 2017January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Another one from the archives ~ two years ago this week, we made a drive-through visit of Everglades and Big Cypress en route from Miami to visit family in the Marco Island/Naples area on the gulf coast of Florida. While our visit was brief, it was, shall we say, one of our more memorable national park visits.

Being July in Florida, we were not keen to spend extended time outdoors, but we made a few stops as we drove across the state. It is not long before you start to catch glimpses of alligators in the waterways alongside the road ~ maybe you get used to that if you live in Florida, but pretty crazy in my opinion! We made sure to get an early start to catch a morning tram tour at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. While the trail can be walked or biked, the tram tour takes you a few miles in to an observation deck with greath views of the classic “prairie” landscape then loops back to the visitors center. This guided tour is a great way to cover some ground and get an interpretive view of the flora and fauna when you want to avoid the heat and alligators… or so we thought.

Our first alligator sighting at Shark Valley

In addition to the stop at the observation deck, the tram also stopped along the path to allow us to get a closer look at the periphyton that forms the ground cover in this ecosystem [a complex mixture of algae, bacteria, microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces ~ yes I had to just look that up]. Due to a late start to the rainy season, our guides suggested we could take a look at the canals that were dug in the area to form the elevated road. As our tour group gathered on the banks, we could see alligators 50-100 yards away in either direction. Suddenly, we heard a roar that sounded a bit like a freight train coming from behind us. As our group scattered in either direction, a 10-12 foot alligator came charging out of the bush snapping his jaws. I’m glad I was not in the back of the group closest to his original exit point, but even as we scattered, he couldn’t have been more than 4-5 feet away. Once there was a clear path to the water, the alligator went on his way, no longer feeling threatened. I was glad to have enough sense of self-preservation to wait until we were safe to try snapping photos. I think this was a bit of a closer call than the tour guides intended and definitely a reminder that even when utilizing he more developed features of the parks, you’re still in the wild. When we got back to the visitor center, we saw a few busloads of school-age children lined up for the next tour ~ pretty sure they didn’t get to make the same stop.

The look of people who just got charged by an alligator

After that excitement, we continued through the Everglades and into Big Cypress National Preserve. We didn’t get off the main road, but did stop at Kirby Storter Roadside Park to do a quick walk along the boardwalks to check out the trees and spot a few woodpeckers. Once we hit the other side of the preserve and state, we stopped at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center of Everglades NP. Some nice coastal views, but really only an outpost for some of the park concessionaires offering boat tours.

And thus ended our short – but memorable – visit to these FL parks! I can’t wait to tell little guy how mommy had to fight off an alligator at 6 months pregnant – only a slight exaggeration.

Virgin Islands National Park

July 4, 2015January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Admittedly, this was more of a lazy resorty-beachy vacation for me than National Parks exploration, but when considering islands in the Caribbean to spend some time relaxing by the beach/pool, of course I picked St. John in the US Virgin Islands, 2/3 of which is Virgin Islands National Park.

St. John is the smallest of the 3 US Virgin Islands, which also include St. Thomas and St. Croix. While St. Thomas is the major cruise stop and shopping location, St. John is where you will find the sites of Virgin Islands NP and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument offshore (which I didn’t get to see since I think it requires a boat and/or diving capabilities). St. Croix also has NPS sites associated with the island’s history but is only accessible from within the Virgin Islands by plane from St. Thomas. St. John is just a short ferry ride from St. Thomas, although it’s not without its challenges if you opt to drive – they drive American-style cars but on the left side of the road, and the car ferries only load/unload from one end, making it necessary to back onto the boat for loading! I still found it worthwhile to have my own wheels as opposed to relying on the island’s “taxis” (imagine the front half of a pickup truck with the back half of an amusement park tram – probably quite convenient if you aren’t prone to motion sickness on windy mountain roads, but not for me)

Virgin Islands NP has a number of relatively short hiking trails, but most were not short enough for me in the near 90F tropical sun. We did take the 0.5-mi nature trail at Cinnamon Bay, which starts at the ruins of an old sugar plantation and is a shaded walk through the trees with interpretive signs. Even on that short walk, we managed to find some interesting fauna, including the native anole (plus numerous smaller lizards scattering every time I stepped it seemed), millipedes, termites’ nests, a crab, a mother and baby deer, and birds such as the pearly-eyed thrasher.

Of course one of the biggest highlights of the park is the gorgeous beaches. The one day we managed to get out of the hotel early enough to avoid the crowds and heat, we spent a couple hours at Trunk Bay, which has facilities including rental equipment as an underwater snorkel trail. From the clear, turquoise water to the white sands, it really was a beautiful beach. I had fun watching a pelican dive amongst the swimmers accompanied by an opportunistic laughing gull. In the water, we could see several types of fish and the occasional ray. As I was wading, I even got face-to-face with a group of fish hopping in and out of the water around me.

There was definitely more to explore, but we also enjoyed some time napping, in the pool, and seeking out brunch on the other side of the island, where some of the quirkier home-spun bars and restaurants can be found. Guess we’ll just have to return sometime!

viis13

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.