johnboystravelblog

September 15, 2014

Since my posts up to this point have been primarily from trips I have taken west of the Mississippi River I thought I’d continue that theme and go back in time to a one-week adventure to the San Diego area in 2014.  One of my brother’s let me use a week at a timeshare property and I chose one in Escondido, California, about a half hour northeast of San Diego.  I flew out on a Sunday, rented a car and bought a digital camera – nothing flashy, just a cheap, flat model about the size of a credit card (only thicker). This trip was pre-blog and pre-smartphone (I was still using a flip-phone!).

I had something I wanted to do up in Long Beach, which is about 2 hours northwest of San Diego, and I figured since my body was still on east coast time and I’d be up in the wee hours of the morning that I’d take advantage of the darkness to drive up to Long Beach and be there when the sun came up.  I was able to travel on main highways which had a fair amount of traffic but I’d be up there early enough to avoid the worst part of rush hour.

(Photo credit: aishouzou.org)

Escondido, where I was staying, is in the lower right part of the photo above and Long Beach is slightly above and to the left of the green square in the center.  I drove west to Oceanside, then northwest on a series of highways to Long Beach.

I found a spot out between the ocean and Long Beach Harbor and arrived just as it was starting to get light out.

On the left side of the photo above you can see the red and black smokestacks of the Queen Mary, a British luxury liner which is now a hotel, permanently docked in Long Beach Harbor.  The dome on the right of the photo used to house the “Spruce Goose,” a huge wooden airplane designed and flown by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.  That airplane has since been moved to a museum in McMinnville, Oregon (use the calendar grid on the homepage to see my post dated August 6, 2017 or search for “Spruce Goose”).  The dome is now a cruise ship terminal.

I stayed in the area until sunrise, determined that the place I actually came up to Long Beach to see wasn’t open on Mondays (surprise!), and drove back south towards San Diego, this time taking smaller, coastal roads – part of the Pacific Coast Highway.

I made a stop in San Juan Capistrano but will talk about that in a separate post.

When I got back down to Escondido I decided to drive up into the mountains northeast of where I was staying to visit Palomar Observatory.  I could see one of the huge white domes on top of the mountain as my flight was approaching San Diego.

Inside that dome is a reflecting telescope with a 200-inch mirror, the largest of several at this facility and one of the largest in the world.  It is an “optical” telescope in that scientists and astronomers see what it is pointing at, but it has no lenses.

I took a photo of the telescope inside but it didn’t come out very well (new camera and all…).  I took a photo of a photo inside showing the telescope assembly but have since decided to post a photo of the actual telescope I found online instead.

(Photo credit: astro.caltech.edu)

Palomar Observatory sits at approximately 5,600 feet above sea level.  It is only about 30 miles northeast of Escondido but it took over an hour to get there driving up the mountain roads.

 

 

 

June 14, 2019

I made my first travel-related post to this blog on July 7, 2017.  Now, almost two years later, I find myself making my 1,000th post.  These posts mainly pertain to three major trips I made in the continental United States:

The first trip I posted information about in real-time was my Northwest US trip.  Those posts occurred between July 7 and October 20 of 2017.

The following year I traveled mainly to California, but that trip included other stops as well.  Those posts occurred between May 23 and September 19 of 2018 (with a few additional posts in late October and early November).

I recently wrapped up posts from my “Texas Loop” in early 2017.  Those posts occurred between May 25 and June 9 of 2019.

During the Northwest US trip I traveled 33,936 miles and had 106 paid overnight stays (not counting stays with family and friends).

The California trip covered 25,360 miles and involved 135 nights on the road.

The Texas Loop covered 12,249 miles and involved 40 nights on the road

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Two weeks from the date I am making this post I leave for a 7-week trip to Maine and eastern Canada.  Most of that time will be spent in the Maritime provinces:

(Photo credit: Magellan Geographix)

Although I leave Durham June 28 I won’t arrive in Maine until July 8 so my first full day there will be July 9 with posts to begin that night or soon thereafter.  I have 50 nights booked and project I will put about 8,000 miles on my car.

 

June 8, 2017

When I took these photos I didn’t understand the significance of this pagoda-like structure which is actually a gate (cultural sign of welcome) to the H.U. Lee International Garden in downtown Little Rock.

This park would have greater significance to devotees of the martial arts but I now wish I had gone in and walked around a bit as I’m sure it would be interesting (and probably equally photogenic) even for those of us not versed in the martial arts.

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I am proud to say this is post number 999!  I have been very fortunate to share lots of photos and stories in at least two years of traveling around the “lower 48” and thank all of you for playing along at home.

But wait… there’s more.  I am going to take a short break to do some research for my upcoming trip to Acadia National Park in Maine and the Maritime Provinces of Canada (plus a little time in Quebec and Ontario provinces).  I start that trip June 28th, 2019 (three weeks from the day I am posting this), which will be here before I know it, so I don’t want to put by remaining research off to the last minute.

Post 1,000 will be a recap of 2017 and 2018 (miles driven, days on the road, number of pictures taken, etc).  I should have time before I head for Canada to post pictures of my week in the San Diego area which occurred in 2014.

And I still have pictures to post from 2015 and 2016.  Those trips, mainly east of the Mississippi, were both done pre-blog and I do have some, but not as many,  photos to post and stories to tell… eventually.

Stay tuned!

 

June 8, 2017

I spent the full day in Little Rock, exploring some city parks and a visit to my first Presidential library.

The Clinton’s actually have living quarters on the top floor but I believe they generally stay elsewhere.

The glass artwork shown above was a gift from Dale Chihuly, whose other work I have shown in several posts the last two years.

Other items I saw in the Library:

June 7, 2017

Today I drove over from Mena, AR and although I’d be spending the night in Little Rock I would spend most of the day in Hot Springs.

It stands to reason that Hot Springs is where you’ll find Hot Springs National Park.

(Photo credit: npmaps.com)

The Visitor Center for the Park (indicated above) is actually right on the main drag in downtown Hot Springs.

(Photo credit: npmaps.com)

Central Avenue is also known as “Bathhouse Row” for the large natural hot spring bathhouses which line the east side of the street, one right next to another:

The photo above is a former bathhouse and is now the Visitor Center for the Park.

After having lunch and walking up and down Central Avenue I drove on two scenic roads through various parts of the Park.  From one overlook I took the following photo of the downtown area:

And this photo of Mountain Tower, which folks can pay to go up in to take panoramic photos of the area.

June 6, 2017

Time to say goodbye to Oklahoma and move one state east into Arkansas.  To accomplish this I would drive about an hour east of Bartlesville, almost to the Arkansas state line, then south for several hours on some more scenic roads and finally a “primary” scenic loop which would ultimately take me to the tiny town of Mena in southwest Arkansas.

(Photo credit: lib.utexas.edu)

None of what I told you above is shown on this map except the destination of Mena, in the lower left side.  Tomorrow I will be heading to Hot Springs, the next day a short drive to Little Rock, and then on to Memphis, Tennessee and east to home in Durham.

June 5, 2017

One of the things I discovered while driving around Bartlesville, Oklahoma was the campus of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, a private university.  One of the most beautiful buildings I found on campus was the Administration & Library building, once a private mansion.

As I was driving back towards downtown Bartlesville I found the family home of Frank Phillips.  He and his brother founded the Phillips Petroleum Company.

And as I got closer to the downtown area I saw the Bartlesville train station.

June 5, 2017

As I was driving towards Bartlesville in northeast Oklahoma I saw signs for a nature preserve in the area and after checking in to the hotel I’d be staying at I backtracked to check it out.

The town of Pawhuska is about 30 miles west of Bartlesville.

And north of Pawhuska I found the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, a 39,000 acre facility owned and operated by The Nature Conservancy.  This is the largest tract of tallgrass prairie remaining in the world and among other things is home to herds of bison, approximately 2,200 head.

I drove around for a while but never saw any bison up close.  At one point I could see some way off in the distance but I didn’t know how to get there and was afraid I’d get lost and never get out.

In researching this post I also learned that this Preserve is also a home to the increasingly rare Greater Prairie Chicken.

(Photo credit: audubon.org)

These beautiful animals, a member of the grouse family, have an usual mating routine.  The males have a large, orange air sac in their neck which they can inflate during courtship and which can emit a loud sound (these birds are nicknamed “boomers”).  I found some videos on YouTube and watching their behavior, and the way they stamp their feet, is quite interesting.

(Photo credit: birdeden.com)

I didn’t see any of these during my driving tour either.

 

June 5, 2017

With apologies to the Black Panther movie franchise….

Today was a travel day and I headed out early to head northeast towards Bartlesville.  I had seen big signs promoting the Luck Star Casino and it’s huge payouts to patrons.  I was quite surprised to find this:

Not exactly the opulent excess I was expecting…   And even though this was facing the road I was on I thought maybe it was the back of the casino so I went into the parking lot and drove around to the other side.

Wrong….

This post creates a dilemma.  These images are labeled to indicate I took them on June 5 at 812am.  In researching this post, however, I see that the Lucky Star Casino locations are all west of Oklahoma City, including the one in Watonga (and to their defense, most of their locations are more opulent than this).

I don’t remember exactly where I took these photos, or the exact route I took up to Bartlesville.  I can’t think why I would have backtracked to Watonga (or El Reno, their location closest to OKC).  Perhaps this was a temporary location further east which has since been abandoned.  Nonetheless, I found this an interesting conflict with my usual image of casinos….

June 5, 2017

I traveled to Bartlesville, in northeast Oklahoma, for one reason – to spend the night.  Specifically to spend the night in Price Tower.

(Photo credit: mapsofworld.com)

When I visited the home of Walmart headquarters in northwest Arkansas earlier in this trip I picked up maps and brochures for the area, one of which mentioned Price Tower.  Price Tower was designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Those of you who have followed this blog for the past two years know of my mild obsession with Mr. Wright’s work.

Harold Price commissioned Mr. Wright to design an office building for his oil pipeline and chemical business based in Bartlesville.  Mr. Wright designed this 19-story tower.

The significance of the “66” in the first building photo is that Bartlesville was also the corporate headquarters for Phillips Petroleum, whose gasoline brand was Phillips 66 (a reference to Route 66).

I learned that Price Tower was subsequently sold to Phillips (which seems to own just about everything in Bartlesville) and a portion of it is now a hotel.  I broke my routine of staying primarily in Airbnb’s during my trips and booked a night here.

I stayed on the 8th floor and after checking in, took the elevator up to my floor.  This was, by far, the smallest elevator I have ever been in.  The only way I could think to convey this in a photo was to take a picture of my feet.

I didn’t check the “Cherie Berry” certificate to see what the maximum occupancy was but it can’t have been more than 3 or 4.  For those of you not living in North Carolina, that is a reference to our long-time Labor Secretary whose photo is in every elevator in the state (her department inspects elevators for safety and issues certificates with her photo and signature).

The common area to the hotels rooms on the 8th floor wasn’t exactly spacious either.

The room itself was nice.  An odd shape due to the footprint of the building, but well used space.

There was a large book on the desk in the room which explained the history of the building and included lots of photographs of it’s construction and how it appeared back in the day.  The building now has an art museum on the lower floors (I’d be leaving in the morning before they would be open), several floors of hotel rooms and several floors of offices.

This was the view from my room:

There is a restaurant and bar on the top floor but it was not open the one night of the week I happened to be there.  I was also very disappointed to find that another restaurant in town which has an excellent reputation, Murphy’s Original Steak House, was also closed, the sign on the door indicating that the closure was only temporary.  I walked around downtown in the early evening and ending up having a few slices of pizza.