65) Cape Cod National Seashore

Visited: Saturday, September 15th - Sunday, September 16th, 2012

I've been to Cape Cod before, previously, just twice.  Two enjoyable times, to be sure, but the traffic makes it uninteresting for me from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  And while I had visited the Marconi site, that was really all of the national seashore I'd seen previously.  I'd also not arranged either previous trip there.

So in many ways, this was my first real experience with the Cape, and certainly my first experience with the NPS site, and I must say - it's very enjoyable.

We started with the visitor center in Eastham, which runs five films on a fixed schedule; we hit the film on the geology of the cape, in addition to the one on Marconi, plus the nice museum at the site.  We then went up to Provincetown to visit the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station, hitting some bad traffic on the way (well, how else would we have known we were on the cape?), but getting there in time to see a fascinating remnant of America's past.  Of particular interest was a map showing wrecks up through 1900, and how the building of the Cape Cod Canal essentially eliminated the wrecks - and thus the need for these stations.  As we crossed the canal, I'd been wondering what lead to it being built; unlike the Erie or Ohio canals, it wasn't for commerce, but - for safety.

We then hit the Province Lands visitors center, which shows the same films on demand; we asked for Thoreau's Cape, which was excellent - it's a very different view of the cape.  The visitor center also has an excellent observation tower.  We then visited downtown Provincetown for the evening before heading to our hotel, in North Truro.

Finally, we joined the ranger-led hike "Shoreline Stroll", around Great Island, this (Sunday) morning.  It was fascinating and well worthwhile in and of itself - but with the high tide we got to view:

* Dozens of crags, of at least two different varieties,

* The oddest coming in of the tide I've ever seen, as water came in sideways to one point,

* A gorgeous midday at the beaches, first on the gut side and then on the harbor side, and finally,

* A coyote, who we apparently disturbed while taking a bath.

(Not right up close, but close enough to see well, and wonder at first what we were seeing.)

Overall, the Cape Cod National Seashore is well worth visiting.

64) Salem Maritime National Historic Site

Visited: Saturday, August 26th, 2012

We'd planned to visit Salem Maritime earlier in our journeys, but for various reasons had put it off.  And - it wasn't really worth the wait.  I was particularly disappointed that a significant portion of the visitor center was focused on - the witch trails, and on general Salem tourism.  I strongly suspect, based upon the information that was available, that a better job (defining better as better-for-me) could be done with the site.  I'd love to have seen more information about the history of trade coming from Salem; some of the stories hinted at were fascinating.

But, on the whole, it's one of the less interesting sites I've been to.  I suspect a greater interest in the witch trials would have helped.  And not getting a migraine at the end of the trip couldn't have hurt.  But still - Saugus Iron Works is a _far_ better option, nearby.

Additional Thoughts

Visiting 15 NPS sites in a week was wonderful - but also really tricky to blog on the go.

One thing that stood out for me at Channel Islands was the absurdity of hitting the Atlantic Ocean and heading East, and then hitting the Pacific Ocean and heading West - one week apart.

Of the 15 parks, the ones that stood out most for me were the John Muir NHS, Redwoods NP, and Fort Vancouver NHS.  (Boy, I thought it would be easy to pick a top three, but it wasn't.  I also considered Cabrillo, Channel Islands, Muir Woods, Golden Gate NRA, and Lewis & Clark NHP., and I suspect my answer would vary if I thought about it again later.)

63) Mount Rainier National Park

Visited: Friday, July 6th, 2012

Some sites requires different approaches.  Mount Rainier is definitely one of those; I'm convinced that to reasonably visit the site one wants to visit all five areas, and spend enough time at a couple for some hiking, at a minimum.  Which, in turn, requires being much more awake and energetic than we were by the time we got here.

Because without that, it's a beautiful mountain, with amazing views along the road.  But that's really a minimalist approach to the park; enjoyable, but not really telling.

62) Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Visited: Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Many of the NPS sites - maybe even most - comprise of a single location.  Others span multiple sites, such as the Golden Gate NRA and Lewis & Clark NHP.  Even when there are multiple sites, sometimes only one is of real appeal; others are clearly secondary.

And that looked like it might be the case with Fort Vancouver.  The wonderful introductory video highlights five primary uses of the site over time - by the Chinook Indians, as a British fort, as a US Army site, as an early airport, and as a WWII ship factory.  With all that history, there was a lot to do; our favorite stop was the Air Museum, which had a separate entry fee that was entirely paid for when the boys got to sit in a WWII-era Navy training plane.

But - there's another portion of the site, 30 minutes to the South.  The original person responsible for Fort Vancouver, Dr. McLoughlin, was fired for not turning back Americans coming out along the Oregon Trail, and in fact giving them land in Oregon.  And thus he ended up living in Oregon City, and eventually becoming a US citizen.  And his house, preserved by one group or another since 1909, is part of the Fort Vancouver NPS Unit - and a real treasure.  The tour we received was fantastic - and the house is amazing.  The whole site is well worth visiting, but McLoughlin's house is the perfect way to end a day there.  Note that the house closes earlier than the main site, and that you want to go on one of the tours.

61) Lewis & Clark National Historical Park

Visited: Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

Oddly, the website for this park suggests as a first stop a place not associated with the park, the Astoria Column.  And - it's a great suggestion.  Climbing to the top, you get a great view of the area; really a commanding view of the whole of the park, unavailable from any other single point.  If you go, buy a glider in the gift store before you go up.

The primary site for the park is Fort Clatsop, the site where Lewis & Clark wintered after they reached the Pacific.  And it's very nice, with a good visitor center, an informative movie, a reproduction of the fort, and a number of ranger programs, including one on the weapons carried by Lewis & Clark's party which the boys loved.

The other visitor center is part of the Washington State Park system, at Cape Disappointment.  And it's expensive - $10 for a day pass for parking, plus $5 per adult for entry.  However, there are NPS stamps there, so collectors of those will want to go, and it's a great overview of Lewis & Clark's expedition out (with some coverage of their return), so those who enjoy history will also want to visit.

Overall, we spent about 5 hours at the various sites (and getting between them) - and the boys put up with it all.  Well worthwhile, in my opinion.

60) Redwood National & State Parks

Visited: Monday, July 2nd, 2012

This is a fascinating group of parks.  There are camping and hiking opportunities by the score, but there are also very nice drives available, so long as you're willing to drive on dirt & gravel roads.  Actually, there's also a drive parallel to 101 which is gorgeous, and fully paved.  Oh, and with some nice elk grounds at the Southern end.  (I even spotted them first!  That honor almost always goes to Megan...)  There's a radar station on one of the dirt drives, disguised very cleverly as a farm.  And there is a great short hike off one of the other dirt roads, through old-growth forest, with enormous trees in every direction.

59) Muir Woods National Monument

Visited: Sunday, July 1st, 2012

Muir Woods was the end of one journey and the start of another for us.  It was the end of our time in San Francisco, and the end of our exploration of Muir's influence in that area.  Of course, Muir's only contribution to the site was to have it named for him; the principals in the site were Teddy Roosevelt and William Kent.  But it's a beautiful tribute to the man - a relaxing and majestic redwood site, with a thriving wildlife culture.

Of course, all we really got to see was the trees, but that was plenty.  I'd definitely recommend going during the week, if possible, as it's _busy_ on weekends, even very early in the day when we arrived.

58) Point Reyes National Seashore

Visited: Saturday, June 30th, 2012

Point Reyes is one of those "journey is half the fun" places; it's a long, winding road to get to the entrance of the park, and a long, even more winding road to get to the Pacific.  And it's _well_ worthwhile; even though we were too late to see the lighthouse, and it was too foggy to see the seals, the story of how Sir Frances Drake found the site 28 years before Williamsburg, and of the varied history of the land (including its use as a group of ranches dating back to the 1850s) is fascinating.

But - then there's the Earthquake Trail.  Where, among other things, you can walk on the San Andreas Fault, and see how the 1906 earthquake split a fence.

But - then there's the deer.  As we were walking along the trail, a deer came within view - and then got closer, and closer.  Megan got some amazing pictures.

But - then there's the baby.  The baby deer never got quite to close to us, but we got to see it bounding along around 10 feet away, and was simply adorable.

Strongly recommended.

Fixing The Numbers

So, I recently signed up for the National Park Traveler's Club, which has a nice tool for tracking NPS site visits.  And discovered that two of the parks I have listed here - don't count.  Well, rather, Jamestown and Yorktown count as one, and the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor doesn't count.

So the next park will, technically, be #58 for us, rather than #60.  I'm not going to go back and correct the previous numbers, but I am going to use the NPTC list, as it seems to align better with the NPS count.

59) Fort Point National Historic Site

Visited: Friday, June 29th, 2012

There are many NPS sites with fantastic views - but typically, the views are of nature and natural beauty, rather than of man-made structures.  But one of the most notable aspects of Fort Point is the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.  Nothing against the fort, but it's not strongly developed, and not ideally suited for self-tours.  But it's in fantastic condition, and historically - well, similar to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, really, in having been more important for what it was there for, rather than for what actually happened there.

58) Alcatraz Island / Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Visited: Friday, June 29th - Saturday, June 30th, 2012

For all the times I've traveled to the San Francisco area, I've never gone out to Alcatraz.  So it was nice to fix that.  The audio tour was highly recommended to us, and was well worth it.  But the bigger treat for me was in the bookstore, where the son of a former Alcatraz guard - who lived on the island during the Battle of Alcatraz - was signing his books.  As with Nick Clifford at Mount Rushmore - and formerly Buck O'Neil at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum - these folks bring the history to life.

It was also very enjoyable to hear the full modern history of the island.  But - it feels much more commercial than most NPS sites, and attracts as many (or more) folks in a day as the Eugene O'Neill site does in a year. I think, on the whole, I prefer the smaller, less frequently - frequented sites.

Also part of the same park, officially, is the Presidio of San Francisco, which has a new if currently rather sparse visitor center.  But the big attraction is recordings from those affected by the anti-Japanese sentiments during World War II, and how their lives were changed.

On Saturday, we returned to the area, to visit the Marin Headlands.  It's an interesting part of the Golden Gate area, requiring a drive through a one-way tunnel to get there, but featuring a missile site, a lighthouse, a lagoon, and a beach for the effort.

57) San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

Visited: Friday, June 29th, 2012

This park is, right now, a bit of a mixed bag.  The bookstore is currently closed, which is unfortunate.  But the visitor center is quite nice, and gives a good feel for the naval history of the city.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time to see the historic ships.  On the whole, it's a nice site, but not one that captured me as much as some.  I do like the bookstores...

56) Rosie the Riveter / WWII Home Front National Historical Park

Visited: Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Incomplete.

This NPS site just moved to a new home, and is - a work in progress.  Should be more interesting in 2014 or so; for now, the Smithsonian actually does a much better job with the subject.

55) Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site

Visited: Thursday, June 28th, 2012

This NPS site averages about 3,000 visitors - per year.  Reservations are required; the only way to visit otherwise involves a long hike.  Over large hills.

But - it's well worth it.  You get to visit the home O'Neill (and, more importantly, his third wife) built, where he wrote his last three plays.  The tour is very nice, giving a view of O'Neill's inspirations and troubles and loves; it's as much a _home_ as O'Neill ever had, in spite of living in the Tao House for just 7 years.

Of course, the problem is that - I don't really have a feel for O'Neill, and the house gave an incomplete picture.  What I now need to do is see one of his plays.  As a consequence, my bookstore purchase was - a DVD.

54) John Muir National Historic Site

Visited: Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Anyone who starts exploring the National Parks will quickly come across John Muir's name.  But I didn't really have a feel for who he was until today, visiting the house where he lived (with absences) the last 24 years of his life.  There's little left of the property Muir managed for his father-in-law, but enough to give a feel for it - and, most importantly, both the Muir house and the Martinez structure.

The park is very well laid out, with a short movie to start things off, and then a pleasant walk with a pass through the house on the way.  Fantastic place to visit, on the whole.

One more note - I've said it before, but one of my greatest weaknesses at NPS sites are the bookstores.  In addition to adding to my patch collection, there are almost always books of interest.  After hearing about Muir, I really wanted to read some of his writing - but couldn't decide what to read.  Until I found a sampler, which is right about the right level for me - particularly give how many books I've picked up of late...

53) Pinnacles National Monument

Visited: Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

I love sites with historic content.

Megan likes site with natural beauty.

This makes _most_ of the NPS sites of particular interest to one of us - and usually of some interest to the other.

But Pinnacles offers - a limited amount of either.  It looks nice for camping, which appeals to neither of us, and the hiking opportunities had their interest hit by hot temperatures and high fire danger.  Leaving - a very small visitor center, and a nature center open only on weekends.  And a long drive off the beaten path to get there.  Still pretty enough to be nice to have seen, but not a standout, and not likely for a return trip.

52) Channel Islands National Park

Visited: Sunday, June 24th, 2012

The visitor center for the Channel Islands is very nice - if not easy to get to mid-triathlon - but it really is insufficient.  We followed up with a flight out to Santa Rosa island, on which there were eight people - the two pilots, a couple taking a day away from their kids, and the four of us.  And it's - unique, I think, really best sums things up.  Everything is a bit of a surprise.  In particular, Crab Stonehenge - a structure built by some previous visitor - was both funny and impressive to come across.  Ethan added to it by moving a second crab (empty shell) there.  It was only once we got there that I realized that I had flown with my pocket knife, for the first time in many years.

It was particularly interesting to discover that the island had been an active ranch as recently as a year ago.  The presence of a schoolhouse - albeit not in use as such for many years - was odd to think about; the island feels well away from everything, and it's hard to imagine with enough children there to necessitate a school.

We flew over Anacapa and Santa Cruz; I wish we'd seen the other two islands, but that seems to have necessitated the boat tour.  Next time...

51) Cabrillo National Monument

Visited: Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

This was not the first time I visited Cabrillo - though the first time was when the original statue was there, and the replacement will soon be 30. But I'd forgotten the place entirely - particularly why it was there. So it was great to get back; the park isn't large, but between the monument and the lighthouse, it's an enjoyable stop, and a nice place to learn about the Spanish explorers. Definitely recommended if you're in San Diego...

50) Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area

Visited: Sunday, June 17th, 2012

Well, we got through the first 50 in just under 3 years.  Putting us on track to get to all the NPS-run sites in - 2033.  Though I fear that's far too optimistic; I suspect that 2043 is much more likely.

We only visited a single Island - George's Island - but IMHO it's easily the most interesting, holding the remains of a fort used from 1850-1950, Fort Warren.  Now, at that, Fort Warren's history is - pretty dry; not all that much actually _happened_ there, other than training and - during the Civil War - holding prisoners.  But it makes the island much more interesting for me than, for example, Spectacle Island, which has - nice trails.

Oddly, the patch for the site is about 30% smaller in each dimension than the standard Eastern park patches, even though it's the same style otherwise.  It's actually closer in dimensions to the Western park patches.

One of the most interesting aspects of the trip for me was to get a feel, from ground level, about what goes on at Logan.  Now I just need to fly out of Logan again to put the two aspects together in my mind.  Fortunately, it won't be long until I get that chance; unfortunately, our flight is at 5:30AM...

49) John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site

Visited: Saturday, May 26th, 2012


Now this surprised me...


This is the house where JFK was born, and it's - very... normal.  The first and second floors are set up as they were when the Kennedys lived there, through 1920.  And the basement is 1/2 gift shop, 1/2 video presentation.  On the whole, it's a very modest museum, particularly as compared to the LBJ site.  Though I did find it very interesting to compare the openness of the LBJ site - noting both his successes and failures, strengths and weakness, in good balance.  The JFK video, in contrast, focused on the positive, and excused the failures - and then ended very suddenly with Kennedy's death.


On the whole, it wasn't what I expected, but was rather enjoyable, and _much_ easier to find parking than I expected.

48) Lowell National Historical Park

Visited: Saturday, May 26th, 2012


After not getting to an NPS site this winter, it was nice to start to get back into the swing with our first visit to the Lowell National Historical Park.  And it's an interesting park - the visitor center isn't particularly important, though - if you have limited time, the Boott Cotton Mill.  The earplugs aren't really optional - they run the looms, and it gets _loud_.  But it's impressive - and the boys were fascinated to hear about the jobs children would typically do in the factory.


In addition, they had a DIckens display - I hadn't realized that Dickens had traveled extensively through the United States.  And I only vaguely remembered than Kerouac was from Lowell; since I do need to read On The Road, I picked it up.  But nothing really topped the working looms; at the gift store, they sell dish cloths made at the mill there.