Square States

Here's our travels through the square states (Utah and Colorado). We ran into a rest stop where these two Navajos were selling their hand-made jewelry. The view was breathtaking and the art was cheap. So I got a necklace for J. Whiting.

We also spent a morning in Breckenridge. Here we are enjoying crepes at an outdoor cafe and also saw a poster advertising for a rubber duckie race.

Shiny Vegas

I never liked gambling. But I like Las Vegas buffets and the unlimited drinks the cocktail waitresses bring. Vegas was our first stop and ends the first leg of J and my x-country drive from LA to Washington, DC.

Farewell to Los Angeles

These were my last images before picking up Jennifer in late August 2006 and once again moving away from LA. To a limited extent, these also represent what I loved and also hated about LA - the beach, Santa Monica, eating crepes on the Third Street Prominade, the fantastic Korean food in K-Town, but also the traffic, ugly architecture, etc.

I don't know if I'll be back here to live again.

kirk gibson

My happiest baseball moment. I was 15 years old during the 1988 World Series and I couldn't be happier to see ole Gibson limp up to the plate and hit one out of the park.

I just wish the video laid off the music and leave Vin Scully in.

Soldier at Ft. McHenry

Dick Whiting and I visited Ft. McHenry in late July. It was interesting to learn some of the history and get out of Washington, DC.

Blackwater Falls State Park and the Appalachia Mountains

I camped in the Blackwater Falls State Park, WV on my last night before reaching Washington, DC. Despite the warm temperature in the valleys, it was very mild in mountainous West Virginia. I had to wear a sweat shirt and got bundled up in my sleeping bag to go to sleep that night.

Eat Rite was my favorite nasty greasy 24/7 trucker's diner when I lived in St. Louis. It was great for after pubbing. Coffee on Grand was one of the cafes I frequented.

Forest Park in St. Louis, MO

Forest Park was my favorite part of St. Louis when I lived there. It's a huge urban park on the western edge of the city. As the name indicates, it used to be heavily forested. But the city decided to chop down all the trees to help build the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. The wood was later recycled to build many of the original buildings in Richmond Heights, MO.

Sunset over the Mississippi River and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

It's now a campaign slogan in Missouri!

Fort Scott, Kansas

I stopped in Fort Scott, a former border outpost on the Kansas/Missouri border. Interesting history here about former US Indian policy and the fort's role in the Civil War and opening up the West.

Here one will see the bakers and the laundresses at work. They were nice enough to stop to talk about the fort and gave Jack some cold water.

Jack posing for the camera during the drive from Colorado to Kansas.

This gent from Kentucky really knows how to travel in style!

Jack complaing about the hot sand in the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

My hike into the dunes on July 14, 2006. It was hot even though it was 7am.

This is my first night at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Jack didn't like the sand dunes very much.

Earthship, New Mexico

This is a house in the Earthship housing development just outside of Taos, New Mexico. It's made of all natural and recycled building material. It's interesting. But it's not a style I would prefer my house to be.

Santuario de Chimayo

On the way to Colorado I took the High Road to Taos. One of the stops in the Santuario de Chimayo. I wanted to step into the chapel but Jack wouldn't let me.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

More photos from Santa Fe. It's a very pretty town and very artsy. I wish I can spend more time there. But I also wonder what people do there for a living. There's nothing there except for art galleries.

Photos from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Santa Fe National Forest

My campground at Hyde State Park in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico.

My camp at the Kaibab Lake Campground, AZ.

Jack is in the background. This was around 4:45am, as the sun wasn't fully up yet

Route 66 through Arizona was awesome! I drove through Oatman. It was a touristy little town, complete with wild burros and an old west main street (the town's only street). Great sunset!

As I drove through the desert, smoke from the San Bernardino forest fire was so thick it covered the sky for about 50 miles. I also stopped to see the Amboy Crater. I believe it is the youngest volcanic site in North America.

I started my trip across the country from Los Angeles to Washington, DC on July 11, 2006. I planned to take Route 66 and portions of the Santa Fe Trail. My first day I started on I-10, I-15 and I-40. Somewhere in the high Mojave Desert I got on Route 66 and took the Mother Road into Arizona. It took forever but it was very scenic. I passed through a town called Daggett. Funny enough, the only spot in town with any signs of life is the cemetary.