From the Beginning
As I am prepping for the trip to California and Oregon, I’ve tried to remember which national park I visited first. Eventually, I realized that my first park was Rocky Mountain National Park, which I visited with my mother in 2013. We followed that a couple of days later with Zion National Park, then added a tour of Grand Canyon National Park shortly afterwards. We also passed close to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains NPs. However, visiting the parks as a project wasn’t in my game plan at the time, so we didn’t stop.
So much has changed about what I want to experience when I visit parks that I want to revisit them, both Zion and Grand Canyon, later this year. The other parks are also in the plan. In the meantime, prep work continues. Presently, I’m fleshing out non-national park sites I would be interested in visiting. There are two US presidential libraries in California–Richard Nixon’s in Yorba Linda and Ronald Reagan’s in Simi Valley. I’d like to add their museums to my collection (Wilson, Hoover, Truman, Ford, Carter, Clinton).
I’m also looking at various scenic drives and have added several seaside stops, both in Southern California and from the northern corner of the state, leading into Oregon before finishing the drive in Portland.
As usual, the preliminary route has far more stops than what I truly expect to complete. I try to give myself options that I can adjust to accommodate the situations as I find them.
Below is a series of maps routing the trip. As I go, I’ll post the route I actually drive.
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Stargazing the Parks
Just as I had begun researching which parks would be suitable for stargazing on the trip, the National Park Foundation just published an article describing those with the best views. The national parks on this trip that are designated as Night Sky Data Collection Sites are Channel Island, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite, Sequoia, Lassen Volcanic, Redwood, and Crater Lake. I don’t know if I will spend the evening in each park, but it’s great to know that I have some many choices.
(If only my equipment for photographing the night sky is better than it was for the trip to Smoky Mountain National Park pictured to the right.)
Speaking of the NP Foundation’s publication and stars, they also created a zodiac-inspired guide matched to various parks. They recommended Mesa Verde National Park for those of my sign because we “notice the little things others overlook, and Mesa Verde National Park rewards that instinct.” I must admit that the depth of detail got my attention when I visited the park.
Final Prep
I’m entering what, I hope, is final preparation for the trip. I updated my music playlists by creating a classical music playlist similar to the popular music one designed to keep me focused while driving. I also need to select which electronics stored in the Silver Bullet should go with me for use in my rental ride. Again, I have to consider size, weight and value during the trip. In other words, do I really need it? One thing I do know I need to take is the car camera so I can capture pictures on the various scenic drives, and it could come in handy should some incident occur.
I also want to select different snacks for the train and take my coldest thermos for beverages I want to keep cold (or warm) for the trip. I’ll purchase other items once I get to California to use on the drive.
Lord willing. my next post should be of the journey to California!
