Archive for October, 2008

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

I finally got around to posting some pictures from the quick Sand Canyon hike I took in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument with co-workers in late September. It was a nice little trail that often followed an interesting little bluff strewn with little reconstructed ruins. Since I love wandering around curiously-shaped rock formations and in the present of good company, it was a nice break from the planning and interview sessions that dominated the trip.

Posting NPS Passport Stamps

Working on an item from my 101 Things in 1001 Days list, I’ve been scanning, labeling, posting (and soon counting) all of my NPS Passport Stamps. In the last couple of days, I’ve posted about 160 of them so far. I still have to go back and scan stamps from our older blue passport books, and since I don’t have a flatbed scanner these days that might take some time. Eventually, I’d like to put all of the stamps and NPS unt information into a Bento database that I can use to keep track of all of our visits and have stamps, pictures, blog postings, and other visit information all centralized somewhere. Anyway, if you’re interested in or already collecting NPS Passport Stamps, you should check out the National Park Travelers Club - they are the central authority on such things.

Finally…Wedding and Reception photos

It’s taken awhile, but we finally have our wedding and reception photos posted online. No word on when we’ll ever get to posting our trip pictures. Enjoy!

Where we went this summer

It’s been a couple of months since we returned from our post-wedding roadtrip through the South. It was an interesting trip, one that didn’t much resemble our usual national park trips: we stayed in a hotel every night, we spent most of our time at historical sites (as opposed to natural sites), and, well, we were in the South, not the West. It’s been a busy few months and it’ll still be some time before we get all of the trip photos sorted, culled, and posted, but here’s the final tally for the sites we visited:

  1. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS
  2. Andrew Johnson NHS
  3. Appalachian NST
  4. Arkansas Post NM
  5. Big South Fork NRRA
  6. Blue Ridge PKWY
  7. Brices Cross Roads NBS
  8. Carl Sandburg Home NHS
  9. Chattahoochee River NRA
  10. Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP
  11. Congaree NP
  12. Cowpens NB
  13. Cumberland Gap NHP
  14. Fort Donelson NB
  15. George Rogers Clark NHP
  16. Great Smoky Mountains NP
  17. Hot Springs NP
  18. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
  19. Kennesaw Mountain NBP
  20. Kings Mountain NMP
  21. Lincoln Boyhood NMem
  22. Lincoln Home NHS
  23. Little River Canyon NPres
  24. Little Rock Central High School NHS
  25. Mammoth Cave NP
  26. Martin Luther King Jr NHS
  27. Moores Creek NB
  28. Natchez Trace NST
  29. Natchez Trace PKWY
  30. Ninety Six NHS
  31. Obed WSR
  32. Russell Cave NM
  33. Shiloh NMP
  34. Stones River NB
  35. Tupelo NB
  36. Ulysses S Grant NHS

I think that puts my lifetime total to 156 units (of 391 total).

Edit: Check out the NPS Passport Stamps we collected.