First Road Trip

New car therefore a road trip

February 9th, 2015

We sold the sixteen year old Tundra last fall. Certainly got our moneys worth out of it, 245000 miles. Border to border several times; many times into Canada.

We went with only one car for the winter. Well, Betty was here with her car for most of that time. But she was planning to leave about Feb 15th so we put the money down and signed up for a replacement.

A replacement that should get 50+ miles per gallon instead of 15+. 4cylinder instead of 8, fwd instead of 4wd. The first four door sedan I've owned since I bout Charles' 1960 Ford for $20 45 years ago.

March 20th St George to SLC

We had a pleasant night with Michael. But an uncomfortable night on the bed. That was one of our oldest beds by years and it was kind of lumpy/slumpy. Drove by Oakcliff on the way out of town. Looks like the new owners are doing some major surgery on the wall between the kitchen and living room. It's their house now; just hope it doesn't fall down on them. I would have guessed they'd put on a pitched roof as the first remodel; but....

March 21st SLC to Boise

Stopped at a small museum on the way to one of Suz's cousins. They had some great artifacts from Vanuatua. 

The trip was to deliver some family heirlooms from Daris to his male nephew. We haven't seen them for a a year of Sundays at least. Had a pleasant dinner with in a repurposed Masons Hall. And a very pleasant chat recalling good memories (and bad). They're both retiring this spring and are looking to a pleasant retirement.

They promised to come down to visit this fall. It will be fun to have out of town visitors.

March 22nd Boise to Carson City

We were planning to go back via SLC but the weather looked better on the west side of the Great Basin instead of the east. So we set out heading to Death Valley. So we had Egg McMuffins and headed south on US95 from Nampa toward Winnemucca.

I've never done this route before; basically it's up and over the Owyhee Mountains and over the Owyhee River. The Owyhee drains a fair chunk of Basin and Range into the Snake River. The road leaves Idaho into Oregon before passing into Nevada.

The Nevada stretch includes part of the drive from Winnemucca to Lakeside. But coming from the north you pass through Denio; going to Lakeside you never quite make it to Denio, despite road signs for 90 miles after Winnemucca telling you the Denio is the next town.

The Winnemucca to Denio road was the shortest way to the Oregon coast so we've traveled it many times. But lately I've been avoiding the stretch as too boring.

The first town in Nevada is McDermitt. We were ready for a pit stop (no gas/diesel now where near our 700 mile limit). Good food for the middle of BFE. Then off over more miles of range basin range.

Got to Winnemucca too early for dinner; next stop due south would be Tonopah and that would make a late dinner; so we headed west to Carson City. 

This is usually a boring stretch of interstate, but there was a front coming in so at least the skies were entertaining.

By the time we got to a hotel in Carson City the wind was really moving. I got a reading of over 30mph in the parking lot. Had a nice night -- except for a barking dog -- with a cheap dinner from the local supermarket.

March 23rd Carson City to Lone Pine

Had breakfast at the hotel. First off was a tour of the Nevada State Capitol. We started touring state capitols in Santa Fe New Mexico several years ago. The New Mexico capitol was a great mixture of a working capitol and an art gallery. Nevada capitol is three buildings - the original building now holding just the governor's office, a building for the Supreme Court another for the legislative branch. 

Susan got a check mark (Be a supreme court judge) on her lifetime bucket list. 

The safe on the right was the original one in the state treasurer's office. I wonder how much of the financing of the civil war moved through that safe.

After touring all three buildings. And spending an hour on the phone with VW Carnet regarding error messages saying our brakes were going to give out and we could die. We drove up to Lake Tahoe.

Pleasant ride up the hill, stopped at several scenic viewpoints and had lunch on the California side of the lake. Last time we were up here was on a bus tour arranged by Daris fellow school employees. We took a cruise on the lake then; that's snow squalls on the lake in the picture. 

Then off to Lone Pine. We saw a lenticular cloud near Willow Springs, this is what it had morphed into by the time we got to Lee Vining (where's Glen Campbell when you have this great inspiration?)

  Found a nice old style family owned motel in Lone Pine and had a nice steak dinner.

March 24th Lone Pine to home via Death Valley

Another hotel breakfast (shared with a geology class road trip) and then up and over, and up and over to Death Valley. The only corner of California not having a severe drought this year is around Death Valley, where they're only having a moderate drought. So we had a day of wildflowers. The highpoint was one called the Mojave Five Spot:

We also Mojave Daisies, Asters, Indian Paintbrush and several others.

Of course I can not drive through Death Valley without doing geology pictures; camelbacks, faults, alluvial fans, and a new one this time, a road cut called Charlie Brown's road cut. Named after a state legislator who lobbied to get that highway added to the CA state highway system. It is on CA178.

Then on to Las Vegas for the buffet at South Pointe and then on home. 

So with under 5000 miles on the speedometer the Passat has been in UT, ID, OR, NV, CA, and AZ -- six states. It's going to be a good road tripper.

November - San Diego

The La Jolla wedding trip

Thanks to a nephew and a delightful friend making a public announcement of a private intention (thanks Papa); we went for a weekend in La Jolla. We had time for the wedding, a trip to the model railroad museum, a trip to the carousel, and one the the

San Diego Natural History Museum.

This starts off with an Allosaurus, didn't check if it was big Al. They didn't have an extensive dinosaur exhibit. But the explanation of local dinosaurs, and the lack of fossils, was excellent. 

They mounted two skeletons in an usual manner, skeleton to the left and reconstruction to the right.

This is the left side of an Albertosaurus

And a Lambeosaur

They had a traveling exhibition of animal skulls. This is a Great Horned Owl.

Bubo virginianus

After lunch we went to the model railroad museum. We've been coming here probably since the late 70's

Then off to the carousel. Susan got the brass ring -- twice. She was happy about that!

So that was 2014, February through November over 80 nights on the road. 

It's been a good year, thank you Susan for your enthusiasm for some unusual places and activities.

October SLC, Laramie Denver

Salt Lake City

The incentive to leave StG and go back north was an annual check with our dermatologist. We tried one in StG but Dr Swyner seems like an old friend who happens to like liquid nitrogen and dislike moles.

After our appointment we went back to a familiar spot,

Millcreek Canyon

This canyon was a part of my life from childhood till we moved to StG. 

As a child; my family would hold picnics with friends up this canyon; at least one every fall to gather box elder leaves upon which my mother would do her annual handstand. Papa bought a yard long cast iron grill to cook steaks on these picnics; or Gordon Lee had a stainless steel reflecting which he would use to roast a leg of lamb. I remember hiking up the hill and finding some fossil gastropods and wondering how they got up in the mountains.

As a teenager my friend and I would ride our bicycles up here to go fishing. I think it was over two summers before I ever got a fish but the first was caught up here. I remember boy scout hikes up Church Fork. I was a member of either the Jewish Community Center's scout troop or the one run by the Holladay Community Church; neither of which used to the big scout center at Tracy Wigwam up Millcreek. I don't know if they was a religious issue, or just my bad memory/guess.

After high school we would go up the canyon to drink a six pack, or smoke a little rope, or even to neck and pet. As an adult I would still go up the canyon to fish (finally learned how -- eggs and fly fishing equipment). And after we bought into 35mm Millcreek was a nearby spot to learn technique and composition. Learned a lot up here.

Utah Museum of Natural History

This summer's trip helped me to realize how great of a paleontology center this is. I went up for more dino portraits, ended up with a slug of photos, and a tour of the prep lab.

When I took paleontology (invertebrate) we learned Kings Played Chess On Fine Grained Sand -- the classic Linnean naming scheme. Dinosaur great diversity never seemed to fit into that box. Cladistics seems much more adaptable; this exhibit tells so much more than the Kingdom, phylum, etc

It was a Friday afternoon, not many paying customers but three or four docents; all were very pleasant to chat with; which led to a tour of the prep lab:

This little collection of treasures, from one sample of rock, and the pride the preparator had in it, and the knowledge he had of what each little bit was; that was so interesting I started thinking maybe I'd sign up to do fossil prep -- not here but in StG.

 Laramie

We spent the night in Kimball Junction and headed east on US40 on the way to Laramie. East of Dinosaur, CO we got the news about C.W. being in the hospital with stroke like symptoms.

Then some new roads for us, US 40 from Dinosaur, through Steamboat Springs, then NE towards Laramie on CO 14 to C0 125 to CO 127 to  WY 230 to Laramie.

Had a nice steak dinner, we were in Wyoming after all, and a warm bed. It snowed over night, not much but our first snow this fall.

Then off to the University of Wyoming's Geology Department Museum, and big Al. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center had a cast of this Allosaurus, and I thought they said they original was in Laramie (it isn't, it's at Museum Of the Rockies, we'd already seen it).

Big Al

They had a Diatryma specimen that a gentleman, hs teacher, from SoCal had come to see, we took his picture near this. He was as tall as the Diatryman.

Gastornis

 Diatryma is the name given by Edward Drinker Cope, but it had been described earlier in France.
An early bird with a UofWy ascension number:

Confusciusornis

Strange that the larger herbivore Gastronis evolved from this small raptor.

Denver

Then a drive through Colorado Springs - and lunch - to Denver. We got there early enough to get to Dinosaur Ridge, in Morrison!, before closing. The east side of the ridge is a track site in the Dakota Sandstone, mostly Iguandon traces.

The back side of the ridge is Morrison with some sauropod fossils and tracks.

Morrison type section

cross section of a sauropod trace

The gentleman in the picture had just finished a BS in Geo, supported by doing tours here for three years. He is going to do an MS in paleo, but much more recent (Hominid). Then off to Roy Rodgers for a chicken dinner and then another good night.

Next morning was the Denver Museum of Natural History.

Lobby

Tyrannosaurus rex

This is in the lobby, right after the ticket takers, nice way to start a tour. Upstairs there is this mashup of pacific northwest icons and cretaceous monster.

There was a good collection of Ediacaran and Paleozoic fossils, some Triassic.

Edmontosaurus

There were juveniles of several species, including Stegosaurus.

There was an excellent exhibit and whales and whale paleontology, but photography was not permitted; so go see it.


Then off to the mall for lunch. And then a long drive home.