As mentioned in the previous blog post, on our 11-day road trip to the Southwestern part of the US we visited New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. Here are a few photos from the 1,600 mile trip aggregated by State ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

You can see all the photos of our trip to the Southwestern US on the Adventures/North America page.

​We just returned from an 11-day road trip to the Southwestern part of the US; specifically New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. During our trip we drove almost 1,600 miles, hiked lots of great locations and saw all sorts of interesting sights to include:

  - Petroglyph National Monument
  - Albuquerque BioPark Botanic Garden
  - Museum of Nuclear Science & History
  - Painted Desert
  - Petrified National Forest
  - Lowell Observatory
  - Sedona Rock Formations
  - Chapel of the Holy Cross
  - Grand Canyon
  - Hoover Dam
  - Las Vegas Strip
​ - Titanic Artifact Exhibition
  - The Neon Boneyard
  - The Mob Museum
  - Fremont Street Experience
  - Mojave Desert National Preserve
  - Joshua Tree National Park
  - Santa Monica Pier
  - Palisades Park
  - Venice Beach
  - San Luis Rey Mission
  - Balboa Park
  - San Diego Museum of Us

As always I took far too many photos - so I'll start posting them in the next day or two.

If you can't wait to see some of the photos the we took each day of our trip, you can always check out our Facebook page at:  www.facebook.com/HikingCampingandShooting

As mentioned in the previous blog post, on our 11-day road trip from Chicago to Colorado and back we visited Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa. Here are a few photos from the 2,750 mile trip aggregated by State ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

You can see all the photos of our trip to the Plains States on the Adventures/North America page.

​We just returned from an 11-day road trip from Chicago to Colorado and back - driving 2,750 miles -  on I-70 going out and on I-80 coming back.

As always we hiked lots of great locations and saw all sorts of interesting sights to include:

  - Mid America Motor Works
  - Cross at the Crossroads: America’s Largest Cross
  - Kaskaskia Dragon
  - Combat Air Museum
  - Kansas Cosmosphere
  - Monument Rocks
  - World's Largest Easel
  - Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining Areas
  - Garden of the Gods
  - United States Air Force Academy
  - Wings of Change Statue
  - Statue of Liberty Replica
  - Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles
  - Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum
  - Iowa 80 – World’s Largest Truck Stop
  - Retro Rocket Ship
  - Moai Dude
  - Rock Island Arsenal Atomic Cannon, National Cemetery and Confederate Cemetery

​As always I took far too many photos - so I'll start posting them in the next day or two.

If you can't wait to see some of the photos the we took during our trip, you can always check out our Facebook page at:   www.facebook.com/HikingCampingandShooting 

As mentioned in the previous blog post, on our 14-day trip from Budapest to Prague we visited Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Here are a few photos from the 560 mile trip aggregated by Country (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

​You can see all the photos of our trip up the Danube on the Adventures/Europe page.

​We Just returned from a 14-Day trip to Central Europe. We started the trip by spending 3 days in Budapest and ended the trip with 3 days in Prague. In between we spent 7 days cruising up the Danube River. What a spectacular trip (even allowing for the additional Covid paperwork and restrictions). During our trip we visited:

  - Budpest, Hungary
  - Bratislava, Slovakia
  - Vienna, Austria
  - Krems, Austria
  - Durnstein, Austria
  - Spitz, Austria
  - Melk, Austria
  - Linz, Austria
  - Mondsee, Austria
  - ​Salzburg, Austria
  - Passau, Germany
  - Vilshofen, Germany
  - Regensburg, Germany
  - Prague, Czech Republic

Because there were so many magnificent sights I took almost 3,000 photos - so it will take me a little time to process and upload them. But I will........

​This Monday, 26 April, was another Pink Super Moon.  The Pink Moon occurred 12 hours before the Moon reached perigee (the moon’s closest position to Earth due to the fact that the moon's orbit around the Earth is slightly elliptical) so that made this Pink Moon also a Super Moon – the term used when the moon is full while closest to the Earth. Here are some photos showing what we saw of the Pink Super Moon here in New England: ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

The moon actually reached perigee at 11:22 AM EDT on 27 April; when it was just 222,064 miles (357,377 kilometers) away from the Earth. During a super moon, the full moon can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is at its farthest from Earth. Monday’s Pink Super Moon was ~8% closer than the distance of an average full moon (240,000 miles or 384,400 km) and was the first, and one of only two, super moons of 2021.
 
So why the term “Pink Moon”?  In the 1930s the Maine Farmer's Almanac began publishing American Indian Moon names for the months of the year. Accordingly, the April full moon was called a Pink Moon, named after creeping phlox; a plant native to the eastern United States that is one of the earliest flowers of spring. Other names for this moon include the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon and the Fish Moon.
 
Last year, on 7 April, we also had a Pink Super Moon. Here’s our blog and photos from that night: "April’s Pink Super Moon - How Beautiful Are These Night Sky Photos?"

If you want to learn more about Pink Moons, or other phases of the moon, you might want to check out the Full Moon Phases website. Here’s the link to their Pink Moon information:

http://fullmoonphases.com/pink-moon/

As mentioned in our 24 February blog post, on our 10-day road trip to the Southern part of the US we visited North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Here are a few photos from the 2,300 mile trip aggregated by State (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

You can see all the photos of our trip to the Southern US on the Adventures/North America page.

As I briefly mentioned in my last blog post, before I get to the details of the sights that we just saw during our February 2021 “Southern Trip”, I still have a few blogs to write about the “Heartland” trip that we took in 2020; mostly blogs that aggregate several sites from a specific category into a single blog. Today’s blog is about the Churches and Cathedrals that we saw during our travels.
 
During our 30-day, 9376 mile, road trip to see more of America we visited numerous Churches and Cathedrals to include:
​

• Washington Island Stavkirke - Washington Island, WI
• Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine - Hubertus, WI
• Saint Boniface Church - New Vienna, IA
• Cathedral of Saint Paul - St. Paul, MN
• Independence Temple - Independence, MO

The architecture of these Churches and Cathedrals was amazing and speak to the grandeur of what humans can build when they are motivated by a higher calling (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

Before I get to the details of the sights that we just saw during our February 2021 “Southern Trip” I still have a few blogs to write about the “Heartland” trip that we took in 2020; mostly blogs that aggregate several sites from a specific category into a single blog. The first of these being about all the beautiful flowers, fauna, and outdoor artwork that we saw during our travels.
 
During our 30-day, 9376 mile, road trip to see more of America we visited numerous botanical gardens and other floral sites to include:

• Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier (LEAF) – Erie, PA
• Columbus Park of Roses – Columbus, OH
• Mackinac Bridge – Mackinaw, MI
• Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm & Shop - Washington Island, WI
• Rotary Botanical Gardens - Janesville, WI
• Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens - Dubuque, IA
• Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden - Kansas City, MO
• Botanica: The Wichita Gardens – Wichita, KS
• Philbrook Museum of Art - Tulsa, OK​
• Crystal Bridges - Bentonville, AR
• CityGarden - Saint Louis, MO
• Floral Clock - Frankfort, KY

​Since we took our road trip during July and August everything was in full bloom and the colors and scents were magnificent. So, if your travels take you near these sites, and you like flowers, you really should stop for a while and smell the roses (click on any photo to start the slideshow):