Travel Sub-Categories

Frank Oatman Special Tours : 5 galleries with 189 photos

Frank Oatman Special Tours

5 galleries with 189 photos

Updated: Dec 22, 2012 7:16am PST

Hawaii : 6 galleries with 284 photos

Hawaii

6 galleries with 284 photos

Updated: Dec 22, 2012 7:16am PST

Travel Galleries

Yellowstone in Winter : In February 2013 we returned for our second winter trip to Yellowstone National Park. The first time we entered the park from the south and stayed at the Snow Lodge in the Old Faithful complex. This time we entered from Bozeman, MT in the north and stayed at Mammoth Hot Springs. We took snow coach tours to Norris Geyser Basin and Canyon and Yellowstone Falls areas. We also took a snow coach to the Old Faithful area and spend one night in the Snow Lodge so that we could walk the trails and boardwalks through the geyser basin.

Yellowstone in Winter

In February 2013 we returned for our second winter trip to Yellowstone ...

Updated: Mar 15, 2013 6:35pm PST

Turks and Caicos 2013 : This was our second trip to TCI. We spent most of our time on two new islands, North and Middle Caicos, then came back to Providenciales (Provo), the main tourist island, for a few days, staying at the same Coral Gardens condos where we stayed the first time. North and Middle Caicos are the least developed of any of the Caribbean Islands we have visited. The few hotels are basic but clean and adequate. The few restaurants on the islands request dinner reservations, not because they are crowded, but for them to have a reason to stay open for dinner. We ordered from the verbal menu over the phone since only a few items were available on any given day. The beaches on both islands are mostly powder-fine white sand, miles long, and empty. We toured Wade's Green, the Stubbs plantation on North Caicos; toured nearly all the road-accessible beaches and harbors on the both islands. The trade winds were blowing hard most of the time, churning up the sand, and making snorkeling uninteresting. Back on Provo the winds had calmed down and we were able to snorkel off the beach at Coral Gardens and during a snorkel cruise to West Caicos. Also notable were the large numbers of defunct condo and hotel developments standing like concrete skeletons on all the islands. They are not a pretty sight. The mix of laid back, relatively undeveloped islands like North and Middle Caicos, and the more touristy Provo, and good snorkeling when the water is calm makes TCI a very interesting place to visit. Some vacationers we met on North Caicos would have no part of Provo, but we liked both areas. Compared to some Caribbean destinations (like Aruba) Provo is still only moderately developed. There are still more islands in the TCI group to explore and we expect to do just that in the future.

Turks and Caicos 2013

This was our second trip to TCI. We spent most of our time on two new ...

Updated: Jan 24, 2013 6:18pm PST

Scotland 2012 : In September we flew to Glasgow, picked up a rental car and then drove west toward the Hebrides. We ferried to the Isle of Mull and then to the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides. From there we ferried to the Outer Hebrides touring from Barra in the south to Lewis in the north. The weather the first week was dominated by the remnants of Hurricane Isaac which made ferry crossings and outdoor activities rather exciting. After crossing back to the mainland at Ullapool, we drove north to Gills Bay and ferried to and toured the Orkney Islands. Back in the mainland again we toured a few castles on the way south to Edinburgh and back to Glasgow. This was a great trip. The Hebrides were interesting and despite the wild weather we were able to get around just fine. The Orkney Islands were surprisingly interesting and beautiful and with a very different history from the Hebrides, having once been part of Norway and a base for Viking raids to the south. The constantly moist air and thick broken clouds created some terrific lighting for photography as well.

Scotland 2012

In September we flew to Glasgow, picked up a rental car and then drove ...

Updated: Oct 14, 2012 4:13pm PST

Maine2012 : Mid-Coast Maine

Maine2012

Mid-Coast Maine

Updated: Dec 13, 2012 4:52pm PST

Sedona 2012 : In March we spent two weeks in the Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon area of Arizona. The first week at a rental condo at the Junipine Resort in Oak Creek Canyon, the second at Sedona Summit timeshare in Sedona. Chris and Karen came to join us for the second week. While Chris and Karen were there we took a couple of road trips, one to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and another to Petrified Forest National Park, which includes a section with views into the painted desert. Almost immediately upon Chris and Karen's arrival Arizona was hit with its second and biggest snow storm of the year, interfering with a few activities but creating some beautiful scenes in the red rocks around Sedona and at the South Rim.

Sedona 2012

In March we spent two weeks in the Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon area of ...

Updated: Feb 17, 2013 5:04pm PST

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island : Sept 2011. We finally got around to doing our long planned but often delayed road tour of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Since the "Cat" no longer runs between Nova Scotia and Maine, we drove from home to Saint John, NB and took the ferry from there to Digby, Nova Scotia. From there we drove the Lighthouse Route and the Marine Route around the western, southern and eastern sides of Nova Scotia. From Pictou, NS we took the ferry to Prince Edward Island and circumnavigated the island before heading home along the Bay of Fundy. Lots of miles using very expensive gas.

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

Sept 2011. We finally got around to doing our long planned but often ...

Updated: Nov 06, 2011 2:08pm PST

Capital Reef NP, Lake Powell, and Mesa Verde : This trip started as an idea to rent a houseboat on Lake Powell for a few days, then it grew to include a return visit to Capitol Reef National Park to see areas that we missed on previous trips. Then we wanted to return to Mesa Verde National Park, a park we visited on our first trip out west over 25 years ago and then, since they were on the way to Mesa Verde, we stopped at Hovenweep National Monument and parts of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Finally we relaxed for a few days near Telluride in the western San Juan Mountain of Colorado, one of our favorite places.

Capital Reef NP, Lake Powell, and Mesa Verde

This trip started as an idea to rent a houseboat on Lake Powell for a ...

Updated: Jul 09, 2012 6:20pm PST

Santa Fe : April '11 trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This quick trip to Santa Fe was to use up a time-limited free companion airline ticket and some excess timeshare points. We stayed at Villas de Santa Fe, right in town. The first day was a long diversion to revisit the Anasazi ruins at Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The weather got nasty almost as soon as we got there. Still we got some new views of some of the ruins. Most of the rest of the week was spent in and around Santa Fe, including a loop through Las Vegas, NM. The adobe style of some of the older buildings and museums in Santa Fe and along the High Road to Taos are very interesting and photogenic. Midweek we took another long excursion to tour the Acoma Pueblo and to El Morro National Monument, a park we had been to previously but could not walk the trail over the mesa because of ice; this time we did the trail. We also hiked the short trail at Tsankawi Ruins near Los Alamos, again something we could not do on our first visit because of snow.

Santa Fe

April '11 trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This quick trip to Santa Fe w ...

Updated: Jan 03, 2012 2:19pm PST

St. Martin, Nevis / St. Kitts : Feb 2011, We traded into the Flamingo Beach Resort timeshare for the first week and then flew to Nevis for the second week. On Nevis we stayed at a rental cottage at Black Sand Cove. We also took a day trip by ferry to St. Kitts and drove around the island.

St. Martin, Nevis / St. Kitts

Feb 2011, We traded into the Flamingo Beach Resort timeshare for the f ...

Updated: Mar 07, 2011 8:22am PST

Bar Harbor in Winter : We spent a few days in January 2011 in Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park. We had a major snowstorm sandwiched between two very nice sunny days. There is not much going on in January; very few restaurants are open, especially early in the week, and no lobster related activity nor is there any lobster on the menu. From a tourist point-of-view, the Maine coast is in a hard shut-down. Still some of the roads in the park are open and the snow / ocean landscape is interesting.

Bar Harbor in Winter

We spent a few days in January 2011 in Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia Na ...

Updated: Jan 18, 2011 11:06am PST

Manhattan & Hudson Valley : This trip in August '10 started as one day of fabric shopping in the garment district and grew into several days in Manhattan and a few more days touring the Hudson Valley on our way back home to Vermont. While Dollie was fabric shopping I took a long walk from Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, across the Brooklyn Bridge to South Street Seaport, and then on down along the East River Bike Path to Battery Park, and finally back up to Wall Street. On the way north we toured the Cloisters and then some of the Great Houses along the Hudson River and finally a stop at Saratoga National Historical Park.

Manhattan & Hudson Valley

This trip in August '10 started as one day of fabric shopping in the g ...

Updated: Nov 29, 2011 8:21am PST

Sierras & Great Basin : This June '10 trip ranged from the Sierras of California to the Great Basin of Nevada. Along the way we toured Mojave National Preserve, Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake, Bodie State Historical Park, the Lunar Crater area near Tonopah, NV., Great Basin National Park, and Cathedral Gorge State Park in Nevada, and spent a night in Las Vegas before heading home. June is a good time to visit Yosemite Valley. All of the waterfalls are at peak flow (most dry up completely in Sept.). However, although Tioga Road was open, most of the high country meadows are still covered in snow, limiting access to most trails. Bodie is one of the best ghost towns to visit because it is being preserved as a state park and was quite a wealthy town in its day. Great Basin National Park is in a range of high peaks in the Nevada desert and is home to some ancient Bristlecone Pines, some of the oldest trees in the world, and has some beautiful aspen groves.

Sierras & Great Basin

This June '10 trip ranged from the Sierras of California to the Great ...

Updated: Oct 07, 2011 4:09pm PST

Galapagos : This tour of the Galapagos Islands in Feb/Mar 2010 was with Natural Habitat Adventures. We also did an extension tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru. Those pictures will be in a separate album. This was an exceptional tour, with superb accommodations aboard the 16 passenger Nina, excellent naturalist/guides, and lots of activities on and around the islands. Everyday included a panga (Zodiac) tour, snorkeling time, and at least one hike on an island. The Galapagos are brimming with life; there is always something to see on the islands or in the water near the boat. Nothing is easy and this trip had its share of difficulties, mostly minor in comparison to some of the events that were going on elsewhere. We had 3 feet of snow in the 24 hours prior to leaving Vermont, and lost power most of the evening we were packing. The day that were were to fly to the Galapagos from Quito, Ecuador, the Chilean earthquake hit and triggered a tsunami that caused an evacuation of the towns in the Galapagos to the highlands. For all of that we were only 2 or 3 hours late in meeting the ship. The crew and our guides had arranged for the Galapagos National Park authorities to allow us a few extra hours on the islands in the evening so that we could complete the first day's activities. The return flight from Peru had its own difficulties. A winter storm in NY's JFK airport caused a cancellation of our last connection home. We rented a car and drove the 6 1/2 hours back to Vermont

Galapagos

This tour of the Galapagos Islands in Feb/Mar 2010 was with Natural Ha ...

Updated: Sep 03, 2011 10:11am PST

Cusco, Peru and the Sacred Valley of the Incas : The trip was an extension of our Feb/Mar 2010 National Habitat Galapagos tour shown in another album. It was originally intended to include Machu Picchu but the flooding last winter has cut off all transportation routes to and from Machu Picchu so Nat Hab added additional sites in the Sacred Valley. Our Nat Hab guide, Francis was knowledgeable, personable, and added a few hometown touches of his own. He grew up in the Sacred Valley and include some non-tourist stops to the itinerary.

Cusco, Peru and the Sacred Valley of the Incas

The trip was an extension of our Feb/Mar 2010 National Habitat Galapag ...

Updated: Jan 12, 2012 10:12am PST

Rocks & Rock Art : This road trip In 2008 went east through Southern Utah and back across Northern Arizona and visited all the National Parks and Monuments in the region and included most of the major publicly accessible rock art galleries in southern Utah. Park areas included Zion, Cedar Breaks, Red Canyon, Bryce, Grand Staircase / Escalante, Capital Reefs, Canyonlands, Manti LaSal, Natural Bridges, Goosenecks, Monument Valley, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Kaibob, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Major Rock Art areas included Parowan Gap, Nine Mile Canyon, Sego Canyon, Horseshoe Canyon.

Rocks & Rock Art

This road trip In 2008 went east through Southern Utah and back across ...

Updated: Sep 21, 2009 5:28pm PST

Florida Keys : Our first trip for 2010 was to the Florida Keys and Key West. We spent most of the week in Islamorada exploring the upper and middle keys, then spent a few days in Key West, hoping to take a boat to the Dry Tortugas. Unfortunately, many water activities were constrained by record cold temperatures in the south during the entire period we were there. We have the dubious distinction of having been in Key West for its coldest temperature on record, 43 deg F. We never did get to the Dry Tortugas National Park. The wind, waves and record cold forced the operators to cancel the trips for several days. Despite not being able to do many on- or in-water activities we did like the Keys. For us it is the most interesting part of Florida. There is still enough preserved wilderness in parks and refuges to make touring interesting. Our friends, Phil and Judy James, drove down from their home in Central Florida to spend a part of the week with us. The Keys were new to them also. There are several parks along the upper and middle keys, some devoted to protecting the barrier reef that runs the entire length of the keys, others mostly preserving shore bird habitat. We returned to Long Key State Park several times because the shore- and wading- birds were most accessible there, especially at low tide. With better weather snorkeling and kayaking in the mangrove channels between the keys would have added to the enjoyment. Key West, the Dry Tortugas, Biscayne National Park and the parks in the upper keys are all worth a return visit in better weather. You really do have to get out on the water to really experience this area.

Florida Keys

Our first trip for 2010 was to the Florida Keys and Key West. We spen ...

Updated: Nov 17, 2011 3:27pm PST

Tucson, AZ - Chaco Canyon, NM : December '07. We used up some excess timeshare points for an off-season week near Tucson, followed by a road trip to northwestern New Mexico to see Chaco Culture National Historical Park and to visit friends near Taos. Tucson was a new area for us. We spent most of our time touring Saguaro National Park, the Desert Museum and the country south and west of the city. From there we drove northeast to Farmington, NM via Taliesin West, the Apache Trail, Besh-Be_Gowah, and then down to Chaco, a place we had passed close by several years ago, not realizing what an amazing place it is. On the return route we stopped at Bandolier National Monument, El Malpais and El Morro Monuments and finally followed the Coronado Trail back to Tucson.

Tucson, AZ - Chaco Canyon, NM

December '07. We used up some excess timeshare points for an off-seas ...

Updated: Oct 24, 2009 2:14pm PST

Yellowstone & Teton National Parks & Park City Area, Utah : Summer 2009. We wanted to explore Yellowstone and Teton National Parks in more detail than we were able to on prior visits. We spent 5 nights at Lake Yellowstone Lodge and a couple of nights at Jackson Lake Lodge in Teton NP. We then spent a week at a timeshare in Park City, Utah to explore the Wasatch / Uinta region of Utah. In early summer all of the rivers and streams are running full force with snow melt and the larger animals, grizzly bears, bison, elk are still at the lower elevations and are easier to see. But, bring mosquito spray for any walk in the woods or around the lakes and ponds.

Yellowstone & Teton National Parks & Park City Area, Utah

Summer 2009. We wanted to explore Yellowstone and Teton National Park ...

Updated: Sep 18, 2009 7:19am PST

Arctic Norway : In the summer of 2009 we spent a week in Svalbard aboard the National Geographic Explorer, a joint Lindblad/National Geographic expedition cruise ship designed for polar operations. Since our flights took us through Oslo we delayed our return and toured the Norwegian Fjord region by car. The Svalbard Archipelago is one of the most northerly land masses on earth, reaching to 81 deg. North Latitude. In the summer the polar ice cap is normally just north of the islands. The terrain is mountainous with bleak looking tundra valleys and shorelines, except where nesting shore birds carry nutrients in from the sea and drop their guano to fertilize the glacial till. Miniature mosses, ferns and some flowers and even tiny woody plants grow in abundance in the bird-fertilized soil. The islands are home to mammals like seals, walrus, arctic fox, reindeer (European caribou), and polar bears. Polar bears and seals are considered marine mammals because they spend most of their lives on the ice pack.

Arctic Norway

In the summer of 2009 we spent a week in Svalbard aboard the National ...

Updated: Dec 24, 2012 6:52am PST

Lake Tahoe & Death Valley : Winter '07, we spent a week skiing and snowshoeing at Lake Tahoe, driving up from Las Vegas on the east side of the Sierras and then worked our way down to Death Valley National Park along the west side of the Sierras with a stop at Yosemite on a foggy and rainy day. Death Valley National Park was surprisingly interesting. It is much more than just the below-sea-level salt flats. The mountains on both the west and east side provide beautiful views and interesting side canyons for hiking and 4W driving.

Lake Tahoe & Death Valley

Winter '07, we spent a week skiing and snowshoeing at Lake Tahoe, driv ...

Updated: Oct 18, 2009 7:06pm PST

Glacier & Waterton National Parks, Banff Region : August 2008 tour of the Northern Rockies. Glacier National Park (USA), Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada), the Candian National Parks around Banff / Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper

Glacier & Waterton National Parks, Banff Region

August 2008 tour of the Northern Rockies. Glacier National Park (USA) ...

Updated: Sep 21, 2009 7:04am PST

Lewis & Clark : In the Summer of '06, we decided to follow the Lewis & Clark route to the Pacific. Starting from Vermont, we intercepted the route where I 90 crosses the Missouri River, at Chamberlain, SD. From there we followed the Missouri River through the Dakotas and Montana to its source at Lemhi Pass, L&C's first crossing of the Continental Divide. From there the route crossed back across the Divide at Lost Pass and then north to Lolo Pass, MT, L&C's third crossing of the Divide, where we followed the Lolo Motorway, a high clearance, 4WD route that parallels L&C's crossing of the Bitterroots. The route then follows the river valleys, eventually joining the Columbia River to the Pacific. The return route was not L&C related, just a different route that took us along some the most scenic roads in the West; the Magruder Corridor, a high clearance 4WD route from Idaho to Montana across the Nez Perce Pass, the Beartooth and the Chief Joseph Scenic Highways, the Big Horn Scenic Highway, Spearfish Canyon, the Black Hills, and Badlands National Park. From there it was back to I 90 for the ride back to Vermont.

Lewis & Clark

In the Summer of '06, we decided to follow the Lewis & Clark route to ...

Updated: Oct 15, 2009 5:59pm PST

Bar Harbor, Maine : November '09: We spent a week at a timeshare in Southwest Harbor, ME and used it as a base to tour the Bar Harbor area. Dollie's brother Gil joined us for a few days. We had time to explore Acadia National Park in some detail, including the main part of the park at Bar Harbor as well as the Seawall and Schoodic regions of the park. We also took the ferry to Swans Island for a day and spent another day touring Deer Isle and the Stonington area. This was not our first visit to the Bar Harbor / Deer Isle area but it was our longest and gave us enough time to explore the area and hike and bicycle some of the trails and roads, including the Carriage Roads in the park.

Bar Harbor, Maine

November '09: We spent a week at a timeshare in Southwest Harbor, ME ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2011 10:55am PST