New York City, 1979

The United Nations, Rockerfeller Plaza, and the view from Top of The Rock, summer 1979

 

Pittsburgh, 1977 & 2016

The Pittsburgh skyline, 1977 and 2016, from atop Mount Washington. 

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 6: Mt Rushmore to Denver

THURSDAY JULY 30, 2015

TL;DR - See Mt Rushmore and then drive south through Nebraska to catch a flight in Denver.

Theme songs:

• "Mountain Town" (South Park)
• "Get Out of Denver" (Bob Seger)

Weather: sunny all day

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 5: Deadwood to Mt Rushmore

WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 2015

TL;DR - South Dakota all day. Deadwood in the daytime, then drive through the Black Hills out to Badlands National Park in late afternoon and sunset, spend the night in Keystone, near Mt Rushmore.

Theme songs:

• "Rocky Raccoon" (The Beatles)
• "Badlands" (Bruce Springsteen)

Weather: high 79, low 54

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 4: Yellowstone to Deadwood

TUESDAY JULY 28, 2015

TL;DR - Drive out of Yellowstone into Wyoming and Montana, drive across Montana to the North Dakota border and then cut south as soon as I can into South Dakota, detour a bit to see Devil's Tower in Wyoming, then stop for the night in Deadwood, SD.

Theme songs:

• "Life Is a Highway" (Tom Cochrane) for my drive
• "Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

Weather: sunny leaving Yellowstone, windy and high of 75 in Billings, low of 52 in Deadwood

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 3: Yellowstone (day 2)

Monday, July 27, 2015

TL;DR version: Second of two days at Yellowstone National Park, taking a morning photography tour and a wildlife excursion in the afternoon.

Today's theme songs:

• "Photograph" (Ringo Starr) for the photo safari
• "Wild Mountain Honey" (Steve Miller Band) for the evening trip

Weather report: 30-60% chance of storms, high 61, low 30 (brrrr!)

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 2: Yellowstone (day 1)

Sunday July 26, 2015

TL;DR version: First of two days at Yellowstone National Park, taking the "Yellowstone in a Day" guided tour.

Today's theme songs:

• "Yogi Bear Show theme song" 
• "Faithfully" (Journey) for Old Faithful

Weather report: Sunday in Yellowstone: sunny, high 70, low 36

Rockies and Great Plains roadtrip, 2015 part 1: Salt Lake City to Yellowstone

Saturday, July 25, 2015.

TL;DR version: fly into Salt Lake City, rent a car, quick tour of the LDS Temple, drive north into Idaho, detour to see Craters of the Moon, drive up to West Yellowstone for the night.

Today's theme songs:

• "Rocky Mountain Way" (Joe Walsh)
• "Your Own Private Idaho" (B-52's)

Weather report: sunny in Salt Lake City for my plane to land, sunny for the drive, low of 36 in Yellowstone.

Rockies and Great Plains road trip, 2015 (intro)

Back in 2011, I was going to be laid off in mid-year and so I put together a cross-country road trip that would hit 10 of the 11 states that I still had not visited (Alaska was not feasible on this trip). My final plan was that I was going to drive over 4300 miles from Houston to Salt Lake City, UT (new state #1), and then hit in order Idaho (#2), Oregon (#3), Montana (#4), Wyoming (#5), North Dakota (#6), South Dakota (#7), Minnesota (#8), Iowa (#9), and Nebraska (#10) before driving south back to Houston. That would have taken me over 4300 miles and at least a good 3 weeks of leisurely driving and stopping wherever I wanted to (but no deadlines).