Dale Sievert

Ten National Parks and Other Wonders Oct - Nov 2022

   In October and November my Brazilian friend and I took a six-week trip touring national parks and other beautiful natural areas, from the Great Smokies in Tennessee to as far west as Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona.  We drove over six thousand miles in my Toyota Tacoma, often sleeping in the back that had a camper shell.  We visited ten national parks, three national monuments, and some state parks.  Utah and Colorado were seen most extensively.

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Great Smokies National Park in Tennesse

Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas

White Sands National Park in New Mexico

Taos Pueblo in New Mexico

Cemetery at Taos Pueblo

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

Rocky Moutain National Park in Colorado

Bowtie Arch near the Colorado River in Utah

Corona Arch, near Moab, Utah and the Colorado River

The Colorado River, near Canyonlands National Park.

Fisher Tower, near Moab, Utah and the Colorado River

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah

Landscape Arch at sunrise , 306-feet wide, in Arches National Park in Utah

Double Arch in Arches National Park in Utah

Dinosaur tracks near Moab, Utah

Dead Horse State Park, overlooking the Colorado River in Utah

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park in Utah

Newspaper Rock, indigenous petroglyphs near Canyonlands National Park in Utah

West Mitten and East Mitten in Monument Valley in Utah

Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

The Toadstools in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Grosvenor Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado

Epilogue

   This was a long, long trip, and most of these scenes I had seen before--but I never tire of them, especially those in my favorite state, Utah.  I sort of wish my great grandparents had continued moving west after emigrating from Poland to Newton in the 1860s, and instead, settled in Utah.  But I suspect that the Mormons would not have been too receptive to Catholics.  Speaking of Poland, I'll be visiting my ancestral family farm there in April, where my third cousin operates the farm.
  
   The next Gulliver's Travels will be from our trip to Guatemala last December.  Stay tuned.

Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

Canadian Rockies ​September 2022

​​   I had been to the Canadian Rockies before, but they deserved another viewing.  Plus, I wanted better photos.  However, the best camera in the world could not cut through the thick smoke from the numerous forest fires in the area.  I visited five national parks in Alberta and British Columbia.  On my way home I also visited Glacier National Park in Montana and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
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Mt. Revelstoke National Park in moderate smoke

No, that is not a fire, just the setting sun.

Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park.

A beautiful waterfalls in Yoho National Park

On a rare clear day in Jasper National Park

The Columbia Icefield has receded a mile since 1942.

In Jasper National Park at sunrise

In Jasper National Park

Famous (smoky) Lake Louise in Banff National Park

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

In Kootenay National Park

In Kootenay National Park

Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park in Montana

In Glacier National Park

St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park

A snowy morning in Glacier National Park

Brrrr!

​Epilogue

   The glaciers are melting--and fast.  So, go see them in the Canadian parks as well as in our own Glacier National Park in Montana.  But even without ice and snow, all the seven parks I visited are very spectacular.

   Next up, my six-week trip from Tennessee to Arizona, plus Utah and Colorado, including ten national parks and lots of other neat places, accompanied by my Brazilian friend.

France ​April 2022

   In April I took a short trip to France, mainly to see the WWII beaches of Normandy.  Also in the province of Normandy is the famous abbey of Mont-Saint Michel.  It's a small island off the Atlantic coast that becomes an island twice a day when the tide comes in.  Everyone has seen photos of it, on numerous calendars and in books.  So, of course, I just had to see it myself.  After Normandy I took a brief tour of the province of Brittany, then drove as far south as the city of Bordeaux before heading northeast to the city of Chartres.  
 I also wanted to see Paris again, as that city is one of my favorites in the world.  It has so many iconic sites, with such an incredible history, both good and bad.

Paris 

   Following WWI, in 1919, Nora Bayes had a hit song, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em' Down on the Farm Once They've Seen Paree.?"  The provincial and "socially backward" farmer Doughboys were supposedly impressed by the sights and lights of glamorous Paris.  I can see why, as I was a bit of a "socially backward" farm kid from Newton--though the sights and lights of Manitowoc didn't wow me as Paris did when I first saw it in 1983, and again in April.

   Remnants of a hunter-gather village from 8,000 B.C., has been found there.  The Romans established the city of Lutetia there in 52 B.C.  After they left, Paris became Christian.  It really became an impressive city with the structures built during the reign of King Louis XIV beginning in 1661.  Things generally went well until they all fell apart in 1789 when the French Revolution ended the monarchy, for a while at least, resulting in the cutting off of the heads of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antionette.  Napoleon Bonaparte, a military genius, became emperor in 1804.  He was deposed in 1814, but he raised an army to regain power in 1815, only to lose his empire for good at the famous battle of Waterloo.  Finally, for a while the Nazis did a little better, occupying Paris from 1940 until 1944, when Patton's 3rd Army booted them back to Germany.

The Eiffel Tower is 894 feet high and was built in 1889.

Notre Dame Cathedral was completed in 1345. It is now being repaired after the fire in 2019.

The Arc de Triomphe, 162 feet high, was completed in 1836

The Louve art gallery was completed in 1793.

National Academy of Music or The Paris Opera

Palace de Concorde, site of most guillotine executions

Versailles Palace, begun in 1671, with 2300 rooms

The Versailles gardens cover three square miles

Normandy and Brittany

   Normandy and Brittany are two provinces in the northwest of France, both being on the Atlantic coast.  The former, of course, is famous for having the beaches that were the landing spots for the American, British, and Canadian forces on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.  Normandy is also famous for the launching site of the conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.  Its most iconic view is of Mont-de-Michel, the abbey that seems to float on the sea when the tide is in.  
   Brittany was the last bastion of the Celtic tribes, and until recently its residents spoke their own language, a Gaelic-based one.  I did not hear anyone speaking it, though one man told me that he did.  

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On the causeway to the abbey

View of the causeway from the top of the abbey

Begun in the 6th and 7th Centuries, it became a monastery in the 8th Century.

Looking up to the upper floors

The Cloisters

The dining hall

A memorial on Omaha Beach

Looking towards the route up the cliffs taken by Americans

A German bunker

Sword Beach, where the British landed

Bayeax Cathedral, near the Normandy beaches, built in 1077

A windmill and a field of rape, used to make canola oil

Over 3000 of these Carnac Stones at Menec were placed here from 4500-3000 B.C.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, 371 feet high

Chartres Cathedral, built from 1194-1252

Chartres Cathedral

Epilogue


   Henry Ford once famously said, "History is bunk."  Henry knew lots about building cars, but little about the value of studying history.  France has a few cars....but TONS of history, with plenty to keep even the most jaded traveler enthralled.  Go there and be enthralled.

Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

​Argentina and Brazil  ​Part 3 February-March 2022

                              Brazil
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   The last part of my trip was spent in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba and along the Atlantic coast near the city of Florianopolis.  Curitiba is the hometown of my new traveling companion.  Florianopolis is a large city near Uruguay that would be an ideal place to spend the winter should I ever do as so many others of our age do--in Florida or Arizona.  I spent several days in a nice two-bedroom apartment with a large kitchen/living room, two blocks off the Atlantic coast beach for $30 a night.  There were plenty of nearby shops and restaurants, where meals cost only 35-40% of our prices.  The beach surroundings were some of the best I've ever seen, with many forested hills everywhere.  There are plenty of things to do, and it is safe and clean.  A huge bonus: being it is their summer, it is light until very late at night.  So, if I ever get old and need to escape the cold and snow, that's where I'm going.

Museum of Oscar Niemeyer, architect of Brasilia--Curitiba

Niemeyer Museum

The Botanical Garden of Curitiba

Squeezing juice out of sugar cane at a street stall

Flowers of the tree named Handroanthus serratifolius, commonly known as Ipe.

A government building in Curitiba

On the tourist train Serra Verde Express to Moretas

In the town of Moretas on the Atlantic coast

In Moretas

Shops in Moretas

Hotels on the beach near the city of Florianopolis

Vacation home of my friend's sister on the Atlantic coast

​Epilogue


   My month-long trip to Brazil and Argentina was quite unexpected when I walked into a restaurant/dance hall in Lafayette, Louisiana last December 30th.  All it took was for me to ask a woman to dance who hailed from
​Curitiba, Brazil.  Next, we will be taking a five-week trip in October and November to Nashville, the Great Smokies, and Lafayette--followed by tours of ten national parks from Texas up to Yellowstone, followed by the Black Hills and the Badlands. 
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  Next up in Gulliver's Travels will be my April trip to Paris and western France.

Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

​Argentina and Brazil  ​Part 2 February-March 2022

A map of the falls, with Argentina on the right and Brazil on the left

Looking north upriver, with Argentina on the right and Brazil on the left

The Argentinian falls

Walkways over the water

Garganta del Diablo, or Mouth of the Devil, is 2300 feet long, 490 feet wide, and 270 feet high

Looking north to the beginning of the falls

The heart of Garganta del Diablo

Walking on the Argentinian side

Up close on the Argentinian side

Epilogue

   If you wish to see an amazing waterfall, visit Niagara Falls.  If you wish to see a waterfall that is ineffable, visit Iguazu Falls.  No words of praise can do it justice.  It reminds me of the old Japanese saying, "Don't say something is beautiful until you've seen Nikko Temple."  That means that a high percentage of Japanese people would say Nikko Temple is the most beautiful place in Japan.  A person who did not visit Nikko Temple but who saw another fantastic place might describe it as beautiful--but only out of ignorance.  I saw Nikko Temple, so I know what the Japanese man of olden times meant.
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   Next up: Part 3 of Argentina and Brazil, which covers the city of Curitiba plus the Atlantic coast area near the city of Florianapolis.

Argentina and Brazil      ​February-March 2022

​Northern Argentina

   After viewing Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, my friend and I flew to Salta, Argentina on February 17th.  Salta is fairly close to both Bolivia to the north and Chile to the west.  We rented a car and drove on some very good and some very, very, very bad roads, almost always in high desert areas.  Many of the desert rock formations were stunning, the like which I had never seen before.  My friend is a wine aficionado, so we visited seven wineries, one of which is the highest winery in the world.  After weather in the high 60s and sun every day, we returned to Brazil on March 2nd.

Church in Cafayte

Eating some (unnecessary) "Viagra" ice cream

City cemetery of Cafayte

A museum of indigenous people of northern Argentina

In the Colalao Valley

Portulaca flowers

In the Calchanuies Valley

Typical gravel road in the Calchanuies Valley

A very old cemetery in the Calchaquies Valley

A decrepit tomb with wooden coffins stacked inside

In the Angastaco National Monument

The Colonne Winery in Molinos

A cactus very similar to Saguaro in Arizona

A church in Cachi

The Cachi cemetery

The Andes Mountains in the distance

A canyon just outside Pumamarca

A Carnaval celebration in Pumamarca

A Carnaval procession in Pumamarca

A salt flat at 11,200-feet altitude

Epilogue


   I thought of a lot of places to travel to in my life.  However, by the end of 2021 it never occurred to me to travel to northern Argentina--to drink lots of wine with a wine aficionado, visit lots of quaint cemeteries with a cemetery aficionado, and visit deserts and salt flats with a new friend.  Here's hoping there are more pleasant surprises for me.  Maybe all I have to do is ask someone to dance.  Sure beats the frustration of a dating service--not to mention the cost.

​Dale

Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

​Part 3  Utah & Arizona--November 2021

Spider Rock, about 800 feet high

Farm fields are on the canyon floor.

Near the entrance of the canyon

An abandoned cliff dwelling

Lichens (symbiotic combinations of an algae and a fungus)

The yellow coloring on the rocks are lichens.

​      Epilogue

     Well, that's all folks--of Utah and Arizona.  I almost always drive there, just loving the area and the way out.  You might wonder why I spend so much time there.  Well, it is just so phenomenally beautiful.  The second reason is that every day I spend there is a day I do not have to take the chance of getting run over by some old driver in Florida, South Texas, or "Sun City and Environs"--not to mention "catching" old age from them.

     The next Gulliver's Travels will be of my February-March trip to southern Brazil and northern Argentina.  

​Part 2   Utah & Arizona--November 2021

White Pocket, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

The will to live of a Ponderosa Pine is inspiring to a soon-to-be octogenarian.

Next up will be Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Chiricahua National Monument--also cool places, so don't miss them.  Better yet, go see them in person.