Category: Places & Travel

Porciuncula

Porciuncula (see below) is from a chapel near Assisi in Italy that Saint Francis restored and made the center for the Franciscan Order.

The large church built at Pecos Pueblo beginning in 1622 was named Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciuncula de los Pecos. It was the largest European structure north of Mexico until destroyed in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The ruins there now are from the smaller 18th century church.

“Our Lady” was apparently “Queen of the Angels” in Los Angeles, but only “of the Angels” 150 years earlier in Pecos.

The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reyna de los Angeles de Porciuncula has given Antonio Villaraigosa a landslide victory as its new mayor (58%). He’s the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar left office in a town of 6,000 people in 1872.

“It doesn’t matter whether you grew up on the Eastside or the Westside, whether you’re from South Los Angeles or Sylmar,” [Villaraigosa] said. “It doesn’t matter whether you go to work in a fancy car or on a bus, or whether you worship in a cathedral or a synagogue or a mosque. We are all Angelenos, and we all have a difference to make.”

Read all about it in the Los Angeles Times.

NewMexiKen really doesn’t have much to say about this. I just wanted to write out the original Spanish name for the city we so carelessly call L.A.

Thanks to Colorado Luis for the reminder.

Nez Perce National Historical Park

… was established on this date 40 years ago. According to the National Park Service:

Nez Perce

The 38 sites of Nez Perce National Historical Park are scattered across the states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana and have been designated to commemorate the stories and history of the Nimiipuu and their interaction with explorers, fur traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, gold miners, and farmers who moved through or into the area.

Just in case you’ve been thinking about moving to Phoenix

The Arizona Republic predicts Phoenix will reach 100° F Monday, the first time this year (and a week later than average). Here’s some of their take on summer survival in the Valley of the Sun:

When the triple digits hit, hiding from the sun becomes a survival instinct. You run errands at night. You stay in the office for lunch, trolling the Web for cheap fares to San Diego. The chilly movie theater is Mecca, and there is no greater gift from the universe than a shady parking spot.

“I would probably drive around 10 to 12 times” before settling for a spot in the sun, Phoenix resident Jillian Cooper said. Cooper works at Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, where everyone fights for the uncovered, close-to-the-mall parking spots that line Camelback Road in the winter, then hightails it to the garage when the heat hits.

“You could get killed in that garage. It’s insane,” said Cooper, 21, who keeps a towel in her car for use as a steering wheel buffer on days when there is no shade to be had.

At Tokyo Express restaurants, you’ll need an ice chest if you want the employees to happily sell you take-out sushi, general manager Kako Iwaoka said. Buying ice cream at the grocery store means speeding home, unless you’ve a hankering for vanilla soup. It seems suddenly completely rational to eat shaved ice for lunch.

At Bahama Buck’s in Mesa, where 92 flavors of shaved ice seem like summer solved, manager Ryan Cooper said customers wait outside the store each day for the 11 a.m. opening.

This time of year, Arizonans are suckers for anything frozen: there are frozen water bottles, freezer shelves full of Otter Pops, even frozen bed sheets. (Put dry sheets in the freezer, let them chill, and then fall asleep in an icy cocoon. After all, if they heat bath towels in the Midwest, why not chill bed sheets in the Southwest?)

It never reached 100° in Albuquerque last summer, though it did eight times in 2003. Phoenix had a low temperature one day that summer of 96°.

The most beautiful place on earth

It poured again on Sunday in the Yosemite Valley, but people were smiling in their ponchos and galoshes. It has been that kind of spring here: dreadful weather and delighted visitors.

With extraordinarily heavy snowfall in the higher elevations, and lots of rain elsewhere, the rivers and waterfalls in the Sierra Nevada are gushing. Hikers must hopscotch around muddy puddles, and much of the park remains closed because of impassible roads, but the Yosemite water show is at its best in years.

“There are places we’ve stood, where you can look around and see six waterfalls at once,” said David Cosio of Watsonville, Calif., getting soaked from head to toe near Yosemite Falls with his wife, Linda, and three young sons. “We’ve been here before in May, but nothing like this.”

Yosemite Drapes Itself in Its Splendid Liquid Veils, and Preens from The New York Times

You saw it here ten days ago. It was stupendous — though NewMexiKen did get a sunny morning.

Size matters

A friend tells me American Airlines has moved their seats back closer together. She couldn’t fit her water bottle in the seatback pocket because it took up too much of her knee room.

Just wait until the person in front of her reclines!

The Santa Fe Trail

The National Park Service tells us about the Santa Fe Trail on this, the date the National Historic Trail was established in 1987.

Santa Fe Trail.jpg

Between 1821 and 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a commercial highway connecting Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1821 until 1846, it was an international commercial highway used by Mexican and American traders. In 1846, the Mexican-American War began. The Army of the West followed the Santa Fe Trail to invade New Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe ended the war in 1848, the Santa Fe Trail became a national road connecting the United States to the new southwest territories. Commercial freighting along the trail continued, including considerable military freight hauling to supply the southwestern forts. The trail was also used by stagecoach lines, thousands of gold seekers heading to the California and Colorado gold fields, adventurers, fur trappers, and emigrants. In 1880 the railroad reached Santa Fe and the trail faded into history.

Lassen

At the southern end of the Cascade Range, Lassen Peak was designated a national monument on this date in 1907. It became a national park in 1916.

This from the National Park Service:

Lassen.jpg

Beneath Lassen Volcanic’s peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. 600,000 years ago, the collision and warping of continental plates led to violent eruptions and the formation of lofty Mt. Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano.) After 200,000 years of volcanic activity, vents and smaller volcanoes on Tehama’s flanks-including Lassen Peak-drew magma away from the main cone. Hydrothermal areas ate away at the great mountain’s bulk. Beneath the onslaught of Ice Age glaciers, Mt. Tehama crumbled and finally ceased to exist. But the volcanic landscape lived on: in 1914, Lassen Peak awoke. The Peak had its most significant activity in 1915 and minor activity through 1921. Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape.

Yosemite

NewMexiKen is in Yosemite National Park this evening. Lovely.

Word is the bears have learned to open unlocked car doors. I figure a couple of more generations of evolution and the bears will be ordering various car remotes over the internets.

Whoopie ti yi yo, git along little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home

Nearly 400 bison were pushed back into Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, topping a single-day record for government agents working on the park’s western border.

Montana Department of Livestock officials said 396 bison were hazed into the park and 50 more may be pushed back today.

On Tuesday, 37 bison were captured and tested for exposure to brucellosis, the contagious disease that government officials worry the bison may spread to nearby cattle.

Of those 37, 16 tested positive for exposure and will be sent to slaughter, 18 tested negative and were released and three calves were taken to an experimental quarantine facility near Gardiner, according to Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Department of Livestock.

Billings Gazette

Destination America

Smithsonian Magazine stimulates a little wanderlust.

From Custer’s Little Bighorn battlefield, to Eudora Welty’s Mississippi garden, to an underwater wonderland in the Florida Keys—seven destinations to entice our ever-discerning readers

“[R]eminded them of the Titanic”

NEW YORK (AP) — Passengers disembarking Monday from a cruise ship that was struck by a freak seven-story-high wave said the stormy weather that smashed windows and sent furniture flying reminded them of the Titanic. …

The 965-foot white ocean liner was sailing back to New York from the Bahamas on Saturday when a storm pounded the vessel with heavy seas, including a rogue 70-foot wave. The wave sent furniture sailing through the air and knocked hot tubs overboard. Some passengers slept in hallways in life jackets.

CNN

Well, yes, except it wasn’t an iceberg and the ship didn’t sink.

Hey, it’s National Park Week

National parks are the best idea we ever had,” wrote famed western author Wallace Stegner. “Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”

What began as a uniquely American idea with the creation of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872 has been exported, adapted and adopted worldwide in the decades that followed.

“American’s Gift To The World” is the theme of National Park Week, celebrated the week of April 18-24, 2005.

The week-long celebration will kick off Monday, April 18th with the dedication of the Yosemite Falls Restoration Project, the largest public/private partnership project ever undertaken in Yosemite National Park. The event celebrates the completion of a ten year, $13.5 million dollar effort enhancing protection of and improving visitor access to the Lower Yosemite Falls area.

A variety of events will be held at national parks across the nation during the week including the 35th anniversary of Earth Day.

The celebration will conclude in Albuquerque, New Mexico with ceremony recognizing the Superintendent of Petroglyph National Monument. Dr. Joseph P. Sanchez will be presented with the Medalla del Merito Civil, an honor conferred by the King of Spain, in recognition of this life-long accomplishments promoting Spanish Colonial heritage.

National Park Service press release

I’ve Been Everywhere Man

I was totin’ my pack along the dusty Winnemucca road
When along came a semi with a high and canvas covered load.
“If you’re going to Winnemucca, Mack, with me you can ride.”
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside.
He asked me if I’d seen a road with so much dust and sand.
And I said, “Listen, I’ve traveled every road in this here land.”

(Chorus)
I’ve been everywhere, man; I’ve been everywhere, man
‘Cross the deserts bare, man, I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel, I’ve had my share, man, I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,
Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,
Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,
Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma,
Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo,
Tocopilla, Barranquilla, and Padilla
I’m a killer.

(Chorus)

I’ve been to Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana,
Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana,
Monterey, Ferriday, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa,
Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa,
Tennessee, Hennessey, Chicopee, Spirit Lake,
Grand Lake, Devil’s Lake, Crater Lake,
For Pete’s sake.

(Chorus)

I’ve been to Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika,
Shefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica,
Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport,
Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond Du Lac, Davenport,
Idaho, Jellicoe, Argentina, Diamontina,
Pasadena, Catalina,
See what I mean’a.

(Chorus)

I’ve been to Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Gravellburg, Colorado,
Ellensburg, Rexburg, Vicksburg, Eldorado,
Larrimore, Atmore, Haverstraw, Chattanika,
Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelika,
Baraboo, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, Kansas City,
Sioux City, Cedar City, Dodge City,
What a pity . . .

(Chorus)

I’ve been everywhere.

Geoffrey Mack wrote this great song, originally for Hank Snow. Johnny Cash, heard in the current commercial, recorded it in 1996 for his album Unchained, backed by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

Thanks to Terry at Coyote’s Bark for reminding me I had been intending to post these lyrics. And thanks to Jill for the Johnny Cash track.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

… was established on this date in 1937.

OrganPipeCactus.jpg

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument celebrates the life and landscape of the Sonoran Desert. Here, in this desert wilderness of plants and animals and dramatic mountains and plains scenery, you can drive a lonely road, hike a backcountry trail, camp beneath a clear desert sky, or just soak in the warmth and beauty of the Southwest. The Monument exhibits an extraordinary collection of plants of the Sonoran Desert, including the organ pipe cactus, a large cactus rarely found in the United States. There are also many creatures that have been able to adapt themselves to extreme temperatures, intense sunlight and little rainfall.

National Park Service

Roll over, Moab

Once upon a time, there was a town in Utah called Moab, a red-rock desert hamlet known for just one thing: uranium mines. Then somebody noticed all those old mining roads and the way a set of knobby tires could grip that red rock, and pretty soon Moab was mecca for mountain bikes.

Copper Canyon, says Chuck Nichols, “is another Moab waiting to happen.” And Nichols, 55, has seen a lot of both places. He and his wife, Judy, opened the Poison Spider bike shop in Moab 15 years ago and watched as mountain bikers took to their red-rock town like ants to flan. Since 2001, through their company Nichols Expeditions, the two have been bringing a U.S. group to Copper Canyon every year.

Until now, if you’ve heard of Copper Canyon at all, it’s probably because of the railroad — a 400-plus-mile trip from Los Mochis to Chihuahua full of tunnels, twists, track-side vendors in native garb and hints of the territory’s history as a gold- and silver-mining region in the 18th and 19th centuries.

But more and more Mexican and American bikers are turning up these days, drawn by some of the deepest downhill runs in the world and a trail network blazed by generations of Tarahumara. The result is a landscape full of lethal vistas, backcountry characters and ancient ways.

Excerpt from an article in Los Angeles Times

Survey says

From InformationWeek:

By a landslide, air travelers don’t want to add cell phone chatter to their already-long list of in-flight complaints, a survey says.

The poll, conducted on behalf of the National Consumer League and a flight attendants’ association, found that 69 percent of those surveyed wanted to keep cell phone restrictions in place on planes, while just 21 percent thought it was fine to gab once off the ground.

One suspects the 21 percent will prevail.

Talk about your obsessive-compulsives

One man pays a visit to every unit in the national park system.

All 388. See his travel website.

Clearly this is a man who is a bit obsessive. His personal website tracks each of his 366 travel-related goals, from visiting all 131 North American telephone area codes designated by AT&T, to visiting some point worldwide whose name begins with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and consuming a McDonald’s menu item in every country in which it operates. Hogenauer even made a pilgrimage to the offices of R. R. Donnelley, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, company that prints maps and pamphlets for each park, just to let them know he appreciated their efforts.