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We have visited approximately one-half of the state capitol buildings in the United States, however, until now we had not made the effort to visit the California Capitol. During our summer visit to Lake Tahoe, we took a short “vacation” to the San Francisco Bay area. On our way to the bay, we stopped in Sacramento to tour the Capitol.
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We wanted to visit Denver and the surrounding area so we parked in nearby Wheat Ridge, CO, at Prospect RV Park, about 12 miles west of the heart of downtown Denver.
We didn’t get around as much as we had intended due to a couple of complications. However, we did check out the town of Boulder, home to the University of Colorado, and the town of Arvada.
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To visit Helena, we parked at the Alhambra RV Park in Clancy, MT.
Helena, the capital city of Montana, was founded in 1864 as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush. The area known as “Last Chance Gulch” produced one of the richest finds in the United States. By 1888, about 50 millionaires lived in Helena, more per capita than any other city in the world. You can see the evidence of this early wealth in the very fine homes in the Victorian neighborhoods of the city. The Montana State Capitol building was constructed between 1896 and 1902 using Montana sandstone and granite. We took a nice trolley/train tour of the city. Continue reading
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This post is a continuation of Alaska Cruise – Week 1.
Day 8: Anchorage, AK. This is by far the largest city in Alaska and is the commercial and transportation center for the state. Valerie’s cousin Prudence is working on a temporary assignment at a hospital in Anchorage. We were able to meet up with her and she generously offered to drive us to see some of the natural beauty around Anchorage. We drove south from the city along the coast of Turnagain Arm. Our first stop was a brief hike in Chugach State Park, one of the largest state parks in the United States. While hiking, Prudence spotted a moose with a calf at about 150 yards from the trail. At a little further along the road we hiked to Byron Glacier and spotted a black bear at a comfortable distance. Back to Anchorage we stopped briefly at the Earthquake Park which captures some of the impact from the massive 9.2 earthquake that hit Anchorage in 1964. Near there we saw a young moose grazing on the side of the road. Finally, after a quick stop at Point Woronzof for a classic view of Anchorage across Knik Arm, we stopped into 49th State Brewing before returning to the ship. It was a good day with beautiful weather and we thank Prudence for showing us around. Continue reading
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We took a 14 day cruise aboard the Zaandam, a Holland America Lines ship, round trip from Seattle to several ports in Alaska. Neither of us have much cruise experience but we were thrilled with the level of service and the quality of the food aboard this ship. We heard similar comments from more experienced cruisers as well. Every evening in the main dining room was a fine dining experience with a varied menu that changed every day. And they even had selections that suited our particular food preferences. With a 14 day itinerary we were able to visit ports that don’t get a lot of cruise ship traffic. The following is a summary by day of our experience.
Second Act 