Over the last few years, my family has been to many places in America including the Badlands in South Dakota, California, and Washington, D.C. But this post I'll talk about Northern California and the states on the way there via our driving tour.
Driving West we went to North Platte, Nebraska which for train lovers is a highlight since it has one of the biggest train classification yard in the world. The Golden Spike Observation Tower is a four-story tower that you can watch trains for hours on end, like my dad.
After Nebraska, we head to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a quick stop where we again checked out trains. We saw the Big Boy, a gigantic steam locomotive from the 1940s. You could spend time looking through the shops in the down town near the train station, especially Western styled art, like the giant boots all around.
Then we traveled to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where we saw oil rigs and steep terrain along the way. Steamboat Springs is a ski resort in the winter, but in the summer the climate is mild with beautiful scenery and touristy shops. Fish Creek Falls provided a pleasant hike that even my little brother in a wheelchair could enjoy. Passing through Salt Lake City, Utah we saw the Olympic Park, the Great Salt Lake which stunk, and the Salt Flats where they test world records for land speeds.
Finally, we made it to California where we went to the McClellan Aerospace Museum on the base. The Star Trek exhibit was there, and we could sit in the Captain's chair on the Original series bridge. Also, we could see a Borg up close and walk through the halls of the Enterprise D from the Next Generation. Then we toured the rest of the facility which housed a whole lot of planes, some of which we could enter, including a MiG, F-14D Tomcat, and a Blue Angels jet F-16.
Near to the airbase is Sacramento where we went to Sutter's Fort, not Sutter's Mill where they first found gold, and we saw blacksmiths, gunsmiths, and olden times stuff. The blacksmith was making a long knife for a fundraiser. We then drove into San Francisco over a bridge and began our site-seeing. We saw the U.S.S. Pampinito at Fisherman's Wharf, a World War II submarine. Across the Bay we could see Alcatraz, but no one wanted to go there. We also went to the Ghiradelli Chocolate shop and watched the cable cars since the lines were too long to go on. Next we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the visitor's center. It was awesome to see in person.
Our conference was in Santa Clara so it was next to the Intel Museum which had a clean room, the first micro-processor chip, and lots of manufacturing information like how to make silicon wafers. It was free and worth seeing. After the conference we went to Sequoia National Park where we saw some of the largest and oldest trees in the world. Of special note were the Iowa tree, fallen trees, and General Grant tree. Our next stop was Legoland California in Carlsbad which is further South. There were a lot of really cool Lego structures, and some rides, but mostly for kids younger than 10. We stopped at the Pacific Ocean which was surprisingly chilly, and we climbed the sand dunes, but only got a little in the water.
Overall, California was a good place to go because we got to see a lot of famous landmarks and a wide variety of things on the way there.
No comments:
Post a Comment