Park 170 Tumacacori National Historical Park - Tumacacori, New Mexico

Based out of Tucson, we headed about 50 miles or so south on I-19 to this little park, just off the Interstate. 

Tumacacori celebrates the work of the "blackrobes" and later, the "brown robes", the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries that came to the area early in the Spanish settlement of the area and attempted to introduce the Native populations into their lifestyle and religions.  There was a series of mission buildings put up all over the Southwest, and this is what Tumacacori is about.

There is a shell of the old mission on the grounds, and some other small ruins.  There is a 14 minute movie that depicts the life of the mission- and describes the efforts of the priests to "civilize" the Native American population. 

There was a nice little Visitors Center, and I was able to get 2 pins, along with three stamps here, 2 for the park, and one for the De Anza Trail. 

Park 169 Gila Cliff Dwellings Silver City New Mexico

We were encamped at Lordsburg, New Mexico, and Bette encouraged me to go ahead and get this one off this list, since it is "out of the way."  That is an understatement, you really, really have to want to get to this park, from Lordsburg, at least. 

The road to Silver City isn't so bad, its the 44 miles of twisty turney barely two lane, not lane marked, no guard rail, switchback, ugly road you take to get there. 

There are lots of pretty vistas as you get there, and there were patches of snow evident. 

Took me almost 2 and a half hours up there and back. 
Got two stamps, which is what the Master List called for- also got a nice pin and  a hiking staff medallion. 

Because of the time constraints and the fact that it was a mile walk to and from the ruins, I didn't actually visit them, but I did do the museum. 

Next time I have some time, I'll go back and do this one "proper", and allow a full day for it. 

Park 168 Guadalupe Mountains- Salt Flat Texas

We made a 34 mile trip from Carlsbad Caverns the next morning, and visited the main visitor center for Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  The flyer for the park says the Park preserves the "rugged spirit and remote wilderness of the American West." and this is for sure remote and rugged. 

The VC is located just off the main highway, and the parking lot was very RV friendly.   We went in and got three stamps here.   We chose not to visit the more remote parts of the park and didn't get one stamp. 

The big lore here is the mountain range, for sure.

I got a pin and a walking staff medallion here today also. 



Park Revisit, Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico, for stamps

While on our trip from Dallas to Tucson, we made a revisit stop to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico-  Long trip for the day, 518 miles, and we got there three minutes before the last elevator trip down to the Big Room at 3:30! 

I had last been to this park in 1962, I believe, when our family was on our way from Camp Pendleton to Parris Island.  I very much remember sitting down deep in the bowels of the caverns and the ranger turning off the lights and remember clearly how utterly dark and quiet it was. 

This trip, we were accompanied by our Texas Pals TC and Jeanna.  As I said, we hauled boogie from Lewisville Texas, and literally got there three minutes before the last elevator.  We were only able to tour the Big Room, which was plenty-  There was about a mile or so walking, and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. 

I missed two stamps that were shown as located here, the 25th anniversary, which is now not showing up at several locations, and another bonus stamp, which has stalagtites on it.  I did manage to get the "Mailed from 700 feet below" stamp, even though the area was closing, the young man was nice enough to let me get the stamp.  I posted on my club list the situation. 

The Visitors Center is 7.1 miles from the main road up a pretty twisty turney 2 lane road, and we hustled on it, believe me.  You crest a big hill, and this is the vista from the parking lot, although today was quite hazy and overcast.  It was also chilly and the wind was blowing about 30 mph. 

As I said, we only got to tour the "Big Room" area, which is on the bottom left side of the cave.  We were able to take the elevators down, and then walked from the center where you see visitors center around the Big Room-  Took us about 45 minutes.

I was able to get three pins and a walking staff ornament. 

They really do a good job of illuminating the formations, and the interpretation plaques are well done also.  Beautiful visitors center, but when we got back upstairs, they were't showing the film. 

A park that isn't a park, but still counts Poverty Point Louisiana

Park number 168, is Poverty Point, which is next to Epps, Louisiana.  It was a stop on the way from Vicksburg NMP on the way over to Dallas today, February 3, 2012, and visited in the midst of a huge downpour. 

I had previously called the park to see if we could get to it with the motor home, and was told yes we could, but when I looked at the site on Google Earth, I wasn't so sure- so we stopped at MM 157 at a poor excuse for a country truck stop, unhooked, and away i went. 

The park is about 16 miles off I-20, and I took a back route from my intended one, and missed a turn and was in the midst of a 20 mile detour before I realized my mistake, and turned around.  There the park was.

I got there at 2 pm in a driving rainstorm, and was told I was the first visitor of the day. 

The history of this park is that it is actually under the control of the State of Louisiana, and there are no actual Federal facilities here.  It is, however, listed as a park, and counts as a visited park, but the kicker is as far as an "offical" stamp is concerned, you have to write to a Ranger fellow in Atlanta and request the stamp!  They do have a self inked stamp here, which as I said, does count-  so long story short, it is my 168th unit. 

 The attraction here is that this was one of the several "Indian Mound" sites in the southern US, several of which I have also visited. 

 Again, while it is a National Historic Landmark, there is no Federal presence here. 

Here is the stamp I got today.  I also got a nice pin and a hiking staff medallion. 

Here is the Wiki website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_Point

And the NPS one:
http://www.nps.gov/popo/index.htm

As the area had been innudated with 4 plus inches of rain, I opted not to tour the mounds-  so I had to make do with the well done museum and called it a day. 

Feb 2, 2012 Revisit to Vicksburg N Mil Park

Today, in the driving, beating, monsoonal rain, I did a revisit of Vicksburg National Military Park.  I last visited here on May 10,2009.  That was in my "rookie days" of stamp collecting, and I had the current knowledge that I was missing three stamps from this location. 

This is a rather large city park, located high on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  This was the site of key battle of the Civil War, and is said to have contributed to the turning point of insuring the Rebel defeat.  General Grant went on from here and the successful completion of this assignement to "finish the job," and accept Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

On my first visit, we only went to the visitors center, and decided for some reason not to take the drive through the park, which I did on this visit.  Wow, I had missed a lot! 

The Visitor's Center is at the bottom pretty much of the park, and throughout the park, there are monuments put up by the various states, and there is also a USS Cairo Museum, which I did not visit previously also-  It honors one of the many boats that took place in the capture of Vicksburg. 

 The boat, an ironclad, sits underneat a big tent, and there is a unique museum on the site, which has an excellent movie and displays. 

Here, I also found the USS Cairo stamp, which I had missed on my previous visit:

I also pickup up a pin about the Cairo here.

At the main VC, I got two stamps, including one of the 150th anniversary celebration that I had missed before:

The 25th anniversary stamp was not available here-  I suspect this will be the case in lots of parks, as the stamp was dated 2011 and I believe several parks have thrown them away.  I asked after it here today and was told it was not available. 

Next time Cooper or Brandon is with me,  and we are in the area, I'll try to get them to tour here-  I have a healthy respect for this park now, since I took the time not to stamp and run. 

I also got to watch the movie in the main VC, and it was outstanding! 

I also was able to snag the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War handbook, which I had looked for at a couple of parks-  As this is the start of a 4 year 150th celebration at several parks, this additional book is an excellent companion piece-   I'll do a seperate blog post on it. 

I got a total of 5 pins here, one each for RE Lee, and Gen Grant, a hiking staff medallion for Vicksburg, and a park pin, and one for the Cairo as well. 

Fantastic visit, just sorry it was drenching rain the whole time!    The rain prevented me from spending any time at the National Cemetery here, which is part of the park. 

I didn't take any time to revisit any of the allied exhibits in the Vicksburg area, the next time I am here, I will allow for maybe three days to leisurely see it all. 

Here is the NPS website for the park:
http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm

Here is the Wiki page for this park-  lots of information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicksburg_National_Military_Park

Florida- De Soto National Memorial

De Soto National Memorial- Bradenton Florida  Date of Visit December 7, 2010

 It was Pearl Harbor Memorial Day, so the US Flag was at half staff.  It was really windy during my visit, and the temperature was about 52 degrees. Not very many visitors here today. 

 The park is right on a peninsula, where it is believed that De Soto and his men camped when they came up from Cuba, looking for Gold.  Never did find any after looking for 4 years..... 

 This reminded me of Congaree National Park in SC!  A very eager volunteer talked me into taking the nature trail, and I'm glad I did.  There were some very nice interpretations of how life was back in the day. 

 This is representative of the area, and how they maintain the trail. 

This I believe is park number 102 or 103, I also got a pin and some postcards to mail.