dacrites' VirtualTourist Home Page

Hi! Come on in and go exploring with me! Hope you enjoy all the travel photos....I know I enjoyed taking them! I'm just an amateur at it, but hope to someday take some professional courses.

I absolutely love to travel, and go when I get the time and money. My favorite saying? "So little time, so little money...so MANY places to see!"

One of my goals in life is to visit all 50 states in the United States. I have only 9 left to visit before I reach that goal. They are: Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

I also want to visit more foreign countries....so far I've only been to Canada, Mexico & Venezuela. Spain, Greece, the rest of South America, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, & Portugal are just a few of the places I want to visit.

The last 2 summers I took a couple of major trips. Last year's trip I named "Great Escape Vacation #1: Western Adventure" and this year's trip was "Great Escape Vacation #2: Southwestern Adventure". Had an awesome time on both trips & the majority of the photos here are from those 2 trips. See below for the details.%f*

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Great Escape Vacation #1
A Western Adventure

In August 2001, I flew out to Salt Lake City, UT, rented a car and drove through Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming & Montana. The highlights of the trip were my visit to the Grand Teton Nat'l Park, an overnight white water rafting trip on the Snake River south of Jackson Hole, visiting Yellowstone Nat'l Park, driving on the Chief Joseph Scenic Hwy north of Cody, WY, seeing the Cody Nite Rodeo, staying at a wonderful lodge outside of Yellowstone. I believe I put about 2,800 miles on the rental car! I got some really great photos from the trip. Click on my WY page & listed at the bottom of the page are my Travelogues from this trip. There are lots & lots of photos!!!


Great Escape Vacation #
A Southwestern Adventure

In July 2002, I flew to Albuquerque, NM, rented a car & proceeded to drive to Arizona, Colorado, Utah & Wyoming. The highlights of this trip were:

~ Seeing Canyon de Chelly in Arizona
~ Driving through a sand storm in Arizona
~ Visiting the Four Corners Nat'l Monument where I was able to stand on NM, AZ, CO & UT all at the same time
~ Seeing Mesa Verde Nat'l Park, though more than half the park was closed due to wildfire danger
~ Seeing Arches Nat'l Park in Utah....on a hot day when Moab, UT broke heat records
~ Participating in the Green River Rendezvous activities in Pinedale, WY....where history seemed to come to life with the mountain men and Plains Indians. There was a rodeo, a parade, had dinner at a Buffalo Feast, saw a historical pageant/re-enactment, visited the Mountain Man Museum, heard lectures by Michael Terry, a Plains Indians historian
~ Traveling through the Colorado Rockies
~ Traveling through Taos & Espanola....seeing beatuiful scenery & marvelous architecture
~ Eating wonderful New Mexican cuisine
~ Visiting Old Historic Town in Albuquerque, NM
~ Riding the Sandia Peak Tram near Albuquerque....the world's longest tramway.

All this....in the space of 9 days! Hmmm...it's amazing what one can accomplish in such a short time! *smile* This year I put only 2,500 miles on the rental car. :) The photos from this trip unfortunately spread out a little, but are worth the effort...at least I think so! They are in the "Southwest Trip" Travelogues listed at the bottom of the following pages: Arizona, Canyon de Chelly, Window Rock, Colorado, Mesa Verde NP, New Mexico, Albuquerque, Arches NP, Utah, Ft. Washakie, Flaming Gorge, Pinedale.


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Enjoy browsing!

Great Escape Vacation #3
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I'm not sure yet where I'll be heading on my next venture. I had thought maybe heading for Alaska or Hawaii....but in a recent discussion with my sister, well, we talked about possibly taking a trip to see Scotland. Sooo......keep checking back from time to time...you never know where I might have ended up!