MAY 22, 21 .. YUMA, ARIZONA .. GATEWAY PARK

In comparison with many of my posts, in terms of numbers of photos, this will be a very short post. But I want to continue the rhythm I have going with posts of our recent (and previous visits as well) five night visit to Yuma, Arizona, arriving on April the 9th and leaving on the 14th.

The river you will be seeing in the photos below is the Colorado River. In Yuma, the Colorado River separates the states of Arizona and California.

In frontier days, crossing the Colorado River was a major accomplishment for those moving West, thus it came to be known as The Yuma Crossing. It is a National Heritage Area.

Below are several links you may find interesting.

https://www.yumaheritage.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yuma,+AZ/@32.7282362,-114.6221955,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x80d66287214dadd9:0xcfa93a07f59e4258!8m2!3d32.6926512!4d-114.6276916

Having lived in Yuma briefly from November 1963 to February 1964, I feel pride in Yuma's recognition as a National Heritage Area. When we left Anchorage on March 8th for Phoenix and the Mayo Clinic, a visit to Yuma was high on our list of places we wanted to re-visit.

GATEWAY PARK .. YUMA, ARIZONA

The road in these two photos is Interstate 8.

The final photo below, as Gateway Park runs along the shores of the Colorado River, gives you an idea of the enormous size of Gateway Park. 

Thanks for another visit to Yuma with us.

Cap and Patti

DEC 26, 18 .. DREAM GARDENS PARK, ABAKAN, RUSSIAN SIBERIA

The Dream Gardens Park, here in Abakan, Russian Siberia, is the top attraction on Trip Advisor under Top Things To Do in Abakan.

There was a very small charge of 120 Russian Rubles (U.S. $1.79) to enter the park.

Without any further ado, here are some photos of the park.

Oh My, Oh My, What have we here at Dream Gardens Park?

Will all of you just look at the entrance to the park!

You, who may not be interested in Ice Sculptures, may get bored with them. Both Patti and I are fascinated with them. We are not alone.

Wait just a minute. The Eiffel Tower? Here in Abakan, in Russian Siberia?

This is NOT an ice sculpture.

The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, is Number Two on the Trip Advisor listing of the Top Things To Do in Abakan.

After turning around from taking the above photo, I looked out in the distance, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Do all of you think it would be OK for me to slip in another photo of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral that I took before we got to the Dream Gardens Park?

Lord God in Heaven Above, I am so fascinated with YOUR Russian Orthodox Churches.

If one works-at-it, one can unravel some of these difficult names.

Take this name : Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral.

Spaso .. Preo .. braz .. hen .. sky Cathedral.

No one is sitting out, sunning themselves, sipping on drinks and eating snacks on this chilly (-20°F) afternoon.

In the above photo, do all of you see the base of The Eiffel Tower in the distant background?

Speaking of sunning oneself and sipping boiling hot tea on a -20°F winter afternoon, my hands and I needed to do just that!

I could NOT believe the cafe was open for business on this winter afternoon.

It had to be a God Thing.

I'd walked past the cafe to climb the steps up to the elevated, outdoor dining area to get another photo of the Eiffel Tower and the cafe looked dark and closed.

As I was 'exceedingly slowly creeping down the frozen steps', someone came out of the cafe.

I call that someone : one of God's Eskimos!

Nice and calming.

Now warmed up, knowing we still had to walk back out of the park, I asked Mike to set up a taxi. He did and I snapped the final photos of our visit to the Abakan Dream Gardens Park.

Our last look as we exited the park.

With Patti's love of gardens and parks and ice sculptures I have to sign off ..

Hugs and Smiles .. Patti and Cap

JAN 12, 18 .. KINCAID PARK, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Many, if not most, major cities have at least one large park. 

Here in Anchorage, Alaska, one of our major parks is Kincaid Park. 

If you care to see maps of Anchorage and the location of Kincaid Park, click onto the below link.

http://babakaps.net/?p=2219

Patti and I spent some time recently out at Kincaid Park viewing the United States Cross Country Ski Championships. In this Post we will show you some of the features of Kincaid Park. Our next Post will show photos we snapped of the Ski Championships.

What a great team we are. Patti drove our truck and dropped me off so I could snap photos on-the-run. Patti would either double-park or circle around to pick me up at a time or place we would agree upon. The crowds and the traffic were enormous. Without Patti's help I could not have done what we were able to accomplish here.

To snap the above photo, Patti dropped me off. You can see Patti on the right side of the above photo in our White Suburban waiting for me to motion her to come and get me.

We begin with photos showing the approach to the entrance to Kincaid Park.

After a beautiful drive out from downtown Anchorage, we are now approaching the actual entrance to Kincaid Park.

We are now on the Kincaid Park property driving into the heart of the park.

Kincaid Park has one major building, the Kincaid Park Chalet located in the heart of the park.

Before I show you photos of the Chalet proper, I want to show photos of two separate attractions.

There is a 'Frisbee Golf Course' near the Chalet.

The below photo looks out over the KINCAID PARK DISC GOLF COURSE as it appears in the winter.

In downtown Anchorage there is an attraction known as the Anchorage Light Speed PLANET WALK.

Each step a walker will take is calculated to equal the distance light travels in one second (roughly 186,000 miles or 300,000 kms).

The Sun Station is the centerpiece of the Planet Walk. The Sun Station is located at the corner of 5th Avenue and G Street in downtown Anchorage. 

You then proceed down 5th Avenue to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. IF you want to walk further you will come to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Are you sitting down? I don't want anyone to fall over and hurt themselves.

IF you actually get to Pluto, you will have walked from 5 Hours and 30 Minutes to 6 Hours. I could not find the approximate distance.

Rhetorical Question from 'Zilla : What does this have-to-do-with Kincaid Park?

As you will see in the below photos, the end of the Planet Walk is at the Kincaid Park Chalet.

THE KINCAID PARK CHALET

Below are photos showing the exterior of the Kincaid Park Chalet as you walk slowly around it from near-side to front to far-side.

As you look at the near-side of the Chalet in the above photo, I ask you to now turn 180 degrees on your heel. When you do so, you see a small picnic area below that is used in the summer months.

Now we will resume looking at the exterior of the Chalet.

Now look at the above photo. If you then turn 180 degrees around on your heel, below you see the magnificent view that the Kincaid Park Chalet overlooks.

In the far distance, you see 'Sleeping Lady', a famous Anchorage landmark out in Cook Inlet.

At the bottom center-left in the below photo, you see two skiers walking toward a yellow colored device.

Do you see it above? This is one of many 'snow-making-machines' that ski resorts the world over use to make snow when the weather conditions are not sufficient to provide the necessary snow cover over the ground for the skiers.

Now we return to viewing the exterior of the Kincaid Park Chalet.

Below is a close up of the above sign.

The two below photos show the above far-side of the Kincaid Park Chalet as one walks up a hill that leads away from the actual location of the Ski Championships.

In the above photo, if you now turn around 180 degrees on your heel, you see the below view(s) looking down the hill to where the actual skiing is underway.

Time now to enter the Chalet and get an idea of its interior.

Below shows the inside of the main entrance.

Real skiers experience real injuries so a medical facility is a necessity. 

We are now walking away from the main entrance. In the below photo, in the far distance, we will enter a large common room.

We are now in the large common room of the Chalet.

The time has now come to put a wrap on this Post. In our next Post, we will show some real ski action as well as a lot of action that goes on in the above common room.

Smiles, 

Patti and Cap