America in 250: Part 26-30
Read about week 6 of America in 250
Welcome back to this week's recap of our America in 250 series. Where we show you 250 things to do across America to celebrate the 250th anniversary. This week concluded the sixth week of this series that has been posted across all of our social media channels.
1. See a rocket launch in person
Ever since NASA was established on July 29, 1958, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, Americans and the world have been fascinated with space. The excitement and fascination reached its peak on July 20th, 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
Today, we're getting some of that excitement back with the Artemis program, NASA's newest initiative to put man back on the moon and eventually onto Mars. Many of us weren't around during the height of the Space Race against the Soviet Union so it's exciting to these new generations to watch as history is being made.
On top of NASA's new program, there are now private companies that are launching rockets in the USA too. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and ULA all launch from Florida's Space Coast and other spaceports across the country. This means that there are multiple destinations to watch from and rockets are launching much more frequently now. Living in Florida, we can look to the east in the night sky and occasionally see rockets launching but it doesn't match seeing them from nearby.
When you're nearby, you'll see the rocket and the light from it before you hear any sound. After a few seconds, a rumbling sound wave hits your chest and doesn't stop until the rocket is miles into the air. The exhaust trail the rocket leaves behind will stick around for a while after the rocket is out of site. With binoculars, you might even be able to see thrusters disconnect and fall away as the rocket rises.
Seeing a rocket launch in person is something that's very exciting and it's a great way to celebrate the scientific and engineering success of the country since NASA was founded. In Florida, we watched Artemis II launch from Kennedy Space Center. They sell tickets with the closest viewing opportunities available and it includes entry to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex so you can make a whole day of it. There are also free, public places to watch along in Florida's Space Coast but be sure to check online for restrictions that may be in place for specific launches. If you're nearby and get the opportunity, make sure to watch one of these rockets take off and I promise you'll be amazed at what you see.
2. Watch a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater
In the middle of Colorado, between two gigantic rocks Creation Rock and Ship Rock, sits an amphitheater that is so legendary that artists make performing there a career milestone. That amphitheater is called Red Rocks, located in the hills outside Morrison, Colorado.
Red Rocks Amphitheater opened on June 15, 1941 but its history starts long before that. Red Rocks started as an amusement park called "Garden of the Titans" owned by John Brisben Walker Sr. and his son John Brisben Walker Jr. To celebrate the grand opening of the park on May 31st, 1906, Pietro Satriano and his 25-piece brass band performed in the first performance in Red Rocks history. In 1911, they invited Mary Garden to sing in the first solo concert ever at Red Rocks. After her performance, she's recorded saying, "Never in any opera house the world over have I found more perfect acoustic properties than those under Creation Rock in the natural auditorium at Mount Morrison.”
After being bought by Denver in 1927 for $50,000, the city began to make improvements to the area to increase visitation. These included a 5 mile road for cars and the Indian Trading Post that included a gift shop, dining room and museum exhibits. Between 1935 and 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps in Morrison construct the bench seating, stairs, and other features that will become the amphitheater. Today, Red Rocks is a National Historic Landmark and the park includes over 738 acres that visitors can visit during the day to hike or enjoy the rock formations and fossils when there is no concert going on.
The list of incredible artists that have performed there since its opening in 1941 is so immense that Red Rocks has its own Hall of Fame that visitors are welcome to visit during their visit. Some of these notable performances include but are not limited to The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, John Denver, The Grateful Dead, U2, Bob Dylan, The Eagles and many others. In fact, our own trip to Colorado was all planned around Juliana buying concert tickets at Red Rocks for Megan Moroney and her having no idea what the venue was.
When Juliana was trying to get tickets for Megan Moroney, her favorite country artist, she selected Morrison, Colorado as one of her preferred venues. After trying and failing to get tickets in Florida, she secured tickets in Colorado. "Where is Morrison, Colorado" she asked. Apparently, I was the only one that was excited just to get the chance to watch a show at Red Rocks. After telling her what it is and showing her pictures, she understood the excitement. We began planning our 10-day trip around Colorado and Utah all centered around this concert. A few months later, we saw Zach Top tickets for sale and he was playing at Red Rocks during our scheduled trip just 2 days before Megan Moroney. With an incredible amount of luck and multiple browsers, we were able to secure some tickets for that show too, which meant 2 nights at Red Rocks on the same trip. We were so excited.
So, with all of that, it's easy to see why Red Rocks is one of the most iconic venues in the entire country. The perfect shapes and positioning of Creation Rock and Ship Rock, as well as a gentle hillside between the two rocks with a flat area at the bottom with rocks positioned behind it to reflect the sound is the kind of planning that only God can achieve. This is such a unique spot only in America and that's why it deserves a spot on our list of things to do to celebrate America's 250th anniversary.
Despite what you might believe after seeing the picture of me above, I am not a professional surfer by any means. But I have learned all I know from the very place that surfing gained its popularity over 100 years ago.
Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu in Hawaii is where surfing first gained its international popularity. The waves roll in long and slow here making it an amazing place to learn. Talking to the locals who teach people to surf, the wave patterns become predictable and that makes it easier for beginners like us to catch our first waves. Visitors to the island were enamored with the sport and popular figures like Duke Kahanamoku, who was surfing here over 100 years ago are part of how the activity began to spread.
Known as the "Father of Surfing", Duke Kahanamoku, born in 1890 in Honolulu, was an 6 time Olympic medalist, Sheriff of Honolulu, and was appointed Hawaii's Official Ambassador of Aloha after it became a state thanks to his help. One of the most influential Hawaiians to ever live helped to popularize surfing by introducing it to the Atlantic Coast of the United States, New Zealand, and Australia in 1914. He later moved to Los Angeles where he starred in over 30 movies and taught surfing in Malibu. United States surfing popularity is directly tied to Duke, who also has a statue standing in Waikiki today. Visitors cover his statue in leis to and pay respects and honor his contributions to the world.
During our first trip to Hawaii, the one thing I wanted to do the most was surf. I figured, if I'm going to surf anywhere, it might as well be where it started. Thankfully, there are lots of locals with surf shops that feel the exact same way. We found a surf shop we liked and signed up for lessons. They walked us through how to paddle, stand up on the board, and how to turn while in the shop. Then it was time to hit the waves.
We walked out to Waikiki beach from the shop which was only half a block away from the statue of the very man who pioneered the activity we were about to do. Our instructor, Isaiah, paddled out with us and talked us through the experience. Over our hour of lessons, we heard his tips, kept practicing, and were finally able to stand on the board without falling by the end of our session. I was hooked after that.
During our honeymoon, we had the chance to go back to Waikiki and we got lessons again at the very same shop we first got lessons from more than 2 years earlier. This time, we remembered what we had learned during our last lesson and got the hang of it just like riding a bike. We still had help and got tips but this time we were much more confident and were able to catch more waves and fall much less.
Surfing is an incredibly fun activity and we're fortunate to live in the country where it originated and first gained its international popularity. If you have any interest at all in surfing, we highly recommend giving it a try, even if you can't make it all the way out to Waikiki. Surfing has soared in popularity since Duke first made it popular so there are surf shops and trainers on every coast in the country. Go try it out and let us know how you do.
The Hollywood Sign is arguably the most famous sign in the entire world and most people don't even know that it was supposed to be temporary. Now, the name Hollywood is synonymous with the movie industry and Los Angeles.
The sign started as an advertisement for a neighborhood in the hills above Los Angeles. Originally, the sign said Hollywoodland and was put together with cheap materials to sell homes in the area. The developers never intended for the sign to be around after the homes were all sold. Those living in the neighborhood below the sign and locals in the surrounding area fell in love with the sign and wanted it to remain standing. After some time, the city made it a landmark and it was replaced with a new sign, made of better materials that now spelled Hollywood.
This sign is seen in movies, tv shows, and from so many points around the city. The sign is so famous that the name Hollywood just became a label for the movie industry as a whole and the entire area around it. Tourists flock to it to take pictures and show off their time in the City of Angels.
We became some of the latest tourists to do exactly that. This past June, we were visiting southern California and wanted to see some of the sights of LA, among these, the Hollywood Sign. We scouted locations and found 4 that would give us some unique views. These spots were Griffith Observatory, Mulholland Drive, South Windsor Boulevard, and Lake Hollywood Park.
Based on the names, you can probably assume Lake Hollywood Park gave us the best view out of those 4 and you would be correct. Lake Hollywood Park is a small community park that sits right below the Hollywood sign. It's where the picture above was taken. It offers a close up, clear view of the sign for great pictures. Only street parking is available near the park and it can get busy. We went around noon and it was crowded. They also had a large area sectioned off where so many people had stood and walked that the grass had died and needed some care to grow back.
Another great view was from Griffith Observatory. This spot is famous for other reasons we'll get into in a later post for this series. This view isn't directed, the sign is in the hills to the right side behind the observatory. This is a great place to see the city of Los Angeles laid out beneath you as well so it's a great spot if you want to see two sights at the same time. Parking is free before 12:00 PM on Monday-Friday and before 10:00 AM on weekends. Other than that, parking is limited and costs by the hour.
If you're visiting Los Angeles for the first time, be sure to check out the sign. It's an iconic piece of America for more reasons than one and another thing you should check out for America's 250th. Make a game of it and try to find the best place. I'm sure if you post your picture with the sign in the background from a unique location, you'll definitely get some questions on where that was taken.
5. Visit the Lincoln Memorial
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States is frequently ranked as one of the top 3 presidents of all time. His leadership through the toughest period of this country's history is remembered and honored at his memorial in Washington DC.
The statue of Abraham Lincoln was carved by Daniel Chester French and is 19 feet tall. It was carved out of 28 blocks of Georgia marble. The Lincoln Memorial has 36 columns surrounding it symbolizing the 36 states of the Union at the time of his death in 1865. Along the top of the monument are the names of the 48 contiguous states. There is a plaque at the bottom of the steps that list Alaska and Hawaii, which were not states at the time of the monument's completion in 1922. The columns holding up the names of the states are a representation of Lincoln's work in preserving the Union.
Fasces are built into the memorial everywhere. Fasces, which in Roman times were wooden rods and an axe that are bound together with leather, symbolized the power and authority of a leader. They depict the same in the Lincoln Memorial, but they also stand for unity. The wooden rods on their own are weak, but when multiple are tied together, they are strong. If you look at the front of the arm rests on Lincoln's chair in the picture above, you can see the fasces carved into it.
The memorial contains two of Lincoln's most important speeches, the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address. These are carved into the wall on each side of the interior of the monument. When you visit, take the time to read these words. Lincoln had such a strong desire to keep the country unified and end the Civil War. His words are incredibly powerful and inspiring.
The memorial has also served as the backdrop of several historical events, most notably, the end of the March on Washington that concluded with Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. The March on Washington had over 250,000 participants that walked down the National Mall for Civil Rights. This is the event that everyone will say if you ask them what has happened at the Lincoln Memorial but it's not the only historical event.
Another event happened on Easter Sunday, 1939, African-American artist Marian Anderson performed a live concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of 75,000 people after she was barred from performing in Constitution Hall due to her race. Some other events that happened in front of the Memorial were , President Harry Truman speaking to the NAACP in 1947, the Vietnam War protest in 1967, and President Barack Obama celebrating his inauguration in 2009 in front of almost 400,000 people.
The Lincoln Memorial is a testament to the unity of the country. None of the events that happened in front of the memorial would've happened without Lincoln's leadership through the Civil War and his intention that the Union will go on. It's important to stop and acknowledge the leadership and sacrifice that Lincoln gave during his presidency in order to ensure that our country was able to make it to 250 years and beyond.
So that wraps up our recap of episodes 26-30 of America in 250. All of the episodes are available to watch on our social media channels @americantravelarchives. Check back next week for another post of America in 250.