Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, January 26, 2012,
After driving several miles south on Interstate 17 in central Arizona, it occurred to me that I wasn't going to make it to the Montezuma Castle National Monument. There were no signs directing me to it from where I got on the highway at Camp Verde, so I didn't know where to go. I felt no regret, though, since I had already seen several of Arizona's ancient dwellings. I had a preconceived notion that all of the ancient cliff dwellings and Pueblos were largely concentrated in... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, January 23, 2012,
When I was at the bookstore last, I picked up a copy of The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It is apparently the authoritative book on the events and people surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb and its use. After a recent trip to Utah, of all places - standing where history was made at the Historic Wendover Airfield - I have become more interested in the history of the bomb and how it was developed.
The first atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, January 9, 2012,
A damp clung to my bones. It was mid-afternoon and the morning's fog stuck in the air as a fine grey mist. I took refuge in a hotel close to the famed Frauenkirche - a restored version of its grand predecessor destroyed in the Allied firebombing  of Dresden at the end of World War II. I had spent the previous two hours walking the reconstructed cobblestone streets around it admiring the architecture and was not tired and cold. But the afternoon and my walki... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, November 10, 2011,
Twenty-two years ago this week, the Berlin Wall fell. Thousands of people danced around it and straddled the top, celebrating the demise of one of the most significant symbols of oppression and division ever. In an instant the gates were open and the Berlin Wall, still sprawling for miles in either direction throughout the city, was just that - a wall. The oppressors, the East German Ministry for State Security - also known as the Stasi - still remained, though.
It...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, November 7, 2011,
I stood in a tower in what was once the French sector of Berlin. From the metal perch I could see a preserved section of the Berlin Wall; guard towers, a lighted sand field - once known as the de  ath strip - and the wall itself were all there. It was almost twenty-two years to the day - November 9th, 1989 - since the wall was opened between East and West Berlin and a domino effect transpired. The Iron Curtain was falling under Moscow's principles of glasnost and perestroika, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 24, 2011,
I stood on the roof of the United States embassy in Berlin talking with Greg Delawie, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Germany. From that vantage point, our RIAS Berlin Kommission group enjoyed an impressive view of history; we could see the Brandenburg Gate, the German capital building – the Reichstag – and the lush, green Tiergarten. The area is the heart of Berlin, if not all of Germany, and it is the hub of what I like to call Berlin’s ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, September 22, 2011,
Stradling the border between Colorado and Utah, Dinosaur National Monument sits on the far western - or eastern, depending on your perspective - side of the state. It is for this reason that I had not traveled there - the drive from Denver was just too long. But this past week I finally made the park I coveted for so long,  getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the new visitor center and museum before Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar attends the grand opening on Tuesd... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, August 1, 2011,
Everyone warned me, but I wouldn't listen. I mean, it's a climb of less than 600 feet straight up the side of an extinct volcano, what could go wrong? I'm from Colorado after all, I know how to hike; and 560 feet really isn't that big of a deal, when it comes to elevation gain. Sure, I thought, I'll bring a little water, but I don't need everything else people have told me to take. But, the helicopter rescue I witnessed at the start of my hike made me think twice.
As part o...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, July 14, 2011,
There is so much to see in Death Valley National Park that it is a wonder anyone would need a day trip out to see anything else. Yet, there are some sites that are worthy of distraction from the largest national park in the continental United States. Many heads would naturally turn to the east, directing their eyes to the bright lights of Las Vegas, but mine turned back to the west and into the interior of California.
Just a short drive to the west from Death Valley National P...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, June 30, 2011,
It is no easy task to come up with what are essentially my seven favorite posts. For one reason or another I like everything I've posted, so it's a near impossibility to choose seven different posts. But, I was tagged in a blogger chain by Gray Cargill of SoloFriendly and Vegas Solo and agreed to continue the line by writing up a story about "My Seven Links." Per the rules, I am tagging five of my favorite travel bloggers, all of who agreed in advance to participate, and thus continuing the...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Sunday, June 26, 2011,
Tom. Mad. Fence.
I couldn't believe that it was happening again; ghosts were talking with me through the Ghost Radar application on a phone. Well, not only to me, but to me and another man I was walking with around the exterior of Hawaii's Iolani Palace. We were both reaching out to the spirits of old on a walking tour of downtown Honolulu with Oahu Ghost Tours. And while we waited for the tour to begin, we decided to go off on our own and see what we could find. The words c...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, June 20, 2011,
I wrapped up my stay in Hawaii much as it began - by learning about the fantastic and unique history of the islands as a part of the United States. Pulling out from the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in my rental car and turning right, heading toward Kona, I thought of how much I had left to learn about Hawaii's fantastic history. Despite all of the places I visited,  there was still so much for me left to learn; and the day of my return to do so cannot come soon enough. My histo...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, May 16, 2011,
The eastern side of California continued to attract me. But, instead of driving through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Yosemite National Park, I turned the wheel of my car toward Joshua Tree National Park. I knew it was greatly different from the parks to the north of it, but knew virtually nothing about the place and was hungry to learn more. I sped across the desert, wondering if I'd make the next gas station. I had left San Diego with a full tank, but was nearly empty as ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, July 27, 2010,
A year ago I purchased an annual pass for the U.S. National Park Service, (left) and made it a  point to hit as many places as I could during the life of the pass. I wanted to get out and experience more of the natural world around me, as well as learn about the history of important events and places that I maybe didn't know about before I purchased my pass. Some of the places I had visited before, like Rocky Mountain National Park (above)here in Colorado, but overall I'd give it the big ol...
Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, July 12, 2010,
I was insistent that I would delve into the American Museum of Natural History on my return visit to New York City since, on my previous trip, I only ran by the highlights since I arrived so late. I really wanted to get there early, spend hours in the halls,  and maybe see a show or two that was playing. After all, the museum is one of the highest rated stops in the city, and one of the best in the whole country. Well, that was the plan until jetlag reared it's ugly head over a two hour t...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 5, 2009,
I drove north on Interestate 25 through Wyoming easily recalling everything I hate about freeways in the United States. I wanted to get off on a highway and enjoy a bit of the area; after  all, I was on vacation and not exactly in a hurry to get anywhere. Fortunately I saw one of those lovely brown signs that points to areas of interest. This particular one lead to the Oregon Trail wheel ruts and Fort Laramie National Historic Site. I headed east on Highway 26 in search of my first stop. ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, September 29, 2009,
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American People.
~ George Washington, first inaugural address, April 30, 1789 
I bought my annual National Park pass this year because I knew I'd be hitting a lot of the great places across the United States. It would've been nice had someone told me though that Mt. Rushmore wasn't ...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Friday, September 11, 2009,
"A nuclear-missile silo is one of the quintessential Great Plains objects: to the eye, it is almost nothing, just one or two acres of ground with a concrete slab in the middle and some posts and poles sticking up behind an eight-foot-high Cyclone fence; but to the imagination, it is the end of the world." ~ Ian Frazier, Great Plains, 1989
I studied a lot of Cold War history, particularly from the Soviet side, in high school and college. Looking back on those days, I think they helped ma...
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Posted by Jason Hussong on Tuesday, August 18, 2009,
Driving through the vast plains and farm fields of  western Kansas it's difficult to believe such a place exists. It seems totally and completely and in every other way inconceivable that a 100 acre lake, created from a dam in the 1930s, could sit here amongst the wooded bluffs. It...
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