Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Date: October 1999 & August 13, 2009
Called the “World’s Crookedest Street” winding downward from Russian Hill, this one block long one way street snakes its way with eight hairpin turns. Built in 1922, the street has been used in chase scenes in dozens of movies such as Clint Eastwoods “Magnun Force” and the recent “Ant Man & the Wasp”. Being such a popular Roadside Attraction it averages about 250 cars per hour driving down it not counting tourists taking photos. We walked the street with the kids and it was mildly busy. All of the residents on both sides of the street had beautiful flower gardens everywhere. It is dangerous as there are no sidewalks – you walk or run in the street. At night you could see 210 foot tall Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill in the upper right (Photo#1). A few blocks away was Fisherman’s Wharf with famous seafood restaurants and lots of sea lions (Photo#4).
Partnering with several Mexican Rotary Clubs, the New Lebanon Rotary Club and my Moraine Rotary Club received a $150,000 grant from Rotary International to set up offices and mobile cervical cancer detection and treatment centers in rural south/central Mexico. Undiagnosed female Mexicans were dying at an alarming rate. Me and seventeen Rotarian’s flew to Mexico City, were driven 100 km south to several cities and stayed with Mexican Rotarian families for a week. I stayed with a family of four in Cocoyoc in the state of Morelos. I helped set up a local clinic (Photo #1) and went with a local eye doctor to screen and provide glasses to poor rural people. I had brought 700 pair of used eyeglasses with me.
I got to visit Tepoztlan and hike up an ancient Aztec mountain trail to a Aztec temple ruins Photo#2). I visited two Mexican rotary clubs and met many fine Rotarians. One day Rotarian Antonio and I took a bus 113 miles to Mexico City with the active volcano Popocatepetl (17,930 feet in height) in the distance. We visited the famous National Museum of Anthropology which has 23 rooms of Aztec and other artifacts (Photo#3 & #4). We saw “VW Bugs” everywhere. It seemed like over half of Mexico city’s cars were Volkswagen Beetles (Photo#5). At the market booths I purchased Mexican dresses for my daughters and a wood puppet for one of my sons. Restaurants were usually beautiful open air settings (Photo#6).
The climate in the state of Morelos where I stated with Antonio and Marisa and their two daughters, was almost perfect. Over 70% of the state was warm and humid with an average year round temperature of 77 degrees. they didn’t have any screens on their windows as they had no insect problem. Their house required no heat or air conditioning.
I also got to attend an outdoor Catholic Mass spoken in Spanish set up in a beautiful shaded grotto by a stream. As for one facet of the Rotary project, when working with the eye doctor, a 74 year old poor Mexican man was examined and we found a pair of used eyeglasses that matched his farsightedness. He got up, threw down his cane and did a little dance while crying. The doctor interpreted his comments for me. He said he has not seen clearly in over 14 years. Now we can see what his great grand children really look like. As I have told my children many times, You Can make a Difference in the World One Person at a time. Through Rotary. I have.
I was in Morelos, Mexico on a joint Moraine Rotary/ Morelos Mexico Rotary Club cervical cancer detection center project. Mexican Rotarians from nearby Tepoztlan invited me to climb the nearest mountain trail which would overlook the city, valley and far beyond. Tepoztlan, located 46 miles south of Mexico City, is the reputed birthplace of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec feathered serpent God. We drove into Tepoztlan, hiked the cobblestone street past merchants and street vendors selling food, crafts and hollowed-out gourds. At the trail head (Photo#1) we began ascending the stone trail (Photo#5) climbed by the ancient Aztecs centuries before. The hike was a good workout as the trailhead begins at almost 6000 feet above sea level. I was in shape but the altitude made me breath heavy. Photo 2 shows the city below as we hiked up 2,000 feet (a 2.1 mile trail) to the mountain top where the ruins of El Tepozteco Pyramid (Photo#4) stood, a Temple honoring the Aztec God. The pyramid was built in 1470. Photo #3 shows the view of the city below from the ruins. We hiked a quarter mile north and west of the ruins overlooking the canyon where one Rotarian named Carlo lived and away from city lights. Afterwards, we rested at a local bar drinking the town’s favorite – a michelada – beer with various kinds of sweet and sour goo around the rim. I preferred just salt and lime around the rim.
Located in the Mojave Desert, this National Conservation Area located a few miles west of Las Vegas has almost 200,000 acres of geology featuring rock formations, sandstone cliffs, colorful red iron oxide or hematite rock and dinosaur tracks. I hiked Calico Hills, a trail running from Calico Basin to Calico Rocks. I saw a variety of cactus and a couple lizards along the trail. I left the trail and began climbing a moderate trail up into the rocks (Photos#1-#3). I heard native American music and chanting up ahead around the bend. I came upon a man who was playing music on a tape recorder, chanting and shaking an Indian gourd that rattles. He was facing the sun and was obviously performing some type of ceremony so out of respect I quietly passed by and headed up the rocky overlook. Overall, I hiked about four miles in this blazing heat . Always carry lots of water with you. Driving back we saw “Slow, Wild Ass” signs. Yes, I know I was near Las Vegas but that’s not what the signs meant. Just around the curve I hit the breaks as several wild asses or burros (Photo#4) were crossing the road. They are protected in this conservation area. Heading back I stopped at Old Nevada, a small gas station/casino and utilized a unique, “can’t miss” urinal (Photo#5).
Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Matt Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Date: September 1993, October 1994, 1998
I highly recommend you stop at this Roadside Attraction. The Visitor Complex had great exhibits, history of the space program and hands on displays for the kids. They loved the missile garden, climbing in the moon buggy and viewing everything. The launch operations for Skylab, Apollo and the Space Shuttle Programs were carried out from here. We actually saw an actual space shuttle launch from there on one visit which I videotaped.
Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Matt Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Date: June 2005
Jacque wanted to move and live here. Chocolate everywhere at this incredible Roadside Attraction! This family theme park was founded in 1906 by Milton Hershey for employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company. We rode five roller coasters, dozens of rides, climbed the 330 observation tower, saw musical shows and rode a tram. Chocolate World was a visitor center attraction that featured shops, restaurants and a chocolate themed factory tour. The kids posed with many “candy bar mascots”. We ate lots of chocolate. That night back at the campground we sat around a fire roasting hot dogs and eating….more chocolate.
Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacqueline Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Date: October 2004, August 2009
The entire town is a National Historic Landmark District. When silver was discovered in 1859, the Comstock Lode transformed this small settlement into a town of 25,000 people. It was the largest town between Denver and San Francisco during the boom. Suddenly there were 150 saloons, a red light district to keep the miners happy and a 100 room, six-story hotel with the west’s first elevator. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain began reporting for the local newspaper in 1862. The silver industry began to go bust in 1879 and today only 1,000 residents live there mainly supported by tourism dollars.
I visited the city by myself in 2004, explored the town and performed paranormal investigations at the cemetery, Chollar Mine and Gold Hill Hotel. In 2009, the rest of the family except Matt (who was playing college football in Arizona) visited the town cemetery, many historic buildings and shops. We spent the night at the haunted Gold Hill Hotel, built in 1862. I conducted a paranormal investigation there (all investigations are listed under the “Paranormal” category.
Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Matt Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller, Debbie Orca Miller
Date: 1995, August 10, 2002, Sept. 2004
We were in Atlanta to attend my sisters graduate from Emory University School of Nursing. We camped out at Stone Mountain Park Campground and enjoyed hot dogs and smores cooked over the campfire (Photo#1). Matt videotaped a segment of his “Orca Files here. “The world’s largest mass of exposed granite is the centerpiece of the 3,200 acre wooded park. We took a ride on the riverboat (Photo#2) & had fun in the Great Barn that had lots of interactive children’s activities. At night we enjoyed the great laser light/music show shown on the side of the mountain (Photo#3) with Gen. Stonewall Jackson on horseback carved in the mountain. On Saturday afternoon we drove to the park railroad station/museum and the trailhead to hike up Stone Mountain. The trail is just one mile one way to the summit but you climb over 800 to the top. Everyone was pumped and confident at the beginning but it was a difficult hike for Shane who was 8 years old and for the Orca. We took a short break at the Halfway House which was a small shelter house and then ascended the rest of the trail. The top was very smooth rock and some of the kids were afraid of sliding off (Photo#4). You had an incredible view of the park as well as downtown Atlanta 20 miles away. You could take a skylift/cable car back down which we did one previous time but we chose to hike the one mile back down.
Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Mike Araiza, Carol Araiza, Tim Clark
Date: April 1985
We had 12 hours to explore this Caribbean island. Our Carnival cruise ship docked and we grabbed a taxi and headed to Dunns River Falls. At 180 feet high and 600 feet long this world famous landmark is the most popular of all Jamaican falls. Our group hiked 30 minutes through lush surroundings and small natural pools that you could swim in. Since Rosie was pregnant with Jacque, we climbed slowly up and down the slippery rocks and gushing water. At the base of the waterfall you could see where the falls empty into the sea at Dunns River Falls Beach making the falls one of the few travertine waterfalls in the world!
After the falls climb, we visited an open air marketplace/fair with dozens of booths selling Jamaican crafts, carvings, jewelry. One local named Cool Cat tried to openly sell our group reefer. We told him where to stick it. One Jamaican man was dressed in a colorful headdress & wanted $1 to have a photo with him.
When our cruise ship the Carnival Holiday docked at Havensight Point Dock we grabbed a taxi and headed to Coki Beach on the northeast coast. This was me and Rosie’s first scuba dive although this was a cruise ship excursion dive through Virgin Islands Diving Schools with only 30 minutes of training and nor a real PADI dive certification. Still it was exciting. The blue, warm water was clear and conditions calm. We performed a shore entry and dove to a depth of 30 feet. During the thirty minute dive we saw colorful fish such as Sgt major, yellow striped grunts, butterfly fish, trumpetfish and parrotfish. A great first diving experience that convinced me to get PADI certified.
