Category: National Monuments, National Historic Sites, Memorials, Battlefields, National Forests etc.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: June 20, 2022

On June 25, 1876, five companies of the 7^th US Cavalry were met in battle in the valley of the Little Bighorn River by an overwhelming force of over 4,000 Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indian warriors. On June 26, over 220 soldiers and attached civilian personnel lay dead including infamous Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The five-mile park road gave us a look at the battlefield area, a vast openness of the high hilly plain. We hiked a trail, visited Custers Last Stand hill and monument, the Indian Memorial, and heard a talk by a park ranger.  One of my former co-workers, Lori Dorn, has a relative that fought and died in the battle. His name is listed on the monument.

The KOA Campground at Hardin where we camped experienced a rare Montana tornado nine days before we arrived causing minor damage. As we were ready to pull out of our campsite the following day, a deer ran through the site chasing a rabbit.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: June 16, 2022

This famous 325-foot-tall rock formation with a 120-foot spire is a nationally recognized landmark on the Oregon Trail used by pioneers in the 1800’s heading west to California. The rock located above the North Platte River Valley, signaled to covered wagon trains that near here was the end of the prairies and the trail became more steep and rugged heading west. We hiked a half mile trail around the visitor center and prairie on the lookout for rattlesnakes. The trail to the base of Chimney Rock is closed to protect the rock.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Holly Miller

Date: 1995, 1999, June 2012

The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse & Museum, a National Historic Landmark, was completed in 1887. It is the tallest in the state of Florida, one of the tallest lighthouses in the USA and one of the few with that still has its original keepers’ dwellings and outbuildings. The original Daytona 500 race occurred on the sand beach in front of the lighthouse. We climbed the 203 steps to the top which is 175 feet tall with a great view. We explored the nearby keepers’ houses that house maritime historical displays and artifacts.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Scott Golden, Tim Clark

Date: November 1990, 2009

We took the ferry boat from Battery Park across New York Harbor to Liberty Island to see the famous copper statue which is an icon of freedom, democracy and a symbol to welcome immigrants arriving by sea. The statue has been a national monument since 1924, a gift of friendship from the people of France, dedicated on October 28, 1886.  I climbed the 215 steps or 10 stories to the pedestal and then the crown. There were fantastic views looking across the harbor back towards New York City and the twin towers. I took lots of movie film. We also filmed several gangster scenes for Moraine Playhouse Theater at the base of the statue and didn’t get caught by security guards.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Matt Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller

Date: 1987 & July 13, 2005

Driving through here makes it clear why it is one of the most photographed places on Earth. This area of Navajo nation makes it equivalent to a native American national park. The incredible limestone structures and towers range from 400 to 1,000 feet tall standing majestically in the surrounding desert. Monument Valley is home to dozens of movies (from John Wayne’s “Stage Coach” to “Forrest Gump”, from the “Lone Ranger” to “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”) and TV commercials. We saw famous limestone formations like “the Mittens” and the “Totem Pole”, many mesas and buttes and stopped at a couple Navajo roadside vendors where we purchased some Native America pottery and a turquoise ring that cost only five skins.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date:  1987 & August 2009

This livery and horse corral was the site of the famous gunfight between Wyatt, Morgan and Tombstone City Marshal Virgil Earp, Doc Holliday and fight outlaws the McLaury’s and the Clanton’s on October 26, 1881. The 30 second gunfight left Virgil and Morgan Earp wounded and three cowboys dead. We toured the corral, the narrow lot six doors west where the gunfight took place and a 1880’s blacksmith shop. I purchased a reprint copy of the 1881 edition of the Tombstone Epitaph Newspaper with the original reports of the gunfight. We watched portrayers stage a mock gunfight in the street. Two of the McLaury’s bodies were buried at Boot Hill Cemetery which we visited later that morning (Photo#3 &#4). The OK Corral is said to be haunted by several cowboys as well as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. On my two visits there I did not perform a paranormal investigation. I just enjoyed the history of the site.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: 1987

The Monument protects a set of well preserved dwellings which were built and used by the Sinagua people built between 1100 and 1425AD.  The name given the dwellings has no connection with the Aztecs.  We walked a half mile trail and suddenly there was the cliff dwelling about 90 feet up the sheer sandstone cliff.  It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America because it is perched in a natural alcove and protected from the weather.  It overlooks Beaver Creek which drains into the Verde River. The dwellings were made of mud, clay and limestone and accessible back then via a series of ladders. Patrons are not allowed to climb ladders and enter the structures, but it is still an incredible sight to see.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 1974

Me and a college friend were headed for my first visit to Washington DC but being a Civil War buff I stopped at this park which preserves two major battlefield sites: the First & Second Battles of Bull Run/Manassas which took place in July 1861 and in August 1862.  Skeletal remains from two Union soldiers were found in a surgeon’s burial pit at the park as recent as 2014. I hiked the five mile First Battle of Manassas Loop Trail which took me by beautiful countryside, battlefield, hills and wooded area ,Bull Run Creek (Photo#2), the historic Stone House (Photo#3) and the historic Stone Bridge (Photo#4) . That evening we went to a theater in the town of Manassas and watched “The Exorcist”. I movie was so scary I could hardly sleep in my tent at the campground. In Washington DC after visiting the Lincoln Memorial and a few other sites the city that evening we drove to the White House area (Photo#5) and thousands of people and reporters were outside. Not seeing the news for three days we didn’t realize that President Richard Nixon had just resigned his office as President one hour before we arrived.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Shane Miller, Holly Miller, Jacque Miller

Date: August 13, 2009

Wish we could have toured this famous former maximum security prison nicknamed “The Rock” but no tickets were available. However, after our 16 mile bicycle ride from downtown SF to Sausalito we took a ferry boat across the bay back to Fisherman’s Wharf & had a birds eye view as we passed very close to the prison. The small island housed a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison and a federal prison from 1934 to 1963. Famous prison inmates included Al Capone, Doc Barker, Alvin Karpis & Machine Gun Kelly. Photo #1 shows one of San Francisco’s famous cable cars with Alcatraz in the upper left.

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.