In Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck wrote of the Redwoods, “No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.” It’s impossible to fully appreciate how accurate Steinbeck’s words are until you walk in the Tall Trees and Ladybird Johnson groves…
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San Francisco – An Accidental Pilgrimage
San Francisco wasn’t a place I had ever thought about visiting before this trip, and in some ways we only planned to stay there because it was on the way to the Pacific Northwest. All I really knew about San Francisco was that it’s extremely expensive to live there, and it’s foggy and hilly. I…
California’s Central Coast
We were in for a rude awakening when we hit the central coast of California. After a few weeks in the Southwest where it was at times too hot to move and several hikers actually died from the heat, we had gotten used to having our choice of campsites. After lunch at In-N-Out in Santa…
One week, three deserts – White Sands to Joshua Tree
The Southwestern United States comprises multiple deserts, each with distinct plant life and geology. Between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California we spent time in the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and Mojave Deserts. We visited White Sands National Monument early in the morning after Carlsbad. The sand is gypsum blown off the surrounding mountains, and it is blindingly…
Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns
After another overnight stop in Alpine where we indulged in good Mexican food, showers, and Finding Dory, we headed north to Guadalupe National Park, home of the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak. The geologic history of the area is fascinating. The Guadalupes were thrust upward from the floor of what is now the Chihuahuan…
Big Bend National Park
Our stay in Big Bend National Park had some high highs and some pretty low lows. We arrived fairly early our first day and got a campsite at the Chisos Basin campground, the coolest place Fahrenheit to stay in the park, according to both the ranger at Panther Junction and our Couchsurfing hosts in Alpine,…
New Orleans
We spent a week in Florida recovering from and digesting Bolivia with various family and friends – Orlando, Neptune Beach, Destin, and Pensacola. We swam in two oceans, ate local seafood, drank local beer, and enjoyed the company. Many thanks to everyone who gave us a place to crash! From Pensacola we headed west along…
Bolivia – Planes, Trains, and Teleférico
Hold onto your butts, this is going to be a long post. We’ve been back from Bolivia for two weeks and we’re just starting to wrap our heads around it. When Victor asked his friend Brian if we could crash his family vacation and he said yes, we honestly had no idea what to expect….
Asheville, Savannah, and Neptune Beach
(Apologies for the lack of pictures in this post! We are in Bolivia and the wifi is touch and go. I will add some photos when we are stateside.) This leg of the trip was made up mostly of excellent food and places we wished we could have spent more time exploring. Thursday morning we…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Our journey has finally begun! We rolled out of the driveway around 7 on Tuesday morning and made camp in Great Smoky Mountains National Park about twelve hours later. The weather was pretty terrible until we came into Pigeon Forge. We picked up Skyline Drive in the middle, near its highest point, where the clouds…
White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run
“We’re almost there, you’ll make it!” Victor kept promising, but it seemed the trail would never end. My legs weren’t limbs so much as lead weights suspended from my pelvis. Finally, I slumped against a tree and determined that it was there I would die.
Big Devil’s Stairs
After the record-breaking Blizzard of 2016, it’s hard to believe that spring is fewer than three months away. Our departure date is sneaking up on us, so as soon as the forecast in Northern Virginia broke freezing we took the opportunity to spend a cold but rewarding Sunday in Shenandoah National Park. Having hiked Little Devil’s Stairs—twice,…
The Indigents Abroad 