Photography, Fun, and Adventure in the U.S.
On this leg of the trip, we camped in Arcata, which we felt was the perfect spot to visit a handful of the National and State Redwood Parks; we’ll be visiting the most northern state parks next month as we loop back from southwest Oregon. Why redwoods? They are the
This leg of the trip took us up Highway 1 from the Sonoma Coast to the Mendocino Coast. We hunkered down in Fort Bragg — and we mean hunkered down because while this stop was bookended with sunny weather, the middle was filled with a lot of rain from an
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” — John Muir A national monument named for one our heroes, the naturalist John Muir — known to some as the Father of
If you are tasting wines all along the road, as we are doing as part of this road trip, then a stop in Napa and Sonoma is truly a must. That said, after stopping at one Napa winery that held fond memories for both of us and finding that the
Amazingly, Lodi, CA, was not originally on our itinerary; we had overlooked this dynamic grape-growing region for the big, bad Napa/Sonoma region until a wine-maker in Arizona told us we that if we truly loved Zinfandel, that we HAD to stop in Lodi… so we did. Wonderful Lodi, tucked in
This stop was all about taking a whirlwind adventure over a three-day period. We started with Pinnacles National Park, #7 so far on our trip, home of stunning rock formations, and the newest national park, having only become one in 2013… though it had been a national monument since way
We were a little concerned while hunkered down in a storm in Mojave, CA, that our planned visit to Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park would have to be postponed because of snow at the higher elevations, but we were delighted to find the roads open for those
We spent two days in Death Valley National Park, the fourth on our quest to see all 47 national parks in the 48 continental United States. (Alaska and Hawaii and the other 12 parks will come on later adventures.) Death Valley is unique in its size, geology, and age. The
Our advice is forget Vegas with all its traffic, smoke, and ugliness, and instead, head west of sin-city for two distinctly different, yet wonderful adventures in nature: Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Ash Meadows NWR is most certainly a hidden gem, tucked away
Our final stop in Arizona took us to Kingman, in the northwestern part of the state, another town along Historic Route 66. We were expecting a small town — since so many towns along the old highway are small or practically ghost towns — but Kingman is a city, a