Photography, Fun, and Adventure in the U.S.
Ah, the Pacific Northwest in all its glory… that was the theme of this, our 20th stop, on this 2-year+ journey across the continental United States. It also was the continuation of our journey along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway… including a stop at National Park #10 on our list:
If you are like us, you would certainly expect to find lava and signs of volcanic activity at Lava Beds National Monument (established in 1925), but never in our wildest dreams did we expect to find such diversity — from more than 20 caves to explore to a Civilian Conservation
We knew this stop was all about the volcanic mountains — Lassen and Shasta — but we truly found beauty all around us. We used a cute campground in Mountain Gate, CA, just north of Redding, as our home base after traveling through the Shasta Trinity National Forest along CA-299
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