New Zealand Travelog #33
Waiotapu, NZ - Thu, 18 Apr 2024, 11amThis week we're traveling on the North Island of New Zealand. The framework of this leg of the trip is flying into Wellington in the south (we did that this past Monday), driving up to Auckland in the north, and depart for home from Auckland this coming Monday. We filled in plans for ( Read more... )

West Virginia Travelog #3
New River Gorge National Park - Sat, 16 Sep 2023. 3:30pm

Well, we did it. We got to the the US's newest national park only... *checks watch*... 33 months after it was designated. One of our bucket lists is to visit every one of the (now) 63 national parks. As of today at New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia we ( Read more... )

Whew, it's now over a week since our epic hiking day on Monday, July 3. We ultimately visited 7 different waterfalls along the North Umpqua River watershed. My plan had been for 8- well, my plan had been for 6, then we added two easy ones mid-afternoon knowing that either or both of the last two longer ones might fall off the plan as we get near ( Read more... )

Our waterfalls-hiking agenda on Monday in the Oregon Cascades was a bit of a jumble. I had several browser tables open on my computer to various falls I wanted to hike, and a few sections bookmarked the old-fashioned way (i.e., with a scrap of paper) in Smedley's waterfall book. As we went through the day, having hiked 3 trails already, we were ( Read more... )

Grand Cayman Travelog #23
Barefoot Beach - Fri, 19 May 2023, 1pm

As one of the stops on our driving tour around Grand Cayman's remote East End we stopped near Barefoot Beach to see a spot marked as thermal vents. Ultimately we didn't find the thermal vents- they're offshore in the water and are more of a thing for divers or maybe snorkelers- but ( Read more... )

Grand Cayman Travelog #16
Hell - Thu, 18 May 2023, 12:30pm

This morning we picked up a rental car so we could do some self-guided touring today and tomorrow. But where would we go? One of the tour coordinators we'd chatted amiably with the past few days, who was still at the hotel because now he's working with another company that's running a ( Read more... )

Our trek to Carson Falls near Mt. Tam last Sunday was the second of three great hikes we did in one day. Our choice to stay at a hotel somewhat nearby in Mill Valley the night before really paid off ( Read more... )

Saturday morning we got up early to visit Sierra Vista Open Space in the mountains east of San Jose. Good news: We had a great hike overlooking the city. Bad news: It was kind of short. We were back at the car by 9:15. What to do? How about a two-fer! We refilled our water bottles at the car and went hiking on a trail on the other side of the road ( Read more... )

North Las Vegas Travelog #6
Valley of Fire State Park - Sun, 19 Feb 2023, 9:30am

Today was another day of getting up early. I'd say Ugh to getting up at 6:45am twice in a row on the weekend- tomorrow it'll be three in a row when we do the same on the holiday Monday- but it's for a good cause. We're enjoying the great outdoors on our trip to Las ( Read more... )

5 Days in the Desert travelog #20
Yermo, CA - Mon, 26 Dec 2022, 2pm

Today is shaping up to be as much about the driving as the hiking. But that's okay because the driving is purposefully scenic. The old Native American prayer, In Beauty I Walk, doesn't mean literally walking. It means journeying, as in the journey through life. Sometimes that ( Read more... )