Intuitively, I know we had a great year this past year. But, as always, it is not until I go back through our journals that I recognize just how beautiful, complex, and in some areas stressful it was. I know many of you are expecting the crème de la crème this year to be our… Read More 2022 in Review – Dec 2022
We sold our house and are working our way west to Denver – hed’n to the wed’n. Yup, our son will be getting married in November, so we are taking a slow stroll west. First stop? See old friends (sorry, did that sound catty or judgmental?) at TCPC (Tennessee Cumberland Plateau Campground), one of our… Read More Hed’n to the Wed’n – Oct 2022
This will be a short post, not for any bad reason – just because we quickly move on, and basically off the grid. We spent a few days in Great Falls – kind of as a gathering point, partly as a laundry/chores stop, but also partly to gain a little western art and Lewis &… Read More Montana: Part II – Sept 2022
After several amazing weeks in Idaho, we departed Idaho and almost immediately became enamored with Montana! Traveling down a 2-lane road, no other vehicles in sight, we were in a “valley” (albeit at +/- 6,000 feet elevation), with massive mountains on one side that must have topped 12,000 feet, and on the other side for… Read More Montana: Part I – Sept 2022
Last but not least… Part III. This will be the last post from Idaho – at least for a while. We will be moving on, as we always do. We made our way further north from Riggins to Heyburn State Park in Plummer, ID. On our route to Heyburn, we spent hours simply amazed by… Read More Idaho: Part III – Sept 2022
Wow. And I thought Wyoming was pretty! At first, I thought I would post one session about our trip to Idaho. Not so fast, big boy. This state is turning out to be one hell of a beautiful state, with so much to share! So here is our first post of several about Idaho. Based… Read More Idaho: Part I – Aug 2022
Wyoming – what a beautiful place! And we only covered a tiny slice of the state… we’ve got plenty more to see. Now what makes me a bit nervous is showing you a few of our locations – we think they are beautiful, but you may view them as desolate and lonely. To each their… Read More Wyoming – Aug 2022
If for some reason you are headed west from New England on I-90 and I-80 towards Denver, this post might be mildly interesting. If not, don’t say I didn’t warn you. We are spending most of our time on this part of our trip on interstate highways, which is not our usual MO. We are headed… Read More Heading West – Aug 2022
We don’t write a year-in-review post every year, but when we do, I always start by thinking, what the hell did we even do this past year? And after going through our pictures, I’m like – wow – we did a bunch! Of course, this is not an historical world view of 2021 – just… Read More 2021 in Review – Dec 2021
If you are looking for a campground that is both chill and warm, this might be your ticket. We recently camped for a few days at Forth Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach (FL), on Amelia Island, and it is a hidden gem. This state park is like Fort DeSoto Regional Park (if you have… Read More Fort Clinch – Oct 2021
I had never heard of this place, but leave it to my bride to always find really cool places. Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon, TX must be one of the biggest state parks in the country, is listed as the second largest canyon in the country, and clearly one of the most interesting… Read More Palo Duro Canyon – Apr 2021
I’ll get to Goose Island in a second – bear with me. We are headed to see our kids, and we are jazzed! They moved away. Now we go to them. You can run, but you can’t hide from your parents. Our trip to see our son in Denver begins in Atlanta and heads towards… Read More Goose Island – Apr 2021
I thought I’d share a little holiday/Christmas story. Maybe it’s not so little, but there is a treat for you at the end. I won’t be insulted if you skip to the end. But what kind of person does that make you? Probably like me. This story is really about the world-famous (??) Flintlock, a… Read More A Christmas Story – Dec 2020
Thanksgiving won’t be the same this year with Covid; limited or no travel, no big gatherings – I think we all know the list of “not that”. We won’t be with our kids this year – first time ever. Nevertheless, it is a time for thanks! We will be doing a Zoom call with the… Read More Thanksgiving Retro Style – Nov 2020
I have posted several “heading west” blog posts over the years. But the truth of the matter is that if you live on the east coast, you inevitably need to, well, head west. I suppose you could go north or south, but really – who does that. Crazy talk. We headed west from New Hampshire… Read More Heading West – Sept 2020
You had to know I would be the one to point out there are meteorological and astronomical ends of summer. “How do you come up with this shit” should your first thought. The mind works in curious ways. So yes, this is the end of the meteorological summer – the 3 months of June, July… Read More End of the Meteorological Summer – Aug 2020
Atlanta this year has received a boatload of rain, and yesterday was no different. In a typical week this year, it is my belief we have “enjoyed” about 5 ½ days of rain, a day of clouds, and about 2 hours of sun. I decided that today I was in charge, not the weather, and,… Read More Sope Creek – Mar 2020
This will be a short post, but it has been confirmed (photos don’t lie) – the pot of gold is located in the campground dump station! You can all breathe a sigh of relief. Or perhaps that’s not the best analogy. We camped again at Organ Pipe National Monument in southwest Arizona, literally on the… Read More Organ Pipe – Feb 2020
Spectacular. Simplest way I way can say to describe a short stay at Whitewater Draw. You likely have never heard of Whitewater Draw – I never had. But my bride had and scheduled it into our trip. Whitewater Draw is a wildlife preserve in southern Arizona, located on and around an ephemeral lake – a… Read More Whitewater Draw – Feb 2020
It’s been three years since our last visit to Big Bend National Park (TX), and we again realize why we love this place so much. It is not for the “epic” things you see (think Mount Rushmore, Half Dome, El Capitan…), but instead the myriad “little” things of beauty here. The fact is, you can… Read More Big Bend NP – Feb 2020
It doesn’t seem possible, but at the end of this month (technically a month later for Karen) we will have been retired for 5 years! What the hell have we done? Retirement, for those uninitiated, is when you shovel your driveway down to bare pavement two hours after a major storm. Being anal retentive helps. Retirement is… Read More 5 Years Post Retirement – Mar 2019
Two institutions. Niagara Falls. And Duff’’s. You weren’t expecting me to say the Buffalo Bills I hope. In further testimony to the travails of US Government, US Customs made the mistake of letting us back in the country. We departed the US earlier in the day from Port Huron, Michigan, and made the trek across Canada… Read More Western New York – Aug 2018
We have just wrapped up a few days in the Deschutes National Forest in western Oregon, perhaps an hour drive west and south of Bend. I know I sound like a broken record, but two words describe this place: pretty freaking cool. Freaking is not a word, I think we all know that. Deschutes National… Read More Deschutes National Forest – July 2018
Continuing in our all-volcano, all-the-time channel, this installment is Crater Lake National Park. What a stunning area – holy crap! Now remember, even though this is a lake, it is really a volcano, caused from the collapse of a volcano that then filled with water. The volcanoes here are over 400,000 years old. Don’t lie to me… Read More Crater Lake NP – July 2018
We visited hell, devastation, chaos, and boiling mud. No, not the nightly news – Lassen Volcanic National Park, in northern California at the southern tip of the Cascade Range. We seem to be entering our “volcanic” period. I guess like volcanoes themselves, you don’t plan for this period. They just happen. Volcanoes happen, as the saying… Read More Lassen Volcanic NP – July 2018
Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the system, and there are two predictable outcomes: the views are extraordinary, and there are a lot of people. We camped in Lee Vining in a pretty cool private RV campground (more on Lee Vining later), and the town is practically adjacent to Yosemite NP. … Read More Yosemite NP – June 2018
Sequoia and King’s Canyon (SEKI) NP is a paradise of contradiction. Or maybe there is no contradiction; maybe it is just balance. One thing for which there is no dispute: this place is beautiful. We spent four nights camped at the Lodgepole campground in the park. There are no hookups in the campground, although water is… Read More Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP – June 2018
We continued our trek west. How shameless is it that we are heading to the west coast for a free meal at a wedding? I’ll have the chicken, please. We left Kansas and made the transit across eastern Colorado to Denver and stayed at Cherry Creek SP (highly recommend). Here is where the story goes a… Read More Westward Ho! – June 2018
In today’s environment, it is hard not to talk about the goings on in Washington, our nation’s capitol, without some snarky comment. But the fact is this is a magnificent city! You need a month or two to do any justice to this city, touring neoclassical monuments, endless historic sites, and world-class museums. We visited… Read More Washington, DC – May 2018
What a year. It is difficult to write a “year in review” for 2017 and not bear witness to the horrible political, judicial, and societal issues that have reared their heads. Watching this past year has been like watching your annoying Uncle Leo at a holiday party dancing with his zipper down; you don’t want… Read More 2017 – In Review!