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!
We’ll get to Glacier in a moment; and you can see our previous visit in May on our way to Alaska. One of the nice things about being on the road is you meet cool people. The other day we were driving up the Going-To-The-Sun Road (hard not to in this park) and we saw… Read More Glacier NP – Aug 2017
We crossed the border back into the United States at Sumas in Washington State, a bit east of Bellingham. The customs/border patrol inspected our truck and trailer, and lightened our load by a few tomatoes, some melon and some other dangerous vegetable. Thankfully they did not find the ivory tusks, the rare exotic birds, or… Read More Washington – Aug 2017
Last stop: Hyder. Located on the southernmost tip of Alaska, it is situated south of Juneau on the Canadian border, at the northern end of the Portland Canal, nestled between mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, abutting the Tongass National Forest, amidst gorgeous surroundings. Because of its remote location, it took us six days travel (not in a… Read More Alaska (16) Hyder – Aug 2017
Wrangell – St. Elias National Park. Yes, I know I have gushed about this park previously (Chapter 2 and Chapter 3), but we returned having left the Kenai Peninsula and a brief pause in Anchorage, and caught a break with some fabulous weather! We headed east from Anchorage on the Glenn Highway towards the park.… Read More Alaska (15) Nabesna Road – Aug 2017
Homer. If Cape Cod and Switzerland had a child, it would be Homer, AK. What a fabulous few days we have spent in Homer, and talk about drop dead gorgeous, sitting at the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. Even the ride down to Homer from Soldotna was unbelievable. As you make your way down… Read More Alaska (11) Homer – July 2017
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. No, we did not take our Airstream here – that would be hard without swimmies or wings. But I did fly over in a small plane from Soldotna for the purpose of shooting wildlife photos! We camped at Klondike RV in Soldotna, which was a very nice campground, and… Read More Alaska (10) Lake Clark NP – July 2017
Seward. I know you are thinking – OK, another post showing beautiful views and talking about great human-interest stories. Not so fast! Besides, I think that is racial profiling, or blogger profiling, or something. And I am not so shameless as to start off by pandering some random wildlife photos. You know I am above… Read More Alaska (9) Seward – July 2017
Kenai Peninsula (part 1). We departed Valdez on our continuing mystery tour – since it is generally a mystery where we will end up next. We ended up on the Glenn Highway and headed towards the Kenai Peninsula, which if you are not familiar is home to places like Hope, Seward, Homer, Soldatna and more.… Read More Alaska (8) Kenai Peninsula – July 2017
Strap in. Denali. It has taken us 45 days and over 7,300 miles to get from TCPC in Crossville, TN to Denali. How can anyone come away from visiting Denali National Park and not feel… changed? Denali is just one of those special places that you could never appreciate without visiting. This post is intended… Read More Alaska (5) Denali NP – July 2017
Chitina-to-Valdez-to-Anchorage-and beyond. This post is going to be all over the map. Emotionally, metaphorically, geographically… you pick. If your choice was emotionally or metaphorically, you probably found my blog in error. Spellcheck incorrectly sent you to this blog when what you tried to type in was travelwithinterestingpeople.com. Spellcheck: preferred by 9 out of 10 sociopaths.… Read More Alaska (4) Iditarod etc. – June 2017
McCarthy Road. I have a close friend Jerry (I don’t really have a close friend Jerry, but it sounds cool) who says my entire blog is subject to low moral standards. He also says my blog has no redeeming value. I love that guy. Finally, someone with integrity! We continue our journey in the Wrangell-St.… Read More Alaska (3) McCarthy Road – June 2017
Nabesna Road. I am beginning to think we may suffer from visual overload on this trip. Driving south from Tok, AK, we arrived at the northern portion of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. I will be honest – I had never heard of this national park before arriving. This is the largest national… Read More Alaska (2) Nabesna Road – June 2017
Yukon. Does a bear shit in the woods? That, and other timeless questions answered in this post. Or not. You’ve heard of Ice Road Truckers? We’re calling this edition of the blog Ice Road Trailers. Yes, we took Wanda up the Dempster Highway and into the Artic Circle, but we’ll get to all of that.… Read More Yukon: Ice Road Trailers – June 2017
Yukon. We have barely touched the Yukon Territory so far, but it has touched us. This place is great; the views have been spectacular and interesting, and the people have been SOOO friendly and welcoming! We entered the Yukon at Watson Lake, coming out of British Columbia. You might be familiar with Watson Lake as… Read More Yukon – June 2017
Alberta. We exited Waterton Lakes, Banff and Jasper National Parks after four days, but we will be back; these are simply stunning parks that we have at this point only lightly touched. As we left the parks, we were not suddenly faced with unrestrained commercialism; in fact quite the opposite. We spent hours yesterday driving… Read More Road to Dawson Creek – May 2017
Alberta. We left Banff earlier today and traveled on the Icefields Parkway, through Banff National Park and then directly into Jasper National Park. I know this gets redundant, but this place is fantabulous! And, we are no longer virgins! Bear virgins, that is. We saw our first sighting of bears, and we have yet to… Read More Icefields Parkway – May 2017
Alberta. Banff, if you have never been here, is just crazy with views! I say Banff, but really mean the Banff National Park in Alberta (Canada), which area includes Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Banff, Canadian Rocky Mountains galore, and much more. The views almost seem to get silly, because around every turn is a simply… Read More Banff National Park – May 2017
Alberta. We exited the US at the Waterton crossing – in Glacier National Park, and across into the Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada – Alberta, to be more precise. After dutifully instructing my bride not to answer any questions at the border crossing, we were (surprisingly) admitted into Canada. What were they thinking!?! We… Read More O Canada – May 2017
This will be a short post. We are sitting in a campground in Glacier National Park in northwest Montana and about to transit across into Canada later today on our trip to Alaska. As available we will try to post chapters of our journey. But for now, let’s not forget how unbelievably beautiful Glacier National… Read More Glacier National Park – May 2017
Ever watch one of those National Geographic wildlife films? The images that come to my mind are the mountain lion racing down a poor isolated elk, and a buffalo stampeding on some hapless mountain lion. Mountain lions need a better agent.. Not to go off on a technical rant, but buffalos are found only in… Read More Theodore Roosevelt NP – May 2017
We have checked the Guadalupe Mountains National Park box. Typically when we visit a national park we say to ourselves that we will absolutely have to come back to visit stuff we weren’t able to see. There is much (let’s call that most) of the park we did not see. But for whatever reason I… Read More Guadalupe Mountains NP – Mar 2017
We knew when good friends of ours gave us a US map that identified the national parks in this country that we were in trouble. Not bad enough, you could identify your personal weaknesses by seeing all the “un-visited” parks we had yet to darken. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in Carlsbad, NM was on that… Read More Carlsbad Caverns – Mar 2017
This is our second time to see White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, NM, although it is the first time we were actually able to see it (the first time it was so windy we blew it off – no pun). White Sands sits in the basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, and abuts the White… Read More White Sands – Mar 2017
Just days shy of 10 years ago, my bride and I flew to Maui (Hawaii) for ProClub (a sales rewards trip) with Progress Software. To be honest, I had never been to Hawaii and I was not really that interested, but decided to go nonetheless (this is an all-expense paid first class trip for two,… Read More Time Warp/Maui – 2007
Like Karen said to me, “beauty as far as the eyes can see.” That pretty much captures Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. If you don’t know where that is, you can be excused; it is located in the Sonoran Desert in southwest AZ on the border of Mexico. Over 95% of this 500+ square mile… Read More Organ Pipe – Feb 2017
The National Park Service was created this month in 1916, one hundred years ago, “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”, and… Read More National Park Service 100th Anniversary – Aug 2016