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
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
We visited Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, CA for the July 4th week. Nice!! Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz we visited with my niece and her family – always great to see them! We camped in a marina – there is a “campground” (about a dozen paved parking spaces with full hookup) in the Santa… Read More 4th of July Week – 2018
Long post – settle in with a cup of coffee or a cold beer (or two) – a lot of ground to cover. Anyone who has ever had the good fortune to visit or live in Santa Barbara, CA knows how beautiful and how much character this town has. We are here in Santa Barbara… Read More Santa Barbara – June 2018
As the preeminent surfer dude (not), I think I can report to you on Pismo Beach on the California coast. Gnarly, dude. That’s my report. Clutched in a sliver of land between US 101 and the Pacific Ocean, and about 2 hours north of Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach is kind of a cool little town. Granted… Read More Pismo Beach (CA) – June 2018
I may have found my favorite shiny new object… the town of Lee Vining, CA! We camped here for about a week for a variety of reasons, but one the weather was so cool, as was the town (population 395 on the sign entering the town). The town just had a cool vibe – what… Read More Lee Vining (CA) – June 2018
We have been camped in Lee Vining (CA) for a little bit, affording us time to visit Yosemite National Park. More on Lee Vining later, but in or close to Lee Vining on the eastern slope of the Eastern Sierra’s is Mono Lake and the Mono Lake Basin. Mono Lake has a really interesting story,… Read More Mono Lake – June 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
We did two things in February we have never done before: 1) stay in one place for more than two weeks, and 2) stay at an RV resort. OK, technically we did stay at an RV resort before (once), but never for this length of time. We essentially spent the month of February in Palm… Read More Palm Springs – Mar 2018
One of the big deals in Palm Springs during February is Modernism Week, which is all about mid-century modern architecture and design, which I would highly recommend attending (see my previous posts from 2015 on Modernism: A, B, C and D). If you haven’t been to Palm Springs, there really is some fabulous 50’s era… Read More Palm Springs Trailer Trash – Feb 2018
Marco! Thankfully Karen does not openly voice all her thoughts, but you know this is what she wanted to call out at our first polo event. And people call me the crazy one. Ever been to a polo event? Pretty cool! And you won’t see this game on the Olympics. We have been to a… Read More Polo Anyone? – Feb 2018
Almost to the day for me, it has been 3 years since I (we) retired. Oh, how I miss those days of quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly forecasts… And who doesn’t love a well-placed flaming email distributed to the world. After retirement, one is forced to forego the joys and luxury of business travel: cramped… Read More 3 Years Post Retirement – Mar 2017
I fully realize looking at someone else’s photos might be close to torture, but none-the-less I put together some of my favorites from our travels in 2016. For me the criteria for choosing these photos was simple: does the photo stir an emotion, trigger a cool memory, or just put a smile on my face.… Read More Favorite 2016 Photos
One of the most common questions I am asked (second only to how exactly did you get Karen to marry you) is what is my favorite place visited this year? Since we have finished our travels for the year, I thought it would be timely to put this list together. I struggle with this question,… Read More Top 10 Places – 2016
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
We are working our way back east after 3 ½ months on the road. We stopped our northwestward journey at the redwoods in California. While we have had a most awesome trip, one-night stands will be the theme of this post. Keep your expectations exceedingly low and you will love this post! While heading east… Read More Heading East – Apr 2016
Here’s the thing about redwoods. There is almost nothing more spectacular, and perhaps nothing so hard to capture in pictures. From Santa Cruz we drove up the coast on CA 1, which by the way is a twisty curvy road with zero cell/internet access. There are spectacular views for the passenger, but for the driver… Read More Humboldt Redwoods – Mar 2016
Santa Cruz is an extra special stop for me, because I got to see my (long since last seen) niece and her family, and had the opportunity to spend some great time with her and her family! Yeah! We camped out at the Santa Cruz Harbor RV Park, which is essentially a marina that has… Read More Santa Cruz – Mar 2016
We are camped in Big Sur on the California coastline, but getting here is half the fun! You won’t find a more beautiful road than California Route 1, particularly from Morro Bay to Carmel. If you haven’t driven it, you need to add it to your list. Pictures don’t do it justice. The coastline and… Read More Big Sur – Mar 2016
Story has it that the Red October was scuttled on a river off the coast of Maine. I beg to differ. We are working our way up the coast of the California Republic, and made it to Morro Bay. For you Dodgers and 49ers fans, Morro Bay sits somewhere between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.… Read More Hunt for Red October – Mar 2016
This ain’t no disco. It ain’t no country club either. This is LA! First, apologies to our LA area peeps that we did not get to see this trip. We did, however, get together for dinner with our friends Lloyd (my college roommate) and his wife Ann. Like Sheryl Crow says, all I want to… Read More M. A. S. H. – Mar 2016
Short post – short stay. We came back to Palm Springs for a very short stay at Outside Resort, an RV campground in Cathedral City (adjoins Palm Springs). I don’t know why we have a hankering for this place, because it is so not us. Maybe it is us and we just don’t know it.… Read More Palm Springs Part Duh – Mar 2016
San Diego – what a great town! And this is a first in months of traveling: no wild animals outside the trailer baying at the moon, no threat of poisonous snakes, no razor sharp cactus to remove from your paws. Life is good. After two months in desert surroundings, we have been experiencing in San… Read More San Diego – Mar 2016
The places and people we have seen and met along the way, on the road, and in between destinations, is every bit as interesting and as much fun as when we land somewhere. By way of example, this was one shot taken on our approach into Anza-Borrego Desert. And I could not possibly list all… Read More On the Road – Feb 2016
Better than Thor. WHAT? What say you, heathen, for such high treason? Hang the man from the tallest cactus! We have been camped at Anza-Borrego Desert SP in southern California and Karen has outdone herself getting us the nicest site in the world. We are situated on a very private spot (don’t take umbrage –… Read More Anza-Borrego Desert – Feb 2016
Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! After spending multiple days boondocking in the Mojave Desert we are now situated in Palm Springs at an RV resort (Outdoor Resort). This could not be more different than where we came from. The weather in Palm Springs this time of year is nothing less than… Read More Palm Springs break – Jan 2016
The risk (really now, is there a risk?!?) to posting again about a place you have been before is remaining engaging, relevant and fresh. Of course that presumes you were ever engaging, relevant or fresh. I’d be thrilled with one out of three. We revisited the Mojave National Preserve for five days and enjoyed it… Read More Mojave Preserve – Jan 2016
We spent this past week in Death Valley National Park and I was reminded of how beautiful a place it is. It is ironic that such a hot, dry and inhospitable place with so little rain (on average less than 2 inches per year) is so significantly shaped by rain! Arriving in Death Valley from… Read More Death Valley – Jan. 2016