Explore nature, both wild and human, with Michael and Christina
Way, way off the beaten track, across a vast, rocky, and dusty landscape, not on the way to anywhere but here, is Big Bend National Park. To get your passport stamped at this park requires a lengthy trek deep down into the southern extent of the western Texas panhandle. This is where the Rio Grande…
March 2017 Chiricahua National Monument has been on our sightseeing list since we first visited southeastern Arizona. The name, which comes from the tribe that once lived in the region, is unique and fun to say, the way that it rolls off the tongue. The landscape of this monument matches its name. With a dizzying…
March 2017 We spent far more time camping in the Casino Del Sol parking lot in Tucson than we planned – 19 nights to be exact. I was a bit frustrated about staying in a parking lot for so long, but there is no such thing as a year-long vacation. At some point you have…
The ultimate place to experience the lush, green Sonoran Desert in a remote, wilderness setting is at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Michael and I appreciate the stark beauty of desert landscapes and the unique plants and animals adapted to desert environments. Our favorite desert so far is the Sonoran Desert. We fell in love…
From our campsite near Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, we watched hundreds of sandhill cranes fly in to roost in the wetlands every evening as the sun was setting. Their calls tickled our ears and gave us goose bumps. At night we fell asleep to their intermittent calls rising up from the wetlands as well as…
Desert bighorn sheep are elusive animals that live in extremely steep and rocky desert mountains of southwestern North America, and they blend in well with their environment. Populations have declined significantly over the past 100 years, due to competition with wild horses and burros for water and forage and diseases from domestic sheep and cattle….
Back in early November, before flying to Maryland for Thanksgiving, we decided to test out our boondocking skills in the Mojave Desert for a week. Up to this point we had been living in RV parks with amenities like water, sewer, and electricity and sometimes even Wi-Fi and cable TV. However, the whole point of this journey…
Back in mid-October we decided it was time to fly south for the winter, hang out in southern California for a bit, and visit with friends and family while our trailer got some much-needed repairs. Then we would push east along the southern border of the Country during the winter. Somehow, a little more than…
Rough Weather on the West Coast of Washington There were several days during our stay in Forks when we were stuck in the trailer due to stormy weather. The beginning of October brought the first of the season’s fierce storms. There were gale force wind warnings, and since these were the first storms of the…
The Hoh is a magical place. We had already seen the temperate rain forest at other locations in Olympic National Park, but the Hoh is extra special. In the Hoh River Valley, more than twelve feet of rain dumps annually, and the old growth Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and big-leaf maple trees are…