Our travels to Bryce Canyon were coordinated to meet up with our friends, Jim and Von, who were driving down from Madison, Wisconsin, with their dog, Daisy, making stops to hike and paddle along the way. They arrived in nearby Tropic in the late afternoon and we met up for dinner after our canyon hike … Continue reading
Leaving Fort Collins on Labor Day, we avoided the high passes of I-70 and the holiday traffic in and out of Denver, driving north on US Highway 287 to Laramie, Wyoming, then west on I-80 around the northern peaks of the Rocky Mountains. We left I-80 and Wyoming on WY-789, which soon became CO-13 (photo … Continue reading
My favorite month to be in Bellingham, Washington, is September. But, this year, we will be elsewhere: visiting our daughter, Kelly, in Colorado; our son, Trevor, and daughter-in-law, Alicia, in Arizona; and, traveling and hiking with our good friends, Jim and Von Gern, in Utah and the Grand Canyon. Anxious to get to Colorado, we … Continue reading
On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Diablo Lake Overlook to see what was in store for us the next day. The water in Diablo Lake is milky, rather than translucent like that of Ross Lake, because Diablo is fed by silt-carrying glacial meltwater from the Neve and Colonial Glaciers via Thunder … Continue reading
At the end of July, we headed off in our RV to the Cascade mountains to celebrate our anniversary. Driving south from Bellingham (orange star) on I-5, we took the exit to Sedro-Wooley, then continued east on WA-20, following the Skagit River uphill toward its modern source, Diablo and Ross Lakes, collectors of glacial and … Continue reading
Before leaving Crescent Beach, we decided to hike out to Tongue Point on the north end of the adjacent county park, Salt Creek Recreation Area. Although the tide was out far enough for us walk along the beach and shoreline all the way to the Point, the manager of our campground suggested that we drive … Continue reading
The goal of our second hiking day from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center was to get to the base of Mount Angeles (elev. 6,454), lost in the clouds in the photo below. From the parking area, we first hiked up High Ridge Trail, the first half of which is paved. From a vantage point below … Continue reading
While we were camped at Crescent Beach for the week (map, below, top left at arrow), we drove through Port Angeles and up Hurricane Ridge Road several times, once visiting the main Olympic National Park Visitor Center to talk to the rangers about recommended hikes on the north side, and twice to go hiking from … Continue reading
After lunch Friday, we left LaPush and headed back inland, taking US Hwy 101 north and then east around the southern shore of Lake Crescent (where the road is currently being resurfaced). At the east end of Lake Crescent, we turned north on the fun-to-drive-and-very-scenic-but-not-for-the-faint-of-heart county roads: East Beach Road – Joyce Piedmont Road – … Continue reading
Grover Cleveland is not remembered for many things, but here are the highlights: he was the third Presidential candidate to win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote, and, therefor, the election (you probably know who the next two were); he was the only U. S. President to serve two terms non-consecutively (1885-89 and … Continue reading
Once again we’re staying on Indian lands; this time, the Quileute (or Quillayute) Reservation. Like the Makah of Ozette, the Quileute settled on the coast at the mouth of a river and found sustenance from the sea as fishermen and whalers. According to Wikipedia: The Quileute believed that each person had an individual guardian. They … Continue reading
The main attraction in Neah Bay is the museum, the Makah Cultural and Research Center, that houses and displays the artifacts retrieved from the dig at Ozette on Cape Alava. Taking photographs of the artifacts in the museum is prohibited, but they can be seen on the Washington University Libraries website here and here. The … Continue reading
As I mentioned in my last post, the westernmost point of the contiguous United States is Cape Alava, about 15 miles due south of Cape Flattery. To get there Tuesday, we returned southeast on SR-112 to the Hoko-Ozette Road, taking that road southwest through private timber land to the drive’s terminus at the ranger station … Continue reading
Olympic National Park, just a couple hours from our home in Bellingham, Washington, is the 10th most visited national park in the United States. And though we’ve been in Washington for nearly 5 years now, we are just getting around to exploring the Olympic Peninsula. We left early Monday for the beginning of a 2-week … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 10, November 7, 2018 Today is the final day of our kayaking adventure, a Wednesday. And as much as I would prefer not to, it’s time to begin thinking again in those terms: Wednesday, a working day, back in the “real” world. I have spent longer stretches away from city life: six weeks … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 9, November 6, 2018 A little cooler now than prior days, a refreshing relief. After waking, I wandered down the beach and was surprised at how close turtle tracks were to our tents. Gazing out toward the channel, I was pleased to see that the water was calm this morning. We launched after … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 8, November 5, 2018 I was greeted this morning by a smiling, distant moon and watercolor sky. As my eyes scanned the eastern horizon, I also noticed a planet (although I don’t which), just visible above the golden haze of morning. Lino, who, as I mentioned, sleeps on the panga, was already awake … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 7, November 4, 2018 We went to bed early, so I was up before sunrise this morning and able to catch a glimpse of the moon before the sky brightened and overpowered it. Today we had an intermission planned at the village of San Evaristo, 7 miles to the south, to resupply. It … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 6, November 3, 2018 Unlike Mario, Lino did not celebrate Día de Muertos. Lino resides fully in the present. He appears uninterested in lore and legend, perhaps because he lives the life of those stories today. He is too busy providing for himself and his family – and on tours, for turistas like … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 5, November 2, 2018 Another day, another glorious sunrise.  Mario had told us the night before to prepare for an early start and a long day. We would be paddling along a stretch of coast with limited opportunity for landing, so we wasted no time getting on the water. About a mile … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 4, November 1, 2018 Prior to going on the blacklight scorpion hunt, I had considered sleeping at least once in the open during the trip like Mario had been doing, nestled between the kayaks, or like Lino in the panga. But, the existence of scorpions now deterred me. We had found quite a … Continue reading
KayakIng Day 3, October 31, 2018 As we cast off from the beach the next morning, I turned to look back at our campsite. In the bright morning sun, the variegated rock strata surrounding us stood out vividly. I had not scrambled up the adjacent slope the night before to see what was there, but … Continue reading
Kayaking Day 2, October 30, 2018 I’ve always been a morning person, perhaps a result of living most of my life on Florida’s southeast coast and the islands of the American Caribbean. Mornings are cooler in the Tropics. In my younger years, I would occasionally greet the morning sun from atop my surfboard, facing east … Continue reading
[NOTE TO READERS: This next series of posts relates to a kayaking expedition we made at the end of October 2018 in a remote part of Mexico. During the trip, we were unable to communicate with the outside world and upon our return to the USA, events in Florida overtook us – the birth of … Continue reading
Our passage from Whittier to Yakutat across Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska was a scheduled distance of 346 statute miles; from Yakutat to Juneau is another 269 miles. Of the ten ships currently in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet, only the Kennicott is certified to operate in open water; consequently, only its … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 