• California

    Big Basin Redwood State Park

    December 29, 2014 - By 

    Once we approached Santa Cruz, we were so close to home.  But I didn’t want to go home. Not yet.  I wanted to take Scromp to the giant redwood trees of Big Basin Redwood State Park, up in the Boulder Creek wilderness.  There was so much more to California than just the picture-perfect beaches.  Our days of state or national parks and hiking trails were finally drawing to a close and Big Basin Redwood State Park was our last park before finishing up with Christmas at a friend’s in Napa. An early arrival was required in order to reserve a campground and hike a longish…

  • California

    Highway 1

    December 25, 2014 - By 

    I’ll admit it–I’m a terrible Californian.  Having grown up in the Bay Area and gone to school in Orange County for 2 years, I really have no excuse to justify why I’ve never seen the famous central California coastline all along Highway 1.  As a child I’ve gone on family trips to Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach with my family, but memories from those trips have apparently ceased to exist.  Now with time on our hands and a road trip to continue, we were able to finally spend time in the most talked about coast of the U.S. with literally perfect 70º…

  • California

    San Diego

    December 24, 2014 - By 

    In addition to seeing some familiar faces of friends in San Diego, we enjoyed our holiday–where else? At the beach!  Oh, Pacific Ocean, how I’ve missed you so! First, some pelicans in Coronado were kind enough to let me get this close for some pictures. Then we gazed at the breakers from Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. On another day we got our fix by making a couple of skydives in Oceanside.  It had been almost 3 months since our last skydive in Moab.  Simply being in the air again rekindled our love for freefall.  Chris loves exiting the aircraft and making that leap…

  • California

    Heading West

    December 23, 2014 - By 

    A farewell to the Gila Cliff Dwellings meant a farewell to New Mexico, and off to Arizona we went.  Like Utah’s scenic route 24, New Mexico’s Interstate 10 spoiled us with vast, rugged desert eye candy. Although the drive was long and tiresome, we were rewarded with an unforgettable sunset as we drew closer to Phoenix.  Because we were racing to get back to the Bay Area for Christmas, we unfortunately could not fit in any of Arizona’s natural wonders into this trip.  We had already visited the Grand Canyon in previous years, and because Arizona is a neighbor of California, we…

  • New Mexico

    Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

    December 22, 2014 - By 

    Hands down, traveling > vacation.  No planning, no such thing as “last minute.” We only plan as far as the campground for the next evening–nothing more than that–because flexibility is priceless.  The real Jean in the office at a desk M-F, 8-5 could never possibly fathom the carefree spirit, but in this current lifestyle, to be carefree is a necessity. When I explained our road trip to the national park ranger at the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center, she handed me a pamphlet with information on all the New Mexican parks and monuments.  I had only heard of Carlsbad Caverns and White…

  • New Mexico

    White Sand Dunes National Monument

    December 17, 2014 - By 

    Our day entailed a morning tour through Spider Cave at Carlsbad Caverns National Park and a late afternoon rendezvous to Roswell, which made us pull into Lake Holloman at the Holloman Air Force Base long after the sun had set.  We spent one quiet evening along the lake before venturing out the next morning into White Sand Dunes National Monument just 2 miles down the road. Because boondocking at Lake Holloman is free and is quite beautiful, we were sorry to have left so soon.  I snapped this photo shortly after sunrise, not long before we departed. White Sand Dunes National Monument…

  • New Mexico

    Roswell

    December 16, 2014 - By 

    Well, we just had to go to Roswell, New Mexico.  I mean, why not? It was just about a 40 minute detour on our way to White Sand Dunes National Monument.  Thanks Chris for the idea! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have these ridiculous photos! By mid-afternoon we left Carlsbad Caverns and made a brief visit (literally less than an hour) to Roswell.  With the limited time we had, we only made it to Alien Zone, a silly tourist trap where one can spend $3 to take a bunch of campy pictures and get a decent laugh.  Not much else to say,…

  • New Mexico

    Carlsbad Caverns

    December 15, 2014 - By 

    It has been a while (7 months to be exact) since we spent any time under the depths of the earth, and even though no caving experience can possibly top Vietnam’s Son Doong Cave, we knew we would still be dazzled with amazement by New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns. Situated in the Chihuahuan Desert, America’s second largest desert which straddles the U.S.-Mexican border, the limestone chambers of Carlsbad Caverns is the 5th largest chamber in the nation.  We found a quiet, peaceful place to camp in the middle of the desert on BLM land about 20 miles outside of the park.  Desert jewels such…

  • Texas

    A Taste of Texas

    December 13, 2014 - By 

    Because the state of Texas is presumably larger than most countries, we spent half our time in Texas driving across the state.  Probably not, but it sure felt that way. Driving from New Orleans to Austin was a long haul, so we broke up the journey by spending our first night in Texas at the historic Fort Anahuac, located at the edge of Trinity Bay.  Campers can spend up to 3 nights there for free and are rewarded with pristine views of a natural ocean bay. We went for a jog to the tip of this peninsula. And there were views overlooking Trinity Bay: Piers…

  • Louisiana

    New Orleans

    December 8, 2014 - By 

    It was no surprise that gas prices dropped even more as we drove further south.  I couldn’t find anything interesting to do in the nation’s poorest state, so we passed through Mississippi and made it to our destination in Louisiana by nightfall.  2.27/gallon at Chevron–this was the cheapest we’ve paid for gas in…forever. In order to avoid parking Scromp in the heart of New Orleans, we happily parked him at Crawford Landing in Slidell, just 35 miles north of New Orleans.  Not only was it free, there were also 2 clean portable toilets, a water spigot, and a swamp/bayou.  After braving the cold…