In search of the continuous road trip
The trip through the Mines of Moria was always my favorite part of the Lord of the Rings books. As a kid, I read Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth as if it were a factual account of a fantastical place I …
When we were leaving Tucson in December, there was just one more thing I wanted to do: hike the Wilderness of Rock trail in the Coronado National Forest. The person who named this trail knew what they were doing — it was irresistible. But on our …
Back when we were still dreaming of and saving for our trip (and when we had a TV), we loved watching Motion on the Live Well Network. Motion is hosted by Greg, a tour guide from CA, and we always enjoyed the show thanks to his …
Eureka Mine is a tiny dot on the grand Death Valley map. It’s located off Emigrant Canyon Road, a small, in-and-out road whose primary purpose is to take hikers to the trail to the highest point in the park, Telescope Peak, and to take tourists to …
The first time we were in Death Valley, we tried to do the Golden Canyon/Gower Gulch Loop hike. We tried, but didn’t succeed, because the beginning of the hike, the Golden Canyon portion, is on the tourist must-do list. It was so busy the last …
We’re back in Death Valley and it feels both like we’ve never left and like it’s our first visit. The great thing about being able to return to the same place for the third time is that we can pick up where we left off …
It has occurred to me that I use the P-word too much. That’s P as in Paradise, of course. Give me clear skies, temps between 65 and 95 (I’m flexible), nice vistas, good trails, and few humans, and I’m in paradise. That’s why I’m trying …
Look at Jalama Beach on a map — it doesn’t look like much, does it? It’s just a tiny red dot, close to evil-sounding towns like Solvang and Lompoc. It’s on a sharp bend in the Californian coast, where the land had been moving west but …
Malibu is incredible. I’m not talking about the movie star homes of Malibu. I’m talking about the wild Malibu, the areas you’ll find just a few miles from the beach, nestled back in the hills, far from the petty concerns of beach condo-mansion living. Most of …
The first mile was easy and uneventful, but as the trail narrowed, we were ambushed (apparently). Shots rang out and soon the valley was a filled with battle cries and the sounds of gunfire. The river gurgled past uncaringly, ready to receive the gallons of …
I’m standing on the beach north of San Diego, and I’m feeling a sense of completion, of contentment. I’m about as far west (and south) as I can physically get in this great country. And I’m toasty warm. But Paul wants more — he looks …
We get a lot of questions about what we do on a typical day, how we spend our time. It’s funny, because some days I still feel like we’re “wasting” time, but when I look back on how I spent my time in the past …