INSTEAD OF SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS, THIS YEAR WE’RE HEADING FOR SOME DESERT ADVENTURES!
GRAND DESERT TOUR 2015
We'll be heading out on March 1, 2015, so stay tuned for tales of our adventures! Proposed destination for 2015
Tomorrow’s the big day!
After much delay, our newest adventure 'The Great Desert Tour' will start off tomorrow, March 18th, 2015. We are booked on the 10:30 ferry to Port Angeles and will head south hopefully making Portland, OR [...]
Finally on the way!
March 18, 2015 Victoria to the California Border We’re finally on our way! After many medical-related issues between Bruce & his dad … I was beginning to wonder. On the Coho Ferry leaving Victoria [...]
Santa Nella, CA
March 20, 2015 We got up bright and early and were on the road. We headed towards Redding and the next Costco! It’s starting to look very ‘California-like’ with more and more palm trees and [...]
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
March 22, 2015 We made it to our 1st objective – the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park The past 2 days have been … eventful. Due to some technical difficulties we didn’t get too far after [...]
Salton Sea!
March 26, 2015 The Interestingly Weird Salton Sea! Sitting on the edge of the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley of California, I now know how an ant under a magnifying glass feels! And covered [...]
Joshua Tree National Park
March 27, 2015 Desert Camping at its best - Joshua Tree National Park We’d been to Joshua Tree National Park once before and really liked the area. That time we’d come in from the north [...]
Prescott, AZ
March 31, 2015 A Unexpected Gem! - Prescott, Arizona Wow, what a surprise! Prescott is one of the neatest places we’ve been in the Southwest U.S. It’s at quite a high altitude (around 5,300 ft/1,636m) [...]
The Verde Canyon Railroad
2 April 2015 Riding the Rails through the Verde Canyon near Cottonwood, AZ After our morning visit to Jerome we headed back into Cottonwood to take a train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. We [...]
A Visit to Jerome, Arizona
April 2, 2015 Jerome Up early and off to Jerome by 9:30 and finally found space to park. It doesn’t really start to get super busy till around 10:30 – 11:00, so if you want [...]
A Short Visit to Sedona
April 3, 2015 A Incredible Breakfast in Sedona IT'S Good Friday and VERY busy in Sedona! We've been in Sedona before, so we didn't plan to spend a lot of time here. Our primary goal [...]
Cottonwood, Arizona
April 1, 2015 Cottonwood We’re ‘camped’ here in Cottonwood, AZ which is only about 45 miles away from Prescott. It was a very hairy ride … more VERY winding and steep roads (Hwy #89A) … [...]
Montezuma’s ‘Revenge’
(Just kidding!) April 4, 2015 Montzuma's Castle, Montezuma's Well & Old Towne Cottonwood Just off I-17 at Exit 289 just South of Sedona is a National Monument called Montezuma’s Castle – and close by is [...]
Around Sedona
April 5, 2015 Camping in the Coconino National Forest near Sedona We were up early and showered at the RV park in Cottonwood, filled up with water and dumped our holding tanks, then headed off [...]
Palatki National Historical Site
April 6, 2015 Palatki National Historical Site & Fay Canyon Trail Not far from where we’re camped is a very interesting National Historic Site … Palatki (I keep calling it Palaski … one of those [...]
Hiking around Sedona
April 7, 2015 The Boynton Mountain Trail in the Red Rock Secret Wilderness Up early and back down the road for another hike, this time a longer one (3 miles one way) up to Boynton [...]
On the Road ….
April 8, 2015 We drove up Hwy #89A back to I-40 near Flagstaff. The weather here is MUCH cooler than what we left only an hour ago, but it’s over 7,000 ft so that would [...]
Death Valley – Ho!
April 9, 2015 Kingman, AZ to Tecopa, CA Up early and on the road. From Kingman we headed West on Hwy #68 (Arizona)/Hwy #163 (Nevada) to Laughlin, then I-95 to Searchlight (no idea why they [...]
Death Valley Pt 1 – Heaven or Hell?
April 10, 2015 Death Valley is a place of intense contrast. It has the lowest point in the North America at Badwater Basin (-282ft below sea level) and only 100 miles away is Mt. Whitney, [...]
DEATH VALLEY – PT 2
April 11, 2015 Death Valley We got up early this morning (5:15 am), to drive out to Dante’s Viewpoint (about a ½ hour drive!) to witness the sunrise! The drive is from below sea level [...]
DEATH VALLEY – PT 3
April 12, 2015 We made it through the night – but it was a hot and restless one! It doesn’t cool off much at night here – you basically only get the benefit of the [...]
DEATH VALLEY PT 4- THE FINAL CHAPTER
April 13, 2015 Death Valley to Lone Pine Up at 5:45 am to zoom down to the Mesquite Dunes … what a glorious sunrise! Not too many people there … I ran one way and [...]
LONE PINE & ALABAMA HILLS
April 14, 2015 We decided to park the RV in Lone Pine and drive up Whitney Portal Road – then onto ‘Movie Road’ (so MANY films & TV shows shot up there!) to a hike [...]
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
April 17, 2015 On to Sacramento We had a ‘sort of’ plan to head to Folsom, to the State Recreation area, which looked pretty neat on-line … and after much getting lost (even our GPS [...]
LITTLE ROAD OF HORRORS!
April 20, 2015 So far … so good … no ants! I’m totally amazed that we got them all. I guess it was the ‘shock and awe’ tactics we used! LOL Anyway … leaving Sacramento [...]
MENDOCINO
April 22, 2015 We’ve been camped at Mendocino for 2 days now and have extended it to 3. If things go well … maybe 4. We’re at a commercial campground called ‘Caspar’s Beach RV Park [...]
MACKERRICHER STATE PARK
April 23, 2015 We spent yesterday hiking around MacKerricher State Park. It is an amazing place (and free for a change!) with miles of trails – many of them across bluffs looking out over the [...]
VICHY SPRINGS
April 23, 2015 We made the decision to move on this morning. We’d done most of the hikes we wanted to do … and the weather and wind made for bad paddling conditions for Bruce [...]
SKUNK TRAIN
April 24, 2015 THE SKUNK TRAIN Up early again and re-registered here in Ukiah (that’s Haiku spelled backwards!) for another night. Then off to find the Skunk Train depot in Willits. (For those of you [...]
Ferndale, Eureka & Trinidad
April 26, 2015 We drove a short distance up the coast on Hwy #101 and off a bit to historic Ferndale, which was settled by the Danish in the 1870’s. They began to raise dairy [...]
Drive to Whiskeytown Lake
April 28, 2015 Yesterday we began our journey from Eureka to Whiskeytown Lake which is not far outside of Redding, CA. We took Hwy #299 east which was a pleasant – if not twisty – [...]
Redding, CA
April 31, 2015 Up early and heading into Redding which is only about 10 miles away. We headed for an RV park we’d stayed at before, the Marina RV Park, right on the river and [...]
Tragedy in Redding (not to us!)
The day before we checked into this park (Redding RV Park) they had a trailer explode and catch fire – and burned to the ground taking a trailer that was parked next to it as [...]
From Redding to Trinity ‘Lake’
May 3, 2015 Wow, let’s see what’s been going on! We left Redding on Hwy #3 with plans to camp somewhere along Trinity Lake. We wanted to get out of the city ... and get [...]
Tillimook, OR
May 4, 2015 We made it to Tillamook We settled in at the Pleasant Valley Campground about 6 miles outside of town. A ‘pleasant’ place with hundreds of rabbits everywhere! Everywhere you look outside there’s [...]
Nehalem Bay
May 6, 2015 Nehalem Bay We drove a short way along Hwy #101 to the Oceanside resort of Nehalem Bay. We wanted to stay as close to the beach as possible without breaking the bank [...]
Fort Stevens State Park
May 9, 2015 Fort Stevens State Park & Beach We found our way up to Fort Stevens State Park which is just outside Astoria, Oregon. It is the largest campground in Oregon – possibly in [...]
Long Beach, Ocean City, Quinault Lake & Kalaloch Beach, WA
May 10, 2015 We drove across the Columbia River and onto the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington today. We stopped briefly at a couple of the communities and beach accesses along the way to our [...]
Neah Bay & Cape Flattery
May 12, 2015 Onto Neah Bay The drive up the coast today was quite spectacular. More winding roads with beaches around every corner. They're looking a lot more like the west coast we know up [...]
Sol Duc Hot Springs
May 12, 2015 SOL DUC HOT SPRINGS How do I describe Sol Duc Hot Springs? On one hand it’s quite nice with 4 pools available. They range from a swimming pool with a temp of [...]
Crescent Lake Lodge
May 13, 2015 We had a couple of nice soaks in the Sol Duc Hot Springs yesterday. It felt especially good as it’s quite cool and damp (only around 13C/55F). The only problem now is [...]
Home Again!
May 14, 2015 After a great 2 months on the road ... we're back in Victoria! We caught the 12:45 ferry from Port Angeles and were at Bruce's parents' house by 3-ish. It certainly is [...]