Welcome to historic Idaho City, which had the largest population in the entire Northwest during the height of the rip-roaring gold rush days, from 1862-1866! The “worst of the worst” were here – desperate outlaws and colorful characters, all desperately needing a bath and stinking to high heaven. During the gold rush, when...
Continuing the “Out-of-the-Way 2020 Tour,” we headed to City of Rocks National Reserve, a little-known, but super-fascinating, far-southern Idaho destination. Between 1843 and 1882, a staggering 240,000 emigrants passed through City of Rocks along the California Trail, in search of riches (“there’s gold in them thar hills!”) and a...
It’s the Grate Basin! OK, not that Grate Basin. Of course this is not the National Park Service approved sign, nor the proper spelling. Let’s try this one instead! That looks better. We’re headed out for 2 months in Idaho and California, including 5 new (to us) National Parks. On the way north, a quick overnight “camping”...
“COVID” and “GOOD” don’t usually appear in the same sentence, but after 27 stops over 3 months throughout the Carolinas, Georgia and Texas during the early stages of the pandemic, we feel qualified to say there is at least a tiny bit of positive fallout! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We gained new skills. With trailhead and visitor center...
Elsie’s time in the cool mountains of North Georgia came to an abrupt but expected end. We’re taking a slow roll home, but there’s one more destination that’s been on our travel bucket list for years: Caddo Lake, Texas. This is a gorgeous lake/bayou straddling the Texas/Louisiana border, a swoon-worthy place for a photography...
We left toasty-warm Greenville, SC and headed for the cool mountains of Northern Georgia. So cool, in fact, that we had to pull the down jackets out of the closets at night, even in late June. Vogel is a gem of a state park, set on a small lake. Set in the Blood Mountains of Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest, it sports hiking trails with names...
We made our to Greenville, SC, a charming city perhaps best known for its youthful, vibrant downtown, and met up with family for a fun-filled week. Philip’s cousin Karen and her husband Gary live in Greenville, and the Columbia crew of Dennis, Grayson, and Hopp also made the drive up. Grayson and Hopp were REQUIRED to deliver our 10-month-old grand-niece Millie...
Behold Great Smoky Mountains National Park: straddling North Carolina and Tennessee, it’s the most-visited NP in the United States! Normally, if something is “most visited >>whatever<<“, we’re running far and fast … like a bear is chasing us … to get away! But, with many plans having been cancelled due to...
Well howdy there, Blue Ridge Mountains! This area of North Carolina is celebrated for its endless long-range vistas and opportunities for outdoor adventures. The “backbone” of this area is the Blue Ridge Parkway, a meandering, 469-mile, single-lane roadway just made for slow’n’easy driving, and lots of oohs and ahhhhs. Blue...
North Carolina: The Triad! This triangle-shaped area is bounded by High Point, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro. We hit two out of those three and made our own custom Triad by adding in one more, the inspiration for the classic TV show locale, Mayberry! But first, High Point is known as the “Furniture Capital of the World,” and...