Wild creatures and smoke-shrouded scenery at Glacier National Park
August 31, 2023 We arrived at Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana in mid-May. It was our northernmost destination on our 5-week RV road trip across the West. As we drove north from Yellowstone, the sky grew bleary with haze and then gray with smoke from Canadian wildfires. Road signs ...
Grizzlies and geysers at Yellowstone, part 1
August 13, 2023 As we drove toward the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, I twisted my telephoto lens onto my Nikon and held the camera in my lap. Twenty-three years earlier, on a late afternoon drive in Yellowstone, we’d seen a grizzly sow and twin cubs dash across the ...
Back to Devils Tower
August 03, 2023 We reached northeastern Wyoming and Devils Tower National Monument in early May on our RV road trip through national parks. I’d had a “close encounter” with the stone monolith back in 2018, but my husband had never seen it. As we approached, it looked picture perfect, with ...
Windows to the sky at Arches National Park
July 24, 2023 North Window Arch In early May, during our national-parks RV trip, we spent a day exploring Arches National Park in eastern Utah. The place is a wonderland of hole-punched, fin-like, and soaring rock formations, including more than 2,000 documented stone arches. Located near Moab, with its hotels, ...
Hiking and off-roading at the Needles in Canyonlands
July 17, 2023 Canyonlands National Park spreads across 337,598 acres in southeastern Utah, divided into 3 districts by the Green and Colorado rivers: Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. In early May, after exploring popular Island in the Sky, we drove to the Needles on another day ...
Waterfalls, wildlife, and wonder at Zion National Park
June 21, 2023 Utah and its wealth of national parks drew us west on our 5-week RV trip this spring. Zion National Park in southwestern Utah sparkles as one of its crown jewels. For anyone wishing to beat the heat in canyon country, April is prime visiting season. We arrived ...
Wildflowers, breathtaking views at Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam
June 16, 2023 Hatted and sunscreened against the intense desert sun, we took a morning walk out to see Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona, before our tour of Antelope Canyon. This was back in late April, during our 5-week RV trip to see western National Parks. Wild rhubarb (I think?) ...
Beams of light set Antelope Canyon aglow
June 13, 2023 You’ve seen it in photos: swirling red sandstone walls aglow with light, like the inside of a conch shell or a Himalayan salt crystal lamp. Shafts of light that pinpoint, like Indiana Jones’s amulet beam, precise spots on the sandy floor. This is Antelope Canyon, as graceful ...
Chimney Rock thrills with a-Lure-ing views
December 04, 2022 I’ve always loved the thrillingly high and scenic views from the cracked tower of stone known as Chimney Rock, 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina. I came here many times as a kid and young adult when I lived in the Carolinas. Privately owned and managed ...
Autumn gardens and biking at Biltmore House
November 17, 2022 During our visit to Asheville, North Carolina, earlier this month, we spent one day at Biltmore House — but not to see the castle-like chateau erected by the New York-based Vanderbilts as their summer place. We’ve toured the house before, and it’s interesting, but I didn’t feel ...
Fall foliage, falls, and food in and around Asheville
November 15, 2022 Looking Glass Falls near Brevard, NC I love fall and seeing the trees change color. Since autumn color in Texas rarely offers more than a faint blush or tinge of yellow, I’ll travel far to see a good show. But it’s tricky when you’re making reservations 6 ...
Bandelier cliff dwellings, Valles Caldera, and epic New Mexico scenery
November 13, 2022 In early September, at the end of our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we drove out to Bandelier National Monument. We’d last explored its ancient cliff dwellings and pueblo ruin two decades earlier, and we wanted to hike and see it again. Bandelier National Monument We ...
New Year’s Eve hike at McKinney Falls
January 01, 2022 Upper Falls pool at McKinney Falls State Park As the second year of the pandemic sputtered to a sour end, with covid rates skyrocketing yet again, I turned to nature for a spirit-soothing New Year’s Eve hike with my family. Around noon we arrived at McKinney Falls ...
Autumn turns New Hampshire’s White Mountains orange, crimson, and gold
November 08, 2021 New England’s fall color — with trees flaming out orange, red, and gold — is famous worldwide. Two years ago I started planning a bucket-list trip to see it and settled on the White Mountains of New Hampshire in early October. Covid bumped the trip back a ...
View from a cinder cone at Capulin Volcano National Monument
August 16, 2021 Capulin Volcano, a decapitated pyramid, rises improbably over the grassy plains of northeastern New Mexico. A driver eager for a roadside distraction in the middle of nowhere might be tempted to exit Highway 87 for a closer look. Somehow, though, despite cruising past Capulin Volcano National Monument ...
Maroon Bells hike through Colorado wildflowers
August 03, 2021 Texans flock to Colorado to escape summer’s heat, and we’ve made our share of road trips up through Boulder, Estes Park, Breckenridge, and Durango. But somehow we’d never been to Aspen. We remedied that oversight in mid-July, when the alpine meadows were quilted by colorful wildflowers. A ...