We’ve scheduled Mesa Verde a couple of times over the past few years, but had to postpone it due to winter-like weather.  This year we decided to visit in September to avoid any snow.  It was worth the wait as the place is amazing.  We hoped to see a few great cliff dwellings, but this was way beyond our expectations.  There are dozens of well preserved cliff dwelling complexes that…

Our first visit to Rocky Mountain National Park was about 30 years ago and it was all of 4 hours.  This time, we decided to stay a week this time and really see the park.  The main entrance is about 100 miles north of Denver just outside Estes Park. The park was established in1915 after rigorous debate between conservationists and logging/mining/agriculture forces, when Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National…

For several years we’ve read blogs where Grand Teton was the author’s favorite National Park.  Now we know why. The Park has everything. It has wildlife, mountains, lakes, rivers, prairies, glaciers, waterfalls, incredible hiking, great camping, lodges, and it’s beautifully preserved. The original National Park that protected the four major Teton peaks was established in the late 1920s.  The remainder of the park, including “the Jackson Hole” valley, was added…

Many people are not familiar with Theodore Roosevelt NP and we knew little about its attractions or how it was created.  As president (from 1901-1909), Teddy created the US Forest Service, 18 National Parks, and worked with Congress to create an additional 5 National Parks.  The park was created in 1947 in recognition of his contributions to land preservation and conservation.  Teddy Roosevelt came to love the rugged beauty of…

This was our first destination after our August departure.  On the way out of New York we had a first: our camp host in Ohio grew vegetables for his customers and gave them a way. We were the surprised beneficiary of his kindness and garden skills. On the other side of the coin, no seasonal departure is complete without a debilitating RV problem, but fortune was on our side and…

We found New Zealand (NZ) to be a magical place with lush fields, snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes and rivers, rugged coastlines, fjords, and glaciers.  We began our three week journey in Auckland which is on the North Island and is NZ’s largest city with 1.7 million people.  A walking tour led us through interesting gardens, enormous trees, and a bustling downtown area with a little history thrown in.   The next day, we took…

Although we often group Australia and New Zealand together, they are certainly different in many ways.  While both belong to the wider British Commonwealth, and English is their primary language, the land itself is unique to each nation. Geographically, NZ is a small mountainous country of two long islands that features nearly 10,000 miles of shoreline. The climate ranges from warm subtropical in the far north to cool temperate in the…

Much of our Fall 2023 tour prior to Thanksgiving encompassed 4 different areas; Washington DC, Upstate South Carolina, Jekyll Island, and lastly an oldie-but-goodie, Myrtle Beach. We had not been to DC for several years after Jessie’s family moved to CT so was nice to be back and revisit some of our favorites as well as take in some new sites.  The newly remodeled Air and Space Museum was well…

We were fortunate to visit the Cuyahoga Valley and New River Gorge National Parks during peak leaf peeping time during mid-October.  Both parks featured beautiful foliage, hills/mountains, water, and interesting history. They are relatively new and unlike most National Parks in the West, they were formed around “existing civilization”. As a result, their borders are a bit serpentine and have a lot of roads, residences, and some businesses inside park…

Nova Scotia in Latin means New Scotland, and is reflective of the origins of the early settlers.  It is the second smallest province in Canada and includes a large island called Cape Breton northeast of the mainland.  It is often said that both the landscape and the climate are comparable to those of Scotland.  We spent two wonderful weeks touring this province of rolling hills, forests, countless rivers and lakes,…