For the third consecutive year, we spent a month in Yuma starting in mid-January.  The weather was nearly perfect, especially considering what the majority of the country went through.  The campgrounds, stores, and hiking trails were not nearly as crowded as in years past.  People were generally good about masking and social distancing. However, it just wasn’t all that exciting and that was okay.  It was the best we could…

As part of our “Winter 2021 Isolation Tour” we decided to stop at several National Monuments (NMs) on our way to a month-long stay in Yuma, AZ.  There are 129 NMs in the US and they span a wide variety of venues ranging from mini-National Parks to historic buildings to ruins. We’ve previously been to a dozen or so and find them to be the “short stories” of the National…

Our fall travel schedule turned out a bit differently than we planned last winter.  However, although a bit low key compared to the Florida trip we planned, it was a lot fun and forced us to travel off the “beaten track” and explore some new places. The Chesapeake Bay and Outer Banks areas are just gorgeous and  great places to simply relax. There were a lot of walks and reading…

The Pisgah National Forest occupies a huge amount of mountainous land above and below Ashville, North Carolina.  We chose to go there without doing our normal due diligence due to quick pandemic-based schedule adjustments.  We knew there was decent hiking and that it was far enough south to be warm, but we had no idea just how great it is.  The area we stayed in is known as the Ranger…

Our first stop on our Fall ’20 tour was Shenandoah National Park in Western Virginia.  Although we visited the park a few years ago, we didn’t see much due  Suzanne’s broken foot as well as some snow in the park when the roads were closed.  Not so this time around with both of us healthy and cooperation from the weather!  In mid October, we were joined by Robyn and Dave…

In mid-September, we returned to Acadia National Park for the first time since our first year on the road and it didn’t disappoint. In 2017, Suzanne was fresh off foot surgery and we were unable to do any real hiking. This time we had the chance to see a lot of the Park. Susie and Dean Hereford joined us while we were there to make a great trip even better….

In early September we spent a week in the north, central part of the state.  We stayed just off I-95 in Medway to visit both Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The two parks are large, adjacent wilderness areas with no paved roads, electricity, or running water.  Although both areas have been logged over the past 100+ years they now represent untamed beauty. Baxter SP…

Just like the rest of the planet, February and March didn’t play out like we expected. It all started innocently enough.  We arrived in Yuma in late January and had a month of great weather while basking in the ignorance of the on-coming pandemic.  Unfortunately, by the early-March the world changed and we had to cancel nearly all of our spring schedule.  We did manage to spent a short week…

This is another a place we tried to visit previously, but were deterred by the two government shutdowns.  This was our final 2020 New Mexico stop and added another check mark to our bucket list.  The morning after catching a hike and dinner in Silver City, we headed to the National Monument.  We couldn’t understand how it could take 2 hours to travel less than 50 miles until we got…

The name “White Sands” really tells what the park is all about.  The park is a unique, large patch of white gypsum sand that collected all in one place due to the geography, winds, and mineral content of the area.  It is quite beautiful and we found ourselves walking though the dunes like we were in the Sahara.  It also reminded us of the snow-scapes we experienced in upstate New…