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…

Like many people of our age, we first heard about Carlsbad Caverns when we were in elementary school via bad black and white pictures in our text books.  We were told it was one of the wonders of the world and they are underground right here in the US of A.  After all these years, it’s still true. It’s not the largest in the world or country.  It’s not even…

Big Bend is not an easy place to get to as it’s tucked in the southwest corner of Texas.  We were already deep in Texas on South Padre Island and it took us two days to get there.  Big Bend is a combination of desert, mountain, and river vistas that cover more land than Rhode Island.  Like many of the National Parks, it was established in the 1930’s and the…

South Padre Island was recommended to us by some RV friends and was our first stop on “winter tour”.  It’s at southern-most point of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico and bordered on the south by Mexico.  By my account, it looks and feels just like Florida.  SPI is a barrier island that is only a half mile or so wide, but about 40 miles long.  Most of it is…

Suzanne and I spent just over two weeks in Portugal in the second half of September.  The time was split evenly with the Bakers (Marv and Laurie) and the Herefords (Dean and Sue).  While we visited eight cities, took five guided tours, and traveled a fair amount of the country side, it feels like we just scratched the surface.  The country is rich in history and culture, and is filled…

This was our final stop before heading back to the 1000 Islands for the summer. We had been told by many people the that Antelope Canyon was a must-see if we were in the region. Not only was this totally true, but there was a bonus: Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. The day before our Canyon tour, we visited The Glen Canyon Dam and drove around Lake Powell….

We thought after Zion, that Bryce NP would be “just” another canyon with great vistas, but this was not the case. It was very different and quite mesmerizing with it’s hoodoos, multi-colored cliff sides, and natural arches. We arrived in early April thinking spring would be well in progress, but Bryce had 9 feet of snow in February alone and as you can see from the photos, there was lingering…

Over the last couple of years we met multiple RVers who raved about the beauty of Zion NP and encouraged us to make this a “must do” stop in the course of travels.   They were absolutely correct and we were not disappointed.  There are no words really to describe the beauty and stunning vistas of this park.  We spent a week just outside Zion NP, in Virgin UT, which was…

Death Valley National Park is just inside California about 150 west of Las Vegas and is the largest National Park in the lower 48 states.  It also boasts the lowest elevation in North America and makes claim to be the hottest place on Earth.  Our plan was to get there in late March to see it when it was comfortable.  Having said that, we still needed to hydrate frequently and…