When we were contemplating taking to the road, I anticipated exploring beautiful places and having grand adventures. But I never imagined the wonderful people we would meet, and how our community of friends would expand. Last December in Arizona, we experienced the best of this traveling life—we met up with old and new friends, stayed […]
Archive for Arizona
We’ve been wanting to hike the trails in the Chiricahua National Monument for years. Known for its splendid assortment of hoodoos, balanced rocks, and spires, the monument is part of a sky island, an isolated mountain range that rises above the desert in the far southeastern corner of Arizona. We planned three nights in Bonita […]
Bidding farewell to the Central Coast, our journey from San Diego to Tucson was a whirlwind tour of time with family and friends. We were looking forward to seeing family in San Diego; when we discovered that no less than four of our favorite full-time RVing buddies were also in the area, our dance card […]
The first glimpse is surreal—a vast sapphire body of water shimmering against a backdrop of picturesque, orange-hued sandstone buttes. At 186 miles long and with more than 90 side canyons that snake into the desert landscape, Lake Powell holds the title as the second largest artificial lake in America. Honestly, we prefer our lakes created […]
I first visited Petrified Forest National Park about 20 years ago, in mid-August, at mid-day. It was scorching hot, the sky hazy, and the petrified logs were uninspiring brown lumps. As you can imagine, I was in no great hurry to return. But Eric had never been and wanted to see for himself. “There’s not […]
Every so often, even with our new and improved plan of slowing our travels way down, we still end up with an overnight stay here and there. It’s just how things work out sometimes. And honestly, we don’t need to spend multiple days every place we go. But even when we’re landing somewhere for only […]
On a sunny and cool late October morning, volunteer ranger Jimmy Black gathers our group of five on the beautiful brick patio behind the Visitor Center at Navajo National Monument. Our destination: Betatakin, one of the best-preserved ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, and one of the least-visited. I’ve wanted to visit Betatakin for years, and we […]
John Steinbeck christened it the Mother Road, and everyone from Nat King Cole to Van Morrison has crooned the catchy tune celebrating the 2400 mile cross-country journey on this most famous of highways. Route 66 is tenacious. Almost 90 years after its creation and three decades after it was declared obsolete, the old road lives […]
The text from Katherine said, “Just passed the ‘Welcome to Anza Borrego State Park’ sign. Excited!” We had left Yuma, Arizona after a couple of nights stay, and were heading for the grand finale of our caravanning adventure together—a week at Anza Borrego State Park. A few minutes later, I got a call. “Stop at […]
We’ve wanted to visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for years. Located 138 miles west of Tucson on the U.S.-Mexico border, we were entranced by the beautiful images we had seen of the lush Sonoran desert landscape of this remote park. It took us a dozen years to get here, though. Truth is, we were […]
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If you enjoy hiking, biking, kayaking, birding, art, music, quirky towns, good food, and good friends—you'll enjoy traveling with us. Join us as we explore the backroads of North America—we love company and comments!