One of the great treasures of Florida is the springs—crystalline cool waters that emerge from the underground limestone aquifer into north-central Florida. With more than 700 springs, Florida is the spring capital of the world. Some are mere trickles, but others discharge millions of gallons of water per day. I’ve spent many idyllic days swimming […]
In only a few days, we’ve moved from the high mountains of New Mexico to the low lying swamps and bayous of East Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The days and nights are warm and humid, the flora and fauna semi-tropical, and the southern accents are as heavy as the morning fog rising over the swamp. […]
Five hundred and thirty-seven miles. That’s how far it is from the Panhandle Plains of Texas, through the Prairies and Lakes region, to the Pineywoods in the far northeastern corner of the state. We made the trip in five days, moving significantly more quickly than we prefer, but we need to keep moving or we’ll […]
Whenever we visit a town, we try our best to pass as locals. Because we prefer low-key travel experiences, we avoid the obvious tourist areas and instead, wander the side streets, poking around in bookstores, small galleries of local artists, and coffee shops and cafés filled with local folks. We search out local festivals and […]
Adobe pueblos and churches, cobalt skies, lavender sunsets; the scent of burning mesquite, roasting chiles, and sagebrush. The richness of Native American and Hispanic art and culture. Taos is a feast for the senses. We love this area and have visited many times. Most often, we’ve stayed in Santa Fe. But this time, we decided […]
“This one is too hot!”—“This one is too cold!” —“Ahhh…this one is just right.” That was our conversation when we were trying to choose the perfect hot springs pool. When we’re traveling through southern Colorado, we always try to make a stop at The Springs, a beautiful hot springs resort in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. There […]
Ever heard of Mancos, Colorado? Neither had we. Driving through on Hwy 160, the town looks like absolutely nothing. But take a right turn and go one block, and a vibrant little town suddenly appears, with a fantastic natural foods store, an excellent bakery and coffee shop, bookstore, artist’s co-op, and a thriving, friendly community […]
In mid-September, we spent a couple of days immersed in the ancient Puebloan ruins at Hovenweep National Monument and Canyons of the Ancients National Monuments. These spectacular ruins are located off the beaten path on the border of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. We hiked trails to almost every ruin in the area, visited the […]
Yesterday we hiked a six-mile round-trip trail deep into Canyonlands National Park—the Chesler Park trail. It was a fairly moderate hike, although it did involve some scrambling over slickrock. We saw a handful of people on the trail, but mostly, it was just the two of us in an enormous wild landscape of rock formations, […]
Canyonlands National Park is spacious, uncrowded, and absolutely gorgeous. Although we’ve visited (more than once) the other national parks in Utah (Arches, Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Zion), this was our first visit to Canyonlands. We’re glad we made the effort. We’re not sure why we bypassed this park on our many other trips to the […]
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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!