Zion National Park: Don’t Look Down

Sunset lights up the rock-face at Zion National Park

Zion’s Shuttle System With all of the amazing national and state parks we’ve seen on our travels, Zion National Park really needed to shine to impress us. It shone indeed . . . and glowed, sparkled and dazzled while it was at it. The fall foliage was stunning, and provided the perfect backdrop for our hikes. There […]

Green Cacti, Blue Angels

It’s back to shorts weather after the Pike’s Peak Colorado snow! Phoenix is still in the low 90sin the October afternoon. We did a challenging hike in the White Tank Mountains, and placedour Jeep (see “Green Jeep Bug and Bugling Elk” entry from 10/8) in a new geocache for someone else to find. Click HERE […]

Super Hairpins

From Colorado Springs, it’s a short drive to Garden of the Gods. There were some neat rock formations, and lots of climbers, but we’d been spoiled recently by Moab, so we opted for a quick look around and continued on. The next stop was the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. These are authentic representations of Anasazi culture […]

Green Jeep Bug and Bugling Elk

Just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, we started what was probably the most challenging hike of the season. The trailhead was a few miles down a dirt road, and unmarked. We only found it because its coordinates were listed as a good place to start searching for a geocache. This cache contained one of […]

Long-Awaited Coast and Falls Pics

Here they are at last. Take a moment to click the links below and see some beautiful photos of the Oregon Coast, the Trail of Ten Falls at Silver Falls Park and the Multnomah Falls area near the Columbia River Gorge. Coast-http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Oregon/Coast/ Falls-http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j97/d3loeber/Oregon/Waterfalls/

Oregon Coast

This is just a teaser. We took some gorgeous pictures of the Oregon coast from Tillamook up to Seaside. A link to the photos will appear here soon.

Portland’s Gardens

Portland’s Forest Park has miles and miles of hiking trails. After wearing ourselves out with a 12-mile hike on Saturday, Sunday was for a little relaxation. The Japanese Garden at the edge of the park was beautiful and very authentic. It includes five formal gardening styles: a pond garden (see above), a natural setting garden, […]

Totally Tubular

At about a mile deep, the Lava River Cave is the longest lava tube in Oregon. It was created by lava from volcanic eruptions flowing through to feed the front of the lava flow. The temperature in the cave is a cool 40°F year-round. There are some geologic formations similar to other caves, and some […]

Boise Area Adventures

Idaho in general has proven to have much more to offer than we’d imagined. After a single event in Sun Valley (most of which is owned, supposedly, by Demi Moore and Bruce Willis), we arrived in Boise. We made the most of the weekend. Saturday was for mountain biking in the foothills. The way up […]

Destination USA: Idaho Falls

Idaho Falls Beginnings The city of Idaho Falls began with miners, trappers, fur traders and early settlers. As westward migration continued in the 1860s, a wooden toll bridge was built over the Snake River close to what would later become Idaho Falls. The railroad brought the first settlers, and they called their settlement Eagle Rock. […]