Carlsbad Caverns - What a "Batty" place!

**SIDE NOTE TO START: Well hello again!! Now that we're back in Seattle and our trip is done (sadface) I'll have time to sit down and write. My goal is to pop out a blog post every other day. No promises... but I'll add extra pictures because I love you and you're all awesome! Enjoy!!**

After sweating our butts off in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Carlsbad, New Mexico, we woke up early and raced out to Carlsbad Caverns National Park before the Visitors Center opened. This National Park works a bit differently as it's really just the caves. There aren't many trails above ground to hike on and really... I'm not sure you'd want to. The environment is hostile with malicious looking cacti and terrain littered with steep drops, cracks in the earth and loose, dry soil and rocks giving way at any moment make the way perilous. Throw poisonous snakes, scorpions and tarantulas into the mix and I think I'm good on the not walking around part!

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, White City, New Mexico, US

Mesa Verde - A stumble through time

We've been lucky enough to travel to many places around the globe. We've seen the ruins in Rome and Athens. We've wandered through the walled cities in Croatia and explored the massive Hindu and Buddhist temples in Indonesia. And I've gazed upon the pyramids and temples in both Egypt and Mexico. But we were in for a completely different experience at Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde protects and preserves some of the best Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the world. The Ancient Pueblo peoples farmed up on top of the mesa and as they grew in size they needed more land to grow on so they needed to move from on top of the mesa to... well... somewhere else that was close by. So they chose to build their villages and homes into the cliffs. The park itself has over 4,300 archeological sites, including over 600 cliff dwellings. We were lucky enough to explore 3 of these.

Long House, Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Canyonlands and Colorado

After our time in Arches National Park, we were ready for something new. Utah has been good to us and we didn't get to see everything but it's time to move on. Our goal for the day was to make it to Cortez, Colorado. A whole new state! But before crossing the state-line we needed to check out one last National Park, Canyonlands.

Canyonlands is not the most accessible National Park and it will probably be kept that way. Many roads in the park are unpaved and there are next to no services inside the park. If you're into backcountry hiking and camping, this is the National Park for you. The park itself is split into 4 districts that are not connected: Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze and the rivers, Green and Colorado. We chose to check out the Needles portion.

Chillin in chilly AC of the van. Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Days of Dramatic Views - Steep roads, far off horizons and Arches National Park

After a good nights sleep we took the time to see Natural Bridges National Monument. A stop first at the Visitors Center was fairly amusing as some European tourists were begging the Park Rangers for a few gallons of gas as they thought there would be a gas station in a non-existent town... who does that?   *cough* us *cough*   The Ranger was very kind and offered them a gallon at no charge but then they proceeded to tell him they wanted to do the 9 mile loop and take their time before heading to a gas station. He didn't like that. They got no gas.

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Can you spot the Natural Bridge?

Capitol Reef - The most delicious National Park

The road from Escalante, Scenic Byway 12, goes through Boulder and continues on to Capitol Reef National Park. There was rain. A lot of rain. Like... a ton of rain. We even had to stop a few times as the windshield wipers couldn't handle and I just couldn't see anything going around hairpin turns down a mountain. Good times.

A cow on the Open Range between Boulder and Torrey, Utah as the rain comes down. A lot of rain.

You might think Capitol Reef is an odd name for a landlocked National Park, and you'd be right!! But the Capitol part of the name refers to the white Navajo Sandstone domes that (with some imagination) look like the domes often placed on "capitol" buildings and the Reef part of the name is a local word to describe any rocky barrier to land travel, like cliffs or canyons, just as coral reefs are barriers to ships on the sea. Capitol Reef was established as a National Monument in 1937 but didn't open to the public till 1950 with roads coming in the 60s. In 1971 it was designated a National Park. It protects the area's colorful canyons, buttes, cliffs and monoliths. It's crowning jewel is the Waterpocket Fold, a weird warp in the earths crust that has been dated as old as 65 million years. This fold is the largest of it's kind in North America and shows dozens of layers of earth stacked on top of each other in the most beautiful and colorful fashion. The Waterpocket Fold runs North to South for over 100 miles and has few roads that have managed to cross it.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!! ALL DRESSED CHIPS!!! In Utah!!!
Seriously. So excited.
Chuck Wagon General Store, Torrey, Utah

Bryce Canyon - Hoodoos - Shadows and Rock

The road from Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, took us through a part of Utah I don't think many people see. We saw high elevation plateaus, with open range cattle munching on fresh grass on the side of the road; dry arid landscapes, with plants barely clinging to the sandy earth, tall forests of pines and fir; and grassy plains, with deer bounding through the tall grasses interspersed with lush fields and irrigation systems hard at work. All this punctuated now and again with red rock cliffs or snow white rocky outcrops. The thunderstorms that were forecast started sweeping across the plains and the van got a good rinse off. As we neared Bryce Canyon National Park the sky started to darken with some fierce weather. We wanted to make it there for sunset but would Mother Nature cooperate with us?

Why build a road around the rock when you can just go through it?
En route to Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

Zion - Part Two: The Narrows

It was recommended to us by several friends to take trekking poles or a walking stick with us on our hike up The Narrows. We’re both REALLY glad we listened.

Hikes in just about every National Park are listed as the following: Easy, which are usually paved or well maintained and short with little to no elevation gain; Moderate, which are not for people with severe health problems and are generally more difficult with rougher paths and trails; and Strenuous, which can be very long, with little to no actual mapped out trail, large elevation gain or difficult and dangerous terrain.

The Narrows is listed as Strenuous.

Geoff, ready to take on The Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah

Zion - Part One: National Parks and Ghost Towns

We left Seattle on the second part of our trip after spending a few days at home. We drove straight through, for about 24 hours, passing through Eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and most of Utah before reaching Zion National Park. We went through rain squalls, bug attacks, high winds, soft sunrises and scorching hot sun to get there. We passed many places we'll be adding to our list of future exploration needed. Our list seems to keep getting larger and larger, even as we tick so many boxes off of it. Ah, the life of the perpetual traveler... 

Eastern Washington looking lovely. En route to Utah

Love the four to eight watch on ships for the sunrise. It was beautiful on the interstate as well. Somewhere in Northern Utah.

Death Valley - So Weird. So Hot. So Very Very Hot.

We woke up to a nice breeze on the shores of Lake Isabella. The sun was bright and the boats were just starting to dart around the lake, disturbing the crystal clear reflection of the dry, grassy hills surrounding us. Geoff ate pizza. It was great.

Geoff enjoying pizza for breakfast at Lake Isabella, CA

I watched him chomp down on the Costco pizza we got the night before ever so adoringly as I remembered it was our anniversary. It made me smile. What a weird place for us to be celebrating our years together. And yet it was perfectly fitting. Completely out of the ordinary and definitely outside the box. An adventure. I love our adventures. I love that we enjoy doing the same sorts of things and better yet - enjoy doing them together. We're pretty lucky. We might not live flashy, or come close to making six figures a year but we have each other and that's pretty damn amazing if you ask me.

After a breakfast of pizza we got organized and headed to our destination for the day: Death Valley National Park.

Sequoia National Park - Big Trees, Big Caves, Big Rocks, Big Turns

Sequoia National Park borders Kings Canyon National Park and the two are the same and very different all at the same time. The two parks are connected by Generals Highway, an ode to the giant trees named after many formidable Generals in US history. The trees were named after prominent figures to try and convince them to have the area protected and preserve these natural wonders. It worked!

Me at the top of Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, CA

Kings Canyon - Fit for Royalty

We arrived at Kings after sundown, partly due to the protests in Fresno, but mostly because we slept in that morning. It was a Saturday Night and the campgrounds were full on arrival. We were tired and didn't see any signs saying otherwise, so we pulled into the Visitor Center parking lot and settled in for the night. The Park Ranger didn't like that...

Sun setting as we reach Kings Canyon National Park after a hot day in Fresno, CA. 

Fresno - A Recharge and Repair

This is just a quick overview of our time in Fresno, CA. Mainly because Geoff's friend John requested a whole post on Fresno. Ok!

We chose to stop in here as it's really the only choice between Yosemite and Kings/Sequoia National Parks with a good amount of resources. Good hotels, a Costco (cheap gas for the win!) and some car parts stores. Yup more repairs.

Yosemite - Part two: This is AMAZING!

Sometimes I forget how many stars are in the sky until I get out and away from civilization, relax and look up. Chilling around the campfire with an adult beverage in hand and roasting hotdogs on the fire (classic!!) and I can feel my muscles starting to finally relax. Take a deep breath, lean back and look up and I can't even make out constellations I recognize with the amount of stars now visible to my eyes now that I'm outside the cities and light pollution. The Milky Way is sprawling across the openness above me and I just feel a sense of peace. Which is saying something in todays' world full of heartbreaking news and non-stop, fast paced life. 

Our first view of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley around sunset before finding our campsite at Bridalveil Creek.

**Side Note: Please understand I'm not spending time editing pictures and uploading the dozens of pictures off our cameras. currently what you're getting is what we've taken on our phones. We'll post a bunch once we have some time in between legs of our trip or maybe not till the end. Thanks for being patient and understanding I really want to be present where I am and enjoy my time with Geoff** 

Yosemite - Part one: Getting There and Slowing Down

After a few more laughs and a fond farewell we took off from Kevin and Rita's place high on the hills in Oakland and headed across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco again. This time in the van and Geoff at the helm. (Still trying to find the right name for her. Anita? Parker? Beulah? Annie? I dunno...) We had unfinished business with the Golden Gate Bridge. The drive over was stellar, the sun was out and barely a cloud in the sky. By the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog had rolled in and you could barely see the bridge standing right next to it. Sooooo, I STILL didn't get my pictures I wanted but we DID drive across the bridge in our awesome home on wheels. After crossing the famous bridge and bay we couldn't see, we set our sights on Yosemite National Park. What better way to spend the 4th of July than seeing a few of America's most iconic manmade and natural sites!

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. Slightly Foggy... Classic.