Rumbling volcano of Mount Yasur in the background. Loved the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. 2011 |
- From high seas to highways. Follow along our epic road trip this summer -
Monday, October 31, 2016
Poltergeist - Memories from the South Pacific
Friday, October 28, 2016
Texas - Part Two - Yup... still hot as heck!
This is gonna be AMAZING!! Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA |
Monday, October 17, 2016
Texas - Toasty ... Far too toasty
The landscape through New Mexico and Texas was dotted with snake-like pipelines, refineries spurting their ever glowing flames, giant trucks taking oil to where ever, sad looking cows and dust. Lots of dust. The silhouette of the forever churning oil wells against the perfect blue sky just kept going until the horizon eventually gave way to the curvature of the earth and even then... the flat land kept going. I'm sure of it. It's everything I dreamed this part of the country could be. It was also really freaking hot! Which you'll find is a reoccurring theme from most of our trip, but Texas takes the cake. The 110°+ temperatures mixed with high humidity made things fairly miserable. It was so hot that the median on the interstate spontaneously burst into flames! I'm serious! Here's a picture!
Spontaneous fire in the median on the Interstate in Texas... |
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Carlsbad Caverns - What a "Batty" place!
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 |
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Oh Hello! - yes we're still alive
So... we've been busy. I'm sorry we haven't been in touch.
Yes, we're still alive.
Yes, we're still traveling.
Yes, we're still loving it.
And no, we don't want to stop.
We're currently in Nova Scotia en route to Sydney to catch the ferry to Newfoundland.
We’ve gone from the West Coast and taken the long way round to get to the Eastern most part of North America. It's wonderful to be home again after 2.5 years away and there's so much to see, so many to visit and so much to catch up on. It'll be a whirlwind for sure and worth every moment.
We have many tales to tell but we've been going flat out all day, every day. We're a little over a month behind on the blog. Please forgive us. We'll work on updating things as soon as we get a breather. Just wanted to check in and let you all know we're doing great and haven't forgotten about you!
Till next time - fair winds my friends!
Marsha and Geoff
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Mesa Verde - A stumble through time
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
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 |
Friday, August 19, 2016
Days of Dramatic Views - Steep roads, far off horizons and Arches National Park
Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Can you spot the Natural Bridge? |
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Capitol Reef - The most delicious National Park
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 |
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Escalante - The Grand Staircase
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Bryce Canyon - Hoodoos - Shadows and Rock
Why build a road around the rock when you can just go through it? En route to Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. |
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Zion - Part Two: The Narrows
Zion - Part One: National Parks and Ghost Towns
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. |
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Six Flags - Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain has the world record for number of roller coasters in one park with a total of 19! This does not include other thrill rides but does include the less fun, kiddie coasters. Of the 19 coasters in the park we went on 15 of them. The other 4 were in the "kid zone" which we steered clear of. One of the great things about this park is that almost all the coasters are different styles from each other.
Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA |
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Death Valley - So Weird. So Hot. So Very Very Hot.
Geoff enjoying pizza for breakfast at Lake Isabella, CA |
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Sequoia National Park - Big Trees, Big Caves, Big Rocks, Big Turns
Me at the top of Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, CA |
Kings Canyon - Fit for Royalty
Sun setting as we reach Kings Canyon National Park after a hot day in Fresno, CA. |
Friday, July 15, 2016
Fresno - A Recharge and Repair
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Yosemite - Part two: This is AMAZING!
Our first view of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley around sunset before finding our campsite at Bridalveil Creek. |
Yosemite - Part one: Getting There and Slowing Down
Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. Slightly Foggy... Classic. |
Monday, July 4, 2016
San Francisco
Back in June at a joint birthday party, for Geoff's Grandfather Tom and myself, we were given a family connection living here in Oakland, CA. Geoff's mom contacted Rita and Kevin and let them know we'd be coming through the area. They graciously invited us to come stay with them and offered up a tour of the San Fran area.
The view of San Francisco from Treasure Island. Over on the righthand side you can see a foggy Golden Gate Bridge too! July, 3rd 2016 |
From Mountain Passes to Season Passes
Hiking at Silver Falls State Park, Silverton, Oregon - June 29th, 2016 |
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Ta Da!!! - Look what we made!
Going, Going... Almost Gone...
Thank you to Christen for snapping this pic of us as we embarked on our Grand Adventure! - 12:45pm Tuesday, June 28th 2016 just outside our house in Seattle |
We had planned to drive through the night, taking shifts at the wheel, till we hit our destination. The universe had other plans though. Some very, VERY cruel plans...
And We're Off!!!
Well... after a few delays and set backs we FINALLY LEFT!
As of 12:45am on Tuesday, June 28th we're headed out on our grand adventure!!!
I'll post more in the morning with pics! For now we ride South!!
See you on the flip side Seattle!!
Marsha and Geoff - over and out!
Friday, June 17, 2016
We Do Like a Challenge!
We've been getting lots of questions lately. The questions we've been asked the most during this project is "How do you guys know how to do all this?" and "Where did you learn to do all that?" The answer isn't a simple one, but isn't isn't difficult either...
Trying something NEW! taking a silversmithing class in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - Dec, 2011 |