It has been three days since the bus tour. At this time we have based ourselves in Lathrop, where Tita Fenny’s sister (Tita Liz) and brother-in-law (Tito Danny) lives. It has been a fun three days. But all things being transient, we now have to bid farewell to go to L.A., where Lola Vangie has been waiting for us since the end of the Alaska cruise. Before we head to southern California, we’ll do what most American families do, especially every summer – have a picnic in a park. With us 15 in our rental van and Tito Danny and Tita Liz in their car with Bear – their dog that looks like a tiger – we drive to the Sequoia National Park. This time there’s no guide to tell us where to go and no ... read more

I guess I’ll start by saying what this is – some sort of a love letter. I don’t think I’m the first one to have ever succumbed to romanticism during a prolonged trip to great places. But I can’t blame those people. Traveling exposes our weaknesses, it brings us closer to our fears, and it makes us more vulnerable. Traveling makes us more sensitive to everything around us. And when you’re surrounded by a city such as San Francisco, how do you keep yourself from leaving your heart? See what I did there? Early in the morning the bus takes our group to the Tenderloin, where it stops in front of the Civic Center. The sky is overcast and the air is very cold – a far cry from the summer heat that has been starting ... read more

We are greeted with the bad news. We can’t ride the helicopter because unusually strong winds are blowing across the southwestern desert and are preventing flights from taking off into the Grand Canyon West. Instead, we will just have to content ourselves with seeing the portion of the canyon from the Skywalk, a U-shaped cantilever bridge with glass floors jutting out of a side canyon. I slump my shoulders. That means we won’t be able to descend to the base of the canyon and see firsthand the rocks at the bottom, where, according to Richard, lies billions of years’ worth of stories on the earth’s origin. The day starts in Las Vegas, where, after six hours again on the interstate from Salt Lake City, we base ourselves for the next two nights. After another two hours ... read more

It’s four in the afternoon and I’m in the middle of a large forest clearing, shivering to the bone. I’m with dozens of visitors looking at Old Faithful geyser – calm as of this moment – inside Yellowstone Park, the world’s first national park and one of the largest in the U.S. The sky is ominously gray and a slight drizzle accompanied by relentless wind ensues. A further test of my resolve. Clad in a cotton shirt and shorts and another used shirt to cover myself from the rain, it doesn’t take long to realize my inadequate preparations for the park’s frigid weather. Because the past two days had been sunny, I ignored Richard’s advice to wear something warm. I don’t know Yellowstone to be a rainy place, with 15 inches of precipitation a year, and ... read more

Utah – that famed state of red rocks jutting out of great expanses of sand being grilled under a scorching sun that hangs above a cloudless blue sky. This is the land Archaic peoples have called home for millennia, before Puebloan, Fremont and Ute people took over as they scourged for food. Here, water, extreme heat (and at times extreme cold), and salt underground have conspired to create hundreds of crimson-hued rocks with amazing formations. That’s what runs through my mind as we leave Richfield and cruise through Interstate 70 to the Arches National Park. After a quick breakfast during a stop at a gasoline station somewhere near Richfield, we head for the park near Moab. As the road stretches to the desert, the plains soon give way to steep hills. Soon the sun ascends from ... read more