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From Canyon de Chelly we drove to Taos and Santa Fe where we shopped, ate lunch, and enjoyed the amazing scenery. We visited the Loretta Chapel in Santa Fe and the mysterious staircase built in the 1800's by an anonymous man who left without pay as mysteriously as he came. The staircase is somewhat of an engineering wonder. It has no obvious support and does 3 three-hundred and sixty degree twists. Very beautiful. We drove on, and arrived at my Dad's house in Fort Worth, TX two days before Thanksgiving. The morning we got up early to make the drive to my great Aunt Zena's ranch to spend Thanksgiving with the whole family. Thanksgiving at the ranch was great. We shot guns, rode four-wheelers and horses, played with my little cousins, cooked, and ate to our ... read more

Before the Grand Canyon, we drove up North to Bryce Canyon. It was absolutely stunning! We camped for a night before moving on. While we were there we drove to every overlook, and hiked a trail called the Navajo Loop that took us down into the canyon and around the other-worldly rock formations. But the best thing about it by far was the night sky. The stars were so clear the sky was almost white with them. We camped at Rainbow Point, around nine thousand feet. It was an amazing place. From there we drove down through Monument Valley, to the south entrance of Grand Canyon Nat Park. The Grand Canyon was everything we expected it to be. It was grand! Again, we drove from overlook to overlook, took pictures, and admired the geological wonder. We ... read more

Sorry it has taken us SO long to update. We are going to pile them on today. Anyway, from the coast we turned inland. Our first stop was the Sequoia National Forest, still in California. It is like the Redwood Forest, but full of giant Sequoia trees, which were just as impressive. It just so happens that this is where the LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD is!! It is a red sequoia named The General Sherman Tree; 53,000 cubic feet, with a circumference of 160 feet. The hike down to it was over a mile long and steep, which was challenging at 8,000 feet! Even more impressive than the tree however, were the tarantulas! It was mating season in the park, and the male brown tarantulas were out walking around, looking for females. We saw one ... read more

We arrived in Redwood territory on October 28th, and drove down Highway 101 to the visitors center, where we picked up a map and some information on the different areas of redwoods and trails in the area. The first trail we hiked was the Lady Bird Trail, on the outskirts of the Redwood National Forest. It took us through some of the oldest redwoods in the area, although not the biggest. We explored, climbed, and took pictures on the 2-mile hike. They are absolutely spectacular trees. From there we headed further down Hwy 101 to The Avenue of the Giants. It is a scenic highway that runs adjacent to Hwy 101 and goes by all the tourist stops and the largest, most impressive trees. We stopped at Founders Nature Trail to explore and hike a little ... read more

On Monday, Ariel and I repacked the van and left Boulder, heading for Yellowstone. The drive took us through a few small, rural towns. I swear we saw more horses than people. Wyoming landscape is unreal. You can easily trick yourself into thinking you are on a different planet. Overcast skies and miles of frozen 'tundra'. No vegetation other than small gray shrubs. Parts of the drive where down-right eerie. The sun went down before we reached the park so we stopped in a little town in Wyoming called Lander. We woke up at dawn and finished the drive to The Grand Tetons National Park. The Tetons where breathtaking. We stopped for awhile to snap some pictures and then headed on to Yellowstone. We reached the south entrance of Yellowstone and drove around the western geothermal ... read more