Blogs from United States, North America - page 6514

We pulled into Colter Bay by 11am. Ed and I had a really nice quiet drive as we let the kids sleep in our bed when we pulled out. We have done this periodically over the summer and it works out nicely as we get a few quiet hours to enjoy the scenery and they get the extra sleep which they seem to need. We saw lots of wildlife but didn’t choose to stop. The coolest was when we saw an entire herd of buffalo in a valley, dozens if not up to a hundred. The views on the way down were terrific, mountains and lakes, valleys and flowers. We explored Colter Bay Village as the site wasn’t quite ready when we got there. Our campground was on Jackson Lake, there was a nice marina for ... read more

It was almost 10 months before leaving Unalaska, on his way north from Polynesia to America that Captain Cook stumbled on the island cluster unknown to the West. The Islands lay farther from continental america than any archipelago on earth. Captain Cook and his crew had sailed more than 2,700 miles and taken about 6 weeks to go from Bora Bora without seeing a soul. When Captain Cook consulted his charts and calculated that he had met these islanders he wondered “how shall we account for this Nation spreading it self so far across this Vast Ocean?” Historians & anthropologists are still trying to answer Captain Cook’s questions. Today, we are walking on the beaches feeling the sand and watching the surf crashing. There are hundreds of surfers off shore all waiting for the perfect wave. ... read more

We finally arrive at our destination point, one of Danny's pal's nearly-beachside apartments in Huntington Beach, almost exactly 24 hours after we left. I had driven the entire length of the trip, just because I made a personal goal to drive that far. Now that I know I can, fuck driving the entire length of trips, Danny is driving on the way back. After unpacking all our shit, we decided to go out and have a few drinks, which sounded immensely appealing after a long road trip. We hit up Main Street, which is the lively entertainment section of Huntington Beach. It made the Depot District look like my ass after eating a Grande; seriously, if I owned Lubbock-which I will one day, believe it- I would model an entertainment district after Main Street. After walking ... read more

We have an entire day in Fairbanks to just wander around. It's Sunday so not much is open, and as mentioned no buses at weekends. So we walk into town, which only take a bit more that an hour. We see no pedestrians on the way. It seems like everyone has cars and use them as their sole mode of transport. Even the homeless people have SUVs. Today is a bit of a nothing day all round, apart from the 10+ miles we clock up on foot and in the drizzle. This place is more about the people who choose to live in such a challenging environment, rather than anything much to do for tourists. I think the only way to understand the city is to talk to locals, which we haven't really done yet. ... read more

Sunday morning we decided to go swimming in the river. The locals had tipped us of on how we could get down there. We headed down, and first entered the river. Obviously the wrong spot, as all the locals were a hundred meters farther up. We finally located the trail that took us up there, and the place was neat. I actually remembered to get some sun tan lotion on, so I didn't even get burnt. Anyways, the first picture shows part of the stream. You can go into the stream to the right, and float out to the left of the picture. There is a gradient over the "edge", but its not too bad if you go over it. The locals also used a popup to cross the river. A popup is where the water ... read more