Road Trippin' to UT and CO

July 23 - 30, 2013

Our first stop was Zion National Park and it was beautiful. Hot, but beautiful. The South campground was pretty crowded. The first day we hiked the Narrows in the morning and Angel's Landing in the afternoon. The river felt so refreshing in the desert heat! The second day we hiked La Verkin Creek Trail to Kolob Arch. The reported distances ranged from 11 to 14 miles but we are convinced it was 15+!! We treated ourselves afterward to cheeseburgers and local brews at Oscar's Cafe. Yummers!

Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the other parks in Utah but we will definitely be back. We drove on to Denver where we stayed with the very hospitable Mary and Jason. On Saturday we enjoyed a lovely tour of New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins followed by a very rainy Rockies game at Coors Field. The next day we visited with Michelle and Colin in Lakewood before going to Red Rocks to see Rodrigo and Gabriela perform with the Colorado Orchestra. Brilliant!!

It was a long drive back to San Francisco and neither of us seem to remember much about it, but it was well worth the drive. Can't wait to go back!

Small Town 4th of July

July 3 - 10, 2013
Independence Day in Columbus, IN was all American! We spent it with friends and family on Grandview Lake...lots of pontoon boat rides, swimming, eating, relaxing, and a tour of the IU campus. Our stay was extended a couple of days so we took advantage and ran around the lake in the Midwest summer heat and humidity. We also flew the Harley Biscuit to his new home for the next seven months. Living the life with grandma and grandpa. We think we will enjoy the summer and winter months there with his new best friend, Sophie:)

Back in Cali

July 13 - 22, 2013
This past week was a whirlwind!
On Saturday we went to Molly and Noah's beautiful wedding overlooking the vineyards of Gundlach Bundschu followed by dinner and dancing at Sebastiani Winery. Congratulations to the newlyweds:)
We left directly from the reception to drive to Tahoe to run Tough Mudder the next day. It was challenging but we are happy we did it. The race was 10 miles with multiple obstacles including crawling through mud, swimming through ice, and being shocked by electrical wires. Devin says he would like to do it again...
Monday we drove to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. It was hot to say the least; however, the nights were brilliant with perfect temperatures and clear skies on the first night, complete with shooting stars (a nearby forest fire created a brown cloud that covered the sky on Tuesday night and Wednesday). We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but the landscapes, Joshua Trees, and cacti were impressive. The first day we hiked North View and Maze trails (~ 5 miles) and the second day we hiked Juniper Flats to Fan Canyon View (~ 13 miles). Seeing the Joshua Trees and the chollas were the highlight.
We spent the following weekend with Ryan and Emily in San Francisco and Sonoma. Lots of yummy food and wine and a relaxing day by the pool. Perfect!
Although still recovering from the weekend, we powered through a brewery tour and tasting at Anchor Steam. Cheers:)

6300 miles...

June 6 - July 2, 2013
With a final quick wave goodbye to the east coast, we made our way west and on to Cleveland. We picked up Dr Jones, Jenny departed from Akron, we met Sudarshan for a quick bite and then picked up Erich from Cleveland airport. And the boys (Jones and Erich) still managed to make a night of it at a brew pub that also had the best chili I've ever tasted (I think it was a pork chili with chorizo).

The trip itself covered over 6300 miles (including the first part of the trip with Jenny around the north east), took in another 3 national parks, passed through the cities of Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans and Phily and resulted in a strange encounter with some familiar marsupials. 

First stop was Louisville, which was a beautiful town in the heart of the Midwest. We met up with Jenny's cousin Brett and sampled some of the states finest bourbon. On the way down to Nashville we made a quick stop at Kentucky Down Under (wtf) and the Mammoth Caves National Park. We were too late to take any cave tours so we just decided to hike around the park in our flip flops.
Nashville was definitely one of the highlights. The entire city is centered around music and every bar has live music all night. We spent a couple nights bar hopping... and unfortunately PJ decided to get the tequila shots out, discovered a definite favorite band and spent our final afternoon lazying in park at a local music festival on the river.
New Orleans disappointed us on the first night, mainly because we spent most of our time trawling Bourbon Street which, as anyone who know New Orleans well will tell you, is the place you stay clear of. Unfortunately for Erich, he left after the first night, we discovered more of a local scene on Frechman's Street just outside the French Quarter, and hung out in several bars listening to cool jazz. PJ would fly out the next day, but not before we tried to squeeze in nine holes of golf before being chased back into the clubhouse by lightning and torrential rain!

On to Florida!

A word of warning to anyone going to the Everglades in summer. The mosquitoes are mind-boggingly horrendous and will bite you through and piece of clothing you put on. You will need to be in your tent before sundown, and forget ever thinking about going to the toilet in the middle of the night.

But besides that, it was great. No crowds, free camping and great paddling around the mangroves and swamps. I did take one day and drive the length of the Keys, took a quick look at Hemingway's house, got trapped in more torrential rain, but also took a walk in the Caribbean at Islamorada. 

I also managed a glimpse of a few alligators as I was exiting the park after I finally had enough of the mosquitoes and decided to pack up camp one day early and start the drive towards the Smokey Mountains.

On the way to the Smokeys I stopped in at the Cotton Hill campground in Fort Gaines, Georgia. It was probably the nicest campground of the entire trip.

The Smokeys themselves were quite breathtaking, although as one of my friends once said, after you've been hiking on the West Coast, the East Coast will never seem as grand. The forests reminded me a lot of the Blues Mountains back home but unfortunately I didn't make it to any of the high vantage points on the hike I did to take in some of the great vistas.

From the Smokeys, I drove back to Boston to fly to Indy for the fourth, but I did stop in for a night with Andrew and Amanda in Philadelphia to check out their new place and new neighborhood.

Northeast Road Trip

June 7 - 16, 2013
Despite the tropical storm that rolled through in June, we had a great time in the northeast! In Boston we saw part of the Freedom Trail, sipped whiskey at an Irish pub, and caught a game at Fenway Park. Our road trip took us to Cape Cod where we camped at Nickerson State Park and Devin enjoyed his first lobster roll. The next day we took a ferry to Nantuket, ate ice cream (they are crazy about ice cream in this part of the country), went to the whaling museum, and ate lunch by the lighthouse. The rain set in again that evening but that didn't stop us from going on a night lighthouse hunt. That night was quite soggy so the next day we drove up the coast and treated ourselves to a night in a hotel in Belfast, Maine. This state is beautiful! We drove through small towns, saw the amazing coastline, and of course stopped to see more lighthouses. The next two nights we camped in Acadia National Park and spent our days hiking up peaks and exploring the island. The first day we hiked the St. Sauveur and Acadia Mountain loop (3.9 miles) with beautiful views on Somes Sound. The second day we hiked the Jordan Pond Loop to Sargent Mountain to Penobscot Mountain (5.4 miles). We saw deer, ducks, and frogs...definitely hoping to see a moose and a puffin on our next trip. It should be noted that Devin built an incredible campfire on the second night:) Friday morning we rose with the sun and drove to Ithaca, NY for Mailman and Amanda's wedding! It was beautiful and we may have had too much fun:)