Death Valley

Lessons from Death Valley:

1) There's a reason the campgrounds in the park are closed from mid April to October: it's HOT.
2) It will be ~85F from the time the sun goes down around 8pm to when it comes up at 6:30am. Then the temperature will quickly go back up to 100F. Plan accordingly.
3) If you try to drive off road, you will get a flat tire, and it will take 2hr+ before a tow truck shows up. Then they'll charge you a ton of money. Not from personal experience, but we saw this firsthand a couple times in just a few short days.

All that aside, we had a great time in Death Valley. We got there right after the typical "season" ends, and we wouldn't go any later in the year. It was ~100F on both days while we were there, but in the peak of summer it regularly gets to 120F during the day and only goes down to 100F at night.  We found the midday temp was just on the edge of bearable, and ice cream from the little general store near the visitor center certainly helped.

We spent about 1.5 full days exploring the major sights to see in the Valley.  We camped in the aptly named Furnace Creek Campground, and we were lucky enough to get a site in the shade.  On our first day in the park, we drove north to see Scotty's Castle, a mansion built around the turn of the century by an eccentric millionaire.  We arrived a little too late to get a tour, but it since it is situated at a natural spring and higher up in the mountains, it was a nice little oasis from the heat of the valley.  We also hiked around Ubehebe Crater (slowly and with lots of water), and checked out the Mesquite Sand Dunes at sunset.  On the second day, we drove south for a quick and early hike in Golden Canyon, and then hit some of the major attractions like the Artist's Palette, Devil's Golf Course and Badwater Basin.

View from Zabriskie Point

View from Zabriskie Point

Artist's Palette at sunset

Lizard tracks at Mesquite Sand Dunes

Devil's Golf Course

Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282ft below sea level

Ubehebe Crater

Golden Canyon

Golden Canyon

As always, the full set of pictures can be found here: flickr

Tahoe and Lone Pine

The first stop on our trip was Sorenson's Resort in Hope Valley, CA, about 20 miles south of South Tahoe. We stayed in a little log cabin without cell or wifi reception, but there was a wood stove to play with :)  We went on a couple hikes, and got a little fly fishing and unicycling in.

Our cabin

Hiking on snow!

The fishing season for rivers didn't open for another week, but I was able to get some casting practice in at Caples lake

Caples lake. Can you spot the unicycle??

Caples lake

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Baby geese!

Saturday, 4/18, we drove down 395 to Lone Pine, CA, at the base of Mt Whitney. We drove through the Alabama Hills, famous for being the filming location of numerous old westerns, then drove up Whitney Portal road to the base of trail going up Mt Whitney.

Alabama Hills

Alabama Hills

Alabama Hills

View heading up Whitney Portal Rd

View heading up Whitney Portal Rd

Sunset from our hotel

As always, the full photo set can be found here: flickr

On our way!

Stacey and I packed up our pods this weekend, cleaned the apartment on Monday and Tuesday, and started driving this morning! First stop is Sorenson's Resort in South Tahoe, CA. Excited for the adventure that lies ahead!

And then there were two...

We said a temporary goodbye to Henry this week; he flew with me on Wednesday to stay with my parents in DC while we're on the road. Henry was a champ during the flight, only complaining a little right after take-off. We'll miss the little furball, but we know he's in good hands. Here are a couple of snapshots from the week:

Spending our last few days together, Henry seemed mostly indifferent and/or sleepy

All tuckered out on Matt's lap, a typical evening at the Taylor household

From the flight, a sneak preview of the landscape we're about to see up close and personal 

Settling in to his new home in DC and watching the birds

Our U.S. Roadtrip

If you're reading this post, chances are you've already heard about the big U.S. road trip that we've been planning for this year. We thought we'd share a few more details here just to kick things off and make it official.

Below is an approximate route for the 3.5 months that we'll be on the road.  The pins are our stops along the way; sometimes we'll settle for a week or more, sometimes a day or less.

The list of stops will look something like this:

South Lake Tahoe, CA
Yosemite NP, or
Sequoia/Kings canyon NP
Death Valley NP
Joshua Tree NP
Grand Canyon NP
Antelope Canyon
Zion NP
Bryce Canyon NP
Capitol Reef NP
Arches NP
Mesa Verde NP
Boulder, CO
Rocky Mountain NP

Lawrence, KS
Defiance, MO
Daniel Boone National Forest, KY
Shenandoah NP
Yogaville, VA
Washington, DC
New York City, NY
Northampton, MA

Cape Cod, MA

Boston, MA
Acadia NP
White Mountains
Finger Lakes, NY
Chicago, IL
Nicolet National Forest, WI and the Great Lakes

Hutchinson, MN
Badlands NP
Grand Tetons NP
Yellowstone NP
Banff, Canada
Seattle, WA

We're planning to post updates from the road, as time and free wifi allows. We'll also upload photos to Stacey's Flickr site, found here, so keep an eye out for news starting around mid-April when we kick off the trip.

We're excited for what's ahead! Stay tuned for more updates.

Revisiting Pinnacles National Park

Yesterday, Matt and I went back to Pinnacles for a hike up into the rock formations.  We've been meaning to do this particular hike for a while, so this weekend seemed like a good opportunity.  The High Peaks Loop hike takes you up about 1,500 ft to some of the park's most breathtaking views of the spires, and despite the smog closer to the coast, we had pretty clear skies.  Full set of photos from the day can be found here.

Long weekend birthday!

Yesterday Matt and I took a quick pre-birthday trip up to Tomales Bay.  We took the scenic route and visited a little dairy up in Nicasio for some fresh cheese, then we drove on to Tomales Bay State Park for a hike. Afterward, we went to one of our favorite little restaurants up in Point Reyes Station for some truly incredible wood fired pizza.  Matt also tried some of their raw oysters and proclaimed them delicious.  Happy birthday, Matt!

More photos here.