A Grand Tour

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. 

I travel for travel's sake. 

The great affair is to move."

- Robert Louis Stevenson -

The Grandest

"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. 

Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. 

The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."

- Theodore Roosevelt

The Rest of California

We spent in total about a week and half in California, the most time we spent in any state. Unfortunately, it being such a gigantic state, we still didn't do or see nearly as much as we would have liked. We drove mostly down Highway 101 before switching over to Highway 1, hitting up Carmel, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and other towns along the scenic Big Sur. This road literally hugged the coast, edged by drop off cliffs into the turquoise water.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Lobos State Park

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park 

Elephant seals on the Big Sur

Hollywood - I'm a big star

San Francisco

cutest cuddliest creatures ever

China Town for you

standing on ruins

Golden Gate

Just another day in the life...

Through a connection made at Mountain Sky this summer, we were treated to a night in a renovated apple dryer at Goldeneye Winery in Anderson Valley. As if this wasn't enough, the next day we drove to Duckhorn Winery in Napa Valley, where we were given a private tour by the owner and treated to an extensive wine tasting. It's exhilarating how fast you can go, when you travel, from sleeping in the car like bums to being treated like wealthy VIPs.

My travel companions and I awoke one morning to find ourselves in Fort Bragg, California. Unbeknownst to us, we had landed in the home of one of the most famous glass beaches. Millions of particles of glass, leftover from an industrial area a few miles up the coast, have been tossed and turned in the tumultuous waves, sanded to a glossy perfection. As vast as the ocean is, it's really quite miraculous that so much glass is accumulated in one spot.


While searching around for hidden gems, we met Kevin, a homeless man who, without agenda, kindly showed us to an even larger glass beach. We chatted about his life and our trip, and we eventually invited him to have lunch with us. As we ate sandwiches on the sidewalk, it didn't seem like charity, it didn't seem like we were sacrificing to help the needy, it wasn't some emotional life changing experience. It was having lunch with a new friend. As vast as the world is, it's really quite miraculous that the four of us, just for one day, accumulated in one spot.

93 million miles from the sun,                           

                     people get ready get ready, 

cause here it comes

it's a light, a beautiful light,                        

over the horizon,                

 into our eyes

Avenue of the Giants

If you ever want to be reminded of exactly how tiny you are among this vast earth of ours, visit the Redwood Forest. These ancient titans have a presence and a power that would be difficult to duplicate. They seem to me to be full of wisdom and prescience. Apparently, though, I'm alone in feeling their regality, because the tourist attractions throughout the Avenue of the Giants were nothing sort of cheesy and hokie.

He lived through fire, flood, and ax 

Eternal Treehouse

A shoe house!

Down Highway 101

One of the most scenic roads in the country is down Highway 101 which runs along almost the entire west coast. We have made the road our home, and its inherent beauty is that its always changing. We finally and exuberantly crossed the California border, spending a night at the Redwood KOA near Crescent City (showers and laundry!). We made several stops before we hit the Redwood Forest.

one of the beautiful scenes along Hwy 101

Fern Canyon, one of the coolest places in the world

exiting Gold Bluff Beach

World's Largest Totem Pole in McKinnleyville

"I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me."

- Walt Witman -