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After being in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, it seemed like it would be hard for any other place to wow us like they did. But the natural beauty and wonder of the American West doesn't stop with those two places. The Tetons Leaving Yellowstone, we drove south for the short trip to the Grand Teton National Park. These mountains are a true world wonder, thrusting upward from the prairie to 12,000 feet and more. It's hard to believe one is looking at a real mountain ra

Yellowstone is a huge, ancient and active supervolcano where magma isn't that far from the surface. There are cracks and crevices throughout the rock strata that allow water to seep down towards that magma, become superheated, and then come back to the surface. Sometimes they erupt with force, sometimes they just bubble, and sometimes it's just steam that comes up. These hotspots are everywhere in the park, even under Lake Yellowstone. There are more of them in Yellowstone th

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River flows from small snow-fed streams into Lake Yellowstone. It is the only outlet from the lake, slowly meandering north for several miles. Then it speeds up, preparing to take two giant leaps into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and running fast and wild for miles until it moves out of the Park and winds its way toward Billings, Montana. It continues onward until it empties into the Missouri River in North Dakota. I

We had our preconceived ideas about what to expect in Yellowstone, what we wanted to see and what we thought we were going to see. Those who have been there know what an indescribable marvel it is. For those who have yet to go, this account is by no means a comprehensive guide, because we barely scratched the surface of what is there. But we did hit the highlights. We saw most of the things we expected to see, and were surprised and delighted by the unexpected. We stayed in t

When we started looking at the path we were going to take from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone (spoiler alert, the post for that that park is next after this post) we saw that Missoula, Montana is kind of halfway between the two. We both love the movie "A River Runs Through It," which is a true story based in Missoula and the scenery looked gorgeous. So we decided to stop there. Ann has a former work colleague who lives in Missoula; we asked her what fun things there are

Before we went to Glacier National Park, we heard a lot about how the glaciers that still exist there are rapidly shrinking. That's true, they are. But it's important to know that those glaciers are not the ones that created the stunning...spectacular...breathtaking... you name it...landscape that the visitor sees today. Harrison Glacier The glaciers that created that landscape lasted tens of thousands of years, were more than a mile thick and melted 10,000 - 8,000 years ago.

Somehow we raised some great kids. They are both contributing to society and making good lives for themselves. We love them both very much and now that we have more time to see them both, we want to. With Jeff and his wife Samantha living in Washington State, that means we will be spending more time there while still still being with Emily and family in Virginia. This could get exhausting! But fun as well. We've been to the Puget Sound area to visit Jeff and Sam before, inclu

After a 6-week hiatus at home to spend quality time in the summer with our Virginia family, we got on a plane yesterday morning and flew back to Seattle. Jeff picked us up at the airport and we were reunited with the Road Warrior, which has been resting at Jeff's house. After a few days exploring the Puget Sound area, we will be on the road again. It'll be an almost five-week trip home. We are excited to see more amazing national parks and the wonders they hold. We're also lo

We like to golf. We aren't super great at it, but we still like to do it. Because one day -- and you never know when it will be -- you will hit everything right and have the best score you've ever had. The next day you will likely be back to normal, but you will remember that best round forever. Golf is also a good way to get some exercise, especially at our stage of life. And it's a good way to learn how to overcome frustration. And there is a lot of that to overcome. We dec

The San Juan Islands lie north of Puget Sound and west of Bellingham, WA. A non-aggressive border dispute between the U.S. and Great Britain called the "Pig War" was eventually settled in 1871 by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany (don't ask me how he got involved) in favor of the U.S., which then led to the islands' exploitation for minerals and timber. Directions and distances to everywhere from San Juan Island! Of course, native Salish tribes had been living on the islands for mill

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is, quite simply, perhaps the most wonderful place we have visited so far on this trip. The weather is usually very pleasant, especially when compared to Vancouver or Seattle. Victoria sits in a "rain shadow" caused by the Olympic Mountains to its south, meaning it gets about 60% less rain than Vancouver (at least that's what one of our tour guides said). And although several of t

The Salish Sea encompasses a large area of the far northwest border between the continental United States and Canada. It is home to several variety of whales, seals, birds, humans and other wildlife. It includes Puget Sound, where Seattle is, along with several US naval facilities. It incudes the Straight of Georgia, on which Vancouver, BC lies. It includes the San Juan Islands in the US and the Gulf Islands in Canada, which are spectacular. There are more than 6 million peop

The Cascade Mountain range extends from northern California, through Oregon and Washington and into southern British Columbia. Consisting mostly of volcanoes, it is one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world and is still active and growing. We drove along its entire length, marvelling at the snow-capped peaks with glaciers carving their sides. Mt. Shasta Lassen Peak. It's at the transition zone between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades. Mt. Shasta from the north. That

Fresh water is hard to come by in the western US. There are huge fights between states about who gets what access to fresh water, most especially the Colorado River. Most fresh water is held in lakes, however. Lake Tahoe is one of them. Fortunately, for now at least, no major entity is tapping Tahoe's water and draining it. This was our third visit to this natural wonder, and we enjoyed it once again. Driving to the lake from the west takes you up and up and up into the Sierr

There are 475 wineries in Napa Valley. In four trips there over the years, we have been to about fifteen or so, several of them more than once. Some of the best wines America has to offer are produced here and we enjoy the opportunity to sample a wide variety of them. Pretty much everywhere you drive in Napa Valley there are vinyards on both sides of the road. It is also one of America's great food destinations. Michelin-rated restaurants like The French Laundry, Press, Must

From the beginning of our planning for this trip, we decided that we would fly home the first week of May to be present for the eighth birthday of our granddaughter. She lights up our lives and we love her dearly, so we didn't want to miss it. The break provided a natural transition from the desert and dry weather days of Part Two to our foray into the Sierra Nevada's, Cascades and the Pacific Northwest. We left the car at the San Francisco airport, flew to Dulles airport, st

We discovered we had a taste for good wine decades ago and have been chasing it ever since. It's led us to California many times, as well as Oregon, Washington, and many wineries on the East Coast in Virginia, Maryland and elsewhere. We took a river cruise in the Bordeaux region of France some years ago and went to a couple of wineries in Tuscany in 2024. So it was a natural fit to drive through the Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez region of southern California on this trip. They've

Humans aren't really supposed to live in the desert. It's not an environment in which we evolved to exist. Long-term human survival in the desert requires significant modifications to our natural way of being. It requires more water than naturally occurs. It requires bringing in almost all one's food from somewhere else. It requires building shelter that will provide at least some ability to be cool on terrifically hot days. Yet millions of us live in the desert anyway. We ha

Mountains are pretty cool. However, in April, they are downright cold! We didn't arrive at altitude as prepared as perhaps we should have been, clothes-wise. Pagosa Springs Phil's uncle and his wife built a second home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado back in the early 1980s that has been a magnet for all his children and various other Smiths over the years. But since Phil had moved with his parents to Pittsburgh before the house was built, he had never been there until we met

We have traveled to New Mexico three times now, and although we haven't been everywhere, we like the places we have been. This is especially true of Santa Fe and other parts of the northern New Mexico. The geography is stunning, with mountain and rock formations not seen anywhere else. Santa Fe We've stayed at a VRBO on the outskirts of Santa Fe a couple of times now. It's essentially a mother-in-law suite in a large home overlooking mountains and desert. It's comfortable for