We all woke up feeling the effects of a poor nights’ sleep–including Sheila, who we found had snuck up to the RV driver seat and seemed to have spent much of the night curled up there rather than in her fluffy little bed. Unfortunately the cold and the loud train noises were probably why she […]
The Grand Canyon is easily Arizona’s most distinguishable landmark. At 277 miles long, as much as 18 miles wide and a full mile deep, it’s the second largest canyon in the world (the largest is Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet). The Grand Canyon’s walls contain rock layers that are up to 1.8 billion years […]
After being surprised by seeing elk and snow during the mornings that we stayed in the Grand Canyon, when we woke up this morning we were greeted by sights of the snow and ice melting from the previous day’s snowfall. Upon leaving the Grand Canyon, we saw increasingly longer queues of cars looking to get […]
The morning was freezing and raining, but imagine our surprise when the rain started to turn into sleet, and then snow! Our second time seeing snow on this trip, and both times it’s in Arizona–a state where you’re more likely to conjure up images of sunny skies and hot desert temperatures! We walked outside briefly […]
Next up: Phoenix! Lisette had been once before, but it was for a work trip for a mere day. As the capital of Arizona and apparently the fifth-most populous city in the US, we were looking forward to seeing what the city had to offer. Right next to Phoenix is the city of Scottsdale, known […]
Lisette had never heard about Biosphere 2 before Michael had added it to our itinerary. Here’s the basic background about it today: It’s a large, self-contained ecological research facility in Oracle, Arizona. The facility spans 3.14 acres and has various biomes, including a rainforest, ocean, desert, mangrove wetlands, and agricultural areas. It’s now run by […]
The Saguaro (correct pronunciation: suh-waa-row) cacti are the biggest cacti in the world. They grow slowly at first–an inch or so during the first 6-8 years. At 70 years old they start growing arms. They get to 12 -15 meters (40-50 feet) tall when they’re about 150 years old! Saguaro National Park is part of […]
The morning was incredibly windy, quickly dashing any hopes that Lisette had of doing some yoga outside alongside the RV. Instead, we made our way back to Tombstone, where we immediately were transported back to the 1880s, when the town was in its heyday. There’s one main street to wander around, and the buildings have […]
Lisette first heard the term “wind chill factor” when she first visited the US as a 13 year-old, spending winter with family on the East Coast and being stuck indoors due to the icy blizzards. Before that, growing up in Sydney she’d only heard of one temperature to describe the current state, rather than a […]
This morning was the first time we needed to replace our propane tank on the trip, which runs our hot water tank and refrigerator. Fortunately we have solar, so we don’t need propane for our electricity (and we plug in when we’re in RV parks), nor do we have to run a noisy generator. We […]
We’re one month into our epic road trip around North America! We celebrated by waking up to a glorious sunset in the morning, and perfect conditions for a day at White Sands National Park, one of the most dog-friendly national parks in the US, as dogs can run freely up and down the more than […]
All through the night our RV rattled whenever a truck zoomed past us as we slept on the side of the highway. In the light of day, we realized that our rest stop was also a picnic stop, but despite having 4 massive garbage bins, the area was littered with dozens of empty alcohol bottles. […]
The standard check out time at RV parks is 11am, but we’re yet to master the art of packing up quickly, particularly when it comes to cleaning up our sewer pipes, filling up our fresh water tanks, and putting all the plumbing stuff away. Lisette reckons Michael is very efficient, but we still underestimate how […]
While we were grateful to escape the haboob from the day before, we had a terrible night’s sleep. The Pilot travel stop had a loudspeaker blaring throughout the night with announcements; we had glaringly bright lights seeping through our doors and windows; and people were slamming doors to get in and out of their cars […]
Have you ever traveled for days on end, and started to feel tired? Since leaving San Francisco, it’s been go, go go nonstop–always on the road, and headed somewhere new. So today was more of a rest day, hanging out at Black Mesa Casino for as long as we could to catch up on things, […]
Have you ever gone somewhere not knowing what to expect, then being blown away by what you experience? Bandelier National Monument was an incredible surprise for us in that very way! The Ancestral Pueblo people lived in parts of what are now New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. In Bandelier, by the mid-1200s there were […]
Remember how in the last post we mentioned that Española, and the casino we were parked at, seemed sketchy? Not long after we woke up, there was a loud knock on our side door, and Sheila immediately started barking. Lisette slowly lifted the back window curtain to see a sketchy looking man (waiting outside. He […]
Our day in Taos was unfortunately a bit uneventful. We were hoping to visit Taos Pueblo, an ancient pueblo that is home to one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. Unfortunately, every year Taos Pueblo is closed from February to April, so we were one week too early to visit. We […]
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is now Michael’s favorite national park that we’ve visited up until now. It has the tallest sand dunes in North America, some up to 228 meters (750 feet) tall. The dunes cover about 77 square kilometers (30 square miles) and formed over thousands of years by wind and […]
While we’ve stayed in relatively quiet spots for the last couple of nights, we’ve not had the best sleep. Maybe it’s not setting up the best sleep routine recently before bed. Maybe it’s the huge variations in temperature now–it will often be quite chilly in the mornings, then warming up significantly during the day. Maybe […]
Our first full day in Denver was a Friday, and we were super fortunate to have our friend Kelly take the day off from work to show us around. Thank you Kelly, Tedy and Fenot for all your hospitality during our stay–we’re looking forward to returning the favors! Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre Our first […]
We had a pretty good night’s sleep alongside the trailhead on the outskirts of Boulder, only awoken early in the morning as what sounded like enthusiastic joggers went past our RV. Heading into Boulder, our first priority was stocking up on some groceries, only to quickly learn that the residents of Boulder absolutely love Trader […]