Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

Here is a throw back Thursday post from my previous life in D.C. Well, it was July4th weekend in 2011 and had to do something besides the usual fireworks in the capital. I didn’t see any other reason to drive 11-hours from D.C to Kentucky besides visiting the world’s longest cave system of 400-miles. If you are in …

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Road Trip to Southern California

When we went: Thanksgiving 2014 Day 1: Home to Sequoia National Park, overnight camping Day 2: Late afternoon drive to Big Bear lake to Joshua Tree National Park, overnight camping Day 3: At Joshua Tree National Park and camped overnight Day 4: Joshua Tree National Park to San Diego. Day 5: San Diego Day 6: Drive …

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Road Trip to New Mexico

9 days, 10 parks, 2 cities, 3300-miles and 3 drivers. Day 1: Sunnyvale to Joshua Tree National Park to Phoenix. Day 2: Phoenix to Saguaro National Park to Lordsburg. Day 3: Lordsburg to City of Rocks State Park to White sands National Monument. Day 4: White sands National Monument to Bosque Del Apache Wilderness to Socorro. Day 5: Socorro to Bosque Del …

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Kelso Dunes at Mojave Desert National Preserve – CA

The day of chasing the sun continues….. From Sedona at Sunrise, to Mojave Desert National Preserve for sunset. Drive involved calculated breaks to make sure we reach in time for sunset. Coming back from New Mexico, we gained an hour entering California. We decided to stop at Kelso Dunes for sunset and it is fairly accessible …

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El Malpais National Monument – NM

After spending the day at Bandelier National Monument, we drove in the direction of Arizona. After sunset we decided to stay at Grant, NM for that night. It was the thanksgiving day and there was absolutely no restaurant open in that town. But we had a backup plan. Checkout the dehydrated food section for more details. …

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Bandelier National Monument – NM

Ater VLA, we drove straight to Santa Fe and stayed there overnight. Didn’t get much time to explore the town besides walking around to get a place to eat. Next day morning, the day of Thanksgiving, we drove to Bandelier National Monument. And the park visitor center was open. The cave dwelling walking loop, 1.2 …

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City of Rocks State Park – NM

After Saguaro National Park, we drove to the state of enchantment, New Mexico, at night and stayed at the border town of Lordsburg. The plan was to start driving next day morning towards White Sands National Monument. While browsing through the google map, we noticed a few green areas. We knew about Gila National Monument, and …

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El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico

As the only rainforest in the US National Forest System, a must-visit place in Puerto Rico is El Yunque National Forest. The forest area is relatively small with a handful of hiking options. I chose to do the following trails: El Yunque peak La Mina waterfall For someone pressed on time, a drive through the …

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North Peak at Mt. Diablo State Park, CA

Another backyard mountain worth exploring and get a great workout from some of the steepest trails in the bay area. (Image source: www.parks.ca.gov) We drove to Regency Drive entrance to start the 11-mile hike to Mt. Olympia Peak, followed by North Peak. We started the hike at 8:50AM. Address for GPS : 313 Mountaire Pkwy, Clayton, …

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Eastern Sierra lakes in a weekend

A weekend getaway to Eastern Sierras to visit lakes. Yes, it can be done in one weekend. We left at 5AM on Saturday and returned at 5PM on Sunday. Any opportunity to drive through Tioga pass, don’t miss it. It’s just gorgeous with majestic mountains, meadows, valley, and lakes. We drove to Mono county for …

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