September 27, 2017
Today was a looooong drive from Fes to the Sahara just outside of the city of Merzouga. A friend of a friend runs the Sahara Garden. Brahim coordinated everything for us and welcomed us upon our arrival with open arms. Truly an amazing human being. We were welcomed with dinner and singing and dancing around a bonfire.
September 24, 2017
Our second stop in Morocco was the blue city of Chefchaoen. A small city located up on a hill, wandering thru the medina surrounded by so many shades of blue was quite a different experience from Tangier. We stayed at Casa Perleta, a small bed and breakfast recommended by our friend. It was perfectly located within the upper hill area of the medina. The blue hues of the walls of Chefchaoen are believed to have originated when the Jews came while escaping Hilter in the 1930s. The blue is said to serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life while symbolizing the sky and heaven.
September 11 - 15, 2017
Enroute to our close friends' wedding in Greece we found a cheap flight to Paris via Reykjavik, Iceland and decided to take advantage and do a little stopover in an effort to (fingers crossed) see the northern lights. We decided to restrict our few days to just the southern highlights along the coast. The first thing we noticed was that even though it was supposedly shoulder/low season in Iceland there were significantly more people than when we came the year before in August.
Never been here before, surprise surprise…
We weren’t exactly sure where to camp, thankfully our friend Katrina mentioned the possibility of dispersed camping in Los Padres National Forest just off Highway 1. Well…it's not really just off the highway…we ended about 5 miles up Plaskett Ridge Road. Definitely worth the bumpy adventure up the single lane dirt road.
At a distance, Moonstone Beach doesn’t really seem like much. Walk out onto the beach and you’ll notice it's not really sand, but small multi-colored stones. Pretty amazing actually. We spent a good 20 minutes or so just sifting thru them pulling out ones that caught our eyes. Then Allie let out her inner child and had some fun chasing sea gulls.
- Jonathan
Being one of California’s largest state parks, we only took a quick glimpse at what it had to offer. We only stopped for about an hour and strolled part of the Bluffs trail in search of the Stonehenge formations near Bluchon Point. Unfortunately, we didn’t do our research properly so we ended up in a different area. Neither of us had heard of this place, but were pleasantly surprised by its beauty. The colors and textures of the rock formations by the water were incredible.
We will be back again to explore more when we have more time!
- Jonathan and Allie
Wowza.
We heard about International Balloon Fiesta through a friend, named James, and we quickly googled it and were immediately sold! We originally were set to go up on Sunday, but the weather wasn’t favorable and no balloons flew. MAJOR BUMMER. Thankfully, we didn’t have anything else planned the next few days so we were rescheduled to fly on Tuesday morning.
We spent 2 days exploring Albuquerque, trying New Mexican cuisine, went to a handful of antique shops, and visited the Georgia O'Keffe Museum in Santa Fe.
Unreal. Awesome. Amazing. Spectacular. Mysterious. Enchanting. These are just a few of the words that come to mind when I think about Carlsbad Caverns.
The caverns were discovered in 1898 by a sixteen year old boy named, Jim White, who noticed a big black whirl in the distance. As he got closer, he realized the black whirl was actually a ton of bats exiting a giant black hole in the mountain. Days later, he returned with supplies to make a ladder that would allow him to descend into the hole. He spent much of his time exploring the cave with homemade torches. After the Caverns were featured in publications like National Geographic and The New York Times, Congress established this area as a national park in 1930, well over 30 years after Jim had first discovered them.
Quick pit stop to check out this monument. If you’re in the area (not really near anything) it's definitely worth a pass thru. White sand as far as the eye can see, pretty incredible…that’s all.
Off to spend the night at Guadalupe National Park and go see the Bat Flight this evening at Carlsbad Caverns (sorry, no cameras allowed, so you’ll just have to go see it for yourselves!)
- Allie and Jonathan
I haven’t been back here in almost 14 years and before that probably since I was 5.
Chiricahua, the land of balancing rocks -- what an awesome monument! Southeastern Arizona doesn’t typically get much attention, in fact, most people think its just desert and sand, but Chiricahua is definitely worth a visit.
A free shuttle drops you off at the top of the trailhead and you can do a 7.3 mile hike down thru the Heart of Rocks, loop back to the visitor center, and campground.
The weather was perfect while we were there too and almost had the entire campground to ourselves.
- Jonathan
We did a lot of driving again today as we headed out to Mesa Verde and down thru Monument Valley to spend the night at Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "shay" not "shelly"). Mesa Verde has some of the largest Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins around. Pretty impressive. From a distance, it reminded me of the scene in Zoolander with the Center for Children Who Can’t Read Good that’s made for ants, because from a distance that’s exactly what these cliff dwellings look like. But up close…they really are incredible, these people labored intensely to build these villages and communities over a thousand years ago.
After heading back from town, we decided to have lunch by the rim of the canyon. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm decided to move in at the same time. We ate lunch in the car, but were blessed with incredible sunny skies in the afternoon allowing us to hike to False Kiva, a Class II archeological site off the beaten path and no official trail. Luckily based off of reviews, we knew to stop by the visitor center and they were showed us some landmarks to look for so we wouldn’t get lost.
The thunderstorms had all passed leaving us with an amazing sunset to watch just a short walk from our campsite overlooking the Green River Canyon.
- Allie and Jonathan
How often do we really get up to watch the sunrise? Truth be told...it's not very often.
We decided to make it happen on our last day in Canyonlands and did the short hike to Mesa Arch, where the sunrise view thru the arch was supposed to be insane. Well…there just happened to be about 30+ photographers there trying to get the PERFECT shot…so we decided to go a little bit off to the side and enjoy the sun rising over the canyon instead.
Still pretty incredible.
- Allie and Jonathan
The both of us had visited Arches a couple years back but it was awesome to come back another time. We decided to do the short three mile hike to Delicate Arch. What an incredible formation! We're still in awe of how the heck this thing formed, but it's a thing of beauty, sitting by itself out in the open. The weather was awesome when we got up to the arch. As we began our hike down it began to drizzle, then rain, then pour, and then hail until we finally reached the car. It was cold…but actually refreshing too.
- Allie and Jonathan
Feeling pretty small here in Canyonlands. This place is UNREAL. I don’t know how my family missed this place on other trips, but this is a definite must visit place. The first day we hiked to Grand View Point, White Rim Overlook and Mesa Arch. All amazing.
This is one of our top parks so far. The views are just completely insane.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
- Jonathan
Both of these were just a stop thru for us on our way from Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to Canyonlands. Lots and lots of driving! Nonetheless, each was definitely worth the stop. Capitol Reef has some awesome canyon views with some incredible colors and all the hikes are fairly short. Not too far away is Goblin Valley, which was a fun place to wander around amongst the “goblins”. We are now a few days ahead of schedule, so we had to rearrange the entire itinerary!
- Allie and Jonathan
After our stop at Antelope Canyon, we couldn’t help but drive down the road to Horseshoe Bend. What an incredible view for such a short hike. We hung out for a bit til the crowds dispersed to get some good shots. The next day we hiked a short day hike to The Toadstools in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument after failing to win the lottery to hike the Wave yet again. Pretty cool spot with some balancing rocks and some insane color changes from white to red to white again as you go up the layers of rock.
- Allie and Jonathan
A lot of people and reviews say the crowds are insane. Well…we went anyways, we just couldn’t resist ourselves. We opted for the lower canyon, which is narrower and tends to be less crowded. Yea, it was a little rushed and crowded at times, but it’s still a beautiful place -with surprises and amazing views at each turn. Definitely worth the visit. I can only imagine what it’s like with no one there.
- Allie and Jonathan
Lots of driving this trip. We decided to take a drive thru Yosemite on the way to Death Valley and took a lunch stop at Tenaya Lake. The weather was perfect. We spent the first night at Eureka Sand Dunes in the northern area of Death Valley, the tallest sand dunes in California and maybe even the western US. The campgrounds are dry, meaning no running water and no flushing toilets, but there is a lonely pit toilet. One of the benefits of camping here is how remote it is. Once the sun went down, the night’s sky wasn’t subject to any light pollution. We sat out in our beach chairs and stared up at the sky for a few hours before going to bed. The next morning we drove thru Death Valley and out to Valley of Fire State Park. This is a random little park just outside of Las Vegas. The red rocks literally pop out of nowhere. We were supposed to camp our second night here, but failed to follow our itinerary and pushed on. The campgrounds there were pretty awesome too. Guess it will have to wait for another visit in the future.
- Allie and Jonathan
This area of the river was affected by lava flow a long time ago. Remnants of lava flows can be seen surrounding the river. Vulcan’s Anvil is a volcanic remnant that towers in the river a mile above Lava Falls, a lava plug from the past. I didn’t even know there was historic volcanic activity in the Grand Canyon until this trip.
These last two full days of the trip bring us to a close, sadly. Both of us feel like we could stay on the river forever. This trip has been incredible and amazing. The Grand Canyon will now and always have a special place in our hearts and minds. We will definitely be back!
Thank you to our incredible guides (Jeff, Jason, John Dunn, Ted, Brie, Matt, Trevor and Bill). This was truly a trip to remember.
Thank you Grand Canyon Whitewater!
- Allie and Jonathan
Lava Falls… this was the biggest, most fun rapid of the whole trip. This rapid truly lived up to the hype. Although we were warned to hold on with both hands, I clearly didn’t listen and ended up with this cool video instead :oP.
But in all seriousness, the guides did an amazing job thru this rapid. Every run is different and rapids change daily depending on water levels, debris runoff from side streams flash flooding. Anything can happen and this rapid scared each of them. It would be scary for us as passengers if they weren’t scared to be honest. Their respect for the power of the river is important.
Props to all our guides for getting everyone thru this rapid safely.
- Allie and Jonathan
Time for some AWESOME day hikes. Just below Olo is Matkatamiba Canyon. A short scramble up a very narrow slot canyon takes you to a wide side canyon with clear pools and streams a side cavern and large courtyard. Best of all it’s in the shade! A little bit further down the river is Havasu Creek. The clear waters of Havasu Creek mix with the Colorado at its entrance. The difference in clarity and temperature creates a very cool mixing effect. We spent a few hours swimming upstream and floating back down Havasu Creek. What an amazing place, a true oasis almost of another world somehow just off the side of the muddy waters of the Colorado River. Insane. We pulled in to camp at Tuckup around mile 164. Tomorrow morning we will raft the biggest rapid of the Grand Canyon, Lava Falls.
- Allie and Jonathan
The day hike today was to Deer Creek Falls and up Deer Creek to The Patio. What an incredible hike, scrambling up a steep trail to edging along a narrow trail hundreds of feet above a slot canyon with a running creek. Not advisable for those fearful of heights. The destination, The Patio, is worth it though, the slot canyon opens up into an area with large flat areas to relax under the shade of the canyon walls and cottonwood trees. Small pools and waterfalls surround the area. A longer hike takes up further up the side canyon to the origin of the creek, an opening in the redwall with a small waterfall. At the bottom of the hike, right next to the Colorado River is the the massive Deer Creek Falls, much too high to stand directly under without getting crushed, but the blast of air and mist feels amazing after a long hike. We pulled into camp in the mid afternoon at Olo around mile 146.
- Allie and Jonathan
