48 California State Parks at Risk of Closing

Rikki and Chris at Manchester State Park, May 2007, Our first trip in our own RV

Please join us in protesting the potential closure of 48 California State Parks to help balance the state budget. Several of our favorite parks are set to close, including Manchester State Park in Mendocino County. It is our favorite rustic camping spot along the California coast.

We ordinarily keep our politics to ourselves; however, we hope you will join us in protecting the 48 state parks in California on the chopping block. Closing these parks would save nine million dollars, yet save only 0.1% of the state budget. The impact would be a loss of 20% of the state's parks.

Click the link below to learn more from Environment California about the proposed closures. At this link you can also sign a letter of protest to the governor.

http://environmentcalifornia.org/action/preservation/state-parks?id4=ES

Travel, Photography, Art and Blogging

Hi Everyone, just a little note squeezed in our travel blogs here...

Bi coastal artist Elle Gamboa, who draws, paints and shoots, mentions our travel blog in his digital workshop page (http://myphotosafaris.smugmug.com). Elle holds digital photography workshops in California and New York City aside from his online classes. Thanks, Elle, for showcasing our photos and travel blog.

http://myphotosafaris.smugmug.com/
http://ellesart.tripod.com/index.html

Olympic Peninsula, Washington State

My cousin Mary and her husband John took us on three days of incredible drives around the Olympic Peninsula, including its' namesake Olympic National Park, their town of Sequim, historic Port Angeles and Lake Crescent. We thoroughly enjoyed our days there and fell in love with this beautiful and unspoiled area. Most importantly, I had a long overdue reunion with my favorite cousin. Thank you Mary and John for a wonderful trip and opening your home to our 12 feet!





Olympic National Park. These are extraordinary mountains. We picked up a National Park 'passport' and our first park stamp here.



Can you imagine Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children running across this mountain-top meadow? We didn't see the Von Trapps, but we did enjoy a yummy picnic of chicken, salad and home baked brownies. Thanks Mary - it was all so delicious!




Later that same day we hiked along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca . The strait and the shoreline are so beautiful. There is so much variety in this area.







Oh my, did we make a turn through a wormhole? It seemed I blinked and we were in France. Nope, it's still the Olympic Peninsula - now becoming a major world producer of lavender. Ah, so fragrant, so beautiful.











Our gracious hosts . . .












. . . and their lovely home












Thanks John & Mary - we had a great time!

What's in a blog?

I cannot believe how time passes so quickly. 2007 has ended and we are embarking on a fresh new year. We look forward to many exciting travels in 2008. Areas we want to visit this year include the canyonlands and parks of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. We would love to revisit Eastern Oregon, the Snake River area of Idaho and the Cascades in Washington.

I am thrilled with our blog and want to thank Rikki for his leadership and creativity. I think he has done such an outstanding job starting our blog and keeping it going. I cannot believe we have such a worldwide audience now!

I am struck by what makes it to our blog and what doesn't. Less than a third of our adventures actually appear here. When we return from a three or four week trip we generally have about 5,000 photos and dozens of hours of raw video. Looking back over the year, there are some wonderful times that didn't make it here, not for lack of desire, rather from lack of time.

One particular trip was to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Rikki, Fox, Spencer and I spent three days with my cousin Mary and her husband John at their beautiful home in Sequim. Mary treated us to an insiders tour of Olympic National Park, as well as the abundance of seaside and mountain terrain in their semi-rural and historic area. I don't have our photos organized, but I hope to have them up soon as these are some of our favorite moments from 2007.

Another area I would like to reflect on before 2007 slips too far away is our back road 4x4 trips. These are some of my favorite experiences. We had a lot of near vertical road trips, including the White Mountains above Owens Valley, and off road jaunts in the Cascade Range in Washington, the deserts of California, as well as the Coastal Range in Northern California. Lots of mud, many gasps, lots of car washes, lots of fun!

Lastly, I hope to post some information on our style of camping and adventure. We joke a lot that we hate RV parks. Look for a post about how we have outfitted our RV to be self-contained, self-sufficient and able to handle back country roads.

Rikki and I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!