Category National Parks and State Parks

West Coast Fall 2015, Part Six

10/22-11/2 We left the Visitor Center and walked back over to the food shops at the Village, picking up some coffee and soup to go along with the sandwich’s we had made back at camp.  It was pleasantly chilly, to sit outside and enjoy the clear air and pleasant surroundings.  Once finished we walked a […]

West Coast Fall 2015, Part Five

10/22-11/2 Temperatures dipped that first night and we were glad to have a heater in the tent.  The bed would not win any awards for comfort, but we soon grew used to its shortcomings and slept well the balance of our stay.  With rain in the forecast we knew that our first full day in […]

West Coast Fall 2015, Part Four

10/22-11/2 The drive down from Angels Camp isn’t far from a mileage perspective, but it takes time due to the curvy nature of the roads, particularly a stretch between Moccasin and Priest Station just past the Don Pedro Reservoir (now seriously depleted due to California’s ongoing drought). Starting just east of Moccasin, State Route 120 […]

West Coast Fall 2015, Part One

  10/22-11/2 After my return from Copenhagen on the 14th we had a week in town before our scheduled trip out to the west coast to visit Jessica and Kris. Kim and Marty, Kris’ parents, stopped in early the next week for three nights giving us the opportunity to show them a bit of Charlotte. […]

Outer Banks and More, Bodie Island Part Four

June 3-7 Saturday morning greeted us bright and clear, with a light, cooling breeze helping to keep the temperature down. After a relaxing morning in camp spent reading and taking care of some chores (we use a Verizon Jet Pack to connect our devices and computers to the internet) we hopped on the bikes to […]

Outer Banks and More, Bodie Island Part Three

June 3-7 The heavy rain overnight and sketchy forecast for Friday put a damper on any bike ride we may have contemplated; instead we made plans to duplicate the day before by driving as far south as we could. As we started to drive we stopped across the road from the campground at the Oregon […]

Outer Banks and More, Bodie Island Part Two

June 3-7 Not sure of how much we would cover that first full day, we set out before noon heading north towards the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Not far from camp we passed the turn off for the Bodie Island Lighthouse, but elected to hit it another day. The Memorial is almost seventeen miles straight […]

Outer Banks and More, Bodie Island Part One

June 3-7 After sending Carolyn off to Birmingham with a nice breakfast, chores and errands to accomplish Monday morning kept us from hitting the road for Blacksburg until early afternoon. It took us just about four hours to make the drive and we arrived on campus at Virginia Tech to pick up my registration packet […]

Pilot Mountain Campout

April 30 – May 3 One of our goals for the year was to try to do more local camping. We’d discussed doing so with Sarah and Hans and finally an opportunity presented it self, the first weekend of May at Pilot Mountain, a North Carolina State Park. Located about 90 minutes north of Charlotte […]

ACUI San Antonio – A Little Taste of Texas, Part Four

April 4-17 It rained pretty hard that first night, a fitting test for the new tent, which we found held up quite well to the downpour. Gaining a secure environment with a new tent requires a bit of patience as you make minor adjustments to the set up and pitch. It would take us a […]