Exploring the American Landscape
Shannon 
Following our stated intentions of slow and easy travel, we decided to break up our trip from Ventura to Death Valley into two segments, stopped for two nights at Red Rock Canyon State Park near Mojave, California. This park features colorful badlands-style rock formations as well as Joshua trees throughout the campground, so it really … Read more
We had two goals in visiting Ventura: seeing Channel Islands National Park, and getting a hearty dose of the ocean to carry us through the months ahead, which will be spent in the desert southwest. We succeeded spectacularly on both counts. Channel Islands National Park Channel Islands National Park is probably the closest U.S. analogue … Read more
Coming in to Pismo Beach, we knew we had a work-heavy week ahead of us. This casual beach town is only 10 miles from San Luis Obispo, which is home to California Polytechnic State University and a host of big box stores. We planned to make the SLO Costco our last major Costco restocking visit … Read more
Pinnacles National Park is not one of the more famous parks in California. Completely overshadowed by famous destinations like Yosemite, Death Valley, and the Redwoods, Pinnacles barely registered with us when we started thinking about our route through the state. Judging from the blank looks we received from family members at Thanksgiving when we mentioned … Read more
Coming into the San Francisco Bay area for Thanksgiving was a major departure from our usual travel mode. Not only were we situated in a fairly large urban area, but most importantly we were near family, so our days were filled with simple pleasures like watching our nephew’s swim practice at the beautiful Stanford aquatic … Read more