By far, California has many areas of interest. We have stopped several times on our way out or into California from Hawaii. After flying for five hours, California does make a good stopover. In 2005, we flew into LAX from Sydney, Australia. We would not recommend getting into a rental car and driving 120 miles south to San Diego. Highway…
Less than fifty miles away from San Francisco is the Napa Valley region. The environment is conducive to growing grapes for 375 wineries. We rented a vehicle both in 2003 and 2017 to explore this famous area. This expose will focus on our travels through the Napa region. If you travel north over the Golden Gate Bridge there is the…
Most people who visit San Francisco take a cable car or a trolly (also known as a street car) which has an electric motor attached to an overhead wire. Unlike a trolley, a cable car is pulled up the hill by a cable. San Fran has both. The cable car is the most famous of the two. The Bielicki family…
Less than a five-hour drive from Las Vegas is the vibrant town of Sedona. People from the Pacific Northwest come down to Sedona to ‘winter.’ People from Phoenix (about 1000 feet in elevation) drive to Sedona (over 4000 feet in elevation) in the summer to escape the heat. Most of the drive from Las Vegas is along picturesque I-40. A…
The Grand Canyon, about six million years old, is definitely one of the “Wonders of the World.” There are similar places like the Waimea Canyon in Kauai, Hawaii. There is also the 12 mile trail down the Samaria gorge on the Greek Island of Crete. It is, indeed, the largest gorge in Western Europe. It is, though, narrow at one…
It is only a two and half hour drive from Las Vegas to the stunning Zion Canyon. Along the way through eastern Nevada and western Utah the geography changes from mile to mile. Coming from the west, most people exit Interstate 15 to route #9. Along the way you will come across a town called “Hurricane,” pronounced as “Her-ah-kun.” Apparently,…
Just over a four hour drive from Las Vegas, is a small community of Winslow, Arizona. This enclave is on route I-40 that was once part of the historic Highway 66 which went from Chicago to Los Angeles. There are a number of beautiful vistas along the way. This high desert city has a population of only about 10,000…
Less than a two-hour drive from Las Vegas going on State Rd 95, is one of the most interesting National Parks that can be seen. As you are driving north, the open country from busy Las Vegas is welcoming. To the right, though, was Nevada’s Testing Range for the atomic bomb. Taking a left on Nevada’s Route 374 will…
The first time I was in Las Vegas was on a family trip to California in 1968. I remember it was mostly desert and only seeing two large casinos. We stopped at a gas station close by. We were told by the attendant that our car “will not make it across the desert” to California until we had the motor…
While visiting the famous Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October of 2018, we decided to head south on Interstate 25 to see White Sands National Monument. We made a rest stop at a pavilion. Close by was this sign. Driving through southern New Mexico is stunning. Today, White Sands National Monument is no longer. First designated as a “Monument” by one…