From Las Cruces Back to El Paso: Journey’s End

After our long hike to Dripping Springs and La Cueva in the morning, a cool siesta back at our Las Cruces hotel seemed quite appropriate. Later in the afternoon we headed out to visit the village of La Mesilla. We might not have known about it, but our neighbors had recently visited the area. When they heard we were coming to Las Cruces, they suggested we visit La Mesilla. It turned out to be a good recommendation. Coincidentally La Mesilla…

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Dripping Springs: Discovering Stories of the Past

Monday morning dawned cold. I think it was colder in Las Cruces than it was back home in Seattle that day. However the sun was out, and it looked to be a beautiful day. After a nice breakfast at our hotel, we drove out to Dripping Springs Natural Area for a hike. Dripping Springs is in the Organ Mountains. The mountains are part of the Desert Peaks National Monument. President Obama established the monument in 2014 which includes five mountain…

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From Sunset to Winds at White Sands National Park

White Sands National Park is one of the newest National Parks in the US. Originally a National Monument, Congress changed it to a National Park is 2019. However, as we drove up to the park, some of the signs still said White Sands National Monument. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s start back at the beginning of Saturday. White Sands had been one of my prime destination for this trip. However, getting there turned out to be more…

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Descending into the Depths of Carlsbad Caverns

When I was a kid, my dad mentioned visiting Carlsbad Caverns and what a unique experience it was. Since then I have always wanted to visit it. While I said that visiting White Sands National Park was the reason for this trip, Carlsbad Caverns National Park was definitely a part of the reason as well. About 20 years ago my wife and I had visited Albuquerque. At that time I realized Carlsbad Caverns was quite far south so we didn’t…

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A Spring Hike in Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Mountains National Park was never on my bucket list. In fact it wasn’t even on my radar. When I began to do planning for our trip to White Sands National Park, I saw a dot on the map indicating a National Park. I was surprised as I didn’t know of one there. That’s how I discovered Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It fit perfectly into our travel itinerary so I added it to our list of things to do. The…

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EL Paso: A City on the Border

A few years ago I heard about White Sands National Park and added it to my to-see list. This year seemed the perfect opportunity to visit. I studied the map carefully for this trip and realized that while White Sands National Park was in New Mexico, the closest place to start would be El Paso, Texas. We could make a loop which would include a total of three National Parks. Since we were flying in and out of El Paso,…

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Cherry Blossoms Beckon to the University of Washington

One of the spring rituals one hears about in Seattle is the blooming of the cherry trees at the University of Washington. In an area known as the Quad, cherry trees line the four sides. When they bloom in mid-March, locals enjoy the spectacular display. My wife and I had never visited the University to see this show so when the clouds seemed to be clearing on a Tuesday afternoon, we decided this was the day we would check out…

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More Than Just Redwood Trees

Redwood National and State Parks is more than just the redwood trees in its names. While the trees are often the star, the parks covers a lot of territory so a visit will allow you to see more than just trees. On our second day in the park we saw trees, but we saw more as well. During our first stop of the day, we saw no redwoods. We would take a fairly short hike around the Yurok Loop. The…

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Unique Crescent City Forest and Beach Hikes

Redwood National Park is an interesting connection of both state and national parks. In fact the official name is Redwood National and State Parks. We traveled to the northern most section of the parks, Crescent City, and continued our exploration of the redwood area from there. After a hearty breakfast on Tuesday, we were ready to hit the forest. Our first park was Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We were headed to a popular trail called the Boy Scout Trail.…

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From California’s Sea to the Redwood Forest

It was a cold but sunny morning as we left Fort Bragg and continued along the northern California coast. Our first stop was at a small beach called Seaside Beach. It is at the mouth of the Ten Mile River. From the parking lot and beach one can walk to Ten Mile Beach. Seaside Beach is fairly small with a very nice view of sea stacks. One of its unique features is that dogs are allowed on the beach which…

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