Bergen, Norway is surrounded by beautiful nature from the nearby hills and mountains to the water and surrounding islands. Bergen’s setting is amazing. To see it better one must get up high, and there are a number of places to do that. However, the most common means of doing so is hiking up the trail right out of the city on Mt. Fløyen. It is a common hike that many people take. Of course if one doesn’t want to hike…
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From Monterey we drive through part of Big Sur. We enjoyed the amazing views and did a few hikes along the way. The sunny weather made for a wonderful day in Big Sur.
During a visit to Glacier National Park, we attempted to hike to Avalanche Lake but first explored the Trail of the Cedars. After successfully parking, we faced a challenging uphill journey, culminating in breathtaking views of the lake and surrounding mountains, including a bear sighting. We ended our trip at McDonald Creek and Lake, appreciating the park’s unique beauty.
After having driven through Great Basin National Park the day before, we needed to find some other options for our second day in the park. Fortunately there are plenty of things to do, especially hiking. Unexpectedly, we were also able to do another activity which was to explore Lehman Caves. Great Basin National Park has quite a few options when it comes to hiking. Fortunately these options also include various ability levels. While at one point in our lives we…
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Tuesday was a travel day for us. Having spent a day in Capitol Reef National Park, it was time to move on. Our next and final stop was Great Basin National Park in Nevada. The drive there was over three hours long. I figured we would be tired when we arrived in Nevada so I didn’t plan any activity for the day. The drive indeed was long. There were no real places of interest requiring a stop so we drove…
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Monday’s weather was cooler than Sunday’s. There was also a prediction for a thunderstorm in the afternoon. With that in mind we dressed for the anticipated weather and headed off for Capitol Reef National Park. I read online that the park was undergoing some construction projects and parts of the park were closed. I wasn’t sure how that would impact our day. This park does not have a pay booth as one enters because part of the park is just…
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Having spent an afternoon in Bryce Canyon National Park, we were ready to see what more the park had to offer. The weather was about the same as the day before so we were looking forward to a good day. First, however, we needed to get some breakfast as our motel did not provide any. We stopped at a cafe in the town of Panguitch. We were able to get a table, but the place was pretty busy. Our waitress…
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Our purpose in visiting Colorado was to check a few more national parks off our bucket list. I don’t think we will ever be able to visit all of the 64 parks, but I am hoping we can at least make it half way. This trip will add three more to the list with Great Sand Dunes National Park our first one. I have to admit I had not heard of Great Sand Dunes until I started researching our national…
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One of the reasons I wanted to go to the San Francisco area was to visit Muir Woods. Muir Woods is a US National Monument. I wrote about national monuments in a previous post. Muir Woods is one I had read about and wanted to explore. It took us about two hours to drive north from where Andrea lives to reach Muir Woods. The drive took us over the Golden Gate Bridge, and shortly after crossing we turned west. We…
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Silicon Valley conjures up images of high tech companies in shiny buildings with busy employees working far too much. We sometimes forget that word valley. A valley is an area between hills or mountains, and Silicon Valley sits near some hills which have been preserved for the valley citizens to enjoy and experience nature. One such location is Rancho San Antonio which is an open space preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of the valley. Here visitors will find…
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