Once again, our Thanksgiving break took us to the St. Louis area, where we visited Jon’s family. Although his mom lives in Alton, Illinois, our destination for the duration was about 40 miles away at Symond’s Dutch Hollow Village, described by Google as a “manufactured home community.” Jon’s nephew, Adam, lives there in a single-wide,…

When we first arrived at Arches National Park, we asked a ranger at the entrance about a park pass that would give us access to all of the Mighty 5. She asked how much time we had set aside to visit the five parks, and we said five days. She responded, “Well, that’s going to…

After a leisurely morning, we departed for our fourth national park: Bryce Canyon. The trip took about two hours, and brought us through a large agricultural area adjacent to the Fish Lake Plateau. All was going well until we came upon an area of Utah State Route 62 where road signs declared an end to…

At this point in our trip, we’ve completely run out of superlatives to describe the wonders we’ve seen. We’re unsure what we’ll say about the wonders that await, but we may need to try another language. Interestingly, when we planned this trip, we didn’t consult any of the guidebooks or websites for the “ideal” itinerary.…

We’re finalizing plans for our next big adventure, to Utah’s Mighty 5: Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks. We’ve set aside 10 days at the end of May to take in southern Utah’s spectacular quintet. We’ll leave Dallas to overnight at Raton, New Mexico. From there, we’ll head to Grand Junction,…

We spent our week in the Chihuahuan Desert, one of the four great deserts in North America (the others are Sonoran Desert, Mohave Desert and Great Basin Desert). While much of our time was devoted to exploring Carlsbad Caverns and the Guadalupe Mountains, the surrounding landscape provided spectacular beauty. Numerous plants and animals call this…