ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Were it not for a B&W movie about avian pests, Bodega Bay might otherwise not be as well-known. Tourism is still the town's primary economy with many roadside stores selling kites and salt-water taffy, but there is an added attraction right outside of town. It would be a mistake to bypass Bodega Head where the... Continue Reading →
A hike through lush rainforest is the one to Manoa Falls, about 1½ miles from the bus stop to a viewing area of the falls. At the foot of the trailhead is a parking lot where a snack shop also was selling mosquito repellent. We decided to take our chances. As soon as we started... Continue Reading →
There is a hiking trail to the top of Diamond Head, accessible from a parking lot not too far from the Saturday Market. Diamond Head itself sits on the edge of a large volcanic cone. The trail to the summit follows the steep interior slope of the crater wall, ascends over many switchbacks 560 feet... Continue Reading →
Petrified wood is a mysterious byproduct of geological processes. A petrified log looks just like wood on the outside but is usually a jumble of colorful quartz on the inside. How did this come to be? Here too in Petrified Forest National Park is the Painted Desert, the name given to the “badlands” whose outrageous... Continue Reading →
Many travelers going through the Southwest skip Natural Bridges National Monument because it’s tucked out of the way and maybe because the small park features only three natural stone bridges. But a visit is well worth the time. Bridges are rock spans that are carved out by a river. They typically form where a river... Continue Reading →
Not too far from Mesa Verde is a complex of ancient communities that was built at the headwaters of box canyons and situated in a remote area stretching across both Colorado and Utah—Hovenweep National Monument. We set aside a few hours to visit the monument en route to Blanding. We would have been able to... Continue Reading →
You hear a lot about the Southwest's ancient cliff dwellings and wonder what they are about. What possessed the builders to create these permanent and elaborate structures in such inaccessible places? We ventured out to the most famous complex of them all, Mesa Verde National Park, to look at them first hand. To see these... Continue Reading →
Canyonlands is a sprawling national park. It has three distinct districts, separated by great distances. There is no way you can see all three in a single day. Staying in Moab is the best way to experience the two most popular. Even still, you have to do some driving. The distance between the Island in... Continue Reading →
There is a gaping hole in the earth at the end of the west fork of the Island in the Sky scenic drive. An enormous crater lies ominously in one section of Canyonlands National Park. Upheaval Dome (above) was long thought to be a collapsed salt dome, but many geologists now feel that it is... Continue Reading →
You’d never know this about canyon country (unless of course you’re a geologist) but there is a lot of salt under the surface — a humongous amount of it, as much as 15,000 feet thick in places. This fact isn’t so unusual when places like the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats come... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 