Recently, we hiked out to see the “firehose flow” at Kīlauea Volcano’s Kamokuna ocean lava entry in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. This post is about our experience hiking out to the viewing area, along with some photos of the lava entering the ocean. I’ll also provide some lava viewing & photography tips, and recommendations for […]
The hike from First (via Grindelwald) to Bachalpsee Lake in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland is one of the best “value” options for mountain experiences in the Bernese Oberland. It has a mountain lake, glaciers, breathtaking peaks, and even wildflowers. In this post, I’ll share my experience doing this hike, and what led us to […]
The title seems silly, doesn’t it? The landscape of the Swiss Alps is some of the world’s most jaw-dropping, and yet a bigger selling point of Switzerland is…cows? Animals that are seemingly the sole inhabitants of miles (and miles…and miles…) of the most boring interstates in America? Perhaps cows are a novelty if you’re a […]
Our drive on the Icefields Parkway from Jasper National Park back down to Banff National Park seemed interminably long. That was before the scattered snow showers lifted, revealing an absolutely stunning landscape. We stopped a couple of times for quick roadside photos (like the above), but were otherwise on a tight schedule trying to get back down […]
Everyone knows the best time to begin a trip report is a year and a half after you started writing Part 2 of that report. In the spirit of that, today’s post is Part 1 of my trip to Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Timing-wise, this trip falls shortly after my post about […]
In this post, we visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and share our experience, tips, and photos from this city in Germany that is known for its old world charm. It’s actually more than that: the quaint village has a fairytale charm that defies explanation, and feels less like a place you should encounter in real […]
This covers our visit to Zermatt, Switzerland, where we spent approximately 85% of our time gazing longingly at the Matterhorn, which is arguably one of the most recognizable mountains in the world. Along with a recap of our trip, we’ll offer a few tips for seeing Zermatt, and thoughts on Switzerland, in general. As for […]
Neuschwanstein Castle, or Schloss Neuschwanstein in German, is one of the world’s most famous castles, most notable to Americans for inspiring Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. To be perfectly honest, this was our big motivation for visiting, and because of the epic landscape opportunities of the castle. In this post we’ll share our experience visiting the […]
For today’s 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, I wanted to share a hike I made over the weekend to the “Diving Board” in Yosemite National Park, a spot made famous by Ansel Adams’ “Monolith” photo. This location stands a stone’s throw from the face of Half Dome, offering a close-up view of that […]
A little over a year ago, I made my first visit to Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park. (I wrote some nonsense about it and alien life here following the trip.) I was instantly enamored with the place. It was beautiful, tranquil, photogenic, and a bit mysterious. It was also a challenge to visit. […]