I’m the Dad in this wonderful, although somewhat nutty family. After spending ten years active duty in the Air Force I went to graduate school at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and picked up a couple advanced degrees. I then spent the next 15 years in the corporate world running various technology organizations. Throughout it all I was fortunate to be able to travel all over the world. But because it was generally for work, I rarely got to stay and “see” the places I visited. I can’t tell you how excited I am to spend this time with my family and explore our amazing country.
I was born in Dallas, TX. I went to pilot training in Wichita Falls, TX and I have spent quite a bit of time working in Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, TX. I have probably spent more time in the state of Texas than any other state. Other than the Hill Country outside of Austin, I generally considered Texas pretty flat. Our trip to Big Bend turned that...
This is America’s newest National Park. It was officially designated “Park” status on 20 Dec 2019 – which also just happens to be my birthday! We nearly missed knowing about the new designation. In January I just happened to read an old Instagram Post from the National Park Service announcing the change. Fortunately for us, the park happened...
In truth, the title of this blog should really be Pinnacles National Park – the park we almost didn’t make. For those of you keeping up, you know that Ava had quite a big wreck while skiing in Big Sky. I am happy to report that she is doing great (more on that in other blogs) but that she did have to stick around Bozeman for a while. ...
Lassen is the National Park that we almost had to miss. When we first set the goal of seeing all the lower 48 NPs, we knew that weather would be a critical factor. In the winter time, several parks shut down everything but one visitor center operating on limited hours. Or they become almost inaccessible, especially to someone in a large RV. The challenge we faced...
When I sat down to write this a few days ago, it was my birthday. Due to vagaries of timing on this trip, I celebrated in a wonderful place called Death Valley National Park. Not sure how auspicious this is, especially since we had to cross over the Funeral Mountains to get here…. And with fun names like “Devils Golf course”, “Dante’s view” and “Furnace Creek”, I...
For those of you keeping up, you know that the top 2 parks I was most excited to visit on this trip were Glacier and Acadia. Glacier ended up being amazing. Which of course just added to my personal hopes (as well as those of the family) to have a great time in Acadia. During the planning of our trip, I lost count of how many people told me Acadia was by far and...
The question I get asked the most often is some form of, “What’s it like to drive and do you need a special license?” OK, that is really two questions, but they usually come right after another so let’s call it one. The answer to the second part is easy – no. It requires nothing other than a normal driver’s...
Mako Sica. This is what the native Lakota Indian tribes called the area. Loosely translated it means “land bad”. When French trappers showed up in the mid 1700’s, they called the area Les Mauvaises Terres, “The Bad Land”. American settlers came next and in keeping with the theme, they simply referred to the area as “Badlands...
When we decided to focus on the National Parks for this trip, there were two that went to the top of my list of places I have not been but really wanted to see. Glacier was one of those (Acadia is the other in case you are curious). For years my friends who have been to Glacier kept telling me what an amazing place it was, how it was their favorite park...
As much as I loved traveling through the National Parks in southern CO and UT, I have to admit I am very happy to be headed back north. We drove up with not much more than a hope that we could get a spot in the park. We got lucky and found an outstanding spot – with a short hike to a beautiful river and a fantastic view of the main Teton range. ...