Here is another look back to photos from earlier this year — this time my visit to the Petrified Forest near Calistoga in late May. I drove about 1½ hours from where we were staying on the northeast shore of Clear Lake, taking Highway 29 south toward Calistoga. While it was kind of a long drive, the trip was fun […]
A lot of times I’ll shoot somewhat random photos that don’t really seem to fit anywhere; or, like some of these today, they happened at the beginning or tail end of a road trip and for that reason I somehow forget about them. Some of my most fun images were those I shot on impulse. So I decided to gather […]
Today I wanted to show some of the flowers we saw on our Texas roadtrip that were not wildflowers; I found them at hotels where we stayed and a few other spots. With so many beautiful wildflowers to be seen, I still noticed a few cultivated blooms, like the Hibiscus flowers in the yard next door to where we were […]
Concluding yesterday’s road tripping post, here are the remainder of my photos from our rest area stops, from the lush green of Iowa Park, Texas, on U.S. Route 287 to the dry desert of State Route 58 in Southern California between Barstow and Edwards Air Force Base.
On our long road trips, there is no roadside sign that is more welcome to the eyes than the blue-and-white “Rest Area.” When I’m doing a lot of the driving, these brief stops are the only chance I get to use my camera, so I usually try to make the most of the opportunity. The quality of accommodations at each […]
As we drove along Highway 40 to north Texas and back again, we passed so many light-brown signs along the road pointing toward different state parks. I felt some serious twinges of regret every time I spotted the familiar color-coded indicators, wishing we had time to stop and explore each park. New Mexico alone has 35 state parks — Ute […]
The Petrified Forest located in Calistoga could scarcely be more different from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. This lovely spot in Napa County is relatively small, with shaded paths and spring wildflowers, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit last month — and would have lingered there even longer if possible. Yet I have to admit that, although the […]
Off along a short side trail at the Petrified Forest in Calistoga, I found an extra bit of geological history — a large ash fall left over from the eruption of Mt. St. Helena 3 million years ago. Although the entire site is scattered with concrete-like remants of the ash deposits (like the one in the image below), this spot […]
I’m not sure if we’ll ever return to this cabin up in the hills above Manchester, but it was definitely a stay I won’t forget for a long time! We faced a few minor frustrations here — adjusting to the lack of microwave, living off the electrical grid, dealing with cold, rainy weather — but all in all, this was […]