Having never been to any sort of desert, we decided to incorporate Death Valley into our northern California trip. Our brief visit luckily (in our opinion) coincided with the hot season nearly falling on the centennial anniversary of the hottest recorded temperature in the world (June 10, 1913 – 134 F). While driving around the park…
Yosemite July 2013
After two excellent days in San Francisco we headed inland to the mountains. Being new visitors to California we did not expect either the number or demand for permits required to enjoy the outdoors. When we first started planning the vacation we quickly realized permits for Yosemite’s iconic Half Dome and Mt Whitney are pretty…
San Francisco July 2013
We finally made it to northern California! Two weeks after returning home we are already thinking about our next visit. Thanks to Peter and Carolyn for not only putting us up but showing us around the city. On our first visit we visited some of the more popular destinations, sites such as Lombard Street, the…
Raleigh Outdoors
A few years ago, we picked up a couple of old kayaks from Craig’s List. One of our first adventures was on the Haw River, and since it had just rained we knew the water would be finally be high enough to run. Being somewhat new to kayaking, I set out in jeans, and Andy…
New Orleans – Spring Break 2013
For Easter 2013 we took a long weekend over Kate’s spring break and headed down to New Orleans. We saw some great music, ate some delicious food, and enjoyed a large part of the city. We also found a wonderful bed and breakfast (Magnolia Mansion) in the Garden District. The area was quiet and the…
Skiing and Montreal Canada
After a handful of ski/snowbaord trips to the southern Appalachians we decided to check out something a bit larger in New England. On Christmas Eve we headed up to Gore MT in the Adirondacks. While conditions were fair the lack of lines all day was amazing. This was Kate’s first visit to a more respected…
Zanzibar part 2 – Kizimkazi
Last post from our three weeks in Tanzania and Zanzibar. After two and a half weeks of vacation we needed a vacation so we headed to the beach. Following our too short stay in Stonetown we drove on down to the small fishing village of Kizimkazi on the southwestern edge of Zanzibar. Our drive took…
Zanzibar part 1- Stonetown
First off, sorry for so many words and photos. There is so much to see and experience in Zanzibar, ok now.. After an amazing two weeks spent in the mainland we headed over to the semi-aotonomous Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. The trip began with a flight from Moshi which proceeded in a manner unfamiliar to…
Safari: Day 5 – Tarangire National Park
Day 5 of the Safari was spent driving back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi with a planned detour through Tarangire National Park, This almost 1100 square mile park was located southwest of Arusha. One of the draw of Tarangire is it’s year round supplies of water contained in the river which it is named…
Safari: Day 4 – Ngorongoro Crater
Day 4 of the safari took back to the Ngorongoro Crater and then down into it. Anyone that happened to watch season 20 of the CBS program the Amazing Race has a feel for what the crater looks like. Part of the show and the contestants tasks took place in the crater. Some of the…
emma jean jones 