Adventures by Alan and Melanie
The last time we were in Zion, we managed to avoid seeing anyone else for hours while navigating through Mystery canyon, even though it was the busiest day of the year. Although our initial plan of exploring slot canyons had to change due to rain, Zion is probably the best backup plan anyone can hope for.
Continue reading “Zion: we can’t get enough of this park!”
After failing to see the Grand Canyon on several trips down I-10, we finally made it happen. We drove through a pretty intense dust storm followed by rain, and finally pulled into the forested camping area outside of the park in the dark.
Continue reading “The Grand Canyon”
Having arrived to the campsite at night, the rising sun brought our first sight of the magical landscape. A giant sandstone finger pointing to the heavens glowed red with first light, and we watched it shrink into the horizon as we scraped frost from our windshield and headed into the park.
Continue reading “A magical day in Canyonlands”
We were thinking about our van life during our European summer, so we tricked out our CR-V with a bed and headed East to find the sandstone in southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The first stop on our road tip was Arches National park. It’s a place we’ve both wanted to go to for a long time, and we were excited to finally explore! We were up with the sun, and headed in.
Continue reading “March’s Arches”
Coming back to the mainland US after being abroad for so long was definitely an adjustment! Fortunately, our friends David and Rachel softened the blow by letting us land at their home while we figured things out.
Continue reading “Birthday in Death Valley”
Despite our best efforts, we still got grey weather in Albania. However, we caught a fantastic weather window to take a river cruise and go for a hike! Along the way, we found fine dining and natural warm springs.
After a few final days in Buenos Aires, we said goodbye to Argentina and flew back to the States. April was a wonderful month full of reunions, and a great reminder that we have the best friends.
After a few days trapped inside recovering from a stomach bug, setting off on the road of Seven Lakes (the span of Route 40 between Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes) felt like a grand adventure. We rented a car (trusty Chevy Joy) and headed north with high spirits and lots of snacks. Just as we were leaving town, we picked up two Spanish hitchhikers who were headed to Chile – we were low on hitchhiking karma and always enjoy meeting other travelers. They had already explored the seven lakes area, and laughed knowingly when I insisted that we pull over to take in the view at the first mirador.
Hiking to Refugio Meiling on Cerro Tronador is typically something that is done in two days, but we only had one. Unwilling to let that stop us, we began our hike at 8:30am, a Patagonia alpine start. We took a photo of the trail map, which stated Refugio Meiling – 18km and felt a mix of excitement and nerves, thinking we would be hiking 24 miles (including a detour we planned to take). The trail began in a beautiful dense forest with big trees. The sun was still making its way up, but we could already tell that it would be a gorgeous day.
We arrived in the evening to the hippie paradise of El Bolson. First impressions: there’s an artisan market with tons of handcrafted goods, slack lines are set up in the square with a high line across the little pond in the center, people are lounging in the lawn in the shade of the trees. Someone is spinning fire within a drum circle. Half shaved heads, dreadlocks, headscarves and lots of crystals, a hippie town indeed!