Three Unique Places with Ties to National Parks

 In my ever-present goal of finding unique places to visit, I've been lucky enough to visit three distinct places with ties to national parks, and in sharing with others, learned that many didn't know about these travel-worthy spots.

1. Grand Canyon Caverns - Arizona

Head west on Route 66 in Arizona toward the tiny town of Peach Springs, and you'll find a hidden treasure tied to the Grand Canyon National Park. Oddly enough, I learned about this place years ago from a fun little map on a McDonald's tray liner and made it a goal to visit this place.

The Grand Canyon Caverns were created over 65 million years ago and are the largest dry caverns in the United States. In 1927, the Caverns were discovered by Walter Peck on a mission to find gold. Over the years, the Grand Canyon Caverns were used for different reasons, including a fallout shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

While the Caverns are about 65 miles away from the Grand Canyon National Park, a study involving a red smoke bomb released in the Caverns showed the tie to the National Park when the smoke was detected within the Grand Canyon walls.

Today, the Caverns bring fun options for the adventure-minded. From guided tours running 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours to ghost walks and even a unique lodging option, the Caverns bring a unique adventure for those looking for something different to do.

Note: Right now, the Caverns Tours are closed for safety measures, but be sure to keep an eye out for opportunities to visit them when they reopen. This is one spot not to miss.

2. Tree of Life - Washington

The Tree of Life is often seen in decoration and fashion, including blanket designs, wall art, t-shirts, and even earrings, but most don't realize that the inspiration for this is a real tree in Washington State.  As you head north on the Washington Coastline into Olympic National Park, you'll find a large Sitka Spruce tree that seems to impossibly remain hanging in mid-air.

Over time, erosion cleared away the earth that surrounded the roots, leaving them exposed, and the tree clinging onto the surrounding land. Set along the beach, visitors are treated to a beautiful of the ocean along with sandy beaches of Washington. 

Mother Nature makes for unique visits each time with the weather, the tides, and the driftwood that washes up on the shoreline. On some visits the beach is clear and provides an easy walk to the tree. Other visits bring a bit more of a challenge with tree-sized driftwood filling the beach, leaving visitors with a bit of an obstacle course to get to the Tree of Life. Anyway you might find it, the beauty of the area lends itself to beautiful and unique photo opportunities.

Amid all the beauty and splendor of the Olympic National Park, this is one unique destination that is a must-do on your travel list.

3. Soda Springs Geyser - Idaho

The Soda Springs Geyser, located in Soda Springs, Idaho, has a fun history tied to its creation and to Yellowstone National Park, and more specifically, Old Faithful. In 1937, a well was being drilled in search of hot water for a bathhouse, and drillers unexpectedly unleashed what is known as the Geyser.

According to legend, after the Geyser was created, experts at Yellowstone National Park became baffled when the ever faithful, Old Faithful Geyser stopped erupting on its regular schedule. The story in Soda Springs of the uncovered geyser was printed in the newspaper, and upon further searching, it was discovered that the two had a tie. With the Soda Springs Geyser erupting naturally, it disrupted the regularity of Old Faithful.

To fix the matter, the Geyser was put on a timer to erupt every hour, on the hour, making it the only captive geyser in the world. As the Geyser in Soda Springs erupts, visitors can circle the area on boardwalks and get great pictures of the space along with the bacteria mats similar to those one might find around the water features of Yellowstone National Park.

After checking out the Geyser, take some time to explore Soda Springs as well. Grab a bite at one of the local restaurants, and enjoy Geyser Park and the pretty landscape of the area. It's a great stop to make as you explore the area around southern Idaho and northern Utah.

If you love national parks and enjoy finding some lesser-known spots, these locations are just a couple of options to be sure to visit. What are some secret locations you like to visit in and around the United States National Parks?

Two Years and I'm Back to my Adventures

 In more ways than one, I've returned to doing what I love to do. Through COVID I found my passion for writing had waned in lieu of an effort to stay connected with friends and family through Zoom, Facebook, and Teams. Now as I find myself vaccinated and returning to meeting up with family and friends more regularly and resuming my weekly writer's group, I'm suddenly hit with the desire to write again.

Since early 2020, like many others I found myself isolating in an effort to keep myself, and more importantly, my at-risk family members safe, healthy, and alive. Just day-to-day living was exhausting mentally and physically. The weekly writing meetup I had online with other writers turned into a chat session to just connect with others who had lost the drive to write as well.

After getting vaccinated early last year and boosted, I've been able to take a couple of adventures to Utah and through California and Washington State. This year, I was able to take a weekend adventure to Death Valley. 

Devils Golf Course, Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park with family.

Finally, with the return to travel, planning, and dreaming, my drive to write has returned and I'm excited to say I've launched back into a book I started writing over ten years ago and set aside for some unknown reason.

Seatle Skyline

I find myself now in Montana on a regular basis in a fictional town on a ranch where I get to watch the humor and journey my characters have begun as they make their way through their story.

But I also find myself wanting to write about the adventures I've had in real life. (It's slightly less painful to write about travel when that is once again a possibility.

So I ask myself. Where will I go next? Will I plan to return to Yosemite and spend more than a day just driving through? Perhaps a return to Yellowstone or some other National Park I've seen but missed so much because there simply wasn't enough time to see everything I wanted? Maybe I'll plan a trip to some other National Park I've never visited or some part of the country I've not seen. Maybe I'll even leave the country. 

Olympic National Park

Perhaps I could find myself in Paris, strolling the Champs Elysees or around the Arc de Triomphe. Maybe I could sample some excellent balsamic or parmesan in Modina after having watched the gondolas of Venice before heading off to the Almafi Coast.

Maybe I could once again find myself blown away by the beauty of the Irish coastlines and amazing cliffs. Who knows?

Driving up the California coast around Big Sur.

All I know is I'm back and I'm writing and dreaming again. My once dormant imagination is waking up, looking for a caffeine jolt at my favorite coffee shop. It started with quiet murmurs as I slipped into slumber at the end of the day and slowly grew louder as the days progressed. I found myself thinking about the story I set in Montana. I wanted to check in on the characters to see how they were faring. After seeing how my lead characters Travis and Olivia were doing, laughing at some points, and rewriting a few other points I'm excited to slip back into this story. I can't wait to see what will happen.

Time Flies but I haven't

 It's amazing how the last year has flown by and I have not posted a single blog. So much has changed and since my last post, I've taken some really neat trips and was planning for another...until March and COVID hit. Now I wonder when I will get to set foot onto a plane or set out on a journey to explore a new destination.

Last summer I was able to journey to my fourth Epic Road Trip, this time it was a drive through Utah and I visited 3 National Parks. Crazy enough, that only whetted my appetite to see more National Parks and ended up seeing 2 more National Parks later in the year, tipping my total count of National Park visits to 11. I won't count each park visit more than once as living in Arizona, I've been to the Grand Canyon multiple times. I'll only count that once.

So far in my life I've seen:

1. Arches National Park
2. Bryce Canyon National Park
3. Canyonlands National Park
4. Grand Canyon National Park
5. Joshua Tree National Park
6. Gateway Arch National Park
7. Mount Rainier National Park
8. Petrified Forest National Park
9. Yellowstone National Park
10. Yosemite National Park
11. Zion National Park

Next on my list? I'm not sure. I have my eye on the Redwoods and Olympic National Parks, but that remains to be seen. Something about seeing those massive redwood trees and the beautiful coastline of Olympic National Park has captured my attention.

Until I can travel again. I'll have to start visiting some of the places I've been in memory and perhaps share with you some of those interesting, fun, and unique experiences of past trips. Including the four I took from last July to earlier this year, when the world came to a stop.

Gearing up for another trip

Here we are, just starting into June and I am already counting down to the next road trip I am taking and it isn't until the beginning of August. I have so much to do between now and then and yet, I can't help but think about all the great adventures I'm going to take once I leave here. I have plans to see three national parks on this trip. I have plans to see a natural geyser in a small town close to the Idaho/Utah border. I have plans to see a working farm, where I might actually get to milk a cow!

So many wonderful adventures await me on my trip. I wonder how much of Bryce Canyon's Hoodoos I'll get to see. I think about Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park and wonder if I'll be able to see both of those places. I think about the last time I went through Four Corners and wonder just how much it has changed since my last visit about three decades ago. I wonder if I'll enjoy my drives seeing unique scenery I don't normally see in my day-to-day life.

In past trips, I've seen the massive mountains of Colorado and Yosemite. I've seen impressive features of Yellowstone and the beauty of the Grand Canyon. I've seen the high plains of Montana and the gorgeous shoreline of North Carolina. I've seen marshes, mountains, valleys, plains, and so much. There is so much this upcoming road trip has to offer and nature views that I've never experienced. Just what will I see this time?  I can't wait!

It's the Journey

We often hear it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey but I have to wonder just how many people this advise to heart. So many people are preoccupied with getting to their destination they spend time worrying about the quickest most convenient way to get from point A to point B. I realized that I can fall into this trap easily when planning my trips as well and quickly fell into that mindset when I initially planned to take time to visit family in Logan, UT. I was browsing a travel site looking for a flight that would be convenient for me to make the flight without missing too much work and giving myself optimal vacation time for the week I was taking from work.

Then it hit me. There is so much I haven't seen in Utah, and parts of northern Arizona for that matter. My reality suddenly changed and it stopped becoming about how quickly I could get from Phoenix to Logan and it became about, what can I see on my trip there and home. From this line of thought, Epic Road Trip #3 was born. Now I have plans to see Bryce Canyon, stay in a little cabin on my drive to Logan, and will see Four-Corners, Arches National Park, and Monument Valley on my drive back home.

In addition to the drive to and from Logan, I've sniffed out other fun things to do around Logan including the Natural History Museum of Utah, Wheeler Historic Farm (where you can milk a cow!), and Geyser Park, ID (which apparently has a geyser right in their town).

I can tell you, I'm excited about the destination as I will have fun while I'm in Logan but there is so much that I'm looking forward to experiencing on the journey too. My daily drives are mostly short and I have time to get lost (so-to-speak) along the way. If I see something that snags my attention I can stop and explore it. In the end, some of the people I've met and experiences I've had on my treks from one place to another have been some of my favorite memories. I can't wait to find out what this next trip has in store for me.

Finding the Unique with Google Maps

In my travels, I use Google Maps to help me design my destination spots. I've used maps for the usual uses like finding great hotels and restaurant and also to get directions to those locations. I've also, in large part used Google Maps to explore and find the interesting or unusual. Something that might have a little something special to offer a visitor.

In Seattle, WA I made plans to go check out the ever-popular Fremont Troll and, in exploring Google Maps in advance, I also found a couple of unique sights to check out, like the Center of the Universe Sign and a fantastic bookshop where I was able to indulge my love of books with three new stories! Little did I  know, there was more to discover on this side journey on my exploration of Seattle. A short distance from the sign was a grouping of Google Office buildings and an awesome draw bridge, the Fremont Bridge.

Other trips I found, using Google Maps, an awesome Riverboat converted into a hotel and restaurant right in the heart of Old Town Sacramento! Imagine having a fantastic meal while floating on the water and watching tall ships sail past the window. That was my experience. After my tasty breakfast, I was able to explore Old Town Sacramento which boasted many unusual shops, a museum, and other unique rustic features that one would only find in this place. If it weren't for maps, I'd never have made Sacramento a stop on my trip through California and would never have seen the neat things I did.

On another journey through Montana, I was lucky enough to find a unique bed and breakfast, Toad Hall Manor. This place was fantastic with owners who were lovely, friendly, and welcoming people. They invited those of us who were staying in their B&B to join them for a dinner of homemade jambalaya. Breakfast was started with a small scone and tea or coffee brought right to your room on a tray that guests could enjoy while getting ready for their day. This place reminded me so much of many of the places I had stayed at when I was traveling through Ireland. It was gorgeous and so comfortable.

Speaking of Ireland, an experience in itself. I used Google Maps so much to explore the country. I used it many times in advance to gauge directions and familiarize myself with the lay of the land as we would be driving around the country. One find we had that stood out was our visit to Kilmokea Tea Garden. We were lucky enough to make it just before they closed. We had intended just to stop long enough to use the bathrooms and maybe snag a cup of tea before heading out not wanting to impose too much on the owner. Instead, we found ourselves invited to stay, have a snack and a cup of tea while chatting with the owner who sat down to converse with us. He told us that when we finished our tea we were welcome to wander the gardens and gave us a map saying the only thing he requested was that we be on our way before dark. Since we began our garden exploration after the place closed we had the garden entirely to ourselves. The experience was like a cross between Alice in Wonderland, a fairyland, and The Secret Garden. The visit left us breathless and with a desire to come back and see more.

In all, Google Maps has afforded me so many unusual and wonderful experiences and I love using the site to look for more. Even now I'm planning a new road trip and I'm using Google Maps to dig out fun and unique places to visit. (Guess what? I found a hotel, where each guest gets their own cabin! Bet you know where I'm going to be staying!)

Luggage

The massive luggage we took to Ireland.

Over the years I've had trips to various destinations with many different modes of transportation. Sometimes it's simply been a road trip, others a combination flight and road trip. Other times simply flying to my destination and relying on friends or family for the rest of my destinations. In every trip there had been one thing in common. Luggage. However, the type of luggage I use varied from trip to trip.

For scale, my huge bag.

One trip, a weekend in Michigan, I packed everything I needed in a simple backpack and carried it onto the plane. I felt so put together on this trip, everything jammed into one small pack that fit easily under my seat on the plane. That included some tunes on CD with my CD version of a Walkman to take for in-flight music and some extra CD's to play in my rental car.

My simple backpack.

On the other end of the scale, I had a trip to Ireland for three weeks. The luggage of choice for this trip? A massive suitcase that could double as a piece of furniture. There were many comments from the owners of the B&B's we stayed in on the size of the luggage. I had one of my own and mom had hers, plus her carry-on size rolling suitcase. How we managed to travel for three weeks with those pieces of rolling furniture is beyond me. All I know, that won't happen again. In fact, I sold my suitcase shortly after returning from Ireland. I have other bags, ones that aren't quite so massive and yet, can hold quite a bit of stuff.

Many other trips I've had luggage of various sizes and lately my choice have involved my pink polka dot squishy rolling duffel-style bag and a large purple duffel that collapses into itself. I love both of these items as they can hold a lot of stuff and don't really take a ton of room.  I guess there's something to be said for inexpensive luggage as both of these were either free or fairly cheap.

My pink polka-dot bag on my trip to Houston.

Regardless of the trip, the memories I pack into these bags, the thoughts they hold along with my clothes and various souvenirs they've held, these bags are special. They represent a new hope, a new journey, a destination I've never taken. They also represent the familiar, the knowledge that I may be heading off to explore a new and exciting destination or simply a trip home to visit my family. No matter what, these bags, my luggage, are all important to me. When I look at them, I wonder, where will I take them next?