The Altadena Crest Trail is not very well known, which makes it a great place to hike, mostly free of mountain bikers or horses. The trail winds through excellent chaparral in the low foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It has steep sections and switchbacks to climb out of the small canyons but the views at each […]

The following is a continuation of Coast of Maine in September 2012 – Boston to Brunswick, Maine. Driving north from our overnight at America’s Worst Value Inn was a great break from a bad experience. Just north of Bath, the traveler needs to make a choice between the freeway and the coastal road. Speed versus […]

A business trip to Boston provided an excellent opportunity to drive the Coast of Maine to Acadia National Park. But first, a Friday night Red Sox game, made more special for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. After a one-hour rain delay, we enjoyed the game, even though the Sox lost. The special treat on […]

Joshua Tree has to be the nearest national park to a major US city that is known to the fewest people. Just an hour and half from our home in Pasadena, Joshua Tree is a winter-only kind of place due to the extreme Summer heat in the Mojave Desert. Uncrowded beauty Its seasonality means it […]

There’s something about islands anywhere. We love the finiteness and inclusion of a place that requires at minimum a bridge to come and go. Our adventures in Hawaii are made more interesting because we’re at a place in the middle of the sea, a safe distance from the daily life that we escape every time […]

Today was our last full day in Perigord and we saved the best for last. We timed our rise, breakfast and drive to be at the ticket window when it opened at 9:00am. We heard beforehand about crowds but were surprised to have no trouble getting tickets for the 10am tour in English. Lascaux’s discovery […]

Still tired from the previous day, we slept in a little more and got a late start to our next adventure, the Gouffre de Padirac (Cavern of Padirac). Located in the west of the Department of Lot, we were technically out of Perigord by a few kilometers where the land is less wooded and the […]

The following is a continuation of Perigord in July 2012 – Saint-Nazaire to Sarlat-la-Canéda. Our first full day in Perigord was our chance to begin to tour the countryside nearest where were staying. We decided to head to the Roque de Saint-Christophe, a city that once had as many as 1,000 people living in a […]

Jeanne vacationed in Perigord with her family when she was a child and talked it about so often that we knew we had to go there together. With three weeks in Brittany this summer, we finally a stretch to spend a good amount of time in this region famous for its cave art, castles and […]

The Normandy Coast is just a few hours drive from the West Coast of Brittany where we spend our summer vacations. We’ve talked many times about seeing Mont Saint-Michel and this time we were determined to make it part of our plans. We packed a lunch of white asparagus, baguette sandwiches of jamón serrano and butter, […]