It is no secret that I love the national parks of the United States. I make it a point to go to as many as I can each year, driving to most thanks to my parallel love of road trips. And after seeing so many impressive places through the years, I figured it was high […]
Exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
I left Hawaii Volcanoes National Park by taking a left out of the entrance, heading southwest on the highway. I felt disappointment. No, it wasn’t because the lava wasn’t flowing during my time in the park – instead, cooled into a black blob of swirls. I was saddened by how little time I had available […]
Wandering Around Hilo
I left Hilo feeling a little sad. It was the first Hawaiian city I had visited off the island of Oahu, and I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to leave; I liked the sleepy hippie-surfer town on the Big Island. It had a much slower pace than anywhere else I had traveled in Hawaii and […]
A Death Valley Day Trip to Manzanar
There is so much to see in Death Valley National Park that it is a wonder anyone would need a day trip out to see anything else. Yet, there are some sites that are worthy of distraction from the largest national park in the continental United States. Many heads would naturally turn to the east, […]
Finding Life in a Drive Around Death Valley
I stood at the edge of the Dantes View overlook soaking in one last moment at Death Valley National Park. The valley floor, covered in salt sediment, sprawled out before me from south to north; I was 5,475 feet above sea level. I wanted one last moment with the park, however fleeting, before I continued […]
The Food of Hawaii
I’m a pretty easy guy when it comes to food. I don’t need anything fancy or trendy, just give me a good plate of hot wings, a beer, and a smile in a nice, casual environment. That is why I haven’t written much about food in my travels in the past. Yet, despite that, food […]

