Cool Colorado
Our original plan was to go to Denver and then straight to Taos, New Mexico. But after talking with Molly and doing more research we realized we had to explore Colorado. We are so glad that we did. Colorado is an incredible mix of greenery, mountains, and rivers. We found great trails to mountain bi...
Denver
Visiting our friend Molly was such a great way to start the week! We became close to Molly during our first Tahoe ski lease in 2017. Dewey was stoked to see his old friend Max, and they enjoyed their bro time walking around the block and romping in the parks. We got to explore Tennyson Street, a hip...
Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson Hole was my first solo weekend with the van, since Mark had a bachelor party in Austin (congrats Tim)! Dewey proved to be a great co-pilot; he quickly assumed the passenger seat and loved to stick his head out the window. Together, we hiked up Snow King Mountain and explored the cute town. J...
Parking Lot Park City
Park City is a hip mountain town, filled with families who love the outdoors. While it has great access to the outdoors, the increase of resort life has limited the availability of overnight parking spots. After a night by a mountain bike trail a top a mountain, we ended up parking by a local superm...
Drive-by Tourist
We had a quick drive through Capital Reef National Park. This national park had more of a community feel as there was an old school building, orchards, and evidence of 1,300 year old petroglyphs!
Adventures in Escalante
After our 8 mile run in Bryce Canyon, we set out to find a nearby lake. There must have been something special about this lake because Dewey made a girlfriend named June. All afternoon long they frolicked in the water, taking turns playing fetch (see videos). Once we all jumped in the water, it was...
Beauty @ Bryce
Wow. Bryce Canyon is incredible. The burnt orange colors and the oddly shaped rock formations called "Hoodoos" make this place feel like a dreamland. We enjoyed multiple hikes and runs through this unique park. At night, Mark was able to get some sweet shots of the Milky Way, while I did some midnig...
A Quick Dip
Found refuge from the heat at Lake Powell! Dewey enjoyed splashing around and dried off very quickly in the 98 degree heat. This was our first time driving on sand, which went well. Happy that we followed the chartered paths to get to the lake, which had much more compact sand.
Grand Canyon
Our first visit to the Grand Canyon will be one to remember. The three of us caught the sunset over the amphitheater, which Mark had fun capturing on his camera. The following day we ran down into the canyon, leaving us with sore legs for a few days. In addition to the vast landscape, we were quite...
Flagstaff Fun
Flagstaff was a great escape from the Sedona heat. For Memorial Day weekend, we were able to trail run up a crater and mountain bike through Schultz's creek. We found an awesome dispersed camping among the trees where we set up shop to get work done before the Grand Canyon.
Breathtaking Sedona
Sedona was everything promised and more. The towering burnt orange and red rock landscape is hard to capture from photos alone. With tons of disperse camping spots, unique and challenging mountain biking, and delicious food, its guaranteed we’ll come back. There is so much to offer it made it easy t...
A Pleasant Rescue
Arizona heat is a real thing; we stayed in this area with a high close to 101°F. Luckily, we found an easy pull in spot to work alongside Lake Pleasant. This time we and Dewey couldn't get enough of the water.
Sunny San Diego
Our hearts are full from our San Diego visit. Spending quality time with good friends, seeing our favorites sites, and eating way too many delicious tacos was exactly what we needed. On a sentimental note, San Diego is where a lot of "firsts" happened for us. Specially, first time living out of the...
Seaside Views
Got lucky and found a parking spot next to Shoreline Park in Santa Barbara. Dewey kept his head out the window most of the time to smell the fresh sea air, which pushed us to have a number of strolls on the beach. We also found some great mountain biking in Point Mugu State Park. We slowly worked ou...
Lassen's Lakes
Scratched the surface of Lassen Volcanic National Park due to the winter roads being closed but even the limited area we saw was breathtaking. Mark set up shop by Manzanita Lake to take sunset photos, while Dewey and I enjoyed the view. Also got to do a morning trail run that included a loop around...
Starry Night
This Dark Sky Reserve has been on our bucket list for some time now since Mark became interested in astrophotography. Dark Sky Reserves are designated areas where the surrounding towns loosely agree to keep light pollution low so you can have an optimal stargazing experience. Of course the weather d...
Last Sno-Park in Oregon
Stopover and final Sno-Park stay on our way to the Dark Sky Reserve in Northwestern Nevada. Nothing particularly special but enough service to have a full work day.
Column 3.0 last hurrah
An amazing goodbye to our good friends and former neighbors who found their new homes in beautiful Bend, Oregon. Got a proper send off filled with lots of laughs and activities. Only thing missing was a Kopecky sighting ;) Don't worry Bend, we'll be back!
The finishing touches
Quick stop for some final additions to van! New side ladder for roof access and rear ladder for mounting extensions.
Real creative town name people...
Layover on our way to Oregon. Not a bad office view for the day!
Finally, a Sno-Park with signal!
It only took us a year to find the one Sno-Park in Tahoe with solid cell reception and of course it's not until we're about to leave 🤦♀️🤦♂️. We were able to take advantage of it for one day, which made it easy to step out for some after work MTBing. A bit too much snow in the high elevation wood...
First Sno-Park
A bit of a blast from the past! This was the first Sno-Park we stayed at in Tahoe with Gordo. Felt right to have it be the first stop for Gordo's journey to his new home! A bit less snow than the last time we stayed here 😀. Got a chance to sneak in some spring skiing to properly say goodbye to Taho...
Adiós Oakland
We'll miss you East Bay! Kara says goodbye to her first love, Jimbo the Jetta. And a call for little celebration (for perhaps more than one thing... 🤫😉)