Monterosso al Mare
Cinque Terre, also known as “The Five Lands”, is one of the most stunning vacation spots nestled on the northern coast of Italy. Having a more rugged appearance than other areas, Cinque Terre draws its tourists in by its unforgettable views of the Mediterranean and the scenic hiking trails between the five villages.
Located in the northwest of Italy, the small villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre are perched at the edge of the sea, in harbors and on cliffs. It’s one of the most beautiful spots in Italy and there’s no better way to see it than by hiking the trail that connects the five towns.
There are two paths in the Cinque Terre park – one is much higher up and more strenuous, while the other (more popular) one is lower and easier, but still requires a fair bit of physical fitness. Start in the north and work you way south (the 11km trail gets easier this way), and plan on breaking it up over two days so that you can take your time. To get back to your town each day, you can take a boat (from all towns except Cornigilia) or the train.
Windy Hill Entrance
This hidden hiking spot is a secret amongst locals that I now want to share with you. I realize it’s not hard to find gorgeous hiking trails in California, but Windy Hill offers more than just a decent workout. Located just fifteen minutes from Stanford University and Palo Alto, Windy Hill remains one of the most remote hiking trails in the Bay Area.
Baby Fawn
This 8-mile loop brings its hikers through secluded dirt paths, large creeks, rolling hills and, my favorite, unforgettable views of both the Bay and San Francisco. Read More »
Up Top on Chimney Rock
If you read Barbara’s post about her visit to Chimney Rock in the mountains of Western North Carolina, you may have thought it was a challenging effort. And it was. But what is so great about this park is that all levels of adventurists can experience the sites.
Fall Reflections at Walden Pond
Boston is known for its Revolutionary history. And the town of Concord just a short ride out of the city was host to one the war’s most famous battles. But some revolutionary thinkers took up residence there long after the fight for Independence was won. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott were famous authors from Concord. But their friend and neighbor, Henry David Thoreau, gave us books as well as a slice of nature to be preserved for future visitors to experience just because he decided to spend a couple of years living in simplicity on Walden Pond.
From the rim, I looked down into 1,000-foot deep Tallulah Gorge. At the bottom was the Tallulah River, clearly raging even from this height. For thousands of years it has eroded the hard, quartzite rock into a two-mile long chasm, dropping nearly 600 feet and forming L’Eau d’Or, Tempesta, Hurricane, Oceana, and Bridal Veil Falls before joining the Chattooga River. I had arrived too late in the afternoon to get a permit to hike to the bottom of the gorge, but there were numerous other trails from which to choose, and I decided to tackle the rim trail first.
View of L'Eau d'Or Falls (French for "water of gold"), top of Tempesta Falls, and Hawthorne Cascade and Pool from the north rim of Tallulah Gorge
I began at the far end of the north rim, where an enormous, rusting steel tower rested on its side next to the canyon lip. In 1970, tightrope walker Karl Wallenda of the famous “Flying Wallendas” strung cables between this tower and its twin on the south rim and then walked across the gorge, performing two Read More »
As we traveled out West, my husband kept mentioning wanting to see “the Badlands”. I honestly couldn’t understand why any place in the world would ever been named in such a way, unless it was truly a horrid place, and if so, why we would want to go there?
But while in South Dakota, as we approached the area, the terrain changed, becoming dry and rocky, while at the same time colorful and intensely beautiful. The first glimpse of rock reminded me of a motorcycle ride we took across the desert outside of Las Vegas. However, it wasn’t quite as hot, and once we got there I realize it wasn’t like any place I had ever seen before.
I have always envisioned Montana to be this incredibly beautiful, breathtaking scenery of mountains, valleys, and green country sides. And as we traveled there this summer, I found that wasn’t too far off. Of course, there’s nothing like actually being there and seeing it all yourself.
As a city girl, I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful drive to Missoula, Montana. Even with the clouds gray from the impending thunderstorms that seemed to be following us, I couldn’t get over how amazing the sights were.
My husband has been wanting to take a road trip with the family fo’evah. Yup, that’s how we hard core New Yorkers say it. Another thing about us hard core New Yorkers: we don’t take road trips…to far away lands…like the Rocky Mountains and beyond. Nope. We fly.
But, when you are a member of a family of five, it seems that road trips become the way to go, no matter where you are from. So we ventured out on our trip, and saw several great places, and the one place I was eager to see was Yellowstone National Park. I have always heard it’s a wonderful place to visit, especially with kids and that it is beautiful. And when we arrived there I could see that all of that was true.
We did several things while in Yellowstone. We skipped pebbles on the lake, we camped, we saw caribou and buffalo, we even went for hikes. But it was the scenery in Yellowstone that really made the trip wonderful. First let me just say, that to get from the East entrance of the park to the West entrance it took us about 2 hours. It is, of course, huge.
Olivine Pools
by Gudrun Enger, of Kitchen Gadget Girl
Last week I wrote about a hike we took while on the road to Hana, upon a recommendation by Maui Revealed. We also followed their recommendation and explored the fascinating, natural Olivine Pools on Maui’s upper West coast, the best natural swimming pool on Maui.
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