Part 4 - final, Mid-October – Late-October; Canyonlands NP – White Rim Road; Pagosa Springs, CO

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Along I-70

Leaving Great Basin, we join back up with US-50.  We drive for miles, occasionally seeing vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.  The valleys widen as we continue east.  We come across a dried lakebed turned white, salt.  Driving through a few towns we finally join up with I-70.  As normal practice we stay away from Interstates, but this portion of I-70 is very picturesque.  We see geology at work.  Multicolored sandstone, some with horizontal layers, while others lean, pointing to the sky.  We see areas that resemble the Badlands of South Dakota, with hills and mesas. Be sure to stop at each of the rest areas/overlooks to take in the landscape.

Part 3, Early October; Lassen Volcanic NP; Great Basin NP

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Lassen Volcanic National Park

Sunset over Butte Lake

We arrive as the sun sets.  The campground is full of campers, which makes sense as this is a Saturday.  At least half of the sites are occupied by tents, with a much younger crowd.  We fix dinner, enjoy the evening, and plan our tour of Lassen Volcanic NP.

After an early breakfast we head off to see the park.  The Loomis Museum at Manzanita Lake, is closed.  Benjamin Franklin Loomis was a local homesteader and photographer.  May 22, 1915, he photographed the Lassen Peak as it erupted, recording six images.  Prior to this particular eruption, there was local interest in making this area a national park, because of the volcanic activity.  But there was not enough interest to actually get bureaucrats in Washington to recognize the Lassen area.  B. F.  Loomis’ series of photos generated a lot of interest, bringing national attention to the area.  Within 15 months of the eruption President Woodrow Wilson signed the Lassen Volcanic National Park Act.

Part 2, Late September – Early October; Napa, CA; Mendocino, CA; Redwoods NP

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San Francisco

Redwoods NP

We are heading to the San Francisco airport to pick up three of Nicida’s school friends then head off to Sonoma where they will visit and possibly/probably sample some wine.  Fortunately, they all arrive around noon making rendezvousing easy.  The drive into and through SF is a bit more intense, especially with four women getting together for the first time in a long time; and driving a truck camper down crowded city streets.

Part 1, Late September – Start of trip; Channel Islands NP; Pinnacles NP

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The start

Anacapa Island

We are back on the road, truck, camper and the open road.  We have three reasons for this trip. - Nicida’s college friends are getting together to celebrate their 54^th anniversary from college.  Their celebration will be in Sonoma, CA.  – We are escaping the continuous heat of TX. – This will be the swan song for our camper.  We have enjoyed using it for the past seven years.  We have had many great memories with our Hallmark Guanella.  A small sampling: southern UT three times, a 12-week drive to Alaska and back, 5 of the National Parks in CA.  As of this writing we have seen 39 of the 63 NPs having driven to 35.  The others we either had to fly to or take a boat.  At the end of this trip, we will have visited 42 NPs.  You can read all of our adventures on this blog, just look under the Archive, everything is sorted by year.

Part 7, the end - Early - Mid July, 2024 – Queenstown, Auckland, New Zealand

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Queenstown

Hobbiton

Now we are on our own.  It’s quite different from the comradery we have been enjoying the past 10 days.  For the last time on this trip we do laundry, and pack camera gear and other items we will not need until we get back home.

Part 6 - Early July, 2024 – Fox Glacier, Mount Cook, New Zealand – Photography Workshop

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Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier cave

Today, our road takes us between two huge lakes, Lake Wanaka, the fourth and Lake Hawea, the ninth largest in New Zealand.  We are actually driving along the opposite end of Lake Wanaka from where we were shooting this morning.  Both lakes lie in their own glacial valley in the Southern Alps.

Part 5 - Late June, Early July, 2024 – Queenstown, Doubtful Sound, Wanaka, New Zealand – Photography Workshop

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Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand

Lake Wakatipu

Our last day in Australia starts with breakfast and an early ride to the airport for our flight to Queenstown, on the South Island of New Zealand.  We find out our flight is cancelled, instead of an Air New Zealand flight we are taking a Virgin Australia flight, arriving at 545 PM.  With no meal or snack.  The hotel is a 30-minute ride from the airport.  Another long day.

Part 4 - Mid - to - Late June, 2024 – Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Australia

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Melbourne

Great Ocean Road

Approaching the luggage carousel, we find our driver waiting for us.  She takes one of our heavy bags, placing it in the trunk of the car like it weighs half of its actual weight.  Being spent from our travels to this point, I let her handle my bag too.  She is a wealth of information.  I furiously take notes on the phone for locations, and how to get there.  Temperatures are in the 50’s.  After registering at the hotel, and unpacking we are on a mission to find a pharmacy, for my cough, and a restaurant.  We are famished as we didn’t get any food on this flight.  We find both, the latter being a Greek restaurant.  A salad and platter of appetizers fills us for the evening.  We are in bed by 10, worn out for the day.

Part 3 - Mid-June, 2024 – Daintree Rainforest, Uluru/Ayers Rock, Australia

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Daintree Rainforest

Coral Sea sunrise

Our alarm wakes us at 5 allowing us time to catch a sunrise over the Coral Sea.  The Esplanade is filled with many people, causing us to dodge walkers, joggers, and dog-walkers.  We gaze at the golden sky over a glass-like sea.  It is cool, but no jacket is needed.

Early – Mid June, 2024 – Blue Mountains NP, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Katoomba and Blue Mountains National Park

The Blue Mountains showed up on one of my searches of Sydney.  It is roughly 63 miles ENE of Sydney.  Since we are not renting a vehicle this trip, we are using one of Sydney’s trains to transport us there.  We are traveling light, fitting only the necessary items into our backpacks, leaving the heavy stuff behind at our hotel.  We walk three blocks to a subway station that takes us to the central train station.  From there we board a longer distance train, transferring to the train that takes us to the town of Katoomba, our chosen destination to see the Blue Mountains.