latest trips

26 hours over 2 days driving counterclockwise around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Iceland Our journey started at the Keflavik Airport where we departed, heading towards Reykjavik.  Outside of Reykjavik we got on the Ring Road (Route 1) where we headed north and went thru the Hvalfjörður Tunnel which goes under the Hvalfjörður fjord. The tunnel is 3.6 miles long and reaches a depth of 541 ft below sea level.  It was completed in 1998 and they stopped collecting a toll in 2018 when the tunnel had been paid off. We then drove over  the Borgarfjarðarbrú which is the second largest bridge in Iceland. After crossing the bridge, you go thru the town of Borgarnes. This is a good place to stock up on food and supplies.  We stopped

The Laugavegur Trek is a 34-mile (55 km) hut-to-hut journey stretching from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk, and is consistently ranked by National Geographic as one of the top 20 hikes in the world. This legendary trail winds through an extraordinary array of Icelandic landscapes—steaming hot springs, vividly colored rhyolite mountains, vast lava fields, geothermal zones, glistening obsidian expanses, lingering snowfields, dramatic canyons, and the stark beauty of a black sand desert. On clear days, the trail affords views of three different glaciers shimmering in the distance, and there are several river crossings that add to the sense of adventure. The trek is maintained by Ferðafélag Íslands (FI), the Icelandic Touring Association, which operates a network of huts along the route. While wild camping is not permitted,

A 15 day itinerary exploring Reykjavik, the Highlands, the Snæfellsness Peninsula, & the South Coast During the COVID -19 pandemic, while stuck at home, I dreamed of all the places I wanted to visit when I could finally travel again. Iceland was at the very top of my list. In 2022, with restrictions easing up, I debated traveling to Iceland, but I was still a little nervous about planning such a big trip and then having it fall apart do to unexpected restrictions again. Instead, we traveled to the Pacific Northwest region of the USA and had a wonderful time. However, the day after we returned from Washington I began planning this Iceland adventure for 2023. Below, I give the overall itinerary and highlights of

As soon as I returned from my trip to the Pacific Northwest with my son Colin in September 2022  I began planning our next adventure – Iceland August/September 2023.  I really enjoy the planning phase of my adventures and had most of our Iceland lodging and activities booked by year’s end.  However, come January, I realized that there was no way I would be able to wait until the end of the summer to explore again.  I consulted my bucket list and USA National Park list and queried “what would be a good destination in March/April for some hiking”?  The answer – Big Bend National Park in southern Texas on the Mexican border.  It would be warm in March, plenty of hiking trails, and is

Day 1 – Travel to Port Angeles, Washington We left the East Coast very early in the morning and after a 1 hour layover in New York City, we landed in Seattle.  Flying over the Cascade Mountain Range, we could see smoke from area fires.  After a delay picking up our rental car (apparently the rental car company knew “how to take the reservation, they just don’t know how to “hold” the reservation), we headed towards Port Angeles, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. There are two routes that can be taken to get to Port Angeles, the shorter driving route involves taking a ferry. Time-wise, they are about the same.  Traffic is pretty bad in Tacoma and it took us about 3 hours to reach

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve became the United State’s 63rd and newest National Park on December 27,2020.  It had previously been designated as a National River back in 1978.  The park is located in southern West Virginia along the New River and encompasses over 70,000 acres.  It is home to one of the oldest rivers in North America and home to one of the most biodiverse forests on the continent. While smaller in size than its closest neighbor national parks (Great Smoky NP and Shenandoah NP), there is quite a bit of driving to see the park, including interstate highways.   Back in May 2022 I had the chance to discover this park while on a 9 day road trip visiting family in Pennsylvania,

In January of 2020 I booked a 5 day hiking trip to Death Valley with REI for March of that year.  Less than 2 months later, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded.  Two days before I was to fly out to Las Vegas on March 15, 2020,  I cancelled my trip due to concerns of air travel suspensions and the thought of being stranded out west.  REI graciously refunded all cancelations during this time.  For the next 18 months, I looked back on the day I cancelled the trip and wondered if I made the right decision.  Would I have been able to enjoy the beauty of Death Valley and the excitement of hiking and meeting new people, or would the group have been constantly worried about

Seventeen months after I had to cancel my REI hiking trip to Death Valley due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was finally going on vacation!!  Back in May 2021, Colin mentioned that he had almost 4 weeks of vacation time he had to “burn” before the end of the year.  Nothing more had to be said before I went into planning mode for a September vacation.  It came down between Iceland (they had opened their borders to COVID vaccinated Americans) and Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Parks.  Ultimately, I chose Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Parks because I was still a little leery about international travel and planning something 4 months out.  Overall, the trip was a resounding success!!! Other than a “smoky” Grand Tetons, we

In June 2019 I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Basel, Switzerland for 5 days. One of the items on my “bucket list” was to hike the Tour Du Mont Blanc which is a popular trekking tour that circumnavigates Mount Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps and Western Europe.  The trek travels thru 3 countries: France, Italy, and Switzerland, and usually takes 7-12 days to complete.  I began researching tour companies, but the dates didn’t seem to coincide with my conference dates.  Colin was graduating from college in May and wouldn’t be starting his new job until July so I invited him to meet up with me in Switzerland and instead of trekking the Mount Blanc circuit, I put together an itinerary