by Deonne Kahler | Nov 23, 2015 | Travel
Sometimes simple is best. At least that’s what I think the namers of Washington’s First Beach were thinking when they came up with that moniker. There’s also Second Beach. I imagine them being so proud of themselves, sitting around the table,...
by Deonne Kahler | Nov 18, 2015 | Travel
Let’s start by getting all your jokes about the name out right now. I’ll go: If a tree falls in the rain forest, does a ho hear it? Ha ha! Hilarious! Okay, enough. The Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park is no laughing matter – except for the...
by Deonne Kahler | Nov 10, 2015 | Travel
Sam and I had been on the road a few weeks by the time we found the campground at Kalaloch Beach (“clay-lock”) in Olympic National Park, Washington. For this last Scamp I had set up what turned out to be an exhausting pace, driving hither and yon...
by Deonne Kahler | Nov 2, 2015 | Travel
My favorite color combination – what, you don’t have one? – is green and blue. I realized this when I looked around my house the other day and saw those colors featured in almost every room. Lucky for me the National Parks, and nature in general,...
by Deonne Kahler | Oct 27, 2015 | Travel
I titled the post this because a) it’s what the national monument is called, and b) it sounds like jibberish. As if I, apropos of nothing, announced, “Millard Fillmore Batik Scarf Squadron.” Which would be equally amusing – or maybe...
by Deonne Kahler | Oct 21, 2015 | Travel
I don’t usually get too excited about lakes. I’m more of a rivers and oceans girl because lakes are too static, too passive for my taste, pretty but not worth shouting about. But then I went to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. The lake sits in the...
by Deonne Kahler | Oct 13, 2015 | Travel
The first chunk of this last Scamp was clouded with smoke from all the wildfires in the West. The worst was at Sequoia National Park. I had planned to stay a few days to really take in the beauty of the place, but the smoke was so bad it chased Sam and me out after...
by Deonne Kahler | Oct 6, 2015 | Travel
Cape Flattery in Washington state is not, in fact, a place to go when you’re feeling insecure and need some praise. It is the northwestern-most point in the lower 48, and also? It’s absolutely gorgeous. It sits on the Strait of Juan de Fuca (best said out...
by Deonne Kahler | Sep 30, 2015 | Travel
Redwood National Park is in the very northwest corner of California, home to the tallest trees on the planet. And for me, it was a highlight of what turned out to be an almost seven-week Scamp. I saw a lot of beautiful places, but the redwoods were extra special....
by Deonne Kahler | Sep 24, 2015 | Travel
It was a first: I visited a National Park and didn’t get one photograph of what I was there to see. I’ve talked a little about what a strange Scamp this has been, with the entire West seemingly on fire and all. Smoke and intense heat in the early weeks...
