I visited my daughter in Minneapolis recently. I was there for the last mild day of the year and then it promptly dropped down to 8*F the last day I was there.
I really liked the downtown area and was able to walk and explore a good bit. I took a picture of a bridge over the Mississippi River with a cool reflection that I really liked. Not bad for an iPhone 8!
This is the first in a new series where we share favorite cities that we love and hope you plan to visit and enjoy them too!
The City by the Bay is a beautiful city to visit. It’s one of my favorite places and has a ton of things to do. Here is just a sampling:
Some other things to know about San Francisco.
Have a great time on your visit and please comment on some of your favorites. Thanks rk
The Palace of Fine Arts
Coit Tower
Sea Lions at Fisherman’s Wharf
Snoqualmie Falls, Washington
A beautiful waterfall made famous by the tv show Twin Peaks!
We got to stop by Snoqualmie on our way from Seattle to Mt Rainier and it was worth every second!
Thanks! – Josh
Big Bend National Park is a wonderful place! Collectively I have spent over a month exploring the park’s near 1,300 square miles (that’s 10x the size of Atlanta). Each new visit brings new places I had never even heard of to explore. One could spend a lifetime in the Big Bend country and still have more to explore. On our last trip one of these places was Ernst Tinaja.
Ernst Tinaja is by no means a secret but it is tucked away in the less visited eastern side of Big Bend National Park. The trailhead is located off the Old Ore Road about 5 miles from the south entrance near Rio Grande Village. Old Ore Road is considered a 4×4 high clearance only road but as long as it is dry most vehicles can make it to Ernst Tinaja driving carefully (if it has been rainy I would not attempt it, visit Panther Junction visitor center for road info). Along the way are beautiful views of the desert and Chisos Mountains.
Chisos from Old Ore Road
Along the road are a few landmarks starting with Candelilla campsite (one of my favorites), then Camp De Leon campsite and the nearby grave of Juan De Leon (a mysteriously murdered mexican man from the area’s more lawless times). Soon after Camp De Leon is Ernst Tinaja campsite and trailhead marked by a small stone sign. If you hit the La Noria campsites you’ve gone too far.
Grave of Juan de Leon
The trailhead is marked by a small metal sign like most others in Big Bend.
The trail starts in open desert and moves into a valley that then narrows into a canyon. In the valley are large stone ridges running across the trail with small pools of water (after rains anyways). Like many places in Big Bend the past is evident in the geology of the area and it is very clear a river flowed through this area creating the valley and canyon.
As the valley narrows into a rocky canyon there is a relief of shade created by one of the canyon’s walls during most of the day. When the temperatures can regularly reach the 90s even in the winter, any respite from the sun is welcome. The ground is loose and gravely like most dried up desert creek beds until quickly and suddenly turning to smooth pinkish brown limestone with a slight climb up.
Inside the limestone are three ‘Tinajas’, pockets of water collected from past rains (Tinaja literally means Jar in spanish).
I had fun playing with the tinaja reflections
The climb up and around the tinajas is fun and can feel a little sketchy (especially when you’ve heard accounts of mountain lions drowning in the very tinaja you are scrambling by).
Just past the Tinajas on the left side of the canyon is a fascinating force of nature captured in rock where presumably whatever water once flowed through distorted and twisted the limestone wall into a small cave (another place to hide from the sun).
At this point there are two options: turn back or carry on. The canyon continues for miles eventually hitting Ernst Valley (or at least the hills before Ernst Valley, I have not explored this far). With what seems like endless desert to explore turning back wouldn’t be a bad option either.
PSA: Anyone hiking here should know their limits and pack accordingly to their trip. Over 400 people die in National Parks every year with a majority of these deaths being because of drowning or heat exhaustion (both very possible in Big Bend). Visit the Panther Junction visitor center to get info from rangers on how to explore Big Bend safely.
To sum it all up: Ernst Tinaja is incredible and is a highlight of that trip for us now. If you have the ability to hike there, you should. Be careful and have fun! 🙂
Thanks!
– Josh
Looking down on downtown Seattle from the Space Needle! You can see the mountains in the distance and the Space Needle’s reflection in the glass!
The line seems long but moves quickly and has interesting history of the Space Needle along the way. I would recommend a visit to the top for any Seattle tourist! More info here.
Thanks!
– Josh
Spent the day in Little Havana, eating seafood in Coral Gables and enjoying beautiful Miami. This is a wonderful city to visit as well as a great jumping off point to the Florida Keys, Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park.
Chimney Rock sounds to me like a hike you would find in Great Smoky Mountains National Park or maybe in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. However, in this case, the Chimney Rock Trail is located in Point Reyes National Seashore in California.
Chimney Rock is a 1.75 mile round trip hike out to a popular whale spotting overlook. The trail gets its name for a small rock island in the ocean visible from the overlook. In addition to whales, the trail promises lots of opportunities to spot elephant seals and sea lions.
The trail starts thru a grassy section heading uphill. I promptly spotted my first wildlife with a rattlesnake crossing the trail about 5 feet in front of me.
Quickly you come to a crest in the trail with a gorgeous view of the coast off to the right. You can see sea lions lounging down below.
Sea Lions are pretty lazy
Continuing to follow the trail up and over the crest soon you are surrounded by ocean on three sides. It is a very beautiful spot to just soak in the views.
Right above the view of Chimney Rock is the best spot to see whales. Remember to bring binoculars! We were lucky as a pod of whales was passing by a few miles offshore. With the naked eye I could see their spray and with binoculars I could see some fins and their backs as they swam by. Pretty cool!
Chimney Rock. My iPhone camera couldn’t pick up the whales sadly.
Looping back, I noticed that there were quite a few elephant seals lazing about on the opposite side of the shore of the peninsula we were on.
Going downhill now, I arrived at the parking lot in short order. There is another shorter trail on the far side of the parking lot with leading to an overlook with a huge population of elephant seals. Some of these were playing in the water so it was good to see some actually moving about.
More elephant seals.
Point Reyes and Chimney Rock didn’t disappoint. I recommend checking out this trail and the rest of the National Seashore if you are ever in the area. Thanks for reading. rk
Tom’s Creek Falls is located in the Pisgah National Forest north of Marion, North Carolina. The hike itself is very short at only one mile round trip with a flat gravel trail that is very easy to traverse (there were multiple people in wheelchairs on the trail when I went in March).
The trailhead is located a mile-ish off of highway 221 on a maintained dirt road. It was midday when we started our hike and thanks to the recent spring rains there were loads of wildflowers at the trailhead. And thanks to the first warm weekend of the year the small parking lot was full (Like 5 or 6 cars).
The trail starts flat and wanders through the woods for a bit before reaching a small stream. With the stream to our left the trail got a little steeper with a few easy switchbacks. After the switchbacks the trail straightened up and here is the first view of the waterfall. I was surprised when I first saw it, the 80 foot cascade pours off a cliff into a rounded and rocky area before draining away into a small stream.
The trail ends at somewhat of a split in the road, to the left is a wooden balcony with benches for viewing the waterfall, and to the right is a small hill that is probably twenty feet above the balcony and has a nice view of the waterfall. We went right and scrambled up the small hill and then down into the round and rocky area below the waterfall. From there we could not see or hear anyone and despite the trail having decent traffic it felt very secluded.
The Tom’s Creek Falls trail is a short and easy hike with a lot of reward! If you are ever in the area it is definitely worth the time.
Thanks – Josh
I am one of those rare folks that enjoys flying, but I like riding the trains in Europe even more. Enjoying a glass of wine while watching Tuscany drift by out the large glass windows is just delightful.
My favorite train journey on my recent trip was the Nightjet from Milan to Munich. It was a 12 hour overnight trip. My compartment reminded me of the Hogwarts Express. I had it all to myself and the seats folded out into beds.
Milano Centrale Train Station
My Nightjet compartment I had to myself
Salzburg Train Station
The famous Brenner Pass out my train window
thanks … rk
This is a short video of Linville Gorge in North Carolina from Table Rock Mountain. This is one of my favorite places in the southeast to hike!
Thanks! – Josh
Bighorn Travel Blog 