A blog of my North American Expedition.
Located about 80 miles southeast of San Jose, Pinnacles National Park is California’s newest national park. The park’s unique geological features have formed over millions of years of volcanic history. Around 23 million years...
Hearst Castle – San Simeon, CA William Randolph Hearst was born in San Francisco on April 29, 1863. His father, George Hearst, was a farmer from Missouri who came to California during the Gold...
Castello di Amorosa The Sattui family is one of the most iconic names in Napa Valley with three generations of wine makers. First founded by Vittorio Sattui in 1885 and re-established in 1976 by...
Angels Camp The area around Angels Camp, California was rich in placer gold and attracted thousands of prospectors who came to get rich quick. The town of Angels Camp was founded in 1848 by...
Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe is a large alpine lake high in the Sierra Nevada that straddles the border of California and Nevada. The lake has a maximum depth of 1,645 feet which makes it...
Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California illustrates Earth’s powerful forces. Every rock found in the national park has its origin in volcanic activity and all four types of volcanoes are found in the...
Home to the tallest trees on earth, Redwood National and State Parks sit in the foggy, coastal climate of northern California. Redwood National and State Parks is a partnership between the National Park Service...
Founded in 1902, Crater Lake National Park in southwestern Oregon protects the deepest lake in the United States. No rivers or streams flow into Crater Lake, rather the lake is entirely fed by rain...
Leavenworth, Washington, is a charming Bavarian village nestled in the picturesque Cascade Mountains. Known for its unique architectural style and festive atmosphere, the village transports visitors to a quaint Bavarian setting. However, Leavenworth wasn’t...
At 14,410 feet, Mount Rainier is the tallest volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range and the most glaciated peak in the continuous United States. Just 60 miles southeast of downtown Seattle, the volcano is...
Located on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the nearly one-million-acre Olympic National Park is a land of diversity. The park sprawls across several different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles...
Less than three hours from downtown Seattle, the alpine landscape of North Cascades National Park invites guests to witness the rugged peaks of the North Cascades Range as well as the most extensive glacial...
Vancouver, British Columbia With a population of 737,216 people, Vancouver is Canada’s third largest city behind Toronto and Montreal. Long before the European arrival to the region, the area was home to Coastal Indigenous...
Juneau, Alaska The area now known as Juneau was historically inhabited by the Tlingit people, who fished the area’s salmon-rich waters which they called Dzantik’i Héeni. In 1880, prospectors Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau,...
Prince of Wales Island is the third largest island in the United States behind Kodiak (2nd) and the Big Island of Hawaii (1st). Located just to the west of Ketchikan across the Inside Passage,...
For centuries, the Huna Tlingit people thrived in the area that would become Glacier Bay. They lived in the shadows of the glaciers and utilizing the abundant resources of the land and sea. Around...
Haines, Alaska To the Indigenous people, the area around modern Haines, Alaska was known as Deishu, which means “beginning/end of the trail” in the Lingit language. That was a fitting name because today Haines...
