Travelling Lore

Wow, I can't believe this last Yosemite post has been sitting in my draft folder for 2.5 months!  This is also my very last post about our honeymoon to California, which was, at this point, over 1.5 years ago.  Talk about time flying by quickly!  Without further ado.... On our second day in Yosemite we chose to hike a few miles farther than on our first day--about eight or nine miles.  I really wish I could remember where we started the hike (I'm trying to dig back in my memory nearly 1.5 years ago now!), but the highlight of the hike was the Sentinel Dome portion.  Before you get to the top you get to hike along trails that have these amazing pine trees called Jeffrey Pines...and they literally smell like vanilla!  Talk about the little things, but I just thought that was so cool! Anway, the hike to Sentinel Dome is well known for having the most famous Jeffrey Pine of them all, or what's known as the Ansel Adams tree (see his photo )....

Ah, Yosemite National Park--obviously (or arguably)  the  quintessential national park of the United States.  Known for Half Dome, giant sequoias, and numerous waterfalls, Yosemite sees about 4 million people visit its extensive wilderness.  Many choose to drive through Yosemite and stop to take photos at lookouts; but many still choose to plunge right in to nature and hike one of the park's many trails. We were in Yosemite for three days, which I think is the minimum amount of nights you need to get a decent taste of the park's grandeur.  A lot of the trails are longer than five miles round trip, so unless you're a fast hiker, be prepared for those to take all day.  On our first day we opted for a shorter hike in Tuolumne Meadows .  If my memory serves me correctly, it was about a five mile round trip hike. Tuolumne Meadows has several short day hikes  and is a good place to get your feet wet and your muscles primed for a longe...

Out here on the east coast I don't often here people talking about Lassen Volcanic National Par k.  Instead, people always talk about Yellowstone or Yosemite, not to mention our own east coast national parks, Acadia and Shenandoah (close enough!).  Boy, were we in for a treat with Lassen! Even in July some of the trails were still snowy and, simply put, we just didn't have the gear to hike in the snow.  With limited trails to access on our limited time (we had only one day in the park), we decided to do the Cinder Cone hike in the Butte Lake area.  The NPS marks this hike as "Strenuous," but to be honest the only strenuous part about the hike, relatively speaking, was going up the cinder cone. As you can see from this distance, it's pretty steep.  Then add in loose cinder and scoria "pebbles," which makes you feel like you're taking two steps back for every step forward.  Be prepared to slow down once you get to this part.  The tota...

Up until this point in our travels we had luckily not experienced any, so to speak, travel "failures."  We always have an itinerary before we leave and we usually more or less stick to it.  The exceptions that arise are usually due to tired feet or, somewhat jokingly, church sightseeing fatigue.  (Europe has a lot of churches, ok?) Crater Lake National Park in Oregon was a place we were both particularly looking forward to seeing with our own eyes.  It was one of our longest days of driving (4.5 hours roundtrip) on our entire honeymoon because we opted for a day trip from Dunsmuir, California (read here ) rather than spending a night any farther north. The closer we drove to Crater Lake NP the less ideal the weather became on our route.  It rained, it drizzled, it was foggy.  By the time we finally drove into the park there were forecasts of several inches of snow within the park...in July!  Fun fact: Crater Lake National Park sees an even hi...

Wow, it sure has been a while since I last sat down to publish a travel blog post on Corking Around!  Time flies when you're busy planning your wedding, getting married, honeymooning, and meeting deadlines at work!  For those who don't know, my now husband and I got married at the end of June at a local winery with our closest family and friends.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect, the food was delicious, the wine flowed all night, and we had lovely company!  A week after we got married we jetsetted off to Northern California for our honeymoon!  I finally have some time to share my Instagram photos with you from our trip.  Don't worry, there will be more substantial posts in the future! We started off in San Francisco.  One of my "must do" activities was to finally  try a real bowl of ramen for the first time--none of this instant noodle stuff from the grocery stores!  I loved it!  And spicy sure does mean spicy! We...

Last month I had the opportunity to visit Jackson, Wyoming (also known as Jackson Hole) for work.  We had long hours and minimal time for exploring, but I was able to capture a few moments on my camera phone.  Jackson Hole is known as a popular vacation destination for those visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks as well as for those looking to visit the nearby ski resorts. Dinner and flights at Snake River Brewing after flying into town. Mural outside of Snake River Brewing. Found a fossil on our first day of work. Snapshot of the Grand Tetons. Double rainbow after a downpour on the way to dinner. Piglets in the farm animal petting zoo before entering the rodeo. Opening of the rodeo, my first time attending one ever! With our work finally complete, we took some time to enjoy Kelly Warm Springs .