It was a bit out of our way to visit Monument Valley but we didn’t do the area justice 9 years ago as we were too budget conscious to pay the $20 entrance fee. So this time we headed back and storms followed us the whole way. You can get some views for free from…
Author: laurenwinslowllewellyn
Horseshoe bend, desert lakes and toadstools | Arizona
We woke up beside a huge red rock wall glowing in the morning sun – another day in paradise! We were exploring the area around Page, Arizona so we made a pit stop at Horseshoe Bend. It’s a very impressive bend in the Colorado river with big canyon walls wrapping around it. We visited the…
Finding hidden canyons in Utah and Arizona
I hate forks in roads as I always fear I’ll make the wrong decision, what if bad weather follows us on one route but it would of been sunshine if we went the other way? We had decided to revisit our favourite spots in Utah but I guess deep down it didn’t feel right because…
Hiking the jaw-dropping Angel’s Landing | Zion National Park
We visited Zion National Park back in winter 2010 and it was the first glimpse we got of desert scenery. As soon as we entered the park we realised we were desert people and instantly fell in love with the place. The scenery in Zion is pretty mind-blowing. There’s huge, sheer walls rising up to…
Exploring the Valley Of Fire State Park | Nevada
The Valley Of Fire is only a short drive from Vegas yet it feels like a complete world away. It took us two days to get there from Yosemite, cruising from the grassy lowlands to the dry desert dotted with Joshua trees and tumble weed. There wasn’t much to do on the route but we…
Hiking around Yosemite National Park
The drive from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park ended up taking a lot longer than we’d expected. We left the snowy lake and descended down the valley until everywhere was lush and green. Then we veered onto a local road heading south. It was an extremely wiggly route with plenty of ups and downs…
Boating and hiking around Lake Tahoe | Nevada
The sun pierced through the gaps in our curtains, waking us early so we could hit the road towards California. Our only plan was to head south to Lake Tahoe and we ended up on some very lonely roads. One of which had a sign for a ghost town 4 miles up a dirt road…
From the mountains to the outback | Exploring central Oregon
We had a good start to Oregon with our first glimpse of one of North America’s mighty peaks – Mount Hood. A cloud was lightly wrapped around its surface but it gradually grew in size until the mountain vanished. We drove up another pass, received more snow and then headed down, we couldn’t hike in…
Starting our roadtrip through the snowy mountains of Washington
It was a rainy day but we didn’t care as we were about to start our big roadtrip and cross the border into the USA. Ruby the van looked incredible (even if we say so ourselves) and she was going to be the coziest of homes for our 6 month trip. We drove up to…
Converting a workers van into a tiny home in four days
We parked our newly bought van along the busy street of our Airbnb and headed inside for a very late dinner. It’s the first van we’ve owned with an alarm system so that was comforting but it didn’t stop me worrying that we’d wake up, look outside and find it had been stolen. I literally…