Owner: Traveling12Feet.com URL:Traveling12Feet.com Join Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:55:57 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: 2 guys + 1 dog + 1 cat = 12 feet! We travel in our RV to experience scenic America. From panoramic desert places to coastal getaways, from urban jungles to national parks - read, see and watch all about it in our travel blog! Site statistics:Click here
Saline Valley: A Remote and Allusive Passage to Death Valley 2008-02-09 17:52:00 Saline Valley
Road MapSaline Valley welcomed us to the colorful and extremely fascinating desert Shangri-La that is Death Valley in the Mojave Desert.Officially within the Death Valley National Park boundary, Saline Valley is mostly overlooked by those heading to its more arid and popular big brother Death Valley farther to the south and east. Saline Valley makes a great introduction to the park, for those with the time, and for those looking for an escape from civilization.A huge dry lake with a salt marsh occupies the center of the valley, but most people come to see the sand dunes and of course, to soak and relax in the natural hot springs. That is, if you're not bashful about exposing skin (and I mean ALL of it) and don't mind the drive through dozens of miles of washboard roads to ge Read more:Remote
48 California State Parks at Risk of Closing 2008-01-26 20:46:00 Rikki and Chris at Manchester State
Park, May 2007, Our first trip in our own RV Please join us in protesting the potential closure of 48 California
State Parks
to help balance the state budget. Several of our favorite parks are set to close, including Manchester State Park in Mendocino County. It is our favorite rustic camping spot along the California coast.We ordinarily keep our politics to ourselves; however, we hope you will join us in protecting the 48 state parks in California on the chopping block. Closing these parks would save nine million dollars, yet save only 0.1% of the state budget. The impact would be a loss of 20% of the state's parks.Click the link below to learn more from Environment California about the proposed closures. At this link you can also sign a letter
Travel, Photography, Art and Blogging 2008-01-25 12:46:00 Hi Everyone, just a little note squeezed in our travel blogs here... Bi coastal artist Elle Gamboa, who draws, paints and shoots, mentions our travel blog in his digital workshop page (). Elle holds digital photography workshops in California and New York City aside from his online classes. Thanks, Elle, for showcasing our photos and travel blog. ://ellesart.tripod.com/index.htmlClick the title - go to Travel
ing12Feet.com
Read more:Blogging
Olympic Peninsula, Washington State 2008-01-11 21:55:00 My cousin Mary and her husband John took us on three days of incredible drives around the Olympic
Peninsula, including its' namesake Olympic National Park, their town of Sequim, historic Port Angeles and Lake Crescent. We thoroughly enjoyed our days there and fell in love with this beautiful and unspoiled area. Most importantly, I had a long overdue reunion with my favorite cousin. Thank you Mary and John for a wonderful trip and opening your home to our 12 feet!Olympic National Park. These are extraordinary mountains. We picked up a National Park 'passport' and our first park stamp here.Can you imagine Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children running across this mountain-top meadow? We didn't see the Von Trapps, but we did enjoy a yummy picnic of chicken, salad and home baked brownies. Th Read more:State
, Washington
, Washington State
What's in a blog? 2008-01-11 03:14:00 I cannot believe how time passes so quickly. 2007 has ended and we are embarking on a fresh new year. We look forward to many exciting travels in 2008. Areas we want to visit this year include the canyonlands and parks of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. We would love to revisit Eastern Oregon, the Snake River area of Idaho and the Cascades in Washington. I am thrilled with our blog and want to thank Rikki for his leadership and creativity. I think he has done such an outstanding job starting our blog and keeping it going. I cannot believe we have such a worldwide audience now!I am struck by what makes it to our blog and what doesn't. Less than a third of our adventures actually appear here. When we return from a three or four week trip we generally have about 5,000 photos and dozens of hou
Mt. Whitney: The Highest Mountain in the Continental U.S. 2007-12-14 21:01:00 Aaah. My Ansel Adams moment.At nearly 14,500 ft. above sea level, Mt. Whitney
, the most frequently climbed peak in the Sierra Nevadas, provides a gorgeous backdrop to the charming little one-horse town of Lone Pine, CA. This is our second opportunity here, and this time with the fall colors and the snow coming in, our experience is even more breathtaking than the last.Looks familiar? Next time you cool off with a cold bottle of water, look closely at the label! Chances are you'll see the mountains above. Next to Mt. Whitney is Olancha Peak, a protected source in the Sierra Nevada Mountain
s. A major US bottling company began sourcing from its spring to produce bottled natural alpine water. Now you know how "refreshing" this place is!We camped in one of Lone Pine's finest RV park f Read more:Continental
Good Night, San Diego 2007-12-09 01:04:00 Sunset at Chula Vista, right outside our RV bedroom window. I must say, with a view like this how can you not love this place? And how can we not love what we do? My mom asked me, "Are you enjoying yourselves?", concerned about how exhausting it must be for us to be on the road, driving from one place to another. I thought of this photo. It's a simple photo. We go through sunsets 365 times in a year. For most of us we practically see it everyday (I hope). But it's what we see when we look that really makes a difference, so my answer, in a heartbeat, was "Yes!"San Diego
skyline at night from Harbor Island. We left for Tustin, OC to visit Chris' dad the following morning, en route to our major destination, the Death Valley National Park. But like that sunset, there's so much more th Read more:Night
, San Diego
Anza-Borrego: California's Largest State Park 2007-11-29 23:03:00 The Other Side of San Diego CountyWe headed south to see my parents in San Diego and took them on a three-day getaway for their two firsts: an RV experience and a trip to the desert. What better place to take them than the second largest State
Park in the US: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, on the eastern side of San Diego County. Anza-Borrego Desert State ParkNamed after 1) Juan Bautista de Anza, a Spanish explorer who forayed against Native Americans (“Look, new territory! Let’s chase after the original non-white inhabitants and claim this land as our own!”) during his exhibition in the western US and 2) the Spanish name “Borrego”, or Bighorn Sheep, one of present-day's four-footed inhabitants of the area.This rich wilderness provides visitors with an opportunity to exp Read more:California
, Largest
HAPPY GOBBLE-GOBBLE!!! 2007-11-21 19:40:00 Our wonderful Photo Banner is now up and running at Traveling12Feet.com!!!For those of you who are receiving our updates through email, take some time when you can to visit the site, see our new logo and play with the photos. You can click the banner to change the photo on top of the blog page. The photo above is a small sample of the banner.This has been an eventful and adventurous year for us, and we'd like to thank you - our family and close friends - for all the love and support you share. As far as the site is concerned, we have received several offers from other companies to advertise with us (they put their ads on our blog page), but we've decided to keep this site as simple and uncluttered, especially with ads. Our way of assuring you that we try our best to keep information pr
Updates From Your Traveling 12 Feet 2007-11-13 16:39:00 Over the weekend we had the great opportunity to meet 2 of my most favorite photographers: Jim Zuckerman and Bruce Dale, in a 2-day digital photography seminar in San Jose. Naturally, all 12 feet were there since we decided to bring the RV with Fox and Spencer instead of staying at a hotel.Again, being able to simply grab your car-house and pick a place to stay (...hmm. Or "park") in where you have the convenience (and comfort!) of home (no need to pack, even!) and at the same time travel with your pets, beats searching for the lowest priced hotel in the area. (Take that, Expedia!)The Outdoor Photography Seminar was a success, and we picked up a lot of good tips. The best part of course was interacting with these renowned photographers personally. Jim Zuckerman (left photo) almost bec Read more:Traveling
Part 2: A Ghost Town, A Man Who Died 4 Times, and Cows With 2 Heads 2007-10-31 22:50:00 We hope everyone had a nice Halloween! Here's the rest of the story...Just 5 mins. south of John Day is a museum worth checking out. The Grant County Historical Museum hosts relics of really old stuff (uhm isn't that what a relic is?), from a collection of 5,000 old photographs, to Victorian Crap Art -er, I mean "scrap art". The entire museum is also "touch friendly", inviting visitors not just to see and read, but also to feel, sit, touch, wear, and inevitably smell that old fashioned western spirit from yonder days. As for me, I took the opportunity while everyone was there (including the town Mayor) to enjoy a nice game of poker. The lady next to me was apparently not just known for her card playing skills, but, well, let's just say that cards are not the only deck she's shufflin Read more:Ghost
, Heads
, Times
A Ghost Town, A Man Who Died 4 Times, and Cows With 2 Heads 2007-10-30 13:55:00 Oh, the stories we have collected.In our recent journey, we traveled to North Eastern Oregon, where a man named John Day baffled everyone with his life story. He was a hunter. A strikingly tall, handsome man who boasted of being impenetrable, while being overindulgent. During one of his journeys, he was attacked by Indians, robbed, and left to wander naked along the river. Locals started calling this river the John Day River, and within a very few years, so did the maps.Fast forward to 2007, and a valley, two cities, a fossil bed/National Monument, and a dam are now known under the same name. John Day must have been really popular to gain such reverence without actually visiting these areas named after him. (See what running around naked can do for your persona?) His life was so re Read more:Ghost
, Heads
, Times
I'm A Virgin 2007-10-26 14:06:00 A New York City Virgin
. Well, at least until the 4th of July two years ago.With certain notable events reminding us of New York these days (other than the sad commemoration of the World Trade Center tragedy last month) - like the 103rd year anniversary of the NY Subway on Oct. 27, the Garden in Transit event where hundreds of yellow taxis are temporarily transformed into mobile floral art canvases (in honor of the city's first metered taxi cab) and on a personal note, our best friends just returning from their trip from Maine and New York, and another close friend who recently bought a house there and moved in it, I thought I'd post this video.Consequently, events such as the "Village Halloween Parade" is coming up in NY. If you think San Francisco's Castro Halloween Party is HUGE (or u
Our Site's Improved! 2007-10-18 10:30:00 Subscribe for free!Fall is definitely in the air! Have you been to the site lately? I know most of you receive the blog postings in your inbox, and that's why I'm inviting you to see the changes in the site whenever you can!Click either the gray title (Traveling 12 Feet) or the Title of the post (for this case, "Our Site's Improved!") in your email and it will take you there. Of course, you can type 12feet.blogspot.com in your browser as well.Here are the changes:1. We are W-I-D-E-R-!!!! Yes, you asked for more horizontal space in the body and so we're giving it to you: More space means less scrolling down!2. Also, we've installed a few fun things in the site.- There's a Visitor Locations Map that tells you what part of the world visitors are coming from, that looks like the one on
Rikki's US State Quarters Collection - and - Back in the Bay Area 2007-10-07 17:30:00 Okay, many of you asked "what else do you need?" (including my mom) for my Book of Quarters, so I thought I'd post it here.If you didn't know yet, US quarters aren't released all at the same time in their respective states. Well, not since 1999 as far as I know. The 50 State
Quarters program is on a 10-yr schedule which started from 1999 and is ending in 2008 (almost there!)As you could see, I need Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana on the left page, and New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming on the right. The Wyoming quarter came out last Sept. 3rd, and Utah will be on Nov. 5th. If you click here you'll see the full schedule and what else is left to be released in the following year. I will gladly accept donations of my missing quarters - and put an end to this madness :
The Purest Lake in the World 2007-09-17 02:14:00 I picked up a quarter from the ground, held it up and couldn't believe what I saw.The embossed picture on the back of the quarter matched the spectacular panorama right in front of me.Of course, that's not the only reason why my heart skipped a beat. For those of you who don't know, I've been on this ambitious quest to complete all the US State Quarters (thanks Dad - why did you have to bestow upon me that collection booklet) - and like most things fun, once you start it's hard to stop.Crater Lake is definitely one of those spots on the planet I would suggest seeing before you... er... "cease to exist". One of the THREE purest lakes in the world (2 of them are in Oregon! and the other one is in Siberia), it's also the deepest lake in the US. Only rain and snow feed this body of water, w Read more:World
"I See Land, Matey!" 2007-08-30 01:50:00 Right under our boat!Hahaha...Our recent travels brought us to Mendocino not so long ago, closer to the water (rebutting popular belief that we hate getting wet and only like dry areas). We've been driving the RV for a long time, and we're both tired. With only a reservation to 'guide' our destination and serve as motivation to get there, we scuttle along, Fox eager to go out and Spencer taking a nap (as usual). All 12 feet, anxious to get there.Finally, we arrive. We see something like this. KOA (Chris calls it "Kids On Acid") campsites are notorious for loud, wild children, running around like plugged vacuums or floor polishers with the switch left on. So we moved along and drove not too far and saw a sign that said "campground --->". To our surprise, it was a wonderful, spacio Read more:Matey
Put Your Petal to the Medal 2007-08-08 00:44:00 The rose medal, that is, if you actually got one for growing the best rose in all of Portland!I'm not surprised why I fell in love right away with Portland - The City of Roses. We already love Oregon. The day we got here it was gray and cloudy, and really, really quiet. But the town was just waiting for us to get ready, and it never held back its charm or its embracing character.There's so much to do, so many things to see, and yes, I want to see 'em all. Today was still very cloudy and normally I'd be depressed before we even get to midday, but as we hang out at Pioneer Courthouse Square - the heart of Downtown - I can't help but marvel at how beautiful this city is: the glazed terra-cotta facades of buildings, the soothing water fountain, the colorful blooms of summer flowers hangin Read more:Medal
A Winner for "Where 'RV' Now?" 2007-07-30 13:00:00 CONGRATULATIONS TO LOUIS MATTARELLI! Louis guessed correctly the name of the Indian Reservation (Hoopa) and the National Forest (Three Rivers). There were several good guesses with the responses Humboldt and Redwood Forest. The actual name of the campground is the Tish Tang and the river is the Trinity. Clue 5 is given below for your information.Clue #5: Rikki and I had a wonderful time here on the Trinity River. The campground is on the Hoopa Indian Reservation along Highway 96.Look for another 'Where RV Now?' in a few days, and you could be the next $100 prize winner.Good Luck!Click the title - go to Traveling12Feet.com
Clue 4 "Where 'RV' Now?" - Win $100 2007-07-29 14:00:00 Clue #4: Our location is in California, is in an area renowned for the most Big Foot sightings in North America. Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.comThe first person to submit a correct answer will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address. Good Luck!Click the title - go to Traveling12Feet.com
Welcome to Lake Truck Stop 2007-07-29 01:17:00 Here's a post that will disprove the myth that everything during this trip is dandy. It's almost midnight and we're in a truck stop somewhere in Washington spending the night. That's just the icing on the cake of today's events.We've been driving since morning, we scraped the side of the RV trying to fit our way out of the last wooded campsite, we basically got lost three times trying to find a place to settle in forcing us to unhook the towed vehicle (5x total!) so we can turn this rolling giant around without a) falling into a cliff b) trying to kill the bystander who said, "yes, there's a campground here!" and c) smashing the peacefully parked cars in a tiny parking space-slash-dead end; after which we have to connect the towed vehicle *again* so we can drive off before the piranha-li Read more:Truck
, Welcome
Clue 3 "Where 'RV' Now?" 2007-07-28 13:00:00 Fox really enjoyed playing at the river!Clue #3: The campground is on an Indian Reservation adjacent to a National Forest. A winning answer will include the correct name of any of the following: campground, river, National Forest or Indian Reservation.Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.comThe winner will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address. Get out your maps and do some digging!Good Luck!!!Click the title - go to Traveling12Feet.com
12 Feet Hit The Road 2008-03-29 21:24:00 Vegas BoundMonday, March 31st, Chris, Rikki, Fox & Spencer head to Las Vegas. Although easy flights abound to Las Vegas from just about everywhere, Las Vegas is not such an easy drive from the Bay Area.That Sierra Nevada mountain range can really get in your way! We should be able to make the 564 mile journey in 10 to 12 hours.We will be staying at the Oasis RV Resort right on the Las Vegas Strip.Check out their web site. We usually don't go for resort-style camping, but a little luxury while away should be a nice treat. I'll be busy with a four-day conference and Rikki with a travel video for Lonely Planet - this time on Las Vegas. I'll be taking a (major) side trip to San Felipe, Mexico from the 2nd to the 5th to visit my folks who moved there in January. I'm very excited about
Two Weeks in Sin City Can Be Darn Wicked 2008-04-13 12:24:00 Aside from the herky-jerky internet connection (we were having problems with the satellite dish - I later found out this was the reason why), 12 days in the same place proved to be... challenging, at least for nomads like us who will do anything to be somewhere different all the time even if we had to drive a hundred miles, only to drive back home that night.The Oasis RV Resort in Las Vegas is fabulous. Clean, well-maintained environment, modern facilities, not to mention HUGE! I was constantly getting lost - even in broad day light! PLAY the photos below.View AlbumThe sites have good spacing and offer full hook-ups for power, water, and drainage. So I'm all set while Chris is in Mexico, right? Wrong. Everything was available except the transportation - and I have this tenacious desire Read more:Sin City
, Two Weeks
, Weeks
, Wicked
A Penny-Pincher's Guide to Flying The Strip 2008-04-15 02:35:00 I am so proud of myself. Let me tell you why.Before leaving for Las Vegas, I came across what seemed like a fun but high-priced idea. Soon as I got the chance, I came to Chris itching to reveal my exorbitant thought:"Wouldn't it be grand... to see Las Vegas... at night... on a HELICOPTER ! ! !"[crickets]Chris flashed a Quixotic smile. "You can do whateeever you want", he said with a slow up and down motion of his head and a sparkle in his eye.Okay, maybe it sounds nonsensical, considering how much it cost and how short it all takes. But I was excited. For 10(ish) minutes you get to sit inside the best VIP helicopter equipped with comfy leather seats, wrap-around glass for outstanding visibility, and drink champagne -- all for a hundred dollars.Needless to say Chris wasn't too thril Read more:Flying
, Guide
, Penny
, Strip
STOP the PRESS, WATCH the VIDEO! 2008-06-28 21:06:00 Check out our latest video for Lonely Planet...You've seen the "rough" version earlier from our Las Vegas trip (I know, you're sick of Vegas already!) but I just wanted to share the whole premise of this video.Inspired by "Experimental Travel" (Rachael Antony and Joel Henry), a book that dishes out alternative and playful ways of making the travel experience unique, immersive, and to say the least
We've Been Quiet Lately... 2008-06-25 23:14:00 Quiet, but definitely not stationary.We are still traveling, still exploring new worlds and revisiting familiar ones, and enjoying every single bit of it. We promise to update you, our dear family and friends, of our adventures soon.We'd like to take this opportunity to post some previous travel stories that we weren't able to share in the past, so watch out for them.In the meantime, happy summer Read more:Quiet
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