travel

"A pocket of liberalism in a sea of conservatism". This is how one Texan we met described Austin to us and he wasn't wrong. We found Austin a truly wonderful city with great people, incredible food, positive outlook on life and a relatively affordable cost of living. Texas Linuxfest was the reason we were in town. I listen to a lot of podcasts and when Chris Fisher from Jupiter Broadcasting announced he was attending we were supposed to be flying home from Denver on the dates of the fest. I as

2 days, 1160 miles, 18 hours of driving, 1 hike, 2 full tanks of gas, 1 massive thunderstorm, 2 plates of BBQ, 1 crop dusting plane and a drive-in diner took us from Asheville, NC to Austin, TX. We split our journey by staying overnight in Memphis, TN en-route to Austin, TX for Texas Linuxfest. Our route from Asheville saw us pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Interstate. So, me being me, we took a slight detour through a more scenic highway pass a few miles south o

Nestled in amongst the Blue Ridge Mountains in the West of North Carolina is Asheville. This is a vibrant mountain town with a huge array of breweries, restaurants and a fantastic array of options to choose from for hikes, scenery and other attractions. We were both struck by how little this place felt like America, in the best way possible. By now we know the drill of a new town. It's a grid. There's a long, wide boulevard with businesses spreading out their signs along it like a leaf reachin

Today being Memorial Day (a US bank holiday) the roads were pretty busy in places and the Interstates were a 50mph traffic jam.

We drove through endless swamp. "Florida looks exactly like I'd pictured it" said Cat.

Here we are again, Cat and I are off to the States for another roadtrip adventure. I've brought my camera gear and the drone for some fun along the way.

Day 13. A shaft of warm golden light pierced my slumber at sunrise, the door of the Yurt and bed placed perfectly so that you could see it. The stillness in the calm of dawn, particularly here in Dead Horse was remarkable. Peace that even the lightest of footsteps on the gravelly, sandy ground shattered. Magical. After last night's failure to get into Arches National Park due to the construction on the entry road we headed there after a little snooze, blog writing and breakfast. We dutifull

Day 12. Our wedding anniversary, 6 happy years and counting, and also eclipse day! We eschewed the crowds in the totality zone (and the exorbitant accommodation pricing which accompanied it) in favour of a drive through Utah on the scenic byways. I warn you now, I ran out of superlatives days ago. Everything is absolutely amazing or the biggest I've seen or the loudest I've heard (THUNDER!) or whatever. I am blown away by everything that we've seen and experienced on this trip. It is a rema

Day 11. Arriving somewhere new in the dark is a mixed bag. You have no idea your surroundings and probably arrived very late, a bit tired and missed some scenery along the way. It does make for an exciting surprise on mornings like this though when you wake to find yourself in the middle of nowhere, only 2 other houses within drone range, with a view such as this. ?) It was dark last night so I didn't close the curtains. I was therefore awoken at 6am by the dawn's early light and scrambled to

Day 7. So much of my world is dreamt up in these few square miles, actually being here is almost daunting. Where to begin? What to see? In actual fact, there isn't much save for the outsides of company HQs and organic coffee shops. That didn't stop us trying though! After a lie in we hopped into the car and headed out for breakfast. Soon after we found a cafe where we could have breakfast and I could write up yesterdays adventures in San Francisco. Afterwards, we drove past Tesla, VMWare, Micr

Day 6. Visiting somewhere as famous as this is either a massive dissapointment or hugely fun and a bit surreal. I'm happy to report the later is true here. Despite the pervasive mist that has perma-shrouded our time here I found the city to be delightfully charming. No trip here would be complete without a ride on one of the famous cable cars. Not fancying driving around downtown or paying huge amounts for parking we stuck to our British roots and took the Bart (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from

Day 5. Wow, is it really only day 5? The last few days feel like they've all been two in one the amount we've managed! Today we visited Calistoga, a charming small town about 30 minutes north of Napa. The drive north was really quite lovely. Row upon row of vines nestled in a wide, sunny valley. We, of course, had to sample the local fare and stopped for a wine tasting at the Huge Bear tasting rooms. The Huge Bear tasting rooms were right in the centre of Calistoga in a gorgeous old Bank