Estado de Baja California, Mexico

Sistema Punta Banda Sea Caves

During our sea cave surveys, Mexico became a highlight trip every time due to the rugged beauty, many caves, good cheap food and really nice people.  We were able to then camp overnight without fear and wake up to incredible cliffs and crashing waves.  La Bufadora reminds me of Mother Nature’s toilet.  You can literally get soaking wet if you stand too close as the wave surges up and out with fierce vengeance.  And since La Bufadora is right at the edge of the coast, it happens often to the unsuspecting.

The Sistema Punta Banda sea caves are abundant with numerous window rooms for gorgeous views.  When we were surveying the caves, our friend Ernie Garza’s shoes sank into the ocean when his kayak overturned.  Tragic.  I’ll never forget how much we all laughed when Ernie found old shoes that looked like they washed ashore years ago, and they miracurasly fit him.  With that we were able to complete our mission of surveying the sea caves of Baja.

It’s too bad there are travel warnings to Mexico these days.  Some of my fondest memories are there in Baja.  Like the trip Ernie lost his shoes.  That was the time Don got barked out by loud harbor seals as he was swimming with survey tape while surveying in the largest of the sea caves. We appropriately named it Cueva de las Focas Puertos (Cave of the Harbor Seals) and it measures 88 meters long.

Let’s go!

Leo Carrillo State Park

Malibu, California

Our family loves going to Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu.  Just the drive all along the Pacific Coast Highway makes it worthwhile, passing Marina del Rey, Santa Monica, Venice, Zuma, all the famous beach locales.  The state park is beautiful and adjacent the mountains so you get the added pleasure of forest near the beach.

If you park in their lot, you need to go into a tunnel to get to the ocean, which is ideal for getting one into the sea caving mood.  To get to the sea caves, simply keep walking along the rock cliffs or in the splash zone.

There are a few small caves to enjoy which you can do barefooted and without a flashlight.  The largest of the sea caves has two entrances, so you can do a complete thru trip, as we say in caving when you go in one entrance and out another.  The larger sea cave is famous and has been in several movies and commercials.  Leo Carrillo is also a known surf spot and two months ago when we were there we even saw the paparazzi.  That’s Malibu for you.

Let’s go!

Death Valley National Park

California

Death Valley boasts a special statistic.  Badwater Basin, in the national park is the lowest place in North America and one of the lowest places in the world at 282 feet below sea level.  The weather can easily pass the 120 degrees mark in the summer months, which adds to its foreboding name.  But one only need drive through Death Valley to see the open stillness, vast beauty, extreme contrasts and variety of color.  The Artist’s Palate loop drive with its vibrant splash of mineral pigments looks like the place where Mother Nature played as a child.

Sometimes it feels like we grew up in Death Valley.  This was our first desert trip for Don and I.  It was also Dani’s first camping trip at age 6 weeks.  She did great and is an avid camper/caver today.  It’s the same with Josh.  Death Valley is ideal for climbing and doing belays, which these days we’re finding is also a great way to get away from the traffic from its growing popularity.

This is most evident in our slide shows through the years.  Bad Water, the deepest spot, was always a place of seclusion and isolation.  The last time we went there tour buses drove up and people piled out making it hard to get photos without people in them.  Bad Water used to be not easy to see until you were close.  Now it’s built up and impossible to get the scenic isolated photos we used to get.  Check it out and see what we mean.  Regardless, we still love to go to Death Valley.

Let’s go!

Caving in Tennessee

Don and I went caving in Tennessee during a National Speleological Society convention. Of course it rained a lot but that is the reason for their spectacularly large cave systems. We went into Logging Road Cave and Cedar Ridge Crystal Cave, both in Tennessee. We also did a trip into Russell Cave in nearby Alabama during that convention. I love caving in TAG country, TAG affectionately referring to Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia in the caving community for the huge borehole passages in the caves of those states. In Russell Cave, we saw a bat in the stream. Our friend Patty saved it from drowning, warmed its wings in her hands and eventually it flew off. You just never know what you’ll see in a cave.
Let’s go!

Update

Last Summer we went to Washington state for the 4^th of July holiday when gas prices were at their highest.  We averaged $4.85 per gallon for a trip log of more than 3000 miles in 9 days.  We got about 18 miles per gallon.  Driving in our SUV, we experimented by keeping our miles per hour to 55 to see if we could stretch some extra mileage.  It worked.  We averaged about 17 percent more by slowing down.  We thought it was bad that one month later, the same trip would cost us $300 less in gas.  Now, one year later, we’re right back to having to economize again with soaring gas prices becoming the norm for this vacation season.  We felt it was our duty to share our budget tips that worked, so other families can get out of town and outdoors, despite the economy.

Camping most of the time saved us money.  In our nine days we spent two days at a hotel and one day visiting with my sister in northern California.  Using supermarkets along the way to stock up on food also saved a lot of money.  Purchasing an “America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass” saves money in the long run on numerous park and federally managed site fees.  By keeping (made-ahead) sandwiches in ice chests, we avoided fast food stops and ate healthier and saved money and time.

Another great way to economize is to enjoy the local flavor.  We had fun stopping at fruit stands along the way in Washington to purchase freshly picked Mount Rainier cherries, a real treat for the mouth and wallet.  We also stayed cool and hydrated by refilling our canteens at water fountains at rest stops along the way.  That’s just something Don and I have been doing for decades, now it’s fashionably called going “green.” To help stay alert on the long drive we kept a cooler filled with caffeine drinks such as Starbucks coffee, Snapple Teas and Mountain Dew.  That alone, saved us a ton on convenience store impulse buys.  Gas prices are going up again, but these tips will ensure you get outdoors regardless of how high they go.

Let’s go!