Every Road Has a Story
Road trips, detours, and the places that stayed with us. We write about where we went, what we found, and what it felt like to be there — from California back roads to medieval Spanish cities.
Our Favorite Trips from the Last Ten Years
Over the last ten years, we visited deserts, national parks, historic cities, and quiet forgotten towns — always with cameras close by. Looking back through our favorite photographs brought back cold nights, early sunrises, long road trips, and places that surprised us in unexpected ways. This post is a collection of the trips, moments, and images that stayed with us long after the journey ended.
California
Alabama Hills: Two Days in California's Wild West
There are places that feel real… and places that feel like movie sets. The Alabama Hills somehow feel like both. Tucked beneath the Sierra Nevada near Lone Pine, California, these strange sculptural boulders and golden desert light have drawn filmmakers — and wanderers — for over a century. Here's what two days among the rocks actually looks like.
Canada
3 Days in Victoria, Canada — Britain's Outpost on the Pacific
It started with a magazine. Three hours later we had flights booked. Here is what three days in British Columbia's most British city actually looks like — seaplanes, totem poles, and tea at the Empress.
Hawaii
Almost Eden: Nā 'Aina Kai Botanical Garden, Kauai
The first thing you notice on Kauai is the air. Warm. Soft. Heavy with the scent of flowers and rain. Nowhere is that more true than Nā 'Aina Kai — a garden that started as one woman's front yard and never stopped growing.
Hawaii
Green Heart of Kauai: Waterfalls, Canyons and an Unexpected Guide
Kauaʻi has a way of changing your plans. We came for waterfalls between beach days. The island had other ideas — pulling us deeper, past a Jurassic Park gate, into a swamp that swallows fog, and toward a canyon that earns every cliché thrown at it.
Hawaii
Emerald Cliffs Above the Pacific: Nā Pali Coast, Kauai
There are places that stay beautiful only in photographs. Nā Pali Coast is not one of them. No road crosses it. No road ever could. We found our own way in — and it was nothing like we expected.
Hawaii
Ten Days in Paradise: Arriving on Kauai, Hawaii
The plane door opened, and warm air rushed in. Sweet, heavy, alive with something blooming I couldn't name. Wild chickens crossed the road as they owned it. Waves knocked me sideways at sunrise. Kauai doesn't ease you in. It just takes you.
Nevada, Arizona
Martian Vacation: A Road Trip Told by Jack the Dog
The ground was red. Not orange-at-sunset red. Not dusty-road red. Deep, ancient red — the color of something that has been burning for a million years. I was fairly certain we had driven to Mars.
Michigan
Sleeping Bear Dunes: Sand, Wind, and a Mother's Grief
No cell signal. No GPS. Just trees on both sides and the occasional cow watching you drive by. That's how you arrive at one of America's most beautiful places — Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Come for the sand. Stay for the story.
Wyoming
Yellowstone: Where the Earth Keeps Breathing
Sulfur in the air. Colors that shouldn't exist. A bear swimming toward our dog. Hot springs, geysers, bison, and a full moon blocked by an unexploded shell. Two weeks in Yellowstone by camper.
Utah, Arizona
Fire, Goblins, and a Dog Who Owns Canyons
We rented an RV, pointed it toward Utah and Arizona, and let our schipperke decide which rocks were worth climbing. Spoiler: all of them. A New Year's road trip through the Valley of Fire, Zion, Goblin Valley, Arches, and beyond.
Barbados
A Birthday in the Birthplace of Rum
It was Alex's birthday, so naturally we ended up three rums deep in the birthplace of rum. Coral forts, a burned-out great house, green monkeys, and the only foreign country George Washington ever set foot on — a week on Barbados.