The Tonal Landscape - Adventures

Our Adventures in Images

These are our adventures captured in photographs. To tell their stories, I've included maps and commentary to put the photos into their historical and geographic context. The lighting was not always perfect and the weather frequently did not cooperate, but I always did my best to capture the look and the feel of a place. I hope you enjoy the resulting travelogues. Perhaps they will give you inspiration for your own adventures.

Please click on the images below to view the travelogues.

The Dinosaur Diamond in Utah and Colorado.

We drove the "Dinosaur Diamond" through east-central Utah and western Colorado and visited as many of the dinosaur sites as we could while taking in the magnificent scenery of the Colorado Plateau.

Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks.

This was meant to be a brief trip: A day driving through Yosemite to see the rejuvinated spring falls followed by a more leasurely exploration of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

We began in Phoenix and spent a few days taking in its local sights. We then headed towards the high desert and Navajo country and its amazing natural and archaeology sights, going as far east as the Four Corners and Mesa Verde in Colorado, before heading west past the Grand Canyon and home.

We visited the best of Chicago's museums and explored its amazing architecture.

We attended our second Road Scholar program in which we explored Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon National Parks, and then we set out on our own to explore the rest of southern Utah. Under Development

We attended our first Road Scholar program in which we explored the old growth Coast Redwood forests of Northen California.

Orcas Island, San Juan Islands, Washington State.

We traveled to Seattle on Amtrak's Coast Starlight train, visited cousins for a few days, then spent 3 days visiting Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands Chain, before returning the way we came.

We spent a long weekend visiting with Denise's cousins in Phoenix and did a bit of exploring of the landscape to the east.

We and old friends revisited Death Valley, exploring some of the same sites that we did in 2006 and adding some new ones.

We spent two weeks exploring central Upstate New York, playing tourist, leaf peeping, and visiting family and old friends.

We drove to Chester with the intention of using it as a base to explore Mount Lassen and Lake Almanor, but found most of the national park still closed due to snow. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find we were in the path of a rare annular solar eclipse.

We made two trips to Yosemite, first to see the amazing waterfalls after the wettest winter in thirty years, and again in September in which we brought my parents.

Denise and I drove to Ashland where we took in some Shakespeare (Twelfth Night), explored Mt. Rainier, drove to Seattle to visit relatives, then circumnavigated Mt. Rainier and the Olympic Penninsula before returing home via Ashland where we saw an excellent Hamlet. Oh, and we got rained on a lot! Under Development

Denise and I explored Joshua Tree National Park hoping to see some wild flowers in bloom and to take in the fantastic geology of the park. While we were there we also visited the General George S. Patton Jr. Memorial Museum, located just outside the southern entrance to the park.

After our visit to Joshua Tree National Park, Denise and I spent several days exploring the the Owens Valley until a late snow storm forced us to leave earlier than planned. We were pleasantly surprised by the Owens Valley, especially the fantastic views of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and plan to return.

Denise and I crossed Tioga Pass to Mono Lake, then traveled down to Mammoth Lakes, the White Mountains and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. In a word, the Eastern Sierra Nevada is stunning.

Denise and I joined two friends to tour Death Valley during the last week of December to take in the amazing geology and vistas of the park. The weather cooperated and we hiked a lot of canyons.

Denise and I traveled up the string of volcanoes that comprise the Cascade Mountains, beginning our trip at Mt. Lassen in Northern California and ending at Crater Lake in Oregon The weather was perfect and we got a light dusting of snow which added that extra touch to the vistas.

Denise and I traveled through New England, from New York to Maine, visiting family, leaf peeping, and discovered some family history at Clarksburg, Massachusetts.

Denise and I toured primarily the flemish part of Belgium by train and by foot, including Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp. Under Development

Denise and I joined two other couples to tour Costa Rica where we truly found a magical tropical land: butterflies, orchids, exotic animals, fantastic rainforests, and more.