It’s not easy to keep a historic town beautifully preserved…and even harder to update it to 21st-century sustainability standards. But Franklin, Tennessee (est. 1799) has accomplished the rare combo of National Historic Register of Places and LEED-certification…citywide! They are just one of 120 cities (of the ~20,000 in the USA), to have earned this Leadership…
For over a century in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it was wilderness vs. industry. Mining, logging, and shipping dominated through the 1960s, but the UP has reemerged as the beautiful place it was meant to be and with battle scars that make it even cooler. The ruins of copper smelters crumble with the rocky shorelines, overgrown…
After 3.5 years and 74,000 miles of road tripping around North America, we’ve reached our 50th State! We started this grand USA road trip in April 2017, ventured everywhere from the Arctic Circle to the Florida Keys, and have finally made it to the Great Lakes state of Wisconsin! With Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and…
Flanked by the big surf of the Pacific ocean and the tranquil Sea of Cortez, with three mountain ranges and a cactus-studded desert running up the middle, Baja is what camper dreams are made of! With basically one main road escorting you to the big highlights and a few dozen spurs into unspoiled wilderness, it’s…
“I had a dream of RVing Alaska,” said our mechanic and camper namesake, Buddy. With a slew of health issues, work, and grandbabies keeping him close to home, this forlorn 72-year-old man instilled an Alaskan wanderlust in us from our first day of RV ownership. We had to do an Alaska road trip for him…
Alaska has more coastline than all other U.S. states combined, so even though we just spent four weeks exploring by RV, we knew we had to take to the sea! But we didn’t want to do some big ‘ole cruise ship—we were looking for a company with a strong focus on sustainability and adventure. UnCruise…
After four days navigating the icebergs and glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula, we pull into the polar opposite: Deception Island, a red-rimmed volcano peeking out of the sea. The geothermal activity melts the usual thick blanket of ice and reveals the layers of oxidized iron, black ash, with a sprinkle of snow on top. We…
Kiwis are known for their hospitality so we inadvertently tested the theory by hitchhiking, couchsurfing, and asking Wilsons outfitters to host us on their three-day kayak/hike trip through Abel Tasman National Park. This leg of our New Zealand journey was all a leap of faith, but that’s what keeps it interesting… Hitchhiking is accepted as…
Surviving 12/12/12 mostly unscathed, we led our six fearless friends on a race to see as much as Southern Thailand as their remaining five vacation days would allow. On the docket: Khao Sok virgin rainforest, Phang Na Bay’s karst islands, party Phuket, and the mellow beaches of Racha island. GO! Khao Sok National park Beaches…
After getting our feet wet on Okinawa’s largest island, we navigated to the tiny isles in the far reaches of the Ryukyu archipelago. Most people don’t make it this far but the Okinawa tourism bureau and Hoshino Resorts are trying to change that. To help spread the word on the unique beauty and culture of…
Tourism touts like to throw the word “untouched” around, but if that statement was ever true about a place, it would be about Ibo Island. Pulling up to this 10-km stretch of coral in the Quirmbas Archipelago you see fisherman mending their nets, women in colorful khoi khois collecting shellfish, dhows floating amongst the mangroves…