North Trip USA · 2022 / 2023
Alaska · Wyoming · Idaho · Washington · Oregon · California
May 20, 2023
Savannah: Hanging Gardens and a dead Forest on the Beach.
"I'm sitting at a sidewalk cafe wearing shorts and a t-shirt!" I exclaim excitedly as I sit at a sidewalk cafe wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I nearly spill my iced tea during the process. From the permafrost of Alaska to the beaches of Savannah. From the Arctic Circle to the east coast of the southern USA.
Colorful houses abound in dark blue, pink, and yellow. Spanish moss hangs from ancient oaks like tinsel on a
Christmas tree. The Blues Brothers would have freaked out. River boats traveling on a non-frozen river. Music, flowers, the sound of waves.
Our trip to Savannah, Georgia, is like a Polaroid snap of spring in the middle of the Rocky Mountains' long winter. Add to that a mile-long tunnel of trees, a bucket-list sailing trip, and the surreal deadwood beach of Jekyll Island. Pack your flip flops, here we go!
April 15, 2023
Alaska in Winter: Dog Sledding and Northern Lights.
Just an hour ago I had wondered how a few dogs could pull an entire sled with people sitting in it—but now I know: they are not just dogs, but fur-covered dynamos, totally hell-bent on dragging anyone through the woods as they wag their tails behind them.
And so we are riding through the Arctic. Propelled by paws and gliding on runners—but also on foot and car wheels. From dogs to northern lights, and from the taiga to the tundra, over 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where our base camp is located in Coldfoot. Coldfoot is a town that is not really a town, but just a truck stop. More than 200 miles away from any other point resembling a city. Here we live several days in what seems like shipping containerst that are heated by diesel generators, where our window is frozen for two days, and WiFi is way too 21st Century.
Come join us as we journey to wild Alaska. Maybe we will see one of the famous gigantic moose?
March 25, 2023
Highway to Hell: Roadtrip on Dalton Highway, Alaska.
I open the door of the outhouse and look inside. Ice cubes on the toilet lid, icicles all around the seat. But I
don't care, I have to pee. It's my own fault, I wanted to go to northern Alaska in winter.
We're on our way from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, Alaska, a small wilderness community along the Dalton Highway north of the Arctic Circle. Where the taiga ends, and the tundra begins. More than 200 miles from the nearest grocery store in any direction.
And if something happens to you while you are there? Who cares! At least we got to see the Northern Lights, go dog sledding, dance on the Yukon River, cross the Arctic Circle, and see a completely frozen fairytale forest. It's better than falling down the basement stairs in Piqua, Ohio at the end of your life. So, join us on our Alaska adventure—into the wild—on one of the most northerly and dangerous roads in the world.
February 26, 2023
Sarah in the Sky with Mountain Lions - Hiking without Maps.
I've always wondered what would happen if there were no trail markers, the cell phone battery died, the GPS device fell into the river, and the folding map blew where Bob Dylan's answers blow: into the wind.
So far, I think I would have simply been toast.
But after viewing the wilderness lecture, I'm full of enthusiasm. Sun position, wind, sounds, smells, and landmarks can all come together in my head to form a complete plan about the terrain. All without Google Maps, "You are here" arrows, signs, or similar trail aids.
A few days later, my boyfriend drops me off on a small dirt trail in a valley and gives me the task of finding him and the car at the same spot after a round of hiking without a map. Who could have known that a few miles later I'd be stumbling haphazardly through a river, staring at giant cat tracks, and one particularly path-defining smell would be my own fear sweat.
July 17, 2022
Holes in the Ocean & Lava Trees - Roadtrip USA Northwest II.
The dark blue waves surge rapidly from the open Pacific toward the black lava coast. The sun stands in the sky
like a slightly faded cork coaster just above the horizon, veiled by thin clouds. Then I hear a loud "Fruuuummp!" and suddenly foaming surf bursts upward through a ten-foot-wide hole in the
ground directly in front of me. The phenomenon, Thor's Well, is a fascinating, but also somewhat treacherous natural phenomenon located only a couple of hundred feet off Highway 101 in
Oregon. Will I dare to stay and watch it in all its beauty until the sun has set?
Here comes the second part of our travelogue about our 5,000-mile road trip through Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho. Jump in the car with us and come along as we travel from Thor's Well to a stained-glass beach, to the volcanic crater that hides the deepest lake in the U.S., and then to pitch-black lava trees.
July 3, 2022
Glass Gardens & Snow Volcanoes - Roadtrip USA Northwest I.
11 hours of driving. Holy cow. After we cross Yellowstone, I try to get some sleep. After another 1,600 years, we reach the Idaho border. "Hooray, we'll be at the campground in twenty minutes!", I exclaim exultantly, rubbing my butt which is now as flat as a waffle.
"You do realize we just crossed into a new time zone, right?" my boyfriend asks cautiously. "Pacific Time is an hour behind Mountain Time."
So that officially makes it one more hour of driving. I'm freaking out.
When we finally pitch our tent at sunset, the trip really begins. On the first part of our camping adventure through the northwestern U.S., I'll take you to a spectacular waterfall with a marmot, to one of the most surreal and colorful museums in the world, on a snowshoe hike with an avalanche, and to the place where Mount Saint Helens exploded in 1980.