Mountains

Impromptu Road Trip!

Road trip across the southwest

In both of our families, September and I are known as adventurers – up for just about anything, the crazier the better. So when September’s aunt & uncle needed their car and dog (the fluffy, enthusiastic pup Raffles) delivered from Sarasota, FL to San Francisco, CA, they called US to make the road trip!

On Saturday, Sep, Raffles and I will spend 6 days driving across the southwest U.S. The trip alone is nearly 3,000 miles and takes over 41 hours… excluding pit stops, detours and must-see sites (which I am a sucker for).

Our itinerary:

  • Day 1: Tampa –> Gulfport, Mississippi (588 miles; 8.5 hours) – Point B on the map above
  • Day 2: Gulfport –> San Antonio, Texas (600 miles; 9 hours) – C
  • Day 3: San Antonio –> Tucson, Arizona (870 miles; 12.5 hours) – D
  • Day 4: Tucson –> Kingman, Arizona (300 miles; 4.5 hours) – E
  • Day 5: Kingman –> Yosemite Village, California (520 miles; 8 hours) – F
  • Day 6: Yosemite –> San Francisco, California (200 miles; 4 hours) – G

We’re stopping at things like the Alamo, Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park (and if we have extra time, Joshua Tree National Park) but we’ve got some 30 other sites that are off-the-beaten-path…. sites like the world’s largest rocking chair, a 25-ton tiki head and a house made completely of beer cans, that are just too wild to pass up. At Roadside America, we searched for cities on the various legs of our trip to see what bizarre, strangely awesome, roadside sites we’ll pass. There are TONS!

Time will surely be a limiting factor on this trip but we hope to move quickly (seeing as much as we can along the way), so we can gain some free time at the end of our journey to enjoy the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Neither one of us has traveled the southwest U.S. before and we’re so excited and grateful for this amazing adventure!

Be sure to follow along – we’ll be posting regularly with pictures, videos and fun updates! (Thank goodness for the mobile WordPress app).

ROAD TRIP!

Photo courtesy of DiscoverAmerica.com

Please note: Our online shop, Top Knotch Gear, will be “on vacation” and we will not be processing orders until we return. If you have any questions/requests regarding gear, please direct them to us via email. Thanks!

Categories: Adventure, Backpacking, Extreme Vacation/Adventures, Family, Florida, Hiking, Landscape Photograph, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors, Packing, Parachute Cord, Paracord, Photography, Planning vacation, Rock Climbing, RTW, Survival gear, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Trails, Transportation, Travel, Travel Photography, Trip planning, Uncategorized, UNESCO World Heritage, World's Largest | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s On Your Bucket List?

Categories: Adventure, Asia, Backpacking, Climbing, Hiking, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Pinterest, Top Knotch Gear, Travel, Travel Photography, Trek, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

New Bracelet!

Here is one of our new paracord bracelets! It’s tied with a square knot (similar to our good luck knot) and isn’t as thick as a standard survival bracelet… making it ideal for smaller wrists and ladies – although, we can made dude-ish ones, too! We have a couple more knots we’ll debut over the course of the week, so stay tuned!

Want to see what other cool stuff we make? Visit our online store!

Categories: Adventure, Asia, Backpacking, Bracelet, Camping, Circumnavigation, Etsy, Explore, Gear, Globetrotting, Hiking, Jewelry, Knots, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors, Parachute Cord, Paracord, Paracord Pet Gear, Paracord Watch, Summer, Top Knotch Gear, Trails, Travel, Trek | Leave a comment

GO EXPLORING

Categories: Accessories, Adventure, Africa, Asia, Australia, Backpacking, Beach, Camping, Canada, Caves, Chile, China, Circumnavigation, Europe, Explore, Globetrotting, Latin America, Mountains, National Parks, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Plants and Flowers, Rock Climbing, South America, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Trails, Travel, Trek, Wild | Leave a comment

National Parks FREE ADMISSION!

There are a few weekends each year where the National Parks offer free admission for visitors. This weekend is one of them! In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, each of America’s 397 national parks will waive admission fees. (You may still need to pay for parking, we’re not sure). So this weekend, get out and enjoy the wonderful outdoors at a national park! For more info, click here to visit the U.S. National Park Service’s website.

Joshua Tree National Park

Other times when the parks have free admission are:

  • April 21-29 (National Park Week)
  • June 9 (Get Outdoors Day)
  • September 29 (National Public Lands Day)
  • November 10-12 (Veteran’s Day weekend)
Categories: Adventure, Backpacking, Camping, Explore, Family, Mountains, National Parks, Naturalist, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Planning vacation, Rock Climbing, Tourist Site, Trails, Transportation, Travel, Travel Photography, Travel Tips, Trek, Trip planning, Utah | Leave a comment

Essential Packing List for India

Travel Tip Tuesday: If you’re traveling to India (or would like to in the future), check out Candace Rardon’s Essential Packing List on Matador. It’s full of helpful tips, things to expect and gear to bring on your journey. While your own packing list may vary depending on the places you’ll visit and activities on your itinerary, Rardon’s list gives a great breakdown on some of the most important items. But don’t forget the #1 item we recommend bringing… your CAMERA!!

Picture courtesy of Vagabondish

Categories: Adventure, Asia, Backpacking, Beach, Bright colors, Camping, Circumnavigation, Explore, Gear, Globetrotting, India, Mountains, Nature, Parachute Cord, Paracord, Photography, Planning vacation, Rock Climbing, Survival gear, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Trails, Travel, Travel help, Travel Tips, Trip planning | Leave a comment

Top Destinations for 2012…

… according to CNN Travel. The list includes some great U.S. cities! Check out all of the locations here.

Myanmar (formerly Burma) is one of the top destinations! It's on OUR list!

Categories: Adventure, Airplanes, Asia, Backpacking, Explore, Family, Florida, Globetrotting, Landscape Photograph, Mountains, Myanmar, Nature, Outdoors, Packing, Photography, Planning vacation, South America, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Trails, Transportation, Travel, Travel Photography, Trip planning | 1 Comment

All About Adventure

Check out this treasury we made on Etsy – it’s art that’s all about adventure!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTA3NjEyOTl8MTYwMDE5MjUzMg/all-things-adventure?index=0

Categories: Accessories, Adventure, Airplanes, Asia, Backpacking, Bright colors, Etsy, Explore, Gear, Globetrotting, Hiking, Jewelry, Mountains, Outdoors, Photography, Top Knotch Gear, Trails, Travel, Travel Photography | Tags: | Leave a comment

New Buckles!

Just in: Colored reversible side-release buckles!

Jazz up any survival bracelet with our new colored sie-release buckles! Want one on your bracelet? Check out our online shop!

Categories: Accessories, Adventure, Backpacking, Bright colors, Camping, Caves, Caving, Circumnavigation, Etsy, Explore, Gear, Globetrotting, Jewelry, Knots, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors, Packing, Parachute Cord, Paracord, Rock Climbing, Survival gear, Top Knotch Gear, Trails, Travel, United States | Tags: | Leave a comment

Travel Tip Tuesdays are Back!

Travel Tip for today: Sightseeing

If you’re like us, then you probably enjoy visiting tourist sites every now and again. Whether it’s for the pictures, the experience or the bragging rights to say, “I’ve been there!”, tourist traps can be lots of fun – if only they didn’t have so many…. tourists! Here’s a tip: Go during lunch. Most tour companies (you know, those ones with the large groups of loud people all wearing the matching hats) will take a break from their touring for lunch and it will give you the perfect chance to see the site(s) up close or to snag the coveted photo op without everyone else in your way.

Happy sightseeing!

Categories: Adventure, Africa, Asia, Backpacking, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Circumnavigation, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Easter Island, Europe, Explore, Family, Faroe Islands, Germany, Globetrotting, Great Wall of China, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latin America, Luxembourg, Moai Statues, Mountains, Myanmar, Nature, Nepal, Netherlands, Night Market, Norway, Outdoors, Panama, Parachute Cord, Paracord, Paracord Pet Gear, Paracord Pet Supplies, Paracord Watch, Photography, Planning vacation, Puerto Rico, Random, Rock Climbing, Russia, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Snorkeling, South America, Summer, Survival gear, Switzerland, Sydney, Taiwan, Thailand, Top Knotch Gear, Tourist Site, Trails, Transportation, Travel, Travel help, Travel Tips, Trip planning, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam | Leave a comment

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