July Issue of Sunset Magazine

I love Sunset Magazine.

It's one of the magazines that I keep around to refer back to for design or trip ideas.  After I tagged "sunset camps" to one of my instagram photos I took of myself in Death Valley, they contacted me to license the image to place next to the editor's note in the July edition of the magazine.  If you're on instagram, you can see this photo along with others at @alisontravels

Thank you Sunset Magazine!

Death Valley National Park

Lowest Point In America - Badwater Basin

It's hard to believe that I've never been to Death Valley National Park until last week.  I grew up in Southern California and have lived here (when I'm not on the road) most of my life.  The weather was perfect so I thought I would go for a visit.

There is something about a National Park that gets me so excited inside.  I love driving up to the gate and showing my annual pass and getting a map and guide.  It's like an adventure is about to begin, and it does.  This is the first National Park that I've experienced that doesn't have a guard gate.  Perhaps because it gets so hot in the summer.  In any case, I arrived late so I went to the visitor center to get a pass the following day.

I woke up early to drive to Badwater Basin to find that I was the only person there!  As much as I love our National Parks, so does most everyone else.  Getting a private spot at an overlook is pretty rare so I soaked up the moment. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in United States so it was a treat to be able to visit the spot.  After that, I went on a hike to see a natural bridge, met Korean nun friends at the visitor center, ran the dunes with Max, then found a free camping site with a wild Burro watching over us.  It really was a magical trip.  In fact, I don't have anything bad to say about our National Parks.  I love them so much that I wanted to visit another one the following day!  We got up early and drove to Sequoia National Park to see the big trees.  Unfortunately for us, we needed chains to do so and we didn't have any so Ranger Dave sent us on our way.  I did get a nice portrait of him before we left so all was not lost.  

I hope you get to one of our National Parks soon.  It connects you in ways that the internet will never be able to and that's a good thing. Which is your favorite park?  Here are some iphone images from our few days at the park.

Koren Nuns Visiting Death Valley

Shut Down Motel near the park

Do you see our Burro friend?

Max loves running in the dunes

More happy dune running

Nothing for miles... 

Full Timers planning their next move, a la Risk style

Crow flying from a Palm Tree

Morning Ritual

Sunrise

One of the most beautiful roads just outside of the park

An old Sign outside of the park

Max refused to leave the comfort of his warm bed in the morning.

Gas Station outside of park

Jumping on Salt in Badwater Basin

Ranger Dave denying entrance to the Sequoia National Park without chains

Yellowstone National Park With My iphone

As much as I would like to upload several beautiful images from my big camera, I left my card reader in Spokane and I haven't been on my computer in weeks. The last few posts were done with my iPhone and for me, it doesn't matter what equipment you use to get an image, as long as you are able to tell a story. I post photographs from my journey each day on instagram if you have that app in your iPhone, you can find me there.

Yellowstone is my favorite National Park by far. Everytime I go, I discover something new and this trip was no exception. In fact, I think this was my favorite visit yet!

I was lucky enough to get three nights of camping by a last minute cancellation since the park was completely sold out.

Here are photographs I took with my phone. I hope it gives you an idea of what my experience was like. If you've never been to Yellowstone, I would highly recommend a visit.