New Year's Post

It's that time again where I try and summarize the year that has just pasted in a number of photos and a few words.

2018 was a very different year in travel for me. After new yeas in Mexico City I flew off to Nicaragua and spent about a month traveling around my only new country for 2018.

While in Leon I hopped on a local bus to the Las Penitas Beach.



I spent one day visiting the volcanic lake Laguna de Apoyo from Granada.



After my time in Nicaragua I flew back to Mexico and then on to Bogota, Columbia. I have been to Bogota before and enjoyed the city. After almost 5 years on the road I decided to just rent an apartment and spent almost 3 months in the city leading somewhat of a normal life.

This is a photo of the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá.



While in Bogota I decided I liked having a home and maybe it was time to bring my vagabond type of a life style to an end. My plan has always been to settle down in South East Asia once I got tired of traveling. There is just one thing in traveling I wanted to do prior to leaving the US for good and that is to experience some of the national parks.

I bought a jeep, my first vehicle in 18 years and took off to see what it was like to drive around the US. I spent most of the last 6 months driving around going from one National Parks Site to the next.

The first National Park I visited was Hot Spring National Park in Arkansas and this is a ceiling in one of the bath houses.



This photo is of Big South Fork National Recreation Area in Kentucky.



The following is from Great Smokey Mountains National Park.



This is one of the photos I took while driving the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a National Parkway that runs between the Great Smokey Mountains and Shenandoah Valley National Parks.



I was thrilled to see a bear in Shenandoah Valley National Park. I think the following video turned out pretty good.




This photo is of Brandywine Falls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio.



I viewed Niagara Falls from the US and Canadian side of the border.





The following 2 photos are from Acadia National Park, Maine.





The next 2 pictures are from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.





This photo is from Tettegouche State Park on Lake Superior in Minnesota. During 2018 I stuck my toes into all the great lakes and even swam in a couple but damn they are cold.



The St Louis Arch is now The Gateway Arch National Park and was only upgraded in 2018 from being the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial so is the newest National Park.



This is of the Alley Spring and Mill in the Ozark National Scenic Riverway.



While walking on a trail in the Buffalo River National Park I got scared by a copperhead snake.



I have visited a number of Texas state parks this year and this was take at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.



This photo is from Caprock Canyon Texas State Park.



This art work is in Seminole Canyon Texas State Park.



Boquillas Canyon is in Big Bend National Park in Texas.



Big Bend National Park in Texas.



Sunset in Big Bend National Park.



I spent a couple of nights in Big Bend Ranch Texas State Park.



A rattlesnake crossing the road in Big Bend Ranch Texas State Park.



This is called the staircase leading to the devils hall in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.



I was really impressed with all the strange rock formations at Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona.







This is part of the Coronado National Memorial in Arizona.



I did a number of hikes in Saguaro National Park. The Saguaro cactus are very impressive.



This is from Pipe Organ Cactus National Memorial.



2018 was a good year and I have seen a lot of pretty places. I wish everyone a wonderful 2019.