Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

Showing 2 of 236 posts

Bill Fairweather's grave on Boot Hill, Virginia City, Montana, with the sign noting his discovery of gold at Alder Gulch in 1863

July 9, 20138 min read2013

Dateline July 9, 2013, Montana, Big Sky Country

South out of Yellowstone into Teton National Forest, the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Parkway with the Tetons all the way down the right side, and into Jackson, where the farmers' market was in full swing on a Saturday morning. Then north to Virginia City, Montana, a real ghost town with deep family weight: John's mother's great uncle, Bill Fairweather, was the prospector who discovered gold at Alder Gulch in May 1863 and effectively founded the place. John had last stood at Bill's grave in 1958, at age eleven. Then over to Big Sky to spend a couple of days with old family friend John Bohlinger, Lt. Governor of Montana from 2005 to 2013, the Republican half of Brian Schweitzer's bipartisan ticket. Lunch at the Montana Club in Helena. Spruce River Campground outside Kalispell, an electrical problem on the Roadtrek that needed a part to be picked up in Seattle. On to Lake Coeur d'Alene.

#wyoming #tetons #jackson-hole

Read story

The Hopewell Rocks at low tide, New Brunswick, the Bay of Fundy's signature flowerpot formations

Canada

July 22, 20128 min read2012

Dateline July 22, 2012, Back to the Bay of Fundy on the North Side, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Back from Newfoundland and onto the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. The Truro tidal bore turned out to be a small wake of a wave that produced an entire crowd singing 'Is That All There Is?' Five Islands, Nova Scotia, was the most beautiful campground of the trip, with hummingbirds at the fish store next door. The Hopewell Rocks at low tide in New Brunswick. Kelly's Bakery cinnamon buns in Alma. And a meaningful detour: a Fairweather family ancestry mission in Sussex on behalf of John's brother Will, where we found four graves of our forebears, including Hanford Fairweather, who died at age ten and for whom John is named. Then to Saint John, the Reversing Falls, the ferry to Deer Island and on to Campobello, FDR's summer cottage, and the bridge across to Lubec, Maine. Back in the USA.

#canada #nova-scotia #new-brunswick

Read story