JD is settling in and she is discovering a love of hiking in Arizona. She is trading corn stalks for cactus and getting out to explore the new setting. Expanding her comfort zone, JD started hiking through the Sonoran trails. She was excited to share her newfound love of hiking through Arizona.

Storrier Stearns Japanese Gardens

Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, California is a perfect stop along the Pacific Coast Highway. It's a perfect mix of tropical and wild beach. If you want to truly appreciate how beautiful a beach can be, visit it early in the spring, after a rare Southern California dark and cloudy sky. Any beach can look appealing in bright sunshine and blue skies. For the wanderer that seeks raw and wild beauty where ocean touches the land, this is where you go.

Sipping morning coffee in the mountain air at Half Dome while watching the sunrise in Yosemite is one of the greatest moments I've ever had. I've written previously about my goal not just to see Yosemite, but to experience Yosemite. There is nothing like the experience of mixing fresh, hot coffee, with cold pine air, watching the light bounce off the icy needles in the trees.

Evergreen Lodge: Not only did it have everything I was looking for, but activities for the kids, a rustic, but comfortable cabin, a solar-heated saltwater pool--and onsite restaurants. This meant less time cooking after a long day, and less frustration of hauling and trying to store food.