Our Bay Area readers’ travel feature, ‘Wish You Were Here,’ returns!
It’s been a long couple of years, but the world is reopening, and travelers are venturing out once more on adventures near and far. So we’re bringing back one of our favorite features: Wish You Were Here.
For years, our readers have shared their adventures and travel tips in our Sunday Eat Drink Play section, sending us photos of themselves at landmarks from California to Zanzibar, and offering advice on what to see, where to go and how to plan.
You can join in the fun, too. Send us a photo of yourself on your latest adventures — local, domestic or international — to jburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com. Tell us where you are, who everyone is and where they’re from, and share a travel tip or two to help fellow readers do that awesome thing, too.
Today, we’re hearing from the intrepid Larsons who are on the road right now on an epic two-part biking and trailer camping trek last spring and this fall that has included 29 states, 49 bike trails and nearly 950 miles of cycling.
WISH YOU WERE HERE
OREGON: Like many of us, Sunnyvale residents Sue and Ted Larson didn’t travel much in 2020 and 2021. Now, they’ve hit the road in a big way. “We have indulged our passion for biking,” Sue says, “and are nearing the end of our second five-week camping/biking adventure in the U.S.”
Last week found them on the Banks-Vernonia State Trail, pictured, about 25 miles from Portland, for a 44-mile round-trip ride with stretches that reminded them of Big Basin State Park.
“This may be my favorite trail of this fall trip,” Ted says. “It’s in our top 10 nationwide, for sure,” Sue agrees.
TRAVEL TIPS: Do some research before you go, so you can plan not only trip logistics but how best to approach the trail. “We always love getting the hard uphill part of any trail done first and plan our rides that way,” Sue says. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a great resource. Its Great American Rail-Trail project is turning abandoned railroad lines into multiuse trails in 12 states. You’ll find the project’s interactive trail maps and plenty of biking and hiking inspiration at www.traillink.com.