I’ve been neglecting my blog of late, because I have BIG news!

I will be embarking on a month-long road trip of the Western US sniffing out local hotspots and secret haunts on assignment for




It will be called, you guessed it, the “CURIOUS TRAVELER” and it would mean the world to me if you would read it, follow it, share it, ooh and ahhh over it, or spit and curse at it…just so long as you check it out as often as possible!

I leave this Monday June 4th from my hometown of San Diego and will return for the 4th of July. In between I will explore coastal CA, OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, UT & NV.  Please feel free to send me tips on places in those states that I MUST see or do!

You can follow my misadventures through several means:

By going to the Curious Traveler Website itself.

By following on Twitter @CuriousTraveler for updates

By following on Instagram @shannonswitzer

This is a big break for little-old-me and your support and spreading of the blogs will earn you my undying devotion and affection forever and ever amen.

Thanks in advance! Frizbee thanks you too.

 

A few weeks back I got a call from my buddy Kristian asking if I wanted to join the Below The Surface crew on a white water rafting trip on the Salmon River.

“Yes. How much does it cost, and how far is it?”

“Well, it’s free, basically, but it’s a fifteen hour drive.”

Awesome.

I hadn’t been white water rafting in years, since I went on a mild river in Australia at the end of the season. The one we’d be going on was no wimp. It was riddled with class 4 and 5 rapids. I couldn’t turn down such a great offer, but my tuckus already hurt thinking about that drive.


The view for sixteen hours straight.






As the latitude increased so did the beauty. The sun set as we listened to an interesting radio station in the heart of Humboldt County, “Women of cannabis, please join us tomorrow night to talk about the spiritual healing powers of cannabis and how it empowers the female tribe.” Kristian was all about hitting that up.



Sandy, our ring-leader and organizer of the trip, had booked a beautiful craftsman home right on the ocean in Trinidad. This was our view the next morning at 6 am.





The house and its grounds were full of eclectic surprises in every nook and cranny.









Time to scoot those boots, we still had a two hour drive to the site of the river rafting.
















The crew (plus random lady walking and minus me behind the camera) all geared up. Sandy gets the “take abuse like a man” award. These fellas didn’t let up on her the whole weekend. This Sandy-Sandwich wasn’t the half of it.




The adrenaline was pumping. I managed to stay in. We only had one casualty, our front man Ben, but he managed to hold on to the raft and we pulled him back in. He had a go-pro rolling on his helmet…still waiting for that footage! I’ve got a give a shout out to the people I know who do white water kayaking and plummet down sixty foot waterfalls. You guys are nutzo. Truly.


On our way back down, we took a little pit stop amongst some giants. Much needed respite in the woods.













Getting mentally prepped for that drive home. Well worth it. The Salmon River and the entire Klamath River Basin is a special place, only wish we could’ve spent more time exploring.