Covering about 3.4 million acres, Death Valley is the largest national park in the continental United States. We spent five days there and saw a lot — a temporary return of an ancient lake, sculpted badlands, sand dunes, and volcanic hills streaked with color, along with a ghost town, abandoned mines, and the Racetrack Playa, where rocks move across the surface on their own.

Winter Storm Hernando — the Blizzard of 2026 — buried Hoboken under 20.5 inches of snow, turning gritty streets into simpler, timeless scenes.

After a week of freezing temperatures, ice floes drifted down the Hudson. As Midtown and Downtown Manhattan lit up at sunset, a lone tugboat cut through the ice, turning an already great scene into something even better.

On January 25, 2026, a winter storm walloped the east coast, bringing a foot or more of snow to parts of the NYC region (Hoboken got 9.8 inches). Here are some scenes taken during the height of the storm.

A forecasted sunrise fizzled, but the Hudson River didn’t. On a low-wind, boatless morning, the river revealed its movement — smooth, ordered, and brisk. Sometimes the right image comes from stopping the chase and going with the flow.