Travel with Rolando Chang Barrero

Experience the LGBTQ+ Campgrounds with Rolando and Bella One of the unexpected joys of traveling full-time has been the conversations I have along the way. Last night , I spent time talking with someone who was completely new to the LGBTQ+ camping world. As we talked, I realized just how difficult it is to explain this community to someone who has never experienced it. There isn't just one kind of LGBTQ+ camper. There are people who came out as young adults in their 20s and others who waited until retirement. There are gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer, and intersex travelers; singles, couples, throuples, chosen families, lifelong friends, and members of our community who are differently abled . Every person arrives with a unique story, different life experiences, and different reasons for seeking friendship, acceptance, adventure, or simply a place where they can truly be themselves. And everyone camps for different reasons. Some are looking for peac...

COMING SOON! My epic USA Road Trip in an RV with My Dog | National Parks, Hidden Gems & Scenic Adventures New on YouTube Experience America through the windshield of an RV and the eyes of a photographer. Join me, Rolando Chang Barrero , and my loyal travel companion Bella , as we explore America's most breathtaking National Parks, hidden back roads, historic towns, scenic byways, roadside attractions, and unforgettable sunsets. Whether you're planning your next RV adventure, dreaming about retirement travel, or simply love discovering beautiful places, this channel is for you.

Enjoy the Scenic Overlooks and Gentle Mountain Trails of Shenandoah National Park Some National Parks leave you speechless with dramatic landscapes. Shenandoah National Park won me over more quietly. Bella and I entered the park by way of Skyline Drive, one of America's great scenic roads. Mile after mile, the Blue Ridge Mountains unfolded before us in layers of soft blue and green, each overlook offering a different perspective across the Shenandoah Valley. Unlike parks that overwhelm with towering peaks or sheer cliffs, Shenandoah invites you to slow down, roll down the windows, and simply breathe. It was the mornings that captured my heart. Before the day's visitors arrived, the park belonged to the birds. Their songs echoed through the forest as the first rays of sunlight filtered through the hardwood canopy. The cool mountain air carried the unmistakable scent of damp earth, fallen leaves, moss, and pine. It was the kind of fragrance no candle or perfume could ever imit...

Experience the Otherworldliness of White Sands National Park There are places that make you feel as though you've left Earth behind. White Sands National Park is one of them. Bella and I arrived beneath an increasingly dark sky, the brilliant white dunes stretching to every horizon like fresh snow beneath gathering storm clouds. The contrast was almost surreal. The dazzling gypsum sands reflected what little sunlight remained while towering charcoal clouds rolled across the Tularosa Basin. It felt as though two worlds were colliding. The timing could not have been more perfect. As we ventured deeper into the dunes, the wind began to rise, erasing footprints almost as quickly as they were made. The landscape became quieter with every step. There were no towering trees, no rushing rivers, no distant traffic—only endless waves of white sand sculpted by the wind and an approaching storm that demanded our complete attention. Bella seemed just as captivated as I was. She bounded across t...

  Experience the Waters of Hot Springs National Park A Step Back into America's Spa Town with Bella Some National Parks are defined by towering mountains or dramatic canyons. Hot Springs National Park is different. Here, the attraction isn't a distant vista—it's the water itself. For centuries, people have come to these natural thermal springs seeking relaxation, healing, and renewal. Bella and I quickly discovered why. Unlike most National Parks, Hot Springs blends nature with history. Instead of winding through remote wilderness, we found ourselves strolling along Bathhouse Row , where elegant early twentieth-century bathhouses line Central Avenue like grand hotels from another era. Their ornate facades, marble entrances, stained glass, and classical architecture transport visitors to a time when America came here to "take the waters." One of my favorite surprises was the Fordyce Bathhouse , now serving as the park's Visitor Center and Museum. Walking th...

Saguaro National Park Where Even the Heat Has a Voice When Bella and I arrived at Saguaro National Park, Arizona was under a heat advisory . The desert wasn't simply hot—it seemed to radiate from every direction. The air shimmered above the pavement, and even before stepping out of the RV, I could feel the sun reminding us that this was a landscape that demanded respect. Traveling with Bella always changes the way I experience a place. Every decision begins with her safety. Long hikes were out of the question, so we chose shorter walks during the coolest parts of the day and spent much of our visit exploring the scenic drives. It turned out to be exactly the pace the desert wanted us to keep. Fun Fact:  A saguaro usually doesn't begin growing its first arm until it's 50–75 years old , making those multi-armed giants among the oldest living plants in the desert.   From the comfort of the RV and the overlooks where we could safely stop, I watched thousands of saguaros stretch...

Sequoia National Park Walk Among Massive Ancient Trees in California’s Giant Forest. Measured in Centuries October 2025  The park announced itself in a way I never expected. As Bella and I climbed the winding road into Sequoia National Park, the forest suddenly gave way to what looked like an impossible obstacle—a colossal granite boulder suspended directly above the roadway. Rather than blasting through it or carving it away, the park's engineers had built the road beneath it. For a brief moment, I drove under what felt like a mountain balanced on stone walls, wondering how something so massive could simply hang there. I stopped, got out, and stood beneath it. It was my introduction to Sequoia: a place where nature dictates the terms and people adapt with respect rather than force. Before I had seen a single giant sequoia, the park had already left me speechless. That first encounter set the tone for everything that followed. Bella and I had come to see the world's larg...

 About Rolando Chang Barrero Painter. Curator. Cancer survivor. Road-tripping rebel. There are people who live one life, and there are people who live several, back to back, each one nearly unrecognizable from the last. Rolando Chang Barrero is the second kind. He was born in Coconut Grove, Florida, and by the time he was a teenager, South Beach had already gotten its hooks in him. He landed there around 1980 and did what a broke, curious kid with an eye for beauty does: bartended, sold retail, drew rock graphics, modeled for a stretch — a run that took him from Ted Lapidus at Bal Harbour Shops all the way to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, working the floor for Torie Steele's boutique. Glamorous, yes. But it wasn't the thing. He came back to Miami to finish what he'd started: art. From Lincoln Road to Cuba He set up his first real studio on Lincoln Road, then picked up and moved to Chicago, landing in what's now the Pilsen Art District and cutting his teeth on ...

Cuyahoga Valley National Park  The National Park Nobody Told Me About Travel with Rolando to our 🇺🇸 U.S. National Parks by Rolando Chang Barrero Google Local Guide and LGBTQ Traveler America's State Parks & National Parks I'll admit it. Before beginning my journey to visit all of America's national parks, I knew almost nothing about Cuyahoga Valley National Park . Ohio wasn't the first place that came to mind when I imagined towering mountains, dramatic deserts, or iconic landscapes. I couldn't have been more wrong. Cuyahoga Valley doesn't overwhelm you. It quietly wins you over. Nestled between Cleveland and Akron, this is a national park that doesn't rely on grand spectacles. Instead, it invites you to slow down, wander a little, and discover beauty hidden in places many people would otherwise drive right past. Bella and I spent the day exploring waterfalls, wooded trails, peaceful wetlands, and historic sites connected by winding country roads. Th...

  B ig Bend National Park Where the River Divides Nations Peacefully Travel with Rolando to our 🇺🇸 U.S. National Parks by Rolando Chang Barrero Google Local Guide and LGBTQ Traveler America's State Parks & National Parks There are places that impress you with their beauty. Then there are places that quietly challenge everything you think you know about borders, wilderness, and the relationship between people and the land. Big Bend National Park is one of those places. For me, Big Bend wasn't just another national park to check off my list. It was one of the destinations I had dreamed about for years. After days of driving across West Texas, the landscape slowly transformed into one of the most remote and breathtaking places I have ever experienced. Bella and I had finally arrived. The first thing you notice is the silence. Not the absence of sound, but the presence of it. The wind through the desert grasses. The distant call of a bird. The Rio Grande quietly carving its...

The Badlands Don't Welcome You... They Challenge You! Some places throw open their arms and invite you in.  The Badlands aren't one of them. Travel with Rolando to our 🇺🇸 U.S. National Parks by Rolando Chang Barrero Google Local Guide and LGBTQ Traveler America's State Parks  & National Parks From the moment I drove into Badlands National Park , I felt as though I had crossed into another world—one shaped not for comfort, but by millions of years of relentless wind, water, and time. Jagged ridges rose from the prairie like the weathered bones of the Earth itself. Every overlook tempted me to stop, yet every step reminded me that this landscape has never belonged to us. The Badlands don't try to impress you. They challenge you. They challenge your sense of scale, your understanding of time, and your place in the natural world. As I stood there with Bella by my side, I found myself thinking less about the dramatic scenery and more about the countless lives tha...

El Malpais National Monument & Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano! By Rolando Chang Barrero Travel with Rolando and Adventures with Bella More National Parks https://travelwithrolando.com/ That was my overwhelming feeling while exploring El Malpais National Monument and nearby Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano in western New Mexico. "El Malpaís" means the badlands , a name early Spanish explorers gave this rugged landscape of ancient lava flows. But after spending a day here, I'd call it anything but "bad." Millions of years ago, volcanic eruptions transformed this region into a dramatic landscape of black lava rivers, lava tubes, cinder cones, sandstone cliffs, and resilient forests. Today, it's a place where geology, history, and nature come together in spectacular fashion. One moment you're standing inside a cool volcanic cave looking up through a collapsed skylight at the brilliant New Mexico sky. The next, you're staring into the surreal green wa...