Category: Destinations
Mountains, Mountains, and More Mountains

Mountains, Mountains, and More Mountains

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Hey Guys! Here’s part two of our Denver area explorations. If you missed part one, you can find it here. We were only in the Denver area for one measly week, but we crammed every bit of adventure we could into that one week.

It was so cold and windy the day we went to Loveland Pass. Alex forgot his jacket and wasn’t up for doing much exploring so we walked around a little, snapped a few pictures, and got back into the warmth of the car.

Even on a cloudy day the view was breathtaking…and not just because it was cold.

We got there right as the clouds started brushing the tops of the mountains. We thought briefly about walking up the trail…but with one of us without a jacket and the bitter cold…we passed.

This picture was taken the same day as the ones on Loveland Pass. We took a drive up the Mount Evans Scenic Byway. We barely squeaked in on the last day the road was open for the 2018 season.

We made it all the way to Summit Lake before we had to stop. The road to the summit was already closed. Alex was still without a jacket so our hiking was pretty limited. It was a balmy 30° with a wind-chill much lower at Summit Lake that October day. Those of us who braved the cold and wind to see the views really wished we had actual coats and not just jackets. But Guys…look at that view!

We saw some female longhorn sheep. There was a whole herd of them just hanging out right by the road. Checking out the cars as they drove by. Meandering into the road whenever they felt like it. We thought they were goats until we talked to a Ranger. The Ranger told us all of the goats had been staying higher up on the mountain. Wildlife is one of our favorite things to see while we’re out exploring.

Here’s another shot of the view. This one was on the way back down. We were super bummed we couldn’t go all the way to the summit. We’ve made plans to go back to Colorado next year and have this on our list of places to revisit. Hopefully, on a warmer day.

Mount Evans, with a height of 14,264 feet, is the twelfth highest mountain in Colorado. The Mount Evans Scenic Byway is the highest paved road in North America and takes you through several biomes before getting to the top. We stopped at the Mount Goliath Natural Area to see the Krummholz Forest.

Krummholz comes from a German word meaning crooked wood. The stunted, twisted trees mark the transition between forest and tundra.

We love National Parks. We basically make all of our plans based on National and State Parks along with the State Capitol Buildings. Jerl had been looking forward to this particular National Park since we started this crazy nomad life. We were staying in Golden, CO so it took us a good two hours to get to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We only had one day to explore RMNP so we got up super early and spent the entire day seeing as much of the park as we could.

It was rut season for the Roosevelt Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. We were hoping to see and hear them. We hadn’t been in the park an hour yet, and we both saw and heard them. You can’t see them in the picture above, but this is where we were standing when we first herd them. Bugling to one another. Calling out challenges. Staking claims.

The mammas and the babies were grazing by the road.

The day we were at RMNP was the last day the Old Fall River Road was open for the season. We couldn’t have timed it better if we’d tried. And trust me, I try…but this was just a happy coincidence. Old Fall River Road was built between 1913 and 1920 as the first motor route to cross the Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s only a nine mile road, but it took us a couple of hours to traverse it. Every turn was cool enough to stop at and take pictures of and ogle, there were waterfalls to hike to, and all four life zones to learn about. The road ends about half way up the main park road at the Alpine Visitor Center.

 Welcome to the high mountain country! It was super windy up on the mountain at the Alpine Visitor Center. Soooo windy and not even close to warm. But I like the views…so we hiked the Alpine Ridge Trail. The trailhead is right off the Trail Ridge Road which is the highest road in any of the National Parks. The trail itself isn’t long…it’s just over half a mile, but it is a steep climb up 220 or so stairs. The trail ends at 12,000 feet. It was so windy the day we went that we kept expecting to get blown off the trail. It was a pain going up…but it totally made the trip down faster.

The view at the top was spectacular! There were mountains in every direction.

On a different day, we would have stuck around and really taken in the view…maybe even picnicked up there, but the warmth of our car was beckoning to us. So, we looked as long as we could withstand the cold and wind then raced back down the trail to get warmed up.

The aspens were showing off their colors. We found this gorgeous grove along the Trail Ridge Road. Fall colors are some of my favorite colors. I spent a good portion of our time here trying to find some fall foliage.

We were in Colorado three whole weeks. We’ve changed our plans for our next loop so we can spend more time in Colorado. For the first time…in 49 states…we’ve found a state that gives our love of Texas (our home state) a run for its money.

Colorado, we will be back.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Our 2018 Year In Review

Our 2018 Year In Review

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Hey Guys! Happy New Year’s Eve!!

I thought we’d end the year with a quick post to share some of our favorite memories from this year.

Our year started off…well…not the best. We spent last New Year’s Eve driving through an ice storm to get back to Missouri so Jerl could have eye surgery and our home-on-wheels could get a new engine. It was a stressful start to the year, but it got loads better!

We made it to twenty-one different National Park Units this year! Twenty-one! Two of those were revisits, but nineteen were new for us…so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that seven of our top ten memories for this year are about National Parks.

Let’s start with our honorable mention…Sparky’s Burgers in Hatch, New Mexico just missed our top ten, but we all like it so much we decided it really should at least get an honorable mention! We’d been eyeing Sparky’s for a couple of years now. We found out about it in 2015 while we were in Alamogordo, but didn’t want to drive that far in the time we had in the area. This year, however, we made it! And Guys…it’s so good! We got there right as they were opening and it’s a good thing because when we left, the line was already starting to curve around the block. Alex had to try one of Sparky’s famous green chili shakes. He chose chocolate and raved about it the whole time. I think next time I may have to get one too!

Our number ten spot isn’t a foodie or city or state…it’s not a National or State Park…it’s a view. The Columbia River Gorge from the Portland Women’s Form State Scenic Viewpoint in Corbett, OR was spectacular even though the smoke from some nearby fires was wafting through. We had this entire viewing area to ourselves…well…there was one other person there and he was busy having a conversation with himself…so…yeah. But, that view!

Sequoia Park Zoo comes next. We found this little zoo in Eureka, CA and made time to visit right at the end of a day of exploration. We got there just in time for the red panda feeding and zoo talk. We’ve been to some of the top rated zoos in the country and this little zoo is one of our favorites. Happy animals, clean and big exhibits…what more does a zoo need? What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in heart.

One of the things we love is a good view and what better place to get a view than atop one of Colorado’s tallest mountains. Pikes Peak is the most expensive mountain we’ve explored…but Guys…that view. When we were there, the summit was torn up for construction of the new Summit House. It’ll be fantastic when it’s done! We just might have to go back and see it completed!

One of the states that Jerl has been looking forward to the most is Colorado. The mountains have called his name for many years so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Rocky Mountain National Park is on our top ten list. We were only able to spend one day exploring this giant park and hope to go back one day to see more of it.

Yosemite National Park is in the number six spot on our top ten list for 2018! We were there right before the busy season, but there were still so many people. The few days we ventured into Yosemite Valley the crowds were insane! It wasn’t our thing…all of the crowds. But, when we drove Glacier Road and Tioga Road…the crowds weren’t nearly as bad and the views were ah-mazing!

One of the places I’d been looking forward to visiting is Redwood National and State Park! These two parks work together to preserve one of the largest tracks of old growth coastal redwoods left in the US. And! There’s Fern Canyon! This canyon has fifty feet walls covered in several types of ferns. It was so fun to wade down the small creek! If traveling isn’t your thing…you can take a look at Fern Canyon without leaving your home…it was used to film parts of Jurassic Park II.

We made it to Oregon right as the burn season was revving up. We could see the smoke from one of the fires at the park we were staying in. We were worried we wouldn’t make it up to Crater Lake National Park due to the fires. I’m so glad we did! Crater Lake is gorgeous! The blue of that water!! There’s a bit of lore that says the blue bird used to be black before it dipped into the waters of Crater Lake.

Olympic National Park rests in the number three spot on our top ten list for this year! This place…Guys, I could totally spend a season or two in this area of Washington. There is so much to love about Olympic National Park! You get beaches, mountain vistas, and forests of moss covered trees to hike through!

This next park is not only in our number two spot, but was the biggest surprise for us. We weren’t entirely sure of what to expect from Kings Canyon National Park, but we loved it! You get the gorgeous tall trees and you get to explore a huge canyon! We somehow ended up taking an old forest service road to get into the park and in doing so drove right through one of the largest groves of redwood old growth left. We had it to ourselves and it was fantastic! The canyon was a total surprise. There are views for days, hikes and waterfalls to explore!

Our number one memory of 2018 is Sequoia National Park! We heart tall trees in a serious way. We can’t get enough of them. We stayed in the Sequoia National Park area for two weeks and we spent every spare minute we could up the mountain, in the park walking amongst the tall trees. I’m already trying to plan our next trip to Sequoia.

We’ve wrapped up our State Tour. Y’all haven’t seen the last few posts about those explorations yet, but they’re coming! We hope that each of you have a wonderful New Year’s Day and a blessed 2019! Thank you for being a part of our crazy nomad journey!

See y’all down the road!
Portland Area Part Two

Portland Area Part Two

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Hey Guys!! We stayed in the Portland area for two weeks and we tried to squish as much as we could into those two weeks. We didn’t see everything on our list…but we came close.

Most of the time we spent in this area was smoky but we were lucky enough to have a couple of sun filled days to take in the views. We found a great overlook that gave us a nice view of Mount Hood. You can see the haze of smoke in the picture above.

Fort Vancouver was a British fur trading post built in 1824. The National Park Service has done an excellent job recreating Fort Vancouver. When I was looking it up online, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be much more than a partial fence and a building or two…it was really hard to tell online.

There was a volunteer manning the blacksmith building. If you ever really want to get a feel for what life was like while you’re at one of these forts…talk to the volunteers. The volunteers that choose to spend their time teaching the public about what life was like during certain areas or times are some of the most knowledgeable and passionate people we’ve met. We got to see what it took to make just one nail while we were in the blacksmith shop. He talked to us about how anytime the people in the fort needed anything they had to make it themselves. Want a house…better start making nails. Some of the blacksmiths back then could make 100s of nails an hour. The best ones could make 1000s of nails per hour. It took our volunteer a few minutes to make one. The blacksmith was one of the most important people in any settlement and usually made the most money.

The other building that had volunteers present the day we went was the carpenter’s building.  They were making some chairs while we were there.

Due to the lack of funding right now, there was only one Ranger on site and just a handful of volunteers so several of the buildings were locked up. One of the volunteers offered to show us the fur trading building where the area’s settlers would bring in their furs to get money or trade for other items. The biggest money maker was the beaver fur that the top hats were made of. Any respecting gentleman had a top hat made of beaver fur. They would bring the furs in all bundled up in 50 pound packs like the ones in the above left picture. The furs were inspected and weighed before a price was agreed upon.

There was a separate trading building for the Native Americans of the area. One family at a time was let into the fort to trade. When one family left another was let in.

I loved the garden at the fort! Look at all of those pretties! Y’all know my love affair with pretties. I can’t tell you how many pics of different flowers I took…probably more than what was necessary. Ha! The garden was full of life. Bees buzzing around…birds flitting about…I do love a good garden.

Pearson Air Museum is in the same area as Fort Vancouver. I believe the two parks are run jointly. The museum is dedicated to preserving the aviation history of the area. There are some very cool planes and exhibits in an old hangar.

The museum also keeps the history of the old mill that used to be in the area. I love this mural of the lumber mill that helped supply the WWI construction of biplanes. This was a great little museum that had a surprising amount of history and information crammed in it. We could have spent several hours here, but we’d spent all morning at Fort Vancouver and some of us were starting to get a little…hangry and needed food.

I knew there was a lot to do in the Portland area, but I really didn’t know just how much there would be to do! Maybe one day we’ll find ourselves back in the area.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Troutdale, OR

Troutdale, OR

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Hey Guys! We spent two weeks in Troutdale, OR so we could check out Portland and see the Columbia River Gorge area.

We really enjoyed staying in Troutdale. It was a cute little town and was close to pretty much everything we wanted to check out in the area.

The RV park we stayed in was right by the river. On weekends it was crazy busy, but through the week it wasn’t too bad. There were tons of marionberry bushes all loaded with ripe berries down by the river and the boys would walk down with me to help pick some. They would eat a few then wander off to the river. Honestly, I think I ended up with more berries in the bowl without their help, but I appreciated the company. We enjoyed fresh marionberries daily while we stayed at this park! Yum!!

At a local food chain called Burgerville we found an amazing marionberry shake! It was so good!

My favorite thing about the location of this RV park was it’s proximity to the river and all of the available walking paths we had. We like to get out and walk around everyday. Some parks make this easier than others. At this one we could walk down by the river, then make our way over to the main street of Troutdale. We could easily spend more time in this area. Troutdale is the cutest little town with art dotted here and there down the main street. We made ourselves a walking loop we liked to do in the evenings. Down by the river then up to the main street and back. We’d get right around 2 miles in when it was all said and done.

Location, location, location. Our home-base for the area was right next to the Columbia River Gorge. The Columbia River Gorge is where the Columbia River makes its way through the area by cutting a path right into the Cascade mountains. If you drive the Historic Columbia River Highway, you’ll come across some amazing waterfalls! This one is a popular one called Multnomah Falls and it’s right off the highway. You don’t have to put in a long arduous hike to get to this one which makes it nice and quick to visit but also is probably why this place was absolutely packed when we got there one morning. We were lucky to find a parking spot! To get to the falls you have to walk in a tunnel that goes under the highway and then under a railroad track. A train went by while we were there…I have to admit that the crowd and the location of the highway/train kind of detracts from the beauty of the falls.

If you stay on the Historic Columbia River Highway you’ll come to the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint. From the road, it doesn’t look like much. When we pulled in, there was one other car…and I think the guy was living out of his car and staying there over night. But, we pretty much had the place to ourselves to ogle the view. And what a view it was! In the picture above you can see the Vista House sitting up on the cliff over to the right of the picture. That’s where most people go and that’s where we were headed when we saw this little gem of a pull-off.

When we eventually got back in the car and headed to the Vista House, it was packed. There were so many people even though the Vista House was closed. We got there just before they officially closed. I barley had enough time to grab a couple of souvenirs. We hoped that everyone would leave after closing, but we definitely weren’t the only ones hanging around for the view. It is a great view, but I’ll be honest…I think I prefer the view from the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint.

Now, y’all know we love our foodies. And y’all have probably heard how Portland, OR is a huge foodie town. One of the things we wanted to experience is the famed Portland food truck scene. There are several areas of Portland that have a big gathering of food trucks…they call them Food Cart Pods. We did a little research on what was where and landed at this pod. I don’t remember what it was called, but it had food options for everyone. Charles got some Asian, a couple of us got Polish food, Nicholas had Mexican, and then one of us had Salvadorian food! I expected it to be a fast food setup with everything disposable, but some places had actual plates that you return to them when you’re done. There were tables to sit at while we ate. We were very pleasantly surprised by our food pod experience. We tried to go to a different one while we were in the area, but it didn’t work out. We went on a Sunday and tons of the carts were closed and there wasn’t a place to sit down to eat…so we passed.

But Guys…Portland did not disappoint with the foodies. Not even a little. It’s probably a good thing we were only there for two weeks…there are so many foodie spots to try!

We squished quite a few adventures into the two short weeks we had in the Troutdale area so I’m going to break this area up into two posts. I’ll leave you with these two pretties that we saw on one of our evening walks.

Stay tuned for part two!

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
San Francisco Part Two

San Francisco Part Two

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Hey Guys!! We stayed in the Vacaville area for two weeks while we explored the San Francisco area.

Vacaville was about forty-five minutes away from San Francisco so it really suited us well. Far enough away to avoid the crush of so many people on a daily basis, but close enough that we were able to spend two days explore San Francisco.

We passed by this field every time we went toward the Bay area. Do you see the little outhouse? It’s quite the outhouse! Complete with modern plumbing…but no door…and facing a highway. Oh the things we see…

Y’all know that big cities aren’t really our thing. In fact, we usually skip them, but I wanted to see the big red bridge. Our first day in San Francisco was on a weekend and boy let me tell you…the crowds were insane! It took us quite a bit of time to find a parking space anywhere near the bridge, but we eventually did. It was cold and super windy. Apparently, that’s a typical summer day for San Francisco. By the time we walked to the bridge that famous San Francisco Bay fog had started rolling in.

We waded through the crowds to snap some pictures of the view then hightailed it back to the warmth of our car. This was as close as we got to Alcatraz. Timing and tickets weren’t on our side this trip. I’m hoping to revisit the area someday, but like I said before…big cities aren’t really our thing…so, we’ll see. We made our way down to Fisherman’s Wharf to do some more sight seeing, but the crowds were just too thick for us so we decided to leave.

We headed out in search of food and found ourselves at a place called Roam. Do you see that burger in the picture? I somehow got my mouth around it (no comments please) and promptly realized that this burger was definitely on my list of top five burgers…near the top. We got the Fry-Fecta to go along with our burgers. My favorite of the three choices was the fried zucchini/onion spirals. We left reminiscing about all of the other burgers we’ve had while trying to decide which burger is on the top of our list of favorites. We all agreed it was a green chili cheeseburger, but we’re divided as to exactly which one.

By the time we were crossing back over the bridge to head home the fog had rolled fully in. It was a little eerie crossing over the water without being able to see it.

Our second excursion into the city was during the week. We made the trip first thing in the morning to avoid as much of the crowd as we could. We found Fisherman’s Wharf much less crowded. And Guys, check out the famous San Francisco hills. It’s hard to really see how steep it is in pictures…you can see the slope of it better in the bottom picture. Driving up one of the steeper hills felt kind of like the beginning of a roller-coaster. You know…the very beginning when you’re click, click, clicking slowly to the top of the hill so you can plummet down the other side. I feel like it would definitely be more terrifying to go plummeting down one of these steep San Francisco hills.

Our first stop was the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park where we learned about the city’s seafaring past. There’s a nice little museum at the Visitor’s Center where the boys got their Junior Ranger booklets, but the best part is right across the street, over at the Hyde St. Pier where you can walk around and explore some older ships.

We walked around an old passenger ferry named Eureka. Eureka started out as a ship named Ukiah that used to transport munition filled railroad cars. We loved walking through all of the old cars and the upper level where the passengers would ride.

Years ago…I don’t remember where I first got some…I had my first taste of See’s Candies. It’s been my favorite boxed chocolate since then. So, when we saw a See’s Candies store on Fisherman’s Wharf…I had to go in. And…come out with a few…souvenirs.

We ended up at a fish-n-chips place called The Codmother Fish & Chips. There’s something about having fish just feet from the water it was caught in…so good!

Our last stop in San Francisco was the Sutro Baths. At one time, the Sutro Baths were once the world’s largest indoor swimming complex. The building itself is all but gone, but there are still remnants of what once was. This picture of what the Sutro Baths used to look like was in the Visitor Center. Adolph Sutro, a German immigrant, used the money he made as an engineer of a ventilation tunnel for the silver mines of Nevada’s Comstock Lode to purchase the real estate called Lands End and build the Sutro Baths. The swimming and bathing complex was covered in three acres of stained glass and steel and seemed to be built right into the seaside cliffs.

Confession…I’m a little bit of a sugarholic. Just a little. Well, if I’m being completely honest, I might as well tell you…I’m a huge sugarholic. Huge! Some of my friends and family have told me that sugar runs through my veins instead of blood. While I’ve made an effort to cut back on the amount of sugar I have a day…er…I mean a week. We couldn’t pass up touring through the factory of one of my favorite sugary treats. Jelly Belly!

The Goelitz family has been in the candy business since 1869. That’s a lot of candy making! At the Fairfield factory, you can take a free self-guided tour of their candy making process and see the factory in action. In the picture above you can see what Jelly Belly bean centers look like. When the centers get their shells, they’ll be 40% bigger! The center bean of a Jelly Belly is made from a slurry made of sugar, water, corn syrup, and corn starch. Every Jelly Belly bean starts with the same basic slurry and then the flavor and color is added. The Fairfield Jelly Belly factory can make around 800 Jelly Belly bean centers per second. Once the bean centers have been made they have to cure, rest and dry.

Have you ever wondered how they mix the Jelly Belly beans for the bags of mixed flavors? They pour boxes of each bean in the mix on this long conveyor belt. The belt moves and the beans work their way up to a big barrel where the beans are all mixed up together. The beans are then moved by another conveyor belt to those big white containers in the picture (top left a bit) above where they wait to go to the packaging area.

There’s a bean artist who gets to spend all of their time making these Jelly Belly bean works of art. How fun would that be?! Some fun facts:  each work of art is typically 4’x5′, each picture weighs about 100 pounds with the frame, it takes around 100 hours from start to finish, and it takes somewhere around 12,000 beans to make one masterpiece.  

One of the best things about the Jelly Belly factory…they’ve got all of the flavors! And I do mean all of them. We, of course, had to take home some samples. Just a few. **wink, wink**

We really enjoyed exploring the San Francisco area! There was so much to see and do that we didn’t even scratch the surface with two very full weeks of adventuring. Maybe someday we’ll travel through the area again so we can hit some of the things we missed…when we’re ready to face the huge crowds again.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
World of Zoo San Diego

World of Zoo San Diego

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To my fellow animal lovers! I bring to you a post from San Diego, CA.

At this zoo, they have over 3,000 animals! We spent ALL day there and still missed some!

Their Koala’s are just too pampered, so happy and fluffy… Turns out koalas are very picky eaters, and will only eat certain types of eucalyptus leaves.

The Meerkats are on the lookout for any predators, this one kept darting it’s head back and forth at every bird and plane! A meerkat family will use about 5 burrows at a time, each being roughly 5 meters long.

The koalas weren’t the only sleepy ones, this lion was so tired that his tongue was sticking out! Reminds me of our cat Sadi…she’s always laying around with her tongue sticking out.

The polar bears were happy and sleepy too, I think we hit them all at siesta time!

All of the enclosures were HUGE and very clean. San Diego knows how to do a zoo.

They’ve got a sun bear… Look at those claws! They need them too, being the smallest bears around.

This little arctic fox has a little limp due to a surgery. And the zoo tells you that! They put a sign up telling why an animal has an injury so you don’t worry.

Animals aren’t the only thing they have, Look at this flower! They’ve got flowers and interesting plants all over the place!

They have Capybara in with the Llamas. Most of the exhibits have a sign showing you how big the animals used to be or how they have evolved. Like the one in the right picture! It’s not the same species but it’s their cousin from North America (which turn out to be extinct), and they were much bigger than they are now.

The tiger was just laying there looking around. I think he was too comfortable to move.  A tiger’s roar can be heard up to three kilometers away!

And then there was the hippo. While we were there we learned that hippos don’t actually swim, but walk. And all this time I thought they swam!

Elephants are super smart. The zookeepers put up contraptions with treats, and it didn’t take long for the elephants to learn how it works! Once one elephant got it, the others watched and found out.

Now the giraffes are something else. Let’s just say after watching them for a little, I will never let one lick my hand…

I think these flowers are called Paradise Birds and they look so neat! Almost like a bird…

They have a neat Skyfari. While you can’t really see any of the animals while you’re on it, it is a really nice view. It runs real smoothly. The San Diego Zoo has actually been open for over 100 years! It opened in 1916!

I have never been to  a zoo that has a Serval in it. At first I thought it was an ocelot but after getting a closer look I realized I was wrong. Servals are very successful hunters, catching fifty percent of their prey. Other big cats only catch about ten percent!

The flamingos were very pretty, and the smell wasn’t as bad as it was at other zoos!

This little magpie is a talkative bird! It would fly around and say hi to us!

This is the Secretary bird, I couldn’t help but think of Fawkes the phoenix on Harry Potter.

They had a peacock roaming around and yelling at people, I am pretty sure this one was trying to fight the tour bus they have. It looked right at the bus and yelled at it.

They raise their cheetahs with some big dogs, I think it’s really nice. The reasoning behind it is pretty interesting. A zoologist found that dogs have a calming effect on cheetahs, and since this cheetah is an ambassador animal (goes to offsite events for demonstrations and what not) then she’ll need all the calmness she can get!

Now before we go any further, I must warn you, you are about to see awesomeness. You have been warned.

It’s time for the best part of the zoo. THE PANDAS!!! They have a nice enclosure for the pandas, but if you want to see them get there early, the line gets pretty long. Make sure you grab a map at the front too, you’re going to need it. While they do have red pandas, we couldn’t find them. They are masters of stealth! I am bummed about not being able to see the red pandas but we saw the giant pandas!!

Well this zoo definitely deserves 5 stars, it’s so clean and big. I didn’t see a single animal that wasn’t happy and healthy! Well done San Diego, you made it to the top 5 zoos on my list.

See y’all at the zoo!!

#worldofzoo

Written by Nicholas
Seen in San Diego

Seen in San Diego

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Hey Guys! We spent two very full weeks in the San Diego, CA area and we still didn’t see it all, but we got in as much as we could.

But first, let’s talk about the drive from Tucson to San Diego. It’s not one that I will want to do again any time soon. Not too far after Yuma…just past the CA border you get to this area of well…wind and heat and hills. There wasn’t anything at all for miles and miles. Except the intense heat (we crossed in April and the temp got up to 95) and the wind that tried to blow us off the road every so often with a mighty gust.

The conditions are bad enough that California put in pullovers every few miles for radiator water and call boxes. Because, yeah…there’s no cell service here either. Along with the radiator water, call box, and hill percent grade warnings there was a sign that urged motorist to turn off their air conditioning…you know…so maybe your vehicle will actually make it through this little slice of the H word. I was a nervous wreck by the time we got though all 20 to 30 miles of it and if we ever decide to go back to San Diego, we are definitely going to need a different route.

When I was planning this area I had a hard time finding an RV Park that fit us. I don’t want something right downtown in the middle of all the traffic. It needs to be a safe area, kid friendly, and not cost $90 a night. I stumbled onto the Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, CA right as I was about to give up on seeing the San Diego area. Guys, this is a great park! Look how big our yard was! And…fullhookups for right around $30 a night! Score! We were only half an hour from the coast…so not too far away from the touristy stuff we had planned, but far enough away that we weren’t stuck in the middle of the rat race everyday.

We had some pretty cute neighbors here too. We had ground squirrels as neighbors at Catalina State Park back in Tucson as well, but these guys were twice the size! Just as fun to watch though. We also had tons of rabbits as neighbors here. The little jerks liked to get up on our steps at night and do their…potty business. So, there were rabbit pellets all over the steps and our mat for the first few nights. We stopped it by putting our steps in every night. Take that rabbits. We heard rumors of rattlesnakes, but we never saw one. And ants…we heard rumors that there are legions of ants just waiting to invade your RV, but we didn’t see any of those either. We got lucky.

All National Park units tell a story. Some, like Cabrillo National Monument, has more than one story to tell. Cabrillo National Monument tells three different stories. The stories of exploration, guidance, and protection. One of the stories told at Cabrillo NM is about it’s namesake, Juan Radriguez Cabrillo who set sail in New Spain in 1542 to explore and claim new lands for the King of Spain. Cabrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.

Another story here is the story of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which operated from 1855 to 1891. The lighthouse was in the perfect spot as long as the weather was good, but if there was any fog…the lighthouse couldn’t be seen. So, a new lighthouse was built closer to sea level in 1891. The old lighthouse has been preserved and is set up in the fashion it would have been during the time when the longest serving keeper and his family lived there. Robert Israel worked as the lightkeeper for 20 years. He was on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week so he had very little time to spend with his family.

The last story we learned about was of Fort Rosecrans. Point Loma is a natural protective barrier located at the entrance of the San Diego Bay. Due to its strategic location Point Loma has had an important part in coastal defense since 1797 when the Spanish built Fort Guijarros at Ballast Point. Today, at Cabrillo NM, you can explore a bunker from WWII where many soldiers spent countless hours watching for enemy ships, planes, and submarines.

The boys really enjoyed this Junior Ranger book. It had them exploring different sections of the NM in order to answer questions. They like the interactive booklets that make them get up and explore more than the ones that just have them find answers in the visitor center museum.

We spent over four hours exploring the USS Midway. We’ve been to a few different battleships, but this was our first aircraft carrier. The USS Midway was built in 1945 during WWII in 18 months by women. Most of the women had never even picked up a tool before they were drafted to work in factories and plants to help with the war effort. You are looking at the first ship that was too big to go through the Panama Canal. At the time, it was the largest ship in the world. Our favorite thing about touring the Midway was hearing all of the personal stories from the Veterans who were volunteering as guides. Hearing someone recount their time and experience as a crew member made it more personal…more real…for us. It was different than just reading a sign about what this room was used for or what that lever does.

Let’s talk foodies! It is San Diego…they are kind of a foodie town. We took Alex out to lunch one day and he got a surf and turf burger (bottom left picture). He ate it all! We found a little taco shop that served Tijuana style street tacos (bottom right picture). It was originally started in Tijuana. You know you’re in the right spot to try ethnic food when there’s a language barrier. We got the family pack and it ended up being more than we could eat for only $40! Thanks to a cousin (waves at Dev) we found Hodad’s. I think the picture (top middle picture) tells you everything you need to know. The only one who finished their burger here was Charles. Those burgers were huge!

I think I’m going to have to break this area up into two posts. We did more touristy things here than we usually do. There were sooo many pretties in San Diego! I’ll share some with you now and some with you in the next post too! If I’m being totally honest here…I have enough pictures of pretties to do an entire post on just flowers. Ha!

Ok Guys! That’s it for this post…stay tuned for San Diego part two and watch out for Nicholas’ Pizza Street post and a new Zoo Review!

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018

Branson Day-Trip

Branson Day-Trip

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Hey Guys!

One of our favorite days during our 16 week travel hiatus was the day trip we took to Branson, MO with my parents!

For as long as I can remember, my parents and I have spent time in Branson every summer. I love that I’ve been able to show my boys some of the fun I had growing up and give them some Branson memories of their very own! This was the first year they were all tall enough to ride the go-carts solo.

Fitz’s Adventure was new to all of us. It was so fun running around being a kid with our kids! If you’re ever in Branson, MO…this place is definitely worth an afternoon!

Alex and I loved the rope course the most. It’s not really for the faint-of-heart. It’s all perfectly safe though.

You’re strapped into a harness then clipped onto a safety rope. Even Nicholas did alright on the rope course once he got over being up so high.

Rope course not your thing? You could do the wall climb! Yup, that’s Nicholas, Alex and me trying to make it to the top.  The wall climb was the hardest activity there for me. Not because of the height thing, but because I’m short, and out of shape. I think every muscle in my body was sore the next three days! Ha!

The two little boys both tried this. Alex got really close!

Nicholas took several turns in the laser course. There’s a viewing room so I got to watch him in action. There’s a huge plane suspended from the ceiling that you can climb up to. We did a few times just so the boys could sit in the cockpit and mess with all of the buttons, switches, and levers.

We spent the evening at the Dixie Stampede. Another first for all of us. This show had it all! Action, adventure, music, games…

and food! Food that you get to eat with your fingers during the show…which…is very cool, unless you want to take pictures. Let’s talk about the food. You get a soup (this was really good), an entire small chicken, half a baked potato, a slice of pork loin, corn on the cob, and a biscuit. No silverware required. You even get dessert! Score! It was all really tasty! I’ve been to quite a few of the shows in Branson and this one was so unexpectedly fun. It’s different from any of the other shows I’ve been to. Y’all should totally go check it out if you haven’t already!

The last thing we did was visit Branson Landing. The two little boys rode the zipline across the river. It goes pretty fast! Nicholas was a little unsure of it at first but seemed to warm up to it once it got going. Alex never hesitated…he’s my daredevil.

We found a soda shop that sells every kind of soda imaginable. And I do mean every kind. Dinosaur Dung soda…I think I’ll pass.

Nicholas found a Peanut Butter & Jelly soda that he had to try. He drank the whole thing. I’m still not sure if he actually liked it…he’d make a face every time he took a drink of it. Charles found a Chocolate Soda. He said it was really good!

We had the best day in Branson with my parents. We got to experience several firsts…which for people who’ve been to Branson soooo many times is hard to find. And, we got to share some of the oldies-but-goodies with the boys.

See y’all down the road!

Bourbon And More Part One

Bourbon And More Part One

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Hey Guys!! We spent two weeks in the Bourbon Capitol of the World! You might know it better as Bardstown, KY. 95% of all bourbon sold today is made in Kentucky.

We did so much during our two weeks in this area, I’m going to break it up into two different posts. Let’s get started with post one!

There is an official Kentucky Bourbon Trail that includes ten distilleries spread out all over Kentucky. If you pick up a KBT passport you can get a stamp at each distillery as you visit it. When you’ve got all ten stamps you can turn in the passport at the old court house in Bardstown to receive a free shirt! We hadn’t planned on doing the whole trail, but who can pass up a free shirt?

Some of the distilleries were in town, but several were out in the country. The road in the picture above is very typical of the roads we traveled while in Kentucky! Very windy and very narrow…pretty much one lane. I’m so glad we didn’t have to take the RV down all of these roads!

To legally be considered bourbon, a whiskey must be made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn. We ended up going to twelve different distilleries. We didn’t do tours at all of them. We skipped tours at three due to timing.

Whiskey used to be so valuable that it could be traded for goods and services, just like money. We were able to see different parts of the brewing process at the different distilleries. At the one in the picture above, we were able to taste the mash while it was brewing. It was kind of like a tasteless soggy oatmeal…not very good.

To be considered bourbon, the whiskey has to be distilled to no more than 160 proof. The percentage of alcohol that evaporates during the aging process is called “the angel’s share”.

My favorite part of the distillery tour is getting to visit the rick houses. The rick house is where the bourbon barrels are stored to age. Each distillery has their own way of aging a barrel. In fact, each distillery usually has several different ways depending on the type of bourbon they’re working on.

A standard bourbon barrel holds 53 gallons of whiskey.

During Prohibition, the Government Revenuers who were tasked with finding illegal moonshine stills could look in the forest for trees that were starting to turn black. Check out the tree in the right picture above. The bark is completely black with a sugar mold that’s the bi-product of the distilling process. Due to the tale-tell black sugar mold giving away their locations… the moonshine distillers would have to constantly move their operation because of the black sugar mold that grew on everything near the still. And I do mean everything…check out the lamp in the left picture above. I can’t imagine living close to one of these big distillers and trying to keep the sugar mold off my stuff!

A bourbon barrel can only be used once to age bourbon, but distilleries ship used bourbon barrels to Scotland and Ireland for the use in the maturation of Scotch and Irish whiskey. Most of the rick houses are painted black to help hide the sugar mold.

During Prohibition, the only way to get whiskey was to get a prescription from your doctor. Whiskey is good for what ails you. *wink, wink* Before Prohibition there were around 2,000 distilleries in Kentucky. During Prohibition six distilleries obtained a license to make medicinal whiskey. During the years of Prohibition, Kentucky saw some of it’s sickest days on record. There were right around 6 million prescriptions written for “medicinal” whiskey in thirteen years for a population of less than 1 million. During World War II the government used bourbon distilleries to make fuel alcohol and penicillin.

Did you know:  All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.

Maker’s Mark Distillery is one of our favorite tours. The grounds are nice, the tours are interesting and the tasting is fun.

A bourbon barrel has to made of oak. Most of the trees come from the forests of Missouri.

My favorite part of the Maker’s Mark tour is this hallway! The whole ceiling in that hallway is filled with Chihuly glass! It’s absolutely gorgeous!!

Each bottle of Maker’s Mark is hand-dipped in red wax. The other very cool thing about the Maker’s Mark Distillery is getting to dip your own bottle! Jerl was pretty excited to dip a bottle and then he was torn between saving the whole bottle or drinking it. Ha!

Kentucky is the birthplace of bourbon, but it’s not the only state that makes it. Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries fill over 1 million barrels with bourbon a single year.

The Jim Beam Distillery is another one that stands out for us. The campus is set up like an old farm stead. The tasting at Jim Beam was different from all of the other tours. Have you ever seen a bourbon dispenser? It was a first for us too. While the dispenser was cool…I liked the other tasting better because you were given information about what you were tasting and tips on how to taste it.

Did you know:  Bourbon barrels must be charred in order to be compliant with the laws of making bourbon. We ended our Bourbon Trail Adventures with a trip to the Kentucky Cooperage where most of the barrels are made. The picture above is actually from the Bulleit Distillery. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures at the cooperage. But Guys…it was really cool! If you ever get a chance to go visit one…do! We got to see the barrels made from logs to barrels…we got to see them getting charred and then tested to make sure they weren’t going to leak! The cooperage was one of the highlights of our entire time in Kentucky!

Un-aged bourbon goes by many names here are a few: white dog, moonshine, hooch, and white lightening. Every distillery we went to we ended up with something…as you can imagine, we accumulated quite a collection of souvenirs. Now to figure out where we’re going to store all of these souvenirs. Ha!

Rebecca Ruth is said to be the original maker of the bourbon ball. There are a few different varieties of them, but the chocolate is my favorite. And…not all bourbon balls are the same. They vary in taste and texture quite a bit. I, of course, had to try them every time they were available and let me tell you…some are amazing and some are…well…not.

Each year almost 120,000 mint juleps are sold during the two-day event known as the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby. I’ve always been curious about mint juleps and at one of the distilleries we came across a mint julep mix in a small bottle. I had high hopes…I’ll let my face tell you what I thought about it. I’m so glad it was just a small single serve bottle. Maybe a mix from a different distillery would be better? It’ll be awhile before I get the urge to try it again.

September is National Bourbon Heritage Month…it’s also my birthday…if anyone is looking for gift ideas…I did find this little gem. Bourbon Cream by Buffalo Trace is…well, it’s a little magical. I like a little of this in some root beer…it’s soooo good! It’s like a grown up root beer float!

Kentucky cows are very happy cows. The grain mash that’s left over after the distilling process is called distiller’s grain (slop) and is given to farms to feed their cows.

And…then there’s the ice cream. It’s mine. Aaaallll mmmiiinnnne!!! *insert evil laugh here* But seriously, the bourbon ball ice cream should be illegal.

That’s it for the Kentucky Bourbon Trial! Stay tuned for Bourbon and More Part Two!!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasterntrail2017

The Keys For New Year’s Eve

The Keys For New Year’s Eve

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We were sooo close to The Keys that we really didn’t want to miss checking them out, but we couldn’t stay long. We do have a schedule and in order to keep all of our doctoring appointments we could only spend two nights in The Keys. And…those nights happened to fall on New Year’s Eve.

I knew we were in trouble when the water turned this amazing color of blue as we drove along the Over The Seas Highway. I knew right then that we were all going to love the area and that we weren’t going to want to leave so soon.

For anyone curious…it really is just a bridge connecting a bunch of little islands or “keys”.

For our first day there we were supposed to get there, set up, and then spend the entire afternoon in Key West. It went really well until we hit the traffic. It ended up taking us about four hours to go maybe 60 miles. It was a little insane. We did make it to Key West, but so did roughly a million other people (I may be exaggerating that number by a couple). We stood in line for 45 min to take our pic with the Southernmost Point buoy.

We tried to go to a fort, but it closed at 5pm and we were late so we headed over to the place I’d found for Key Lime Pie…but there wasn’t a free space to park…anywhere…within several miles. So, we left. We were tired and it was getting dark and I’d been warned beforehand that Key West after dark wasn’t exactly family friendly. On the way to the Key Lime Pie place we passed by the end of Highway One! We’ve been on this highway on and off all year so it was kind of neat to see mile 0!

The next day we had reservations for a snorkeling excursion! We woke up to a very cold, but pretty morning.

The water was so cloudy from the choppy water that we couldn’t see a thing. And…the water was pretty cool. Not cold, but cool enough that no one (there were 15 people on our boat) stayed in the water long. We were kind of bummed about that, but it’s hard to be in a bad mood when you’re surrounded by the beauty of The Keys.

The Captain of our boat felt really bad about the conditions, but there wasn’t anything he could do about the weather. He ended up taking us on a little sightseeing tour to make up for the snorkeling! You can see Seven Mile Bridge in the picture above.

We got to see a pod of dolphins playing around! I didn’t get the best pics of them…they didn’t jump out of the water or anything, but they would surface and play. You can see two of them near the bottom center of the picture above.

By this time in the tour it was starting to warm up to a balmy 70 and we’d all stopped shivering.

 Our snorkeling/boat tour was a great way to spend our only full day in The Keys. We were done by noon and were able to relax the rest of the day.

I did get a little video of the boat ride. What do y’all think? Do you like the videos or not? It’s all done right on my phone…I’m not a professional at all…

Our Captain took us by this place. It’s a dockside restaurant called Burdines. We ended up going there for lunch!

Everything was fresh and we had some of the best burgers we’d had in a long time!

We were able to get some Key Lime Pie…

two different ways. Regular and fried! It was soooo good! We experienced the laid back Keys vibe at Burdines while we were waiting for our food. It’s not the fastest place, but it does warn you right at the top of the menu. Everything is made fresh…it’s not fast food. You didn’t go to McD’s. Everything we had was top notch and our server was genuinely nice.

 After we got our fill of food, we moseyed over to Bahia Honda State Park and stopped by this bridge view on the way there. This is the same Seven Mile Bridge you saw in a pic earlier. You can see it better here.

We’d heard that there’s camping at Bahia Honda State Park that’s suitable for RVs and we wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, only registered campers could get to the campground. But…we did get to stroll around the beach and do a short hike to the view above!

We hung out at the SP long enough to see the beginning of a spectacular sunset.

It was so pretty; I’m going to give you another shot of it.

We got back to our RV park just as the sun was sinking. We headed back to our little home on wheels and had a very nice, very quiet New Year’s Eve celebration. Our tradition is to have a Back To The Future marathon and some sparkling cider at midnight.

There were pretties everywhere, but I somehow only got a shot of these. They were at the park we stayed at.

We hated to leave The Keys. The small amount of time just made us hungry for more of the island life and we were already making plans for round two before we even pulled out of the RV Park.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016