Category: Foodie Find
Our 2021 Travels

Our 2021 Travels

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Hey Guys! It’s December 31…the last day of 2021…and I thought it would be fun to do a review of our travels for this year!

With everything that was going on this year, not only in our country, but worldwide…we weren’t sure how much traveling we would be able to get in. But, you know I had a plan and had us reserved just incase we could travel. Well, not only did things workout…we ended up spending time in sixteen states this year! We added twenty-nine new National Park Units to our overall NP count and managed to visit a new-to-us unit of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge…so 30 NPs all together for us this year. That puts our total National Park count at 189 of the official 423 National Park Units. So…we still have plenty to get to!!

While we spent most of the year traveling, we still got in several weeks of mooch-docking with family in Missouri so we could spend time with some of our favorite humans and get some projects done on our home-on-wheels. It’s always good to go home and see family. It’s always hard to say goodbye when we leave. Some goodbyes are harder than others…

We also had some celebrations during 2021! The boys are now 21, 18 and 17…and we had two high school graduations this year! Two! That means that we are officially done with homeschooling. I’m not sure how I feel about it…it is bittersweet.

We went through all of our 2021 travels and picked out our top ten favorite places we explored this year…so let’s get into it.

The first place we’re going to revisit on our top ten is Wall Drugs in South Dakota. Wall Drugs is in our number 10 spot. I know what you’re thinking…Jennie, Wall Drugs? Really?

Guys…Really. This place was unreal. We’ve explored quite a few places and have been to many many stores during our almost seven years of this crazy #nomadlife and we’ve never seen a store like Wall Drugs. We stayed about a block from it while we were in the area…so we got to see the crowds that came every…single…day. All Day. People would start lining up before they even opened, just to get their famous maple donuts or pecan sticky buns. Because we were staying so close for two weeks, we spent quite a lot of time in Wall Drugs perusing all it has to offer. If you ever need or want a souvenir for South Dakota…this is definitely your place. If you need a break from driving and some foodies…this is definitely your place. If you’re into quirky roadside attractions that have interesting history…this is definitely your place. If you’re anywhere near Wall, SD at all…Wall Drugs is SO worth a stop.

In the number 9 spot is Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota.

When we started this nomad life way back in 2015, we wanted to show our boys the Country they live in. We didn’t want to show them just the shiny pretty places, we also wanted to teach/show them our Nation’s history. Places like Pipestone National Monument, which preserves over 3,000 years of history, is a prime example of why we chose to live a nomad life in order to travel. We’ve learned so much history that we would have never even known about over the last almost seven years. There’s so much out there they don’t teach us in public schools. The historical National Parks like Pipestone NM are some of our absolute favorite National Park Units.

Keeping with our love of history lessons…it won’t surprise you that Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska made it to the number 8 spot on our top ten for 2021.

Scotts Bluff NM has both amazing views and a rich history. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Scotts Bluff NM. It was late Spring/early Summer when we went so the flowers were still in full bloom and the heat was ramping up. The day we went, we saw temps in the 90s so we didn’t spend as much time hiking as we’d’ve liked, but we hiked some and spent time in the visitor center museum learning. I never thought of this kind of landscape when I thought of Nebraska…we were pleasantly surprised not only with this park, but with this area.

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in Pennsylvania sits in the number 7 spot on our 2021 list.

When I asked the boys to name their favorite places we explored this year…it surprised me when more than one of them mentioned Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. This is one of the smaller parks we visited but it’s absolutely crammed with not only history…but also engineering. So, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me that my little nerds liked this NP unit so much. We learned about railroad engineering and the way railroads changed life along their routes.

Sitting in the number 6 spot is Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

Devils Tower NM is steeped in local Native American history and lore. We loved learning not only about the science of it, but also the lore woven around it. We visited this park on two separate days and it was insanely busy both days. If you go, make sure to pack your patience and since there’s not a lot of educational info available (no museum), which really surprised us, make sure to grab a Ranger and ask about the science and lore of the “tower”.

With our love of battlefields and history…it won’t surprise you to see Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee sitting at the number 5 spot of our 2021 list.

If you’ve been following along at all, you’ll know battlefields are our jam. So much so, that earlier this year we did a battlefield tour of Tennessee. And while all battlefields have certain things in common…the cannons…the war…the death… there are also the stories of life and perseverance and love…and those are what draw us in. You can learn so much from the stories that surround the battlefields. Stones River was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The stories we read…especially one about two brothers…really touched the boys and made a lasting impact on their views of life. This is what National Parks will do…they’ll change you for the better.

There are only three places that made it to our top ten that aren’t National Park units. The number 4 spot is one of those with James Island County Park in South Carolina.

Guys…this park is awesome! It’s not only on our top ten of 2021 list…it’s on our top places to stay list. I would go back to this area just to stay at this park. When I booked this place…it was a last resort. There aren’t a ton of places to stay in the Charleston area and when the place we usually stay wasn’t taking reservations because of the whole CV thing…and then the other places I tried were either closed or refusing to take reservations that far out…I ended up taking a chance on James Island County Park. It was the best decision. We love everything about this park. From the walking trails to the fishing pier (sunset pics) to the paddle boats (watch out for the gators) this park is the best one we’ve found in a long time.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee has the number 3 spot on our 2021 list.

There are 423 National Park Units. Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park unit in the United States. While the park was crowded every single time we went, we were still able to find a few quiet places. There is an underrated beauty to this park that is refreshing. We’ve found that while the “old man mountains” of the Smokies aren’t big and flashy…you won’t find the dramatic views like you’ll find in the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevadas…there is a quiet calm and a beauty to the Smokies. Tranquil is the word that comes to mind…even with the crowds.

Custer State Park in South Dakota is firmly in the number 2 spot of our 2021 list.

Custer SP should definitely be a National Park. We stayed just outside it for two weeks and good grief…the whole area is amazingly gorgeous. This park has it all! Views, hikes, wildlife… We look forward to going back someday. Hopefully, without the tornado that went through while we were there.

As soon as we started making a list of our favorite places of 2021, Badlands National Park was the first place we thought of. And, while we might have disagreed about which numbers the other places on the list fell…we all agreed that the number 1 slot definitely belongs to Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Guys, this park blew us away! Badlands NP isn’t just on our favorites list for this year, it’s made its way onto our overall favorite list as well. We saw so much wildlife at this park…and the colors were just…amazing. We went in the Spring while everything was still green and the bison were starting to shed their winter coats and all of the baby animals were bouncing around. Badlands NP has got to be one of the most underrated NPs in the NPS system. We spent two weeks going in and out of Badlands and completely loved it.

And….with a year of travel comes a year of foodies. We started listing the places that were fabulous…the places we wanted to include…and well, you can imagine that the list kept growing. So, I’ll leave this collection of foodie pictures here and tell you that we had a very very good foodie year. So good, we all gained a few extra pounds. Ha!!

We’ve been living this crazy nomad life while we’ve been on our #grandadventure for almost seven years now. In those seven years we’ve seen so so many amazing places and made countless memories. We’ve learned more than I ever thought we would, traveled farther than I ever thought we would and did things I never thought we would have the chance to do together as a family. We’ve grown… in more than one way…some of us are quite a bit taller now than when we started this amazing journey all those years ago…and with that growth, comes a need for a change. We’ve decided that 2021 will be the last year we live the nomad life. It’s time we get a more permanent basecamp where the boys can learn how to adult “normally” and go to college and get jobs and start planning adventures of their own.

So…this is the end of our Grand Adventure as a #digitalnomadfamily and as fulltime RVers. When we started planning this whole crazy thing way back in 2014, we never thought it would become our life for almost seven years, take us to 49 states and shape us in the way that only traveling can. And, as with every end, there is the magic and promise of a new beginning. As 2021 ends and 2022 begins we look forward to the promise of adventures…of a new kind.

We hope y’all have a wonderful New Year filled with all of the amazing adventures your heart desires.

Thank you for coming along on this crazy nomadic ride with us…we’ve loved having you be apart of the journey!

Much Love,

Jerl, Jennie, Charles, Alex and Nicholas

#theend
Back To Tennessee

Back To Tennessee

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Hey Guys!! Merry Christmas!!! We hope everyone has an amazing day filled with everything you love!

When we left Louisiana we took the long way around to get back to Tennessee.

We spent a couple of weeks back in Houston. I’d planned on getting the boys back to see their pediatrician for their yearly wellness checkups while we were there. The Dr.’s office even texted me a couple of weeks before we got there to remind me it was time…but when I called to make the appointments…the Doc wasn’t going to be in town while we were. Soooo….that didn’t happen. We did get to spend time with a few of our friends and hit a few of our favorite H-Town foodie spots, so definitely time well spent!

From Texas we headed back up to Missouri where we spent about a month visiting with family and friends. We were there over Thanksgiving and loved getting to spend it with my parents. We also got to help Grammy put up the Christmas tree and celebrate her December birthday!

Like every time we’re back in Missouri, we had projects we wanted to work on for our home-on-wheels. I dabbled in some craftiness and made a reusable advent calendar. Well, I bought the little cabinet built but unfinished and I stained it and decorated it…now I just have to find a spot for it in our tiny home. Ha!!

We replaced our states map because some mold or something had worked its way under the stickers and was damaging the paint on the RV. We got all the stick off, but there wasn’t anything we could do to fix the discoloration left by the mold. We got a new states map and instead of putting up a new Canada map, we decided to put up National Park stickers representing all of the National Parks we’ve been to…that would be forty-four…if you’re curious! I’m kind of loving have the NP stickers up. Everyone has a map, but I haven’t seen anyone else with these stickers up.

We also took the opportunity to hit some of our favorite foodie spots. If you have a Logan’s Roadhouse near you…go get their cookie dough cake. Make sure you eat that before you eat your meal…you’ll thank me. *wink* We had ours after lunch and struggled to get it all down, but we got it all down!! Ha!! It was too good to leave any behind!

Nicholas…our Littlest…graduated from High School while we were staying with my parents so they were able to help us celebrate his accomplishment! He worked hard to graduate a semester early. We’re so very proud of Nicholas and can’t wait to see where his journey takes him.

The route we took to get back to Tennessee from Missouri had us going right by Ozark National Scenic Riverways and well…if you know us…it shouldn’t come as any surprise that I planned an overnight stop right by the Visitor Center. We didn’t have time to do everything we would have liked to have done, but we did get to see Big Spring. This place was gorgeous! The water color was so brilliantly blue. Big Spring is one of the world’s largest springs with an average water flow of around 470 cubic feet of water per second. You can walk around it to see where the water comes out of the rock. It’s all of the minerals that the water picks up while going through that rock that gives it that turquoise color.

We found the best Mexican restaurant in Missouri. It’s called Las Margaritas and it’s in Van Buren and Guys…it’s a must stop. Everything we got was amazing. Ah-mazing!

We also spent a night in Nashville…just to eat at Hattie Bs Hot Chicken. Hattie Bs!! We stood outside in line on a cold drizzly December afternoon and didn’t mind at all because…Hattie Bs!!! If you know, you know.

We got to Knoxville December fifth and will be here at least through the winter…maybe longer…we’ll see.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour

NOLA Area

NOLA Area

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Hey Guys!! We survived our fun in Florida and we basically started making our way back to Tennessee for the winter. We took the long way back and headed to Louisiana for the week of Jerl’s bday…to eat…

Since we were in the NOLA area, I thought we should really try to squeeze in at least one National Park Unit in the area. Thanks to hurricane Ida that went through the area early that year, all of the NP Visitor Centers in the area were closed. We could still go walk around the Chalmette Battlefield and learn about the Battle of New Orleans though. So, we spent a couple of hours on a beautiful October day and did one of our favorite things…learned some history.

The Battle of New Orleans was the final military engagement between the United States and United Kingdom during the War of 1812 and is considered by many to be one of the greatest American land victories of the war. The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 between the US led by future President, Andrew Jackson, and the UK led by Edward Pakenham on what was at that time plantation lands. The US put together an army made of many different peoples that included frontiersmen, Louisiana militia, Free Men of Color, businessmen, warriors form local Native Tribes, smuggler Jean Lafitte and his privateers, sailors as well as US troops. The Americans were extremely outnumbered, but at the end of what was a long bloody day, the Americans stopped the UK from gaining control over a vital coastlines and ports.

The Battle of New Orleans destroyed a good chunk of Chalmette Plantation leaving the Chalmette family in financial ruins. To help with that, the family decided to break up the plantation into smaller tracts of land and sell it off. In 1817, the St. Amand brothers, who already owned several other plantations in the area bought the property you see in the photos above. The St. Amand brothers who were Free Men of Color that owned several other plantations and slaves repaired the damage caused by the war, built a house, and returned the land to sugar production.

Let’s talk about the real reason we spent a week in the NOLA area…foodies. And Guys, we found so many amazing foodies that weren’t even in NOLA. We mainly stayed in the Slidell and I have to admit, it was much more relaxing and less crowded which made it more enjoyable for us. The food in Slidell is stellar! We found all of our faves and even discovered a few new faves. If you ever have the chance, go to LeBlanc’s Creole Kitchen, Jazzy Pete’s Poboys, and Beignet Au Lait!! We also stopped by Peto’s I-10 for some of the best stuffed boudin balls you’ll ever have…anywhere.

We stocked up on some of our favorite snacks before we headed down the road…gotta have road trip snacks, right?!

And…even though it was late October and heading into the Fall season…I managed to find some pretties.

The week flew by as we stuffed ourselves with the foodies and our minds with some more American history…both are important things.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Family Fun in Florida

Family Fun in Florida

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Hey Guys! Somehow…I’m not sure how…I talked Jerl into another round of Universal Studios and Disney before we wrap up this year’s travels. On our way from South Carolina to Florida, we made an overnight stop in St. Mary Georgia.

I couldn’t resist taking a pic of our home-on-wheels with the beautiful hanging Spanish moss at our spot in Georgia. We don’t usually get to an overnight spot and then do anything, but we spotted something we couldn’t pass up on our way to the RV park…

Tabby Sugar Works or McIntosh Sugar Mill…depending on where you look for info… was built by John Houston McIntosh sometime around 1825…again, this is fuzzy and depends on where you look for info. McIntosh installed the first horizonal cane mill worked by cattle power.

Honestly, I just wanted to have a look at some cool looking ruins. And they were pretty cool! Unfortunately, all of the mosquitoes in the state of Georgia were there to greet us and try to get a free meal. We didn’t stay long. We were all super itchy after that.

When we head to the Orlando area, we always stay at Lake Louise State Park in Clermont. It takes planning because the park books up about a year in advance…especially if you’re wanting to snag one of the few full-hookup spots…but it’s so worth the effort. This time we saw some new things at the the SP! They’ve got these really cute “glamping” tents set up. It looks like they’re equipped with AC and they’re really close to the bathrooms. We also found that they’re offering guided horse rides! We’re usually in the area in the off season…so I’m not sure if these things are actually new or if we’ve just never been there while they were available. Either way, it makes Lake Louise SP an even better option when staying in the Orlando area.

One of our favorite things to do in the evenings while staying at Lake Louise SP is walk around and look at the different ponds/lakes. There are four that you have access to…three that you can easily walk to from the campgrounds. You can rent kayaks, canoes, and SUPs to get out on the water.

Just watch out for the residents. I’m pretty sure people feed them…which is a big no no…because they’ll follow you around on the docks as if they’re waiting for you to drop some food over into the water. Guys, don’t do that. Don’t feed wildlife. Gators aren’t smart enough to differentiate between the hand giving them food and the food itself. Once wild animals associate food with humans, they get dangerous and often times have to be killed. Let wildlife stay wild. They can get their own food.

I know I’m always talking about sunsets…but check out these sunrises! We caught a few while we were heading to the various theme parks and decided to get up early a couple of other days and head out to the docks to catch the sunrise there. It didn’t disappoint. It’s not something I’m going to get in the habit of doing…I’m not a morning person…but I might try to get up early once in a great while just to catch a sunrise.

Maybe.

We’ll see…don’t hold your breath.

The real reason we went to the Orlando area was…Harry Potterverse…aka…Universal Studios. We are, and will forever be, Potterheads. Always. I didn’t get very many pics during our two days at Universal, but we had an amazing time hitting all of our favorite rides and finding a couple of new favorites! Someone was kind enough to take our picture in front of Hogwarts…this is tradition for us, but sometimes it has to be a selfie.

This probably won’t surprise you, but we spend 95% of our time in the two Harry Potter sections of Universal. One of our favorite rides is Escape from Gringotts. I’m pretty sure we rode this one the most this time. The wait times were kind of ridiculous at times. We usually visit Universal during the off season…either in between Thanksgiving and Christmas or in mid January/early February. The temps are fantastic and the crowds are pretty much nonexistent. We went in October this time and Guys, it was a totally different experience.

We were super excited to ride the newest Harry Potterverse ride…Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure! Universal does such an amazing job at designing ride cues. When you’re waiting in line for a ride, there are so many things to look at, listen to or watch that go along with the ride. It’s all part of the ride. You actually start the journey before you actually get on the moving coaster and Hagrid’s is no different. This is such a great ride. It’s an actual coaster but just tame enough that our kiddo who refuses to ride coasters (Nicholas) will ride it…in fact, this is his new favorite ride…which shocked us all since it goes really fast, has some super dark spots where you can’t really see anything, and goes backwards. All things he isn’t too keen on, but he loves this ride.

Butterbeer is a required treat while visiting Harry Potterverse.

Required. Non-negotiable.

It has to happen.

End of story. Thank you very much.

But, butterbeer isn’t the only yummy drink offered. We took some time at the Leaky Cauldron and each got a different drink so we could have some of them all. Plus, we got to sit down in the AC…and when it’s 90+ degrees outside…that cold drink and AC was totally worth the moola!

I will never get tired of visiting Harry Potterverse. In fact, we were discussing how the park should expand the Potterverse sections and how they should go about doing it while we were there. If anyone from Universal Studios is reading this…reach out…we’ve got it all planned for you!

I would be perfectly content to find a shady spot to sit with a butterbeer in hand and just people watch all day in the Potterverse sections. Now, that said…I do have one complaint from this visit to Universal Studios…well, actually two…the rides broke down way more than usual and the selection of souvenirs was slim pickings. I know both of these things are due to current situations found in our Country right now, but I feel like these particular issues could have been foreseen and fixed by using American made products by American brands found here in America. So…Universal Studios…step it up and support your Country while making your brand even better.

We spent two very full days at Universal Studios…so, of course, we took the opportunity to enjoy some foodies!! We always hit up VooDoo Donuts. We found Hotdog Hall of Fame during our last visit to Universal and enjoyed it enough that we went back this time. The dogs didn’t disappoint! We’ve had more than our fare share of hotdogs…some we wish we’d never had…but all of the hotdogs we’ve gotten at the Hotdog Hall of Fame have all been really good. We also hit up Bubba Gump’s for the first time during this visit. And Y’all…I wish we’d gone sooner. It was such a fun place and the food was top-notch!

We are reluctant Disney fans. Reluctant because Disney as a company has made some very shady…very questionable…absolutely avoidable choices lately. If I’d known about some of these choices before I’d purchased our non-refundable, non-transferable tickets…we would have skipped Disney this visit because like I said before…We are Potterheads. And Universal is our home Park. That being said…we had the tickets, we had the reservations…so we went. Grudgingly, but determined to have a good time despite our misgivings about Disney as a company.

We only went to Disney for two days this time. One day at Hollywood Studios and one at Epcot…the two Disney parks we like the best. It was October and 90* and there were a gazillion people there. It’s a real number…gazillion. We’d never experienced Disney in these conditions and I have to say…we never will again. The lines were insane. The fact that we had to wear a mask on the rides was ridiculous. And the rides kept breaking down.

Now, I know you’re going to point out that I said the rides at Universal kept breaking down this time too, but at least at Universal we didn’t have to wear a mask…at all…not once. Disney not only required masks any time we were inside, the mask had to be a specific type of mask and the mask had to cover your mouth and nose the entire time. Some of us have trouble with masks…especially in heat and humidity.

The main reason we went to Hollywood Studios was for the Star Wars stuff and that’s really where we spent the majority of our day. We did ride a couple of other rides in other areas…but we kept finding ourselves back in the Star Wars sections. There were two new Star Wars rides for us this time…Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance. Both are great rides. Both broke down so many times during the day. I was surprised by the lack of story telling in the Rise lineup. It was pretty basic. I also didn’t like being required to be a part of the ride…I don’t want to be a part of the show, I just want to be entertained. Other than that…Rise is a totally different kind of ride and I see it as the beginning of a new era for the 3D/4D rides. Disney has always been on the cutting edge for this kind of tech and they’ve, once again, really delivered. Smugglers is unique in the way you’re each given something to do with the ride…if you want to.

Let’s talk about the blue milk. I’d seen someone mention this stuff on the Socials before we went and I’ll admit I was both repulsed and curious at the same time. When we were standing in the Smugglers line, the family in front of us had some so I asked them about it and based on their reaction to it I figured we should probably try it. It was an unexpected treat that the blue milk is actually dairy free. Since we have a kiddo with a dairy allergy, that was huge for us. So often, he’s left out. So, kudos to you Disney for making a popular treat that everyone can have! The blue milk came in two variations…blue and green. Only Alex got the green one…green is his favorite color. They taste pretty much the same…which is kind of like a fruity smoothie. And for those of you interested…there is an adult version of this treat and yes one or two of us got it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of the things I really love about Disney is the foodies. Each season there are new foodies thought up by top chefs to try in each park…there’s also all of the usual amusement park fare but even that is leveled up. It’s not just a hot dog…it’s huge and covered in some really good chili and cheese on a freshly baked bun. Did you know all of the rice crispy treats are made freshly in a Disney kitchen?

We ended up having a better time than we thought we would. Even with the heat and the gazillion people. Disney has a way of sucking you in…I think it’s their superpower. Its a little annoying.

Alex decided to get a little souvenir. It’s a cool Mandalorian helmet. I have no idea where we’ll put it in our home-on-wheels. But, he couldn’t pass it up.

Our second day at Disney was at Epcot. The magic is in the little details. There are eleven lands to explore and an outpost that looks like they should just officially call it Kenya and make it land number twelve. You’ll find foodies and shops in each land. Some lands have a show…like Norway with the Frozen show or France with the new Remy ride. You can spend all day just moseying around the world without actually leaving Orlando.

Up at the front of the park it’s all about space and tech. There’s a new space ride that takes you through a “training” run to become an astronaut. You have two levels of intensity to chose from…Green takes you around the world while Orange takes you to Mars. This was another new kind of ride…you actually feel like you’re pulling Gs as you blastoff. It’s crazy. We went right at the beginning of the day and basically walked right on the ride with no waiting. I noticed later in the day there was a hefty wait to get on.

Did you know Epcot has four different festivals throughout the year? Festival of the Arts (this is the one that’s usually happening when we’re at Epcot), Flower and Garden Festival, Food and Wine Festival and the Festival of the Holidays. In October you’ll find the Food and Wine Festival. We ate ourselves silly. I mean, that’s the point of going, right? To eat all day? I think we got something from almost every land…and quite a few of the little kiosks that represent different countries.

When we first got to Epcot that morning, I found these little trays that hold your food and a drink. It was a lifesaver! We could walk and eat at the same time. As cool as Epcot is…Disney could really invest in some more seating and some shade. There were so many people there that day that we spent most of it on our feet and in the sun. These little trays let us keep moving or stand in a little spot of shade.

So, the new hot ride at Epcot is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. The first thing you need to know about it, is that to ride it…you have to do the Virtual Line through the Disney app. You’ll want to have it before you go and have it linked to your tickets and reservations so you’re able to try and get into the virtual line. You have two tries to make it in line. 7am before the park opens and then once more at 1pm. If you miss it…too bad, so sad…no ride for you. Once you’re confirmed in the virtual line, you get a group number and then you wait for your group number to get called before you go get in the actual line. It’s a clever system, but I feel bad for those that don’t know about and miss out. The actual line moved pretty quickly…I think we stood in it for maybe forty-five minutes. That’s not bad at all since we stood in the Rise of Resistance line for three hours while we were at Hollywood Studios. The ride itself uses the same new high tech system that Rise uses and takes you right into Remy’s world as a mouse. You skitter your way through the world and get a mouse’s view of everything.

Disney World is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary starting Oct 1, 2021 and running through March 2023. That’s a full eighteen months of party! Each park has it’s own celebratory thing, but all parks have these cute golden statues. We had a good time looking at all the 50th celebration stuff.

Epcot at night is the best Epcot. The lights are beautiful. The big globe has new lighting that Disney has coordinated with music. Out of all of the Disney parks, Epcot is our favorite.

We managed to slip in a date night. We found a burger place called D-Luxe Burger at Disney Springs. These burgers were huge! The fries were a little weird, but the burgers were spot on. There’s no shortage of foodie spots in the Orlando area.

That’s pretty much it for our two weeks in Florida. We rode all the rides, ate all of the foodies…and saw some epic sunsets…and sunrises!

Until next time, Florida!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Founders, Fun, and Foodies in South Carolina

Founders, Fun, and Foodies in South Carolina

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Hey Guys!! We spent a week on the coast of South Carolina, near Charleston, as we made our way down to Florida. The last time we were in South Carolina was way back in 2016 and we’d forgotten how much we enjoy the states coastal areas…and the foodies. We didn’t do too much…we mainly stayed at the campground, but we did manage to squeeze in one National Park unit!

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site sits on what remains of the Pinckney coastal plantation called Snee Farm. This was Charles Pinckney’s country retreat and was used as a working rice and indigo plantation in the 1700s until 1816 when the property was planed in trust to settle debts. Now owned by the National Park Service, Snee Farm preserves the story of one of America’s founding fathers and gives visitors a look at what life was like on a Lowcountry plantation.

Charles Pinckney was 29 when he was chosen to represent Carolina at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He was the second youngest delegate in the 55 member group and out of those 55 delegates, Charles was the only one to introduce a complete plan for what would become the new federal government of the United States. While not all of his recommendations were used in the final document, many of them were which earned him the nickname “Constitution Charlie”. Charles Pinckney was one of the principal authors and a signer of the United States Constitution.

When I planned this stop, I had a hard time finding a place to stay. There aren’t too many RV parks in the Charleston area and the ones I checked all refused to make reservations. I stumbled on the James Island County Park and Guys, I’m so glad I did! We absolutely loved this park! This park has it all, including climbing walls, paddle boats, slacklines, disc golf course and an obstacle course…and some of the best walking trails. We walked every day we were staying here and enjoyed it so much.

My favorite walking trail took me down by the fishing dock where the sunsets were always spectacular. There were people fishing in several of the little ponds and off the dock every day. There are also gators to watch in the park.

When you reserve online, you can go through and pick what site you want from the ones available for the dates you’re going to be there. We loved our site! It backed up to this little pond where an extra picnic table and swing were set up. We had our own firepit and tons of shade. Now…this park cost a little more than what we usually like to pay, but you get so much while you’re there that we didn’t mind and will definitely stay there again.

I’m not gonna lie to y’all…when I planned this one week pit-stop…it was with the foodies in mind. I’ve been pining for the PBT sandwich from Page’s Okra Grill since we left the area the first time back in 2016. I almost chickened out going back once we got to the Charleston area because I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to the memory I had. It did. It totally lived up to the hyped up memory living in my brain. This sandwich is still my favorite sandwich of all time. Page’s PBT is made of pimento cheese, bacon, and fried green tomatoes on buttery Texas toast and it is so freaking good. I’ve tried to recreate it, but it’s never the same.

We also hit up a few BBQ joints. South Carolina BBQ is amazingly good. And, if you ever find yourself in Lowcountry…make sure you try the hash over rice and have a bowl of the Brunswick stew! We recommend Swig & Swine for a top-notch BBQ experience that offers all of the essential Lowcountry BBQ options. And, of course, you need to go to Page’s Okra Grill for the PBT and the rest of their southern food options. You can’t go wrong at either one of these places.

Even with the warmer temps of southern South Carolina in early October, we still saw a few little signs of the coming fall colors. There were some summer flowers still in bloom too.

Well Guys, that’s all of the adventure we had during this stop!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Ancient Mountains

Ancient Mountains

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Hey Guys! We spent two weeks in Pigeon Forge so we could explore Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a very busy two weeks…we did as much as we could…and we didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what’s available to do in the area.

I’ve put off visiting this area of the country for awhile now…for various reasons. The main reason is how incredibly busy it is. Great Smoky Mountain NP is America’s most visited National Park. It’s crowded. The towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are the two main towns people stay in when visiting and Guys, it was insanely busy. Crowds aren’t our thing. And…if I’m being completely honest…I was comparing the Smoky Mountains to the Rocky Mountains…the Smokies didn’t seem that impressive to me.

The Appalachian mountains that you find within Great Smoky Mountain NP were formed 480 million years ago while the Rockies are much younger and were formed somewhere around 285 million years ago. When the Appalachians were younger and still growing, it’s thought that they were actually bigger than the Rockies are today. We’ve come to affectionately refer to the Smoky Mountains as old man mountains. Today, the highest peak in Smokies is close to 6,600 feet and while it’s not as high as what you can find in the Rockies…the views are still impressive. The park get’s it’s name from the constant presence of fog that seems to cling to the mountains. While the fog is thinker in the mornings, it’s pretty much there all day and can make for some very interesting views.

One of the most visited places in Great Smoky Mountain NP is Clingmans Dome. I always thought Clingmans Dome was the name of the tower you can hike up for a view, but actually, a dome is what they call a rounded mountain or ridge top. Clingmans Dome stands at 6,643 feet and is the highest point in the park. The trial to get to the observation tower is only half a mile long, but it feels like you’re hiking straight up. It’s a steep trail and has zero shade so if you ever go, be prepared for that. Once you reach the top of the observation tower, you’re rewarded with a 360* view of the Smoky Mountains and if you’re there on a clear day, you can see five different states. We went on a clear day and once I caught my breath from all of the up…the view was fantastic! In the 1800s people called the peak of Clingmans Dome, Smoky Dome due to the seemingly ever present smoky effect of the fog and clouds.

You never know what you’re going to find when you head out on a trail in Great Smoky Mountain NP. We found an old CCC camp one day This particular camp was also used to house and continue some of the CCC projects by Conscientious Objectors of WWII in 1942. Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 to combat two problems in the United States… reforestation of our Nation’s timber resources due to the commercial logging and the unemployment problem during the Great Depression. The average CCC employee was unemployed and unmarried men between 18 and 22 years old. All over the Country, CCC camps were established to house, educate and feed the volunteers (where were paid $30 a month) while they built roads, trails, and buildings that we still use to this day. The National Park System benefited greatly from the CCC and the Great Smoky Mountain NP benefited more than any other park. There were 22 CCC camps that housed up to 3,000 men. The camps were abandoned a long time ago, but you can still find traces of some of them. We’re big fans of the CCC program and what it offered our people in their time of need and all of the amazing things they did for our Nation.

Mingus Mill was built in 1886 and was used to grind corn and wheat for some of the nearby communities. It was in pretty bad disrepair and restored by the CCC in 1937. Today, you can go and see how corn and wheat used to be milled. You can even buy some fresh corn meal or wheat flour from the miller that’s posted there. We enjoyed walking around the mill and chatting with the miller there. We’ve been to other mills before, but it’s always interesting to see the differences in each mill.

Before it was a National Park, it was home to thousands of people. You can see the homes and livelihoods that were left behind when the area was made into a National Park. Land was purchased as it became available and the few that didn’t want to sell their homes or leave their businesses and move were incorporated into the park but with the right to remain on their land until they died. There are cabins all throughout the park that are left over from another life. All of the ones we found were open to exploration.

Alfred Reagan was a farmer of cattle, crops, fruit and even timber. He and his wife made their life and raised their family in one of the small communities on the rocky mountainside of the Appalachian mountains. Life was hard but good. They used all three colors available from Sears Roebuck offered to paint their home. We found that it was interesting that this was the only cabin we found that was painted.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, Swain County gave up pretty much all of it’s privately owned land to make a portion of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and to create Fontana Lake. The lake was used to create the electricity to run the aluminum plants for the Oak Ridge Tennessee’s National Laboratory during WWII during the Manhattan Project. Hundreds of families were forced to leave the small mountain communities that had been their home for generations. With the creation of Fontana Lake homes and the old highway 288 that lead to them were all under the waters of the lake. The citizens of these small communities were all promised by the government that a new road would be made so they would continue to have access to the small cemeteries where generations of their family members were buried. For environmental and construction issues that came up during the construction…the new road was put to a stop and never finished. The “Road To Nowhere” was born. Today it’s a neat place to go for a walk. You can walk all the way through the tunnel and take one of the trails at the end. The day we went, it was raining so we didn’t do any hiking, but I’ve read that you can hike by some of the abandoned homesteads.

Water is a constant presence at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. If it’s not the rain (an average of 55 to 85 inches per year depending on where you are in the park) it’s the rivers/creeks/streams or waterfalls. It makes for a very interesting and diverse park. We had the best time chasing waterfalls of all sizes during our time exploring this NP unit! What we didn’t love…all of the up that most of those waterfalls took to see. Whoo!! So. Many. Stairs!! If waterfalls are your jam…Great Smoky Mountain NP has over 2.000 miles of waterways and over 100 waterfalls for you to explore to your heart’s content.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park was park unit 186 for us. The boys got their Junior Ranger badge and chatted with a Ranger about his time at the park. If you ever want to know an insider’s tips to a park…talk to a Ranger. In a park that is as busy as GSNP…tips about the not so popular, but just as good places can be invaluable.

Seven years ago…when we were just starting to plan out this crazy nomad life of ours…I sent off for information about attractions from several states. Tennessee sent me a ton of park brochures from Great Smoky Mountains NP. I filed them away and kept them safe until we were able to finally use them this year! We used them all in our planning and explorations. You can buy them in the park and I would highly recommend it. The little tidbits they offer about the park are great.

Apparently, there’s an event almost every weekend in Pigeon Forge. While we were there, the event was a car show and it was a full week thing. It was basically like a huge tailgating party that stretched over several blocks. Cars were out, people were out, there was food and fun and…scooters. Guys, the scooters were a spectacle all on their own. We saw so many scooters being ridden around by people. It was funny to watch the scooter trains as they wound their way through the cars and streets.

There’s a road called The Tail of the Dragon that is a huge draw for motorcycles and sports cars. It has 318 curves in 11 miles. I expected more views from this stretch of road…It was mainly just views of the road in front of us. We did see tons of motorcycles and expensive sportscars zooming around. There’s one pull off and the view wasn’t that great. I did some research and found that there are close to 100 crashes a year on this 11 mile stretch of twisty road.

Did you know there’s a Tennessee Whiskey Trail? We did the Kentucky Bourbon Trail…if you missed that post, check it out here…So, we thought we should do the TN Whiskey Trail too! In KY you got a t-shirt when you finished the trail. In TN you get a poker chip at each Distillery you visit and then when you’re done, you send off your passport and get the rest of the poker set! We did a few distilleries in the two weeks we were in Pigeon Forge. Ole Smoky was fun and we got a special t-shirt (that is super soft) for doing a tour. It’s still weird to have a kid who’s old enough to do the tastings with us now…

If you’re a foodie, you’ll have plenty to choose from between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. There are tons of options. We enjoyed everything we got. It was super crowded so we didn’t go to too many places, but the spots we hit were all good. Corky’s BBQ and JT Hannah’s were our favorites.

We were in Pigeon Forge the last couple of weeks of summer so the flowers were kind of slim pickings. I did find plenty of mushrooms/fungi though! So many different shapes and colors!

There are something like 1500 bears in the Smoky Mountains. We heard from so many people that they always see bears when they go. We saw signs about bear activity but didn’t see a single bear. Not even a foot print. Due to road work, we didn’t get to go to Cades Cove, which is supposedly where a ton of bears like to stay…maybe we’ll see some next time.

That’s it Guys! We liked Great Smoky Mountains National Park a lot more than we thought we would and we will definitely go back and do some more exploring…soon! When we left the leaves were just starting to hint at changing colors. I’d love to go back during prime fall colors!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Secret Cities and Appalachians

Secret Cities and Appalachians

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Hey Guys!

We made it back to Tennessee!

We didn’t get much done in our two weeks in the Knoxville area. Our first week in the area was spent in the rain as Hurricane Ida went over us on her way north. We didn’t get any bad storms or flooding like so many other places did with this storm…just lots of rain. Days of it. We hung out in our home-on-wheels…played games and watched movies as we tried to stay dry.

Did you know…there are some National Park Units that are split up into different locations? The Manhattan Project National Historic Park is broken up into three places…that happen to be in three different states. Oak Ridge, Tennessee is one of the three “secret cities” that was formed and used to build the United States atomic bomb. It was so secret that most of the scientists there didn’t know what the other scientists there were actually working on.

Starting in 1942, Oak Ridge was the home to several huge facilities that employed thousands of people both during and after World War II. Oak Ridge was the part of the Manhattan Project tasked with enriching uranium to use in the world’s first atomic bomb. There’s still some exciting stuff happening in Oak Ridge…I get the feeling some of it might still be secret.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park is different in another way too…not only is it split up between three states… each park within the state isn’t found in one building. The two units we’ve been to are more of a walking history tour of the city with a few drives to get to a building or an old guard gate thrown in. We, of course, went to the Science Museum…we’re nerds at heart…we can’t resist a good science museum. We were glad to see that the interactive exhibits were still interactive even with the whole Rona thing going on. Each NPS unit has what’s called a cancellation stamp that people collect. The Manhattan Project NHP has a unique set of stamps that when you stamp them beside each other they make one big stamp. We’ve collected two of them from New Mexico and Tennessee…we just need the one from Washington. Unfortunately, the Washington unit has been closed since last year (2020) and there isn’t any information on when they’ll open back up. We’ll get there eventually.

We found the Museum of Appalachia by accident. We were out driving around the last time we were in the area and stumbled across a sign for the museum. We went late in the afternoon not really expecting there to be too much…Guys, we were so wrong. There are two big indoor museums and an entire village to explore. Several of the cabins are open to explore and have information about who lived there or what kind of business was conducted there.

We spent so much time exploring The Museum of Appalachia that they were closing up when we finally left. This pioneer mountain farming village is definitely an all day thing. There’s a restaurant where you can order southern comfort food if you get hungry. We didn’t eat there…we didn’t know it was there before we went or we would have…but it smelled heavenly.

We loved seeing all of the cabins and the farm animals, but my favorite part of this museum was learning about the actual people who lived in the area. There are so many mementos and pictures and stories of the people and families that you’ll feel like you know them after you’ve gone through the museum. The life they led was hard and they didn’t have much, but they had what mattered most…

If you’re ever near Norris, Tennessee you definitely need to spend a day at The Museum of Appalachia.

The food in Tennessee never disappoints. We found a couple of new favorites and visited a few old favorites. We were thrilled to find a Duck Donuts. Guys…Duck Donuts has the best donuts you’ll ever have. They make them after you order them so when you get them they’re still warm and fresh and sooo good! We also found a place called Archers BBQ where you’ll get spot on smoked meat and you’ll have the option of all the sauces! So. Many. Sauces! And all of them were good.

Well, I think that’s pretty much it for this stop! We’re heading to Pigeon Forge next to explore the Great Smoky Mountains before heading south to Florida… stay tuned for more adventures!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Passing Through Kentucky

Passing Through Kentucky

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Hey Guys!! We spent about a week (six nights) in Georgetown, Kentucky on our way back down to Tennessee. We had just enough time to visit a National Park unit that was close and to squeeze in a distillery tour…and, of course, we found some foodies.

Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument started out as a supply depot and hospital during the Civil War in 1863.

Camp Nelson grew to be one of the largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers and eventually a refugee camp for the soldier’s wives and children. There is a great little museum at the Visitor Center that takes you through the history of Camp Nelson and a very informative film you can watch.

The original Camp Nelson covered around 4,000 acres and had over 300 buildings on the grounds. There’s only one building that was standing during the time of Camp Nelson…the big white house with the canon in front of it. Now, you’ll find a few hiking trails that take you around the property to see where the different forts and some of the buildings once stood. The National Park Service has rebuilt a few buildings…they were all locked up when we went so we didn’t get to go in them. The day we went was the hottest day Kentucky had seen so far in 2021. It was definitely close to triple digits and as you can see from the pics…there’s not a lot of shade. We walked around a little, but with the buildings all locked up…we didn’t spend a whole lot of time exploring this NP unit.

A few years ago we visited Kentucky to do the Bourbon Trail…if you missed that post, you can find it here. While we were doing the Bourbon Trail, Charles decided he wanted to come back to Kentucky with us when he turned 21 so he could do the tasting that goes along with a distillery tour. So…here we are…back in Kentucky so we can take our now 21 year old on his first official distillery tour and tasting. We took him to Woodford Reserve which is one of our favorites from last time. It was just as picturesque as I remembered it to be and the tour was the right amount of history, science and comedy to make it interesting.

It was weird to be there with our adult kid. It was definitely fun to see it all through his eyes. I don’t do the tastings…it’s not my thing…but I do make sure to grab some candy. Woodford has one of the best mixed candy boxes we’ve found so far!

We were only in Kentucky for six nights…but Guys…there’s always time for good foodies! We ate at two places and both were fantastic. The burgers were from Bru Burgers and we can’t recommend it enough. The bbq was from Red State BBQ and it was awesome too. When you go to a bbq place, the sides…in my opinion…are just as important as the smoked meat. and this place has a great selection of really good southern sides. Highly recommend Red State BBQ!

We were in Kentucky at the end of August and it was miserably hot the entire time we were there. We didn’t have a whole lot of time in KY, but we enjoyed the time we had…even with the heat.

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
The Plains

The Plains

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Hey Guys! We’ve spent six years criss-crossing all over our Country, but we haven’t really spent much time in the plains area. Why?

Storms.

The plains are known for their huge storms that pop up and roll through. When you live in an RV…storms are a pretty big deal. The plains section of our Country has always made me nervous so I haven’t had us spend much time there over the last six years. We’ve always just hopped through on our way one way or the other. But this year… this year we spent two weeks in Scottsbluff, NE. We were on our way back to Missouri from our South Dakota loop and we’d already had some nerve-wracking weather. The tornado that almost hit us while we were in Custer and the wind storm that blew over us in Sundance…I was pretty nervous about staying out in the middle of nowhere Nebraska where the plains are so vast and the storms can rage through. We did have some storms while we were in Scottsbluff, but thankfully, they were just regular old summer storms. Not a ton of wind and no hail.

We used Scottsbluff as our basecamp to explore three National Park Units. The first one we went to was Fort Laramie National Historic Site up in Wyoming. Fort Laramie was originally named Fort William and was opened as a trading post in 1834. In the 1840s it was sold to the American Fur Company. Improvements were made and the name was changed from Fort William to Fort John. In 1849, the US Army purchased Fort John to use as a post of protection at the crossroads of America for those traveling on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and the Mormon Trail. Over time the name gradually changed from Fort John to Fort Laramie as travelers shortened the phrase “Fort John at the Laramie River”.

One of our favorite things about visiting National Historic Sites is the glimpse into the lives of the past. The National Park Service does such a great job at staging rooms and giving us a little look into how people lived in the past.

The day we were at Fort Laramie, there was a Living Historian there to show and explain what the inside of a tipi most likely looked like. We’ve seen tipis before, but hadn’t seen one set up like this. The historian talked to us about what life was like on the plains as a woman in a tribe. It was really interesting!

Other important trails that went through Fort Laramie were the Bozeman Trail, Pony Express, Transcontinental telegraph route, and the Deadwood & Cheyenne Stage Route. Fort Laramie National Historic Site preserves one of the most important locations of the westward expansion.

Not far from Fort Laramie, we found a place where we could stand on the ruts made from the thousands of wagons on the Oregon Trial. The wheels of the heavy wagons actually cut right through the rock and made a permanent path. We also found a place called Register Cliff. We’ve seen a few of these during our travels…there’s one in Utah and one in New Mexico that are both part of the NPS and are great! We always enjoy looking at all of the names carved into the rock by passing emigrants. There were quite a few newer names that had been carved into this particular Register Cliff.

Scotts Bluff National Monument protects about 3,000 acres and consists of towering bluffs, badlands, mixed-grass prairie (watch out for those rattle snakes) and a rich riparian area. Rising 800 feet above the North Platte River, Scotts Bluff has been an important landmark to emigrants traveling along the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express and the California Trail.

We enjoyed driving up to the top of the bluff and doing both of the hikes available. The views were spectacular! We spent quite a bit of time in the little museum at this park. It has a surprising amount of information. We started to walk the Oregon Trail path outside of the visitor center, but the day we went to this park, the temps were triple digits and we decided against doing the whole trail. I found this painting of a woman holding her toddler while watching a line of wagons in front of Scotts Bluff in the visitor center…Guys, I can’t imagine how hard life was for the trail blazers who made their way west. They were truly made of tougher stuff than we are now. This was a great little park and totally worth the time to visit!

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument was the last place we explored during our week in Scottsbluff. The day we went…it stormed. We still managed to explore the visitor center and get in one hike…but check out those dark clouds. Those dark clouds came with a decent amount of wind and some really cold rain along with some hail too.

Originally, this area was a working cattle ranch called Agate Springs Ranch owned by Capt. James Cook. Then, in the early 1900s some paleontologists found a treasure trove of complete skeletons belonging to extinct Miocene mammals. When I first saw these skeletons…I thought they looked like little t-rex dinos but then I looked at the info sign and found out that they were huge pig like creatures that stood over six feet tall. Wow! That’s a lot of bacon! ;-P Seriously though…I would not want to run into something like that out on the trail.

Around the same time, a friendship between James Cook and Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota began. The museum in the visitor center has a wonderful collection of artifacts given to James Cook by his friends in the Lakota Tribe. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful bead work in the museum. There was also a peace pipe made with red pipestone…from the Pipestone National Monument we went to earlier this year! If you missed that post, you can find it here. It was really something to see one of the pipes out and know where it came from and the history behind it. We’ve learned so much during this Grand Adventure/crazy nomad life of ours!

A big storm went over while we were in the visitor center. It got windy and hailed and poured rain. The lights flickered and I rushed to make our souvenir purchase just incase the electric totally went out. These tipis are right outside the visitor center…I braved the elements to grab the shot above so I could show you what one of those great big plains storms looks like. It was an impressive storm. I’m glad we weren’t out on a trail hiking when it hit.

Once the storm blew through (it was moving pretty darn fast), we headed out to one of the shorter hiking trails. The one we did was about two miles and super easy, but it had some breathtaking views of the plains! And…we got to see some of the actual fossils that make this park important. It looks like a corkscrew and it took paleontologists a while to figure out what exactly it is. It’s the fossilized burrow of an ancient prairie dog type animal. No joke. We can’t seem to get away from prairie dogs this year! LOL!! It was really neat to see and our nerd family learned so much.

You know all of those warning signs about danger noodles on the trails…well, they aren’t lying! We found this big snake skin on the trail on the way back to our car. So…this big ol’ nope rope was somewhere close by. I don’t handle snakes very well. I think I just about flew to the car after that.

I love sunsets…I love sunsets even more when they’re mixed with amazing cloud formations! Jerl and I were out walking in the RV park when we spotted this amazing cloud! We walked around then sat outside and watched it turn colors as the sun sank behind Scotts Bluff over at the National Monument.

We also had some electrical issues while we were at this park. They weren’t our issue…it was with the town…but the temps outside were close to triple digits. I don’t know if you know this…but when you live in an easy bake oven, it gets hot real quick when there’s no AC. It ended up getting to 93* in the RV. We were struggling to stay cool! Our AC units had already been struggling, but I think that when the eclectic blipped on and off and then went out, it did something to our AC units. They never seemed to get quite as cold or keep up with the heat after that. Guess we’ll need to look into replacing those sooner rather than later.

Guys…there were so many pretties blooming! It took me twice as long (maybe longer) than usual to hike because I kept stopping to snap pictures of all of the different flowers. Love them!!

We found a really great burger place called Goonies! We were going to go back, but we didn’t have time since we were only there for a week. We also made it to a Mexican food place and somehow ended up getting all of the dips. I’m a dip person…are you?

Well Guys, we crammed all of that into one week! It was an incredibly busy week and to be honest, we were all ready for a vacation from our crazy nomad life after the South Dakota loop!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Towers, Canyons, and Waterfalls

Towers, Canyons, and Waterfalls

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Hey Guys! After we left Custer, we headed to Sundance, WY to check out Devil’s Tower National Monument.

The plan was to have a slightly more relaxed week in Sundance, but well…that didn’t really happen. We found out about a few more things to see/do in the area so buckle up and lets go!

The main reason we went to Sundance was to visit Devils Tower NM. It ended up being about a thirty minute drive from Sundance and we ended up having to go twice. The first time we went happened to be the only day of the week that the visitor center was closed. *palm slap* And yes, before you ask, I did check the website before we went and didn’t see anywhere that they’d be closed that day. So, we hiked up to the base of the tower and checked it out with about a hundred other people before heading on. It was neat to see. We were really disappointed with the lack of info about the tower or lore of the area in the park. When we went back… we checked the visitor center for info and didn’t find anything in the visitor center. We did notice that the local Tribes still put prayer bundles in the trees. That tells us they still see this land as scared. When I did some digging, I found that over twenty Tribes consider the site sacred.

Established in 1906, Devils Tower National Monument is America’s first National Monument. Wyoming is the home to the first National Park and the first National Monument! The tower is really a butte made of igneous rock from the cooling of magma. Over the years, the softer earth around it eroded away revealing the 1,267 foot butte we see today. For some reason, we’d all gotten it into our heads that the whole area would be more…desert like, but there was a nice forest surrounding the Tower! We were also surprised to see so much red dirt! It was almost like being back in the southwest! Almost. ;-} We found another prairie dog town! Is it just me, or are prairie dogs one of those animals you can watch for hours. They get up to so much mischief with one another! So much drama…LOL!

All of the Tribes have different names for the Tower…several of the names center around Bear. There are several different legends that go with the names, a few of them have a huge bear in them. I don’t know them well, but the one I can kind of remember goes like this… One day seven little Kiowa girls were playing far from their village and were chased by a bear. They ran on top of a rock and begged it to save them so the rock began pushing them up. The bear scratched up the rock and broke it’s claws as it was trying to get to the little girls. The bear kept jumping and the rock kept growing higher and higher until the little girls were in the sky where they still are today…the stars that make up The Pleiades.

We ended up doing two scenic drives here…one of them retraced a bit of the other…but the area is so pretty, no one really minded. We stopped by the Aladdin Tipple to see what we could see. The area is fenced off now because the darn thing is going to collapse any day. It looked like a strong breeze would knock it down, but it was neat to see. This mine was a coal mine used to supply coal to the gold mines of Lead and Deadwood. There were three different coal mines that used this tipple to supple coal to the train that would take it on to the gold mines. The last train left Aladdin in 1927.

We found the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center by accident. We were driving through and needed a place to stop and figure out our route. We pulled in the the parking lot of Sanford…and well…being the nerds we are, we spent time geeking out in the little museum learning about the Homestake Mine and the science lab that’s connected to the building that does dark matter experiments. We were really hoping a tour of the lab would be available…but nope. We were so incredibly bummed. Apparently, you have to be a legit scientist…with some letters after your name… to get into the lab.

In the little town of Belle Fourche (Bell Foosh), SD you’ll find a memorial for the geographical center of our Nation. This includes Alaska and Hawaii. And…if we’re being nit-picky…it’s not the actual location of the geographical center. That can be found in a field about twenty miles away, and I think it might be on private property, but this little memorial is close enough. We had a good time wandering around all of the flags and reading each state’s stats. It even has a plaque that looks a lot like an official geological marker where you can snap a picture! Totally worth the stop!

We were so close to Deadwood…and we knew y’all would ask us if we went… So, we stopped in and took a walk down the main street of Deadwood. Back in 1876, thousands of people made their way to the city of Deadwood in hopes of finding gold and like most gold mine towns back then…Deadwood was a wild, rough and lawless type of place. We saw the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot by Jack McCall and the place where McCall was caught. We saw the famous Brothel and the historic Adams House. We opted not to take any of the tours. While we enjoy the history of places like this, none of us like the showy tourist side of it. We did find a wooden dragon (Toothless) that was pretty darn cool.

We skipped the daily shoot out/gun fight street show, but found our way up to the Mount Moriah Cemetery where we got our daily steps in walking up and down the steep hills. We found both Wild Bill Hickok’s and Calamity Jane’s grave sites. There were some beautiful lilac bushes blooming while we were there and I spent quite a bit of time with my nose stuck in them!

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway snakes through a nineteen mile gorge with thousand foot high cliff sides and is filled to the brim with postcard worthy pullovers and hikes. You can easily fill an entire day or two hitting all of the hikes and sights on this scenic drive. We were there in the spring, but I’ve heard it’s absolutely gorgeous in the fall with the leaves changing colors. I’d love to go back someday!

I’ve had the Chapel In The Hills on the list for quite a while. It’s an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke in Laerdal, Norway and was built by a local Lutheran Church as a home for their radio ministry. Today, visitors are welcome to roam around and enjoy the peaceful area or walk the meditation trail. The chapel is gorgeous and definitely needs to be seen in person.

You’ll also find an authentic grass-roofed store house or “Stabbur” that is used as a welcome center/store. It was built in Norway and then reassembled in it’s current spot. We went in and bought a few Norwegian items. There’s also a little cabin that was built by a Norwegian immigrant gold prospector back in 1876 and is now used as a small museum. I loved walking around the little chapel and the grounds. We got there in the evening and had the place almost to ourselves. We were lucky with our timing…apparently, the chapel is a very popular wedding spot.

We were only in Sundance for a week but man-oh-man did we squeeze a lot of adventures into that one week! We found some pretty good foodies too! We had to have chislic one more time and we found the Deadwood location of the Chubby Chipmunk for some more hand dipped truffles! Jerl had one of the best Philly Cheesesteaks he’s ever had while we were in Deadwood…it was at a place called Mavericks. It’s a casino, but they let families go up to the restaurant. I found an Indian Taco at a little diner called Cheyenne Crossing in Lead, SD. I was skeptical about getting an Indian Taco in a state other than New Mexico, but someone at the RV park we were staying in told me that she grew up in New Mexico and thought the Indian Tacos were really good. And Guys…they are. Its not the same as the Navajo Tacos you get in the Southwest that are covered in spicy green chilies (those are still my fave), but the Indian Tacos at Cheyenne Crossing are so good I would totally go back just for another!

Well, Guys…I think I’ve covered everything we did in the Sundance area! We saw a lot, but missed just as much. I should have scheduled two or three weeks instead of just the one!

See Y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour