Category: WesternLoop2018
Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon National Park

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Hey Guys!!  Kings Canyon National Park is usually lumped together with Sequoia National Park but, Kings Canyon is so amazing…it really deserves a post all of it’s own.

 We found all of those California happy cows we hear so much about on television. Seriously though, we love this topography! The big rolling hills with little groves of trees here and there…This area of California is gorgeous!

It took us two hours to get to Kings Canyon from where we were staying. The road started out fine…narrow and windy, but paved. And then, the GPS Lady in all of her infinite wisdom decided we needed to be more adventurous and took us down an old forest service road to get into Kings Canyon NP. Truthfully… we loved it! We ended up driving though a section of the park not very many people get to see. Redwood Canyon is home to one of the largest sequoia groves and is one of the largest areas of old growth sequoias.

We had this area all to ourselves as we bumped and bounced our way up the old dirt forest service road filled with deep ruts. We feel like we should have seen a bear. Or mountain lion. Or any wildlife…but, we didn’t.  We loved that we didn’t see another car until we were almost into the park. Sometimes the GPS Lady totally messes up and sometimes…she’s spot on. We loved driving through the largest remaining grove of sequoia trees (over 15,000)!

Kings Canyon National Park was originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park. It was expanded and renamed Kings Canyon National Park in 1940.

General Grant Grove is home to the General Grant Tree (in the picture above). At a whopping twenty-seven stories in height, the General Grant Tree is the world’s second largest living tree. Not tallest…but second largest…based on trunk volume. Want the numbers? The General Grant Tree stands at 267.4 feet in height and has a circumference of 107.6 feet. The General Grant Tree is a memorial to US soldiers killed in war and is also known as “the Nation’s Christmas Tree”.

It takes hundreds of years for one of these fallen giants to completely deteriorate. If you get to visit Grant’s Grove take your time and explore some. We found this fallen tree near the trail. As impressive as these giant trees are from the outside…they’re just as impressive on the inside. That’s Jerl’s silhouette at the end of the sequoia.

There’s a little general store and a pretty descent restaurant in Grants Grove. We ate at the restaurant, but I would suggest grabbing something to go at the general store and heading down into the canyon for a picnic lunch. Alex was so hungry he had a big burger and a potpie. Teenagers…

Kings Canyon Scenic Byway takes you to the bottom of the canyon via a road with hairpin turns, steep drop offs, and sheer granite cliff faces. This road isn’t for the faint of heart, but the payoff is huge. At the bottom of the canyon you can stand and look up at the canyon walls that rise thousands of feet up.

We only did a couple of hikes in Kings Canyon. One of them took us on a bridge over the Kings River. The water was amazingly clear and pretty darn cold.

Grizzly Falls is a must stop while you’re exploring Kings Canyon. It’s just feet away from the parking area and it’s a great spot for a picnic! I was standing at our car when I snapped the left shot of Grizzly Falls. If you’re not into hiking, this stop is good place to see one of the many waterfalls in the canyon.

The Kings River flows through the canyon. The road follows it most of the time so you have ample opportunity to gawk at the swiftly moving river. There are some pull-offs where you can get out and take a closer look. Just don’t fall in. Can you spot our red 4Runner in the picture above? It gives you a size comparison as to just how massive this canyon is.

On the way back up and out of the canyon we stopped at several of the vista pull-offs…and there are several! You can see the Kings River snaking it’s way through the canyon in the pics above. See how all of the mountain tops are rounded? That’s evidence that Kings Canyon is a glacier carved valley. With extreme elevation ranging between 1,500 feet to 14,500 feet, Kings Canyon National Park has a wide variety of habitats. Keep your eyes open and you never know what you might find…and always hike bear aware.

We saw some evidence of fires. This one happened back in 1955 when over 17,000 acres was burned. Now, Rangers know more about preserving these wild forests and do a prescribed burn to help prevent wildfires that rage out of control.

It was spring time while we were in Kings Canyon NP so all of the flowers were waking up from their winter nap. I love these bright orange pretties! They remind me of a wildflower called Indian Paintbrush. I don’t know if that’s what these are, but they’re very similar. The purple pretties are gorgeous!  It’s hard to tell, but these bushes were huge…and everywhere!

John Muir once said that Kings Canyon National Park is “a rival to Yosemite”. He was right. With it’s multiple 14,000 foot peaks and some of the worlds largest strands of giant sequoia trees…the Kings River and the canyon that is more than a mile deep…Kings Canyon National Park is definitely a rival to Yosemite.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Three Rivers, Two Parks, Snakes and Spotty Cell Service

Three Rivers, Two Parks, Snakes and Spotty Cell Service

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Hey Guys! We spent two weeks in the Three Rivers area of California so we could explore Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Y’all know that this blog is really my digital scrapbook…my journal of our nomadic life. I like to put my favorite pics up here and after going through the pics for the last two weeks…Guys, I tried to cut pics out, but we really loved this area and these parks. So, I think I’m going to have to do this area in three posts. I’ll start with the shortest one because I’m pressed for time today…we’re heading out to explore soon. :-}

We stayed at the Sequoia RV Ranch in Three Rivers, CA. This was a hopping park! Lots of turnover throughout the week. All of our neighbors were super nice. We knew our first day here that we were going to love this area. It felt like Canada and Alaska to us. The forest…the smells. After coming from the stifling heat of the Desert Hot Springs area, it felt a little like taking that first deep breath after swimming all the way across the swimming pool underwater. Yes, the park was crowded. Yes, we were packed in like sardines. But, it didn’t matter. We loved it. There was a nice river that ran through the back of the RV park. We walked the shore several times. It was cooler by the water, and it was usually less crowded there.

I believe the bright orange and yellow patches in the picture above are California Poppies. They were gorgeous! We saw tons of them up on hills in the distance as we drove around, but the closest I got to them was at the RV park. There were three or four little sparse patches of them…kind of pathetic looking after seeing such huge fields of them, but at least I finally got to see them up close!

Check out this tiny post office. Established in 1890, this Kaweah Post Office has been handling mail for 128 years. I’m pretty sure this is the smallest post office we’ve ever seen.

We’ve been amazed at all of the agriculture around California. In the Three Rivers area we saw grove after grove of oranges and olives! Tons of them! The best part though…all of the fruit and veggie stands! We found the best oranges at the little stand in the pic above. Big, juicy, sweet…and a great price! At the little market down the road from the RV park, there was an orange juice press where you could get freshly squeezed orange juice made from oranges taken from the tree just down the road. The boys have declared it to be the best orange juice they’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure they each tried to drink their weight in the stuff while we were there. Ha! We also found some good olives at one of the stands. The olive grove was about twenty minutes down the road. Charles has been hooked on green olives ever since we brought home a jar of them.

Another reason this area felt like Alaska, was the remoteness of it. We had to drive a good forty-five minutes to get to an actual grocery store. There was one little market close to us (the one with the orange juice) that had a surprising amount of options…just like the little general markets we would find throughout Alaska. And check out that statue. It kind of screams Alaska…ok, so maybe it doesn’t…buy we did see quite a few similar ones while we were in Canada and Alaska.

Jerl had an eye checkup. Everything is looking good. He’s still in the healing process from his two surgeries, but the doc we saw said everything seemed to be healing the way it should. It was a relief to hear it.

We, of course, found some foodies! This was a chili relleno burger from one of the local-ish breweries. This burger (the one on the right)…I don’t know what this burger was called, but it was huge and delicious! You’re looking at three patties with three different cheeses, pastrami, and bacon. Pastrami on burgers must be a California thing. We’ve seen them on menus since we crossed into CA. Every little town has their own version of it.

Both of these pretties were in our RV park!

You know what else was in our RV park? These guys. It’s hard to see…I’ll give you a minute to really look.

See them yet?

There are three rattlesnakes in that picture. Three! I about lost my ever lovin’ mind when we walked up on them! They were pretty occupied with each other, but we warned all of the campers who were just feet from them. It must be a bad year for snakes. We’ve been running into them since we were in New Mexico back in March! We’ve also heard about several snake bites this year. Y’all be careful while you’re out exploring.

The only thing that wasn’t that great about our RV park in the Three Rivers Area was the super spotty cell service. It was workable while we were in the RV, but for some reason as soon as we stepped out…it was gone. No service. I guess we’re lucky we got the spot we did.

It’s funny how some places you travel to really resonate with you. This was one of those places for us. For the first time in…well, since we started this trip, we were sad to leave an area.

You know one thing Alaska doesn’t have that Three Rivers does? Snakes. We didn’t see a single snake while we were in Alaska. I think it’s time for another Alaskan summer. ;-P

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Desert Hot Springs

Desert Hot Springs

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Hey Guys! We spent one very hot, very windy week in the Desert Hot Springs area of California. We were there at the end of April and the daily temps reached a scorching 90* by 10 every morning.

We spent a day exploring Joshua Tree National Park. If you’re going to visit this National Park come in the winter. Winter daytime temps are in the 60s vs. summer when the day time temps exceed 100*. Everyone says the best time to visit is March and April. We were there at the end of April and it was already too hot.

We didn’t do very much hiking here. It was just too dang hot and windy. We wanted to see all of the gigantic boulders so we hiked the Hidden Valley loop. This area is very popular with rock climbers so it can be a bit crowded.

We made it out to Keys View. Guys…check out that view! If you look hard enough you can see the Salton Sea and the San Andreas Fault in the pic above. Keys View is a quarter mile loop…so it’s pretty short, but we found some of the best views in the park here.

Did you know…a Joshua Tree isn’t actually a tree? Its actually the largest species of yucca! What?!? Crazy, right? For the first ten years, the Joshua tree grows about three inches a year. They can live for hundreds of years but unlike the saguaro I told y’all about…Joshua trees only grow to about forty feet tall. Driving through this National Park felt a little like driving through a Dr. Seuss book. Ha!

Yup, we found a dirt road to explore while we were in Joshua Tree NP. Are you surprised? ;-p We drove the 18 mile Geology Tour Road. It was a pretty narrow dirt road, but it wasn’t bad at all. We never had to kick it up into four-wheel drive and the views were all pretty stellar!

Scattered throughout Joshua Tree NP are the remnants of old mines. The one above is what’s left of the Silver Bell Mine. Gold in the 30s, lead in the 40s, and copper in the 50s. There are several old mines you can hike to, but most of them are unsafe. So, this is as close as we got.

It’s not technically a sea any more, but a long, long time ago it was part of what is now the Gulf of California. The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake at around 35 miles long and 15 miles wide. It sits 235 feet below sea level. Most lakes have a natural outlet flowing to the ocean, but the Salton Sea doesn’t. The only water it gets is through rain and agricultural runoff.

The lake you see today is only the current form of the many different lakes that have filled this area over millions of years. Because of all of the agricultural runoff there is a peanut butter type sludge that sits at the bottom of the lake. Fishing for tilapia is a popular recreation at Salton Sea, but I don’t think I would eat anything that came out of this lake. You think it’s sand until you get closer. It’s the skeletons of thousands and thousands of barnacles and fish. Neat but gross at the same time. There are old motels and and boarded up yacht clubs all over the shores. If you go exploring here, do it in a safe spot. We’ve read horror stories of people sinking to their ankles and then having to throw their shoes away due to some residue on them that eats the shoe. We didn’t encounter that at all, but we didn’t stray from the state park head quarters.

Those…are date palms. The first date palms in the US were planted by missionaries in California in 1769. There are a few different date farms in the Desert Hot Springs area. We went to Oasis Date Gardens.

Oasis Date Gardens was established in 1912 and is a whopping 175 acres full of date producing palm trees. YUM! The Oasis Date Gardens doesn’t give tours but they have a video you can watch and there are dates set out for sampling! We had no idea there were so many different kinds of dates. And that they tasted so differently!

I had to try the prickly pear date shake. Had to. There just wasn’t any way around it. It was soooo good. If we’d found this place our first day in the Desert Hot Springs area…I would have gone back to Oasis Date Gardens at least four…maybe five times just for this shake.

We walked out with some goodies. The boys didn’t waste any time getting into the date bread. It didn’t last long.

Over in Palm Springs there’s plenty of green. Big palm trees…lots of lush bushes…but the rest of this area looks…well, brown. Along with some very nice shades of tan. We drove about 15 miles down this road and found a natural oasis. A spot of green in the middle of the desert.

There were several hiking trails here. We stuck to a short boardwalk hike because we were warned that the rattlesnakes were waking up and were very active. And…they like to hide in the trees. Um…nope. Nope. Nope. That’s a great big nope from me. It was bad enough to worry about danger noodles in bushes and near big rocks…but to have to worry about them falling out of the trees onto us…I’m gonna pass on that every time. We saw everything we wanted to see. It was really cool to walk among the huge fan palms. This particular oasis sits on top of the San Andreas Fault. The boys are standing on it in the pic above. You really can’t tell. If the sign didn’t tell you, you’d never know.

We were told of a different place to see the San Andreas Fault in it’s more natural state. It was out in the middle of nowhere and the whole area was in upheaval. It was something else to see it.

We stayed at the KOA. There was zero shade and temps of over 100* every day. It was a very very hot week. They KOA had its own hot springs spa. We didn’t use it because…we were hot enough as it was. The thought of getting into hot water was not at all appealing. We did, however, utilize the pool! Most of the time we were the only ones there.

I can’t leave out the pretties. Even in the desert there is color. Spring in the desert is so full of color and life. Not all of it from cacti! This palo verde tree (top picture) is lovely with it’s green bark and yellow blooms!

There was a surprising amount of things to see and do in the Desert Hot Springs area and if we ever go back… it’ll be in the winter. It was just too hot and too windy for us. While we thought what we saw was neat, it was kind of a looong miserable week.

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
San Diego Part Two

San Diego Part Two

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Hey Guys!! We spent two weeks in the San Diego area and didn’t even scratch the surface on everything in the area to do. I went through most of what we did in our post Seen in San Diego, but there is a little left to tell you…so let’s get started.

We went to La Jolla to see the seals. I have mixed feelings about this. On one side, it was really neat to see the seals chilling out on the beach!  But, on the other side…people were actually making their children touch and sit right next to wild seals. I mean…really? They’re wild animals! And they will bite! Sheesh people!

One of my favorite things we did while in the San Diego area was a hike at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve where they are preserving one of the nation’s rarest pine trees, the Pinus torreyana. I mean…Guys…look at that view! We spent an entire morning hiking around on various trails, soaking up the sun and enjoying the view.

We spent quite a bit of time near the ocean in 2016 as we explored the east coast. We’ve missed it. I don’t think we realized how much we missed it until we were standing there looking at that view and feeling the ocean breeze on our faces.

One of Jerl’s favorite breweries is Stone. We made it up to Escondido to take a tour. We’ve been to a few other brewery tours, but none were on the scale that Stone was. They brew hundreds of gallons at a time. That’s a lot of beer! It’s always fun to see the differences in the breweries and hearing the stories of how they got started.

One of the main reasons we visited San Diego was to go to the zoo. Nicholas had been looking forward to this zoo visit for a very long time. The San Diego zoo is by far the biggest zoo we’ve visited so far. We spent the entire day there and we still somehow missed a whole section. There is a bus tour you can take if your feet get tired. And, there’s a skyfari that you can ride from the back of the zoo to the front! There are some shows…but we missed them all.  I think you really need two full days to see this entire zoo.

Nicholas, of course, was all about the panda exhibit. He’s doing a whole zoo review next week so I’ll let him give you all the details on the zoo visit.

And…the pretties! When we were in New Mexico and Arizona I kept looking for tons of spring flowers, but didn’t see very many so when we got to San Diego…and there were flowers everywhere…I loved it!! I was in flower heaven! I can’t believe I got a picture of a hummingbird feeding in the top picture!

Well, that’s it for the San Diego area this time. We left so much undone that we will have to come back at some point.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop
Nomadiversary Number Three

Nomadiversary Number Three

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Hey Guys!! It’s that time again! Today is our three year nomadiversary!! Three years!! It’s hard to believe we’ve been on this nomadic adventure since 2015. We’ve had quite the year. I thought I’d take you through the highlights and some lowlights of our year.

We started our third year out in Michigan and found out how awesome Michigan really is. None of us were ready to leave and all of us have spoken often of returning. We went in the wrong season…it was bitterly cold for most of our visit, but that didn’t deter us from enjoying the sights and foodies.

Kentucky will always hold a special place in our hearts. We loved the rolling hills of horse pastures, the many distilleries, and the bourbon balls. If I’m being totally honest, I might have a slight obsession with bourbon balls. One of our favorite distilleries to visit is the Woodford Reserve Distillery. The setting, the tour, the chocolate… It has the trifecta of tours!

Tennessee is another state that had a good vibe for us. Nicholas was a willing mural model while we hunted down the many murals that can be found in Nashville.

We also found the foodie scene to be filled with ah-mazing foodies. We still dream of Pepperfire Chicken’s Nashville Hot Chicken.

When in Memphis…you eat BBQ, BBQ, and more BBQ! And that’s exactly what we did! We had BBQ for every meal we could and still don’t feel like we got a sampling of everything the area has to offer.

We have mixed feelings about Memphis. On one hand you’ve got Elvis, Beal St., and BBQ, but on the other hand…we saw so much poverty and homelessness and rough rundown neighborhoods. We weren’t as at ease in Memphis. That kind of takes away some of the sparkle from the experience. We’re glad we went! But, I’m not sure we’ll go back.

Oh, Arkansas…we learned all about chigger nests while we were hiking through Hot Springs National Park. Well, let me clarify that statement…the boys learned all about chigger nests…Jerl and I already knew about them. Somehow, Jerl was the only one unscathed by the massive amount of chiggers we found. The rest of us spent weeks itching all over. Weeks…

We also learned all about the Little Rock Nine and what they went through. If you ever get the chance to visit this National Historic Site, do. It will change you.

I can’t do a review of our third year without mentioning the eclipse! This is an experience we will all be talking about the rest of our lives. We couldn’t have picked a better place to experience this eclipse. The place, the people…and the weather all made it the awesome memory we hold in our hearts.

We found one of our favorite places in Texas this year. Palo Duro State Park just south of Amarillo will take your breath away! We spent several days exploring as much as we could of the “Grand Canyon of Texas” and still didn’t see everything we wanted to.

We got to hike up to the top of Texas on Thanksgiving Day while visiting Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This NPS unit is out in the middle of nowhere and took us over an hour to drive there, but it was worth it. It was a Thanksgiving we will never forget!

We’d been to New Mexico before. We spent several weeks exploring New Mexico back in 2015, but we found new places to explore. Carlsbad Caverns National Park was a pleasant surprise for us. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy Carlsbad, NM…we also loved Carlsbad Caverns NP! If you go prepare to spend the entire day and don’t dismiss the hiking trails above ground.

Sitting Bull Falls National Recreation Area was definitely worth the drive. The falls themselves aren’t really anything to write home about, but the area around the falls was so fun to explore. We spent quite a bit of time picking our way around the pools and rocks at the base of the falls.

New Mexico is on our top five list of states. If I’m being honest, it’s probably in the second spot just behind Alaska. We learned that not all forts have high walls while visiting Fort Union National Monument. That was new for us. All of the other forts we’ve ever visited have been enclosed in high defensible walls so it was very interesting to learn about Fort Union and the role it’s had over the years. We also got to walk on part of the Santa Fe Trail there!

Arizona taught us that we can’t get enough of those red rocks. We could easily spend a season exploring all of the trails in and around Sedona, AZ. It’s something we’re seriously considering…to spend an entire season or two in the Sedona area.

Arizona is also on our top five. The sunsets there are epic. I have to many sunset pics from Arizona and they’re all just as amazing as the one above.

I can’t talk about Arizona and leave out Lost Dutchman State Park. We were able to stay there back in 2015 and again in 2017 during our third year of nomadic travel. Both times have left us wanting more.

While we won’t get to officially add California to our map until June, we’ve been in California for a solid month now. We’ve experienced an earthquake and survived the Santa Ana Winds in an RV. We learned quite a bit about some of the different kinds of palm trees and yuccas while in the Desert Hot Springs area.

We learned about being flexible with our schedule this year. Jerl had to have two eye surgeries and our home-on-wheels needed a new engine so our plans changed quite a bit over our third year.

We didn’t travel as much as we wanted to during our third year, but it is what it is. Life happens and all you can do is make the best of it. We ended up driveway camping at my (Jennie’s) parent’s house for 25 weeks this year, which means we only traveled 27 weeks in total. I feel like we still got quite a bit of exploring done though.

Annnddd…our toad decided to take a joy ride and race us down the highway. We learned sooo much from that experience. We now lock any pin that could be tampered with/bounce loose/fall out. We do not want to have to experience this lesson again. It was nerve-wracking enough the first (and hopefully only) time.

Life is about the little things…all of the little moments that make up the journey. The biggest lesson we learned this year is that life on the road isn’t always easy. It’s not always fun and games and exploring, but like any lifestyle…you have to decide if it’s worth it. For us, right now, it’s still worth it. We still enjoy living in our home-on-wheels and traveling the country like the crazy nomad family that we are.

Thanks for being apart of our journey!

See y’all down the road!
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
Tucson Times

Tucson Times

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Hey Guys! We made it back to Arizona! The drive to Tucson was blessedly boring. Our toad obediently followed along behind our home-on-wheels the entire time.

The last time, back in 2015, when we were in the Tucson area we stayed at an RV park right downtown. We didn’t care for it much. In fact, in our opinion, the only thing Tucson had going for it was Saguaro National Park. This time we tried out a state park that’s just north of Tucson. Catalina State Park is totally the way to go if you’re going to visit the Tucson area! We loved it!

State Parks are some of our favorite places to stay while exploring an area. One of the best things about them is that you’ve got trails right outside your door. Unfortunately that means you’ve got wildlife right outside your door too. We met this guy (left picture) out on the trail early one morning. He never rattled at us but we gave him a wide berth on the trail. It was also the last time we walked the trails for this park because I was just coming off of the whole “chased by a rattlesnake down the trail” by someone at a previous park and…we’d been told they were getting more active. I like to walk trails, but I don’t like snakes. At all. Not even a little. No thank you. There were tons of these little ground squirrels! (right picture) I had a hard time getting a photo of one because they were in constant motion. This little guy’s home was in our yard for the week. Our cats thoroughly enjoyed stalking all of the little squirrels.

We spent an entire day driving the Sky Island Scenic Byway up Mt. Lemmon. We hadn’t planned on spending the entire day doing it, but there were tons of great pull-offs that had small hikes where we could get out and climb around on some rocks and scenic vista points with amazing views.

We started at around 2000 feet and drove all the way up to 9000 feet. The temps dropped 40 degrees on us. It was 90 in Tucson and 50 at the summit! At the summit is a little ski town called Summerhaven. There were a few shops and restaurants nestled in between all of the ski lodges. We didn’t stick around because it was pretty crowded and we were getting hungry since the drive up took a few more hours than we’d planned. I hadn’t packed a lunch and teenage boys need food…often.

Oh! And just in case I thought hiking wouldn’t be as dangerous up on the mountain vs. the desert trails at the state park…It’s bear country. Bears and snakes?

It was hard to be upset at anything with views like that though. Every corner we turned we were wowed. Even when we were going back down the mountain…we were still wowed.

We made it back to Saguaro National Park! Did you know that the saguaro cactus won’t start growing an arm until they’re at least 75 years old?

The boys had already done the Junior Ranger work at Saguaro NP so this time they did the Not So Junior Ranger work and got a new badge! I believe Nicholas (rvkid04) put up a picture of it on his Instagram if you’re interested in checking it out.

We ended up driving down a dirt road we’d somehow missed the first time (back in 2015) and had it pretty much to ourselves. We stopped at an old CCC picnic area right around sunset. This is the view from one of the picnic areas. (right picture) Not a bad view! We didn’t see any snakes here…but we were being super vigilant about watching for them. Did you know that there are six different species of rattlesnakes in Saguaro National Park? Six!! Because one isn’t enough?!

Let’s talk foodies! When we were in Tucson the first time we all tried the Sonoran Dog. What is a Sonoran Dog? (top middle picture) It’s a hot dog wrapped in bacon topped with mayo, mustard, tomatoes, jalapeno salsa, pinto beans and onions all on a bolillo style hot dog bun. None of us were really impressed last time, but I wanted to give it another try. It was better than last time. I would totally get it again! It was a little sweet though. The bun is a sweet style bun and makes the whole thing almost like a dessert rather than a lunch. We also gave In and Out Burger another chance. (bottom right picture) We first tried In and Out while we were in Carson City, NV and none of us liked it. Not even a little. We’ve spent the last three years wondering what everyone sees in this place. I’ll be totally honest here…I really wanted to give it another try just so I could have this shake. A Neapolitan shake? Yes please! And Guys…it wasn’t as bad as we remembered it to be. And it was cheap! We all ate…and got full…for less than $50! Oh, and the shake…it was worth it. Every week we take one of our boys to lunch. It’s a chance to spend some one-on-one time with each of our boys. While we were in Tucson it was Charles’ week and he wanted New Mexican food. We found a place and boy-howdy…they did not mess around with the spice!(bottom left picture) The restaurant is called Goyita’s and it’s in Oro Valley, AZ if any of you are interested. Everything we had was fantastic! I got the stacked enchiladas and they were as good as anything I’ve gotten in New Mexico. Maybe even a little better.

Ok…I’ve held off as long as I can to talk about the pretties. Everywhere we looked there were pretties just starting to bloom. The ocotillo is a favorite cactus of mine. (bottom left picture) Let’s take a closer look at the ocotillo blooms! (middle right picture) I just love them! They give a splash of bright orange color throughout the Sonoran desert! I also found these little yellow beauties. (top right picture) These were pretty prevalent as well. These guys were at the very beginning of their bloom cycle. (top left picture) I was lucky enough to find three different plants in bloom, but most of them were still tightly closed up.

I have no idea what this bush is, but I love the pink wispy puffs!

We had a great time in Tucson and just like last time, we left with more items on our “to-see” list than when we’d come. Ha!

Until next time, Tucson!

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Las Cruces

Las Cruces

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Hey Guys! We spent a week in Las Cruces.

We had to tandem drive from our overnight stop in Junction, TX. If you know me, you know I’m not a driver…so I was pretty nervous about an entire day (it took us right around seven hours) of driving. It was actually ok until we got to El Paso. El Paso is huge with tons of lanes and tons of cars and I was a nervous wreck driving through it. Luckily, all I had to do was follow Jerl who was driving the RV. Nicholas rode with me and we listened to music the whole time.

After a drive day like that we needed a breather…and a burger. The next day we found our way to Hatch, NM and a place called Sparky’s where we had some of the best (and hottest) green chili cheeseburgers we’ve ever had. But, what do you expect from a town known for its chilies? We got there right before 11am and had to wait in a little line. As we sat there eating, the line kept growing and before we left it was out the door and down the block. It was that good. Aaannddd…when you’re in a town known for it’s green chilies…you have to try a chocolate green chili shake. Right? Alex said it was a good thing all of those green chilies were covered in sugar because they were super spicy!

We stopped by a little curio shop in Hatch to look around. Check out the hand painted pitcher and glasses! It’s a good thing we don’t have room for any big souvenirs…I would have walked away with a set of these. We did pick up some green chili powder. We’ve been adding it to our taco seasoning. It has a great taste!

We celebrated Alex’s 15th birthday with a pie. We now officially have a 17 year old, 15 year old, and a 13 year old… how is that possible? I swear I’m not old enough to have three teenagers!

Quite a bit of our time in Las Cruces was spent doing car work. Jerl ordered and replaced the broken headlight. We also spent a fair amount of time replacing the tow bar. You might remember our old tow bar ended up under our car. It was bent beyond repair. We upgraded and went with the next best model plus we added locking pins anywhere and everywhere someone could tamper with them. We would really like for out toad to stay behind the RV where it’s supposed to be…not racing us down the highway. No more joy riding please!

Jerl and I actually had a date night. We don’t have them often, but…we do have three teenagers who are capable of cooking for themselves…so, we out. We ended up at the High Desert Brewing Company and Guys…Oh. My. Goodness….we had the absolute spiciest green chilies EVER!! Wowzers!! Jerl had the green chili burger in the picture above with green chili queso fries. (right picture) I had a green chili quesadilla. We walked out of there with burning bellies! The food was so good, but sooo spicy!! We will totally go back the next time we’re in Las Cruces!! It’s a good thing we didn’t take the boys with us because there’s no way any of them could have handled the amount of spice those green chilies were packing. We did take the boys to a place called Andele’s Dog House for some very tasty and not too spicy food! These are the nachos I got. (left picture) They were really good! I asked for beef expecting to get ground beef…like taco meat…but got steak! The boys like it mainly because you could go get your own chips and salsa at the salsa bar. Kids. Ha!

Right down the road from where we stayed was Old Mesilla which was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Trail. The Butterfield Overland Trail is the predecessor to the Pony Express and ran from St. Louis to San Francisco. We had a good time walking around the little downtown square with all of it’s curio shops.

The Courthouse that Billy The Kid was tried in is now a gift shop. It was kind of fun to stick our heads in and see some of the old architecture.

We drove over the San Agustin Pass. There’s a little pull off at the top where there are some info signs and a pretty darn good view. The San Agustin Pass goes through three mountain ranges…the Organ Mountains, the San Andres Mountains, and the San Agustin Mountains.

We spent a little time hiking around the Dripping Springs area of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. Before I tell you about the hike…let me just say that we almost didn’t do this hike. We were talking to one of the volunteers and she told us a couple times about all of the diamondback rattlesnakes down on this one trail that were super aggressive and had actually chased her down the trail. Guys…I do not want to be chased by a snake. Ever. I have a healthy fear of anything that can kill me and venomous snakes are pretty high on that list. I plucked up my courage and was bolstered by the fact that it was a pretty cool morning (and snakes don’t like cool weather) and we went for a hike up to Van Patten’s Mountain Camp. It was a pretty nice hike…it was a constant gradual up so we were breathing a little hard. It warmed us up and gave me a reason to stop every so often to take some pictures. You know, because I need a reason to take pictures. *wink wink*

Part way up the hike we found a set of old buildings that had been used as a livery for the Mountain Camp. (right picture) In the late 1800s the guests could ride a stage line from Las Cruces up to the hotel (mountain camp). By the early 1900s guests were showing up in automobiles too. About a quarter of a mile on up the trail we found the remnants of Van Patten’s Mountain Camp. (left picture) Major Eugene Van Patten built the resort hotel in the late 1800s. In 1915 Van Patten had some financial troubles and sold the resort to Dr. Nathan Boyd.

Dr. Boyd turned part of the resort into a tuberculosis sanatorium. Sometime in the 1920s Dr. Boyd sold the resort and sanatorium to a Dr. T.C. Sexton and by the 1940s the resort hotel was in ruins.

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument is run by the BLM. When a NPS unit isn’t run by the NPS we never know if there will be a Junior Ranger program or not. This one had a small one and even had a little badge that the boys earned. We were also warned about the Oryxx that roam the area. Apparently, they can run fast and they’re pretty muscly. They’re causing havoc with the ecosystem in the park because they don’t have a natural predator in this area. We spotted one resting under a tree. With the magic of a zoom lens we got a good look at it. Those are some serious horns!

The Dripping Springs area of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks NM is about 6000 feet in elevation. We enjoyed some pretty nice views through the whole hike.

There weren’t too many pretties around since it was still technically winter at this point, but these amazing little yellow pretties were in our yard for the week.

It was a stressful and busy week in Las Cruces with all of the car/tow bar work, but we thoroughly enjoyed the area!

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018
Lets Try This Again

Lets Try This Again

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Hey Guys!!

I took a few weeks off from writing blog posts. We’ve been crazy busy…but mostly it’s been mundane…not really blog worthy stuff. We left my (Jennie’s) parent’s house where we were driveway camping and headed to Houston. We always take a family pic by the map before we start each loop. I like to look back and see how everyone has changed.

We spent two weeks in Houston getting all of our yearly stuff done. Even adventurous nomads have to go to the dentist, get their eyes checked and visit their pediatrician.

Our furr baby-nomads had to go visit their doctor too. They weren’t pleased…not even a little bit. They let us know of their displeasure loudly on the ride there and back

We hit up a few of our favorite eateries,

stopped by one of our favorite book stores, and even made it to a friend’s birthday party! I don’t like to post pictures of other people’s kids so you’ll just have to take my word that this particular kiddo who just turned one is pretty stinkin’ cute! The best part about being back in the Houston area is spending time with friends.

I think I told y’all that we were having leaky plumbing problems from the cold weather we were in. We took our home-on-wheels to an RV place to get it fixed…we actually had to take it twice…and it was still leaking pretty badly behind the back toilet. Jerl ended up having to take the toilet off and redoing the fix, but he fixed it! No more leaky toilets!!

That pretty much wraps up our two weeks in Houston. Short and sweet…filled with friends and foodies.

We took off from Houston to Junction, TX where we would stay overnight on our way to New Mexico. Things were going pretty smoothly until I looked in the rear view camera to check on the car and the car…well, it wasn’t there. I looked in the side view mirror and there it was…trying to race us down the highway. It was pretty startling. Jerl kept his cool and used the RV to stop the car. I wish I’d gotten some video of it all, but I was too busy freaking out. The pin that holds the hitch to the RV either broke and fell out or someone messed with it at the last gas station we were at. Either way, the tow bar ended up under the car. Just to clarify…that’s not where it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t really work properly like that.

Everything considered…we were extremely lucky. If this had happened on a busy road or going down a steep incline, it would have ended very differently. The car can be fixed. It’s totally drive-able…just not quite as pretty as before. The RV has a few scuffs and scratches and the light came off. But, there’s nothing too bad.

We were twenty miles away from the RV park we were going to stay at. We got untangled and made it to the park before dark. The camp host at the park did his best to try to help us straighten out the tow bar. They were making some progress when they started worrying about the integrity of the metal after being so bent up. So, they stopped. We really appreciate their willingness to help strangers, but that’s been our experience with the RVing community as a whole. We help each other out.

It was a pretty exciting first day back on our travels…and not really the kind of exciting we’re used to (or want). We’re hoping for some less exciting travel days in the future.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018