Our time in Virginia (Oct. 2017)

We were not able to spend a ton of time in Virginia as we were pushing a timeline to get us to my mother’s by a certain date. We were able to see a few great things though.

The RV needed an oil change and I found a location on our route. Marc stayed with the RV and Rebecka and I took off in the car. We visited “Natural Bridge State Park”. This was an especially meaningful trip for me. I have a photo under this bridge with my late grandmother and myself. It is not a digital photo and in a box of other photos currently being stored in Texas. When I find it, I will be adding it to this post. Having a photo with my daughter here was on my “Must Do List”.

Virginia has many cavern tours, all equally special. It was hard to choose just one. I decided we would visit “The Grand Caverns”. We really enjoyed the tour and learned so much. If you get an opportunity to visit you will not be disappointed. Bring a jacket though, it was chilly down there.

We squeezed in a trip to the Frontier Culture Museum. This was such an educational place. Definitely check out their website. http://www.frontiermuseum.org/. Just so happened, our visit coincided with Oktoberfest. Such fun!!


Warrior’s Path State Park in Kingston, TN

We stopped in Kingston, TN to visit with Marc’s sister and her family. It was so nice to get the chance to hang out and catch up.

We camped at Warriors’ Path State Park. It was a nice woodsy area. From our site we could see the fishing area of the lake. The whole park was very nice and we will most likely stay here again while visiting the area.

This park has a wonderful 3-acre Playground Complex. I was in awe from the moment I walked in.
We spent a few evening hours there and could easily have spent a few more. The park is design for both children with and without disabilities in mind. My photos do not do this park justice. It was amazing. Worth the stop if you have kids and are passing through the area.

My 40th Birthday Celebration

My 40th Birthday Celebration
I was raised in North-East Pennsylvania with a large extended family living in New York City. Majority of holidays and special occasions, our immediate family packed up the car and traveled two hours from PA to NYC to attend.
Years go by and everyone’s life changes, older members of the family whom where the heart of these gatherings sadly pass away. The frequency of these events slowly diminished. After high school, I moved away to go to college, hardly ever making it back “home” for any of these gatherings. Then I got married and moved all the way across the country, never making it back for any of these events or even a nice visit.
Living in our RV and traveling I am finally getting an opportunity for a nice visit with my mom. She, along with my Aunt and Uncle planned a big family event during my visit. My 40th Birthday (and long overdue visit) became the special occasion. It was wonderful to see everyone and my heart swelled with love during the whole event. It meant so much to see each of you. ((Love, Hugs & Kisses)

A few photos from this memorable dinner.

Wow

Wow, I can not believe how easy it is to forget to post the updates on here. We have have been busy since the last time one of us posted anything. I don’t think that I’m going to talk too much about each place that we’ve been since then, but I will try to touch on all of those places.

If you follow us on Facebook, then you know about what happened in Santa Rosa, New Mexico at the Dairy Queen. I still can’t get over that. Anyway, despite that fiasco, we did still have a good time there. We were on the old Route 66. We went to see what they call “Blue Hole.” It is a naturally occurring waterhole that is so clear that you can see dang near all the way to the bottom of it and it’s 80 feet deep. That’s a good way’s down for looking through water. Here are a few pictures of that. Please keep in mind that the camera can’t see exactly what the human eye can see and reflections off the top of the water kind of destroy the greatness of this hole.

After we saw Blue Hole, we went for a cruise down some of the old Route 66. It was pretty cool to see some of the old buildings and stores and such from back in the day. It was a little sad how most of what used to be is now dead and gone. I have come to realize that I was a little too late to be able to see the real Route 66 and that I will never see it the way it was meant to be. But here are a few pictures of what we have seen so far.

From there we went to Shamrock, TX for a night and then off to Oklahoma to see a friend for a few days. We had a good time catching up with them and getting some rest. After that, we went to Arkansas to see cousin Leslie. We got a spot at a campsite very close to her new house and then we were able to spend the evening with her and her fiance.

Then it was time to go to Memphis, TN. Right on the east side of the border is the pyramid. I’m told that it used to be a sports center. Something like where they played basketball or something. If you really know me, then you know that I don’t like professional sports. The biggest reason for that is simple. I gave up 20 years of my life with the possibility to pay the ultimate sacrifice and I barely make anything. These guys play a game and make a fortune. Anyway, they turned to pyramid into the biggest Bass Pro Shop that I have ever seen. It was really cool, we even boondocked in their parking lot for the night.

After that was a place called Smyrna, TN and then Pigeon Forge, TN. Pigeon Forge was great. The Smokey Mountains are amazing. Rebecka was able to get another Jr. Ranger badge from there, as well. Here are a few of the pictures I took while we were in the Smokey Mountains.

Ok, I’m going to end this post for the night but I will write again tomorrow and trust me, it’ll be worth the wait. Ok folks, I’ll see you soon. Until then, keep the adventures going.

Four Corners and Mesa Verde National Park

Four Corners and Mesa Verde National Park

We recently visited Four Corners. This site is in the middle of Indian Reservation lands. They require a per person fee of $5 before you can drive to the site. The “idea” and concept of this site is very interesting. When you look at a map of the USA, four states meet together. Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. We took the visit as an opportunity to say we had been there and to take some photos. There were some vendor booths surrounding the site offering jewelry and other souvenirs. How often can you say you sat in four states at the same time. 

We headed to Farmington, New Mexico. “What’s there to see there?”, you might ask. My answer, “It’s not What is there, it’s “Who”!” Thoroughly enjoyed visiting with some friends we have not seen in years. I love that on this adventure we are able to reconnect with friends and family. Visiting “places” was only part of why we choose this adventure.
Mesa Verde National Park was not far from our friend’s house. An opportunity to visit and see Indian cave dwellings could not be passed up. We hopped in the car and drove North into Colorado. I became a giddy little girl when I saw snow on the mountains in the distance. You must understand. I was raised in Pennsylvania. Snow was a big part of winter. While Marc did his best to drive us to visit the snow a few times over the years, the excitement of seeing it doesn’t get old.
The drive once in the park was steep and winding as we made our way to the park’s museum. Rebecka completed another Jr. Ranger booklet, earning herself another badge. I think we will be buying her a vest to display all her hard work soon. Her eagerness to complete the lesson and activities in the booklet is encouraging my desire to continue visiting these National Parks.

I will post photos and videos. Please enjoy.
Thank you again for your continued support

Animal Sanctuary Tour and UTV Riding in a Mountain Forest

Hi, everyone!! We had an amazing day today. We started off a little bit on the wrong foot by having the alarm set for PDT and we are in MDT but the day did get better real fast. We went to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for a free tour of their facilities. The tour is two hours long and it is very informative. We got to meet one of the dogs there and we got to spend some time in with a bunch of cats. The people there are really great people and they do allow volunteering. You can even choose where you want to volunteer, meaning you can choose what type of animal you want to help out with. In short, Best Friends is a great organization and their tour was very nice.

After that, we drove back up to Duck Creek Village and rented a UTV. That was so awesome!! We had a six-seater so that the three of us could all sit in the front and that really does make a difference. We drove on a bunch of ATV/UTV trails and we saw some amazing scenery. We even had the chance, and we took it, to have lunch up on the mountain, in the forest with an amazing view. Lunch was actually so cool that Rebecka said that it was the best picnic ever. Way cool. We were also lucky enough to get to see a buck and some doe, some wild turkeys, a badger and a few hawks. What a day!! I did find out that my right foot (gas pedal) has a habit of reacting to Rebecka’s laugh. Who knew? Her laughing and having such a great time riding in the UTV with us was just amazing for me. I could tell the spots that she really liked and I was able to make them just a little bit more fun for her. I love it when I can do that.

Alright, that’s it for today. Tomorrow we are going to go back to Best Friends and watch them train some of the horses there and then we are going to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes National Park. Rebecka really wants to see pink sand. We’ll see how it goes.

Grand Canyon/North Rim

Yesterday we left camp and drove about 80 miles south. Our destination for the day? The North Rim of the Grand Canyon. As we drove the, scenery changed, each mile more beautiful then the mile before. Kanab, Utah has an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level. The elevation of the North Rim of the Gran Canyon is over 8000 feet above sea level. We wound upward through the Kaibab National Forest. I didn’t realized how much I missed trees. Trees as far as the eye could see. Oh, and the leaves just starting to change, a wonderful bright yellow color, truly took my breath away. There were also miles where forest fires have left there mark.
Once inside the Grand Canyon area gate ($30 by the way if you don’t have a pass) we spotted wild Buffalo grazing in a meadow. Wonderful to see such large majestic animals free to roam as they please. We were also lucky enough to see some deer on the drive back out. Spending the day surrounded by mother nature in all her beauty turned out to be a very relaxing, zen, kind of day.
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon was just as beautiful as you could imagine. Rebecka completed her Jr. Ranger booklet and we all learned something new from the Ranger’s talk about the geology surrounding us.
I will attach some of our photos. However, if you ever get the opportunity to visit this beautiful region of our country in person you should. It was a wonderful, beautiful day.

Living the Dream

I spent 20 years in the US Navy and the most common thing I heard was “living the dream.” When you asked someone how they were doing, that was the most common response, living the dream. I have no idea what their dreams were like, but that wasn’t my dream. Now, living fulltime in my motorhome and traveling the country, for me, that’s living the dream.

So we have been living in our motorhome since the middle of July and so far, we are loving it. If you read my last post, then you are caught up until the last two weeks of August. Since then, we spent a few weeks in Camp Pendleton and then decided that it was time for a road trip. It was nice to spend some time in one place for a little while. I did get to go fishing almost every day, and I only got skunked one day. We met a lot of great people while we were there, as well.

Ok, time for a road trip. Nicole wanted to see something big to get things started. How about the Grand Canyon? Will that be big enough? I’m thinking it is. After we left Pendelton, we spent one night just outside of Barstow on a Marine Corps Base that I didn’t even know was there. I expect that I’ll be finding a lot of bases that I didn’t know about during our travels. After Barstow, we went to Las Vagas for two nights. We had a good time there and I might have spent a little too much money, but how much is too much anyway? Then, we went to Utah.

We are staying in Kanab, Utah for a week because there is so much to see in this area. Today we went to what they call Little Hollywood. Some of the early western movies were filled here. Because most of them were before our time, it really didn’t seem all that great to us. We also went to Moqui Cave. This place is interesting. This dude bought a cave back in the 40’s and put a bar and dance hall inside the cave. That’s pretty cool. His passion was really geology, archeology, and paleontology, the bar was just a fun way to earn money to pay the bills and pay for the digs and research that he loved so much.

Since we were already heading north, and I really wanted to check it out, we also drove up to a place called Duck Creek Village. Since we have been in Utah, “WOW!” has been the only way to describe what have been seeing. Duck Creek Village is no exception to that. The scenery was spectacular, to say the least. We ate at a little diner called Aunt Sue’s Chalet. The food was good, the price was ok, and the people were awesome. We are making another trip up there later this week because we are going to rent a UTV for a few hours and go ride some of the vast expanses of trails that they have there.

Below are some pictures from just today. It’s not all of the pictures that I took but I was having a lot of fun taking the pictures and even just seeing the things that I wanted pictures of. There were a few spots that I couldn’t capture with the camera and those spots are breathtaking. When you drive around some turns up in these mountains, you can very easily be blown away by the view that nature is offering.

We do have a lot more to do while we are here and I promise that I will write about them. Maybe some video or pictures. I’m not so good about getting videos posted but I’m going to work on that. So, until next time, keep living life and enjoying it. Try to take a few minutes each day to just stop and enjoy the view, or the quiet, because it really can make a difference in how you see the world. Thanks for reading.