Following the Appalachian Mountains

Last Sunday we passed through part of northern Georgia into North Carolina.  The section of the drive following the Nantahala River was very pretty.  We made a stop along the of the river and watched the rafters and kayakers come in.  We passed through an tiny "town" called Wesser and I think that's where we crossed over back in high school when we were hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Nantahala River.......chillly

On the Road Again.....

It has been a while since I have written on the blog.  We had a very nice visit with family in Las Vegas.  Went to several Circque du Soleil show's, thanks to our local connections.  Saw Willie Nelson in concert at the Belagio.  Visited Red Rocks and spent lots of family time.

Cousins playing, no fighting, no playing....can't keep it straight :)

Joshua Tree

Leaving the California coast we headed inland toward Palm Springs to a city called Indio.  This town was picked based on campground and it's proximity to Joshua Tree National Park.

Lake "Taco" and the Captain

Our next destination was found in an effort to get as close as we could to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite NP, but not be freezing cold.  The campgrounds were slim pickins, but we found one called Commanche Lake Recreation Area and even though it didn't have many ratings, the other options had terrible ratings, so we took a gamble.  It felt like we left civilization to get to the site, which if you're on vacation is good, but if you living everyday life it is not always the best.

The campground itself was nice and our site was on the lake.  Apparently it can be a pretty rowdy campground in the summer, but for us in early November, it was quiet and peaceful.

That's our camper out there in the distance.  Commanche Lake Rec Area.

Hallow Redding

Made the pass from California's coast inland toward Redding.  The drive was very scenic with a hint of fall colors.

The pass from Arcata to Redding.  Beautiful drive.

NPS Recreation area on our way into Redding.

Redding was a nice change of scenery.  Much drier conditions and lots of sunshine!  The laundry has become my humidity test.  There are so many things that we don't put in the dryer and when I hang them out to dry, depending on our where we are, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes up to 3 days to dry.  In the Coos Bay area I thought they would never dry.  This was a "30 minutes to dry" stop.

Tree Giants

We left the Coos Bay/Charleston area a day earlier than we had planned and followed Hwy101 south. Had a travel day with on and off rain and sunshine.  The air at some times seemed so thick with moisture it was like driving through the clouds.  We were headed for the town of Arcata, CA and excited to see some redwoods.  We took lots of pictures because the views of the ocean and cliffs from Hwy 101 were so beautiful and there were lots of pull off areas.

Lush Coast

Headed back down through Seattle and looped around to the Olympic Peninsula to stay in Port Ludlow.

Port Ludlow

We stayed at a park run by the city and it was very nice.

Port Ludlow campground

Tons of trees and felt very much like a small state park, but was right near the middle of town.  "Middle of town" meaning the one gas station, post office, Italian restaurant, and hair cutter in town.
It was a short drive to several things we wanted to see and the spot was perfect for our purposes.

Do You Like Ninjas?

From Missoula we headed north up to Flathead Lake.  We are staying at a state park called West Shore and it is about 10 minutes south of Lakeside, MT.

Our site at West Shore State Park

Our site is beautiful and just up the hill from the lake itself.  The water at the lake looks like the Caribbean.

The lake from the campground

It is so clear, but the water is fresh and a little chilly depending on how hot the day feels.

"Go Get Chu One"

After hanging in out in Victor, ID area, the whole group relocated together that weekend and headed up closer to the west side of Yellowstone NP at Henry's Lake State Park in Idaho.  Very pretty park with a lake and mountain view.

Large Marge and The Hairy Toe

We made the short drive across the pass from Palisades to Victor, ID and arrived to our campground. We had planned to be in the National Forest that week so we could have more of a "camping" experience for Jon and Steph.  We changed plans at the last minute and not sure if it was a good decision or not, but either way it worked fine.
We ended up at Teton Valley Campground in Victor and about a 20 minute drive to Jackson Hole, WY and Grand Teton National Park.
The day we arrived was Luna's b-day, so after setting up camp we took her into Jackson Hole to a movie.  She picked Inside Out and it was a good choice.  Pretty cute movie.  We toured the town a little and grabbed some groceries.
Jon, Steph, Bryce and Taylor arrived late that night and sleeping children were carried into the camper.
We took it easy that first day.  Sang Happy Birthday to Luna and did a little hike.

Week of Nationals

This was a week of National Parks and Monuments.  We hit three parks.................Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Arches and Canyonlands and two Monuments...........Colorado and Dinosaur.  Did I mention that we were in the high desert heat at about 100 degrees each day.  HELLO! We did not realize that we would be leaving the mountains so soon and entering those kind of temps.  We were not happy campers part of that week.  The humidity is low, so you're not sticky, but it was so hot!!  

We had left Glenwood Springs and had a short drive down the Interstate.  It was amazing how much the climate changed in that 1 hour or so drive. 

We stayed at James M Robb State Park (Island Acres Section) and were sandwiched between two mountains.  The mountains were beautiful however the interstate was sandwiched between those same two mountains, so that was a little weird.  It just became white noise and didn't bother us at all, but might have if we had been at a site closer to the road.  The campground itself was nice, but had a strange crowd of people.

I Remember This Place

From Golden we traveled north to a state park called St.Vrain.  Ahhhh..... The space of a state park I had missed so much.  State parks are my favorite and we had not been to one since our last stop in New Mexico, so I was very excited.  The park itself was pretty, had nice lakes for fishing, and a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains off in the distance.  It was quite close to the interstate so you didn't quite feel remote, but it was a pretty nice place.  We had a fire pit and put it to good use a few nights.  Attempted cooking our veggies and some other things over the flame, but our wood was a little smokey from being in the back of our truck and exposed to all the rain.  The veggies were a little smokey :)  

They're Not White

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.  Swimming.  Zapata Falls  Swimming.  Sandboarding. Swimming. Sand Sledding.

Made it to Colorado

Kept heading north on Hwy 64/84 and entered into Rio Grande National Forest.  Another very pretty drive.  We arrived to our reserved campgrounds and after testing our internet and theirs decided that the connection wasn't strong or consistent enough for the work week, so called down the road and found a spot.  

Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains (National Parks)

Monday, March 30, 2015

We left Marathon, TX and headed northwest to an area between Carlsbad and Artesia, NM.  I'm not even sure what the town is because we are staying on a ranch that has an RV park for members of a club called ESCAPEES.  We happen to be members because when we left NJ we joined two groups.....Passport American and ESCAPEES.  This particular place came up on our app when we were looking for places in the area and we decided to give it a try.  It is very cute here.  I forgot to mention that all members of ESCAPEES are fulltimers, so that puts the majority of them in a age bracket.  So this "ranch" is actually located on a real ranch and is a little community for people who full time travel.  Many of these people live here most of the time, but take off when they can or want I suppose.  We are on someones "plot" who is away on a trip. Everyone is very sweet and we were greeted with the ringing of a bell and a big hug :)  I went to the exercise class this morning.  Happy hour is everyday at 4pm in the main house, as well as bingo and other activities throughout the week. Cute little community in the middle of nowhere.

Today the girls and I went to the Living Zoo State park located in Carlsbad, NM.

Marathon, Texas and More Big Bend

We just left Marathon, TX and while I already posted a little bit about the park I didn't mention Marathon much. This was a very, very small (population 420) town and had it's own little charm.  Ironically, there is a hotel, The Gage Hotel, in the middle of the 2-4 block downtown area that is quite fancy and has a long history in this town.  The hotel has a restaurant with a pricey menu and apparently enough of a clientele to keep it going.  Across the railroad tracks are the Gage Gardens, which are maintained by the hotel and are quite lush and beautiful especially when everything is so parch in the desert.

Big Bend National Park

Today the girls and I went to Big Bend National Park. We are staying in Mararthon, TX so we had about a 45 minute drive to the park entrance. It is such a big park there is a lot of driving involved.

Glade Evers

Alligators and Anhingas filled our days last week.  We spent a couple of days in the Everglades National Park.  We decided to enter one day at the north entrance (Shark Valley) and a different day we hit the southern entrance (Ernest Coe) and made the hour long drive through the Glades to the southernmost visitors center (Flamingo).

We saw tons of gators, took tours, spent over an hour with one ranger learning about all the different types of birds and how to more easily identify them.  While on one of the tours, we had to walk around a huge gator that was sunbathing on the sidewalk.  My heart was racing as I passed with my little appetizers.