Blog
Phoenix, AZ
Dates of stay: Jan 24 - 26, 2022
Campground: Casa Grande RV Resort
Sad to leave Tucson as we loved our time there and 4 days wasn’t enough! That said, Phoenix was a fun stop as we got to see a lot of friends and family. Arrived at the RV park - we are easily 10-15 years younger than everyone else camped here! It is actually a bit difficult to find an RV park in and around the Phoenix area that is under 55 AND takes kids. But this place did. Very nice - great hot tub and pool and very friendly. They had a small market one morning selling Native American themed jewelry and fresh lemons - a huge bag for a buck!
During our time here, we had the Megan Gehrke family (her, husband and 3 boys) over for tacos at the RV. I made a big pitcher of really good lemonade with those lemons! They moved from Farmington, MN about a year ago and so it was fun to be able to swing through and see them. I was also able to visit my friend Nancy for the first time in real life. We met each other through Refine, a Christian women’s networking group, and she lives in Wisconsin. Funny thing is is that just a couple of weeks ago, she posted on Facebook that she was at an RV resort in Phoenix for the winter - just so happened she was about 15 minutes from where we were staying! So I made the trek over and we had so much fun chatting.
Finally, we spent the majority of time visiting Charlie and Rita Healy, Tom’s uncle and aunt, as they winter in the Phoenix area. We hung out at their place and had the chance to visit an amazing museum - the Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery - which has one of the world’s largest private collection of contemporary Western American and American Indian art in the world. This one was a favorite:
We departed Phoenix the next day for Sedona, and had an extremely close call with a pilot car trailing a wide load - they pulled out RIGHT in front of us at a high speed. Thankfully, Tom is so adept at maneuvering this rig - crisis averted thankfully!
Tucson, AZ
Dates of stay: Jan 20 - 24, 2022
Campground: Gilbert Ray - Tucson Mountain Park
We arrived at a beautiful county campground, outside of the city. It’s gorgeous! So many huge saguaro cactus and we have a lovely spot to catch the sunsets. The coyotes were out tonight and howling, right by our campsite, I swear - they sounded so close. There are lots of great trails here to explore.
Gorgeous weather, and we did a hike on the Golden Gate trail, just out of our campsite. We’ve noticed that people are popping the hoods of their RVs and cars open. We asked a ranger about this, and she said it is due to the packrats - they rest in the warmth of the engines at night because they are heated up by the sun. Sometimes they chew on the wires and can do a lot of damage. Supposedly the drafting helps prevent it; we were also told that essential oils sprayed around the area help (I did this), and string lights under the vehicle also helped - which also makes for pretty campsites I found out! We enjoyed another gorgeous sunset on our second evening, and made pizza on the blackstone (so that must’ve been a Friday)…
Side note: during this trip, we found out that Mom and Dad Conn purchased a home in Florida, so we are excited to have a place to escape to NEXT winter!
We also discovered the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, which was just 5 minutes from our campground. Using the term museum to describe this place definitely falls short. It’s home to a zoo, an aquarium, botanical gardens, an art gallery, an education center, an incredible raptor show, fossils, and more. The docents - both junior and adult docents - were incredibly well versed and taught us quite a bit. We spent almost the entire day there (6 hours) and still didn’t see everything. The day we were there, they had a mineral hunt going on for the kids. There were stations around the entire museum, and at each station, you would learn about certain minerals and then you would be able to have a specimen of each of the minerals. Was a pretty neat way to engage the kids. There is also an art gallery here, which is focused on conservation of all sorts of animals - it’s a really lovely place. Even the onsite restaurant was decent! Not to mention, the gift shop was really nice and we picked up our own little Saguaro cactus…
The museum sits on the edge of the Saguaro National Park, so we drove through this area to see all the cacti. We drove a scenic loop that took us by the rock art, and other areas that were built by the CCC in 1933 - ramadas, picnic areas, restrooms. The rock art here didn’t come close to what we saw at Seminole Canyon, but it was still interesting.
It rained tonight (which I am hoping will make the cacti flower), and also watched the Packers in the playoff game. Happy we were able to stream it. But they lost.
On our last day, we found the Titan Missile Museum, as this was a highly recommended stop by the Fulltime Families facebook group. So glad, because it was jaw-dropping amazing. From the website: “At the Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona, visitors journey through time to stand on the front line of the Cold War. This preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.”
Our tour guide served for four years here when he was in his early 20s. He was an outstanding guide, and he took us through a simulation to give us the experience of what it would have felt like if they were given the instructions to launch the missiles. It was bone-chilling in a way, and a very moving experience. As I still remember the movie “The Day After” from the 80s, which was all about middle American during the Cold War, this visit made that part of my childhood very real and it gave us all a close up look at how these individuals were serving during this time frame. HIGHLY recommend visiting if you are in the Tucson area - be sure to make reservations in advance. Today, the escape hatches are permanently locked into place and kept partially open so that the Russian satellites can see into the area, which was an agreement as part of the peace treaty when these things were decommissioned.
Wrapped up our final day with an afternoon bike ride through the desert scrub, and amongst all the cacti. Bumpy, rocky, sandy, not well marked, but fun. And thankfully, we did not end up on any cacti. Off to Phoenix to visit family and friends.
Deming, NM
Dates of stay: Jan. 19, 2022
Harvest Host stop!
We had one night in New Mexico, which happened to be at the D. H. Lescombes Winery, which is a Harvest Host location. We arrived around noon, and had our pick of the parking lot - which was huge. Over the afternoon, there were about 6-7 other RVs and vans that pulled into the location and we still had plenty of room.
They have a lovely tasting room, so we took advantage of this Wednesday afternoon to try their wines and grab a bite to eat. We also just happened to run into the only other couple in the place at that time - who were from Minneapolis! A very small world indeed.
Grabbed dinner from a Mexican food truck in town, drove around for a bit, then headed back for a quick overnight stay. Our next destination: Tucson!
Alpine, TX
Dates of stay: Jan 14 - 19, 2022
Campground: The Lost Alaskan
We departed Lajitas for Alpine, TX - decided to extend our stay here until Wednesday, given the weather in Carlsbad which is cold and below freezing. We just didn’t want to have to make an unnecessary move, so we’ll just visit Carlsbad Caverns from here.
After pulling into the Lost Alaskan RV resort, we went to explore the town. After getting skunked on a propane refill at Tractor Supply - again (kind of becoming a trend for us), we were driving down the road and saw a sign that said “Sul Ross student meat market.” Sul Ross is a state university and of course, I was intrigued so we had to pull in. It’s run and managed by the university and it’s students. It’s mission is to teach best practices in the area of agricultural and butchering processes. They butcher and process all of the meats onsite at this facility and then sell everything to the public - and by everything, I mean everything (hearts, organs, etc). We passed on those but picked up some hamburgers, breakfast sausage and beef jerky. We made a stop at the visitor center, which is really a must on these stops and walked away with an armful of brochures and maps.
On our drive around town, we came to a very low bridge, commenting that the RV would never make it - well neither did the Sleep Number truck we encountered on the other side. Apparently, the driver was either not paying attention or wasn’t sure of the height variance but the top of his truck had been completely sheer off - it looked like a giant sardine can with the top completely rolled back. It was certainly and interesting site and not an experience we want to have….
The next day, we started off a very cool morning at the very small Farmer’s market - a bread stand, a place to buy microgreens, and a stand with jams and pickles. Pretty sparse, but we picked up some sourdough and cinnamon raisin bread. Tom and Owen went in search of an oil change for the Jeep and I wanted to explore some of the murals that the town is known for. There are also a number of shops and galleries that looked intriguing. I found so many beautiful paintings and photographs of the Big Bend area, pottery, other sculptures - but once again, reminded of the space constraints in the RV!
We explored the MCDonald Observatory Observatory and took a guided tour of one of the massive telescopes they have on their campus - approximately 200 tons of it. One of the telescopes here was the first to measure the distance of the earth to the moon, within 2 inches accuracy. Today, the measurements are within 1/2 an inch!
We took a 3 hour drive up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (CAVE). On our way there, we passed the Prada “store” in Valentine, TX, complete with tumbleweed passing in front of it. This is actually an art installation that was created by artists in Malfa, in collaboration with Prada. I read about it years ago, so it was fun to see this on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
Our drive up to Carlsbad was beautiful, as it took us through the Guadalupe Mountains and we finally arrived at CAVE. The crowds at this time of year are very low, and it was a wonderful time to visit. We entered via the Natural Entrance (you can take an elevator from a different spot), but if you are physically able, walking through the natural entrance is absolutely amazing. This is basically the bat cave, and in the summer, you can see them fly out of here in the afternoon as they go hunting during the night. Inside the cavern it is very cool - about 53 degrees, so dress warm.
We highly recommend the audio tour for an extra $5 pp, as it really enhances the experience as it has info on the history of the cave’s discovery, indepth data on the geology, and the overall composition of the caverns and how they’ve been explored and preserved over the years.
There’s a “lunchroom” area, which actually used to serve the crowds back in the 50s (fried chicken was the best, supposedly) and there is a post office box where you can mail postcards from. Today, it still serves but only drinks, chips and candy bars. The structure/decor of the area is within the cave itself but it is very dated - definitely a mid 1900’s feel.
The original tourists had to descend down in a oversized BUCKET, then make their way down a crickety staircase .That would’ve definitely amped up the experience. You can still see this area today, from the walkway.
Very grateful for our ability to travel to CAVE, and our physical ability to experience this park - Owen had a real appreciation for the beauty and wonder of this place and it’s been one of his favorite stops.
Other fun excursions included the mural tour for art class (well, I thought it was fun). Alpine is a really artsy town (also - go visit Desert Rose Provisions store if you get the chance - great art and other finds). The Visitor Center provides a map of the murals as well as scavenger hunt type document for them, so we used this as an opportunity for art and history class. The murals vary from landscapes of west Texas, to all of the musicians that are originally from Texas - that was a favorite one perhaps. We also came across a woman who was working on fixing a telephone pole that was covered in mosaic tiles. She explained to us that the town is currently working to cover all of their telephone poles in this way - we found a couple of others, and they were really beautiful.
We also hiked up to Desk Hill, which has become an iconic location in Alpine. This is a short 20-30 minute hike up a hill not too far from Sul Ross Campus. Back in 1981, three students decided to haul a school desk up to the top of the hill above the campus of Sul Ross State University - supposedly to have a quieter, more serene place to study. The desk stayed there, and now it is the endpoint of this hike up Hancock Hill where visitors can sign the notebook kept in the desk as well as take in the spectacular view of the school and surrounding town - which we did. Bicycle Tree is also up there (bikes in a tree - not sure what this is about).
On our final evening, we enjoyed a campfire with our neighbors, who lived near Austin, TX. They were traveling for a few days in their Airstream and invited us to come and visit them so they could take us sailing sometime! yes please….
We departed Alpine the next morning before sunrise and I got to drive….while treated to some gorgeous vistas as the sun came up. The roads are flat and straight here, which made for an easy drive.
Big Bend National Park - Texas
Dates of stay: January 7 - 14, 2022
Campground: Maverick Ranch, Lajitas, TX
Made it to Big Bend National Park! Getting to our campsite included driving through the park from the north entrance, so it was fun to get a glimpse of this massive park on the way to our destination. While we technically have been at a few other National Parks and Recreation Areas (i.e. Everglades, Gettysburg, etc), this is will be the first time we’ve really explored a National Park in any great detail, and we’ll start that journey tomorrow. The big spaces get even bigger here, and it is very dry and arid. The days are warm and sunny and the nights are cool, and full of lots of coyotes howling at night. I already feel like a week won’t be enough…
Spent our first full day at BIBE (the alpha code), Big Bend National Park. The alpha code is the code that the park service/rangers use to identify all of the national parks and it is created by taking the first two letters in the name of the park depending on its name (I.e. Yosemite is one word, so YOSE, or Grand Canyon is two, so GRCA).
Once again, thankful that we have the Jeep in tow as it allowed us to make it to many areas of the park on this trip that we would have not been able to do if we didn’t have a high-clearance, 4WD. Our first off-road experience was on Old Maverick Road, heading into the park from the west side. Our destination was Santa Elena Canyon, where we were treated to unbelievable view of a canyon that had been carved out over the centures. This is also the area where the Rio Grande intersects the US and Mexico and we were within a few feet of the Mexican border. We actually waded across a stream to the Santa Elena canyon trail (on the US side) and hiked back into a massive canyon that made us feel like the size of a pinhead. We were able to see kayakers down below on the river, and knew we had to add that experience to our bucket list for a future trip.
We drove the scenic Ross Maxwell drive and discovered Castolon - an old “town” that used to be a post for the Army in the 1920’s and later a store, and a community of about 35 people. The historic barracks burned down in a 2019 fire. A total of 950 acres burned; the fire actually started across the Rio Grande but the smoldering ashes were carried by the wind and fell down on the roof of the barracks, creating the fire.
The wildlife was more abundant today, and we saw a few roadrunners! Stopped off for a photo op at Mule Ear Peaks, a popular spot within the park. We did another off-road trail on Grapevine Falls Road - this as a very bumpy and slow-going ride, and we do not recommend taking anything other than a 4WD car up this road! This road took us to the trail head of Balancing Rock trail, and easy but sandy trail that leads up to a .25 mile rock scramble to a very picturesque spot. We had some fun with the pictures in this area, as it looks like you are holding up a massive rock when positioned just right. We also saw a wild javelina right along the trail! This was neat, as they are more nocturnal and also travel in groups, but he was just out by himself, munching on a few bushes.
The next day was another long, full day. This was the day we decided to cross into Boquillas del Carmen. This is a border crossing from within the National Park. It is run as a joint effort between that National Park Service and the U.S. Border Patrol. We drove to this station, triple-checked to make sure we had our passports, and were sent off down a dirt trail to the river’s edge of the Rio Grande. There, we were the only Americans waiting to cross, and a rowboat from the other side made it to us in about 10 seconds (this was a small, short crossing). After paying about $5 each to cross (promised to be a round trip excursion), we hopped in and they took us over to the Mexican side. It’s worth nothing that Boquillas is 100% dependent on US tourism to survive. Given COVID, the border was shut for 20 months and it barely survived. There were lots of little kids running up to us selling woven bracelets, which of course, we purchased right away. We also had the option to walk into town, or take the horses. With a .75 mile walk in front of us down a very dusty road, we opted for the horses. The wind was howling and sand was EVERYWHERE. It wasn’t the most ideal experience, but Owen caught it on video for his YouTube channel and it is pretty fun to watch. Other than the town, this is a very desolate area. We were greeted by more children selling handiwork, and Owen bought a scorpion out of wire and beads.
Seems that whoever leads you up into town on the horses also becomes your de-facto guide. Our guide for the day took us into the town, but really let us look around at our leisure. It was so windy that it was almost hard to enjoy the walk up and down the streets but we peeked into a small grocery store. Funny story - we needed some dry beans for one of Owen’s school projects and as Lajitas is SO remote, I was excited to find them in the store. But then I was reminded I couldn’t take them across the border since they were a food item! We had a great lunch at Jose Falcon - one of the two restaurants in town. Many of the local townspeople were also sending their arts and crafts, and as one of only a few tourists that day, I wanted to support their economy as best we could but as at all stops on this journey, we can only bring so much into the RV. Owen bought a really neat hand-crafted walking stick, and I found the cutest embroidered tortilla holder (wish I would’ve got more of those for gifts - next time).
After we had taken our share of photos and seen the town, it was time to head back. Forgot to mention that the road we traveled was also shared by very speedy trucks driven by the men of the town (another way to get back and forth). Our horses had to share the road with these drivers, and that made for an interesting (and very dusty) experience.
Owen and I hopped in the rowboat, but Tom really wanted to wade across the Rio Grande…..it was shallow enough so he could!
After we crossed back into the US (where we did have to go through customs), we headed over to the Boquillas Canyon hike. Beautiful hike, but we were sandblasted the entire way - so windy!!! We also made it over to the Hot Springs, where the water is about 105 degrees, and the hot springs pool sits right within the RIo Grande, looking over into Mexico. Neat experience overall.
There are three visitor centers within the park, and we discovered that the Panther Junction Visitor Center is the most informative yet all three are really good and the rangers are incredibly helpful.
After a long day, we finally headed back to Lajitas, stopping at the general store for a few necessary yet overpriced items - we’re pretty remote here so stocking up on food, necessities, etc is highly recommended. We did this, but we run out of eggs, milk ($7.99/gallon and not organic), and bread on a regular basis! Thankfully, this store has a pretty good selection and a wonderful deli counter as well, where we were able to get sandwich meat (we eat a LOT Of sandwiches on this trip….) especially for our day trips into the parks. RIght next to this store is the pen that holds the mayor of Lajitas…..a goat.
On our next day, we stayed closer to “home” and hiked to the picnic table about 1.5 miles up in the hills near our campground. Owen and I also explored the boardwalk in the Lajitas Village (which is essentially the Maverick Ranch hotel/shops area across the street from the campground). After that, we drove west for a bit - gorgeous views and this road also snakes through Big Bend State Park. We stopped at an area with 4 primitive campsites within the park as Tom wanted to also check out the boat landing here. There was one lone trailer there - a couple from Hoffman, MN actually - as well as their friendly cat, Boomer, which acted more like a dog. They suggested that we hike Closed Canyon trail within the state park, just a few miles down the road. There was still a few hours of sunlight left, so we did!
This was probably one of our most awesome hikes yet on this trip. The Closed Canyon Trail is a relatively short, 1.4 mile round trip hike through a narrow slot canyon. For those of you that want to get to it when you’re there, the trailhead is located approximately 22 miles west of the Barton Warnock Visitor Center and 26 miles east of Fort Leaton State Historic Site on River Road, FM 170. It was amazing! We loved it….and we were afforded the most spectacular view of the sun hitting the mountains when we emerged at sunset.
Another full day in Big Bend:
Dinosaur exhibit - there have been many fossils that have been found here
Drove up to Chisos Mountain and hiked the Chisos Basin loop (2 miles) and had lunch here while Tom grabbed a call
Drove off-road to Glenn Springs Road and hiked 3 miles on Pine Canyon trail. This trail led us through desert as well as what can best be described as the woods - it felt like we were hiking in Wisconsin, until we saw the random cactus here and there…
On our way out while we were on the dirt road, we came across a couple and their daughter from Ontario that were hung up on a massive rock in their Ford Class B van - there was another person that had stopped to help but between all of us, we couldn’t get them unstuck so we went for help. There isn’t any cell service in this area, and by this time, all of the visitor centers were closed. Thankfully, we were able to call the Chisos Mountain Lodge, and they put us in touch with the dispatch service. The crazier story here….we didn’t find out about their status until a few days later. I was checking by Facebook messages and there was a new message from a Fulltime Family, who had noticed that in one of the FTF groups, I had said our family was in Big Bend for the week. She was reaching out as another FTF to see if it would be at all possible for our paths to cross while we were both there. As I was reading her message and looking at her picture, I quickly realized that THIS was the family we stopped to help!! I felt bad for not seeing her message earlier (she had actually reached out before this incident took place but I hadn’t seen it). Thankfully, we learned that the ranger HAD come and rescued them, and found them a place to camp for the nite in one of the campgrounds.
We stopped for burgers on the way back at the High Sierra Bar and Grill in Terlingua- the large, oversized cold Mexican cokes were the BEST after a long day.
The following day, Owen and I did a video tour of the RV, which was kind of fun (he did a great job editing!). He’s been creating videos along the way, which will be so cool to have for posterity. But mostly excited because we just booked ONE MONTH in Jackson Hole, May 8 through Jun 4. Will be here before we know it.
On our final day in the area, we got on our bikes and explored Big Bend State Park near our campground. Or at least tried. On mile 1, I totally bit it and slammed down on the ground, resulting in lots of cuts and bruises and a very sore elbow and thigh! Tom and Owen cotniued and I limped back to the campsite…
Tom and I drove to a scenic overlook in the park, stopped at an old movie set where westerns had been filmed, and on our way back, saw well over 50 long-horned sheep crossing the road into the canyons and hills. Our pizza place here is Gizzi Up, which had good pizza, yummy pastries and a great patio to enjoy it all.
Seminole Canyon State Park - Comstock, TX
Dates of stay: Jan. 2 - 7, 2022
Campground: Seminole Canyon State Park
Beautiful drive down into this part of Texas - it’s starting to get really remote, with lots of wide open spaces. This state park is really in the middle of nowhere, and snuggles up to the Rio Grande river, effectively allowing us to see into Mexico. This state park is known for its famous pictographs - rock art from over 4000 years ago that still remains on the canyon walls.
We did not have full hookups at this site (no sewer) and the bathrooms didn’t have any hot water for the entire week we were there, so it was a little “rougher” than normal but not bad at all as we still had water, and the hot water heater! The mornings were cold, and the days were sunny and warmer. We took to exploring the trails pretty quickly here, and discovered Canyon Rim Trail, a gravelly, rocky trail that snakes alongside the Seminole Canyon.
The Canyon Rim trail is about a 3.5 mile trek containing lots of undercut rock, fallen boulders, and large swatchs of creme, salmon and grey cliffs - it’s quite beautiful. Also, lots of ocotillo plats (NOT a cactus we learned), as well as prickly pear cactus along the trail. Didn’t see any wildlife out and about, but did witness a spectacular sunset from our campsite. Supposedly there are illegal border crossings in this area, with people coming up through the canyon. We were also told by our guide that the canyon area within the park is filled with sensors, to detect any activity. We weren’t really certain whether this is true or not, or if it’s a warning to keep people out of the canyon beyond visiting hours so as to deter any vandalism to the canyon walls/area (also a good idea). One day we did see the helicopters circling the canyon so maybe….we decided not to to find out.
One afternoon, Tom and I explored the surrounding area - Pecos River, Pecos River Bridge - beautiful canyon area. From this point, we were finally able to over and into the mountains of Mexico from the Amistad Recreation area. We met a couple with a truck camper and talked to them for a bit as we think that could be a good set up for us down the road (post Owen’s graduation….)
We toured Seminole Canyon within the park with a guide today and saw the many petroglyphs left over 4,000 years ago in this area. We also learned that this area is defined by 3 different biomes - the Acacias, desert, and Juniper and ash trees/bushes. The visitor center here is spectacular!
Struggled to do it, but I got my butt out of bed for a sunrise hike and took the Canyon Rim path to the lookout point. Glad I did, as it offered up one of the most peaceful and serene mornings I’ve had yet.
The trails here are also pretty good for biking, and we explored those on our last day here. We wanted to take the trail all the way to the Rio Grande, but we were running out of sunlight so we weren’t able to make it .
Lakehills, TX (San Antonio)
Campsite: Thousand Trails Medina Lake, Lakehills TX
Dates of stay: Dec. 19, 2021 - Jan 1, 2022
We drove through some pretty beautiful hill country to make it to our campsite, which is a Thousand Trails location based in Lakehills, TX - about 45 northwest of Downtown San Antonio. Upon arrival, we were told not to “feed the deer” and we quickly learned why, as at our campsite we were surrounded by about 20 extremely tame deer, just waiting to be fed. They’d come within a few inches of us and while tempting to feed them, we did not. Originally, campers WERE encouraged to feed them, but given the risks to the deer of not being able to fend for themselves in the wild, the campers are asked by the wildlife management not to feed them (although we noticed many people still did).
While we are not all that close to San Antonio, we are within 20 miles of a wonderful state park - Government Canyon State Park, home to dinosaur tracks and lots of great trails. We made it there about 3 times during our visit, and on our 3rd trip, we made it to the tracks. They were left by sauropods and therapies, and you can make the prints out really well as they’ve been preserved in the limestone for centuries.
On this leg, we were fortunate to have visitors! Mike and Judy, Tom’s parents, came down to to visit over Christmas. While this was a celebration unlike any other holiday we’ve experienced, it was so so nice to have family with us for Christmas and we feel extremely lucky that they took the time to drive for 3 straight days from Wisconsin. We were able to have them stay at the little (tiny) cabins available on the property, so the distance from our RV to their front steps was about 30 seconds! Quite convenient and Owen loved hanging out with them at their place.
We did explore San Antonio - checked out the Alamo of course, and the Riverwalk. As part of Owen’s education this year, we are taking full advantage of the locations we are visiting to learn more about the history. So this week has been about Texas’ independence from Mexico, the significance of the Alamo battle (which the Texans lost) and how it led to the Battle of San Jacinto (which was ultimately won by the Texas, and secured their independence).
On our first trip in with Mike and Judy, we toured the Alamo but there were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. Too peopley for me. I think I’m getting used to the quietness of the campgrounds. I last visited with my grandparents when I was about Owen’s age, so it was fun for Owen to be there with his grandparents. We also had lunch at Cafe Rio on the Riverwalk, and enjoyed the Mariachi band play Guantanamera for us! We discovered another sculpture garden here - not as expansive as the one in New Orleans, but very enjoyable.
On our second trip in (just Owen, me and Tom), we walked 5.5 miles along the quieter portion of the Riverwalk at night, after we had finished an early dinner at Iron Cactus. Even more people on this day, as we are in the holiday week. We wanted to do a riverboat ride, but the lines looked hours long! The walk was really enjoyable and so glad we did that, as it gave us a look at where the boats don’t go. We made it up to the lock and dam area, and turned around, enjoying the Christmas lights all along the riverwalk.
We settled in here for a couple of weeks, heading to the small town of Lakehills for groceries from the sole store in town and also visited the 4-Way bar and grill for good burgers one day. We also got lucky and found a local meat market (Schott’s) for some wonderful local cuts of meat, which was good, as we needed to restock the freezer. We are trying to shop local as much as possible, and realizing that many of these smaller towns offer a lot of great options.
Medina Lake is really no longer - it has dried up over the past 3 years, and we learned that it “cycles” about every five. We walked and biked the lake bed, but realized it would be a much better campground if we were able to get out on the lake. The dock itself was completely dry docked, and except for a few roaming cattle, there wasn’t much to experience. There are a lot of really great trails throughout the campground, and we enjoyed the expanse of this campground. They also had a decent activity center with a mini golf course, shuffleboard, and Tom and I even tried pickle ball for the first time (kind of fun, and I beat him the first time).
New Year’s Eve was quiet - both in and around the campground, and in our RV! Movie marathon until midnight, and we celebrated and said good night at 12:01. Happy 2022 all!
Austin, TX
Dates of stay: Dec. 12 - 19, 2021
Campground: McKinney Falls State Park
This was the first campground we pulled into that was militant about its 2 pm check in time! We usually arrive before that, and it’s not ever a problem, but we had to wait around a bit in order to comply. No big deal - was a beautiful park to walk around in and explore. Once we checked in, we found our site (a pull-thru). The sites are big here, with lots of good trees to hang the slackline. A highlight of this journey was meeting Nancy, John and Lili - our “neighbors” across the road. As Tom celebrated his birthday during this visit, I had put up a “Happy Birthday” yard sign and as we were pulling into the driveway and he saw it the first time, the neighbor exclaims “how did you know?” It happened to be John’s birthday just the day before, so we had a good laugh over that and proceeded to talk to them for quite some time. Lots of similarities between our families - they also departed on July 6 (same day as us) from Maine, and have a 13 yr old as well. We got together for a potluck a few days later and that was super fun. We’re hoping that our travels criss cross again at some point!
We explored many of the must-sees in Austin, which I’ve notated on my Trip Planner in Trip Advisor (State Capital tour, boardwalk along the river, SoCo area, a local brewery…..) For Tom’s birthday, we played mini-golf at the iconic Peter Pan course and ate at Terry Black’s, for some outstanding BBQ!
We really enjoyed McKinney State Park, and this was our first Texas State Park as well. The land was originally owned by Thomas McKinney and he had strong ties to Texas’ history, especially as it related to the Texas revolution and independence. He had over 30 enslaved individuals on this land , who built a stone grist mill - many remnants of this can still be seen today. After McKinney’s death, his widow, Anna, sold the property to James Woods Smith. Members of the Smith family owned and farmed the land for several generations before donating it to the State of Texas in 1973.
“Old Baldy” is an iconic attraction - a 500 yr old Cypress tree in the park that is one of the oldest on public land in Texas. There are beautiful trails to hike and explore around here, and the close proximity to Austin itself makes it an ideal state park. Reservations well in advance to camp here are highly encouraged! I don’t think we saw one empty spot the whole week.
Anahuac, TX
Camped at: Frascone Winery - a Harvest Host stop
Dates: Dec. 11, 2021
Crossed the Texas state border mid-morning, and followed our GPS directions to a well-worn, small community where we had reservations at a Harvest Host location to spend the nite. Phil met us in his golf cart once we encountered the “Harvest STOP!!! sign”, and led us to our RV pad for the nite, which has hookups! A rare occurrence for Harvest Host stops, and kind of nice. The Frascone Winery is a very small family operation but they happened to have a saxophone player (Bob) and seafood and sausage gumbo on the house. We bought a bottle of their “Biker’s Blood Red” and took in the music and free gumbo (quite good). We met another couple from Appleton, Wisconsin, who happen to be on their way down to Brownsville, TX for the winter. Turns out the guy’s parents both went to St. Norbert College - another small world experience. We had a nice time swapping stories of the state park experiences, and we made a strong push for Gulf Shores State Park, which they plan to hit on their way home.
The Anahuac Wildlife Preserve is located about 20 minutes from here, so we hopped in the Jeep to head over - not before we put on long pants, turtlenecks and vests - it’s cold here (low 50s with a strong wind). It snowed 18” at home last night, so I’ll still take the weather we’re dealing with now. Owen is missing the snow, and particularly Buck Hill so we’re hoping we can find some skiing in the mountains of Arizona for him.
Lafayette, LA
Camped at: Vermilionville Living History Museum - a Harvest Host stop
Dates: Dec. 10, 2021
We haven’t stayed at a Harvest Host since Bristol, TN so we were looking forward to checking out this place as it is always an experience to pull into one of these places.
LOTS of parking lot parking (nice and level), so no trouble at all finding a spot. This location is known for its Vermilionville Living History Museum. It represents several of the different communities that lived, worked and played in what is known as Acadiana today - the Acadians, the Creoles, the Native Americans and the African descendants of the area. The village has several restored houses and buildings that showcase traditional artifacts and period costume from the years 1765 - 1890. I found it interesting that this was a sugarcane plantation in the 1800s, and 120 individuals were enslaved here.
While we didn’t do the tour itself as we arrived while it was about to close, we did discover the Acadiana mountain bike trails a few miles from us, and took the opportunity to get out on those for awhile. We also were able to check out the gift shop at the museum, which had a number of great items all made by local Artisans. I was happy to find some really great Christmas cards.
As it is Friday - and Friday night is always pizza night - we asked for a recommendation from the Museum Host and she steer us to Deano’s, which was excellent and had a nice outdoor patio. Tom and Owen stuck with a traditional meat pizza (Pepperoni and smoked Louisiana sausage) but I went for the Exterminator - smoked sausage, cajun shrimp and jalapeños - quite good!
We didn’t sleep real well - there were a number of bright lights in the parking lot for security reasons, and being in a different place like this never brings about a great quality of sleep. We left at 8 am, as soon as the gates opened, and headed into Texas.
New Orleans, LA
Camped at: Fairview Riverside State Park
Dates: Dec. 3 - 10, 2021
We were actually kind of sad to leave Gulf Shores - it left a deep imprint on us for so many reasons. I know we’ll be back there some day, but onward… there is always something new to discover. And discover we did.
We went from a massive state park to a tiny little one that is really quaint and right on the Tchefuncte River (and no, we still don’t know how to pronounce this correctly). We were back to “roughing it” a bit (no sewer hookups) but had a space quite close to the bathrooms, which was convenient I must say. Also, very clean laundry facilities, which is always a bonus as well.
There is a boardwalk that goes along the length of the campground area, but it was damaged by Hurricane Ida and hasn’t been repaired yet although it was still sturdy enough to hold us for launching kayaks. Don’t really feel like we tempted fate, but it was probably not the best idea to trust it structurally. Anyway, we set up camp and then tried to decide where we would head out for our Friday night pizza run. Depended on Yelp for this stop, and found ourself at Regenelli’s Pizza. Decent enough, but not a top contender for best pizza IMO.
On Saturday, we headed into the city with plans to spend the day there. We went to Molly’s Rise and Shine for breakfast, recommended to us by a friend of Tom’s. This was a great find - the menu was superb - I had yogurt with homemade granola, and a carrot marmalade with mint and lemon zest. Seriously, one of the best things I’ve eaten on this trip. The interior is a trip back into time, as it is dripping with toys, games and characters from the 50s on up. This was also the very first place on our trip where we were asked for proof of vaccination to remain inside. There is currently a NOLA city wide mandate, and they’re taking it seriously.
Gorgeous day with lots of sun, we decided to park near the French Quarter and head to a number of spots from that location. We received a lot of great suggestions as to what to do in the city from our good friends Don and Lindsi, and proceed to head to the ferry first - an opportunity to get a good close up look at a “working” river and also see NOLA from the water. It was a quick 5 minute ride to Algiers - the other side, where we got off. This area is good for biking and some historical walking around but we didn’t plan to spend too much time here as there was a lot on our agenda already. We walked around a bit, and along the shoreline there was a nondescript, nearly hidden plaque in the sidewalk:
I thought the sign should be elevated more so the historical significance could be seen by more people. So much history but sometimes, it still seems hidden from plain sight. There’s also a nice statue of Louis Armstrong in Algiers as well. We’ve been learning a little bit about him for Art/history lessons this week. He was a bit of a badass growing up and found himself in some trouble, but once he discovered his knack for playing the trumpet, that took him far.
We took the ferry back and decided to walk around the French Quarter to show Owen that part of town. As we were there in the morning, we were able to walk relatively clean streets before the late afternoon and evening crowd descended upon the area. Found a really cool mask shop that I wanted to get a few masks from - but honestly, where would i wear them? However, it prompted the idea to do a Dia de los Muertos party (the masks for this were SO cool), so we’ll see where I go with that.
We headed toward Jackson Square, saw all the artists selling their wares, and also decided the line at the original Cafe du Monde was way too long to stand in but we decided to catch a street performance near by. This group of 4 guys pulled together a pretty good crowd for an hour long show. They were street acrobats and had some amazing moves - flips, breakdancing, cajoling the people passing on the street …. their show was based on positive energy mixed in with joking about racism (these were four black guys) and they did a great job of riding that edge, making it inclusive, laughing at themselves and making sure there were lots of positive and inspirational messages for the kids and everyone. It was pretty impressive and well worth the time and the donation!
Afterwards, we headed to the streetcars - public transportation has always been one of Owen’s very favorite things. We rode the streetcar that took us up and around the cemeteries. They’re not open for tours right now, but we were able to get a good look at the above ground coffins and the artistry of all the buildings. After all this time, we were getting hungry so we went to NOLA Poboys in the heart of the French Quarter - poboys, crawfish pie and fries made us all a bit happier. And by then, it was time to retreat back to Bayou country and call it a day.
We spent the next couple of days at the campground, enjoying the sights there. There is another boardwalk called the “Swamp Trail” that is beautiful, and has the perfect area for yoga! I practiced there at least 3 times and it is honestly the most beautiful, peaceful place I’ve done yoga. Loved it. No bugs either, which was hard to believe. We also put the kayaks in here, and went back into an area where the river led to homes on the water, Kind of fun to paddle back in there. No gator sightings but supposedly there’s a 12 footer that lives back there. Side note - we also heard they just wrapped up filming When the Crawdads Sing in this area, so we’ll have to watch for that - it’s a beautiful area with the cypress trees.
Our second visit into New Orleans started with a visit to Cafe du Monde (not the original) near our campsite. They were quite good - fresh out of the hot oil, smothered in powdered sugar. Definitely something I don’t need to get used to. And an order was perfectly made up of 3 beignets - one for each of us.
Our goal today was to see City Park, and learn more about the levee system throughout the city. A cooler day, it was actually nice to be able to walk around. Unfortunately, the botanical gardens were not open but we discovered that the sculpture garden was, and apologies to the Mpls Sculpture Garden, but NOMA’s is amazing. Well over 100 sculptures, we really enjoyed walking around the grounds and this definitely counted as art class!
In the park, there are a number of massive old live oak trees, including the Dueling Oak, which is where they used to have duels with yes, swords, at this tree. There were actually two trees, but one has since been removed. Also in the park is another Cafe Du Monde, so yes, beignets twice in one day (we did a lot of walking).
Hopped in the Jeep and drove to the shore of Lake Ponchitrain, in order to start to see some of the levees and the pump structures that surround the city. We went to the place of the London Avenue breach, which is also the site of the outdoor Levee Museum. At this location when Hurricane Katrina hit, the concrete barrier had a 30 foot breach which spilled out massive amounts of water and flooded the neighborhood. There is an outline of yellow bricks, which indicates where the previous house stood - it was lifted clean off its foundation and carried a block into the street. Next door, is the Flooded House Museum. It wasn’t open, but it is the actual house that is there from the flood. You can look into the windows and see how the water lines from the flood damaged the structure. And next door to that, there is a home that is still boarded up and the roof of the garage still had a massive hole in it. We drove around this neighborhood and it is jumble of new construction and homes that still have blue tarps on the roofs and look inhabitable.
During this time, I was texting with our friends (Don and Lindsi) and they told us about the live webcam that was set up on the corner of Bourbon and St. Peter, and said they were watching it if we wanted to show up. Tom said “Let’s do it!” and as we had a few minutes to spare before our dinner appointment, Tom found us a place to jump out of the car and into the street to get our images (well, mine and Owen’s) captured for eternity:
We met up with one of Tom’s friends at Katie’s restaurant, a great local restaurant with cajun and creole options. While we’ve done a good job of eating at our campsite for most meals, we knew we’d eat out a bit more in New Orleans, because of all the awesome cuisine choices. Tom and I both had the seafood ravioli with eggplant marinara, which was excellent. The most interesting part of this restaurant to us however, was the plaque on the outside of the restaurant building that showed where the Katrina water line was up to. It’s so hard to believe that this kind of thing happened and these places are still standing (of course after much renovation and restoration):
Back to the campsite, which includes a 30 minute drive across Lake Ponchatrain, which is the longest continuous bridge in the world: “The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge in the United States and the longest in the world that runs continuously over water. The causeway consists of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. The longer of the two bridges is almost 24 miles in length. The first of the two bridges was completed in 1956. When traffic on it exceeded capacity, the second was added. Construction was finished, and it was opened to traffic in 1969.
Awesomeness factor: The causeway has survived many hurricanes over the years, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During that major storm, the only damage to the structure was to a few turnarounds.” (Bridgemastersinc.com)
We evaded tornado weather here thankfully, but had a soupy campground for a couple of days. Supposedly when the rains get too much here and threaten flash flooding, the campground is evacuated. One last great find - Abita Roastery in Madisonville. Tom and I headed there for coffee one morning. It’s located on the Tchefuncte River as well, in a cute little town and is a super cozy place to escape the weather.
We really enjoyed our time here! Not sure when we’ll be back, but am sure we will. There’s still a number of restaurants we need to experience…
Gulf Shores, AL
Campsite: Gulf Shores State Park
Dates of stay: Nov. 19 - Dec. 2
Every time we leave a place we love, it seems to replaced with another great find. Gulf Shores State Park, Alabama, is hands-down, the best state park we’ve stayed in so far. We were told ahead of time that we were lucky to find a spot here, and once we got here, we see why. We booked quite a few weeks in advance, and secured two weeks at site 117. We were right off the main road, and central to many of the activities going on.
Tom planned our drive from Carrabelle to Gulf Shores along the coast, so it was an extremely scenic drive as compared to the interstate route. Lots of water, bridges, marinas, and also lingering damage from Hurricane Michael interspersed with lots of new construction. It’s baffling to us, because it all has the potential to get completely destroyed with the next horrible storm, yet the beauty of the area and ties to the community are the reasons people stay, I’m certain.
Gulf Shores is located about 15 minutes from the border of Florida, and we passed through “Flora-bama” a tacky, touristy, picture-taking opportunity area (that we’d return to in a few days for oysters). When we arrived to the Gulf Shores area, we started to encounter lots of high rises and beach front properties along with the restaurants and shops that seemed built for tourists. And then all of a sudden, nothing but pristine sandy beaches, sand dunes, and scrub. There is a massive area - about 6,000 acres of preserved state park property. After the Deep Horizon oil spill, the state was given $70+ million to restore the area. The state park itself boats a Nature Center, beach Pavilion, Learning Center, restaurant, cottages, a beautiful swimming pool, tennis courts, amphitheater, a pier, Shelby Lake, a parkour course, playgrounds, miles of paved biking trails, a butterfly garden, bouldering area and more miles of boardwalk throughout the park. The campground has 500+ sites, that are very well maintained and spaced out well. There’s even a little commuter bus that goes around the park in case you need transportation to the different areas.
One of the things that we really appreciated was the daily programming by the Nature and Learning Centers. We were able to cover Life science for two weeks here! We took classes on snakes of the area, constellations, skates and rays, and beach creatures (class on the beach where we learned about all the different shells and the creatures that live in them). One day we took a guided nature walk with one of the naturalists, and learned a lot about the plants and trees in the park, although failed to see any wildlife even though there are supposed to be gators and snakes in these parts.
____
We arrived here on a Friday, and as Fridays are pizza nights, we found a place called Papa Rocco’s. We did takeout, and had a little time to kill before our pizza was ready for pick-up but there was a musician setting up for that evening and we learned he was one of the singers from The Platters - the artists behind my parents’ song (Only You). I introduced myself and said we’d be back the next night, as he was also playing on Saturday. When we returned with Owen the following night, he recognized us and upon request, we asked him to play the song so we could FaceTime my parents which they got a kick out of.
——
A few days later, my parents joined us and Owen gladly packed up his belongings so he could spend the next week with them! They’ rented an AirBnB right on the beach, so it was nice to spread out and have a real kitchen to cook in over Thanksgiving. Most of the meal we picked up from the market, but Tom grilled up ribs and we also did shrimp that we had picked up in Carrabelle. So it was a bit of a mashup meal, but Tom still did the traditional baking of the pies - pumpkin and apple this year.
——
We spent the next few days enjoying all that the park had to offer, riding bikes, walking the beach, and picking up shells - lots of shells. Mom, Owen and I had art class one day which involved using the various shells to make angel ornaments for our respective trees. We found a couple of fun places to eat, including The Ruby Slipper (originally started in New Orleans), Flora-bama for chargrilled oysters and oysters on the half shell, Doc’s Seafood (the original “local” one), and we checked out the onsite park restaurant - Woodside - which had excellent food and live music.
—
Tom, Owen and my dad spent a day at the Naval Museum in Pensacola, as well as a day at the USS Alabama in Mobile. I was a little museum’d out on this front so took the opportunity to spend some time with my mom. We checked out the shops and restaurants at the Wharf and did a little Christmas shopping, and also spent more time at the beach.
——
Sad to say goodbye, we spent the next few days enjoying the sunsets from the pier and the beach, finishing up a few trails that we hadn’t yet biked, kayaking, and catching the holiday laser show at the wharf.
We could easily spend a couple 2-3 months here and might have to figure out how long term camping works at this park!
Carrabelle, FL
Camped at: Sunset Isle RV Resort and Marina
Dates of stay: Nov 1 - 19, 2021
We got lucky here….found out about a private rental through a group on Facebook, and we ended up staying for nearly three weeks in this lovely waterfront community. It’s a small sleepy fishing village, located among Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” - little development, small town feel, and beautiful areas to walk, hike and fish. We really “settled in” here, and even started to get to know the locals. We discovered Carabelle Junction, the ONLY coffee cafe in the area and enjoyed many a morning coffee here. Owen and I secured a non-resident library card at the library, and frequented that place for good internet and movie rentals. Not bad for $10. We discovered the local seafood market and found some of the best musket dip for lunch! But one of the biggest highlights was befriending Don and Karen England, who were kind enough to extend their hospitality during our stay there. Don even took us out fishing one day, and we caught multiple, beautiful Redfish - which proved to be the best dinner we’ve had on this trip so far.
We also went to the lighthouse in town a couple of times, which is a focal point of this area. One our first trip, I ran into Linda - a local yogi teacher who was starting up classes there. I was fortunate enough to take in one of her classes while in the area, and that added to the “localness” of our trip.
We also did some great hikes in this area - one of them, through Tate’s Hell State Forest - had it’s own little version of hell for Laurie - nearly stepping on a five foot black snake, curled up in the path!!
We also discovered a couple of local festivals - the Seafood Festival in Apalachicola, and the Musket Festival in Sopchoppy. Apalachicola is an amazing little town - basically a bigger Carabelle - but the food and shopping is better. I also found a great little Farmer’s market near Bee Inspired Too, which is a great little shop that I fell in love with. We also loved The Apalach Outfitters store! Most fun of all was the Chocolate Shop - good coffee, and massive amounts of desserts to choose from. The Grateful Dead inspired interior coupled with the bread and chocolate vibe definitely channeled my brother for me.
We spent Veterans Day at the local WW2 museum, as this part of the country - the Carabelle beach in particular - was used as a training group for the D-Day invasion! So much deep history here, and it was great to be able to really experience this and take it in. We also ventured out to St. George’s Island for the day, but the red tides had somewhat of an impact on the air quality, so we didn’t spend too much time here.
Overall, we loved the quietness and sleepiness of the area. At our RV park, we also got to know Fran - a local woman from the area, who had lots of stories to share with us.
We are pretty sure we’ll be back along the Forgotten Coast someday, and hope to find it untouched when we do!
Bell, FL
Stayed at: Hart Springs campground
Dates of stay: Oct 29 - Nov 1, 2021
The very best way to understand what we did at this stop is to watch Owen’s awesome video on Ginnie Springs and also watch Tom’s video on Facebook
The springs at our campsite were actually flooded, but we still enjoyed hiking around that area and checking it out. We “celebrated” Halloween here - but that mainly consisted of eating Reese’s peanut butter cups and playing Halloween themed Kahoots!
Sarasota/Bradenton, FL
More visits!
Spent a great couple of days with John and Carol Freund, at their beautiful canal side home. Also finally had my first lobster roll here, which was so notable I had to mention it.
Also had the opportunity to visit my friend Kimberly, who had moved from MN to Sarasota.
Stayed at the Lake Manatee State Park, and basically slept there but otherwise, busy visiting.
Naples, FL
Stayed at: Collier Seminole State Park
Dates of stay: Oct 23 - 26, 2021
Drove all the way from the Florida Keys (actually, I drove the rig out of the Keys!) and we traveled the Tamiami highway through the Everglades to our next stop - that was really interesting. On the way, we stopped at a National Historic Park stop, and learned that they had just done a Burmese Python hunt (they are invasive) and captured 900 of them - eeekkkk!!!! Also saw a big gator hanging out in the waters here.
Quick stop through Naples to see Tom’s Aunt Joyce and her friend John, and we also saw Ericka and Bill Nelson in Cape Coral.
Didn’t spend too much time at our campsite here, but there was some very interesting history about the origins of Collier, who had financed the last stretch of Tamiami Hwy - on the condition they would name a county after him. He didn’t get a county, but he did get a state park - and the highway was finished.
We did do an airboat ride back in the Everglades, which was really cool! And of course, Owen took a great video to document it all.
Fiesta Key - Layton, FL
Stayed at: Fiesta Key (Thousand Trails campground)
Dates of stay: Oct. 9 - 23, 2021
Owen’s YouTube video of Florida Keys HERE
We spent two amazing weeks here and still have so much left to see and experience, although we enjoyed a slow pace here - which I think must be the best way to enjoy the Keys anyways. We really liked our campground, which is part of the Thousand Trails family. They led us to a spot that was practically oceanside, and a great place to be able to launch the kayaks. Hot here - which is great, as the pool is amazing and the time at which we visited is not high tourist season so at times, we had the place to ourselves. There is also a great oceanside swim area, from which we saw dolphins swimming just offshore. The campground also has a marina, and we indulged ourselves by imagining how much fun it would be to have a boat to explore the area.
During this trip, I learned about a great feature in Trip Advisor. I’ve used TA for years, but somehow, never knew that you could assign places to go on specific dates within a specific trip. This was a great way to track where we went, what we did, and when. So if you’re interested in knowing about what we’d recommend, check out my Florida Keys plan on Trip Advisor. A lot of these places were heavily influenced by suggestions from my cousin Eric, who is extremely well traveled in this area. Everything he suggested was amazing - from the Turtle Hospital to Hogfish Bar & Grill. And there were plenty of places we didn’t even make it to!
During our time here, we met up with another family who had a boy Owen’s age, so it was great for them to be able to pal around for a week together. They are also a “fulltime” family, and we’ve been meeting more of them as our trip goes on. One family we met here had eleven children - although “only seven” of them were traveling in the RV with them! As they say in the south “Bless their heart.”
Hobe Sound, FL
Stayed at: Jonathan Dickinson State Park - just north of West Palm Beach
Dates stayed: Oct 4 - 9, 2021
Located just north of West Palm Beach, this was our first Florida State Park that we stayed and we were SO IMPRESSED. This park in particular used to be a secret World War II training camp,, and you can still see some of the old buildings and foundations that remain. The park’s namesake was a shipwrecked Quaker merchant, and from this place lived Trapper Nelson, the legendary Wild Man of the Loxahatchee.
They had the best Nature Center, staffed with super smart and helpful park rangers - Owen became a Junior Park Ranger here, and because they had good WiFi, we did school quite a bit here. They also had a store close by that sold the best coconut popsicles I’ve ever had in my life.
They also have an alligator cove, and we saw two baby alligator, and what was either the papa or mama and that was pretty cool. We also spotted a gopher tortoise. Great mountain biking and trails in this area too.
We did not get out on the water on this stop, although we did go to the ocean, where there were miles and miles of shells. We also watched huge tarpin play in the surf, right next to shore.
Other points include the best pizza we’ve had to date (Fridays are pizza nights), although Tom left his credit card at the restaurant and thankfully made it back in time to get it as we were leaving EARLY the next day!
Anxious to see what future state parks have in store as we have a few more coming up.
Cape Canaveral, FL
Kennedy Space Center - amazing! Spend at least an entire day here, if not two - completely worth it and also take advantage of the free, short tours offered throughout the day. This place has something for all ages.
We took many walks on the ocean - it was steps away from our campground (Jetty Park). Would definitely stay at this campground again and hopefully we would get lucky enough to see a shuttle launch.
WDW (Walt Disney World), Orlando FL
What can we say about Disney that isn’t already on all the travel blogs? However, I will drop a few notes here about Fort Wilderness. This was Owen’s first trip to Disney, so we decided that we wanted to camp at a Disney property and after 2 hours of searching for a five day window back in March, I was lucky to actually find five days at the end of September (NOTHING available for October-November), so we essentially planned our Florida trips around this Disney window! But it all worked out really well.
Fort Wilderness is - of course, magical - and it better be given the amount you pay for a slab of concrete to park your RV. That said, we loved:
Not driving anywhere for 5 days (Tom especially appreciated this). Since it’s a Disney property, you can take a boat over to Magic Kingdom, and a bus anywhere else. And if you don’t have your own golf cart like 90% of the campers seemed to have, they run buses throughout Fort Wilderness. Owen had the scheduled memorized within the first couple hours of our arrival.
The pool WITHOUT the water slide - never busy, and open until 11 p.m.
Nightly campfires with s’mores and Disney movies - of course.
We did a 3 day pass (Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Epcot). We could’ve done a 4th day and done Animal Kingdom but we were glad we didn’t cram it in as we wouldn’t have had time to enjoy Fort Wilderness.
While they had a couple of restaurants on site, one night they had a bunch of food trucks on site, which was a fun addition.
Our favorite park was Hollywood Studios, and during this time of year, the lines were not bad at all. We did get in line early for the Rise of the Resistance attraction (so, so good) but other wait times were anywhere between no wait (esp. at Epcot) and 30 minutes.
Disney - check!
