On The Road To Portland (Part 1)

We reluctantly left San Diego after spending two awesome weeks there. Our original plans had included visiting Joshua Tree National Park next, but we soon found out that all the campgrounds in the vicinity were booked solid because of Spring Break. We spent an extra day on the beach instead...bummer. :o) Sunday morning I woke up with the crack of dawn because we were spending that day RIDING ROLLER COASTERS!! We drove three hours north from San Diego to Santa Clarita, to Six Flags Magic Mountain and then spent the next eight hours running around the park like school children, trying to ride as many coasters as we could.

Desert Heaven in Phoenix, AZ

The drive from Tucson to Phoenix was a piece of cake and took us just over two hours. The desert landscape was similar to what we’d seen coming into Tucson, with saguaro cacti scattered amidst dry sand. What was interesting though was how many tumbleweeds we saw that day. It was a particularly windy day (we seem to pick all the windy days to do our driving…it makes it more exciting that way) and because we were driving through dry, flat land, tumbleweeds had nothing to stop them from swirling around the highway. I’d seen tumbleweeds crossing roads before, in cartoons and silly movies, and kind of always thought that the size of these things was exaggerated for comedic effect. BUT NO. These massive tumbleweeds, the size of wine barrels, would fly right across traffic, with no obvious trajectory pattern aside from the direction of the wind gust.

Tucson and the Saguaro National Park

Wednesday morning we woke up at the gas station on the side of Interstate 10. It was a bright and sunny morning in the New Mexican desert and we had plans to drive west into Arizona to our next destination, Tucson. The weather forecast for southern Arizona called for snow later in the day, and I had trouble believing it. Snow…in the desert…on such a nice sunny day? We’d run into similar craziness last time we’d come through Flagstaff, AZ when we experienced a gorgeous sunny day followed by a morning snow blizzard, only to end in another sunny and warm afternoon. Well, we set out on the road hoping to be parked at our campground, snug and safe, by the time this “snow” rolled in.

Balcones Canyonlands NWR, TX

Last weekend we drove out into the Hill Country to visit the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is about an hour's drive northwest of Austin and is one of the few nearby places to go hiking outside of the city limits that we have discovered so far. Given such a grand name- CANYON LANDS!, I was hoping for something dramatic, like the real canyons we saw at Big Bend National Park last year, but what we found instead was mostly small rolling hills of dry prairie landscape. We spent most of the afternoon hiking and driving around the refuge and didn't see a single animal. The park is revered for its bird watching opportunities, but I can't even say we saw any birds of particular interest. Maybe we will bring our binoculars next time?

Hiking at Lincoln Lake

There are many gorgeous places to hike around Northwest Arkansas. With the Ozark Mountains in our backyard and the Boston and Ouachita Mountains just down the road, we Fayettevillians have plenty to choose from in terms of places to roam for the day. One of the lesser known gems in the area is the set of hiking trails around Lincoln Lake, which can be found on the outskirts of the little town of Lincoln, just west of Fayetteville. One can get there from Fayetteville in under an hour. There are two single track trails there that go around the perimeter of the lake, through pretty forest. Hiking and mountain biking are both allowed, and I have also heard there is great bouldering to be found just off the paths.

Memphis, TN- Almost Home

After Nashville we only had one more stop before going home for the holidays, and it was Memphis. We had lived in Memphis for 3.5 years, and had last been there when we moved back to Fayetteville over 2 years ago. Having lived in Memphis for so long we knew what we would find there, but were interested to see it from a visitor’s perspective. I wondered if Memphis would seem different to us now that we’d seen so many other cities around the US and had something to compare it to.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. What’s funny is that we had lived in Memphis Tennessee for over three years and not once had ventured any further east than Nashville. We’d always heard great things about the Smokies and had the desire to go see them. But, like always, when you live close to something you always put off seeing it. I guess better late than never; we are glad we finally took the time to visit the park on this trip.

Shenandoah National Park

After all the cities we’d been to over the last month, getting back out into nature was a very welcome reprieve. Wednesday morning, after the elections, we packed up and went west of Washington DC to the entrance of Shenandoah National Park. The park is home to the famous 100 mile stretch of scenic byway called the Skyline Drive, and we had plans to drive that road from beginning to end.

Newport, RI

On the last day of Pattie’s visit we decided to go out for a nice seafood dinner. We had had already visited Boston, Plymouth, Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, so we were brainstorming for a new place to go to explore. My friend Lindsay had suggested we give Newport, Rhode Island a try, and we figured why not? We made the hour long drive just after three and arrived in Newport a couple of hours before dark.

A Fall Trip through New England: Part 2

One fact we quickly learned while driving around New England is that most highways here don’t have their exit numbers tied to mile markers. What is that about? Every other part of the US we've visited so far has followed this golden rule, why not here? In case you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about: most highways in the US tie their exit numbers to miles traveled on that highway, so for example, if you entered the highway just past exit 20, and went 40 miles, you’re going to be looking to get off on exit 60. This makes so much sense! Here we get on the highway around exit 10, and our directions say to get off on exit 14, and we go 50 miles in between. What happens when they need to add a new exit in between 10 and 11? Is that how we get 10a, 10b and 10c? Yuck!

A Fall Trip through New England: Part 1

Sunday early morning we woke up to the sound of rain. Although this put a damper in our plans, we were so excited about setting off to see fall in New England that we didn't let the rain get us down. We ate a quick warm breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and then started packing our stuff. We had a 1,000 mile trip planned for a loop through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, and we had set aside 6 days and 5 nights to do it in.

Detroit and Ann Arbor

After a relaxing few days on the Lake Michigan shoreline, we drove inland, crossed the state of Michigan and found an RV park in the Ann Arbor outskirts. We were 40 minutes outside of Detroit and that was just fine with us.

The first night we drove into Ann Arbor to visit the University of Michigan campus and to walk the city itself. Ann Arbor did not disappoint. The town of just over 110,000 people was large enough to feel metropolitan, yet small enough to feel quaint. Ann Arbor had a feeling of old wealth to it, which was not surprising after the upscale communities we'd discovered on the western side of the state.The UM campus was bustling with student life when we walked through on the Diag, a diagonal sidewalk that crosses the campus. Ann Arbor itself was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday afternoon, and we saw lots of folks enjoying after work cocktails on outdoor patios on Main street.

Indiana Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore

Our next destination was Portage, Indiana. Why Portage, you ask? Oh, because that’s the only place where we could find an RV park close enough to Chicago. There were several other options equally far from the city, but we picked Portage because it had easy access to the city via train, and because it was near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. We drove 132 miles from Milwaukee to Portage, and managed to pay $26.20 in toll fees, $13.75 of which was paid for crossing one measly bridge. We also added two new states to our state count for this trip: Illinois and Indiana, states 17 and 18.

Good Times at the Badlands and Driving Through South Dakota

After Rapid City we began our long slog across the state of South Dakota. South Dakota turned to be exactly as boring as I had expected it to be, if not more so. Granted, we crossed the state on interstate 90, and did not take too many side country roads, so I can’t guarantee that the whole state is not one huge corn field, but it sure seemed that way. The excessively hot temperatures outside did not help make the drive any better either. It was so hot and dry that there were highway signs warning drivers to smoke only inside their cars and to empty all ashes into the ash tray. The chance of grass fire was very high.

The Wild, Wild West in Wyoming

To continue our trek east we headed north from our parking spot on Grassy Lake road, back through Yellowstone Park. When planning our drive we’d looked at the topographical map of the area on Google Maps and decided that if we headed north out of the park and back into Montana to get to I-90, that that would be the flattest way out. But, at the last moment, we rethought our plans and decided to instead venture directly east through Wyoming with hopes that the mountain passes wouldn't be that bad. I’m really glad we made the choice because we saw some really gorgeous parts of Wyoming that we would have missed otherwise.

Grand Teton National Park

The camping in Yellowstone Park was $28, which included two showers and dumping use, but did not include any hook-ups. After paying for two nights we were interested in finding a cheaper place to live, if not free. On our way down to the Tetons, we remembered that our friends at the Our Take on Freedom blog had been this way previously, and they had found a great boondocking spot between Yellowstone and the Grand Teton NP. We decided to check it out, and it turned out to be great!

Grizzly Encounters And Wild Traffic Jams in Yellowstone NP

If there is one way to describe Yellowstone National Park, it’s that it’s HUGE.  We spent two full days in the park, put in full eight hour days of exploring each day, and drove just over 240 miles. Yes, all of that within the park. We saved ourselves another $25 (car entry cost) by showing up with our Annual National Parks Pass. That awesome pass has paid for itself and then some, with all the national parks and monuments we've already been to this year!

Back In The USA, On To Seattle

Surprisingly we sailed through American customs, no questions asked, again! Looks like the trick is to A)pull an RV over the border, B)go at a busy time where there are lots of other cars in line and C)have Lindsay along for the ride.

On our way into Seattle we stopped on the outskirts and paid a visit to the Red Hook brewery. I'd read that they gave cheap tours, and since I'd recently enjoyed a six pack of their Wit ginger flavored beer, I figured we'd give them a try. The tour was indeed only $1, and included 6 generous samples and a commemorative glass, but I would have to say it was one of the more boring tours I've had in a brewery. Lindsay had noticed the Chateau Saint Michelle vineyards across the road on our way in, so we walked over there and also enjoyed that free tour.

Whistler Mountain

On Wednesday we made a day trip outside of Vancouver to visit the home of the 2010 winter Olympics, Whistler Mountain. That morning started off rainy and cloudy and we were afraid that our plans for a hike in the Garibaldi Provincial Park, just outside of Whistler, were ruined.

Aberdeen, WA

After driving up the Oregon coast, we crossed the highway 101 bridge from Astoria into Washington, and followed the highway north into Aberdeen.

Driving along the Washington coast