Traveling with Jon, Adrienne and Toby

While we have visited all of the National Parks in Utah and Arizona, many of our friends have recommended some of the state parks and other local adventure sites that we thought we would try on this trip.  Here is a chance to visit the many slot canyons and mesas around the Southwestern parts of the USA and what a trip it was!  I'll be back!

 Over the Christmas holidays we treated the whole family to a week on the big island of Hawaii.  We rented an Airbnb and some cars and spent our time enjoying family and exploring the big island.   Even Drexel, who was only 4 months old, had a good time as did all of the Grandkids.

After hiring a house sitter and getting some repairs and upgrades to our OutdoorsRV camper, it is time to check out the New England state and the best time of year to do that is when the trees are changing colors!  Our trip is 3 months long, covers 24 different states, about 10,00 miles and more national parks and monuments than I can count right now.  So, what are we waiting for?... let's get going!

I really want to go see Carlsbad Caverns in Southeastern New Mexico!  we mapped out a trip to include as many National Landmarks as possible on this trip.  

We loaded up the camper and took off for a road trip through Southern Colorado and New Mexico which included stopping in Albuquwerque to see the start of the International Balloon Fiesta.  We traveled through Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde to see the Pueblo cliff dwellings, we did the Durango to Silverton train ride, then to Albuquwerque to see the balloons.  Megan and Cody join us here and traveled with us to Santa Fe.  From there we went to Taos then to Great Sand Dunes National Park where we hiked the High Dune Trail.  Then to Colorado Springs for all it has to offer.

We loaded up the camper and took off for San Diego  to grandkids could babysit me while Dana and Joe took a long needed vacation.  On our way we decided to stop and see some of our countries beautiful National Parks.   We stopped at Bryce NP, Zion NP and Joshua Tre3e NP along the way.   I went to college at UC Riverside so Joshua Tree was a very familiar hangout for me while I was living in Riverside.  This tripk was full of mishaps including loosing the trailer brakes on the RV and having the awning ripped off by a tree branch in front of Dana and Joe's house!  But it was a great trip anyway.

This trip has been years in the making (mostly convincing Adrienne to go) but we are finally getting ready for what will likely be the most epic adventures of our lifetime.  We have 42 destinations to visit in 92 days covering 9,000 miles.  We have decided not to schedule much of this trip and we'll try our hand at 'just in time reservations'.  We have reservations for some big ticket items and some (but not much) slack built into the schedule to help us deal with the unexpected.  Wish us luck and follow us on our blog on the front page of this site.

We decided to go to Scotland for a wintertime visit.  While it is cold and wet in the winters, it did not stop us from getting out and exploring.  We stayed in a beautiful resort in the middle of nowhere with no transportation options to go anywhere.  After a few days of this we decided to move to Edinburgh which is a beautiful old midevil city and the home of the Christmas Market and Edinburgh Castle.  I would love to go back in August sometime.

This was an epic 7 week trips across middle America down to the Florida Keys where we spent 2 weeks.  We visited Memphis, Nashville, Smoky Mountains, Congaree, St. Augustine, Titusville, Key Largo, Key West, Sarasota, Pensacola, New Orleans, Vicksburg, Hot Springs and then home.  Toby had a blast at the dog parks.

We set off with Charlie and Joanie on a 3 week adventure to visit Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Capital Reef NP, The Grand Staircase - Escalante NM and Dinosaur NM.  It was a wonderful trip filled with adventure.

We set off with Charlie and Joanie on a 2 week adventure to visit Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Capital Reef NP, The Grand Staircase - Escalante NM and Dinosaur NM.  It was a wonderful trip filled with adventure.