What a Long Great trip it was!!!

This post is long past due!  The B Team experienced such an abundance and variety of adventures and our minds are so flooded with memories, that it is difficult to put it all down on paper, esp. in one small blog.  I will start with everyone's favorite(s) (probably the most asked question since returning).  Alexis' favorite was Rocky Mountain National Park.  This was the 1st National Park we visited on our trip.  This was her favorite because it had our best campsite.  We overlooked a meadow of grazing Elk, several even visited us up close! Ryan's favorites were Great Sand Dunes NP and Zion National Park.  We were all giddy with delight as we ran up and rolled downed the monster sand dunes.  His favorite memories from Zion were the 7 mile hike (swim, wade, float) thru the Narrows and our 2 mile bike ride thru the park.  David and I both loved the Upper Northwest- Glacier NP and Olympic National Park.  We loved the landscape of Glacier NP.  The Northern Rocky Mountains in Glacier were so rugged and majestic.  Hiking along the glacial lakes (encountering a grizzly bear!), feeling the cold spray of a waterfall on our skin after a long uphill climb, and having snowball fights at the Continental Divide were great adventures in spectacular surroundings.  Another favorite was Olympic NP.  The variety of the landscape here is what we will remember the most.  We camped in a Rain Forest surrounded by 4' tall ferns with a canopy of trees overhead, and picnicked 1/2 hour away among the driftwood along the Pacific coastline, exploring the tide pools.
Even as I write this, I'm struggling not to mention the wonderful solitude of Theodore Roosevelt NP with the sight of the majestic feral horse on the hilltop as we first entered the park, getting caught in bison rush hour in T. Roosevelt NP, hiking among the colorful rock spires of Bryce Canyon, flying downhill on our bikes toward the edge of the Grand Canyon, slip sliding down the river at Slide Rock, and many many more memories tripping over themselves to get out of my head.  Probably the best thing to do would be for to re-read all our blogs and relive our adventures again and again!!!  I know I will.
Things about the trip we will miss.... the amazing sleep we all had every night in the fresh air after long fun-filled days.  The simplicity of life.  The time together (constantly!).   Being so proud of the kids and how they hiked and biked through it all with smiles on the faces and wonder in their eyes.  No TV!
The B Team would like to thank all our great friends and family who allowed us to stay with them along the way.  The Laubach's in WI, the Grundy's in MT, the McLernon's in Portland, the Kellogg's in Santa Rosa, the Lachmann's in SF, the Haines' in Laguna Beach, the Hackmann's in KY.  We are grateful for your hospitality and friendship.
It was an amazing adventure that we will all remember for a lifetime.  On to the next one!!!!

What happens in the Jungle Room, stays in the Jungle Room!

Today we spent the afternoon at Graceland! It wasn't on the original itinerary, but we couldn't resist. We got the full flavor and did the deluxe tour, which included his airplanes and cars. Elvis bought Graceland when he was 22. Elvis loved to have people around him and the house and grounds were always full of guests. He loved to have fun and had a bunch of "toy" vehicles to ride around his property on. At first, the kids had no clue who Elvis was. But after the tour, which included audio headset narration, they were singing his songs and Ryan had the leg shake going. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. I never knew Elvis had a twin brother who died at birth. Did you? We were very impressed with the King, he was a very generous person and a great man.

A funny thing happened on the way thru Arkansas!

Due to obligations at the farm, my brother and family could not get away to meet us until late in our trip. Their timing put us together in, of all places, Arkansas! From my earlier days of traveling on business, I remembered how beautiful the Ozark's were and wanted to see them again. Daiv did his fabulous planning for this part of the trip almost a year ago. We were all meeting in Devils Den State Park, deep in the Ozark's, on a lake surrounded by caves to explore and horse trails to ride on. Well, we arrived as planned, but the lake had been drained, the caves were closed to protect the bats from White Nose disease, and the horses were taken back to their stables in another town! Now what? We made the best of it, we hiked to a few of the caves to view from the outside, did some geocaching, and swam in the pool. The State Park had a beautiful facility, with nice campsites, cabins, and a lifeguarded pool. We cut our visit short by a day and all headed to Hot Springs, AZ.
At this point of the trip, we were having some camper battery troubles. We think the intense heat thru OK may have shorted out the battery and it was no longer taking, or holding, a charge. What this meant for us was that instead of using the power lift to open the camper, the hand crank had to be used, which was not an easy, or quick task, especially in the heat. To save us the hassle, we all got a Yurt to share in Hot Springs. A Yurt is round tent like structure used by the Mongolians for thousands of years. There were 6 double beds in our air conditioned Yurt, plenty of space for all 8 of us to get a good nights rest.
We spent a fun and informative day at Hot Springs National Park. The cousins, Ryan, Alexis, John, and Rose, all worked together to become Junior Rangers and earn their badges. The Park was set within the town. I guess actually, the town grew around the Park, but the historic bath houses took center stage. The spring water, coming out of the ground at 143 degrees, was thought to have healing properties for all sorts of ailments. Water stations were located throughout the town, and a steady stream of locals were filling up their containers for free. What a neat resource to have available in your town!
We followed the Earlings to Little Rock so we could get our battery taken care of at the local Sears, but since they needed to keep it overnight to try to give it a charge, we joined the Earlings at the airport Holiday Inn. The cousins were happy to have one more night together to swim and play. Hopefully they will make it out in the morning back to NJ, but the impending hurricane is hampering their flight plans. We may see them again in Nashville!

We hope all our family and friends stay safe through the hurricane. And that our NJ home weathers the storm. I don't think I could live in the camper much longer!

A Small Planned Detour

As we headed to meet my brother and family in Arkansas, we took a little detour into Kansas and Missouri. Kansas, because the kids have never been to Kansas and needed that notch on their state belt, and Missouri, because we needed to pick up a bike wheel for Alexis' bike. Somewhere in AZ, someone stole her entire bike wheel off the top of our car! Bummer. The biggest town for us to stop in was Joplin, MO. When we pulled into town, we realized why that name sounded so familiar. Joplin was hit by a devastating tornado in May that destroyed a large part of the town, including the hospital. This was definitely one of those times that we made the kids stop what they were doing and look out the window! I remembered seeing the images on tv of entire neighborhoods gone, but to see the destruction in person was heartbreaking. What was so amazing was that on one side of the street everything was normal, trees grew tall, businesses were open, lawns were being watered. But on the other side, everything was gone! Bare tree stumps stuck out of the ground surrounded by the debris of the decimated buildings. I have never seen anything like this before. Mother nature has given us some amazing landscapes and National Parks, but she can also take it all away in the blink of an eye.

Oklahoma is O.K. with us!

We entered Oklahoma today and I did my usual web search of places to eat while traveling. On the "Roadside Eats" website I found a favorite called Jigg's. This 30 year old hole in the wall makes their own barbecue sauce and beef jerky. We pulled off of Route 66 into this dive and Alexis once again did her little happy jig at Jigg's. We left with 4 full bellies, a couple jars of sauce, and a 1/2 lb. of jerky.
Today we traveled 7 hours so we could make AR tomorrow to meet my brother and his family. The kids are very excited to see their cousins. We found a campground called Water's Edge on Lake Grand in NE Oklahoma. Our site is situated at the point and the breeze off the lake reminds us of VT. I hear crickets, waves lapping the shore, and the wind in the trees as I write this blog. This is one of our best campsites, and believe me, we have had some great ones!

Everything is Bigger!

I awoke this morning with great excitement! Alexis and I put on our jeans, pulled on our cowboy boots, and donned our cow girl hats. Today we were headed into Texas! We drove Route 66 with the wind in our hair and the bugs in our teeth (ok, maybe I'm getting a bit too animated), but hey, we were going to Texas! My love for Texas stems from my time in Austin at grad school, Hook em' Horns! I think Alexis' love was from the promise of a real cowgirl shirt once we got to Amarillo (which she looks absolutely adorable in)!
We stopped at Cadillac Ranch, a 40 some year old roadside attraction along Route 66. Some Texas millionaire planted a bunch of Cadillacs nose down in the middle of a farm field. I visited Cadillac Ranch 20 years ago while doing research at UT. I will have to pull out the old pictures of me there to compare to now. Cadillac Ranch is an iconic part of America that I was excited to share with my family. Although, it did sadden us all how much graffiti was on the cars and that the spray cans were all just tossed aside in the field (100's of them). There was even a family there with 3 kids, all with cans in their hands and dad taking pictures of the defacement they were performing (great parenting!).
We set up camp in a quiet, shady campground just east of Amarillo and went in search of real Texas Barbeque. We found it at a place called Dyer's, known for their award winning ribs. I bellied up to 1/2 a slab with a few Lone Star beers to wash them down. They were fabulous! Alexis sat across from me doing some sort of pulled pork happy dance, and Daiv never spoke as he devoured a plate of pulled pork, brisket, and ribs. Oddly enough, Ryan, who typically has eyes 2x's the size of his stomach, ordered only a plate of loaded fries and was as happy as could be, he did eat all his sister's sides though.
We completed our wonderful Texas day with a stop at a Super Walmart. These Walmarts have everything, including a grocery store in them, they are HUGE! We bought several University of Texas and Dallas Cowboy shirts for the whole family. A day well spent!
Tomorrow, Oklahoma!

It rained today!

We had our first day of rain in almost 9 weeks. It was also the first day of rain that it affected our activities, all the other times it rained only while we were driving from place to place.
Today we were at the Petrified Forest in AZ. When we arrived, it was sunny and hot, 92 degrees. But there were storm clouds in the distance. We went to a Ranger talk and hiked a few trails. Then the skies opened up! The most amazing thing was watching the once dry washes and river beds fill with water instantaneously! Then temps plunged to 62 degrees.
The kids kept looking for a forest! But in the middle of the Painted Desert, there was only petrified logs tossed about. The colors and crystals in the "rock" were beautiful. And the rain made the surfaces glisten. This was a short stop along Route 66, but well worth the visit to another great National Park.

Slip sliding away!

Today we went to Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ. This stop was on the advice of the Tunkel family, thank you, thank you! We arrived early enough to only have to wait about 10 minutes until a parking space opened up. When we left, the car line was out to the highway!
Slide Rock is a river filled with sandstone rocks, covered in algae. The area we were at had a multitude of shoots, one person wide, to slide down, and deep pools to plunge into off the ledges above. It was sooooooo much fun! Check out the picks and videos on the website.

Somewhere in the middle of Arizona, Lexi switched from chicken strips to New York strip!

Our big joke (at least one of them) is that Lexi only orders chicken strips when we dine out. She has had chicken strips in 42 different states! But in the small town of Williams, AZ, outside of the Grand Canyon, she ordered New York strip and never looked back. We all had an amazing dinner in a small place called the Red Raven.
We had a wonderful day at the Grand Canyon. We biked the entire South Rim, a little over 10 miles, most of it downhill. Alexis was seen many times with her feet spread eagle off the pedals and yelling "Woo Hoo"! We rode along the Canyon edge, taking hairpin turns while going downhill, one wrong move and you're flying over the edge! It was harrowing at times, but exhilarating! Again, biking is a great way to see the sites. We picnicked along the rim trail and stayed until sunset over the Canyon. Spectacular!

The big green table

We climbed up and up the Mesa for what seemed like 20 miles. Driving along the Mesa we would all the sudden hit a shear drop off of a canyon. The Anasazi Indians called Mesa Verde their home for over 800 years. They originally built their pit houses on top of the Mesa. They were a hunter and gatherer society. Once their resources became scarce, they moved to the cliff dwellings. Building large "Palaces" beneath rock overhangs in the canyon walls. They would build 275 rooms for only 100 people. To reach the dwellings, they would use finger and toe holds to climb down the canyon face. Amazingly, they only lived in the cliff dwellings for 80 years.
We toured several of these well preserved homes, well preserved due to the protection of the rock overhangs. We were able to climb down into a Kiva, a ceremonial room in the dwelling. Sometimes 4 or 5 Kivas would exist in one Palace. The Kiva would have perfect air flow through air shafts leading to above. And secret passage ways out to other areas or towers. The Medicine man would look powerful when he would disappear and reappear elsewhere.
When we left Mesa Verde National Park, we drove to 4 Corners, the perfect intersection of UT, CO, AZ, and NM. We were all able to be in 4 states at once! Cool.

Our Moab Adventures

We camped in Moab, UT in a campground with a pool for the kids. Temperature were in the 100's! Moab was a very fun little town with great restaurants, shopping, atmosphere, and adventure.
The feeling of Canyonlands National Park as were stood overlooking the vastness of the open canyons, fins, and needles, was that of our sheer smallness. We were just a small speck in this vast land, like being an ant on the moon! We hiked a few miles to a panoramic view in the Island in the Sky area of the park. We looked down upon sheer cliff and canyons in almost every direction. We ate lunch with antelope ground squirrels, lizards, and an army of red ants. The crumbs that we dropped were removed by teams of ants and then swiftly stolen from the ants by the squirrels. The ants would hang onto the crumbs until they reached the squirrels mouth, and then jump off or be tossed aside by the squirrel! It was a spectacle to watch.
Our visit to Arches National Park was one of the hottest days yet, 101 degrees. We hiked to Double Arch and Landscape Arch, slowing our pace whenever we hit a patch of shade, few and far between. Thank goodness for our Camelbacks full of spring water. Again, we felt miniature within the arch structure. We were impressed with the kids fortitude with the hiking as they pushed on thru the desert heat.
We topped off our visit to Moab with a Outback Hummer tour. The Hummer was open to the sky with rear elevated seats. Our guide took us to a section of trials called "Hell's Revenge". But where are the trails? I see only rocks! We drove up a section of slick rock called "Devils Spine" with inclines exceeding 45 degrees and drop offs on both sides of the vehicle. At times, with only 2 wheels on the rock, we bounced, slid and even went up a huge rock backwards. Our driver was a blast, several times he drove down slopes with his hands in the air like on a roller coaster, with his eyes closed, and his feet off the pedals! Squeals of delight and fear were heard from the rear seat! We played at a canyon called "The Abyss", hearing our echoes bounce 4 or 5 times off the canyon walls in the distance. The kids made fast friends with a young girl from WI named Haley. Sunset was spectacular on the rock formations and mountains, changing colors as the sun slipped below the horizon.

Bryce Canyon National Park

We were told Bryce was was of the most beautiful places in the world and we agree 100%. It was spectacular. We hiked 3 miles down into the canyon, starting in an area called "Wall Street". We followed this switchback trail down into the canyon with Sandstone walls towering above. We loved the Hoodoos, a pillar of rock, usually a fantastic shape, left by erosion. Hoodoo means to cast a spell. We all saw fun and fanciful forms in the Hoodoos. I Hoodoo, do you? The colors varied from red, orange, and cream. And how trees could grow here is beyond me, but they do!
We camped in a sweet little campsite within the park, no showers or electricity, but we'll see civilization again sometime soon. The simplicity of our journey is special. The one thing we all have been noticing is that we are the minority in the National Parks. 75% of the visitors are from other countries. We have gone entire days without hearing English spoken. It makes me proud to be an American experiencing the wonderful parks of our country, but sad that not all Americans will see them in their lifetime. Do yourselves a favor and get out there! You won't be disappointed.
I am also happy to report, if you have been following the kids blogs, that they are back on track and caught up.

Zion National Park, UT

We arrived late afternoon in Zion and set up camp in a campground just outside the Park. The kids were happy to have a pool and I was happy to have showers! The next day we headed to Zion National Park. We loaded our bikes on the shuttle and went to the end of the Canyon. We hiked, waded, and swam 3 miles into the Narrows. The canyon walls loomed high above our heads with rock colors of red, orange, black, and tan. Sometimes the water (of the Virgin River) was chest deep on us (the kids had to swim!). When we turned around to head back out after 3 miles, it was much easier to travel. The current carried us downstream thru rapids and deep pools. We were both exhausted and refreshed. Then we hopped on our bikes and rode back down the Canyon, stopping along the way to see the sites.
Driving out of Zion thru the 1 mile tunnel cut thru Mount Carmel was beautiful. The scenery changed from steep canyon walls to sandstone buttes carved by thousands of years of erosion. One site was called Checkerboard Mesa, erosion had carved a checkerboard on it's face.

Las Vegas Baby! I don't give a dam!

We hit the strip after setting up camp along Lake Mead and having dinner. We arrived around 10:30pm, just as things started hopping. As you can tell by the photos on the website, we didn't get out of the car. However, we saw some crazy things. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! We pulled up next to the Mirage just as the huge volcano erupted. We could feel the heat hitting us in the car! A large billboard truck with full scale "Hot Babes" advertising seemed to haunt us (mainly Ryan) as we inched along in traffic. Our eyes were full of lights and other spectacles as we made our way up and then back down the main strip.
The next morning we left our site on Lake Mead and headed to Hoover Dam. The dam was very impressive, an engineering marvel. The huge towers that took in the water had openings that were 35' tall and 10' wide. Were we all amazed at how many power lines and towers were around the dam, it was like Frankenstein's laboratory on a Godzilla scale.

I speak for the trees!

Joshua Tree National Park was surreal. It was as if we were visiting the moon. At first, the park seemed empty. Except for the giggles of Alexis, Ryan and Jilber coming from the back seat. Jilber came to visit us in Desert Hot springs, CA for the afternoon and dinner while on one of his work outings to Southern Cal. After driving 20 miles into the park, the vast emptiness that we first felt seemed to stretch on in every direction. We stopped at a few boulder up-croppings to climb. The many Joshua trees speckled the landscape and the sand path twisted through thousands of small 1-3' cactus of many different types. We saw lizards and honey bees and a "Jackelope" running at about 40 MPH down the side of the road. We saw 2 different coyote and some amazing landscape. The desert road crossed from the Mohave desert into the Colorado desert in the middle of the park and the different cactus types changed. The more we explored the more we realized that the desert emptiness was actually filled with all kinds of wonderful and beautiful things. The flowering cactus, the juniper bushes, the amazing Joshua trees reaching up to the heavens, and the red sunset with the moon rising, just made you gaze off with wonder. Although at 107 degrees it was easy to understand how serious it would be to be stranded out there. We laughed and enjoyed Jilber's company for dinner before we settled into our air-conditioned camper for the night.
It was a great day!

The Happiest Place on Earth

We arrived in Laguna Beach late Friday evening, dropped the camper at a storage facility, had a great sushi dinner, and headed up the hill! David and Elizabeth Haines, our great friends who lived in Pennington, but moved to Laguna Beach last year, allowed us to use their house while they were visiting in, of all places, Pennington, NJ! Their home is at the top of a hill with an unobstructed, spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean. The house had 3 levels, with huge sliding doors on the main floor that allowed the outside to flow inside. We had our morning coffee on the veranda as we watched a Dragon Boat race on the ocean below. Our original plan was to head to Lego Land in San Diego, but realizing that we were all exhausted from the constant activities since we left home a month and a half ago, we all agreed to spend the day relaxing and hit the beach. We had fish tacos for lunch and went to a secluded beach called Table Rock. The waves were so powerful and we watched with awe as 9' waves crashed along the shoreline.   It was the perfect California day we've been dreaming about.

Sunday we woke with excitement, as today was the day we were headed to "The Happiest Place on Earth", Disneyland!  The kids chanted "Mickey's House" as we approached, just as they did 7 years ago when we visited Disney World.  What a great day we had!  We went on every ride we wanted to, ate dinner in New Orleans, watched Fantasmic, and ended the night with fireworks.  Alexis was the quintessential Disney child, leaving the park as tired as could be hugging her stuffed Minnie Mouse wearing her own set of pink mouse ears!

The Haines family arrived home from NJ Sunday night, so we had one day to spend together, and what a great day it was.  Elizabeth and I lunched in Laguna Beach, while Daiv took Ryan, Alexis, Kyle, and Clayton for fish tacos again!  It was so nice to spend some time with E. and catch up on each others lives.  We met up with the gang at the beach after lunch for non-stop boogie boarding, skim boarding and wave jumping.  Once again, the waves were HUGE, knocking the kids off their feet again and again.  Daiv and I never tired of watching this, it was hysterical!  We had a fabulous dinner back at the house when David returned home from work and talked late into the evening.  We wished we could spend another day, but once again, the adventure must go on......

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

Two parks for the price of one. Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are adjacent to each other. Our campground was in the middle between the two (at the bottom of Kings Canyon). Another great campsite, there was a cluster of climbing rocks off to one side, a large flat area for the table, a tree shaded spot for the camper, a campfire ring over looking the woods, and a large domed rock that we all could lay on and star gaze together.
Kings Canyon was beautiful, the ride through the mountains to the canyon floor was breath taking. After several hikes to Muir rock and a waterfall, we drove back up the pass at sunset. The sky was pink above the mountain peaks.
The trees in Sequoia National Park were very impressive, several of the largest trees in the world are here. Fallen sequoia's have been used as homes, horse stables, and storage areas, they are that BIG! We climbed a half mile of steps to the top of Moro Rock. The entire valley was spread out miles below us. Alexis made a new best friend... the wall farthest away from the edge! She realized she has a fear of heights. We all made it safely to ground level.

Like being in an Ansel Adams photograph!

Yosemite National Park was so picturesque, we felt as though we were in an Ansel Adams photograph. We spent one full day biking around the park, it was a great and easy way to see all the sites. We hiked to some wonderful waterfalls too. The second day, we bought 4 camp air matresses and floated down the river! The water was numbingly cold, but it was very relaxing and the small rapids were fun.
Our campsite was very large and secluded with only one tiny flaw..... A hill. Between the camper and the table/bear box was a hill. Our calves are still feeling the burn!

San Francisco

We spent a great day (and night) in San Francisco, CA with the Lachmanns'. Chris, Suzana, and their daughter, Sofia, have a beautiful home in Walnut Creek. Chris and I went to Hopewell Valley HS together. Chris and Suzana were great tour guides pointing out all the sites of the big city. We went down to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. Daiv actually slept in his camper on the wharf 40 years ago. A lot has changed since then, but the sea lions still lounge about on the floating docks, and the seagulls still fight for scraps of food. We hiked a massive amount of stairs to a monument tower overlooking the city. From the top you could see the long line of cars winding down Lombard Street, the crookedest street ever! We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and caught glimpses of Alcatraz. Unfortunately my forethought was not adequate enough to get us tickets to visit Alcatraz close up, next time.
Today, Sunday, we will visit the Walnut Creek Farmer's Market and stock up for Yosemite NP, while we get an oil change on the truck (we traveled over 7,000 miles so far).

Link to photos:
Take me to San Francisco!

The Redwood Forest

We felt like Hansel and Gretal today walking through the giant redwoods. We hiked a trail that meandered us through the monster trees, stopping along the way to hug them, climb them, crawl inside them, and gaze at them in awe! They were huge! We saw banana slugs and Stellar Jays. We lunched on the CA beach with a herd of elk. Then headed south toward San Francisco. It was beautiful driving through wine country, but we did not have time to stop this trip. We are spending the night with a college friend of mine in Santa Rosa. After a nice dinner, we are all tucked into bed. Goodnight.

A whale of a tale

Today was a travel and grocery day. We have not found the farmers markets we had hoped, mostly because the snow was so much this year that crops are just beginning to grow as the snow is cleared. Lots of snow still where we are!
We arrived in the Redwood Forest around 5pm to find all the park sites full. We travelled on....lucky we did too. We were driving over a bridge in the small town of Klamath when we saw lots of people looking and pointing over the side of a bridge. "What is it?", I called out the window, expecting to hear "school of fish, or bear, or boat". To our surprise, the man called back, "WHALE". "Pull over", the rest of the car yelled. A grey whale had made it's way up the Klamath River and was swimming back and forth under the bridge. The state trooper told us this has not happened in 22 years! I will post the whale photos on the website. We are now retelling our whale of a tale from a quiet little campground just south of the park. Another incredible stroke of Butcavage luck.

Crater Lake National Park

We arrived at Crater Lake late in the day Tuesday and checked in to get a campsite within the park. The attendant told us we had no chance of getting a campsite with electricity because it was so late and campsites are 1st come 1st serve. We hit the F loop anyway! Low and behold a site with electric was open, we nestled ourselves back into the site and turned on the heat. Good thing as temps dropped into the 30's both nights we stayed in the park! We had one full day to explore the park and we did it all. We toured Rim Road and stopped at all the overlooks, went to a Ranger program to earn a badge, hiked to the bottom of the crater and swam in the lake, hiked back up the crater (the equivalent of 67 flights of stairs), came back to the crater at night to view the milky way (and possibly several other galaxy's, it was so incredible), and became Jr. Rangers. A full day indeed!

Link to Photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/118346869766657799203/CraterLakeNationalPark

Portlandia

We stopped along the Washington Coastline to have a picnic lunch on the beach. When we set foot on the beach the sun was shining above, 5 minutes later, the fog rolled in and hid the ocean and the kids (see video on web page)!
We left WA and headed to Oregon. We spent two nights with the McLernons. Brian used to live in NJ and moved to Portland, OR when he met his beautiful wife, Gayle. Alexis and their daughter, Brenna, hit it off instantly. We toured downtown Portland and drank from the Bubblers. Bubblers are cool quad water fountains spread throughout the city streets. Portland is a beautiful city with lush greenery all around.
We all had a very nice, relaxing visit, got all the laundry done, but most importantly, got to spent some quality time with good friends.

Touching the Pacific

Today the kids touched the Pacific Ocean for the 1st time in their lives. We got up early and headed to the coast. We missed the Ranger-meeting spot and headed down the rocky beach on our own. To the left of us was Ocean, with huge cliff walled rock outcroppings spread about and pelicans diving for a school of fish. To the right of us were piles of sun washed giant spruce trees, fallen years ago ands washed up here. It was a playground, like giant pick up sticks tossed on the beach. And the thick forest beyond that. The layers were unique.
The tide was low as we reached Hole in the Wall, an archway thru one of the outcroppings and we found lots of sea life in the tide pools, star fish, sea anemone, crabs, small fish, hermit crabs. The tidal carvings of the rock were amazing. We picnicked among the driftwood.
As we headed back to camp, we all agreed to spend the rest of the afternoon at the campsite. Our campsite is a hidden gem. From first pass, the site looks small and exposed. Many just pass by. But we stopped, "look, we can at least see the river". Daiv walked down a shaded path at the rear of the campsite to paradise. The lush green rain forest made a canopy above our heads, with a hole above to let out the smoke and let in the stars. To the left was a path..... It winded thru the forest toward sun. A small set of natural stairs and a rock bridge put us at the rapid water's edge. Here is were I now sit writing this.

Upper left corner!

Yes, that is where we are now, Washington state, the total opposite side of the country! WOW! We spent an afternoon in Seattle and went to the top of the Space Needle for a fantastic view before heading to Olympic National Park. Our first night we stayed at Salt Creek Recreation Area. A simple campground overlooking the Puget Sound. We had an amazing view of the water and Canada from our site and watched huge ships go by as we roasted marshmallows. In the morning, we played among the tide pools and discovered some really cool sea life within. We are now making dinner at our new campsite within the Hoh Rainforest inside Olympic NP. Our campsite is riverside nestled in the ferns among 200+ foot tall pine trees. I am watching the rapids rage down the river as I write this. We are so happy here that we are staying an extra night. Tomorrow morning we are headed to the Pacific Coast to take a Ranger lead beach hike.

A three hour tour!

We picked up my new bike yesterday, shipped from Hart's in Pennington. It's a hybrid mountain bike and it's real pretty. Prior to going to bed last night, Elizabeth asked if we wanted to go for a bike ride in the morning (remember I mentioned she was a Ironman Triathlete!)? Daiv and I got up at 6:20 and rode for a 1:50:00, a mere 21 miles (uphill, both ways!). We felt exhilarated all day.
We once again headed to the lake, it was a gorgeous sunny day, not a cloud in the sky! We took a speed boat out to Wild Horse Island, an island used by the Indians to defend their horses from thieving Blackfoot Indian tribes. We hiked 2 miles across the island to see the wildlife. As we headed back to the boat, we heard thunder in the distance. The weather started getting rough, our tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of our fearless Chip, we would have been lost! We are now sipping wine, fireside. Another great adventure!

Ahhhhh, Civilization!

We arrived at the Grundy's Sunday evening to a cocktail, a hot shower and Montana steaks on the grill! I could get used to being spoiled by this civilization stuff! The Grundy's (Chip, Elizabeth, Vaughn, Mary, Tom, and James) are a wonderful family from Pennington with a gorgeous home overlooking Flathead Lake in Big Forks, MT. They set Daiv and I up in the guest cottage, a separately entranced suite with a cozy bedroom with a view of the lake, a kitchenette/wet bar area and a spacious bathroom (don't tell them, but we may never leave!). The kids bunked with the Grundy kids in the lower level of the main house.
Monday morning we set off on a two hour horse ride thru the Montanta wilderness, the best way to see the countryside is on horseback. After lunch, and Ryan learning to drive an ATV, we headed to the lake for a kayak (Elizabeth, the triathlete, swam alongside!). Then that evening, we all took the ATV's down to the horse corral to watch some real cowboys do some roping! It was a true out West day!

Glacier National Park

The best word to describe Glacier NP..... SPECTACULAR!!!!  The Northern Rockies were so amazingly huge and beautiful.  We had a sunny campsite facing St. Mary Lake with the mountains as a back drop.  The sunny campsite was key as the mornings and late afternoons were quite cool.  The 1st of our 3 days in Glacier we took the park shuttles up the "Going to the Sun Road".  The road opened 2 days prior to our arrival in the park because of all the snow this year!  We had several snow ball fights at the top of Logan Pass on the Continental Divide.  The snow was over the top of the shuttle bus.  The mountains were filled with waterfalls of melting snow that were diverted under the road.  Simply Spectacular!
Our 2nd day we traveled over to the "Many Glaciers" area of the park.  Here were took a wonderful hike UPHILL to an incredible waterfall.  The hike back was much easier!  Then we took a boat across Swiftwater Lake, hiked, took another boat across Lake Josephine, and hiked to Grinnell Lake.  From the boats you could see a multitude of glaciers in the mountains.  All the lakes are glacial lakes and are a beautiful turquoise blue from the fine glacier sediment that is suspended in the water.  On the hike back to the boat we encountered a HUGE Grizzly Bear!!!!  He was meandering up the path we were on.  Luckily we were with a large group from the boat and we all started making noise, the grizzly slowly walked off the path and into the woods to continue his journey.  I will post a video of him on our webpage.
On our last day in Glacier NP the kids got their Jr. Ranger badges and we visited several other sections and lakes in the park as we headed toward the Grundy's in Big Fork, MT.  Due to the size of our camper, we had to travel around the park rather than thru the park on the "Going to the Sun Road".  The outskirts of the park is the Blackfoot Indian Reservation.  We stopped at one point at a place called "Goat Lick Pass", looked down into the crevasse and saw a herd of Mountain goats including babies!
We were sad to leave Glacier National Park, it was so SPECTACULAR!  David and I are already talking about when we can come back!

Big Sky Montana

We understand why they call it that now! As we drove across Montana towards Glacier National Park we watched HUGE storms moving across the landscape towards us. You could see the entire cell, black and angry. It was frightening. We spent our 1st night in a hotel instead of a camp. There was a threat of flash floods and hail. The last thing we need is holes through our camper! Unfortunately when we did stop in Great Falls, MT we noticed a large gash in one of the tires of the camper, went about 1/2 way thru. We will be a little delayed this morning while we put a new tire put on the camper.
We should be in Glacier by early afternoon. We will be primitive camping again, no electricity, water, or Internet. I will update the blogs soon after our stay. After Glacier, we are headed to our friends Chip & Elizabeth Grundy who have a home on Flathead Lake, MT.

Two Badlands that are Too Amazing

The 1st Badlands were in SD, Badlands National Park. It looked like God was making sand castles. They rose out of nowhere and the colors and textures were incredible. We saw bighorn sheep and a coyote. The landscape was very harsh and dry. It's amazing anything can survive. We learned that prairie dogs don't drink water at all!
The 2nd Badlands were in Theodore Roosevelt NP, ND. These Badlands were lush and green. Feral horses roamed the landscape, majestic is the best word to describe the horses. We got caught in rush hour traffic, buffalo rush hour that is! There was a HUGE herd in the middle of the road. We all feel completely relaxed here, we saw maybe a total of 8 people all day,lunched on a cliff overlooking the landscape, and fished in the Little Missouri River.
The Badlands have been very, very good to us!

 Buffalo Rush Hour

 Catching a breeze

 Magestic!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

We left the natural beauty of Yellowstone and headed out on the next leg of our adventure (the map even changed on the website!). We enjoyed our stay and the many interesting places we visited including our horseback ride and fishing in Lake Yellowstone. It is truly a place of amazing things that must be seen first hand.  On our horseback ride, one of our guides said that "97 percent of Yellowstone is back country" and we saw only a small part of this beautiful place. We set out of camp passing the famous fishing bridge and headed out the East Entrance of Yellowstone. We drove into Cody Wyoming and stopped at the Old Trail Town... a replica of an old western town, the structures were originals moved here from all over the area. Old photos hung on the wall, The Hole in the Wall Gang walked thru these doors.  Jeremiah Johnson was buried there... we got Ryan the movie near Boulder on our way south and we have been quoting ever since. "you skin that one pilgrim and I'll git you another" "watch yer top notch... watch yourn."  It was a cool stop in a hot little town. We then stopped at the famed Irma hotel in downtown (one main street) Cody, WY.  Excellent stop and bought Alexis an awesome pink cowgirl hat. We then drove to Devil's Tower in the upper north Eastern corner of Wyoming. An amazing tower of rock that conjures up the thought of the theme sounds of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." It looks like a place that you could see a UFO.  We ate lunch and worked on our junior ranger workbooks before  heading southeast towards Custer, South Dekota in the middle of the Black hills.
We searched for a campground and read many reviews... We finally settled on a place called The Broken Arrow Campground.  As it turns out this is one of the best in the area and we are very pleased with our choice.  It is a campground for people and horses.  You can hear the horses whinnying in the background as you fall fast asleep, such a nice sound.  Horse folk are super nice, they were fighting over whose horse they got to put Lexi on.  She got to sit bareback on one and ride western saddle on another (photos on website).  She could not stop smiling!
Yesterday we toured Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, and Wind Cave.  We were actually disappointed at how touristy Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore were.  You were nickel and dimed at every turn when all we wanted to do was stare in awe at our countries beautiful monuments.  The granite rock sculptures were very impressive and the stories behind them even more so.
Wind Cave National Park was our last stop late in the day.  We caught the last tour of the caves and were the last four souls into and out of the caves.  We lagged behind in several places and got some great photos.  At one point, the Ranger guide shut off the lights in the cave so we could see how the 1st 16 year old boy who discovered the caves saw it.  He had entered the cave thru a 16" hole with only a candle and a ball of string.  When the lights went out, it was so dark you could not even see the hand in front of your face.  I grabbed what I thought was Ryan to hold him, and when the lights went back on, I actually had Alexis!  There are 84 miles of mapped caves at Wind Cave, with an unknown amount still being explored.  It is the 5th largest cave system in the world.  No wonder you need a REALLY big ball of string!

Yellowstone National Park

We just spent 4 of the most glorious days in Yellowstone NP. I think everyone's highlight was the hour long back country horseback ride. The Wranglers put Ryan on the LARGEST quarter horse on the ranch, named Glendive, he's still walking funny! Alexis rode a beautiful appaloosa named April. I was on Ranger and Daiv rode Spade. We took an evening ride that went across open meadows, along cliff edges, and thru the woods. It was incredible! We will definitely take another trail ride in another park, horseback is a great way to see the back country in the park.
Four days was a perfect amount of time to spend in Yellowstone. We strolled along the boardwalks between colorful hot springs and geysers; hiked along the canyon edge to waterfalls; picnicked among the elks at Mammoth Springs; and fished along the shores of Yellowstone Lake. We saw hundreds of bison, elk, and prong horned antelope, and yes, we finally saw BEAR! 3 bear actually! Photos will be posted on the website.
My favorite was the geyser areas, including Old Faithful (watch the video I will post on the website of the eruption). The geyser areas, within the Caldera ring, were so unique. They were of all colors and temperatures. You felt like you were in the "Land of the Lost", looking into the center of the earth. Many of them were quite odiferous and smelled of sulphur. The colors in the hot springs ranged from browns and oranges, to greens and brilliant blues, depending on the temperature of the spring. The hotter the water, the less micro organisms that could survive, the bluer the water was. There were also some very acidic springs and geysers. The rangers told us the the water we were seeing was actually a 1000 years old by the time it reached the surface!
Our campsite was beautiful, we were nestled in a forest of lodge pole pines. Very shaded and quiet. We were in Canyon Village Campground in the middle of the park. I leave you lakeside in Yellowstone sipping a cocktail as the children fish.

Dinosaur National Monument and Grand Teton NP

Wow, it's hard to believe we have been traveling for over a week now. I have actually lost track of time (and sometimes even which state we are in!). We are all having the time of our lives and wish you could all be here to experience it as well.
Yesterday we traveled from CO to WY and stopped at Dinosaur National Monument, on the Utah side. It was so incredible to touch actual dinosaur bones in the rock wall! It was a quick stop, but totally amazing.
This morning we woke up to the snowy peaks of the Grand Tetons. We met up with Daiv's mom, who is staying in Jackson Hole with an old college friend. We traveled into the park together to see the sites. The kids loved working with Mare to complete their Junior Ranger program and once again, we all learned alot of very cool information. We saw a small herd of bison grazing in the field, a trumpet swan (really long nose), and a sand hill crane. Still no bear! Although on one of our hikes we were told that a mama bear and her two cubs were just ahead. But that mama was bluff charging to protect the cubs. We turned around! I'll wait.
Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone NP for 4 nights. Mare will spend 2 of those nights with us and then head back to VT. We will not have electricity and I am doubtful that we will have any Internet or cell phone access. We will update our adventures when we get back to civilization. I have switched to posting all our photos on our website, so please check them
out there.

https://sites.google.com/site/wherebethebees/

The Great Sand Dunes and The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

As we made our way out of the beautiful Rocky Mountain NP we traveled South through Boulder Colorado. Stopping only to pick up some Boulder beer brats and Portobellas for dinner. The further south we drove the warmer the temperature became. Soaring into the 100's and topping out around 104 degrees. We drove through some beautiful country and across some pretty flat land with scrub brush everywhere you looked. Finally we arrived at The Great Sand Dunes National Park! We set up camp at the Oasis campground just outside of the entrance to the park. The campground was not the best, however the view of the dunes was amazing and the hot shower and electricity made for a great stop. Mule deer were everywhere! I almost got run over by three of them on my way to the bathroom! We took the kids for a quick tour before sundown of the Great dunes. Ryan and Alexis were giddy with delight as they ran and jumped and rolled down the giant sand dunes. Prompting Ryan to claim that this was his "favorite National Park so far". They are like no others that I have ever seen. They are Huge! We walked for about a mile without our shoes and we were nowhere near the top. You would need to walk for almost a day to get up to the top!
The next day we got up early and went to the visitor center so Ryan and Lexi could become Junior Park Rangers and get their badges. We went back to the dunes to play a little more before we shoved of for The Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Driving up to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison provided incredible vistas everywhere you looked.  The rock formations and colors were breathtaking.  We arrived in the park with just enough time for the kids to investigate the visitors center, take a quick hike, and become Jr. Park Rangers. Their goal is to learn about all the parks we visit and collect a badge from each one to hang by their camper bed.  They are learning alot and are truly respecting the nature and beauty they encounter.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We mistakingly took the long way around Rocky Mountain NP and had to travel thru the entire mountain range with the camper. We crossed the Continental Divide, the snow was above the car! It was a white knuckle ride that none of us will ever forget, it was both frightening and exhilarating.
Our campsite was truly the BEST in the entire park (thanks to Daiv's stellar planning). We looked out across an elk grazing meadow with the mountains as a back drop. Last night at dinner, several elk and mule deer grazed their way to within 5' of our site. It was amazing.
We hiked to Alberta Falls and Bear Lake. And saw an amazing amount of wildlife, elk, mule deer, moose, ground squirrels, chipmunks, bird varieties. No bear yet.
The kids have become Jr. Rangers.
After two wonderful days of no electricity, Internet, or showers, we are headed south to The Great Sand Dunes National Park.
I will update the website when I can.

Thoughts from the road

Thoughts from the road... Literally!

Many things cross a man's mind during a 12 hour dive through the flat lands of Iowa and Nebraska. How the simple things in life can become so grand. A freshly brewed cup of coffee from my own coffee maker to hit the road with just plain made me smile. The beautiful single stall clean, hot shower made me feel like a king. As our life has just become much simpler (at least for a while) the stress of everyday life is slipping away. "The beauty of adventure and fun is literally at our doorstep." We covered more than 600 miles today! Through land that pretty much looks the same... The road goes straight and there is no end in sight... Thankfully we have pulled into a small campground in a little town called Ogallala, Nebraska for the night. Sufficient facilities and nice hosts. As we set up we watched one of those incredible thunderstorm heads racing across the sky just to the north of us about three miles heading due east and sparing our camp from getting wet. The sky is dancing with magnificent displays of lightning and a funky orange/brown color? We are all tired and excited as we have only four hours to Rocky Mountain National Park and our first two night stay! Yea... Another simple but grand thing. Not to mention the looks on everyone's face as we watch the Rocky Mountains grow into the sky tomorrow. Love to all!

Day 3- Madison, WI

We left camp about 7:30am and headed to Madison, WI to visit with our friends Nina and Steven and their two adorable kids, Noah (6) and Rory (2.5). We visited their Community garden which is the largest organic Communal garden in the US. There are 300 plots, each costing $25 a growing season! Absolutely beautiful!
We then all rode bikes to the Madison Farm Market at Capital Square in downtown Madison. it was huge! We bought our dinner for tonight- grass fed porterhouse steaks, shitake mushrooms, and asparagus. We also got some local bacon, beef jerky, summer sausage, and garlic. I can't wait for dinner. Buy local my friends!
On the road again and just crossed the mighty Mississippi River into Minnesota. I will post a few photos when we get to camp tonight.

Day 2- June 24th

Today was a long travel day. We started off in PA, drove across Ohio, Across Indiana, drove into Michigan, and are now in Illinois. Camp night in Rock Cut State Park, IL. Are we there yet?

Day 1- June 23, 2011

We hit the road at 2 pm after school let out. Heading west through PA to Grove City, about 20 miles from OH. Stopped for dinner at a great spot along the Juniata River. Sat outside and enjoyed the view. Back on the road we drove through a big thunderstorm, the truck and camper travel well. I tend to have a lead foot, so Daiv only slept in spurts! A quick camp night in Grove City KOA and hitting the road early to IL. Sleep tight.

I am officially retired!

Ok, maybe not actually retired, but it sure feels good.  Today was my 1st day of no work as
I resigned from my job to go on the bteam adventure.  So yeah, my new "job" is to pack and organize all the stuff for the trip, but today I got a haircut, a manicure and a pedicure.  I am READY for the trip!

Update for Carl!!!!

Carl has been jonesing for more updates!!  We are working on adding apps to our ipad and figuring out the best and safest way for the kids to blog on the internet (all ideas are welcome).
All our maps are posted on the website, just click on the "maps" link on the left menu bar.
Let us know if there is anything else you want to see on our website.

New ipad

Trying out the new birthday present to see if I can blog by the campfire!

Planning the trip of a lifetime!

Planning the trip of a lifetime takes a lot of work!  And David has been working so hard at it!!!!!  He has been working on the trip for the past 2 years.  We have had reservations at some National Parks for a year now.  We are prepping the camper, making lists, editing web pages, and figuring out the best way to pack our clothes to avoid wrinkles (I'm not bringing an iron on the trip).  We'll be ready to take off on June 23rd!

Please follow us and blog back anytime!  Check out our website where we will post photos: https://sites.google.com/site/wherebethebees/home