October 4 thru 8, 2021
We had a wonderful trip to Universal in Orlando. We had three day passes so we really saw and did just about everything at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. There were only two rides I wouldn’t do — the free fall ride and the coaster that drops straight down. We rode the Hulk coaster and the Velociraptor coaster several times – probably the best two in the parks. Universal is big on the 3D and 4D experiences – which is cool, for sure, but I think Jas and I prefer good ‘ole fashioned thrill coasters! The Men in Black ride was another one we did a few times – pretty sure Jas was one of the top scorers. And the River Rapids ride was tons of fun but we were drenched!
Just a little wet😏
The Harry Potter areas at both parks were great experiences – I can see how people get lost in these areas for a good part of the day! Gringots ride was loads of fun and the work that went into the “line experience” was amazing. We had been on the Journey ride years ago but still enjoyed it. Hagrid motorcycle ride was also pretty cool.
We had lunch at the Leaky Caldron including frozen butterbeer.
Oh, and we stumbled on the horror movie makeup show – which was surprisingly fun. The two hosts were hilarious. I don’t particularly like horror but this was a behind the scenes peak.
This was a great time of year to go to Universal. There were absolutely no lines on Monday and Tuesday. Crowds picked up a bit on Wednesday.
We made a trip to Disney Springs on Wednesday evening. The crowd was ridiculous there – really couldn’t enjoy the time. We ate at Earl of Sandwich – always great food! but decided to come back during the day on Thursday.
Jas squeezed in some wakeboarding at Orlando Water Complex. I had never seen how the cable systems work so another interesting cool experience. Jas got a few runs in – so it was all good. Really nice staff at this place and they served delicious fruit smoothies.
When we returned to Disney Springs, we were able to get right in to the Lego Store. Amazing what can be done with Legos!
Jason and I both enjoy mini-golf. I think we got four games in during our visit. I had the hole in one but Jas was the overall winner.
I can’t explain how much it meant to me to have this time with my adult son. Nice conversations and fun experiences for sure. I hope we will do it again sometime!
We decided to head back Thursday evening to maybe avoid the DMV traffic – it was a long ride through the night with classic rock blaring and lots of water, tea, soda consumption (and bathroom breaks). Jason did all the driving and did a great job. Northern Virginia is the worst – apparently no matter when you hit that area – crowded before 5 am.
’til the next Adventure …
October 3, 2021
Setting off on an adventure today with my son. Headed to Orlando for a few days at Universal. Very happy to get this time with him BUT will be a vastly different experience than traveling with my husband or daughter. First example, I am used to having a plan … we agreed to leave at around 4:30 am this morning to get on the road and ahead of the traffic. Want to get through the Fredericksburg, VA area before it wakes up — but here I sit in my chair ready to go and we are creeping at 5:30 am. I could have had an extra 30 minutes or so in bed!😏 I know I will need to calm down my urge to plan and be on a schedule. It is clear from the start.😀 Maybe a growth opportunity for me😏😎🙄 — just so looking forward to spending some time with Jas and feeling lucky/happy that he wanted to do this with me! Will follow up with more….
September 11 thru September 16
The camper was on the road again for a few days at Chincoteague Island, VA! We got the pass to drive the truck on the beach — so we enjoyed a few days of really quiet secluded beachgoing. The kids (minus Jason) were able to join us for a couple of days too. Little Man and all of us enjoyed the beach, a fishing boat trip, ice cream from the Island Creamery (several trips for Haryl and me😏) and mini-golf.
We do really enjoy visiting Chincoteague and have been going pretty much every year for the past several years. Surprisingly, this year, it seemed fairly crowded for an off season week in September. All good. A very nice trip.
Breakfast cooking in the camper
Pop caught a little fish 
Little footprints in the sand💕 
Fishing fun with Pop!
August 22 thru August 26 – Gillette, Wyoming
Haryl was part of a team for the Potomac Conference of SDAs to check out the new site for the upcoming Pathfinder International Camporee (formerly at Oshkosh, Wisconsin). I was unexpectedly, and happily, able to tag along with him.
The location for the next camporee will be Gillette, Wyoming. We flew into Denver and made the approximately 5 hour drive to Gillette the next day. Rapid City is a bit closer but does not have as large an airport as Denver. Probably the largest issue will be transporting everyone to Gillette – whether driving the whole way or flying and then driving (just a lot of travel time involved).
Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center
Gillette was a really cute city. The camporee attendees will outnumber the current population of the city but they are preparing for the huge event already and have a really great complex (Cam-Plex) that already handles many large groups and events. The campus for the camporee has many buildings with multiple ways to use them.
The tour we attended also included visiting some interesting city sites and facilities. For a small city, they have some amazing sports fields and a community center with pools, tennis courts, rock climbing and more.
We were able to travel to Devil’s Tower – something we didn’t see on our cross country trip in 2019. What an interesting site! We also watched several groups climbing the tower – very cool. We think maybe some clubs will want to check into making a climb with kids interested in doing so … definitely looked challenging. There is also a great walking trail all the way around the tower.
It was a quick trip but was glad to be able to go with Haryl. I think the kids attending the next camporee are in for a really fantastic experience!
May 15 thru May 22, 2021 – Great Smoky Mountains Trip
We were off to the Great Smoky Mountains on Saturday, May 15th — destination – the KOA in Cherokee, NC. The campground was minutes from the entrance to the national park. What a gorgeous area! I so enjoyed the climate of the area – cool nights and comfortable warm days.
A hike up (the highest peak in the Smokies) to Clingman’s Dome was amazing. I have been walking daily several miles at home but it is fairly flat — this walk to the dome was tiring g for sure but the views were worth it. It was a little disheartening to reach the dome and realize there was an additional walk up a circular ramp but it really wasn’t bad – gradual incline.
Mingo Falls was very near our campsite. A short hike to the falls after climbing around 150 stairs was worth it.
We traveled through the national park to Gatlinburg for a day trip. I am not sure what I was expecting in Gatlinburg but imagined it larger than really one main street. All that being said, it was a fun day with lots of walking and lunch on a rooftop restaurant.
Another day trip was a ride to Bryson City to take a half day train ride on the Smoky Mountain Railroad. We were in an open air car which was great because it was an exceptionally gorgeous day! We opted for a boxed lunch to take with us and weren’t disappointed with what they provided. The train had about an hour stop at Nantahala Outdoor Center – we were able to walk around and watch kayakers. We enjoyed the trip. The last hour of the ride got a little long but I would totally recommend the ride if you are in the area.
We also visited Soco Falls. Another beautiful waterfall. We don’t have anything like it that I am aware of in Maryland.
A trip to Cherokee,NC had to include a casino visit. We weren’t terribly lucky with the ,little bit of money we earmarked for some games. We ate at Brio Tuscan Grille at the casino – it was an hour and a half wait (but there were things to do and see 😏). The food and service was great.
Two restaurants in Cherokee that we really enjoyed — (1) Native Brews Tap and Grill. Looked very new and they were still working on the outdoor patio area but we were still able to sit outside for dinner. Excellent food and service; and (2) Sassy Sunflowers. A great place for sandwiches, salads and amazing desserts and coffee.
My husband tried his hand at fly fishing. This was new to him but I could tell he was intrigued by it and was happy for the opportunity.
I really enjoyed spending time here. Our country has some beautiful places. Hoping some of the older buildings – old hotels and restaurants are restored.
September 25, 2019
We made it back home this past Saturday afternoon. 46 days of wonderful cross-country travel! Our nation certainly has some gorgeous diverse landscapes and views. Every spot had something spectacular to take in. Our planned travel and reservations all worked out well. Even when we decided to be less regimented with our schedule and did not make campsite reservations in advance, we didn’t have a problem. I think traveling after Labor Day made this easier. We got very proficient at setting up our trailer and taking it down. I did prefer when we decided to be in one spot for longer than a day but the process was fairly easy and went smoothly. We didn’t see everything on our list or recommended to us but we were happy with all the places we did explore and did see! We have more to see on another, next adventure.
Thanks to all of you for following our trip. I still don’t have this blogging site down but it was fun to try.
Our next exciting adventure will be becoming grandparents (gulp) at the end of January. My daughter and her boyfriend are expecting a baby boy at that time. More excitement and adventures to come!
September 15, 2019
I haven’t been able to update the blog site for some time. Most of the campgrounds did not have a good signal to allow me to do so. I did go ahead and post when I could to both Instagram and Facebook. Below, I have just tried to capture the hightlights of our trip after leaving Walla Walla.
From Walla Walla, we headed to the Troutdale, Oregon area. We visited Multnomah Waterfalls. We hiked the trail 1.2 miles entirely up – lots of switchback to look down on the falls. It was quite beautiful. That evening we went to a little pizza place owned by someone I used to work with – The Way Out Inn – we had a fantastic pizza and salad. Really cute place in historic Troutdale.
On September 4th, we set out for the Oregon coast. Along our travels, we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory and creamery. We were able to do the self-guided tour that included some cheese tasting. We had lunch – grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream – at Tillamook.
The Oregon coast was just beautiful. We were able to tour Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The tour allowed us all the way up in the lighthouse to view the imported glass on the top level.
Our next stop was Crescent City, California (on our way to see the Redwood trees). No lighthouse tour but we saw the Battery Point Lighthouse on our evening walk on the jetty. We found a little Thai food place and had a great diner.
We then were able to visit Redwoods National Park. This was simply amazing! We were overwhelmed by the size and beauty of this area. We took a nice walk through one of the trails and soaked it all in.
California gas prices were quite high so we decided to head east/south into other states – but we were not at all disappointed to have made the trip to see the Redwoods!
We traveled into Nevada passing Shasta Mountain with a bit of snow still at the top of the peaks. We also passed the Antelope Lake area and saw heavy smoke from the wildfire that had only begun a day or two before we were driving through.
We were able to get a site – first come/first served at Washoe State Park just outside of Carson City. I really loved this little State Park. We had a spacious private spot along with a beautiful view. We explored Virginia City including a tour of the Fourth Ward School built in the late 1800s and in use through 1939.
Historic Virginia City was full of little shops and restaurants – geared for tourism but was really a cute place. We drove to Lake Tahoe area and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. I managed to win $250+ at a slot machine (for about a $7 investment). I was sad to leave Washoe State Park – really enjoyed the park and this area — but we moved on …
We went to another lovely spot – Valley of Fire State Park – we spent a few days here. We were able to get another site in the State Park — it was another area that was based on first come/first served. We made a rookie mistake though. Everything is set up as self-serve/self-pay. We drove around for an electrical/water site and drove in to an empty one. We literally got all set up and I went to put the ticket on the site and there was already a ticket on the site number saying someone had the site until the next day. We had to close up and move to another site just one space down. We won’t make that mistake again! We traveled to Hoover Dam one of the days on the motorcycle. The drive there was nice but the drive back got a little long. Hoover Dam was interesting.
We hiked a trail in Valley of Fire State Park. The red rocks are as amazing and lovely as the Redwood trees!
We traveled on to a campsite about 40 miles outside of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What a gorgeous site! Pictures can’t capture the beauty. We also hiked two trails (Bright Angel Point Trail and Capef Final Trail) around the Grand Canyon. I was somewhat aprehensive on the trails when they were not very wide and the edge literally went straight down.
We’ll be heading to Arches National Park tomorrow and then plan to head home – taking a few days to do so.
September 2, 2019
Finally at a spot with ability to blog. To catch up ….
We spent all day Sunday, August 25th, driving to Grand Teton National Park. We weren’t prepared for the lack of towns, people and gas stations on our route but we made it to the upper north end of the park at Headwaters campground. Really nice spot — giving us close access to the south entrance of Yellowstone and ability to explore the Grand Tetons park. Headwaters had a terrific lodge, restaurant, gas station and long unpaved road to search for wildlife.
Our first full day in this area, we decided to go to the west side of Yellowstone – seeing Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs. Old Faithful was very cool to experience but I really enjoyed the walk behind Old Faitheful and the many other geysers that are located in that area.
Mammoth Hot Springs was a long drive from Old Faithful and I was a little less impressed with this spot. It was a long hot walk to the top of the Hot Springs and most of the actual geyser area was mineralized so it was really just a large white mineralized pond. We did see some Elk just lounging in the lawn in the city of Mammoth Hot Springs – they looked quite at home and non-interested in the all the people interested in them.
We spent time during the week exploring th east side of Yellowstone. There was much more wildlife in this area. We did see a lot of buffalo, elk, coyote and deer. We were disappointed not to see a bear or moose ut it wasn’t for lack of searching. We were up very early several days to see if we could locate them.
One of our days in this aea, we took the motorcycle down through Grand Teton Park and out of its south entrance to see an original Mormon settlement. That was pretty cool wwith home, bunk house and barn still standing and preserved. It was established in the late 1800s.
We hiked the Elephant Back Trail in Yellowstone. This was a bit easier than our South Dakota hike but still strenous particularly on the way up the moutain. We were also rewarded with cell phone reception when we reached the top along with a fantastic view of yellowstone Lake.
On Friday, we took a cruise out of Coulter Bay Marina in the Grand Tetons to Elk Island for an outdoor breakfast. The cruise was great – a shout out to Parker for her outstanding knowlege of the Tetons and the history of the area along with a lot of great facts on the wildlife. We learned that there are only 60+ moose in the Grand Teton Park As I understood it, the moose population was impacted by the initiative to build up the wolf population (along with other natural factors). The breakfast at Elk Island and the climb to the top of the hill there rewarded us with beautiful views. IThis defnitely was one of the highlights of the week.
We throughly enjoyed our time in both national parks. Both are well worth the time and have many beautiful sites to experience.
We left Headwaters on Sunday morning. We had a long day of drving with a reservations at Winchester Lake State park in Winchester Idaho. We were again faced with a lot of open country – not many towns, peopele or gas stations along the way.
GPS took us on an interesting path as we got close to the park. We were definitely in the middle of farming country Idaho – while beautiful, it was definitely off the beaen path.
Winchester Lake State Park was a very nice place to stay and our site was large and private. Since we were only spending the night, we didn’t even unhook the trailer for this stay.
We arrived in Walla Walla on Sunday mid-day. My brother and his wife treated us to a tour of the Walla Walla area and the university campuses there. We also went to one of the many winerys now established in Walla Walla and had a delicious topas l
August 24, 2019
Our day began very early with the alarm sounding at 4:25 a.m. We hit the road before 5:00 to get to Hot Springs, SD. A hot air balloon festival is going on today and tomorrow. We arrived at the airport a little before 6:00 a.m. Some of the balloon teams were just starting to get ready. We got some coffee and just enjoyed watching the setup and the balloons start to take off (despite the bugs – primarily mosquitos). Pictures have posted to FB and Instagram. It was still pretty early when this all ended and and we drove into the historic area of Hot Springs. We found a local breakfast restaurant and had a hearty breakfast.
The Mammoth Site was not far from here and opened at 8:00 a.m. so we went to that – amazing. They have bulit a structure over an actual dig site. Mammoth bones were found in the early 1970s when the land was being cleared for a housing development. The owner/contractor realized this was an important find and stopped the work on the area. There are over 60 mammoths (along with other animal bones) that were trapped in the hot spring – the sides were shale so if the mammoth went in, he was unable to get out (just would slip and slide on the edges). It took about an hour and a half to do the official tour and then walk around the small museum and go down to peak in the laboratory area.
Later today, we walked around Hill City and then waited to eat at the Alpine Inn (our Lyft driver told us about it). We had a delicious dinner at the Inn – it was worth the hour wait for a table. They only serve two entree choices filet mignon or German dumplings and vegetable primavaria. Haryl had the beef and I had the primavaria.
That is it for today. We are on the road again in the morning going further west.
August 22 and 23, 2019
I haven’t solved my loading pictures issues, but can share that we have had a really great couple of days. Yesterday, we visited Mount Rushmore. I was so impressed with this monument and the work that went into creating this. We rented the audio tour which really made the walk on the path quite interesting. I would definitely recommend this be on your bucket list if you haven’t visited before. You can do everything at Rushomore in about two and half to three hours. After that, we went to Custer State Park — we drove through blasted out rock and searched for wildlife. Haryl said just as I was thinking it – this is a little like Jurassic Park – will we see anything?! and we did! We found many buffalo and just enjoyed the beauty of the landscape. We were able to pick up the motorcycle at the end of our day so we have that back and taken care of …
Today, we spent some time just doing things that needed to be done around the campsite. Haryl organized the outside storage areas and other general maintenance stuff. I headed to the laundry room on the campgrounds. A shout out to this KOA – Custer/Mt. Rushmore KOA – the laundry room was so nice and clean. All the machines were in good order and clean. In fact, the cleaning crew came in while I was there and really attended to each machine. The campground overall has been great – it is quiet, clean and the staff are friendly. We finished up our chores about mid-day and headed back to another area of Custer State Park to hike a trail Haryl found. Sunday Gulch Trail. What a gorgeous walk although the trail was listed as “strenuous” — they weren’t kidding! We were climbing up and down rocks and rough paths for about 3+ miles but we both enjoyed it. My legs did feel a bit like lead by the end and I was moving very slow on the last little bit of the hike.
I’ll post pictures on FB and Instagram since I have had so much trouble uploading. Maybe will have this figured out soon. Thanks for checking out our progress. We are missing our family and friends but having a good time.
August 20 and 21, 2019
I thought I had this WordPress blog thing down but have had some real difficulties the past two days loading both my narrative and pictures. I am trying one more time as the several paragraphs I drafted up seem to be gone. Tuesday was another driving day and much of the same farmland scenery except we found crops and crops of sunflowers! They were beautiful. Yellow dots as far as the eye could see. As we got closer to the Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills area, we did start to see more interesting landscape – sandstone hills, mountains, trees. We arrived at our reserved campground, Custer/Mt Rushmore KOA and were able to quickly set up the camper. We’ll be here through Sunday morning. It is definitely nice to have the full hookups. I don’t have to keep turning the water on and off in the shower. When we aren’t on hookup we have to be careful not to deplete our stored tank of water. This campground is nice (a usual KOA setting – everyone is a little close but we have a nice site). The staff is friendly and welcoming.
Wednesday morning we had decided we would ride the motorcycle to Sturgis (a bucket list item for Haryl). We got a few miles down the road and there was an issue with the kickstand – it wouldn’t stay up. We had to stop at a hardware store and Haryl replaced the spring. We were soon on the road again. I had not ridden with Haryl in quite some time – he had redone the 20+ year old bike again and for the longet time didn’t have the back passenger seat on it (not sure if he was telling me something or not ha ha). It felt great to ride in the fresh air. It is just such a wonderful, freeing feeling to ride. Unfortunately, we just weren’t meant to ride too far – the back tire was low and then we found a bulge in it. We were now more than 30 miles from our campground. We definitely didn’t want to ride it as the tire could blow. We were amazed to find out that they do have Lyft in this area. So we parked the bike and Lyfted back to the campground (the driver told us we were his longest drive to date) to get the truck and then take the motorcycle in to Rapid City to have the tire replaced. (I know – right?). We covered 90 miles for the same 30 miles in all this. We left the bike at the shop and drove on to Sturgis. There really is not a lot to see in Sturgis. I am unsure of what I was expecting but was somewhat disappointed. I’m sure it is the destination and hype that is the draw for the particular Sturgis bike week. We did go to the Iron Horse Saloon and enjoyed some unique, spicy nachos. So, Sturgis is off the list. Check. Then we were off further down the road to Deadwood. Historic Deadwood Main Street was interesting – lots of little shops, bars, casinos and restaurants. We strolled the Main Street for awhile and bought a few things for ourselves and some gifts. We were now more than 60 miles from the campground and a little tired of driving. Haryl found a new route back through the Black Hills Park. It was such a pretty drive even though we were tired of driving. We ended up on a side adventure on a dirt road hoping to find some wildlife. The road, as Haryl said, could have been any east coast dirt road – scenery was very similar. We continued on our journey through Black Hills and caught a beautiful sunset. Lots of really large deer roaming around. We didn’t see any big-horned sheep. We made it back to the trailer to relax a little.
We’ll see what today brings – hopefully, a little less problems. Were still having fun and enjoying all this!
Pictures for Tuesday and Wednesday directly below:
August 19, 2019
We finally said goodbye to Oshkosh. It was a hard, busy exhausting week but we are glad so many kids had a great time and were able to experience the international camporee. There were about 60,000 at the event this year. We are happy to be on with our vacation though! Next major stop is Mt Rushmore area.
Our “dry camping” experience at Oshkosh was pretty good. Haryl was able to pump water in the tank for our showers and washing dishes. The solar panels really helped with providing enough power for lights.
As we left this morning, the GPS guided us to some back roads from the camporee grounds to avoid heavy traffic and delays. We came up on a truck parked sideways in the road with the driver flagging us to stop. There had been an accident ahead of us – a car had flipped. Emergency vehicles began to arrive. An officer let us know that the road would not be passable for some time. He helped get the cars behind us turned around and then Haryl had to maneuver the trailer to get us turned. Our detour took us through Wisconsin Dells. This area reminded me of the beach – it had that boardwalk feel without the boardwalk. We enjoyed lunch at Mexicala Rosa on the water and watched the tour boats go out and come in. Back in the car and through Minnesota via Route 90. Farmland is certainly plentiful in Minnesota (and Wisconsin) we saw many crops, animals and windmills – tons of windmills! The scenery repeated along this very long, straight road. We had a campsite reserved in Brandon, SD (just over the border from Minnesota) at Yogi Bear – Sioux Falls. GPS took us on another adventure and onto gravel and then dirt roads! but we did arrive at our reserved campground for the night. More to come and pictures from the day below:
August 11, 2019
Some images from yesterday and today:
August 10, 2019
Had some trouble connecting but seem to have that worked out with Haryl’s help. I have made some posts on FB and Instagram since being on the blog but will get a quick catch up going here as well.
We left Maryland on Wednesday mid-day and drove, and drove, and drove! We rested at a truck rest area for several hours along the way. We needed to be in Oshkosh by noon on Thursday. Most of what Haryl needs to do for the camporee related to Potomac Conference (of SDAs) is prior to the start of the event. We are set up near the Potomac Conference “headquarters” to keep an eye on main office tent during the upcoming week-long event. No hook ups – but Haryl purchased some solar panels and we are amazed at how well “capturing the sun” works.
There are several areas that still need to be built out. The Potomac Conference team that is here already built the human foos ball arenas (four) to be used throughout the week. They are also sponsoring an ax and knife throwing area – of course, safety in the build is a priority. The main stage for Potomac Conference campers and the entrance to our site all need to be constructed and completed.
Unfortunately, Haryl’s new truck was a casualty in the construction work occurring yesterday. They were loading wood in the bed of the truck and it hit the corner of his back glass. Result below:
We are working out getting this fixed in the upcoming week while we are here in Oshkosh. Felt bad for Haryl that this happened but it will get resolved.
Trailer puzzlements. We filled our fresh water tank because we knew we wouldn’t have a hookup. We are already out of water – which doesn’t make sense as we are using the camp showers. Another mystery to figure out tomorrow.
We are happy – still a little stressed in trying to be sure things are ready for the soon to be arriving Pathfinder clubs but it will be worth it! And, of course, the truck issue and the trailer water issue. But overall – all is good.
Now that we have figured out my connection issues, I hope to report more soon.
Happy Sabbath everyone! We’re off for a motorcycle ride shortly. #livingthegoodlife
July 31, 2019
July 28, 2019
About a week and a half before Haryl and I leave for Oshkosh, WI and then on to our cross country adventure! Getting excited to hit the road and we are getting our last purchases made. Haryl is off to get a ramp for the back of the truck to load and unload the motorcycle. I have begun today to stock the trailer. More to come …
LinzauAdventures 