Dana Point, California

Southern California is also home to one of my favorite people, the amazing Doris Muna. We were able to get together for coffee one morning and catch up. We walked around Dana Point Harbor chatting and picking out our next boat! LOL

Kaitlyn's new best friend, Doris!

It was so good to see you Doris and finally meet your husband! Thanks for getting together with us on such short notice and giving me a copy of your book!

La Jolla, California

While we were based in Oceanside, we took a day and drove down to La Jolla, California. Our long distance travel advisor (aka Tom's sister, Cathy), gave us a tip that there are fun tide pools to explore, lots of seals and really good places to eat there so we wanted to check it out.

Looking in the tide pools at La Jolla.

There were lots of seals hanging out too and I found some shells at Shell Beach. We had lunch at The Cottage. Two thumbs up. I highly recommend the tortilla soup and the chicken salad sandwich. Life is good in La Jolla. :-)

A baby seal playing by the shore.

Lots of seals sunning on the rocks.

Oceanside, California

We finally made it to California. We were going to go all the way to San Diego but decided the campground, Paradise By The Sea RV Resort, in Oceanside looked good so we checked in there for a few days.

I always want to stay at an RV park with beach access. The RV park had a path that walked us right down to Buccaneer Beach in Oceanside. It was overcast part of the time but then the sun came out and we got a little sunburned. It was great to sit and watch the kids play with their boogie boards in the Pacific Ocean
.

Kait & Andrew playing in the Pacific Ocean.

We were also right next to Carlsbad, California, home of Legoland. Kaitlyn and Andrew's cousin has told them about Legoland for years so they were very excited to finally get to go there.

I had always thought that Legoland was just a place to go and play with legos and look at the lego statues and buildings but we found out it is also an amusement park with roller coasters and rides. Needless to say, we all had a blast.

Elvis in the Lego Walk of Fame. (This one's for you Don!)

Tom's having fun spinning the kids on the Bionicle Blaster.

There were a lot of really cool Lego sculptures and in mini-land they had a special exhibit of Star Wars characters and scenes from all of the various movies. (So now you have a choice of either seeing all of the rock pictures from Utah or just ask Tom to see all of the Lego pictures instead.)

I have to admit, it seems being a Lego engineer would be one of the coolest jobs in the world.

Lego Darth Vader

Lego R2-D2 and Lego Chewbacca.

They also had Lego versions of many of the cities we have visited or will be visiting and an entire Lego animal safari. Legoland is a must do if you are in the Southern California area.

Lego U.S. Capital

Lego elephant.

Las Vegas, Nevada

What is it they say about hindsight being 20/20?

Yeah, I can't believe we took our kids to Las Vegas. Tom and I have been to Vegas a few times but to visit and see it through my "mommy eyes" was a completely different experience. LOL

Sometimes, my Pollyanna view of the world ambushes my common sense. We were telling the kids about the lights, the shows and the amusement park at the KOA at Circus Circus, where we stayed.

I had forgotten about the billboards of scantily clad women that they drive around the city on the back of trucks. And I didn't think about the statues of naked men and women in Caesar's Palace. Then there's the drinking, the smoking and the gambling. You get the idea. Duh.

Thankfully, Andrew was there to point out my complete lapse in parental judgement. "Mommy, did you see that lady's butt on that billboard over there?" And he was more than willing to point out things to Kaitlyn so she wouldn't miss anything. "Hey Kaitlyn, look at that statue...(of the naked Roman soldier)."

Well, I guess I'm out of the running for Mother of the Year again (still).

So what did we do? The first day, we went to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus (aka, the Torture Dome). The kids had fun riding the rides and playing the games, I guess that's all that matters.

Kait & Andrew on the bumper cars for the millionth time.

We also visited the Pawn Stars pawn shop. In case you've never heard of it, Pawn Stars is a show on the History channel about the weird stuff that comes into a Las Vegas pawn shop.

I was really hoping we could see the Old Man or, better yet, my favorite employee, Chumley but none of the regular characters were working that day. The best I could do to get a Chumley fix is this burnt piece of toast that is actually for sale at the store:

Burnt toast that looks like Chumley.

We actually had to wait in line outside of the store to get in and it was packed full of people. The line was even longer when we left.

The crowd inside the pawn shop.

The pawn shop looked smaller and darker than it does on TV but I think it's just because of the crowd and the lack of extra TV lighting. It was fun to see all of the stuff for sale and the merchandise they have for the show is unbelievable, shirts, hats, mugs, and magnets. It goes on and on. I wanted to buy Adam and Don something but the line was way to long for that. Sorry guys!

We also drug the kids to Hoover Dam. They couldn't understand why we even went there. I tried to explain the whole architectural marvel thing but they couldn't have cared less. Finally I said, "We spent the entire day yesterday doing what you wanted and now we are going to do something daddy wants to do." They understood that logic. Alas, they were completely unimpressed.

See Hoover Dam. Check.

One night, we hopped on a double decker bus and went to see the sights on the strip. We watched the pirate show at Treasure Island. We stopped at the fountains at the Bellagio. The kids liked the Eiffel Tower at the Paris casino and the Luxor casino's pyramid.

It was great people watching. We saw lots of strange things/people on the street. We grabbed dinner at Margaritaville and some weird guy on stilts made balloon animal hats for the kids and me too. How fun. We actually walked around Vegas wearing these hats but surprisingly no one seemed to notice.

A teddy bear, a fire breathing dragon and a horse.

Grand Canyon (Tusayan), Arizona

On our way to the Grand Canyon National Park, we stopped for the night in Page, Arizona. We had a visitor in the morning. She showed up right on our doorstep.

An early morning visitor.

I opened the door to see if she would run away and she actually tried to come into our RV. I knew right then that she had to be someones cat from another RV. Tom implied that I wanted to bring her home but I didn't and even if I did, I couldn't just take her knowing she probably belonged to someone in the campground. I was just about to go to the office to see if someone reported losing their cat when Tom saw her go into the RV across the row from us. She was a cutie though.

Once we made it to the Grand Canyon, we stayed at the Grand Canyon Camper Village in Tusayan, Arizona which is only about a mile south of the south entrance of the park.

We were not impressed with this campground. It took us about four attempts before we could actually find a site that we could fit into. The guy in the office kept giving us sites that we too short, too close to someone else, too uneven so we couldn't level, etc, etc. We were like the Goldilocks of camping that day.

When we finally found a site that worked, there wasn't any cable, no pool and no water pressure to speak of. Oh, and the washers and dryers in the laundry smelled gross. I wasn't washing my clothes there. Yuck.

So, we weren't off to a very good start but we settled in and drove around the national park for a bit. Having just visited two other national parks, we were a little disappointed with the Grand Canyon park. The signage was lacking and it just felt very commercialized compared to the Arches and Bryce Canyon.

I don't know, maybe we were just tired from seeing so many canyons and rocks over the last 10-day period. It was beautiful and completely surreal, I just think in the context of our trip, it wasn't as awe inspiring as it should have been.

A view into the Grand Canyon.

Another hazy day at the canyon.

I know I sound like Wendy Whiner. Sorry. I think sometimes on a trip like this when you visit so many places in a row, one after another, you begin to take it for granted in a way. But at the same time, when you visit so many places you also have a unique perspective to compare and contrast what works and what doesn't. Plus you get tired - especially about the stuff that just isn't as good as it could be.

Let me focus on the good things about the Grand Canyon. There is a Junior Ranger program that the kids really like. It isn't just at the Grand Canyon, I think all of the National Parks have it. They give the kids a booklet with activities to learn about the park's geology, wildlife, history, etc. and they also have to attend a talk presented by a park Ranger then they earn they're Junior Ranger badge.

Kait and Andrew also earned one at Bryce Canyon. They seem to enjoy it and they actually learn some stuff too. Just be warned that the Rangers take this plastic badge very seriously and won't swear the kids in as an official Junior Ranger until every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed.

Kait and Andrew sworn in as Grand Canyon Junior Rangers.

We also walked over to the Watchtower toward the east entrance of the park. A guy was playing Native American drums on one of the cliffs and the view was spectacular from here.

 Tom and the kids at the Watchtower.

With Smokey the Bear at the Grand Canyon.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

After visiting Arches National Park and then Bryce Canyon, we decided that Utah is quite possibly the prettiest state we have seen so far. There is just so much diversity and unusual things to see.

Some hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, Utah.

While Arches National Park has the stone arches, windows and stone formations, Bryce Canyon has hoodoos. That's not a typo, they are really called hoodoos. The strange looking eroded rock spires and towers look like huge stone warriors all lined up or chess pieces or a stone forest. You get the idea. Here are some cool pics although I don't think they do the pink rocks justice.

We hiked the Mossy Cave and Waterfall trail. It was hot and the altitude really affected me and the kids but when we made it up there it was worth it. It was so beautiful to see. We even pulled off our socks and shoes and soaked our feet in the icy cold mountain water. It was very cold and very refreshing.

Resting our feet in the cold water.

We saw a family of prairie dogs on the side of the road and pulled over to get these pics. They were so cute. Apparently they are very tasty too, at least to the other predators in the park. We learned just about everything eats these cute little prairie dogs so they are endangered. I bet they taste like chicken.

Prairie Dogs

All in all, we had a good stay in Bryce Canyon but at our campground, there was a huge family that acted like they were the only ones there and the rest of us were intruding on their vacation.

As a public service, I want to give you a few camping etiquette tips so the next time I'm ranting about another family at a campground, it's not yours!

First, if you wake up early, keep quiet until a reasonable hour. As an extra bonus to your neighbors, don't let your 4 year old daughter walk up beside an RV and scream for you as you walk away. Just because your kids are up doesn't mean that my kids aren't still sleeping.

Better yet, don't walk through campsites. When you walk through someones campsite, it is like walking through their living room. Walk around using the paths. I know it might actually be a few more steps but your camping. Didn't you come here to enjoy the great outdoors?

Next topic - the pool. I could write a book on this topic alone. Here are my top three pieces of advice.

1. Rocks are not pool toys. Seriously?! We had a kid throwing a 2 pound rock into the pool as a diving toy. Not cool.
2. When the pool is crowded with younger swimmers, don't do cannon balls into the pool. I saw one guy almost drown a little boy after he created his own little tsunami.
3. Don't let your entire herd use all of the shaded lounge chairs as clothes racks while you swim in the pool all day. The rest of us, who are there to watch our children while they are in the pool, might want to actually sit in the shade on one of those lounge chairs. I've spent more than my fair share of hot afternoons roasting in the sun while your clothes stay nice and cool on that premium piece of pool real estate.

OK, I feel better getting that off my chest. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Here are a few more random photos of Tom and the kids.

Andrew hiking the Mossy Cave trail.

Tom and Kaitlyn modeling their western wear.

Cannonville, Utah

After stopping at the Freemont Indian State Park, we felt like we had made the turn and everything was back to normal (whatever that means). We almost made it to Bryce Canyon before we heard alarms go off again.

This time it was our Buddy Brake system telling us to check the tow car. The Buddy Brake helps the car put on the brakes when Tom pushes the brakes in the RV. Basically, when you are travelling through the mountains, you want to make sure it is working.

We pulled over and found out the car's battery had completely died. Somehow this affects the Brake Buddy thus the alarms going off. We were able to make it to our campground at the KOA in Cannonville. They gave Tom a trickle charger and we charged the battery for a little while. Later we started the car and headed off to take a look at Bryce Canyon.

Everything was fine until we stopped for gas and turned the car off. Of course, it wouldn't start again. The battery needed to be replaced. we got a jump and headed back to the campground to wait for AAA. Tom called them and explained the problem and thought they were coming out with a new battery.

When they got there, they said, "We don't have a battery with us but we can give you a jump to go into Bryce and buy a new battery there but they're closed for the night so you will have to get it tomorrow."

So what do you want us to do, let the car run all night until the place opens in the morning?

OK, I'm the first to admit that I am no expert when it comes to fixing a car but even I figured out very quickly that this AAA driver was an idiot. It was after 5 p.m. when we called, he knew they were closed when we called. He couldn't just say, "The place you need to get a battery is closed for the night so why don't I come out and give you a jump in the morning?" Ugh.

The next day we got another jump drove to the place to get the battery. They didn't have one so we drove to the nearest city, picked up the battery they needed and drove back to have them install it. After all of that trouble, we aren't sure if the gave us the battery or just didn't charge us but the total bill came to only $23. Tom asked the guy about it and he said, "As far as I'm concerned the battery was free." Needless to say, Tom didn't argue with the guy or ask anymore questions.

Sevier, Utah

While we relaxed for the night in Richfield, Utah, I did a quick search on Betty (our GPS) to see if we were missing anything while we were in the area. I found the Freemont Indian State Park located twenty or so miles away and it looked interesting so we decided to make a stop there on the way to Bryce Canyon National Park.

This village was almost demolished when I-70 was being built. They were able to preserve the rock cliffs that still have petroglyphs from the Freemont Indians who lived in this area from 400-1300 A.D. We hiked the trails and took a look at the artwork.

Petroglyphs from the Freemont Indians.

More petroglyths.

While we were at the state park, Cub Scout Pack #605 was hosting their summer day camp. Kaitlyn and Andrew were really excited to be invited to try their hand at Native American dart throwing using an atlatl. It was harder than it looked but Kaitlyn was actually able to make contact with the deer target.

Andrew tries his hand at using an atlatl to spear the deer.

Kaitlyn was able to make contact with the deer target.

This was a very fun pit stop on the way to Bryce Canyon. I really like it when we can be spontaneous and find a place we didn't expect to go to and enjoy. Thanks Betty!

Full Moon Hijinks

The day we wanted to pull out of Moab, Utah started off on the wrong foot. I guess I should say it started out on a wet foot and things went downhill from there!

It was right around the first night of the full moon so we're giving it credit for everything that happens for the next two days.

First, the bathroom flooded. Tom was filling up the black tank with extra water so he could really flush it out. For all of you non-RV'ers, the black tank is the one that holds everything from the toilet. Yuck. Anyway, he let the water run and forgot he was suppose to be monitoring the fullness of the tank.

Kaitlyn got up and said, 'I think there is a little water on the bathroom floor. The next thing I know, Tom jumped up, yelled "Oh, shit!" (which is kind of funny looking back at the situation) and runs to the bathroom to turn off the water then he runs outside to dump the tank. Meanwhile, I begin the clean up. Luckily, it was only water and we had our pool towels sitting there so it was mopped up quickly.

For the record, I have never seen Tom move so fast first thing in the morning.

After that fun start to the day, we broke camp and were ready to pull out once the leveling jacks under the RV we retracted. Usually, just a touch of a button would do it but alas not this day. Unfortunately, in our routine for getting ready to leave, I am usually the one who pushes that button so when alarms started beeping and the jacks didn't move, I immediately felt like I had broken it. Great.

Long story short, the site we were on was very unlevel so the jacks were extended further than they should have been. After sitting in that hot, sandy environment and settling for a few days made the jacks not want to cooperate.

Again, lots of cursing and muttering ensued. The good thing about the whole situation was there were four other people from Ohio staying at the camp and they all came over to help Tom manually lower the jacks. That is one thing I have noticed about RV'ers, they are usually pretty friendly and are willing to help out if you need it.

With the jacks finally up, it was time to check the lights on our tow car and pull out. I bet you can guess what happened...the lights didn't work. Well, they worked a little. They were very dim so Tom went with it but he wasn't happy about it.

We finally pulled out and drove to a KOA in Richfield, Utah for the night. We didn't do anything but let the kids swim to burn off some extra energy while Tom fixed the tow lights. (I'm always amazed at how he can fix just about anything.)

Of course, I did laundry too. All of those wet towels from the morning were washed, dried, folded and put away in a jiffy. That is the good thing about laundry at the campground - with multiple washers and dryers everything gets done in less than an hour. I guess after a day like this one, it's the small things that make me happy.

What a day! We kept asking ourselves, "What else could go wrong?" On the way to Bryce Canyon, we'll find out...

Moab, Utah

Arches National Park is located in Moab, Utah. I had seen a few pictures of the rock formations there but I guess I didn't really know what to expect when we rolled into town. When we got there, I was simply blown away.

It's hard to explain what is so special about this place. Maybe if you have been there you know what I mean. It's not just the unusual rock formations or the vibrant colors. Arches NP is so unique - it is like looking at a living postcard or a scene from an old western movie but in HD.

This is a place everyone should see in their lifetime.

Tom and the kids climbing on the rocks.

This national park is so much fun because you can drive to the trails you want to hike or you can drive to viewpoints where you can just get out and look but still see what you came to see.

The first time we got out and I encouraged Andrew to climb up one of the rock faces, he looked at me like, "Is she serious? I hope she's serious!" I think he thought we were just going to drive around and look at the scenery but once he found out we could climb around and explore, he was totally into it.

The kids had so much fun hiking the trails, climbing up the slickrock and looking at the rocks to decide what they looked like. It was like looking at the clouds for shapes but using the rocks instead.

The Delicate Arch

The Double Arch

Andrew hiding in the rocks.

Sunset at Arches National Park.

I hope I didn't bore you with too many photos of the rocks. We have plenty more than I posted here and you can come over to the house for a special screening if you really want to see them all. LOL

Central City, Colorado

As I mentioned last time, we didn't realize how far away the Denver campground would be from the actual things we wanted to see so we only stayed one night there and then moved over to the KOA's Denver West location. Unfortunately, we soon discovered it was just as far away from Denver as the first campground AND it was 9,000 feet up in the mountains!

Once we made it up there, I wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere else for a few days, at least not in the RV!

Let's just say, travelling through the mountains in an RV has not been my favorite experience on this trip. I know the scenery is gorgeous and once you get where you want to go, it's worth it but, seriously, would it kill the drivers in Colorado to yield and merge properly?!? And why can't there be more tunnels? Forget this driving up and down 5%, 7% and even 8% grade roads! Tunnel through the mountains are a good thing. Just sayin'.

Tom and the kids in the Rocky Mountains.

Luckily for us, there were a lot a unique things to see and do in the Central City/Idaho Springs area. We passed on the Coors Brewery tour in Golden even though several people told us it was an interesting thing to do. Too bad we didn't want to gamble because there are 35 casino's in the area!

On the first day, we checked out Lookout Mountain and hiked around the Lookout Mountain Nature Center. Lots of ponderosa pines to see and a plethora of info about bears, snakes, mountain lions and wildfires. Not necessarily a reassuring experience when you are surrounded by the forest.

Kait & Andrew (aka "Ms. I'm So Hot" and "Mr. My Feet Hurt")
resting on a hike at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center.

Just up the road was Buffalo Bill Cody's grave and museum. The kids didn't have any idea who Buffalo Bill was but now they know more than most. Disclaimer: I make no guarantees and do not have any delusions that they will retain any of this information by the time we get back to Ohio. So if you ask them if what they know about Buffalo Bill and they say, "Who?" all I can say is I have the pictures to prove they were there.

Buffalo Bill's grave.

There was a book that had all of the dates and locations that Buffalo Bill's Wild West show toured around the country. I can confirm that the show did visit little old Newark, Ohio back in the day:

Buffalo Bill visited Newark several times.

Kaitlyn tried to rope the calf but got Andrew instead.

We spent the second day in town exploring the Argo Gold Mine and Mill. The explained how the gold was pulled out of the mountain and the different ways it was extracted from the rock. Tom took lots of pictures of the inside of the mill if you want to see the old machinery, I'm sure he'll be glad to show you. LOL

At the end of the tour, we learned how to pan for gold. Andrew was convinced he was going to strike it rich from the little bag of dirt they gave each of us. Most of us found a few specks of gold except Andrew who was so disappointed that there wasn't a huge nugget in the bag and he just didn't have the patience to separate the dirt from the gold. Shocking, I know.

The Argo Gold Mine and Mill

We walked back into this mine. Creepy.

Learning how to pan for gold.

Central City was a beautiful place to spend a few days. In town, the weather was sunny and warm. Up at the campground, it was sunny and cold but it was still beautiful. Here are just a few more pics of the scenery.

The view from the campground.