The Final Countdown

So this showed up on my phone screen today:

Whoa! How did that happen?! 

Overall this week has been great and full of fun. 

We had dinner with our neighbors (thanks neighbors!!!):

We packed the camper and ate pizza on the floor because there was stuff everywhere.

We suffered through the last day of school (oh the hardships!). 

We spent lots of time with friends and family. 

And we packed some more...

And finally got the map put on the camper (thanks Steve!). We will fill in the states as we visit them. It is on the side of the slide out, so you can only see it when the slide is out, but it was the only smooth surface, so there we have it! (By the way, that is my hand holding the flashlight, so I feel that I did my part.)

The kids hanging out.

I can't really tell what E.T. thinks about all of this. 

On the road in a few hours! Day 1 here we come!

Camping by the Lake

This weekend we traveled to Clear Lake State Park. The main goal of this trip was to get used to pulling the camper down the interstate. We also enjoyed camping with my grandparents, dad and stepmom. :)

As for the trip to the campground:

First, let me say that it was windy. Really windy. A head wind.

Second, we quickly realized we didn't have the right hitch set-up. 

Third, our gas mileage was between 6 and 7 mpg. Ouch. 

We arrived at the campground safely, and spent some time over the weekend getting the hitch set up right. The trip home was MUCH better. 

The kids and grandma had a great time making crafts out of things they found in nature. 

The outside kitchen is sooooo handy!

The kids met my parent's new puppy, "Uncle Baxter". The love was mutual! 

30 days! (Not that we're counting)

Truth: Planning a 2 month trip takes a lot of time....and leaves very little time for blogging about it.

What we have been up to since November/December:

• November: Bought a 2013 30ft RV trailer (ahh!)
• December: Researched and laid out a calendar of where we will be and when.
• Early January - May: Worked on reserving campsites
• March - April: Prepared the camper for the trip
• April: Went on our first camping trip with the camper (trial run close to home) 
• May: Leaving for our second camping trip two hours away this weekend (getting used to pulling the camper a longer distance)

Other things that we needed (or will need) to address due to the length of our trip...This is not sexy stuff folks. It is just a very practical list of things to remember.

• Set up bills on auto recurring payments (not all of them were set up this way...I know, we live in the dark ages.) 
• Find a sitter for my son's little pet corn snake (Maisey cannot come along)
• Stop mail for 30 days....then stop again for another 30 days. Find someone to pick up the mail after the first 30 days. 
• Wrap up projects at work. Yikes!
• Hire someone to mow the lawn (and pray for a drought so they don't have to mow much),
• Fill prescriptions (we only have one among the 5 of us, but still...)
• Make sure the kids have enough underwear for 2 weeks. Hey, I'm on vacation, so I make no promises on the frequency of "feeling" like doing laundry. We will be lucky if the mood strikes and a laundry facility is available at the same time. Welcome to camping life!
• Eat all of the food in the house. OY!  (Okay, not all, but the perishables at least.)
• Buy a new swimsuit (mom)....Double OY! And can I point out the conflict with the item above?? Good grief, I am plotting against myself.
• Clean the house. Who wants to come home to a mess after being gone for two months?
• As we are walking out the door: Turn off water; re-program the thermostat
• And about one hundred other little details that I may or may not remember until we get halfway across Nebraska. Doh! 

It's getting close and we are getting very excited!!

Rainy Wet Camping - First time using the camper

We spent the past weekend at a campground close to home...and it rained... and rained...and rained. Oh and it was cold and windy. Woot! 

This was our first time camping in the camper we bought in November. All in all it went well! And by "went well" I mean that we all came out alive after spending the entire weekend mostly in the camper or swished up tightly under the awning together. To be honest, we actually had quite a bit of fun! 

The boys played a lot of Legos. Grace read and spent time coloring. Notice the space heater. Did I mention that it was really cold? Frost warnings. Brr. 

We made "camping doughnuts". 

These kids are experts, but this is a process better performed outside. We wiped up powdered sugar for quite awhile.

Let's just say that we made way to many!!

This weekend was a good learning experience. We tried things out we might not have if it hadn't been raining. I learned how to put out the awning by myself (though small ears maybe should not be around until I really get the hang of it). We learned that the bathroom door is squeaky and REALLY loud at night when someone uses it. And finally, we learned that spending a weekend in close quarters isn't too bad. Hopefully we feel the same way about 2 months!!

Camping in Style

We bought a camper, or as we like to call it: our home on wheels for two months this summer.

We explored several options for this trip (hotels, cabins, tents, small pop-up camper), and decided that this was the right choice for us for many reasons. Here are a few:

• A camper allows us to sleep in our own beds each night. 
• We can bring and cook our own food.
• We will be gone for 2 months, so having certain "luxuries" will be very nice and hopefully stave off some homesickness. 

The camper is a 2013 Puma 30ft Bunkhouse. This means that the kids have their own room and parents have their own room. (Nice!) It also has the larger U shaped dinette, an actual small bathtub, and an outside kitchen (which is really convenient). 

I don't have any interior pictures right now, but we think this camper will do a great job of meeting our needs.

Family Trip Planning Day

All five of us hung out in my office and got serious about planning this trip.  We need to set dates and start making reservations or we could end up camping in Wal-Mart parking lots. (Yes, they let you do that. And nothing says Family Vacation like Wally World, but yet, we have decided to go all crazy traditional and camp in a campground.) 

By the end of the day, we had a start date for our vacation and and end date. Our vacation will be a total of 56 days long. Whoa!!! That is exactly eight weeks! 

We sent our calendar off to the experts (my parents) who have traveled out west with an RV on many occasions to see if they had any feedback. Based on their feedback, I'm sure we will switch a few things around. 

We will all sleep well tonight knowing that we took such a big step in planning our great National Park vacation. 

To Glacier or Not to Glacier....Is it really a question?

Is it an option to skip Glacier National Park on this vacation? It is REALLY out of the way...

We don't really think so. Here's why: It's disappearing!!!

There used to be 125 glaciers. There are now 25.


Picture courtesy of Glacier National Park Service

And now scientists are saying they could be gone within the decade...as in: before my oldest even graduates from high school!

Bottom line: If we want to see the glaciers of Glacier National Park, we need to drive several miles to the Montana/Canada boarder on this trip. It will add time and quite a few miles to the trip, but it will be worth it.

Here is a link to an article on the topic with very interesting comparison pictures. Glacier National Park Article

Our Plans for an EPIC National Park Trip

• ONE vacation.
• TWENTY FIVE National Parks.
• FIVE family members. 
• THIRTY foot RV Trailer.
• EIGHT weeks. 
• ONE HUNDRED year anniversary of the National Park Service. 

One day in late August 2013, we had an idea. Actually, it was originally more of a moment of panic. We suddenly realized that we only have so many summers to travel as a family on summer vacations...and there are a lot of places to go!

I traveled a lot as a kid growing up. My parents saw to it that I had seen all but six states by the time I was 16. We took most trips driving, but flew to a few destinations as well. I loved these vacations. Some of them I loved more in hindsight, but I loved them just the same. I like that I have seen most national parks, oceans, gulfs, great lakes, waterfalls, destinations spots like Disney World & Land, and many other sights of this country and Canada (back when you could go without spending hundreds of dollars on passports).

If our three kids (now ages 13, 11 and 7) were going to see even half of the places I had seen by the age of 16, we would need to get busy. I would also add that my husband has not seen many of these places, and I am excited to re-experience them as an adult with him. So I made a list of a few vacations we might like to take. The list grew...and grew...and grew. Exactly how many vacations would we have to take each year to accomplish all of this?!

And so an idea was born: Take an EPIC 5-6 week family vacation (it has now become 8 weeks) and visit as much of the western states as we could. Our focus would be National Parks, but a few other "must sees" might slip in. The details of the trip are sketchy at best and can be summed up with: Go West. That's pretty much it. We don't even have a time frame yet.

We began planning in late 2013, yet for various reasons, we will not actually take the trip until the summer of 2016. (We are telling ourselves things like: good things come to those who wait, or patience is a virtue, but seriously, we cannot wait to go!) And did I mention that 2016 is the 100 year anniversary of the national park service?

Thus begins our journey as we research the states and national parks and begin to outline a plan. We will use this blog to document our thoughts. Sometimes the kids might write entries, but I'm guessing it will usually be me (Mom).

Let the planning begin!


National parks we plan to visit:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park
2. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
3. Mesa Verde National Park
4. Arches National Park
5. Canyonland National Park
6. Capitol Reef National Park
7. Bryce Canyon National Park
8. Zion National Park
9. Grand Canyon National Park
10. Joshua Tree National Park
11. Channel Islands National Park
12. Sequoia National Park
13. Kings Canyon National Park
14. Yosemite National Park
15. Lassen Volcanic National Park
16. Redwood National Park
17. Crater Lake National Park
18. Mt Ranier National Park
19. Olympic National Park
20. North Cascades National Park
21. Glacier National Park
22. Grand Teton National Park
23. Yellowstone National Park
24. Wind Cave National Park
25. Bandlands National Park