VIEW NH

7/26/2009 - Day 17 (Sunday) - Santa Monica, CA

Today we travelled down the Coast to Santa Monica.  I arranged for Kylie to take a surfing lesson on the beach.  We parked at the Santa Monica Pier and walked to meet the surfer dudes (trying to pick up the lingo at Lifeguard Tower #18.  It was very warm out already and walking in the sand is not as easy as it looks on TV (lol)...but we made it. 

They were set up under this USA canopy, so we got to get out of the sun for a few minutes. 

Here's Kylie getting her dry land lesson on how to stand up on the surf board.

Kylie started off slow...she couldn't quite stand up on the board before she crashed into the water.

But then she finally managed to stand up...yeah!

 

 

 

Afterwards we walked a few blocks to Palasades Park and the 3rd Street Promenade, a pedestrian shopping area where we found lunch and saw many interesting people.  I took this picture in Palasades Park, which i've named "The Birdman"

 

 

 

 

 

We then walked back to the Santa Monica Pier. Can you see the MH in the parking lot?

Eric on the Pier... he's thinking about learning how to fish.  It was a long day and I managed to get a little sunburn on my shoulders...I guess i'm just not used to light not eminating from my computer.

7/25/2009 - Day 16 (Saturday) - Malibu, CA

Today we travelled from San Francisco area to Malibu.  The weather when we left SF was in the high 50's, as soon as moved away from the coast the fog cleared and the sun was shining and it became noticabilly warmer outside.  Most of the day was spent travelling, and the temperatures were warmer than we had experienced throughout the trip, near 100 degrees.  We originally were only scheduled to stay in Malibu for 1 night but this picture shows the weather and view when we arrived and we all immediately decided to stay an extra night. The RV park is directly across the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) from the beach and within walking distance of a beachfront seafood restaurant.  It was a definate change from the RV park in San Francisco and a lot nicer with a lot more room to spread out.  We arrived in the early evening and relaxed for the rest of the day...took a walk to get dinner and look at the ocean.

7/23/2009 - Day 14 (Thursday) - San Francisco, CA

We are scheduled to have two full days in San Francisco.  The RV "resort" is a parking lot packed tight with RV's, our site was along the cliff with an ocean view, located just outside SF in Pacifica.  The photo shown was taken during the only short span of sunlight during the course of the 2 days.  Most of the time you couldn't see anything except the fog...but we could hear the ocean waves crashing below us through the night which was nice.  On our first full day in SF we got a late start, then drove into the city towards Fisherman's Wharf and other city attractions. 

We drove down to the waterfront but couldn't find any parking.  It was a very busy area so we decided to trek on to find a few other famous SF places...Note to self...driving a MH through the hills of SF probably not a great idea...very scary!!!  This picture shows one of the hills going down...it was a lot scarier in person.  The best hill was coming up Lombard Street, the hill coming up to the crooked part (shown in the picture below) was so steep we didn't want to stop the MH at the stop sign at the top for fear we wouldn't make it over the crest of the hill if we did.

The streets of SF are full of one ways and steep hills, no parking...the traffic wasn't bad but there is no place to pull over (especially in a large vehicle)...parking enforcement was all over the place and there are a lot of people walking and riding bicycles that you also have to watch out for.  We determined rather quickly that we wanted to make our way out of the city and go visit some further away places.  Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets to see Alcatraz because they were sold out but it was still on the rather cool side and I imagine very windy on the island itself.  We made our way (as quickly as we could) towards Golden Gate Park where we visited the Dutch Windmill.

This 1902 restored Windmill was built ami sand dunes and barren land to supply the 75 acre Golden Gate park with water to create a landscape where things could grow.  It cost $16,000 to complete and today sits on the West end of Golden Gate Park amid a beautiful garden.  It pumped water to the area until electricity replaced it as a source of water distribution.  It's a beautiful little alcove in the city just a block from the ocean. 

We decided that we could go by the mall on the way back to the campground for some shopping and a quick bite to eat and then we called it a day.  We dropped the tire off at a local tire shop to try to repair (no luck...had to order a new tire...ouch!) then we headed back to the campground and hung around for the rest of the night.  This was the first low key day we've had so far during the trip.  We're hoping for better weather tomorrow so we can venture to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Note to self:  To really see the sights of San Francisco you need to take a tour, unfortunately all the tours seem to leave from Fisherman's Wharf and it's even a chore to get there with limited parking, even less for a MH...our only shot at a tour would be to park in a remote location and take some other sort of transportation in (BART, MUNI or a FERRY).

7/22/2009 - Day 13 (Wednesday) - Redwood Forest & Ferndale, CA

Shortly after we were granted admittance to CA we found our way to Jedediah Smith Redwood SP where we had reservations for the night.  It was late and dark when we arrived so we didn't get a chance to see the redwoods before calling it a night.  In the morning however we found ourselves in the middle of some rather big trees (at least we thought they were big at the time...)

That was until we drove a few miles up the road and found a place where we could pull over and take a walk along a trail...that's when we came across some very big trees.  The picture on the right shows Kylie, me and Eric in front of one of them (yes that is only one tree).  Kylie had a really good time walking through the forest and took the opportunity to climb every tree she could. Can you see Kylie in this picture? 

Then we continued on towards San Francisco.  The plan was to arrive in SF by the afternoon but you know how plans get changed...first we took a detour to Ferndale, CA..which is about 5 miles off the highway and is this little picturesque town that gives the appearance (in part) of times past.

 

We took a walk down Main Street and visited a Merchantile Store (which Kylie described as "creepy")...Eric found this abandoned place with some pretty interesting things inside, including the old gas pump below.

It was sometime after this that everything went haywire...a few more hours down the road we were driving along when we were iinformed we had a flat tire...so we pulled into the first place we could...

 

We lost track of time but it had to be about 2 or 2.5 hours before the tire was finallychanged out...seemed somehow there was a 4 inch scissor blade that managed to puncture the tire....all and all things turned out amazingly well...we got a free roadside assistance from Campers World when we signed up as a member and we used that to get help...but not before Eric had to do some damage repair after the helpful firefighters tried to assist.  Because of this setback we didn't arrive into San Francisco until after dark and we couldn't even see the Golden Gate Bridge when we crossed it because of the fog.  So far California hasn't been all that it promises in their solicitations...it's been cool and foggy (at least along the coast).

7/21/2009 - Day 12 (Tuesday) - South to California

We continued driving down the Oregon Coast today (today is a travel day...making our way to California).  The weather is cool, in the 50's and 60's for the most part and it was very foggy so we couldn't see much of anything.  It probably would have been a great scenic ride otherwise.  Can you see the lighthouse in this picture?  Yeah...we could barely see it either but every so often we could see the light come around.  This picture was taken from inside the Sea Lion Caves which was one of our scheduled stops.

Sea Lion Caves is a privately owned attraction along Route 101 in Oregon.  You pay admission and ride an elevator down several hundred feet to this cave where you can see hundreds and hundreds of Sea Lions laying on the rocks with the ocean waves crashing in.  It was very interesting watching the Sea Lions kick each other off of the rocks to get a good laying spot.  One note if you are ever planning on visiting...it doesn't smell good.  In fact, as you get closer to the viewing point you will become overwhelmed with the strong pungent smell of what can only be described as fishy (yuk!)...

outside there is another viewing point where you can see the Sea Lions sitting on the rocks outside the cave area.  They were a lot easier to see than the Sea Lions inside the Cave...

 

We continued South towards California, and then something amazing happened...after several hours of driving the sun cam out!  The coast highway looks a lot different when you can actually see the coast! 

 

As you can probably tell by the picture, it was close to the end of the day by this time...shortly after taking this picture we found ourselves crossing the California border.  If anyone has ever driven to California from any other state you probably already know that California has inspection stations (for agriculture) to make sure that nobody imports pests into their state.  Because we drove from New Hampshire we were required to be inspected for "gypsy moths"...I can't remember the last time I saw a gypsy moth...so the inspector crawled under the MH to look for signs of insects...she didn't even find a spider.  We are thinking about stopping at the inspection station on the way out of the State to have them make sure we are not unintentionally exporting pests from this state.  I made sure I captured the moment.  WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA! 

7/19/2009 - Day 10 (Sunday) - Seattle, WA

Today we drove South into Seattle, Washington for the day.   We found a parking space in Seattle Center and parked the MH and walked to the Space Needle.

 

 

I made reservations for Sunday Brunch at Sky City Restaurant in the Space Needle.  The Restaurant is really nice an rotates above the city so you get a 360 degree view while dining.  Kylie loved it because it was a really nice restaurant and the food was excellent!  I wanted to take the Duck Tour through Seattle to see the city but both Kylie and Eric thought that was pretty Geeky so instead we walked from the Space Needle to the Pike Street Market which was about 1.5 miles away. 

Here is Eric and I in front of the famous Public Market Sign.  You can see in the background the water.  It was an experience with a lot of smells, sounds, street performers and interesting people.  Kylie got her name written in Chinese (at least that's what we think it says) and we purchased a few small items.  It was very hot outside by this point and we needed water.

 

After the Public Market we made our way back to the Space Needle and the MH, passing Century Square (an area in Seattle where there is a lot of retail stores including Nordstrom's, Macy's, Columbia and Abacrombie & Fitch.  By the time we made it back to the MH Kylie and Eric both passed out and took a nap (they just couldn't keep up with me).  It was a fun visit even though we skipped the Duck Tour.

There was an event happening around the Space Needle and the police presence was large.  This picture was taken right outside the Space Needle at the end of the day, on our way back to the MH.  Kylie for some reason refused to go up and pose with the horses...somehow they lose their appeal when they have uniformed officers on them.

7/16/2009 - Day 7 (Thursday) - Northwest to Montana

We left the campground at 11:30 a.m. and made our way to the Northwest Entrance, planning to stop along the way at some of the sites we missed the day before.  We took Firehole Lake Drive which has several Geysers along the roadside.  We stopped at Sheepeater Cliff and Golden Gate where the road cantilevers over the cliff edge.  We then made our way to Mammoth Hot Springs (which believe it or not was 20 degrees warmer) and then to Mammoth which is where old Fort Yellowstone stood and some buildings still.  It resembles a little town and in the center there was herd of Elk camped out.  From there we were only 5 miles from the Northwest Entrance and I was desperately trying to see some of the animals we missed.  I spotted a herd of longhorn sheep on the side of a mountain and Eric pulled over so we could take some pictures.   

There were only a few at first, then more started to emerge from the rocks above.  We must have been stopped for 20-30 minutes as we watched the sheep one at a time make their way down the side of the mountainside to the river below (right across from us) to drink and then climb back up the steep rocks again.  It was an amazing site.  We started a trend and soon there were cars parked on both sides on the road and people standing there taking photos.  Then just as we were about the pass through the archway out of the park, Kylie spotted a herd of antelope in the field.  We stopped for pizza at K-Bar (recommended by one of the park employees) in Gardner, Montana and we found a carwash that could fit the MH…all was good as we made our way out into Montana again until we reached Massoula, MT where we found a Wal-mart for the night.

 

 SEE PHOTO ALBUM ON RIGHT FOR YELLOWSTONE PICTURES

 

7/15/2009 - Day 6 (Wednesday) - Yellowstone NP

This was our only full day at Yellowstone…we took a lot of pictures and travelled to Old Faithful and the Midway Geyser Basin (which was one of the best sites which includes Grand Prismatic Spring).  The park is huge…and it took most of the day to travel to handful of sites.  The Bison stopping traffic didn’t help very much.  We visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and ate dinner at the Canyon Lodge (Prime Rib, Bison and Spinach Ravioli).  We had planned a 1 hour horseback ride but it was cancelled for reasons unknown but we all adapted well…some better than others.  On the way back to the campground there were lots of people stopped along the road trying to catch a glimpse of a wolf pack with new wolf cub.  We learned the next day that the cub came out and made an appearance that night…we missed it.

 

SEE PHOTO ALBUM ON RIGHT FOR YELLOWSTONE PICTURES

 

7/14/2009 - Day 5 (Tuesday) - West to Yellowstone NP

We left Rapid City for Yellowstone National Park…because we decided to call it a night and stayed in Rapid City on Monday night we knew we were in for a long drive.  We drove through the remainder of South Dakota and off the Interstate to a rural road through Montana.  The first section (which is quite a bit because of sheer size of the state) of Montana was incredibly boring with little to nothing to see for miles.  Montana is the Big Sky state and you could see why….there is sky everywhere and nothing much else.  After several hours we started to play a new game…counting the broken down cars on people’s property.  The scenery didn’t really change much until we hit Billings.  From there we headed towards Red Lodge which marks the beginning of the Beartooth Scenic Byway which leads directly to the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

When we mapped out the route we had no idea what we would expect to see.  The byway, which is only open a few months out of the year, is a steep climb up into the mountains on a windy road.  The maximum speed was 25 MPH and the scenery was amazing.  The pictures don’t do it justice because of the lighting but it was both scary and exciting.  We climbed to elevations over 10,000 feet where there was still spots with several inches of snow (we were at the spot on the top of the mountain where you can see snow in the middle of summer).  We crossed the state line from Montana to Wyoming and then back to Montana.  The View got the best gas mileage of the trip on this section with more than 26 miles to the gallon. 

We arrived at the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone National Park about 8:51 p.m.  The one thing that we have noticed is that we don’t loose daylight until after 10:00 p.m.  We clearly underestimated the drive time for this section of the trip.  We quickly learned that although we had arrived at Yellowstone, it was another 1.5 hour drive to the campground we were staying at.  Almost immediately after entering the park we started to see the animals.  First a fox, then an antelope and then Bison.  We pulled over at one point and saw a black bear in the distance going into the tree line.  We were disappointed we didn’t get a better look and then less than ½ mile up the road there was a baby black bear walking down the side of the road.  We saw Bison and Moose even before reaching our campsite around 10:15 (we were very tired).

 

SEE PHOTO ALBUM ON RIGHT FOR YELLOWSTONE PICTURES

7/13/2009 - Day 4 (Monday) - West to Rapid City, SD

Our first stop in South Dakota was the Corn Palace (we never heard of it either so we had to sit through the presentation about the history of it).  It ended up to be a very interesting place to stop.  Apparently every year they allocate a portion of the corn crop to decorate the palace in corn murals based on a particular theme.  This year’s theme in 2009 was America’s Destinations. 

 

 

Our next stop was the Minute Man Missile Site (a national park site) consists of a main office and another command post with available tours of the missile command facility which is 30 feet underground.  Because we were not sure when we would be there we didn’t book the 1.5 hour tour and it was full.  So instead we watched a 12 minute film which showed the same information (a definite time saver).  We then ventured up the road to the missile site where they pulled back the cement cover and enclosed it in glass.  There you can see down into the silo the missile (without the warhead of course).  There is also a vehicle on site which was designed to withstand an EMP from a nuclear blast.  We didn’t stay here long because it the weather was threatening (see photo) and there was a tornado warning. 

 

We did make one additional stop at Wall Drug.  They posted signs along the highway for 250 miles telling us what a great tourist stop advertised throughout the world, so we had no choice but to stop and see what all the fuss was about.  The place was a huge maze of different souvenir and food shops.  It was really interesting and they had a lot of unique items and it took everything we had to resist the temptation to buy the bumper sticker advertising the place.  By the time we left the sky had cleared (we didn’t even hit rain…but the black sky loomed in the distance for awhile).

We drove through the Badlands (apparently Badlands means “bad land to travel”) West towards Rapid City, SD and Mount Rushmore.  We pulled off the highway to take a few photos and Eric ended up finding a $50 bill flying across the landscape (it was very windy)…he spent the next several days wondering about the person who lost their $50 bill, was it their last $50?  Did they have enough money to get home?

 

We hit the Rapid City area early and I had made reservations at a Western Dinner/Show.   The guests eat in an open air barn, when the dinner bell rang you took your tin cup and plate and proceeded through the chow line.  The meal we can only assume was an accurate representation on what the cowboys ate (they were just happy to eat and were not picky regarding taste or quality).  Eric had Bison (it tastes like pot roast), I had Beef and Kylie had Chicken.  After dinner some country musicians took the stage and entertained you.  It was pretty unimpressive, especially when they asked everyone to clean up the barn after eating.  We decided to take off before the show was over (when they started marketing every item in the gift shop one item at a time).  Then we were off to Mount Rushmore…

 

The plan was to visit Mount Rushmore in time for the lighting ceremony at dusk (8:30 p.m.)…when we left dinner it started to rain pretty heavy on our way there and it was looking really bleak.  We thought about turning back and trying again in the morning…it was pouring with big cracks of thunder and lightning.  We arrived at Mount Rushmore and it was still drizzling…by the time we made it to the entrance it had stopped raining.  The lighting because of the rain was amazing and we took a lot of great pictures.  We sat and waited for the lighting ceremony to start and the funniest thing happened….from down below the clouds began to rise up until all visibility was gone and you couldn’t see Mount Rushmore at all anymore….it was incredible.  So we waited….and just before the lighting ceremony was set to begin the breeze kicked up and the clouds were swept away and the mountain emerged…it was an amazing show and a once in a lifetime chain of events that created a very memorable experience. 

By the time we drove down the mountain it was pretty late.

 

7/12/2009 - Day 3 (Sunday) - West to Minnesota

We really enjoyed driving through Wisconsin (which looked a lot like the photo we choose to depict the landscape)

Then arriving in Minnesota, on our way to the Mall of America

Here's Kylie (LEFT) as we arrived at the Mall of America (our 1st scheduled attraction stop). We took some photos in the parking lot before we went inside. 

We decided to eat at Bubba Gump's (below) for lunch.  Eric had the fish sandwich (8 out of 10), I had the fish and chips (10 out of 10) and Kylie had the fried chicken dinner which we all gave the chicken a (9 out of 10);  It was really an experience

 

 

 

Kylie was very excited about the indoor theme park.  Eric and I agree that it was one of the best theme parks we've ever gone to.  Because it's in the Mall we didn't have to pay for 3 tickets just to walk around (like Six Flags or Busch Gardens).  Kylie dragged me on all the rides and tried to kill me.  The skateboard ride (whatever it was named) was the worst, so Kylie forced me to go on it 2x.  But not to worry, I found a ride I really liked and dragged Kylie on it again and again until she was ready to call it a day!  We also visited the aquarium where they had an underwater tunnel where we saw lots of sharks and other sea creatures. 
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For the most part Minnesota looks a lot like Wisconsin, with lots of farmland.  We ended up venturing off of I-90 and spent hours driving a back road.  We saw a lot of windmills in the distance (the most of the trip), not really wind farms but several windmills grouped together.  We ended up at a Flying J for the night just after passing into South Dakota.

7/11/2009 - Day 2 (Saturday) - West to Wisconsin Dells, WI

So our first scheduled stop was in Elyria, OH for breakfast - we arrived very early in the a.m. and got to catch a few hours of sleep in the parking lot while we waited for the place to open for their breakfast buffet.  - ATB

After leaving Elyria, OH on our way to Indiana we hit a huge band thunderstorms with lightning. After two weeks of non-stop raining in NH it was refreshing to see the rain.  Thankfully the storms were headed east and we were headed west so we ended up driving out of them.  We tried to take pictures of the lightning but have you ever tried to take photos of lightning? (it's not easy to click the button at the speed of light).  In this picture you can see the radar showing the storm on the computer screen, the picture was taken just before 11 a.m.

After Indiana (where Eric jokingly suggested that we stop in Gary, IN to see Michael Jackson's childhood home) we found ourselves driving through the Center of Chicago, Illinois;  Eric was trying to sleep so Kylie took a bunch of pictures as I drove us through slow moving traffic through the City.  We saw the Sears Tower (in the picture) from the highway and Kylie went online and read all about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Kylie's comments about the city was "it was big and it was really pretty but the traffic sucked".  Eric did really well, he was up and down during our very slow moving trip through the city and didn't let on once that he was nervous that it was me who was driving the MH in the middle of all of that and not him (he feels better when he's in control). It's important to note that I wasn't at all nervous and kept the MH between the little white lines that the city was kind enough to provide. 

Then off to Wisconsin ("America's Dairyland") where we stopped in Wisconsin Dells; Who knew that such an oasis existed in the middle of farm (cheese?) country.  There is a lot to do here if we had planned to stay but we ate dinner and took in a few sights.

We stopped at this place...they sold lots of different cheeses, candy, fudge, ice cream and souvineers.  Kylie came away with a one-scoop cone of vanilla ice cream and Eric bought some chocolate/caramel fudge.  Kylie had another "hot guy" sighting in Wisconsin and she's ready to pack her bags and relocate for good.

 

 

I found out about Monk's Bar & Grille on the internet while planning our trip and thought it would be a good place to get some dinner.  There was some talk when we got into town about maybe going somewhere else but we are glad that we didn't.  We had burgers and "monkey fries" which are crispy french fries smothered in bacon bits and fresh wisconsin cheddar cheese (they were very good!).

 

We had no reservations and had originally planned to stop at a rest area between here and our next stop but instead we found this casino a few miles off the exit where we parked in a back lot next to a small airfield and spent the night.  After 24 hours on the road and sleeping erratically it was a really good night sleep.  Even though it's mid-July it was cool outside (about 60F) and there was a slight breeze which made for a perfect sleep temperature.  

7/10/2009 - Day 1 (Friday) - Leaving NH

Left New Hampshire at just past 5pm (after a full day of work and finishing up all loose ends).  It immediately feels very weird without Calvin with us (he stayed at home with Grandma this trip).  We hit traffic in Massachusetts because of an accident but otherwise things went pretty smooth.  Eric drove until about midnight, then I got to drive for a few hours (I realized then that I hadn't driven the motorhome since Feb08)...Kylie slept a lot (but she can sleep through anything and riding in a vehicle is like giving her a sleeping pill.  Turns out Eric learned he can't sleep when the camper is bouncing him around and I found a perfect use for the stimulous money (fix the darn roads...they're horrible!)

5/1/2009 - 5/3/2009 - Mohegan Sun, CT

So we decided to venture back to Mohegan Sun this weekend.  Mainly because the weather is calling for rain all weekend so we didn't want to spend money to stay at a campground in the rain.  Kylie is in FL for school vacation so Calvin came with us.  Eric likes the buffets here...they have the best breakfast buffet at Seasons Buffet.  I'm going to repost one of the pictures from our last visit which was only 2 weeks ago (partly because it's rainy and icky out but mostly becasue I forgot the camera bag at home).

4/17/2009 - 4/18/2009 - Mohegan Sun, CT

Ok ... so this was our maiden voyage of the season. We were supposed to go to NYC (5 hours) for the weekend, but Kylie made plans (as usual). Why waste a trip to NYC without Kylie...so we looked into going to Atlantic City for the weekend (5 hours), then Turning Stone in NY (5 hours) but they were booked this weekend (opening weekend). Then we thought we'd just run to the beach for the weekend since we were heading out 3 hours later than planned because of work...so we hit the road. Then Eric had a great idea...we could still go to NYC but we'd stop at Mohegan Sun on the way down and split the trip. So now we're here...probably won't make it any further south than this....learned we can live here for 1 wk at a time, how nice? And some people say we're inflexible???

7/15/2008 - 7/19/2008 - Washington, D.C.

This was the 2nd half of our vacation, after leaving Virginia Beach we stopped in College Park, MD at Cherry Hill Campground. We were travelling with Kylie, Ryan and Calvin on this trip. Our first day Ryan, Kylie, Eric and I took the Metro into DC for the day. The second day Ryan stayed behind at the campground. The third day both Ryan and Kylie stayed behind at the campground. This has been one of my favorite stops so far even though we spent most of the time on the go, leaving the campground in the early a.m. and not returning until 7-8 p.m. I would definately do this again but probably would plan to stay longer and spread out the visits more. The time we did spend at the campground was positive. There was a dog walker who took Calvin out while we were away. Kylie loved the pool area. We also had one of the best italian meals ever in the shopping plaza near the campground...I can't wait to return to eat there again (wish I could remember the name of the place).