Our west coast trip is planned and we’re leaving soon!

Once a again we are going on a long vacation.  Our planning is complete, all the campsites are booked, and I’m getting everything ready to hit the road again!  We are so fortunate to be able to take off and get out of town for 6 WEEKS, that’s crazy, right?

dr-seuss oh the places you'll go

Let me tell ya, planning a trip of this magnitude takes a lot of organized planning and budgeting.  We have a beautiful spreadsheet that includes, but is not limited to; dates, cities, states, campground, websites, travel time, distance, things to do, rates, accommodations, budget, and fuel cost.

Here is a list of all of our stops.

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There are so many things to see and do in all of these places.  I want to make a separate trip to each, ahhh one day…. maybe with some kids 😀

Why would we be wasting time in Robert?  I actually messed up on the image, Tickfaw State Park is in Springfield, LA and I was too lazy to correct it.

rachel-dratch

This is pretty much the face I made when I typed that.

 

Jacob has some work to do in Robert and we are leaving as soon as he is finished. Sooooo to avoid him having to drive home after work we decided to just camp near by.  It’s a beautiful campground with boardwalk trails through the swampy forest.

Back to our journey west, I cannot describe to you how excited I am to see this side of the country.  I know the landscape will BLOW my mind!  I am going to take a ridiculous amount of pictures and savor every inch of scenery!   I have been pinning things to do like crazy on Pinterest, I know we won’t have time for most of it.  Of all the places on this list I have only been to Colorado, basically just Boulder.  I am so excited to be able to spend time with Jacob there because I absolutely adored being there.

When I was in college I decided to take a field course in Boulder.  It was such a wonderful experience and great adventure for me on my own.  My mom thought I was either crazy or really brave.  I flew, not only for the first time ever but also completely alone, to a place I had never been to meet people I had never met.  Honestly, looking back, it was a little bit crazy.  After arriving in the Denver airport, which is beautiful by the way, I had to take public transportation to Boulder.  This was a little scary, being from New Orleans I tender stay away from city buses.  I do enjoy streetcars though maybe because they have multiple exit points, but the buses freak me out!  Public Transportation is TOTALLY different in Denver/Boulder everything is clean and tons of people ride their bikes to work and use the bus system to travel long distances…it’s awesome!  There is a completely different lifestyle in Boulder and you can feel it.  There air is cleaner, more people walk or bike, and there is an appreciation for nature that is lost in so many places.  Not once did I feel like I needed a gun or clench my pepper-spray ready to take action.  I even stayed in a Hostel for a night, and even after seeing several movies that make you never want to come close to one of those I never felt like my life was in jeopardy.  Overall I cannot find one negative thing to say about Boulder it was a welcoming, beautifully scenic, place perfect for a wandering traveler looking a fun and adventurous destination.  This a place that is in tune with nature and the people at least try to minimize their global foot-print, I can really appreciate that way of life and wouldn’t mind living there….but I don’t do cold weather, so I’ll just stay put.

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Me in Colorado holding the biggest dandelion I have ever seen.

I know there are not many people that see this blog, but if you have any ideas on “must-do activities” in one of our stops please give us a shout out!  I know even with all the pins on Pinterest I’ve probably missed a great deal of awesome things to do.  Also if you know of a blogger that is taking or has been on the same trip we would love to follow them too.

In closing, as I think about the wonderful things and people that have come into my life this song appeared in my thoughts.  And of course I can’t stop myself from singing it repeated!

oh the lord

Johnny Appleseed

 

 

 

Day 36 through 38- Big Texas & Wedding #2

Everything is bigger in Texas, because Texas is freaking huge…things have to be bigger here or they will appear freakishly small or just unnoticeable.
That being said, it took forever to get to Houston, jeeze louise that state is just too big! Thankfully we have been listening to a great audiobook which kept both of us focused on the drive ahead.

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That’s the book. It was only $5, a monthly deal on itunes, so I thought it was going to be horrible and too nerdy based on a review but it wasn’t, it was great!
If you are a child of the late 80’s &/or like that times movies, music, video games and tv then you will like this book. It’s basically a homage to 1980’s trivia.
This audiobook was read by Will Wheaton, which we both thought was hilarious and a totally appropriate choice! If you don’t know who he is he was Gordie in “Stand By Me.” I love that movie!!! Jacob has only recently been introduced to him as the archenemy of Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory” later to become his best friend.

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So now we’re in Texas. Shout out to all the Texas residents reading along, LOL!
The main reason for our journey in to this desert state is for a wedding…not just any wedding, but that of one of my, Aimee, best friends in the whole world, Katheryn Meek soon to be Mrs. Danny Ward!
Jacob and I love weddings, because of the dancing, and we can’t wait for the party to being!
We tried to find a campground as close to the venues as possible. We are staying in West Houston near Katy at West Lake RV Resort. I forgot to get a picture of the sign, oops!

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All the sites are paved with plenty of room for parking. I would not consider this “camping,” I’m not crazy, but sometimes you have to stay in a city and when you do you want a place like this. There are really fantastic amenities here including; an exercise room with pool table, complementary ice machine, popcorn, and coffee, a large patio with gas grill, rocking chairs, and a gas fire-pit, large swimming pool with tanning ledge, area for laps, and hot tub. The showers were the best I have had the entire trip, I forgot to tell Jacob that…it was like a massage! He always showers in the camper, arguing “we have a great shower, why won’t I use it?” I like more pressure when I can get it, so before I shower in the camper I like to see what the showers look/feel like in the bathhouses. These were amazing!

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They also have a dog walking area and a dog washing station.
We stayed here for 3 relaxing nights. We had a routine, each morning we woke up, walked Roux, exercised for an hour, then went for a swim…I can’t wait for the day when I will be able to do all of that at my own house! Maybe in 10 years, we’ll see, fingers crossed.
We even got our camper washed and waxed!
We really enjoyed our stay at this resort and since we have so many friends and family residing in the area will definitely be returning.

Day 35 – Millwood State Park, AR

Memphis was our last “new” stop for us, as far as exploring places we have never been before. Now we are on the home stretch, sigh….it’s very upsetting when your vacation is almost over.
Our next stop after Memphis is Millwood State Park in Arkansas.

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This park is on a pretty big lake with good fishing, according to the internet. All the sites are well shaded with paved camper parking and roads. We arrived around 3pm. We set up the camper and we road our bikes around the park for a while until dinner time. Then we collected some firewood and made the best and last camp fire of the trip. 😦

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We enjoyed our last roasted hotdogs over the campfire.
This will be the last stop before we are back in the city. Next stop Houston, TX.
We spent the night savoring the amazing smells, sounds, and sights of camping in the woods.
We are not sure when or where our next camping trip will be…..but we’ve started planning our next BIG road trip already!