Wrapping it up

We don’t wanna go back home!
This was truly a wonderful trip. We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to share this time together and travel the country for a whopping 6 weeks! Being married is awesome because you have this best friend that is stuck with you forever and the best part is that we like to do the same things which makes traveling so much better. During this whole trip we were only away from each for a few hours. You know, it’s funny the #1 thing people told us before this trip, and the last, is that it’s too much time together, are you worried you will get tired of each other? Uh, nope. Why would I agree to spend the rest of my life with someone I didn’t enjoy spending my life with? Of course we didn’t get tired of each other, that’s nonsense LOL.

So many new experiences.
During this trip we have seen so many things for the first time since both of us have not been to most of these places. The only place we had both been was Colorado and, of course, Houston but that doesn’t count LOL. I had been to the Denver, including Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park. Jacob had been to Breckenridge for skiing. And that’s it, those are the only places that we traveled before on this side of the country!

Every time we arrived in a new location I would say, “we are so lucky!” At the end we were talking about our favorite things and places. Every place was amazing, it’s so hard to choose a favorite. Jacob’s absolute favorite place was Glenwood Springs. He loved the scenery, white water rafting, and the hot springs pool. My favorite was, uh…..I honestly don’t have a favorite, I loved them all so much and I want to go back to every single place again on individual vacations to spend more time. I LOVE Colorado, that state has everything you could ask for, I LOVE it! But then I also loved Zion, Sequoia, Yosemite, White Sands, and every other place except San Francisco. I really didn’t like San Francisco because we had been to so many beautiful places in wildness before that it was hard to get myself in the city-mood. I’m sure if we would have experienced San Fran in a different setting and stayed in a better location it would have been a much better trip. It is a beautiful city with much to offer for a tourist. I was in a different state of mind, a serene appreciation for nature and all it’s wonder and I wasn’t prepared for a city. On the last trip we had city after city, nothing but cities but on this trip it was mostly National Park after National Park and a city just didn’t fit into the mix.

The Last 2 stops before HOME.
It’s so sad going home. Going home means life has to go back to normal. Jacob must leave and reality must resume. Taking a vacation this long allows you to forget that you actually have a job, bills to pay, a house to clean, and other obligations. The great thing about going home is seeing family after being away so long and spending time with them. Another great thing is we can reminisce all the great memories we created through pictures and this blog.

The second to last stop was in Junction, TX. This is hill country, the landscape here is beautiful. We stayed the night at North Junction Campground. This was a great place to stay for the night, it would have been a great place to stay for a week. There is a river along the side of the campground for canoeing, fishing, and swimming. All of the sites are pull-thru that are very level and many of them have nice patio areas with fire-rings. They also have a playground, pool, laundry, and nice restrooms with showers.

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Our last stop was in Houston. On the way we stopped in San Antonio for BBQ. Jacob was looking forward to this stop the entire trip, seriously. When he worked in Corpus Christi he raved about this place, on a daily basis, and vowed to visit the original location. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as what he remembered down in Corpus and he was bummed out. So now we have to go there for him to get his fix. I think his cooking on the Green egg is the best I’ve ever had, but he says Rudy’s is better just not this time.

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After lunch we drove on to the campground. We stayed the night at East Lake Houston RV Resort, near the Kingwood area. This is a great place to stay while in Houston and there are multiple locations all over the Houston area. On our last trip, we stayed at West Lake Houston RV Resort which was near Katy, TX and loved it. There are great amenities including a big brand-new pool, cooking stations with gas grills, refridgerators, ice makers, and gas fire-pits, a rec-room with a gym and pool table, amazing showers, and equally amazing laundry. To everyone that lives in Houston that we didn’t visit, we didn’t visit anyone. We knew that we would be exhausted and would not get to the campground until the afternoon. We really wanted to visit but we didn’t schedule enough time. We still love you all, and we are not avoiding you LOL.

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I saw this picture on facebook, it completely nails every fire we have ever had at any location!

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HOME
Driving from Texas, you know when you hit Louisiana because the road changes. It’s horrible, you can’t really tell in a car, but in a truck, and you’re especially lucky with a trailer, because it’s a rough ride! The truck goes into gallop-mode, a steady nauseating jerking motion that is so annoying! Talking becomes a hilarious challenge! I, kind of, love it because it means we’re home! To get into the louisiana-mood we listened to cajun and zydeco the rest of the drive. We stopped for a quick lunch in cajun-country with Jacob’s dad and sister. Then it was back on the road to finish it up!

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Being back home is bitter sweet. I am most excited to have a bath tub again but least excited to clean the truck and camper. The absolute worst of all is that Jacob has to leave.

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Adieu, until our next vacation!

KOA in Needles, CA

Good lord it was HOT here, hotter than I have ever felt. It was like being inside an actual sauna, literally 116 degrees!!!! The people who live here must have crazy-high energy bills.

This place was dead, not one person outside not even in the pool. I don’t know if it was due to the heat or low oxygen level or some other phenomenon but when I was in the pool, just stand not moving, my body felt like it had the wind knocked out. When I swam it went away. The air was just so dry, it hurt to breath it in. They must have to fill the pool at least once a week!

This was only a one-night stop, thank goodness, I don’t think i could have handled that heat much longer. We checked in around 5pm, did laundry, and swam. Then it was time for dinner and bed. Aside from the heat, this is a nice campground with great amenities for travelers such as; satellite TV and pool table in the rec-room, large clean pool, clean restrooms with nice showers, gifts and grocery shop, and laundry room with 4 washer and 4 dryers. I love a campground with nice showers, it’s just so much easier to wash my hair under a normal sized shower head apposed to the baby sized one in the camper. Jacob thinks I’m crazy. I forgot to take pictures, oops. I’m sure their website has the same shots I would have taken.

We left first thing in the morning for Flagstaff, AZ.

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California Coast Hwy 1 to San Simeon State Park

This was such a beautiful drive along the coast! We were happy to leave the city of San Francisco behind us and get back to nature. The sights on this coastal drive were just awesome. We passed towering cliffs covered with farms and pastures that over looked the ocean. The beaches were rocky in some places and sandy in others. We passed through the pine forest of Big Sur, then were back along the coast. We saw huge elephant seals basking in the sun on beaches. There were flocks of birds tanning on boulders in the middle of the water. The temperature change was intense, it was COLD with the wind! It was almost painful to go on the beach because of the sand-blasting winds. Our campground was primitive which workout great because it was so cold at night. The stars, OMG, I think that was the best part. We just sat out counting the satellites pass us…and soooo many stars!

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