Category: Nature & Wildlife
From Outlaws to Crooked Trees and Prairie Lighthouses
April 3, 2012 by Guest Blogger · 3 Comments
Spend a half-day or day touring the grave of a notorious outlaw, negotiating a twisted forest or visiting a prairie lighthouse. These are just some of the things to do in and around the City of North Battleford and Town of Battleford in Saskatchewan. • Battle River Settlement Foundation Walking Tour In the old town of Battleford, a scenic walking tour takes in Fort Battleford National Historic Site, Indian mass grave (1885), Battle Springs, Colonel Otter Park (1885), Telegraph Flats, Government Ridge and a number of other buildings and structures dating back to 1885 and earlier. (6 hours) • Historic Homes/Buildings Walking Tour The City of North Battleford walking tour has 92 homes, public and private buildings portraying the city’s railway beginnings in the 1900′s. Visit the tombstone of one of the most notorious outlaws in the West. Sam Kelly was the leader of the Nelson Jones gang, known for rustling livestock, bank and train robberies. (4.5 hours) • Finlayson Island Finlayson... [Read more...]
Consider Vancouver Island!
March 31, 2012 by Melissa A. Trainer · 3 Comments
One of my favorite summer destinations in the Pacific Northwest is Vancouver Island. We first visited this large island about fourteen years ago when our daughter was very little. We were new to the region, and I was spending a fair amount of time doing research and talking to tourism representatives in British Columbia. Back then, everyone told me that Vancouver was great, but many of my contacts gave me a wink and a nod and urged me to visit Vancouver Island, too. They urged me to go in the summer and bring the kids. Those tips were true insider information. I am so glad that I listened! When we first visited Vancouver Island, I picked Parksville as our destination. The guidebooks touted the large safe sandy beaches and a quiet atmosphere…Hmmm. That sounded perfect for a family with a toddler. Initially, we stayed at a fabulous beachfront resort known as Beach Acres. Located right on the water and next door to Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, this family friendly low... [Read more...]
Steep Cliffs and Towering Spires: Dead Horse Point State Park
March 30, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
Dead Horse Point State Park is perhaps Utah’s most spectacular state park. The park lies on the same broad mesa as The Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. The meandering Colorado River 2,000 feet below Dead Horse Point. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs about 6,000 feet above sea level. Two thousand feet below, the Colorado River winds its way from the continental divide in Colorado to the Gulf of California, a distance of 1,400 miles. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. From the overlook, canyon erosion may be viewed on a grand scale. This erosion process has taken approximately 150 million years. Much of it is caused by the river slicing down into the earth’s crust as land is forced upward. These powerful forces are still sculpting the fantastic shapes of the precipitous bluffs and towering spires. Vegetation and wildlife in this desert environment... [Read more...]
Land of the Sleeping Rainbow: Capitol Reef National Park
March 28, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 3 Comments
Capitol Reef National Park is filled with geological wonders that stagger the imagination. The huge, rounded domes of red Wingate sandstone, capped with pale ivory Navajo sand. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Somewhat remote, and not as well known as the other parks, Capitol Reef is located on the northern edge of the Grand Circle Tour. Capitol Reef encompasses a 100-mile natural upheaval in the earth’s crust known as the Waterpocket Fold. We’ve traveled Utah’s red-rock country from Bryce to Arches and Zion to Monument Valley, but none is more impressive than Capitol Reef. Hundreds of millions of years of geological history are contained within this long, narrow park that stretches about 100 miles from its northern to southern boundary. Time moves very slowly in the ageless world of colorful spires, pinnacles, and domes that form Capitol Reef. Formed by cataclysmic events of eons past, these rock formations have been defined and redefined over past ages as ancient sea waters... [Read more...]
Custer State Park: A Wildlife Haven
March 27, 2012 by Guest Blogger · Leave a Comment
The 71,000 acres of Custer State Park, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, are a wildlife haven— home to bighorn sheep, elk, deer, prairie dogs and wild burros. But the heart of Custer State Park is the American Bison. The buffalo, as it is commonly called, are most often encountered along the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road. Visitors are likely to experience an occasional traffic jam as the animals move through the park. Because buffalo are unpredictable, visitors should not leave the safety of their vehicles. Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn sheep and prairie dogs are also easily spotted along the Wildlife Loop, but the loop favorites are the begging burros. These animals are descendants of the donkeys used to haul early visitors to the top of Harney Peak. They are now famous for getting up close and personal with visitors. When the seasons change, thousands come to the park to experience the annual buffalo roundup and arts festival. Held the last weekend in September, the art festival has... [Read more...]
A Day Trip to Whidbey Island…
March 15, 2012 by Melissa A. Trainer · 1 Comment
A couple weeks ago my husband and I decided to take a day trip to Washington’s Whidbey Island. I hadn’t been there for a few years and we wanted to partake in their annual Penn Cove Musselfest! Located only a short ferry ride from Mukilteo, Whidbey Island is a fabulous rural destination. We arrived in Clinton on the south end of the island and then drove north about twenty miles towards Coupeville, which is where the mussel festival was taking place. Coupeville is a historic seaside village that abounds with mussels and lots of charm. The indigenous mussels are grown right there in Penn Cove and indeed these bivalves are the signature seafood of this rural region! The annual mussel festival clearly reflects this because just about all of the restaurants feature the local mussels on their menus!! (Even the local bowling alley features a signature mussel dish!) When we arrived around 11:30 that day, the Musselfest was in full swing. We purchased chowder sampling cards and then... [Read more...]
IMAGINE YOURSELF HERE – Relaxing along Florida’s “Forgotten Coast.”
March 9, 2012 by Professor95 · 5 Comments
My Mom always said I was part fish. You see, I love the water. It can be a lake, pond, or ocean – it really doesn’t make any difference as long as I can get out on or in it. After aimlessly wandering around Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, we found ourselves skirting the Gulf Coast of Florida on Highway 98. Our destination was a small “hole-in-the-wall” RV Park just outside of Carrabelle. Appropriately, the park’s name is Ho-Hum. Now, if that doesn’t imply a laid back and restful don’t-give-a-care attitude I don’t know what does? There are maybe 50 sites here. All of them are made up of broken shells, gravel, and sand. Grass is scarce, much to Oscar’s dismay, but beautiful views and magnificent barrier islands are aplenty. If you are looking for shopping, movies and amusement park rides this is definitely not where you want to go. But, if you want to lay back and forget about the hectic pace of more populated and busy locations, this is the place... [Read more...]
It’s Daffodil Time in Amador County
March 5, 2012 by Guest Blogger · Leave a Comment
Spring is one of the most beautiful times to visit the Jackson Rancheria RV Park in Amador County, California, thanks to hundreds of thousands of daffodils and other flowers blooming throughout the area, especially at Daffodil Hill, a private ranch in the hills above Jackson and Sutter Creek. The farm began as a 36-acre ranch and toll road owned by the McLaughlin family since 1887. In the 1930s, the first visitors stopped to admire the family’s garden. Responding to public interest, the family began expanding the flower bed. Today much of the landscape around the old homestead is covered with more than 300 named varieties of daffodils. For the last 20 years, the McLaughlins have continued to plant up to 6,000 new bulbs a year. It is estimated that today, Daffodil Hill is carpeted with over 300,000 bulbs. Nature determines when Daffodil Hill opens to the public. It opens when 25 percent of the flowers are in bloom and closes when only 25 percent remain (usually mid to late April, but the... [Read more...]
Day trip around Cape Cod Bay
March 5, 2012 by Canadianladybug · Leave a Comment
Back in 2008, we made a long trip from Ottawa, ON to PA, MA, ME, NB and PEI before going back home. It was our first trip with the RV and we still remember the highlights of that trip. A few weeks ago I presented a tour that we did while in Pennsylvania. Today, let me present you to the coast of Massachusetts – more specifically Cape Cod Bay. While we were in the Boston area, I wanted to go visit the Cape Cod Potato Chip Company that let you see how they make potato chips. The manufacture is located on 100 Breed’s Hill Road in Hyannis, Massachusetts . We were not allowed to take picture inside the facility and to be honest this is a self-guided tour where you look through windows while you watch them work and make potato chips. The tour wasn’t long and can be done in about 10-15 minutes. But the kids enjoyed seeing the process of making potato chips. Self-guided tours are the next best thing to real tours when you take the time to read and explain... [Read more...]
OUR DIAMOND MINING EXPERIENCE – Crater of Diamonds, Arkansas
March 1, 2012 by Professor95 · 3 Comments
You have probably read or heard about the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Stories abound about great diamond finds. These stories have a tendency to make one think that there is a volcanic crater filled with shiny bean size diamonds just waiting for visitors to pick them up and keep with little or no effort. The truth is diamond searching is a difficult and dirty adventure. The odds of finding a significant diamond are perhaps about as good as hitting the Million Dollar Jackpot on a Las Vegas casino slot machine. Still, some visitors do make significant gem finds. But – despite all of the above, it is fun. We met some great people while digging in the mud. Folks from all over the country were out exploring our true national treasures of openness and freedom. Many families with children were present as well as their pets. Oscar went with us but soon became tired climbing the furrows and wanted to be carried. Plowed trenches in the search field Nancy... [Read more...]
