Category: Family Weekend Trips
Rent a Tent in Homer, Alaska!
July 22, 2012 by Melissa A. Trainer · 2 Comments
Rent a Tent in Homer, Alaska I spontaneously rented a car in Homer, Alaska last week. I hadn’t initially planned on renting a Forest Green Subaru while there, but when my plans abruptly shifted, I did, too. Hence, my husband called Adventure Alaska Car Rentals, a small family-owned and operated car rental company. Within an hour, Tammy was delivering a car to me at The Driftwood Inn. When I went to the car rental office to sign off on paperwork, I noticed some really cool Tepui tents in front of their shop. Army green and available for rent , these tents are far from ordinary because they attach to the roof of the car and elevate the camper off the damp bumpy ground! They are apparently quite popular and are easy to set up. You can rent them to attach to your car or you can rent a car and a tent together. Personally, I think they make a much more affordable alternative to renting a car and paying for a hotel. (Car rentals in remote parts of Alaska run about $95 a day and... [Read more...]
Utah: The Ultimate Road Trip
July 17, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 1 Comment
Utah is a place of unfathomable natural beauty—with its unique natural formations, colorful history, and culture, and exciting recreation opportunities—it is a state that contains the best elements of the great Mountain West and the Desert Southwest, from red rock splendor to mountain peaks with The Greatest Snow on Earth®, Utah is a four-season world-class travel destination. Hiking and photography are two favorite activities at Zion National Park. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Home to five national parks, Utah is the perfect place for your next family road trip. Utah’s five spectacular national parks stretch across the southern half of the state. Each park offers the traveler unique, world-class scenic vistas, and geological phenomena. In fact, Utah’s National Parks feature some of the most astonishing landscapes in the world. Each park shows off a completely different scenic view of the state’s natural beauty. These national parks are perfect for camping, mountain... [Read more...]
Hey Dad…You Gotta See These RVs
June 14, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
There’s never been a better time to take up the RV life. Whether you’re a weekend warrior, a snowbird, or an RV full-timer, there’s an RV to suit any travel budget and taste. The Wothahellizat, a go-anywhere luxury 6X6 motorhome. (Source: gizmag.com) The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) recently reported that nearly 8 million American households have an RV—Class A motorhome, Class C motorhome, diesel pusher, travel trailer, fifth wheel trailer, toy hauler, teardrop trailer, pop-up trailer, tent trailer, vintage trailer, truck camper, camper van, or bus conversion—and that there are as many as 30 million RV enthusiasts in the U.S. For assistance in your search for that perfect recreational vehicle for your family, here are five off-the-wall RVs to whet your appetite. Wothahellizat This off-road, knows-no-bounds, go anywhere, 6X6 luxury turbo diesel AWD motorhome with bite! The Wothahellizat is a vehicle that’s part condo and part off-roader with no compromises. Built... [Read more...]
Road trip!
May 24, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 1 Comment
It’s the Memorial Day long weekend—the unofficial start of summer—and for many travel-wise Americans that means one thing: Road trip! Let's Go RVing on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved The tradition of taking a road trip dates back about 3,000 years. The first road trip likely occurred in ancient Egypt around 1200 B.C., when Ramses II hit the road in his chariot. Similar ventures—using the well-loved automobile—began in Germany in the 1880s. As the car’s popularity grew, so did the practice of taking to roadways for a carefree holiday. The road trip became an easy, breezy travel idea that’s affordable and accessible—and in America today there is no shortage of highways, byways, and back roads. Answering the call of the open road is practically an American rite of passage—and today more and more are taking to the open road in a recreational vehicle. 5 Great All-American Road Trips These 10 distinctive all-American road trips, inclusive... [Read more...]
Top 10 things Campers Should Know about Ticks
May 20, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 3 Comments
There ARE more ticks in more places than ever before. Blacklegged ticks or Deer ticks Tick encounter rates are soaring, and experts are predicting 2012 to be one of the worst years for Lyme disease transmission due to higher than normal deer tick infection rates. Deer ticks also are known as blacklegged ticks in the U.S., sheep ticks in Europe, or Taiga ticks in Asia. Do you know THE BEST ways to keep yourself, your family, and your pets safe? Back in the day, we had ticks. Big, yucky American dog ticks. They usually crawled to the top of your head, you felt a lump, pulled the tick out, flushed them—or found some other form of revenge—and that was that. Usually no one got sick. Ticks were mostly just an annoyance, and that’s what people knew about ticks. American dog ticks are still around but these days, there’s another tick, a tiny blacklegged tick, smaller than a freckle. It’s also known as the deer tick, and it crawls up under clothes, latches on without much fanfare,... [Read more...]
DANCING WITH THE STARS
May 15, 2012 by Professor95 · Leave a Comment
Mary and Alan live just outside the city of Richmond, VA, in a nicely manicured suburban neighborhood. Alan works for the State Government and Mary works in Medical Records for a local hospital. They have two children, a boy and a girl ages 9 and 11. Both children, Bobby and Suzie, attend a local elementary school and stay at an after school daycare until their parents get home from their jobs. It was the typical busy Monday morning at the hospital for Mary as she entered a rising pile of patient information forms into her computer. Her closest friend at work, Karen Karnes, was babbling about how excited she was for the coming long weekend and their family plans to go camping at Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park. Camping? Mary shook her head in wonderment as to why anyone in their right mind would want to go off into the woods and sleep on the hard, cold ground. Thoughts of a camping trip she had made with her big sister some twenty years back when they ended up sleeping,... [Read more...]
Indulge Mom in Nature on Mothers’ Day
May 8, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
Mothers have been revered throughout history, from ancient pagan celebrations to church holidays to present-day Mother’s Day. This year spend a healthier and happier Mother’s Day at a state, provincial, or nationalark. (Credit: tpwd.state.tx.us) Many countries throughout the world devote a day to honor their mothers. The tradition dates back to pagan celebrations in ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. In Rome, too, Cybele, a mother of goddesses, was worshipped as early as 250 B.C. In the 17th century, England celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday” on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The tradition of Mother’s Day began in the United States was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” as a day dedicated to peace. Although the holiday didn’t catch on at that point, Howe held organized Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, every year thereafter. It wasn’t... [Read more...]
Charges Laid in Death of Alberta RVers
April 27, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) has charged Travis Vader, 40, with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. Lyle and Marie McCann. Photo courtesy Global Vader had been identified for some time by authorities as a suspect in the disappearance, but had yet to be charged. It’s been more than twenty months since Lyle and Marie McCann went missing during a road trip from their home in St. Albert, a northern suburb of Edmonton, Alberta to visit family in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. The McCanns, both in their 70s, were last seen July 3, 2010 fueling up their motorhome at a gas station in their hometown of St. Albert. Their credit card had not been used since they bought that gas. Their burning RV was found two days later at Minnow Lake campground near Edson, Alberta, about 120 miles west of Edmonton. The registration was pulled out of the motorhome before it was destroyed by fire; the documents showed that the McCanns were the owners. On July... [Read more...]
Natural Stone Architecture: Natural Bridges National Monument
April 3, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 1 Comment
Natural Bridges National Monument covers a relatively small area in southeastern Utah. It is rather remote and not close to other parks, and as a result is not heavily visited. A trail into the canyon underneath Owachomu Natural Bridge is a short distance from the overlook. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved Since natural bridges are formed by running water, they are much rarer than arches, which result from a variety of other erosion forces. Natural bridges tend to be found within canyons, sometimes quite hidden, whereas arches are usually high and exposed, as they are often the last remnants of rock cliffs and ridges. Unlike Arches National Park, with over 2,000 classified arches, there are only three bridges here. The area also has some scattered Indian cliff dwellings, pictographs, and scenic white sandstone canyons. The pinyon and juniper covered mesa is bisected by deep canyons, exposing the Permian Age Cedar Mesa Sandstone. Where meandering streams cut through sandstone walls, three... [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...]
