Category: Roads & Routes
Stairs: The Hidden Danger In RVs
November 30, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · 4 Comments
The day after Thanksgiving, the full day of eating whatever we want; we set out for a fun weekend of camping at the beach. The beach camp spot my aunt reserved this year was at Leo Carrillo State Beach, a scenic stretch of canyon leading to gorgeous coastline, where the Santa Monica Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean. You access it from the Pacific Coast Highway, just south of where we live. My dear aunt was only one day late in reserving our typical spot at Carpinteria State Beach and, lo and behold, there were no spots left! So we settled for second best: Leo Carrillo, where I grew up camping and loving every second of it. Leo Carrillo is just off a narrow, windy stretch of highway along the coast with no bike lane, so bicycling with our kids in tow to the campsite was out of the question (although we did enjoy riding around the campground and over to the beach side)! We packed up our bikes and set off with the RV and a handful of tents for two nights at Leo Carrillo State Beach... [Read more...]
Book Review – Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World
November 26, 2012 by Canadianladybug · Leave a Comment
When you travel with your RV, you sometimes plan where you will end up. And one of the places we would love to bring our children is definitively Walt Disney World. My husband and I dream of the day where we can surprise the kids with an extended trip to Florida and explorations to places like Walt Disney World. I wish I would know when this could happen. I am hoping in a near future. In the meantime, we plan places to visit and where to stay. We have found a very reasonable place to stay for an extended period of time. We just need to figure out when we will go now. As part of our planning, I stumbled on an interesting book which highlights the secrets of Walt Disney World. Here’s my review of it. The Hidden magic of Walt Disney Wold – Over 600 secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom Written by Susan Veness Published at F+W Media About the book Sure, it’s the Happiest Place on Earth, but how much do... [Read more...]
Plowing for Diamonds in Arkansas
November 20, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 2 Comments
Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public. On average, two diamonds are found each day at the park. The state park’s policy is finder-keepers. What park visitors find is theirs to keep. Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow. The colors found at the Crater of Diamonds are white, brown, and yellow, in that order. The search area at the Crater of Diamonds State Park is a 37 ½-acre plowed field, the eroded surface of the eighth largest diamond-bearing deposit in the world in surface area. Why plow the search field at the diamond mine? The practice of plowing the diamond field goes back to the earliest days of commercial diamond mining, according to Park Interpreter Margi Jenks. In the early 1900s miners used a mule team and farming plow to dig trenches. After tourism began in the 1950s, Millar’s Crater of Diamonds used a road grader to turn over the dirt on what is now the north end of the present diamond search area. Today’s... [Read more...]
CAMPFIRE STORIES – “Broken Down on the Key Bridge”
November 16, 2012 by Professor95 · 2 Comments
Sitting around a campfire with a group of old friends or new acquaintances inevitably brings out personal stories that speak of the trials, tribulations and adventures we all encounter during our RV travels. Such was the case last week as a group gathered on a cool November night. That’s when Allan shared the unfortunate but somewhat humorous adventure he, his dog and wife endured as they crossed the Frances Scott Key Bridge in Washington, D.C.: We are finally underway to meet our fellow Cedar Creek RV Owners Club friends for our End of Year Rally at Willow Tree Resort in South Carolina. Our Terrier, Duffy, and I really needed this getaway. We had planned getaways earlier this fall but had to cancel them for my hernia operation and my son’s spinal surgery. Then, we were forced to delay our departure for this trip when Hurricane Sandy caused a blackout at our home. The ride from our home in PA to Willow Tree normally takes about 10 hours. I was so looking... [Read more...]
Camping with Kids II
November 15, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · Leave a Comment
Petting zoos, swimming pools, water parks, play structures, and so many more amenities are offered at numerous KOA campgrounds across the nation. These Kampgrounds of America (KOA) are the ultimate family-friendly campgrounds that also have unbeatable specials, such as camp one night, get the next night for free. This is an especially common promotion at the local KOA we frequent. One of the local Moms groups I am involved in actually plans their bi-annual camp outs around this exact deal. It turns into a weekend-long play date! With fun teepees to sleep in and lots of other family-friendly options, including an exhilarating zip line, cozy cabins, and some kid-friendly play structures such as climbing walls, parents can look forward to taking their kids camping at such sensational campgrounds. Knowing how important it is for kids to get outdoors with their parents, KOA’s have even been known to offer free camping just for kids for a given weekend. For example, this year for... [Read more...]
First Backpacking Adventure Continued…
November 14, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · 4 Comments
When I left off with our very first backpacking adventure, we were just turning in for the night. Picking up where I left off… My family of four all slept in one queen-sized sleeping bag that night—not the best idea we ever had. With the two adults on the ends and two little ones in between us, we didn’t keep each other warmer, as we had originally thought. Instead, we just didn’t have enough room and were waking each other up all night, with even the smallest of movements. The air inside the tent was so cold that any skin exposed (which was basically just our faces), was frostbitten. Even sleeping with all of our snow clothes, hats, gloves, and jackets still on, inside the sleeping bag, we were still freezing! By morning, we were all a bit grumpy, tired, sore, and frozen-stiff. While cooking our oatmeal, we got some hot dogs in a pan, ready to go on the stove next, with an inch of water just barely covering them. By the time the oatmeal was cooked and ready... [Read more...]
Camping with Kids I
November 13, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · 1 Comment
Camping with kids these days? Where do you like to go? Adults with kids living in the home are more likely to go camping than those without kids, according to the 2012 American Camper Report http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/pdf/research.camping.2012.pdf. This makes complete sense to me since having kids of our own; we try to go camping as much as we can each year. We have always loved camping, even before kids we would go at least once a year. But once we had kids, we realized just how important and fun it is to spend time outdoors, camping with our kids. Some of my very best memories as a kid are from the annual camping trips we took with my extended family. Most of the families who went in those days had pop-up tent trailers and many came from LA and even further south so they usually wanted to escape the heat, crowds, and come to the beach; we always met up at Leo Carrillo State Beach (on the beach side). The week we spent camping with the family always ended up being a solid... [Read more...]
Backpacking, Check!
November 11, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · 8 Comments
All 8 of Us! We did it! We took the kids and all our gear and went backpacking yesterday for our very first time. Between freezing temperatures and over 50-pound packs, I am surprised we had as much fun as we did! The kids had a ball and we enjoyed a moderate to easy hike (little elevation gain). We set out for the East Fork on Lion Canyon Trail in Rose Valley, California, around one in the afternoon. With lots of rest stops and frequent changes in our riders, we ended up just upstream from West Fork at the base of a waterfall by nightfall. The trek to East Fork normally entails a relatively easy 2.5 mile hike– with four kids who all needed to be carried (for most of the way), it was anything but easy. On top of that, the camp spots were full since apparently a lot of other campers were out to enjoy a cool fall backpacking trip on their Veterans Day too. Not only were there no spots left at East Fork, there was also no water (contrary to what we had heard). So we had... [Read more...]
Flip, the Stranded Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Returns to Texas
November 11, 2012 by Rex Vogel · Leave a Comment
A juvenile female Kemp’s ridley sea turtle named Flip by her rescuers will soon be returning home to the Texas coast. Flip will be transported by plane to Houston, Texas. After her arrival, SEA LIFE Dallas aquarists will transport Flip to ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep) in Port Arkansas, Texas. (Source: Sea Life Scheveningen Aquarium) Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the smallest and rarest sea turtle species and one of the most critically endangered species. Flip was found injured and cold, stranded on the shores of Monster (near The Hague, Holland) by visitors to the beach, on December 10, 2011. She was weak, wounded, and had sand in her eyes. Animal Rescue transported Flip to SEA LIFE Aquarium Scheveningen to begin a long rehabilitation process. SEA LIFE aquarists treated her injuries and washed the sand out of her eyes. Flip started to swim later that day. She weighed 1.84kg (4 pounds). Flip was estimated to be two years old and she turned out to be female. On January 9, 2012, the... [Read more...]
First Time Backpacking
November 10, 2012 by Cynthia Baum · 5 Comments
I am about to embark on a whole new world of outdoor adventures. As an avid runner, bicycle rider, and hiker, I have been fairly active for most of my life. The one thing I haven’t tried thus far is backpacking. I ran my first full marathon a year ago, which sadly left me injured for most of this last year. Being unable to run, hike, or even bike has not been easy for me. Just in the last few months, I have started back to biking, hiking, and even running short distances. My husband and I recently decided to go backpacking for a short 2.5 mile hike-in, camp overnight, followed by that same distance out. Some friends of ours go on backpacking trips with their kids and invited us along with them. I am not too worried since the distance seems doable for me. It’s the weight we are carrying on our packs that is most troubling. For one thing, we are carrying two kids and their stuff as well. Our youngest weighs about 35 pounds and the other is 47 pounds. So you can... [Read more...]
