States

Petrified Forest National Park

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

I have not had as much time lately to blog because Arizona kept us very busy. There is so much to see and do there! I have a lot of catching up to do on blog posts, and Jake keeps asking me when I’m going to do it. He and Jesse love to go back and read earlier posts to remember things we have done. That is one reason why I blog, so we will have a journal to read later about all of our adventures on the road.

One of the places we visited in Arizona was Petrified Forest National Park. We are loving our nation’s National Parks and this one did not disappoint. We started at the south entrance of the park and worked our way up. We spent about 5 or 6 hours hiking and exploring the park. It’s not a huge park so that was enough time to see everything we wanted to see. At the beginning we looked at the giant logs near the Rainbow Forest Museum and watched a movie about the history of the park. Then we looked at some more petrified wood in the Crystal Forest. The logs have been petrified over many years and look like beautiful, colorful crystals. The wood is so hard and heavy, it’s hard to believe it was really a tree trunk at one time.

Hiking through the Crystal Forest.

A petrified log bridge called Agate Bridge.

I thought that this park was going to be all about looking at petrified wood, and as beautiful as it is, I didn’t think it would be fun to look at several pieces of wood all day. But there is so much more to this park. It is part of the Painted Desert and that is a beautiful sight to see. It really does look like God painted the hills in this desert, He is the Master Artist.

My favorite part of the park was hiking through the Blue Mesa and Forest.

Jake holding a heavy piece of petrified wood.

Next we checked out Puerco Pueblo which highlights ancestral Puebloan ruins and petroglyphs. This is what they called Newspaper Rock displaying 2000 year old petroglyphs.

Next we stopped to see a 1932 Studebaker where historic Route 66 once cut through the park.

Then we hiked along the Painted Desert Rim Trail which had spectacular views of the desert.

And lastly the boys completed their Junior Ranger books so they could earn a badge from this park.

Petrified Forest National Park is right off I-40 and Historic Route 66. There are so many interesting things to see along Route 66 in Arizona that I will write about in another post. I hope you enjoyed this post about Petrified Forest.

Categories: Arizona, National Parks | Tags: Arizona, blue mesa, crystal forest, historic route 66, junior ranger, national parks, painted desert, Petrified Forest, petrified forest national park, petrified wood, the Crystal Forest | 1 Comment

Santa Barbara and Rancho Oso

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

After 7 weeks in California, it’s time to go. I can’t say I’m very sad to leave. It hasn’t exactly been my favorite state to visit during our travels. I think I have a love/hate relationship with the state. It is very beautiful and the weather is wonderful. The lack of bugs is also very nice. What I don’t like is all the crowds. There is just way too many people in Southern California. It was difficult to go anywhere that wasn’t overly crowded. And in some areas the people are just not that friendly. But for the most part we really enjoyed our stay, and I think I especially enjoyed this most recent stay in Santa Barbara the best. It seems the further we got away from Los Angeles the better. Santa Barbara was a lot less crowded and a lot more friendly!

We stayed at Thousand Trails Rancho Oso which is probably my favorite Thousand Trails (TT) we have stayed at so far. It has all the normal TT park activities like a pool, mini-golf and candy bar bingo. But it is also on a beautiful ranch where you can see lots of horses and amazing views like this one.

They even have a Stock Dog and Bucking Bull show that was really fun. During the show they explained how they train dogs to round-up cattle and how they train bulls for rodeos.

Duke the dog, rounding up the cattle.

Duke trying to round-up the last bull that was not cooperating.

Pony training.

That’s not a real person on this bull.

We walked the hiking trail at the campground to the “waterfall”. Since there is currently a drought in California, there was no waterfall, but we did the hike anyway.

You don’t have to own an RV to camp at this campground. You can stay in one of these cute covered wagons.

Or in one of these little cottages.

Or even in a teepee!

Beautiful views at Rancho Oso!

An added bonus of our stay — we were parked next to another Fulltime Family (FtF). We met this family at Wilderness Lakes in June and it turned out we were planning to be at this park at the same time. We had so much fun spending time with them, and we look forward to seeing them again soon!

Our sightseeing from this location included a visit to the cute little Danish town of Solvang. My sister gave me the t-shirt last Christmas and now I can say that I have been there.

Santa Barbara was absolutely beautiful and so much fun to visit since it wasn’t too crowded.

We still had the FtF mascot Rambler with us to take him on one more field trip. Then we passed him off to the FtF staying next to us. We enjoyed having Rambler travel with us for a couple of months and hope he enjoys his continued travels with the Smith family.

We also visited the Santa Barbara Zoo and the Sea Center. We were able to go to both places for free because they are included on our Friends of the WNC Nature Center pass. This pass only cost us $64 for our family for one year. It gets us into many participating zoos, aquariums and science centers all over the country. It’s a great deal for traveling families.

This spot at the zoo was so beautiful, you can see the Pacific Ocean peaking through the trees in the background.

The ocean on one side and mountains on the other.

Penguins in California! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, they have them at the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida too.

Touching sea animals at the Sea Center.

And finally, for those of you who are wondering what Fat Cat was up to in Santa Barbara, see below. Besides this, she stayed busy chasing squirrels outside of our camper. The squirrels are very happy we left!

That’s all for now. Bye California! We’ll probably see you again next year to explore more to the north of where we went this year.

Categories: California | Tags: ca, California, Rancho Oso, santa barbara, santa barbara zoo, sea center, solvang, Southern California, thousand trails rancho oso | 1 Comment

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

My parents have always loved Ronald Reagan so during their visit we decided to go to Simi Valley and visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

What a beautiful and interesting museum! We spent hours going through all the rooms and reading all the history of our 40th president. The outside grounds had spectacular views of surrounding Simi Valley.

This was a piece of the Berlin wall that came down during his presidency…

President Reagan’s memorial…

The self-guided tour takes you through his history from his birth…

How neat to know that his mother instilled Biblical values in him…

I remember when this assassination attempt happened. The quote is something President Reagan said later, “Whatever happens now, I owe my life to God and will try to serve Him in every way I can.” I pray that I will live my life in the same way.

A replica of the Oval Office…

He loved riding horses when he had some time off…

Future presidents?

We were able to tour Air Force One, but we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside. This was really cool!

There was so much more to this museum and it was well worth the visit. One thing that really struck me was to see the election maps when he won in 1980 and 1984. He won most of the states in the first election and won all states but one in the second. It looked like our country was much more united back then. In the last few elections, I have been saddened to see how divided our country has become. Oh how I wish that we could have another president like Ronald Reagan, a man who loved God, America and freedom.

Categories: California | Tags: 40th president, ca, California, ronald reagan, ronald reagan presidential library, simi valley | 1 Comment

Vasquez Rocks

Posted on July 4, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

We took the Grands hiking in Vasquez Rocks. I am so proud of my parents! They hiked up these rocks with us and I think they even enjoyed it. I’m so thankful that they stay healthy and in shape so they can keep up with their grandkids.

What a good-looking set of grandparents…

That’s a cool dude right there…

And there’s another cool dude, he’s the “king of the world!”

Those 2 little people down there are Chris and Jesse…

The views from the top of the rocks was so amazing! I could have sat up there for hours. I love the peacefulness way up there away from all the traffic and busyness.

Have I mentioned that I am definitely not a city girl? I’ll take these wide open spaces any day over a crowded, bustling tourist trap. Well, with the exception of Disney World. I think I’ll always love Disney.

Vasquez Rocks was named after this nice law-abiding citizen…

And many movies were filmed here…

Can you guess why I took a picture of this movie poster?

We had so much fun taking my parents hiking with us.

Categories: California | Tags: acton, Agua Dulce, ca, California, vasquez rocks | Leave a comment

Family Time in California

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

My sister Cheryl and her husband Chris have been living in Burbank, CA and we had plans to spend some time with them while we’re out on the west coast. A few months ago they made the decision to move back east to Georgia so we knew we needed to get out here before they moved. We spent some time at Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails in Menifee, CA which wasn’t too far from Cheryl and Chris so they were able to come out and visit us there for a few days. Wilderness Lakes was lots of fun and we met 3 other Fulltime Families staying there. It’s a very kid-friendly park with train rides, candy bar bingo and Jesse’s favorite — mini golf.

After that we moved to another RV resort in Acton, CA which was a little closer to Burbank. Fat Cat really liked this campsite where she learned to climb trees. Chris had to rescue her once she got up there and didn’t know what to do.

My parents flew out from NC to visit for a couple of weeks while we were there. The timing worked out that they were here at the same time that Chris & Cheryl were moving out of their apartment in Burbank so we were all available to help them move. That was an interesting fiasco, but I won’t bore you with those details. 🙂 Besides helping them move we all did some sightseeing together.

The Los Angeles Zoo…

Travel Town Train Museum…

We caught a glimpse of the famous Hollywood sign…

Visited downtown Burbank…

And had make-your-own-pizza night at Chris & Cheryl’s place…

The last time I visited Cheryl in CA was 12 years ago and one of my favorite things we did back then was visiting Santa Monica and rollerblading on the bike path along the beach. This time Santa Monica was not nearly as fun as it was 12 years ago. It was so much more crowded than I remember and some of the people just seem really rude. We locked up our bikes and sat on the beach for a while and walked out on the pier. Then we were ready to go for a bike ride but when we got back to our bikes we found one of the locks had been cut and Chris’s bike had been stolen. We just bought this bike a couple of months ago in Texas and it was a really nice bike so it was very disappointing to find it had been stolen. So we never did end up going for a bike ride that day. We tried to make the best of it and enjoy our day there, but after that happened it really wasn’t that much fun. On a positive note I found out later that our credit card that we used to purchase the bike has purchase protection against theft and damage. I filed a claim and it turns out we might be able to get the money back that we spent for the bike. I sure hope so!

Riding the ferris wheel was really cool!

After helping Chris and Cheryl move, we all went back to spend some relaxing days at the campground. It was a very refreshing change from the busyness and un-friendliness of L.A. Now that my sister doesn’t live there anymore, I’m not sure we’ll ever go back there again. I’m definitely not a city girl — I much prefer the wide open spaces and friendliness of some of the other states we have been to.

Such beautiful mountain views…

Playing Mexican Train Dominoes one night by the pool. Our family loves game nights!

One evening we saw this spectacular rainbow and sunset at the campground…

And another night a beautiful full moon…

Time with family is time well spent. We were so blessed to have this time together. I wish they all lived in RVs so we could travel together more often.

Categories: California | Tags: acton, burbank, ca, California, californian rv resort, family time, l.a. zoo, los angeles, menifee, santa monica, travel time museum, wilderness lakes thousand trails | 6 Comments

San Diego and Cabrillo National Monument

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

Since Tucson was so hot we decided to cut our time there short and follow our friends to San Diego for some cooler weather. It’s funny, every time we say good-bye to them we end up meeting them again somewhere else. We were not able to stay in the same campground this time, but we were only about 15 minutes away. Our first night in the area we went over to Coronado Island to visit them. The kids liked playing in the San Diego Bay and kayaking. This was right behind their campsite.

I enjoyed the spectacular sunset. You really can’t beat the beautiful sunsets on the west coast.

We stayed at a beautiful RV resort in Chula Vista just on the other side of the bay from our friends. Not a bad place to spend a few days!

I decided to attempt a bike ride from our place to our friend’s site on Coronado Island. It was 20 miles round trip. I rested for a little bit at Michele’s RV before heading back. That was a hard ride and the only thing that kept me going was the beautiful view like the one below. My aching legs were not very happy with me when I got back that evening.

My favorite thing we did while in San Diego was visit Cabrillo National Monument.

I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at the amazing beauty of God’s Creation. I am so thankful to be able to see sites such as these.

A view of San Diego across the bay from the national park.

We hiked around the cliffs and tide pools which was incredible.

The boys loved watching the waves splash against the rocks.

After the hike we toured the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which was in service from 1855 until 1891.

It turned out the lighthouse being up so high on the hill meant fog and low clouds hid the light from ships, so a new lighthouse was built at the bottom of the hill.

The kids filled out the booklets to earn Junior Ranger badges while learning about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer that this park is named after.

They also enjoyed trying on some really heavy armor at the visitor center.

After finishing our visit at the national park we drove over to see La Jolla (pronounced La-Hoya). The boys loved the tide pools and feeling the waves splash on them.

We loved visiting San Diego! Such a beautiful area and near perfect weather.

Categories: California, National Parks | Tags: Cabrillo National Monument, California, Chula Vista, Coronado Island, La Jolla, lighthouse, San Diego | Leave a comment

Sabino Canyon

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

We had a short visit to Tucson, Arizona — we cut it short because it’s over 100 degrees there right now. There is so much to see and do in Tucson so we’ll have to plan to go back another time when it’s not so hot. We did manage one sightseeing day while there despite the heat. We visited Sabino Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. Because it’s part of a National Forest we were able to get in with our National Park pass which has turned out to be a great deal. $80 for a National Park annual pass for the whole family — we are getting lots of use out of it visiting as many National Parks, Monuments, Forests, Seashores and Recreation Areas as possible.

Sabino Canyon was beautiful. The mountains are covered in Saguaro Cactus plants which I had never seen growing in the wild before. It was a pretty cool thing to see!

Because it was so hot, we took the tram tour up the mountain which included a narrated educational tour into the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. We got off at the last stop back down and hiked the rest of the way which was about a 2 mile hike. In 100+ degree heat, that was not easy. At one point we weren’t even sure we were going the right way and we just wanted so badly to get back to some A/C and cold water. Well obviously we made it back and didn’t melt in the desert.

Below are some pictures from Sabino Canyon.

Earning another Junior Ranger badge…

Categories: Arizona, National Parks | Tags: Arizona, coronado national forest, junior ranger, sabino canyon, saguaro, santa catalina foothills, tucson | 4 Comments

Tombstone, Arizona

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

We spent Memorial Day visiting historic Tombstone, Arizona. We learned about the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral that took place on October 26, 1881. We watched the re-enactment of the gunfight between Wyatt Earp and his brothers and their pal Doc Holliday against the Clanton’s and McLaury’s. The wild west is well-preserved in this town of Tombstone where we visited many of the original buildings.

Meeting “The Lawmen”…

Gunfight re-enactment…

Pictures from the museum…

Throughout the day they had gunfights in the street…

There were other shows in the street like this scene from a saloon…

Jake and Jesse were arrested and going to be hanged for being horse thieves and outlaws…

A woman from the brothel had to put her tattoo (lipstick) on their cheeks…

Jesse was excited to find a mini-golf course. I don’t think that was really around in the 1800’s.

And since Chris and I work for Wells Fargo, we thought this was interesting. A Wells Fargo RV Park right in the middle of Tombstone. No, we didn’t stay there.

Tombstone was a lot of fun. If you are planning a visit, the O.K. Corral is $10 per person, but I think it was worth it. Children 5 and under are free. If your children are afraid of loud noises, I would wait until they are older. I remember a few years ago when Jesse would have hated the noise of the gunshots. He still wasn’t crazy about it, but I think a few years ago it would have really scared him.

Categories: Arizona | Tags: Arizona, doc holliday, gunfight at the O.K. Corral, o.k. corral, tombstone, wild west, wyatt earp | 2 Comments

White Sands National Monument

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

While visiting Las Cruces, NM we went to visit White Sands National Monument for a day. It was an amazing thing to see! I felt like we were back in Florida at the beach with all the sand dunes, but there was no ocean. Just sand, and lots of it. The sand is so white that it looks like snow and you can even go sledding on it. So that’s what we did. We spent the day sledding in shorts, how strange is that? And what made it even better was spending the day here with another Fulltime Family.

This is our truck driving through the ~~snow~~ sand. I even saw tractors that plow these roads.

Sledding…

The FtF mascot Rambler got to go for a few sled rides…

Beautiful white sand for miles and miles…

The beautiful Reyes family, we love them!

Chris teaching the roadschool lesson for the day…

Getting the Junior Ranger badges…

New vests to display all the Junior Ranger badges they are earning…

Back at the campsite in Las Cruces wearing their new badges…

We have been blessed to be able to spend a week with the Reyes family. We had so much fun with them at Carlsbad Caverns that they joined us for a couple of nights at the RV park in Las Cruces. And since that wasn’t enough we joined them at City of Rocks State Park for a couple of nights. We went our separate ways this morning, but we hope to meet up with them again someday soon. But before leaving Michele gave me a wonderful gift, the picture below that she took of our RV under a sky full of stars…

Categories: National Parks, New Mexico | Tags: alamogordo, junior ranger, las cruces, New Mexico, sand dunes, white sands, white sands national monument | 2 Comments

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Heather Gebbia

I am currently blogging at 62 MPH. Driving days are good days to get caught up on stuff like this.

We visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico yesterday and it was awesome! We hiked the natural trail down into the cave and hiked all the trails underground and then rode up the elevator. It was really cool to see stores, a restroom and an elevator underground! The caves are home to a lot of bats, but unfortunately we were there a week too early for the evening show of bat flights out of the cave that I heard was really cool to watch.

Entrance to the cave:

It’s hard to get good pictures in a cave, but a few of them came out okay.

Doing some roadschooling, learning about stalactites and stalagmites:

Jake and Jesse earning their Junior Ranger badges:

One of the best parts about our visit was we got to enjoy it with another Fulltime Family (FtF), the Reyes Family. We love when we get to spend time with other FtFs. FtF has a traveling mascot named Rambler. Rambler travels around with a family, going on adventures around the country until that family meets up with another FtF and passes him off. So now we are the honored caretakers of Rambler for a little while. We’ll take him on our adventures with us until we meet another FtF down the road that would like to take him for a while. Jake and Jesse are so excited to have him for now.