Posts Tagged With: full time rv’ing

Yellowstone: Fishing Bridge and Cody, WY

This is my last post about Yellowstone.  It is such a huge park and there are so many different areas to visit!  If you are planning a trip to Yellowstone, I would suggest spending at least 1 or 2 weeks and don’t stay at the same place the whole time.  Move around to the different areas of the park as you visit each section.  Otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time driving.

The last section we visited was at the east entrance to the park, the Fishing Bridge section.  First we went to see the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron.  This was similar to the geyser basins we saw earlier in our trip in that it was interesting to see smoke and boiling substances coming from the ground.  But it was not nearly as pretty as the geysers and blue pools we saw in the Old Faithful section.  These were definitely muddier pots and very stinky from the sulphur.

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This one definitely smelled like dragon’s breath!  Eww!

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Dragon’s Mouth Spring

Look at Jesse’s face!  He thought the smell was so gross! 🙂

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Mud Volcano

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Sulphur Caldron

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Pretty cool looking boiling mud pot (don’t remember what this one is called)

Then we went to the LeHardy Rapids for a picnic lunch.  It was pretty cold that day and this area seemed especially cold so we ate fast and moved on.

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LeHardy Rapids

Then we hiked to Natural Bridge.  This started out as a hike down a road that didn’t seem like a trail so we weren’t sure we were going the right way.  And we were the only people on the trail which was odd for Yellowstone.  But eventually we started seeing signs to the Natural Bridge so we knew we were going the right way.

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Natural Bridge

Finally we hiked the Storm Point trail along Yellowstone Lake.  This was a beautiful hike!  Part of the hike was through forests and another section was through a meadow where you would typically see bison grazing.  However, when we walked through the meadow there were no bison in sight at that time.

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After hiking through the woods for a little while we got to the beautiful Yellowstone Lake.

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The boys loved running up and down this hill and making “sand” angels.  I think they miss the beach!  It’s been several months since we have been near the ocean.  This is no ocean, but it sure is a huge lake!

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We stayed at Buffalo Bill State Park in Cody, Wyoming while we visited the east side of Yellowstone.  This was one of my favorite campsites we’ve ever had, the view from our site was incredible!

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That spot on the trail is our Fat Cat.

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Fat Cat loved this campsite!  She had lots of room to roam around and hide in the long grass and hunt rabbits.

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She also liked climbing trees.  Can you see her in this tree?  She is somewhat camouflaged by the branches.

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The boys liked playing in the water but it was kind of cold.

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Cody is a really cute and charming western town.  We went to the rodeo while we were there.  I have been wanting to catch a rodeo somewhere along our travels, but it seemed we were always missing them.  I’m glad we made it to this one as it’s considered the “Rodeo Capital of the World”.

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That wraps up my several posts about Yellowstone.  If you have been reading all of them, thank you!  I write these blogs mainly for my family and friends to keep up with what we’re doing, and sort of as a travel journal that we can go back and read later to remember the places we have visited.  If it inspires anyone else out there to get out and travel and see these amazing places, then that is an added bonus.

Next up Glacier National Park!

Categories: National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Yellowstone: Hiking Mt. Washburn

On our last day in Gardiner, we hiked Mt. Washburn.  I heard great things about this “must-do” hike from a couple of different bloggers including this one: The Best Hike in Yellowstone.  I’m glad we took his advice.  It was a beautiful hike!  It is a little over 3 miles to the summit making it a little over 6 miles round trip.  The uphill climb was hard work, but the views were so amazing it was worth it!

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A ranger lives at the top during the summer in the fire watchtower.  Below the ranger’s living quarters is a type of small visitor center that you can go in and look at maps and information about what you are seeing off in the distance.  You can even see Grand Teton from up there on a clear day!

We got a very early start that morning to make sure we could find parking at the trailhead.  The beginning of the hike is through meadows and you’ll see lots of wildflowers.

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As you get closer to the top it becomes more rocky and barren.  In the picture below you can see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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This is the view from the watchtower.  So beautiful!

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I actually thought hiking back down was even more stunning, probably because on the way up I forgot to occasionally look behind me at where we had been.  When I remember to do that, I realize sometimes the view behind us is even better!  Since this was an up and down hike, hiking back down I saw all the views I missed on the way up.

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This certainly was one of the “best hikes in Yellowstone”!  I have one more post from our time in Yellowstone about our visit to the Fishing Bridge section on the east side.  Stay tuned!

Categories: Montana, National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs

If you are following along and missed my first 2 posts about Yellowstone, you can find them here: Yellowstone: Geysers and Hot Springs and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

After our stay in West Yellowstone, we moved up to the little town of Gardiner, Montana which is at the north entrance to Yellowstone.  Yellowstone is a huge park and it seemed to work out best for us to move to different sections of the park rather than driving for several hours each day.

My parents were still with us for the first couple of days in Gardiner.  We stayed at Rocky Mountain RV Park.  They had a cute little mini golf course that the kids enjoyed playing with Gramma and Grampa.

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Gardiner was a really cute town just like West Yellowstone.  We enjoyed walking around town, checking out souvenir shops and eating great pizza.

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The Roosevelt Arch was cool.

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Also the beautiful Yellowstone River runs through town.

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Gardiner is very close to the Mammoth Hot Springs section of Yellowstone.  We enjoyed visiting there with Mom and Dad.  We walked through the lower and upper terraces.  These terraces are so interesting and unique.  It’s hard to see in the picture, but there is hot water running down this terrace.  It’s amazing to see this and wonder how these steps/terraces were formed.  It was so pretty!

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This section looked like snow!  But it wasn’t snow; it actually had very hot water running down it.

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My cute parents enjoying their last day at Yellowstone.  We had so much fun with them visiting with us!  I sure wish they would sell their house and join us on the road. 🙂

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I can’t even explain how amazing this place is.  You just have to see it for yourself.  I mean here we are in the middle of all these mountains, and smack in the middle of it all is this small section of hot springs creating the most unusual landscape.

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No, that is not snow.  It sure looks like it, but it’s actually very hot!

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During the week after Mom and Dad left we visited the Boiling River. That was really fun!  You can sit in this river where the water is cold and hot at the same time.  Boiling water from the hot springs flows down into the cold Yellowstone River.  It felt really weird.  Sometimes I would feel a rush of cold river water and the next steaming hot spring water.  You had to be careful not to get too close to the hot spring water because it really was boiling.

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Another evening we drove down to Lamar Valley to try to see some wildlife.  We were surprised that so far we haven’t seen very much wildlife around Yellowstone besides lots of elk.  We heard Lamar Valley would be the place to see some bison and that was the truth!  They were everywhere, even in the road!  I was so excited to be first in line at this bison traffic stop.  What a show!

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The boys earned their Junior Ranger badges at the Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor Center.  This is their 20th national park badge!

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On our last day in the Gardiner area we hiked up Mt. Washburn, but I will save that for another post as this one has gotten too long.

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Categories: Montana, National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This is the second post of several about Yellowstone National Park.  If you missed the first one you can find it here: Yellowstone: Geysers and Hot Springs.

While visiting the Old Faithful and Canyon Village areas of Yellowstone we stayed at Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana.  This was a really nice RV park.  It was expensive, but so is everything else anywhere near Yellowstone.  We enjoyed relaxing outside with Mom and Dad after hiking in the park all day.

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The boys loved the playground.

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And we enjoyed this shelter one evening to play a game of Mexican Train dominoes.

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The town of West Yellowstone is super cute.  Everything is western themed.

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Jake even got into the western theme and bought himself a cowboy hat!

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We visited the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center where we saw several grizzlies actively playing.  The wolves were all asleep, and usually when we go to zoos the bears are usually sleeping too.  But at this place the bears were so active which made it lots of fun to watch them.

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Anyway let’s talk about the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.  We parked at the Artist Point parking lot.  Artist Point is a beautiful viewpoint looking down the canyon toward Lower Falls.

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Artist Point

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After enjoying the view for a little while, we headed down the Rim Trail to get closer and better views of the falls.  This hike had some beautiful view points.

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We went down Uncle Tom’s Trail which is a staircase with 328 steps.  Going down is easy, coming back up — not so much!  But it’s worth it because going down gives you even closer views of the canyon and falls.

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After climbing back up the stairs we continued on down the Rim Trail a little further to see the Upper Falls.

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This was a really nice hike and not too crowded.  Most of the crowd only comes to see the viewpoint from the Artist Point parking lot.  Hiking the trail gives you many more beautiful views without the crowds.

 

Categories: Montana, National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fulltime Families Rally in Colorado

We attended our 4th Fulltime Families (FtF) rally in Montrose, CO.  It was a total blast!  We met up with some families that we met at previous rallies and also some new families.  Some of our favorite memories on the road have been spent with other traveling families.

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The rally was held at the Jellystone Park in Montrose, CO.  We went a few days earlier than the rally started which gave us some time to catch up with some other friends that got there a little early.  We went back to Ouray to visit Box Canyon Falls with the Lundy family.  The falls were really cool!  The water coming through the canyon is so powerful and loud!

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Soon enough more families started pulling into the campground and the rally officially began.

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I can’t even explain just how much fun it is to be parked next to several other traveling families.  We hung out every evening for campfires and happy hours and talked until late into the night.  Meanwhile the kids were off and running from sunup until sundown (and beyond) having a blast playing with all the other kids.

One afternoon when it was raining outside, several kids ended up at our RV to play with play-doh. Or I should say “to make a mess” because you know that’s how it goes with play-doh! 😉

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One of the planned activities was an obstacle course for the kids where they went to each “booth” for an activity to complete.  At this table the activity was to paint a mask because the theme of this rally was “Super Heroes”.

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Jesse’s friend Dylan was showing him how to use the bow & arrow to shoot the colored soda bottles.

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I love Olivia’s face in this one.  She is determined to hit that soda bottle!

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After everyone completed the obstacle course, they all gathered around the Yogi Bear statue for a picture.

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One of our favorite activities was the Super Hero Pet Parade.  We made a cape for Super Fat Cat to wear.  She was not happy about being paraded around the campground, but she really tolerated it well.  And she became famous!  After that everyone knew who Fat Cat was, and whenever people passed by our site they would say “hey, there’s Fat Cat!”

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There were all kinds of pets in this parade including frogs and rats.

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And dogs of course!

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And even stuffed animals!

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Once the parade started, Fat Cat tried to fly away.  Too bad her cape didn’t have real super powers!

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Strangely, the pool at this campground was closed for most of the time we were there (even though it was well past Memorial Day and the weather was in the 90s).  I say “strangely” because this is supposed to be a Jellystone Park, but it wasn’t like any other Jellystone we have been to.  They did not have nearly as many fun activities and amenities as most Jellystone Parks have, but we made up for that with our own FtF activities.  The pool finally opened a couple of days before we left so the kids wanted to make the most of it while they had the chance.

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On Saturday night we had the Super Hero pizza dinner and dance party.  Clementine had a really cool costume!

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Jennifer made us feel tall by making herself look short next to us. 🙂

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Our last night around the campfire was really fun.  I think we stayed out so late because we knew we were leaving the next day and wanted to make the fun last as long as possible.

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I miss these girls!

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If you are a traveling family, I would highly recommend you find a Fulltime Families rally near you and go.  We have made the most amazing friendships and memories at these rallies!

One last silly picture of the super heroes. 🙂

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Categories: Colorado, Fulltime RV'ing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Tour of our RV

Many people have asked me to post some pictures of our new home, so here you go.  The first one of course is us in front of the new rig and truck:

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Categories: Fulltime RV'ing, Our Rig | Tags: , | 5 Comments

Moving into the RV

It has been just over a week now that we have been officially living in the RV.  The last few weeks have been a blur.  Downsizing from approximately 2000 square feet to approximately 400 square feet is certainly not an easy task!  We have spent the past few weeks getting rid of everything we own except for what will fit in our new tiny home.
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Categories: Fulltime RV'ing, Our Rig | Tags: | 12 Comments

Why are we doing this?

Earlier this year, Chris and I got this crazy idea to sell all of our stuff, hit the road in an RV and travel the country with our children.  Now we are just a few months away from our launch date, and it looks like that crazy idea is getting closer to becoming a reality.  Why… you ask?

The #1 reason we are doing this is because “blink and they are grown”.  I remember when my first child was a newborn and many people told me to enjoy it, he will grow up quickly.  I did not believe them then because after so many sleepless nights with a newborn I could not imagine that stage of life ever coming to an end.  But now as I look back and miss those precious days, I realize how right those people were that told me they grow up quickly.  There is truth in the saying “the days are long, but the years are short”.  As a homeschooling mom of 2 boys the days can definitely seem long sometimes.  But the years are flying by.  I am realizing I only have a short time to enjoy these precious years while they are young and I want to make the most of it.  I used to think Chris & I would travel together later when the kids grow up and then we thought “why wait?”  Let’s do it with them while they’re still young.  We want to have incredible adventures with our family and make memories that we will cherish forever.

Another reason we want to do this is to live life more simply because we no longer want to be controlled by our stuff.  We are selling it all to live life more simply and experience more of life together as a family.

Just prior to this crazy idea, we had been spending several months getting some much needed upgrades done to our home.  I was so excited to finally be able to get all this beautiful work done on our home, like new tile floors, new granite counter tops, new carpet in the bedrooms and new paint on the walls.  Our house was really starting to look nice, and during my morning quiet time with God while I was praying and thanking Him for blessing us with the ability to get all of this work done, I would hear a still, small voice saying to me, “you are doing all this just to sell it.”  I would immediately disregard that thought because I love where we live and I love our home and had absolutely no intention to sell it.  Silly me to try to ignore God speaking to my heart.  What I didn’t realize at the time was He was planting a dream in my heart and Chris’s heart, a dream that is getting closer to becoming a reality.  Once we got the idea in our heads to sell it all and travel, I realized we really did do all this work to sell our house.

As we started talking more seriously about doing this, I wondered if there are any other families with kids that do this sort of thing?  I imagined we would be out there traveling with only retired people except for summertime.  I began to search online for other families that travel and found a wonderful group which includes hundreds of families that are doing this.  I was so encouraged to find FullTime Families!  I have learned so much from the families that are already living our dream.  We already homeschool our kids, but I learned from FullTime Families that there is a new term for that for families that travel, it’s called “roadschooling”, thus the name for our blog.  One thing I’m so excited about is the awesome hands on education that our children will get while we travel this beautiful country and visit national parks and landmarks, museums, aquariums, zoos, etc.  It just so happens that the theme for our Sonlight curriculum for the next 2 school years is American History.  What better way to supplement their learning than by visiting all of these historical places they will be learning about?

So, there it is, that is why we are doing this.  I welcome you to subscribe to this blog and hear about our crazy adventures on the road, wherever God leads.

Categories: About Us, Fulltime RV'ing | Tags: , , , | 5 Comments

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