Tag: AirstreamTravel

Catching up with our Travels. Sorry for my Prolonged Absence

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

I would like to begin this post with a sincere apology. I have been absent from this blog space for way too long. I honestly am not sure why. I think I may have been a bit burnt out, and once I missed one week, it became easier to miss the second week. Now, it has been quite a few months, and I am attempting to get back into the swing of things. I am working on getting back into a routine with photography and my blog writing. I may post every two weeks instead of once a week, but we will see. There is a lot to catch up on. I suppose I’ll start with November.

Due to the needs of Aaron’s job, we spent most of the month of November outside of Kansas City. We found a really nice Hip Camp called Lake Georgia Sue to park the rolling house. We were surrounded by horse pastures on one side and a crop field on the other. There was plenty of space for Murphy to run, horses to admire, and beautiful sunsets.

The best part of our time in Kansas City was the time spent with our son, Mason. He was also there for work, and we had some great evenings together. Mason has a really cool hobby of astrophotography. He brought all of his equipment, and spent some time showing us how he finds his subjects in space to photograph. He really took some amazing pictures while we were all out there.

Some of Mason’s equipment.

This is the Heart Nebula that he took while we were there.

The following pictures are a few more from his collection. I don’t think he took these when we were together, but I just have to share them anyway. They are too beautiful not to share. (He gave me permission.)

The Jellyfish Nebula

The Orion Nebula

The Seven Sisters Nebula

We enjoyed several evenings around the campfire, sharing good meals together, and simply spending quality time with Mason.

Another good thing about being in Kansas in November was that we could drive about 5 hours and be in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew. Mason came out to the campsite, picked up Aaron, Murphy, and myself, and we headed to Iowa for a few days without the camper.

As usual, when with family, I forget to take many pictures. I was able to grab this one of Murphy playing with my brother’s dog, School Bus. Murphy and Bus had a great time together. My mom and Murphy also got along quite well.

We had fantastic food for Thanksgiving. My nephew, Will, and my brother, Chris, smoked a turkey and a brisket. They did an amazing job. Mom and my sis-in-law, Brenda, made all the delicious sides, and we had wonderful deserts. It was great to have this bonus family time with everyone.

After we got back from our Thanksgiving in Iowa, Aaron and Mason went back to work, and Murphy and I hung out at the camper. I looked out of the window and saw a horse on the wrong side of the fence. He had a halter on, and reins dangling from it, and he was just grazing away.

We got in touch with the property owner to let him know one of the horses was loose. He said it wasn’t a problem, and someone would be around to bring him back where he belonged.

He was a very handsome horse, and very sweet. I went and talked to him, and pet him for a while. He wandered into the field behind us, which is not fenced in. So, I went and grabbed his reins and brought him back closer to the pasture and camper. With multiple pastures and lots of horses, I didn’t want to put him in the wrong pasture, so I just hung out with him and made sure he didn’t wander too far. When one of the horse handlers arrived to take him to his pasture, she told me that his name was Murphy, too. She also told me that Murphy threw off his rider and took off. I guess he was not as sweet as I had thought. I enjoyed my time with the two Murphys anyway.

The weather in Kansas was starting to get cold, with snow in the upcoming forecast, and it was time for Aaron and me to hit the road again. We started driving southwest towards Arizona.

Our last stop on our way out of Kansas was in Meade City. It was free camping in the city park, with a cool small town holiday light display. It was a great park that also offered a free dump station and free potable water.

Our next stop was back to Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico for a quick overnight. We have been here at least twice before, and knew it would be a nice spot to spend the night.

After a quick night at Santa Rosa Lake, we headed southwest to Alamogordo, New Mexico. We stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. Alamogordo is home to the world’s largest pistachio. It was a beautiful town in the New Mexico desert.

We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico, but had to keep moving on towards Arizona. We had White Sands National Park to visit, a reservation in Apache Junction, Arizona to get to, and it was now December. Next week, I will share the pictures of our time in White Sands National Park and our stay in Apache Junction at the Tortilla Flats campground. I will leave you with a sneak peek of our drive through White Sands.

California, the Covered Bridges of Madison County, and a little John Wayne

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Aaron and I spent four hectic weeks in California; this is just about the only picture I took. We started at Logger Campground north of Lake Tahoe. Aaron was needed for work in Jacksonville, Florida, so he flew out of Reno, and Murphy and I held down the camper while he was gone. I was only an hour north of Lake Tahoe, where Aaron’s cousin Ethan and his wife, Lara, live. Ethan was out of the country for his job, so Lara and I decided to spend a day together. It was just us girls and the dogs. I had a great visit with Lara, and Murphy and her dog, Tango, had a great time playing together.

Aaron returned from Florida just in time to move to our next campground, Anthony Chabot Regional Park, outside of Silicon Valley. He had planned on working at the office there in Fremont for a couple of weeks, but things came up with his job, and he ended up flying to Atlanta. Once again, Murphy and I hung out, took care of the camper, and even made a few new friends. This was about the time the aurora borealis was visible just about everywhere, so I tried to get a picture of it, only to realize that we were too close to San Francisco to get a dark enough sky.

Aaron made it back in time to move the camper to Coyote Lake County Park and take me to the airport. I needed to get to Iowa to take my dad to an unexpected doctor’s appointment. Aaron still needed to go to work at the office in Fremont, so Murphy got to go to a dog sitter and play with other pups. He really enjoyed himself.

I had planned a week in Iowa to spend time with my mom, my brother, and his family. Mom and I decided it would be a great time to go see the Bridges of Madison County. The bridges are historical and famous due to the book Bridges of Madison County, written by Robert James Waller, and the movie based on that book starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

At the height of covered bridges in Iowa, there were an estimated 100 just in Madison County. Most were destroyed due to fire, collisions, flooding, and demolition. We were able to visit five bridges and the really cool town of Winterset, which held a few surprises for us.

Our first stop was the Imes Bridge in St. Charles, Iowa. We were confused by the yellow canisters hanging inside of the bridge until we figured out that they were sprinkler systems in case of fire.

The next bridge we visited, Holliwell, was Clint Eastwood’s favorite and was used in the movie. It is located in Winterset, Iowa. It is also where I was able to catch my favorite picture of the day. A couple was walking the bridge, and I got them silhouetted in the bridge. It hit all the romantic feelings from the book and the movie.

This is also the first bridge we noticed security cameras and bird nests.

The third bridge we drove to was in the middle of the town of Winterset, in a fantastic park! This is the Cutler-Donahue Bridge.

Winterset City Park had more to offer than just the bridge. As we drove through the park, we saw beautiful wood sculptures. I could only get a photo of one of them, as I was driving most of our time in the park.

While driving around the park, I saw a sign that just said “tower” with an arrow pointing the direction. So, Mom and I decided we needed to see this tower. We followed the sign to a one-way road that wound up a steep hill. We finally made it to the tower, and it was awesome!

The views from the top of the tower were great. Sadly, the trees were not in their full fall color. One more week and the pictures would have been filled with yellow, orange, and red leaves.

As we were driving through Winterset, we saw a sign outside of a house that caught our attention. Winterset was the birthplace of one of America’s most famous actors-John Wayne. We decided we should visit the museum and home.

The museum contained movie memorabilia, a brief film introducing you to the museum, and a few personal belongings. One of my favorite pieces was his custom station wagon. He was very tall and did not want to duck his head when he got in and out of his car. So, the car was customized with a raised roof to fit his stature.

The following are shots I took with my cell phone camera of different items in the museum, including an Andy Warhol of John Wayne.

Outside of the museum was another cool thing I had never seen before. It is a Freedom Rock. There is one rock in each of the 99 counties of Iowa. The artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen started painting Freedom Rocks to honor military veterans. The one in Winterset honors veterans, prisoners of war, John Wayne (even though he was not allowed to serve due to having 4 children), and Quilts of Valor. Quilts of Valor was started in Winterset. Volunteers create a quilt and present it to a veteran in honor of his service to our country. My father was fortunate enough to be honored with one of these beautiful quilts. The picture of Dad receiving is the quilt is courtesy of my brother, Chris.

After our detours in Winterset, we continued on to see the last two bridges. The next bridge was a nice surprise. We could actually drive across it! It is the only one available to drive. Of course, we did drive it! This is the Cedar Covered Bridge. It also had a nice gazebo and picnic area. This bridge was rebuilt twice due to arson.

The last bridge and finale of our tour of Madison County was Hogback Bridge. This bridge was situated on some farmland and it made a beautiful setting. It also had a journal for people to sign, share feelings, and experiences.

We had a wonderful day exploring the Bridges of Madison County.

Mom and I had more plans for the week, but they were cut short. Aaron’s job needed him to start heading east to Kansas City, with a stop in Utah and then Colorado on the way. I changed my flight, returned to California on Thursday, and Aaron and I packed everything up and started our drive east on Friday. Next week, back to Utah. We stayed at our first Hipcamp, Hiawatha Hideaway.

South Fork State Recreational Park, Nevada

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We said goodbye to Idaho and made our way into northeast Nevada. We set up the trailer at South Fork State Recreational Park just outside of Elko, Nevada. Elko is known for its gold mines and UFO sightings. We did see quite a few mines driving to the campground. Unfortunately, we did not see any UFOs, mysterious lights, or aliens.

The campground sits above South Fork Reservoir, a man-made reservoir for water-based recreation. Boating, fishing, and swimming are encouraged. Murphy and I spent quite a lot of time down at the water’s edge. He swam every day, and I took too many pictures of the beautiful landscape.

The campground is also close to the Ruby Mountains. They provided a gorgeous view every day, which changed with the light.

It was a quiet week for us. Aaron worked quite a bit, and Murphy and I enjoyed our surroundings.

Here are a few shots of the landscape, the ducks, and the dramatic skies. We did have some rain, which was nice.

The campground was never really crowded, but we did have neighbors with small kids for a few days. Murphy would watch them play from the windows of the camper. Once, he fell asleep watching them and gave me one of my favorite pictures of him.

After a week of enjoying our site, it was time to move west again. Next stop- back to Tahoe National Forest in California. We stayed there last year and decided it was the perfect stop on our way to Fremont, CA.

Back to Aaron, the Airstream, and Yellowstone!

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I flew back to Bozeman, Montana, and got settled back into the camper with Aaron and the dog, Murphy. We had a few days before it was time for us to head further west. We had a sweet doe visit us. She was shy for the first picture, then she came out from behind the tree.

We only had a few days left in Montana, and Aaron had to work them all. So, I decided to take a day and drive around Yellowstone National Park one more time. I had hopes of catching some wildlife photos. The best times for viewing animals there are at dawn and at dusk. I woke up super early, made a coffee to go, and was in the truck driving into the park by 5:00 a.m.

The sunrise was beautiful, and I saw my first bison of the day.

The morning was looking promising! As I was driving, I saw a coyote jogging down the side of the road. Between my surprise, my excitement, and the pace of the coyote’s jog, I could not catch a great photo. I did the best I could from the driver’s side window.

Even though it was past Labor Day, the park was still very crowded. I could not get to the most popular spots due to the lack of available parking and the size of our truck. But I still really enjoyed the day. Driving through Lamar Valley, I saw some cars parked on the side of the road and people with their cameras and tripods set up to take pictures. That is always a sign that something cool is out there. I pulled over, grabbed my camera, and tried to find what they were looking at. There was a herd of pronghorn antelope way off in the distance. Even with my strongest telephoto lens, the pictures I took were not great. They were beautiful to watch.

One guarantee when visiting Yellowstone is bison. They are everywhere, all the time.

After the pronghorn herd and the buffalo, I was able to catch a mated pair of ospreys near their nest. Again, the distance made for less-than-desirable photos, but I was able to at least capture them. One is sitting atop the nest, the other lower on the tree.

The rest of my day was spent looking for wildlife, and I did not really find much. There are bears, moose, elk, eagles, wolves, and many other types of animals there, but they were not where I was this time around. I did see a duck and a a few birds, and some people fly fishing.

Yellowstone is never disappointing, the landscapes are beautiful and dramatic. There are gravel roads to explore, and many majestic sights.

Even though I could not reach the main part of Mammoth Springs, I was able to drive to the top and take pictures of the backside and the calcium deposits made by the springs.

I really missed having Aaron with me while I drove through the park. It is easier for one person to drive and the other to spot animals, places to stop, spots to park, and, most importantly, someone to share the experience. I did not see all that I wanted, but it was still an excellent way to spend the day.

I made it back to our campsite in time for dinner. It was good to be back. In a few weeks, Aaron needed to be in Fremont, California. We planned our route, packed it up, and headed west. Our next stop was Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho. My post next week will have lots of pictures and a little history about this campground that sits on part of the historical Oregon Trail.

Into the Targhee National Forest

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While Aaron and I were still at Juniper Campground, we decided to explore and look for our next campsite in the Targhee National Forest. This national forest is between the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park and has a beauty all of its own. We found mountain streams and admired the crystal clear water, meadows, and incredible views. We also narrowed down where we wanted to park our home for two weeks. The following pictures are from our scouting for the next site.

A few days later, we loaded up and found our next backyard. When camping in national forests during the summer, unoccupied free campsites are more of a challenge to find- especially near such tourist attractions as Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We did not get our first choice of spots, but we did find a beautiful clearing to set up the house.

During our explorations, Murphy and I came across a man-made shelter that looked like the remnants of a survival show where they show the audience how to make shelters, find food sources, and survive in the wilderness. It was pretty cool to see.

The rest of our stay was pretty quiet and uneventful. I was still nursing my sprained ankle but walking around more, so we did not do much. I was also getting prepared for my cruise to Alaska with my mom, older brother, and his wife. After almost two weeks, it was time for us to move on and get settled even closer to Yellowstone! WE had a campsite reserved at Rainbow Point Campground in West Yellowstone for 2 weeks. Aaron and Murphy would be there while I was in Alaska, and then we would all be there together when I got back from my cruise.

We got to the campground early and quickly set everything up. We then hopped back in the truck to take a quick ride through the west side of Yellowstone National Park. I was flying out the next day, so we wanted a quick drive in before I had to leave.

West Yellowstone

Those dots on the landscape in the second-to-last picture are bison. One thing people tend to forget in national parks is that all the animals there are WILD ANIMALS. They don’t like humans, and they do not want to be bothered by humans. People have been hurt because they get too close to the wild animals. Everyone wants amazing animal photos, but they are not worth injury or a life to get that perfect shot. The people in my next set of photos were lucky; no one was injured, but they very easily could have been trampled by the bison.

I want to add, that I took those pictures from the safety of our truck.

The west side of Yellowstone is OK. It is not quite as picturesque as other parts of the park but still majestic and beautiful. Hopefully, I will have another post with tons of photos of other sights and animals from Yellowstone. But next week, and probably the week after that, the blog will be all about Alaska. I have tons of pictures to edit so that I can share the awe-inspiring beauty of Alaska. I will leave you with a quick teaser picture I took with my phone.