100th Post

Boo-ya, this is my one hundredth post. And, they said it wouldn't last. Ha, just kidding, no one said that to me. I'm just a nerd.

I can't believe I've made 100 posts. Kind of crazy. I have been wanting to post about the camping trip that set this whole crazy RV thing in motion. I have been putting it off because my computer broke and I really wanted to post some of the awesome pictures we took over that almost two week period. Since I am sitting on Rob's laptop, looking across the room at my still broken laptop I have decided to just do what I always do...steal photos from my personal Facebook page.

One year ago, in May, we went on our first camping trip as a family. Rob was at work one night when he sent me a text of the TV box they were printing and said "I want to go here". He said he thought it was a photo of a place in Utah called Arches. I turned to my best friend, you know, Google, and found out where Arches National Park was. We decided to plan a camping trip to Utah to see the arches.

We also decided (because we are CRAZY) to drive on to Denver. Then, we added Mount Rushmore to our list. We planned it all out and booked the campgrounds. We stayed at a KOA in Moab, Utah, a hotel in Denver, Colorado and another KOA outside Rapid City, South Dakota. On the way back from South Dakota we stayed at a hotel in Salt Lake City. It was an amazing trip, we saw so many awesome things and had so much fun. While in South Dakota we walked around the campground admiring all the huge RVs and talking about how fun it would be to travel around the country having fun. The seed was planted. We didn't talk much about it again for a few months, then all of a sudden we were packing up our life in California for life on the road.

I miss the travels already. We took the travel trailer to Alabama this week. It is going to hang out at my father-in-law's house. There are so many things we want to see and do and I hope we will do them, soon! I also want to tent camp more because we had such a fun time the first time around.

Arches National Park

Our last morning in Utah, C and I were the only ones awake for A LONG TIME

Bottom of the Rockies in Colorado

Snow at the top of the Rockies in Colorado

The antelope are EVERYWHERE in Wyoming

first rest stop in Wyoming. C loved looking at the cows

Maybe some mineral hot springs in Wyoming

Setting up the tent in Hill City, South Dakota

we loved this little ground squirrel and his friends

One of the statues on the Presidential Walk in Rapid City

 

We hunted high and low to find buffalo and when we did we took a million pictures of them. This one is the best I could find

G was in Heaven at this gas station petting zoo outside of Salt Lake City

On our way home. Sun setting over Nevada

Happy, Happy, Happy

Source

This week has been kicking my butt left and right. But, I have decided that instead of being bummed out by life I'm just going to be happy and positive. I'm going to embrace the good and accept the bad.

I can't change most of the decisions I've made in my life. I'm not sure I'd really want to change the bad anyway, since it would also change the good.

It's true that we spent an obscene amount of money for this RV traveling circus (and it's all pretty much gone, much faster than we budgeted, researched, and planned for). It's also true that Rob left a well paying job for this. Also, homeschooling three kids in three different grades while entertaining a 2 year old is really tough! I don't want to take back this trip though. I now realize my kids, in their short times alive, have seen more of this amazing country than most adults have.

So far, the girls have:
Splashed in many California beaches, from San Diego to San Francisco and  almost everywhere in between.
Hugged Giant Sequoia trees.
Watched quietly as seal lions sunbathed only a few feet away.
Stood under the magnificent waterfalls of Oregon.
Walked along the Colorado River in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
Climbed the sunset-colored Arches in Utah.
Driven over and through the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Watched as cows grazed on grass close-by in Wyoming.
Looked on as a cow ran for its life, screaming as a cowboy tried to rope it (quiet possibly the saddest thing we've ever witnessed!).
Witnessed the quickness of prairie dogs crossing the freeway in Colorado, not all were quick.
Seen more antelope galloping through the wide openness of Wyoming than anyone could ever count.
Stood under massive rock sculptures of former presidents in South Dakota.
Fed scraps to a ground squirrel while tent camping in South Dakota.
Sat on the side of the road observing a small heard of buffalo caring for their young.
Traveled on many parts of Route 66.
Viewed the magnificence that is the Grand Canyon, twice!
Witnessed the breathtaking views of Sedona, Arizona.
Stared at the vastness of the New Mexico desert.
Walked through The Alamo.
Spent day and night chasing crabs on the Texas Coast.
Biked to McKinney Falls in Austin, Texas to witness the lack of water and its affects on the falls.
Observed alligators and turtles from the banks of water in Louisiana.
Walked along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Read about and visited the grave site local legend Petit Jean in Arkansas.
Sat on a river boat as it cruised along the Mississippi River.
Walked through Elvis Presley's house.
Ate Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by trees and a stream in Tennessee.
Sat in Elvis' favorite booth at his favorite childhood restaurant in Mississippi.
Spent New Years Eve in downtown Nashville listening to free music in the rain.
Walked along the Pigeon River in the Smoky Mountains.
Toured the "largest house in America" while in North Carolina.
Traveled on "one of the steepest passenger railways in the world" in Tennessee.
Walked through a cave in order to see a breathtaking waterfall in Tennessee.

These are just some of my favorite memories from our life. Who knows what the future will hold and what more adventures we will add to this list! I only wish C was older so she could remember all this since she has had a pretty awesome two years of life so far.

Tupelo, Mississippi

Tupelo, Mississippi is only a few hours from where we are staying in Alabama. We made the drive a few days ago so we could all see where Elvis Presley was born and lived for a little bit of time.

The city is a lot larger than I expected, I pictured this little town that only survived as "the birthplace of Elvis Presley", turns out the place is just a normal city with a little bit of a claim to fame. We went to the museum there, you can see Elvis' old church and the home he was born in. To enter either structure you have to purchase museum tickets, we didn't want to do that so we just walked around the grounds and saw what you can see for free.

Elvis' front porch

his house was really small

outhouse

The church the Presley family attended

wAfter the museum area we went to the old fairgrounds. The site is now a park but it was where Elvis performed twice, once as a boy and then several years later he came back to perform for his hometown. The park has a small playground now and has a statue of Elvis. The statue is modeled after a famous photo of Elvis reaching down to all the screaming girls below. According to what we read, the statue was made this way so that people could recreate the photo. The girls loved this!

Tupelo City Hall building

An important Native American

Original photo that the statue replicates (photo courtesy of ElvisPresleyMusic.com)

She wanted her picture taken so badly

it started out fun but ended badly. LA and AG both fell off!

Elvis got his first guitar here

We also drove by the hardware store where he got his first guitar, when he was 11. And, we stopped at Johnny's Drive-in, which is supposed to be where Elvis loved to eat. The girls sat in his booth and we ordered hamburgers and hotdogs. They were disappointing but maybe we just have high expectations. Eating there just really made me miss California and a Double Double from In-N-Out.

My sad, flat burger from Johnny's :(

And, they call this a hotdog???

We were only in Tupelo for a few hours but it was fun to learn a little more about Elvis. The girls were very proud that they knew more about Elvis than the two older men that were at the museum.


Here's an interesting little movie about Tupelo and Elvis. I think the girl is a little annoying in this video, but that's just me!

This video has clips of when Elvis performed in Tupelo

Birmingham Zoo

 

Earlier in the week we went down to the Birmingham Zoo. It's about an hour drive from where we are staying. We went on Tuesday because Tuesdays are half price admission days. We had a pretty intense storm the night before so we weren't sure if we'd be able to make it but the rain disappeared and the weather was just crazy cold and gloomy. I'm glad we went on a half priced day because the zoo really doesn't have many animals but despite that we did have an excellent time. I was excited to take Little Red because she's finally old enough to know she's looking at animals. She had a blast, as did the rest of us.

Birmingham, AL

 More Birmingham

At the zoo:

Rob's Fav, the Komodo Dragon

Oh how I love the OWLS!!!

Can I take these home???

Hawk

Black Swan (Red was in love with these!)

Swans

Trying to get close to the black swans

The weirdest monkeys I have ever seen!

Even though the primates were indoors (and it was HOT in there) these little guys were all huddled together

The most amazing elephant ever. He can flap his ears, bow and do a few other tricks!

My giraffes

Vulture

Hawk

Gobble, gobble, gobble

She saw this bunny and said "I give hug?" She loved that thing!

So cute!

We were only there a few hours, it was cold and we saw all of the animals so there really wasn't much else to do. After the zoo we drove around the neighborhood surrounding the zoo. It's a beautiful area, the city is called Mountain Brook. It is full of gorgeous (and expensive) homes. I'd love to live in a place like Mountain Brook!