2013 Road Trip – Part 6 – The Adirondacks

We love New York, but not as much as Texas!
We love New York, but not as much as Texas!
Lake View
Lake View on our way into the park.

After departing Rhode Island, we made our way to the Adirondacks.  This place is beautiful, but a really hard place to visit due to lack of organization of information.  My mom and dad searched and searched and just could not find a common repository of information on the Adirondack Park.  Why?  Mom and dad said it appears there is no common pool of information as the park is just a collection of areas that are all unrelated.  We sure hope New York puts this all in place as we really want to come back and spend more time hiking and camping.
The park is very pretty and quite vast, but you need time to get around and figure it all out as we drove around a lot and really did not see much of what we were looking for.  We settled for camping in the Wilmington Notch State Park campground which is very near an amazing waterfall.  The campground is far from great with a giant chain link fence running around the whole place.  My brothers and I like to explore and this place was not the most kid adventurer friendly.  The campground is right on the road as well and there were lots of cars flying by.  Not our idea of what camping should be like.  The bathroom lights were so bright throughout the park that my brothers and I all got a really nice tan while we were sleeping.

Our campsite
Our campsite

The falls behind the giant chain link fence were spectacular.  We hiked down and around the falls for an hour or two.  Lots of high peaks that required sure footing.  We did not do any of our normal dance moves as it was just too tricky.  My parents had to hang on to our little brother as he is quite fast and crazy and very well could have accidentally jumped off a cliff.  He is chubby and like a Bumble would probably bounce.

View from above
View from above
Wilmington Notch
Wilmington Notch

Next up we are heading to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Vermont and then to Franconia Notch in New Hampshire.  We will cross Lake Champlain via ferry which should be really cool.  Adios, New York!

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2013 Road Trip – Part 5 – Philadelphia and Rhode Island

The original Krispy Kreme was a breakfast spot on the way out of DC.  We need to load up before heading out for some Cheese Steaks.

Donuts
Donuts

Pat’s Steaks was our choice this year.  Pat’s created the whole Cheese Steak thing so we wanted to give them a try.  We went to Jim’s steaks 3 or 4 years back and in my opinion Jim’s was better.  Pat’s may have invented the Cheese Steak, but others have polished up the idea a bit more.  I barely ate any of my steak and normally I eat the whole thing and more.  To me, Philly Connection in Cypress was better than Pat’s.  Sorry Pat!  The atmosphere was really cool and it was fun to see that part of Philly.

Cheesesteaks
Cheesesteaks

Independence Hall is a must anytime you visit Philly.  Our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence here and we owe those old awesome dudes a serious debt of gratitude.  We could use a bit more founding father approach to government today.  At least, it would be nice if our politicians would read and debate the stuff they are signing.  It is sad and scary to see how many things are signed and never fully read.

Crashing a party
Crashing a party

We have some good friends, the Stahls, from our neighborhood, who were having a family reunion in Philadelphia, so we crashed their party.  Then, we stuck together for a few days.  We started at Valley Forge, which was really close to the party location.

Valley Forge was somewhat interesting. We had the most fun launching stick boats in the river. We made it so that our parents could do everything except see us before launching a siege on them.  The water and buildings were old, but cool and the site is a nice one to visit.

We followed our friends farther to their Grum’s house in Charlestown, RI. The Rhode Island beach was so cool; actually, it was cold.  I mean, it was fffffreezing.  After boogie boarding, we built a fort that consisted of two pits with a tunnel in between them.   We did a bit of crawling through the tunnel and then what was left of it was crushed.  The picture below is in the middle of the wrecking process, the tunnel is already destroyed.

The beaches this far north are so different than our TX beaches or FL beaches or even from the ones in California.  It was cool to check this one out and it was really fun to hang out with our friends for a few days.

Beach Time
Beach Time

Going to the Adirondacks next.

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2013 Road Trip – Part 4 – Washington DC

We hiked a ton of miles while in Washington DC.  We went all over the Mall and had a great time.

The International Spy Museum was our first stop.  It was cool, but a little overpriced.  It had lots of history and information about what being a real spy is all about.  Many case studies of real life agents were presented and each of us was allowed to make up our own secret identity.  We had a fun time.  The museum had lots of information and we learned everything about James Bond.  Ben won a hang from the ground contest that was part of the spy test area.

The Shake Shack next door has mean burgers and custard.  It was well work the wait if you like burgers and custard.

Spy Museum
International Spy Museum

The Smithsonian Museums were really cool.  Natural history was the best and the ice age section was cool.  Natural History has a full size Wright Whale hanging from the ceiling and also had animals from all over the US from way back in time – giant sloths and huge cats were just a few.  American History had real life trains so my little brother Wile was going crazy about that.  Air and space made my heart soar looking at all the planes.  At the American Indian museum, we saw lots of hand made boats and they were cool. American history was very interesting even though we all thought it would be boring.

Natural History Planes
Natural History Planes
My paw paw at the Smithsonian
My paw paw at the Smithsonian
Giant Dog on the Mall
Giant Dog on the Mall

If you have never seen the fireworks on the 4th of July in Washington DC, you are truly missing out.  Stay away from the Mall and go to the river bank just by the Arlington Cemetery.  The view is better and the crowd is much lighter.  We rode the subway metro train in and out and it was easy money.  The fireworks were the best we have ever seen.  My brother Wile won the duck duck goose world championship while were waiting on the show to start.  It was a fun time for sure.  The train ride back was very patriotic as many people were singing songs and chanting USA!

4th of July Fireworks
4th of July Fireworks

We went to Bob and Edith’s Diner after the fireworks and chowed down.  What a great place!

We hit Ed’s Chicken and Steak the next day for Peruvian chicken.  Yummy!  Dairy God Mother has mean custard if you like custard.

There is a ton of stuff to do in Washington DC if you have time to get squeeze it all in.

Rhode Island, The Adirondacks, Vermont, and New Hampshire are up next.

2013 Road Trip – Part 3 – Shenandoah National Park

We camped in the Loft Mountain Campground in Shenandoah.   This campground is on the south end of the park.   This is a very nice campground.  The Rangers rock and they made sure that we had a great time.

We started out the camping trip in a walk-in site, A7.  It was way too crowded and there was no view at all.   There were 8 sites in one area and little room for anyone in this area.  Be careful with the walk-in areas as all of them we saw were setup the same way.

Our Ranger was really cool and let us move out to A12 which has a spectacular view and a direct link to the Appalachian Trail.  We loved this site and would have stuck around for weeks if not for the rain and plans for a July 4th celebration in our nation’s capital.

There were lots of opportunities to explore from this site.  My brothers and I found a way to repel down a cliff to the forest floor.  It was about 20 feet down.  We gathered firewood, which is legal in Shenandoah National Park, and did lots of climbing and exploring.  We really had a good time.

My whole family and I hiked 4 miles down to Doyle’s River Cabin and back.  This cabin can be reserved by hikers on the AT.  This section of the AT was cool, but very steep.  Many AT section and thru-hikers stopped in our campground to use showers and get more food at the camp store.   It was cool to see all of the folks hiking the AT.  We want to do that someday as well.

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View from camp
View from camp
Loft Mountain Site A12
Loft Mountain Site A12

We also took time to complete the Junior Ranger program and spent part of a day taking an amazing hike in the Big Meadow with Ranger Bob.  On the hike we saw tadpoles, lots of deer, and tons of rain drops.  It was a blast and we got soaked.  It pretty much rained every single minute of every day we were in the park, but we had fun anyway.

Hiking in the BIg Meadow with Ranger Bob
Hiking in the Big Meadow with Ranger Bob
Thanks Ranger Bob
Thanks, Ranger Bob!

Washington DC is up next.  We will visit lots of places.

By the way, my brother Ben caught a Barracuda last year in the Keys.  Oh, and he also caught a Hammer Head Shark.  He loves this year’s trip, but just cannot stop living in the past.  Please pray that he catches a fish this year on this trip or we may never hear the end of it.

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2013 Road Trip – Part 2

The 2013 RoadTrippingForKids.com road trip is going great.  We will be on the road for several more weeks and are loving the time on the road.  Like us on facebook to get real time updates.  Enjoy!

On our way to Bowling Green after we left Lake Ouchita, we took a drive through the Land Between the Lakes.  We stopped off in Paris for the night before we went through the mystical Land Between the Lakes.  We saw T-rex  and lots of other dinos, including the Buffalo.

There are tons of amazing places to camp, fish, and hike in this great state park.  There is a 68 mile hiking trail that runs from south to north through the entire state park.  This looks like a great warmup or practice for the AT.

I am a buffalo hear me roar
I am a buffalo hear me roar!

In Bowling Green, we spent a week hiking and playing while my dad conducted an AP Computer Science Summer Institute at Western Kentucky University.  Thanks, Dad.
Our first adventure was a visit to the Louisville Zoo.  The Zoo was great and especially the Siberian Tiger.  Ben loves kitty cats and wants to be one someday.

At the zoo
At the Louisville zoo

Next, we went out to Mammoth Cave, one of our most favorite National Parks, so that I could do a Boy Scout service project to finish up my Star requirements.  We spent 6+ hours in the sweltering heat and rain blazing trails out through the park.  We were happy to give back to Mammoth Cave as it has given us many amazing memories.  We love this park.  We also did a tour through the cave to see the new entrance just to do some exploring.  We love caves and hiking.

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Beech Bend is Bowling Green is our favorite amusement park.  It is not real big, but has enough to keep us going and always has really nice people running the park.  The drinks are cold, the sunscreen is free, and the rides are terrifyingly scary.  What a fun day.  Big Wile loves the whip as you can see in the following pic.

Wile on the whip!
Wile on the whip!
riding rides at Beech Bend
riding rides at Beech Bend

On our way to Fort Necessity, looking for squatches along the way.

hunting for squatches
hunting for squatches

at Fort Necessity, we all learned a ton about Indian Lore.  I was able to complete my Indian Lore Merit Badge and my brothers and parents learned a ton.  We learned how to make wampum bracelets, played a few indian games and heard allot of cool stories. Afterwards, we checked the fort and learned about how even great men like George Washington make mistakes from which they learn.

this fort is in the middle of a wide field surrounded by trees
this fort is in the middle of a wide field surrounded by trees
turns out lacrosse originated with the indians
turns out lacrosse originated with the indians
its my indian look alike
its my indian look alike

Shenandoah National Park is up next.  We are looking forward to some fun camping and hiking on the AT.  Washington DC is just around the corner as well as we will hit some museums and all of the cool National Monuments on the mall.

 

2013 Road Trip – Part 1

First, we stopped off at Caddo Lake to look for Squatches as a good friend of ours grew up there and told us about his experiences.  What a spooky place and clearly a great spot for Sasquaticus to live and play.  We are pretty sure we saw a couple or they were just really hairy humans that do not shower much.  You look at the pics and you be the judge.

Some sasquatch stole my dads shirt.
Some sasquatch stole my dads shirt.
I hope a sasquatch does not fall for me.
I hope a sasquatch does not fall for me.
Walk like a Sasquatchian.
Walk like a Sasquatchian.

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At Lake Ouachita State Park, we went swimming in the lake every day. We also went on a four mile hike and that was really cool. It felt amazing temperature wise so I slept in my hammock every night. We were in site t7 in the walk in section and the view was awesome. We also had silver turtles as usual and tried s’mores bananas.  The weather was great and the breeze out on the peninsula was really helpful.  Check out the pics below.

Finally the hike is over
Finally the hike is over
I didnt know creepers could hike
I didnt know creepers could hike

See you in Paris!

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Summer Camp and Road Trips

This summer is no exception the road tripping for kids crew will head out and see some amazing American sites.
First stop this year is Camp Alexander in Lake George, Colorado.
From there, it is off to Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maine just to name a few.
DaRoad Tripper will be blogging the whole way and providing lots of information about cool places.
There will also be some gear posts as we try out some really cool gear.

Have a great Summer!

Auburn to Morganton Point, Georgia

We spent a somewhat interesting week in Auburn.
Not as much to do in Auburn in we had expected.
The Montgomery Zoo was cool as was a city pool with nice diving boards.

We arrived at the Morganton Point Recreation Area late on Friday night .
The Recreation Area is in northern Georgia on Lake Blue Ridge.
What a beautiful camp site – #11 is isolated away from the others – you have to walk in to the site.
It is literally right on the water with easy access to fishing and swimming.
We were there June 21-23rd.

mpoint_1

mpoint_2

On the road again and telling about it as we go . . .