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Lots of wonderful FAMILY TIME in Mesa {Arizona}

Apr 302016



Mesa-Arizona-Family-Time

Travel dates :: March 18 – April 11

We spent a solid THREE weeks in Mesa, Arizona – one of the LONGEST times we’ve spent anywhere since we started this journey. I thought we might get bored, but honestly it went by too fast. We left Tucson and pulled into Mesa around March 18 with reservations at Monte Vista RV Resort, I told you all about that here (we loved it)!

Usery-Regional-Camping-view

After Monte Vista we moved over to Usery Regional Park with a 2-week reservation! Just a short 20 minutes from my Grandma’s house in Mesa we had actually been to Usery for a hike on a past vacation in 2013 (see how young my kids are and a little bit about our hike there)! Based on our previous visit we knew we would love camping here.

Usery-Regional-Park-large-camping-sites

Our spot was HUGE and gorgeous. Sweeping views of the mountain behind us and lots of room for the kids to run around and play. We have a set of rubber baseball bases and the kids set up a baseball field as soon as we got situated. Our spot was a bit far from the bathrooms – which was tricky since we didn’t have sewer hook-ups, but we managed to only have to dump ONE time in those 2 weeks – YAY! Cost for this campground is $30/night.

Desert-Survival-Arizona-Usery-classKids taking a Desert Survival Course

Usery Regional Park has some fantastic volunteer-led educational programs. Our kids did two classes during our stay – a Desert Survival course that covered how to safely hike in the desert and a What Lives in the Holes? course that shared about all the little critters that live underground in the dessert.

[Read more…]

{ 3 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Arizona, Destinations

Tucson :: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Saguaro National Park {Arizona}

Apr 32016



Tucson-Arizona-Travel-Airstream

Travel dates :: March 14 – 18, 2016

After a quick couple days in Las Cruces, New Mexico (and White Sands!) we headed west again. Our next stop was Tucson, Arizona.

We stayed at Gilbert Ray campground up in the Tucson Mountains. It’s a county-run park, first-come, first-serve (read: no reservations!) and was only $20 a night with electric hook-ups (not water or sewer). It was a BEAUTIFUL place to stay. Great hiking trails, clean restrooms, fantastic volunteer-led programs and close to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park. We’d stay here again in a heartbeat.

Filling-up-water-Gilbert-Ray-Campground

We almost always have water and electric hook-ups, so our first stop at Gilbert Ray campground was to fill up our fresh water tank so we’d have water for the five nights we were here. (Remember we got our fresh water tank repaired in Michigan? It’s still working like a champ!)

Gilbert-Ray-campground-campsite

We got a spot on an inside loop. When we pick our own sites we try to go for outside loops – because they are generally bigger and then you don’t have another trailer behind you. But this one was nice and big, with lots of vegetation.

Gilbert-Ray-Campground-Tucson

Our spot was close to the restrooms – which is great when you don’t have full hook-ups. I loved that the roads are paved – great for walking, biking and you don’t have a bunch of dust from vehicles driving along.

Gilbert-Ray-Campground-Tucson-spot

Here’s another angle of our campsite. Mountains on all sides – we loved it.

Nature-Walk-Tucson-Arizona-kids

Our first morning at the park they had a volunteer-led hike through the desert to identify local plants and birds. We included this as part of our homeschooling for the day (read more about our homeschooling here) and we learned SO MUCH. In the photo above the volunteer is explaining about the Cholla cactus. This cactus looks all fuzzy and friendly but it has nasty barbs on it’s spikes making it latch on to any sort of clothing or skin that might brush up against it! You do not want to come into contact with a cholla!

Octotillo-cactus-flowers-tucson

Here a county park volunteer points out the flowers on the Ocotillo plant. Not a true cactus, the flowers on this plant are beautiful and appear in the spring, summer and sometimes the fall.

ocotillo-Flower-Tucson-blue-skies

A close-up of the Ocotillo flower. Apparently the hummingbirds LOVE these flowers because their shape makes them perfect for their thin, pointy beaks. Isn’t it beautiful against that blue sky!?!

Nature-walk-Gilbert-Ray-Campground

Along the hike one of the volunteers showed us the hard bird nest (also called a Saguaro boot) that is created inside the Saguaro cactus! It’s a hard shell of callus tissue inside the cactus as a way for the cactus to protect itself from the birds nesting inside. These holes are generally started by the Gila woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker which have beaks strong enough to break apart the rib tissue. A variety of local birds use the Saguaro cacti for nests – living inside these hardened shells. Native Americans of the Seri group used these saguaro boots to carry water! How interesting is that!?

[Read more…]

{ 2 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Arizona, Destinations, Saguaro National Park hike with kids

White Sands National Monument, Las Cruces {New Mexico}

Mar 312016



White-Sands-National-Monument-Visit

Travel dates :: March 12 – 14, 2016

After a wonderful four nights in Carlsbad, New Mexico it was time to keep moving west. Our next planned stop was Las Cruces, New Mexico.

There were two routes to choose from going from Carlsbad to Las Cruces and we opted for the route that went right through the White Sands National Monument because that was on our list of things to see.

Cloud-Croft-Village-8650-foot

However this route ended up taking us up through Lincoln National Forest – and we reached an elevation of 8,300 feet! The drive up to the summit was a gradual uphill grade with BEAUTIFUL views and we even saw SNOW along the roadside! The climb down the other side of the mountain had a fairly steep grade – something we hadn’t driven for months and I was a little bit nervous. But we just took our sweet time, shifted into a lower gear and let our truck’s tow/haul mechanism do most of the work.

Tunnel-New-Mexico-Lincoln-Forest

There were a lot of curves which meant other traffic wasn’t going fast either and we even went through a tunnel at one point!

RV-Parking-White-Sands

It wasn’t long after we descended that we reached White Sands National Monument and we pulled into the Visitor’s Center parking lot. Thankfully they have 3-4 RV parking spots, we had plenty of room to park. But imagine when it’s busy that it could be difficult to find parking.

White-Sands-Visitors-Center-outside

We started inside the Visitor’s Center and picked up the Junior Ranger booklets for the kids (read more about the Jr. Ranger Program here).

[Read more…]

{ 5 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, New Mexico

Carlsbad KOA Campground Review {New Mexico}

Mar 272016



Carlsbad-KOA-review-Airstream

Travel Dates :: March 9 – 12, 2016

We went to Carlsbad, New Mexico with specific plans to visit the Carlsbad Caverns and explore the nearby area. When researching places to stay nearby we found the local Carlsbad KOA had great reviews and it looked like the perfect home base while we were in town.

North of the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico the Carlsbad KOA  is nestled in a quiet spot off Highway 285 making it easy to access and away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Carlsbad.  Because of it’s nice remote location the Carlsbad KOA  is about a 38 mile drive to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. For some this might be a deal breaker but honestly we didn’t see much for camping options closer to the caverns and we liked the park so much that the drive wasn’t an issue for us. Plus as I mentioned in an earlier post, we LOVED visiting Artesia which was just a short drive from where we were located.

You can always tell a lot about a campground when you check-in at the front desk. The Carlsbad KOA had lots of staff on hand at the front desk and they were super helpful when we arrived.

[Read more…]

{ 1 Comment }

by Heather Filed Under: New Mexico, RV Park Reviews

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Artesia {New Mexico}

Mar 262016



Carlsbad-Caverns-National-Park-Explore

Travel Dates :: March 9 – 12, 2016

After a fun few weeks in San Antonio, Austin and Lake Conroe it was about time to jet west and wrap up our time in Texas. We had planned to stop in Fredericksburg for a couple days but were watching a series of storms headed for Texas and decided to skip it and head west early. We had plans to get into Phoenix by at least March 23 to meet up with family, so we were on a bit of a deadline.

Fort-Stockton-Campground

The drive from San Antonio to New Mexico is looooong and uneventful. We stopped in Fort Stockton for a couple days to break up the drive and didn’t do much there besides catch up on school and work but it was a good stopover spot. We had beautiful views from the Hilltop RV park we stayed at.

Goodbye-Texas

It was our last stop in Texas before heading to New Mexico. . .

Carlsbad-KOA-spot

We headed north to Carlsbad, New Mexico for a four night stay at the Carlsbad KOA so that we could explore Carlsbad Caverns National Park and other local attractions. I’ll share more about that the Carlsbad KOA in a later post (we LOVED it).

Mural-Artesia-Library

We got into Carlsbad early in the afternoon and decided to head to the nearby town of Artesia to explore. I love small towns. The first place we went was the Artesia public library. . .small town libraries are one of our FAVORITE things.

And this is one of the most beautiful public libraries we’ve ever seen.  This amazing Peter Hurd mural (pictured above) in the Artesia Public Library was rescued from a downtown Houston building slated for demolition. The mural was moved as one piece after removing the entire back wall and exposing the 3/4 inch plaster it was painted on. It was then stored for a couple years while the library in Artesia was being built. It’s 46 feet long and 15 feet tall and weighs 50,000 pounds.  In 1951, Hurd wrote about his design, “sweeps of landscape, timeless in their forms and yet alive with the activities of man at work improving and developing its natural resources for the present and the future.”

Isn’t it beautiful?

Artesia-Library-kids-reading

We spent a couple hours at theArtesia public library reading books, playing chess . . .

[Read more…]

{ 3 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, New Mexico

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