Utah Here We Come

The Dolphin has been sold but that doesn't mean the adventures stop. Myself and my two friends Sarah and Maggie will be taking a week long road trip to Utah to explore some more national parks. We will be going to Zion national park, Bryce Canyon, and Arches National Park. The good news is we have AC in the car! The plan is to tent camp and to see as much as we can see in that week.

I have missed the Utah landscape and can't wait to get back there to explore some more. I will get to see the arches in Moab that I missed last summer due to road construction. I can't way to hike in Devil's Canyon at the back of the park.

Utah here we come!!

East Coast Living

Map route

We woke up and got our laundry taken care of before heading up the coast. We got a late start and did a lot of driving. I was beginning to get restless so we stopped in at a Starbucks to enjoy the AC and WiFi. We stayed at Starbucks for quite some time before heading on our way. A rain storm rolled in turning the sky beautiful colors of bright orange and purple. We drove just outside of Daytona Beach and called it a night.




The amazing sky near Daytona Beach, FL

We woke and drove to Daytona Beach for the day. After parking I saw a store with boogie boards for sale so we headed over to pick up one for the beach. In the store there were baby red eared and yellow bellied slider turtles for sale and they were going for cheap. The turtles are about the size of a silver dollar and we couldn't resist their cuteness. After talking with the turtle expert we decided the turtles had a pretty good chance of surviving in our motor home back across the country. I bought 2 turtles since they like company and Nick and Natalie each bought one. We were so excited with our purchases we brought our new friends to the beach to play with. We didn't stay put for long as a storm came in quickly and rained us out. We ran back to the motor home and made lunch (we definitely washed our hands to avoid salmonella from our little loves) The rain had stopped after an hour so we grabbed our new boogie board, said goodbye to our baby turtles and hit the waves. We played in the ocean body surfing and riding the waves on our boogie board. The water of the Atlantic ocean was a little colder than the Gulf, but still warm in comparison to the Pacific. After playing in the water we laid out on the beach soaking up some rays. We started to get hungry and worried about our new pets so we went back to the motor home. After cooking up some dinner we spent some time figuring out the best place for the turtles to ride and rigged up the seat belts and bungee cords to keep them safe as the motor home bumped around. We drove to Jacksonville and went to the store to find aquarium pieces for the turtles to bask on out of the water. After getting some aquarium gravel, fake rock/coral, and more turtle feed we set up their tanks and fell asleep.



Koopa and Yoshi getting their bronze on at Daytona Beach

We woke up and fed the baby turtles. My two turtles, I named Koopa (Troopa) and Yoshi after Mario, seemed to be doing the best and eating tons of turtle food. Natalie's turtle is a lot smaller than the others and hasn't eaten yet. He doesn't move around as much and just lays under water. We are worried for him, he might be sick. We drove up the East Coast to Georgia. We tried to go to Cumberland Island, a wildlife area with armadillos and alligators but we missed the last ferry by an hour so we continued up the coast. We stopped at the Hofwyl-Broadfield plantation. The plantation was built in the 1800's and was made for rice cultivation. This house stayed in the same family until 1973 when the last owner died and donated the house and land to the state. We toured the plantation home and everything that was in the home when the owner died was still there in place. There was tons of really old books, furniture from the 1800's, civil war pieces, and the owners Oldsmobile sat unmoved in the garage. We got to look around the house, the dairy farm and milk bottling shed, as well as saw the slave quarters. The plantation was surrounded by live oaks, one right next to the house was 800 years old. We stopped at a peach stand and got some fresh Georgia peaches and tried some boiled peanuts, they taste more like beans. While driving I DJed some songs that talked about peaches with lyrics like "in the teaches of peaches" "moving to the country going to eat a lot of peaches" and "peaches and cream". We drove up to Savannah and crossed over to South Carolina. I stopped to figure out where our drive would continue to. In order to save time and miles we drove south back to Georgia, then cut across Georgia towards Tennessee. We made it outside of Atlanta where we stayed for the night.



Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation

Nick holding a sword from the Civil War
At Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation

After waking up to Natalie's turtle still not eating and being sessile we decided to go to Petsmart for some turtle meds. We actually found an employee that we deemed the turtle master. He had 2 red eared  turtles about a year old that were doing great. He looked at Natalie's turtle and said he thought he looked fine and that his own turtles didn't eat for the first 2 weeks. They told us that these turtles need UVB light and a heat lamp on them and that Natalie's turtle was probably just really cold. We picked up the lights and set up a tanning booth for our babies. We continued on our drive to Tennessee and stopped at Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN. Ruby Falls is a waterfall inside a cave. We walked about a mile to the falls and ended about 1200 feet below ground. The whole thing was a lot more commercial then we thought it would be with colored lights illuminating structures and music to enhance the scene. It was still pretty cool to check out even with the theatrics. Once we were out we climbed the stairs up to the top of tower of lookout point. On clear days from lookout point you can see parts of multiple states. We drove down the mountain to an RV park and after eating some "breakfast" at a waffle shop we hung out around camp and got to see fireflies for the first time. I only saw one and Nick saw a couple buzzing around. So cool!!


Ruby Falls

A rock formation that looks like a turtle at Ruby Falls



Alicia at Lookout Point, Dolphin in the parking lot

We got a late start out of the campground and drove to Lynchburg, TN to see the Jack Daniels Distillery. We were not going to make it in time before they closed but luckily we passed into central time zone and got to the distillery 30 min before their last tour. We did the sampling tour, due to loopholes we were allowed to taste in the otherwise dry county. We got to see how the charcoal was created from burning wood with 140 proof alcohol. We went through the distillery and got to taste the yeast and corn mix from day 1 to day 5. Day 1 was sweet from the sugars and had a cornbread taste to it. Day 5 tasted more like stale beer. We saw the charcoal mellowing process and tasted the vapors of the 140 proof alcohol. We walked around the distillery and saw various buildings that were built in the beginning and the natural stream that the water for the whiskey is collected from. After the tour we sampled Jack Daniel's, Gentlemen Jack, and Single Barrel. My favorite was the Single Barrel, this particular batch had a smooth and sweet start then warmed up. The tour guide was impressed with my knowledge (I work with Jack Daniels) and pulled us aside after the tour to let us know about the cemetery up the road. Jack Daniels was buried there and he had many girlfriends. Back in the day they kept finding girls passed out in the cemetery from visiting his grave and installed 2 chairs next to his grave for multiple women to grieve on. We checked out the cemetery and the local Jack Daniels store then drove on to Nashville. We got to Nashville, TN late and parked in the city parking for the night. After getting ready to go out we walked down Broadway Street looking for a bar to hang out in. After passing up a couple bars I spotted one I wanted to check out so we crossed the street to go to a tri-level bar- The Honky Tonk. While walking to stand in line I noticed a guy in line that looked really familiar and the more I looked I realized it was (my brother) Micauly's friend Dean. At the same time I realized who he was, he realized who I was. Dean, who lives back home, was on a trip with his fraternity to Nashville for the week. After having a freak out about seeing a good friend from home we went into the bar and grabbed some drinks and caught up. The Honky Tonk bar had a band playing on each floor along with a bar on each floor. It was a really cool atmosphere, and it was packed. Dean let us know about some bars down by Vanderbilt College and we took a cab across town. The cab brought us too far from the bars and we ended up walking a mile to get to them. We hung out at Rebar and Losers & Winners then took a cab back towards our motor home. We hung out with Dean at the Omni Hotel, where he was staying, then walked back to the motor home for the night.

Nick, Natalie, and Alicia with Jack Daniel's statue

Alicia and Natalie mourning over Jack

We woke up exhausted from staying up so late, but got ready and walked to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We got to see instruments and costumes from the beginning of country music. I really enjoyed all of the costumes and their intricate detail made by Nudie. We saw Webb Pierce's car- Nudie had customized it with 1000 silver dollars, embossed leather interior and pearled guns all over the car. It was amazing. We also got to see Elvis Presley's old car and gold piano. We went into the sound booths and listened to some old country music and walked around looking at the more modern guitars and costumes. The attention to detail had not been lost on any piece. After we were done at the museum we grabbed some burgers and then went back to the motor home to get our swimsuits. Dean had given us an extra room key so we could use the pool at his hotel. He was in a meeting all day so he couldn't join us but we hung out is the rooftop hot tub and laid poolside for the day. After relaxing for a couple hours we decided we needed a real nap and went back to the motor home where we slept for the night.






Webb Pierce Car

Johnny Cash Guitar

Costumes made by Nudie



The Sunshine State, sometimes The Rain State

Map route

We spent the day at the marina RV park, swimming in the pool and catching up on laundry. After cooking some dinner we went to Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, LA. We took a taxi into town and walked along the streets. Since it was early not much was going on we stopped into some art galleries. The first shop was full of art and row after row of books. The only theme of every art piece and book was homosexuality, we giggled at all of the nudes. We continued on along the road admiring the Creole French style houses with the shutters painted in bright colors. We kept walking along, stopping in shops we found interesting. We stopped into a bar that had a patio with a water feature that had fire coming out the top. We only went in to admire the patio decorations and exited on the other side, where we found ourselves back at Bourbon Street. Things seemed a lot more calm than the day before. It was earlier than when we had gone out the previous  night but we could only assume that as it got later things would get crazier. We quickly walked back to Frenchmen Street and stopped at an art gallery that had a huge shrine "A tribute to smokers" with cigarettes hanging down with wings on them. This gallery was so cool and unique- the artist, Chris Roberts-Antieau had done a lot of embroidery and had installations that pointed out the faults in society and with technology. We stayed for a long time admiring the details of her work. We found our way to an artist district where there was vendors selling various forms of art from clothing to jewelery and paintings. I bought a tiny starfish ring made from wire. The artist used to be an electrician and he took to making jewelery and doing metal working, his real passion. Natalie bought a print of Bill Murray and Nick found a button up shirt that has Sasquatch embroidered onto it. The artist that makes the embroideries himself used to work at an embroidery factory and he said now he just sits at home and does "tons of drugs" making awesome embroideries. Some of the other t-shirts the artist had included Sasquatch fighting a shark, unicorn stabbing someone with its horn and our favorite (though we refrained from purchasing it) was a woman's shirt that had cute hearts on the shoulders and read "suck your own dick" - this guy obviously is awesome. After some convincing (not really much convincing needed) we got Nick to get his nose pierced. For the best healing results he has to wear a diamond stud for a couple months which pisses him off because he really wanted a hoop. We stopped at a cafe and got some jambalaya, red beans and rice, and crawfish etouffee. All of it was really delicious. After strolling the streets and listening to the jazz players on the sidewalks we called it a night and went back to the RV park to sleep.

Jazz band playing on Frenchmen Street



Natalie with a self portrait on Frenchmen Street Art Walk

We woke up and swam a little bit  in the pool before heading to Florida. We drove along the highway through Mississippi and Alabama to Florida. The first thing we noticed once we got into Florida is that everywhere was selling boiled peanuts, we have yet to try any but we want to before we leave the state. We drove down along the Gulf Coast. We turned down some street towards the beach but found a "utopia" country club. Everyone was riding bicycles dressed in preppy clothing. This looked like a picture from an ad for anti-depressants. Everyone wore a plastered white smiling face over their stretched tan skin. After figuring out we couldn't access any of the beaches without a membership we turned back. We picked up groceries at the Walmart in Panama City and stayed in the parking lot for the night.



Sunset along the Gulf Coast in Florida

In the morning we continued along the Gulf Coast. We came onto a beautiful white sand beach just off the hwy. Mexico Beach was picture perfect. An empty beach with crystal blue water. We swam for hours. Wearing goggles I chased schools of fish trying to catch and hold one but the fish proved faster. The water here was comfortably warm but still refreshing under the hot Florida sun. We laid out on the beach and buried Nick in the sand making him a mermaid and then into a large sea turtle. The sand here was of a consistency I have never experienced in sand. The sand was so soft and fine it felt like we were playing in powdered sugar and the sand itself was almost as white at sugar. We drove on along the coast to another beach where we cooked dinner and ran through the white sand under the almost full moon. After the stars came out we drove to Carabelle and parked for the night.



Fluffy white sand on the Florida Gulf Coast

We continued following the coastline then headed north through Tallahassee and then South East to Orlando. We stopped at Crackle Barrel- a staple restaurant for every state except for Nevada and California. We had some home cooked style southern food that made us miss our mother's homemade meals. We stayed at Turkey Lake RV Park- a campground with a large park for frisbee golf, where we put up the tent for the night. We wanted to escape the confines of the motor home- the small space along with the heat was not making for comfortable sleeping conditions. As soon as I finished the tent the dark clouds overhead let out the rain. At first a sprinkle and then full on downpour. I was really excited to sleep in the tent now, knowing I would be cold for the first time since Colorado. Natalie stood out in the rain in a bikini re-dyeing her hair and I held out the umbrella for her. We probably looked ridiculous. The weather was strange, but the hot air and the cold rain drops felt amazing. In the campground bathroom we found the largest green tree frog about the size of our palm- we had officially made it to the tropics. After staying up reading we finally called it a night. We crawled into the tent and listened to the rain pitter patter on the cover until I fell asleep worrying about snakes and alligators.



A large green tree frog in Florida

Natalie dyeing her hair in the rain- Our tent in the background

When we woke the rain had stopped and the hot air was already drying out the tent. After cleaning up camp we went to Disney World. Natalie had never been so she was ecstatic. We got our tickets to Magic Kingdom and took a ferry across the lake to the theme park. We rode rides all day- the lines were still very long for it being a Wednesday. The rain came in late afternoon and we got ponchos to stay dry. Luckily the rain didn't last too long and most of the rides are indoor. At night we watched the Electric Parade with all of the Disney Characters dancing along. We got some snacks and went to the front of the castle to watch the most amazing firework show. When the fireworks were over I grabbed Natalie's hand and ran through the crowd to Space Mountain, a ride I had yet to go on. Along the way I ran ahead of Nick and Natalie, at the ride entrance I saw a huge crowd was coming and if I waited for them it would be an hour wait before we could ride. I  made the decision to continue without them on the ride and it was amazing. The roller coaster that's in the dark with fake stars made my night. I felt like my money spent on the park ticket was well worth it. When I got off the ride Nick and Natalie were no where in sight. With my phone dead I decided I better not let the fun stop and I went on more rides for a couple hours until the park closed. I got back to the motor home to find them locked out (I had the key) and worried about me. They thought I was looking for them and though annoyed at me ditching them for fun they were happy that I was safe. :) We found a parking lot for the night and fell asleep quickly from being worn out

Natalie and Alicia about to ride the ferry to Magic Kingdom

Natalie spotting Minnie at Disney World

The next day our feet were sore from walking all day. I drove us to Clearwater Beach through Tampa. We spent the day swimming, wearing goggles to search for shells, and laying on the sandbar. The water here was not as clear as Mexico Beach but still a bright blue that contrasted beautifully with the white sand. We swam until the storm came in- darkening the sky and raining us out. We ate dinner at a restaurant right on the beach. Sitting on the patio we overlooked the setting sun and listened to the live band. After eating and a couple of drinks the rain had stopped and the clouds rolled off. We walked the beach and then drove back to Orlando to wake up early for Universal Studios.

Clearwater Beach



Alicia at sunset- Clearwater Beach, Fl



A boat in the Gulf of Mexico

At Universal Studios we rode rides and walked through the streets of Harry Potters Wizarding World. After riding roller coasters we sat down for a meal at Three Broomsticks. We ate our roasted chicken and turkey legs and drank Butterbeer (the most delicious drink ever) We went to Ollivander's Wand Shop where they picked out a wand for someone in the room. The 14 year old girl they picked was decked out in Harry Potter attire and almost cried. Her mother was tearing up for the excitement her daughter felt. It was a really cool experience to see how much this meant to the girl and her family, in fact we all felt a little emotional. We rode all of the rides in the park and were beyond soaked after the 3 water rides and tried unsuccessfully to dry out by riding rollercoasters. We left the park water soaked and with squishy shoes then headed back to our parking lot to sleep for the night.



Alicia, Nick, and Natalie at Universal Studios




Alicia, Natalie, and Nick in Dr. Sues land

We drove South to Miami Beach for a day of relaxation. After driving around for quite some time we found parking that would fit the motor home. This is an issue we have continued to have in larger cities. Most parking is in garages that will not fit the height of our 11'6" motor home. We had to find a parking lot near an outside shopping strip that was a bit further from the beach. We planned to lay on the beach but got distracted by the shops and spent the day dragging Nick around to beach shops. When it got late we drove into Miami city through the freshly rain flooded streets and parked for the night.

In the morning Nick and Natalie were hoping for a day of doing nothing but I had other ideas. I drove us east to Everglades Nat'l Park where we hiked along the swamps and canopy of trees. We saw our first alligator in the swamp swimming along. After a couple minutes he sank down deep under the water and we walked along. Natalie spotted an alligator laying right next to the walkway under the trees. We watched him and he watched us. He just laid there about 5 feet away from us. It was pretty scary being that close to such a large predator. Next to the gator in the water was a smaller one just laying in the shallows also watching us. We stood there taking pictures and being cautious about the huge reptiles. Seeing the alligators completely made our trip. We would have been pretty bummed if we hadn't found any while in Florida. There was tons of wildlife from brightly colored grasshoppers the size of our palms, turtles, and birds. We continued along to other hikes where we got eaten alive by mosquitoes and are probably now infected with West Nile. We ran one trail to stay away from the blood suckers. We drove through the park to the ocean at Flamingo Beach, an area that was once heavily populated by Flamingos but now seeing them is rare. We didn't see any Flamingos sadly so we drove on to Ft. Lauderdale. We planned to take a ferry in the morning from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas but the prices kept fluctuating every time we looked and eventually the cheapest we could find was $200 a person which wasn't something we could justify. We stayed at an RV park and on our way to the pool I almost stepped on a baby python. Thank god I didn't see it otherwise I would have cried. Natalie saw it and watched it slither away through the grass. This was the first and only snake siting we saw, thankfully. After a day of reptiles we relaxed by swimming in the pool. When we got out I read a "children's" book There's a Hair in my Dirt: a worm story by Gary Larson of Farside cartoons. This isn't really a children's book and was hilarious. I bought it at the Nat'l Park and couldn't put it down. I read the short story out loud sharing the pictures like elementary school. We then watched Counselor- an action movie that was funny and gory and left us with a WTF did we just watch. We realized it was now 3:30 am and climbed into our beds for the night.

Nick hiking through the Everglades

Large cricket in the Everglades



Butterfly with broken wing in Everglades

Bird hunting for lunch

Alligator swimming through the swamp

Alligator laying in the water, keeping his eye on us

Quote:
      "Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place."

From the Land of Enchantment to the Lone Star State



Map Route

Right now I've been having issues loading pictures, it seems to only load some pictures if I size them down really small and others load fine, so I apologize for the quality.

We woke up in Taos and went to a local pottery store that had everything from rugs, to glassware, to mirrors. All of the items had a Spanish design.We loved everything in the store and it was so large we spent over an hour looking at all of the items. I bought a blanket with birds on it and some small Terra-cotta tiles to make into a picture frame. We continued on to the day's itinerary, we drove along the enchanted circle, a drive that winds through pines of Carson Nat'l forest and some ski resort towns, circling Wheeler Peak (the tallest Mt. in NM). We also drove around Eagle's Nest Lake then came full circle back to Taos. We headed south toward Santa Fe, where we went to White Rock overlook, a view of the Rio Grande. We got into Santa Fe around 5pm, we found a parking lot and paid for overnight parking. We walked the streets of down town Santa Fe until we found a Mexican restaurant. We got dinner and drinks at the Blue Corn Cafe. This is the first location that I had issues with my California driver's licence. My licence is vertical (an easy sign of someone under 21), I never got a new ID because California gave me the ID a month before my 21st, and I didn't see a reason to pay for another seeing as if someone actually looked at my ID they would see that I am over 21. At the Blue Corn Cafe, the waiter had to have his manager look at my ID before they could serve me. Of course nothing was wrong so I got my drink. The food was amazing!! We left the restaurant to find a bar to hang out in for the night. There was a mariachi band- all ladies, and they were really good. We stopped on the street to listen to them, along with the ever growing crowd. We listened to couple songs then went to a bar for a live band. We had got a flyer earlier for the band playing at the Underground. Here I ran into an issue again with my vertical licence, they actually wouldn't let me in to the bar. They didn't accept any vertical ID's. Luckily I had my passport in the motor home otherwise we would have had to call it a night. Natalie and I got our passports specifically for this trip that way we could take a day ferry to the Bahamas while in Florida. The bar in Santa Fe had the band playing downstairs and was really dark and had a strange vibe to it. The music wasn't very good so after 30 minutes we decided we had better find somewhere else. We walked through Santa Fe streets admiring the items in the windows of the closed shops. Along the way we heard some music coming from a hotel bar. At the Palace they were doing karaoke and the people singing were so good that the music was actually enjoyable. Here I just used my passport and didn't try my ID. We enjoyed drinks and listened to the local talent. One guy sang a couple Bloodhound Gang songs which made us super happy- especially "The Ballad of Chasey Lain"  I got Nick and Natalie to sing "Holy Diver" by Dio which was hilarious because neither of them really knew the song. I was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face. At the end of the night we walked back to our home.


Alicia and Natalie at White Rock Overlook

Singing ladies in Santa Fe

Natalie laying on her new bird blanket

In the morning we went to a couple shops in Santa Fe looking for some gifts. After shopping for a little to long we started to drive to Albuquerque and stopped at another pottery store, this one was twice as big as the one in Taos. It had a a lot of the same things but also a lot of different items- I got a nude Frida painting. When we got to Albuquerque and it was beyond hot, so we decided to find some ice cream and after walking down the main street we found a diner to cool off in. We were not impressed by Albuquerque and preferred Santa Fe so we didn't stay to long. We drove to Amarillo, TX to stay at an RV park. As we entered Texas it was immediately humid and even hotter. The late night didn't do much as far as cooling us down.

Natalie loving on a pink dino in Albuquerque

We left Amarillo around 3:00 because we had laundry to do and Natalie had to re-dye her hair. The owner of the RV park said that it was normally not that humid but there was rain recently. He told us it's usually very dry. At this point I don't know what would be better. We were going to head to the WinStar Casino in Oklahoma then go to Dallas for a night on the town but on the drive we realized how late it was getting and decided to just head to Dallas. After finding a place to park for the night, and getting dressed we called a cab to take us to a club in downtown Dallas. The cab was supposed to take 15 min to get there but after 30 min we called, they said they were in route eventually after an hour of waiting we canceled. It was now 12:30 and we didn't want to pay to go somewhere for an hour, so we followed the sound of music to a bar a around the block. There was a guy playing acoustic guitar and singing alternative covers, he was really good so we stayed at the bar till close. We walked around the area then headed back to the motor home and called it a night.



Texas sure does love America

Natalie's worm

We woke up miserably hot in Dallas, after getting groceries we decided to drive to the WinStar casino, it's the largest casino in the world. The casino was amazing, each section is designed to look like a different country. There was Cairo with a sphinx and Beijing with crystal dragons. We walked through the casino and looked at the little shops, we got lunch at Toby Keith's Bar because our first option only open for dinner. At Toby Keith's the waitress thought it was one of our birthdays and gave us a free shot of tequila. It just happened to be the end of the bottle so the shot came with the worm. After some convincing Natalie drank the tequila worm. On our way back to Dallas we found a lake to swim at and got out of the heat. We went to Ray Roberts lake and laid on the beach and did some yoga in the sand. This lake has tons of Zebra Mussels so we found a lot of shells ranging from the size of a speck to a silver dollar. We played on the playground then used the campground showers before finishing the drive to Dallas.


Alicia in "Cairo"

Nick in "New York"

Again we woke up hot and hurried out of Dallas to Austin, TX.  We stopped at a boot outlet looking for some inexpensive cowboy boots but couldn't find any we wanted, and we stopped at a thrift store and got some cheap shorts. We made lunch at a park and went outside to sit under a tree to eat, in a matter of minutes we were covered in mosquitoes. We each had at least 10 on us and a swarm followed as we ran back to the motor home. We spent the next couple of minutes killing mosquitoes and decided eating inside was best. In Austin we found a parking lot that we could stay over night and walked the main street. We found tons of really cool bars. The first bar we went to Friends had live music with a really good rock band. The guitarist was walking through the building and behind the bar all while jamming. We decided to check more of the bars out and went next door to Bourbon Girl. The bartender was a really nice guy and gave Natalie and I extra drinks from what was left in the mixer. We talked to him about how we like Austin more than Dallas so far, so he got Nick an extra shot for free. We told him about our trip then he wrote down a couple places where we should go while in Austin. We played a bean bag toss game, a patron stumbled over and bought Nick a drink. He also joined us in the bean bag toss game. Before we left the bartender gave Natalie and I free drinks. We continued on down the streets stopping at the bars along the way. We got to a bar with a mechanical bull. I decided I would ride it since I was in Texas. The operator went easy on me because I told him to not break my neck. After that everyone wanted to buy us drinks, we continued on to other bars. At the end of the night we got a free ride back to our home from a bicycle taxi. We were all pretty smitten with Austin.



Alicia and Natalie at Bourbon Girl in Austin, TX



Alicia riding the Bull in Austin, TX

We woke up hating life- hungover and hot and the motor home was starting to smell. I honestly thought the smell was from lack of showers, it wasn't until later that day that we found it was the garbage from making dinner the night before. I left the motor home and walked through the streets looking for breakfast. All that was open was Starbucks. I got some fresh fruit and sat on the couch enjoying the AC. The owner saw me and asked if I was bored, I told him I was just tired and he gave me a Starbucks gift card. So far Austin was awesome, everyone had been so nice. We then went to Barton Springs, a park with access to the Colorado river to swim in. The bartender from the night before had told us about how awesome the place was. We floated on our raft and swam all day. At 6 we packed up and went back to the park. There we cooked dinner and had a picnic in the park. I read stories from our book until it got too dark to see. We packed up and went back to our parking lot in downtown Austin. We went to a couple bars but called it a night early. Tomorrow we will head to San Antonio and then to Houston.

Natalie chilling on the raft at Barton Springs in Austin, TX

Quote:
       "Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life" ~Michael Palin

Rocky Mountains

Map Route

Sunday morning we left Moab, feeling a little like we were saying goodbye to home again since we had set up a sort of home base there for the last couple of days. The drive to Colorado was beautiful especially in the transition from desert sand to pines and aspens. If I wasn't homesick by now, Colorado definitely made it worse. We followed the highway along the Colorado river, through red canyons and the growing greener foliage. In Grand Junction we met up with an IG friend, Josh, and grabbed coffee downtown. He let us know about the Walmart down the street, which made us happier than it should have. After driving through small towns for the last week where there was only convenience stores we had become desperate for cheap supplies. At Walmart we picked up a new ice chest that would stay cold longer and actually had a drainage plug. (Thanks nick for picking out the last one :)  ) we also needed a blanket for Nick as he forgot his bedding. It was a good thing we got a blanket because Colorado sure does get cold at night. We then met back up with Josh who took us to "Moon Rock" a huge cliff top that overlooks Grand Junction. We watched the sunset, the city lights flicker on, and eventually the stars popped out. We sat on the rock talking about our adventures to come but mainly just sat in silence. The only noise was crickets. When it was time to go we accidently wandered off the path and spent a couple minutes retracing our steps to get back to the car. Natalie was a real champ and drove till 3am to get us to Georgetown, CO. We slept in the visitor center parking lot.



The sunset over Grand Junction at Moon Rock

Josh, Alicia, Natalie, and Nick at Moon Rock

As it turned out we had picked a great place to stay since the visitor center offered free coffee and hot chocolate in the morning, after staying up so late we needed it. We then drove to the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. The drive there is amazing to say the least. The road meanders up the mountains through little towns and closed ski resorts. By the time we got to Winter Park, CO it had started raining and the wind had picked up. We stopped for soup to warm up then continued to climb in elevation. At the visitors center in the park, a ranger let us know about a short hike to a waterfall just outside the park. We backtracked and hiked to Adam's falls. It was a narrow waterfall that ran along the mountain side with the water carving its way through the rocks and aspens. Once back inside the park we stopped at Coyote Valley, a short hike between the Colorado river and a mountain side. Throughout the park were large valleys with herds of Elk grazing. We drove through the park all the way to the 12,000 ft elevation peak. The mountain tops still had snow and the air was freezing. After snapping a few pics of the scenic view overlooking the valley we headed down the mountain and to Denver. Along the way we sold our old cooler on craigslist. We need all the room we can get in this small camper. In Denver we grabbed pizza and then found a parking lot to park for the night. We were going to try some Rocky Mountain Oysters but we got into Denver too late on a Monday night. Thank god ;)

Alicia at the peak in Rocky Mt Park

A small lake in Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

Natalie and Alicia at Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

In the morning we left Denver and headed south. We did a drive through of the Garden of the Gods, then took a scenic loop on hwy 24. We tried to drive up Pikes Peak but they wanted $12 a person, apparently America isn't the land of the free but the land of ripoffs. We're finding out quickly that everywhere wants to charge you for nature. To heal our broken hearts from missing out on Pikes Peak we stopped for local handmade ice cream- I got Rocky Road for Colorado :) Continuing down the highway we stopped at Florrisant Fossil Park and got to see petrified redwoods. It's amazing how huge the tree stumps are and how well they had been preserved. We drove towards Sand Dunes Nat'l Park but it had gotten late so we picked up a movie and found a campsite in Alamosa, CO to settle in for the night.

Natalie at Garden of the Gods




Alicia with a petrified redwood at Florrisant Fossil Park



Natalie channeling a Flamingo

Nick riding a Pelican



Alicia taming the giant chicken













This morning we got up and enjoyed well water showers ( the ones that smell like rotten eggs from the sulphur). At Sand Dunes Nat'l Park we played in the warm stream of water trickling through the sand. We were told that the park is the highest elevation beach in the world. After running around the dunes, we left the park and drove 4 miles down a gravel road to get to Zapata Falls. The creaking of the motor home was really annoying as we hit bump after bump. The falls definitely made the drive worth it. We hiked to the falls, from looking at the river it seemed to be a small waterfall running over larger rocks, but we went further upstream to get a better look. We had to traverse along rocks to avoid our shoes from getting wet. At the top of the river was a cave that we had to wade in the water to get to. We took our shoes off and balanced on rock tops to avoid the freezing water. Once inside the cave you could see a larger waterfall that ran down a crack in the rock. It was quite an amazing view. During the winter the waterfall freezes over and from pictures looks even more enchanting. We scrambled back across the rocks to continue on our drive. We made it into New Mexico and our first stop was at the Rio Grande Gorge,  canyon that's carved out by the Rio Grande River. We were able to walk across a bridge to look straight down over the river. We watched the sky start to turn pink from the sun setting and drove into Taos for the night. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe.



Nick and Natalie playing in the stream at the Dunes

Natalie and Alicia on the Dunes

Alicia and Nick at Zapata Falls

Our feet over the Rio Grande River

Quote:
     " For all its material advantages the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villiages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood." ~Carl Sagan