22 PART V ~ HOME SWEET HOME

HOME AT LAST

We have been home for twelve days and we are finally settled in and back to "life as it was before".  The trailer has been unpacked, cleaned and returned to storage.  The house has been cleaned, the laundry done and most of the stuff we have unpacked has been put away.  However, we still have a back room with stuff all over the bed waiting to be sorted through and put away.  Doesn’t everyone have a “back room” where the door always stays closed!?  Halloween has passed us by.  The days are shorter and the temps are dropping at night.  Winter is around the corner.

However, the weather has been gorgeous during the day; sunny and clear.  So we have been tending to the yard, clearing the weeds, raking the leaves and just enjoying being outside at our “Home Sweet Home”.  We have also been busy visiting friends and family, taking the ferry to the city and enjoying a Wine and Food event.  Now it is time to get ready for Thanksgiving and do Christmas shopping and decorate the house.   There is Christmas music in the shops already!  As we settled back into life in Cotati we have reflected on the last four months.

As usual, we had a wonderful and exciting cross country trip.  We have now visited and explored all 50 states (including Hawaii, but not with the trailer).  Over the last 6 years we have seen so much of our wonderful country, learned a lot about our US history, saw so many different cultures, styles of living, home styles, small country villages and towns, big cities with towering buildings, animal life, people life, heard many different accents, viewed all kinds of terrain; barren landscapes, deserts, mountains, rolling hills, lush woods and forests, picturesque farms, fields of corn, wheat, potatoes, etc, vineyards, sandy beaches and on and on. 

People ask us what our most favorite place is, what is the best city, town, attraction, etc.  That is a question that cannot be answered as there are so many. 

Even though we have visited and explored all 50 states; we have not seen everything.  There is still a lot to see and do and we will continue doing cross country trips.  But now we will rest and enjoy being home for the next year.  Below is a summary and review of our 2011 trip.

SUMMARY

PART I

We searched for wood quilt patches on historic barns in Oregon, saw a light show on Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, followed parts of the Lewis and Clark trail in Montana and North Dakota, visited the Mississippi Headwaters  where the Mississippi River starts and the only place you can walk across the Mississippi.  We went shopping at Mall America in Minnesota; the largest mall in the US.  Saw the shores of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron of the Great Lakes.  We took a boat ride through the Dells in Wisconsin and drank cherry wine in Door County, Wisconsin.  We drove over the third longest suspension bridge in the world in Michigan and saw where Mackanic Fudge was made famous, also in Michigan.

PART II

We had a great time visiting Canada.  In Ontario and Quebec we revisited the wonderful Montreal Botanical Gardens and the historic Quebec City.  We had new adventures and saw wonderful sights when we visited the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia for the first time.  In New Brunswick we saw mythical creatures in a garden and walked back in time to experience what it was like to live in a 1790’s settlement.  

We saw the famous Bay of Fundy where the tides are the world’s highest and walked the sea floor during low tide.  And we lived through a crisis with our “escape” kitty, Crystal, when she became gravely ill.  We thought we were going to lose her, but she pulled through and today she is better than ever! In Prince Edward Island we were in the “Land of Ann” and saw the beautiful farm land that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write “Ann of Green Gables”.  We explored the island and visited the many galleries and studios where local crafters sold their creations. In Nova Scotia we saw spectacular coastal views on the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island and again walked back in time at an 18th century French fortified village.  We walked the sea floor again at low tide on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy.

PART III

We were too early for the full glory of the fall colors in the New England area.    We did see a lot of color, but we were out of the area before it reached its peak.  We saw signs of fall everywhere with pumpkins, scarecrows and ghosts decorating storefronts and peoples homes. We enjoyed many sights in the area.  We saw the rocky shores of Acadia National Park and walked the streets of quaint harbor towns in Maine.  We visited Concord, the capital city and home of Christa McAuliffe in New Hampshire.  We spent some time visiting with good friends in the Albany area of New York and explored an underground river inside Howe Caverns and shopped at some quaint country stores. 

In Massachusetts we visited the Kennedy family home town of Hyannis and explored the Cape Cod area and saw Provincetown, the first stop of the Mayflower.  And we saw the “rock” where the Pilgrims made their home in Plymouth in 1620.   We stayed in the smallest state of the US and toured some mansions of the rich and famous in Newport, Rhode Island.  We went back into history and walked the streets of 19th century Mystic Seaport in Connecticut and we walked the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  We rode the ferry at Cape May and crossed the Delaware Bay where the Delaware River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

PART IV

We said goodbye to the East Coast and headed west to home.  We saw the Amish farmers hard at work on their farms and riding their horse and buggy’s on the roads alongside the cars in the Dutch Country in Pennsylvania.  We saw beautiful fall colors in Ohio.  We quickly passed through Indiana, Illinois and Iowa because we had no time to explore these states, but have done so during past cross country trips.  In Nebraska we had dinner in Ogalala, the “Queen of the Cowtowns” where from 1875 to 1885 this was the “end of the trail” for Texas cattle drives.  We drove through the desert landscapes and then the Rocky Mountains in Colorado where we saw Aspen and Cottonwood trees in full color.  We relaxed, hiked and viewed gorgeous high cliffs at Zion National Park in Utah.  We drove through barren, desert landscapes in Nevada and saw the sparkling lights of Reno.  And finally on the 112 day we reached HOME SWEET HOME!

REVIEW

1.   Traveled for 112 days

2.   We traveled a total of 15,916 miles;  

    10,935 miles towing the trailer                  

4,981 miles in the Ford sightseeing

17 miles over water (ferries)                                           

3.  Visited 25 states: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah and Nevada

4.  Visited 5 Provinces:  Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

5.  Visited  107  cities, towns, villages

6.  Visited  13  National Parks, Monuments, etc

7.  Visited  8  Historical Sites

8.  Visited  7  Botanical gardens

9.  Visited  8  Zoos,

10. Visited  4 Aquariums

11. Visited  12 Museums

12. Attended  10 Events

13. Visited  50 Other Attractions

14.  Experienced  3  crisis:  Broken Axle on trailer (delayed trip for 6 days), lost cat for 6 days (Crystal), 3 emergency vet visits for Crystal (became critically ill).

15.  Experienced  3  “Happy Dances”:  Broken axle arrived and was replaced, Crystal came “home”, Crystal recovered from illness and is doing very well.

21 DAY 107 – 112, OCT 24 – 29 ~ MID WESTERN US

UTAH 

We continued on Interstate 70 through the rest of Colorado. 


In Utah we stayed on Interstate 70 and drove through what looked like vast wastelands.  But it actually was quite beautiful.

We drove through Goblin Valley with rock formations that really do look like goblins. 

Another area we drove through the San Rafael Swell.  It is dry and barren, but has beautiful mounds and cliffs and rock formations.  It almost looks like a “painted desert”.  Interstate 70 ended at Interstate 15 and we headed south on 15 to Zion National Park.  This was a long drive, but a beautiful and scenic drive.

 

We will spend two days and three nights relaxing at Zion National Park.  This is one of our favorite Parks and we have visited this area many times.  After 7.5 hours and 403 miles we arrived at Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort in Springdale, Utah; a few blocks from the entrance to the National Park.

ZION CANYON CAMPGROUND and RV RESORT

This is a fairly nice campground.  It is a combination Quality Inn and RV Resort.  The campground is behind the Inn and borders the Virgin River and has a fantastic view of the red cliffs and mountains.  The campground has about 200 sites.  Sites are small and a bit crowded and most of them are set up to where you are facing the hotel and not the beautiful mountains that you see at the end of the park.  Some sites even face each other to where you share a common space.  That could really get crowded. 

View from our campsite

SPRINGDALE

Springdale is a resort town with some great shops, galleries, restaurants and bed and breakfast inns.  We stay here every time we visit Zion and we have watched this little village really grow.

 

 See the kitty?



ZION NATIONAL PARK

Zion National Park is very picturesque with lots of fantastic view points and some of the greatest hiking trails.  Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great basin and Mojave Desert provinces, this Park was established in 1919 and is 229 square miles.

We started out at the visitor center at the south entrance.  The main road at the south entrance closed to private cars in 1999.  You now have to take a shuttle bus.  That bus takes you to about 9 points on that road and you can get off or on at any of those points.  A bus will arrive at each point about every 10 minutes.  It is very convenient and so friendly to the environment.  The bus runs on propane.  It is nice not to have to hassle with the gridlock traffic, noise and crowds.  And the bus will stop when wildlife is sighted.

From the visitor’s center we took the shuttle to the end of that main road to Temple of Sinawava.  We hiked on the Riverside Trail and ended at the gateway to the Zion Narrows.  The Riverside Trail follows the Virgin River and it is an easy, relaxing walk with great views of the red cliffs and the river.  We did not continue into the Narrows.  This is a strenuous hike and you will get wet because trail goes through the river in several sections of the hike.  We saw a couple of groups preparing for that walk and they had on waterproof suits and shoes.  One of these days, when I get young again, I may attempt this hike as it is quite beautiful and spectacular. 

We did two more hikes during the two days we were at Zion.  There was a short hike to the Emerald Pools.  At the pools you can walk behind the veils of the water that falls into the pool.  At this time there is not a waterfall, but more like sprinkles.  This too is a nice and scenic walk that is less than 2 miles round trip.  This was a beautiful and relaxing day with sunny skies and mild temperatures.

 

Another short hike was to the start of the Angels Landing Trail and saw more scenery and views.  We did not continue on to Angels Landing as that is a very strenuous hike that switchbacks up one of those steep cliffs.  This will be another hike that I will attempt in my next life when I am young again.

 

Shuttle Bus 

 

 There is a trail along the face of this cliff.  Zoom in on the picture on the right and you can see people walking.  This is the trail to Angels Landing.

The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway is a road off of the main road that takes you to the East Entrance of the Park. This road is open to private cars.  This is a winding road that takes you through a mile long tunnel.  This tunnel was constructed from 1927 – 1930 and is 5613 feet long (1.1 mile).  To construct the tunnel it required blasting through 2,000 foot thick Navajo Sandstone.  The tunnel can accommodate 2-way traffic, but if a truck or trailer needs to travel through, the traffic is stopped and one way traffic is escorted through with the larger vehicle driving in the middle of the tunnel.  Once you get through the tunnel, the scenery in this part of Zion National Park is very different from the main road scenery.  Along with the huge cliffs you will see mounds of spiraling rock that is also very beautiful and scenic.

 

 

 

 Checkerboard Mesa

Mountain Sheep

 

The next day we will leave Utah and drive into Nevada.  We will be staying in this state for two nights.  Three more days until HOME!

NEVADA

We continued on Interstate 15 through Utah into a corner of Arizona and into Nevada.  We are now in the Pacific Time Zone and are on the same time as California. 

This area of Nevada is all desert and very barren except for this impressive canyon we drove through with towering cliffs called Virgin River Gorge.

We drove through Las Vegas on a highway that totally bypasses Las Vegas.  We are out in the desert with nothing around the highway except a few strip malls that look brand new.  You can see Las Vegas in the distance through the haze.  There is a lot of smog out here.  But wait...it’s a building that has a flashing “Now Open” sign on it...it’s a...it’s a...casino!!  It won’t be long before this new highway is totally surrounded by casinos and shopping malls. 

 We drove north on the west side of Nevada into Beatty where we will stay overnight before heading onto Sparks.   After 5 hours and 269 miles we arrived at Beatty RV Park in Beatty, Nevada.

BEATTY RV PARK

This is a very small RV park (about 30 sites) next to the main road.   There are two rows of pull thru sites that are too short to accommodate the big rigs that were parked in them.  These trailers stuck out blocking access between the rows.  Fortunately we were at the end of the row and were not blocked in.  All the sites were taken and the place looked like a parking lot.  This is not a comfortable place to stay in, but it is convenient for an overnight stop on your way through the desert. 

 

We did not unhitch as there really was no place to go to or see in this area.  We had no WiFi or cable TV.  So it was a nice evening to just read and relax.

We had a long drive to our next destination, so we got an early start the next morning.  We continued on US93.  The area was barren and flat, and the road stretched out in front of you as far as the eye could see.  You were out in nowhere land with very small mining towns between long stretches of road. We passed the area where atomic testing was done.  We also passed an area referred to as Area 51...  Another area was filled with man made mounds as far as the eye could see.  This is where military munitions are stored.  This is a very lonely road.

After 5.5 hours and 324 miles we arrived at Sparks Marina RV Park in Sparks, Nevada

SPARKS MARINA RV PARK

This is an excellent RV park that is across from the man made Marina area in Sparks Nevada.  It is has about 250 sites that are paved and level on 6 even rows.  All the sites are identical with astro turf in between the sites.  The property is well maintained and very clean.  The restrooms are great and there is a very nice lounge.  They provide free WiFi and cable TV.  We stay here every time we are in the Reno area and we highly recommend it.

    

We did unhitch and drove to the other side of Reno to look for a place to have dinner.  We ate at Macaroni Grill.  This is an old favorite of ours from when we lived in Arizona.  It is a Friday night and we did not want to deal with any crowds, so we stayed away from the casinos in downtown Reno.

CALIFORNIA

It was in the high 20’s during the night.  We had to unhook our water hose so the water inside the hose would not freeze.  It was freezing when we woke up in the morning.  Is winter here??  We quickly broke camp and got on our way.  We were so anxious to get home.  It was a strange ride through the pass between Reno and Truckee.  The temps were around 27 degrees and all moisture in the air froze and we were almost driving through a white-out.  We drove through Truckee and we had clear, sunny and warmer weather.

After 4.5 hours and 232 miles we arrived home, just in time for lunch!

COTATI

HOME SWEET HOME

See the next posting; PART V for a review and a summary of the Charleston’s Trailer Tripping across the USA and the Canadian Maritimes.