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Passports Not Hallpasses

Family of Four Traveling the World, Exploring New Countries and Learning a Lot Along the Way

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Sunny San Diego

From Joshua Tree, we decided to go on down to San Diego since we were so close. We really wanted Keali to have a chance to do the safari at the San Diego Zoo. We got lucky and scored a place in the marina at Chula Vista.

A pretty storm was rolling in when we arrived.

The marina was nice with its convenience, but made it hard to get out and go do activities.

We made it to the zoo with Keali. Caden didn’t really want to go, so since we ended up only being three, we upgraded our tickets. The caravan safari ended up being absolutely brilliant. Not only did we all get to feed giraffes, but we also fed some rhinos (and the baby one was an extra special surprise).

A juvenile giraffe loved the leaves.

Scott loved the baby rhinos as much as it loved the apples.

It was by all accounts a fantastic day.

Another day we headed over to the USS Midway. It was the first time we had all been on an aircraft carrier. The size of the ship was simply overwhelming. The ship they launch from in Top Gun doesn’t adequately portray the size of the carriers. Ha.

Keali landed in the brig.

The kids enjoyed an afternoon of playing on Coronado Beach too. Even they thought the water was too cold, they had a big time digging in the sand together. I suppose at some point soon, sand will be boring, but for now, it’s one of the cutest things I love to see.

Other than some down time, we really didn’t accomplish much else. Keali and I took Gracie on several long walks on the beach which she loved. And we all enjoyed a few super lazy days. It was a good stop, but we could’ve done with a little less time in San Diego. We were ready to leave when we did.

Buzzing through Joshua Tree National Park

After leaving the Mojave, we drove the quick hour or so trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

I’m sure that had we not just played in the biggest forest of Joshua trees, we would have been far more impressed with the national park. And while it had beautiful rock formations and many cacti in bloom, it wasn’t enough for us to decide to spend more time than the obligatory trip through the park.

We did of course stop for the kids to do the junior ranger books, but my advice to the traveler would be to skip it in lieu of Mojave Desert.

Mojave Desert National Preserve

From Death Valley, we moved on down the road to Mojave Desert National Preserve. Our first “wow” was seeing all the Joshua trees in the park. We had learned from a Death Valley ranger that Mojave has the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. (This is really quite impressive until you remember that they are native only to this tiny part of California.) But to be fair, there were tons of Joshua trees.

Joshua trees were everywhere. They are some weird cross between a tree and a cactus.

We stopped in at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center where a park ranger told us of a few great spots we could drycamp in. The depot was worth stopping at just for the depot itself. It is a historical site that has been converted into the visitor center. It also had a nice jail in front which could come in handy with cheeky kids.

Our first choice was right next to Kelso Sand Dunes. We were lucky to find no one else camped there. We were also lucky in that we fit in the spot. Our views of the sand dunes (let’s call them what they were: mountains) were exceptional. We decided we would climb them the next morning since it was already pretty hot.

The dunes at sunset were spectacular!

So we set off to see the lava tubes in the northern end of the preserve. A five mile washboard road was worth it when we finally arrived the tubes.

I’ve seen recently that other civilizations have used lava tubes in the past as housing. It was pretty incredible to see how the earth could create such a fantastic geological shape to move around in.

Lava tube!

The next morning, Keali and I were off to climb the sand mountain. It took us over and hour and a half to get to the peak. The main reason we wanted to climb the dunes was to experience the “booming”. The sand is such a quality that when at the top of a dune, walking will cause the sand to slide down and rub against other particles making a deep “boom” sound with easy step.

I tried to video it but none of them came out. It was pretty cool though and Keali had a great time making booms with her hands. The climb was incredibly high, but we made it. Coming down from the dunes was the most fun (obviously).

The drop off of the dune was just beside her.

Later that day, we headed to the other side of the preserve to climb the Ring Trail. I couldn’t help but laugh as Caden stiffly navigated the trail in fear of rattlesnakes. He refused to walk in front so that the snakes would bite Keali instead of him.

Needless to say, we didn’t see snakes, but the cacti were in bloom and the rings were fun, albeit challenging, to climb.

Climbing the rings

The petroglyphs were exciting to see as well.

Our final morning was spent seeing the cute kit fox family that moved in right next to the RV.

They stayed like this for over an hour. Kitty wanted in on the action too.

We learned about how they mate and stay together while raising the young. Our little family consisted of the mom, dad, and two baby foxes. Super cute!

We left knowing that while the Mojave Desert wasn’t a national park, it would rank up as high as any of the parks we would go to.

Beating the Heat in Death Valley

We drove straight through Las Vegas. I wasn’t sure Scott was going to be able to resist the urge to stop and put a few bets down, but he overcame it. We ended up stopping at Longstreet Casino since it was only about 20 minutes to the entry of the park.

We stayed just on the Nevada side of the state line. Our view looked into California and Death Valley.

The “casino” was hardly a casino since it consisted of some slot machines, a few poker machines, and not a single dealer table. It also had a hotel “wing” on it, a swimming pool, and some sort of what some might call a petting zoo (one sheep, one donkey, and a water buffalo). I’d argue the place left a lot to be desired, but the used condom on the floor was certainly an overdeliver that none of us expected. Suffice it to say that we didn’t spend much time in the casino.

We expected to only spend a half day at Death Valley. It turned out to be an amazing place. We ended up spending three days there and loved every moment of it.

The scenery was spectacular. Around every corner was a new view.

The salt flats at the lowest point in North America.

 

Caden was hot.

There were snow topped mountains in one direction and salt flats in another. The slot canyons were our favorites.

There were some trails that we squeezed between boulders, while some we crawled under boulders.

We managed to up our hiking and completed a three mile, as well as a four mile hike in addition to the smaller “scouting” hikes we did.

The sand dunes were huge and incredible to see and climb on.

One thing that made the trip successful was that we left the house very early every morning to arrive the hiking trails early. By lunch time, the temperatures were already starting to creep over 100 degrees.

We used that as an excuse to nap a little in the afternoons. But prior to leaving the park, we spent two lunches at the Death Valley Inn. It was a little oasis in the middle of the desert. My understanding is that they were there prior to the park becoming a national park and so were able to stay there as a swank hotel with a delicious restaurant. The kids loved the fish tacos, and I was in love with the salads. It was a sweet find in an otherwise desolate but beautiful park.

I can’t imagine how much water it took to keep the grounds green in the heat.

There is no question that Death Valley is our favorite national park so far. I’d love to go back in February and explore some more.

Keali and I climbed a couple of badlands as we left the park. The views were amazing.

We managed to find the smallest of streams that was outlined with green grass and flowers.

Arizona After Tucson

Petrified Forest

Petrified Forest was so much better then I thought it would be. It is my favorite national park we have been to on this trip. The best part of it was you felt like you were on a different planet. Nothing there looked like Earth.

I would definitely go back if we were passing through. We went on a couple really cool hikes. We at least saw about 50 different whole logs. I thought the coolest bit about the hike was the history of these logs. The most interesting thing that I learned was how the wood got petrified.

How it gets petrified

1.The tree falls down and goes into a river

2.The minerals in the river that make the petrified wood is silica

3.The wood gets stuck in the mud and sits there

4.Then the river dries out and you still can’t see the wood

5.The mud erodes and you have your petrified wood

Bye, Petrified forest
I will miss you:(

Boondocking

We are in Flagstaff, Arizona and are boondocking in the Coconino national forest. We pull into this crazy bumpy dirt road and not sure if we should keep going, and right before we were going to turn around, a nice spot was right in front of us. So we pull in and unload. We all jump out stretching our legs from the four hour drive. Since we were boondocking we let Gracie (our dog) off the leash. Caden and I can’t wait to explore, so we unload and grab our bikes. We go pretty far on a trail and see a herd of about ten to fifteen elk. At about that time, we’re ready to head in. That night it was twenty degrees out side and we didn’t have a heater. Everyone was freezing.

The next day we stay around the RV. Caden, my mom, and I go on a mountain biking trail. It was so fun until we got to a really big incline. We were going up for about 40-45 minutes. It was so hard. We walked our bikes for most of the time. We were so happy when it was flat/not incredibly up hill. The trail was finally over and went on to a road which went back down to our RV. Everyone was so sore the next day (from the biking)

Gracie off leash.

Grand Canyon

The next day we headed out to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was beautiful. We did a really short trail along the side of the canyon. I wouldn’t spend more then a day there (unless you go on a long hike). It was so cool. Fun fact: the Grand Canyon rock is half the age of the Earth. What I loved about Grand Canyon is that you could see the history of the rock layers.
My favorite pictures from the Grand Canyon:

National Monuments

Today we headed out to the two National Monuments next to us. The first one we went to is Sunset Crater. It was definitely better then any one expected. The trail we went on was in the middle of dried lava flow. It was so cool and interesting. Every hill and mountain here is a volcano! Scientists are puzzled on how the volcanoes formed here in Arizona.

The second National Monument we went to was Wutpaki National Monument. It was ok. The thing I didn’t like about it was the weather. It was so windy, all the sand got in our eyes. The building that the tribes have built was actually really complex. My favorite thing about it was that there was a fire room. That means there was a vent on the roof and on the sides, so when it got cold they could have a fire and stay warm without the room getting smokey.