Homeward Bound

This will probably be the last posting on this travel blog. After leaving Wisconsin, we spent a couple of days in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and are now now heading straight home ( via I80 through Ohio, Pennsylvania and NJ, right to the GW bridge and home

Places We Liked Best On Our Trip:

Grace: Everything, but maybe California the best

Lucy: Little Town On The Prairie, KOAs in Petaluma, CA & Hayward, WI, and Disneyland

Mike: Yellowstone/Grand Teton, Black Hills, SD & all of Calfornia Coast (esp Redwoods)

Irene: Same as Mike, but would narrow California down to Southern California coast

Places We're Glad We Saw, But Probably Wouldn't Visit Again:

Grand Canyon: Everyone absolutely must see it once, it is as beautiful as it's reputation. But now having seen it, we felt, personally, that once was enough for us.

Glacier National Park: same as above

Mount Rushmore: A little anti-climactic

The entire Southwest section of the US. (Way, way too hot)

Places We're Sorry We Missed And Hope To Catch On A Future Trip:

Rocky Mountain National Park

Crater Lake NP

Yosemite

All of the Pacific Northhest

Northern Minnsota & Wisconsin

Next year, we hope to do a more abbreviated road trip where we will revisit and spend more time in Yellowstone/Grand Teton and try to vist a few of the other places above which we weren't able to see this time. (As well as catch a few old favorites along the route).

Hayward, Wisconsin

We just spent two days in Wisconsin's North Woods. The topography's a little different for a New Yorker. We associate forests with mountains; here its forests & lakes and pretty flat land (at least where we are). Where we've been staying, Hayward, is a big vacation area (maybe year round). We're on the Namekagon River, which is part of the St Croix National Scenic Riverway, a big canoe area and even bigger fishing venue. In the Winter they hold what looks to be a major nordic ski marathon.

One thing that struck us about the Midwest, is how friendly and happy folks seemed at just about everywhere we stayed. (This might just be a lame tourist observation, but we wouldn't say the same thing about the West, for example, or for the part of the world we come from).

So we think there must be some good things going on in the Midwest, since people seem so agreeable even in places where the climate is just awful. Another tourist factoid: the Minneapolis area has extremely aggressive drivers, almost as bad as NYC. A little odd, since it's hard to figure where they're all rushing to.

A Little Bit About Road Trips With Children

Before we started this summer-long car trip, we loosely envisioned staying about five days a week in public campgrounds with the other days in budget hotels (to do laundry, etc). We realized pretty quickly, however, in some states (California comes to mind), it is hard to get a campsite in state and federal parks without reserving sometimes months in advance (not feasible on this type of trip). We also realized that, on some more off-the-beaten-path routes, campgrounds can sometimes be scarce.

Most importantly, though, our children, especially, our younger one, Lucy, (aged 5) are bored in campgrounds. Lucy is not yet a big fan of camping generally.

So, our travel planning has evolved on this trip. Camping will work in public campgrounds with a lot of activities/ amenities. (The national parks are good for this if you can get a site: there are usually ranger programs and often concessions where you can rent boats, etc).

We also learned that tent camping is tricky in some places: on the prairie, constant winds makes things a little bit of a hassle and the Southwest was too hot for us to camp.

Finally, there is a little bit of legwork in setting up camp, this is sometimes too much trouble if you're only there for one night.

So, what we learned: a good KOA can often be the best choice for our kids (emphasis on good,

they vary widely in quality). A tentsite runs about $25 to $30 for a night, camping cabins about $60 to $70. The camping cabins don't have bathrooms, you still use the shared toilets and showers, but they do give you some privacy (usually a problem at KOAs) and are easy if you don't feel like throwing up a tent. And, the big plus side of KOAs are the activities: pools, hayrides, gameroom (tv room), movies, structured activities, petting zoo, jumping pillow, mini golf, internet; the list goes on and on. They are our girls' favorite places to stay. Again, it's important to stay at a good one; you can check out amenities at the KOA website.

Towards the end of our trip, when we were just staying one night at a place, we would stay in a budget chain motel (with pool, tv and internet) or a KOA camping cabin if there was one around. At "destination" sites: Yellowstone, Redwoods, we would tent camp, though, here too it was often a KOA. We signed up for loyalty cards at all of the chains as well as with the KOA; this will give us a couple of free nights down the road.

If we do this trip again, we probably would try to plot out the itinerary a little more in advance and then try to reserve more campsites in more National Park and State Park campgrounds, because it is really nice to be right inside the parks. Many of them, in addition to providing campsites also have cabins and sometimes lodges, all pretty affordable; we would like to hook into those a little better next time around.

But it's been a nice learning experience this trip: trying to figure out an extended vacation that works for all four of us. We've definitely gotten much better at it along the way.

Above is picture of the inside and outside of a camping cabin in the KOA in Hayward, WI, as well as a photo of the girls on the jumping pillow.

New Ulm, Minnesota

New Ulm is very proud of its German-American heritage, and the town has a lot of attractions celebrating this. We stayed at a German-themed Holiday Inn (which is much better than it sounds; it was actually a great hotel). The town has various German festivals (Oktoberfest, Bockfest, etc) and next month is planning a huge celebration to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of Hermann's defeat of the Roman legions. For those who, like ourselves, never heard of Hermann, he is a teutonic Braveheart who united the clans to defeat the Romans, paving the way for an independent Germany. In addition to a huge party next month, they are issuing a commemorative coin and a special label beer from the town brewery.

One of the things most enjoyable about this trip is seeing how Americans all around the country celebrate their heritage, whether its honoring heroes from the old country, building a monument to Crazy Horse (or to Hermann the German), holding priairie days and pioneer days or building little Denmarks (or Norways, Swedens, Bavarias, etc). And let's not forget the county and state fairs where we celebrate who and where we are today.

Here's a picture of a monument to Hermann which is on top of a hill overlooking the City of New Ulm.

More Life On The Prairie

The Laura Ingalls Wilder tour was such a hit yesterday, we spent the morning at a living history attraction on the site of the Ingall's homestead. It sounds hokey, but the girls just loved it... wagon and pony rides, lots of animals and old equipment and prairie buildings. Grace was mortified she had to wear a prairie dress at the school session; Lucy just wanted to spend the day washing towels on a scrub board. Here's some photos of the girls, inlcuding one where they are driving the covered wagon.

Badlands & Little Town On the Prairie

After leaving Hot Springs, we did a quick (too quick) visit to Badlands National Park. We spent the night at Oacoma,SD, on the Missouri River then headed on to the small town of De Smet, South Dakota, childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little house On The Prairie series. Irene is a big fan of the books and insisted on taking the guided tour of points of interest related to the series. (It was actually quite a nice tour).

Here are a few photos of Badlands as well as a photo of the one of the Ingalls' homes.

Douglas, Wyoming

We spent the night in Douglas, Wyoming on the way to South Dakota. Douglas is the home of the world's largest jackalope and here is the picture to prove it.

Grand Teton National Park

After spending two days in Yellowstone, we went to Grand Teton for a couple of days. Grand Teton is just an hour or so south of Yellowstone.

Although Yellowstone is so much larger, Grand Teton can certainly hold it's own with it. We stayed in a "tent cabin " in Colter Bay Village on Jackson Lake inside the park. Those of you who don't tent camp would be appalled by the accomodations, but for those of you who do, these tent cabins are a terrific deal. About $60 a night, basically they are a concrete floor, with two walls of wood and two walls of canvas, with a canvas roof and canvas covered deck. There are two fold down bunk beds (bring your own sleeping bags), a couple of shelves, an indoor wood stove, outdoor fire ring and bear box. There are shared flush toilets, with pay showers a little bit away. It's basically a little step up from tent camping. There are also conventional cabins for those who like it a little more comfortable.

There is also a marina on Jackson Lake where you can rent various types of boats, an activity center to sign up (for a fee) for fishing, rafting, horseback riding and lake cruises. The resort also has a regular campground and RV campground, a restaurant, cafeteria, grocery store and gift shop. These are all run by a concessionaire.

At Colter Bay, there is also a great visitor center, run by the National Park Service, with all kinds of hikes and activities as well as a pretty nice Indian Museum.

But enough about the amenities: the star of the show is the park itself. The view of the mountains can't be beat, it's what draws many first time visitors to the park. The park didn't feel crowded to us the way some others did (Grand Canyon, Redwoods, even Glacier). To us, it felt a little more wild than Yellowstone, but a bit more accessible than Glacier.

Weather was sunny and cool during the day, in the 60s, maybe low seventies, and it was cold at night, in the low 30s, maybe a little colder (and this is mid-August mind you).

The park has several historical sites to capture the lives of the European settlers from a century ago, and, as we said, has a really nice Indian museum to give visitors an understanding of the native people who were there first.

Mike fished on the Snake River and caught some cutthroat trout (he let them go again). While fishing, he also saw some otter pups - (once the otters arrived, though,that was the end of the fish). We saw bald eagles, elk and, some moose during our stay.

The girls just loved the tent cabins and were especially excited to see the moose.

Above are pictures of the mountains, our tent cabins and a photo of a moose with her calf.

Yellowstone

We just spent two days in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. This really is the mother of all parks; two days was nowhere near enough time to visit. This is definitely one of our favorite parks (though we say that about so many of the national parks). Yellowstone is very kid-friendly and there are so many things to do; it is a huge park, with incredible diversity in its landscape and wildlife. For folks who haven't been there, it has an area with canyons and waterfalls, some grassland, some terrific fishing rivers, a very large lake, and don't forget, hydrothermals (Old Faithful and company).

We saw herds of buffalo, herds of elk and a bald eagle (flying over Lake Yellowstone).

President Obama came to Yellowstone the same time we did to see Old Faithful. (we didn't see him, just his helicopters). Here is a photo of the geyser, the President's helicopter and a gi-normous buffalo that walked past our car when we were stuck in traffic. (The traffic jam, I think, was due to the President's visit, this was all going on at the same time).

We just love Yellowstone and really hope to get back there for a longer visit next Summer.

Glacier National Park

We just spent three days in Glacier National Park; all on the west side of the park, for those of you who know the area. We spent the first night at a somewhat run down, but nicely-funky motel/cabin cluster called the Sears Motel in West Glacier. We spent the next night at Glacier Park Lodge also in West Glacier, and the last night in Many Glacier Hotel, further into the park.

We have been trying to get to Glacier for many years, so are glad we finally made it. It is the most rugged park we've been to and we thought it had the most unique landscape. Above is one view of the mountains. Mike and Grace did a day long trip through the park on one of the red antique buses the park is known for. The whole family did a boat cruise on one of the lakes as well.

In a lot of ways, this park is less "kid-friendly" than the others we've been too. There aren't a huge number of easy hikes, the hotels (in the park) aren't really tailored to families, and it is a little hard to get from some sections of the park to the others. And, despite its reputation for remoteness, the areas we stayed in were very, very crowded (though it is peak season).

Having said all of the, the park is extrmely beautiful. Above is a a picture of the mountains, as well as the hotels we stayed in .

Shooting Through Washington

Because of limited time, we're motoring quickly through Washington (and a little bit of Idaho) on our way to Glacier Park, Montana. We really would have liked to spend time in the Pacific Northwest, but, as the case with a couple of other places, we figured rather than rush through the area, we would table it for now, and see it the right way some time in the future.

We should have paid more attention to our geography classes in school; Oregon and Washington were nothing like we imagined. (We had envisioned Oregon and Washington as being all big pine forests and lumberjacks. ) Coastal Oregon had some great forests, but was more like a northern New England coast (with better beaches and better weather). Oregon Dunes looked really amazing; we hope to get back there some day.

We followed the Columbia River a bit (through the scenic gorge over the mountains); that, too, was a really beautiful car trip. We then drove up through Central Washington via Ellensburg to Spokane. This area was primarily desert- it looked sort of like what we saw in Colorado before getting up in the mountains. The weather was more temperate, though: around 80, with really high winds. Folks we spoke to say it's really windy like this all of the time.

In Ellensburg, where we camped the first night, we were next to a very pretty river; the Yakima; it's supposed to be an excellent trout stream. Here's a picture of our campsite. We also stayed the night outside of Spokane, where we ended up in a campsite close to a railroad crossing. The owner had warned us that the campground movie might be a bit loud, but didn't bother to mention the freight trains with their piercing horns that passed through several times during the night. It was a little bit like something out of "My Cousin Vinny". But the owners seemed like nice folks and it was otherwise a nice campground. That stuff's all part of a roadtrip.

Oregon Coast

We drove up the Oregon Coast from northern California today. We had thought it would be more of the same, but the coast was really different from what we saw in California. It was especially striking around the Oregon Dunes- these huge coastal dunes in the Pacific Northwest which are designated a National Recreation Area. This part of the coast seems to have everything all in one place: deep woods, mountains, rivers and oceans.

On the route, we crossed over several really beautiful concrete bridges in an elaborate art-deco style that seemed more like something you would see in NYC rather than the Oregon Coast. We googled them, and it turns out these bridges are kind of famous: they were built by a man named Conde McCullough in the 20s and 30s. Here's a link to some info about the bridges: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BRIDGE/docs/SpanningOregonsCoast/newest_spanning_brochure.pdf

Two other things worth mentioning about today's leg of the trip:

1. Best Fish and Chips Ever: At a little place called the Crazy Norwegian, it's by the side of the road in Port Orford OR. The fish tacos, lemonade and pie were also terrific.

2. Worst Campsite Ever: At the KOA in Waldport, Oregon. We booked a tent site and what we got was- literally- a double-wide parking spot behind a utility shed. It was so genuinely awful, it was worth a photo (picture above). It's actually worse than it looks in the picture. We ended up staying in a hotel instead.

Redwood National and State Parks

After heading north from Mendocino, we visited the Drive Thru Tree; photo above. (Irene is addicted to roadside attractions, and this one is iconic). We then continued through Humboldt County, which, in additon to being America's marijuana capital, has a terrific redwood park: old growth redwoods and sunshine, something you don't see further North.

We spent the past couple of nights outside of Crescent City, near the Oregon border and the northern gateway to Redwood National and State Parks. The parks are great, someone told us parts of E.T. were filmed here. Don't know if it's true, but the old groves do look just like the place where E.T crashed.

It seems very prehistoric, all misty and overcast, with huge trees and huge ferns under them. The national/state parks have not only redwood forests, but prairie (where we saw elk, photo above) and rivers and ocean environments as well. We're very glad we were able to spend a few days here.

MacKerricher State Park (Mendocino)

After leaving Petaluma, we headed up the coast, breaking our journey at MacKerricher State Park north of Mendocino and Ft Bragg. So far, this has been the campground Mike liked the best. The water is too cold and rough for swimming, but there are lots of trails and tidal pools (photo of girls' in the tidal pools above. Also a picture of them in front of a whale skeleton at the campground's nature center). Mendocino is something out of a postcard; I believe they filmed Murder, She Wrote, around here. Ft Bragg is a little less picturesque, but maybe a bit more authentic.

There are a lot of young and not so young people around Ft Bragg and points north whose situation is a little hard for us to place. They are sort of grunge/mother earth and look a little weatherbeaten. They seem to hang out by the side of the highway and the supermarket parking lot. We were wondering if they are homeless, or one step up from that, or maybe it's just a look they cultivate (like our urban gangsters back East).

We mentioned in earlier posts how severe the recession seems to be in California. The northern section of the coast seems to be even harder hit.

It has been extremely difficult for us to reserve campsites in the state campgrounds. While there are a great many of them, they are all booked solid. Despite their popularity, because of the recession, a number of them are scheduled to be closed. At first the governor was talking about 250 closures. Last I heard it was 86, with the parks to be selected after Labor Day. It seems the public benefit of these parks greatly outweighs the very small cost of keeping them open, but I imagine when you're also laying off sheriffs and police, everything needs to be on the block.

Petaluma, CA

We've spent three days at a KOA in Petaluma about 40 miles or so north of San Francisco. We used to sneer at KOAs as being "fake" camping, but have now become a loyal customer. KOAs are great when traveling with young children: playgrounds, pools, hayrides, movies, all kinds of structured activities. And, let's not forget, hot showers and laundry rooms. The girls are really enjoying themselves here: Lucy won an Elvis impersonation contest during 50s weekend, and Grace had a ball at karaoke. While not exactly a wilderness experience, it does make for a relaxing (and affordable) family stay.

Petaluma, though just outside of San Francisco, seems pretty rural (at least to us New Yorkers). We're near farmlands and feedstores - as well as strip malls and shopping centers- and the town, in addition to being close to San Francisco, seems to also be a jumping off point for wine country.

Grace and Mike made a trip to Alcatraz, while Lucy and Irene hit all of the tourist traps on Fisherman's Wharf (including a very nice aquarium). We also had dinner in Chinatown, one of the major things Gracie wanted to do on this trip. Above are pictures of Grace at Alcatraz and in Chinatown.