Beautiful Point Lobos State Park is the Easiest Place to Find Seals in the wild Near Monterey

best place to find sea lions and seals in the wild

We visited Carmel by the Sea this week, and I am completely in awe at the state park we found there. This stunning state park is called Point Lobos, and if you have been, then you know. If you have not been, allow me to introduce you to my favorite state or national park in the entire U.S of A. Carmel by the Sea may be the ritziest area that I have ever visited. I’m used to walking through streets […]

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California: The Beautiful Part. No more desert pictures. I promise….

When I told people that I was moving to California I got a lot of mixed reactions. Like this: “Oh, wow, it’s beautiful there. You are going to love it.” “Ooooh. Gee. I feel so sorry for you.” (sarcasm) “O. Tough assignment.” (more sarcasm) “Nice…except for the earthquakes.” (not sarcasm) “Don’t turn into a crazy liberal, now.” (never going to happen) “California….eh…that’s nice I guess.  Californians are kind of different though.” (Aren’t we all? 😉 ) …..But mostly we heard […]

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Exploring California, In Pictures Part I

Of course, I have taken way, way too many pictures of California to squeeze them all into one post, especially with slow wi-fi, so I’m breaking this post into two parts. Today we will focus on the desert, mountains, and agricultural regions, and my next post will feature  the coast. I know, that next part sounds like a lot more fun, but the mountains have their own beauty, so hang with me. When we first entered California, on I-40, which […]

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The Best Dam Trip We’ve Ever Taken

What is the big deal about the Hoover Dam?

What is the big deal about the Hoover Dam? What makes the Hoover Dam such a big deal is what this marvel accomplishes, and I am going to tell you all about it. Hoover Dam, the 2nd tallest dam in America, but probably the best known.  (The tallest one, in case that made you as curious as it made me, is the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California, east of Sacramento.) This side trip on our cross-country road trip was all for […]

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The Grand Canyon Railway Is The Best Way To Visit The Grand Canyon

grand canyon railway

When we originally planned this cross country move, Alan asked me what I’d like to see. I only had one request: Grand Canyon. The whole trip was built around this. It was totally worth it. My dad showed us a newspaper article he’d found about the Grand Canyon Railway. It’s a train that goes from Williams, Arizona, up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We decided to give it a try, and I’m glad we did. This was […]

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“We don’t want to eat the bread; we just want to collect the bread.”

Today we took the day off from the endless driving and spent the day doing tourist-y things instead. My dad told us about this Grand Canyon Railway that takes you to the Grand Canyon, and we decided to give it a shot. We had such a wonderful time. The Grand Canyon was amazing, so I have more to share on that next time. This time I just want to share a few amusing quotes from the trip so far. Why? […]

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Road Trip to the University Of Alabama

University of Alabama campus tour

We are well into our very first cross country road trip tonight, currently staying in Amarillo. “Amarillo by Morning” is now stuck in my head. It’s 12 am central time, and we are pretty sleepy. Unfortunately, we put clothes in the hotel washing machine downstairs. That means we have another hour and fifteen minutes, at best, before we can go to bed. Now I wish we’d packed ourselves more clothing. Drat. It was a long day of driving, driving, and […]

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Cross Country Road Trip of a Lifetime: First Stop: Alabama

JD’s first move— He seems to be having a pretty good time.  Today Alan and I kissed our children good-bye and set back out–alone this time–on our big cross-country road trip. It’s really been fun so far.  Over the last few days I have gotten to visit both sides of our families, swim in the backyard pool with my two oldest boys, celebrate JD’s first birthday, visit a Pioneer Museum in Alabama, and even revisit the University of Alabama campus, […]

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Our Adventures in DC with Four Little Kids

Day in Washington, D.C.

We did manage to squeeze in one day of adventure during Spring Break.  My parents were visiting, and there were still a lot of DC spots that they had never seen, so we headed into town.  Believe it or not, my parents, the 4 boys, and I all fit into one minivan.  : ) One of Joshua’s friends came over to play while we were gone, and Alan answered the door.  Alan was under the weather, so he couldn’t go […]

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My Vacation Timeshare Disaster

The Vacation Time Share Disaster

This past Friday, we gathered up all of our chick-ies and headed to Massanutten Ski Resort.  I had been so proud of myself for finally booking a nice vacation for us, well in advance.  We aren’t always the best vacation planners.  You can make us sound fun by calling us “spontaneous”, but really that just means we procrastinate until we actually leave and then end up “winging it,” missing out on all the things that book out really far in […]

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