Campcation 2018

Ft Boonesborogh SP, KY

Yesterday my family and I returned from our 2018 summer vacation.  We are calling it a campcation because we camped almost every night.  It was an exhausting trip but we got to see a lot of great stuff.

We are from Indiana and we went down thru Kentucky toward the Cumberland Gap.  We were not going to make it by dark so we camped at Ft Boonesborogh SP in Ky.  We found our first LB of the trip here.  After checking out the fort we continued south.

Cumberland Gap Pinnacle Overlook

We arrived at the Cumberland Gap National Park around lunch time.  We checked out the northern visitor center and found a picnic area near a creek.  We ate lunch, played in the creek for a little bit and headed to the pinnacle overlook.  The overlook is a spot where you can look down and see the tunnel going thru the mountain.  We hiked around here for a while and then went to set up camp.

Pigeon Forge LB

We hung out in the campground for a while, went to town to eat dinner, and went to a nearby state park to look for a letterbox.  The state park had a nice playground and some old cabins so we stayed there for a while before going back to the camp site.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and drove to an Iron Furnace.  Then we hiked up to the Gap Cave.  This cave is just a hole in the cliff but the kids enjoyed playing there.  The hike up was a little rough.

Dollywood, TN

Then we went down to Pigeon Forge.  We stopped at the Great Smokey Mountain Knife Works for a little bit and set up camp at a KOA campground.  After we set up, we went to the Smokey Mountains National Park Sugarlands visitor center to get maps and whatnot.  Then we had dinner and went back to the campground to swim.

In the morning, we got up and went to Dollywood.  We got there 45 minutes before they opened so we left and found a LB.  It took us a bit to find it but my husband said we shouldn't give up so easily.  After stamping in we went back to Dollywood and spent the day there until 7pm.  When we were tired and hungry we went back to the campground to eat and swim again.

Newfound Gap TN & NC

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, tore down camp, and heading off to explore Smokey Mountain National Park.  We stopped at Newfound Gap and hiked to Clingmans Dome.  The lookout at the top was closed but we came all that way so we walked to the top anyway.  The walk down was beautiful with clouds rolling in.

Clingmans Dome

Then we pulled off and had lunch in a lookout/
parking area.  We continued south and saw a sign for a mill.  It wasn't on the map but looked close to the parking lot and we stopped to check it out.  It had a real short trail and was a nice place to stretch your legs.  When we were done we went on to the Oconaluftee visitor center.  There was a historic farm and a creek trail so we stayed here a while.

We stopped again for dinner and stayed the night at a campground in North Carolina.

One of the main points of the trip was to eat at Chef and the Farmer in Kinston, NC.  We watch a show on PBS called, A Chef's Life.  We love the show and talked about going last year on vacation but it was to far away.  We made it this year.  The chef, Vivian Howard, was not there the night we ate there but her husband was hanging around.  We left with full bellies, t shirts, and an autographed cookbook.  We also planted a letterbox in a nearby park.

The place we stayed at, the night we were in Kinston was just barley a campground.  It was a field with a shower house.  The kids were worried something might happen to us here and were happy that we only stayed one night.

Hotel in GA 

That morning we got up and consulted the old atlas and Google.  We discovered that going the long way back was just 45 min longer and would add 2 new states to box in.  Instead of driving back straight across NC we went thru SC and Georgia.

It took us a while to get out of rural NC.  When we got to a big rest area there were supposed to be 3 LB.  I looked for all 3 and only found 1.  When we stopped for the night in SC we were at a state park.  It had 2 boxes but we could only find 1.  The state parks in SC all have stamps and we were able to snag that too.  The woman at the park office fussed at me for putting it in my National Park stamp book but it's my book and I can stamp what I want in it ;)

Ruby Falls, TN

We drove thru Georgia without many stops.  The rest area that we had lunch at didn't have any boxes :(  But we did find one before leaving the state.  My husband was getting pretty tired and we stayed the night in a hotel.  The younger kids swam again.

We got up in the morning, enjoyed a hot breakfast, and went to Chattanooga.  In Chattanooga we went to Ruby Falls and Rock City.  Rock City has a Fairy Tale "cave" that is actually a building.  As we got to the end of the "cave" we discovered that it was raining cats and dogs.  We were at the end of the trail so we made a run for the gift shop.  We got some post cards, rock candy, etc and ran again to the ticket booth.  My husband was nice enough to pull the van around and we didn't get completely soaked.

See Rock City, TN

Next, we went to Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.  The place was a lot like Gettysburg.  It had many markers of where different states were stationed and signs detailing the battles there.  It was getting late and with the rain, we didn't spend a lot of time here.

We continued north stopping for dinner and camping at Old Stone Fort SP in Tn.  My kids learned that we were just a few hours from home and tore down camp in record time.  They were tired of camping and ready to go home.  We didn't look for any of the boxes there.

Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park, GA

We had a great but tiring 9 days.  We only planted 1 box and found 8.  We added 4 new states that we boxed in: VA, NC, SC, & GA.  We left 1 HH and the only ones we found were in a HHH.  The rules of the HHH were to leave 3 in the box.  There were only 3 left and we didn't have any to trade.

Today we are doing laundry and unloading and tomorrow we will go to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind.

2017 Vacation

USS Alabama

We just got back from vacation :)  We spent a week in Pensacola Beach, Florida with my husbands family.  My sister-in-law paid for the house and we just had to get down there and chip in on food.

On the way we stopped at the USS Alabama & USS Drum.  I have been on a battleship before but I really enjoyed the submarine.  The kids enjoyed the both.  We have an LST 325 back home but it is so plain compared to these ships.

Family Time

Then we met my husbands family in Florida.  The house we stayed in was great!  It had everything we needed, it was close to the beach, and within walking distance to some shops.    The beach was beautiful.  My husband had been to Florida as a kid but this was me and the kids first time.

Found it!

While we were there we found 3 letterboxes.  We also found 5 while going back and forth in Alabama.  Woo hoo!

While at Pensacola Beach we spent 2 days playing at the beach with sand toys, boogie boards, and a paddle board.  The 2 older boys and I walked down to the peer and did some souvenir shopping.  A few days later I had to take the little 2 back so they could get something.

Lighthouse Fun 

We also visited Fort Pickens/Gulf Islands National Seashore.  I was able to get two passport stamps here.  We took a guided tour of the fort and right when the tour ended the Blue Angels started to practice.  It was a very pleasant surprise :)

The next day we went to see the Pensacola Lighthouse.  This was a major pain :/ The Blue Angels were practicing that day too and afterward they were doing autographs.  The lighthouse is on the Navy base and we had to sit in the car for an hour waiting to get on the base.  I guess everyone and their brother was trying to see the Blue Angels.  We did finally make it to the lighthouse.  Lil Ewok was just barley tall enough to go inside.  We were able to find a letterbox in this area and get a passport stamp.

Kids on the beach

We had a great time in Florida.  The weather was nice.  The family all got along.  I hope we are able to do something like this again sometime.

On the way back to Indiana we stopped in Huntsville, Al.  We found a few letterboxes, had dinner, and checked in our hotel rooms.  The next morning we went to the US Space and Rocket Center.  The kids enjoyed walking around all the rockets and the interactive activities.

Kids in space

Even though we were only gone a week, we were excited to get back home.  Lil Ewok kept asking if we were back in America.  We kept telling him that we left Indiana but we never left America.  He is 5 and he didn't get it :D

Self Portrait Collage LTC

This is my card for Beetle's "Self Portrait Collage" LTC swap.  My card is called, "Route 66."

My original idea for this swap was to carve a selfie and put that stamp on a photo background.  I sat down
and played around with the photo edit software for 30 minutes until I got the image in a way I could carve it.  I struggled with the carving and then Beetle posted on the tracker about how the photo could be printed.  I went back and reread the instructions and realized that I wasn't supposed to carve a selfie :(

Original Photo

So  I decided that I would remake one of my vacation photos.  I carved the stamp of the car and the Route 66 sign, colored everything with Sharpies, added my photo, and attached to the map background paper.  About half way through I thought that the darker (top) map paper would look better and I switched.

Unnecessary Selfie now a PT 

They turned out pretty good.  Kinda a pain to color them all.  I really should read the instructions before the start on my stamps/cards!  I love the little photo corner holder things :)

Vacation 2016

Arches NP

I just got back from a two week vacation out west, did you miss me?  Over a year ago my parents suggested that we all go on vacation together.  That would be my parents, me, my husband & 4 kids, my sister, her husband & 2 kids, and my other sister and husband.  It ending up being my parents, my family, and my 2 nieces.

We had a great two weeks out west.  We live in Indiana and went out thru the Rocky Mountains to southeast Utah.  We visited Arches & Canyonlands.  Then we packed up and went to southwest Utah.

Canyonlands NP

It just so happened that where we stopped for the night was having a hot air balloon festival.  And the people that my parents were camping next to said that we could go up in their balloon.  My dad and the 4 biggest kids took off to do that but the winds wouldn't cooperate and they didn't get to go up.  The kids still loved being so close to the balloons.

Balloon Festival

While in southwest Utah we went thru Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon National Parks.  They are very different and very beautiful.  We hiked a trail at Bryce and just road the shuttle at Zion.

My parents at Bryce Canyon NP

Then we went down thru Nevada.  We had planned on touring the Hoover Dam but had issues.  It's probably to long of a story to go into here.  So we had a picnic lunch there at the lake made by the dam.

Zion Canyon NP

After Nevada we moved on to California where we had more problems.  We got almost to the campground we planed on staying at and we were turned around because of forest fires.  It took a while but we eventually found a place to camp.  We went thru the southern area of the Sequoia National Forest where we walked the Trail of 100 Giants.  We decided that we came this far that we would continue to the northern area.  There we were able to drive thru the famous tunnel log.

Trail of 100 Giants

The next day, we spent a little over an hour at ghost town and then started heading back east to the Grand Canyon.  We walked the rim trail at the south rim, enjoyed some shopping, and ice cream.  The last activity on the way home was the petrified forest.  My kids were expecting the trees to be standing.  They all enjoyed the colorful logs.

We made two stops on Route 66.  One was the Midpoint Cafe where we had lunch.  The other was the Cadillac Ranch.  We didn't take spray paint for the Cadillac Ranch but there were cans all over the ground and my kids joined in the fun.

Grand Canyon

When my parents came up with this idea I said that I had to find a letterbox in each state and I was surprised that my husband went along with it.  I already had boxes in Ind, Ill, and Mo.  I was able to get boxes in KS, CO, UT, NV, CA, AZ, NM, TX, OK & AR.  I found 13 boxes and 2 hitchhikers.  Of all the boxes I looked for only 1 was missing.

Petrified Forest NP 

This was my husband and kids first trip out west.  We camped every night but one.  It was exhausting but beautiful!  Two weeks living in a van is rough.

Cadillac Ranch