our second cool adventure in the linville gorge wilderness took us to the chimneys trail. i *think* it’s part of the mountain to sea trail in north carolina, but now i might be mixing that up. we chose it, because it offers pretty great views on both sides, as you’re hiking along a ridge, with […]
hiking
upper creek falls. (linville gorge wilderness)
despite having moved to north carolina for 20 years ago, and then having traveled the usa seeking adventure for over three years, we haven’t actually ever done much adventuring in the wilderness just down the road. so, when we decided to camp in lenoir, we were pretty excited to check things out, even if everywhere […]
batavia, during quarantine.
as previously mentioned, in my letchworth post, a couple of weeks ago, the lidkids and i loaded up to head to batavia, to visit my mom, and break up the monotony of the quarantine. the drive was remarkably uneventful. we stopped twice. both time with little fanfare. and there was no traffic and smooth sailing. […]
letchworth state park.
last week-ish, the kids and i loaded up and headed to western ny to visit fam and have a little change of scenery. my mom was able to take a few days off work, and on one particularly lovely day, we drove out to letchworth state park to “hike” and be in the sunshine and […]
escape to hanging rock.
our trip to pilot mountain was just the jumpstart we needed to start getting out and about and hiking a bit more. so, later in the week, we packed up again, and this time headed to hanging rock state park. (ruby barfed on the way up, if you were wondering). our plan was to hike […]
escape to pilot mountain.
early in may, north carolina began phase one of “reopening” and part of that was state parks opening in various capacities. since it happened on a friday evening, we had no plans to venture out on that weekend with the masses of crazy people who had been cooped up for so long. then, it started […]
everglades and fruit stand detour.
when we were planning this florida trip, we knew we wanted to revisit the everglades. but, this time, with ruby in tow, it was a little more complicated. the campgrounds don’t have hookups, and she’s not allowed on any trails, so we would have to leave her inside, with no a/c, which could be a problem, depending on weather. so, we didn’t even bother with the risk. instead we opted for just a quick visit, stopping on our way to the keys. we parked the rv in the shade in the parking lot for the anhinga trail, opened all the windows, and went for a short ranger led “hike” (walk along a paved path and boardwalk).
we eventually moved on from the tour, because the group was soooo big and we could hardly hear anyways. and i also forgot about all the little crickets on the ground that completely freaked hazel out and made us be the annoying family with a crying kid. anyhoooo. we saw TONS of wildlife. it is such a strange and surreal place.
of course, the main attraction is the american alligator. we saw a few along the way, but the highlight of the hike (walk) is “alligator point” (i think), where there’s a large gathering of gators, soaking up the sun, in what must be extremely ideal conditions. they were still a few weeks away from the social distancing mandates, so it was ok. 🙂
gator party. 
allligator point. i promise isaac was happier than he looks.
isaac had the good zoomy camera, so i bummed a lot of the shots from him, like this guy…
after alligator point, the rest of the walk is along a boardwalk that passes through/over some marshy, watery parts. lots of lily pads and things lurking beneath. we played leap frog with the massive crowd from the ranger tour, which is always fun when you have small people leaning over a railing, peering into a soup full of things that would like to eat them.
we stopped to take a few selfies with this guy, which was probably the closest alligator we encountered.
on our way out, we remembered to stop for the obligatory sign photo. early in our travels, we talked about whether we should do this at all national parks, before deciding it would add a level of stress to each visit that i wasn’t prepared for. also, the line for the sign photo is often rather long, and i would rather get to seeing the things in the park instead of waiting in line for a pic with a sign. anyhow. there was no line this day. so we stopped.
on the way into and out of everglades, there’s a fruit stand called robert is here. it’s massive. and pretty much the main reason i wanted to go back to florida. there are sooooo many weird tropical fruits. and other fun snacks. and the MILKSHAKES (which we postponed until our return trip on the way out of town, like last time).
between anna’s photos, and mine, i have quite a few, but i’ll spare you massive amounts of tropical fruit photos.
we heart mamey sapote. 
and sapodilla. 
after we made our fruity (and sunflowery) purchases, we grabbed some fast food, while ruby waited in the camper. :). and then, we were off to the keys….
some november field trips.
one day, we were at the library, picking out books, looking up books to put on hold, guessing the number of pieces in the candy jar, when our friendly librarian told us that someone had just returned the library’s pass to the local science museum. we jumped at the chance to check it out for […]
forty three.
in november, i turned 43. sounds very old when i say it out loud or see it in writing. like a grownup, even. anyhooooo. the derek and the kids kicked off my birthday morning but going out and picking up a starbucks peppermint mocha and bagel station salt bagels and chive cream cheese. so good. […]
shenendoah national park.part two.
our second full day in shenendoah was beautiful. unfortunately, so overnight wind and rain had knocked a LOT of leaves off the trees. there was a distinct difference in fall foliage between the two days. on tap for the day was a short little hike that derek discovered that took us up to bearfence mountain. […]