our current campground in benson is only about a half hour away from the iconic, old western town of tombstone, arizona. we figured it was worth a trip, so off we went…. our first stop was to watch a gunfight reenactment, complete with historical details. here we are, the full posse, waiting for the show […]
history
tumacácori national historical park.
on thursday, the kids and i loaded up and headed off to check out tumacácori national historical park. (pronounced too-mah-KAH-kohr-ee, we would learn). basically, it’s the ruins of an old spanish mission, a few miles north of the mexican border, and it was chock full of information about the history of when catholic european explorers […]
casa grande and tonto national monuments.
during our time in mesa, we were able to hit up two different national monuments, both about an hour or so away, and both dedicated to preserving the history of native people who inhabited the area long before we did. first up, casa grande. the big house. the kids insisted on doing as much of […]
mesa verde road trip.
in the middle of our delightful week with full hookups at an actual campground in an actual city, derek had to take a huge 48 hour test for work. we decided the best course of action, to give him peace and quiet, was for the me and the lidkids to find somewhere else to be […]
golden spike national historic site.
on our travel day from craters of the moon to salt lake city, we found ourselves very far ahead of derek. we decided this was a good opportunity to take a detour to the golden spike national historic site. we had investigated it during our last trip to salt lake city, but it was a […]
old idaho penitentiary
since monday was labor day, derek was off, so we decided to go on a field trip. after a bit of research, we settled on the old idaho penitentiary. it operated from 1872 until 1973 and is chock full of exciting stories and history. 😉 we really had no idea what to expect, but i […]
oregon trail interpretive center.baker city, or.
after our month in washington, our next stop, while brief, was baker city, oregon. we got in late friday night, after a LONG and BORING five-ish hour drive. we grabbed some groceries and then settled into a truck stop to boondock for the night. in the morning, we started off with a hearty breakfast at […]
florissant fossil beds national monument
whenever we move to a new location, one of the first things i do is scout out national parks and monuments and such. the kids like to do the junior ranger program and i enjoy the history, geology, nature, etc of the different places. so, when we locked in colorado springs, i searched the nearby […]
fort union national monument.
originally, we had planned to stay in a state park this week. we arrived, only to discover it was nestled in a narrow canyon. it was really beautiful, but internet was scarce. and by scarce, i mean non-existent. which doesn’t work for us, because derek has to work to support this lifestyle. so, we had […]
pecos national historical park.
on our travel day to exotic (sarcasm) springer, new mexico, we stopped for a field trip to pecos national historical park. it is yet another pueblo ruin, once inhabited by local native folks, who were taken over and run off by europeans in the 1500s-ish. we stopped in the visitor center to pick up some […]