Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is truly one of my favorite National Parks. The variety and uniqueness of its landscape makes for days upon days of adventure.

It had been many years since our family had camped near it, in Pahrump.  In 2009 we pulled through the area for a short two weeks. This time we only stayed a month, which was still not enough time.  We will be back next fall and I look forward to many trips back to explore this national treasure.

Give a child a camera and open up their eyes to an entire new world.

The slot canyons hikes are easy and stunning.

An adventure up a steep side trail 

A road of salt at Death Valley NP

The View From My Front Door

Life on the road is just that - Life on the Road.  

Many aspects of life do not change because we are traveling.  There are meals to be cooked, dishes to be done, vacuuming the small floor space daily, laundry, schooling, baths, clipping toe nails, playing, paying bills, catching up on paperwork.

Our views always change yet other views stay the same.

The big difference is when I walk out my front door I may see this:

Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Year one - us kayaking

 Or this:

Sometimes it is the view while staying at a relatives home.

Some of the campgrounds have animals for all to enjoy.
Mansfield, Missouri

The mist on Nolin Lake, Kentucky

 Sometimes this:

Fall colors in Honea Path, South Carolina

Enjoying the birds in central Alabama

Alligator filled campgrounds in central Florida.
Withlocochee State Forest

 Other times this:

Some views of the dumpsters and water waste treatment plant make us laugh and
get in a hurry to move to the next campground.

The Spanish Moss hanging in clumps on the trees around a lake in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sometimes all we can see is the next camper over.

Other times we are right next to the beach and enjoying our kayaks.
Key Largo, Florida

The deserts of the southwest are beautiful and vast.
Hawthorne, Nevada

Sometimes we stay at extremely nice campgrounds that even
provide gazebos and three pools!
Nevada Treasures RV Park in Pahrump, NV

Of course, my daughters enjoy being near water, like here
in San Angelo, Texas.

It was hard to chose pictures for this post.  There are so many beautiful places we have been since heading out on the road.  

Our home may be small 

but our back yard is the entire country!

Changing a bad tire in the desert!

How do you spell spoiled? National Treasure Rv Resort in Pahrump Nevada. Wow, it was great! We joined a club called Passport America. We get to stay for 50% off at different campgrounds.

Passport America - Discount Camping Club

We were on our way to Beatty, NV (after Hawthorne, and one night in Goldfield, NV). The weekend we were coming to Beatty happened to be totally full for their craft show! So, we called Amargosa Valley. There was an opening there, but no grocery story. The store in Beatty was so tiny and had 2 packs of diapers neither the right size!

So, on to Pahrump. The National Treasure RV Resort was only $20 a night for 4 nights with our Passport America discount. It was incredible. We had two pools, one was heated, the other not.

There was a huge hot tub that we enjoyed. Shae and I even had a little date night in it. It was great to spend some time alone!

There is a bowling alley inside where we bowled 2 times. Shae won, then Cody, Naomi, Hanna, Me, Gabriel, and Josie. Naomi and Hanna were both better at it than me! I have the moves, just can't seem to keep it out of the gutter! We played horseshoes and shuffleboard. The restaurant was good and had good prices. Most of the workers were so friendly.

We made a trip out to Death Valley National Park from here. It was a little bit of a drive, but not bad. It is nothing like I expected. I pictured some huge, flat desert with sand dunes here and there. Instead there were huge mountains, ravines, washes, salt flats, salt sculptures, natural bridge, and that is just a few things.

We drove the 21 mule team road. It is not made for large vehicles, but that didn't stop us!

We think our van is 4 wheel drive and

can go anywhere and do anything!

We loved it. The road is now one of our favorites! Yes, I did get nervous a few times. Our van is not 4 wheel drive and is really long - it is a 15 passenger van! Shae loved that it was hard to drive. He had that fire look in his eyes when we rounded each corner and almost scraped through the rock. We stopped and the guys and Hanna climbed a big rock formation. They were up pretty high. Hanna really wanted to go, but I was not so sure about that as I watched her slip on the loose rocks on the way up. I kept yelling, "Hanna, you don't have to go!" But, she was determined and finally made it to the top. I am not sure if it was worth the trouble and all the work to get up there, but hey, they conquered yet another mountain in another National Park!

From there, we headed to a beautiful look out, something like - Zawleiski's look out. It was a breathtaking view of the mountains and rock formations. We hiked up a small hill to see the remains of what was once an underwater ocean bed. Usually by the time I get all the kids ready to get out of the van and hike to the destination, Shae and Cody are already on their way back. This time was different. Shae and Cody stayed and helped us get shoes on, diapers changed, and children carried up the walk. Just before we headed out, Shae noticed the tire on the back of our van had a huge bulge in it. He had known it would need to be replaced soon, just not in the desert! So, after enjoying the view, we headed to the gorgeous oasis resort in the middle of Death Valley. It was so beautiful as we drove through the gates and headed for a shaded spot for the guys to change the tire before it blew! The kids and I played on the playground.  Shae and Cody changed the tire. I'm not sure if we were supposed to be in there. We weren't guests of the resort, but just passing through as we switched tires in their shade. The kids had a blast feeding the birds while Tytus watched. We finally continued our journey to the lowest elevation in the western hemisphere, Badwater. It is in the middle of salt flats. We took our pictures and then headed home. We were all real tired from a long day of heat, hiking, and bad tires.

Sheri

Our freedom isn't free - Hawthorne, NV

We enjoyed the park, Walker Lake, and our desert Princess.

The Army training was awesome to watch. Gabriel sat out there for long periods of time watching them.

Veterans Day reminds me of our stay in Hawthorne, Nevada. We had wanted to stay in Lee Vining, but the elevation is a little high. With the cold air hot on our tales, we didn't want to take any chances. We went from a nice campground way out in the country in Likely, CA to a casino RV park at Bordertown Casino north of Reno NV. Then south to Hawthorne, NV. We stayed at Whiskey Flats RV Park. It was nice, considering it is in the middle of the desert! The night we got there we had a special treat. We got to watch military helocopters do exercises right by the camper. We found out they are training to head out to Afghanistan. I couldn't help but watch them with admiration and love. They are training for war as we get to camp, four wheel, sight see, and enjoy our family. I know they risk their lives daily so people like us can do what we do. Our military is a volunteer one. These people volunteer to put their lives at risk for all of us and the American freedoms we all enjoy. It is not only the ones that carry a gun, it is the soldier, sailor, or airman that does the bookkeeping, does accounting, teaches and trains them; they are all heros.

We were at the park one day. Some attack helos flew over us numerous times while we were running around. They looked so beautiful to me. I felt so safe and secure. As I watched them fly off in the distance, tears ran down my cheeks. Some people don't agree with these wars. All I know is that our soldiers are there, keeping the enemy busy over there, not on our soil. I was watching a show on PBS and the lady said something like, I don't think we should be over there. I wouldn't want someone coming into my country and telling me how to live and how our gov't should be. I think of the women and mothers in many of these countries - how they are made to wear masks so you can't see their faces - how they are beat and not allowed to leave home - how women are treated horribly by the govt and men. I think that if that were happening to me and my children, I would want anyone to come in and deliver me. I would be thankful for the country that had the balls to stand up to horrible men likes these. I just don't agree with her, I guess I like my freedom as a woman, as a human.

Well, time to get off my soap box, and into my bed. Sleep well America, it is a blessing that not everyone has.

Keeping my mouth shut is proving very difficult!

My husband and I have a really great marriage. Oh sure, we have our hard times. But, most of the time it is good. Well, lately we have been disagreeing on a few things. One of them being his driving. If you read an earlier post about his driving at Mt. St. Helens, then you have a clue about what I am talking about. His driving has always been an issue for us. His driving and money are the two main things we have argued about. Of course there have been other topics, but money and driving seem to be the most frequent. Now, I must mention again, we really don't disagree very often.

Well, driving around the mountains can get scary. I was very daring before I had kids. I'll tell those stories another time and some I can't tell because they are illegal. Since I have had kids, I have no desire to die! So, when I see those mountain corners and deep ravines fly by me, even at 45 mph, it freaks me out some. Also, I sit in the back seat with the baby. I nurse him a lot while he is in his car seat. When Shae takes a corner a little fast, my breast feels like it is going to rip off! Now, he would tell you he drives fine. He does not go fast at all and purposely drives slower for me. He really is an excellent driver. He has gotten us out of many potential accidents. I totally trust him, just sometimes I guess I get scared. Now, who is wrong? I guess we both are. I need to trust him more and he needs to be more sensitive to my concern for my feelings.

Now, let me make something clear, he is not a bad driver.  In fact, he is an excellent driver.  I just get a little scared sometimes.

The other day we kind of got in a fuss about this subject. He said he is trying really hard to drive slower for me. He is sick of my griping about his driving. He wants me to keep my negative comments to myself. I feel like I should speak up if I don't feel safe or need him to slow down when I am nursing the baby. He said I just need to say it different. So, I want to change and please my husband. So, I have been silent. Not too silent so I am being a smarty pants, just trying to keep my comments to myself. I have to try to chose my words more carefully. So, yesterday we decided to go to the lake near where we are camping. We were driving down the road and passed at little side road that led to the lake. Now, up ahead there are numerous roads to the lake, but Shae wanted to turn around and go back to this particular one. That is fine, nothing wrong with that. He is driving back the way we came when suddenly he cranks the wheel and we start to race towards a little dirt road. Now to me, all I see is dirt, a ditch, and our van flying off the road. To him, he saw the road and turned the wheel. We made it. It just scared the pants off of me! I yelled, "Shae!" That is it. I didn't say another word. We made it fine. We drove down the rough dirt road for quite a ways when suddenly, the van stopped moving. We were stuck in the dirt. Our big ol' 15 passenger van was stuck in the dirt by the lake. I tried to control the thoughts I was having, like, "He deserves this. He shouldn't of gone down here." I tried to just laugh and hope he could get us out of this mess. Otherwise it would be a long walk back to the camper to get our huge truck to pull us out. He hit the gas and then would stop and put it in reverse. Forward, Reverse, Forward, Reverse. I had Cody get out with the video camera. Shae didn't give up and finally got that van out. We weren't stuck anymore. He said, "I hope we can make it out to the main road!" That was reassuring. We parked it and hiked the rest of the way to the desert beach. It was beautiful. We had a great time. I tried not to laugh or make a negative comment, after all, we were alive and not stuck anymore. Shae drove us out of the sandy road and to the pavement. We made it out with out any damage to us our the vehicle. He is a good driver and I am going to be a better "not griper" while we travel.