Trailer Tots

Sandpoint, ID--- the end of the line for this trip

2011-07-18T17:02:00.001-07:00

For our last night on the road, we stayed in Sandpoint at the Best Western RV park (thanks D&C for the suggestion). The RV park is right next to the city beach and it was buzzing, just like Whitefish city beach. We had fun laying in the sun, building sand castles and swimming. It's SO much warmer than Whitefish Lake. I even got some laps in... felt great. We had a pleasant dinner on the lake at the hotel. Sanpoint reminded Keith and I a lot of Whitefish and made us ready to be home, to the home we love. What an amazing 3 weeks we had. I was a little surprised we made it so long with little E... but he did great and we are definitely talking about a once a year trip similar to this one. Thanks for reading and looking and we'll make sure to post any other overnight excursions we do with the trailer... and our TOT. ;)

Another night in Vantage

2011-07-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

This was where we stayed our 2nd night on the way out... we liked it so much we came back. It was HOT. Hotter than we were used to. We hit the beach, and grilled hamburgers after realizing the chicken we had bought the day before was soaked with water from our cooler :( A great place to stay when in the Columbia Gorge, but bring food, as there isn't much in the little quaint town of Vantage. Oh, and also expect WIND AT NIGHT. Both nights it got SUPER windy, and blew all night but stopped around sunrise. Strange.

Random... STONEHENGE, WA.

2011-07-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

So we came across this on our way to Vantage, Wa. Really random, but really pretty cool. It is a remembrance monument for the military that gave their lives during WWI. Made us really want to go to England to see the real one.

Bambi looks pretty dang good in front of it :)

Nice view, this time of Mt. Rainer.

Hood River, OR. for the 4th

2011-07-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hood River, OR is a pretty awesome place to spend the 4th. After finding a quiet State park to camp at down the road from Hood River, we met up with our friends Dawn, Conrad and Axel who were on their way to the woods of the Hood area. We had lunch with them and hung out for a bit. Axel was born a few weeks before Everett and they sure are cute together!

After that, Keith was feeling pretty lousy, so we grabbed some dinner at the grocery store and went back to our lovely camp spot right on the Columbia River, the MECHA of wind surfing and kite boarding. Everett and I went and watched all the wind surfers do their thing... boy does it look tiring! Then I introduced E to tetherball (=awesome!) and we played at the park. Luckily daddy was feeling up to walking down to the river at sunset, so pretty. Everett passed out and Keith and I made a fire and had a mellow 4th with no fireworks (fine by me, I think I want this every year. they're soooo loud, geez I'm getting old!)

Bend, OR

2011-07-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

From Crater Lake we headed to Bend. I unfortunately didn't take many pictures, as we were in a yucky RV park in the "big box store" part of town. We did however, have lots of fun in Bend. We went to a July 3rd BBQ at Keith's friend from home, Trixie's house. Her and her husband have a 9 month old that gave Everett hair envy :) and there were lots of little ones for Everett to play with. It was a great evening (camera free for mommy).
The next morning we woke up (July 4th) and went out to a nice breakfast to the closed off streets of downtown Bend. There was going to be a pet and owner parade for the 4th. We were undecided if we were going to stay another night or not the night before, but Keith woke up with a nasty summer cold... so we decided to move on. Everett and I went to the parade briefly while Keith washed the trailer. It was CRAZY. I heard something like over 10,000 people with their pets.... WOW. Here's just a few of Everett playing while we waited for dad to pick us up.

This (Mt. Hood) and Mt. Bachelor were our 4th of July drive views.... STUNNING.

Diamond Lake, OR. and Crater Lake

2011-07-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

After the beach we headed to Diamond Lake, near Crater Lake National Park. It was gorgeous.... but FULL of mosquitos.... the worst I've seen in a long time. We camped at a nice RV park in the woods, but not on the lake. There was a state campground on the lake that was HUGE. and FULL for the 4th weekend. It went from section A-M!!! WOW. That' a big campground with lots of skeeters! We decided to just spend one night getting eaten alive. We hung out and walked around the beautiful Diamond Lake (supposedly the BEST lake fishing in Oregon) for the day and the next morning before packing up, we headed to check out Crater Lake. It was gorgeous. Everett slept through it. Off to Bend.

Lunch Break

2011-07-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

One day while we were in Bandon, we decided to take a day trip down to Gold Beach. We didn't quite make it that far and decided to get lunch here. Little did we know that we were getting the "best hot dogs in Oregon" at this stop!!! WHOO-HOO!!! Keith had 2, I had a corn dog, and Everett REALLY enjoyed his mac n' cheese.... I mean REALLY!!! The hot dogs were pretty dang good, I must say. My dad would have been impressed!

Shirt change after that lunch!

More Ballard Beach, Bandon, OR.

2011-07-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

We ended up staying here a few days because we knew we were leaving the coast... and this made us sad :( Plus little man had a fever so we laid low for a few days. It was great fun to just relax, walk, eat and play on the beach although it was quite windy on our last day. We found this little frog in our power box every morning. So cute. Everett liked it very much.

(Notice the mac n' cheese EVERYWHERE... he was really into throwing his food on this trip. ;)

The beach-a-bomber

saying "bye"

as Everett would say "BYE" beach :(

Ballards Beach, Bandon, OR

2011-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Drip Castles!

(this is TOTALLY a new thing to me... never seen such a thing but think it's pretty sweet! -lindsey)

Umpqua Lighthouse & State Park

2011-07-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

Newport Aquarium, OR

2011-07-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

We spent a rainy afternoon at the Newport Aquarium. So cool to see such amazing creatures! The jellyfish are always my favorite.

Tidal Raves

2011-07-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

We were stoked to be back on the coast after our brief stint in the city. And while Portland is always a blast, it doesn't really provide the much needed r and r like the beach does. We hit up a restaurant "Tidal Raves" in Depoe Bay. Everett went for the fettucini alfredo. Not the best choice, perhaps.

file:///Users/keithgardner/Desktop/L%20Retro%20Camera%20Pics/shot_1309228619003.jpg

Portlandia

2011-06-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

We decided to go into one of our favorite towns for a weekend visit. My best friend from High School Jex lives there and I always love to see my toots. Keith had a friend that he used to work with at the record store in D.C. that was playing music in town, so he had an old friend to see as well. We enjoyed MANY good meals out (love all the food in this amazing town), a little shopping, catching up with other friends that live in the area and LAUNDRY…. it's amazing how much gets dirty fast living on the road for a week. Lunch and shopping with my ladies Emily +Jex was much needed. Also, catching up with high-school friend Julia + Butch (a college friend… small world) was so nice. Julia+Butch are about to welcome a sweet little girl into their lives and I couldn't be more excited for the two of them. So fun. I HEART portlandia!!!!

This is what we do while visiting Aunt Jex in Portland....

Put on all her beads.

Find all her nail polish.

Wear pearls and fancy hats.

Dress-up is fun.

Blowing kisses with Aunt Jex.

And playing patty cake.

The set-up.

Toss it in the OVEN!!!

Stop with the pictures!!!

Mama and Daddy to be... with the wild little one causing scenes at the dinner table.

The adorable and very pregnant Jules and the lovely Jex

The three high school friends... back together again after all the years. :) Makes me smile.

CRABS!!

2011-06-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Nehalem State Park Campground was booked for the weekend so we had to find a place to safely leave our trailer while we head in to Portland for a few days. I (Lindsey) called around a bit and Kelly at the Brighton Marina was not only the nicest person I talked to, but it was also the cheapest spot around. We got packed up, ate a lovely breakfast at a cute little cafe in Nehalem and then headed to the marina. The couple that owns the marina, Kelly and his wife were so funny and nice. We decided to have a little lunch before heading into Portland (about 1 and 1/2 away). Kelly was steaming crabs and shucking oysters and we could not resist.

It was more than just a LITTLE lunch. We munched on 2 crabs (big ones, with LOTS of meat) and Keith had oysters as well. Yum Yum! This is what the coast is all about. It was perfect... and filling. Keith was in HEAVEN. :)

Kelly and the Brighton Marina are exactly the right combination of people, place, and hospitality that I (Keith) am looking for in a beach trip. Nothing fancy here, just good friendly people cooking amazing no frills seafood. This place is HIGHLY recommended. After lunch we packed up the trailer and headed into Portland for the weekend.

Nehalem Bay, OR

2011-06-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

We ended up avoiding SUPER touristy Cannon Beach and heading a little South to Nehalem Bay State Campground. My friend Addie and I had camped here just two years earlier on a quick trip we did on the coast to pick up my car in Seattle. It's an AMAZING spot, and we had just as great weather. The afternoon was spent unpacking, playing at the playground, and then hitting the beach. Everett LOVED it. We played in the sand and sun for hours. Then he napped. Aghh.... this is LIFE!

We had to wake the little man up to go into dinner in the nearby town of Manzanita. I love this town. We were going to go to a pub but there was a sign "ABSOLUTELY NO MINORS, NOT EVEN ON DECK", so it was wood fired pizza and that was fine by me, and Everett! We met an awesome couple who we talked a bit with, and then walked down to the beach for some self portraits of the 3 of us. (This by the way, we will be doing at each spot we are at. It's hilarious because I set my camera on a timer, and then run to Everett and Keith and Everett laughs and laughs at mama running. I adore this.) Enjoy some fun beach photos of Everett.

Everett likes to eat the sand. Thought he was over the phase of putting odd objects in mouth... guess not!

After Dinner at the Manzanita Beach.

The self portrait... (notice Everett looking and laughing at me :)

Cape Disappointment, WA

2011-06-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

It feels so good to finally be on the coast! And, Cape Disappointment, WA. was anything but. This is Lindsey writing now, for this post at least to get us caught up a bit. Keith has "getting Everett to be duty". We hit the West Coast... and it was great to see the ocean. In fact, it was the first time both Everett and Keith have seen the Pacific. Cape Disappointment was beautiful. We camped out a great State Park and met a little friend for Everett, a sweet girl named Allison who was 16 months... and a RUNNER. YIKES. I'm afraid that by the end of this trip, we too will have a RUNNER!!! :)

Everett and I had a very "interesting" experience using the parks shower. I learned NEVER to shower with Everett alone again. But all turned out fairly well in the end. The morning was amazing. It had been raining all night and Keith woke to find a beautiful Rainbow over our trailer and camp along with a deer. We got our stuff together and headed to Astoria, OR. for breakfast. From breakfast we drove to Cannon Beach, and up to a DAY PARK... (whoops, my fault.) on a very windy, NARROW road, just to have to turn around and go back because trailers were not allowed. Yikes... my bad. Next post is where we ended up for the night. AMAZING place.

(Now this is my favorite moment... EVER!!! :)

Woke up to Bambi in front of the Bambi. Reminded me of home. I wasn't expecting deer at the beach.

Rainbow Falls State Park, WA

2011-06-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick break for lunch and some quality jungle gym time.

(Note from mommy, the photographer - Above is one of my favorite captured moments... ever. I thought, but in the next blog comes another fave. :)

White Pass I Mt.Rainier, WA

2011-06-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Absolutely stunning.

Lake Rim Rock

2011-06-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Lake Rimrock was our next stop, which is on the border of Mt. Rainier National Park. We were planning on making it into the park a ways, but we met some unfortunate traffic due to rock blasting which set us back an hour or so. By that time Everett had had enough, and so had we. The park was pretty old school, with lots of old fifth wheels converted into make shift cabins. We did some swinging, grilled up some steaks and asparagus on the new portable grill, and relaxed by the lake.

A Blog Worthy Trip

2011-06-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since our first cross-country honey moon excursion in the trailer. What an amazing trip we had together. We reminisce about that trip often, and long to do it again some day. We've taken a few trips here and there since, mostly weekenders in and around our home town of Whitefish, MT, but none that we felt were blog worthy. I'm happy to say that we're back on the road and blogging about it again.

With Lindsey's summer booking up quick, we decided to set a few weeks aside for a relatively close to home Pacific Coast Hwy jaunt. We plan to get on Hwy 101 just west of Seattle, drive down to the top of California, and then back to MT through central Oregon. I've been anticipating this trip for some time now, as I haven't had the opportunity to see much of the Pacific Northwest aside from Seattle and Portland, both which I love very much.

This trip may prove to be a bit more challenging than our last, as we now have a third traveller with us. A true trailer tot. Our new son, Everett is now 15 months old, and while he has joined us on a few of those weekend trips, he hasn't had the chance to spend any extended amount of time in the trailer with us. Things may get interesting.

With Everett in mind we decided it would be best to keep our road time to a minimum, driving no more than three hours a day or so. Our first night we stayed in Coeur d'Alene, ID at Blackwell RV park on the river. The park was your typical RV style park with plenty of spaces, hook-ups, and clean baths and showers, but nothing to write home about. The park is right on the river, but situated such that it's difficult to enjoy the view. The town of Coeur d'Alene sits next to Hayden lake which is quite large, and beautiful. We spent most of the evening walking around the park, and trying to get our routine down again. The trailer sure does seem a whole lot smaller now with the three of us. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you have a child.

We spent night two at Wanapum State Park which is situated on the Columbia River Gorge. If you have ever been to the concert venue "The Gorge" than you are familiar with the area. Eastern Washington is quite barren, almost desert like at times. The Gorge is a vast and deep cut-out where the Columbia River runs through. The park had a lovely beach where we all enjoyed the evening hours playing in the blackish river sand. Around 7 pm or so the winds really picked-up, something that Lindsey tends to dislike, but I find there is something soothing about being in the little trailer and having the wind ripping all around us like being in a little egg, or cocoon safe from harms way.

We're back!

2009-05-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally here! Most of the snow has melted and we were itching to get moving. We swung through the dealer on our way back from Bozeman this weekend where we had stored the Bambi for the winter. Missoula is only a couple of hours south of us, yet they get significantly less snow than we do which made us feel better about leaving her uncovered all season.

We made our way back to Whitefish via the "long route" which is a glorious drive that runs parallel to the Blackfoot River and the Continental Divide into the Swan River Valley. We scoped out a little spot next to Lake Salmon and decided to stay for the night.

We spent most of the evening playing cards over a bottle of wine. It was so great to be back in the Bambi!

Our Honeymoon Route

2008-12-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

We finally arrived in Missoula around 5pm where we were to drop off the trailer at the dealer for the winter. As we unpacked the last of our things out of the trailer, we were saddened knowing that we weren't going to be taking another trip until spring. At least we knew that she would be in good hands, and not too far away.

We weren't home yet. Whitefish is still another 2-3 hours north, and it was getting dark and starting to snow again. I was completely exhausted from the drive and ready to be home. It was dark by time we made it back into Whitefish, it was nice to see familiar sights reminding us that we had made it back and yet, everything felt slightly different somehow. Perhaps it was us who were a little different and were seeing things in a slightly new and different way.

Much has happened while we were on the road. The country elected a new president and for the first time in history - a black man, the economy had taken a turn for the worse and we were now facing a recession, millions of people were pushed out of work and were now facing hardships like they could never had predicted. It was a tough time to be away from home, not knowing how these changes were effecting our own community. Yet, at the same time, we were experiencing how these things were effecting our friends and family, and a much larger and more important community - the country as a whole.

Whitefish is a unique town in that many people, myself included, move here to live a much simpler life, a life connected with nature without the stress, problems and issues that they may have faced at one time in the past, the frustrations of city life, the disappointment of friends and family, the dissolution of politics - all reasons I've heard for people moving here. And, with those reasons, it's easy to disassociate oneself from the things that we are inexplicably connected to, whether we want to be or not. If I've learned one thing on this trip it's that we are all connected. Whether we see it, or feel it, the decisions that we make as a whole, whether they are for what some might feel are for the good of the people, undoubtably will eventually effect us all. Therefore we must make an effort to stay connected and participate actively in this larger more important community that we are all a part of. Being on the road has reminded me of that.

The route

December 2, 2008

2008-12-15T19:31:00.001-08:00

We made it to Sheridan, Wyoming last night and were planning on staying in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. However, when we arrived and tried to get our heat going, we were running into some problems. We had just had the trailer winterized before we left CO, and I was thinking that this may be part of the reason the heater wasn't working, but it was too late to call the dealer for help. We hadn't yet stayed in a hotel on the trip and therefore, we thought we were justified to do so this one time. After all, it was getting very cold outside.

The sky was hauntingly beautiful during the first part of our drive today through the rest of Wyoming and into Montana. It was a constant reminder though, that we were undoubtably heading for unfavorable weather. A nasty bridge (actually mountain passes in our case) as they say, that Lindsey and I knew we would inevitably have to cross at some point, but didn't want to think about until we had to. The snow started to fall, and as we rose in elevation it only got worse. Living in Montana these last few years has given me plenty of snow driving practice. And, I'm actually quite confident driving in snow now. However, pulling a trailer through the snow was a completely different scenario. Whiteouts brought us down to a crippling 35 mph at times going over the mountain passes. And, the buildup of snow and ice on the trailer was adding much more weight than I had expected. We were constantly calling the weather report to try and get a heads-up on whether we should press on, or perhaps hunker down for another night with the hopes that things would clear-up tomorrow. As we peaked the last pass on the our drive, however, we both let out a huge sigh of relief - we made it through the worst of it and decided to press on home.

December 1, 2008

2008-12-15T19:28:00.001-08:00

We got on the road relatively early, both with mixed emotions of sadness for the trip coming to an end and excitement to be returning back home. Lindsey has made the drive from Colorado to Montana many times while she was attending school in Missoula. I on the other hand had not and was eager to see the landscape.

Northern Colorado, and western Wyoming are very quiet, peaceful places. Rolling farm land, always with a mountain range in site. The wind was incredibly strong and made for slow moving. We took the time to reflect on our journey, and brainstorm about what we were to

do once we made it back home.

Sunset was beautiful. Our shadow was being cast upon the land giving us a new perspective on our rig that we hadn't yet had. It was surreal. Almost as if we were watching a motivating scene out of a film. A couple about to embark on a journey with the fear and excitement of not knowing what lie ahead for them. And, yet that was (is) us. Although our road trip is coming to an end, our most important journey as husband wife had just began.

November 30 -Evening

2008-12-04T15:09:00.001-08:00

Tonight we went out to dinner with my brother Erik, his girlfriend Meredith, and his kids Jack and Abbey to celebrate Jack's 8th birthday which, was a few days earlier. We had them over to grandma and grandpas (Jane and Kent's) house to give Jack some presents. We laughed, tried on grandpa's glasses, and said our good-byes.

Thanks a million mom and dad for an amazing way to end our trip. This trip really wouldn't have happened if not for the love and support of you two.

(NOTE: This doesn't mean the blog is done... we still aren't home so check for pictures and a farewell to the trip of a lifetime. Photos by me, and Keith will write. He needed a break from writing, although I must say he is quite good at it.)

November 30 -Afternoon

2008-12-04T14:58:00.001-08:00

We had left our Bambi baby at our family farm house on Airport Road. To protect her from being stolen while we were out of town, Kent parked (Laurel's) little truck in front of her. She looked quite funny with that little truck in front of her (wish our truck got as good of gas mileage as that one!) Thanks to Laurel's old truck, she was still there when we returned. This farm holds many memories for me. I was born on it, and then lived there in during 7th and 8th grade. It's a beautiful place in my childhood memories.

We hooked her up to our truck... for what we knew was probably the last time. :(

November 29- 30

2008-12-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday night (our last in Steamboat) our friend Mikey from Montana (family lives in Colorado) came up to join us in our huge condo. We played cards, hot tubbed and relaxed. It was really great to see him seeing that he recently moved from Whitefish to Bozeman. That night, the three of us went to a dinner party at one of Mike's friends living in Steamboat. It was fun to meet others our age living a similar lifestyle to ours in a mountain town... it made us anxious to get home and strap our snowboards on! (This was the first time we had even missed home in 2 months!)

The next day we woke up to more snow in and yucky roads. We had to drive back to Longmont, and Mike to Bozeman. It was a winter wonderland trip on our way out of the mountains. A little scary, and I little annoyed being stuck on I-90 for so long... but the scenery was great. Good job Kent for driving us safely home!

November 26-29

2008-12-04T14:11:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving in Steamboat... what a treat!

For Thanksgiving, the Nelson family tradition usually consists of renting a cabins outside of Estes Park with friends and family. Not knowing who was going to be home for Thanksgiving this year, Jane decided just to stick at home. A few weeks before we came, Jane and Kent were at a benefit dinner/auction and silently bid on a condo in Steamboat, and WON. So headed up to the mountains for turkey day, just the 4 of us.

It was a wonderful place and we enjoyed it so much seeing that Keith had never been to Steamboat. We enjoyed the hot tub there a little too much. The night we got there we went for a long soak and afterwards mom and I headed back to the room. Dad came up a little later saying that Keith wasn't feeling so hot so he was going to sit outside in the cool for a bit. I went to check on him and found him sitting near the men's bathroom with his head bleeding. He explained that he was feeling a little sick so he got up to go to the mens room and passed out. Scary! He was fine, just a little shaken and a little blood on his forehead. We were thankful he was fine when we ate our turkey feast.

Preparing the turkey.

Keith on his computer looking out on the not yet covered slopes of Steamboat. It was great to be at a ski-in ski-out condo but we didn't have our gear with us to enjoy the slopes... luckily the snow wasn't good until the day we left or else we would have been itching to ride.

Kent and Keith enjoying cigars.

Before the big meal, enjoying Kent's yummy wine he brought home from Italy.

The pretty table setting.

The traditional "Dolly Kratzer Hindu prayer":

I know my heart,

I know my mind,

I know that I,

stick up behind.

Hee hee... we love that one. Good memories for the YMCA cabins in Estes!

November 22-26

2008-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

We drove into Longmont Colorado, my (Lindsey's) hometown around 6 p.m. This is the beautiful sunset we saw after a long day of flat Kansas.Kent and Jane (Lindsey's folks) took us out to a yummy mexican dinner. Our favorite! For the next few days we relaxed, enjoying the freedom of a bigger bed, home cooked meals and no driving... it was heavenly.

The grandkids playing football in the front yard with the neighbor kids. Good ol' old town Longmont.

Kent working on his puzzle. He is a puzzle king.

Playing Twister with my niece Abbey, with Jack giving us the commands. Man I forgot how tiring Twister can be!

Martini time!!! My mom makes the best!

November 20-21

2008-11-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

It took us about 7 hours to drive through Kansas on our way to Colorado to see Lindsey's family. This is what we saw.

FYI

2008-11-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just a FYI for all you followers out there...

We figured out the setting to do so you can make comments...

so make them! :)

We want to know what you are thinking about our travels!

November 16-19, 2008

2008-11-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

We drove for half a day or so before we stopped to rest for the night. Tomorrow we're heading to Austin, Texas.

I (Keith) have been lucky enough to visit Austin in March these past few years for the South by South West Music festival and conference. Austin is a lot of things... college town, capital of Texas, a haven for artists and eccentric types, but above all Austin is a music town. Any night of the week you can find bands playing throughout the city, rock and roll, country, mexican, whatever you're in the mood for!

The RV park that we're staying at is quite nice, $1 all you can eat pancake breakfasts, nice clean showers, and all around friendly staff makes the park one of the nicest we've stayed at so far. The nightly fee is a little higher than we would like to pay, but I suppose it's worth it. We relaxed most of the afternoon at the park, and made plans to head down to a highly talked about mexican place for dinner in the evening.

Lindsey and I are both huge fans of Mexican food, and Texas is a great place to find it. "Rio Grande" (not the chain) in Round Rock, Texas, where we ate last night, turned out to be a wonderful first meal. We're already looking into getting breakfast at another highly talked about place "Juan in a Million" tomorrow morning.

Day two we walked around Town Lake for some exercise, and grabbed breakfast at "Juan in a Million", it was delicious. Two more things that Austin has plenty of are thrift shops and art galleries. The thrift shops in Austin are more like curio shops with all types of off the wall things for sale, from pearl snap western shirts and cowboy boots, to bizarre carnival type items. The galleries are full of Western inspired art, not like the western art you would find out in Montana, but art highly influenced by the Mexican culture that is so prevalent here.

Day three we spent walking around town and checking out more shops and galleries, when we stumbled upon a cupcake shop that was housed inside of an old Airstream. Lindsey and I have been talking about doing something like this for a while now. Although, we've talked about selling gourmet hotdogs, not cupcakes. I'm not a huge fan of cupcakes, but Lindsey is, so she had to get one. We had a chance to chat with the owner of the shop for a while, and got to tell her of our travels. That evening we went back downtown and hung out at some of the bars, grabbed a slice of pizza, and called it a night.

It was great to have the chance to visit Austin outside of SXSW when it's not a madhouse. Austin is Texas' fastest growing city, and it's easy to see why so many people fall in love with the place. I'm looking forward to being back in March.

November 12-14, 2008

2008-11-18T11:26:00.001-08:00

We decided to leave Gulf Shores due to unfavorable weather heading that way. No one likes to be at the beach and not have sunshine, so next on the list was New Orleans. I (Keith) have been to New Orleans a few times before, and have always been fascinated by the place. It's one of the most unique cities I've ever been to, and I couldn't wait to share it with Lindsey.

I, like many of you, witnessed the destruction of New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast by hurricane Katrina on television. I'd seen the documentary movies, the specials, but they still hadn't prepared me for what I saw first hand. I new it was going to be bad, but not this bad. As we drove into town on the highway, just above the neighborhoods, you could see the destruction everywhere, businesses flattened, neighborhoods deserted, and abandoned. The majority of homes, perhaps one in 3, where unlivable, and boarded up. I was beginning to wonder just how different the vibe of the city would be.

We pulled into our RV park, a strange park located just outside of downtown on the bank of the river, situated between a yacht building company, and a boat dock. The host gave us a welcome, and spoke of the destruction, and rebuilding they've had to do there at the park over the last couple of years. He showed us a line on one of the adjacent warehouses where the water had risen during the hurricane. "This entire place was under 14 feet of water. Most of us stayed and kept moving our trailers further, and further away. We weren't sure if we made the right decision to stay, because once they closed the bridges, we were stuck."

Later that night, we took the shuttle downtown to the French Quarter. I really wanted to get some good New Orleans seafood, so I took Lindsey to "Acme Seafood", a classic New Orleans joint, always a with a line out the door. I got a heaping platter of fried oysters, shrimp, soft shell crab, hush puppies, and fries. Lindsey got the catfish. I was in heaven, Lindsey, not so much. After devouring my meal, and most of Lindsey's, we walked the streets and took in the sites.

Lindsey and I are huge people watchers, and New Orleans is the place to do it. You've got all types here, and they're all here to party, which makes them even more interesting and fun to watch. We walked the infamous Bourbon Street (you have to do it once), and wandered around all night. We're really looking forward to spending the day here tomorrow.

We took the shuttle back downtown first thing in the morning, grabbed some breakfast, and started wandering around. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the square watching the vendors, and tourists. We came across some wonderful photography exhibits, grabbed lunch at an amazing Mediterranean place recommended by one of the gallery hosts, and happened to stumble upon a book fair where indie writers, and underground publishers were showing, and selling their works. The arts community in New Orleans seems to be thriving with so many great galleries to see!

Some of the locals we spoke to said that New Orleans is not the same city it was before Katrina, and I'm sure that's true. Many people that escaped the city during Katrina have not returned, and whether they will ever come back is yet to be seen. New Orleans will, however, press on as it always does. New Orleans will also continue to be a city of inspiration, and fascination to people like me, and you can be certain that I will come back.

November 12, 2008

2008-11-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

The news was predicting rain today, however, we woke to a scene of fog. We did our usual routine of making coffee and breakfast, and for the first time we didn't have to turn the heat on, which was a HUGE blessing. It was a bit muggy, and the weatherman said the fog would lift by noon. We walked on the beach (just a 3 minute drive from our spot) and watched the fog roll in and out. I (Lindsey) was excited because the fog always makes for beautiful photos.

We went home for lunch, and sure enough the fog lifted, so we headed back to the non-stop white sand beach. What a way to live! It was so nice, and relaxing, and was just what the Dr. ordered. Our afternoon consisted of cartwheels, feeding the little crabs, drinking some cervezas, shooting pics, and watching the many fishermen, and women hoping to get lucky. We also spotted something with a fin jumping out in the distance. Sure enough... it was a shark! (kidding, just making sure you were listening) it was a school of dolphins swimming by, jumping out of the water. Really amazing.

That night Keith was very excited to make seafood. We went to the store and fish shop, and Keith cooked up an amazing steamed shrimp dinner. Delicious! I am so blessed to have someone who cooks as well as Keith. I could go on right now about how blessed I am to have Keith, but that may bore some of you.

We decided to head to New Orleans, which is just 4 hours away. Keith had been there a few times before on his way to Austin for SXSW, but I had never been, and was curious to see the unfortunate destruction that Hurricane Katrina had wreaked.

November 11, 2008

2008-11-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

We were torn on whether to go a little out of the way and see a place Keith spoke highly of, Louisville Kentucky, or follow the sun to stay warm, thankfully, we chose the later. I had developed a bit of a cold, and warm weather, and white sand beaches sounded like just the cure.

From Lindsay's place in Nashville, we headed to the Gulf Shores of Alabama. Not a place I would imagine to be a tropical destination, but it was surprisingly so. We drove around Orange beach, and then into Gulf Shores looking for the perfect RV park close (we wanted walking distance to the beach, but it didn't seeming possible.) Finally, we found the state park, with around 420 sites, we new this was a popular snowbird destination that would satisfy our demands.

The state park was a little torn up from the last Hurricane. But, the rebuilding is underway, complete with a new fishing pier, and pavilion. The trees looked like they had seen better days, but other than that, the park was thriving with healthy, happy folks, riding their bikes, and enjoying their retirement. We are always the minority at these parks, but we love it... RV folks are the sweetest!

November 10, 2008

2008-11-16T07:24:00.000-08:00

Today Lindsay (sis) went and picked up Sydney (niece), so that we could see her while we were in town. Sydney is so adorable, and has grown considerably since the last time I saw her. We hung around the house most of the morning, and went down to a local lake to walk around later that afternoon.

Monday was a great day. Chris and Toots (uncle and aunt), came up from Hunstville to hang out with us. We drove downtown to Nashville, and walked around a bit. The Country Music Awards are in a couple of days, and town was starting to buzz. We had a chance to visit the Frist Museum, a beautiful art deco building where they were exhibiting a collection of photographs from the Eastman Kodak Gallery. It was a wonderful collection of iconic photographs, some extremely emotional and inspiring. Lindsey really enjoyed seeing the show, as did the rest of us.

Later that night Lindsey and I went back down to Nashville to see The Acorn and Calexico play at The Mercy Lounge. I don't know what it is, perhaps it's the fact that there are so many great musicians and critics in Nashville, but bands always seem to play tighter, and more focused when they are in Nashville. It was a great show, and both bands sounded better than I've heard them before.

November 9, 2008

2008-11-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Next stop on the road is Nashville, Tennessee. We're going to be staying with my sister Lindsay, and niece Sydney for a couple of days. Also, my aunt and uncle Chris, and Toots, live a couple hours south of Nashville in Hunstville, Alabama, so hopefully we'll have a chance to visit with them while we are in the area.

We had a chance to drive through Waynesville, North Carolina on the way there. Waynesville is one of Jane's (Lindsey's momma) favorite towns out this way, and she recommended that we check it out. She was right... Waynesville is a beautiful little town. We only wish we had a little more time to spend there... so many places, so little time.

We got into Nashville around 4pm, and visited with big sis Lindsay. We then headed down to a highly talked about Italian place called "Mama Mia" for dinner with some of Lindsay's friends. Dinner was amazing! And, it's b.y.o.b., which is great for folks like Lindsay and I, not that we're alcoholics, but if you're tying to save $, it helps out a lot. It's a little place, and there was a crowd out the door all night. If you're ever in the area, go!

November 8, 2008

2008-11-11T10:39:00.001-08:00

This morning we ate breakfast at "Over Easy", and went back to the park to get our things together for our pack trip. We had to purchase new sleeping bags which took some time. Due to an unfortunate run in with the dryer, our old bags had a bit of a "meltdown" before we left for the trip (Lindsey). The salesman at the gear store gave us a suggestion for an over-nighter which sounded pretty good.

We hooked the trailer back up and drove to a campground in the Pisgah National Forest, closer to where we're going to hike. We'll be getting back on the road tomorrow morning when we get back down. We then headed up the forest to get back on the Parkway where the trailhead is.

We arrived at the trailhead and started on the hike. It's a pretty short hike, roughly 3 or 4 miles or so. I'd really like to do a longer hike, but due to my foot still in recovery, I'm going to have to take it easy. The trail is the Art Loeb, which ran up and over a couple of balds, one specifically called Black Balsam. Black Balsam bald is above the tree line with 360 views of the mountains. It was also extremely windy up there. We would have loved to set-up camp on top of the bald, but it was looking like rain and there was no tree cover. We hiked back down a bit and found a spot on the trail under a tree that looked like it would provide a little cover. The clouds rolled in around 6, we got dinner made, and took shelter in the tent. We read most of the evening and tried to doze off pretty early. We both managed to sleep for an hour or so, but the rain started coming down, and the wind picked up considerably. As the night went on, the clouds cleared out, and the temperature dropped way down. The new sleeping bags were doing the job, but the wind became unbearable. I literally thought we were going to be swept right off the side of the mountain. Neither of us slept much.

November 7, 2008

2008-11-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

We're having so much fun here in Asheville we decided to stay a couple of extra days. Today went for a drive to visit some of the surrounding towns. We drove through Lake Lure (where Dirty Dancing was filmed), and walked around the town of Black Mountain. We then drove back to Whitefish, and visited the Grove Park Inn, a beautiful old stone Inn built in 1913. The Inn has a stunning view of the surrounding mountains.

Later in day we visited the Arboretum to see their bonsai exhibit, and walk the grounds. Tomorrow we're planning on doing an overnight backpacking trip in the Great Smokies.

November 5-6, 2008

2008-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Asheville last night. There aren't many RV camps inside the city, but we managed to find one pretty close that'll do. Actually, it's right down the street from my old place of work.

We got set-up, and eagerly headed downtown for some eats.

There are so many places to eat in Asheville... so many choices! I decided that I wasn't going to chance it on a new place, and would go with one of my old standards "Salsa's", a Central American/Caribbean fusion joint. The food is always fresh, and the flavors are abound. Salsa's did not disappoint. The meal was wonderful as always.

The next day we ate breakfast at "The Early Girl Eatery", another "can't go wrong" spot, and walked around town. I took Linds by my old home, which is still standing (just barely), and showed her some of my old favorite shops. Asheville is such a wonderful town, an artist haven of sorts surround by the Appalachian, and Great Smokey Mountains. It's got is all, and it's great to be back. Later in the afternoon we headed back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit "Graveyard Fields". We hiked around the fields, and relaxed by the waterfalls.

November 4, 2008

2008-11-07T05:16:00.001-08:00

We found a campground in Fancy Gap, Virginia which is right on the parkway. We're finishing up the drive today, and should be arriving in Asheville in the early evening. The drive and scenery has been stunning. The most breathtaking drive I've ever done, sorry Going to the Sun Road, but it's true. Granted, GTTS Rd. is equally as impressive, the BR pkwy goes on forever, stretching almost 500 miles. Perhaps, the colors and the fact that we are so alone out here may have much to do with it. The solitude has been healing.

The road passes many old homesteads, many of which, have beautiful old graveyards on them. Generations of families past have all been laid at these sites, placed in some of the most peaceful places on earth. We had a chance to stop and visit one of them. There is so much history out in these mountains.

If you are unfamiliar with the Blue Ridge Parkway, the road meanders along the tops of the Appalachian (properly pronounced apple-atch-an) Mountains from western Virginia, down into western North Carolina, and into the Tennessee just south of Asheville. I (Keith) had the opportunity to live in Asheville for a brief time, and have longed to return for many years. I can't wait to share Asheville with Lindsey!

We did a short hike, as our bodies have been craving exercise lately. Our recent dreams of exercise must be our bodies way of saying that we are way overdue. We stopped at Linville Falls, and hiked up to get some shots. We're planning a few hikes while we are in Asheville as well. I'm getting excited!

November 3, 2008

2008-11-07T04:56:00.000-08:00

This is day two driving the Parkway. Now that everything is closed, we have the road to ourselves. It's pretty amazing being the only ones out here.

November 1-2, 2008

2008-11-07T04:44:00.000-08:00

We started the Blue Ridge Parkway, something I've really been looking forward to as I believe it to be the most beautiful drive in the country, especially during the fall. We're planning on driving the entire thing down to Asheville and expect it to take us roughly 2 days.

The Parkway facilities are all closing today, Sunday, and therefore there aren't many people out on the road. The drive is extremely peaceful. We are planning to camp in little town just off of the parkway when we get tired.

November 1, 2008

2008-11-05T05:22:00.000-08:00

The party was a blast, Greg in his censored (and sometimes not so censored) nude suit, Jen as Sara Palin, and us... trailer trash. Greg and Jen really went all out for the event. There was a graveyard out back, a coffin beer pong table in the blood splattered shed, and even a flaming pumpkin (so we heard). Lindsey and I kept ourselves thoroughly occupied by downing whiskey, taking pictures of each other with the fake crows propped throughout the house, and passing out by 11.

We stumbled out of the trailer around 10 the next morning. By Greg's account, the party managed to roll on till 2 or so. I suppose whisky is good for something. We shook off the hangovers and got back on the road.

October 31, 2008

2008-11-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

It was so quite out here at the farm last night, and with clear skies and temps dropping, it also got very COLD! There is a pretty good frost on everything this morning and my breath is clearly visible. We're going to roll out of here pretty early and head down to my other cousin, Greg and his girlfriend Jen's place in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We're going to take Skyline Drive, which will eventually turn into the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've done portions of the drive, but never the entire thing. Making the drive is something I've really been looking forward to for some time now. The colors of the leaves where we are peaked a few days ago, but we should catch up to them the farther south we go.

It's a short drive from Warrenton to Harrisonburg. The average speed limit on Skyline Drive is 45, which makes for slow moving. The western Virginia countryside is beautiful and we're in no hurry though.

Harrisonburg, Virginia is a small college town (JMU) and tonight is their homecoming, it also happens to be Halloween. Needless to say, it's going to be a wild night. We were a bit apprehensive about parking the trailer on the street, as the shiny silver bubble seems to just scream "VANDALIZE ME!" I could just picture Lindsey and I waking tomorrow morning to the trailer wrapped in toilet paper and covered in pumpkin bits, or worse, painted like a giant pumpkin, but Greg's house seemed to keep us hidden out of sight enough that we felt comfortable parking her there overnight.

Greg and Jen are having a Halloween party this evening. For fear of being "that couple" not in costume, we decided we better scrounge and head down to the local thrift to see what we could find. After rummaging through the already rummaged thrift store, we managed to put together what we thought would be fitting costumes for the night.

October 30, 2008

2008-11-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today we drove down to my (Keith) Aunt Lynn and Uncle Don's place in Virginia. Although they only live 60 miles or so from D.C., the horse farm that they live on is quite a contrast from the big city. It's been a few years since I've last seen them or visited them at their home. And, they hadn't yet had the chance to meet my new bride.

We arrived at the farm and parked the trailer down next to the barn. Lynn breeds champion welsh ponies, and Don is an equine veterinarian - horse people, for sure. Chris, my cousin and aspiring writer, lives in a nearby town and headed over as well. We got caught up, checked out the renovations they were doing on their home, the barn, the beautiful ponies, the grounds, and a new addition to the family... Buck the squirrel. As it turns out, Lindsey was quite inspired by Buck and therefore, felt compelled to write...

I (Lindsey) have always had an obsession with squirrels, I don't know why, but growing up on Lincoln Street in good ol' Longmont Colorado, we had big oak trees that produced a lot of acorns and where there are acorns, there are squirrels. And, like those squirrels, I LOVED gathering all the acorns that I could find. My parents will tell me stories of when I was a child in preschool, my teachers would ask the inevitable question: "what do you want to be when you GROW up?" most of the kids would answer with the typical responses: princess, ballerina, vet.... I however, would enthusiastically answer: "nut picker". And, why not? Sounds like a good profession, doesn't it? I genuinely believed that nut picker was a profession, but my obsession went beyond that. My favorite song to sing went "Grey squirrel, grey squirrel, shake your bushy tail", but I sang it as: "Gay girl, gay girl, shake your bushy tail". (Speech problems, nothing more.)

Anyways, when we were at Lynn and Don's, I got a big surprise. Their son Chris had told us about their new "pet" squirrel, but I didn't quite believe until I saw it. Don is an equine veterinarian, and animals seem to have a natural attraction towards him. Buck the family squirrel definitely did. Chris tried to get Buck to come inside. Buck came to him, but wasn't ready to call it a night. Once Don walked out, however, he jumped right on him, and brought Buck into the house.

Lynn and Don's neighbors raised Buck as a baby and released it into the wild when it was old enough to fend for itself. Recently, however, Buck started showing back up over at Lynn and Don's place. Buck comes in every afternoon around 4 or 5 and plays with Don and Lynn for a while, it finds and hides nuts around the house, and begs for yummy human food. Then around 9 or 10, Buck heads to his hat (his home hung with the pans on the island in the kitchen) and goes to bed. I instantly fell in love. I mean I went bonkers. I took a trillion photos. When Buck first jumped and crawled all over me, I was a bit frightened and a bit shocked. But, after awhile, I got used to it. Honestly, I would have been a bit bummed if he didn't take a liking to me. Buck was so sweet. He was a childhood fantasy come to life. As cheesy and weird as that may sound... I don't care. I want a pet squirrel. Here's to you Buck! Of all the beautiful horses that Lynn does an amazing job of birthing and raising, I fell in love with a squirrel.

Here's to you, Lindsey!

After being thoroughly entertained and completely worn out by our new friend Buck, we headed into old town Warrenton (a classic small Virginia country town) for dinner at a wonderful wine bar and restaurant.

October 27, 2008

2008-11-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

The 9/11 memorial @ The Pentagon

We made the rest of the drive to D.C. and arrived late in the afternoon at my (Keith) mothers house in VA. We spent the afternoon catching up with her and my grandfather Wiggy. It's been quite a while since I've last seen him. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it out to Montana for the wedding, so it was great to tell him all about it.

Granny Pat and myself looking at wedding pictures

We spent the next couple of days visiting with family, my grandmother Pat, grandfather Wiggy, his fiance Maggie, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Pam. We also had a chance to visit one of my favorite museums The Hirsshorn, a contemporary art museum down in the district. That evening one of my best childhood friends Mike, his new fiance Aimee, and their little one Ashlee stopped by. Mike and Aimee have recently become engaged and we wish them the best of luck. Ashlee is one of the most well-behaved and sweetest babies we've ever met. We hope that we can be as blessed as they are one day!

Mom and Ashlee

October 26, 2008

2008-11-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

We hoped on the train both tired and a little hung-over. The week in NYC was non-stop as usual, but thankfully nothing out of the ordinary. We arrived back at the farm, hooked back up and got back on the road. We're ready and anxious to get moving again.

We're headed down to D.C. today. I (Keith) still have lots of friends and family in the Northern VA area which is just east of the district. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. It's rare that I get to see these folks more than once a year. However, many of them made the journey out to our wedding. We're getting spoiled!

We drove roughly halfway between NY and D.C.. We're taking the round-a-bout more scenic route to avoid having to drive through the city and the dreaded Jersey Turnpike. It's okay though, as we're in no hurry.

October 23-26, 2008

2008-11-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

The last time we were in NYC we celebrated Lindsey's 30th, Lindsey's appendix decided it needed to come out, and then I proposed to her after her recovery. It was quite the eventful trip to say the least.

This time around Lindsey would be attending a photo conference, and I (Keith) would be in town for the CMJ (College Music Journal) music conference and festival. SnowGhost will be hosting our first ever showcase during the conference and there is much to do to prepare.

The whole SnowGhost crew made it into town to help out with the show. Brett and Nolan from Montana, Rohit from San Francisco, Ian from Oregon, and Greg from Cape Cod - the whole crew! It was great to have everyone together, as it's been quite a while since we've all been in the same place at once.

We spent the first couple of days making last minute preparations for the show. Lindsey was busy attending her conference, which was good since I was preoccupied with music biz.

When we had a chance to get away, Lindsey and I went and walked the city a bit. We hit up one of my favorite munchies spots "Crif Dogs". I had the "Spicy Redneck" which consists of a dog wrapped in bacon, and topped with chili, cole slaw, and jalapenos. Lindsey had the "Chihuahua" a dog wrapped in bacon, and topped with avocado and sour cream. We rounded the meal out with a heaping side of tots and a chocolate milk shake. Thank god for comfort food! Afterwards we visited the park where I proposed this time last year.

The Spicy Redneck, The Chihuahua, and TOTS!

The park where it all happened

The showcase went off without a hitch. Thanks to all of the helping hands including Phil from Daytrotter, and Ben and Stefan from Take the Handle. All of the bands were amazing and I think we managed to get a great recording and captured some great video. If you're interested: the bands that played were as follows - Laura Gibson (Portland), Wye Oak (Baltimore), Bad Veins (Cincinnati), Cut of Your Hands (New Zealand), Luke Temple's new band who's name is still undetermined (Brooklyn), and The End of the World (Brooklyn). You should definitely check some of these guys out if you are ever looking for some new music. And, as always snowghostmusic.com and daytrotter.com will be hosting the video we captured from the show.

Cut Off Your Hands

Random street guy and Greg

October 22, 2008

2008-11-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Today we are making a short drive from Brattleboro, VT to Ancramdale, NY. It's been a hectic few weeks making preparations for our visit to NYC. We (SnowGhost) will be hosting our first showcase during the CMJ (College Music Journal) music conference and festival and there is still much to do before the big day.

Instead of trying to drive the trailer into the city, we will be leaving her at our friends Iva and Jerry's place in upstate NY and taking the train down. Iva and Jerry live on a beautiful organic farm roughly 90 miles or so north of the city. It will be great to visit them again.

October 20-21, 2008

2008-10-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Brattleboro and set-up camp at the local KOA. Most of the campgrounds in the area are closing down this weekend, but these guys are open for another week. I'm not sure how easy it's going to be down the road. We may have to go without water and electric (so sad, I know).

Brattleboro is a really cool town. It's set below a beautiful mountain and has that small town hippie/yippie vibe. We spent most of the day checking out the galleries and seeing the shops. We got a recommendation from one of the gallery employees to drive over to Northampton, MA for more galleries and restaurants, so we did.

Northampton is a small college town filled with great restaurants, shops and galleries and is home to the MASSMOCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art). It's the largest contemporary art museum on the east coast (supposedly). Unfortunately, the museum was closed so we grabbed some Tibetan food and walked the streets a bit. I think we may stay an another day in the area. We like it here.

October 19, 2008

2008-10-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

So yes, we are writing this drastically later, but the memories are still fresh in our minds thanks to the aid of photographs. From Maine we traveled to Brattleboro Vermont, passing through adorable small costal towns, including Kennebunkport which is home to our buddy Tom (house, dog sitter, and new roomie).

This is our experience "dumping". It's awesome. We love it! :)

We're still trucking!

2008-10-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

As I sit and watch Obama's 30 minute special with Keith's mom Cheryl, Keith cooks dinner. We are in DC and yes, we are okay... we've just been slacking on the blogs. Actually not slacking, just busy and not near internet. But we are catching up... lots to come, we promise.

October 18, 2008

2008-10-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

We really didn't want to leave Acadia. The park was so peaceful and stunning, but we're headed to Portland, ME, which we've heard a lot of good things about.

We found a "duck pond" campsite outside of Portland to set-up in. It's a great spot. I think we'll stay a couple of nights here.

The AMAZING tree right outside our trailer.

Keith cleaning again. :)

The Bambi tot at night... isn't she a butte!

The cute town of Portland with it's cobblestone streets.

The next day we explored the town of Portland and had lunch at a cute pub. *Black and Tans are maybe the best beers out there, I think. Although, Keith prefers *black and whites. I forgot how good Guinness can be.

We headed back early for a boring, but cheap meal in the Bambi. Vermont beckons us back. Tomorrow we're going to head down to Brattleboro, a town we've been hearing great things about.

*Black and Tan - Guiness and Bass

*Black and White - Guiness and Allagash White

October 17, 2008

2008-10-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is going to have a new voice. Usually, Keith writes it and I take the photos. But, today I'm feeling more motivated to write then Keith.

We left off in Maine from our cute little campground on Sebasticook Lake. We headed to the coast to Acadia National Park. I have dreamed of going to Acadia for years. I even considering working there one summer, but never did. Acadia was stunning.

We got in early, dropped the trailer off in the park campground, and headed for the trails. We took a nice walk along the cliff on the Atlantic ocean. It was so nice to have the mountains (although, not quite as big as ours) and the ocean in one place. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining brightly, and the fall colors were at their peak. I told Keith, 'maybe this is why our tranny went out in Minnesota, so we could make it to see Maine at its Fall height.' Who knows... everything happens for a reason some say.

The ocean!!! Yay!

I thought this looked like the real animals we have at home! :)

After a breathtaking hike, we drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak in Acadia, to check out the views and watch the sunset. You could see mountains, the ocean, harbors, and more.

While we waited for the sun to go down, we talked about how blessed and lucky we are to be on our journey, and then headed into the sweet town of Bar Harbor. Keith helped me to pronounce it just like the locals. It took me a while, but boy is it entertaining. Keith was craving oysters and lobster, and why shouldn't he? We were in seafood country! We had a lovely dinner of lobster, oysters (I didn't) and the popular fish of the area, Haddock - Yum, yum.

October 17, 2008

2008-10-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

We were planning on spending two days in Burlington, but on day two, the weather changed for the worse. We decided to not wait around, but make a driving day out of it. We packed up, and headed back on the road. We're headed to Acadia National Park in Maine.

Maine is one of the only states out east that we've both never had the chance to visit. And, with one of our best friends (Tom) hailing from the great state, We've heard plenty about it. I new that Maine was going to be beautiful, but I really wasn't prepared for just how beautiful it actually is. It is by far the most beautiful state (besides Montana) that I've ever been to. I can see why Tom is so proud to be from this great place. The people are extremely friendly, the food is wonderful (ah, seafood!), and the landscape is dramatic with it's rocky, mountain lined coast. We found a great little campground next to a lake to stay for the night. It's starting to get pretty chilly, well into the 30's at night. Time to start using the heater!

October 16, 2008

2008-10-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time now. I visited Vermont breifly some years ago, but it has always been one of my favorite places in the country, and since I was very young, I've romanticized about living there one day. We drove all the way up to Lake Champlain and from Plattsburgh, NY, we rode the ferry over to Burlington, VT.

As we drove off the ferry, we passed by 4 Airstreamers waiting to cross the lake in the opposite direction. These were the first fellow Airstreamers that we'd seen since we began our trip. As usual, we were greeted with waives and cheers. A great welcome to VT to say the least!

Burlington was just as nice a I remembered. We walked around down on the lake, and did a little shopping in town.

A great day.

October 15, 2008

2008-10-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

We spent the majority of yesterday driving through the beautiful Adirondack mountains. We had a bit of a time finding a place to park the trailer for the night since most of the campgrounds were already closed for the season. However, our last minute decision to ask a local market if we could park in their lot for the night proved to be successful.

We woke early so that Lindsey could get some shots of the area, but the majority of the day was completely socked in. The fog provided a hauntingly beautiful backdrop.

October 14, 2008

2008-10-19T08:19:00.001-07:00

This morning Laurel took us on a scenic drive around the hills so Lindsey could take some shots, and to a great breakfast spot run by a local Mennonite family. Where in the world can you get breakfast for under $5 in this day in age? Right here!

The afternoon was spent relaxing and hanging out with our new niece and nephew, Rose and Jake.

What incredible individuals! They are both so refreshingly genuine and inspiring. We're really looking forward to spending more time with the both of them. Lindsey grabbed some shots of Laurel's church and said our goodbyes.

October 13, 2008

2008-10-16T17:52:00.001-07:00

I had a chance to make the crew my famous french toast this morning. We ate, and headed off for a brief walk through the park just up the road from Connie's place. The park had a great clearing that overlooked the town of Bath from above. There were local artists painting watercolors of the fall foliage, which were brilliant in color.

It was an unusually warm day for fall, reaching above 80 degrees already, and it's not even noon. From what I've heard, Montana is just barely in the 50's and they were expecting snow this evening. Let it snow!

It's a beautiful drive from Connie's to Rock and Laurel's place, through rolling tree covered hills, and dairy farms. We got set-up, did some laundry (finally), and took hot showers. We relaxed most of the day, and then headed off to Letchworth State Park to do a little sight seeing and grab dinner. Lindsey grabbed some amazingly surreal photos of the waterfalls, which were lit up with huge spotlights.

Dinner was amazing, and it was great to catch-up with Laurel and Rock. We were also graced with the presence of their good friend, Beth. We've been extremely fortunate to see them so much this past year. Rock and I are really developing a great friendship. He is always willing to give his support, insight, and advice when it is much needed, and even when it isn't, and for that, I love him.

October 12, 2008

2008-10-13T14:29:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday Lindsey!!! It's too bad that we are driving most of the day, otherwise, we would be celebrating proper. Lindsey decided that we will officially celebrate her birthday when we are up in Vermont, so that's what we will do.

We arrived early in the evening in the small village of Bath, which lies in the western finger lakes region of New York, at the home of Connie Castor (Rock's mother). We are so happy to be back east and back into the mountains. The drive through western Pennsylvania and New York was breathtaking, as the leaves are at their peak. The mountains of western NY remind me of the Shenendoah mountains, which run west of northern Virginia where I grew up. Laurel and Rock have met us here to spend the evening, and to help celebrate Lindsey's bday. Connie has also gone way out of her way and made Lindsey a cake. It's so great to be back with the new family. Tomorrow we will head over to Rock and Laurel's place in Wyoming, NY.

October 11, 2008

2008-10-13T14:28:00.001-07:00

Today we drove as much as possible, passing through more farmland and Amish country. Tonight we will do the Wal-Mart thing. If you aren't familiar, Wal-Mart lets RV'ers camp in their lots overnight. It's free, and they are open 24-7, which means access to a decent bathroom, or a pair wrangler jeans perhaps. The only downside to the Wal-Mart we chose, which was in a little farmtown in Ohio, was that it was the local meeting spot for teenagers looking for their party spot for the night. It was a lot of screaching tires and screaching voices untill about midnight. We played farkel, and listened to a wonderful radio station playing old bluegrass, blues, and rock and roll.

October 10, 2008

2008-10-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

On the road again!

It feels so great to be moving again. We're a little nervous, but feeling good - the truck is too! We're going to try and make up for lost time and book it over to western NY to Laurel (Lindsey's sister) and Rock (her husband's) place as fast as possible. I doubt we will have time (or wi-fi) to post anything in the next day or so. Don't worry, there will be lots to come.

October 9, 2008

2008-10-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

After our night of debauchery with Jen and Chris, we grabbed some Swedish pancakes for breakfast, and headed back to St. Cloud to pick up the truck. We arrived at Toyota a little early, but had a chance to use their internet and catch-up on email. After a couple of hours, she was ready. Tomorrow we would be back on the road. Oh yeah, did I mention that we decided to keep on, keepin' on? Woohoo!

October 8, 2008

2008-10-11T06:28:00.001-07:00

So we're stuck in small town Minnesota with not much to do. Toyota gave us a loaner car, and gas is 2.90 a gallon, cheaper here than anywhere else in the country, so we have to take advantage. Our good friends Jen and Chris just happen to live a couple of hours away, and we haven't yet had a chance to see their new home. Sounds like a good time!

Jen and Chris live in the small, Swedish settled town of Center City which neighbors the town of Lindstrom. It's a quaint little town with many lakes and farms and still holds a Swedish vibe. We got the tour of their newly built home, met the rents, the cat, and took a stroll through the woods. We went for a little sight-see around town, and we headed off to dinner at a highly recommended place called Eichten's Cheese and Bison. It's a pretty random place set in the middle of farmland, and has an incredible beer selection, cheese made on-site, and bison burgers. Afterwards, we went down to the local watering hole for some tasty (and strong) beers, music, and good conversation.

Jen and Chris are some of the most friendly, genuine, and funny people we know. We had such a great time with them (Lindsey might have had a little too much) and miss them dearly. We do wish we still lived close by. However, they have such a great thing going. I can see why they would want to settle where they have. We hope to see them again real soon.

THANK YOU JEN AND CHRIS!!!

October 7, 2008

2008-10-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, the little town of Sauk Centre, where we are temporarily stranded, is quite quaint. We're set-up beside a little lake on the edge of downtown, where there is a coffee shop with wi-fi, a theatre, and a surprising number of bars for such a small town.

We ventured back to St. Cloud in the afternoon to hit the box stores for random things. I spent rest of the day in the coffee shop catching up on work and getting this blog together, while Lindsey went back to the trailer to nap and read. The evening was pretty uneventful. We watched the debate (what a joke) and headed off to sleep relatively early. We're counting down the days till we're back on the road.

October 6, 2008

2008-10-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

The wrecker arrived around 10am and we headed off to the dealer which is located in St. Cloud (home town of our good friend Colin). I waited around till roughly 3pm or so when they came to me with the verdict. I hoped for the best... "Mr. Gardner, your transmission is dead (the worst). You have a couple of options here. We can install a new one which would run right around $5000, or, we can have a refurbished one overnighted from Chicago for right around $3,700. Either way, you're stuck here until Friday." I about lost it. And, as I placed the dreaded call to Lindsey, we did. We mulled over the options for a bit and decided to have the tranny shipped from Chicago. Either way we didn't think that we would be able to continue on with the trip. I hope we like Sauk Centre, MN (where we are camped), because we're going to be there a while. We decided to drown our sorrows and try and put the tragedy out of our minds for the night. We'll make our decision in the morning.

It's raining, hard and the wind is really picking up. The trailer is a rocking... The wind and rain kept Lindsey up most of the night, fearing that our little trailer would be picked up and dropped into the lake in the middle of the night. I on the other hand, managed to sleep through most of it (thanks, JD).

October 5, 2008

2008-10-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

What a day. We snuck out of the RV park before the natives woke and dumped (or, tried to dump) our tanks on the way out. Note - RV dump hole must be lower than the dump hose in order for waste to travel properly down the dump hose and into dump hole. We wont be doing that again.

After a messy getaway, we looked up a Target on the map and headed over to deplete some of the gift cards that were given to us by some of you folks. We purchased a few essentials and got back on the road. Thanks guys!

Ah Minnesota, the land of lakes. And, it's opening weekend of duck season! Needless to say, the highway is jam packed with hunters dressed in fatigues with boats in tow. It's madness.

We were roughly 2 hours in route when all of a sudden the truck wouldn't shift from second to third. And, after attempting to push it past 65 in second gear, it died. We pulled to the shoulder (if that's what you want to call the 5 ft wide strip on the side of the Hwy) and tried to analyze what just happened. I started the truck back up and slowly proceeded back onto the hunters highway. First gear... second gear... and dead. This time there was a horrible crunching sound that accompanied the death of the engine. We were roughly 1000 yards from the next possible exit, so I started her up one more time to see if we couldn't make it to safety. I hit the gas and... nothing.

We called Coachnet (a AAA of sorts for RV'ers) and reported our problem. The woman said she would make some calls to try and find a wrecker that could tow both the truck, and the trailer together. According to her, it would take approximately an hour to get someone there to help. We made our way out of the death trap that was our truck and trailer sitting on the side of the highway, and headed up the side of a large cornfield to wait for our rescue. Good thing it was a windy, 50 degrees, and raining outside! An hour passed by with no offer of help from the friendly Minnesotans (sorry Yosh, Los, Chris, Jen and anyone else we know from MN) when we got another call from Coachnet. "Mr.Gardner... I just received word from the tow truck driver that unfortunately, it's going to be at least one more hour before he can get to you. By this time we were soaked to the bone, cold, and miserable. Lindsey was getting extremely frustrated and was starting to give the speeding hunters a different kind of bird they were looking for. We waited another hour before the wrecker arrived. He hooked up both the tuck and trailer together and we headed off.

The driver found us a little park to set-up camp in 15 miles or so from where we broke down. We were to stay there for the night and another wrecker would come back in the morning to take the truck to the dealer which was 50 miles down the road.

This may be the end of the road for us.

October 4, 2008

2008-10-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

We really didn't want to leave beautiful Teddy Roosevelt behind. If my foot was feeling better, we would stay and do our exploring now. However, it isn't, and so we eagerly look forward to our return.

Another day of relentless headwinds. I can feel the truck taking some serious abuse and stress. I hope she holds up as we really can't afford to have anything go wrong now.

We made it across North Dakota and since we've been dry camping up to this point, we decided that we would give the ol' RV park a shot. It would be nice to have a hot shower (haven't had one yet) and get caught up on email, etc. Lindsey selected a park for us just outside of Fargo which is right on the border of ND and MN.

Lindsey picked a winner! Although, I'm not going to hold it against her since this is the first time she's had to select an RV park for us to stay in. This one proved to be a little rough around the edges. We were backing into our spot given to us by the front desk woman, when a local (living in the RV park) ran out and told us "I don't want to share water with no one. Park it over there!" We stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the live-ins which overran the place. Thank god it's only one night.

FYI North Dakota doesn't sell beer in convenient stores which, really isn't very convenient if you ask me.

October 3, 2008

2008-10-06T12:51:00.001-07:00

Sleeping in such tight quarters is proving to be a little more difficult than we had anticipated. We did take a couple practice runs while the trailer sat in the driveway, but it didn't really prepare us much.

The moving was quite grueling as we had horrible head winds for the majority of the drive across the remainder of Montana and into North Dakota. I swear I could actually watch the gas meter drop by the second - gas is going to kill us if it doesn't get any cheaper. We may realize that we just can't afford to stay out on the road as long as we hoped.

We were beginning to think that we weren't going to have a very scenic stay while we were in North Dakota. Judging by the surrounding grasslands that stretched as far as the eye could see. However, as we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we were pleasantly surprised to say the least. The landscape here is like none I've ever seen, consisting of massive mountainous formations that look like giant *sand drip castles. This place looks like something straight of Star Wars sans Jawa's. Lindsey and I will definitely be returning here to explore in the future.

*Sand Drip Castles - A favorite beach pastime taught to me by my father where wet sand is picked up and let drip down the fingers to form soft serve like formations that resemble castles.

October 2, 2008

2008-10-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Leaving Whitefish for two months may be more difficult than we imagined. It's definitely the longest I've ever been away from the dogs and Lindsey feared that the cat at some point, may decide that we weren't coming back and would hit the road herself. We are leaving the pets and house in good hands (huge thanks to Sara and Tiz!) and are confident that everyone will be getting accustomed to one another in no time at all.

We headed out of town on Highway 2 which, runs west to east along the edge of Glacier National Park. I'm confident that we will see some amazingly beautiful places on this trip, but there's something about this place, this place that we call home that can not be toped. It's by far the most beautiful place I've ever been. It could take a lifetime to explore these mountains. It's comforting to know that this is the place that we will be coming home to.

Much of day one was spent driving across the Montana High-Line which, consists of mostly farmland and reservations. We decided to keep it somewhat of a short day since we got such a late start. We pulled into Havre and grabbed some burgers from Rod's Drive Through (Thank you, Addie!) and headed into the Bear Paw mountains to find a quiet spot for the night.

After driving 15 or so miles out of Havre through the hills and free-rangers into the Bear Paw mountains, we managed to find a campground on a lake with no one in sight. Typically, Havre is one of the coldest places in the country, but tonight was a unusually warm 70 degrees. We ate burgers, took in the sights, and settled into our new trailer. This was the first night Lindsey and I have really been alone since the wedding. We took the opportunity to reflect on all that has happened to us in the last few weeks and the adventure that lies ahead.