Lakeside

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First Time at Big Bend National Park

I have been wanting to get to Big Bend National Park for several years now but the remote location and lack of cell phone coverage made it very difficult. Finally, we were in a situation to give it a try and we made the long drive down towards the bottom of Texas along the Mexico border.

For me it is impossible to talk about this National Park without touching on both the border and water rights, but I will try and be as factual as possible when I discuss those items. It is important to start with the fact that this park is both remote and huge. So much so that there are two gas stations in the park itself and it’s important that you think about how much gas you have prior to entering. As with many big parks there are multiple entrances, but since we were staying in Big Bend Station we entered from the west near Study Butte.

I wasn’t sure how much of the park we would be able to see in one day, so decided I wanted to travel to the far east section and Rio Grand Village first. This road took us through Panther Junction ranger station where we learned that the non-paved roads required four-wheel drive and would be off limits to us. Largely that was OK because there was plenty to see on the paved roads and the one exception to this rule was when we decided to see the Historic Hot Springs, but first there was a lot of somewhat boring driving to get to the Village.

This giant Teradactyl bone was pretty cool

Once we reached the Rio Grande Village we finally got to see water and some green although the levels were very low. In the ranger station they had picture of the original river levels versus the current levels and the difference was startling. Most of the water in the lower Rio Grande is actually coming up from the Rio Conches in Mexico and is 25% of the levels prior to 1950. The river in the center at its narrowest point is only 5% of it’s historical volume.

I never really understand how much water matters until spending the last couple of years in the desert. Water is life and is a precious resource and the distribution of that resource is often political and complicated. One thing we have been seeing more of though in our travels is the recognition that diverting water sources has a significant impact on our natural spaces. It impacts animals and some of our most beautiful natural spaces. We have been encouraged to see some efforts in California and other states to go back to a more natural approach to water management but down in the Rio Grande area if it wasn’t for Mexico it would be a complete unlivable wasteland.

Stark difference between where there is water and there is not
There were permanent money cylinders sunk in the ground.
These were so cute but they were heavy!

When we reached the river overlook we could see a small town in Mexico right across the water. There is a port of entry right in the park where you can cross and it is open from 8-4pm everyday. The Rio Grande itself has very low levels and it was clear people could easily walk into the park. We were surprised to see crafts from Mexico laying on the ground in the park with permanent metal cylinders where people could put cash in on the honor system. Obviously, people were crossing to put more product down and collect the cash, but whether those crossings were done legally or not was unclear. We did see multiple Border Patrol vehicles on the roads in the park but it is pretty huge and frankly it would be easy to slip in and out across the river. This became very clear when we went to see the RV park in Rio Grande village and asked a camp host about the horses we saw munching on the grass. The camphost told us the horses were from the Mexican ranches across the river and came over because the US side was irrigated, and they wanted to eat the grass. Later we saw horses in the river and it was clear the horses (and some cows) could come and go at will.

On our way back east one of my favorite spots was an historic hot springs area. This was really cool and although it’s tight getting in down a one lane drive, I am so glad we went down. We walked with Jack past some old buildings and palm trees and finally made it down to the Rio Grande where Jack took a long drink. Definitely don’t miss this if you go.

These walls were gorgeous
And had cool birds nests in them
The small hot springs area was warm around 105 degrees

When we were down in the river we could have easily walked across the Rio Grande into Mexico and an enterprising Mexican woman had setup a taco stand on the other side. I didn’t walk across and get one, but I was struck by the fact that this is our border. Frankly when you’re dealing with a shared river I don’t know how they could change this and it they put a barrier up it would kill the rafting and kayak business on the river, but I think it’s important that when people talk about the border that this picture below is it in some places.

After leaving the hot springs we drove back east and drove up to the Chisos Basin. This area is up about 2000 feet and there is a mountain lodge with a small restaurant inside. There are lots of bear crossing signs on the way up and the rock formations are really beautiful.

Limited menu but reasonable prices at the restaurant

Our last stop was probably the coolest, traveling down to the Santa Elena Canyon. This stop is also along the Rio Grande and there is a HUGE natural wall along that side of the river which reminded me of the giant north wall in Game of Thrones. It was absolutely beautiful and we drove right down and walked to the edge and took some awesome pictures. You can also hike up on the US side, but since we had Jack and it was a steep hike we gave it a pass but definitely walk down to the water. Beautiful.

Couldn’t come close to capturing how cool this was

Big Bend was honestly so much more than I expected and I am so glad we were finally able to visit. This is definitely a cooler weather park though and requires some careful planning to see it. Totally worth it though.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time Using Starlink Internet

Disclaimer: I am not a paid representative for Starlink and in no way am I representing their interests. We decided to try Starlink in the hopes it would allow us to travel to places that does not have cell coverage and this review is our experience based on the last few months.

For the last 10 years we have consistently used ATT for our internet coverage and despite some challenges largely we have been happy with the network. That being said even though the nationwide availability of ATT has improved significantly in the last 10 years there are still too many places we were not able to travel to unless I took vacation time. When we initially learned about Starlink I was pretty skeptical, but after talking to numerous people who work on the road we decided to give it a try.

Please keep in mind as you read this that our internet needs are significant. I work on video conference calls most of my day and we routinely stream movies and TV and videos. Our internet solution has to provide consistency for two heavy users throughout the day which is no small task for any solution that is not cable or fiber based.

In order to hedge our bets we started using Starlink while in Tucson and kept our ATT coverage for 6 weeks until we felt comfortable enough to eliminate our ATT hot spot. Since Starlink mobile is costing us $165 a month in addition to the initial equipment cost of $350 versus $100 a month for ATT we wanted to be sure we were getting our money’s worth and we were pleasantly surprised at how much faster our speeds were in town. 100m as opposed to 10m.

The real test though was getting out into the remote areas and our first stop was Radium Springs outside of Las Cruces. Although the download speeds were still very good I did notice some interruption in my Microsoft Teams calls. Coincidentally I also started using Microsoft Copilot for the first time and I thought the issue might be because of Copilot even though my company internet folks told me that wasn’t the issue. Lee went out and realigned the panel to the satellite at one point and ran a cable to my computer from the WIFI box and things got much better, but I was still grateful that I had an ATT cell signal I could use as a backup on my phone.

Next up we went to Big Bend Station down near the National Park and again I started having issues right away. Download speeds are still great at 120 MB but upload speeds were really struggling. Now this is where it gets interesting. Right out of the gate my upload speeds were much lower running from 2.7mb – 9mb depending on who knows what factors. After doing research it turns out that a MINIMUM of 4MB upload speeds are recommended for group Teams calls (all of mine are group) and I was getting disconnected when it dropped below 3.5. Things were better when I turned off my camera but unfortunately this company likes it when people are on camera and things got even worse when I turned Copilot on. Once again, I am relying on my Iphone as a backup, which frankly defeats the whole point of having the Starlink, obviously.

You might be thinking what is the big deal if you drop a call once in a while, but I pride myself on my traveling being a nonissue because people wouldn’t know I wasn’t in a standard house. When I talked to an IT person I trusted about it he said that cable internet upload speeds regularly run in the 30’s and that was probably my problem. I did verify that cable internet upload speeds run from 5 – 50MBs so obviously that could be a substantial difference. It’s frustrating though because I talked to several people who said they used Starlink for Teams meetings all the time, so it makes me wonder if there is something different in my particular computer. Since it is a work computer, I am limited to how much tinkering I can do and the IT departments general stance is it must be your internet.

Finally, out of desperation we tested Lee not being on internet at all during my work calls and that initially worked. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for long and throughout the day I found myself getting disconnected from Teams calls multiple times a session. So long story short Starink is not at all as advertised for our use case, which is disappointing, but not shocking.

Let me be clear, I have talked to numerous people who say it works fine, all I can say is it isn’t working for me and at the end of the day I need to be on teams calls consistently no matter where we are. It’s upsetting frankly after all the trouble Lee has gone to, and the truly outrageous expense, but it is what it is and will significantly impact our planned travel for the year.

Addendum – Trace is far too polite. The company flat out misrepresents the product. They claim uploads of 5-50 Mb which is absurd, that’s a massive spread.and we have never seen an upload speed over 9Mb, after trying the service in three different locations. It is outrageously priced at $165 per month for nonprioritized traffic, which is the same end result as the fine print in phone service where they reserve the right to manage the network if it’s overloaded. Starlink has the same language they just use different words so they can say they don’t throttle the speeds. They just call it something else. And while it might be fine for some, we actually need consistent bandwidth which frankly most people do not. Think of it this way. If you have to wait 30 seconds for a web page to load no big deal. If you have to wait 5 seconds to hear the answer to a question you asked on a phone call that is a big deal and that is what is happening for Trace- Lee

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune

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Organ Mountains National Monument and Hatch

Our first stop in our Travel 2.0 route was Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. It’s about 30 minutes from Las Cruces and the drive to get to our campground was along some beautiful scenic road. The Monument has a nice little visitor’s center, along with some hiking trails. We took a weekend day to visit and walk some trails and were excited to find a really cool cave along the way.

Absolutely gorgeous fireplace in this historic building. I like how they have turned these old buildings into visitors centers
The cave. We didn’t let Jack go in but took turns.
Very cool a Hermit lived here

It was interesting although to be honest I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit this monument but since it was on our way it was fun. What was really neat though was the town of Hatch, NM where Hatch chilies come from. The entire town of 1,000 is geared around the chili’s and walking around downtown was really cool. There were tons of huge bags of chilis for sale and gift stores along with some very cool roadside attractions. Great little town and we had a blast there.

Loved these pepper crosses
I purchased this bear
Mild salsa made locally
And a local chili mix!

One of the coolest places was a restaurant that had tons of statues around it. We didn’t eat there but its worth going in and taking a peek because the design in and around the building is awesome.

The giant line of statues across the street was awesome. These were all huge
Me for scale. Kind of a weird choice in retrospect 🙂

Lee’s absolute favorite was at an RV park down the street with a giant “Muffler Man” holding a small RV and an “airstream” crushed by a giant pepper. Very cool.

I know this little town is off the beaten path but if you are close I absolutely recommend a stop. Their annual chili festival is labor Day weekend and I would definitely go for that if you are in the area at that time.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time at Tuscon Botanical Garden

We waited until the very end of our time in Tuscon to see the botanical garden with the hope that some flowers would be in bloom. When we initially walked into the garden we went to the left and didn’t see much color but still walked around and enjoyed the beautiful sculptures. I also really liked the colorful benches and they had bee houses and a beautiful butterfly sculpture to honor the 1-1/2 million children that were killed in the holocaust.

Pretty quickly though we entered an area that was full of birds and it was really amazing. A couple were building nests and swooped very close to our heads and we got to see birds in holes in saguaro cacti which was super cool. Unfortunately, I didn’t get very good pictures of the birds but their song filled the area which was nice. We also walked around a corner and saw a VERY realistic statue of a velociraptor which made me jump a little 🙂

My favorite part though was the flower garden area which was an explosion of color. IT’s been months since we have seen flowers like this and it was beautiful. They also had several small gardens with colorful statues and various homemade flower pots which was great as well.

DeDe you should make one of these

They also had a small butterfly garden which Lee loved. It was a bit claustrophobic for me but Lee stayed in a long time. There is a HUGE moth in there, the Atlas moth, with a wingspan of over 10 inches.

By far though the best area was the train area. They have a HUGE outdoor space with multiple trains and reproductions of famous buildings. The buildings were made by engineering students at the local college and judging by the Yellowstone Lodge reproduction (I’ve been inside the original) are very accurate. Lee had a blast in this area as did other kids big and small and I highly recommend bringing your kid to this garden because it is super kid friendly.

Lee made a video of this as well! Looks best full screen in 1080!

Finally they had a lovely gift shop and we were super impressed with the entire garden. They definitely have made the most of a relatively small space and I can’t say enough about how interactive it was.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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What’s Been Going On

I have almost written this post several times but then things keep changing so I held off. I think this is a good time to catch everybody up, so here goes.

We came into Tuscon with the intention of looking for a “home base” and spent several weeks doing just that. We tried out a 55+ community and looked at multiple pieces of land . Although I love the activities and convienences of a 55+ community the $8K per year rental fee for the very tiny lot space is just too steep for me for in a place we wouldn’t live year round. And honestly even if we did live here year round the closeness of neighbors and yearly rent hikes turned me off. There was a section where you owned the land and just paid an HOA fee, but the list of rules was a mile long and again ddn’t feel like us. That being said if I ever found a 55+ community that had larger plots and less rules I would definitely consider it. I do love having all the conviences and facilities right where I am staying. And I really like the people and sense of community.

Simultaneously we were looking at land and overall we probably saw 50 different plots. Finding affordable land out here isnt the problem but rather finding land that meets our requirements. We are looking for a piece of property that we can put an RV on and eventually a barndo/mobile home. We wanted at least 1/2 an acre which pushed us more rural. That isn’t a problem for either of us but finding land with access to electric and water in the more rural areas was a challenge. We wouldn’t mind running electric from the road, but we absolutely don’t want to be part of a well share after learning that well shares can’t guarantee you will get your fair share of the water.

Also the roads are often not maintained in the rural unincorporated areas and without four wheel drive there were pieces of property we couldn’t do. I tried a real estate agent but he was pretty worthless so I spent hours researching and visiting properties so we saw alot of duds. The other thing that I struggled with was the “vibe” in most of those places. Scary dogs, vehicles on blocks, and KEEP OUT signs abounded which made me worry about the safety of the property when we weren’t there. The whole point is to have a place where we can store some stuff and I need to feel reasonably sure my things will be safe.

Also I have to say the views largely sucked in those more remote places. I would really like a nice view and no developer has snagged those sites for a reason. The closest we came was a really old community with large lots and little rules. Every property had a 1970’s trailer or house on it but they were priced right, had services and the views were amazing. They would require tons of sweat equity to remove or completely refurbish what was already there but we were up for the challenge and one place in particular we got close to pulling the trigger on. Turns out though that until I am 59 1/2 (I am 58) I can only take 50K out of my 401K tax free and no way could we get a traditional loan on one of these properties.

It was a great learning experience though and I am going to carry the criteria we established with us on our travels. I like Tucson a lot, but I think both of us could use a little more green in our lives. I would really like to live at about 4,000 feet for a variety of reasons, and lots of places meet that requirement. If you think we have too many requirements, you aren’t wrong, but keep in mind we don’t HAVE to buy anything and Lee isn’t that keen on a home base to begin with because it will slow down our traveling.

Speaking of traveling, Lee has put together a basic route for the year and we start on 3/8. If all goes well, we will see Big Bend, the Black Hills, Upper Michigan, and the Florida keys, all places we struggled to go to because of concerns with cell coverage. We have Starlink now and it is working exactly as we need it to, although we will see when we get out of the city. The coverage is more important than ever because I just started a new job at a new company! (Buried the lead, didn’t I?)

I don’t change companies very often but a couple of months ago a friend reached out to see if I knew someone with my skillset who was looking and I said “what about me”? My previous company was pushing folks back into offices and there was an extreme bias towards people living in Milwaukee where the main office is, to the point where I asked Lee if he would be willing to move there. Thankfully he said no and then my friend reached out and I am now working for the first time as a Director in a company that truly doesn’t care if it’s workers are remote. Every single person I told I lived in an RV thought that it was very cool and since the executives are spread all over the country, no one cares where I am. BUT I have to have solid video conference level internet, but I have met numerous working travelers here who say Starlink worked great for them. Hope so!

So, that’s where things stand. With two vehicles (which we still love) not working on travel days, so it will be short hops on the weekend and then 1-2 week stays in each location, or more if there’s lots to see or we really like it. We are both excited about “Travel 2.0” and the next phase of our journey, and as always I will let you know how things go. Thanks for following along!

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time at Chirachua Monument

It is my goal to see all of the National Parks before I die, but Lee think we should also try and see as many National Monuments as we can as well. So after Cochise Stronghold when he suggested going to Chirachua Monument I thought why not. My expectation was that it would be a statue of some kind but boy was I wrong. Instead we founnd a mini Bryce and it was absolutely amazing. Let me back up though.

It was an additional 40 minute drive to the monument and it was even more isolated than the stronghold. We followed the GPS though and made it with no issues tp a very nice visitors center. I was particulary interested to learn that the coatis had immigrated north to this area and although we didn’t see any Jack’s nose was once again going crazy.

There are multiple ways to get to the top of the park, but we drove up along a gorgeous bottom of a canyon. It was hard to capture in pictures, but it was beautiful.

At the top there is a parking lot with an awesome nature trail although again I would wear hiking boots because it was a bit on the rough side. There are numerous trails that lead all the way down to the ranger station, but we just circled the top. The rock formations were absolutely stunning and we spent tons of time up there. The elevation was high enough that there were patchs of snow in some shady places but it was a gorgeous day to hike.

Lichen on the rocks

The hike was absolutely amazing but Lee also really loved the homestead areas as well. As is often the case with National Monuments one man lobbied to have this area protected and he was it’s first custodian. The farm was owned and run by the family until it was finally donated back to the park and Lee loved walking around and exploring this area.

Beautiful place to grow up

As always our protected spaces never fail to impress, but I have to say this one really stood out and it’s a definite don’t miss if you are in the area. IT’s worth the drive!

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time at Cochise Stronghold

My favorite type of desert has rocks and trees and when I mentioned this while playing cards one night an avid hiker recommended we drive to Cochise Stronghold. I was really missing nature so the next Saturday we took the drive, which was beautiful and out in the middle of nowhere. Cochise Stronghold is part of the Coronado National Forest and there is one campground there which is what we put in our GPS. The road was super rural with tons of pistachio trees and farms and then turned to dirt road as we headed towards the mountains.

I will say I was super relieved when we saw a National Forest sign and we kept following the road until we reached the campground proper. We parked near the restrooms and followed the paved path on a short walk which had many signs showing the history of the area.

The basic story behind the area is that Cochise was a local chief and was initially friendly to the white settlers but an army lieutenant took him hostage during peace talks and made him an enemy. Subsequently Cochise and 1,000 of his followers located in the stronghold which was at 5000 feet, had water, and was easily defensible. It is a beautiful area and we walked the nature trail which is a little rough (wear hiking shoes) but had wonderful signage about the local plants and what the natives used them for. Jack loved it and so did we.

There was also a beautiful bridge (Jack hates bridges so we had a little trouble getting him to cross and a wonderful monument to Cochise at the end of it. He is buried somewhere in the Stronghold but the location was kept secret by his followers and his one white friend Thomas Jeffords.

It was a lovely walk with tons of history and much cooler at the higher elevation. Even though it is a bit of a drive I highly recommend the visit.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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The Mini Time Machine Museum

We love small, local museums and go to them whenever we can but I have to say the Miniature Museum in Tucson really stands out in that category. The experience starts right when you approach the entrance, with architectural elements that suggest you are getting smaller and smaller as you walk towards the doors. The door is massive, and the entire door can be opened if you have the strength to do it. Luckily, there’s a “regular” size door cut into it, so you can just open that smaller door if you’re not strong enough to open the big boy door. Super cool and the best entrance to any museum I have ever seen.

When you walk inside there is a nice service desk with a small gift shop and then you can go in multiple directions. We took tons of pictures (the best ones are Lee) but it would be impossible to truly show everything we saw. I will try and give you a flavor of the experience though and this is a must see if you are ever in Tucson so you can experience it for yourself. Frankly we both were worried it might be boring but it was the opposite of that!

My favorite room had a giant tree that had small vignettes in glass in its roots. It was also grouped by season with a large halloween section and an even larger Christmas section. Don’t forget to look at the trees face as you walk around because it changes with each season. VERY well done.

The winter section
A village in glass in the floor. VERY neat

Along with the seasonal groupings they also had entire collections of miniatures including tiny dolls, Kewpies, and my favorite the Pocket Dragons. These collections were all grouped together in really cool ways and behind glass so they were protected. Most of the museum is behind glass so taking pictures was a little challenging for me, but Lee is really great at that and got some good shots.

I also loved the Raggedy Ann and Andy collection

Everywhere you looked there were tons of different kinds of miniatures including some examples from around the world. My big takeaway was miniatures are universal.

Noahs Ark

Throughout the exhibits they talked about the different artists who made the vignettes and we learned that there are specialists in different types of miniatures. Some people make mini dinner plates, pottery, glasswork etc. Makes sense as there are craftsmen who specialize in the large version of these items and I can tell you from my experience in trying pottery in the miniature it is not easier than the large version. The best examples of these different mediums were in the huge houses we saw and the detail was incredible. Again this is just a little taste. There was so much more than this to see. Couldn’t capture it all.

This gorgeous full size dresser had a doll house inside. Absolutely beautiful.
Hand carved mini wood furniture
Lee loved this crate of tiny toy soldiers, each of them is less than 1/4″ tall.

Along with the houses there were tiny shops, some that were reproductions of actual places. The level of detail in the goods on the shelves was extraordinary.

Every little book had an actual title on it
This apothecary shop was so cool. There were little pills in all the bottles

My favorites though of the entire museum were little vignettes inside something else. There were teapots, a walnut, a sewing machine and best of all a gorgeous violin that had a violin shop on the inside.

Loved, loved this

Probably the most impressive examples were carvings on the top of a pencil. So very tiny.

Finally they had a special exhibit of miniatures from movies and we saw some models from Beetlejuice. We also got to sit on the couch from Beetlejuice (fun but super hard) which was really great and capped off a lovely visit.

Total bargain for $15 and again its a don’t miss for me. Next up we get back to nature a bit as I have been missing green in all this desert.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time at Tohono Chul

When you talk to people about places to go in Tucson, several people mention the gardens at Tohono Chul. But since it’s January and not much is in bloom I truly wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be a beautiful place. The layout was surprisingly spacious with a long walking path, multiple courtyards, a children’s area, and several gift shops and was more than worth the price of admission. They even have a greenhouse on site where you can buy some of the plants you see while walking around which was really great.

There is an inner trail and an outer trail but we spent most of our time on the inside trail. Along the way the plants were all clearly marked which was nice and there were gorgeous sculptures that I absolutely loved.

My absolute favorite part though were the MANY small courtyard areas that showed what you could do with a small space. Several of these had small water features and I am not kidding I loved loved them. Made me want to have a patio and start creating which I am sure if the point.

My absolute favorite was a gorgeous set of stairs with a waterfall inside the semi-circle surrounded by plants. Absolutely beautiful. I would love to have something like this one day.

They even had a small farm that showed how to grow crops in the desert and a little museum with some local artwork I really liked. Truly this place is worth a stop even in the winter time. They pack quite a bit into a relatively small space and it was really lovely.

Two last things we saw that were really special. One was a bird drinking out of a water hose and the other was a dedication plaque with a saying that really spoke to me. This little moments are really special in our travels and this place was full of them.

The bird was sticking it’s head in the end of the hose
Loved this

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itune
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First Time in an Air BnB

We wanted to visit our daughter and her family in South Carolina but instead of driving the RV across country we decided to try and rent an Air BnB for all of us and fly out instead. It certainly seems like that would cost more than driving but if you factor in the time it takes to get cross country especially since we have a second car now and I can’t drive during the work day it seemed over all like a better deal.

To be honest I was pretty hesitant about the whole Air BnB thing despite the fact that many people I know have successfully done it. I have been 100% hotels in my travels until now, but when you look at the cost for two hotel rooms an Air BnB can actually be a better deal. That being said I didn’t really know what I was doing so I wanted to share the experience with you.

Rather than looking for a specific place I instead looked for criteria. I wanted a house with separate sleeping areas for both couples and I needed to make sure there was stuff for my 5 year old grandson to do. It also needed to be within a few hours of Charleston and be dog friendly so my daughter could bring her dog. That would keep the costs down for everyone although I will say the extra dog charge was just as much as it would have cost to get a dog sitter. In the end not sure that was worth it.

The communication with the host is all done via the Air BnB website and email and that actually went very well. There was a code on the door and when we arrived we gained easy access. The main house was actually huge and could have slept 10 people with three bedrooms and pull out sofas. Unfortunately the guest bungalow that was a major reason I chose it had a really unusual smell and both my husband and my daughter refused to stay in it. There was plenty of room in the house for all of us but I felt like I spent extra for something I couldn’t use.

The kitchen was actually really great and well stocked (which is sometimes and issue) but one thing I didn’t like was all the tables were glass. Frankly that is on me for not thinking about it, but we spent a lot of time telling a five year old to stay off the glass table and coffee table. My favorite part was actually the large back yard which included a fire pit (which we used once) and a hot tub (which we used almost every day).

Th bungalow with the weird smell. Shame because it looked nice
Nice screened in porch

Aside from the bungalow the biggest disappointment was the proximity to the beach. I knew it would be chilly so my idea was we would go to the beach and wander around when Oliver got antsy. Unfortunately the ad for the Air Bnb was extremely misleading and the “short stroll” to the beach with private access was actually a 1/3 mile walk across 2 somewhat busy streets. That really ticked me off especially because the owner was putting on the hard press from the minute we walked in the door for us to give him a five star review. Like Uber the host rates you and you rate them but its done blind initially so you don’t influence each other. I gave him a three which I thought was more than fair but he sent me a private message later saying I had hurt his business and his family, and really pressuring me to change my honest and fair review to a 5 star. Let me just say that it is very different from the hotel experience and all things being equal I would choose a hotel every time. But in all fairness there are things you can get from an AirBnB that you can’t from a hotel.

Walk to the beach
Oliver didn’t mind the cold and went right into the water
Based on the description I thought I had rented something more like these houses but thats on me. Next time I will be much more careful and ask questions!

Thankfully even without the beach we had a good time. Lee stopped and bought a bunch of old school games on the way which were really fun. And he gave Oliver a bunch of his childhood matchbox cars which was a really great moment.

They’ve improved Light Bright!

We also opened some Hanukkah gifts and I made cookies with Oliver which we probably couldn’t have done in a regular hotel to be fair.

My favorite thing though was when Jeremy and I took Oliver to a Children’s Museum which was small but packed full of things for an active 5 year old.

Giant Light Bright
We loved this it showed different topographies and when you moved the sand things happened like volcanoes erupting. Super cool

The best part of the Children’s Museum was a piece of a Jet donated by Net Jets which has an office in Hilton head. That was really fun.

Overall we had a really great time and I would definitely do it again BUT I would be extra careful about what I was getting. That being said it is definitely an alternative for multiple families getting together and I am so grateful that we got to try it.

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