RV Living in the Southeast

December 17, 2023 / marniesteve / Leave a comment

It’s been a while since we posted a travel blog. It’s not that we aren’t traveling. No, we are certainly covering some miles and having adventures here and there, but mostly we are living in our RV while working our way as far south as we can for the winter.

We last left you in Lexington, Kentucky where we were taking in Horse and Bourbon Country. Since then we stopped at Mammoth Cave National Park to explore the world’s longest cave. Did you know that this one cavern spans over 400 miles, and cave experts continue to find new passageways every year? It’s hard to get good photos underground, but we were there!

From cave country we moved south a few hours and spent a weekend in Nashville. We passed on visiting Broadway and all the bars, but we did catch a fun Eagles tribute band at one of Nashville’s renowned live music venues, 3rd and Lindsley.

From Nashville we headed to Gulf Shore, Alabama and one of our favorite state parks. Gulf State Park has an incredible campground, miles and miles of trails, and a beautiful white sand beach. We saw cool creatures and nice sunsets almost every day.

Unfortunately, we encountered quite a bit of rain (over 3 inches one day!) and not the greatest weather overall. That just meant we had more opportunities to visit one of our favorite bars, the Florabama.

In fact, we spent our Thanksgiving at the Florabama with hundreds of others who shared in the spirit of thanks. We met other fun people, enjoyed great live music, and partook in one of the largest potlucks we’ve ever seen! While being with family would have definitely beat it, it was a great second option!

Another adventure while in Gulf Shores was a visit to the USS Alabama Battleship. Located in Mobile Bay the large ship began her work in WWII, earning nine battle stars for meritorious service. She’s now a National Historic Landmark and provides visitors nearly unrestricted access. We had a blast exploring the bridge, the brig, and all points in between.

After two weeks at Gulf State Park we headed north again, with a stop in Montgomery to visit the Legacy Museum and Memorial. This beautiful, new facility presents the history of slavery from the international slave trade through current day mass incarceration. It was eye-opening and sobering and if you are in Montgomery and have a little time, we highly recommend it.

Wandering the county displays of recorded lynchings

Next stop was Huntsville, Alabama for Steve’s latest marathon. He completed the Rocket City Marathon with an indoor finish on a cool, rainy morning and can now cross Alabama off the list of states.

In Huntsville we visited the Space and Rocket Center featuring the Saturn 5 and a number of other huge relics of our country’s space efforts. The center has some cool artifacts and educational features, and we enjoyed our morning exploring the rockets and planetarium.

While in Huntsville we experienced swarms of lady bugs in the forest behind our camper, and now we are learning how to eradicate those suckers from an RV. When you travel in your home, the challenges never end!

We’re now headed to the Keys for Christmas and New Years and hoping for better weather. Today, in Jupiter, Florida, where we are camped, we are bracing for up to five inches of rain and wind gusts up to 50mph tonight. We are hopeful it clears up enough on tomorrow to make our way south.

So, while the weather has not been too cooperative lately, we continue to enjoy our time in the RV, exploring new neighborhoods and basically just living. All is well!

Denali Highway and Valdez with Mitch

August 13, 2022 / marniesteve / Leave a comment

We love it when we have visitors on the road, and in this post, we’re excited to share our adventures with my cousin Mitch. He flew into Fairbanks just a day before Sam left us. Together we shared a great dinner and show at the Salmon Bake at Pioneer Park. We were sad to see Sam head south but so grateful for our time with him.

With Mitch our first stop was the North Pole! It’s actually a big gift shop in a suburb of Fairbanks, and it was a great place to stock up on gifts and put in a few requests with Santa.

After our visit with Santa and time to restock our provisions, we set out back towards Denali with a quick stop at the Magic Bus at the Denali Brewing Company and the National Park visitors center.

Mitch photo bombs at the Denali Brewing Company

From there we began our trek across the Denali Highway, the 135-mile, mostly gravel route that was the original path to the park. Along the way we camped at two primitive campgrounds, took in the amazing views, and got in a little fishing. Mitch even caught his first fish with his new fly rod!

Our next stop was back to one of our favorite places from our time here in June. We stayed at the Salmon Grove Fish Camp, along the banks of the Klutina River. From here the guys went on a rafting trip down the river to catch the big ones: King Salmon. It was a long day but both were successful, and we’ve enjoyed some incredible dinners since! This was the first time for both guys to catch Kings so it was pretty exciting!

Copper Center is quiet little town, which we explored on foot in about 30 minutes!

Valdez was our next stop and the drive itself was spectacular! The road winds through Keystone Canyon, with waterfalls on both sides.

We were lucky to arrive in Valdez on a sunny day so that we could take in the snow-capped peaks. We had just enough time to fit in a quick bike ride and check out the town.

The next day Steve and Mitch went on another fishing charter, this time for Silver Salmon. They had sunny skies most of the day and each caught their limits. What a haul! For those who are keeping track, we’ve now sent nearly 50 pounds of fish home, some of which has been shared with Mitch and Sam.

After the successful fishing venture, the skies turned dark and the town was socked in with clouds for the remainder of our stay. They say it rains a lot in Valdez, and they aren’t kidding. But it wasn’t too cold and we were prepared, so the weather didn’t slow us down much. We unknowingly timed our visit to Valdez to coincide with the annual Gold Rush Days, a four day celebration of Valdez’s history. As part of the celebration, we participated in the Wine (and more) Walk through town, which gave us an opportunity to mingle with the locals, support local charities, and sample Valdez-brewed beer. Even in the rain it was fun!

A highlight of any trip to Valdez is going on one of the local tour boats to see wildlife and the nearby glaciers. We opted to go on the Lulubelle, and we weren’t disappointed. Granted, it was a L O N G day on a boat…almost 11 hours with a captain that did not stop talking the entire time!

However, we saw things we couldn’t have seen on other tours. The highlights of our day included humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, and puffin.

The most unique part of the excursion was slowly plowing through the thick ice field at the Columbia Glacier. Along the way we met nice people and enjoyed unbelievable views.

Valdez is a beautiful place. We were lucky to snag a campsite at the Bear Paw II RV Park, right alongside the boat harbor. We spent hours just watching boats of all sizes come in and out of the port. Surrounded by at least five glaciers, the port area is where the action is at in Valdez.

Across the harbor we visited the Solomon Gulch fish hatchery. Here, hundreds of thousands of silver salmon return to the hatchery each year. The mass of fish attract all kinds of other creatures including sea lions and bears. Watching this fat sea lion chow down on salmon was a highlight of our visit there.

Mitch returned home safely, after a cancelled fight and quick change of travel plans. We loved having him with us and hope he has memories to last a lifetime.

We’re now beginning our very slow trek south but still have some fun stops ahead.

Moving Northward in Florida State Parks ++

March 13, 2022 / marniesteve / 1 Comment

Since finishing our time in the Ft Lauderdale area we’ve been slowly working our way northward and beginning to think about the final portion of this six-month journey.

We left Ft Lauderdale and traveled to the northern part of Florida over two days. Overnight we stopped at a very cool Harvest Host, Organicaworld, where they are growing hemp that is being converted to “hempcrete” to build houses. They also had a cool farm store, a mean brisket, and some very friendly donkeys.

Our next stop was a visit to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, a unique property just south of Gainesville. Paynes Prairie is the only place in Florida where wild-roaming horses and bison can be found. We didn’t find them, but we enjoyed the paved 16-mile Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, which runs through the park.

Florida is so different from our home in Arizona. You can see from the photos that the Spanish Moss is prevalent and the forest is thick. Yes, we’ve run into bugs once in awhile but nothing a little bug spray won’t take care of.

From there we headed to the coast and to one of our favorite Florida cities: St Augustine. We stayed in this area for about 10 days last year and were lucky enough to score a seven day reservation this year at Anastasia State Park, which is located in the middle of the action. We were even warmly greeted by a local critter when we pulled in.

From our heavily wooded, secluded site, we could easily bike into town, kayak the nearby waterways, and walk to the Saturday Farmers Market.

We toured the famous lighthouse and took in the sweeping views. Overall though, we weren’t very touristy…just enjoyed the nice weather and beautiful area.

We continued the laid back vibe during our four days at the Jekyll Island Campground. We visited here last year as well and wanted to explore a little more. We rode our bikes around the island and visited the local museum to learn about the impact of the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Vanderbilts on the island in the early 1900s.

One day we took in the local art festival. I even had a chance to learn to weave.

Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate during our final days there but we kept busy in the trailer with reading, taking in a night of Bingo, and news-watching. The inclement weather also made for some spectacular sunsets.

We’re now in Savannah for a few days to take in the country’s second largest St Patrick’s Day festivities. We will actually be on our way west on the big day, but the fountains are dyed green and the party has started.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve kind of shifted into traveler mode, rather than tourist mode. It just means we aren’t trying to see everything and do everything possible. Traveling in the RV gives us the option to slow down, soak in the places, and go at our own pace. That’s the mode we’ve been in recently…and it’s kind of nice!

Marnie and Steve Travel

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Florida

RV Living in the Southeast

Denali Highway and Valdez with Mitch

Moving Northward in Florida State Parks ++