Category: Thoughts on Life

Categories
Faith Florida Road Stories

Funny How Things Work Out Sometimes – Long Key State Park

2016-01-04 17.23.41We weren’t even supposed to be at Long Key State Park. After the Dry Tortugas, we originally had planned to stay at Bahia Honda for another five days to decompress. We knew we’d need to catch up on work and school and little to no driving sounded great. However, we found an open spot at Long Key State Park that fit our dates, wasn’t that much farther of a drive, and we had heard good things from other traveling friends so we switched up our plans because we like new places.

I’m so glad we did.

Sam was grilling outside at the picnic table our first night, and as a woman was walking up and down the beach she eventually approached him with a question. She had seen our website on the back of the Airstream, looked up the blog and realized that we were also a traveling family and desperately needed advice.

After that first meeting we hit it off. The Siminoff family have two kids that are right around our kids’ ages, had been on the road in their truck camper only a few months into their year long sabbatical and were really struggling with schedules, motivating their kids, and finding a balance. Ellen fired off question after question after question while the kids happily played in the bedroom due to the pouring rain outside.

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We loved talking with them. I can’t say we got a whole lot of school or work done those two days, but we definitely made some life long friends. We invited them over for a Family Home Evening where Sam gave a lesson on the prophet Noah and Ellen taught us how to make Key Lime Pie. Afterward the kids played Castle Panic, and the adults sat in the bedroom alternating discussions between theology (we are LDS, they are Jewish) and full-time family travel until far too late into the night.

You know when you meet someone and you just click? It was like that. Our time together was far too short, but we made the most of it.

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The spin-off from this meeting happened a few weeks later when Ellen and I were texting about their upcoming plans to fly overseas and tour New Zealand and Australia before finishing the United States. Back in college Sam and I participated in a New Zealand study abroad with the Recreation Management program and we were hosted by the most amazing elderly couple whom we’ve kept in close contact with over the last twelve years. Just recently the wife died, and Dave, our host dad, has been a bit lonely. He loves to travel, having taking us touring the South Island during our studies, and we knew he’d have great advice for the Siminoffs.

Before I knew it, Dave had offered to pick them up at the airport, and TOUR them around in his eight passenger van! I was so happy for all of them! If we couldn’t visit New Zealand and hang out with Dave, at least our friends could. Their meeting came a great time for both parties and from what I’ve heard everything is going swimmingly.

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Everyone once in awhile we receive affirmation that we are where God intends us to be. Its no secret we feel led to travel. I’m sure there are many reasons including personal growth, education, and opportunities to spend time together as a family. Most importantly the people we meet. When life and events come together so perfectly, I can’t help but be amazed at the love and understanding God has for our lives.

We love all the friends we’ve met along our journey and continue to be inspired and encouraged by everyone we meet!

Categories
Florida Mommy Diaries

New Year, New Possibilities

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New Year’s Eve found us sitting on a moat wall outside a Civil War era fort on an island 70 miles from Key West. We laughed, talked, reminisced, and watched the brilliant reds and oranges of the sunset paint the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon.

In that moment, I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be. I was surrounded by my husband and kids in a magical place as we explored, pushed our personal boundaries, relaxed, and enjoyed each others’ company.

We each took turns voicing our favorite adventure from the year as well as speculating on where 2016 would take us. The possibilities were endless. When we sold our house and decided to travel two years ago, an entire world opened up to us. Suddenly we could do anything, and be anything we wanted and that feeling hasn’t changed. We continue to feel liberated with the freedom to create and shape our family without many of the social pressures we felt while living in our house.

We aren’t the type of people that make solid New Year’s Resolutions. I can never keep them anyway, so I prefer to make shorter, easily attainable goals that help me progress throughout the year. Or if they aren’t easily attainable, I prefer vague, broad goals that easily have a chance of me hitting them without trying. Some of those include, “continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly,” or “try something new”

Nestled in the broad goals that may eventually become more specific, there are also a few things we do plan on doing or seeing this year. Unfortunately, the ever elusive state of Maine is not on this list, but eventually we’ll get there too.

In 2016 we’d like to:

  • See a rocket launch
  • Explore Arkansas
  • Go on a multi-day river rafting trip
  • Backpack in the Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho
  • attend Camp Noyo with Sam’s family
  • Teach our kids how to ski

Its not a long list, but I don’t feel it needs to be. I feel like this year will be less about states we visit, or Junior Ranger Badges we earn, but the outdoor adventures we go on together as a family. I can’t wait.

Categories
Florida Musings of Sam

Crossing Paths With Our Former Selves

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We woke up today in Site 65 in Saint Andrews State Park, just outside Panama City, Florida. Quite notably, this is the exact place we were two years ago, December 10th, 2013.

In 2013, we were headed west, ultimately to Southern California. We had just enjoyed Thanksgiving with friends in Tampa, and spent the next few months traveling West. Now, in 2015, we are heading east, making our way to the Florida Keys where we will spend Christmas.

Being here, on the same day, forces me to remember my former self, and recall our plans, emotions, goals, and fears. What were we thinking!?! How could we possibly travel full-time, exploring as we go? How can we live in such a small space? Will this really work? Will home-school work out? Can we really afford to do this?

Since then, our little family has enjoyed countless adventures, just a few of which I’ll highlight, in no particular order:

  • Baking freshly picked blackberry desserts on the North Coast of California.
  • Exploring the unknown Chiricahua National Monument in South-Eastern Arizona.
  • Spending days in beautiful view of the Grand Tetons.
  • Meeting countless friends around the country.
  • Backpacking in a Canadian National Park.
  • Riding Slickrock in Moab, UT.
  • Waking up to hot air balloons in Sedona, Arizona.
  • Exploring the USS Midway aircraft carrier.
  • Backpacking for Thanksgiving.
  • Visiting the McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce Factory in Louisiana.
  • Installing solar panels, upgrading the batteries, and adding an inverter.
  • Parallel parking the Airstream in Joshua Tree National Park, Jumbo Rocks Campground.
  • Mountain biking in Minnesota.
  • Enjoying sea-urchins in San Diego.
  • Seeking out local pizza all over the country.
  • Driving on the Bonneville Speedway on the Salt Flats in Utah.
  • Exploring numerous caves.
  • Shoe-skiing down glaciers.
  • Backpacking on the Apostle Islands
  • Exploring the Olympic Peninsula.
  • Selling our sticks-and-bricks house.
  • Canadian Poutine.
  • Crabbing on the Oregon Coast.
  • Helping Cara hike 4 10+ mile hikes before she turned 5.
  • Numerous desert Sunsets.
  • Swimming on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts.
  • Touring the Hoover Dam.
  • Driving into Mexico for a beach day.
  • Eating ice-cream at Mount Rushmore.
  • Demolishing the Pig Trough pie platter at Betty’s Pies in Minnesota. Twice.
  • Enjoying the city library on Mackinac Island.
  • Andrew’s first 25 mile bike ride, before he turned 8.
  • Seeing Spanish Moss for the first time.

Have faith, former selves. Your next two years will be amazing, challenging, rejuvenating, exhausting, wonderful, and frustrating. And ENTIRELY worth it.

Categories
Daily Life Mommy Diaries Utah

I Don’t Trust Myself in Suburbia

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“Just get out the door. Just get out the door,” I chant to myself as things start to look bleak for our afternoon adventure. In a perfect world, our kids jump up, excited to get out the door and explore. The reality, however, usually consists of a whole lot of whining.

“I don’t want to go,” says Rachel, our oldest. “That doesn’t sound fun. Do we have to?”

I sigh, count to ten and then looked at my daughter. “Yes. We really need to get outside. We are going and I want absolutely no more complaining. You’ll feel better when we get there.” The longer we go without hiking, the harder it is to get everyone motivated.

Rachel looks at me doubtfully, but nods realizing she’s lost this battle and heads toward the bedroom to change into her hiking pants.

We have been staying with my parents in Utah for over a week and this was the first opportunity we had to get outside on a hike. With Little Cottonwood Canyon only about 20 minutes away, I feel like a complete failure because it has taken us so long to carve out an afternoon to get up there. We are advocates for an active, outdoor, adventure, family-oriented lifestyle so what does that say about me when I can’t even get us out the door in over a week?

It says that life in Suburbia is hard and we are cheaters.

There’s something about being in a house (luckily not my own) that makes me lazy. As a family, its so much easier to spread out into the far corners of the house and be completely unaware of each other. The kids are upstairs playing nicely, so I’ll jump on my laptop for a few minutes and suddenly an hour goes by and I have no idea what anyone else doing. Its much easier to let the kids stay inside and play with toys than it is to grab our gear and hit the trails. Its even easier to let grandma play with the kids while I “get things done”.

I just don’t trust myself in a “normal,” suburban lifestyle. I don’t have the willpower to get us outside and exploring from a house, and I love how much we’ve been able to explore over the last two years from our Airstream. Its cheating. We don’t have to deal with soccer, or cub scout meetings, or neighborhood friends, or all the other distractions that pull us away from each other and use up all of our time. Don’t get me wrong – those things can be good. They just aren’t what is best for us right now.

As we hike up the hill towards Cecret Lake, I watch my kids break up ice in the frozen stream, and stare with wonder at the sky as it starts to snow. They run up the trail with their cousins, and for the first time in over a week I start to relax. I knew we’d all feel better after a little outdoor therapy, but I never realize how much better until we get there.

Rachel looks over at me and smiles. “Thanks for bringing us up here,” she says. “Its so nice to be back outside!”

I know exactly what she means.
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Categories
Michigan Musings of Sam

Sam vs The Off-Season Canoe Rental

canoeOur visit to the Bruin Lake Campground of the Pinckney Recreation Area was intended to be a little quiet and boring. Our loop of Lake Superior and subsequent re-entry into the USA and visits with friends left us with a list of stuff that just needed to get done. We even passed on a wonderful invitation to a nearby art show just to have a little peace and quiet. The park was perfect. Peace and quiet abounded, and Jess and I were knocking down to-do list items right and left. The limited recreation options nearby made it easy to focus on working hard.

The trouble was the lake. It is beautiful, and the fall weather was amazing. We were surprised to find that canoe rentals were still possible despite being well past labor day. Hmm… I thought, a canoe rental sounds great.

It was such a good idea, yet somehow, I completely managed to botch it.

A sign near the entrance to the park provided the phone number of the park concessionaire that offered the canoes for rent. The canoes themselves where already on a rack trailer near the boat ramp, but paddles and lifejackets were provided after you paid for a rental. I called the number listed and talked to the rental guy, who also happened to be running an ice-cream shop in the nearby city of Hell, Michigan. With a rental, he would swing by and drop off our gear in the morning, at the price of $42 per day. He even offered to let us keep the gear till we left (3 days total) for just $50.  I told him that we’d think about it, and hung up.

Round One of Sam vs the Canoe Rental was a game of mental issues. The price had been higher than I was expecting, and I was slightly reluctant to fork out that much money. I imagined that I’d probably get a paddle in per kid, and perhaps two with Jess. In my mind, it was hard to weigh that money against the value. I was also worried about being distracted when I was really trying to get stuff done. The shop closed at 5pm, and I hadn’t made up my mind by then. I was still kind of thinking about it, but I wasn’t sure.

Round Two of Sam vs the Canoe Rental was unfortunate timing. I got up early the next day and plowed through an incredible pile of work and various chores. I pushed through a pile of work till the afternoon, when I spent an hour or so playing frisbee with the kids during what became a spectacular fall afternoon. I began to think about the canoe again, but decided not to push it. I really try to avoid trying to ‘improve’ something that is already great, and we really had fun throwing the disc around.

The next day was another good workday, but our focus was wearing a bit. About 2 in the afternoon I took a break and resolved to do this canoe thing. I called the rental guy back, only to discover that he was on the way to a doctor’s appointment and would be out the entire afternoon. I couldn’t even drive to pick up the gear, as the shop was closed in his absence. I really needed a break that afternoon, but it wasn’t going to be paddling. Jess and I snuck away for some ice cream later that night, but I was still missing a paddle.

At this point, it was time to give up. The original (and in retrospect, generous) offer to keep the gear for 3 days for only $50 had reached it’s effective limit. We already had plans to visit the Jiffy factor in nearby Chelsea and wouldn’t have much time past that.

It is also worth considering why we don’t travel with a canoe or kayak, since I do enjoy it so much. Given our small space situation, we have to be pretty picky about what we travel with. We travel with bikes for the whole family, and there just isn’t enough room for both bikes and boats. We do use the bikes quite frequently, and I do love to ride. We normally have no problem renting canoes or kayaks while we explore, but we’ve discovered that the off-season limits our opportunities.

So here we have been, right next to some particularly nice paddling lakes, and no canoe. The real lesson here is that I should have immediately agreed to the original offer on the spot. We all would have enjoyed some time out on the lake, and it would have been a wonderful activity to break up the otherwise work filled week.

As it happens, Jess and I walked over to the canoe rack to take the above picture to tell this story. To our surprise, there was a paddle sitting nearby, as if somebody had rented the canoe for the day and left the gear for pickup. We might have borrowed the canoe for a few minutes. It was a fun few minutes, but our short paddle only confirmed that I really should have jumped on it when I had the chance.

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