Categories
Holidays & Bdays

Christmas Activity Advent Calendar

Christmas is in full swing in the Curren Airstream! Thanksgiving felt like it went a little long, since we didn’t actually leave family until December 4th, but we managed to get some decorations up  and start listening to Christmas music in the meantime. Last year we posted about 6 easy Christmas traditions you can do with kids while traveling, and we’ll manage to do most of them this year as well! I can’t wait.

First up is our Advent Calendar. Last year we cut out the circles and put them over the door, this year Rachel had the idea to cut out and paint a tree instead. I cut the tree out of a paper bag, and she did the rest. Awesome, huh? She’s so creative. Since we have very little wall space, we chose to split the tree in half so we could center it over the closet doors. That way we can still open it and get our clothes out!

We originally got the idea from the amazing Laura Winslow, and I’ll admit I’m a little jealous of her beautifully crafted tree. Sigh. Not that I’d trade our traveling adventures for a Christmas tree mind you, but a girl can appreciate sparkly, pretty things.

Every morning we pull off the number and see what the activity for the day is. The kids look forward to this after breakfast and get super excited!

On our list this year:

Last night was beautiful as we walked around the Oakland LDS temple grounds, viewed He is the Gift at the visitor center, and chatted with the missionaries. It was the perfect event to kick off our Advent Calendar activities!! What about you guys? What are your favorite holiday traditions?

 

Categories
WanderLog

Thanksgiving in California

November 22-28 2014

Travel Dates: November 22 -28, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving! We have had a FABULOUS week hanging out with friends and family. Lots of cousin time, an afternoon playing in the surf at the beach, great food, Airstream improvement projects, and a memorial service for Sam’s grandmother who passed away a few months ago.

It’s amazing to me how little we post on Instgram when life is busy and we are doing more “normal” things. We are excited to get back into traveling this week as we start heading south towards Las Vegas!

Categories
Airstream Meetups

Meeting ASoloJourner

One of the exciting parts of taking the ferry to Port Townsend was meeting a fellow traveler. We had been following the adventures of Kerri (ASoloJournerer on Instagram) since the beginning of our travels. She travels with her dog Byron in her Airstream named Calypso. She spent a good deal of the summer up in Washington, and was hanging around Port Townsend as its one of her favorite spots.

Meeting fellow travelers is always interesting. Most of us don’t take selfies that often, and being a solo traveler, we rarely saw a picture of Kerri before meeting in person. We really should teach Byron to take a few more pictures. Not that it mattered – we were instant friends with plenty to talk about.

One evening we were in the mood for some good fish and chips and Googled up a local dive of a restaurant called Sea J’s Cafe, and Kerri was awesome enough to join us on our little adventure. We were a little skeptical, but it turned out to be absolutely fabulous! We sampled some fish & chips, the hamburgers, and the pumpkin milkshake was one of the best I’ve ever had!

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Our kids instantly adored her, and she was awesome with them. After meeting her, our kids immediately set about making some bracelets on their rainbow looms as gifts, which she accepted quite graciously.

Ferry Crossing_12

Luckily for us, we met up with Kerri again at Cape Disappointment after our paths crossed a bit later as we both traveled down the Washington and Oregon coastline. Thanks again for being so great!

Categories
Fitness & Recipes

Airstream Kitchen: Sweet Potato, Apple, & Avocado Salad

Sweet Potato, Avocado, Apple Salad

This salad is ridiculously delicious. Prior to trying out a similar recipe from Sprouted Kitchen, I had never thought of putting sweet potato in a salad. Its fabulous! Now I can’t seem to stop. I like to play with the ingredients, but I thought I’d post this one as it was a total winner.

Salad

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
  • 1 lb. sweet potatoes (about 2 large), cut into 1/2” cubes
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 large apples, diced (granny smith is my favorite!)
  • 8 cups packed baby greens (I use mixed green leaf & spinach)
  • 1 avocado, peeled & chopped
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half
  • Feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and toast the quinoa for two minutes.  Add 2 cups water and bring it to a boil. Turn it down and simmer for 15-18 minutes, or until water is absorbed and quinoa is nice and fluffy. Set aside to cool.

Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil and some salt and pepper and lay out on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside in a bowl to cool.

Build your salad! Quinoa works best when you layer it right on top of the greens (totally did it backward in my photo), then add apples, avocado, and tomatoes and top with Feta cheese and dressing.

Bon Appetite!

Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing

  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1-2 tsp. dijon mustard
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • pinch of salt and pepper

Whisk together in a small bowl.

 

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Categories
WanderLog

Rogue River Valley & Headed South

Nov 15-21 2015

Travel Dates: November 15 -21, 2014

It’s been a quiet week as evidenced by our lack of Instagram photos. We stayed a few more days at Valley of the Rogue State Park, and then courtesy parked one night with our new friends in Grants Pass. We also made it out of Oregon and are currently with family in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. We couldn’t be more excited to hang out with them and celebrated everything we are grateful for!