Category: WanderLog

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Ohio WanderLog

Crossing the Great Plains & ALL the Rollercoasters

Every time we head east from Colorado it gives me chills. There’s something about being past the Rocky Mountains that really makes it feel like we are going somewhere new, exciting, and different. I love it.

Until we get to the humidity. Dun, dun, dun.

The midwest was HOT and ridiculously humid and mostly we just all wanted to die. 🙂 Okay, it wasn’t that bad but having electric hookups every night to run the a/c and our new dehumidifier was pretty much a necessity.

“Mornings in the Airstream are my favorite. Sam is amazing at getting up early to work, but the rest of us usually sleep in. Cara will come snuggle me in bed and at some point breakfast makes it on the table.

Maybe this is our last big trip in the Airstream. Maybe we’ll continue to travel for a few more years. Either way I’m going to just enjoy it while it lasts.” – @currentlywandering

“Our surprisingly pleasant stop last night was a city run RV campground in Gothenburg. Not only was our brief stay wonderful, but we managed a quick visit to the town’s Pony Express museum. The original building was relocated to a city park, and there is another nearby on it’s original site. Such an audacious slice of history. #currensdriveeast” – @telegramsam

“Just an hour into today’s drive, we stopped at the Archway Meseum in Kearney. The exhibits and audio tour presented the history of travel in America, starting with wagons and ending with motor cars. It was awesome, and just the bit of adventure we needed before driving into the evening. #currensdriveeast” – @telegramsam

We’ve made it habit get work and some school done in the morning and then drive 4-6 hours in the afternoon and sometimes late into the evening.

Rinse and repeat. Sometimes I feel like a total wimp for not being able to knock out a gazillion miles in a few days but there’s that pesky thing called work. Someone has to pay the bills I guess.

We found a lakeside campground in Omaha that was near the LDS temple we wanted to visit, along with the Winter Quarters church history site. Staying put for 2 days felt awesome.

Then… more driving.

Amazon lockers are a great way to get packages on the road. We needed a few things so shipped ahead to a small town in Indiana. Kind of a pain to drive through with the Airstream to pick it up but also nice!

“On our drive yesterday, we stumbled into the third-largest Amish community in the country. The mix of old and new was fascinating. In this picture there are two buggies parked in front of a skate park, while the adults were talking at picnic tables (out of frame to the left) and the kids were playing on the playground to the right.

I have a huge amount of respect for the Amish and Mennonite communities. Making lifestyle choices to improve your family relationships is something I totally understand.” – @telegramsam

“There’s something to be said for driving the back roads. Twice now we’ve opted to skip the toll roads and instead drive through the country. I love the sleepy farm houses and imagining what life would be like in the towns that whiz by in a blur past our windows.

For people who normally cap driving time at 150 miles/3 hours every 4-5 days this week was pretty epic. Turns out we really can move if provided the right motivation.

In the last 7 days we drove from Rocky Mountain NP, CO to Sandusky Ohio for a grand total of 1321 miles, and over 20+ hours of Google drive time (which always grossly underestimates time while towing). Plus Sam was working 6+ hours a day and we attempted to get some school done. That’s the biggest difference. I realize families on road trips easily do 15+ hour stretches but when you are living on the road vacation time isn’t always a possibility and there are only so many hours in a day.

Next time we drive the Midwest let’s not do it in the middle of summer mmkay? 98 degrees and 900% humidity make me cranky. 😂” -@currentlywandering

Cedar Point Amusement Park hit our radar when our friends, KidProject, picked it as a birthday stop for their oldest. Rachel and Andrew ganged up on us and requested it for BOTH their birthdays (one in August, one in Sept).

It was a blast. It also felt like our first “real” stop on this trip and that we could finally get this party started!

“Today was an epic coaster day, including massive acceleration, incredible speed, and even a VR experience whilst on a coaster. Cedar Point is a pile of fun and then some. #andimtired” – @telegramsam

“ALL the rollercoasters. I don’t remember the last time our kids were this excited. Apparently we don’t do theme parks enough, er… Like ever. Happy birthday Rachel and Andrew! I just hope I don’t puke. 🤢😂” – @currentlywandering

“We survived!! Okay, okay, it was a blast. A little bit sunburnt, a whole lot exhausted, and we desperately need groceries and a laundromat. A couple of things we realized in this trip:

⭐ Rachel is a rollercoaster nut – we are exhausted and yet she says she could ride them all day everyday.
⭐The park felt safe enough for Rachel & Andrew to wander by themselves for a few hours and ride the coatsers we didn’t want to.
⭐We used talk about radios to keep track of each other. They worked great since we were constantly splitting into two groups.
⭐Cara has a fear of heights, going upside down, and long drops so she didn’t ride anything big, but we got her on some of the small coasters so we’ll call that a win. And wait a few years before doing another theme park.
⭐Use the child swap if you have smaller kids. It’s a great way to all get on the bigger rides without waiting twice. Worked great.
⭐ Staying at the park campground was totally worth it. We had early entry (only way we were able to ride Steel Vengeance), plus we could come back for meals which saved a ton of money.
⭐Our second day we slept in and then spent 4 hours at the water park. They have an amazing kid area, tons of slides and we practically fell asleep on the lazy river it was so relaxing.
⭐Then we were able to hit the park again from 5-11pm and do all our favorites. Lines are definitely shorter at night!
⭐The all you can drink wristbands are a great value and cheapt if you buy them online rather than in the park.
⭐ Dramamine works great. ✔️✔️
⭐That said I prefer the coasters that just go fast vs always flipping upside down and corkscrewing.

Thanks @alyssakerickson for scoping this out and clueing my kids into it! They said it was the BEST birthday present ever. 😂🎂” -@currentlywandering

Categories
Colorado WanderLog

Moving Across Colorado

Travel Dates: June 30-July 5, 2018

We made it out of Idaho! We had quite a few family adventures planned so it almost felt like we hadn’t started our “big” trip yet, but we enjoyed it along the way.

We had reservations to meet family in Rocky Mountain National Park over the weekend which gave us time to slowly move through Colorado.

For the last three years we’ve been working Andrew through the Cub Scout program. It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication (since most of it was done on our own as we traveled) but it paid off last spring when he earned his Arrow of Light! We had amazing Den and Pack leaders this last year in Idaho and Hawaii which helped us push through both Webelos and Arrow of Light in less than a year (advancements that are harder to do on our own). Pretty incredible, and we are incredibly grateful for their support! As Andrew has a history of scouting on both sides of the family (more Eagles than I can probably count) we are going to keep going with the Scout program even when the LDS church drops their support at the end of 2019. We love everything he’s learning as a scout and are excited to support him all the way through!

A post shared by Jess Curren | Outdoor & Travel (@currentlywandering) on

Happy Independence Day! We spent some of this evening on a small mountain bike loop in the hills above Steamboat Springs. I love this country, and I suspect you other Americans do too. I love it not because it is free of issues, but because I believe that we can work together to improve it, and that is still an unfortunately rare thing in this world. It would be easy to believe that we are all divided with extreme views. I’ve been all over this country and met lots of folks, and I just don’t believe that. Media, both mass and social, is a poor platform for nuanced discussion of complex issues. I believe that this country is by and large filled with good, loving people of many political persuasions. I invite you to join me in this belief by learning to get to know your neighbors better, not in effort to find disagreement but in effort to find common belief. I believe our common views are far greater than our differences.

A post shared by Sam Curren (@telegramsam) on

Categories
Biking Hiking National Parks Utah WanderLog

Boondocking in Southern Utah, Hiking the Narrows & Mountain Biking

Southern Utah is one of my favorite places. Like ever. The red rocks are unreal and there are piles out of outdoor activities that could keep an sane person busy for a lifetime. Mountain biking runs a close competition to skiing as my favorite sport, so naturally as snow season wound down we started planning a spring trip to warmer, dryer climates.

To make re-entry in full travel a little easier, we decided to head right back to where we left off last spring: Hurricane, Utah. The camping is free, the trails are incredible, and if we get bored Zion National Park is a quick 30 minute drive. Not too shabby, right?

JEM Mountain Bike Trails

We were able to camp right along Sheep Bridge road (Campendium Link) in the middle of the JEM trail system. It was perfect for intermediate enthusiasts that we are. Enough uphill to give our lungs a work out, and some sweet rolling downhill to bring on the fun. Our oldest two kids had a blast, and we would switch up who rode with who. Andrew and I did a loop together up Dead Ringer to the top of the Mesa, Sam & Rachel took a spin, and Cara & and I had some one on one time on the easiest trail we could find. At one point Andrew said to me, “Mom, if we came here every year then I could see how much better I’m getting by the trails I ride.” Wise words, my boy, wise words.

For deets on the trails, we love the Trail Forks app (Apple, Google). I love the GPS dot that shows my location and its easy to plan a ride that loops back the way we want. My favorite loop was up Dead Ringer to More Cowbell, down JEM, down Goosebumps, and then back up Dead Ringer. Pretty sweet ride. Cara loved the little green loop we did on JEM from the Gould South parking lot.

Cool off in the Virgin River

Since the temps were flirting with the high 90’s (a little too hot for us actually!) we spent a great deal of time cooling off in the Virgin River. Our Airstream friends, the Ericksons, were camped inside Zion so one afternoon we drove in for a potluck and a swim.

Another evening we met up with Arika from Zion Adventure Photography (she took our photos back in December of 2016 and we LOVE them) and Shanti from Hike it Baby and their families for pizza and a dip in the secret spot with the swing. Totally fun meeting up with these ladies and the kids all had a blast swimming in the river. We ate at River Rock Roasting Company and I wish I could eat there everyday. We had an assortment of pizza, sandwiches, and salad and it was all delicious. Also ordered a cinnamon roll to go and secretly ate it with Sam after the kids were in bed so I didn’t have to share. 🙂

Hike the Narrows

We hiked a small portion of the Narrows back in 2015 when our kids were super little. Although we knew we didn’t have the gear (or the desire) to hike the entire thing this year either, we decided to hike up as far as we wanted and then turn around. We jumped on the shuttle around 3pm at the main Visitor Center and started hiking about 45 minutes later.

The water was cold, but not completely freezing, and we managed okay in just our Chaco sandals & swimsuits. The trail in from the shuttle stop is about a mile along a paved path, and then we hiked for about another mile through the water until we came to a swimming hole. The kids were brave and took turns jumping in, then we found a quiet spot to eat our picnic dinner and headed back.

Someday I think we’ll hike the distance (and rent dry suits!) but for now we just needed to cool off and this totally did the trick!

Relax

Most importantly we dove right back in to traveling life. There’s been some adjusting, but mostly I feel like we picked up right where we left off. The weather was a tad windy, but we did manage to have some good outside relax time while we were at it!

Categories
Driggs Skiing WanderLog

Are We Officially Ski Bums Yet?

At what point do we hit official “ski bum” status? In the last 5 weeks we’ve gone 11 times for a total of about 44 hours including the 20 minute drive up and back. I think that officially counts as a part time job right? No wonder we are so tired! 🤣 Its been fabulous to watch our kids (and Sam) progress so rapidly. The kids finished up their wintersport ski school classes, and the older two are excited to try out some blue runs this week from the top of the mountain!

A couple of observations about skiing together as a family:

1️⃣ No skiing two days in a row. It takes a lot of time to get all of us dressed and up to the hill, uploaded, and then skiing. As much as we’d like to spend all our time on the slopes someone has to work to pay the bills and clean the house (maybe not that last one).

2⃣ Let the instructors take the kids up on the lift for the first time. I took Rachel (who had a panic attack) and then Cara whom we thought was ready. She really just screamed the whole way down even though she skied between my legs the entire time. 😆 At least she was smiling on the way up, right?!

3️⃣ It’s gonna be like mountain biking – divide and conquer. Rachel and Andrew are ready for some harder runs, but an adult needs to stay back with Cara. She’s gaining speed and confidence but is definitely behind the other two. And that’s okay.

4️⃣ It’s awesome but expensive. We bought our season passes early last spring before the prices went up but renting equipment (hoping to buy used at the end of the season for next year) ended up being more than we thought. See #1 for why we can’t just ski all the time.

5️⃣ Moms who take 3 kids up the the slopes by themselves should get a medal. Just saying…

Aside from skiing we are trying to make it through our school curriculum while digging ourselves out of the financial hole that living in Hawaii for 4 months created. It was worth it, but wow! We are a bit short on cash these days. Good thing skiing is paid for, so now its the cheapest thing we can do for fun!

Categories
California Idaho Montana National Parks Oregon WanderLog

Summer Wrap Up and Fall Plans

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After our busy spring schedule, I made the conscious decision to not blog over the summer and it was such a relief! We’ve had a fabulous couple of months back in the Airstream and thoroughly enjoyed spending quite a bit of time with family and friends as we’ve explored.  At some point, I hope to be able to do detailed blog posts on the places we’ve been, but for now I thought I’d do a quick summary and also let you guys know what our plans are for this fall.

Canadian Rockies Loop

Last summer as we were hanging out with my brother’s family in Grand Teton National Park, we started scheming about a great Canadian Road Trip. They had always wanted to rent an RV and do some extended traveling, so we tossed out the idea of going up to the Canadian Rocky National Parks. It stuck. We reserved campsites as soon as they went online (somewhere around March) and generally had our path planned in advance. Totally different for us as we usually fly by the seat of our pants, but we really enjoyed it! I had a few moments where I was frustrated we couldn’t stay longer at one park or another but overall our schedule was pretty spot on.

We started at Glacier National Park, and then drove up through the parks to the Canadian sister site of Waterton Lakes National Park. Both parks definitely had a similar feel, and of all the National Park townsites (towns right in the National Parks) Waterton was my favorite. Just a super cute, not crazy busy downtown area with shops and restaurants.  We hiked, we canoed (all the things!) and generally kept ourselves WAY too busy. I feel like we were in “go” mode all the time but we definitely got to see quite a bit of the parks!

Paddling St. Mary Lake – Glacier National Park, MT
Hiking to Iceberg Lake – Glacier National Park, MT
Hiking Red Rock Canyon – Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

Next stop was Banff National Park where we camped at Two Jack Lakeside. It was gorgeous! Banff was definitely a busier park, but we tried to get out early and since it was light until at least 10pm we were out late most days as well.

Lake Moraine – Banff National Park, Alberta

We parted ways with my brother as they headed up to Jasper and we joined Tanya Koob from (www.rockiesfamilyadventures.com) on a 2 night backpacking trip in Yoho National Park. This was our first hut experience and it was a blast! We loved having a dry place to hang out (it poured rain the first night), a full kitchen, and a roof over our heads at night. Next time I’d bring pancakes instead of our normal freeze dried meals, but that’s about the only thing I would change. We met some amazing Canadians and all had a blast with our Back Country Olympics.

Stanley-Mitchell Hut – Yoho National Park, British Colombia

We rejoined my brother up in Jasper for two nights, and after they left we had another 4 days to just chill and enjoy the park. It was incredibly relaxing! After our backpacking trip, the kids were all hiked out so we went ice skating at the local rink, and did a white water rafting trip with Maligne Adventures on the Athabasca River. Sam and I also snuck in a date night up the Jasper Tramway and hiked to the peak. The views up there were incredible and I always love doing outdoor adventures with Sam!

We drove down the Icefields Parkway on our way south. The views along this drive are amazing. We stopped at the Athabasca Glacier, but you can’t really get too close to the glacier, and after scrambling on one during our Yoho backpacking trip it really wasn’t all that exciting. We also managed to squeeze into a road side parking area and do the short hike up to see Peyto Lake. All of the stops along the Parkway were super crowded so we didn’t stop to see much else. Totally worth the drive though!

We then spent 5 days in Fernie, B.C. I had heard years ago that it was a good mountain biking town, and it definitely did not disappoint! We also met up with Leanne and her family (www.borntoadventure.com) and the kids had a blast hanging out for a few hours. We learned that Canada really does have difficult trails – everything feels like its straight up without switchbacks. The kids did great though when we finally realized everyone does better when we split up. Cara still struggles and needs easier trails, and the other two like rides a bit more advanced.

Our trip into Canada was surprisingly not stressful. We have a credit card with no foreign transaction fees, and with our T-mobile plans we were able to hotspot and get work done. The only painful part was that we didn’t exchange cash from the beginning which made doing laundry complicated.

Oregon Coast, Camp Noyo & the Eclipse

We crossed the border north of Sandpoint Idaho, and spent an evening hanging out with the McCartie’s at their homestead. We met them on their RV trip a few years ago and loved to see them happily settled on their gorgeous property. I’ve always said that meeting people is one of my favorite parts about traveling and having friends all over the country is a bonus!

At the last minute we made a decision to divert to the Oregon Coast instead of continuing on to Bend, OR as planned. The temperatures were projected to be in the 100’s and that just didn’t sound fun at all. We found out our friends the Bareneckers were settled in a quaint state park and that sealed the deal. We enjoyed hanging with them for few days, and the kids had a blast playing together!

Sam’s family does a reunion at Camp Noyo every summer, and even though the scout camps are no longer running, we are still able to go in for a week every summer. Its really our happy place. Bridge jumping, paddling, outdoor movie nights, shooting range, lots of games, good food and family. Definitely my idea of a vacation.

On our way back to Idaho for the solar eclipse, we stopped at Lake Tahoe for the weekend to see our friends the Erickson’s. They are our outdoor adventure friends from Utah but had been spending the month in Tahoe renting a house. They also has just purchased an Airstream and were about to set out north for their first extended trip! We have kids pretty much exactly the same gender and ages and they get along really well. Movie nights, beach time, and bike rides. It was a great weekend!

After a quick stop in Salt Lake City to see my family and for Sam and I to escape for a night to celebrate our anniversary we made it back home to Driggs, ID! We had rented out the condo, so we camped for the week in my brother-in-law’s backyard. A bunch of the Curren side came up for the weekend as well as a lot of my sister-in-law’s family. We had a great weekend hanging out, and the eclipse on Monday morning was absolutely one of my favorite experiences ever. Being on the line of totality was incredible and something I will never forget!

 

Fall Plans

In less than a week we will be on Oahu, HI. I still can’t wrap my brain around that. We are pretty much packed, and now just need to winterize and store the Airstream, and make the trek out to San Francisco to catch our flight on August 30th.

We are still ironing out school for the 2017-2018 year, and while everyone else seems to be starting the new school year this week, we are still finishing up last year! It seems we take quite a bit of time off during the year to play.

Sam is teaching a computer science class at BYU-H, and we are renting the townhouse of a friend. I waffle between being incredibly excited to experience a new part of our country, and trepidation for having to sit still for 4 months. It will definitely be a challenge, but overall I think we will grow in ways that we haven’t been able to experience for the last 4 years on the road.  I have so many plans to get caught up on ALL the projects, but realistically you’ll probably find us at the beach.

Aloha!