Friday, February 26, 2021

Arkansas, Wally-world, Hot-Springs and a new state

 We made it to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Still camping in the snow⛄ but the temperature is rising, 50 degrees now but still feels fairly cold because of the snow! Lots of ice around, they had a hard time with all of the white stuff!

If we would have been here a couple days earlier I don't think we could have gotten in! This campground is on top of the very steep roads and several vehicles had slid into the ditch. The local hooligans were loving it,  all the parking lots in the park were covered in tire tracks of kids spinning circles!!!

A little sketchy with a 5000 pound camper pushing us down the hill😎


Crystal bridges museum in Bentonville, watch out for the giant hungry birds!
The museum and lots of other things in town have been built by Walmart.
This must have been quite the welding project, stainless steel tree!

Lots of great artwork, it would be fun to see this in the summer.


The in house cafe/restraunt.


Wally-worlds first store. I guess it's grown a bit

Just a nice old Caddy completely covered with nickels, dimes and pennies!

This mill has had a hard life, they may want to invest in a good sprinkler system!



Since it has been so cold, the water is turned off in the campground. A sign at the entrance of the park said that there are new flush bathrooms down the hill at the marina, I think this is where the scary guy with a hatchet hides out😂I asked Jan to go look!

We forgot to get a picture of the sign but we moved farther south to Hot Springs, Ark and camped in Hot Springs National Park. Great dog friendly campground and park.

To reach the hiking trail, you need to cross the river. Because of the recent snow the water level was higher than normal. Jan is never too thrilled with me when I ask her to hold on before I come help her so I can get the picture! There wasn't that much water going over her boots and Henri wasn't going any farther.😂



Overlooking Hot Springs

Truck driver having a tough day. This was the by our campground, the driver cut the corner a little too much and dropped his wheels in the ditch. Dollar Generals prices just went up!

Bathhouse row in Hot Springs, no outside springs to sit in.


The lookout tower above our campground and Hot Springs.

The visiter center was closed so this was about all we got for information on the park.

Wash day in the camper, works great to do a couple things each day, Jan loves her new machine, I think we can sell the home models now😍

This beautiful guy was next to us in the campground and was just happy to watch everything going on.

This was a great campground and nice to have this little river behind our camper.


We moved on to Lake D'arbonne State Park, Louisiana, except for the camp host we had the campground to ourselves! Should have stayed a couple more days!


Very little snow but 70 degrees so we were able to take out the bikes!

It was great to be out in the kayak also!

This was a beautiful park.


Henri's normal guard position by Nellie!

The first week has been good. Glad to be past the snow now, 70-80 degrees and still moving south. It's nice to be adding new states to our adventures now.




Friday, February 19, 2021

Winter camping with Nellie!

Camping season 2021 is here, I think it's good to start as early as possible 🥶🏕

The day we were supposed to leave it was -22, just a bit too chilly! I was worried Nellie might just shatter into frozen little pieces if I tried to move her when it was so cold!

Finally it warmed up to a nice balmy temp of 2 degrees so we hit the launch button🚀🔥

Moving south! 17degrees now, progress!

Lots of straight roads in Iowa!

Needed to make a little brake adjustment🛠

Perfect camping weather, 30 degrees 🌞
We took a chance and didn't make any reservations, we lucked out and snagged this great spot!
I can't believe that no one else is here🏕
Coke machine isn't working, bummer😢
We actually stayed here 2 years ago but it was mid March. It was probably only 15 degrees warmer but less snow and lots more mud! We had a great sunset the last time also!
It's great to have a nice quiet place to park for the night! An employee of the park was even nice enough to stop and ask if we needed water, he would turn it on for us, very nice offer but we don't need too many ice cubes yet! 
Nice and warm inside Nellie, 68 degrees and happy to finish off the day with fresh pumpkin bread from our fantastic neighbors! Not sure but maybe they were just happy that we were leaving!😃
Warmer days are coming!🌴🏖





Friday, February 12, 2021

Family fun in the north

 This is our 7th year heading up to Minnesota's North shore of Lake Superior. 

It's become a tradition that we all look forward too. In a time that most people young and old have too much stuff we suggested  this trip to our kids and their spouses instead of normal Christmas gifts.

Artists Nora and Kaia hard at work🎨

Flynn taking a break😍

Granny and Juniper working hard at home construction🛠

More home construction from Ben and Helen for Santa's village🔨

Truck building with Isaac and Juni 🚚

Fun times at the racetrack for Boone and I🏎
Flynn helping Granny with bedtime snacks😴

Pool time! Lots of very excited munchkins😍

Below zero hot tubbing 🥶


No escaping the cold! We left home when it was -14F  on Monday morning to go to Two Harbors, Mn. where it was -19F with subzero temperatures all week.

The thermostat seams to be stuck🥶

The lake is very steamy!





Hiking in very negative temperatures, not many people on the trails!

The combination of the lake, cold, ice and sunshine offers an endless amount of fantastic photos!


We are always on the search for pancake ice.






I hope that very soon we can go hiking someplace where my face won't freeze in the first 
ten minutes🥶

What started as Jan and I adventuring with our daughter and son has now grown to a 
family of soon to be an even dozen😍



Life is great

Now time to unpack and repack for the next adventure, the road is calling!