My Top Five

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” -Lao Tzu

So we have spent the last two years selling our house in BC, moving to Ontario, fixing up a three season cottage to be a year round home (see that process HERE), and now have decided to sell it.

Our hope was to have our Ontario residence as a home base and travel in the winter but it hasn't worked out. The first winter we couldn't travel as we weren't allowed to leave the province for more than 30 days until we were residents for 6 months for our health care. The second winter we were still doing renovations and that second winter was brutal! So brutal in fact, we decided we can't bare to stay here another winter and listed the house for sale this Spring.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" - Confucius

Selling leaves us with another choice...move back to BC to have a warmer winter home base for years when we can not travel for what ever reason or say to heck with a brick and motor house and just live life on the road. We home school our girls now so it wouldn't really affect them until later years and now would be as good as any of a time to try it. We loved our 4 1/2 month Maiden Voyage in 2011 and the travel bug is chattering away in my ear so I have been reminiscing about past travels and thinking about where we would go if we did hit the road this fall.

"I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it." - Rosalia de Castro

While reminiscing I stumbled upon THIS post entitled 'My Top Five' and since my thoughts seem to be all about past travels  lately I thought I'd do up my own top five list and continue down memory lane.

My top five places I have been to but want to go back to again are:

1) Assateague National Seashore (see our visit HERE):

me and my girls in front of a wild pony and her foal at Assateague National Seashore

I grew up reading the Marguerite Henry's books including Misty of Chincoteague and have always wanted to visit here since I was a child. We got to spend a few hours here one after noon as the camping spaces were all filled up. Since we normally boondock I had no idea you had to book so far in advance for a campsite.

Someday I will go back here again and I will capture more beautiful memories of these wonderful horses. My girls loved being able to be so close to them as well as they (and we) walked through the park. Hopefully when we have more time we may even get to see some on the beach.

2) Sedona (and nearby areas), Arizona (See my post HERE):

Both my husband and I loved Sedona. We loved the red rocks against the blue sky and there was really just something magical about the area.

Who wouldn't love camping for FREE near HERE.

Our actual camping spot had this same view in the background but looked more like this below from our vantage point.

Our girls were very young when we were there and we hope to do some exploring and hiking in and around Sedona the next time, now that they are older.

We did explore the Palatki Ruins and Slide Rock State Park nearby while in Sedona.

We also boondocked HERE which is still in the Coconino National Forest and is about 20-30 minutes (if my memory serves me correctly) away from Sedona but in the opposite direction (in case you don't want to take the back mountain entrance to get to the above mentioned camping place). We had no idea we were as close as we were, or we might have just stayed here. I am glad though that we got to see both places.

From here we visited Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well.

Sedona is one area I could spend a lot of time in walking more trails and soaking in all those beautiful red rock formations.

3) Goblin State Park (see my post HERE)
This was my children's favourite part of our trip I think. Sierra actually talks about it more than even visiting Walt Disney World.

They loved being able to climb on, over and through all the rock formations.

 I loved the camping area we boondocked at just a few minutes up the road and I'd love to go back and explore some of the trails I know are nearby.

5) Moab Area...we boondocked HERE.

I was able to do Delicate Arch quickly one night (it's at the end of the Goblin State park post above)

I had Aayla with me and it was windy and the trail was tricky carrying her part way so I left just before the sun set for both of our safety. I would love to go back again someday and stay for a full sunset.

The next day we all went to Arches National Park and did a little hiking but now that our girls are older I would love to go back and explore some more.

I also only did  a drive by for Canyonlands National Park as it was a rainy grey day and the girls were not interested in getting out of the truck this time so although we were here...I don't really feel like I was there!

5) The islands of Hawaii...I wasn't blogging when we went to Hawaii but it was amazing! We stayed in Oahu and travelled only this one island but loved each and every minute here. We rented a car as I knew I wanted to see as much of the island as we could...as many of these wonderful beaches as possible.

We stayed in Waikiki and had a good view of Diamond Head.

I Loved Hanuama Bay Nature Preserve

 We were able to see a couple sea turtles while snorkelling here.

We also got to see a couple sea turtles on turtle beach on the top of the island. I actually drove there twice as the first day there were no turtles present. I thought maybe I had my directions wrong. On our next try we saw three turtles in total. There are always people there guarding the turtles to make sure no one hurts them but you can get to within about 15 feet of them.

The Polynesian Cultural Centre was a lot of fun and the girls loved their outfits!

We tried swimming with dolphins and enjoyed the aquarium at Sea Life Park.

I hiked with the girls to Makapu`u Point Lighthouse... no one else wanted to go but I was determined...people thought I was crazy pushing a stroller up most of this trail with two young kids in it but it was oh so worth it!

Someday I will get back to these beaches... so my sand and surf loving girls and I can make some more glorious memories. Hopefully daddy will be able to join us longer too as at the time he could only meet us there for a couple days due to his work and we went with some friends instead for this trip.

Hawaii has some very beautiful sunsets too...

An expensive place to travel but one trip I loved and know I have to go back someday...if only we could get there by RV :)


As well here are 5 places on my bucket list...all involve places I want to capture in photos

1) I want to visit Stonehenge...someday and all the beautiful castles in that part of the world.

2) The Wave- one day I would love to win the lotto to be permitted to visit the Wave.

3) Zion National Park- we were short of time on our travels when wevisited the Grand Canyon (we boondocked HERE) and Bryce Canyon but skipped by Zion because our RV Truck combination is too long to go through the Carmel tunnel. Next time we are in the area we will be sure to allow more time to disconnect and explore. Yes it will be a bit extra gas to do a loop around to pick up the trailer but from everything I have read, every photo I have seen I know I have to visit here someday.

4) Joshua Tree National Park We haven't spent a lot of time in California and if we move back to the West coast that will definitely be easier to do. I hear so many mentions on other blogs about Joshua Tree that I can hardly wait to go.

5) Anywhere and everywhere else we haven't been...

What are your top five's? Care to share?

Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area Camping REVIEW

Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area is beautiful! To get here head North on 68 from Espanola. In Pilar, turn left onto 570 and follow the river. There are 6 different campgrounds but only 2 of the campgrounds have electric/water.

Value 4/5
$3 dayuse, $7 camping or $15 for electric and water. The dayuse is included with your camping fee.

Site Quality 4.5/5
Our packed gravel site #1 in the Rio Grand Campground was level. We didn't have to do any leveling at all. There was a fire ring and a barbeque pit as well as picnic tables. Some sites had covered picnic areas. Electric and water only. No sewer or RV dump. Washrooms/$showers

Facility Fun 3.5/5
Rafting and fishing if you have your own supplies. Hiking.

Natural Surroundings 5/5
You are in a valley surrounded by Mountains, a river behind you. Beautiful mature trees. BEAUTIFUL!
A Rafters paradise as the river is directly behind you and easily accesible from launch area (rafts not motorized boats). There are many trails to hike, and we saw many mountain bikers in the area too.

Bathrooms 4.5/5
Very clean. Outdoor sink for dishes, pay showers at $1 for 3 minute HOT shower (at our Rio Grande campground, only showers here I think)

Staff 5/5
The campground host has been there 1 year and is staying for 1 more year. He was very friendly and stopped by our site a few times to chat. He was very helpful when asking about things in town as well as inquiring as to where we are headed and sharing ideas to go to along the way.

Location 4/5
Only about 15-20 minutes from Toas which has almost everything you need. Including a Walmart that allows Overnighting for RV's, river rafting tours are at the corner of 68 and 570. Visitors centre just Souh of 570.

Overall 4/5
Beauiful, natural surroundings. Not much traffic and safe enough for the girls to run around a bit and not have to worry too much about them. No internet service for about 8 miles North and South of here. Some people had satelittes up but we didn't try ours. Close to Taos. We would come here again even though there was no internet.

An open field and the bahroom/showers behind us. RV site #1

The bathroom/shower building with an outdoor sink
 for tenters dishes



There are tent sites behind us and then the river, fire pit, picnic table
and barbeque pit available



View of the tent sites with covered picnic areas

View of the river

Navajo Lake State Park, driving through New Mexico and Orilla Verde BLM

We woke this am at Navajo Lake State Park. We stopped here as it was late, dark and we couldn't easily find a boondocking site. We really need to do laundry and if we don't find one soon you might start seeing us in our birthday suits! LOL :)

I am not going to do a regular review for this park as we arrived late and left early so I don't think it would be a fair review.  This space was $10 for the night and $14 with electric, as are all the State Parks in New Mexico. Here are a few wet pictures from our departure.

Large pull through site with picnic table/fire pit behind

picnic table and fire pit

View behind us down to the lake

Playground which was too wet to play on :(

From here we travelled through some ever changing weather

Snow

And more snow

Yes that's hail

We saw many of these. Everywhere there are oil drills.

And ended up stopping at Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area. It was beautiful. The mountains on one side and the river on the other. (review to follow this post)

but it is in a valley and there is no interenet service within about 8 miles north or south.

We paid $15 to say here because we needed to hook into electricity even more then we need laundry. We made a boo boo last night and drained our RV batteries...big oops! So we bought a charger in Taos at Walmart to give them a full 3 cycle charge and are now researching solar ideas. If anyones has some ideas on solar we'd love to hear them :)

FREE BLM Camping near Goblin Valley State Park Utah

To find his BLM Free camping follow 24 North from Hanksville. Turn Left on Temple Valley Road. Continue on and PASS the road to Goblin Valley on your left. (about 7 miles) Directly after there are spots to camp on your left. If you continue around the corner you will find a compact gravel camping area with toilet facilities. This area was too busy for us so we continued on. There are numerous spots that are rough and suitable for small to midsize RV's or tent camping. We couldn't find a vacant space large enough for us so we ended up parking in the second gravel lot and are so glad we did. There are litle ruins from an old homestead hat were fun to explore for the girls.

Value 5/5
FREE

Site Quality 4.5/5
Where we parked in the second compact gravel area with toilets we were quite happy. The area was level, had fire pits and newer picnic tables. There was an area with shade covering but it was taken while we were there.

Facility Fun 5/5
We had a lot of fun exploring the ruins and hiking up some of he ATV trails. There are numerous trails for hiking, quadding, mountain biking in he BLM land.

Natural Surroundings 4.5/5
We were parked at he base of 3 beautiful mountains. The trails were plenty and the colours of the setting sun on all 3 mountains was amazing.

Bathrooms 4/5
There is no running water, but toileta are available in the crushed gravel parking areas. They were very clean and well maintained.

Staff N/A

Location 4/5
Being close to soo many hiking posibilities and natural beauty i was great if you like the great outdoors. The only thing within 25 miles is Goblin Valley State Park. So if you are interested in this Park and want to camp for FREE or if their campground is full, this is an excellent location.

Overall 4.5/5
We LOVED this spot. If we had our quads we could have stayed here longer. here are sooo many trails to choose from. The old homestead ruins were perfect for our girls to explore. hey even spent some time time trying to fix them up by adding more rocks into he cracks :) They had a blast!



The "toilets"




One of the 4 ruins we found




Mounain behind us



This is he first area just past the road to Goblin Valley State Park



The first crushed gravel area which was too busy for us.
It appears to be a very popular area. We like to be a bit
further away from everyone.



 

Our campsite as the sunsets...the reflective colours were amazing