Public Service Announcement: Stay Away From the Squirrels

Don't think that squirrel isn't sneaking up on her...

To the lady in this most-unflattering rearview shot, I apologize, but a public service announcement needs to be made and you were unfortunate enough to be in my way...

Let be known that the Cape Meares, Oregon, squirrels are psychotic and crazy!  To all who with plans to every visit there, I plead with you to heed this warning.  They will not be afraid of you.  No amount of shooing or pretend-cawing or stamping or running away is going to deter them.  They want your food and your sandal-clad toes and aren't going to stop at any cost.

Don't bring a picnic lunch with the idyllic dream of sitting on this beautiful bench overlooking the most beautiful ocean view you've ever seen.  They will jump up behind you and stick their paws straight into your yogurt.

Don't give your kids anything.  Period. No food.  What kid have you ever met that doesn't drop their food on the ground while they're eating.  Let them eat and you're guaranteed to have rodents crawling over their own sandal-clad feet trying to get what's underneath.  Which leads us to my next advice...

Forget all notions you have of teaching your children that all God's creations need  love.  You need to share every horrible story you know about rabies and scabies and squirrels having babies.  Put the fear in them before they reach down and try to pet the very creature that's giving you clinical anxiety.

Do not think you'll be safe in the car.  Think about it.  Vacation, children, fast food addiction.  Your car is a ticking time bomb for squirrels with erratic behavior.  Open a door even a smidgen and you've invited in the entire crazy squirrel family.

And last but not least,

Leave your non-thinking, sleep-deprived, fairy tale tourist brain at home!  (This may also be loosely translated as your elderly)  Would you run out in your backyard shaking Ho-Ho's and peanut butter sandwich crumbs at the animals creeping through your trees?  If they were fat enough to carry away your youngest child (or grandchild), does it really seem like they need to have any more?  And if you see a frazzled mother running away from something with 4 kids in arms, could you maybe stop to see what's stalking her, rather than calling out, "Honey, Dear, KARL, here it comes, take my picture!"

Maybe I  write with too much emotion.  I didn't have any warning of the danger and peril I would be putting my family in on an innocent side trip to the sea.  There were no signs posted and no kind strangers giving the signal to beware.  Take it as my duty, to warn you, that the Cape Meares squirrels are not to be reckoned with.  This is my testimony:  If you get to close, they WILL try to carry you away!

Road-Trip Ramblings #4 Walmart is NOT on Every Corner...

My #1 tip for packing for vacation has always been, "Don't worry about what you forget.  There will always be a Walmart."  I've learned my lesson and will never say it again!

We decided at the very last minute last Memorial Day Weekend to pack up the car and drive to southern Utah for a whirlwind road trip.  I needed to take pictures for an article I was writing on alternative destinations to the national parks, and the weather had finally cleared up enough to keep us from drowning. Within one hour we'd loaded the camping gear, thrown some clothes into a bag, and grabbed a little food.  I'd occasionally called out to the kids, "Get your shoes on," or  "Grab some books," and theneventually, "Time to get in the car!"  They all loaded in.  We backed out the driveway, and were on our way.  It wasn't until we piled out of the van at a sand-covered camping site three hours later that we discovered the problem.

Take a guess.  Really think for a moment what a child might be responsible for, and then forget to bring with him as he's jumping in the car for an out-of-town trip.  In the hustle and bustle of getting ready, P dutifully obeyed the instruction to get in the car.  Not such a good listener when it came to something else very important I'd asked him to do.  For our epic camping/hiking exploring road-trip, my 5-yr-old brought...no...shoes!

No shoes while you're camping?  Ok, that's no so bad.  Our kids run around in their bare feet all the time anyway.

No shoes at the national park visitor center?  Ok, we'll run in real fast and hope no one is paying attention.

Totally not wearing shoes while he takes his Junior Ranger oath

No shoes climbing over rocks on the edge of sheer rock cliff?  Ok, Mom is REALLY not feeling good about this.

No shoes when we climb to 10,000 feet and want to go hiking in the snow?  N-O-T O-K!

Not to mention walking through park shops, stopping to eat at funky small town restaurants, having to carry him into a gas station public restroom. ..

My reaction even at the end of the weekend could still be described as confused stupor.  How do you get in the car for a weekend road-trip without any shoes?  My husband, of course, took it all in stride.  He kept P off of nasty bathroom floors by letting him stand on Dad's feet.  He tried to fashion shoes out of diner french fry trays and string.  Even when I got to the point where thinking about it made me start laughing uncontrollably, he had the attitude that, "Hey, maybe this has also happened to me a time or two..."

There we were, packed but with something forgotten and without a Walmart anywhere to be seen. We racked up a total of 10 hours in driving time that weekend, going from destination to destination with not one single supercenter looming on the horizon.  Any other post and I'd be telling you that's exactly why we love southern Utah.  This time I'm still just shaking my head in disbelief...

Want to read more Road-Trip Ramblings?

Hiking White Owl Canyon

Miss the 1st part of our spontaneous road-trip to Lake Mead?

Catch up here...

By now you know that:
    1) I'm a slave to spontaneity,
    2)the rangers at the Lake Mead visitor center are moderately helpful, extremely entertaining, &
    3)the hike we chose looked promising...

So, let's get on it!

First, we found the tunnel...

Then, we found the slot canyon...

...and took some time to learn some things...

Learning all about owl poo

We saw a coyote.  We almost lost the kids (more on that coming, I promise).  We fought a little bit. We laughed a lot. And at the end of the day when we asked B & P what their favorite part of the day had been, they shouted at the top of their lungs, "THE HIKING!"  Me, too, boys.  Me, too.

More Information:
More information about Lake Mead

The White Owl Canyon Trailhead starts at

the 33 Hole Road Parking Area

off the Lake Mead Highway.

Stay to the left as you come to the 

3 parking areas. 

The trail drops down 

at the 2nd shelter house from the left.

The entire trail does make a big loop if you 

don't want to turn around like we did. 

A detailed description can be found here.

One caution: There is a LOT of trash and broken glass
along the trail 
before you reach the canyon.  
It is obviously a party hangout.
Especially with kids, be careful-
or turn it into a great service project for them!

Why We Love Junior Ranger Programs (And Think You Will Too)

I discovered last fall that I'm a little bit skeptical of our federal government.  I honestly had no idea until B & P were finishing their first National Parks Junior Ranger program and the park ranger handed them a very nice, high quality patch to commemorate their day of learning.  With all the talk of debt ceilings and excessive borrowing and financial cut-backs we hear about in the news, I was caught a little bit off-guard at the quality of a program we'd participated in for free.  We couldn't wait to visit our next park and get started on another one!

That first Junior Ranger program we did was at the Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeastern New Mexico.  I'll share more about that visit in the near future, but today want to tell you the two reasons we've fallen in love with the Junior Ranger programs.

1.  I already mentioned it, they're GOOD QUALITY learning programs.  I'm sure that would be important to anyone, but as a homeschool parent I tend to be a little critical of children's educational resources.  Too many times they're full of cartoon characters or pop culture references and not a lot of learning takes place in what's left of the blank space on a page.  

To become a Junior Ranger, kids have to complete worksheets and tasks.  Both the programs we've done so far have had an option for younger and older kids.  Usually the younger kids are required to complete 3-4 pages/tasks, while the older kids maybe have to complete 5-7.  At Capulin Volcano pages included learning about how a volcano works, the geology of northern New Mexico, the flora and fauna of the area, and more.  A lot of them involve reading signs throughout the park and finding the information.  At that park they could receive an extra reward for completing the entire hike around the rim of the volcano.

Seriously, what can be better than seeing kids out in nature actively and excitedly learning about their surroundings?

Working on their Junior Ranger at Lake Mead

2.  The Junior Ranger programs make kids feel special.  During our trip to Lake Mead last month, we stopped into the visitor's center to pick up our Junior Ranger books.  The retired volunteer park ranger almost jumped out of his skin with enthusiasm.  Both times we've done the program the rangers have given full attention to our boys while they explained the program and the requirements and got them excited for a day of learning.  

Why does it seem like adults don't do that anymore...make time for kids?  Such a spirit-lifting experience for me to have someone else telling my kids how cool science and the outdoors can be! That volunteer ranger answered every single one of their questions and quizzed them and made sure they had not taken it lightly.  B & P just ate it up!  

So what happens when kids have completed their activities and worksheets?  The ranger administers the Junior Park Ranger pledge.  Each kid repeats something like this, 

"As a Junior Ranger, I promise to teach others about what I learned today, 

explore other parks and historic sites, 

and help preserve and protect these places so future generations can enjoy them."

Then they receive their badge and their patches and go on their merry little way...

 

Do you have Junior Rangers at home?

Which park programs have been your favorite?

More information:

Junior Ranger programs are available at

200+ national parks.

The program is free to participate-just ask a ranger at the park visitor center for information.

Many of the booklets and other information are available online

and are great resources for homeschool unit studies.

Your local state parks may have junior ranger programs as well.  

Ask the next time you're there!

The Grand Canyon and the Scariest Thing I've Ever Done With My Kids!

I know, I know, the Grand Canyon is one of the epic (translate over-populated with tourists) national parks, and if I espouse the virtues of getting away from the tourist-trap, it seems like a strange park to start off with.  It's precisely for that reason that I'm going to start with it.

Our trip to this most monstrous of geological wonders was completely an act of spontaneity.  We got a call from family two days before they were leaving for there on spring break and without hesitating we dropped what we were doing and started packing our bags.  Having never been to The Grand Canyon before, the 8-hour drive gave me plenty of time to think about what I knew about the park...

• It was big
• A river runs through it
• You can stand at the top and look down into it

That is embarrassing.  Thank goodness we were not there by ourselves, or that is probably all we would still know.  Fortunately, our the family were with was gung-ho to get their money's worth and we gladly went along for the ride...well, the hike.

That's what I can teach you about The Grand Canyon-the only way to truly experience it is to step off the lip and get down in it!  We hiked 3.5 miles of the South Kaibab Trail, but there are several other hikes to choose from.  Any one of them is going to be strenuous and taxing, but one trillion percent worth it.  

For us, the start was a little stop and go.  They were doing trail maintenance, which consisted of a throng of college-aged ranger interns throwing rocks and boulders over the side onto the trail below.  Once we were able to pass them, though, the hiking down got a lot more adventuresome.  And this is where I explain why The Grand Canyon is the scariest thing I've ever done with my kids.

My niece resting precariously close to the edge to watch the action down below

The canyon is STEEP and the drop-offs are HIGH!  I'm used to hiking with my kids, but this poor mama's heart did more than one pitter-patter as we made our way down into this desert hole.  It took awhile, but we finally mastered what we called, "Wall-side, Canyon-side."  At the end of each switchback, the adults and kids craftily traded sides of the trail we were walking.  Doing that tremendously cut down the number of times I found my hand reflexively reaching out to grab at a child's collar.

After mastering that, the 7-mile hike was just long, hard, and a load of fun!  

Passing a mule train

Perched on the top-This rock was literally cradled on top of another ,
which we didn't know until we were hiking further down below.

To sum up the Grand Canyon, yes, it can be packed FULL of people...at the top.  Definitely spend a little time there, and then immerse yourself fully in the landscape that is just below them all.  You'll find a park there that far fewer people have seen!

Have you been to the Grand Canyon?

What's your favorite thing to do there?

More information:

The Grand Canyon National Park website

Looking for an historic adventure while you're there?

Ride the Grand Canyon Railway that boards in Williams, AZ.

It's super cheesy, but gives you a unique perspective 

and keeps you out of traffic 

Please, remember, if you're hiking here to bring PLENTY of water.

The trails are long, and the air is dry.  

You're going to need it.  

And watch for condors!  

My husband and his brother saw one flying 

and ran chasing half-way around the Canyon Rim to watch it land.

Grove Creek Trail: We Almost Died That Day

Anywhere along the Wasatch Range in Utah, you can take a few hours or days to hike parts of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail or the more expansive Great Western Trail.  Close to my house there are three very easy access points, the easiest being the Battle Creek Trail, which my kids love because it has a refreshing waterfall.

For years I've been wanting to explore more of these trail systems that pass behind "G" Mountain.  I actually started out one time with a bunch of friends, but quickly decided my sea-level midwest lungs were not ready for such an endeavor.  Since then, though, I've known a couple other people who've camped with their families up there, and I've been waiting for the day I'd be motivated to try it again. The painful and frightening journey we encountered when we finally tried it will not be something I EVER forget!

Here is a reference point to use as we move through the hike today...

What we attempted to do was hike from Grove Creek over to Battle Creek.  We left a car at the Battle Creek trailhead, and drove the mile or so to where we wanted to begin.  In my mind the hike was going to take 6-7 hours.  We would have an uphill climb, but not too bad, on the Grove Creek side, level out into a much-talked-about green meadow, have an easy walk across the back, and even though we'd be tired, the Battle Creek downhill would be a piece of cake.  

It started out okay, wide and gradually climbing...

...then narrowing...

 ...then narrower and rocky...

 ...and HARD!  Instead of the easy climb I was expecting, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of steep and dangerous switchbacks, heading in the opposite direction we wanted to be going...

View of the switchbacks about halfway through them.

It was about this point that people passing by started remarking how brave it was to be hiking with our kids. We're used to hearing that, too many people don't get out and do challenging things as a family.  We didn't realize that this time, they were mostly educated and heeding us a warning.  This is what we were about to come up on...

The already steep and narrow trail changed from packed gravel to extremely loose rock shale on either side as well as right up the middle.  We'd now gone from slightly harrowing hike to white-knuckled parents clenching onto their over-energetic little boys to keep the whole family from sliding down the mountain.

It was also at this point that we started seeing people who had passed us coming back down and passing us again.  We knew there had to be a turn-around point for people not wanting to go all the way, we just never seemed to be getting there! 

This is how we were feeling...

...until, finally, we made it to the waterfall...

...where we could see this view of the valley down below...

...and higher up, a trickling stream... 

Surely this means the trail is going to level out and be smooth sailing from here, right? Uh , NO!  All these years we have been lied to!  There's no leveling out and ease on the backside of this mountain.  What we had not taken into account after our legs were already screaming is that we now had to climb the hidden mountain on the left before eventually summiting the visible mountain on the right and then traversing the rest of the way straight back down.

We tried to keep on going.  After the waterfall, the terrain changed from brown, hot, and rocky to green, cool, and safely packed.  We even ran into a friend on the trail...

Year-old moose

Trying to decide what we should do

 In the end, we just couldn't make it.  B, P, and I collapsed to the ground in the middle of a lush green hill while my husband ran ahead to find out where the blasted meadow was.  20 minutes later he came running back down the trail with a discouraged look upon his face.  This is a man who never quits anything, and doesn't always have the best sense about how far to push the boys.  Even he knew we were beat.  The only thing we had left to do?  Turn around and creep our way back down the death-defying way we'd already come.

It was harder.  Poor P had nothing left in his legs to give.  I carried him as far as I could before my own knees threatened to give out on me, and then somehow my husband managed to get back down the rest of the way with baby on back and P on his shoulders, scrappling through the steep rock shale, heading downhill this time instead.

The last photo before we were too exhausted and frustrated
 to get the camera out anymore.
Trust me, it does NOT represent the way we were feeling by the end of the day!

After nearly 5 hours we were back in the car, all alive, barely.  The next three days were not great as exhaustion brought about weak immunity and a round of family flu.  It's the first thing we've ever done that every person agreed equally was not a good idea and has not paled to some of rose-colored glasses nostalgia.  I'm quite certain it never will.

 So, what is the take away?

•  Don't do this hike with kids.  Nobody told us beforehand, and everyone told us afterwards. 
•  Don't do this hike as your first big trip of summer after sitting around all winter.  Your legs will scream at you!
• Don't do ANY hike without first doing your research.  This was so uncharacteristic of me, but we had absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Really simple lesson learned the really really hard way!

Learning From Memory

Le Havre, France.  Not a town most people would know or remember.  Probably it's only claim to fame is being a logistically decent place for cruise ships to stop and send their passengers off for day tours of Omaha Beach and other noteworthy WWII sites.  Give me a few paragraphs, though, to convince you of it's redeeming property.

Travel back in time with me to April 2008.  My husband and I, with our 1-yr-old son B, set off on a celebratory tour of the continent of Europe.  My husband had finally finished his bachelor's degree so we packed our bags, got on a plane, and flew away!  Not until we were halfway across the Atlantic Ocean did we realize we'd left behind an important piece of equipment.

This is B:

No, he isn't what we left behind. But, at age one, you can imagine that B was an incredibly mobile child-not yet walking, but more than willing to get himself somewhere in a high-speed crawl.  Even at his best, however, we could hardly expect him to make do on his own for 6 weeks of budget traveling.

Figured out what the missing equipment was yet?  We'd left our backpack carrier in the car at home.  All of a sudden the idea of carrying a squirming, wiggly baby in our arms for hours and hours and days and days seemed daunting.  It was the first time we'd considered that traveling with a child might not be fun.

Enter Le Havre.  We happened to be there at the beginning of our journey and an angel of a tourism official directed us to a second-hand store where we might be able to find redemption.  She seemed ashamed not to be able to send us to a fancy department store.  We gave prayers of gratitude that our first unexpected purchase with euros might not break the bank.

This is the store:

Neither my husband nor I speak French and the shopkeeper of this adorable store knew very little English.  After a lot of pointing at B and then at our backs, we found ourselves following this nice lady out of her store and up three flights of stairs next door.  She unlocked a door and offered up her entire store room for us to find what we were looking for.  We were inundated with choices and she let us try on everyone.  Grateful and overwhelmed we finally settled on the pack we liked and hoped we had enough money in our pockets.  Truth is, to this day I don't know how much we paid for that backpack carrier.  What I do know is that it was worth it's weight in gold!

This is the pack: 

Honestly, it was perfect!  B slept in it, ate in it, laughed in it, played in it.  He rode on our backs through  eight countries.  It was incredibly comfortable and I carried him on my back for six of the seven miles on the Cinque Terre Trail in Italy.  That accomplishment is still a feather in my cap!  We have searched high and low and haven't found this exact backpack anywhere.  They don't exist.  But we have one.  It's our little miracle, and we've carried P and the babies in it now as well.

Why, you're asking, am I taking you on this trip down memory lane? 

These are the lessons: 

     ~It's What We Do.  People get confused and think we're being irrational to travel with our kids, but kids travel and we wouldn't think of leaving them home.

    ~Things will most certainly not go completely as planned.  Sometimes we'll forget things and there may be setbacks and delays.  That makes journeying all the more exhilarating.

    ~I love my family.  I easily get bogged down in my day-to-day.  Life doesn't magically become perfect when I hatch a new vacation plan, pack my bags and sail away.  My husband and four cute boys are always going to be there along the way.  If I can learn to make the most of the time I have with them, they'll make sure we live life to the fullest when they're out there (wherever there may be) with me. And that is all I'm hoping for.

And lastly:

    ~Don't leave the backpack carrier in the car at home!

What are the great lessons you've learned when things weren't going perfectly?

Nearing the End of Our Trip...Feel Like You Missed Something?

I have a habit of building up grand plans, executing them, then realizing I haven't got the time to spend writing about them.  Such has happened with our big summer road trip.  Wanting to give each experience it's due grandeur, I put off writing about Day 1 which backs up days 2-40+.  

Yesterday I had an epiphany.  We're finally nearing the end of actively living out of our van so why not start with today and work my way backwards.  Kind of a "deconstructing" of a summer-long roadtrip.  Rather than tell you where we started I'm going to first share where we ended and leave you wondering for a couple days each time how in the world we got there.

And so, without further ado, THIS is where we are on August 6, 2013, Day 68 of our epic summer adventure ...

...now, wait with baited breath to find out more 

about this awesome night's sleep...

Park Watch: Le Page Park, Oregon

A beautiful rest spot at the confluence of the John Day and Columbia Rivers on I-84...

This park does have a small entrance fee 

(It was only $1 for my car of 1 adult and 4 kids)

More information at recreation.gov