Or, how to make living on a boat seem easy and the boat seem larger? Spend a week-plus in a car with 4 people and a dog.
(August 29, 2019 Facebook post)
NY- CT- MA-NH (pick up boys)-VT-NY-PA-OH-IN (Indiana Dunes National Park)-IL-WI-MN-SD (Badlands National Park)-WY (Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park)-ID-UT (Moab National Park, Corona Arch Hike, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park)-NV (Fremont St late Sat night: Owen actually said “this gets old fast”)-CA. Arrived Sunday back in San Diego after Jason and I traveled 11 days through 17 states (14 days/18 states including travel time from CA to Newark) to get from home in NY to the boat in San Diego by way of NH where we picked up the boys. The boys were with us for 9 days and 15 states and we all visited 7 national parks en route. I hate traveling too quickly and making a trip about the places “hit” rather than lingering for experiences. This road trip highlighted that when you’re limited for any reason (time, money, attention span, etc.), you can still have incredible experiences: we needed to get back to the boat fairly quickly from NY with dog, kids and Uhaul trailer in tow. Extending the miles and days (and hours/day) traveled for the opportunity to see so much beautiful land was the right choice for us even if we didn’t get to hike/bike/climb/fish/sit and gaze as much as we might have liked. New tip I learned that some of you may have known: seek out the national forests located right near parks. They seem to have significantly fewer people, are often (always?) more dog friendly, I think more accessible (the forests we visited were free) and almost just as beautiful. We also learned a new dog travel tip: the louder the AC (often but not always signified by the cheaper the hotel or having a motel entry straight into the room) the better our dog sleeps! We can generally sleep anywhere but evidently not always true for him. Here are just a few of the too many photos…
