We are here for 4 days to explore the city. Our first full day was awesome as we explored the river walk! We took a boat ride and learned the history of the city and got to see a lot. After the boat ride, we went to check out the Alamo and took a tour and looked around. We ended our day with dinner at the oldest restaurant on the river walk which was a Mexican restaurant and was very good. We could watch the boats float by as we ate.
The second day we went to check out the San Antonio Missions. They are a bunch of old churches that are each a few miles apart. We started at one and then rode our bikes between the next few. We ended with like 9 miles total, it was hot but a fun ride.
We spent a lot of time in the evenings at the pool in the campground which was nice to have since it was in the 90s every day!
We’re having a blast at Buddy’s Backyard RV Resort for a 3-day trip to Austin! The highlight of our stay was definitely catching up with some of our best friends from Vermont who now live in Texas. We’ve spent every day together, enjoying some amazing activities. On the first day, we ventured to Enchanted Rock, where we hiked up this massive rock (monolith)—the third largest in the world, right after ones in Alabama and Australia. What made it extra special were the cool “secret passageways” beneath the rock. The view from the top was breathtaking and definitely one of the best of the trip so far. But my absolute favorite part was indulging in shaved ice from Kona Ice at the bottom. It was super refreshing after our long walk. I went for tiger’s blood, black cherry, and blue raspberry, and it was a solid 8.4/10! The next day, we headed to a fantastic park near their house. It had a splash pad, slides, a playground, and even fishing spots (though I didn’t catch anything this time). But it was still a blast! My absolute favorite part was the huge climbing net that went all the way up to the top—three stories high! And then we went to another local shaved ice place called Caseys, and it was the best ice ever had; they gave me a lot of flavoring. (I know just inhaling this red 40.) Some people won’t like it because of how much flavoring they gave me, but I thought it was great. The next day, we were all sad because it was our last day to see them, so we started by going to their house. Tigo and I played video games and hung out with his lizard.(The lizard did not play; we just had with us while we were playing.) And it was really fun! Then we got sprayed with the hose and jumped on his trampoline where he taught me a few tricks on it like the back drop. We got food at a cool little Mexican joint where my friend and I shared nachos and they were ok, but decent. After this, we went to a bakery right next door and got really good cookie dough cupcakes; I give it a 9.1/ 10. Then we sadly had to say goodbye, which was hard because we have not seen them for so long, but they will meet us right as we move back to PA!
We are chilling in Dallas for 4 days. We are staying here an extra day because of some severe thunderstorms. We have “go bags” packed if we need to go somewhere for any possible tornadoes. Thankfully, no tornadoes while we were there, but we did have some powerful storms. We explored the city, tasted some Texas BBQ, and visited a children’s museum.
My top moment at the museum was a simulation where you got to race different people or animals, like a cheetah and a track star. I raced a cheetah and got totally crushed—didn’t even come close in the same 10 seconds! This place also had an awesome climbing gym. It was like crocheted paracord hanging from the ceiling and had multiple layers. Eli and I spent a lot of time in there. Another was an exhibit all about birds. It had a bird flight simulation where it was like you flew through the air and had to collect these gold coins. It was much harder to fly than I would have thought! We did try some Dallas BBQ but were not super impressed for the price. The museum was https://www.perotmuseum.org if you want to check it out.
My favorite excursion in Dallas was a cool place called Meow Wolf. The name is a little weird, but it was awesome on the inside. You came into a house (it was all inside), and inside it looks normal, but when you look closer you will see that different places have secret passageways into big open spaces that are all themed. My favorite was the washing machine because when you open the door you see that there’s a slide. So of course we had to slide down. There was a massive tree where there are even more passageways that we can explore. Another cool passageway was when you opened the refrigerator and it opened up into a big place themed like a fridge and when you held open one of the doors it started to play music and make light patterns. Eli made it a dance party every time we opened that door. Overall going into it, I had no clue what it was but in the end it was really fun to explore! https://meowwolf.com/visit/grapevine
We got to Texarkana and are staying here for three nights. We are staying at a recreation area for the Army base, and it is on a lake. The coolest thing about this city is that it’s right on the border of Texas and Arkansas. You can stand with one foot in Texas and one foot in Arkansas. We took a photo of all of us in both states at the same time! We spent most of our time checking out downtown. One side of the street is Arkansas, and the other is Texas. The downtown was pretty run down, unfortunately. It didn’t have a ton of stores, but it was kind of neat. There were some old and spooky buildings that made it feel like an adventure. We did, however, find an awesome burger place called TLC Burgers. The line was almost out the door, and the burgers were super yummy! They were juicy and tasted really good. I’d give them an 8.753 out of 10.0—I would recommend! The other two days, we just chilled and relaxed in our camper. We did make some friends with some local kids living in the area and went fishing on the lake.
We are at Hot Springs National Park for a 5-day stay. The main thing we did here was go to the famous bathhouse row where they put you in bath tubs filled with hot spring water. In the past, it was popular because they thought it healed everything; modern medicine might be better now, but it was still really nice to relax in the tub. My dad and I went because the age limit was 10, so Eli sadly could not go. When we first got there, they told us to change, and we put on our swimsuits and then they took us to the bath where we soaked for 20 minutes in the hot spring water. They took us to the sitz tub where they sprayed hot water down your back. Next was my favorite part, the vapor cabinet. Where they put you in this box and only your head was sticking out. Inside was hot vapor, and it felt great! Finally, they took us to a soft mat where we laid on a sheet, and they put hot wet towels on you. We lay there for a couple of minutes; we were like warm burritos! Then we switched out, and my mom got to go by herself. It was really nice and relaxing to be in the hot spring water, and I definitely enjoyed it!
There were also lots of hiking trails around the park. One started in our campground. It was a big uphill section to start, but the view from the top was beautiful. You could see all of the town. We continued hiking and got to the observation tower. We went up the elevator to the top and had even better 360-degree views. They also had a little bit of history about the area. Like Al Capone, the famous mob boss used to love the bath houses. Also, Babe Ruth used to play here during spring training. Bill Clinton also graduated from Hot Spring High School. In total, it was about a 4-mile hike and it felt all uphill but overall it was a cool place to see.
We ate at the brewery in town before we left. It makes its beer from the spring water. My mom and dad said it was really delicious. I had a burger, like always, and it was an 8.76/10. The other cool part of the town was that you could fill up your water at local taps of the spring water. One was hot and the other was cooled down. It was the best-tasting water! Highly recommend.
Next stop is Murfreesboro, AR and diamond Crater State Park
We at Lake Chicot for a three day stay. There was not a lot going on in this part in Arkansas so we just stayed at the camper mostly. It is located right on the lake and in the summer it would have been a lot of fun.
On one of our walks, we found these really good sticks that we were going to make walking sticks. We started by whittling the sticks until all the bark was off. Then we used sandpaper to get the whole thing smooth. Next, we put the stain on and let it dry overnight and finally we put clear coat on it to protect the stain. Eli and I now have really good walking sticks to use out west 👍. Otherwise we just chilled at the camper and played board games and watched movies.
Current leg: 103 Miles
total miles: 5,239 Miles
Next up was Little Rock, Arkansas
We stayed at the Air Force Base there. We did family bike ride along river in the city. We stopped at playgrounds along the way, had good tacos at a local restaurant, and also explored the Clinton presidential library. My mom took us to the local science museum and we talked to a parrot whose name was Eli! The museum was my favorite spot because of all the cool exhibits. The tornado simulation was wild—the windows even broke! We were all a bit freaked out, but it was such a unique experience. Another awesome thing was the grip strength test, where you could see how you stacked up against others in your group, like kids, adult men, and women. I did pretty well, just a bit above average.
Highlight for me was the stop at Davids Burgers. It is a local Arkansas place. You order at the counter and find your seat. They then bring fries and put them in the middle of your table while you wait for your food. Food there was some of the best of the trip! Dad said it was a lot like In and Out which we will have to try out west.
Not much to say about this place but the big thing we did here was go to the Vicksburg National Military Park, where we took a driving tour to see the battle grounds of the battle of Vicksburg. This was a battle in the Civil War. We drove for around an hour to see all of the marker stones that told us what happened at that spot. Though my favorite party was the U.S.S Cairo a ship that actually sunk twice! The first time they had to pull it out of the river and saved it but the second time it was from a mine and it sunk to the deepest part of the river. After many years they were able to salvage the boat from the river and restore it. It is now on display and you can actually walk through the boat! You can see both old parts and the newer restored parts.
Then we drove to a local park and playground in Vicksburg and happened to notice that’s there was a parade going that day for Mardi Gras. We stayed and went to the parade. It was fun we got a grand total of 47 bead necklaces! We also got cups, candy, and even rubber ducks!
The big thing we did here was taking a day trip to New Orleans. We walked around the French Quarter and went to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. The beignets were the best dessert I’ve ever had, it’s like a better version of a funnel cake! It also happened to be Mardi Gras while we were there so there was a lot going on. While we were eating there was a live band preforming jazz in the front and they were really good.
We were walking down the street and found a cool museum for pharmacy and medicine through history. It was really cool to see the things they did in the 1800 and early 1900s to cure sickness. My favorite part was the trephination. That is basically a procedure, where they whack some one in the head with a hammer or drill to relieve pressure. My mom says this is still used today with less prep and more precision . I can’t believe the things they used to do and use as medicine that they think helped but most of them did not.
Even walking on the sidewalk is a party here, there are street performers everywhere and the vibe is just great. I think it might be my favorite city I’ve ever been to!
After lots of exploring, we all got hungry and went to Mr. Ed’s seafood bar. I ordered the red snapper and it was delicious. I think it is my new favorite fish to eat. I was proud of myself because this was like the first time I’ve not ordered a burger and i got something different 😂. It had a lot of flavor so i gave the fish a 7.5/10.
The Gulf coast of Florida, also known as the Emerald Coast is our next stop. We will explore Panama City, Destin, and Pensacola to complete our 2 1/2 months in the state of Florida!
We only stayed a few days in Panama City and our campsite was right on the bay. It was really cool to see the bridge over the bay light up at night in red, white and blue! We explored a local kids science museum that was pretty cool.
Current leg: 135
Total miles: 4,674 Miles
Next up was Destin. We used to go there a lot when my dad was in the Air Force so we were excited to go back! It was a supposed to be a week of beach and warm weather but winter weather found us and some days it was in the 20s over night. However, they did have a heated outdoor pool that we definitely took advantage of.
The coolest part of this spot was that a friend from Vermont happened to be driving through and we got to see him and his family. We met up at their hotel and played at the pool and in the lobby. Sadly, we could only spend one evening with them but in Texas next month, we will spend a of couple days with them! It was so nice to see him, and we got pizza and played board games ♟️.
We also did our first escape room! This is basically a room that they lock you in (not actually, because of safety reasons) and you get 1 hour to escape by solving a series of puzzles to either find a code out or a key to get out. Ours was themed the lost city and we had travel deep into the temple to find the code by working together. It was difficult but in the end we escaped with 5 minutes to spare. I definitely would like to do more of these rooms!
Current leg: 51
Total miles: 4,725 miles
Next stop was Pensacola where we did the naval air museum and Light house, Gulf Shores NP (the Florida part), and Peg Leg Pete’s, where we ate dinner.
The naval museum was my favorite thing we did here, because of all the planes. It was based on the Blue Angels (the stunt team for the Navy) and their training of how they got so good with flying. There were over 300 planes and two stories of exhibits. The lighthouse was next and we got to walk up to the top. It was 177 steps to the top! The view was amazing. We could see the naval base including the runway very well and the Gulf shore national park where we check out the following day.
Next up was Gulf shore NP and fort where we drove down a peninsula where it was just huge sand dunes and at the end was Fort Pickens. It is a cool fort because of all the small tunnels that we could walk through. The other forts we’ve seen on this trip are at Dry Tortugas and Fort Pulaski in Savannah but this one was my favorite. After the fort, we went to eat at Peg leg Pete’s oyster bar, where I got chicken tenders and they were great. I also tried grouper nuggets and they were delicious 🤤.
We parked in the grassy field of the parking lot of the Tallahassee Automobile museum for a one night stay. It is part of a company called Harvest Hosts. These are businesses around the country that you can stay for free over night but you need to patron the business. We did this one before back in Maine at the Alpaca farm. We didn’t have any hook ups but our batteries were enough to last us the day and night.
My dad, brother and I went to the car museum. It was a really cool place that had a little bit of everything they had two stories of cars and a section of typewriters, toys,pinball machines, golf clubs, golf balls, sports cards, knifes, radios, fans, racing boats, outboard engines, model trains, and a whole lot more that i can not remember! My favorite car we saw there was a ford GT in yellow and looked so cool, they also had a whole section of Batmobiles including 1.8 million dollar one with a jet engine in the back! They could only get the model because in the movie they had to crash it as part of the plot. It was cool having a place that we could stay that was made our travel days shorter.
