Bahia de Conception
We went to Mexico this winter, drove down hauling our ’62 Cardinal travel trailer. Our 2 year old is now a road trip pro and we have figured out her limits, when to stop, when to nap, when to buy new toys. We mostly drove up the Baja peninsula. She had a fear of oceans in Cabo, so we found a quite beach locale without waves and called it an Ocean Lake. She seemed convinced and we spent the afternoons collecting shells. Read more »
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Tags: Baja, camping, car, children, kids, Mexico, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, road, toddler, Travel, trip, vacation
Travel, Uncategorized | admin March 2, 2010 | 
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I don’t remember going to music festivals as a kid. I do remember going to a Pete Seeger show and maybe an Oktoberfest, but not quite a festival. This year, I decided to take my little Vintage Clothing business The Style Revival on the road and with me, the whole family.
Crestone Music Festival ’09 in Crestone, Colorado. We were prepared because I had done flea markets so there wasn’t much prep work, but since I would be facepainting too, we needed grandma to come watch our daughter while we worked all day. We parked our little camper behind the booth so she could nap and kept lots of extra food nearby so as not to have to rely on festival food.
Thank goodness my mother-in-law was there. I don’t think we could have juggled it alone. We met the other vendors nearby and there families. We played with the hula hoops, danced to the reggae and bluegrass, ate pizza and just had an all around good time. Other than the late night freezes that weekend while camping, it went pretty smoothly.
I decided I want to do it again next year and maybe even try a couple more festivals. As my daughter gets older, she’ll be able to run off and play with the other festival kids without me having to worry about her. It is a temporary way for me to mimic a communal lifestyle for us and allow her to be exposed to music and culture while enjoying a family camping weekend together.
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The impetus for our journey was our friends Yi-Jau and Brenda’s wedding in Portland at the end of June. So, once we reached our destination, we knew we had reached the climax of our journey and only the denoument was left to wrap it up. So, we figured we better have a rockin’ good time, which we did.
We arrived in Portland on Last Thursday on Alberta Street, which was just an amazing raucous celebration of creativity, ingenuity and fun. Since we were there before the street was closed to cars, we meandered very slowly along the sidewalk checking out the bounty of wild artistry. Read more »
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Tags: Alberta, children, Colorado, Oregon, parenting, Portland, Silver Falls, Thursday, Travel, Utah
Travel | admin July 12, 2009 | Comments (0)
From Eugene, we had lunch in another cool little Oregon town, Corvalis, before heading to the coast. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of it because it rained the whole time, but we did have one clear morning where we took advantage of the chilly beach and absorbed more ocean. We ended up at the very cool Newport Aquarium, which our daughter absolutely loved.
Newport Aquarium
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After Crater Lake, we headed for Eugene, Oregon and landed at the very cool Eugene Whiteaker Hostel.
Great Hostel
We splurged on a room there to be decadent for Father’s Day and, since our camper was parked in a camp site, stayed in the camp site the second night. The Whiteaker hostel composts, recycles and grows some of their food. Hostels are always a great place to meet fellow gypsies. Read more »
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Tags: bike, camping, Eugene, Hostel, Oregon, parenting, path, road, Travel, trip, Whiteaker
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After climbing a volcano, I was ready for some serious relaxation. Since we have a hot tub at home, we are spoiled, and all I could think about was soaking in some hot water. That is when we found the wonderful and quirky Stewart Springs Resort, a historic clothing-optional mineral bathhouse in the mountains of northern Cali, east of I5. They were very cool about having a kid. I had anticipated the possibility of having to trade off bath time with my hubby, but we ended up being able to spa simultaneously. Read more »
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Tags: California, camping, children, Crater Lake, kids, Oregon, parenting, road, Stewart Springs, Travel, trip
Travel | admin June 23, 2009 | Comments (0)
The peak of the peak of Lassen Peak
This weekend my family and I hiked 2.5 miles with 2,000 ft elevation gain in two hours (only one way, that is) up a volcano, half of which was in the snow, at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Phew. The last portion was most grueling with some iffy snowy ledges and very steep scree-covered switchbacks. Read more »
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Anyone who travels knows that there is always one day/week/incident that serves to test your travel endurance, push you out of your comfort zone, and annoy you thoroughly. We have hit our wall. The truck needed to be fixed and a one day job has turned into three. Without a car, our camper parked outside a friend’s house on a busy street, and a gimpy dog who can’t walk very far or take Bart, we were forced into a Motel 6. Read more »
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While it was great to see friends and fam in Los Angeles and shop the vintage clothing stores in Venice Beach, the smog and congestion were just annoying. Additionally, surprise!, it was cold. Yes, cold in L.A.! Since we camped on the beach, I only warmed up when we were biking. Once we left the city, my body sighed with relaxation. Living so rurally for so long, I just don’t have the tolerance for people in my face all the time, driving through traffic constantly, and always waiting in lines or searching for parking… the minutes wasted. Up the coast, we found a great state beach to play on. We even attempted a swim, burrrrr.
Santa Barbara has a mini marine center where kids can pet sea creatures like sea cucumbers, star fish and crabs. There is also a little under water tunnel for them. My daughter loved it and ran around screaming, “fish! shark! water!”
Touching a Shark
Santa Cruz isn’t all hippies and stoners (okay, mostly), it also has a fun and fairly inexpensive boardwalk amusement park. My daughter was too young for most rides, a two year old would have had more choices, or even a more adventurous 20-month-old, but she loved the carousel, which is a hundred years old.
Historic Carousel with Daddy
By the way, I feel it is important to mention… that 30 Toddler Songs CD that I praised in a previous post, well, beware. My daughter asks for, “kids songs,” every time we get in the car and I’m ready to tear my head off and throw it out the window if I hear “Old McDonald” one more time.
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Tags: amusement, California, carousel, coast, kids, marine, park, road, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Travel, trip, west
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a Joshua Tree
My husband and I both thought that Joshua Tree National Park was named for one large amazing tree that an entire park revolved around. Ends up that Joshua Tree is just a type of tree. Seems the name is deceptive because it is not called Joshua TreeS National Park. Anyway, it’s a wacky spiky tree out of Dr. Seuss. Really, the whole park with it’s weird rock formations is out of the Lorax or some such Seussian thing. The view from Keys View was pretty amazing too; you could see the entire wind tunnel that is Cochilla Valley. Great place for kids, not so much for dogs.
Skull Rock
