The Wildlife of Wales

There are fewer things more beautiful than the British countryside on a summer’s day, when the flora and fauna is in full bloom and the natural wildlife it at its most vibrant.

If you’re planning on taking a walk on the wild side this summer, North Wales is a good place to start a staycation safari.

8,000 miles later...

We arrived back at Cabri Regional Park yesterday evening. What a long four or five days that was! But we made it, safe and sound. And, we arrived to better weather than we've seen since we left Utah.

I figured out that we drove approximately 8,000 miles (12,800 kms) since the time we left Cabri last October 5th.

Into Montana

Filled up again yesterday morning in Lovell, Wyoming, this time at $1.97 per gallon ($0.68 per litre CAD). One more fillup today, and we'll enter Canada full of cheap American gas. Stopped at the Lovell Information Center to use their free wifi and have our breakfast.

A bit of a late start today, as we didn't get on the road until just before 10:00am.

All the way through Wyoming in one day

Long driving day for us yesterday as we managed to put 356 miles (570 kms) on the odometer. We drove from the bottom of Wyoming up to the top! I think that's the most mileage Sherman has ever done in one day!

And through a wide variety of scenic vistas.

We sure do meet a lot of good people

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning, and read the road reports for conditions north of here...which were not good! So we decided to stay put for the day.

We had heat, and food, and internet...so we were fine to sit and wait it out.

Around 11:00am, there was a knock on the door.

Hiking with Kevin and Ruth

Okay, so we had some free time today and a half decent internet connection. So I uploaded a five minute video for you from one of our recent hiking excursions.

Now, youtube has changed the way they display videos and normally you won't see it at the best quality. You may need to click the little "settings" wheel down in the bottom right corner of the video screen and change the quality to 720p so that you can see it in decent quality.

Stranded in Baggs, Wyoming!

On the road at 9:00am yesterday morning, with a plan to make it to either Craig, Colorado, or Baggs, Wyoming. Or, somewhere in between.

The first order of business was to make it through the mountain pass on Colorado highway 139 heading north. The weather was good, so no chance of problems at higher elevations. And it turned out the road was fine.

Well, that was a nice morning stroll!

We got up early yesterday morning and drove the 13 miles to the Little Wild Horse Canyon trailhead. Had some breakfast, and then hit the trail right at 9:00am. This is a busy hike, and it was a Sunday so we wanted to be among the first on the trail.

Kevin, in Little Wild Horse Canyon.

We had planned on leaving early anyhow...

I have an aunt and uncle who have spent a lot of time camping and hiking in Utah, and they offered some suggestions about some hikes in the area. So yesterday, we first stopped at a short hike in Capitol Reef National Park, but then we drove through the park and out the eastern side of it.

Ruth, out for a short hike in Capitol Reef National Park Saturday morning.

Another fun hike, with great views.

Drove into the town of Torrey first thing yesterday morning. That's the closest free internet to Capitol Reef National Park, at the visitor info center run by the county. No Verizon cell signal up here, so we can't get on the internet that way.

With that done, we drove into the park.

Sherman, in Capitol Reef National Park.

Utah...possibly our favorite state?

We think that Utah is well on it's way to becoming our favorite state. The number of stunning hiking opportunities is amazing. That said, we wouldn't want to be here in busy season. April is definitely the perfect time of year.

And they have some pretty birds here too!

Bryce Canyon Viewpoints

We got on the road at 9:00am yesterday, specifically to do the 36 mile (58 km) round trip drive through Bryce Canyon National Park. This drive has several viewpoints along the way, and we wanted to stop at each one. We were hopeful that our start was early enough to beat the traffic!

This road takes you up to 9,000 ft, and there is still some snow in places.

Prepare to be wowed!

We did an 8 mile (13 km) hike in Bryce Canyon National Park yesterday. There's no way to describe the landscape without showing you lots of photos...and maybe a video or two. So, for those of you who will never see below the rim of the canyon, this is what you're missing...

A neat little gadget

We had quite a few requests from various companies this winter to "advertise" their products for them. We turn most of them down, either because we're simply not interested in the product, or we actually try it and it's not worthy of a decent review.

But we've got a few good ones coming your way over the next couple of weeks. Here's the first one...

Wow...what a place!

Nice short drive of only 58 miles (93 kms) yesterday morning as we made our way from the eastern outskirts of Zion National Park up in altitude to Bryce Canyon National Park at 7,500 ft.

Yesterday's drive, 58 miles (93 kms).

Now *this* is a great campsite!

It was 10:30am yesterday by the time we got on the road out of Las Vegas. Not sure why it's taking us so long to get going because we were up by 7:00am.

The late start was probably better in the long run though because we drove through Zion National Park and it was a Sunday, and it is free entrance week in all of the national parks. So going through the park later in the day might mean less traffic.

Apparently Sherman is too old!

We left the Home Depot in Barstow at about 9:30am...a little later than we wanted to. Then, we put in some gas...enough to get us to Las Vegas where it's quite a bit cheaper, and then we'll put in just enough to get us to Utah where it is cheaper still. We'll try and arrive there close to empty, and then fill it right up.

Then, we stopped at a Food 4 Less grocery store and bought a few things. The food is not that much for less, but still, the prices were not bad.

But after doing all of this, it was close to 10:30am by the time we hit the road!

Back to our normal RV'ing lifestyle

We really enjoyed our time in southern California. Especially San Diego and area. I can see us returning there some day.

Yesterday morning, we dropped off our rental Beetle. What a great deal, at $205 USD ($266 CAD) for two full weeks. Taxes included. Then, it was time to get on the road.

Starting a two week holiday.

Yesterday was our last day with Helen and Tony. Two weeks sure goes by quickly when you're having fun.

We had to leave to take them to LAX airport at 3:00pm, so we decided to just hang around the campground in the morning. Went for a short walk on one of the trails.

Here's what $3,000,000 can buy you...

We decided to take a drive on the coast, with no real plans other than to stop where we felt like it along the way, and try and avoid traffic. We are only about 20 miles from the coast, so we left at about 10:00am, with plans to get back home around 4:00pm.

We started off at Dana Point, where I had found free parking near the big marina there. We had fun looking at all of the boats and seeing how the rich people live!

Beverly Hills. Movie stars, and fancy cars...

It's about 60 miles (100 kms) from where we are camped at O'Neill Regional Park to get to downtown Los Angeles. We could have got a closer spot in an "RV Park", but this place offers some green space and large sites with no close neighbours. And, it's only $20 USD ($26 CAD) per night.

We figured this would be close enough to go into downtown LA and explore, and commute back here for two days. But we learned yesterday that Los Angeles traffic makes that somewhat difficult to do.

Moving north towards Los Angeles

Yesterday was a travel day for us as we moved from Lakeside (San Diego) area to Los Angeles area. I say "area", because we're still about an hour's drive from downtown.

But before we left Lakeside, we had to go out for on last breakfast with the group. Man, I think we have eaten out more this year than all our other years put together!

Travel in Turkey – the Land of Beautiful Structures

Turkey is one of the most crowded and beautiful tourist destinations in the world. Turkey’s location is of great geostrategic importance as it is situated at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Although Istanbul is considered to be the capital of Turkey, Ankara was declared as the capital of Turkey in 1923 after the war of independence.

A wonderful morning with Tioga George

It had rained a lot Saturday night and into Sunday morning, and the forecast was a mixed bag. But, we had some indoor activities planned in case of more rain in the San Diego area, so that was okay.

First up on the agenda was a visit with another blogger! We had made arrangements to meet with Tioga George. First, at his apartment to see his garden, and then for breakfast.

Rollercoaster fun!

What a fun day we had yesterday. Our friends Stan, Colleen, John, and Janice in one car, and me, Ruth, Tony, and Helen in the other and we took off to explore San Diego area. Not much California sunshine, but at least we didn't get rained on. Still, the temperature was nice.

First stop was Mission Beach.

Visiting with some of our Mexico RV Caravan group!

Another travel day for us yesterday as we made our way from Borrego Springs to Lakeside, which is a suburb of San Diego.  Only a distance of about 72 miles (115 kms), so we had time for a hike first!

We drove to the trailhead for the Palm Canyon hike and paid the $8 USD ($10.50 CAD) day use fee. A little pricey, but at least there were four of us.

Borrego Springs is kind of an odd place

Odd, but worth a visit. Apparently they say that Borrego Springs was slotted in to become the next Palm Springs, but it's never realy taken off the same way.

We had decided to stay at Peg Leg Smith Monument another night just so that we could explore the town and area.

March Expenses

A bit of an expensive month but nothing that was entirely unexpected, so that was the bright side. A big chunk of it was fuel costs to get from the centre of Mexico up to the U.S. border, but we also had some dental bills.

And, I bought a couple of things on Amazon. Otherwise, it was a pretty standard month. We spent a total of $2,150 CAD ($1,650 USD). The following amounts are in Canadian dollars, so for USD equivalent you can subtract about 25%.

Not according to plan, but still a good day.

Well, yesterday didn't quite go as planned, but it was still a good day. Nice to be able to show Helen and Tony that things don't always go the way you'd like them to with our lifestyle, but you just roll with it and tomorrow is another day.

We decided that we had seen everything we wanted to in the general area near Jumbo Rocks Campground in Joshua Tree National Park and that we would head for the southern campground called Cottonwood.

Another great day in Joshua Tree National Park

Written Wednesday morning, April 6th.

Around 8:30am yesterday morning, I saw a park ranger walk by with some paperwork in his hand. I went out and flagged him down to ask about their "campground full" signs.

He says "I've only found three vacant this morning."

And I replied "Yeah, but yesterday when we arrived just before noon the sign said campground full, yet we found  at least a dozen empty sites".

Campground full? Not really...

Written Tuesday morning, April 5th.

We were headed up to Joshua Tree National Park yesterday morning, and we wanted to get a fairly early start to be able to snag one of the first come, first serve camping sites at Jumbo Rocks Campground. So at 8:00am, Ruth took Helen and Tony back to Walmart for a few last minute items in case we ended up staying up there for three nights.

Meanwhile, I got Sherman all packed up and ready to go.

Overlooking Palm Springs

We set off at 9:00am yesterday morning to do part of the hike up the mountain in behind the RV park. Almost too late, because things warm up quite quickly here in the desert and they were calling for a high of 92F (33C).

But, we had our Tilley hats with us, and lots of water.

Surprise visitors!

We didn't have much planned for yesterday, but we needed to stock up on a few things. So we hopped in the Beetle and drove 4 miles (6.5 kms) to the nearest Walmart. It's always interesting to check out prices and produce in a different country, so Helen and Tony (visiting us from England) enjoyed that part of the outing.

Nice to see my favorite Mexican beer at a great price in Walmart. 24 bottles of Pacifico for $21.97 USD ($28.60 CAD). Might have to go pick up another box before we leave here since Tony likes it as well.

Arrived in Palm Springs!

First order of business yesterday morning was to pick up our rental car. I had it booked at an Enterprise location about 3 miles (5 kms) away, but I had made a slight error and booked it for 12 noon. It was booked at a fantastic rate, and I tried to change the pickup time the day after I booked it but we would lose the great rate. So I left it booked for noon.

I called them to see if we could pick up early, and they said no...it wouldn't be ready until noon.

A nightmare of cars, buses, and taxis

Up early yesterday morning, and out for another hike just after 9:00am. A little shorter than the one the day before, but still a good workout before noon!

Lots of fun staying with Tamara and Mike, but you better be prepared to get some exercise! We've now hiked 18 miles (29 kms) over two days! Sure feels good to get back into it.