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“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
We haven’t been everywhere yet, but it’s on our list! Meanwhile, you can read about the places we have been, what we thought, learned, and did, as well as more practical tips like campground reviews. So please, explore!
US Roadtrip 2012 National Parks Campground Reviews
Vi hade iallafall tur med vädret. Roughly translated: At least we had good luck with the weather. Our Swedish readers are already chuckling to themselves a little bit. In the (somewhat likely) event that you’re not Swedish, allow me to explain. This is a well-known expression in Sweden that comes from the title of a made-for-TV movie from 1980. The……
We wrapped up the first season of our full-time traveling life at the Circle M Thousand Trails in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For the time being, Pennsylvania is our “home” state – where we have our mailing address, our vehicles registered, and most of our family this side of the Atlantic. Returning to Pennsylvania brought our first leg full circle. Circle M……
When we planned our spring itinerary, it worked out that we would get back to Pennsylvania on May 1, giving us about 3 weeks to spend time with family and get ready to head back to Sweden for the summer. The details changed a few times along the way, which is one of the benefits of our lifestyle – to……
After our misadventures in Tennessee, we were really looking forward to a good week visiting Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. And we got it! The Caves Visiting the caves can only be done as part of a tour. There are a large variety of different tours available, with varying lengths, levels of difficulty and costs. We were lucky enough……
As we’ve mentioned previously, not all Thousand Trails campgrounds are created equal. Our standards are not too high, especially when we’re not paying more than our membership fees to stay there, but even we have limits. There are two Thousand Trails campgrounds in Tennessee: Cherokee Landing and Natchez Trace. We stayed at both, and while neither is a place we……
Our kids have a couple of those laminated map placemats. One is a world map and one is a map of the United States. They fight over who gets to eat with which one (siblings!) and most recently the world map has been the coveted mat. We love them. They inspire spontaneous learning, memories of places we’ve traveled, and imagining……
After exactly a month in Texas, it was time to start working our way back north and east. Our flight reservation from New York back to Sweden for the summer was just over a month away and we wanted some time with family and friends in Pennsylvania before we left the country again. It was sad to leave our friends……
I’m definitely not 20 anymore. But it was fun to pretend for a while. It’s a real thing documented by social scientists – when adult children visit their parents, for example, everyone reverts to their old familiar roles. You know you’re not a teenager anymore but find yourself acting like one. Similarly, when you are hanging out with your friends from……
One bittersweet Monday morning, we packed up our things, hooked up our camper, and waved good bye to friends new and old in Houston. It was sad to leave but there were more good times to be had and more memories to be made. We were headed to the Dallas area, where we planned to explore a new city and……
We truly enjoyed the two weeks we spent in the Houston area, visiting friends and some of the city’s many attractions. In our previous post, we shared more about our favorite family-friendly activities. Thousand Trails members looking to visit the Houston area have two choices of member campgrounds in the Houston area: Colorado River in Columbus and Lake Conroe in……
There are so many fun and interesting things for families to do in Houston! It was hard to choose how to spend our time while we were there, but based on tips from friends, our kids’ interests, and chances to visit with friends, we chose to visit the Children’s Museum, the Houston Zoo, and Hermann Park. Children’s Museum of Houston……
Our next destination after leaving Gulf Islands was Houston, Texas. But it’s a very long drive to Houston from Ocean Springs, MS. To break it up we spent a night at a wonderful state park in Louisiana, also named for Sam Houston. Or rather, named for someone who was named for Sam Houston. Sam Houston is a man with a lot……
Our next two stops were both at Gulf Islands National Seashore. This beautiful area of protected coastline along the Gulf of Mexico is found in both Florida and Mississippi. The two sections of the park are very different in character from one another, but both well worth visiting. Gulf Islands Florida Across from Pensacola is a long strip of island……
For most of May we were focused on our trip back to Sweden for the summer. We were sorting and reducing stuff (yes, there is still plenty of reducing to be done!), packing, and preparing our camper to go and live with its summer foster family. Then we crossed the Atlantic and spent the end of May in that familiar,……
Updated February 2018! Touring a cave always feels like an adventure! Something about leaving the warm air and sunlight behind and knowing you’re deep underground just gives it an other-worldly feel, and yet every cave seems to have its own personality. We like touring caves! When we heard about Florida Caverns State Park, we knew we wanted to add that……
