Author: mompease

We dropped off the RV this morning and headed to the hotel. We decided to go into San Fransisco one last time. Matt got a recommendation last week about the BEST dumplings in the city.  He has been craving these dumplings all week. We found the Dumpling King restaurant and OMG, the food there was amazing!!!! We walked around the city (mainly to walk off our lunch) for a bit and decided to go back to the hotel so the boys could go swimming and we can just relax . Tomorrow we will be up at 5:00 a.m. and get ready to travel most of the day, we should be home around 6:00 p.m.   So, here are some final facts and thoughts about this adventure 

1. I am married to the most patient( I know his wife, believe me he has the patience of a saint),generous ,selfless and kind man. 

2. The 5 people I just made the most incredible memories for the last 16 days with are my favorite group of people in this whole world. 

3. Our 4 children share the same twisted sense of humor that Matt and I have.  I can’t begin to tell you about the off color jokes and conversations we shared. Sometimes, I laughed so hard I cried.

4. My family pushed me to go out of my comfort zone  ( on those #@!& hikes) and cheered me on even though I think they probably wanted to push me off a cliff once or twice.  

5. We put on almost 3000 miles between the 2 RV’s!!!  And God love my husband, he drove the whole time and NEVER complained once.

6. We made memories and shared an amazing adventure that none of us will ever forget.

7. We are already talking about what our next trip will be.

8. We have the best family and friends that shared this journey with us on this blog. It was so sweet to get texts and comments on the blog encouraging us.

9. My children of the corn (remember,  that’s their new name with reasons stated earlier in the blog) refuse to just give me a nice picture when I ask the first time. Good lord, they have to poke at each other or grab someone around the neck.  That’s ok kids, mom has allllllll day. I am more than happy to keep you in one spot until I get the one I want😲

We woke up in lake  Tahoe yesterday and went to see Emerald bay which is said to be the most photographed scenery in the world (I can see why, it was beautiful). We weren’t able to hike down like we planned because it was so crowded and there was no place to park the RV on the side if the road.  I was able to get pictures as we passed through though .  The water is the most amazing color. Lake Tahoe is so clear(you can see 75 feet down). From there we made our way to Yosemite.  The scenery on the way was spectacular!!  We live in a beautiful country, this trip has truly opened my eyes to that.  I hope our children continue to explore all the places that they want to (and hey, don’t hesitate to ask mom and dad to tag along😉)before they plant roots and settle down. We arrived in Yosemite in time to see some of it’s beauty AND see the most beautiful sunset…… Today we went back into Yosemite and did a 2 mile hike to see some of the sequoia trees. After we stopped at the Iron door saloon  ( it is the oldest liquor serving establishment  in California). We are now making our way back to the  coast……

So, Monday we left the house in San Fransisco(I am not going to miss the the 11 flights of steps to get to the top😥) I am going to miss watching the whales play in the cove each day.  We headed into Silicon valley  (I live with 2 nerds (Ry and Matt)that insisted on seeing it) Ryan has decided that he wants to go to school for programming  (we couldn’t be happier or more proud, he has always been incredibly sharp with computers and games) I have to admit, the Google complex was very impressive!! So, after that we picked up our 2nd RV and away we go to lake Tahoe.  We arrived later than we wanted (California traffic is the worst)to so we found this awesome little BBQ restraunt and enjoyed a great meal and some laughs.  Yesterday we found a beach and just let the kids play in the water and relaxed. Lake Tahoe is so beautiful,  we decided to spend another night here.  As we made our way back to where we knew we wanted to have dinner ( McP’s Irish pub💚☘) the sunset was spectacular so of course we pulled over to enjoy the beauty of it. Today we will do a little hike (well at least that’s what Matt and Kiersten said 😈😈) and then off to Yosemite…..

We were up early and made our way into the city. Matt had gotten our tickets (should I be worried he bought me a one way ticket?🤔)to Alcatraz a few weeks back.   Being there was one of the coolest experiences. I’ve always been fascinated with history of Alcatraz.  Coincidentally, yesterday was the 83rd anniversary of the first prisoner being brought to Alcatraz. We listened to a prisoner who was there the same time as the Robert”birdman of Alcatraz “Stroud was there. After Alcatraz we drove over the golden gate bridge  (it was too foggy to see the whole bridge) and into Sausalito.  What a beautiful town, of course we had to go have lunch and get a tequila sunrise at the historic Trident restaurant.  We walked around town and sat by the water.   To end the day we made our way back to Pacifica and found a Krispy Kream donut shop (after all the hiking and walking we have been doing, I can afford to eat a donut  or 2😉)

What a day…..I woke up this morning to whales in the cove.🐳 We made our way to the parking garage and took the Bart into San Francisco.  At first sight,  it reminded us alot of New York city.  We walked for miles today(the hills in San Francisco are no joke!) Had lunch in an amazing Italian restaurant and then over to see the Ghirardelli store😁. Gotta LOVE the free sample when you first walk in. We walked along the pier and then headed up to Haight and Ashbury street. I am such a people watcher and I got quite the show today. We had so much fun exploring the city.Tomorrow Matt has another BIG day planned for us….

We dropped off Casa de Pease this morning and headed to the airport.  We arrived in San Francisco early this afternoon. Traffic out here is no joke.  We decided to have a low key night to rest up for the next leg of our adventure. Ate at a cute little Italian restaurant, grabbed a few groceries and headed to our rental house. What a view!!!!  Tomorrow we are back at it with a full day of exploring.  

Yesterday we did some hiking (I just can’t escape it) and exploring in the great sand dunes. It was so amazing!  After a few hours we hit the road and headed north to the Garden of the Gods.  Matt and I were here 20 years ago. It was nice to see again, 
it was even better that we  can share the beauty with our children. We didn’t get out of the RV (the weather changes very quickly here) it was really cold and windy. Arrived back in Denver last night around 10:00. Today we are up early and ready for our next adventure…..

Yesterday we spent the day in Durango, great town. On the way to Alamosa we  (actually Matt) learned a valuable lesson. DON’T  try to drive an RV up a mountain with less than a 1/4 tank of gas. On a side note, his incredibly wise wife (that’s me) mentioned BEFORE he started the drive up the mountain that he was very low on gas.  OK, back to the story… He had to turn around at close to the top and coast down and BARELY made it to the gas station. Now, if you ask my husband he will tell you exactly what he said to me when we pulled in, “see, plenty of gas”  Meanwhile, I now have an ulcer, high blood pressure and a few more gray hairs😣 We arrived a little later than expected to Alamosa (probably due to him not listening to me🤔) so we found an awesome brew pub and had dinner.  Today,  great sand dunes and in to Colorado. 

Well, we started our day with a helicopter ride over the grand canyon.  WOW!!! It was amazing. As we were flying to get to the canyon, we flew over some untouched land. The pilot said some people hike in there and will camp all summer. Matt later asked if I would want to do that for maybe a week not a whole summer.  Uh no, I kinda like a bed, shower and smelling nice but you go ahead🌲🌲⛺After the helicopter we had a great  lunch at a little Mexican restaurant in town. We were going to do a little hiking even though it was 2:00 and 87 degrees  (hmmmm, apparently we did not learn our lesson from yesterday 🌡🔥)  We decided to just walk along the walkway it was only .7 miles. As we were stopped taking our selfies,  the kids noticed a guy and his budfy over to the right of us jumping from one little cliff to another. What do you think happened to the idiots? Yup,one of them tumbled down from one of the cliffs 🤕 and the other was stuck on another cliff. I posted a picture…From the far left is the trail we were on, the guy and his friend went to point #1,down to 2 (which is where the one guy was stuck. The idiot jumped from 2 to 3 then fell to 4 (you can see him in the picture)It was one of the most terrifying things we have ever seen. They had to call in the rangers to rescue him.While he is waiting to be rescued, I hope he is thanking God he did not keep tumbling down. We are hoping he goes right to jail for putting those park rangers lives in danger having to save him. Besides that excitement,  we loved the view in the grand canyon.  On our way to Page,Arizona…

Today we went hiking in Zion national park.  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go after the trama I suffered yesterday but, I am the leader of this clan (don’t tell Matt I said that 😉) so of course I had to go.  The park is so incredibly beautiful. We did learn a valuable lesson….when it is suggested to go hiking early morning or late afternoon due to the heat (it was 94 degrees today)  PLEASE LISTEN! These people know more than you.  We started our hike at 1:00.  Again!! We learned our lesson.  Our hike lasted 5 hours (seemed like 18 hours) Did I mention it was HOT?🌡🔥  Oh yeah, we saw a tarantula ,that was neat but creepy🕷 We had a great dinner at the Zion brew pub after our hike. We saw the most beautiful full moon as we drove out of town and of course we pulled over to take pictures On our way now to the grand canyon,  Matt has a big surprise planned for us tomorrow so stay tuned….