The headline may seem confusing: Bremerton is west of Washington state, and San Francisco is two states down, in Northern California. But that's indeed what happened the next 3 days: after Michael made an appointment with our dermatologist back in San Francisco and flew down, while Lisette and Sheila hung out with Meri, Sophie and […]
We were lucky to have found an incredible spot by the water with no signs that said we couldn't stay there overnight! In the morning, it was cooler and foggier, which meant that there were no signs of Mount Rainier in the distance anymore, as it was enshrouded in cloud. But we were able to […]
In the morning, we found that a car had parked directly facing us, making it more challenging (but not impossible) to exit, but we'd have to back out and drive around them. We never found out who the driver was, but it was weird as there were literally more than a dozen other spots this […]
There were no signs of the deer we saw last night, but the big truck that also stayed overnight was still in his spot. We had a decent drive of about an hour or so to Spokane, the most populous city in eastern Washington with about 230,000 people. Spokane (pronounced Spo-KAN), is named after the […]
When we woke up, Michael commented that the trees smelled kind of weird, as he exited the RV to give Sheila her breakfast. Lisette sniffed the air, and it didn't smell nice. It later dawned on us that there was a rug that had been disposed of in the trees in front of us, and […]
After 2 nights of wet wipe showers, we hoped to change our fortunes today, with Michael heading to the RV shop that we parked alongside overnight. The RV shop had not one, or two, but THREE water pump replacement options--success! Michael was able to install it in record time where we had parked, and it […]
We woke up to sound of cows, still making hilarious high pitched or drawn-out mooing sounds from across the water, as if the cows were actually being impersonated by a person. Fortunately it had been a quiet night with hardly any traffic. We ventured to the RV park that we weren't able to book the […]
Lisette awoke not to the pleasant sound of the stream alongside where the RV was parked, but by Michael shaking her awake so we could move from our parking spot. Someone had shown up by 6am to go for a jog, and there'd undoubtedly be more people arriving in the lot. Lisette is definitely the […]
The best time to see animals at Yellowstone National Park is early in the morning, so we were on the road by 6.45am, ready for another exciting day. We'd heard some of the best places to see animals like bison, elk and antelope was Lamar Valley, so we headed there as the fog was still […]
At around 2am, we woke up to the sound of wolves howling in the distance! Michael excited woke Lisette up before 6am, as the fog was lifting at Elk Ranch flats, to see the beautiful sunrise. While there weren't any wildlife here (yet), it's a very popular spot to see bison, elk, pronghorn, and other […]
In the haste to make sure the guys in the car were not breaking into Harry's truck he was a little heavy handed opening our side door and happened to break off the door handle. His luck continued.... The sun is up before 6am these days, so we were up early the next morning to […]
Lisette's love of tea means that she has amassed a lot (but perhaps for her, still room for more) types of tea in the RV. This morning, she realized that one of the loose leaf packets of chai from Aussie brand T2 was almost finished, which she'd bought over a year ago. Because Michael likes […]
We were still within Hot Springs State Park, and the only thing left for us to check out was the road where we could potentially spot bison. We'd been told yesterday at the Visitor Center that the bison gave birth the previous month, so the park now had a total of about 30 bison, including […]
Sheila was sick all night, constantly needing to go to the toilet and try to purge her body from whatever bug was in her body. We'd both had a poor nights' sleep (Michael faring much worse as the lighter sleeper, Lisette can doze through anything), to take her outside at all hours of the night […]
We'd slept at a gas station in Newcastle, Wyoming (news to us there was also a Newcastle here, much smaller than the one in Australia or the UK though!). Fortunately compared to other times we'd slept at a gas station, there was much less noise and the street lights weren't as bright overhead. Initially our […]
One thing that was rapid when we were at Rapid City: the heat! It didn't take long for us to be uncomfortably sweaty in the morning, with temperatures rising quickly to the mid 30s Celsius (around 95 degrees Fahrenheit). Storybook Island: A Fun and Free Park for Families One of the most adorable places we […]
We knew we needed to get up early to explore Badlands National Park ahead of the sweltering heat, and Lisette woke up at 5am (without an alarm!), and we were at the Park before 7am. The Visitor Center didn't open until 8am, so we went straight to the Cliff Shelf Trailhead, a short, paved walk […]
It was another early morning start to try and beat the heat! We went into Badlands one more time to do our last two treks. The first was one we stopped briefly at yesterday call the Fossil Exhibit Trail. This trail had a short out-and-back boardwalk with displays of the different fossils they have found […]
After an unbearably hot night sleeping in the RV, worried about Sheila getting heatstroke, our first stop was Walmart and Home Depot to find some insulation for the RV, which we ended up getting at Home Depot. We measured all our windows, bought a roll of insulation, and cut it up to fit each window, […]
When we had mentioned to friends that we planned to visit all 48 states in the continental US, quite a few people (all Americans) had responded that we could probably skip a few! When Michael had been researching the trip, North Dakota was one of the states that we realized we'd not be spending time […]
South Dakota may be love its sculptures, but if it's BIG sculptures you want, then Minnesota was the place to visit. We're not sure why Minnesota has so many giant, "world's largest" sculptures, but these roadside stops remind us of Australia, where we have the Big Merino, Big Banana, Big Lobster, and many more! The […]
After days of surviving the Midwest heatwave, we were looking forward to cooler temperatures. But, perhaps we should be more specific in what we wished for? As we headed to Minneapolis in the morning, it wasn't just cooler, but bucketing down with rain, with the downpour so strong that it made it difficult to see […]
What better reason to sleep in than the sound of the rain on our roof? We'd been hearing the pitter-patter of the raindrops all morning, and the forecast was for cooler temperatures (jacket actually needed!) and rain for the majority of the day. We went to Mike's and Kim's house to hang out. They have […]
The rain clouds had cleared the next morning in Minneapolis, promising a much drier day to explore the city. We weren't sure how much we'd be able to see today, so we said our thank you's and goodbyes to Kim and Mike, who had been so kind and hospitable during our stay. They'd spent the […]
It was still packed at the petrol station in the morning, with a lot of folks likely having spent the night here, and quite a few still needing to start their days. We didn't leave particularly early, but we had a fair amount of driving ahead of us, starting with the Minnesota State Public School […]
The Visitor Center at Iowa was one of the most adorable ones we'd been to so far on this trip. Part rest stop, part visitor center, all set in a two story, classical red barn. The upstairs Visitor Center opened at 9am the next morning, so we went upstairs to get recommendations to do in […]
In the morning, we headed to Des Moines, about 40 minutes drive away, and the state capital of Iowa. Our first stop was the State Capitol building, constructed in the typical neo-classical design, complete with a beautiful 23-carat, gold leaf covered central dome. Completed in 1886, visitors can climb to the top and see views […]