James Taylor - Carolina In My Mind (BBC In Concert, 11/16/1970)
At the start of November, we headed east from out spot in Tennessee with Carolina (the northern one, specifically) in our minds. We had a gorgeous drive crossing a portion of the Great Smoky Mountains. Driving through mountains can be beautiful, but going up and down the grades is concerning when you are pulling a trailer. At one point near the top, we followed signs instructing all trucks to exit (still not sure if we’re actually subject to that kinda thing with our RV). Further signage just warned us about the low speeds needed to drive down the grades and switchbacks, and to be mindful of brake temperatures. Our truck is a champ though. The engine braking on our big diesel slowed us down so much I never had to touch the brake pedal. Easy!
Before too long, Carolina was no longer only in our minds. We had arrived at our home for the next two weeks, Forest Lake RV & Camping Resort, not too far outside of Winston-Salem. Forest Lake is part of the Thousand Trails network which means there are usually other families around, and a playground for the kids. Izzy enjoyed the playground and made a couple of friends during our time there. She even got to attend an (outdoor, socially distanced) birthday party.
There was also a small sandy beach at the RV park.
The family of one of Izzy’s new friends is fulltime in their RV, they do a great job of getting out and exploring the areas they visit, and they were nice enough to invite us to join them on a couple of outings.
Izzy and I followed them to nearby Boone’s Cave Park to do some exploring and hiking. The legend is that a 15-year-old Daniel Boone and his family lived in the cave while building a house in the area, but I rather doubt the stories are true. I may be biased, as the last cave I had visited was Mammoth Cave, but the caves we found weren’t too impressive and didn’t seem livable. They were fun for the kids to climb around in, though.
I think this is the rumpus room.Big leaves!
Izzy and her new friend also got to check out a very cool dinosaur playground up in Winston-Salem. These dinos were impressive. They were around life-sized (as big as all the live dinosaurs I’ve seen at least), with great color and detail, and somehow able to stand up to all the kids climbing on them.
Must go faster!
Charlotte missed out on the previous adventures due to work, but did manage to get in a trip to her favorite store, located in her namesake city. Izzy went along to make it a girls shopping day.
Outside the IKEA in Charlotte, North Carolina.Izzy’s third favorite part of visiting an IKEA (after the meatballs in the cafeteria and ice cream from the bistro) is reuniting her puppy with all his brothers and sisters.
After two quick weeks, it was time to head ’em up and move ’em out. See you down the road!
The next stop in our search for adventure and warm weather was Tennessee, the home of country music, Volunteers, the Sun Sphere, smooth whiskey, Rocky Top (whatever that is), and of course, the lovely Ms. Dolly Parton.
We spent nearly the entire month of October in Dolly’s hometown of Sevierville, on the north edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. Instead of staying in an RV park as we normally do, we found a parking spot with full hookups on a small farm just a few miles away from the main highway.
Our parking spot was up on the edge of a hill, which gave us great views of the trees as the turned colors, and of any wildlife (wild turkeys, whitetail deer, a newt) that wandered through the little valley below. It was nice and quiet, and the owners were great hosts. Izzy missed having other kids or a playground nearby, but did enjoy feeding the chickens that lived on the property.
Izzy’s bread crusts didn’t go to waste.
The towns of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg are aligned north to south, and have one major highway that runs through them. This is a gorgeous area, and as a result, it draws a lot of tourists, especially in October when the weather is mild and the leaves are turning colors. Unfortunately, this results in a lot of traffic regardless of the time of day or day of the week.
The typical view going anywhere.
It also means that most of the business in the area cater to the tourists. While sitting in traffic, your eyes are in for a visual assault as all the dinner shows, amusement parks, knife stores, strange museums, go-kart tracks, pancake houses, and moonshineries are advertised to you. It’s pretty much an Appalachian Vegas, which didn’t have much appeal to us. Everything is bold and bright and in your face, and they all seem to cost at least $40 per person.
A “Dinner Feud” shack.Not sure how they sailed the Titanic to Tennessee.John Wayne, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and I think Charlie Chaplin, Mount Rushmore-style outside the a Hollywood Wax Museum. A wizard’s castle is to the left, along with a country music dinner theater. King Kong looks on from the side of a skyscraper in the background.
We skipped the tourist stuff, and spent most of our time enjoying some quiet farm living.
Farm fresh scrambled eggs (thanks Carlie and chickens!) for dinner.Izzy was very excited for jack-o’-lanterns.Spooky!Charlotte got a telescope!Time for a haircut. Photo by Izzy.
We did manage to get in a few adventures, though.
After a lot of time in traffic, Charlotte and Izzy found a really nice playground.Costco pizza tailgate lunch.The WigsphereSunsphere in Knoxville.
Izzy was very excited for Halloween. She wanted to wear her costume and get some candy. She doesn’t like talking to strangers so we had to practice saying “trick or treat” quite a bit. In the middle of a pandemic and in a new town, we decided not to do any door-to-door trick-or-treating and instead, got tickets for “Boo at the Zoo” in Knoxville about a week before actual Halloween. Izzy had a great time and was very happy when other people knew she was Spiderman. She was definitely focused on the Halloween aspects of the visit, but we did manage to see a couple of animals as well.
Our biggest adventure while in Tennessee was a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Traffic was awful all the way to the park and then got worse around the visitor center. This scared us out of going any further into the park, but we still managed to get in a great little hike.
Crossing a stream on a fallen log.Cataract Falls
Before we knew it, our month was up, the weather was getting cold, and it was time to head south. See you down the road.
We started our second day in New Zealand in the small town of Omarama. We packed up and left our little cabin at the holiday park headed toward the local airfield and The Pink Glider Cafe to get some breakfast.
Tossing the old pigskin rugby ball around. (Would you believe there doesn’t seem to be a good slang term/nick name for the ball used in a rugby match?)
After breakfast, we got back into the car without having spotted any gliders on the ground or in the sky. Sad. But we had to get going, as we had a glacier to find!
As we drove towards the Tasman Glacier Viewpoint, the scenery was spectacular. The highway follows the shoreline of long and narrow Lake Pukaki, which is fed by glacial melt, giving its water extraordinary color. The road was interesting as well, with many one-way bridges to navigate.
After arriving near the viewpoint, we had a short but steep hike uphill to the viewing area which gave us an awesome vantage of the surrounding area. In the distance we could see shrinking Tasman Glacier, which was melting into Tasman Lake, which flowed downhill via the Tasman River to Lake Pukaki. It was cool to see how the water changed color as it flowed along. We could also see the snow-covered Southern Alps to our north, west, and south.
Luckily it wasn’t too cold and the hike had warmed us up, because it was quite windy up at the viewpoint.
Check out that hair!
After we got our photos and fill of the view, we started our hike back down.
New Zealand - Tasman Glacier Viewpoint Decent - Timelapse
Back on the road, we headed east toward the coast. On the way, we stopped at Blue Lake Eatery on the shore of Lake Tekapo for lunch. We’re not pizza snobs, but we weren’t sure what to expect from a Kiwi pie. However, we were impressed once again by New Zealand’s culinary offerings.
As we approached our destination for the night, Google Maps gave us a “shortcut” into Timaru. We ended up on some narrow farm lanes, which serpentined back and forth, following the curves of the steep hills in the area. It was an amazing departure from the long, straight, flat country roads back in Nebraska. I was a little scared we would run out of pavement, find ourselves face-to-face with a big piece of farm equipment, or discover that Google had sent us the wrong direction, but we made it to town without a hiccup. Despite the mild anxiety, I had quite a bit of fun with the back roads exploration, even though our automatic Toyota Corolla didn’t have the most exciting driving dynamics.
Once in town, we checked into another holiday park cabin, and then headed back out to do a bit more exploring. Timaru ended up being our least favorite city on the trip. It felt quite industrial, and not terribly inviting. There’s apparently a colony of Little Blue Penguins that live in the bay, but despite our best efforts to find them, they eluded us.
For whatever reason that evening, the restaurants in town didn’t look very appealing, so we popped into the local PAK’nSAVE grocery store to find something for dinner as well as breakfast the next morning. At first, we were a bit disappointed at not finding a restaurant, but then we remembered how much fun it is to visit international grocery stores. If you are ever visiting a new country, make it a point to stop by a grocery store, even if to just wander around.
Now the US and New Zealand are quite similar, so the grocery store experience there was very familiar. But there are some small differences that are exciting to spot.
Dangerous un-chilled eggs!Cooked meat ends? I prefer mine tartare.
We passed on the eggs and meat ends, but did find some dinner to bring back to our cabin, a local bottle of wine to wash it down, and some breakfast and snacks for the next day.
Finally! I’ve been waiting to use this title since we started the blog. For those who may be unaware, Eastbound and Down is a song made famous by 1977’s number one movie (no, not Star Wars) Smokey and the Bandit. The movie is about mustache-inspiration Burt Reynolds driving a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (Bandit) at high speeds to escort a semi-truck smuggling a trailer full of Coors beer from Texarkana, TX to Atlanta, GA, which was illegal at the time for some reason, avoiding law enforcement (Smokies) all the way. Now Coors isn’t awful beer, but it’s certainly not worth smuggling anywhere. I guess the lure of the forbidden was just too strong. As to the title and lyrics of the song, Atlanta is east of Texarkana, but actually a bit further north, so the song should really be called Eastbound and Slightly Up. But what are you gonna do? The seventies must have been a wild time for outlaw country singer/songwriters, so I suppose a lapse in Jerry Reed’s geographic knowledge can be forgiven.
Anyway… this post will cover our travel both eastbound and down from Wisconsin to Kentucky. We made the trip driving at legal speeds and I’m pretty sure the small amount of beer we carried was 50-state legal, but I was wearing a mustache.
Mostly down, but a little eastbound.
We rolled out of Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort on Wednesday, September 23, headed south to Illinois. Our stopping point was Galesburg East Campground, which we arrived at after an uneventful drive. We don’t like traveling too quickly, and had some work to get done on Thursday, so we stayed until Saturday. We didn’t leave the park for any adventures, but enjoyed some of the amenities available on site including a mini-golf course and a small fishing pond, which seemed to be full of tiny starving bluegills.
Lower hook, reel in fish.Izzy was also excited about their Halloween display.
On Saturday, we packed up and hit the road again, headed for a new state. Our home for the next six nights was Horseshoe Lakes RV Campground in Clinton, Indiana. This is a very pretty property, which as the name implies, has a few lakes.
Horseshoe Lakes is part of the Thousand Trails network, which is very popular with families that are on the road fulltime. We were able to meet a couple of them with kids Izzy’s age and arrange for some playground playdates and a nice evening around the firepit.
Izzy and a new friend flying the octopus kite over the playground.
She and I had some fun by ourselves too, when other kids weren’t available.
For a while, Izzy called these roundabouts and it was pretty cute.
All too soon, it was time to head out again, this time driving across Indiana and Kentucky. We spotted a few interesting things on this drive.
There might not be a whole lot going on in Terre Haute.The first nuclear plant with big cooling towers I had ever seen, outside of The Simpsons.
We made it to Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City, Kentucky for a short two-night stay. In addition to breaking up what would otherwise be a long drive, we were here to finally visit our first national park. Somehow, we hadn’t managed to visit any of our nation’s greatest parks in nearly a year of living on the road. We certainly wanted to, but our previous travels hadn’t taken us close enough or given us the time to visit them. Some of my coworkers in San Francisco even gave me a very thoughtful and generous going away gift in the form of an REI gift card with enough funds to purchase an annual national parks pass. It turns out, however, that you don’t need a pass to visit Mammoth Cave National Park, as they are funded by fees charged for cave tours.
We had a reservation to enter the cave at a specific time, but arrived early to check things out. We hit up the gift shop and spoke to one of the park rangers about the National Park Service Junior Ranger program. Due to COVID concerns, the program was structured a little differently from normal. Izzy received a workbook and a badge, and could become a Mammoth Cave Junior Park Ranger, by completing activities in the workbook. She was a little confused as to why she had to actually learn about the park. After all, she already had the badge! But we did get them done over the next couple of days.
Then we found a nice quiet area of the park for a picnic.
Lunch by the Mammoth Cave train car.According to Izzy, any open area calls for a game of “merry-go-round.”
After lunch it was time to enter the cave! Due to the pandemic, the rangers weren’t leading any tours, but were still allowing visitors to enter and guide themselves.
We started out with a quick meeting briefing from a ranger along with everyone else in our time slot about what to expect in the cave (not bathrooms). We then went on a short hike through the pretty Kentucky forest, before arriving at the main entrance of the cave and climbing down a large set of stairs. Once underground, there was a long tunnel, before the cave really became mammoth.
On our way to the cave.
Stepping out of the tunnel into the first large cavern is quite impressive. It is a huge space, carved out of the rock, with a mostly flat floor, steep walls and a very tall curving ceiling. There are well placed electric lights to see in what would otherwise be pitch black, and allow you to really appreciate the grandeur of it all.
Pictures don’t do it justice, and the dim lighting makes photos difficult, but we still tried.
The conditions in the cave made my glasses fog constantly.
We walked on sidewalks above the floor of the cave and visited several caverns. The most surprising thing for me was that it didn’t feel like a cave inside. It was cool, but it wasn’t damp or dank. It was actually completely dry without any water dripping anywhere, so there were no stalactites or stalagmites as you may assume a giant cave would be full of. We also didn’t see any plants, animals, or Mole Men in the cave, although the system is supposed to contain bats, some insects, and if you go deep enough to find the underground lakes and rivers, blind cave fish and shrimp.
Although this was her first cave, Izzy never seemed terribly impressed. So after exploring a good portion of the caverns open to us, she was getting kind of tired, so we decided not to push her any further and headed back to the surface world.
The light at the end of the tunnel.
After exiting the cave, we had to walk through a shallow tray of disinfectant to prevent the spread of a fungal bat disease. Of course, Izzy thought this was very exciting and it was probably her favorite part of the tour. After that we hiked up a hill to make a stop at for some ice cream before heading back to the RV park.
Next up: our adventures in Tennessee. Until then, see you down the road!
Leaving the RV park in Nelson, WI we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota for a short drive back to Lake Neshonoc, which we had left just a week before.
We were returning to Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort for a few reasons. One is that it is a comfortable, well maintained RV park with friendly staff and full hookups. Second, we can stay there for up to two weeks at no cost, thanks to our Thousand Trails membership. Finally, we had once again convinced family to drive out to Wisconsin and meet us at the park.
My parents, my Aunt Vangie and Uncle Mike, and my cousin Christine and her boyfriend Clint all made it to the area, and we were delighted to see them.
We also had a nice view out our back window on this visit.
We were happy to be able to give everyone tours of our rig and share a bit of what our new nomadic lifestyle is like. It was also just great to be able to spend time and share some meals with family we don’t get to see often enough.
Izzy making faces at Christine through the window.
Clint brought his boat so Izzy and I got to check out the lake with him and Christine.
Lake Neshonoc only goes down to 11 feet at the deepest, but there are some fish in there somewhere. Unfortunately, they weren’t biting that day.
It rained a tiny bit, but not enough to spoil the fun.
Izzy loved being out on the boat and was especially excited when Clint gave her a chance to sit behind the wheel.
Helmsman Izzy being supervised by Captain Clint.
We spent one afternoon on a hike, visiting one of the same trails we tried out a few weeks ago. After Izzy got tired of riding her bike, my mom decided to give it a shot. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her ride a bike!
Izzy got some help flying her kite, and also got to spend some time with her Lolo and Lola at the playground.
The toad at the playground didn’t want to play.
All too soon, it was time to say goodbye. Back to just the three of us, we found time for one last Wisconsin adventure: a canoe trip down the LaCrosse River.
Getting ready to set off.Everyone’s happy at the start of the voyage!
Charlotte and I are not new to canoeing. We went on a multi-day canoe camping trip on the Crow Wing River in Minnesota, but that was around 15 years ago, so it took a little bit to knock the rust off. The river was fairly slow, but had quite a few fallen trees to constantly navigate around. We ended up getting snagged on an submerged log toward the end of the trip and were stuck. I was afraid I might have to jump into the river and attempt to push us out, but I was able to grab a small, but sturdy branch and pull us off the log. Other than that little hiccup, Charlotte and I enjoyed the trip. The river was quiet and peaceful, but without much wildlife other than a bald eagle we spotted soaring high above us.
Izzy enjoyed the canoe at first, but later decided to pass the time by trying to splash us.
And just like that, it was time to leave. Our two weeks were up and the park was about to shut down for the season.
After two weeks at Lake Neshonoc, we made an easy drive about and hour and a half north to a new RV park in Nelson, Wisconsin, located under the bluffs near the Mississippi River.
This was a pretty nice RV park, with a city park within walking distance.
On our way up to Nelson, we drove through Kellogg, Minnesota and passed a store with a big sign reading “LARK Toys”. Later, while perusing Google Maps to find fun things nearby, I stumbled upon their website and found out that they don’t sell jetskis and snowmobiles like I had assumed, but were in fact a highly acclaimed toy store. We had to visit! We wandered through the store (and somehow came out without buying anything), viewed their small toy museum displays, Izzy rode the impressive carousel, and of course we had to get some treats.
Izzy still needs some practice managing a melting ice cream cone.
After all that, we played their 18-hole mini-golf course (it doesn’t matter who won). I can’t say for sure if it is a world-class toy store as they claim, but it’s certainly the best one I’ve ever been to.
Another day we spent some time in downtown Wabasha, Minnesota, which is just across the Mississippi from Nelson. They had lots of fun fall decorations in place that Izzy was excited to check out. We then braved the yellowjackets and enjoyed dinner outside at a local Mexican restaurant.
Later, we returned to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. Located right on the river, the National Eagle Center has lots of informational displays to educate visitors about eagles and their habitats. They are also home to a few eagles which can’t be released into the wild. It was fun to see the adult bald eagles from a fairly close distance and be able to ask the keepers all kinds of questions.
If you travel across the Midwest, you can’t help but stumble upon spots with some sort of tie to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and not far from Nelson is Pepin, WI, which was the setting for one of her books, Little House in the Big Woods. We decided to skip the museum in town, but did visit the Little House Wayside Cabin, which is a reproduction of the house where the Ingalls family lived, and where Laura was born. It was not too impressive, with one big main cooking/dining/living area, a small bedroom, a pantry, a loft, and no bathroom. It might have had a little more square footage, but I’d take our lovely RV home over it every time.
Izzy wasn’t impressed with the history, but did enjoy the large yard.
After visiting the Little House, we made our way to Stockholm, Wisconsin. As you may have guessed, Stockholm is a Swedish town. We grabbed some treats from the Stockholm Pie and General Store and sat down at a picnic table to enjoy them. Unfortunately, the numerous aggressive yellowjackets won the day and chased us into the truck to eat our goodies.
When you’re at a Swedish pie shop, you better try the lingonberry.
After our snacks, we followed the river north, and then crossed over into Minnesota to visit Red Wing, home of the famous boot company of the same name. We stopped by their flagship store, where we marveled at the enormous size-638 boot, and browsed their outlet in the basement.
Puppy got to join us on this adventure.
That will wrap up our adventures in Nelson. Not too bad for just one week. So until next time, we’ll see you down the road!
We return again to telling the story of our trip to New Zealand in excruciating detail. Last time, I kicked things off by describing our adventure getting to the other side of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson may have once said, “Its the not the Destination, It’s the journey.” I’m not certain I believe that is an accurate quote, as I couldn’t find it in the essay it is supposed to be from, and I would hope that a noted American essayist such as Emerson would have a better grasp of contractions and capitalization. Nevertheless, if it was said by someone, they were certainly not speaking about getting to New Zealand from the United States with a 3-year-old. However, I think the quote could apply to a drive across the length of New Zealand.
Our route up the south island, which was only half the trip.
Our planned route included driving between 13 overnight stops on our way from Queenstown to Auckland, and taking the ferry from the south island to the north island, with plenty of adventures along the way.
We started our trip in Arrowtown, New Zealand, a short drive away from the airport in Queenstown. After getting checked into our motel for the evening, we walked a few blocks downtown and had dinner outside at a local pub. You can’t beat dining al fresco in January! The food and drink were excellent, which we learned is standard across the country. You just can’t get a bad meal. There were also plenty of good vegetarian options for Charlotte, which is also normal for New Zealand.
Izzy was excited to have made it to New Zealand, and dinner.
Unfortunately, all our travel finally caught up with Charlotte, and she had to leave dinner a little early to recover. Izzy and I stayed out to finish our food, and braved a little rain to explore the town and find an ATM.
When Izzy is older, she won’t know what this is.According to Izzy, if you find a stick while it is raining out, it is a “rain stick” and you must jump on it.
We then called it an early night and got plenty of rest, other than being awoken by the sound of sirens coming through the open window (lots of places in New Zealand don’t have air conditioning) sometime around 2AM. Being from the Midwest, we assumed it was some kind of bad weather, but the skies were clear, so we went back to sleep, hoping there wasn’t an impending earthquake or volcano eruption. In the morning, the motel owners told us the siren was a call to assemble the local volunteer fire department. I guess the Kiwis don’t have pager technology yet.
After breakfast, we ambled through downtown Arrowtown, which was a little touristy, but still fun. We then visited the Lakes District Museum & Gallery which provided a lot of information about the European settlement of the historic mining town. Once we wrapped up at the museum, we rented (or hired as the Kiwis would say), a big plastic pan and a trowel and walked down to the shallow river behind the museum to try our luck panning for gold.
Downtown Arrowtown.Ready for prospectin’!The river was slow and shallow, making panning easy.
Sadly, we found no nuggets or even flakes of gold, but it was still fun playing in the river. After our attempt at prospecting, it was time to hit the road.
Because of my car rental booking mixup, we first had to drive back to the Queenstown airport, to return our single day car rental, and pick up our 13 day rental. We swapped our luggage from a Toyota Corolla hatchback to a Toyota Corolla sedan. Then we set out on our first day on the road in New Zealand. We immediately hit some challenging driving, as we found some very winding roads and even climbed switchbacks up a mountain. I would have loved to aggressively tackle the New Zealand roads a fun car like my old Miata or BMW, but the rental Corolla and possibility of carsick passengers led me to try and drive as smoothly as possible. Driving on the left side of the highway for the first time also encouraged me to take it easy.
Despite the driving challenges, we made it to our first destination, the Wanaka Lavender Farm, without incident.
In addition to having row upon row of gorgeous purple flowers, the Wanaka Lavender Farm has plenty of other attractions. There are honey bee hives, a few different flower gardens, some Instagram-ready props to pose with in the fields, exotic breeds of farm animals, a tea room, and of course, a gift shop.
We hadn’t stopped anywhere for lunch, so we immediately sat down for a spot of lavender tea along with some ice cream. Then we wandered through the farm, taking in all the gorgeous flowers and attractions.
Izzy enjoyed the chocolate lavender ice cream.The lavender flowers were teeming with honey and bumble bees.There were fuzzy pigs,and fuzzy cows and sheep. (Also fuzzy chickens, but we didn’t get a good picture.)This purple tractor was Izzy’s favorite thing at the farm.
Eventually, we wrapped things up at the lavender farm and got back on the road. On our way to our motel for the night, we made a couple more stops. Once to visit a playground and grab some cold drinks, and another just to take in the view.
In New Zealand they call this a “flying fox” and they’re fairly common at playgrounds. Izzy was too scared to really enjoy them.Lindis Pass. I just learned that those clumps of grass are called tussocks.
Our stop for the night was in Omarama. We were staying at a holiday park, or what we in the States would call an RV park. Of course, we didn’t have a caravan (RV) to stay in, but the park also had motels (cabins) available. We ended up staying in quite a few of these holiday parks during our trip. First of all, for some reason it was surprisingly difficult to find standard hotel rooms in New Zealand that sleep more than two. They do things differently down there, and there just aren’t very many big chain hotels and when booking I didn’t see any rooms that come with two queen beds. We saw a single Hilton hotel in the middle of our trip, and I think that was the only American brand we spotted. Second, many of these parks come with some nice amenities, such as playgrounds and laundry facilities. Third, as fulltime RVers, who spend all of our time living in RV parks here in the States, we were curious to see what they looked like on the other side of the world. Things weren’t terribly different, but there were no motorhomes only towed rigs, and the caravans and their tow vehicles were smaller than you’d see in the US. We never saw anything like our F-350 and 36 foot fifth-wheel. And finally, I was able to sign up for a membership with a chain that had holiday parks in a lot of the cities we visited, which saved us a little bit of money.
Once again, the food was delicious and of much higher quality than you’d expect from a fairly dive-y rural bar, and there were solid vegetarian options available.
After we had checked into our little cabin, we found out that the toiletries provided in New Zealand aren’t always enough, and we didn’t have any shampoo or conditioner. So while we waited for our food at the bar, Charlotte ran across the street to a little store to pick some up. Earlier in the day, we had passed on buying fancy lavender products at farm, because we thought they were too expensive, but it turns out that small bottles of Pantene from a small store in rural New Zealand are just as expensive.
Our bellies full and our haircare product needs met, we headed back to the holiday park and after a quick trip to the playground, we called it a night. Not too bad for our first full day in the country!
The playground had bounce pillow! I’m sure the Kiwis have a funny name for these things, but I never learned it.
We have a new feature on the blog, email subscriptions! Make sure you don’t miss a single adventure by receiving a notification in your email inbox every time a new post is published.
Look for the subscription boxes on the bottom of the sidebar on the right.
It looks like this, but smaller and less red-circle-y.
You won’t be spammed, because writing posts takes too much time, and we promise not to sell your email to anyone for anything less than absurd amounts of money.
After hitching up the rig in Iowa, we pointed the Big Blue Truck north, then east, driving across the lower portion of Minnesota. We crossed the mighty Mississippi River on I-90, and once in Wisconsin, we had just a little ways left to our next RV park on the shores of Lake Neshonoc.
Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort was a very nice place to stay. Great hookups, spacious sites, a nice pool, friendly staff, a lovely view of the lake, and included in our Thousand Trails membership.
Playing a little Gator Golf at the playground.Sunset on the shore of Lake Neshonoc.Paved roads means it’s scooter time!Breakfast for dinner on the Blackstone griddle.
But best part of this stay was that we got to have visitors again. Shortly after we arrived, my cousin Luke, his wife Lisa, and their daughter Keira made the trip up from the Chicago area for a long weekend staying in one of the cabins at the resort.
Izzy and Keira meet for the first time.
Since Keira still gets in a couple of naps a day (oh how Charlotte and I miss those days), we didn’t adventure too far from the resort, but still managed to do some exploring in the area. We hiked a few trails, visited Grandad’s Bluff overlooking La Crosse, Wisconsin, and shared several outdoor meals and campfires. It was fantastic to be able to spend time with Luke and Lisa and we were all excited to finally meet Keira.
An old railroad bridge on the La Crosse River State Trail outside of Bangor, WI.There were plenty of flowers and a few butterflies while we hiked through a meadow at Upper Hixon Forest outside of La Crosse, WI.The cousins having fun in the pool at Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort.
We were all sad to have to say goodbye to our cousins, but we managed to go have some fun on our own after they left. We found an apple orchard nearby that had just opened for the season and had more than just apple trees. We got to pet an alpaca, feed a goat, and eat some delicious apple cider donuts.
This alpaca was happy to have visitors.This goat wasn’t thrilled about being fed a blade of grass, but he ate it anyway.
Then we went out into the rows of trees to pick a peck of peppers Zestar apples.
Sometimes the best apples are out of your reach.Success!
Unfortunately, there were more than just apple trees growing in the orchard. Izzy walked into a stinging nettle plant while reaching for an apple. Neither Charlotte nor I were familiar with stinging nettles, but Izzy’s cries of pain let us know something was definitely wrong. We hurried back to the truck where we were able to clean up her leg with some wet wipes and apply some hydrocortisone cream we had in our first aid kit.
Tending to the stings.Don’t touch the spicy leaves.
Thankfully, Izzy was feeling better quickly, so we went over to the playground and climbed up the big wooden tower.
Overlooking the orchard.
On the way back we stopped by a great small town spot for some ice cream.
Our first two weeks in Wisconsin were great and went by quickly. Our adventures in the land of beer and sausage (and pickled fish) will continue, but until then, we’ll see you down the road.
Wisconsin grocery stores have proper signage for their herring aisle.Izzy got to test out her new umbrella.
Having decided it wasn’t crazy enough to quit our jobs and sell everything to live in an RV and travel the US, last year we decided to take our 3-year-old on a trip to the other side of the world.
Once Charlotte and I started traveling somewhat regularly a few years ago, New Zealand has been on our list of places to visit someday. That “someday” became January 2020, when American Airlines had an amazing and very short-lived sale on award flights purchased with frequent flier miles. Excited about the freedom afforded by our new lifestyle (we were a little over a month in at the time), we snagged tickets for all three of us.
So, we got up early on a Tuesday morning in Cottonwood, Arizona, and didn’t go to bed again until the Arizona equivalent of 2 AM on Thursday morning in Arrowtown, New Zealand.
Our flights.
Here’s how we got there.
We were staying at an RV resort in Cottonwood, so we had to pack up our rig, tow it over and then back it into a tight space in the park’s storage lot. We then drove our truck about two hours south to the Phoenix airport and dropped it off in long term parking. Once at the airport, we grabbed a drink at the new American Express Centurion lounge, and then caught our flight to Los Angeles.
Izzy likes to race the moving walkways in airports.
We had a long layover at LAX, so we wandered around quite a bit. The new international terminal is very modern and even has a cool, if dirty, play area for kids.
Now you’d think that a flight to New Zealand, located 6,500 miles away would depart from that same international terminal, but apparently American Airlines needs a geography lesson, as we had to head back to the much less pleasant domestic terminal for our flight. After we got some much-needed play time in, we made did a lot of walking between terminals, to grab dinner, hit up a lounge, and finally to board our flight.
It was a good thing we got our steps in because we were then stuck in a tight economy class seat for about 13 hours. Izzy did well, sleeping most of the way. Charlotte and I rested our eyes but couldn’t manage to actually nod off. Charlotte and I have been fortunate enough to make our last few overseas trips up in business class, so that made the small, barely reclining seats, questionable food, and lack of service just a bit more painful.
At least someone was comfy.
We landed at the Auckland, New Zealand airport without incident, then proceeded with our well-rested, but still out of sorts three-year-old to immigration. Moving slowly, we were among the last people from our plane to arrive and stood in a long line to enter the country. There were automated passport control kiosks available to citizens of many countries, but apparently, the signage needs to be better because almost no one was taking advantage of them. Instead, everyone was waiting in line in front of us. Sadly, we were ineligible to use the kiosks with Izzy, because I guess they know how families with young children are the best at waiting patiently in long lines for some exciting bureaucracy. But eventually, we made it to the front and were admitted to New Zealand.
We were entering the home stretch of our travels, but still had another plane to catch. Before our flight, we grabbed some lunch at the airport McDonald’s. Now this isn’t exactly the best way to experience a new culture, but when traveling with a 3-year-old you make some compromises. At least they had a veggie burger on the menu for Charlotte, a happy meal for Izzy, and something “exotic” for me. I ordered a Georgie Pie, which was a savory steak pie. Not bad, and I’m glad I tried it, but wouldn’t order it again.
I had to provide my own utensil. Maybe you’re supposed to pick it up like a sandwich?
After lunch, we figured out how to recheck our luggage, and got to take in some sunshine, and fresh air (at least as fresh as an airport can get) as we walked from the international to the domestic terminal.
We immediately spotted an “RV house” at the airport! It was a coffee stand.
New Zealand isn’t a huge country but has many amazing sites to see. Things are quite spread out, so we figured the best way to see them all would be to rent a car. We decided to immediately fly from Auckland down to Queenstown on New Zealand’s south island. From there, we would rent a car, and make our way north, crossing the Cook Strait that separates the north and south island on a ferry, then resuming our drive north until we reached Auckland and flew back home. This would give us the freedom to travel at our own pace and select our sites.
I reserved a car with Avis for our whole trip at a great rate but made a small mistake when booking it. The reservation didn’t start until the day after we arrived in Queenstown. Time zones are hard and crossing the international date line is harder. And all our other reservations worked out! You can’t win ’em all. Anyway, you’d think it would be a simple matter to adjust the reservation online or over the phone. But renting a car is like casting a spell. In order to get a good rate, you need to speak the magic words or discount codes. Trying to adjust the reservation by simply adding an extra day removed the discounts for the entire reservation and would have cost more than a thousand dollars. Luckily, I managed to notice the missing day before we got to the Avis counter in Queenstown. I was somehow able to get online in the Auckland airport (free airport wifi is almost always awful, and New Zealand internet is pretty bad in general) and booked a single day rental car with National. I never managed to get a confirmation, but they had a reservation for me at the counter. So with a quick glance at my American driver’s license, they reminded me that they drive on the left here and sent me on my way.
We pushed our luggage trolley out of the small airport into the adjacent rental car lot and found our blue Corolla hatchback. (Quick rant – every other country in the world provides free luggage carts at their airports, but in the US you gotta pay $5. Thanks, Obama.) Charlotte had already determined she would not be driving in this crazy backwards country, so I hopped behind the wheel.
They let me into the country wearing that mustache.
Luckily Charlotte’s phone plan has reasonable international roaming rates, so she fired up Google Maps and directed me to our cute little motel in Arrowtown, only about 15 minutes from the airport.
The charming Settlers Cottage Motel in Arrowtown, New Zealand.
I think it was around 4:30 in the afternoon, on Thursday, January 30 by the time we got checked in, which means we had been traveling for about 40 hours straight. With a 3-year-old! Laying it out like that really makes me wonder what we were thinking when we planned this trip. We were tired, only a little worse for the wear, and we had made it to New Zealand!
