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See the big backpack on Kane’s back? Thats all his stuff for SA.Waiting for our plane in Kansas City
After a crazy, busy two weeks, we have arrived in South America and starting Sabbatical Part 2. Our flight was scheduled for Tuesday, February 4th, but was cancelled the night before at 10pm, as we were getting ready to head to a hotel, by the airport. A big snowstorm was headed to Kansas City, so we thought it would be better to stay by the airport, so Scott’s parents would not have to drive us in the bad weather. God totally answered my prayers, because I truly needed one more day to finish getting ready. They rescheduled us for Wednesday, February 5th and we only had to change planes once in Dallas, where we would have had to change planes twice the day before.
Scott’s parents were so wonderful and made the trek to the airport on Wednesday with the one lane roads. Thanks Mom and Dad!
I have to say that I was pretty amazed that Scott, Kane and I each had one back pack, Kat one small rolling suitcase and 1 small checked bag, with all our stuff for 5 months, in South America. We have learned to “go lean.” Nothing like RV living to prepare us for this! 🙂
Kat thought the tram ride in Dallas was an amusement park ride.Sleepy girl on our flight to Lima
We arrived in Lima around 2am and reached our beds at 3:30am. Pretty crazy!
We ended up hiring a driver to take us around in Lima since we only had one day there. It was worth every penny. He spoke English which was so helpful. We started our morning at the “free breakfast” at the hotel. The kids were so excited by the fresh squeezed juices(orange, papaya and pineapple). I think their favorite item was the small round bread(no idea what kind it was).
Then we headed to Plaza de Armas to see the changing of the guards at the Palacio del Gobierno(White House of Peru). This changing of the guards ceremony takes place every day at noon. The kids thought it was cool, but they were withering under the 80+ heat. My poor husband got a sunburn on his forehead due to not wearing his Mizzou hat, since his wonderful wife told him we didn’t want to stand out like tourists. 🙂
Start of Changing of the Guards Ceremony
Peruvian FlagThis guy was promoting a picture with his dog
After the changing of the guard ceremony, we headed across the Plaza de Armas to visit the La Catedral de Lima. Francisco Pizarros mislocated remains lies in this cathedral. They realized they had the wrong body when they found the “real” body in 1977 in the catacombs below the church.
La Catedral de Lima See the guy with the hat? That’s Pablo our driver.
La Catedral de LimaFrancisco Pizarro bones. Pizarro conquered the Incas in 1533.Inside La Catedral de LimaIn colonial times, rich families had their own side chapels in the church.
Next was the Monasterio de San Francisco. This church and monastery are known for the catacombs of 70,000 people and magnificent library that houses thousands of antique texts.
Monasterio de San FranciscoCan you see the skulls and bones?Kane and Kat feeding the pigeons and eating ice cream outside the Monastery.
Our final stop of the day was trying to find and unlocked cell phone that we could use for emergencies.
Scott is pleased!
We walked around the corner from our hotel for dinner. It was a little challenging reading the menu in spanish! Hopefully soon, it will not be!!
Our sweet Kane!Our happy Kat!Kids had their first Inka Cola!
We’re headed East to reach Florida for Christmas. I knew I wanted the kids to see New Orleans, but we needed another stop, and just a quickie. We’d heard many times that Crackerbarrel and Wal-mart both allow for free boondocking in their parking lots, so we thought we’d give it a shot in Sulpher, LA. We planned to stop at CrackerBarrel. In theory, this will save some Money! The problem is, if you eat a meal at Crackerbarrel, and you have extra time before or after to shop there too, odds are you’ll spend more than you would at a campground.
In the back parking lot of the CrackerBarrel in Sulphur Louisiana… weird.
That’s just what we did. The kids were so excited by the “talking toucan”, that we ended up with one (among other things). Oh well. The camping was horrible too. Drunks walking by talking about joy riding on our bikes, refer truck parked in front of us running all night, road noise, and just generally feeling exposed unlike any campground. We didn’t sleep well!
The next day, we took off, and headed on east, planning to stop at Avery Island and the Tobasco Factory. The drive wasn’t too bad, and we enjoyed driving through the sparsely populated bayou. Traffic was light at Tobasco this day, and we had a nice laid-back visit. (and learned a ton)
Bus Parking at the Tobasco Factory. We were lonely!
Kane heading into the Tobasco Factory welcome center and tour.Bottling Line.These guys were in the salt business before. Somebody sent him some pepper plants as a gift, and the rest is history!Truly an international company at this point.
The day the peppers are picked, they get mixed with avery island salt, and put into mash barrels.After 3 years of aging in the barrels, they add the vinegar, and stir for another 28 days !
Mash is being mixed. Kids enjoyed trying to smell it through the vent holes.Tabasco Company Store out back!Pepper Ice Cream?These are bottles packaged for Switzerland!At 51 cents, the smashed pennies are a nice souvenir… and a good workout.
Well we’d not been to a big city for awhile, and so we were excited to be both out of the desert and in a nice city for a bit. We didn’t have a ton planned, but we knew we wanted to see the Alamo, and the River Walk for sure. We had no idea we were in for such a treat with the weather. Also, I had Facebook messaged our old neighbors that we had not seen for 14 years or so… Craig and Christen Wilson. Luckily, they lived in Boerne (just outside San Antonio), and they were free for dinner one night.
We camped in a really nice RV park near SeaWorld. There were tons of seasonal campers there, and I can see why. Great service, nice people, great weather, landscaping etc. This meant any exploring in the city would be a 45 minute drive, but it worked out great.
Our first day, we headed downtown to hit the River Walk, the Alamo, and one of the other missions south of town. The weather was perfect for exploring the city on foot! We were all so happy, soaking up the glorious sunshine!
We had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant right on the river, then we made our way over to the Alamo. The Alamo was really set up nice, and we enjoyed the movie, as well as the artifacts (weapons!) in the museum. Too bad there are no cameras allowed inside!
After that, we jumped back in the jeep and went south to one of 5 local missions, the San Jose mission, which is also a National Monument. We did the movie, and another Jr Ranger program there, and got to explore the old Mission. The Church was beautiful, and still in use. We lit candles and prayed for our friends and family back home in the midst of challenges.
The next day, we really just messed around. We did some school, Kim did some shopping, and I took the kids to the movie (Frozen… it was the best Disney film I’ve seen for years). Then that night, we met our old Neighbors for Dinner. It was so nice to catch up and hear about how their life has been over the last few years. It brought flooding back some great times living next door to them back in O’Fallon years ago.
No time to linger, we had a date set to get to Panama City Beach Florida for Christmas!
Kids at the River Walk. Kane must have been chilly in the shade, his arms are pulled inside his shirt!
The mexican restaurant where we ended up having lunch.
Table for 4, on the river!
Boat tours like this come by periodically, and we tried to eavesdrop on the history of the area.
Waiting for girls to come back from restroom, and fighting off the birds!
Everybody loved the weather… sunny and high 60’s.
Kat had fun talking to the birds on the river. Pidgeons and Ducks!
This hat that Kat got for early Christmas present, will never again look this good!
Making our way to the Alamo.
Remember this!
Old cannons at the Alamo, not sure they really did much good against Santa Ana’s men.
Beautiful trees around here tell us we are not in the desert anymore!
Filthy Beggars.
I wonder how long this will continue?
More missions, more national monuments, more jr ranger badges!
We spent last weekend in Fort Pierce, Florida. We camped at a county park called Savanna Recreation Area. Awesome county park that had full hookups, laundry and wifi. Kane was ecstatic that the lake/swamp was almost at our RV due to the flooding from the rain storm the days before. He couldn’t wait to break out the fishing gear!
The water was close
Caught one!Our neighbors gave Kane some worms to use. He was so excited to fish as soon as we set up.
Look who else wanted to fish…Untangling the line
We went Archies for burgers at a cool little “biker bar.”
Saturday, the boys rented a canoe and canoed through the swamp and tried to catch some fish. Great time, but no fish caught, but they spotted an alligator! The girls headed to the Fort Pierce Farmer’s Market and Library.
Fresh Strawberry Smoothie!The produce looked so good! We bought strawberries, peppers, and a mango.
I love her love of books!We love going to the library!Love watching her read.
While Kat and I were out, we picked up a boogie board to take to the beach. While we were doing this, Kane was fishing by the RV and caught about 5 bluegill which Scott cooked up for dinner. Later in the afternoon, I took our kids to Pepper Beach Park. The waves looked huge! This was the first time for our kids to be in the Atlantic! Much bigger waves than the gulf. Kat stayed close to shore and rode the waves by laying down on board. It was so funny! I loved watching her hop through the waves! Kane was determined to catch a good wave to ride the board to land. It was so fun seeing his excitement when he caught the right wave and made it to the beach on the boogie board. I can already picture him on a surfboard. He was not scared when waves crashed over his head. I was! I stood in water for the first 30 minutes to make sure I didn’t lose a kid. 🙂 I love seeing their joy playing in the ocean! I feel so blessed to have these moments with them.
Sunday, we caught church in the morning, then the kids and I headed back to Pepper Beach Park for some more boogie boarding. I whipped up my second cherry pie of our trip and my life that night. The boys were very happy about this(Kat does not like fruit pies, but loves the vanilla ice cream that comes with it).
It’s official, we are headed to South America on February 4, 2014. Lima, Peru to be exact! We booked our tickets today. I am so excited, but I had butterflies in my stomach as I pushed the button to buy the tickets. So much to do to get ready!
We decided not to go to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia or Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in February. There are protests and civil unrest going on in Thailand. We did not want to take any risks with our kids. We started to plan on going to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos instead, but as soon as we started looking at doing that, we saw that there is political violence going on in Cambodia. It just is not meant to be, for us, to go to Asia!
Other big news: we sold our RV! We can’t even believe it!! How can our time in our RV be up? How did 6 months go so fast? Our buyer signed the contract this past Monday, January 13th. He is picking it up in St. Louis on January 30th. Scott and I are both so sad to be leaving our home. We have truly loved our time with our kids and seeing our beautiful country! God has been so good to us!! Such an incredible trip… I can’t believe our RV time is over.
We visited 36 National Parks/Historical Sites during our 6 months on the road. We are ending our trip at a Theme Park: Universal in Orlando, Florida. Tomorrow is our last day here and we will start working our way back to Missouri. We have only 4 nights left in our RV home till we have to winterize and start packing things up and cleaning it out…
We have a few more posts to add to the blog: San Antonio, New Orleans, Fort Pierce, Fl and Orlando, Fl. They will be coming soon! We hope to continue our blog in South America. We will not have access to wifi like we do in the USA, but hope to be able to provide updates.
Hope you are doing well and your New Year is off to a fantastic start!
We stopped by Biscayne National Park on the way to the Florida Keys after leaving the Everglades. We saw just a teeny tiny piece of it since 95% of the park is underwater. We visited the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. We visited the museum, watched the movie and our kids completed the Jr. Ranger Program to earn their last National Park badge on this trip.
Ranger telling us about the different skulls of animals that live at Biscayne. That’s a pelican!Hands on LearningLionfish(not native) are a huge problem! They are destroying the reefs and eat anything in sight.
Kat wanted me to take her picture by this sign.Visitor Center
We spent 3 full days in Marathon, Florida. Our first night, we had dinner at Keys Fishery on the water. We had no idea it was going to be so chilly, but the delicious fish made up for it. Kat had fish bites, Kane had grouper sandwich, Scott snapper sandwich and I had hogfish sandwich.
It rained on and off the first day, so we hung out at the RV. During one of the breaks, Kane helped Kat rollerblade. It was so sweet watching them together!
Kane helping Kat rollerblade.
Our second day, we headed to the Sea Turtle Hospital. This was the first sea turtle hospital in the world. It was started in 1986. It was so informative! Most of the sea turtles injuries are caused by marine debris(ex:strings from balloons, nylon ropes, fishing line), water pollution, boat strikes. They had 36 patients when we were there(13 permanent(can’t be released into wild) and 23 other patients). They have 30 Green, 4 Loggerhead, 1 Kemps Ridley and 1 Hawksbill turtles.
Surgery Room
Marine Biologist telling us about each turtle.
Scott took our kids fishing off the bridge in Marathon on our last day there. They were so excited! Unfortunately, it was a day for fishing, not catching.
Kane cooked dinner with Scott’s help after they got home. He made spicy honey chicken, mushroom & barley soup, potatoes and fruit salad for dinner. It was delicious! Kat who does not like mushrooms even liked the soup! Way to go, Kane!!
Cutting up apples for his fruit salad.Yummy chicken!Dinner time!
There are a lot of factors that determine the quality of our experiences. In some cases, it’s not fair to rate a location purely based on our overall enjoyment. Oft times, the way we approach a place determines how much fun we have. Big Bend was a “perfect storm” of National Park enjoyment.
Part of this is the Park itself does have a ton to offer. At it’s core, it’s an incredible specimen of desert (the Chihuahuan Desert), but it also has a river, mountains and… access to whole other country!
On top of that, WE OWNED this place. I feel like we left no stone unturned at Big Bend, and I for one, had no expectations for the National Park, and it blew me away.
We did two great hikes (Boquillas Canyon and Lost Mine). We got “rowed” across the border by a Mexican, and rode Donkey’s into Boquillas for lunch. We built a tree swing at the campsite. We watched a meteor shower. We floated the Rio Grande in a guided raft. We backcountry camped in the middle of nowhere in 23 degree temps! We saw a wild rattlesnake and tarantula. It was amazing!
This is one place that we probably don’t need to visit again, not because it’s not great, but because we kind of maxed out our first visit.
Arrival – Boquillas Canyon – Boquillas Mexico
Drive day is postcard day!
Kids had the idea to use their rope to make a tree swing at the campsite.
Non-descript campground, but we enjoyed the grassy area with trees behind.
Neighbors recently retired, had pet chickens!
First adventure, Canyon hike
Nice easy hike over the hill to the river and into a canyon
Pretty sweet to realize… that’s Mexico over there!
Approaching the canyon
Some great views down near the canyon
You could literally throw rocks into Mexico
Unique to Big Bend, donation stations on the trail. We saw this guys canoe on the other side of the river…
Beautiful Canyon
Kate and Nate… fellow travelers (with cats!)
Walking down to the river crossing… a bit anxious
Riding the International Ferry
We sprung for 2 donkeys!
Short 1 mile trip to town
Lunch! Tamales
Tacos
We bought Kat’s, and they gave us Kane’s
Town of Boquillas
Time to go back!
Chickens in Boquillas… tomorrows tacos
Bike ride – Lost Mine Trail
Day ended with a bike ride
Beautiful Day!
Mosquito Fish!
More Mexican “Honor System” Sales
Watching the meteor shower at the Hot Springs
Start of the Lost Mine Hike
Uh Oh!
MLB trying to catch brother/mother.
Nice self-guided nature tour.
Gorgeous views!
It got quite cold, so Kat borrowed my jacket.
Rafting Rio Grande – Tarantula – Backcountry Camping
Ready to Go!
Guides loading up the boats.
Typical view for the day
Side hike in Mexico… this house fell into a sinkhole!
I’d been looking forward to visiting my Aunt Joyce and her partner Beth since we left Kansas City for a few reasons. First, I don’t get to see Joyce very often. Second, Joyce and I both got the recessive “Yoxall Dry Humor” gene. Even though I don’t see her very often, I always feel comfortable, and I know there will be laughs. Third, Joyce and Beth play and sing amazingly together and I knew we’d hear some great music. Fourth, Joyce and Beth live on an an honest to goodness farm in New Mexico, and I just knew the kids would love visiting.
Originally I told Joyce to look for us in early/mid October. That was a bit ambitious, as we arrived on December 6th. This was less than idea for Beth as she was in the throws of her peak season for selling Bee’s Wax Candles, handmade soaps, ornaments etc. We arrived on Friday, and she had open houses Fri/Sat/Sun. Joyce assured us we were welcome anytime, and could assimilate. Assimilate we did! After the first night, I felt like we were one big family.
Friday night, we had agreed to go out for Tex-Mex, but when we arrived at SparrowHawk Farms, Joyce had enchiladas in the oven. We got reacquainted, and got to explore the house. It’s a really cozy adobe house, arranged as a series of connected hexagons. The front room was set up as the shop, and smelled amazing. The next room over was the work and inventory room. This is where the wax is filtered and prepared, where the candles etc are made, and where the products are organized on shelves for restocking the store. The next room over is the Kitchen, then from there, the rooms fork with the music (and pinpong) room, then Emily’s (Beth’s daughter) bedroom on one side, and the “winter family room” (with the wood stove), and a couple of other bedrooms on the other. It’s a very inviting, cozy, comfortable home.
Within 5 minutes of being there, Beth had the kids setup in the family room with crafts and games. She was born to entertain kids I think. The kids had the time of their lives. On Sunday as our visit was wrapping up, Kane suggested that we henceforth plan to visit Joyce and Beth “every year on spring break”! We had a nice dinner, visited for awhile, and returned to the RV. We had considered boon-docking at the farm, but the driveway is way too narrow. The RV park (and Horse Hotel) 10 miles south of them in Bernardo was great though and a good value.
On Saturday, we tried to stay out of Beth’s hair in the morning, so she could prepare for her open house, had breakfast at the RV, and went over at about 10:00. It was a pretty low-key day, we hung out with Joyce while Beth worked. We got to watch Joyce cook authentic red chile with pork and papas fritas for lunch. Kim helped out making carrot cake with honey. After the open house started, Joyce and Kim took turns hosting guests in the kitchen for mulled cider and carrot cake. As you might imagine, Beth and Joyce have some interesting friends/neighbors! I had a nice time chatting with some of them as well. Saturday night, we were able to convince them to go to Petes for Tex-Mex. I’m glad we followed them, as I’m not sure I could have found Pete’s on my own, but boy it was delicious. Everybody was pretty tired after dinner, so we turned in.
On Sunday, Kim was wanting to go to Whole Foods for vitamins and Trader Joes, so she headed north to Albuquerque to do some shopping. So she dropped us off at the farm and headed north for the afternoon. The kids and I hung out, they made some ornaments, I helped with a couple of computer issues, and also got to help with hosting guests during the open house. It was a great laid back day at the farm. I got a chance to get a tour of the garden from Beth, and a tour of the rest of the Farm from Joyce. There is a real appeal to me for the farm lifestyle there. If only I had the skill and expertise to do anything that they do!
Aunt Joyce in the Kitchen
Dinner was cooking when we arrived, we just explored the house and got reacquainted
Wax heaters, this is where Beth prepared the wax for candle and ornament making. The smell in here is amazing.
Tapers and the dipper, so cool to see how this stuff is made!
Homemade latex molds for ornaments.
Can in the coziest room in the house, the “winter family room” with the wood stove
When Beth was not working, she spent her free time entertaining the kids. She either really loves kids, or she’s really good at pretending to love kids!
Within minutes, puzzles and origami
Kane finally completed the puzzle that evidently had only been solved once before in 20 years?
Hatch Chilies, not just decorations, but ingredients.
Saturday lunch, Joyce made authentic red chile. We made such a mess pulling the peppers from the pod, we had to go outside.
Kat, painting her candle holder
mmmm, spicy, and salty!
Making wax ornaments
Impromptu guitar lesson from Joyce
Done!
Beth is a beekeeper, so Honey and Wax are key. Kane used his own money to buy himself some honeycomb.
Honeycomb. Their honey is the best, mildest honey ever.
Kim helped Saturday by making carrot cake. Of course, there was no sugar… only honey.
Kat, so proud to burn a candle in her holder
The drum kit was my huckleberry
Eventually, Joyce’s quilting operation was removed from the ping-pong table and we had a great time. No quilts were made this weekend.
Saturday night, we went to Pete’s Tex mex. It was pretty amazing, in downtown Belen.
I had green chile enchiladas, with the optional fried egg over medium.
Joyces stuffed Sopaipilla looked great too
Sunday morning, we got a tour of the farm. The tree behind the house (with abandoned treehouse) is amazing.
Sadly, empty Chicken coop. They had to give away their remaining chickens after 80% were killed by neighbors dogs and coons.
Sunday afternoon we went to the wild bird refuge to check out the sandhill cranes. We saw a cool Harrier (kind of hawk) flying low over the grass looking for dinner.
Cranes are cool birds.
The second area we went to, had hundreds of cranes blending in with the grass, they were so beautiful.
Love the way their legs hang down when they are landing
Last place allowed us to get pretty close to these guys
Kat, with Joyce’s dog, Flash. It was a love/hate relationship, mostly love.
So fun to visit these guys
Joyce feeding the dragon
Games with Joyce Sunday night
Showing off their creations.
Monday afternoon, Joyce came over for some jamming with Sasquatch.
Kat making desert, reindeer cookies
Beth came over for a low-key “RV” dinner of Korean Beef, then we played a few games of farkel. (Beth and Joyce taught us new rules that we love… and called it Fagiolo).
