Day 13

We had some goals for the day and hopefully it wouldn't include all that much driving. Everyone slept in pretty late after our late night. We shared some oatmeal and headed out for the morning. Our first stop was the Ya'i Heki' Regional Indian Museum. On our drive up from San Diego I noticed a bunch of small pockets of reservations - super tiny towns with signs about a mile apart noting which tribe called them home. This was much different from the huge reservations we'd driven through in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Montana.

This museum was a fantastic learning experience about the Indigenous peoples of inland southern California. The three main tribes we learned about were the Cahuilla, Cupeno, and Luiseno.  They didn't have and written language so the customs, morals, and history were passed down orally through generations. We played some of the games the kids played to sharpen their hand eye coordination and learned about several more. The kids were practicing for hunting at a very young age.

One of the docents took us under her wing and basically led us around a good portion of the museum and shared so much of her knowledge. We learned so much!   The kids recognized some plants from their horticulture studies that they use for all kinds of different natural remedies or food. 

We learned once Europeans moved in the tribes lost their ways to provide for their families so the men became ranch hands for these new people and many of the women began to weave intricate baskets to sell. These baskets were highly sought for their designs and craftsmanship. We also learned this art has almost disappeared from their cultures because the resulting hourly wage from creating a basket for what they can sell them for currently is not near enough to support a family. 

They also had a fabulous display on loan from Washington D.C. about the service of Native Americans in the military through all the wars. We decided we might need to go back to D.C. to visit the museum as it was just being built when we were there.

Ira Hayes was one of the men raising the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima.  One in four Native Americans volunteered to serve in Vietnam while only one in twelve of the general population did so. Many grappled with the hypocrisy of killing and taking someone else's land when just that same thing had been done to their people.

 We learned about many of the tools they used in their daily lives - many we had never seen before. Even in our world full of technological advances we were impressed by the ingenuity of their tools to solve the problems they were facing.

The docent also happened to have a rattle snake skin so we learned a little bit about those guys too. We haven't seen one on this trip yet and were fine if we didn't!  We were also hoping not to see a mountain lion in the wild either. This stuffed guy was enough for us!


The view on the porch facing the lake was beautiful too so we took a few minutes to enjoy it too.

Next up was laundry. It definitely is lowest on our list of chores but we were about 2 days from running out of clothes so we carved out an hour to get it done. I love the laundromats that have the capability to wash our 4 loads all at one time in 20 minutes!


Once we got back to the campground we had lunch in the tiny bit of shade we had then headed straight for the beach. Tempers were flaring between all three kids so water was often my solution. It was hot again today and everyone else there thought so too. The beach was the most crowded we'd seen it but we found a little spot that we could call our own for a little while. People were bring these giant 20-ft floats that were crowding everyone and then they weren't even using them! After about an hour or so we headed back to the campsite to get ready for what I'd been looking forward to - a twilight hike!

When we arrived to the parking area there were at least 100 people there. We aren't used to these crowds! Thankfully the interpreters were expecting it as they had three different options for us to choose from. We chose the 2 mile hike up to a 360 degree viewpoint including education on history of the Native Americans in the area. It must be our theme today!

This hike was level at first but the incline changed dramatically as we kept on. The interpreter had perfectly timed stops to let us recover and learn a little more about the culture.

The view was breathtaking once we reached the top. We saw parts of the lake we'd never seen before! We hung back for a minute as everyone left to enjoy the view and get a unobstructed picture of the view.

It was quiet and dark by the time we got back to our site - perfect for a fire! Brayden started the fire and they all whittled roasting sticks for marshmallows.  We were all too tired to stay up and enjoy the fire too long so we decided to leave some of the wood for the next people and get some sleep. We had big plans the next day!

Day 11

Today started early before the sun. Laney was having trouble staying on her mat and off my head. Then she had to pee. Then she needed help zipping up her sleeping bag. After a bird just barely started chirping I gave up and headed outside to write. The down sleeping bag I'd purchased for my backpacking trip a few months ago was just perfect to keep me warm while I caught up on the last few days.

Today Brayden and I decided to go to the National D-Day Memorial in the town close by. Our hosts had recommended it but all Brayden needed to hear was the word D-Day and he was hooked. That kid has a fascination with World War II for sure. Apparently this town lost more men per capita that any other in the country. We were going to find out more today for sure. Laney decided to join us and Ryan decided to stay with Emily and Evey for the morning.

After about a 15 minute drive we pulled into the D-Day Memorial and were impressed by the sheer size of the place! We'd heard the survivors of the war in the community made it their life work to create a memorial for the friends they'd lost as well as so many others that lost their lives that day and in the months after.

I can't even begin to do the memorial justice by describing it here so I'll just leave you with pictures. It was a somber, sobering, patriotic, inspiring, and heartbreaking experience.

Brayden thoroughly enjoyed the memorial and at the end we realized the day before was actually 6-6-18 - the anniversary of D-Day. We couldn't decide if it would have been better or worse to visit the day before.  We stopped by the gift shop to buy a couple books and support the memorial. Brayden and Laney loved the WWII era posters so they each bought one of those too.

We decided to stop by Walmart for a quick resupply and the visitor's center to see if Brayden's water bottle turned up. Somehow he ends up losing his water bottle on our trips! No luck with the water bottle but once we got back we did make a delicious lunch and headed back out toward the town for the ice cream we'd spotted a few days back.

The little store was crammed full of all kinds of homemade everything but the kids wouldn't let me browse. We all picked out our different flavors - peach for me, Emily & Laney, banana for Brayden, cantaloupe for Ryan, and strawberry for Evey. Delicious! We picked a shady spot to enjoy our ice cream and called Dave since we had pretty good service. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate us calling when we're eating ice cream and he's at work!

When we arrived back at the campground we headed back down to the creek for our last afternoon.

It's hard to tell with nothing for perspective, but this bullfrog was seriously bigger than my hand. Evey was determined to catch him but he had other plans.

The others were back to roll and run down the hill. Laney wore long everything so she could roll down the hill this night too!

Back at the site I got everything organized from our resupply and ready for our drive the next day. We had an easy dinner and once we were ready for bed we decided to start a new Clarke tradition. We all walked the entire campground before bed and were treated to quite the examples of wildlife!

Earlier when Ryan and I took the trash to the dumpster we spotted a doe with a new fawn. We couldn't get over how adorable they were! On our walk we spotted another doe that let us walk right past her on the other side of the road. Whatever she was eating must have been very good!

About 15 minutes later when we had almost reached our campsite I did the mom-protection-arm-block to all the kids as there was a 4-ft snake laying in the road just in front of us! We walked around it and I whispered for Emily to come down out of her tent to see.

Brayden spotted the rattler so we were definitely looking at a nice-sized rattlesnake. He was frozen and very patient while we all shined our lights at him and ogled. Needless to say the kids were attached to me for the remainder of the night!

Day 9

It was quite chilly this morning so I snuck out of the tent and made hot chocolate for us to warm up. The morning of Day 9 we celebrated our first day without rain! Only to discover as I was getting cool weather clothes out from the bottom of our bags that we'd had a breach in the cargo bag that holds all our duffel bags on the back of the car. All our shorts & t-shirts were packaged in ziploc bags so I pulled out all our jeans, leggings, and long sleeve shirts to go straight to the laundry bag. They all smelled like they'd been wet for a few days so there's no telling which storm they soaked up the rain - if not all of them!

After breakfast I covered my head with the cargo bag and spotted quite a few tiny holes and a few about the size of an eraser. They were holes all the way through but I would imagine they were enough to invite the water inside. Luckily on a previous trip I had purchased waterproof seam sealer so I got to work doctoring all the holes. It was supposed to dry overnight but after about an hour in the sun all seemed better. I don't think I'll really know for sure until the next storm though!

Fortunately the closest town was only 10 miles away so we headed there to get all our errands knocked out in one morning - post office, grocery store, and laundry. While we were running around the little town I noticed the D-Day Memorial our hosts had mentioned at our last site. I made a mental note to check with Brayden to see if he wanted to go.

After laundry we were all starving so our next stop was Azul - a local made-to-order Mexican stop. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach but we all enjoyed our meals and I found a delicious local beer too! Our grocery stop wasn't quite as fruitful but I grabbed a couple things that would last us until our next big stop.

On our way into town we saw several peach and blackberry farms and even saw a place with peach ice cream. We were planning to stop on the way back but Emily and I were chatting and I apparently missed a turn. Once I noticed nothing looked familiar I turned on my GPS and we ended up taking some serious back roads to the campground. No peach ice cream today.

Evey had been begging to go to the creek nearby so once we got back and the kids grabbed their water shoes we headed down to the picnic area with a lovely creek running through it. The kids of course had a blast exploring and taking Ryan's spy class entitled "Stealth".

I enjoyed the quiet sounds of the water and watching the kids while Emily dug around the rocks releasing trapped sticks and leaves. I definitely have decided I want to end up near water with lots of sound. I always say a solution to grumpy kids is to get them to water, but it might be for me too!

Once we made it back to the campsite the kids had a quick snack dinner and we made a fire. Emily had a stash of peanut butter cups so the kids made s'mores with them while we ate them straight up! Then Evey brought out the Oreos and we were all on a bit of a sugar high right before bed! Brayden crashed pretty quickly so it felt like he and I were taking care of two drunk Clarke girls until they finally fell asleep!

Day 3

We're back in civilization after a few days deep in The Smokies with no wifi, cell service, or electricity.  It was wonderful!  I'm writing about those days now, but for now here's Day 3.....

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I was up with the sun this morning desperate for a shower and ready to get packing. Each year I have been able to refine my packing routine where we could pack up and roll out of a site within 30 minutes.  I think it's going to take me awhile to get even close to that with things stored all over in different places.

My tent mate was up shortly after so we got to work packing our tent and getting laundry going. Once the other two go up they had a big breakfast as we discussed plans for the day. They weren't thrilled about the 4 hour drive we had today but their eyes lit up when I said they could watch a movie for the first part. Amazing how that can motivate some kids to help pack!

Once we cleaned, packed, finished laundry, and got kids showered it had been about 3 hours. We weren't in too much of a hurry to leave because the kids needed to turn in their junior ranger books and of course we had to say goodbye to Ninja the squirrel.  The kids just about melted as they watched him eat and bury some of his favorites.

Once we got on the road I checked the GPS for the total miles of the trip and smiled when I saw only 200 miles to our next spot. Normally that wouldn't take 4 hours on an interstate, but I knew that meant we'd be spending a lot of time on windy mountain roads and switchbacks - my favorite!

Before we knew it we were in Tennessee.  We stopped at an overlook with a hydroelectric dam. The kids were just asking me the day before what the purpose of dams were so this was the perfect opportunity to show them one of the uses! I do believe The Smokies are way back there where we're headed (and why it's a 4 hour drive!)



Just a short time later we were in North Carolina!

We reached the park about an hour later after driving through Cherokee.  The kids were super excited to go back later and see all the Cherokee crafts and pottery.  But this is what they were excited to finally see!

We have visited here the past two years and it's always a favorite place to go for the kids.  Once we got close to the visitors center they remembered passing through here 2 years before when we camped in the northern part of the park. There was a mountain farm exhibit they were very excited to see, but first we must pick up junior ranger books and get our National Parks pass.  Thanks to the girls who are now in 4th grade, we get a pass for free for the whole family.

                       

And if there's moving water nearby my kids are throwing sticks into it.

The farm exhibit was very interesting with original farm buildings from all over the park put together in the way a farm may have looked in the early 1900s. There was a house, meat store house, corn house, a huge barn, blacksmith shop, gardens, an orchard, and pens for chickens and pigs.  The poor pigs were named Honey Smoked and Maple Bacon.

 The kids were amazed at just how much work the families had to put into their farm just to survive. I was especially adamant to point out how many of the jobs the children helped with or completed independently. The kids were shocked!! They were also excited to see real apples on a tree - something we miss out on completely in Florida.

We finally decided to check in and set up our site. Earlier in the day we had planned to make the drive to Gatlinburg as Brayden has wanted to go there since we drove through 2 years ago. By the time we were settled though, it was time for dinner so once we ate the kids decided to go back to Cherokee to look around.



And on our way out of the park, look what we stumbled upon!

             

I couldn't believe the size of the antlers on the elk lying down! They were all so calm as all the noisy tourists slammed their car doors and clicked away.

Once we made it back to Cherokee many of the craft stands had closed so we only spend about an hour shopping. Brayden was excited to spend his money on a bow and arrow set. Ryan bought a gift for an native american-loving friend of hers. Laney was struggling with her desire for just about everything she picked up.  She decided to sleep on it and make sure before she spent her money.

We were all yawning as we pulled into our driveway, so we went for a family walk then settled in to read a chapter of our current book.  We are on our 56th book on the list we started about five years ago.  That seems like such a long time for a list of just 100 books!  We are constantly reading, but there are just SO many good books out there I veer off the list for months at a time.  Hopefully we'll finish it by the time Brayden gets into high school!

We were all excited to settle down into our sleeping bags tonight with a low of 62. We even bought firewood for warming up with breakfast!

Day 11

We all slept in today so once I got back from my shower, the kids were already peeking out so I started our fire and oatmeal.  Oatmeal is not Brayden's favorite, but if I load it with enough extras like this morning's apples, cinnamon, raisins, granola, and brown sugar, he'll eat it.  By the time he finished though, all we had left to pack was his chair, the dishes, and the tent - the girls and I had finished everything else.  I'm not sure it's registered yet that he could stall every pack up day and get out of all the work!

We stopped back by the nature center this morning to be able to see all the exhibits inside and since it was drizzling, so did everyone else!  It was packed but the exhibits were all very interesting and informative.  There were animals in tanks, animal skins, learning activites, animal bones and feathers, a whole exhibit on the formation of the Dells and the Wisconsin River, and a ton of historical photographs of the area.

Ryan pulled me into a room to check out the mystery boxes.  She loves these things, but only after someone does them first so she can be assured her hand will still be intact afterward.  All the kids were grossed out when they realized what they were touching was called "poop on a stick".  It wasn't actually poop.  Just the name for a fungus.

Our path out of the park was through the other campground and I was so glad we camped in the Northern Lights section of the park.  This campground reminded me so much of home with the sparse trees and flat ground.  I'd much rather be tucked in the woods - here was out site - absolutely beautiful!!

Today was to be one of our longer drives so I'd prepared a bunch of snacks, movies and activites to hand back.  The kids were actually completely quiet for the first 2 hours reading magazines I'd brought for each of them.  Brayden's of course was Kids Sports Illustrated so he rattled off random facts for the first hour.  Ryan's was an animal magazine which she traded with Brayden after she'd pulled out the poster and read everything.  Laney's was a pre-teen girl magazine that neither of the others wanted to get near so she had it all to herself.

We were going to be meeting up with a cousin of mine today I'd met once when I was 4 or 5.  I'd been to Woodhull, where the reunion was a few days ago, to visit all that family and see snow.  She was a little older than me but I can still hear my Great Aunt Joyce say her name.  Just before we stopped we just had to turn around to get a picture here since I'd missed the geographic marker 3 years ago in Indiana I believe.  This isn't the actual official spot but close enough.  And of course I missed the real one anyway just up the road.

 Fortunately for us, she was camping on our route to our next stop so we met up in a town nearby for ice cream.  It was great to learn a little more about my family as this other side has also been traced back to royalty, this time in Wales wow!

As we were chatting she mentioned we might want to go down the street and see the last log stacker in the world left over from lumberjack logging days.  We enjoyed the walk down there and learned quite a bit at the visitors center.  The kids enjoyed running an obstacle course across some tires even more and I appreciated the stretch with 3 more hours to go.

 

















We settled in with a movie for the kids and music for me and were off.  The gps said we would be at the ferry in just under 3 hours.  I quickly checked ferry schedule as I remembered they were every half hour during the day and became more spread out through the night.  According to the schedule we would get there with 1 minute to spare.  Now you all know I'm a pretty competitive person.  I have been known to throw games for fun for my kids to win, but also to practically run them over for a touchdown.

So I now have about 3 hours to make up some time to ensure our spot on the ferry as the next one would leave 90 minutes later.  Little did I know I'd be driving curvy Wisconsin back roads.  And do people in Wisconsin always drive the speed limit?  It seems every time I passed someone I'd be behind someone else within a few minutes that was going 5 miles under the speed limit.  Didn't they know I was racing against the clock here?

The drive was beautiful the entire way and the kids enjoyed more new books and listening to another cd of The Grimm Legacy.  We made it to the ferry with 6 minutes to spare after a slow construction zone and being stuck behind a really long camper for awhile.  The kids were shocked how cold it was after being closed up in a car all day!  It was a quick but beautiful ferry ride and the kids enjoyed petting all the dogs along for the ride.

The town of LaPointe was adorable and we couldn't wait to get back the next day.  We made it to our park, found our spot, and quickly set up.  Our site had a nice little elevated spot in the grass that was just perfectly about the size of our tent.  As I was putting on the rainfly I noticed about 41 slugs had already decided to make our tent walls there home for awhile so we unstaked and moved the tent back down to the gravel.  I'm not a slug-hater, I just don't want to have to deal with popping them all off in 2 days when we take the tent down.  If there is 41 now after about 10 minutes, no telling how many there would be by the time we leave?

We were all getting cold and hungry so we walked down to the camphost and picked up a pile of firewood.  Tonight would be macaroni and cheese in the fire!  It's definitely not the quickest method, but it sure was delicious.  The kids played a cooking game over the fire while I cleaned up and after we read a couple chapters we went to bed.  Tonight I we would have the tent windows zipped up as I already had socks on it was so chilly!