Lessons Learned

Thanks to everyone for reading, encouraging us on the road, and meeting up with us! We had an amazing trip with too much driving, not enough hiking, and just enough family time. We have jumped back into life at a breakneck pace and are enjoying our new little spot in the woods.

We learned a ton this year but this is about all we can remember!

Don't wait until July to camp in a tent in Louisiana.
In Texas they have gas station with shooting ranges.
Daddy Long Legs sleep in nests that at first glance look like a clump of hair.
A cow killer ant doesn't actually kill cows.
Texas dumpsters make you think twice about throwing things away.

New mom bats and pups eat 100% of their body weight every night and others eat 60%.
Bats can hear the footsteps of desert centipedes on the ground.
When mom bats give birth their offspring is 40% of their body weight.
Wolf and bat young are both called pups.
Each square foot of the Carlsbad Cavern cave contains 200 adult bats or 400 pups.
The Brazilian free-tailed bats that live in the Carlsbad Cavern have bodies no bigger than the size of two adult thumbs put together but their wing span is much bigger.
95% of the formations in Carlsbad Caverns are dry or inactive.
While most people are frightened of bats, only 6 people per year are actually bitten and that is because they are usually trying to help a sick bat.
Flies in southern California don't like the smell of Vicks vaporub.
I can always watch a sunrise.
Of the 42,000 Native Americans that served in Vietnam, 90% volunteered for the service.
Approximately 1 in 4 eligible Native Americans served in Vietnam compared to 1 in 12 of the general population.
Kangaroo rats have pouches but not for carrying babies. They are on the outside of their cheeks and are used for carrying seeds back to their burrows.
This is what the bark of a pine tree looks like that has been visited by the Acorn Woodpecker. He works hard hiding those acorns!










The Golden Gate Bridge opened for traffic on May 28, 1937 after more than 4 years of construction. Work on the bridge is never finished. To prevent corrosion steel has been painted continuously since opening day.
Owls sitting on a picnic table in the dark look like big cats.
Cougars were once found in all 48 contiguous states and now only in 14.
Cougars are obligate carnivores since they must eat meat to survive.
Because of their height Redwoods fog provides the moisture the top half of the tree needs.
Oregon cormorants use bird poop to keep their nests together.
Skunks only spray as a last resort because it takes a week to build back up.
Ryan's eyebrows still go up and down right before she wakes up.
California male sea lions can grow up to 850 pounds and 7 feet in length!
Mt Rainier has 25 glaciers!
The ways we tricked and swindled all kinds of Native American tribes of their land is embarrassing and sad.
The total men enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps were 3, 463,766.  40,000+ enrollees were taught to read.  125,000 miles of road was built by the CCC. That's one successful program!
We drove from tsunami evacuation zones to volcano evacuation zones.
Humans are the greatest threat to both bats and wolves due to habitat destruction and killing them because of human fear and misunderstanding.
Bats pollinate many types of foods including peaches, cashews, and avocados.
Bat guano is one of the world's best fertilizers.
In the days leading up to the Mt St Helens eruption in 1980 the interest rate was 20%!
The 2 month period leading up to the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens had 10,000 earthquakes.
Having a sick kid on the road is no fun for mom or kid!
I will never camp in or near a place with the word "Death" in it.
An overnight at a hotel can refuel our family like almost nothing else.
Walmart grocery bags in California are SUPER strong and thick, washable, and reusable up to 125 times. New Mexico only uses paper bags. Both charge 10 cents per bag.
Sequoia tree bark is up to 31 inches thick!
In the Grand Canyon when we were visiting the Phantom Ranch (campground inside the canyon) temperature of the sand 150 degrees! I guess I need to stop complaining!

12,367.7 miles, 51 days, and 1.2 million laughs later we arrived home. Thank you for coming along on our journey with us. I'm not sure what future summers hold for the Clarke family, but I will certainly post our next adventure here!  Keep exploring!

Day 45

I woke up chilly this morning because we had the windows open for Brayden to have some fresh air. I noticed the quilt he had when he went to sleep was in between us so I recovered him and went into the car to write. I was hoping to get caught up on blog posts to not have to write to much the last few days before Dave leaves.

Dave looked like he wanted to get things going to leave but I climbed into the tent with the girls and told him we wouldn't be able to check in early at the hotel anyway so we stayed in the tent with them to chat for a little while. These days these conversations with them are few an far between with our schedules and their varied interests.

The kids had been looking forward to this next spot since I mentioned it in April. I was struggling with getting us across Death Valley without a 10 hour drive. There was no way I was going to camp there! So we ended up booking a hotel in Barstow for a night. Forget all the work I do daily for these guys on the trip, they just want to swim in a pool, sleep in a bed and gorge on free breakfast!

Brayden was smiling when he woke up and was hungry so that was a good sign. Before too long we were taking the 10mph hairpin turns south out of Sequoia National Park. Our first stop was Amphitheater Point - one of the CCC construction project. This spot had a lovely view of Morro Rock that we'd just climbed the day before. It looked quite a bit bigger from down here!

Next we stopped at Hospital Rock - a picnic area the CCC constructed but also a sacred place to the Potwisha as well as Native Americans before them. Here there were pictographs above the rock where the Potwisha had healed many people including several settlers in the area. There was also an area labled the "Community Kitchen" where Native Americans would grind acorns into meal to be used in different kinds of food. We'd seen this on several trails in California.

The girls were excited about seeing our next stop - Tunnel Rock. In the early days of the park people could drive under this rock. Today the road has been diverted around the rock but the girls still wanted to climb on top!

And of course no visit to a national park is complete without the photo at the entrance. We'd missed the small sign on our way in so we opted to stop for the way more interesting sign at the southern entrance!

Once we arrived at the hotel all the girls wanted to do was to see Lola and Grammie. We learned about their drive, Lola's refusal to pee in the southwest grassless islands, and her fear of elevators.  Poor Lola!

Dave was the first to shower and the kids washed their disgusting feet before putting on their swimsuits and heading to the pool. I put in a quick load of laundry in hopes it would be the last of our trip and took a much needed shower. I also plugged in all the things that needed reviving and prepped things for our early exit in the morning.

We had a Chili's about 50 feet from our front lobby so we opted for a quick dinner there instead of pizza. They don't have too much there for vegetarians but we found a few things to share and had our fill of chips and salsa.

The front desk upgraded us at check-in to a room that had a sofa bed so we were all able to claim bed space for the night. By the time I checked our route for the morning everyone was asleep so I decided to join them!

Day 26

Between trains, interstate traffic, and Ryan getting sick we were all up half the night. Well, except for Laney. She slept through everything. There is a folk tale that I slept through my mom vacuuming my room but we all know how accurate folk tales are.

Our day started bright and early anyway to beat the crowds at Multnomah Falls. We met in the parking area and got our first of many pictures by this mammoth 620-foot waterfall.  This place was already a very popular spot this morning so we got on the trail to explore.

The hike was an easy paved trail with nice switchbacks to soften the elevation gain. We made it to the second viewing area pretty quickly after stopping for Lola the dog celebrity to get all her petting in.


We weren't really interested in going to the top of the falls today with the threat of rain so after I played with shutter speed for a little bit we headed back down. We left the girls at the bridge this time so I could get a good picture of just how big this guy is. Can you see them with their arms up on the bridge?


By the time we got back to the trail head the information desk was open so I grabbed a trail map while Grammie shopped. Lola got a lot more attention too!

Another waterfall I had on my list just happened to be a short hike away so we headed down that trail to see it too. It's always nice to have access to so many trails without having to move the car! We saw so many bikes in Oregon around the gorge - that seems the definite way to go!

We made it to Wakenna Falls after about a mile then headed up to a couple different viewing spots to feel the spray. The kids weren't too keen about getting wet though!

We've seen these flowers absolutely everywhere - they are one of Laney's favorites! The wildflowers growing everywhere are so beautiful and colorful! On this hike the kids even spotted some teeny tiny tomatoes! Tiny like the size of a bb for a bb gun. I forgot to get a picture though I was so interested in them.

We were headed up to Fairy Falls when I checked the radar for the rain that was promised today. It looked about 30 minutes away so we decided to head back to the car. I don't mind hiking in the rain at all but combine it with cold and we are all instantly grumpy!  We ate lunch in the car and picked up Grammie and Laney to drive to gorge spots we were interested in seeing.

Our first stop was Mitchell Point. This spot is a cape in the gorge with a hike up that we bypassed with the threat of rain. There was a viewpoint with lots of wind at the base that we enjoyed though. This spot once had a five-windowed tunnel through a sheer rock face to continue the scenic highway. Unfortunately for us it was blasted away when they built the neighboring interstate.

Our next stop was Memaloose Overlook where we learned about these islands in the river. The native americans  living in the area never buried there dead but placed them in canoes on the river or in cedar vaults on islands like this one. Lewis and Clark made notes about these islands in their journals.  Many of the islands are now covered with water and this island is only one-third of what Lewis and Clark would have seen. There is a lone monument at one end of the island that is said to be the grave of a pioneer who wanted to be buried with his native american friends.

At this viewpoint a lady cycler noticed Brayden's Boston sweatshirt and struck up a conversation with him. The group seemed to be sisters from all over the country gathering to ride the scenic highway. They gave us some pointers of what to see along our travels along the gorge. One of them was this lovely barn. So many of our views could be turned into puzzles!

Our last stop in our climb around the gorge was Rowetta Crest. There were winding turns up and down both sides of this viewpoint. The kids had stopped getting out of the car by this point so I figured they were pretty much done for the day. The view was still just mountains and a river to them after all! I enjoyed learning about the construction of the roads anyway! We were so high up you could see the white caps in the river but couldn't tell they were moving at all. 

We ended the drive ready for naps so we headed back to Grammie's campground and the girls made cupcakes instead! What a luxury it is to be able to bake on the summer trip. Brayden and I emptied hiking backpacks and got things ready for our exit the next day. We took a stroll across the train tracks to the river for a few minutes of cold water therapy. There were a few kite surfers there so I was hopeful we would get to see them but they were done for the day.

The gremlins were hungry once we got back so once the cupcakes were iced we made much-anticipated tuna melts for dinner. Brayden had been asking for these since pretty much the first day of the trip so we finally made it happen. I think he liked them as he ended up eating 3!  It didn't improve his mood all that much so we ended up playing My Ship Has Sailed without him.

I took Ryan and Brayden back early so we could try to catch up on some sleep. They were reluctant to climb in the tent with it still being light out but once I let them read for a few minutes their eyes were very heavy. We all went to sleep before the sunset hoping the train would be less frequent tonight.

Day 34

I woke up this morning a little early and was surprised to find out the wifi could reach to our campsite! I wrote for a little while and started the long process of going through emails since we've been gone. I must check my email ten times a day when I'm at home, but on the road it just doesn't matter. Everyone who is important to me knows I'm not reachable so the rest just can wait!

We decided to make a quick breakfast of bagels and fruit and get on the road. We had a very long drive today with a grocery stop and a border crossing. Dave has become quite adept at packing up by now so I can just handle things as I have time in between wrangling kids and cooking breakfast. The kids definitely appreciate having the extra help instead of being the extra help!

We stopped for gas right around the corder as in these parts of Canada and Montana you might not see a town for 100 miles or more. The older Canadian versions of Jay & Silent Bob were standing outside smoking and noticed we are from Florida so they chatted with us for awhile about the hurricane. A guy on a motorcycle pulled up and starting chatting with us about where we'd been and where we're headed. It must be Dave because noone ever talks to me on the road. Or maybe they think I'm some crazy lady from Florida carting my three kids around the country!

Our next stop just down the road was none other than the World's Largest Teepee. I had a little help from Dave in planning this trip so this was one of his additions. We hadn't made it to many of his stops simply because our day was already long or they were just too weird. This stop was just down the road and I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of information there was here!

Once we got on the road, Dave finally got a taste of my Montana and Oklahoma drives this leg of the trip with us not seeing any city for most of the three hours he drove. I don't think we saw more than 6 cars in the 2 hours to the border. He also did much better crossing the border back into the U.S. as our border guard was not having any funny business. I think Dave was a little concerned he was going to confiscate the beer he'd bought but the guard let us go on.  And we finally found a real welcome sign for Montana!!

After about another hour we found a Walmart for a stock up. It was the smallest Walmart I'd even been in and by the time we got to the check out lanes I was ready to be back in the woods. Perhaps I'm not quite ready to get back to civilization yet.

We pulled into our next stop - a real RV park - and after a little confusion were setting up as was our normal routine. Ryan and Brayden had watched The Lord of the Rings movie in the car so all the kids ducked into the tent to play the Lego version. After I threw a couple loads on laundry in the washing machines, we adults prepped dinner and snacked a little as we watched some football. Hooray for DirectTV in the RV!!

We had a delicious dinner of salad with grilled shrimp while we watched and looked for hurricane updates. We were becoming spoiled with wifi at the last two places! The building with laundry also had a few bathrooms - real home kind of bathrooms eek! - so I took a shower once all the laundry was finished and everyone was in bed. I took a little while to edit pictures but got to bed by 11 as Grammie and I had already decided to get out of town by 8 with another long drive ahead of us.

Day 26

We woke up to beautiful blue skies this morning so we hurried to eat and get ready to enjoy the day. Grammie was to meet us at the Visitor's Center bright and early so we headed that way. The smoke was still visible to the west and we expected it to move our way throughout the day, but at least we could enjoy the view this morning.

The kids had been excited about exploring the tee pees at the center the day before so that was first this morning!  This area of the park was exceptionally windy so it was actually very nice to step inside for a break!

This national park is pretty unique as it shares a border with the Canadian park so they have developed a partnership to manage the parks together.  You'll also notice the Blackfeet Native American flag flying there too as their partnership with NPS is important as well.

We learned all about the history and wildlife of the park, the treaties created with the native americans already here and the environmental issues the park is facing. There was a topographical display of the mountains in the park and the changes the glaciers have gone through over the last 100 years and what is expected in the next 20 years.  The lights below represent the number of glaciers in the early 1900s.

The lights in this picture below represent the number of glaciers now.

And this is what is expected by 2030. None. No glaciers. What is Glacier National Park without glaciers??

The exhibit of native american stories and legends was especially interesting, but the kids were getting restless so I didn't get to see all of it. I grabbed a trail map for our area and got all the backpacks ready while the kids put on proper shoes and had a snack.  We were able to hop on the next hiker shuttle to our trail head within a few minutes.

Our hike today was to St. Mary Falls first. This was a busy trail through the forest with beautiful view of the St Mary lake. But when kids see water and rocks, they must go in! Brave Ryan was in after a few false starts, but the other two took a little while.

They begged me to come in because I hadn't back in Jackson but conveniently I didn't have my water shoes. They didn't either but they didn't remember to mention that! I had a little friend pestering me the whole time anyway.













We returned to the trail back to the fork in the trail that moved closer to the lake toward the next waterfall. The views on this hike were even better as we hiked along a ridge next to the lake.

By the time we all got to this waterfall it was unanimous - we all needed to pee. We stayed for a picture and kept going down the trail to the gorge and the shuttle stop.   The gorge was so neat to see we all wanted to climb back there to explore but knew better. 

We decided instead to wait for the shuttle. Brayden suggested we play an animal charade game while we waited to we took turns acting out animals in the park. Guess what Ryan was acting??

A bighorn sheep of course!!

We arrived back at our campground with a few hours before dinner, so we decided to relax and enjoy playing a few games.  We are still learning Munchkin so this is Dave's view much of the time during the game! Is that not the biggest set of directions you've ever seen for a card game??


I was starting dinner just as Grammie drove up so we enjoyed broccoli soup and her delicious salad then she surprised us all with brownies for dessert! As we were cleaning up the interpretive ranger let us know the program would be starting soon so we headed over after a few minutes.

Tonight's program topic was wildflower to which I almost backed out and stayed at the campsite. I decided against it as we'd never been to a bad program and I was so glad I did. This ranger did a fantastic job educating us all about the wildflowers in Glacier. We had so much fun along with everyone else in the crowd!

She did especially well when there were a few bears walking on the rocks above our campground and the wildlife specialist was blowing air horns and the campers were all screaming to scare her and the cubs away. She just happened to be in the middle of her speech about bear safety as we watch the momma and adorable cubs climb by on the rocks up above her.  What a treat to see them!

We said goodbye to Grammie once more with a plan to meet up on the west side of the park for our next few nights. Brayden was a little nervous about the night after spotting the bear but he fell asleep before we did for sure.