Coming Soon Cades Cove, Smokey National Park

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PNW Week 1 June 17 to June 23

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Greetings and thank you for reading our blog. We embarked upon our Van life adventure to the Pacific NorthWest (PNW) on Tuesday June 17. Working steady in the weeks leading up to our departure  was a lot so pulling out of the driveway was celebratory and a big relief. Unlike boat life, we'll be able to literally stop anywhere we want for anything we need so whatever we may have forgotten will not be a problem.  8 am and its off we go on our Van life adventure to the PNW. Bella has found her preferred spot between the two front seats on the floor while we're underway. It's an odd space to us because she can't see out the windows but she insists on it so we try to make it as comfy with her bed and a fan. June 17 & 18 - Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky  a Unesco World Heritage sight with over 400 miles of mapped continuous passages making it the longest cave in the world is our first stop.  We have reservations for 2 nights in the campground because there is muc...
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PNW Week 2 - June 24 to June 30

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After a week on the road we're settling in to a loose routine and fine tuning the organization of our stuff. Tight ship!  June 23  & 24 Clear Lake State Park, Clear Lake, Iowa In the morning Jonathan puts our destination into Google Maps and applies the 'avoid freeways' filter. This has us taking the back roads and routing us through some pretty interesting small towns. Then I plug the route information into ChatGPT and ask for highly rated lunch restaurants and quirky tourist attractions. Mason City, Iowa is first up and here we visit the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright designed hotel and his Stockman House. Though he never lived in Mason City the town's architectural history celebrates Wright's work with its artsy downtown square and many neighborhoods and houses of the architect's Prairie School design. After our self guided tour it's time for lunch. There is a Hy-Vee just around the corner and it is fried pork cutlet sandwich Tuesday. Score! On to ...
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PNW Week 3

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July 1 - Wind Cave National Park This is our last stop in South Dakota and home to the 6th longest cave in the world. This site has great significance for the Lakota People who believe that it's where their emergence from the spirit world began. The National Park Service honors their heritage. When we arrive at the visitor center it's mid-day, crowded, and hot.  We talk to the ranger who gives us some tips for some good hikes nearby.  We drive to the campground a mile up the road within the park boundary. There is no electric so we situate Bella Vato in the only small patch of shade, put out the awning to create our own and relax in the breeze. Not bad. Later in the evening we attend a talk by the ranger about prairie lands. In the morning we leave the site by 6:30 to a hike that takes us by the Lakota sacred cave site then out to the prairie. As we drive out of the park to head to Wyoming we see one last lone bison.  State Park camp grounds frown upon unleashed dogs and ...
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