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Valley of Fire State Park

Jonathan Longnecker / May 16, 2016

After our mud filled disaster with the help of some good friends we got back on solid ground at Lake Mead. This allowed us go explore Valley of Fire State Park - which happened to be right down the road!

In case you didn’t know, Valley of Fire gets its name from red sandstone formations, created from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs. Basically all the rocks are a shockingly bright red.

Lake Mead Boondocking Disaster!

Jonathan Longnecker / May 09, 2016

It’s funny the lessons you keep telling yourself you’ve learned only to totally ignore them a few days later. For example: Don’t go more than 4 hours on travel days. Or: Don’t show up to a boondocking spot when it’s dark. Ever.

We had already nearly gotten stuck in someone’s driveway when we got to Whitewater Draw after dark. Thankfully they didn’t shoot us and had an area we could get turned around in.

Like Ashley said in the last post, we decided to break our 4 hour rule and try to make it all the way to Lake Mead which was 6 hours away. Due to some unplanned grocery stops the sun was going down when we got to the boondocking spot that night. Sigh, how did we do this again.

I had said several times I was really worried about getting stuck in the mud - mostly because it was scheduled to rain the next couple of days. What we didn’t know was that it must have absolutely dumped a few days before we got there.

So picture this - us with our 23,000lbs of RV headed down a primitive road to an area surrounding a lake bed at dusk.  Unaware that there were areas of complete mud/sand mush waiting for us.

I’m already freaking out because the sun is going down, it’s raining and on the main road there were several huge washout areas. And Ashley was convinced we needed to make it up to the ridge overlooking the lake. I have to say we learned a lot about communication that night. First that I need to voice my concerns and stick by them and second that Ashley needs to realize I’m not crazy. Most of the time :)

Needless to say, I saw a nice spot when the ground was still solid, but let her talk me into continuing up to the ridge. We turned the corner, headed up the road and started sliding everywhere. This wasn’t good. But we couldn’t really turn around. So we tried to make it up the hill and got completely stuck. 

Christmas Granola

Ashley Longnecker / May 05, 2016

I’ll be the first to admit it. I love cereal. Like, sometimes I would buy a box of Reeses Puffs and hide them so that I could eat it in the evening after the kids have gone to bed and maybe wait until Jonathan was in the shower…. I know, I’m a horrible person. But if I let the kids eat it, we’d be done with the box in one sitting. So, really I was just trying to stretch a dollar…right?

Anyways, I haven’t done that for a while now. In fact, I’ve been trying to find something my kids would like to eat in the morning that is quick, doesn’t involve me cooking, and is they can do on their own. But, it has to be healthy. Then I found this recipe by Two Raspberries. I’ve modified it to fit what our family likes and I'm telling you, it's so tasty. 

So, if you’re ready for your house to smell like Christmas morning, make sure you have these ingredients on hand!

• 5 Cups Rolled Oats
• 1 Cup Dried Cranberries
• 1 Cup Dried Cherries
• 2/3 Cup Coconut Oil
• 1 Cup Walnuts
• 1/2 Cup Pecans
• 3-6 ounces Dark Chocolate (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon Real Pink Sea Salt
• 1.5 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Real Maple Syrup
• 2/3 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
• 2 teaspoons Real Vanilla

Ok, got it? Let’s get baking!

First, dump your oats in a bowl. Then add your cinnamon, salt and chopped up nuts. Mix all that together.

Alamo Lake to Lake Mead

Ashley Longnecker / May 01, 2016

When we left our friends in Phoenix, we headed to Alamo Lake State Park. We only stayed a couple days as we were wanting to get up to Lake Mead and spend some time in Nevada.

We ended up with one of the best sites in the park. We enjoyed watching the birds and the kids enjoyed picking up seed pods from the ground and opening them up.

Hiking the Dog Canyon Trail in Alamogordo, NM at Oliver Lee State Park

Jonathan Longnecker / April 26, 2016

We've hiked a decent amount of trails since we started traveling. Most of the time they're fairly easy - we do still have a 4 year old after all! We've done a few difficult ones, too. All of those trails we've just kind of mentioned in posts about the area or threw up a couple of pictures on Instagram. But this trail gets it's own post. Because it was hands down the most beautiful, spectacular and difficult trail I've ever been on. Seriously.

It all started when Ashley found Oliver Lee Memorial State Park - a first come first serve park and campground at the base of the Sacramento Mountains. She showed me one picture and the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "yes."