You have probably played this game before but these are unique to experiences that we have had since we left Utah in June of 2018. You get one point for every line that you have not experienced. Like golf, the lowest score wins. Leave your score in the comments and a short story about your craziest experience related to the list.
Never have I ever.... 51. Gone ghost crab hunting 52. Sat in the cockpit of a Blue Angel plane 53. Ate gator 54. Ate dinner with a wild flock of turkey 55. Been to a field of painted Cadillacs 56. Walked the rim of a volcano 57. Driven through a canyon in a car with the top down 58. Listened to sea lions barking for 24 hours a day 59. Used the toilet with the company of a scorpion 60. Become a Jr Ranger at over 15 US National Parks in just 3 months 61. Walked through the forest of Endor from Star Wars 62. Experienced the distinct aroma of a 2 month old rotting whale carcass 63. Constructed a sea creature out of driftwood on a Washington beach 64. Visited the cabin of Lewis and Clark 65. Climbed through the bow of a shipwreck 66. Went hiking with banana slugs 67. Visited Tillamook cheese factory 7 times within 4 days 68. Walked across a covered bridge 69. Ate dinner with a grey whale 70. Been splashed by a puffin 71. Shared a cave with 2500 lb sea lions 72. Added my gum to the famous Gum Wall Seattle 73. Ate lunch from products exclusively from a farmer's market 74. Climbed a 30 foot mountain made of oyster shells 75. Played ocean keep away - and won 76. Slept in a tree house 77. Been on evacuation watch for wild fires 78. Had our picture taken with Paul Bunion and Babe the blue ox 79. Driven through a tree 80. Spent the night at a highway rest stop 81. Explored a sea cave 83. Been to Glass Beach and not taken a piece of beach glass with you 84. Had a picnic at a winery in Napa Valley 85. Swam in Lake Tahoe 86. Visited an old west ghost town frozen in time - (Body, CA) 87. Walked on a columnar jointing rock formation 88. Rode on electric bikes through the mountains 89. Explored an abandoned observatory in the Mojave Desert 90. Ran into a friend from your home state in the middle of Joshua Tree National Park 91. Experienced 114 degree Fahrenheit temperatures 92. Sledded down the sand dunes in White Sands National Park 93. Walked in 11,000 year old dwellings in New Mexico 94. Said, "Remember the Alamo" at the Alamo 95. Toured the Earthship Community in Taos, NM 96. Saw the "Worlds Largest Rocking Chair" 97. Walked around inside Colorado's oldest church 98. Took a picture with the Worlds' Largest Pistachio 99. Ordered your burrito Christmas style in New Mexico 100. Met your favourite princess, in her castle, at Disneyland
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You have probably played this game before but these are unique to experiences that we have had since we left Utah in June of 2018. You get one point for every line that you have not experienced. Like golf, the lowest score wins. Leave your score in the comments and a short story about your craziest experience related to the list.
Never have I ever.... 1. Bought a crab pot to go crabbing 2. Pet a baby tiger, lion, and/or cheetah 3. Made eye contact with a grey whale 4. Had a chickadee land on my hand or head 5. Built a shelter in the woods 6. Sold my house, most worldly goods, and moved to another country 7. Slept in a mini van for 3 straight months 8. Ate bear 9. Walked among the Saguaro Cactus 10. Been within 10 feet of a wild bear 11. Been in 3 provinces within 40 mins 12. Built an ice igloo in the middle of a town square 13. Been approached by a wild shark 14. Drank beer with an Orca (Killer Whale) 15. Went ice skating on a driveway or parking lot (in actual ice skates) 16. Stood in line for more then 25 minutes for a doughnut 17. Ate a "bird's nest" 18. Walked on the ocean floor 19. Have made maple candy on fresh snow 20. Have won free doughnuts in "roll up the rim to win" 21. Have seen a two headed cow skeleton 22. Made an outdoor ice sun-catcher 23. Been hit by a deer while driving 24. Waited over 7 hours at a hospital for a very minor concern 25. Drove across the longest bridge over frozen water 26. Took a porcupine for a walk on a sled 27. Had the magical experience of being present for the birth of a grandchild 28. Had a visit from Flat Stanley 29. Known what a fishing weir is 30. Cut your own Christmas tree from your property 31. Participated in Dinovember (this was our third year in a row!) 32. Made an edible snow person 33. Stacked 3 cords of wood for your winter heat 34. Had partridge berry jam 35. Snuggled with an emu 36. Ate lobster in Maine 37. Experienced fall colours in Acadia National park 38. Travelled across the US with Buddha on your dashboard 39. Seen the Hope Diamond 40. Stargazed with the secret service 40. Met a 4 star general 41. Watched the VP fly in and out of his home 42.Touched writings from Galileo and Plato 43. Been smiled at by a whale shark 44. Played chase with a Beluga whale 45. Gone beach combing on a Florida beach in the nude 46. Walked in the footsteps of Marten Luther King Jr. on the freedom walk 47. Scratched the head of a Texas Long Horn 48. Been to a slave market 49. Done grave rubbings on a great grandparent's stone 50. Picked cotton As the snow has melted and driving conditions have improved, we have been itching to get out and do some more exploring. Although, spring in the Maritimes brings with it a whole new exciting set of driving conditions... potholes, washed out roads, and MUD. We have begun a few driving exploration trips and had to abort them as we were worried we would get stuck. Not today though! We have been wanting to head over to Moncton, New Brunswick for a while now and today was the day.
Ultimately, it is only another 30 minutes past the bigger town we visit for our larger shopping trips... so only about an hour and a half from home - closer then Halifax even. Being spring, things were still pretty quiet on the tourist front but we did drive down the river to visit the Hopewell Rocks and iconic Bay of Fundy destination. The drive out to the rocks took about 40 minutes from Moncton and was on a lovely, meandering road that followed the river to the open bay. Although the area is "closed" and there were quite a few signs warning that if we do go down to the beach we are doing so at our own risk, we decided it was worth it. We actually spoke to 3 locals, one of whom worked for the visitor's center and mentioned we were allowed to go down. Normally, I am a rule follower and would not have gone but the locals made us feel more confident. I do have to say that I am very glad we did as the rocks are just beautiful, and we had them all to ourselves. I can imagine how busy it gets there in the summer, so to have the beach to ourselves was quite a treat. We were cautious of getting too close to the cliff, with it being spring, the danger of rock fall would be even higher. As we wandered back towards the car we looked back at one of the rocks and discovered it looked very much like a face which always makes me smile as I feel as though it is a guardian for the area. After speaking to a lovely gentleman who lived up the road we know that we want to come visit in the summer to explore that shore and travel further south to the fishing villages, Fundy National Park, and Cape Enrage. Living on the road for 4 months and driving over 10,000 miles in our converted minivan has provided us with many helpful hints for spending extended time on the road with a 4 year old.
1. Create a basic plan for your trip, but understand that flexibility is key. We would lay out all the things we aimed to see or accomplish but we also had the understanding that we had to travel and spend time at each of those locations on a 4 year-old's time constraints. This would include how far we drove, the extra things we would stop and see, the number of stops we would make, the types of places where we would stop, and the length of time we would stay at each stop. 2. Visit friends and family along the route whenever possible. Will and I are cool but boy did she crave interactions with other people, especially small people. They have rooms, and cool new toys, new foods and often pets that Dylan would crave. We were fortunate to have family and friends in many of the states to which we would visit. 3. Take time to find opportunities for the kids to interact with other kids. Look for city parks or playgrounds for the kids to be kids and continue to interact with other kids....especially if you are travelling with kids that are in the age group just learning how to play with other kids so that they don't loose their child communication skills (sharing, taking turns, speaking kindly). This may sound silly, but we noticed Dylan would slip into selfishness quickly when she wasn't given the opportunity to interact with kids. 4. Alone time. When living in such a small space and being together 24/7 it is important for all those involved to have some time to themselves - even if it is only for a few minutes a day....a walk on the beach alone, sitting in the van while the other takes the child for a play at the playground, an early morning walk before the others awoke, staying up late to stargaze while the other two are in bed, even things like shopping alone, laundromat alone and even a 10 minute shower can rejuvenate you for the day. 5. Ensure everything has its own space and put it there each day. Living in such a tight space and having all the gear needed for your time on the road can make for a very messy van by the end of the day. We found that if we did one good tidy up each day that we weren't so overwhelmed. 6. Extra space. Going along with number 5, ensure that when you are preparing for your trip you leave a little bit of extra room for the the things you collect or accumulate along the way. 7. Ensure your child knows where their things are and make them accessible as possible. Rig up your child's travel space so that they can reach the things they use regularly, that way they can be a little more self-sufficient while you are actually travelling. We strapped a travel table to the seat in front of Dylan with all her art supplies and electronics - that way she could work on things without us having to help. She also had a bin at her feet, below her car seat, that housed all of her things...it had her hiking pack, her backpack of toys, and extras that pertain to her. That way she always knew where her things were and could help with the clean up each day. 8. Balance treats and healthy snacks. It is very easy to stop at a gas station to grab a treat when on potty breaks or gassing up but all those treats add up. We learned to avoid gas stations for potty breaks and go to rest stops or visitors centers so that she (or us for that matter) wasn't tempted. Make sure to have a supply of quick grab, healthy snacks available at all times for in the car and to throw in your backpack for hikes. Also, in order to allow Dylan to have some control, she had a wallet with her own money that she could spend as she saw fit. Often times it was on treats, but other times she would save for a toy or souvenir. Before leaving on our trip, we had a half-birthday party for her with her friends in Utah. Many of her friends gave her gift cards for places like 7-11 which worked very well. 9. Budget for a few of the extra experiences along the way. I feel as though we did a fantastic job of living quite minimally while living on the road BUT we did ensure that we saved a bit of money for a few of the iconic things to do in each of the areas...like whale-watching in the Puget sound, or eating really good BBQ in Texas, and our biggest expense, Disneyland. 10. Find your spot for the night while it is still light. We found that for peace of mind and peace in the van that finding our spot before dinner was the best plan for our family. Halfway through our travels, we heard about an app called iOverlander which provides excellent suggestions from campgrounds to free overnight parking areas. Definitely a resource we would recommend. A lot has happened since our last blog post. We fell out of the blogging lifestyle for a little bit and therefore wanted to catch everyone up.
Due to Hurricane Michael hitting the Florida panhandle at the beginning of October, we took a mini-vacation to Alabama where we had the opportunity to visit Gwendylan's great-grandmother's resting place in Selma. Gwendylan is named for this amazing woman so it was nice to introduce her to her namesake. We spent the night in Montgomery amidst a torrential downpour and on our way back to Florida, enjoyed an autumn celebration at Holland Farms. Once back in Florida, we celebrated Carolyn's birthday, enjoyed fresh seafood from the Gulf, toured historic downtown Pensacola, enjoyed bird-watching, and astronomy on the beach, and celebrated the sale of our house! Our last morning provided a stunning sunrise over the beach as we packed the car and left Florida. A visit with family in Georgia as well as an incredible visit to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta prepared us for the journey north. Breakfast with friends in New Hampshire and an overnight to visit Acadia NP in Maine made for the best, last days in the USA before crossing the border. This was the end of the beginning of our journey. We have been supremely blessed to enjoy over three months on the road and over 15,000 miles across the country. We feel prepared to tackle a new chapter in A Bollder Way. We had the great fortune to be in Pensacola during the Seafood festival. Hundreds of local artists and restaurants were present during this event. The day being as hot as it was, we needed a snow cone and rainbow was the best choice for flavor and color. We wanted Dylan to try some food that she had never had so we ordered Gators and Taters. It took a little while to convince her to try it but she did have a bite. She was not impressed. Dylan also learned about ghost crabs this week. She knows that they mostly come out at night and dig holes 4 feet deep into the sand. That night, we went on a ghost crab hunt and found several dozen scattering up and down across the surf. More time in the sand and sun has left us with a lot of shells collected and tan lines well-defined.
Pensacola has many amazing opportunities - Not least of which is the National Naval Aviation Museum. The museum is free for those interested in visiting with the opportunity to pay for extra events like the movies and simulations. This place is huge! There are so many planes to see, including biplanes, fighters, cargo planes, and of course, the Blue Angels. There are countless cockpits to "pilot" and even the lunar module replica. Dylan and I spent about 3 hours here while Carolyn got the opportunity to get work done and relax at the condo. The first picture is compiled of Dylan sitting in an ejection seat on this trip and Carolyn in the same seat 6 years ago when we were on our honeymoon. There was one simulator that Dylan was tall enough to ride, Fly With the Blue Angels. I would say that it wasn't the most thrilling simulator as an adult but she would not stop talking about it afterwards. She has been begging to do the simulator again nearly every day since and told Carolyn that she would have "freaked out". Not being someone who is obsessed with planes as her nephew is (so we skyped with him while in a Blue Angel), I didn't think Dylan would last as long as she did. That being said, we had an absolute blast while Carolyn had some much-deserved alone time.
As we settle in to our new routine here in Florida we have decided that weekly field trips will be added to Dylan's home school routine. Our first official field trip was to Fort Pickens, a historic fort on the the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Construction began on the fort in 1828 and it remained in operation until 1947 to protect the mouth of Pensacola. Fort Pickens was one of 4 forts built in the area at that time, all within a few miles of each other. Although the fort did not see much action it was heavily involved in the Civil War. The fort is open to public exploration through a self guided, online tour explaining life in this fort when it was active. We were fortunate enough to be there during one of the canon demonstrations. At one time this fort had over 200 active canons used for protection. The ranger let us know that 70% of the fort is untouched while about 30% has been restored.
One of the lovely things about this area is that not only is this a fantastic old fort with hours of exploration through old tunnels and passages, but it is also a National Seashore with miles of gorgeous sandy shores for play. Although we did not have time to play on the beaches while we were there, we did come back the next week to explore the beaches. With a campground that offers overnight accommodations this park offers family friendly activities for an entire weekend. Pensacola Beach holds a special place in our hearts. Will has been coming here for 30 years with his family and it is where we spent 5 weeks on our honeymoon. The last time we were here was 5 years ago when Will's grandmother passed away. We are so happy to be here again with Dylan at our side. The sands comprised of mostly quartz will blow you away with how white they are ("White as sugar," Grandma Gwen used to say). The Gulf of Mexico is constantly lapping against those sands with new shells every day. The water in the gulf is clear and warm (as high as 86 degrees). Some days, when the temperature and humidity are both high, the water isn't even refreshing. It is more like bath water. But before midday and later in the afternoon, the sun and surf invite us to play.
We have the benefit of staying in our Aunt's condo on the 12th floor of the same building where Grandma Gwen lived. From this floor, we get a bird's eye view of the beach. From time to time, the Blue Angels fly by and we are eye to eye with the pilots. Aunt Stacey sent Dylan a kite for flying on the beach. The storms that rage out in the open ocean provide great winds for kite flying. The bay at the back of the condo tends to be much calmer than the open gulf, so on windy days we spend time kayaking or stand up paddle boarding. We are also very lucky to have a pool in the back that is usually warm and inviting as well -- so much so that Dylan has made it her goal to learn to swim on her own before we leave Florida. A few evenings a week, different locations on the beach have live music, which has turned into one of Dylan's favorite activities as she can shake her booty all night long (which is quite amusing to the adults around her). There are many reasons why we love this place, not the least of which is the seafood. There are many great restaurants on the beach but our favorite thing to do is to buy fresh fish and shrimp from Joe Patti's to enjoy on the balcony. Pictures of the market to come later... Since we came to the South for our honeymoon 6 years ago, Carolyn has wanted to visit a plantation. We did not have the opportunity to do so back then but decided it was high time to do so as we traveled through Louisiana. Carolyn researched the plantations and found a website by Independent Travel Cats that had some amazing, comprehensive information regarding the plantations between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. There used to be hundreds of plantations along this road and currently there are just over a dozen open to the public for tours.
We chose the Houmas plantation because of the opulence of the house and gardens as well as the guided tour that was offered. We were not disappointed in the least. We chased lizards through the 38 acres of gardens and our tour guide, Karen, was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the area. There was no question we could ask to which she did not have an answer. The plantation originally comprised of 300,000 acres bought from the Houmas Native Americans for a paltry sum. Sugar cane was the primary crop grown on this land but they also grew cotton, corn, tobacco, and indigo. If you visit any plantations in this region, be sure to choose from the list given in the website above. This is one we would highly recommend. |
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April 2019
AuthorCarolyn and Will Bollwerk share their adventures with their 5 year-old daughter, Dylan. |