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Zion National Park by shuttle

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak
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Zion National Park by shuttle

I last visited Zion National Park in 1993. Since then, they have closed the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive to private vehicles (except up as far as the lodge and campground if you are staying there). We were thinking having to ride a shuttle would diminsh the experience. We wouldn’t be able to see everything we wanted easily or we’d be stuck waiting for a shuttle along the route.

 

It turned out that the free shuttle improved our experience. The only vehicles on the road were shuttles, which, during mid-day, ran every 7-10 minutes apart, plus a few bicycles. There was always room and we only waited for 7 or 8 minutes once, when we just missed a shuttle pulling out. If you ride up and back without getting off, the round trip takes about 90 minutes. The drivers tell you what’s along the route, though you can sign up for one shuttle with a ranger aboard, which takes 2 hours. The ranger-narrated shuttle tour left at 9 a.m., so check for times and availability as soon as you arrive at the visitor center.

 

At Zion you are at the bottom of a canyon with steep walls- a different perspective than a park like the Grand Canyon where you are at the top looking down. We got off at nearly every stop. You can access several hikes from shuttle stops. We did the half-mile round trip up to Weeping Rock and back, plus the two-mile Riverside walk along the Virgin River canyon. Both were handicapped accessible. You can do challenging hikes like the one to Angels Landing as well. The lodge, one of the stops, has a coffee shop, cafe, restaurant and gift shop.

 

Parking is available at the visitor center, but that often fills up by 10 a.m. Another free shuttle runs through the town of Springdale with several stops and more parking to take to you the park entrance. From May 20 to September 8, shuttles run from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. More information on shuttle schedules can be found here.

 

We came in from the east on Highway 9. It is a gorgeous drive, however, it is best if you leave your RV at a campground and drive your tow or toad vehicle in. You need to drive through two tunnels with height and width restrictions. Vehicles with a combined length of move than 50′ are prohibited. RVs less than 40′ long (single vehicle) can enter but will have to pay a $15 escort fee. In fact, with our dually truck, we had to pay the $15 because it exceeds the width limits. If you have an oversized vehicle, the tunnel is closed to traffic coming the other way while you go through. Large RVs can come in from the south on Highway 9 through Springdale to reach the park.

 

If you’d like to spend more time there, you could work for one of the concessionaires. Click here to read more about jobs at Zion at the Working on the RV Road blog. Or here for information on volunteering at a national park.

 

This is one of the top natural national parks and a visit is often combined to other national parks in the area like Bryce Canyon, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, plus other Utah parks. If you haven’t been yet, put it on your list! Jaimie

The ‘House On The Rock’ Treasure Chest Goes On And On And On

RV Staff
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The ‘House On The Rock’ Treasure Chest Goes On And On And On
In the 1940’s Alex Jordan, a eccentric collector and dreamer with a wild imagination, purchased a 60-foot chimney rock in the beautiful Wyoming
Valley of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
He painstakingly began to build a weekend retreat – all supplies were carried up by hand. But because people kept asking to see what he was building, he began to charge 50 cents for the tour. He called his house foundation ‘Deer Shelter Rock’ and his structure slowly transformed into an architectural wonder. The House is so much more than a static museum.
Over the years Alex’s original 14 rooms expanded to numerous buildings and collections that seem endless – esthetic beautiful floral garden displays highlighted each area. It officially opened to the public in 1961.
Our first visit in 1987 was simply mind-boggling but every time we returned the displays have grown and become more extensive. The collections include rare and unique treasures from around the world.
In 1988 Alex sold ‘The House’ to his partner and friend, Art Donaldson – Art shared Alex’s enthusiasm although Alex stayed on staff until his death a year later. Art has made every effort to continue and expand Alex’s dream.
Huge extensive collections include items such as Cannons, Dolls, Circus angels and the amazing Carousel, one of a kind Organs, Circus room; Streets and Music of Yesterday, a huge Christmas collection during the season and, and and; the listings seem endless. Of course no one should miss the original 14 rooms plus the infinity room.

The House is undergoing major renovations and expansion during the next 3-years but it continues to remain open. This complex has grown so large in size that it may be advantageous for visitors to choose a shorter single tour; however a combined extensive three-tours-in-one is also available. John and I visit this one of a kind ‘Gem’ every few years to appreciate the changes, but we split up and meet several hours later. He isn’t interested in the doll room and/or similar items and I had too much to see to spend time appreciating the extensive gun collection.

The House on the Rock expansion now includes an inn, resort, golf course, restaurants and mega garden displays inside and out. Various campgrounds are located nearby
For more details please check out the official website of the House on the Rock

Visit The Grand Central Station Of The Underground Railroad

Jim Twamley
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Visit The Grand Central Station Of The Underground Railroad

Here is a side trip worth taking. The Levi Coffin house was built in 1839 in Newport (now Fountain City) by the coffin family. Levi was a Quaker businessman who moved from North Carolina to Indiana in 1826 because he and his wife Catharine opposed slavery. This house was built with hiding places to conceal people who were escaping slavery.

Levi sold goods that were “free-labor” meaning that they were not produced using slave labor. After living in this house and assisting more than 2000 slaves to freedom, they moved to Cincinnati and aided another 1300 to freedom. All the people the Coffins helped were never re-captured. From Richmond, Indiana, take highway 27 north to Fountain City. The house is on highway 27 in the center of town. There is no designated RV parking at this historic site, but you can park on the street in front of the house for 30 minutes. The house tours are only open to the public from June 1 through August 31. Admission is $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for children.

On the way, be sure to stop at the Amish deli and bakery, “Fountain Acres Foods” which will be on your right hand side just before you get to Fountain City. Here you will find wonderful baked goods and an interesting view of Amish culture.
You may want to pick up a shoo-fly pie or some of those mouth watering chocolate chip cookies, in fact I recommend you buy several packages because they go fast! Jim Twamley

Travel back in time to 1905

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak
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Travel back in time to 1905

The butler admitted the small group of us to the “cottage” where we were greeted by Mr and Mrs. Bourn, dressed to the nines. Mrs. Bourn asked if we had come by train since we weren’t dusty! We’d been warned that the people in this house were living in 1905 and we’d have to step back into their time.

The “cottage,” of Cottswald design, was a 4600 square foot house the Bourns resided in for two or three weeks each year when they visited their property, the Empire Mine. It was the largest and richest of the California gold mines, producing more than $35,000,000 in gold between 1850 and 1956.

Once gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, 49ers poured over the hills of the Sierra Nevadas. The Empire began as a claim on Ophir Hill, one mile southeast of Grass Valley. Through a succession of owners and purchases, the claim grew. More than 300 miles of tunnels honeycombed the claim to a depth of just short of two miles. Its most prosperous time was under W. B. Bourn, Jr., owner, and George Starr, superintendent.

The mine is now a California State Historic Park and worth a visit. The grounds near the cottage are lovely. Tall, old-growth Ponderosa dot the lawns, fragrent rose bushes line the walks. Besides the living history tour of the cottage, you can tour the gardens and the mineyards. Check the schedule and hours; tours vary by day and season. You can wander around the mine yard by yourself. Blacksmiths were working in that shop during our visit. On some occasions you can buy a “pasty” for lunch. These are the meat pies that miners took with them down into the mine for their meals. And you can take numerous walking trails to explore the park. In the works is an underground tour to actually experience the same environment, sights, and sounds as those experienced by working miners.

Besides chatting with Mr and Mrs. Bourn and George Starr, the superintendent,about the latest discovery in the mine plus the wonders of electricity in the cottage, the maid led us through the library and into the province of Katie, the live-in housekeeper/cook. We saw her splendid stove, fired by wood that cost $26- $10 more than the plain style of the day.

It you are in the mood to step back into time and to experience this vital part of California’s history, put the Empire Mine State Historic Park on your list. Leave your RV where you are camping, though, and drive your toad or towed vehicle. Bring a picnic lunch and your walking shoes and enjoy the day! Jaimie

Corvette Heaven Is Located In Kentucky!

Jim Twamley
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Corvette Heaven Is Located In Kentucky!

The National Corvette Museum is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky with easy access off of I-65. There is plenty of RV parking in the front of the museum. This museum, dedicated to the Chevy Corvette, is housed in a 68,000 square foot superstructure featuring an 11 story-high Skydome. It’s open seven days a week, 8am to 5pm Central Time (closed on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day and New Year’s Day. Prices are $8.00 adult, $4.50 youth 6-16, Children are free. Family rate (same household) $20.00. If you like Corvettes this is the place to go! I especially enjoyed the Corvette juke box. This did not come as standard equipment.Don’t forget to pick up a Corvette souvenir at the gift shop on your way out. Check out this cherry ride! This is what I call “Pleasant Under Glass”.Oh, by the way this Museum is about to expand to incorporate more displays and space for Corvette Clubs to meet and display their rides.

You can take a virtual tour of the museum here:
National Corvette Museum

The ‘Precious Moments Complex’ Is Second To None

RV Staff
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The ‘Precious Moments Complex’ Is Second To None

Our first visit to this incredible place in the early 90’s is deeply etched into our memory. We discovered it by accident, but it has become one of our most ‘moving’ stops during our 22 years of Fulltime travels. The complex has expanded since our impressive first visit – now it even includes Cubby Bear’s Campground.

Artist, Samuael J Butcher was inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Rome. He designed, created and constructed the Precious Moments Chapel as his way of sharing the joy of his faith with the world; it has become his crowning work. If memory serves me well this picture includes many real life physically challenged children that visited the Chapel during the early days.

The Chapel is so much more than just a building, it has touched the lives of those who enter its doors with a sense of peace, hope, and promise since it opened in 1989.

Peruse the website for a moving experience and if your travels take you near Carthage, Missouri, be sure to explore this one of a kind stopping spot.
Click here for more info about this unforgetable place. Click here for info about Precious Moments Cubby Bear’s campground.

Moaning Caverns – for the adventurous

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak
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Moaning Caverns – for the adventurous

468 steps down and back up. It was either that or rappel down. George and I chose the steps to go to the bottom of Moaning Caverns, the largest vertical chamber in a public cavern that you can see in California. My legs paid for it the next day but it was worth it.


Last year Workampers Jim and Marcie Cumberland invited us to see the Moaning Caverns where they were working. Marcie worked in the gift shop, Jim gave tours. They have moved on to new caverns but we finally got there since it is only about an hour from Stockton where we were attending the Escapee RV Club’s Escapade.

It was a rainy day so this “wet cave” was actively dripping—on our heads—as we descended. The formations in a “wet cave” are still growing while a dry cave (like Grand Canyon Caverns or Mitchell Caverns in the Mojave) are not. Moaning Caverns has all types of cave formations, known as speleothems, such as stalactites and stalagmites, popcorn and helictites. The largest formation is a type of travertine flowstone called the Chocolate Waterfall. It looks chocolate-colored because the water flows over terra rosa clay with iron oxide, incorporating it into the flowstone.
Bruce, the manager and our guide for the morning, gave us a history of the caverns and told us how it got its name. Standing at the bottom, we were able to hear noises rather like the playing of a timpani drum. Before the caverns were developed, people would hear that sound, blended together into a moan, coming out of the opening.

For the more adventurous, you can don equipment and rappel through the original opening of the caverns to the bottom of the main chamber— 165 feet down. Or you can take a 3-hour adventure tour to explore one of the deeper chambers with an optional rappel. Equipment is provided for both.

The tour was fascinating. Because of the geology of this region, a number of caverns were created in this area millions of years ago and this Sierra foothills country is where miners combed these hills for gold during the California Gold Rush. We were wishing we had more time to explore Angel’s Camp and the surrounding location. That will have to happen another visit. Jaimie

Little Grand Canyon Is RV Unfriendly

Jim Twamley
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Little Grand Canyon Is RV Unfriendly

Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia is also known as Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon.” This is misleading because this small canyon does not compare to the real Grand Canyon by any stretch of the imagination. It is however a pretty spot for a picnic or a nice hike.I do not recommend taking your RV into this small park because you will have difficulty turning around once inside. I recommend only using your towed vehicle or your towing vehicle when you visit. It has an interpretive center, playground and picnic area. Click here for directions and more information: Providence Canyon State Park

Georgia’s Little White House Holds A Secret

Jim Twamley
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Georgia’s Little White House Holds A Secret
This is a short stop thas has the potential to become a longer visit. Jimmy Carter wasn’t the only President to call Georgia home. Franklin D. Roosevelt bought some property and built a house in Georgia in 1932 just prior to becoming President of the United States. He suffered from polio and used the natural warming springs of this area to treat his condition.
Photo Courtesy of Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Little White House State Historic Site

Georgia’s “Little White House” is open to the public to explore the grounds, house, servant’s quarters and Secret Service guard house.You’ll enjoy the exhibits in the 11,000 square foot museum that include a short film narrated by Walter Cronkite describing the Great Depression and how the FDR administration responded to it. Over 100,000 people visit this historic site each year. Admission is $7.00 adults, $6.00 seniors, $5.00 for kids 6-18 under and 5 an under are free. Yes, the little White House holds a secret, several in fact, but you’ll have to visit to find out what they are. Check out the website here: Little White House

If the museum is not crowded, you’ll find ample parking for your RV in the parking lot.
The small town of Warm Springs, Georgia is a charming little burg near FDR’s house. Main street is filled with shops and restaurants and around the corner is a gift shop called Singing Saw Farm – you’ll definitely find something different here. Also located in this area is Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park with great hiking trails and 140 tent and RV sites. Whether you’re fishing, boating, horseback riding, swimming or just relaxing you’re sure to find this park refreshing. Other nearby attractions include Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park and Callaway Gardens.

Wallow in mud!

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak
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Wallow in mud!
While most people go to Napa Valley to taste wine, we go to the north end of the valley to play in the mud. Calistoga, long known for its healthful mineral water and spas, is also home to mud baths. We like Golden Haven because we can relax in the mud in adjoining tubs rather than go to separate baths for men and women.

We met our RV friend Betty in Calistoga well before our appointment so we’d have time to look around and have lunch. After lunch at the restaurant and brewery at the Calistoga Inn we headed to the spa so we could have time in the mineral pool and hot tub, included in the package.

The basic package includes a mud bath, blanket wrap and hot mineral Jacuzzi with options for massages or facials. The rooms have two or three tubs so you can share the experience with a companion. Suits are optional in the mud rooms.

The mud is actually a mixture of volcanic ash clay and peat moss mixed with mineral water. Like an air mattress, the mud conforms to your body and supports you evenly, allowing your body to totally relax.

After about twelve minutes in the mud, we hosed off, then stepped into a sunken Jacuzzi for another ten minutes or so. Next we were then led to a darkened room and wrapped in a warmed sheet and wool blanket. Soothing music with ocean waves in the background played as we relaxed, cooled off and almost fell asleep. (Actually George did.) We were so relaxed, it was hard to get up. We declined the massage since we driving back to our RV and figured that would truly put us to sleep. We skipped stopping at wineries for the same reason.

Golden Haven offers mid-week specials and other packages. The Chamber of Commerce lists spas in the area.

This was my third visit to the mud baths at Golden Haven, George’s second. There are many other things to do in the area but put this unique activity on your list. Like us, when you make the trek through Northern California, you’ll detour for a relaxing soak in the mud. Jaimie

Casitoga is a special place for author Jaimie Hall. She is co-editor of RV Traveling Tales: Women’s Journeys on the Open Road. In its “Heart Places” section, women share destinations that are special for them. Available at RVBookstore.com

World’s Smallest Police Station Is In Carrabelle, Florida

RV Staff
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World’s Smallest Police Station Is In Carrabelle, Florida

Ten years ago John and I spent a glorious week in a laidback fishing village nestled along highway 98 on Florida’s panhandle. At that time the only place to shop was a small convenience store – box stores and large grocery stores were non-existent. Carrabelle worked hard to remain a little known utopia for boaters and fishermen.

Their one claim to fame was they were proud of the ‘World’s Smallest Police Station’ – a telephone booth complete with a police beacon on top situated on main street in town centre.

Early April, John and I took a trip down memory lane and we are happy to see that Carrabelle is still a picturesque laidback fishing village and their tiny ‘Police Station’ continues to stand watch.

These days there is a second beachfront campground, plus the beautiful one we stayed at has expanded. It ‘s enlightening to find that there are still parts of this world that have managed to resist change to maintain their community image.

More details click here.

A date shake pick-me-up on a windy afternoon

Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak
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A date shake pick-me-up on a windy afternoon

Today was a long day of driving, more than we usually do in one day. We drove 320 miles from San Dimas, California to Delhi, off Route 99. It was quite windy. Fuel mileage dropped.
South of Fresno, around 2 p.m. as I was napping, George saw a sign for date shakes. And another. And another. Traver, basically a truck-stopping place right off the highway, was the spot. We pulled off for a break and a shake. On a long driving day like today, Bravo Farm’s date shake tasted wonderful. Besides date shakes and burgers, you could talk to Pancho the parrot, buy a souvenier and fuel up. What more can you ask for in a break?

My favorite date shake, actually the date-banana shake, is at Hadley’s Fruit Orchard in Cabazon, 16 miles west of Palm Springs. Anytime we make the trip from Arizona to Los Angeles, we stop at Hadleys.

Now that we are set up at the Merced River Resort in Delhi, windy as it is, I need a walk. Othewise, I’ll be carrying around that date shake for a long time! Jaimie

Jaimie edits the “Working on the RV Road” blog and is the author of Support Your RV LIfestyle! An Insider’s Guide to Working on the Road, 2nd ed. See RVBookstore.com.

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