Destination, "Government Island"

The stars finally line up in my favor.  For weeks or months I have been threatening a overnighter on the sailboat. This weekend, my son is away at a scout outing and Linda says she’ll go with me. I think it helped that my daughter and her boy friend had announced they were going on their first kayak trip (around Government Island) since becoming kayak owners a week earlier. The boat is moored on the Columbia river and already has lots of gear on board, all we needed to gather was food and beverage, sleeping bags, books, cell phones, cameras and hit the road. 

Government Island is up river from Portland about five miles and is about seven miles long overall.  There are numerous

Do you let your schedule cause you to miss your vacation?

What does that mean? We have all done it, it's just part of being human and making decisions.  When planning a trip or vacation, we have some must see destinations, for instance, a special theme park, or a Broadway show, or Aunt Mollys condo on Maui.  But what about all the in between places that make a trip memorable and worthwhile, like the little roadside attraction that you knew nothing about.  Or a one hour stop  at the local gift shop.
A few years back we went to the beach for a weekend outing. I don't remember much of anything about the trip, except the Pelicans that hovered over the jetty, the craft fair with live music, and the restaurant where someone made a commotion.  My point is, the little unplanned things we do are sometimes very memorable and make the trip a success.   Recently my daughter traveled hundreds of miles on her way to a campground, and because she was worried about being late she skipped a number of short visits along the route.  She missed a wild animal park, numerous pull overs with fantastic views and much more. When I asked about her destination she responded, oh, it was OK, nothing special. Wow, I said, how many miles did you travel? About a thousand! Ouch.  Her next days major destination was closed for repairs when she arrived, I can only imagine what sights she missed trying to get to the closed important attraction.

My suggestion for planning schedules is to leave some room for adjustment, make sure when you come upon an unknown (and there will be many) activity you can stop for awhile. These short little stops may interrupt the schedule, but also could make the trip a huge success.
John

how-not-to-plan-for-your-next-trip   You may like this article about letting a trip happen day by day

Trailer Hauling Tricks and Secrets

Trailer Hauling Tricks and Secrets all Newbie’s Should Know

I tried to find a suitable article written by someone with first hand experience about pulling trailers, and all the ones I found were pretty worthless so I wrote an article myself.  I have many years hauling around construction equipment, boats and camp trailers.  I have never hauled a fifth wheel so I will not have much to say about them. Rather than try to put together something sensible I will just do Q&A thing. This article may entertain you old timers and help a few newbie’s.  If you disagree with something feel free to post comments.

·         First frequently asked question is “how much can my car/truck haul?  the answer requires more

Planning our trip to Yellowstone

Incremental-ism, The process by which one expands a trip to encompass something else.  Little steps add up.
Maybe she planned it, maybe she just let it happen, but all I said was sure, lets go to Yellowstone and the die was set.  We started making plans, surfing the net, discussed dates.  We knew which campgrounds we wanted at Craters of the Moon, The Tetons, and Yellowstone, we would make a round trip and make our way back to Oregon via Montana, Washington and find suitable camping along the way. Then one day she said, you know its not much further to Devils Tower, maybe we should consider including it as a side trip.  We probably will never be in the area again.  Wait a second I said, Devils Tower and Yellowstone are not in the same areas, Wyoming and some Dakotas separate them.  It's only 500 miles, "yeah one way, that's like driving all the way to San Diego"  OK, I'd like to go see Devils Tower too, lets find a campground nearby. You can guess that next it was Mt Rushmore, "you know right over here (pointing at a spot on the map) in the next state is Mt Rushmore, there's lots to see around there like Jewel Cave, and old west gold town type places, oh, oh and further over here is The Bad Lands.  And so it went until Incremental-ism had stolen my simple Yellowstone trip.

Here are some good points I think those of you planning a trip to these places might find helpful.

with green this and green that - save the earth - global warming/cooling

Can we go on a vacation like we want? should we be not flying in a jet plane across an ocean or continent?
What about a huge cruise boat, is it green to go on a cruise? Maybe we all should stay home. What if I stay home but you go on a plane ride, doesn't that mean you wasted my efforts.
The answer is yes, yes, yes, no, no, no.  Any thing you do  environmentally sound is a good thing, and should be applauded.  The point is to do something, that helps in the right direction.  Doing nothing is nothing. You may not save the earth, but you know you wont if you do nothing.
So take that cruise, fly across that ocean, and when you get a chance, recycle that trash and tune up your car.
Of course if you really want to get involved, you can book that cruise with a company that has a green reputation.
John

Its June and kids will be out of school soon Which means "times a wasting"

That's right, if you want to beat the crowds, you need to get going asap before all the noisy children clog the good places.  Many of our top destinations are seasonal around school schedules, Yellowstone, Disney places, Yosemite, you name it. 
Many people with kids are learning tricks, such as pulling the kids out of school a week early for travel, or starting school in the fall and then pulling them out for a trip once they get their homework lists.  So this means you cant wait until the last second, you need to out think the parents that are thinking like you.
Expect campgrounds to be booked in advance and not have room for you, try private camps, many will squeeze you in, and some places are cheaper than State Parks. Don't forget motels, some park prices are so high that motels offer competitive rates, plus some have a free breakfast.  We discovered boat camping 10 years ago.  We never need reservations, we always find room where we go.  Sometimes parking our trailer and car can be a pain, but with some creative thinking that problem is workable. With the economy sucking and gas prices so high, we are staying close to home and rediscovering our own locale.
What Ideas do you have?
John 6/6/11

Childrens games to play in the car or at home, make play a learning experience, make learning part of playing. For more games, see pages on right side bar.

Copy into word and print the map and state list below,
(the map will probably need to be saved as an image first)
Play a match the name to the state game.

See more games on right side bar, look for "Pages" 

                   State list:

    Alabama  Alaska  Arizona  Arkansas  California  Colorado  Connecticut 
Delaware  District of  Columbia  Florida  Georgia

    Hawaii  Idaho  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas  Kentucky  Louisiana 
Maine  Maryland  Massachusetts  Michigan  Minnesota

    Mississippi  Missouri  Montana  Nebraska  Nevada  New Hampshire  
New Jersey  New Mexico  New York  North Carolina

    North Dakota  Ohio  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania  Rhode Island 
South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Texas

    Utah  Vermont  Virginia  Washington  West Virginia  Wisconsin 
Wyoming



Copy and print the map and state list above
(the map will probably need to be saved as an image first)
Play a match the name to the state game.

See more games on right side bar, look for "Pages"