Driveway RVing

DRIVEWAY RVING

This weekend we decided to stay home and do some driveway camping. We had a friend over and her two kids they have never stayed in camper before. It was fun they came over about 7:00pm and we got the fire going for s'mores and just relaxed. We are having some construction done so the driveway is a little cluttered but we made the best of it. The campfire was actually the second we had this year at our home.

 The moms stayed up and the kids fell to bed during a movie I headed in to watch a movie and unwind from a busy day. 

In the morning we made monkey bread again which is really becoming a tradition at our sites. 

What so great about driveway camping?

First no fuel, you don't have to drive anywhere so you save on the expense of fuel. 

Second if you forgot something it's just up the drive way. 

Now I know we don't buy campers & RV's to stay home and driveway camp but sometimes you don't want to go far so what's closer than your driveway. We do love traving and seeing different places. Next time we'll all head to a park somewhere where the kids can swim and have even more fun. 

Safe Travels everyone

A little birthday gamble.

So we headed back to Grand Casino Hinckley this weekend. It was Jennifer's birthday earlier in the week and we also have fun with the kids at the arcade. Well it's a reason to go right? Ha

Day 1

This time we left early to miss the after work traffic. We decide to take the same route as last time just so we can say we tried. That hwy through Mora is terrible I don't like it and I'll try to stay off it from now on. It's bumpy and wavy and it makes for a terrible ride. We decided we're going to try a different route on the way home. We decided to stop at Tobies Restaurant & Bakery and this will become a stop from now on even if we are just passing through. We bought corn bread which was fantastic and a big even a more fantastic cinnamon roll.

 This place was busy but worth the stop. 

We recommend stopping by.

We got to the site and really just laid low, the weather was nice enough to open all the windows. We headed to the park for the kids to play and wear off some energy before bed. Jennifer decided she was going to head up to the casino for some night gambling. It's really nice that they pick you up in front of your site ad drop you off at the front door of the casino, also pick you up  at the front foot and drop you off at your site. She got back late and no we won't be buying a new RV soon nor did she lose the on we have. Ha!

Day 2 

My parents were coming up my dad loves to hit the slots just like Jennifer, my mom and I, eh doesn't really matter. In the morning the kids and Jennifer got up I got to sleep in alittle and we decided to get breakfast and hit the arcade before grandma & grandpa arrived we went for breakfast and I tried Bananna Fosters French toast which I'll have over and over again! It was amazing! Then we headed to the arcade.  Tickets! Tickets! Tickets! was the sound I heard. Why some arcades are getting away from tickets and going to a card I'll never know. Kids hold them up with pride it's awesome! They played and picked out their toys and we headed back to the camper to rest before my parents got there. I fell asleep probably because of a food coma. It was 12:45 and we needed to head back to meet my parents. The last time we were here the shuttles were plenty and quick it seemed this time it almost took 20-30 min for one. It just seemed long this time. When we met my parent my dad and Jennifer headed into the casino and my mom and I and kids went to back to the site. My mom always brings treats, sugars my kids up and leaves but that's what grandparents are for. While we were hanging out on the picnic table getting our sugar on we heard the sound check for the Hank Williams Jr concert that was going on the outside stage. It was going to be a great campfire tonight.  We met Jen and my dad back at the casino for dinner. 

After dinner the kids wanted to hit the arcade and during that time my parents needed to leave. We said our good byes and they were on their way. We stayed at the arcade for a little longer and the kids had a ton of tickets!

This is one game!!

This arcade is not short on tickets which is awesome for the kids. The kids were picking out their treasures and a guy walks up with a ticket of 50 & someone else gave a 100 in tickets these kids made out like bandits. They got their stuff and Jenn decided she wasn't done with the casino. The kids and I decided to walk back to the site which wasn't really far it was a great night fora walk. The kids and I snacked and just watched television. I noticed that the wind was down so I was going to start a campfire since we couldn't get one going on Friday night. I got this bad boy a blazing and just as I did Jennifer came back from the casino and we decided to make s'mores and listen to the Hank Willams Jr concert. It was great. The kids went to bed and we just hung out by the campfire listening to live music. The fire went down to coals, the music was over and we headed in for the night.

DAY 3 

Well it's the basic Dump & Roll. We decided to take a different way home it seemed a little longer but we avoided that terrible road in Mora. We took Interstate 35w to Hwy 95 home which was way more smooth for our trip home. We all had  a great time the weekend just goes so quick I now know why people don't like Mondays and love Fridays.

Safe Travels Everyone. 

 

One heck of a good Fourth of July

We didn't do any rving this weekend an actually we will make it a point not to go anywhere else but to my wife's family cabin. I love July fourth at the cabin I get to BS with my nieces and nephews and it's really a pleasure to see them grow up to be great young adults. Then to see how well they hang out with my kids who are what younger it's just great. I always go for my Fourth if July walk this weekend I decided to jump into a little geocaching. This was located in the Yager County Park.

I found the geocach in a shambles. I put it back together and went on my way, I did let the the person know about the condition of the cach. After my walk we had walking tacos, where you take a bag of Dorritios and throw in taco fixings. Good stuff. Then Jennifer and I made Monkey Bread we made it in the 12 inch this time since we had so many people. It turned out great. As Jennifer was bringing the bread out to the picnic table she had a herd behind her it was hilarious. When she stat the pan down it was like a pack of wolves around fresh meat. When she brought it into the cabin it was almost gone only the bottom was left. Then my one niece made a Oreo brownie that was amazing!! I was all sugared up for the night. The wind was just not letting up all weekend but that didn't slow down the fun my kids jumped in the lake and went swimming. It was a great Friday. We did our Minnesota nice fireworks and then we shit down for the night.

 Then Saturday I got up and wanted to go find the other cache that was at the park. My son and his uncle Derrick went with. We went through the tall grass and woods to find this one. Derrick found it this was his first cache find. It was cool to go out and hunt this one down.

Deep in this woods is a cache.

 After that we headed back to relax a bit I passed out on someone's chair and when I woke up it was time to head to my parents for a BBQ. Great steaks and chicken and a float. We took separate cars because I was planning to go home and do some stuff. I'm really glad I didn't I stopped by the old site where my childhood home/ parents grocery store was. Kind of a weird feeling to stand where your house use to sit.

MY TRUCK IS WHERE OUR LIVING ROOM USE TO BE. The store would have been right in front of where I stood. 

Then I headed back to the cabin my son fell asleep on they way to the cabin and stayed sleeping till Sunday, he runs 100 mph and he was out. I hung out with the younger crowd and had some great laughs. Then it was about midnight before I left.

MIDNIGHT MOON

 Watched a thunderstorm on its way in which is always awesome to see.The kids and Jennifer stayed at the cabin on Sunday the kids road the jet skies with their cousins. I stayed back and took it easy and got caught up on sleep. Well now back to work on Monday. It was a fantastic weekend always great to see everyone.

App Attack

It seems that everyone owns a smart phone and along with a smart phone comes a bunch of apps and RVing has plenty of apps that you can use either for outdoor activities birdwatching,nature trails even check lists for your RV and these are just a few of the ones that I use on on a pretty frequent basis RVing. 

My first app is the Good Sam app.

Let's you know the parks around you and gives you insite on the parks amenities.

Same with the RVparking.com app

We like checking the reviews on parks that we would like to stay at.

Any weather app is good to have. I like the Weather Channel because it gives you alerts to weather and pollen. I like the radar to gives you a past view & future view, I've actually use that more than anything on my phone checking it to see where the weather is headed and if we have to close it all in. 

This is a great app it will tell you the amount of briquettes to add to the top and bottom for the temperature you need and for the oven size and why type of cooking are you doing. It the dial type so you select the size of oven, the temp you need and the type of baking you are doing. It's great for the novice. 

I gotta walk off all that good dutch oven food don't I? I use Map My Walk to see how far and how fast I'm going. It also will track you which helps cause I can get lost in a parking lot. 

The RV Companion has come in handy especially as a first time rv'er. It has 

checklists, maintence logs, rv specifics,

Lists for the store and more. I really like this app. 

These are our outside apps. Instead of all those Audoboun books to carry in my backpack it's on my phone.  Great to use with the kids. ibird has the sounds of the birds which is helpful. That's some of the apps we use of course we also use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

The two apps I'm in the process of trying. Track My Tour & Pin Drop. Stay tuned for these reviews. 

Remember to try to put your phone down and take in the surroundings. The smartphone is great for video and photos and instantly sharing. Just stop, set the phone down stare at the campfire, look at the creek or clouds and enjoy even if for ten minutes  then share away. Just my advice. 

Safe Travels

C