Category Archives: National Forest

Camping, Hiking, Museums/Events, My Family, National Forest

We got in for free!!!

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Our Children’s Museum Pass is a part of the ASTC Passport program and gets us in for free to many museums around the country! I had not used this benefit before but sure enough we were able to get in for free to three museums in Albuquerque! We only went to two of them though.

First stop was the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.

It does get a limited number only in for free but that worked fine for us since someone always needed to stay with the dog.

I took our boys and our youngest to this museum and our twins opted to go to the dog park with Nick and Milo(our dog).

This museum had some incredible displays. I used to worry a bit about visiting places like this as a creationist but have found that I can enjoy it just fine. I find their theories fascinating and I love to see what they think the area looked like before.

It really brought a lot of the natural places we had visited to life.

Do you spot Little Bit in the pic above?

She was insistent that she wanted to go but had her moments of being done…
The boys knowledge of dinosaurs and creation science actually far surpass me.

It is actually like having two tour guides along. This boy LOVES dinosaurs.

He enjoyed so much of our trip! They had an exhibit on the how the brain works also that was interesting. After we were done we all got lunch and then Nick took all five into Explora which was actually right next to the Natural History Museum.It is a science/children’s museum and they really liked it!I really enjoyed the quiet in the vehicle.

The RV plus 5 loud kids can make silence all the more golden.Afterwards we ran around town looking for a part so Nick could get our electricity going again.

There always seems to be something that needs worked on during our trips.

Our site might have been a lot of work to get to but it was pretty.It was also right by a trail system so we could go for a walk easily.Next we headed towards Texas and got turned away from our next camping spot!

Camping, Hiking, Museums/Events, National Forest

Los Alamos and Santa Fe~New Mexico

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While staying at Cochiti Lake Campground we spent one day in Santa Fe area and another around Los Alamos.

First stop was Pecos National Historic Park.

There are old Pueblos and a Mission.

I love walking through and seeing history.

This little one could not work up the nerve to go into the Kiva.

It is hardest being the smallest sometimes.

Such a great stop!

The next stop was the Santa Fe Children’s Museum!

We have a local children’s museum pass that is affiliated with some associations that helped us a lot on our trip!

We were able to get in for 50% off at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum!

I have learned to add children’s museums and other fun stops on our trips or I have a revolt.

Apparently not all of my kids think hiking and learning about history is as fun as I do.

The next day we headed to the Los Alamos area and the Bandelier National Monument!

I thought this stop would be a little closer to our campsite but the main road in was closed so we had to go back through Santa Fe to get there.

The four oldest and I had fun checking out these ancient homes.

My husband stayed in the vehicle with our youngest and the dog since dog’s are not allowed.

The main loop is pretty easy, you don’t even have to go up to the cliff dwellings so it can be as easier or harder based on what you want to see.

Next stop was the Valles Caldera!

There was not much to do there for us but it was beautiful!

And the kids loved watching the prairie dogs!

Next we drove into Los Alamos and stopped at the Los Alamos Nature Center.

The nature center was really well done and the kids really liked it.

The trails were not amazing after all the hiking we had been doing but it was a good chance to get the dog out before heading to a museum.

The Bradbury Science Museum is a free look into the Los Alamos National Laboratory and had a LOT of hands on exhibits!

It does talk about the Atomic Bomb and has World War 2 exhibits so if you have one sensitive to that, keep that in mind.

They had a really easy scavenger hunt that was a huge hit with the girls!

My second oldest did the harder one and he had to work for it!

Ha!

My Family, National Forest, Parks

Lake Wister State Park, Runestone Park, and Ouachita National Forest

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I wanted to camp at Beavers Bend State Park for the festival but they were full when I checked a month or so before so we stayed the first two nights of our trip at Lake Wister State Park. Not all of the campgrounds were open for the season so we ended up staying at the Victor Campground. It was a beautiful campground, right on the lake but it did take a while to get back to it and the road was a bit rough. The plus side of staying right on a lake is beautiful sunsets and sunrises, the downside is it was a bit chilly. Our heater is not working in the rv right now so we were using a space heater.

The kids stayed toasting warm but our room was pretty chilly.

Rving in the colder weather with 5 kids is very different from the summer or warmer months.

We needed to pop up and down this dinette over and over so the kids can eat inside.

Not a big deal but that means everyone is in the camper more also.

One of the nice things about Lake Wister is how close it is to Runestone Park.

Runestone Park used to be a state park and I am sad that they did not keep it.

It has a viking runestone at the park that I went to see when I was a child and it was not common knowledge that vikings had come this far into the United States.

The path down to is it is beautiful, make sure you stop by if you are in the area.

We went ahead and did the Mountain Top Trail at the Ouachita National Forest while we were in the area as well. My original plan was to stay at the Talimena State Park for those first two nights but I changed my mind at the last minute.  I actually think it would have worked out better to stay there so if we make the trip again and want to break it up some, we will probably stay there. Back at Lake Wister, we checked out the Lone Star School Site and some hiking they have.The twins are taking gymnastics and decided these looked like balance beams.Next we went on the Lonestar Nature Trail.It had the most interesting fungus!I like hiking during Golden Hour 😉More interesting nature finds.We ended up stumbling across this really nice paved walking path at the end of our hike.This is a pretty small park and if you are not going to be playing on the water might not have much to keep your kids entertained but it was beautiful.

 

The kids stayed toasting warm but our room was pretty chilly.

Check out the video I made of our time there!