Which people will cringe at.  Why go camping for just one night?  It's so much work.
By keeping things simple, one night of camping is a quick getaway and far cheaper than a hotel.

That's it.  Sure, you can bring food.  But if you're a novice camper and you just want to get away, bring some hotdogs and chips.  You'll be fine.  

 After we set up, DC sits by the fire to read and I walk.  We really love Bishop Lake State Park.  Tucked away on the outskirts of the city, it has everything you need without needing to go far.  While there is a more modern campground, we prefer the secluded sites on Murray Lake, or Appleton during the week when Murray is closed.

There's the beach, and books, and a little bit of something for everyone.  A few hours of walking, hiking, and reading before sitting at the campfire. 

Don't have an American Flag?  Find one by clicking HERE. ​

If you do not have a passport, it's time to get one.  Prioritize, skip a few coffees, save up and get the document that allows you to leave and return to your country.  If you don't know how to get one:  CLICK HERE.  (Recommended: a Passport Holder - Passports are documents that can be scanned without you realizing it). 

We are charged with teaching our students to understand the world around them.  If they never learn HOW to see the world, we've missed our mark as educators.  The number of passports will become less, meaning our perspective of the world will become smaller and smaller.

Sometimes, when you're traveling with an open mind and a little bit of curiosity, some of the best finds end up finding you.

We saw the sign for Hawk's Nest State Park while trying to find the road for our Airbnb.  Having been on the road for a few hours, with still travel time ahead of us, we decided to pull over and take a look.

The views were incredible.  The small lookout built into the side of the mountain overlooked the New River below.  The view spread out before us in all directions, giving you a "Hawk's Eye" advantage point of the valley below.  (Even though it's name for the bird's in the area, my first thought was the viewpoint!)  Across the street was a shop and a park, and we spent some time wandering around.  It was a great little find...

until we found so much more.

It wasn't until we were on our New River Gorge Bridge Walk when the guide pointed out Hawk's Nest to the group.  We were a little surprised, as we hadn't seen the bridge when we had made our stop.  We figured we just hadn't looked close enough and probably missed it.

Until we learned there were miles to hike, a lodge, tours, and much more. 

​We definitely had missed something.  

Early Sunday morning in April, we found the Lodge and Restaurant.  The park had a few visitors already, and the souvenir shop was open.  We took a walk to the lookout and saw what we had missed.  Where the smaller location opened up to the lower half of the river, we now had a true view of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.  The river lay out before us in both directions, and the bridge sat at the top of the valley, just within our view, connecting to halves of West Virginia.

It's a spectacular find.  As always, traveling on limited time, we couldn't do everything we wanted.  We were able to walk along the paths and see some of the area, and of course make a stop in the shop to pick up a reminder to return.  We could have spent our entire morning there.

(The two pictures are similar, but in the cloudy April morning, we were doing our best to capture the New River Gorge Bridge just at the top of the valley!)

Thank you, West Virginia, for preserving this land since 1935!  We didn't know our travels from Michigan would take us here, but we are so glad we didn't miss it!

Quick Tip Today!

As spring begins to bring dreams of summer...find something unique to get you there.  Find something that inspires you.  Find something that makes you want to learn more.

 Meet Sue!  Click the Tik Tok above (or here) to learn more about her and her history.

And then write it down.  If there's one thing you'll see consistently as we continue to share, we are going to consistently ask you to write about your adventures.

The pages write themselves...

That's it.  That's the recommended advice you're going to see over and over so it clicks. 

WRITE IT DOWN. 

Writing down what you saw, what you learned, why you went doesn't seem to matter in the moment.  Until you open up your journal one day and realize that you've created your own history.

It may not be worth as much as Sue, and hopefully the FBI is not involved.  But your history is just as important as Sue's. 

​Because your history can only be written by you.

Traveling by bus is a matter of opinion.  For today's Traveling Tip, we recommend booking one bus tour for a day trip when you want to get the most out of your traveling experience.

Last summer, we were in England.  We researched and planned our days, and found that in order to save time and see more, one of our days would be best using a bus tour.  

We booked our tour for Windsor Castle, Roman Baths, and Stonehenge.
Click below!

It was COMPLETELY worth it

To start, we want to be clear, the actual bus tour had it's moments.  It was really disorganized getting buses to depart, our tour guide was hard to understand with the traveling, and the trip changed as we went.  The bus was comfortable and the ride easy.

​When you're traveling on a budget, you learn to go with the flow, and it ended up being better.

We traveled to Windsor, England first.  (Where I was 40 years old and connected that Windsor, Canada was connected to Windsor, England.  Sooo, there's that)

We did the self-guided tour and had plenty of time to see what we needed.  We also had the London Pass (highly recommend), which ended up getting us into the Castle before the rest of the tour group.  With the extra time, we were able to be outside the walls when the Changing of the Guard parade took place.  

Don't worry.....we were ready for the change.

Bath was an incredible place of history.  From those on the tour group, we were the only two to enter the Roman Baths.  

 As both of us have been to Italy, it was striking to see Roman Architecture in the middle of the English countryside.  We agreed it was a place to return too, as the the Baths were what we went for and took up our time.  (Don't worry, the water was safe to drink!)

Back on the bus and we were headed to Stonehenge.

A World Heritage Site, the stones remain a mystery to this day.  The tour made getting to the site easy, as we boarded a bus and drove past those walking out to the site.  

While we may not understand why they exists, the picture taking is epic.  Another perk of the tour, our guide knew the best spots to get photos and encouraged us to capture the moments.

Taking a bus tour in worth your time and investment.  Side Tip:  Remember cash on tours.  In a time that no one carries cash, it goes a little farther to remember the people that go out of your way to make your trip enjoyable.

Traveling?  Book the bus tour.  It's worth the memories.