wheelsandfeet

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Uffda, we are behind here!

May 29 – Present – Sequia National Forest, Sequia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park.

May 9 – May 24, Nicole in Italy and Greece with her good friend Sarah.  Patrick in Southern CA checking out the national forest and hanging out with is friend Kris in San Diego and Rob in Venice Beach.  Good times for both! 

Opps…..need to complete this…again.  Hard with little internet and so much fun 🙂

March 26 to Present – Moab, UT – Moutain Biking Slick Rock, a Shower!, Laundry, Internet……and more to come….

To be updated…..

April 23 – 26Natural Bridges National Monument

April 24 Garden of the Gods

April 23 Monument Valley

April 17 Tent Rocks

April 11- 17 Santa Fe, NM – Checked out the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, The museum of arts, The hiking trails out side of town, Canyon Road galleries, meditated at Upaya Meditation center (thank you Gale), and check out the downtown area. 

April 4 – 10 – Arroyo Seco (just outside of Taos).  Pat and I decided to rent a room in a very cool Adobe house that over looked the mountains and a New Mexico cemetery (Thanks Cass for everything!  It was wonderful).  From there we explored the stage-coach hot springs, the Rio Grand Gorge Bride, Earthship Houses, Taos Cow, The city fo Taos, and relaxed. 

March 26 – April 3 – Taos Ski Valley – Skied 2 -3 days, went butt sledding, and summit Wheeler Peak. Taos officially kicked our ass!  Just great! 

March 25, 2011 – Santa Fe, NM – Treating ourselves to a little comfort – We are in a hotel (f0r just one night). 

March 22 – 24, 2011 – Las Vegas, NM – Hot springs and hiking.  This town is a where the movie Red Dawn was filmed, along with making an appearance in many other movies. 

March 20, 2011 – White Sands National Monument, NM – Sleding on the massive white sand dunes!!!!!

March 17-20 – Carlsbad, NM – Carlsbad Cavern tour and relaxing time.

March 14-16 – Big Bend, Tx – 2 nights in the Chisos Mountains. and paddled the Rio Grand River.

March 13, 2011  – Fort Stockton, TX – Stayed the night at a truck stop (with free internet) deciding on what route to hike in Big Bend National Park and making reservations to visit the McDonald observatory star party. Dropping off Malto tomorrow at the kennel to hike big bend.

March 12, 2011 – Enchanted Rocks State Park, TX – Rock climbing and hiking at the very popular state park just northwest of Austin, Tx.

March 10 – 11 – Austin, Tx.  Checked out the downtown and SoHo area of Austin for window shopping and eating, Walnut River Park for Mountain biking, and Zilker Park/Barton Springs for some hiking and relaxing.

March 8- 9 – Avery Island, Tx.  Visited the tobacco factory for a taste of the hot stuff and Jungle Gardens to view the snowy egrets, gators, and the vast park lands.  Stayed at Catfish Haven Campground (yes –  they have catfish ponds you can fish). http://www.tabasco.com/tabasco_history/visit_avery_island.cfm#targ

March 3-7 – New Orleans, LA – Mardi Gras!!!!!!  Eat, drink, parades, beads, people watching and more – great town!  A big thank you to John and Josephine for letting us park the van and store our gear at their place while we explored!

March 2 – Ocean Springs, MS and Mobile, AL. Stopped for a brief visit in Mobile – cruised the streets and had lunch at the popular Wintzell’s Oyster House. Then to my friend Carols house in Ocean Springs, MS. (Thanks Carol) Ocean Spring is a cute town with a good donut shop.

February 27 – March 1  Destin and Seaside, FL . Walked the fine white, squeaky sand beaches of the emerald coast and visited the town of Seaside.  Seaside is the town used for to film the movie “The Truman Show” – it is so quite and quaint it is creepy!  Perfect streets without a person in site – once you got off the main square.

February 26 – Wakulla Springs State Park, FL.  Took a boat tour of the springs area, saw a number for water bird, alligators, and where the creature of the black lagoon was filmed – Hahahaha.  Good fun. (suggested by Steve and Louise)http://www.floridastateparks.org/wakullasprings/

February 24 – 25 – Cape Canaveral, FL – Space Shuttle Launch of the Discovery.  Awesome!!!!

February 20 – 23 – Fort Desoto, FL to bike, kayak, swim, for the beach, dog park, fishing – great park!!!  on the way to Cape Canaveral – went to the Salvador Dali museam in St. Petersburg – this museum houses the largest collection of his work outside of Europe – spendy, but very interesting to see.

February 18-19 – Tampa, FL – Back to Tori’s house to pick up somethings we forgot and to chill out for a while. Also give Malto sometime to recover.

February 17 – Bid farewell to Paul and Katia, picked up the van in South Miami, picked up Malto at the Kennel (he got a nasty infection on his face and a rash on his belly from the kennel – no good), then picked up our stuff at the storage unit, finally off to Tampa to gather ourselves and relax.

February 14 -16 – Miami, FL – Stayed with Paul and Katia in Miami Beach – they were fantastic – Thank you so much. Pat and I enjoyed the beach and swam in the ocean, explore downtown, enjoyed Katia’s yummy brazilian cooking,  martini’s in South Beach, walked Lincoln street, and …… got the van fixed.

February 9 – 16, 2011 – Everglades National Park, FL – We kayaked two nights in the back country sleeping on the camping platforms called chickee’s. Then Kayked along the Florida Bay to East Cape Camp site, a remote site along the bay only accessible by boat, 10 miles from the boat launch.  Stayed two nights boon docking it at the park campground.  We were surprised on how gentle this land was and how relaxed this park system is ran.  Very fun park!  If you have not been there – suggest you do!

February 7-8, 2011 – Key Largo, FL – Back to Key Largo to figure our the van issue and to refill Malto food supply at the Pet Motel.

February 2- 6, 2011 – Key West, FL – Kayaked the mangroves,  dove at two reef locations, beer, biked 4.5 miles into town from the campground to play (it was awesome!), awoke to the Key West roosters crowing every morning, a kicking Reggae Fest, conch fritters, iguanas, the sunset, the sunset festival, more beer and food – Just as Key West should be……. only to find 15 minutes before leaving…..the van’s had mechanical problems……..

January 29 – February 1, 2011 – Key Largo, FL –  enjoyed the warmth of the Florida Keys;  kayaked through the mangroves, scuba dove the Molasses Reef (we only made one of the three scheduled dives….sea sickness, rough waters, and the chill of the water made us head back early), but what we saw was awesome! 

January 28 – 30, 2011 – Tampa, FL -GASPARILLA!!!!  Parade, Beads and  Pirates – Good Time, Thanks Tori!  The night before Gasparilla, be headed to a BQ at Tori’s cousin’s house, Pat and I bought fresh oysters at the fresh fish Market at the City of Homosassa to grill.  Learned to shuck the oysters from the native Floridians – yummy, yummy, yummy!

January 27, 2011 – Crystal River, FL – snorkeling with the manatee’s – ridiculously cool – check out the video Pat took – it will be on our Flicker account.  Also took a Kayak trip down the crystal Clear Water of Rainbow River.

January 26 – 25, 2011 – Ron Jon’s Resort – Coco Beach, FL.  TimeShare presentation – got us one free night at the resort – pool, hot tub, mini golf, movie theater.  Due to the in coming storm – we boondocked in the parking lot for a seconded night, with still use of all the amenities.  Thanks Ron Jon’s for two free nights!

January 21 – 24, 2011 –  Cape Canaveral, FL  – Party time with Hamm (Chris Hamm, that is).  Thanks for everything Chris!  We had  great time hanging out near the beach and hitting up a couple good bars.

January 21, 2011 – St. Augustine, FL – Explored the oldest continuously occupied european-established city in the US;  home of the oldest house in the US, Castillo de San Marcos site (oldest masonry fort in the US),  the Fountain of Youth and much more.  A smaller town full of history.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida

January 15, 2011 – Explored Charleston, SC – took a bus tour around the city, walked some of the squares, ate at the Pirate House….Fun http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/

January 14, 2011 – Rose Hill Plantation (http://www.rosehillpoa.com/), Cross Keys House (http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744005/index.htm)

January 8 – 13, 2011 – Dahlonega, GA – Hiker Hostel.  Checked out the highest waterfall this side of the Mississippi – Amicalola Falls.  This is the location of the first gold rush in the US and the start of the Appalachian trail.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlonega,_Georgia

January 7, 2011 – To Lynchburg, TN for the Jack Daniel’s Whiskey tour – Highly suggest it.  They have a camping spot in town, but warning – it is a dry county so buy your liquor before you get there!

January 6 2011 – Toured Mammoth Caves http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

January 4 – 5 2011, Back to Carbondale to deal with the bikes and insurance stuff – All taken care of – thanks Phoenix Bikes.

January 1 – 3, 2011 – Explored the Shawnee National Forest;  kayaked through the Cyprus swamps, viewed the Jackson Fall climbing area, hiked and camped at Garden of the Gods.  Shawnee Nation forest is great – highly recommend it!!!! http://www.shawneeforest.com/

December 31, 2010 – Carbondale, IL.  All day in Barnes and Nobel getting things done that we should have before we left…..such as apply for health insurance. New Years Eve at Key West – bar and grill 🙂

December 30, 2010 – Marion, IL to Carbondale, IL (15 miles).  Luck for us Stiney and Ali (Pat’s friends) where in the area to help us out, both physically and mentally – thanks!  Took the bikes to the shop for repair, then dropped the trailer off to get checked out.  Pizza and beer at Quatro’s Pizza with the Stinespring family. then to Barnes in Noble to get things done.  Slept in the Denny’s parking lot after a bit of discussion over coffee and chips…..

December 29, 2010 – Decorah to Galen, IL for lunch.  Galena to the Shawnee National forest in southern Illinois.  Just south of Marion, IL the trailer flipped which required AAA to come and tow it back to Marion, IL where we stayed in a cheap motel to figure things out.

December 27 – 28,2010 – In Decorah, IA staying with Arnie, Robin, Forest and Shannon.  Went x-skiing to twin spring, snowshoe with the Hengested family to their very cool cabin they are working on. Went disc golfing in the snow at night. Toured the Norwegian museum, had the lights turned off on us in the basement.  When they say the museum is closing in 15 minutes….they mean it.  The cell phone light saved us…again! 

December 26, 2010 – Winnebago to Garner, Iowa to see Patrick’s grandma.  Then Garner, Iowa to Decorah, Iowa to visit Patrick’s alma mater and to stay with Arnie, Robin, Forest, and Shannon.

December 25, 2010 – Christmas with the Johnson’s.

December 24, 2010 – Left the New Ulm Wal-Mart parking lot and took the long way to Nicole’s parents house in Winnebago, MN for X-mas.  The road put the VW to the test!

December 23, 2010 – Finally left Minneapolis!  First off to Patrick’s mom’s house to drop off a couple box’s that do not fit in the VW.  Then drive down to Springfield, MN to visit Nicole’s Grandma.  All went well except for the weather.  Ended up sleeping in the Wal-Mart parking lot in New Ulm……

December 14, 2010 – Patrick’s last shift at HCMC!

December 10, 2010 – Nicole’s last day of work!

December 4, 2010 – The Liver’s (aka: Quail) debut.

November 31, 2010 – Patrick and Nicole vacate Nicole’s Apartment and head to Josh R’s house (thanks Josh!)

November 13, 2010 – Going away party at the Green Mill (thanks everyone for coming, so good to see you all!)

October 31, 2010 – Patrick moves out of his apartment into Nicole’s