I was just going to post about St Kitts, but since we were only there one night it would be a super short and rather boring journal entry. The Montserrat leg was a bit more interesting, so the two have been merged into one post. As I prepared to write this, I realized we didn’t … More St. Kitts & Montserrat
Our route from St. Croix to St. Martin took us back through the BVIs to Virgin Gorda, where we would make a crossing that started before the sun came up. After carefully navigating through the outer reef , we were able to motor sail towards Anguilla where we planned to rest for the night. Happily, … More Hiding from a hurricaine in St. Martin
We had a fabulous trip back to St. Croix from the BVIs. The seas were fairly calm, wind was very friendly, and everyone had a turn at the helm. Before we knew it, we were anchored near the St. Croix Yacht Club again. The outer reef offers a fair amount of protection, we had a … More Back to St. Croix
Our first stop in the BVIs was to Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke. There we experienced the oddest check in process ever. An individual at one office insisted we bring the sailboat to the main dock, so we made our way in the shallow water, and arrived with completely frayed nerves. Once there, the … More Family, Friends, and the British Virgin Islands
While we were still in the Keys, we were visited by some family and friends. We loved showing them our favorite places, and sometimes took them out for a short sail if the status of boat repairs allowed it. Now, for the first time, we had both family and friends join us during our full … More Family, Friends, and Carnival
During our trip from Puerto Rico to St. Croix, we picked up a cute little stowaway. This little bird joined us around the half way point, would fly away from time to time, then circle back to us to rest for a while. We prepared a little lunch of crackers and water for him, which … More US Virgin Islands: St. Croix
Arriving at Punta Ensenada in calm seas on a sunny day was just what we needed. Nineteen hours is a long time without a functioning autopilot onboard. Clearing back into the US was easy. As US citizens we didn’t even have to go ashore, just used the app and answered some questions over the phone … More Puerto Rico
That title sounds like a failed Harry Potter book, doesn’t it? Still sounds better than: The Dominican Republic and Realizing Our Navigation System Does Not Include Charts For It. Boat life sure keep things interesting. Luckily, we have redundant systems for just about everything, so we switched to our back up, and ordered updated charts … More The Dominican Republic and The Thornless Path
My apologies for the quality of this photo, or I should say lack of photos in general this time. This is the only one we captured during our crossing. Even though it isn’t the best image, you can still make out some of the waves as the sun was setting. Not too bad, and totally … More Dominican Republic
A beautiful sunrise welcomed us to Turks and Caicos, and while we were exhausted, the sun gave us a new burst of energy. After promising each other we would not take on an overnight crossing without proper sleep, or at least significant rest, we made our way to Blue Haven Marina. The plan was to … More Turks and Caicos
Let’s see, where were we? Oh yes, anchored in the middle of nowhere. By morning the winds and seas had picked up a bit, helping us scoot along to Chub Cay where we planned to top off tanks. While en route, we triple checked the forecasts and saw the weather was going to continue to … More Bahamas Adventures
When we last posted, we were waiting for critical parts and repairing or replacing what was lost or damaged before. I was also trying to learn to love the smell of diesel so seasickness doesn’t take hold of me and promising family that yes, I would do more blog posts so they could “travel with … More The Bahamas
Greetings! Last time we posted was almost three years ago, and we had recently purchased an older sailboat to start the water chapter of our adventures. We found a slip at a nice little marina, which ended up being our temporary home for almost three years. We had a place to make sure Dulcinea would … More The Reality of Sailboat Life
We have had so much to learn since we started this chapter. As you may recall, when we bought our camper, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. this resulted in a broken frame and a list of repairs we hadn’t planned on. With that experience rather fresh in our minds, we carefully inspected each … More The Boat Survey
Florida has been more than just sunshine and beaches. We’ve been busy working out plans for our next adventure. We definitely have the exploring bug, so we are going to keep at it, this time via sailboat. Our awesome friends gave us the boat life bug, and we are grateful they did. We’ve been checking … More The Next Adventure
Happy New Year! We spent the first day of 2020 enjoying a delicious lunch with cousins, followed by a hunt for shark teeth on the beach. Alas, no teeth were found, but it was a fabulous way to start the year. FYI: The timing of articles has been and will continue to be a bit … More Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortuga National Park
We enjoyed some time camping and exploring on the outer banks on our way to Congaree. Being at the beach makes us happy, even if it is windy and a little cloudy. We also camped at Carolina Beach State Park, one of the few places where venus fly traps grow wild. We battled mosquitos on … More Congaree National Park
Our final state in the countdown: Virginia! We still have a few more national parks to see, but we’ve checked off all 50 States (drove through the lower 48 with the camper, visited Alaska and Hawaii by boat and plane). We actually get to check something off our bucket list. Woo Hoo! We’ve wanted to … More Shenandoah National Park & the Blue Ridge Parkway
Delaware (#3 on our countdown, for those keeping track) was a short stay. Just one night at the Delaware Seashore State Park. The campground was by the sea. We walked to the beach, but forgot to take any photos (apologies). It was very nice, and we met great people there. To explore DC, we stayed … More Washington DC
Continuing our countdown to our final State of our driving adventure, Massachusetts (#7) did not disappoint. Our first campground was in Salem, and if you get the chance to visit during the month of October, like we did, you will be in for a treat. The people of Salem were very proud of their history, … More Massachusetts & More
On our way to Acadia, we made a few stops along the way to take it all in. We were also about to start the countdown of our final 10 states, which was pretty exciting. In Vermont (#10), we had our first taste of fall colors, got our fill of maple everything at a small … More Acadia National Park
New York was a fun state. We looped through twice, once on the way up to Maine, and again after working our way down the coast. First up on this loop was Niagara falls. What started out as a gloomy day quickly became bright and beautiful. Although the closer you get to the falls, no … More New York
Indiana Dunes National Park, formerly known as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, is our country’s newest and 61st National Park, having gained the new designation in February of 2019. The dunes at this park looked like they belonged to beaches along the coast, It was a little strange to not smell the expected salt air we … More Indiana Dunes National Park
Some parks make you work for it if you want to see them. Isle Royale National Park is only accessible by boat or seaplane. The boat sounded fun, but would take hours to get to our destination, and require two nights on the island. We found an option where we could fly in and out … More Isle Royale National Park
On our way to Badlands National Park, we had to stop at Wall Drug. This place has something for everyone, clothing, fire arms, jewelry, a large café, a courtyard full of animals, and yes, even a drug store. We spent at least an hour there, window shopping, eating a delicious lunch, and being silly. It … More Badlands National Park
We took a little break from the camper life to hang out in Puerto Vallarta with friends and family. The week started off with a baby turtle release near our hotel, shortly after we checked into our rooms. What an incredible way to kick off a vacation! Our hotel is one of many in the … More Puerto Vallarta
Wind Cave National Park was another beautiful park with wide open spaces. What was in those open spaces? More buffalo! We ended up in a line of traffic you’d expect to find in Seattle, as the buffalo slowly moved from one field to another. There were so many of them crossing the road, or walking … More Wind Cave National Park
We arrived at Devil’s Tower National Monument on a bright and sunny day, with a few clouds drifting through. We were thrilled to find a campsite with an amazing view of Devil’s Tower. The campground filled in shortly after our arrival, which made us realize how lucky we were to secure the spot with … More Devils Tower National Monument
All this time, we were under the impression that the national park to visit if you wanted to see buffalo was Yellowstone. While they do have a significant number of these magnificent creatures, their numbers pale in comparison to what we saw at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Once we were in the area of … More Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Crater Lake National Park is one of the most beautiful places in the Pacific Northwest. Add clear blue skies and a little snow clinging to the landscape here and there, and it feels like you have walked into another realm. One morning, we decided to get up earlyso we could find the ideal spot to … More Crater Lake National Park & Mt. St. Helen’s National Volcanic Monument
We’ve been to Redwoods National and State Parks a few times, so on this trip, we focused more on the beach and explored fern canyon. If this canyon looks familiar, that’s because it was where some Jurassic Park scenes were shot. It was incredibly beautiful, and we loved exploring something new. To get to the … More Redwoods National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park was almost as beautiful as Mt. Rainier National Park. We aren’t exactly sure, because even in June, many of the roads and trails were closed due to snow, we were told there was still over 25 feet of it on most of the closed roads, and all those closures significantly impacted … More Lassen Volcanic National Park
Our journey to Yosemite National Park included a little side trip back to Kings Canyon, where we saw a mama bear and her very tiny cubs. It looked like she was trying to show them where to find tasty treats under and around stumps and logs. Her kids were busy bouncing off trees and each … More Yosemite National Park
Most people know we like warm weather. The warmer the better, right? Well, Death Valley tested our claim in the best way. All that heat and no humidity was glorious. At 9 AM, the temperature was already perfect, and it was only going to get warmer. We made sure the truck had plenty of coolant, … More Death Valley National Park
We spent a day at Petrified Forest National Park, enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of the park. While the petrified trees did not show up very well in our photos, we were able to capture the painted deserts. One of our favorites was and area called Blue Mesa. Long ago, ancient waterways deposited clay, … More More Awesome Arizona, Starting with Petrified Forest & Saguaro National Parks
Our tour of amazing rock formations and canyons continued in Arizona, where we explored Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Antelope Canyon, and of course Grand Canyon National Park. First up was Canyon de Chelly National Monument. While smaller and lesser known than the Grand Canyon, this place was absolutely stunning. There are so many overlooks … More Grand Canyon National Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, & Antelope Canyon
They are called the big five, the mighty five, and the amazing five. Do an online search of Utah’s national parks, and it is easy to see they are very popular. We decided to adjust our schedule to see them earlier than originally planned. Our goal was to check them out before summer break started … More Utah’s National Parks: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, & Zion.
Galaxy Quest is one of our favorite silly movies. It is a cute little parody that pokes fun at a certain sci-fi television series, the related conventions, and somewhat rabid fans. If you need a silly break, you should check it out. We stumbled across one of the locations for this film while in Utah. … More Have you seen Galaxy Quest? (Goblin Valley State Park)
The Gateway Arch was recently designated as a national park. Most National Parks are in a natural and recreational setting, not in the middle of a busy city. This is the only park where we were surrounded by homeless people as soon as we parked our rig. The arch is an important monument, but we … More Gateway Arch National Park & Route 66
In Nashville, we did many of the traditional touristy things, starting with a tour the Grand ole opry and the Opryland hotel. The opry has moved to different locations over the years, but they have kept the section of the original stage, which they always keep front and center in their current location. Naturally, hubby … More Music and adventures in Tennessee
On our way to Mammoth Cave National Park, we had to make a detour and have lunch at the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. At one time, there was a motel there, but that portion of the Saunders court and cafe is just a distant memory. There is a nice little museum in the restaurant … More Mammoth Cave National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was next on our list, and we were able to explore Georgia along the way. A favorite highlight from the journey was the little town Juliette, where we dined on fried green tomatoes at the Whistle stop café, and enjoyed a stroll through town with the mayor, Otis the rooster. … More Great Smoky Mountains National Park
One of the more beautiful stops on our journey was in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). It was another place we could combine time with family and checking out more of our national parks system. We have been to St. Croix, USVI many times, but had never made the trip out to Buck Island. … More Buck Island Reef National Monument
As we made our way to Everglades National Park, in addition to visiting more friends and family, we stayed at many of Florida’s amazing state parks and explored as many springs as we could. Here are some of our favorite highlights. The parks in Florida have signage that proudly say they are the best in … More Everglades National Park
On our way to Florida, we saw a pig on the roof of a car, in front of a BBQ place in Mississippi. It looked like something we needed to check out, and we were glad we did. We enjoyed a yummy lunch, then had stop again to check out a fabulous shark adorned gift … More Hello Florida!
Yes, food again. Lots and lots of food. How did we not know what real fried food was before now? Honestly, we didn’t know what we didn’t know until we had some real fried chicken, fish, shrimp, and hush puppies in a small local restaurant in Shreveport. Right away, I could tell this state was … More …and then we went to Louisiana!
At home, we are used to hot springs that you can hike to, and can enjoy while surrounded by trees and woodland creatures and such. That is pretty much what we envisioned for Hot Springs National Park. We were in for a surprise. This park is in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas. There are … More Hot Springs National Park
After the National Parks, we wanted to explore Texas and visit friends spread out across the State. This post is a brief summary that tries to capture the adventure. Our first destination was Kemah, where some of our hometown friends were living on their sailboat. We were able to spend a week or so with … More Exploring Texas
Finally in Texas! The sun was out, but wow was it getting cooler out there. We camped in Guadalupe National Park, and set out to get some exploring done. Unfortunately, we missed the brilliant fall colors, so the most exciting part of our walks was making sure we were not treading on any of the poisonous … More Guadalupe Mountains & Big Bend National Parks
Traveling Team Fischer 