Tag: birds

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Michigan, Hiking, National Park, National Parks, Sightseeing

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Written by tepetravels

This was the last National Park on our current route. The name of the park seems sweet, but it is a horribly sad tale. I read two different versions. A mother and her cubs are forced to flee from wildfire into the Lake and have to swim to the other side. The cubs do not make it. The mother bear lays down waiting for her cubs. The other version is that there was a food shortage, and to keep from starving they had to cross the lake. The cubs do not make it. The two small islands pop up as monuments for the cubs.

The main visitor center, Phillip A Hart Visitor Center, was located in Empire, Michigan. It was not in the park. The park boundaries are actually made of 3 sections of land with towns in between and 2 islands. We drove around the park in a few locations, but only saw a ticket/pass booth at the Dune Climb parking lot.

On our first visit, we drove the Pierce Stocking Scenic Dr. I’m sure it had wonderful views, but all we could see was fog! (It hadn’t been foggy at our campground, about 30 minutes away). There was a small covered bridge that was fun to see.

There were several hiking and bike trails in the park, along with beach areas.

Posted in: Exploring Virginia, Hiking, Sightseeing

Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve

Written by tepetravels

Although it is very pretty to look at the Chesapeake Bay, we normally aren’t ones to just sit and stare at the ocean. We found a couple of hiking trails/boardwalks/paths in the area. The first one we tried (other than the great Wildlife Refuge) was the Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve.

This preserve area was a little weird. The parking lot was right next to a Fuji company building and it also bordered on a construction site for parts of the trail. There were two paths you could take at the small parking lot. To the left was a boardwalk that went over a pond. That one was a little boring. To the right was a dirt path that changed into a boardwalk. It went through the woods, where it also branched into two paths. The left path went through the woods and ended with a small seating area. The right/straight path meandered parallel to the construction site for a little bit, and also led to a view of the Bay. There was no beach access however, as the boardwalk stopped a little before the sand.

We heard some birds in the woods, but didn’t see a lot of animals along the paths.

I would definitely bring bug spray during the warmer months. I would also take my time on the boardwalks. There were several boards that were loose or felt a little soft, as well as sections that seemed to sway when we were walking on them. It wasn’t a bad trail area, but it was a little boring.

DETAILS:*

  • TICKETS: Free. COVID Restrictions: masks/social distancing
  • HOURS: Dawn to Dusk
  • PARKING: Yes, limited
  • BATHROOM: No
  • TIME RECOMMENDED: 30 minutes to 1 hour
  • *Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Virginia, Hiking, School, Sightseeing

Kiptopeke State Park

Written by tepetravels

Kiptopeke State Park was a nice little state park near Cape Charles, Virginia. It had a small swimming area, a fishing pier, and a few hiking trails. There was a campground, cabins for rent, and a nice picnic area (with a restroom).

Map, self-service admission booth, observation landing by picnic area, office and little library

We had a lovely sunny day to explore this park. We brought a lunch with us and sat in the gazebo for a picnic lunch before setting off for exploring. We wandered down to the fishing pier where we saw the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and some old pier pilings, and an artificial reef made from old WWII ships (they are made of concrete!). There were a few kayakers and fishermen out. My absolute favorite part of the park was seeing dolphins in the Bay. We saw about 4 of them swimming and cresting out of the water. We hadn’t seen any dolphins yet on this, even with all our ocean visits. I was happy we got to see them.

Dolphins, pelican, bird
Concrete Fleet ships making up a man-made reef.

The hiking trails led you among the woods, along the coast, and by fields for butterflies. We came across several offshoot trails that were not on the map, so just pay attention to where you are.

It was a great hike and worth the $7 we paid to get in. As a bonus feature, there was a Little Library by the office!

DETAILS:*

  • TICKETS: $7/car. Fishing Pier $5/adults, $3/kids (ages 6-12). COVID Restrictions: masks required.
  • HOURS: Day use (6am-10pm), Office (8am-4pm), Fishing Pier (open 24hrs, April-December)
  • PARKING: Yes
  • BATHROOM: Yes
  • TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
  • *Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Posted in: Animal Sightings, Frequently Asked Questions, Hiking, Museums & Tours, National Park, National Parks, Sightseeing

What Is Your Favorite National Park?

Written by tepetravels 3 Comments on What Is Your Favorite National Park?

We’ve been to quite a few of the National Parks this year. The America The Beautiful annual pass is really quite the deal at $80.

There are so many to choose from, and I think we all have our own favorites.

The Parks, Monuments, Preserves, and Historical Sites we have been to so far are:

  • Mount Rushmore National Monument
  • Yellowstone National Park
  • Grand Tetons National Park
  • Great Sand Dunes National Park
  • Zion National Park
  • Bryce Canyon National Park
  • Grand Canyon National Park
  • Arches National Park
  • Canyonlands National Park
  • Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Cabrillo National Monument
  • Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (BLM)
  • Saguaro National Park
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park
  • Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve (Barataria and Chalmette)
  • Everglades National Park
  • Biscayne National Park
  • Fort Pulaski National Monument
  • Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
  • Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
  • Colonial National Historic Park (Jamestown, Yorktown)

Sarah: My favorite is Yellowstone. There is so much to see and the landscape changes. One minute it is a flat field, then rivers and bison herds, then thermals (hot springs, geysers). There is something for everyone.

Yellowstone National Park: hot springs and geysers, creeking, elk, bald eagle, bison by river

Ben: My favorite is Bryce. The landscape was very different; but beautiful with the hoodoos and different colors. I had a sense of accomplishment when we were done, as during part of it I didn’t know if we would finish the hike.

Bryce Canyon

Will: My favorite is Colonial National Historic Park because of all the history.

Colonial: Jamestown and Yorktown

Nick: My favorite is Zion. I liked hiking the Narrows.

Zion: The Narrows, a lizard, Canyon Overlook Trail

Honorable Mentions: Carlsbad Caverns (it is quite the experience, it’s a little other worldly) and Everglades (so much wildlife)

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Louisiana, Hiking, Sightseeing

Audubon Park in New Orleans, LA

Written by tepetravels

We wanted to get out and take a walk, so we started looking for local parks. We found Audubon Park. There was on-street parking, and their website states there is a parking lot as well. You can also take the St. Charles Streetcar to get to the Park. The park had a a golf course, a great walking/biking trail. There were a few shelters and spots to have a picnic. There was a pond as well, but no fishing was allowed. It sits next to the Audubon Zoo and also across from Tulane University. The park itself was free, but the Zoo and golfing do cost extra.

Restrooms were also hard to come by if you are not familiar with the park. Shelters 10, 11, 12 are listed as having restrooms. (Two of which are on the same side of the park.) The men’s restroom was closed at Shelter 10 and while the women’s was open, it was missing toilet paper in some stalls and was ok in terms of cleanliness.

We really enjoyed walking around the park and seeing the huge live oak trees. We stopped at the Tree of Life (Note: It’s on the zoo side, not the golf course side, so we had to cross the road to get to that part of the park). It was planted around 1740! The tree was amazingly large and very neat to see.

We also saw The Labyrinth while we were on that side of the park. It is a two part maze, but is built into the ground, so there is no getting lost! We had a kind of sunny day, so it was a little hard to see the different colors of the bricks marking the path.

Video: Walking the Labyrinth

While walking around the pond, we saw a few different types of birds that were new to us as well.

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Colorado, Hiking

Hiking, Failing Ikea, and Foil Dinners

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Hiking, Failing Ikea, and Foil Dinners

The boys and I went on a walk/hike today. I chose an easy one since my back has been giving me some problems the last couple of days.

The trail was nicely paved for parts and gravel for others, but all of it was nice and flat. There was not a lot of shade on the trail, so I am glad everyone put on sunscreen and wore their wide brim hats.

The trail wove across a few bridges, went near the lake, and through several prairie dog locations. We loved seeing them run around and call out to each other. They are so squeaky! (No wonder dogs loves squeaky toys.) I have a quick video up on the YouTube channel of them calling out to each other. The beginning of the path had a lot of bikers (bicycles not motorcycles) and even had a repair station with an air pump and some tools.

After hiking, we ran into Target to get Nick some new shoes. (This kid is rough on shoes!) We bought a few other things as well and headed to drop off some postcards. Once back in the campground, we did another load of laundry.

Ben wanted to run into Ikea when he was done with work, so off we went looking for couches. The couch in the RV is actually loveseat sized and not that comfortable long term. You can’t really lay down, the arm rests are too low to really give support but at the same time too high to use as a seat. Since we are going to be in here for a year, we thought we could replace the couch. It seemed fine when we bought the RV, but like anything you use daily, you quickly discover if it works well for you or not.

We found a couple of possibilities, but none that worked really well in the space. We’ll just keep looking.

I think the kids’ favorite part was when we were leaving. This store had an escalator ramp!

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