Vacation is over, what a ride!

We had the most wonderful winter vacation this year starting with New Years Eve with the kids in Ann Arbor, San Antonio in early January, New Mexico and Arizona in later January, them Maui for the first part of February. We came back to Phoenix mid-February to be joined by Tom and Evey, then we had David and Sarah with us in Cottonwood, Arizona near Sedona. We worked our way along the Arizona/Mexico border to New Mexico and then Big Bend National Park and the gulf of Texas including North Padre Island and Galveston. We met our Wheeler Road neighbors the Hollenbecks in New Orleans and camped with them at two campgrounds. We traveled the Natchez Trace Parkway for four hundred thirty miles on our way north, then camped in Tennessee and Indiana. We celebrated our 43'rd anniversary a few days early in Nashville on Sunday. Yesterday we hit the Michigan border and spent the night at Holland State Park. We are now home and getting the house up and running and getting settled in for the spring and summer. We couldn't have asked for a better winter!
We are looking forward to watching the woods wake up here since there are no leaves to be seen yet. It is early spring and everything is just coming around from the long winter. Our daffodils are just now blooming and we saw forsythia n bloom on the way through Leelanau County.
Hoping to have lots of company and good times this summer and can't wait to see everyone!

We started camping in northeast Texas in our new fifth wheel early in January. This was an awesome upgrade from our old Jayco travel trailer!

We stayed in San Antonio for a few days and enjoyed exploring the river walk and the old missions on our new bikes! 

We hiked in the snow on the mountains of Rockhound State Park in New Mexico

We saw snow again at Coronado National Monument on the Mexico border in Arizona

Organ Pipe cactus at the national park

We wanted to visit Patagonia for a few years now. We finally made it.

And while there we actually saw the elusive Elegant Trogan!

For a diversion we flew to Maui for twelve days and thoroughly enjoyed sightseeing to our hearts content! Here we are at the top of the Island at the volcano.

What more can we say about the beaches on Maui. Just beautiful!!

Tom and Evey came to call when we got back to Arizona. We had a great week with them.

Next we spent two days at the Grand Canyon! This is a must see for every American. It will take your breath away!

David and Sarah stayed with us for a few days and we hiked in Sedona.

Saguaro National Forest.

And Carlsbad Caverns! Just Fantastic!

Big Bend National Park on the Texas/Mexico border is HUGE. It is about forty miles square and has desert, mountains and the Rio Grande valley.

South Padre Island and the Texas gulf s on our itinerary for a return visit in two years. There is so much to see!

New Orleans is always a hoot with the street music and people watching. The Cajun food is particularly interesting!

French Camp on the Natchez Trace. This area in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee has a lot of history.

Our first time in Nashville made us want to come back again to see more of what this area has to offer. 

Back in Michigan we spent a nght at beautiful Holland State Park. Unfortunately the rain moved in on us and followed us back to Leelanau County.

 

We had a wonderful winter and looking back at the pictures confirms that we crammed an entire four months of adventure into our winter. We are so looking forward to next winter already, and have the month of March already booked for the Florida Keys.