2024 in Review

Wow, three years in the books full-time RVing! In some ways it seems like just yesterday we left our sticks and bricks and embarked on this journey. In other ways it seems like we have been doing this for a lifetime, because we have experienced a lifetime worth of adventures in this short period of time. As 2024 comes to a close it is mind blowing just how much we have done and seen this year alone.

2024 was primarily the year for the west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington. After wintering for a month in Yuma Arizona we started our nearly ten month west coast adventure. It was difficult to plan this segment since we would be traversing three completely different climates; deserts, mountains and the coast. It was important to time our stops appropriately so that we weren’t baking in the desert heat or coming head to head with old man winter.

This part of the country has so much to offer. We covered the coast from Ventura California all the way up to Cape Flattery in Washington, the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States. Big Sur was incredible but the Oregon coast was magical! From sheer cliffs and sea stacks to otters, whales and seals that inhabit these waters, there were so many breathtaking moments. There were many surprises along the way as well, such as seeing the aurora borealis on top of a cliff overlooking the Columbia River.

We peacefully ballooned over Napa Valley on a cool morning watching the sunrise. We challenged class IV rapids of the White Salmon River. We visited Alcatraz, and learned of all the history this unique prison has within its walls. We fell in love with so many small seaside town which many don’t even know exist, and thoroughly enjoyed all the National Parks along the way. Oh, those National Parks!

As we made our way up to the Olympic Peninsula, and after a short side trip to Victoria BC, we made a loop and continued our journey southward, but this time through the Cascade Range, an area known as the Cascade Volcanic Arc. Washington would be amazing if we only had visited Olympic National Park, but then we would have missed (possibly) my favorite, Mount Rainier and Lake Chelan.

Seeing Mount St. Helens in person was a surreal experience. Standing at the edge of Crater Lake was like a photoshopped picture, but it was real. Experiencing Lake Tahoe in the summer made us appreciate one of our favorite places even more. Yosemite is a very special place that we experienced extensively (minus the rock climbing). The 2,000 year old redwood and sequoia trees we stood next to in the namesake parks seemed to put our minut existence into a different perspective.

As we headed easterly towards Texas in early October, we “stood on the corner” (if you know, you know), took in a couple more National Parks and finally made it to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We gained a new Daughter-in-law as our son entered a new stage of his life. And now we close out the year in a return trip to Big Bend visiting old friends and making new ones.

Our year encapsulated into numbers looks like this:

• 7,220 miles traveled in our motorhome
• 8 states and one province visited
• 44 individual stops at RV parks of all shapes and sizes
• 14 National Parks, including all in CA, OR and WA except one (Lassen was closed due to a forest fire)
• 1 wedding (we are so proud of our son and daughter-in-law)

We realize just how fortunate we are to live this amazing lifestyle and continue to see so many incredible places in this country and beyond. We know many live their entire lives just trying to make it to one of these places, and this humbles us greatly. Our 2025 journey will start in the Southeast, but we have done much less planning so far so will be piecing much of this together as we move along. The blogs will continue so stay tuned in and if you missed any of our 2024 blogs check them out, including the 4-5 still to come.

Connecting with family and friends (and making new ones) is one of the joys of our journey. We hope to see as many of you as we can down the road a piece. It’s a new year, start making some memories!