The Best Gifts Never Come Wrapped

My daughter, Kyra, and I recently traveled by car then train to spend a day together in New York City.  (It's sort of a tough place to bring your RV.)  With her six-days-a-week work schedule, we don’t get to enjoy adventures like this on a regular basis.  We did a bit of shopping, a bit of sightseeing, a bit of eating and a whole lot of walking and talking.  The photos in this post were taken with Kyra’s phone and a small point-and-shoot camera that would fit in my pocket because I didn’t want to lug my good camera around with me all day.  Big mistake.  The photos from Kyra’s phone were fine but the ones from my camera, well, not so much.  So, please overlook the horrible photos.  While many of them leave a lot to be desired, the adventure itself was excellent - New York City is a glorious destination during the holidays, especially when you share the adventure with someone you love.

When I began thinking that I wanted to extend greetings of the season to you, for some reason my mind wandered around to the gifts of the season.  And then it just sat there, contemplating.  We celebrate Christmas at our house and, yes, gifts are exchanged.  Many come in boxes with holiday paper and bows.  Some are experiences or gift cards that represent future experiences.  All are thoughtfully given and graciously received.  But what about the gifts that never come wrapped?

Grand Canyon National Park - We're Big Fans of the North Rim (National Parks Trip #2)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the second of our three cross country National Parks camping trips with travel trailer in tow.  At the time of this trip in 2010, our son, Ryan, was 16 and our daughter, Kyra, was 11.  We were on the road for 4 weeks and 1 day.

Alan and I have been tent camping since we were married 40 years ago.  But it wasn’t until 2006 that we purchased our first travel trailer.  That first “RV summer,” Ryan was 12 and Kyra was 7, and we started out by frequenting private RV parks with amenities and activities that we felt the kids would enjoy.  It was on our first cross country National Parks camping trip in 2007 that we tested the waters of dry camping (camping without water, electric or sewer hookups) in Yellowstone National Park’s Madison Campground.  We discovered that we loved waking up in the Park surrounded by nature instead of other RVs.  The space, solitude and scenic views we experienced at Madison ignited our passion for camping in State and National Park campgrounds.  The rest, as they say, is history.