5 on Friday & Giveaway Fun!

Happy Friday Friends!! 

We've been bouncing around right and left the past few weeks, so I feel like I would play a little catch up around here with some Five on Friday randomness! 

Here's a little peek at what's been going on around here lately... 

We're LOVING ColoRADo!! 

If you read last week's post, then you know we are currently in Colorado. The scenery out here is incredible!! We are currently at an RV park near Mesa Verde National Park. Unfortunately, the cell service out here can be hit or miss. Since we work on the road we have had to be very careful about where we stay. We found a park that claimed to have decent cell reception and wifi; however, that ended up not being the case and we had to quickly move parks. Our current view is a car wash, so while it isn't a winning view, we are at least able to work (which keeps gas in the truck, so ultimately I guess it is a win). We are going back into the national park this morning to do a tour of the cliff dwellings and we are pretty pumped!! We will share more about Mesa Verde NP soon, but for now our number one tip would be to make sure you plan at least two days if you are going to visit. The tour tickets for the day can run out really early. We were in the park by 11 on Wednesday (during off-season) and there were no tickets left. Thankfully we were staying, but there were others who were pretty bummed because they were only there for the day. You can still see the cliff dwellings without a tour ticket, but you can only go into them with a ticket and guide (cost is $5 per person). 

Spring Skiing at Steamboat Springs Resort and Old Town Hot Springs

Spring in Steamboat Springs, Colorado!  

We've been in Colorado for about two weeks now and are LOVING it! When a friend gifted us with free lift tickets to Steamboat we booked it northwest just as quick as we could! We are now further east (almost to Utah) in a town called Grand Junction and are enjoying the warmer days and gorgeous, other worldly (at least for these Florida-natives) hikes. We will be sharing those soon, but Steamboat Springs can't be passed up. Here's why we loved spring in Steamboat Springs so much...

Steamboat Springs Is Easily Accessible 

This was the first time driving hauling Delilah the Dream Machine up really high inclines, so we were very grateful that it's pretty easy to get into Steamboat from I-70! The resort was also so gracious and allowed us to park in their lot overnight, when we found out we wouldn't be able to stay at the state park we were planning on. This is not customary and probably won't work during busy season, but it never hurts to call and ask. We pulled into their overflow late after the runs were closed on Sunday, were able to walk to the gondola that took us to the top of the mountain to ski Monday, and we're gone once the slopes closed at the end of the day. 

6 Hours in St. Louis || Things to Do in St. Louis Missouri

Happy Friday!! I'm just over here singing... 

"Meet me in St. Louis, Loius, meet me at the fair; 
don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there." 
Anyone else's mom sing this to them as a lullaby?! No, just me?! 
Honestly, I have never seen the movie it came from, but I love Judy Garland so maybe I should. Anywho...

We had plans to head south through New Orleans and Texas, making a slow journey to Colorado. However, we decided to head to Colorado earlier than planned, to try get in some spring skiing, and started booking it west with the quickest route we could find. This route happen to lead us right through St. Louis and we were able to spend a day exploring the "Gateway to the West"! More accurately we were able to spend just 6 hours exploring it! We were staying at a state park about 45 minutes away from downtown St. Louis, and because we teach in the mornings, we weren't able to leave the camper until just before noon. 

We had originally only planned for two definite stops; the Gateway Arch and then do the Anheuser Busch Brewery tour and were going to spend the rest of our time stumbling across different spots and enjoying a long lunch somewhere. Well, that plan quickly changed when someone reminded us about the City Museum. So instead, we skipped lunch and crammed as much as we could into our 6 hour window. 

5 Reasons Cracker Barrel is a Full-Time RVers Boondocking Bestie

We did it!! 

We earned our boondocking in a parking lot badge! 

Ok, so as far as I know there are no actual full-time RV life badges, but there should be. 

Anyways, we spent this past Sunday night parked in a Cracker Barrel parking lot overnight and absolutely loved it!! I know what you might be thinking, "but, it's just a parking lot!" To me it is so much more. One, our night in the Cracker Barrel parking lot was our first night boondocking in Delilah the Dream Machine; two, the ambiance was actually perfect for a wonderful night's sleep. Here are 5 reasons we think boondocking at Cracker Barrel is an amazing component to full-time RV life.... 

Cracker Barrel: The Bed and Breakfast for RVers

We actually ate two different meals at this specific Cracker Barrel. We pulled into the lot, after a long day of driving, and went in to grab dinner before tucking in for the night. We also made sure to introduce ourselves to the manager, just to let staff know we would be staying overnight. The staff was so hospitable and accommodating. The next morning, we woke up and went back in for a huge breakfast to fuel us for the next 6 hour leg of our trip out West. Cracker Barrel now offers specialty coffee beverages and we loved adding a little oomph to our coffee game with a caramel and mocha latte. 

Full-Time RV Life: The Sad Truth || #TravelTuesday Travel Link Up

Happy #TravelTuesday!! 

I know, I know, but it's Thursday... 4 pm on Thursday. 

Well, y'all... life! Thanks for giving me some grace! 

Have fun travels to share? Adventures in your own backyard? 

Add them to the link up at the bottom of this post! 

This month's link up is a few days behind, because we have been crazy busy trying to pack up again and get on the road. We even gave ourselves an extra week in Orlando and it still wasn't enough time to get caught up with everyone! I have not had a minute to sit down and work on a post and probably should have just saved this one for today, but I wasn't really planning ahead, and then all of a sudden Tuesday came... and went. I did manage to get our Road Talk Tuesday video finished, so today that's all I really have to share.