The Nonsense of W&J

It’s amazing when we look back at our own videos and see ourselves doing adventures that we might never had tried in our 30s.  I had never dreamt about shark diving in my life.  But it was on my husband’s bucket list.  Now, I love shark diving!  To see sharks and other marine life swimming below and around you in the ocean fascinates us.  We become mesmirized and forget many of our fears!

The funny thing is that we don’t really think about the risks as much as we did when we were younger.  Oh, sure, I am still afraid of heights and know that to walk a cliff I need a certain width on the path.  But, when we research our adventures and get caught up in lifelong dreams, we forget most of our fears.

For example, we want to snorkel with whales, orcas, and sharks.  It is our bucket list goal to see as many of these amazing creatures as we can.  However, although we know we must be strong swimmers and some waters will be very cold, we just know we have to try it.

During my “career” I was more hesitant, trying to weigh all the risks before jumping in. And, I hated screwing up in public, where everyone could see my mistakes.

But in my adventures, I screw up all the time!  While hiking back with the river flow on the Narrows, I fell in three times!  Everyone was asking “Are you okay?  “We thought we lost you!”  I was thinking, “Wow, what a hike!”

We are not the crazy adventurists who get permits for extreme trips.  I don’t think I will ever hike Half-Dome in Yosemite.  I could be wrong, but it is not on my bucket list right now.  We are simply an average, middle-aged couple who want to share our experiences with each other.

Having said that, though, once we find an adventure we want to try, we try not to let our fears get into the way.  Oh sure, I didn’t want to do Angels Landing the first time I visited Zion National Park.  I thought I might need a few more height adventures under my belt first!  But, I haven’t marked it off my list yet.

And, we don’t complete every adventure we attempt.  We did not feel comfortable hiking up the loose rock to Andrews Glacier in the Rocky Mountains National Park.  However, although we didn’t complete the hike, we enjoyed it immensely.  We still believe the journey is the most important part of an adventure.

Also, the more we adventure, the more comfortable we become with other adventures.  After full-time rving for several years, we want to start traveling to other countries!  We haven’t seen the entire U.S.  Maybe we will and maybe we won’t.  We simply enjoy dreaming about the next adventure we want to attempt!

Again, we don’t want to be too afraid of crime, customs, and language barriers to not experience some amazing places and adventures in other countries.  We have met some marvelous people while traveling through the U.S. They have opened our eyes to oversea travel by explaining it simply to us, “Just buy the ticket!”.

We can’t wait to experience other cultures, festivals, and landscapes!  Working and meeting people from other countries and U.S. global travelers has increased our hunger for more adventures.

Oh sure, we try to be a little prepared before we jump in.  We want to know at least a few polite words in languages.  We want our luggage to be a little secure.  And we want to research the country a little.  However, you never really know what to expect until actually experience it.

We still have a lot more in life to see and do!  Overcoming fears enables you to life the life you want.  Afterall, life itself is just an adventure where we grow, become more confident and make errors along the way.  And, if I can snorkel with a whale while doing this, all I can say is “Wow, what an adventure!”

Our Favorite Hikes in Zion National Park:

• Scout Overlook Trail, Shuttle Stop #6 The Grotto, 3.6 miles, 1115 feet elevation gain, hard – be sure and hike a mile past Scout Overlook on the West Rim Trail for some more amazing views
• The Narrows Bottom-Up Day Trail, Shuttle Stop #9 Temple of Sinawava, as many miles as you can hike, very little elevation gain
• The Watchman Trail, right at Visitors Center, 3.1 miles, 636 feet elevation gain

Hikes We Missed but Plan to Do:

• Zion Canyon Overlook Trail, .9 miles, 157 feet elevation gain, it is located on the east side of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel and can be tricky to find parking
• Observation Point via East Mesa Trailhead, 7 miles, 702 feet elevation gain, the East Mesa Trailhead on the East side of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel via Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort GPS 37.29698, -112.90013

Our favorite place to visit in Utah is Zion National Park.  We stayed in the area for a couple of weeks in mid to late May, hoping to avoid the crowds during the busier summer months.  We dispersed camped fifteen minutes away from Zion at Hurricane Cliffs Designated Dispersed Campsites GPS 37.2072, -113.2402.  Zion is extremely crowded.  Every day we visited the park, we arrived early in the morning to find parking in the RV/oversize lot with our dually truck.  The Visitor Center opens at 8 a.m. but the shuttles begin running at 6 a.m.  Do note that the parking lots fill up fast!  There is a free shuttle service from Springdale into the park, if the Zion parking lot is full.  However, we had no issues finding parking by arriving before or around 8 a.m.

We now know why Zion National Park is so popular.  It is gorgeous!  We completed the Scout Overlook Trail, The Narrows bottom-up day Trail, the Watchman Trail, and all three of Emerald Pool trails.  We did not attempt to gain a permit for the famous Angels Landing Trail.  With her current fear of heights, Jessica did not feel comfortable attempting this hike.   But who knows what the future will bring.

Scout Lookout Trail

However, even if you do not want to hike Angels Landing, the Scout Lookout Trail is amazing.  This is now Windell’s favorite hike, displacing the Fremont Fire Tower in Mount Rainier National Park.  The Scout Lookout Trail is a strenuous trail and we took a lot of breaks on Walter’s Wiggles.  The Lookout is gorgeous.  We stopped and took in the inspiring view before continuing on the West Rim Trail. Hiking a mile or so further on West Rim Trail past Scout Lookout provides even better views of Angel’s Landing and different perspectives of the canyon.  If you still have the energy after Scout Lookout, we encourage you to continue on the West Rim Trail.  It is well worth the hike.

The Narrows Bottom-Up Day Trail

Jessica’s now favorite hike to date is the Narrows bottom-up day hike.  Although we did not feel comfortable attempting the hike when the water flow was 124 cubic feet per second, we did attempt it the second week when it dropped to 84 cubic feet per second.  We are glad we waited.  Especially Jessica who still fell into the water three times hiking back.

It was our first time hiking over ten miles while crossing a river through a canyon and it took our breath away, sometimes literally with the current and cold water.  The Narrows has been on our bucket list for four years, and we are grateful we finally hiked it.  There is no set endpoint to this hike.  You hike as far as you want upstream and turn around wherever you want to hike back downstream with the current.  We recommend this hike to anyone visiting Zion, although it is more enjoyable earlier in the morning with fewer people.

The Watchman Trail

The Watchman hike right at the parking lot introduces you to the gorgeous canyon of Zion and was recommended to us by a ranger.  This trail gets busy, but if you go early, you can have some time at the top to sit alone and reflect a moment.  There is also a short scenic loop trail at the end.  The Watchman Trail is considered an easy to moderate hike that can be completed in around two hours.  We hiked the Watchman trail and all three Emerald Pools in the same day.

The Emerald Pool Trails

The Emerald Pool trails were a disappointment to us.  We hiked these trails later in the morning and into the early afternoon in mid-May 2024.  The trails are very busy and the pools themselves are not very epic.  The waterfalls may flow better at different seasons, and maybe the pools are prettier then. Early spring, late fall, and winter are recommended as the best times to visit these pools.  If you like strenuous hikes, as Jessica does, you may enjoy the hikes to these pools and the lower pool does have a small waterfall you can walk behind.  To hike the Emeralds Pools, get off the shuttle at Stop #6, The Grotto.  The hike is considered moderate, although hiking to all three pools gave our legs a workout.  It is only three miles with 620 feet of elevation gain.

Other To-Do Hikes in Zion

The only hikes we missed that were on our to- do list during our first trip to Zion  were The Observation Point Trail and the Canyon Overlook Trail.  Both trails are supposed to provide amazing views of the Canyon.  However, it was not meant for us to hike these trails due to the Weeping Rock shuttle stop closure and the difficulty of parking.

There are two ways to access Observation Point.  It is a moderate hike at East Zion via the East Mesa Trailhead from the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort.  The parking lot and trailhead are on the the east side of the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel.  The hike is seven miles with 702 feet of elevation gain.  We had planned to hike to Observation Point from the Weeping Rock Trailhead, which is Shuttle Stop #7 within the park.  During our visit in May 2024, the Weeping Rock shuttle stop was closed due to rockfall.  It has been closed since 2019.  So, we decided to leave the Observation Point Trail until the next time we returned to Zion.

It was also in our plan to hike the moderate Canyon Overlook Trail.  This trail is less than a mile in distance and was on our way out of the park.  However, while awaiting our turn to drive through the tunnel on East Zion, we spoke with the Ranger.  She said it would be difficult for us to find parking with our dually and that the parking lot was for smaller vehicles.  We looked, but did not find any parking for this trail after passing through the tunnel, so we continued on our way to Bryce National Park.

Zion National Park is extremely busy, and we are not particularly fond of crowds.  However, if you are in Utah, this national park is a must to visit.  The canyons, mountains, and views will take your breath away.  Zion National Park exceeded our expectations in its beauty.

One of our favorite adventures in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is the hike to Rialto Beach, located in the Olympic National Park.  We love the Olympic Peninsula for its coastal beaches, mountains, lavender farms, and its unique beaches and sea life.  And the beaches contain so much sea life!  Before reaching Split Rock and Hole in the wall, you will see a few rocks on the beach with starfish.  However, when you arrive at Split Rock, you will be overwhelmed by the number and variety of starfish and sea anemones.

Our favorite place on Rialto Beach is Split Rock.  We couldn’t believe how many starfish and sea anemones were in this area!  We spent most of our time at Split Rock, counting the starfish and listening to the waves.  It took us awhile to pull ourselves away and hike back even though the tide was coming in.

To hike this trail, you can use the Rialto Beach Tide Chart to determine when low tide occurs.  You must hike the beach during low tide as it is not accessible during high tide.  This is a short 3.3 mile hike along the beach.  You will see many people on this hike and you can easily follow them from the parking lot.  Restrooms are available at the parking lot.

From the parking lot, simply turn right and hike down the beach with lots of other people on the Hole-in-the-Wall Trail.  Give yourself plenty of time to explore and take your picture at Hole-in-the Wall.  Check out all the amazing sea life and have fun!  Although we also explored Kalaloch Beach 4in the Olympic National Park, Rialto Beach is our favorite beach in this area and we will visit again when we come back.

Washington is one of our favorite states to explore.  We tend to shy away from big cities like Seattle and focus on hiking, kayaking, and adventuring.  Although we spent many months in Washington, there is still a lot of adventuring in this state on our bucket list.  Below is a list of our favorite explorations in Washington and future explorations on our bucket list.

Our Favorite Explorations in Washington

Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier was one of our favorite national parks to hike and explore.   We visited the park several days while staying at Paradise RV Campground Thousand Trails in 173 Salem Plant Rd, Silver Creek, WA 98585.  Our favorite hikes in the national park were the Freemont Trail, the Skyline Trail, and Comet Falls.  Although we visited the park in July, there was still some snow on the Freemont Trail.  We hiked the Skyline Trail in several inches of snow.  It required quite of a bit of exertion and caution.  The Skyline Trail is the one hiking trail that we wish we had hiking poles.  To come back down from the Panorama Point, Jessica had to slide on her butt part way.

The Freemont Fire Lookout was Windell’s favorite trail until we explored Zion National Park in Utah.  However, we are not finished with Mount Rainier.  When we return, we want to hike the Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout and the Sourdough Ridge Trailhead.  Of course, we will probably be adding more explorations to the list as we continue watching Wandering Washington on her excursions.

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is truly an amazing place to visit.  The temperate rainforest, Pacific coastline, lavender farms, and the extraordinary features of this area will simply take your breath away.  We stayed at KM Resorts – Diamond Point Resort 294 Industrial Pkwy, Sequim, WA 98382, which is one of our RPI membership parks.  Sequim, Washington is a fabulous place to visit lavender farms and hike the spit to the Dungeness Lighthouse.  Read our blog regarding hiking the Dungeness Spit with the tide tables.

While we were there, we also visited the Olympic National Park for some amazing beaches and hikes.  Our favorite hike was to Rialto Beach during low tide.  We never saw so many different colored starfishes and sea anemones in our lives.  Split rock was our favorite spot to explore during this hike.  If we return to the Olympic Peninsula, we will be hiking this beach again.  We did have to check our tide schedule and we have a short blog on Hiking Rialto Beach.

We also hiked Hurricane Hill and Kalaloch Beach 4.  However, they were not our favorite explorations.  When we return to the Olympic Peninsula, we would like to attempt to hike the Mt. Ellinor Lower Trailhead and Mount Storm King.  We did not attempt these at the time simply because we weren’t sure of our abilities.  However, since hiking and pushing ourselves more, we are more confident in hiking more elevation and Jessica is a little less afraid of hikes.

Crescent Lake is a sight to behold.  The lake is incredibly blue and many people were jumping off the bridge into the Devils Punchbowl.  We kayaked this lake in the afternoon after hiking to Marymere Falls.  However, next time we will kayak it in the morning with less wind!

San Juan Island

We love sea creatures and chartering boats to see wildlife in the oceans.  While staying at La Conner RV & Camping Resort 16362 Snee Oosh Rd, La Conner, WA 98257 Thousand Trails, we booked a ferry from Anacortes to San Juan Island.  We love Washington ferries!  Taking a ferry to an Island is a great way to get some scenery and maybe see some wildlife.

Exploring a little of the San Juan Island was fun.  However, our main reason for going to the Island was our booked boat charter to see some Killer Whales.  Besides our YouTube video, we also wrote a short blog on our Killer Whale Adventure.  We had an amazing time, although the boat trip was a little colder than we expected.  When we return to this area, we would like to explore more of the Islands, including Orcas Island.  Maybe Jessica can even convince Windell to kayak around the areas.

Future Desired Explorations in Washington

Leavenworth

Although we explored the town of Leavenworth and did a few hikes, there are some amazing areas that we did not know about or explore while we were there.  When we return, we want to hike the Cascade Pass Trailhead to Sahale Arm Trail, and especially The Enchantments.  The Enchantments will be an intense one day hike.  We want to apply for a backpacking permit to stay overnight.  This hike is our main bucket list item in the Leavenworth area, although we realize it will be extremely challenging.

North Cascades

We did not visit the North Cascades National Park or surrounding area while we were in Washington.  At the time, there were many vehicle break-ins while they were repaving parking lots and we didn’t want to chance it.  However, as we watch our favorite YouTubers hike the North Cascades, we have discovered many hikes to add to our bucket list, including Trappers Peak, Sourdough Mountain Trail, Lake Ann Trail, Hidden Lake Lookout Trail, and many more.  We are sorry we did not explore this area more while in Washington.  Thousand Trails has a campground near North Cascades National Park.  It is Grandy Creek 1000 Trails 7370 Russell Rd, Concrete, WA 98237 or you can reserve Goodell Creek Campground State Rte 20, Marblemount, WA 98267 or another National Park Campground.

When Windell wanted to advertise our YouTube channel on the back of our truck and camper, I thought it was a waste of time.  We created our YouTube channel for ourselves to record our own adventures.  I thought most people would not be interested in our simple adventures.  And, I wasn’t sure I wanted people to know me based on our videos and posts.  After all, we are simply amatures with no previous experience in videomaking.  Of course, we have a blast learning more about making videos and posting on YouTube.

However, advertising on our vehicles has provided some surprising benefits.  We have met some really nice, amazing people simply by having our YouTube channel posted on our truck and camper.  Recently we met a friendly couple who followed us while taking a detour in Colorado from our campground.  We then followed them to the nearest Super Walmart.  It was a blast to smile and chat about our short adventure together.

Our little YouTube channel is not big by any means.   We are not influencers and we do not make money from it.  We do not really care if we ever do.  Not everyone we meet will want to subscribe to us or watch our videos.

Our videos do not contain a lot of drama.  We do not post our Full-Time RVing life or the maintenance and repair on our camper.  You will not find campground reviews on our small channel.  And, our adventures will not appeal to everyone; not everyone wants to shark dive (I don’t know why!).

But our YouTube channel has provided us many benefits which we have written in a blog.  One of our greatest benefits of advertising our channel has been meeting and chatting with new people.  Because they see the advertising for our YouTube on our vehicles, we have more people coming up and saying hello or asking us about our travels.  We love the comments and suggestions we receive.  Unfortunately, while traveling, we do not always have internet service.  It may take us a few days to reply to comments.  But, we do read them and try to reply.

Being afraid to post publicly on social media or advertise your YouTube channel simply so people will not judge you does not make any sense.  Since advertising, we meet awesome, friendly people that we would probably not meet if we did not advertise.  We receive a lot of friendly comments about seeing the advert or meeting us at a place.  It makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

Sure, we get dislikes on our video and sometimes harsh comments.  We do not take it personal.  We make our videos for our own enjoyment and memories.  However, we do enjoy it when people find new places to explore from us.  And, we love when people provide us with new ideas on adventuring.  So, it is no big deal if we receive a dislike on a video or a critical comment.

Also we know we are not perfect.  As we plan to travel overseas more, we hope to open our own minds to new experiences without any preconceived ideas or notions of how people should act.  We cannot wait to explore and learn from various cultures and populations.   And, we hope we continue to make new friends along the way.

We will continue to post our adventures for our own memories and for anyone else interested.  Our vow is to remain true to ourselves.  Sure, we may not have many subscribers or any revenue from our little YouTube channel.  However, the joy and opportunities it has brought us to date has already paid us back in rewards.

Our first year of RVing and adventuring full-time, we did not have a GoPro for most of the year.  We simply had our Olympus camera to capture the Outer Banks in North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and kayaking the Three Sisters Spring in Florida.  Because we were very private, we never thought of creating a YouTube Channel to record our adventures.

While sitting in Fort Myers, Florida, we decided we wanted a GoPro to capture our fun.  This is also when we decided to create our YouTube Channel to post videos of our adventures.  We created the YouTube Channel so we could look back later in life and relive our fun.  One of our first videos was us boogie boarding at Ormand Beach.  We were laughing and having a great time.  We still watch that video and laugh at ourselves.

Since that first year, we have always had a GoPro with us on our adventures.  It did take us some time to accustom ourselves to carrying the GoPro and we have had some mishaps.  We thought we were getting some great footage at the Badlands.  Jessica, who is scared of heights, climbed up the tall cable ladder on The Notch Trail in the Badlands.  When she reached the top, she started doing a happy dance and yelling “Yippee.”  It was hilarious.  People all around us were laughing with us.  However, the newbies that we were, we later discovered the GoPro was not filming.  Ooops!  That was a hilarious moment, that although we remember a little, we would have loved a video of it.

So, we have a blast recording our memories and posting them on YouTube for us.  But we also hope others enjoy our videos.  We get excited when people watch our videos and want to visit the place or do the adventure we are recording.  We believe we are not adrenaline junkies, as we have been called.  Our adventures are simply of two middle-aged persons in good health, with one person afraid of heights.

Surprise Benefits of Our Channel

Our idea of recording our adventures for our memories has paid off well.  Not financially, of course, with only a hundred subscribers.  Yet with our laughter and our fun.  We watch our own videos and recall that memory together.  Many times, we had forgotten something we had seen or done.  So, we watch the video to remember and have a good laugh at our own misadventures.

However, making videos and posting them on YouTube has brought some surprise benefits.  Windell loves making the videos.  He is always discovering new features on the software and playing around with the special effects.  He has a lot of fun combining the videos and pictures and adding music.  His joy is one of the surprise benefits we discovered with the GoPros.

Another surprise benefit is that sometimes we capture things on the camera that we missed while we were there.  We never would have seen the lobster at Phil Foster if Windell had not been filming inside some of the rocks.  We enjoy seeing in the video later something we may have missed at the time.  Sometimes, animals zip past us in a flash or we cannot remember all the details.  We can slow the video down or pause it to get a better view.  We enjoy recapturing the moment on video if we want to further research what exactly was that fish or did the Grizzly have a baby with it.

One of the best surprise benefits of making videos, however, is capturing us being in the moment.  We film ourselves a lot on our adventures.  Well, Windell films us a lot on our adventures!  He is always prodding Jessica to turn around to face his GoPro.  Looking back at the smiles on our faces and the joy of being in epic surroundings allows us to appreciate all the fun we have.  When we rewatch our videos and see our astonishment or exclamations of joy, we relive that adventure together.  That is an awesome feeling.

Some might say that you are not in the moment if you are filming your activity.  Yet, we are in the moment when we are recording.  In fact, many times we will be watching something amazing, and the GoPro will be facing the other way.  That occurred a lot with the Gray Whales in Oregon.  There were so many spouts of water.  When we rewatched our videos and looked at the pictures, we realized we weren’t even shooting the best encounters.  We were too busy watching the whales.  However, we are always reliving the moment over and over again as we watch our videos.  You would not believe how many times we watch our video and say to each other, “Wow, that was awesome!”.

Continuing Our Channel

We are not professional YouTubers.  We do not know if we will ever be.  YouTube has so many videos on how to improve your videos, add additional features, and increase your subscribers.  We are not going to lie; we love seeing our subscription number increase.  We hope our subscribers enjoy our adventures and want to see new ones.  Windell encourages friends and family to subscribe, but Jessica would rather have people who actually enjoy the videos subscribe.  We also love for others to share their adventures.  We always need new adventures to add to our Google Map!

If we ever reach enough subscribers to earn money, we will probably add advertising to the beginning of our videos.  After all, it never hurts to have a little extra gas money.  We would never want advertising all through our videos, though.  We do not like watching other YouTube videos with a lot of advertising and we sure do not want to watch our own.  However, we can handle some advertising at the front of videos.  Especially if you can skip it!

When we first started our current lifestyle, we watched many YouTube videos for information and activities.  We had no idea that some of these YouTubers have a patreon page. It never ocurred to us to pay a subscription fee to YouTubers to watch special videos or receive notices.  In fact, this is a subscription service we would never buy.  There is enough information on the web to find adventures and cool locations without becoming patrons.

So, with only a hundred subscribers, it is obviously premature of us to consider adding a patreon page.  But we would never have one anyway.  We like making and posting videos.  It is not a source of income for us, but instead, a source of joy.  If we influence someone to visit a place or try an adventure, amazing!   Share your experience with us, please.  But, from two people who know what it means to budget, we would never add a subscription page.  Ever.

We Never Want on Our YouTube

There are a few other things you will never see in our videos.  We will never eat in front of the camera.  Well, now, that is a lie.  We will never eat in front of the camera on purpose.  Windell sometimes captures Jessica on film right after she has shoved a granola bar in her mouth.  Like, when we were boating over to Manitou Island.  We do not like watching people eat on camera, so our videos will never include us eating.  Except when Windell decides to film Jessica, accidently he says.

We will rarely film driving the highway to an adventure.  We do not want to watch a highway, unless it is epic.  So, we did film driving through the tunnel exiting Zion National Park.  The scenery was gorgeous.  We were going to try to park the truck and hike for an overlook.  However, the road was a little busy and we are a little wide in the back.  So, we missed the trailhead.  We put the Zion Canyon Overlook Hike back on our list to do when we return.

Also, when we visit a spot, we do not research all the information on a place.  Some people love the history and features that make a place unique.  Unfortunately, we are those people who simply love being in the place at that moment.  So, we will never Wikipedia any information and read it in the video.  We would bore ourselves.  We assume that if someone watches a video and wants to know more about the place, they would rather research it themselves.  After all, we might get it wrong.  When we do research something, like an awesome fish we have never seen before, we try to post it in the descriptions or titles of our videos.

Sometimes, we do remember to capture the signs with information at some amazing places, such as the Painted Wall at the Black Canyons National Park.   We record these for our own memory and in case someone does want to know a little more information on the history.  But we miss a lot of these signs simply because we are oohing and awing at our view.

If you have watched any of our videos, you know that we are not professional YouTubers.  We create videos for the simple reason that we like watching our videos.  We love seeing our adventures and remembering our fun, sweat, breathlessness, and that epic lunch spot.  Reliving our adventures has added more joy to our lives that we could possibly imagine in the beginning.  If others find new adventures and places from our videos, even better.  It is an amazing feeling to be able to do something you love simply because you want to.

Because we travel full-time and plan our adventures and campgrounds, we need a quick way to see locations.  So, we created our personal Google Map.

Our map has been a travel changer for us.  We insert adventures and places we want to do and see into our map.  These include places all over the world that we learn about from different resources.  Because we are members of Thousand Trails and RPI, we also include our campground memberships in our map.  We have added some grocery stores too.  Jessica also loves Aldi and Walmart, so if we are traveling extensively in an area, we add these to our map.

We are always adding to our map.  Although we still create spreadsheets when traveling, our Google Map helps us organize our piles of notes into a great visualization.  Also we can link our YouTube videos to our Google Map.  When we travel through the area again, we can remember what we have already done or the campground that we stayed at and if we want to do or stay there again. If we stay in a Thousand Trails campground with our travel trailer, we can choose which one we want to book based on how close our activities are to the campground.

It is very easy to create a personal Google Map.  If you travel or explore often, a map can make it much easier to plan your next exciting adventure.   It is also very easy to duplicate the base map for a specific trip and determine a travel route.  For example, we are currently planning a trip to Alaska.  I simply copied our main map, removed the grocery section, and put in our travel route to Anchorage.  It still includes all the activities we want to do, doesn’t affect the original map, and makes the planning of the trip to Alaska so much easier.

We would recommend creating a personal Google Map to anyone who loves exploring or traveling.  It is exciting to see all the adventures in an area and to plan your travel.

Buying Cheap Snorkel Masks

When we went to work at a beautiful campground in Florida for the winter, we received some great suggestions for snorkeling.  We had only snorkeled twice before this and our snorkel masks were the cheap kits from Amazon that included the flippers for $25.  So, we decided to purchase different snorkel masks for our winter adventure.  Unfortunately, we have this bad habit that usually costs us more money in the long run.  When we first want to try a hobby, we tend to buy cheap versions of the tools we need just to see if we like the hobby.  For example, when we decided to try our simple boogie boarding, we purchased cheap styrofoam boards.  However, after playing for a day, we went and purchased new slick, better quality boards.  Buying the cheap boards cost us $40 more than just buying good boards from the start.

We made the same mistake purchasing additional snorkel masks.  Phil Foster in Riviera Beach was our absolute favorite place to snorkel, and we went twelve times during our stay!  We decided to upgrade our snorkel masks (we thought) and purchased a couple more cheap masks that we thought would work.  We could see out the side and they looked so clear.  However, they did not fit very well, especially on Jessica.  They leaked and fogged up.  Jessica even missed a cool nurse shark messing with her mask!!  After some researching and YouTubing, we learned that we needed snorkel masks that fit our face.  One size does not fit all in snorkel masks!

Determining Whether A Snorkel Mask Fits

To determine whether a snorkel mask fits – you take a breath in and hold it.  Then put the mask on your face without using the strap.  If the mask sits on your face without the strap, then it fits your face.  We tried several masks with this method that did not fit our face!  Eventually, Jessica purchased a small adult Cressi mask from Amazon.  What a difference it made!  No leaking and it is so comfortable!  Windell went to a scuba shop to get fitted for his new mask.  Now we both enjoy snorkeling for several hours and seeing all the awesome marine life.  Although we do use baby shampoo on our masks and then rinse them to help prevent fogging, they still fog every once in a while in a small spot.  But purchasing our snorkeling masks and Cressi fins have made our adventures so much more amazing.  So, again we spent approximately $100 more on cheap equipment than we should have.  Hopefully, we are learning our lesson.  Every hobby that we have wanted to try, we have enjoyed.  It is much better for us to go ahead and spend the money for good equipment rather than waste money and not have as much fun!