nctiger71

Moonrise Kingdom

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Overview: The year is 1965, and the residents of New Penzance, an island off the coast of New England, inhabit a community that seems untouched by some of the bad things going on in the rest of the world. Twelve-year-olds Sam and Suzy have fallen in love and decide to run away. But a violent storm is approaching the island, forcing a group of quirky adults to mobilize a search party and find the youths before calamity strikes.

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Quirky is an understatement.
Cast includes:
Bill Murray
Bruce Willis
Harvey Keitel
Frances McDormand

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..stay…in the Valley.

Saves so much time driving in/out of the park each day and after a long day of hiking you can head back to your room and relax rather than load back up in the car and drive for another hour or so.

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IMO, this is good advice. We went to Yosemite the 1st time last year and stayed outside the park. Said I would only go back if we could get a room in the park because it is not an easy drive in.

If you cannot get a room in the park then Oakhurst is probably the best place to stay.

We went to these 3 NP in March 2024, We didn’t do much in Guadalupe other than visit the two visitor centers and an old ranch house.

To visit CC we stayed in Artesia which is about 35 miles north of Carlsbad. We stayed there because the hotel was cheaper and it is on the way to Alamogordo. We ate at the Adobe Rose Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good.

We walked down into the cavern but took the elevator up. I think we reserved our tickets online. We just did the self guided walk of the main room but there are ranger guided walks too. We were at CC 2 to 3 hours.

White Sands is in and out. There are a few trails and one metal boardwalk. You can walk up the dunes and slide down on a disk. We probably spent an hour and 1/2 there.

We visited these NP on our way to see our granddaughter who was working at Bosque del Apache Nat. Wildlife Refuge near San Antonio, NM. If you happen to go there a must do is to get the green chile hamburger at the local hamburger place. I don’t recall the name but there is a sign on the building saying the burger was voted #7 in the US.

29, not counting driving through or airports.

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I also have a 2020. There was an issue with the engines burning through oil. I just had my engine replaced under warranty at 93,000 miles due to the problem. But I think that has been corrected. Otherwise I love it and had no other issues with it.

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My neighbor has one, not sure of the exact year but it’s about 5 years old, and he’s dealing with this oil usage issue now. It’s his wife’s car and she mostly just drives it to work & home; about 6 miles one way.

IIRC, the dealers is trying to determine if it is using oil at a fast enough rate to qualify for warranty repairs.

We visited TRNP two years ago in mid-Oct. We had spent the night in Dickinson, ND; got up early and drove to the north unit and then after a few hours (at most) drove to the south unit.
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The north section is in and out, at that time the visitor center was a trailer and the ranger was not too engaged in her work (which in my experience is unusual). IIRC it's 12 miles in and then turn around. We did see bison and big horn sheep up close. There were a few hiking trails.

The south section is larger and it has a loop road but it was closed for repairs on the south end so for us it was also in and out the same way. There are more trails there and the visitor center in Medora is nicer and I believe they have a movie but we did not watch it. We did do a few short hikes.

The Painted Desert VC is off of I 94 between Dickinson and Medora. It has scenic overlooks.

Medora is small and seemed like a cool town but it was shut down for the season in mid Oct. The ND Cowboy Hall of Fame is there and that looked interesting but we did not go in; may have been closed.
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Statue at the HOF.

Since you are staying near the north unit you might want to check out the Fort Union Trading Post which is about an hour from Watford City, ND. I wanted to go there but we didn't have time.

TRNP is like a "poor mans" Badlands NP, IMO. Similar terrain but less colorful. But, we were in the park for the most part during the middle of the day. I would think the views would be better earlier or later in the day when the sun is not directly above. It would certainly make for better pictures.

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These pictures were in the north unit.

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Going to Banff opens up flying to Calgary

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It only about 30 minutes longer to Many from Calgary than Kalispell.

We flew into Calgary, stayed a few nights, then drove to the east side of Glacier. On the way to GNP we stopped by the Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump National Heritage Site and then Waterton.

We stayed 2 nights on the east side of GNP, 2 on the west side and then went to Banff.

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Has anyone participated in the Hilton Grand Vacations program?

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Yes, about 10 years ago in Myrtle Beach. They lured me in with the promise of Hilton Honor points so we went to MB for a few nights at the Hilton and sit through the presentation.

I had no intention of buying. But they kept sweetening the pot and we actually signed up. Then I went home and researched time shares etc.. Found out I could buy a similar property/'week at a property' in the secondary market for a whole lot less.

Then I researched the South Carolina law on how much time I had to back out of that type of purchase. Three days. Then I sent them a letter cancelling the purchase.

I'm thankful every time I think about it that I did not go through with it.

Other than the initial cost the options to use your week (which is what we were actually buying IIRC) at another property say in Hawaii was more limited than what I would have thought. Being able to stay in a HGV property anywhere in the world was a big selling point to us but I think they over promised on that feature.

Other issues:
- Our kids would have inherited it and they didn't want it.
- The maintenance fees were not well defined and could have escalated a lot.
- Using the week at MB wasn't that valuable to us. We go there occasionally but just for 2 or 3 nights and we go in the off season.

It works for some people I guess but not for us.

I think I have been to all 50. There are a few that I have only driven through; Indiana and Minnesota come to mind. But I’ve spent at least one night in the rest. I can’t think of one I haven’t been to.

We have taken at least 3 really long road trips since I retired 11 years ago. Last June we drove to Oregon from NC.

We live in eastern NC and have made 6 plus road trips up the east coast over the years; anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks long.

This is the route we (two old married couples) took in May of 2021 when we went to Niagara Falls. It's not the way I would go if were primarily interested in NF. We had something to do in DC and then the guys wanted to see Cooperstown.
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For a road trip from coastal VA to NF I would consider stopping at these places:
- Corning/Watkins Glen NY: The Corning Museum of Glass is a must see, IMO. You will see things that you did not think could be made of glass. There are glass blowing demos and information about the development of fiber optics and all kinds of glass wares. We were there about 1/2 day and had a good lunch in their cafeteria.

- Watkins Glen is about 20 miles north of Corning and sits at the southern end of Lake Seneca. Watkins Glen State Park is there and it is a walk in a canyon along a river. I think it is about a mile long walk/hike in and then back, or you can take a shuttle (was $5 I think) back to the start.

From WG you can drive up the east or west side of Seneca Lake to Geneva and then head west toward Buffalo on Hwy 5 or I 90. The Finger Lakes Welcome Center is in Geneva and I suggest you stop there and get information about the area. They sell products that are made in the area such as wine and sauces. It's worth a stop.

When we left NF we took US 19 south through NY and PA to Somerset, PA. There are a number of sights to see within an easy drive of Somerset.
- Flight 93 National Memorial is 14 miles, 21 minutes
- Fallingwater, an historical home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is 31 miles, 45 minutes
- Fort Necessity National Battlefield is 22 minutes from Fallingwater

- Johnston Flood National Memorial is 32 miles, 35 minutes. It will take about an hour to see the visitor center and watch the video, etc.
- The Allegheny Portage Railroad Nat. Hist. Site is 25 minutes from JFNM. It explains how they got river barges over the mountain from the navigable waters on east to the west.

Before you get to Hershey you might want to check out the dePont family homes in the Brandywine Valley. There are 6+ homes/gardens in the Winterthur, Delaware/Kennett Square, PA area. Longwood Gardens is probably the most notable.

The city of Niagara Falls has suffered an economic downturn over the recent decades and parts of it are run down. The falls are still worth visiting. When we were there in 2021 Canada was locked down due to COVID and we could not go there. None of the activities that we could see on their side were working. I would expect that they would be open now. Take your passport.

I may have done a trip report for the NF trip. I'll post it here if I did.