Learning on the Road

We love learning...but we don't sit down and "do school" every day. We prefer to learn through life experience and by pursuing the things that Bella is passionate about...which is referred to as "unschooling" (more info here and here). Here are just a few of the new things we learned while we were in Las Vegas!

Springs Preserve
There were so many people telling us to go check this out, that we just had to go! The Springs Preserve is a 180 acre natural habitat right in the middle of the city. According to their website, "...the Preserve features museums, galleries, outdoor events, colorful botanical gardens and an interpretive trail system through a scenic wetland habitat". It was basically a HUGE science museum and outdoor trail system with hands-on exhibits, and a great art museum. They are very focused on sustainability...and had many opportunities to learn about living green. I wish we would have had more time to explore it all! We needed several days there to take it all in.

Hoover Dam
We were especially excited to go see the Hoover Dam and the new by-pass bridge...and it was only 45 minutes away! We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Boulder City. It was a beautifully sunny day, and we enjoyed walking the dam and learning more about the amazing men that built it. We were bummed that the museum on site was $8 per person...but we ended up finding a great little museum in the Boulder City Hotel for just $4 for everyone!

Chinese New Year
Bella has dreamed of China for as long as I can remember. When she was younger, she used to have her own gibberish language that she called "Chinese". She would also tell us that she had a sister in China...and made up elaborate stories about this sister. So we were super excited to hear about the Chinese New Year celebration in Las Vegas' Chinatown! We were able to find some books at the library to learn a little more about the event's history before we went.

The celebration was on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and it was packed! We enjoyed the dancing, the noodles, and the beautiful dresses! We bought some pretty chopsticks to remember our time there.

When we got home, we read one of our favorite books, Hungry Planet. We learned more about what they eat in China...and that night we made rice and veggies with tofu. Bella made sure that our bowls were set up EXACTLY like the photos in the book!

Lied Discovery Children's Museum
This museum was only 1 mile from our campground! We were thrilled to find out that the "passport membership" we have through Bozeman's science museum covered this one as well (free admission!). It's a great program if you travel full time...you can get into MANY zoos, museums, and more for free! Bella begged to go back here over and over. Her favorite thing was the miniature airport security check point. She must have taken her shoes off and walked through the scanner 5 times in a row. She also loved the grocery store. Daddy really liked the bubbles!

Photos from Las Vegas here.
Photos are available for comment on Flickr.

Reunited in Vegas

Facebook is a fabulous tool for those who travel full time...it allowed us to connect with two of my friends that I haven't seen for ages!

Staci is an old military friend...I haven't seen her since we said goodbye at Ft. Meade in Maryland back in 1998. When she saw that we were going to be in Vegas, she contacted me and I'm so glad she did! We spent lots of time together while we were in town...mostly hanging out at parks and enjoying each other's company. Her daughter is the same age as Bella, so that was wonderful!

Martha is a friend from my days in Waverly, IA...she moved to Las Vegas straight out of high school and I haven't seen her since! We were practically inseparable back in the day. I still remember her doing my hair for prom, and no one could make me laugh like she did!

We had such a fun time...we ordered Thai take out, let the kids run wild (her kids are also Bella's age), and reminisced about days gone by. We're already planning on seeing each other again this summer. Yay!

Photos from Las Vegas here.
Photos are available for comment on Flickr.

Vegas Baby!

We were headed towards Texas when we connected with Justin and Tara (The Organic Sister). They were going on the road and wanted to run their RV on veggie oil. So, we did a U-Turn and headed north towards Las Vegas to install a veggie oil system in their RV.

We've been to Las Vegas several times for business, but we knew the Strip and that was it. We were looking forward to exploring the "real" Vegas a bit more...but we were a little unsure as to what might be lurking out there! Surpirsingly, we found Vegas to be rather delightful.

I'm going to post about our time in Vegas in many different topical blogs instead of one giant blog. There is just too much to tell you! We've been here for over 3 weeks, so we've had plenty of time to explore and meet different people.

Our first task was finding a suitable place to live while we were there. We researched for hours...and found many options, but none that we were really looking forward to. Most of the parks were at least $30 a night, and not kid friendly. Our most appealing option was Circus Circus KOA, which is directly adjacent to the casino. It would have been fine, but spendy! Close to $40/night.

At the last minute, Matt was searching and found a campground that was not really advertised and he made a quick phone call. He found out that they only charged $16/night and that it was 1 block from downtown Vegas and just 8 minutes from Justin and Tara's house! Sold. For that price, we really didn't care that it was just a parking lot...and from the satellite looked totally not kid-friendly. So when we arrived, we were excited to find a spot open that had trees above, a nice rocky area for Bella to play in, and even friendly neighbors!

The campground is called Main Street RV Campground (ph 702-388-2602) and it's the campground for the Main Street Casino and The California Casino. There are people that stay for months on end, and others who are just passing through. It's mostly big rigs with a few smaller Class C's and pop-ups around the perimeter. There were even several custom Prevosts (one pulling a Hummer) that from what we could tell probably cost in the million dollar range. There was an interesting mix of people to chat with...that's for sure!

Even though there was a lot of foot traffic around the outside of the park, we always felt very safe. Security patrolled every hour or so. We loved the location. We could walk to downtown within a few minutes. Not that we liked hanging out down there, but we like being close to the action! :) There was a Thai restaurant down there that had the largest portions we've ever seen. And there was a Starbucks at The Golden Nugget. The exit to the interstate was super convenient, just a block away. Plus, we could see the mountains and the casino lights from our windows!

After staying there 3 weeks, it really started to feel like home. Although the RV park wasn't fancy, we are firm believers in optimism and "looking on the bright side". We can overlook a lot of things if there is good electric, good water pressure, and good people!

Photos from Las Vegas here.
Photos are available for comment on Flickr.