Vacation Destination the Last BLOCKBUSTER?

This past month we traveled to Oregon for a family reunion in a beautiful place called Sunriver outside of Bend.  My wife’s family has been doing this off and on before I was even part of the family some 28 years ago. When I married my wife, I ventured to Sunriver for many reunions of …

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Junior Ranger Program Available at your National Park

A few years back, my wife and I were introduced to the Junior Ranger Program at the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.  He took a Ranger class about the volcano at the outdoor amphitheater located at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.  The class was between 30 and 40 minutes and we, parents, took a short …

Hee Haw! We made it to Medora!

We made it to Medora in time for the musical.  We had a great time as a family despite having to leave our car in Columbus to get it fixed.  The Medora Musical is truly something for the entire family.  They invited the children 12 and under to join some of the dancers on the …

Where does this Off Grid Family Vacation?

Where does this off grid family vacation? Since we have lived off grid, our vacation of choice, camping, has diminished.  We generally decide to use AirBnB or hotel it, but camping only in a desperate situation. This year our vacation included my wife's folks. We decided last year to unravel the mysterious raves about a …

S’more Indoor

During the summer months, there is nothing like sitting outside surrounded by tiki torches with a fire in the center to roast all beef hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert.  As the hour gets later and the sun sets, the treetops are softly lit by the glow of the fire.  Our son is …

Time to go sledding…

During the weekends and the winter break, we found ourselves sledding quite a bit.  When we need to walk the dog, we drag along the sleds and hit the hill on the road near our house.  The snow season this year has not been as deep as we are use to in the past We …

A Walk in a Winter Wonderland

On our day off this week, we decided to break routine and change our walk.  Instead of walking down the plowed snow road, we decided to go back country.  We layered up our clothing, dawned our snow shoes and headed out into the 8 degree Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) weather to enjoy the sunny day.  Our …

Merry Christmas from Living a Sustainable Dream

Christmas has always been an interesting season for us.  We used to do the hunt for the perfect gift, fight the crowds, say we'll meet you at such and such a location when we're done shopping for the other.  But a few years ago, we just "snapped"...  out of it. We took a step back …

The Best Thrift Store Find in Years…

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I decided to take our son on a trip to the mall in Spokane, Washington.  He rode an escalator for what he thought was the first time. We visited several stores, walked the mall, had some black drip coffee, an eggnog latte, and hot chocolate. However, our …

Harvest Festivities: Creating New Family Traditions

During a beautiful sunny weekend in the month of October, we made our traditional family trip to Hickey Farms. This year we decided to pick out pumpkins for baking instead of the culturally accepted jack-o-lanterns.  We love harvest time and celebrating the harvest of our garden as well as getting into the spirit of canning, …