Saturday, December 30, 2023

2023 State Parks

Texas State Parks
  1. Davis Mountains State Park
  2. Indian Lodge
  3. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
  4. Galveston Island State Park
  5. McKinney Falls State Park
Oregon State Parks
  1. Collier Memorial State Park
California State Parks
  1. MacArthur-Burney Memorial State Park
  2. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
  3. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park
  4. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
  5. Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Friday, December 22, 2023

2023 Camping Adventures

  1.  Big Bend National Park (Rio Grand Village Campground, Chisos Basin Campground, Cottonwood Campground)
  2. Davis Mountains State Park
  3. Gilbert Ray Campground (Tuscon, AZ)
  4. Joshua Tree National Park (Cottonwood Campground)
  5. Death Valley National Park (Stovepipe Wells Village)
  6. Galveston Island State Park
  7. Kaibab National Forest (De Motte Campground)
  8. Great Basin National Park (Baker Creek Campground)
  9. Lassen Volcanic National Park (Manzanita Lake Campground)
  10. Collier Memorial State Park (Chiloquin, OR)
  11. Six Rivers National Forest (Panther Flat Campground)
  12. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park (Mill Creek Campground)
  13. Humboldt Redwoods State Park (Albee Creek Campground)

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

2023 National Park Lands

 National Parks

  1. Big Bend (TX)
  2. Saguaro (AZ)
  3. Joshua Tree (CA)
  4. Death Valley (CA)
  5. Grand Canyon North Rim (AZ)
  6. Great Basin (NV)
  7. Lassen Volcanic (CA)
  8. Redwoods (CA)
  9. Crater Lake(OR)

National Historic Sites

  1. Fort Davis (TX)

National Historic Landmark

  1. Sloss Furnaces (AL)

National Monuments

  1. Sunset Crater Volcano (AZ)
  2. Wupatki (AZ)
  3. Vermillion Cliffs (AZ)
  4. Pipe Spring (AZ)
National Forests
  1. Coconino National Forest (AZ)
  2. Kaibab National Forest (AZ)
  3. Humboldt NF (NV)
  4. Toiyabe NF (NV)
  5. Lassen NF (CA)
  6. Shasta Trinity NF (CA
  7. Klamath NF (CA)
  8. Fremont-Wimena NF (OR)
  9. Rogue River-Sisikyou NF (OR)
  10. Six Rivers NF (CA)
  11. Angels NF (CA)

Thursday, July 6, 2023

2023 Books Read: January to June

  1.  Conviction by Denise Mina
  2. The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel
  3. The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
  4. The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West
  5. Beauty in the Broken Places by Allison Pataki (audiobook)
  6. The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin
  7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
  8. Cover Story by Susan Rigetti (audiobook)
  9. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
  10. We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pide and Jo Piazza
  11. Honor by Thirty Umrigar
  12. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (audiobook)
  13. People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn (audiobook)
  14. Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
  15. The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
  16. Come Fly the World by Julia Cooke (audiobook)
  17. The Winners by Fredik Backman
  18. On the Roof Top by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (audiobook)
  19. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins Valdez
  20. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
  21. Dominicana by Angie Cruz
  22. I Must Betray You by Rita Sepetys 
  23. Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore (audiobook)
  24. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
  25. Everything I Have is Yours by Eleanor Henderson (audiobook)
  26. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
  27. Stories from Suffragette City by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis
  28. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
  29. Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz (audiobook)
  30. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  31. Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Famous Spy and the Sister She Betrayed by Jim Popkin (audiobook)
  32. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
  33. This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
  34. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford (audiobook)
  35. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
  36. Verity by Colleen Hoover
  37. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron (audiobook)
  38. Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon (audiobook)
  39. Stars in the Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo (audiobook)
  40. One Two Three by Laurie Frankel (audiobook)
  41. The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn
  42. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy (audiobook)
  43. Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu (audiobook)
  44. Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior 
  45. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
  46. The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (audiobook)
  47. Have You Seen Luis Velez by Catherine Ryan Hyde
  48. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak


Books I've Read to the Boys

  1. Lions and Liars by Kate Beasley (audiobook)
  2. Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
  3. Just Harriett by Elana K. Arnold (audiobook)
  4. The Incorigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest (Book 3) by Maryrose Wood (audiobook)
  5. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
  6. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (Book 1) by Jeanne Birdsall
  7. The Heartwood Hotel: A True Home (Book 1) by Kallie George
  8. Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
  9. The Heros of Olympus; The Blood of Olympus (Book 5) by Rick Riordan
  10. The Penderwicks of Gardam Street (Book 2) by Jeanne Birdsall
  11. Mr. Tiger, Betsy, and the Blue Moon by Sally Gardner
  12. The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart (audiobook)
  13. Glitch by Laura Martin (audiobook)
  14. The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: The Terror of the Southlands (Book 2) by Caroline Carlson (audiobook)
  15. The Unlikely Story of a Pig in the City by Jodi Kendall
  16. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (Book 3) by Jeanne Birdsall
  17. How to Train Your Dragon (Book 1) by Cressida Cowell
  18. The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck
  19. How to Train Your Dragon: How to be a Pirate (Book 2) by Cressida Cowell
  20. The Penderwicks in Spring (Book 4) by Jeanne Birdsall
  21. The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle (Book 1) by Rick Riordan

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

2022 Books Read: July through December

  1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  2. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (audiobook)
  3. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
  4. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (audiobook)
  5. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
  6. The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
  7. What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris
  8. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
  9. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
  10. Sankofa by Chibindu Onuzo (audiobook)
  11. The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
  12. The Downstairs Upstairs by Stacey Lee (audiobook)
  13. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
  14. The Editor by Steven Rowley (audiobook)
  15. Waiting for Bojangles by Olivier Bourdeaut
  16. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackermann
  17. Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell (audiobook) 
  18. 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
  19. Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman
  20. His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie (audiobook)
  21. The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory (audiobook)
  22. The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
  23. The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
  24. The Traitor's Wife by Alison Pataki (audiobook)
  25. The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen
  26. The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (audiobook)
  27. The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse (audiobook)
  28. The Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff
  29. Stella by Takis Wurger
  30. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (audiobook)
  31. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (audiobook)
  32. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (audiobook)
  33. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (audiobook)
  34. Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding
  35. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (audibook)
  36. True Biz by Sara Novic
  37. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
  38. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown (audiobook)
  39. The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
  40. Lucky by Marissa Stapley
  41. Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (audiobook)
  42. One Year Gone by Avery Bishop
  43. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
  44. Unbroken by Lauren Hildebrand (audiobook)
  45. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Searle
  46. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
  47. Unbound by Tarana Burke (audiobook)
  48. The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adington (audiobook)
  49. The Other Woman by Sandie Jones (audiobook)
  50. They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie (audiobook)
  51. The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun (audiobook)
  52. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 
  53. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
  54. How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior (audiobook)
  55. The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers
  56. A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey (audiobook)
  57. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
  58. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (audiobook)


Books I've Read to the Boys

  1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
  2. Once Upon a Camel by Kathleen Applet
  3. The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas
  4. The Incorigble Children of Ashton Place: The Hidden Gallery by Maryone Wood (audiobook)
  5. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (audiobook)
  6. The BFG by Roald Dahl 
  7. Freddie vs the Family Curse by Tacy Badua (audiobook)
  8. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary 
  9. A Reluctant Witch's Guide to Magic by Sivaun Plozza (audiobook)
  10. Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall
  11. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
  12. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  13. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
  14. The  Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss
  15. The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
  16. Ms. Rapscott's Girls by Elise Primavera (audiobook)
  17. Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami 
  18. Heros of Olympus: House of Hades (Book 4) by Rick Riordan
  19. The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot (Book 1) by Caroline Carlson (audiobook)
  20. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Monday, January 9, 2023

2022 Camping Adventures

  1. Lost Maples State Natural Area (Texas State Park)
  2. Pedernales Falls State Park (Texas State Park)
  3. Stephen F. Austin State Park (Texas State Park)
  4. Bismarck Lake @ Black Hills National Forest (South Dakhota National Forest)
  5. Roubaix Lake @ Black Hills National Forest (South Dakota National Forest)
  6. Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota National Park)
  7. Caprock Canyons State Park (Texas State Park)
  8. Columbine Canyon @ Carson National Forest (New Mexico National Forest)
  9. Junction Creek Campground @ San Juan National Forest (Colorado National Forest)
  10. Ampitheater Campground @ Uncompahgre National Forest (Colorado National Forest)
  11. Pinon Flats Campground @ Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado National Park)
  12. Huntsville State Park (Texas State Park)
  13. Cub World @ Lost Pines Boy Scout Camp
  14. McKinney Falls State Park (Texas State Park)

Friday, January 6, 2023

2022 State Park Visits

Texas State Parks

  1. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
  2. Lost Maples State Natural Area
  3. Pedernales Falls State Park
  4. Stephen F. Austin State Park
  5. Caprock Canyons State Park
  6. Huntsville State Park
  7. McKinney Falls State Park
  8. Palo Duro Canyon State Park
South Dakota State Parks
  1. Bear Butte State Park
  2. Custer State Park
  3. Spearfish Canyon Natural Area
New Mexico State Parks
  1. Rio Grande Gorge State Park