Believe it or not, as full-time RVers we do not spend each day doing touristy things like we would if we were simply on vacation. Our camper is our house. We still do laundry, dishes, vacuum, dust and maintain the mechanical parts of the camper and truck. We are also on a budget. So when we do explore, we find as many free experiences as we can. Surprise! There is no shortage of fascinating and free things to see and do everywhere we go!

Cemeteries

Cemeteries attract walkers, bird watchers, history buffs and more, so visiting is typically not frowned upon as long as everyone is respectful. We visit cemeteries fairly often and always come away feeling inspired. We have been to national cemeteries, military base cemeteries, asylum cemeteries and cemeteries along the road. We have seen the graves of heroes, presidents, entertainers, writers, politicians and plenty of good ol’ regular people.

On a recent cemetery visit, I noticed two headstones, side-by-side. The woman was 19 when she died. The man was 21. They died two days apart and were married. A quick Google search and I learned that he had just returned from a tour in Vietnam and they were driving to his next duty station in Georgia when they were in a car crash. She died at the scene and he died at the hospital two days later. It is just such a sad, tragic story that feels like it could be made into a movie. And the introspection that this kind of discovery launches is something very valuable to me.

Regional, City, County Parks

National parks are on many bucket lists, but they are often crowded, cost money and require a long trip. We have never made a national park a destination, but we do visit if we happen to be within a couple of hours of one. We have made some great discoveries at smaller, less crowded parks that we may have missed had we focused only on the national parks.

Tacoma Power Parks

We recently enjoyed a picnic at Alder Lake Park with Leslie and Anthony. This is one of four parks operated by Tacoma Power. They have created public parks on the land they own where they have created dams for hydroelectric power. They are immaculate and have amazing campgrounds! We plan on camping at one of them the next time we are in the area.

Millersylvania State Park ($30/year to visit every WA State Park)

We also took a short trip to check out another Washington State Park. Millersylvania State Park is a very woodsy park with a pretty lake. The buildings throughout the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. It was a rainy day and it was still beautiful there!

City of Olympia Yashiro Japanese Garden

Right in the middle of the city of Olympia is this small, beautiful garden that you might never notice without Google. It has a koi pond, beautiful trees, statues and even a QR code at the entrance that provides a link to music performed by the local symphony to accompany you during your walk through the garden! Very cool spot.

Capitols While Visiting Capitals

State capitols are typically part of an elaborate, beautifully landscaped complex worth a visit! While in Olympia we visited the capitol building and discovered that the governor’s mansion is just 100 yards from the capitol. What an easy commute!

We were able to walk all the way around the capitol building while navigating around a bunch of high school cheerleaders posing for photos on the steps. I was tempted to hide behind a column with a foot or hand sticking out as a minor photo bomb.

There is a lovely sunken garden on the capitol grounds, along with a war memorial statue and an ironic, elaborate sun dial in an area known for having limited amounts of sunshine.

When possible, we like to also tour the inside of the elaborate capitol buildings. This trip was too late in the day, but we shall return!

Military Places

Having access to military bases is a really great perk of military retirement. Many of them have RV campgrounds of varying levels of quality and cost. When we stay on a base/post/etc., we take full advantage of the free things to do and see while there.

During our recent stay at JBLM near Tacoma we saw Chinook helicopters doing some kind of training right next to the campground! Windy!

We also visited the military museum. It has a vast display of weapons and vehicles, and it is fun to watch Greg acting like a kid around them all. This particular museum provides a QR code on many displays that you can scan to learn more about the actual vehicle right in front of you, not just the type of vehicle in general.

Click on swipe through the slideshow to see a few highlights from the museum.

There is also a shiver-inducing, creepy doll lurking in one of the museum windows.

Catio Corner

Nemo and Cleo want to make sure they are included in every blog post, so they requested Catio Corner. Since cats rule the world with a firm paw, I have obliged.