December is the time of year to reflect on the year past. Whether it's reviewing your Spotify Wrapped or looking at the best new restaurant openings in a city, everyone uses December to review the highs and lows of the year. Now we have two calendar years and 17 months of full-time Airstream Life under our belt! Just as we did last year, we sat down separately and wrote up our responses. No collusion here, just the total honest thoughts of both of us. We hope we give you some more things to put on your travel lists in 2024 and beyond!
Best RV Park
Michelle: Fort Wilderness, Orlando, FL
Is it cheating to use our very first stay of 2023 as my favorite? I mean, when Mickey Mouse is your camp host, you know it's going to be a tough stay to beat! I adored our stay at Fort Wilderness Campground in Walt Disney World. You know Disney does everything so well and that includes RV Parks! We sprung for a premier Meadow Site which had a lovely lake view and kept us close to all the action. We loved going to the Chip and Dale Campfire Singalong and having dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo Review. Next time we probably won't spring for the premium campsite since we spent so much time in the parks, but I can assure you, there will be a next time!
Steve: Definitely Disney's Fort Wilderness!
We were sprinkled in pixie dust this entire stay. The Hoop Dee Doo Review is cute and was only a 10 minute walk from our campsite. The park shuttle service and extended park hours for staying "on-property" made this a campground to remember.
Worst RV Park
Michelle: Walnut Grove RV Park , Meriam, KS
We picked this location simply because it was close to Kansas City and a good location near to the city. Heck, we didn't even count Kansas as a stop on our travel map because we only slept there and didn't do anything touristy while we were there! Worst is a strong word, but truly the only thing this RV Park had going for it was location. An expensive gravel parking lot where I can reach out my window to touch the rig next to me is not ever going to be my favorite!
Steve: Big Pine Key Resort, Big Pine Key, FL
After coming off our Disney experience for (basically) the same price... the size, layout, and amenities were disappointing. Salto and I managed to get enough no-see-um bites to stay inflamed for weeks! We heard later this is very common for Big Pine Key. We were far enough from Key West for it to be an annoyingly long drive, so all those activities had to be planned out. If you're hoping to experience Key West or Dry Tortuga National Park, good luck getting a camping reservation... but if you can stay closer, I'd recommend it.
Best State or Federal Campground
Michelle: Valley of Fire State Park , Overton, NV
This was a difficult pick for me because we stayed in so many awesome parks this year! I have to go with Valley of Fire State Park outside of Las Vegas simply for the stunning views and amazing hikes we got to experience during our stay. I mean, we had desert big horn sheep hanging out on the rocks above our campsite. There are both water/electricity sites and dry camping sites and the cell phone coverage is terrible (though the park offers decent wifi for a fee). This park is absolutely worth a visit whether you camp here or come for a day trip while you're also visiting Las Vegas.
Left to Right: A sunrise hike in the park, our no hookup campsite in Atatl Atatl Rock Campground, Desert Bighorn Sheep hanging out above us.
Steve: Dreher Island State Park, Prosperity, SC
This place was gorgeous! The campground is in an evergreen forest located around a reservoir. This meant our site was backed up to water while also being surrounded by trees. The sound of water hitting the shore, a light breeze passing through our open hatch, and the smell of the forest. This will be top of the list locations if we pass through the region again.
Our site and views at Dreher Island State Park in South Carolina
Worst State or Federal Campground
Michelle: Viento State Park, Hood River, OR
On paper, this looked like an absolutely perfect Oregon State Park. It was walking distance to the Columbia River waterfront, had easy bike access to the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail for us to ride our bikes, and was only a 15 minute drive to the city of Hood River. Unfortunately this little state park is a sliver of land between I84 and the railroad tracks and holy crap was it loud. All day. All night. Train whistles every few hours. I don't think I had been this sleep deprived since we hit the road. Big yikes to this park!
Steve: O.M.G... what Michelle said... We wrote our lists separately, but this selection was easy.
From left to right: riding the Historic Columbia Highway State Trail, getting to walk to the Columbia River and watch the kite surfers was a bonus, the lovely wooded park that didn't make up for the sound of trains all night long!
Best Harvest Host Stay
Michelle: Pals Brewing Company, North Platte, NE
This amazing micro brewery blew me away! They had delicious food, great beer and cider, and the best outdoor seating area and vibe. We loved our dinner and drinks and enjoyed hanging out and getting recommendations on what to drink from locals. This is a great stop on I80 and you should definitely make a stop if you are heading through Nebraska!
Pizza, salad, beer, and cider from Pals Brewing
Steve: Coastal Empire Brewing Company, Savannah, GA
This was a quiet industrial part of town. The parking lot was easy to navigate and level. The beer was wonderful, and the trivia night was a major win. It was a lot of fun, inexpensive, and an easy stay.
The scenery wasn't much to speak of, but a winning trivia night experience made this one of our favorite Harvest Host stays!
Most Delicious Sit Down Restaurant Meal
Michelle: La Vista, Lake Como, Italy
We did two Rick Steves tours back to back (Best of Sicily in 11 Days and Best of Italy in 17 Days) and our Sicily Tour guide, who lives in Varenna gave us the recommendation of La Vista as his favorite restaurant in the region. Boy was it fantastic! Stunning views of of Lake Como and some of the most delicious, inventive cuisine we had in all of Italy. I am still dreaming of that foie gras ice cream bar.
Steve: La Vista, Lake Como, Italy
Yep, what Michelle said. We ate very well in Italy, but this meal stands out for me too. Foie gras ice cream, who knew?
A few of our courses from the four course chef's tasting menu, plus the stunning view of Lake Como from the balcony of La Vista.
Most Delicious Grab and Go Meal
Michelle: Deckhand Dave's Fish Tacos, Juneau, AK
We have a friend who is from Juneau and this was her recommendation of the best food in Juneau and she was absolutely right! This is the best halibut I've ever had and the fish tacos were fantastic as well. It was so good, we went back two days in a row! If you go to Juneau, you must eat here!
Fish taco sampler and halibut and chips from the unassuming Deckhand Dave's food truck in downtown Juneau, AK
Steve: Hattie B's, Nashville, TN
This place is well known for having great food. They did not disappoint. The chicken sandwich is spectacular, and the fried pickles... well worth it!
We waited 45 minutes, but the famous hot chicken was worth the wait!
Best Cocktail
Michelle: Lemoncello Spritz, Lake Como, Italy
Turns out, I don't love an Aperol Spritz. Aperol is just a bit too bitter for my taste. Now a lemoncello spritz, I'll drink those all day long.
Steve: Aperol Spritz, Italy
It is impossible to deny the pleasure of an Aperol Spritz while sitting in a piazza in Rome. I know that's less a "cocktail" and more an "aperitivo"... but I'm going with it.
Best Dessert
Michelle: Luv It Frozen Custard, Las Vegas, NV
I love dessert and my favorite dessert is either anything with peanut butter or ice cream. And we've had a lot of delicious ice cream this year after a month in eating indulging in gelato and working our way through the Food and Wine Best Ice Cream in Every State List. But the ice cream I will be dreaming off for a long long time is Luv It Frozen Custard. This is not an easy location to get to if you are on the Vegas strip, but it is worth it. Get one of the sundaes, and I promise you will not be dissapointed!
Steve: Trude's Pumpkin Cheesecake (Pioneer Woman Recipe)
So many delicious ice cream shops to mention. Or I could simply say "Gelato!" and call out an entire country's skills. What I'm choosing comes with a personal connection. We spent Thanksgiving with people we met in Sicily and were lucky enough to call friends before we got back to the States. Trude makes a pumpkin cheesecake with caramel sauce and gingersnap crust that needs to be recognized as AMAZING. It has an airy texture and the perfect balance of spice and sweetness. I could live off this dessert and be happy for the rest of my life... and gain sooo much weight.
The table of Thanksgiving deserts and all Steve can see is that pumpkin cheesecake...
Most Underwhelming Meal
Michelle: Arthur Bryant's BBQ
With the greatest amount of respect to both our dear friend Dana, a KC native, and our beloved Ted Lasso, Arthur Bryant's was super underwhelming for me. Kansas City is famous for BBQ and luckily we tried another famous BBQ joint that put KC ahead of Saint Louis (but behind Texas) in our BBQ rankings. You may want to come try Arthur Bryant's because you're a Ted Lasso fan, or because President Obama has eaten it, but please make sure you also hit at least one other BBQ joint while you're visiting Kansas City. (Our pick for best BBQ in KC is Q39 BBQ!)
Steve: V's Cellar, Juneau AK
We took a weekend trip to finish a tattoo I started in December 2019 and see the sun set after 11 PM. It was a great time. This meal, unfortunately, was far-and-away the most forgettable food I've had all year. Korean fusion tacos?? Sign me up! Pozole... scrumptious! Or... ya know... completely flavorless and lacking any salt. All of it. We left behind 80% of the soup and the waitress asked about it, so we told her. She removed if from our bill, and we tipped her well for doing the right thing. But if you're in Juneau for a weekend, go to Deckhand Dave's twice a day and enjoy yourself.
Hardest Adjustment to Full-Time RV Life (Still)
Michelle: I'm still missing my people! I love Steve and I love our life together, but as an extrovert, I miss hanging out with others! I am grateful to the friends who are willing to schedule phone calls and video chats or even just text me when I get lonely.
Steve: Although we have slowed our pace from year one, it is still hard to manage our time on the road. We still have the same chores we would in an apartment, but so many fun things to go out and do! I noticed that if we don't take a day to just stay home and relax every now and then, we both feel worse. We spent a weekend doing the most mundane tasks around here, and we felt so much better the following week. Balance is key in life, even full-time RV life.
Scariest Driving Moment
Michelle: Weirdly, my scariest driving moment is not while we were towing. It was driving back to our friend Holly's house after leaving a concert in Nashville. Not being from the south, I am not at all familiar with tornado watches or warnings or green skies! Driving eastbound on I40, knowing there was a tornado watch with lightening and pouring down rain, not to mention a greenish sky was definitely a scary moment for me! I've never been so glad for a downpour to slow to a trickle!
Steve: We were driving into Charleston, SC staying in the right lane of a 3-lane interstate. We were going maybe 55? A line of cars merged onto the freeway... then the lead car promptly came to a complete stop. SCREEEEEEEECH... we went from 55 to zero with a whopping 10 feet to go before rear-ending the car in front of us! I am so glad we had the trailer brake setup properly, and that we have a 3/4 ton truck. We didn't get pushed around one bit. We didn't lock up any of the brakes. We didn't make contact with any other vehicle. We didn't wet ourselves! :)
Biggest Not-So-Newbie RV Owner Mistake
Michelle: We always get out and look at the site before we start pulling/back in to it. Always! Who knows why we didn't when we pulled off the road at our Harvest Hosts site in Nevada, but I'm just glad we were able to escape this mistake with hundreds of dollars in repairs rather than thousands! ($150 hotel, $30 replacement propane house, $150 new stabilizer jack) If you missed this while it was happening, we saved the whole saga on our Instagram Stories.
Steve: Michelle called it! I appreciate the RVer's blessing... "May your mistakes be in the hundreds of dollars." Gratitude to the universe that our off-roading adventure was blessed in that way.
Most Beautiful Sunset
Michelle: This was a hard one for me because holy cow have we seen some beautiful sunsets this year! I couldn't pick just one, so you get three!
Sunsets in Key West, Lake Tahoe, and Bakersfield
Steve: I never realized how spectacular a desert sunset could be until this fall. Pick an evening... any evening. It will be so many pastels of pink and purple it will be hard to distinguish the beauty from an oil painting.
Desert Sunsets in Nevada and Utah
Best National Park Hike
Michelle: Bristlecone Grove Trail, Great Basin National Park
Great Basin is such an underrated park! We loved our time exploring and are so glad we set aside two separate weekends for visiting the park. Of all the hikes we did, The Bristlecone Grove Trailer at the end of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive was my favorite. We had dodgy weather and just managed to complete this moderate trail between rain/hail storms! The elevation (more than 9,000 ft!) made the hike feel harder, but it was worth it to get to see these amazing, long-living trees!
Gorgeous sights along the Bristlecone Grove Trail in Great Basin National Park
Steve: Anhinga Trail Everglades National Park
We took a boardwalk stroll through the Everglades National Park. We came upon a group of people standing closer to an alligator than I thought was wise, but that animal was making the loudest bellowing sound I had ever heard. I took advantage of the zoom feature of the phone's camera to get "close-up". We didn't need any additional microphones to capture the sound! A ranger later informed us how rare it is to hear an alligator bellow. Good timing on our part!
Best Touristy Activity
Michelle: Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN
I loved everything about Dollywood!! From the amazing roller coasters, to the delicious food, to the live music, to the Dolly Parton warmth that just pervades this whole theme park. I was not prepared for how much I loved this park, even with the temperatures barely rising about freezing. If you love amusement parks or Dolly, you should absolutely put Dollywood on your travel bucket list!
So much fun in Dollywood!!
Steve: National Museum of African American Music, Nashville, TN.
This is a must visit museum in Nashville! The interactive exhibits are so cool, and they do a great job of creating context. We could have spent days going through this place, but unfortunately were only able to stay a few hours. In a city known for its music, this museum doesn't disappoint. I'd recommend it over any other music museum in Nashville.
The interactive listening exhibits at NMAAM in Nashville were so engaging, we could have stayed all day!
Best Concert of the Year
Michelle: This is an absolutely impossible task. The list of amazing musicians we saw in concert is just staggering. I am not a mom, but I swear this is like asking a mother to pick her favorite child! Okay, I can do it, I can pick my favorite concert, I believe in myself.....
It was Adele!! If you held a gun to my head and asked me which show I would most want to repeat and see again, Adele's residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas wins, but just barely. Truly even picking my top 5 concerts of the year would be difficult! Adele's vocals are powerful, her humor hilariously dry, and the staging and special effects blew me away. This was our most expensive ticket of the year, but it was worth every penny.
Steve: We saw 3 John Mayer shows this year... yeah, yeah... his tour this year included John Mayer, a guitar, and the crowd... IT WAS SO COOL! The final show we saw was in Salt Lake City and it was obvious that as the tour progressed, so did his enjoyment in performing. I got to watch a man connect with 30,000+ people over the music he wrote. I feel so lucky to have had that experience.
Most Likely Return Destination
Michelle: The city that most stole my heart this year and the one I'm guessing we will return to first is Savannah, GA. I just loved everything about this city. It had so much history, amazing food, a great arts scene, and beautiful scenery. I feel confident we will be back!
Scenes from Savannah: The Juliette Gordon Low House, the amazing Leopold's Ice Cream, one of the many colonial houses on squares in downtown, the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, the fountain at Forsyth Park, the Savannah Harbor
Steve: We weren't there with the trailer, but... I choose Sicily, or Sicilia (see-CHEE-lee-uh) as an Italian would pronounce it. The whole experience filled my heart. The way the people demonstrated the joy of living, and wanting their guests to feel the same joy... I felt alive in a way that is near impossible to describe. If you have a chance to see that beautiful island... go! Be changed! Live la dolce vita!
Scenes from vibrant Sicilia!
So there you have our picks for Best of 2023. Hopefully, we've given you some ideas of places to camp, cities to visit, restaurants to try and activities to experience on your travels. We wish you all the travel adventures your heart desires in 2024!
Comments