Nate Narrates: 15 Random Things Roberts get Excited About
Nate at the top of his first mountain summit, Mount Washburn, in Yellowstone National Park—on what would have been his first day back at school in Virginia Beach.
Nate’s first blog post: A spontaneous list of things we always get excited about.
September 15, 2025
Everywhere we’ve been, USA
Nate Narrates
As part of the kids’ homeschooling this year, I’ve been hoping their voices will emerge in the blog. So, when Nate announced, “Mom, we should make a list of the random things that Roberts get excited about,” an idea sparked.
“Nate, that sounds like it could be a blog post.”
He agreed, and for the last few weeks we’ve kept the list going. So, here are 15 random things our family genuinely gets excited about while on this trip:
Flush toilets in the parking lot!
This is the item that prompted Nate’s idea for this list. After two weeks of using pit toilets at trailheads and park sites, we stumbled upon flush toilets in the parking lot of Upper Yellowstone Falls.
Dumb fish that bite as soon as you throw your line in!
We found some “dumb” fish. And they found our lures.
Nate caught a cutthroat trout in the Yellowstone River
Full hook-up pull-through campsites!
Traverse City KOA
Dad’s truck horn!!
Nick swapping his factory-issued truck horn for a big-rig style train blast should have made the list of top-10 modifications. When someone cuts us off or makes an otherwise ill-conceived driving error, they hear about it :)
A side trail that lets you take a short cut!
A side trail/shortcut down from the Incline Hike in Colorado Springs. We found a random waterfall.
A shower with unlimited hot water!
Our RV’s hot water tank runs out after about two showers and takes 10-15 minutes to refill. Occasionally we’ll use RV park showers for unlimited hot water—the #RVLife equivalent of a spa day.
A KOA resort patio site!
The kids have become KOA experts, knowing the difference between a Journey, Holiday, and Resort level parks. We enjoyed the stone fire pit at this patio site in Dubois, Wyoming.
Toasters!! Toasted bagels. Yum!!
We didn’t bring a toaster with us—and it shows.
A really cool hike that’s downhill the whole way!
Tricky…
Fruit trees!! Wild berries—in season!!
Fresh blueberries and raspberries picked in the wild at Crane Lake, Minnesota. We hit it just right!
Merry go round!!
Oh to be 9. That’s our RV and our truck on the far right side of the photo.
Free firewood!!
The same RV park near Glacier National Park with the merry go round also provided free firewood for their communal fire pit. That was a first. Pictured above to the left of the merry go round.
Free ice!!
They also had an ice machine for guests. That plus a pool and decent Wifi, and our kids said the Beargrass RV Park in Hungry Horse, MT, was their favorite RV park so far.
Fire pit with a grill grate!
For grilling fish and burgers over an open flame, of course.
Our favorite grill grate so far—at Itaska State Park. We cooked over the fire both nights.
Heated pool!! Hot tub!!
Our friend Laura and Kevin’s neighborhood pool north of Denver was heated because it was 99 degrees outside.
Random strangers inviting us on their boat!
Thanks again to our new boat friends, Captain Hal in Wisconsin and James and Marge in Minnesota!
Great to meet you Captain Hal!
Thanks for the invite, James and Marge!
After-hike treats!!
Massive ice cream cones in Itaska State Park—courtesy of Aunt CoCo :)
Anywhere you can swim—especially if it’s warm!
Or even if it’s not warm. Like in the Wind River in Wyoming.
Nate Nadas
Nate (who is also learning Spanish) is leading the family in bodies of water swam in. A few weeks into the trip, he started challenging himself to get fully submerged in any body of water he safely has the chance to—no matter how cold. He was the only one in our family to swim in lakes Huron and Superior (60 degrees). The coldest (known) temperature he’s swam in was last week in Logan Creek at Glacier National Park (56 degrees).
Nick and I have been surprised by this because Nate has always been the member of the family who gets cold the fastest. In the early days of winter trips to indoor pools, he was the limiting factor for how long we could stay. After hearing the stories about BUD/S and Hell Week, he’s making an effort to put mind over matter, knowing he can physically tolerate short amounts of discomfort to meet his goal of getting to swim.
Here’s a list of bodies of water Nate has swam in so far during the trip:
Nate swimming in Crane Lake, MN—the start of our adventures there and in Canada
Seneca Lake, NY
Camp Dearborn Lake, MI
Lake Higgins, MI
Lake Michigan, MI
Lake Huron, MI
Lake Superior, WI
Crane Lake, MN
Evan’s Plunge Hot Springs, SD
Wind River, SD
Snake River, WY
Yellowstone Lake, WY
Yellowstone River, WY
Firehole River, WY
Galletin River, MT
St Mary Lake, MT
Lake McDonald, MT
McDonald Creek, MT
Lake Bowman, MT
Nothing makes him quite as excited as a new place to swim.
“Especially if it’s warm!”
All smiles after a swim in beautiful Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes
Thanks for reading Nate’s first blog post. I’ll make sure he reads any comments left for him below :)
Roberts on the Road
For those just finding us, hello! Inspired by the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25, our family is on a yearlong RV road trip in 2025-2026 to celebrate my husband’s retirement after 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, as well as our 24 years together during the ups and downs of it all.
With our 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow, this trip to explore America’s national parks and beautiful places is intended to help our family reflect and reset as civilian life begins.
Sign up below to receive updates about the trip, along with stories, photos, and reflections from 24 years of military service. We look forward to keeping in touch on this epic adventure.
To join the Road Trip email list, please fill out this short form. We promise no spam and an AI-free zone. Any typos and mistakes are my own :)
For background info on who we are and where we’re traveling, we’d love for you to read the intro post. The full list of road trip blog posts can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!
