After a dreary, wet winter, we are finally starting to see some semblance of spring. We fell back an hour, (why are they still torturing us with this?!?) our daytime is a little longer, and people look to be coming out of their holes for spring break.
We spent about a week at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and while we didn’t find a diamond, we really didn’t get a good chance to make a noble go of it. It was either raining or freezing. But I highly recommend Crater of Diamonds State Park. We had a lovely campsite, spacious, paved and the park was quite nice. There are easily accessible walking trails as well. During warmer months, they have a small water park and snack bar open.
Crater of Diamonds
We started making our way toward Hot Springs and it wasn’t a long drive, a little less than 2 hours maybe with our RV. In Hot Springs, we managed to snag a spot at Gulpha Gorge Campground in the national park there. There are no reservations, just first come first serve. Arriving on a pretty chilly Sunday, we got a good spot that fit our RV. FYI: the spots closer to the front of the campground are more apt to fit a larger RV. The ones in the back may if you can back in. They are tighter to turn, and there are several spaces with trees that may make it more challenging. It was nice, our RV backed up to a pretty creek and it was quite pleasant.
Hot Springs was an enjoyable city. We learned our way around pretty quickly. We spent many of the days perusing the old downtown and Bathhouse Row. My birthday passed while we were there so we all went to a movie as a family and then my oldest and I had a girls afternoon and hit the private baths at Quapaw Bathhouse, shopped downtown, then hit the local tea shoppe. We brought home yummy cupcakes and cookies to celebrate.
The kids and I spent a day at Garvan Woodland Gardens. I think this was my favorite of our stops these 2 weeks here. The kids had such a fun time exploring the gardens. It was so well planned and laid out. There was a trail to follow, but from the trail there were so many rock paths and other tiny trails that led to somewhere else with something new to see. Or something that you could really only see well from the trail. It was beautifully done. For reals. If we lived near there, we would so invest in a season pass. I could imagine spending a day there sitting and reading or drawing in some little nook you found.
The Tree House area is a kids dream. While the treehouse was cool, there were tons of places to explore, climb rocks, explore a cave behind a waterfall where you could climb up and come out above…I had fun as an adult, but can just imagine the things a kid could dream up and pretend spending time there.
It was still too early for the tulips. (sad face) But the daffodils and some other bulb flowers were blooming. I think the lady said there were something like 100,000 tulip bulbs. Tulips are my favorite flower, how could they not be?! They are such a happy flower. So huge bummer we missed them blooming, but the other flowers were beautiful and bright.
Another highly recommended place to go with kids was the Mid America Science Museum. We took a field trip day and the kids got to try out all of the hands on displays there. They had 2 shows to choose from: The Tesla Demonstration and a Solar System Tour in the planetarium. The Tesla was by far our favorite, getting to see a 1.5 million volt Tesla Coil in action was pretty stinking cool. Unnerving, but cool. The Planetarium show was neat, but it looked a little too computery, and my brilliant observant hubby was quick to point out that they weren’t using the updated image models of Pluto. So what can ya do? Poor Pluto, it just can’t win for anything.
There were so many sights to see in Hot Springs, what would you add to the list of “must sees?”
Living in an RV, you learn pretty quickly what items you need and don’t. In our sticks & bricks, our kitchen was fairly large. Plenty of room for kitchen gadgets and utensils for specific things. In an RV, you don’t have that luxury.
I started by donating, selling or throwing anything I didn’t use. Then I went back through and took out things I wanted to keep, but not use in our RV. (We do have a storage unit with some things we wanted to keep: Piano, furniture that’s been in the family and keepsakes for the kids from their grandma, my vintage Pyrex…because I loves it.) I absolutely loved our kitchen, and I love my kitchen gadgets, so I knew this would be an adjustment having the bare necessities.
It actually hasn’t been so bad. We have simplified our lives significantly, so who needs a specific press JUST to juice a lemon? Not I…for now….
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So to start the list, I am on the bandwagon with about 90% of other full time Rvers and say and Instant Pot is a “must have.” I’m not gonna lie, I bought it 2 Amazon Prime days ago and it sat in the box for a good 3 weeks before I mustered up enough courage to even take it out of the box. I dunno why it intimidated me so much. The first dish I made in it was the obligatory Instant Pot Butter Chicken and I was in love.
We use our Instant Pot pretty much every day. Sometimes twice a day. It makes life easier living in close quarters and it doesn’t heat up your RV in the summertime. Winner winner chicken dinner. Literally. I’ve done everything from breakfast egg scrambles, to oatmeal, to soups, pastas, beans, roasts…I have yet to bake a cheesecake in it, but I’ll get to it someday.
#2 on my list would have to be our Electric Skillet. When we started out, I bought a nonstick electric skillet and it really only lasted about 6 mos. Not a fan of the chemicals used for the nonstick already, and then despite taking care when cooking and washing, the area above the heat ring started wearing off and stuff started sticking and burning. It went in the trash.
My awesome parents got me a pretty stainless steel electric skillet for Christmas and I love it! Cleans up nicely. Cooks more evenly and I don’t have to worry about nicking the coating exposing us to toxic yuckiness. This is also something we use pretty much daily.
#3 But should be first is our electric Percolator. I got this pretty early into RV life and it’s a great investment. Ours goes up to 8 cups and takes up little space. I have a Nespresso machine which we had in our RV for a little while but have since put back in storage because for some reason, caffeine has had some adverse affects on me. Its pretty sad for this coffee snob, so I’ve had to lower my standards and drink decaf when I just want a latte. You may mourn for me. Its sad. Really.
#4 Our magnetic knife strip from Ikea. Keeps the counter clear of too much clutter and them also out of the drawers. When we travel, we just put the knives in a lower drawer inside of a plastic pitcher. Easy peasy.
#5 Under the counter paper towel holder. A must. Keeps the paper towels off your counter and easily accessible. (I’m sorry this picture clearly has the paper towels facing the wrong way)
#6 This fruit/veggie hammock. It also…keeps stuff off the counter and in a place the wouldn’t be used otherwise. It also keeps produce easy to see so that we are more apt to grab an apple or orange to eat because we can see it.
#7 This fun drink ware from The Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile. I splurged a little, not gonna lie, but they are stainless steel inside with an enamel coating. We drink out of water bottles a lot, so these are the perfect size for the kids to grab some juice or milk.
#8 When asking about dishes, and what type of dishes is best in an RV, I will say a million and one times: Corelle. This is some serious dishware. Its tough, holds up amazingly well on travel days, and I’m not afraid for the kids (or us) to bring outside to use. This is what we used growing up and there have been a time or two throughout our marriage I’ve gotten some other kinds of plates or bowls and they have all gotten chipped or broken. Corelle dishes are the absolute best.
#9 Pyrex bakeware. A good 8×8 square or 9×13 glass baking dish will forever come in handy. From baking, heating up food, using it as your dish to take food off the grill and keep warm, this is something we use often.
#10 A few baking sheets. Again, these just come in handy, pulling off bigger pieces of meat from the grill, or using to season your meat, and for baking. We have a few sizes, I kept a medium pizza size, small baking sheet and a large. I use them pretty often. Just make sure what you keep or purchase will fit into your oven! We have a convection oven and it will actually fit our large one no prob. Who knew?
#11 Large glass measuring bowl and small glass measuring cup. We use it for boiling water, mixing batters, making pudding, all sorts of things. Ours has a lid, which makes it good for storage as well.
#12 Rice Pot. This may not be on everyone’s “need” list. Ours lives in an outside compartment unless we need it that evening. That may be once a week maybe. We’re from Louisiana and sometimes you just need a good Gravy or Gumbo. We don’t ruin it by using quinoa or a cauliflower rice imposter instead. While you can totally use your Instant Pot to make rice, if we need rice, it’s because of something I’m making in the Instant Pot.
#13 Ninja Pro Blender. We got this from Costco a few years back and I knew this would be a must for our RV. It fits neatly on a shelf in the cabinet with all its accessories. I’ve used this to make batter for muffins, salsa, sauces and of course plenty of smoothies and shakes.
#14 Cast Iron cookware. So, I put this as a need but I haven’t actually used mine in our RV yet. I took a Cast Iron skillet and pot with us that both currently sit in an outside compartment. I figured I would be using them all of the time and be our main thing we cook with. Being a southern chick, I love cooking with cast iron. But it hasn’t exactly happened since we’ve traded our house for an RV. Now, this is due to me being slightly ok a lot afraid of using our stovetop. Yes, I know it’s completely unreasonable. I cooked with gas in our house. I did however, turn it on a few weeks ago. Baby steps y’all. Baby steps. (I provided a link here, but honestly, you will find good well-seasoned cast iron cookware at your local flea market or antique store)
I fully intend on using our stovetop. At some point. But honestly, my electric skillet or Instant Pot or using the grill outside has done everything cooking on the stovetop would do and with less clean up imo.
#15 Silverware. We rarely use plastic. That and we keep any plasticware up in a cabinet that’s kind of a pain to get to. We will break out the plastic if we take a picnic, but other than that, we use good old fashioned silverware. There are 5 of us so I have a 5 of each plus a few extra. I also have a few cute sugar spoons we use for coffee in the morning, because who doesn’t love old pretty sugar spoons?
#16 Dern I remembered one more. 15 was a good number…Anyhoo, a collapsible colander! This thing squishes down and is a great size for draining pasta, meat or potatoes. It takes up very little space in the cabinet and sure beats the awkward space a normal round colander takes up!
As far as kitchen must have’s, these are what we use (save the cast iron) on a regular basis. Its what works for us and I hope this helps anyone downsizing or considering this lifestyle to see what may work for you!
