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Family Off The Map

An Outdoor FAMILY on a Journey for ADVENTURE

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Crismateski (BlkWgn)

I am in my late thirties, married and Dad to a beautiful little girl. I work in the entertainment industry, which keeps me in the city during the week, but it also supplies the gas money to get out of town. Over the last 20 years, the love for the outdoor lifestyle has really grown. It does not matter if it is a short hike, an afternoon in the hammock, a night around the campfire, a day of off-roading in the Power Wagon or a week-long overland trip that combines it all together with friends and family—you can sign me up.

ChatGPT introduces the adventures of FamilyOffTheMap

February 3, 2023February 3, 2023 by Crismateski (BlkWgn)
AI generated by Dall-E using the prompt Family Off The Map Digital Art

Meet the family behind www.familyoffthemap.com in a new introduction written by ChatGPT, the large language model trained by OpenAI. Read about their adventures and get tips on camping and outdoor activities

Categories Uncategorized Tags AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatgpt, DALL-E Leave a comment

Oliver Goes OFF ROAD! – A 4×4 Adventure book for Kids

November 26, 2019 by Crismateski (BlkWgn)
Oliver Goes OFF ROAD! - A 4x4 Adventure Kids will Love

We have made a strong effort from day one to make sure that Hunter has a love for books and a strong appreciation for the outdoors. Oliver Goes OFF ROAD! is the perfect way to combine the two.

Categories Review Tags books, family learning, Review Leave a comment

Overland Expo: Arizona Journey with Falken Tire

June 23, 2019 by Crismateski (BlkWgn)

Join our friends from Falken Tire and American Adventurist as we Journey through Arizona after Overland Expo

Categories Travel Tags American Adventurist, Falken Tire, offroad, youtube Leave a comment

5 Family Tents for any budget – $100 to $10k+

May 1, 2019 by Crismateski (BlkWgn)
The 5 Best Family Tents for any Budget from $100 to $10,000 +

The 5 Best Family Tents for any Budget from $100 to $10,000 +

Categories Gear Tags camp gear, Camping, Camping Accessories, Family Tent, Gear, Tent Leave a comment

9 Dog Camping Gear Essentials We Love – 1 Waste of Money

April 10, 2019 by Crismateski (BlkWgn)
9 Dog Camping Gear Essentials we Love and 1 Waste of Money

9 Essentials for Camping with your Dog and 1 waste of money – Our Favorite Dog Camping Gear #FamilyOffTheMap #CampingGear #CampingDog #CampingAccessories

Categories Gear Tags Camping Accessories, camping dog, dog, dog camping, dog camping gear, dog gear, dog travel, Gear 1 Comment
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Family Off The Map

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Wyoming started out COLD. Climbing over the pass, Wyoming started out COLD. Climbing over the pass, we hit 6 degrees! Thank goodness we were visiting Grampa, and we didn't have to camp that night! Hunter immediately made herself at home in an empty closet (in the guest room), claiming it as her room, and had to have everyone in to see how she set it up. We also had a chance to wander in Thermopolis State Park,see the geothermal hot springs, and check out the free bath house! It was absolutely gorgeous, and I'm so glad we stumbled onto it! And yes, the water really is that color.
Another state, another National Park. We hit the v Another state, another National Park. We hit the very bottom of North Dakota specifically to go see Theodore Rosevelt National Park. It was very interesting to see this visitor center, we got to wander through Rosevelts first cabin, and drove some of the parks' Nature Loop, but a lot of it was closed for the season. It was beaufltiful, and easy to see why he chose to settle here.
South Dakota was our initial goal, and we made it! South Dakota was our initial goal, and we made it! We landed in Hot Springs,visited the beautiful Cascade Falls,  played at the 100 year old Mineral Hot Springs Waterpark called Evans Plunge (the self proclaimed oldest tourist attraction in the Black Hills), visited the Mammoth site excavation and museum, and camped at the Wind Caves National Park.

 We explored Custer State Park, the Black Hills, Badlands National Park, drove through the Needles, and of course, we had to recreate our first picture at Mt. Rushmore. (When we visited 4 years ago, someone had a tempertantrum and would not take pictures. This year, it was all smiles. One guess if that person was @blkwgn or Hunter)

Hunter and @blkwgn bowled in Scheels Dept Store, and Cris was thrilled to show us Wall Drug, a blocks long tourist destination for fun souvenirs and interesting history of the area, with a tiny but beautiful historic chapel  with stained glass dating back to the late 1800's.

Also, please enjoy a tiny taste of Angus going absolutely HAYWIRE at the site of bison.
Travel and homeschool hack! This has worked so we Travel and homeschool hack! 
This has worked so well for us!

When I got these markers TWO (you read that right) years ago, they were touted as being the markers that wouldn't dry out if they were left out of their caps. Well, true to their word, they are still going strong! 

I also duct taped caps together so they wouldn't go missing and that's worked so well that I automatically do it with all our markers now. 

Happy trails!
Receipts (volume up) Receipts (volume up)
Dangerous things safely. Also she's singing loudly Dangerous things safely. Also she's singing loudly "hey! I'm not giving up today, nothings getting in my way! And if you knock knock me over, I. Will. Get back up again!"

(Did you sing that in your head?)
We had the pleasure of attending the family day at We had the pleasure of attending the family day at Nanas work, where we got a tour of  the plant where they are currently producing a massive number of sauces, oils, and seasonings! It was such a fun and educational day for Hunter, who had a ton of questions about how these single serve products were made. My favorite part was the fact that this place is so huge they ride bikes on the paths inside the plant, and they even have indoor traffic signals on the pathways because they get so busy. Hunter's favorite part? "Definitely the ICE CREAM"
No neighbors, no problem! We took a quick turnarou No neighbors, no problem!
We took a quick turnaround around trip out to Couger Buttes to watch the meteor shower. We had the general area to ourselves, with absolutely zero traffic, save for one or two after dark trail runs.

We arrived (on purpose, to escape the heat) after dark, saw an amazing sky show, and read ancient stories about stars and the moon and sun. Then we rose early and headed up to Big Bear for breakfast at @grizzlymanorcafe and made it to the discovery center JUST in time for a nature walk!

Then over to @bigbearcoffeeroasting
for caffeine and down the mountain. 

All in all, for a quick little turnaround, it turned into a pretty nice weekend!
We were supposed to go to the park with @wildandfr We were supposed to go to the park with @wildandfree.foothills today, but it was closed, so @ashleyypashleyy and I pivoted up to the @cerritos_library and boy are we glad we did. 

Everything about the Children's Library is designed to feed a child's adventurous imagination, and built exclusively for wee ones. (Down to the teeny tiny toilets)

 Hunters favorite part was the life sized T-rex skelleton (lovingly referred to as "Stan") and the massive aquarium, along with the escalators. Who doesn't love escalators?

It pays to be flexible, and I'm super happy we didn't immediately hop on the freeway and head home.
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