If you choose the RV life, you’ll never get bored.

That’s what we discovered when we put together this year’s best experiences list. Our calendar was filled with crashing waves on the coast, snowy hikes on the rim of the Grand Canyon and desert wanderings from Death Valley in California to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Here are a few of our very favorites.

Best national park experience: We visited Grand Canyon National Park in the midst of a winter storm. We took a harrowing site-seeing flight that even scared the pilot, then tramped along the icy rim and toasted the canyon’s beauty at the historic El Tovar lodge. An adventure in every sense.

Best hotdog ever: In November, we downed the Sonoran Dog at El Sinaloense #5 food cart in east Tucson -- split, grilled and piled up with grilled onions, jalapenos and beans.

Best small-city stay: We hung out in some pretty cool places: Taos, N.M., Durango, Colo., and Fort Bragg, Calif., to name a few. But it’s hard to beat Sedona, Ariz., for all the things it does right. The day-hiking and bicycling are amazing, and the stellar Rancho Sedona RV Park is a nice place in the heart of things. We stayed there in March and in November.

Best hot springs: Ojo Caliente near Taos, a hot spot with a chill vibe that even offers RV camping.

Best place to see Ancestral Pueblo ruins: We visited a lot of beautiful sites in the southwest including Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico. But Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado always seems to pull us back, and we biked around the rim to look at cliff dwellings in October.

Best beer: Face Down Brown Ale from Telluride Brewing, consumed by John on a gorgeous October afternoon at Floradora Saloon in Telluride, Colo.

Best meal out: So many choices, it’s hard to narrow it down but after a thrilling day bike riding around San Francisco, we blissed out on all sorts of oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co. near Larkspur, just down the road from Marin RV Park.

Best local custom: If you go to Lopez Island, as we did in May and June as camp hosts --  don’t forget to wave. Everywhere you go on “the Friendly Isle,” people wave at you. So you better wave back!

Best ocean view: Fort Casey Historical State Park, where we volunteered in July, has an amazing view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, the Olympic Peninsula and even Mount Rainier.

Best sunset: It’s tough to beat the California coast for spectacular colors reflecting off the Pacific. That’s one of the reasons we keep returning to Dockweiler RV Park near LAX.

Best meal in: It’s always extra special when we have company and that goes double when it’s our favorite only child, a grownup kiddo who now calls Los Angeles home. We met up earlier this month in San Clemente for a feast that included meatloaf “baked” in our microwave/convection oven and Tater Tots crisped up on the outdoor electric grill.

Best bargain in Aspen: The ultra-rich have taken over, but you can still camp for $7.50 a night at the primitive Silver Bar Campground on Maroon Bells Road.

Best long-term stay: January and February for seasoned snowbirder Leslie in the friendly climes of the Happy Traveler RV Park in Palm Springs, soaking in the winter sun and hanging by the pool

Best bird: Of course we love bald eagles, and we saw them all over the West. But the California Brown Pelican is fascinating to watch, skimming the surface of the ocean, then swiftly rising up and suddenly diving into the surf to go after its prey. Got a bird’s eye view at San Elijo State Beach campground.

Best surfers: We witnessed lots of nimble cutbacks in our tour of the 840-mile California coastline. San Diego-area shredders win the prize.

Best coastline: The Golden State has many beautiful sections, none better than the rocky, wild Mendocino Coast. Oh, wait, what about Morro Bay and Malibu? OK, we love them all.

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