December 27, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time on Jekyll Island

The day after Christmas we were excited to get on the road and hopefully into some warmer weather, but it took us a little longer than expected to finish packing in the morning. I guess we were out of practice being in one place for so long. (For someone with a master’s degree, she’s not very good at spelling “slept in and then lay around all morning like a slacker”. – Lee) We left around 9:50am but thought it would be fine since it was only a 5 hour travel day. Also we made Cori’s Traveling Day Shredded Pork (which is yummy and convenient as an “on the road lunch item”…see below for the recipe) so we were all set. Unfortunately I guess it was a travel day for a lot of other people because the traffic was terrible. I was really really surprised, because it was a Friday I thought for sure the roads would be light, but every time we got near a major city…Columbia, Charleston, and Savannah traffic really slowed down. We also saw several accidents…not due to weather as it was a gorgeous sunny day, just folks not paying attention I suppose. They were not minor accidents either as we saw two people put on stretchers. Anyway it took much much longer than expected to get to our campground in Brunswick, GA so we rolled in around 5pm. Yikes!! Long travel day but at least we had just enough time to get into the site before it got dark.

We are staying at the Golden Isles RV Park for a couple of nights because I wanted to see Jekyll Island. It’s not a great park, but it’s Passport America and only cost $17 a night plus it is close to everything we wanted to see. It’s not awful or anything, but it doesn’t have much in the way of redeeming qualities and the entire campground has this funky marsh smell. (This entire area has a funky marsh smell. Somewhere between rotten eggs and sewage. It’s really gross. – Lee) I thought it was the entire area, but once we get a little closer to the water the smell dissipates. (Her nose just got used to it.-Lee) Anyway, like I said, not a place I would stay for a week or anything but fine for a couple of cheap nights. (Fine for a couple of cheap nights. That’s how she ended up with me. Thank you, I’m here all weekend. Try the veal. – Lee)

We got up in the morning and went over to Jekyll Island. The Island is a State Park and survives mainly on self funding. It cost $6 per car for a day pass to get into the park which took us back a little, but it was absolutely worth it. There were minimal crowds and I really loved the island. Beautiful marsh areas and amazing huge beaches that we spent some time walking on. There are also some nice neighborhoods with normal houses in them (as opposed to mini-mansions) and there are beautiful bike paths absolutely everywhere. The first stop was the beach and we found a nice little access spot down near the soccer camp on the east side of the island. Posted signs reminded you it was a nesting area and asked to stay off the dunes which of course we did. It was absolutely beautiful and we took a lovely walk with some great pictures.

Entrance to Jekyll Island

Trees were growing out of the beach very cool

My sweetie pie. (Day 39, the seagulls still think I’m a seagull. They suspect nothing. – Lee)

After the beach we drove around the island a bit and stopped the Georgia Sea Turtle Research Center. I have loved sea turtles ever since getting to swim with one while scuba diving in Honduras and was thrilled to stumble across the research center. It was $7 per person, a very reasonable price, and had educational areas and the hospice area where the recuperating turtles live. (This is Georgia math, mind you. The sign said $7 per person, and they charged me $13.98. – Lee) Each turtle has an information sheet that says in detail what happened to it,and the plan for either its release into the wild or its permanent placement with an aquarium. They also have baby turtles and they watch nests and breeding areas closely in the summer months. I was happy to pay my $7 ($6.99 – Lee) to such a worthy cause and more than felt I got my money’s worth. The gift shop is evil though, with waaaay too many cute turtle things to buy. (If she had read all the little information plaques, she would have learned that sea turtles are rabid capitalists. – Lee)

Me at the sign

Skeleton of a prehistoric turtle very cool

Skeleton of a giant turtle very cool

The research assistants were very serious about their turtles

The babies were marked and were being weighed when we were there

This one was called the Pumpkin King which cracked me up. He’s almost ready to be released.

This poor little girl had her flipper caught in wire and had to have it amputated. She swims pretty good with three though. She was brought from Florida. (I had some funny stuff to say about a three-flippered sea turtle, but it seemed cruel, so I’m keeping it to myself. – Lee)

I bought this shirt because it made me think of DeDe, my mother-in-law

After the institute we went to the campground to check it out. Jekyll Island campground is in a terrific location, but unfortunately the sites are right on top of each other. It’s in a terrific location with bike paths that lead to absolutely everywhere on the island. The campsites cost $38 a night plus a $6 daily fee for parking which goes to the State Park. The monthly rates were much better at $550 a month off-season and $650 a month high season. I would definitely recommend the larger pull throughs D5, D6, and G21, G22, G23. I say larger but they are still very close to your neighbor. The campground has its own fenced in bird watching area though that I absolutely loved and again the location cannot be beat. (We cannot stress enough how close together these sites are. There were several places where the awning of one RV was within a few inches of the neighbor’s RV. For that kind of money, there should be some more separation. It’s a campground, not an airline.- Lee)

The bird watching area at the Jekyll Island campground. More campgrounds should have these…VERY cool. Then we went over to the historic part of the island and saw the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. From the late 1800’s to 1950 it was a private island owned by the club and you could only enter through one set of docks. There are lots of old “cottages” and a grand hotel and it was still decorated for Christmas. The Hotel was beautiful from the outside and we took more great pictures.

Jekyll Island Club Hotel

One of the many “cottages”

Waterfront

We talked about having lunch at the pier, but were good (Another typo. She misspelled broke and over-budget. – Lee) and drove back to the camper and had lunch there. After a quick break we went to St. Simons island which was MUCH more crowded and touristy. I preferred Jekyll’s Island but we did find two things from my Roadside America App . We found a bulldog covered with pennies promoting the local ASPCA and these wonderful carvings in trees which are supposed to be the spirits of dead sailors. The carvings were tough to find, but led us into a lovely little neighborhood tucked back in a corner.

Bull Dog covered with pennies for the Humane Society

Carvings in trees are throughout St. Simons island but hard to find

Sailor’s spirit carving in tree

Sailor’s spirit …this one was a bit creepy

One of the “cottages” tucked back in this neighborhood we found

Finally we went and saw the St. Simon’s Lighthouse and spent a few quiet moments on a side street pier.

Saint Simon’s Lighthouse

Taking a few quiet moments by the ocean

(I felt compelled to add this picture of the stairs that Trace is sitting at the top of. These stairs literally go down into the water. That seems odd to me. Georgia is a weird place that smells weird. I don’t like it. I’m going to Florida tomorrow. – Lee)

It was an absolutely beautiful day…sunny and 73 degrees, but I was a bit tired so we decided to come back to the camper. I would definitely like to come back to Jekyll Isle sometime later in our travels, but am looking forward to getting to Clearwater tomorrow and seeing our friends Kelly and Bill. Kelly is making dinner for us and she is an outstanding cook…so I can’t wait!!! (Also, we’ll be in Clearwater for like, 10 weeks, so if you are in the area, and aren’t weird, and don’t smell weird, send us a message. We’ll do a quick background check and see if we want you to take us to dinner or something in a very well lit, public place with lots of witnesses. – Lee)

P.S. Here’s Lee’s great egret pic. He got a little pouty that it didn’t make the blog and was only on the bird page 🙂

Great Egret

Cori’s Traveling Day Shredded Pork

3-4 lbs of pork
1-2 bottles BBQ sauce
Water

1. Put pork in a crock pot with some water and 1/3 bottle BBQ sauce for 4-5 hours

2. Drain grease

3. Shred pork and add remainder of one bottle of sauce. Add additional to consistency desired

4. Cook additional time as needed to soften pork

5. Serve on buns. Freezes well and heats very well in microwave.

y003

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December 26, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Christmas on the Road

Our first Christmas on the road was a bit of a mixed bag. It was really wonderful being with my sister and her kids, but we both really missed our girls. Not only was it our first on the road experience but it was also our first Christmas in 25 years without having at least one kid there. My nephew Alec’s 11th birthday was Tuesday, which was fun, but we were both pretty depressed on Christmas Eve. We didn’t make plans with ourselves or anyone else and in retrospect this would have been the perfect time to start a new tradition. But we just watched TV all day and generally felt glum. Not such a great plan. Christmas day was much better because we got to speak with the girls and our parents…plus we had a terrific time watching Wendy’s kids open their presents and seeing Abrams first ever Christmas was really special. Wendy and Josh also made a fantastic big ole country breakfast which was amazing!! Lee got his sausage biscuits and gravy which are his favorite Christmas morning tradition since my mother started it many years ago.

Alec and Bryce and the pile of presents

Alec with one of the soccer goals. It was a soccer themed Christmas!

Bryce

Bailey was happy about her Uggs

Loved Wendy’s face when she got a Pandora bead from Josh with Abrams birth stone

Abram loved the tissue paper the best.

I put a lot of thought into their gifts since they have been getting gift cards from me for years and it was really nice to see their faces when they opened their presents. Bailey was the hardest to buy for but I think I scored with the Ulta giftcard!! After breakfast the boys went outside and played soccer which was really fun to watch and Wendy put Abram in his new little Tikes swing which he loved. One thing about Christmas in Ohio or New Hampshire- not much outside time, but it was a beautiful day in South Carolina and almost everyone in the neighborhood was outside for a little while.

Loved watching the boys play soccer on Christmas day…never seen that before

We went back to the camper and started packing up for our departure the next day, and then we went and met the family for Chinese Christmas dinner. This has always been their tradition and it was a lot of fun eating chinese for dinner but I am glad we went early because the place was packed by 6pm. Afterwards Wendy really wanted to see the final Hobbit movie and Lee and I went with her. The movie was good although the fight scene was like an hour and a half, but it was nice hanging out and I was really grateful that I got to share my first two holidays on the road with her and her family.

Oh and by the way, if anyone was wondering how the birds and squirrels liked their edible Christmas tree I think this picture speaks for itself.

They devoured the “tree”

So it’s been a great 6 weeks in Rock Hill and we loved Ebenezer State Park Campground, but it’s definitely time to move on, so Florida here we come!

Ebenezer State Park Campground 4490 Boatshore Rd. Rock Hill, SC 5 out of 5 pinecones

Ebenezer State Park is a terrific campground. The price for out-of-state residents is only $28 a night and they have some beautiful waterfront sites. In addition they have excellent boat access, free wifi, (lies, lies, lies. The wifi is nonexistent, and when it’s working, it’s slow-Lee) and the TV signal through antenna is very good for the major networks. We stayed for six weeks and although their rule is you have to move every two weeks, we enjoyed all of the sites we stayed in (#30, #23, and #8). They do book fast however, so reserving in advance on the web or over the phone is a good idea. Off season there was plenty of spaces but they are pretty crowded in season and do require a day off property every two weeks to give other campers a chance. About half their sites are first come first serve and the others are reserveable, but once you get used to the system staying for an extended period is not a problem. They have many 50 amp sites and the water is from the city and tastes as good as bottled. Overall we were very very happy staying here and I give it my highest recommendation.

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December 22, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Charleston, SC

Charleston has always been on my places to visit bucket list. Ever since I read the Prince of Tides when I was in my 20’s I have wanted to visit the magical city that Pat Conroy wrote about. Pat is one of my favorite authors and he writes so beautifully of the southern places of his young adulthood that you feel as if you have been there. One of my favorite books, South of Broad , tells the story of the families who live in the giant mansions south of Broad street (and those who do not). Because of his books, I have always wanted to see the mansions, the town, and the nearby islands, and finally I had the opportunity. I cashed in some Marriott points and got a free hotel room near the college and within walking distance to the historic part of the City. On Saturday morning Lee and I got up very early and drove the three hours down to Charleston.

Some things in life don’t live up to their press. Let’s face it… most things do not, but I loved every part of Charleston, and the city absolutely delivered on the promise made to me by Mr. Conroy and his books. In order to truly experience this city you really need to walk its cobblestone streets, but I will share my experience the best that I can. For those who have been to San Francisco (another of my favorite cities), it is similar in the mixture of history, water, and beautiful gardens. For those who have been Boston or Philadelphia you will understand how amazing it can be to put your hand on the brick wall of a structure built in the 1700’s. I have been to those places, but have never experienced one city that provided history, culture, nature, and style all in one package. Charleston is “southern old”. The colony was started in 1670 by a group of settlers with a grant from Charles II and they were largely left to their own devices. In order to survive they built a wall around their town and used the ocean as their main means of transportation. The historic part of Charleston exists within the boundaries of those long gone original walls, and a tremendous amount is within that relatively small space. The buildings are close together, and the alleyways are tight, which gives the city a very European feel.

The city is also home to a very old military college called The Citadel. Founded in 1842, the Citadel is a truly southern institution and since Pat Conroy was a graduate I just had to visit it first. It was way too early to check into our hotel when we made it to Charleston so the Citadel was our first stop. Visitors are welcome and because it was Christmas break the campus was almost completely empty. We read that every Friday people come to see the weekly military parade of the students, but we enjoyed wandering with no crowds and took some great pictures while we were there. The gift shop was open and I couldn’t help myself. I had to buy a copy of the Lords of Discipline while I was standing on the grounds.

The Citadel

After the Citadel, we drove downtown and were pleased to see that the weather (slightly rainy) was keeping the crowds away. As we were driving through we saw the restaurant where my sister said she had the best meal of her life and decided we had to stop and have lunch there. We parked next door (free parking if you eat at the restaurant) and took a little walk until they opened their doors at 11:30.

"Trolley" bus provide transportation downtown

“Trolley” busses provide free transportation downtown

Tree lined cobblestone walkways..so beautiful

Really neat fountain that people are allowed to play in

I couldn’t resist even though it was pretty chilly

Apartments facing Waterfront Park

I could totally live in one of these apartments facing the park and then the ocean

My favorite part of Waterfront Park is the Pineapple Fountain. I have read about this but it was so much better in person. It’s very large and people are allowed to play in it.

Magnolias Restaurant in the Historic District

It was a very pleasant walk despite the weather and I definitely worked up an appetite for Magnolia’s. Magnolias is a white table-cloth restaurant and one I normally wouldn’t try, but my sister and her husband know their food and I wanted the experience. The service was absolutely amazing, I mean truly amazing, and we had a great seat by the window so we could watch the people walk by. The food was a mixed bag. Lee’s fish was according to him in the Top 10 fish meals he had ever eaten. My tomato basil soup was good, raspberry sorbet was terrific, but the fried green tomatoes were only so-so. In general I prefer diners, and a $58 dollar lunch is a bit steep for me, but I did enjoy the overall experience. After lunch we walked over to the market which has tons of local vendors selling their wares in a series of long brick building (think Faneuil Hall) and we explored some of the narrow cobblestone alleyways.

Narrow alleyways where only a compact car can drive down

Narrow alleyways where only a very compact car can drive

Next we drove to the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon to take a tour of one of the oldest and most historic buildings in the city. This building was interesting to me because the Constitution was ratified here. According to a poster it was one of the three main building used during this time period and by seeing it we had completed the trifecta. (Independence Hall, Fanueil Hall, and the Old Exchange) Since I am a bit of a history nerd that was pretty exciting to me. We also had a tour of the dungeon area and saw part of the original 1600’s wall which the Exchange was built on and was excavated only 50 years ago. Seeing a wall that had stood for that long was really amazing and along with the other historical facts made the $9 entrance fee a bargain for me.

Model of the original walled city

A model of the original Exchange

The 1600’s wall. Four hundred years ago the sea came up to this point but over time has receded and is now two blocks away

During the revolutionary war the building was occupied by the British but the rebels stored 4,000 kegs of gunpowder in this room and sealed it up so the British never found it

After our history lessons it had cleared up enough for us to take a walk along Battery Park which has its own rich history since this is where the cannons were stationed that defended the port. It is also where the old mansions are and we spent a couple of hours walking the streets and the park. One of the best moments was when we came across a wedding in the gazebo in the park and got to watch the couple dance to Etta James’s “At Last” as their first song. It was an amazingly romantic moment and one of my favorites of the weekend.

Beautiful Oak Trees in the Park

Couple getting married and dancing to Etta James’s At Last

Memorial to the defenders of Fort Moultrie. I loved the inscription

Where the pirate Bonnet and his men were captured

Revolutionary War Statue

Civil War Statue

Carriage Tour on the main street

His puppy rides with him

One of the few decorated for the holidays

My favorite was The Roper House which has a beautiful view of the sea

After walking the sea wall and viewing the houses I was getting a little cold, so we jumped in the car and drove the many side streets, stopping on occasion to get a closer look at one of the houses. The houses in this area cost between $3M – $8M and they are mostly on tiny lots, but the interior houses have made the most of the space with the most beautiful gardens. One of the houses was open for a tour, but I was more interested in the gardens which were free to walk. Absolutely amazing.

This house is available to tour

Side garden

Loved the three fountains

Really cool stone bird house

They make so much out of a tiny space

Beautiful vine arch frames the fountain

Gas Lights were everywhere in historic Charleston. Very cool

After walking the homes we decided to take advantage of the remaining light and visit the Angel Oak tree on Johns Island. When my sister found out how much I loved trees she recommended it and it was a very very special moment for both of us. The tree is between 300 – 400 years old and is absolutely massive. Admission is free but they have a small gift shop and a donation box if you would like to contribute something and I absolutely loved touching the old bark. Amazing and absolutely worth the trip.

Angel Oak

While making our way to John’s island we kept seeing signs for the Festival of Lights on James Island so we thought we would check it out. Our friends Deb and Steve had stayed in the campground there and liked it, and since it was so close we thought “why not?”. What an absolutely wonderful surprise. For $15 ($10 if you bring a can of food) you can drive through the park and see all of the company sponsored lights and there were over 100 displays. In addition, the park center has a great stopping place where you can walk a section of lights, shop, roast a marshmallow, or have a cup of hot chocolate. We absolutely loved it. Almost all of the lights blink and show some kind of motion and they are very creative. We took many pictures but here are a few to give you the feel of the experience

Fire Pits. They sold huge marshmallows on a stick for $3...genuis

Fire Pits. They sold huge marsh mellows on a stick for $3…genuis

The Winter Wonderland

Cool hummingbird hanging from a tree

So cute

The annual winner the penguin slides down the ice

After the light show we drove back to the hotel and I think we were asleep by 9:30pm. It was a very long day and we still had a full list left for the following morning. I really wanted to eat at a french bakery the next morning but unfortunately all they had nearby was a little restaurant called Another Broken Egg. It started out great, totally cute brick building with friendly servers and the breakfasts themselves were reasonably priced. But when the bill came it was $32 before tip. Apparently the coffee was $3 a cup and Lee’s orange juice cost $4!!! With tip that was a $38 dollar breakfast and trust me it was not that good. One positive thing that came from the meal though was a serious conversation about money and eating out. We will discuss whether or not to spend $40 on an attraction, but when it comes to food we often do the most expedient and invariably pay for it. So we decided that food for us would hence forward come in two categories: Fuel and an Experience. We were definitely willing to pay more for an experience but if it was just fuel we would start searching out more reasonably priced alternatives. With that conversation out-of-the-way we came to Sullivan’s Island. Sullivan’s Island is only 3.3 miles long and has some of the highest per capita real estate prices in the country. Since it was early Sunday morning and another chilly day hardly anyone was out and we had a great time driving through the neighborhoods and seeing the beautiful homes. We also saw Sullivans lighthouse and stumbled across this really great public walkway to the beach. I love the ocean and this beach was a very nice one.

A cozy little beach cottage lol

Sullivan’s Island beach house

Sullivan’s Lighthouse

Walkway to Sullivan’s Island beach

The ocean!!

Great beach at Sullivan’s Island

After Sullivan’s Island we drove to Patriot’s Point to tour the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. For $20 a person (a bargain) we got to explore an aircraft carrier, a submarine, and a destroyer. The carrier alone had 5 self-guided tours and took us several hours to complete. The entire day was amazing and I haven’t seen Lee so excited in a long time. Even though I am not a military buff, I was fascinated by how they fed and clothed so many people at sea. It is not unlike today’s cruise ships in that respect. But it is a TON of walking up and down stairs so be prepared for your workout if you go! I was definitely tired by the time we were done.

USS Yorktown

Destroyer

Submarine

Carrier deck, we were allowed to walk around on it. VERY cool

One of the many planes on the flight deck

Flight room just like in the movies

Crew galley

The amount of supplies it takes to make 10,000 chocolate chip cookies. They posted an actual recipe also.

Dentist…which I thought was pretty cool

Optometrist

Crew quarters. The hanging beds would have freaked me out

A shirt folding machine. Lee got pretty excited 🙂

Engine Room was really cool

The brig …tiny and three to a cell

The bridge. Can you tell Lee is having a good time

Patriots Place is an absolute must see in our opinion especially if you have any interest in World War II, the military or have ever played Call of Duty!! We had a wonderful time, but I was definitely wore out so we started our way back to Rock Hill. As I said when I started this blog it was one of the best weekends of my life and I would definitely return when we had more time. Bucket list item; CHECK!!

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December 15, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Decorating the RV for Christmas

I was a person that had an attic full of Christmas stuff. I love Christmas and when the kids were small the house was so full of Christmas things I had to rotate out my regular decorations each year just to make room for it all. When we decided to downsize our stuff, I made the conscious decision to give away my Christmas items just like everything else. The girls had a good time arguing over who got which ornament and several of the items were hotly contested. All I kept was a small ceramic light up tree I made years ago in a class with my mom and sister, a small nativity scene my Aunt Susie made, and a little light up choir boy I had in my bedroom as a child. Those items were supposed to come with us and in the spirit of a new simpler life would be all the Christmas decorating I did. Unfortunately we discovered the Christmas tub was put into storage instead of going into the camper and although Lee offered to have Kyrston ship it, I didn’t want to run the risk of it being broken. So here we were, with no Christmas decorations.

One thing I knew I did want to do was make edible Christmas decorations for the outside. A year ago as I was reading Howard and Linda’s blog RV-Dreams I saw that Linda had made outside ornaments her first year on the road and I loved the idea of completely changing things up. New life …new traditions. But as I saw pictures of my other friends decorating their rig, I did start to feel a little nostalgic, but it didn’t make sense to buy Christmas stuff and I really didn’t have anything with sentimental attachment. On my trip to Columbus last week I spent some time with my in-laws and they gave me a gift. My first “on the road” Christmas ornament. Well that decided it!! I needed to go get some cheapie materials for my outdoor tree. While I was at Dollar General (fantastic place to shop for this kind of stuff btw) I picked up a few small items for the camper.

The coolest Christmas ornament and my $3.50 Christmas tree

Some tiny lights for our railing

Some Christmas stockings for our fire-place!!

Then Lee found some of my Christmas items in a box in the camper…not the tree but the nativity scene and my little choir boy who I promptly put out. And I felt quite a bit better. My friend Jo and I were talking and she said a friend of hers said, “When you are experiencing this much change…continuity is important.” I thought that was very wise and certainly for me having a small amount of Christmas continuity was a really great thing. The new with the old is part of this lifestyle and it was nice to have a bit of both.

My little choir boy…I have had this as long as I can remember

Nativity scene made by my Aunt Susie

So once the inside was done I started working on my edible Christmas tree ornaments. Let me say this took a chunk of time this weekend, but it was really fun and it’s the kind of work you can combine with watching TV or listening to music. I don’t consider myself particularly crafty (although I hope that changes in the future) so all of these items are pretty simple to do.

Pine Cones Rolled in Birdseed

Gather fallen pine cones around the camp site
Make a mixture of 1/3 lard to 2/3 peanut butter (the peanut butter alone is too difficult for the birds digestion)
Roll pine cone in lard mixture
Roll pine cone in bird seed or oatmeal first then bird seed
Tie loop to the top of pine cone with biodegradable twine

Had my assembly line going

Roll pine cone in lard/PB mixture

Roll in birdseed

Tie a loop to top of finished cone

Pretty easy…hence the big smile

Garland

Purchase Cheerio’s , Dried Fruit, and cheese crackers
Cut lengths of biodegradable twine and quadrupled cotton thread. Tie large knot in the bottom of each length.
For Cheerios only you can thread twine through the holes to make garland
For fruit and cheese crackers use thread and a needle to pierce the fruit or holes
Get creative!!

Garland

Strung crackers and strung plums dipped in oatmeal are on left

Well we had tons of ornaments ready to go but Sunday we were moving to our last and final site here in South Carolina. We have stayed in 30, 7, and 23 and all have been very nice. I was happy to get back my water view but unfortunately there were no handy trees to put my ornaments on that would have a good view from my desk window. So Lee and I went to Goodwill to see what we could find, and for $2.99 found a metal CD rack. It actually comes apart into two pieces and Lee sawed off the lowest rung so we could plant it into the ground outside the camper. I also bought some Christmas napkins to put on the bottom in the hopes of stopping the squirrels from completely demolishing it the first night.

Lee with the “Christmas Tree”

Decorating the tree

Garland, Pine Cones,

Decorated “tree”

Sprinkling “snow” made of leftovers and oatmeal

Our first brave bird checking it out

Overall it was more work than I thought but a ton of fun and I love that we got creative on a budget and put something like this together!!

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December 7, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Asheville, NC and Pisgah National Forest

Before I jump in and tell you about my week, I wanted to follow-up on an item from a couple of weeks ago; we ended up sending back all of the DISH equipment. After numerous software downloads and time on the phone with their not-so-hot line, we determined something wasn’t working right and since we had a 30 day warranty with Amazon we just sent it all back. I have to give AMEX and Amazon huge credit here. We had our credit in less than 24 hours and I feel much better knowing we didn’t lose $700 for a product that does not do what was advertised. It was numerous factors but two things were deal breakers for us. One we could not consistently get the HD channels to come in and secondly I was watching a show in the bedroom and Lee was watching a movie in the living room. When the movie was done he changed the channel and bam! my show went off. Apparently if you watch two shows at the same time they have to be on the same satellite signal (which makes sense), BUT there is no way to tell which channel is on what satellite. When we talked to the “help” desk about it the direct quote was “You’ll figure it out.” Yeah, that was it for me. Anyway, we decided to take advantage of AT&T’s current double data promotion, and double our cellular data instead and now have 80 GB. Because the double data deal is still going on we got 80 GB for the price of 40 GB and we will be watching antenna TV, streaming shows, and using Netflix. It’s not the perfect solution, but we are both MUCH happier with this use of our money and the bill is still within our total budget for internet/phone/cable.

Alright, so enough of that..now on to the fun stuff. I traveled to NYC (well actually Secaucus, NJ) (I don’t blame her for not being willing to admit to being in NJ. I’ve been there. No offense to any friends of ours who are from there, or legitimate businessmen who are from there. – Lee) this week and have to say I missed my nature. The only animal I saw all week was a stray cat and the taxi drivers were routinely displeased by my driving. Work was fine and the people were very nice, but it was a stark contrast to what we have been experiencing in South Carolina. Next week is Columbus, Ohio but that is my hometown and I get to see family, so that should be a lot more fun. I got home on Friday and was pretty tired and then Saturday it rained all day. When you only have the weekend to explore, bad weather is not so fun, but Lee was nice enough to drive me around shopping and we picked up our Christmas gifts for Wendy’s kids. For years we’ve been in separate states at Christmas and since we will be together I wanted to buy actual presents this year (instead of money or gift cards). Buying for the baby was super fun…buying for my 16 year old niece, not so much. 16 year old girls are the worst to buy presents for. I can say this with authority because I have raised three teenage girls!!! (It’s true. They hate everything. – Lee) After shopping we stopped by Wendy’s and saw Bailey, Bryce, and Abram then came back to the camper and got caught up on some TV and just relaxed. I had some serious cabin fever though, mainly because I haven’t seen much of this area so was very excited about the forecasted good weather on Sunday and a trip to Asheville.

Asheville is one of the towns I really wanted to explore in this area and since it’s only about two hours away we decided to take a day trip. As a bonus we got to stop at a Roadside Attraction that my sister Wendy recommended. There is a water tower in Gaffney, SC that is painted like a giant peach. Unfortunately from certain angles it also looks like a giant butt which is hysterical. When we got there we pulled over and we also got to see a man climbing on the peach butt and working on it. Ok seriously, insert your own joke here, because they just write themselves. (I’m not sure what that weird little nubbin is hanging from the bottom of the butt, but they should probably get it lanced or something. – Lee)

Giant peach butt

Giant peach butt with worker

So that was fun!! The next roadside attraction was a small restaurant called Harry’s Grill and Piggy’s Ice (you can’t make this stuff up) that has “rescued” advertising statues from other restaurants and has them all outside. It’s in Hendersonville and is well worth the stop. I love the silly and this place was chock full of it. We went on a Sunday (when it was closed) which was actually better because it was easy to take pictures.

Harry’s Grill and Piggy’s Ice Hendersonville, NC

Remember Officer Big Mac???

Hooterville Jail

Yogi and BooBoo

Big Boy

I think the pink elephants were my favorites

I think this is Harry

Big cow head

They had lots of old signs like this one too

Lee loved the dinosaur…reminded him of out west

They had a board to sign your name

Another of my favorites a big pig with an apple in his mouth

Me hanging with the tiger

And the ringmaster

So the place was really fun and waaay coooler than we thought it would be. Plus we needed gas anyways, and it was right off the freeway so just a short detour for tons of fun. We finally made it to Asheville, but I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed. It is a hipster kind of place, but coming from the New England area, it looks like tons of small ski villages all throughout Vermont. There are some neat artsy stores, but the prices are pretty high and really it wasn’t that pretty to walk around. We did have an excellent lunch though at a noodle place which was VERY good and had outstanding service. And there was a neat wall right next door where people wrote the things they wanted to do before they died. The answers ranged from “Be on Ellen” to “Be Heard.” I put “see Mount Rushmore and Alaska.”

I wrote see Mt. Rushmore and Alaska

Very good noodle house where we ate lunch

We saw another roadside attraction in Asheville, a giant iron. Usually I am a sucker for really big common things but this was just so-so. The best part of the whole town really was a London double-decker bus which was converted into a small coffee shop with tables setup on the top of the bus. It was really really neat and Lee loved it. Plus his coffee and my hot chocolate were excellent. Absolutely recommend it, but bring cash as they don’t take credit cards.

Double Decker bus converted into a coffee shop

Me in the bottom part of the bus where you order

Lee eating at a booth in the top part of the bus

After Asheville, we still had plenty of time and Lee wanted to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views are absolutely amazing and even though it was probably the least pretty time of year I still found it very compelling. We took tons of pics, so I’ll just share a few of my favorites to give you a feel for the views, but if you are near here in the summer or fall I definitely wouldn’t miss it.

Blue Ridge Parkway

The Parkway goes for 469 miles, so we couldn’t drive the whole thing, so we got off after a while and drove through part of Pisgah National Forest. I was excited because I had also wanted to see the Forest and the route was perfect. We stopped along the way at a couple of places to see the stream running through and then turned a corner and found the Looking Glass Waterfall. I absolutely love love waterfalls and this one was one of the best I have ever seen and it is right off the road. We got some fantastic pictures and I was so grateful we stumbled across this. Truly what this life is about for us and I feel very blessed by the day we had.

Stream in Pisgah State Park

Really liked this shot with the stream and old bridge

Me and Lee in front of Looking Glass Waterfall

Looking Glass Waterfall

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Month: December 2014

First Time on Jekyll Island

First Christmas on the Road

First Time in Charleston, SC

First Time Decorating the RV for Christmas

Pine Cones Rolled in Birdseed

Garland

First Time in Asheville, NC and Pisgah National Forest