A little over a year ago we lost my nephew to suicide. Although I have stayed in close contact with my sister we have not been able to see each other in person, and I was so glad that we would finally be able to see her in person. Unfortunately because of COVID and the proximity to Christmas, we had to be careful about social distancing and not being able to hug her or my sic year old nephew was frankly brutal. At least we had plenty of time to spend together, because my work event was cancelled due to heightened COVID restrictions after Thanksgiving.
One really great piece of the event was we all got to meet 3 month old Lulu. My sister adopted a bulldog and I have to say she was incredibly cute. Spunky and solid, watching her and Jack play was amazing, although she did inadvertently knock Jack over a few times. Even at three months she is SOLID and our little fluffernutter went flying a few times, which was hysterical. I didn’t get many good pictures because they were constantly in motion. Jack is a lot faster than she is and spent a ton of time making her chase him.
My brother-in-law Josh, his epic beard, and Lee and LuLu
I got them to sort of sit still for this picture
I brought presents including this apron for Josh. The quote is from Jamestown and he loved it!
We also got to spend time with my other nephews Alec and Abram. Alec’s team just won all state in soccer and I can’t believe how grown he is. Abram is also incredibly tall for being 6 years old and he did a nice job of social distancing although it’s tough with a 6 year old. To be honest I would have thrown caution to the winds except we were due to see our grandson the week after. If we got sick we would miss Christmas with him and that was a risk I was not willing to take. The very last day, on an impulse, Lee threw a blanket over Abram and we were both able to give him super big blanket hugs before we left!! Highly recommend this if you are in a similar situation.
Alec…he looks quite a bit like my brother looked at that age.
Abram has adored Lee since he was born. They are good buddies.
Wendy and Josh
Although the house was decorated and all was in order, there was a definite sadness. I was hoping since it had been a full year some of that would have lifted, but this is going to take some time. I mention it because Wendy said everyone was expecting her to get back to normal, but that was never going to happen. I will admit I was a person who hoped for that as well, but simply put this is a pain she will always carry with her. The best news is she and her husband are doing a good job taking care of each other. COVID has been a blessing to them in some respects, because Josh has been able to work from home and they are healing in their little bubble with less outside distractions. All I can say is it incredibly difficult to watch people you love be in that much pain. We did everything we could to show them our love and Lee did a wonderful job of lightening the mood a little and even made them laugh a few times.
And if nothing else I was able to give Wendy my present. For the last six months I have been working on a cross stitch picture for her. I poured a lot of my love and grief into it and it said what I wanted to say to her. God bless her family.
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As with many other people my Thanksgiving plans got totally screwed up this year. Initially my brother’s family, sister’s family, and I were going to all meet at my Dad’s for the first time in years. Since Dad had COVID recently we initially thought it was something we could do relatively safely but a week before the holiday things got crazy in Columbus. After agonizing over my decision, I ultimately decided not to go and we were scrambling to figure out last minute what we could do.
We’ve spent holidays alone before (seems to be part of this lifestyle), but we wanted to do something, anything special so I wouldn’t be so sad. I started looking at really nice restaurants in the area to see if we could eat a fancy dinner out, but everything (and I mean everything) was already booked. I didn’t really want to cook for just the two of us and was considering getting take out from Cracker Barrel when we learned our campground was doing a Thanksgiving dinner.
At this point we were in the Richmond area and were staying at Americamps. We picked this campground mainly for its location, and to be honest it wasn’t one of my favorites. It was mostly seasonal, and although our sites were deep, side to side people were pretty close. Thanksgiving dinner was pretty cool though and I called and signed us up for it. Initially I was told we could either have it delivered or pick it up at 3:00 pm so I went for delivery. To supplement I even made Lee some deviled eggs which are his absolute favorite.
An additional bonus was we had strong cell signal and I could watch the annual dog show. This is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving and I am not in a position every year to had a strong enough TV signal to get the programming. It was different of course because of COVID but I was so happy they did it and even picked the winner out of the final group of dogs. I am getting pretty good at that!
As the day wore on, I started to get hungrier, because the grill they were cooking on was right behind our RV.
Side note, one of our neighbors had this cool cook stove. Never seen this in a campground before
At 3:30pm I finally went up to the office and was told I couldn’t pick up but had to wait for delivery. There were tons of people inside and they were working on packing everything up so I went back and waited. At 4:00 pm I sent Lee up, but they said our was out for delivery. At 4:50pm I drove around to find the delivery cart and caught her coming back. Our order was not on the cart, but she had another one she couldn’t find the owners for so took pity and gave us that. Don’t get me wrong getting a free meal is pretty cool but this level of disorganization drives me nuts.
There was a large variety of food but it was pretty mediocre. Still it was free and I didn’t have to cook.
All in the day was a bust and frankly I was tired of Richmond. Some towns have a vibe that doesn’t work for individuals and those of us who full time know what I mean. Not every place is for everybody and we learn that in our travels. Our next stop was Raleigh though, another town we hadn’t spent any time in and we were going to get to see our friends Kat and Bert.
Lee had booked us into the North Carolina State Fair campground, which apparently we had stayed in for one night several years ago. I didn’t like it the first time (according to the blog I honestly don’t remember it), and unfortunately I didn’t like it the second time much better. There are lots of working folks staying there, which is fine, but for me at least it is the kind of place you keep your doors locked during the day. Again, if you full time you know what I mean. The one positive was the grounds were huge and Lee was able to take Jack on some really long walks.
The sites are very tight and I thought $30 a night was pretty steep.
Although we were on the back row so had a nice area across form us.
Paying was also a hassle. We followed the directions on the website, which said wait until someone came around to take payment, but the sheriff who came to do that scolded me because we hadn’t paid online. He was honest and said there had been some COVID cases in the campground, which I appreciated but was not a great first impression. In general, I would have to say I didn’t feel super safe in Raleigh. Lots of maskless people and ultimately we chose to do very little there except see our friends Kat and Bert.
Visiting people with COVID is kind of weird. We are super worried that we might inadvertently bring it to someone and of course we want to be protected as well. The social dance of what people are willing to do is super awkward, but Kat cut through all that by sending me a text laying out exactly what they were willing to do. Frankly I appreciated the honesty and it made the whole visit so much easier. The gist was we would stay outside, and if we entered the house to go to the bathroom we would wear masks. They also put Clorox wipes in the bathroom which I really appreciated.
Despite the challenges our two visits were amazing. Their porch is super cool and they have a nice heater that helped keep us warm. It was also Jack friendly with a fenced in yard so we were able to not only bring Jack but let him run around a bit. And did I mention the food!! The meals were amazing and their hospitality was over the top. Loved, loved seeing them.
Wonderful porch area to hang out
From Left: Kat and Bert with a head a brocolli they plucked from their garden that we ate
Oh did I mention the steaks they hand cut. The one on the left was Lee’s!!!
Plus charcuterie. Cori they gave you a run for your money.
Dinner one night
Lunch a second trip was homemade Bolognese
And Kat made me my own loaf of sour dough bread
It was so wonderful seeing them and catching up and we were really grateful for the hospitality. Since Raleigh is relatively close to where my daughter and sister live we hope to explore more in the COVID free future, but the visit was very special even without that.
Next up I finally get to see my sister as we make our way south for Christmas!
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
Richmond, Virginia is a town with a very complicated history and since neither of us had spent any time there we weren’t sure what we would find. Turns out it is one of those smaller cities that looks much like many others we have seen in our travel. The big difference is Richmond, VA was the home of the confederacy and there are LOTS of Civil war confederate memorials everywhere. By choice we decided to skip those and instead we went to visit the Art Museum.
Richmond has it’s own museum district and many of those museums are free. The big draw for me though was this particular museum has a Faberge collection and I absolutely love Faberge anything. Turned out to be a great choice because for a smallish town they had an excellent and varied collection. The museum was 100% masks and since we went early the crowds were very small. Plus did I mention free 🙂 Here is a pictorial tour of what we saw and although I didn’t include everything it will give you a feel for what they have. I really enjoyed it.
Outside of the museum
Right across the street from a well to do neighborhood
Interior…It is a bit of a maze and easy to miss a section if you don’t use the map
The Asian sections were broken up by country which I appreciated. Many of the sections were from private collections that had been donated over the years. Others were loans from different museums, which I also thought was pretty cool.
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Loved this bath…took up an entire room
Lee only got in trouble once for getting too close to the exhibits 🙂
This is a super cool sculpture of a chariot pulled by 7 horses. Love the way they made that work. It’s amazing this survived to present day.
The layout is in chronological order, but I say roughly because it was definitely not a straight line from one room to another. Still we started with the oldest and as much as possible worked our way up through history.
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I found this statue particularly interesting. It was a saint who had his head chopped off. I don’t think I have ever seen a statue that was holding his own head like this.
When we hit the Faberge section I was thrilled. All the items came from one person’s collection and although the five eggs were definitely the star there were tons of examples of other types of work. That was just as interesting and this area (for me) was worth the visit.
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The eggs all had their own special cases
The detail on the eggs was extraordinary and not really captured by the pictures although Lee did his best. This one was devoted to the Red Cross.
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The inside piece is taken out and displayed in the next picture
This was my favorite
The small paintings that rotated were stunning.
Along with the eggs there were small figurines, religious icons and even furniture. I spent a ton of time in this area.
One of the rare pieces of furniture made
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This is a caviar serving platter
Across from the Faberge area was a silver area. I didn’t find this nearly as impressive although I did like a couple of items.
These salt holders were really cool
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I loved loved this painting
Lee loved this one
I loved this picture. It is supposed to represent a good marriage and the various things in the picture stand for a variety of temptations
This was my absolute favorite though. Again the picture does not come close to showing the delicacy of the rainbow at the bottom of the falls
They had a mummy and keeping in mind how I felt about the skeleton at Jamestown I didn’t stay and gawk much
Here’s the reproduction of the head. This is an odd thing they are doing now.
There was a large African and Columbian art section as well.
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This is a death mask. I really liked how she is smiling in it. Really spoke to me
And I loved these woven foot covers. I own a pair of socks that looks kind of like this
Neither one of us really liked the modern art section that much
Although this Andy Warhol was pretty cool
And I really liked this picture
Most of it was just kind of weird though like this. Seriously. I just don’t get it.
We both loved the Art Deco section though.
One of the most interesting things was a bedroom of a person who was born in Richmond and moved to New York. It was the complete bedroom and very opulent
This couch was amazing
This chair made me do a double take, which is weird because it’s just a chair. But its also a Frank Lloyd-Wright which is why he is so amazing.
But the stain glass window was spectacular
Oh and this desk. Never seem anything quite like that before.
I am really glad we had a chance to go here because the rest of our time in Richmond was not so great. Next up Thanksgiving, and seeing Kat and Bert!
One final note, the winner of our annual calendar was Cindy. She wrote an absolutely lovely email about the impact our blog has had on her and it meant so much to both of us. For the record she won because she was the first to reply, but her email was really lovely and much appreciated. Good luck on your journey Cindy and we hope to see you down the road!
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
As as child I was fascinated by Thomas Jefferson and visiting Monticello was always on my list of places that I wanted to see. As I grew older, I better understood how complicated he was, but I still wanted to see Monticello. Consequently we went to some trouble to schedule the visit and went to the Richmond area specifically to be able to go and see. I also took Thanksgiving week off (my first full week off since starting my new job) and we scheduled Monday in the hopes it would be less crowded.
Monticello was laid out a little differently than other places we have visited, with a large visitors area at the base and a shuttle bus to take us up the hill to the house. The times were strictly scheduled for the bus and just getting on while social distancing was strictly regulated.
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The bus also had partitions
Once we got to the top though things were a little strange. We were placed in a tented area where we waited to go into a second tented area and once again they gave lots of information outside of the house. I understand the need for this I guess, but the experience was a bit like being herded into a cattle car and despite the elaborate precautions I didn’t feel particularly safe. I did appreciate how knowledgeable all the tour guides were and they told us lots of interesting facts. The most interesting was that the house was originally designed for just Thomas Jefferson as a retirement home, but ultimately he had kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids living with him which filled up the house pretty quickly.
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this is the backside of the house and not the most common view
They let us into the house in groups of twos and threes, so we were left standing on the porch for awhile. It was pretty windy so I had an opportunity to see a weathervane on the ceiling of the porch. Never seen anything quite like that before and thought it was super cool.
This clock was also very neat and was both outside and inside
The tour of the house was ok. Only the ground floor was open, but at least it was self guided and there were lots of people to answer questions. Once again though the furnishings were mostly not originals because Thomas Jefferson died deeply in debt and many things were sold off. Thankfully the Levy family stepped in and bought the property. They were huge fans of Thomas Jefferson, because they were Jewish and Thomas’s writings on religious freedom protected their faith. Over the years they collected some family items but others are reproductions.
This multiple writing instrument made copies
Loved the solarium. There was a lemon plant growing inside
A few of his actual books were there
The absolute best part of the inside tour was his original bed. It was built top fit his 6’2″ frame and was inside a wall. This gave him ready access to both his bedroom and his study.
To the left you can see the bust of John Adams in his study. Adams had a bust of Jefferson in his and they both died on the same July 4th, 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Coincidence…I think not!
After finishing the house, we toured underneath the building. The house slave quarters and kitchens were under the main building which was a more European arrangement and very different than Mount Vernon. There were many signs about the lives of the slaves in this section including the story of Sally Hemmings. I have always been fascinated by Sally’s story, because she went to France as a house slave with Jefferson and negotiated her return based on how she and her children would be treated. Because she was half white, many of her children chose to pass as white and their lineage and history is often lost when they changed their names.
Walkway under the house
Kitchen had an interesting multiple burner setup
Jefferson had several slaves trained as French chefs. One of them committed suicide after he was freed.
Only one of the four children who survived to adulthood went into the black community. The others passed into white society.
After reading those stories, I was feeling much less generous about Thomas Jefferson. Yes, he was the architect of many of the freedoms we hold today, but it is important to remember that most of those freedoms were for white, male landowners.
As we walked around we saw the front part of the house was pretty picturesque, but smaller than I expected. I also had it in my head it was mostly white, but that wasn’t actually the case.
My favorite part of the tour was actually the gardens. They have gone to significant trouble to plant historical items there and even sell cuttings and seeds of historical plants. We talked briefly with a gardener there and she was very happy digging in the dirt.
Our favorite was these castor bean bushes which were used to make caster oil. They were beautiful. Side note: Ricin is produced in the waste mash from castor oil and has been used experimentally to treat cancer cells.
Finally we walked down to Thomas Jefferson’s family plot and then continued to walk downhill the rest of the way to the visitors center. It was a beautiful walk and not that long, although I would not recommend walking up the hill since it is pretty steep.
Walk down to the graveyard
The fence was added later
Like Washington, TJ laid out his burial plot prior to his death
Unfortunately the original monument was vandalized by souvenir seekers and was ultimately replaced by congress. It listed the three things he was the most proud of. Author of Declaration of Independence, Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Founder of University of Virginia.
When we got back to the visitors area we went into the gift shop (I generally like to go after we tour a place) and although it was a nice one the prices were pretty steep. My favorite sections were the historical plants and seeds.
Overall I have to say I left feeling unsettled and did not enjoy the tour as much as I had hoped. It’s just impossible to separate the man from his actions in this case, although I still admire him for many of the things he wrote and the ideas he espoused. I am glad I went, but I do not think I would go back. It just made me too sad.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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Over the years I have heard many things about the Colonial Williamsburg area, but I really didn’t understand the scope of it. Packed into one relatively small area in Virginia are tons of sites with historical significance. So many that people take their children on vacation there and consequently many of the sites are pretty touristy. After I looked into what was available we knew what we didn’t want, but ultimately settled on Jamestown, which is a national park. Jamestown is the site of the first European settlement and is also an archaeological site. As such the layout is pretty simple, but that is exactly what we wanted to see. It also is dog friendly and we were able to take Jack as we walked around. He absolutely loved it by the way and enjoyed every second of it. I liked it as well until it started to get crowded and then we left. I would definitely recommend if you go getting there early in the morning, because it is a very popular site. One other thing I should mention is when you are pulling in there are two Jamestown locations. The one with the fountains is more like a living recreation, but go past that to get to the historical location. The reenactment costs $20 to get into and was not our speed but I took some pictures of the fountains and liked the plaques for every state that showed how they entered the US.
The plaza with all of the state flags
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Super interesting to me how every state started in a different way
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This is the sign for the Jamestown historical site we went into
With the America the Beautiful pass is costs $10 (half off). Jack couldn’t go through the building but we went through the exit to get to it
There is a boardwalk over the marsh to get to the site
And a beautiful monument
When we entered there were building recreations on the right and remains of buildings to the left. We went left first and there were less people over there.
The signs were pretty interesting along the way
Although they didn’t find gold they found lots of timber which England needed to build ships. That (and the deep bay) is why they settled here.
I didn’t know that 80% of the people sent to the colony were indentured servants and 60% died before they completed their terms. When they started growing tobacco they couldn’t get enough indentured servants which is how the slave trade started.
Mulberry trees were naturally growing in the area and they immediately started trying to get a silk trade going.
This building was one of the largest ruins remaining. It was the house that was built when this site ultimately became a plantation.
Beautiful views of the bay
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Turns out this was a terrible site to build a settlement because of the water. There are high levels of naturally occurring water in the area and the marsh caused high saline contents. They also had drought right after they settled here and many people died from the terrible conditions.
After finishing the left side, we walked over to the fort area which was more crowded. There was a Native American person speaking to groups in that area and we were able to see the remains of the church.
Ferries were going back and forth pretty frequently
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My favorite part was the statue of Captain John Smith. He explored this area with Pocahontas as his guide. And yes I certainly understand that his relationship with the Native Americans was problematic, but I admire his courage in exploring all this territory.
This map shows his numerous expeditions
I would have liked to see more information about Pocohontas.
The remains of the church tower
The inside was a re-creation, but there is a tomb inside as well.
A scale model of James Fort
One of the original graveyards
Most of the wells were still in place and I learned that most of the cool artifacts they have found were in the wells. After the water dried up they were used as trash disposal areas
Because it was hard to maintain social distance in the fort area, we moved on to the museum. This building has the artifacts they have found and Lee really enjoyed it. No puppies allowed though so we took took turns going in and I have to say I didn’t care for it. Almost immediately upon entering they had a skeleton of one of the original colonists and that bothered me quite a bit.
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I appreciated the fact that they went to significant trouble to identify the bones, but having them out like this felt sacrilegious to me. That’s odd because I find mummies fascinating and they hold dead bodies, but I would have preferred if after they identified him they did not put him on display. That’s just me. Here’s a few pictures of the rest of the artifacts though.
They found lots of original money
All in all I am really glad that we went and standing where the first Europeans stood gave me chills. We have a complicated history though with this nation and it’s hard to think about the fact that those things were happening from the very beginning. We all grow up with a sanitized view of how this country is formed and it isn’t until later that we realize that there were winners and losers in that story. One last thing, on the way out we saw a small sign for the original glass blowing house and decided to stop because we love glass blowing. That was really neat and the shop was open and they were making traditional items inside. I loved the little pitchers with the heart shaped mouths, but glass and RV’s don’t go great together so I gave it a pass. Pretty neat though.
These are obviously modern furnaces with recreated outside structures, but it was interesting to see what it might have looked like.
Finally, for the last several years we have made a calendar for friends and family as Christmas presents and this year I would like to send one to one of our readers. It’s all about Jack this year, so if you would like to have a chance at receiving a calendar, please email me at camperchronicles@gmail.com with your name and address. The first email received will get the calendar!
Thanks to all the people who read this blog. I wish I could send one to everyone. Have a wonderful holiday and please stay safe.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
The last couple of campgrounds have been pretty great, but Kiptopeke State Park was in a whole other category. Yes, it is expensive at $50 a night, and in season I am sure it is crowded, but off season it was absolutely lovely, and our site was really great. Best of all it was a very short walk to the “beach” area and several boardwalks and I was able during work breaks to take short walks with the dog that were absolutely lovely. We also got a beautiful sunset every night which was very special.
Our site
Short walk to the amphitheater
With a great view of the beach
Unfortunately half of the beach dogs weren’t allowed
But we still could go on the boardwalk
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View to the right
View of the massive fishing pier and boat launch to the left
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View looking back shows it is a long boardwalk
The campground was huge with sections for Yurts and tent camping. Because it was chilly few people were in those areas, but they were nice to walk.
The yurts were huge
tent area
And a couple of nice cabins as well.
It was also a short walk down to the large parking lot and the pier
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The pier was huge
I loved the left side of the bay
And so did Jack
We saw lots of pelicans, seabirds and even dolphins in the bay!
And another beautiful boardwalk
And as I said the sunsets were amazing
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These boats were filled with concrete and served as a water breaker
The birds were amazing
The only downside of staying here is in order to get across the bay to Norfolk, Virginia Beach etc you have to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. This bridge is pretty expensive, costing $14 in off season with EZ Pass, and we crossed it numerous times during our week long stay. We also had several incidents when we crossed it from construction delays one day to a super long delay due to high winds on another. They forced us to remove anything that wasn’t bolted down in our truck (ratchet straps were not permitted) and have a “wind” van take those items across. This led to a delay of over an hour one night and that was when we had Costco groceries in the truck. It was cool to cross one time though and if you are lucky you will see a big tanker closeup when traveling, but the cost and inconvenience made me rethink the wisdom of staying at this state park as a jumping off point to see the area.
Here are some pictures of the bridge from our many trips.
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We saw a tanker pretty close
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Our last day we crossed with the RV and it certainly fit but it was tight in a couple of places. I wouldn’t have wanted to drive it but Lee did a great job. What was more concerning was the idea that if the winds were high on our departure day we would have had to completely re-route. Like I said I liked the park, but it would probably have been easier to find something across the bridge.
Next up our visit to Jamestown!
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
As our final stop in Delaware, we had the opportunity to stay at one of my favorite campgrounds so far this year. The Delaware Seashore State Parkis broken into two sections, one on each side of the Indian River Inlet at Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay.
Our campground was on the south side of the inlet.
As you can see, it’s a VERY short walk to the beach, just about 5 minutes.
Our site was right there at at the end. The campground store wasn’t open, so it was nice and quiet down there.
At first glance it doesn’t look like much, but it turned out to be pretty terrific. Since it was off season it was practically empty and we snagged a really great spot. Site 390 was close to the snack shop, but also had views of the inlet. It was far enough from the bridge that we didn’t get bothered by much road traffic and although we couldn’t hear the ocean it was a quick 10 minute walk to the beach.
Our site with the bay and boats behind us.
We were staying on this little spit of land with the bay on one side and the ocean on the other
The marsh was behind the campground and we could watch the sun set on it every night
The bay was super popular for fisherman. My only complaint was I couldn’t walk Jack over there because of the hooks etc lying around
The bridge looms large in the picture, but it was very photogenic.
The walkway under the bridge to the beach
In season this restaurant is open but it was all closed down with minimal beach traffic
Walk up the dunes to the ocean
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Jack’s happy place is the ocean and I will say that when Jack is happy with a campground I usually am too. That is a new criteria for me since we traveled so long without a dog, but I love being in a place where Jack is having a good time. In season no dogs are allowed on the beach but since it was November he got to go almost every day. It was also close enough that I was able to walk over a couple times on my work days. Being in a place where I can take nice walks during my work day is another new criteria for me with campgrounds.
One morning I even woke up early and walked over to watch the sunrise. It was really beautiful with a small pod of dolphins swimming close to shore. It’s worth mentioning here that we got incredibly lucky with the weather. It was absolutely gorgeous for most of the week we stayed there and we were fully aware that the weather was unseasonably warm.
It was warm enough I went barefooted on the sand
Best picture I could get of a dolphin. They were really close.
Happy Jack Happy Life
We did get a little rain, and yes, this campground does have some standing water when it rains, but thankfully it was beautiful again on my day off. We both wanted to see Assateague National Seashore, because we had been hearing about it since we were kids. There are two sections to the National Seashore and after researching I learned that only the Maryland half is dog friendly. They don’t allow dogs, even in your car, on the Virginia side, so unfortunately Jack had to stay home for the day. Since he was getting lots of beach time, I didn’t feel too guilty about it. One thing I did want to mention before talking about Assateague is how weird it was to cross three states that day. For those who live in larger states you might not know how different states can be, but as someone who lived in the southwest corner of New Hampshire we routinely crossed from NH to Vermont to Mass in a few hours. Although there were distinct differences in the states they were all still New England so in many respects there were similarities. Crossing from Delaware, to Maryland, to Virginia though showed HUGE differences. Keep in mind this was all the same coastal road, but where Delaware was mostly residential, Maryland was huge ocean front high rises. Maryland was also much “kitschier” with tons of mini golf, souvenir shops, and a packed commercial area. Then we arrived in Virginia and it changed again. The scenery became much more rural with more farmland along the route. The three states also have very different tax rules and regulations and the people were very different. This was all in a roughly 50 mile stretch of land and it was pretty weird.
We arrived at Assateague on the Maryland side and stopped at the State Park Visitor center. The State Park and the National Seashore are right next to each other, so you can visit one without the other. This may matter to you, because the National Seashore is a hefty $25 per car to enter. It was free for us with the America the Beautiful pass and ultimately I was glad I didn’t pay for it. I know, I know, people love this place but to be honest I thought it was pretty lame. Yes, tent camping on the beach might be kind of cool, but we only saw one or two horses while we were there, and none of them were cavorting in the water like in the pictures. Actually that makes sense, because horses eat a lot, and the grass is on the other side of the road away from the ocean. The coolest part of the day was when we were driving to the first location and passed a NASA installation and saw some AWACS planes doing touch and go down and ups and flying in circles. The planes had huge communication dishes on top of them and we got to see them pretty close up. Unfortunately the visitor center was closed due to Covid, but I did get a couple of pics.
Lots of giant satellite dishes in the fenced in NASA area
You can barely see the giant dish above the propellers.
The visitors center
Nice little display inside. Each mare is allowed to foal once before being sterilized.
We saw a couple of horses on the state park side
And a couple more blocking traffic on inside the National Seashore
Most of the horses were off in the distance and if you have a kayak you might want to bring it along. The beach was white and sandy and did allow dogs, but for us at least there wasn’t anything that special about it.
Nice area to launch kayaks
Since it was pretty cold, but beautifully sunny outside we decided to continue on the the Virginia side. This side does NOT allow dogs (even in your car) and costs $10 to enter. Unfortunately on this side all the horses were behind a fence pretty far away, but it did have a very cool lighthouse. The inside was closed due to COVID, but we enjoyed walking up and seeing it.
Beautiful drive down the coast
These horses are kept in fences
Short wooded walk to the lighthouse.
It was neat seeing the huge lighthouse through the trees
Absolutely beautiful
It was weird to see a lighthouse that far inland, and unfortunately the views weren’t great of the water, but it was still fun.
So big couldn’t get a good picture of the whole thing
We did walk down to the water but again it was just a big beach.
The best part of the secondhand trip was when we stopped in a souvenir shop. They were having a Three for $25 T Shirt sale and they could make anything we wanted. Lee got one and I got the other two including my new favorite shirt!!!
I liked the color of this one, but it’s not my favorite
This one is!!!!!
All in all the day was a bit of a bust but they can’t all be over the top winners. Lee gets more upset by that than I do because he wants my Saturdays to be special. I was happy enough that we got out and once again the sun was shining. Next up we take a short hop down the Eastern Shore and we will see what happens there.
For those who love the ocean, here’s a nice soothing video of the waves at sunrise.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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Lee and I both love old mansions. We love the history and the architecture. Our favorites are those with original furnishings, so when I was looking for something to do in Wilmington, Delaware I was immediately interested in Winterthur (one of the Dupont family homes, pronounced Winter Tour). Traveling during COVID has been hit and miss, but we were both excited when we learned the Winterthur Mansion and Gardens were open. We bought tour tickets for both the house and the gardens and set out on one of the most beautiful days we have had this year. The weather was absolutely perfect. Low humidity, sun shining, and a light breeze and incredibly unusual for the month of November. We weren’t sure what state the grounds would be in, but when we arrived we were thrilled to find many of the leaves still on the trees and an amazing amount of fall color.
Long drive to the visitors center
Beautiful pond with a folly in the front.
They were running the tour buses at half capacity (eight people)
And I was thrilled to see plexiglass between each group.
Beautiful foliage.
Let me start by saying the grounds were amazing. As interesting as I find heavily manicured grounds they usually don’t speak to me, but these gardens were very natural. They were carefully designed to take full advantage of nature and minimize the amount of staff that would maintain them. The large area still requires ten full time gardeners, but this is compared to a possible fifty for a different type of garden. I absolutely loved it, and can’t think of another cultivated space that made me feel so comfortable. The garden is divided into different sections and is designed for maximum year round displays of color. That means you can visit it at many different times of year and get a different experience. Personally I want to go back and see it again in both the spring and summer.
A one hundred year old Japanese tree had just turned and was absolutely gorgeous
Dawn redwood is also over 100 years old
As we wound through the estate we received several views of the house. The mansion is nine stories with 175 rooms, but is designed into a hillside so it intentionally does not dominate the landscape. Henry du Pont did not want the house to to be the star and I absolutely loved that. It may sound a bit silly but I felt comfortable and thought I could live there, if of course I had millions of dollars 🙂 That was the effect though.
Our first view of the house only showed five stories and it appeared relatively modest.
As a large working estate there was more than the gardens and house of course. It had its own farms, train station and still has its own post office to this day.
The train station building
The absolute best part of the gardens though was the children’s area. We had to walk up to it later, but it was truly spectacular. I really wish Oliver could have been there to see it, because it even brought out the childish joy in me.
There was a little house
.
Decorated on the inside of course
A giant birds nest
With large wooden eggs
Had to sit on the eggs!
A toadstool circle
Lots of little ponds
And a hobbit house!
A beautiful circle maze
With lovely inscriptions on the bricks. That level of loving attention to detail was everywhere.
After touring the gardens we went to the house and learned that unfortunately only a small part of the fifth floor was open to tour. The tour guides themselves were incredibly disappointed that they were only able to show one floor of this incredible house, but I personally loved what we saw. The Du Ponts were immigrants who were very passionate about their new country. Henry has a large collection of Americana including many George Washington items. This was particularly interesting to me because we were recently at Mount Vernon where almost everything was a reproduction. The Du Pont house actually had the originals of some of those works including a VERY famous painting of George Washington. I can’t wait to go back and see the entire house sometime in the future, but here is some of what we were able to see.
The rooms were roped off and one way and there was a docent in every room to answer questions which was nice.
This piano was gorgeous
The wallpaper was really interesting. It was covered in plexiglass so you could see all the detail but it stayed protected.
This picture of George Washington was an original that once hung in Mount Vernon
I loved loved this little green room full of candlesticks.
My absolute favorite part of what we saw was an unfinished painting. It is the American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain in 1783. The reason half of the painting is blank is the British never showed up. Super cool and I have never seen anything quite like it.
Lee was actually more fascinated by the wood steak knife holders that were on both sides. The work like an old fashioned drinking straw dispenser you would see in a diner. I didn’t see them initially, but they were super cool as well. We both saw many things we have never seen before in our brief tour and again can’t wait to explore the rest of the house at a later date.
We were both disappointed when we got to the last open room, but there was a woman playing the piano with period authentic music which was a nice touch. We stopped to take some video.
After exploring inside the house we toured the immediate grounds looking at the house from all angles. Don’t forget to do this if you go because there are lots of neat little areas to see.
The observatory
Amazing views from the porches.
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The glade
Loved these path light fixtures throughout
Gorgeous reflecting pool
My favorite picture I took of the day!
After walking around the house, we walked down to the gallery and experienced our first disappointment of the day. It was an additional cost for the tickets (considering COVID I think it should have been included) and worse we would have to go back to the visitors center to get those tickets. We were able to see the Campbell soup tureen collection for free but the day ended on a bit of a sour note, which was unfortunate because everything else was fantastic.
The gallery
The free tureen collection was in the Dorrance Gallery. I have included a few pictures of my favorites below.
Gorgeous gold one
Bull baiting silver tureen
Black birds baked in a pie
Boars head
Make sure when you are down in this area you don’t forget to see the “cottage”. Henry du Pont donated the house and grounds while he was still alive, but continued to manage the property until his death at 89. As many of us do in these situations he wanted to downsize so built a quite modest 50 room house for he and his wife to live in 🙂 Seriously it was an amazing thing to do, but as people who moved into 400 square feet, we had to laugh at his concept of downsizing 🙂
The cottage…its all relative!
One last thing I wanted to mention. While we were walking the gardens the news came in that new AP had called the presidential election for Joe Biden. There was a definite buzz of conversation from folks throughout the rest of the day and we even saw this rock placed in part of the garden.
Turns out that Joe lives a few miles away from Winterthur and when I learned that I talked Lee into driving by. We knew we probably couldn’t get close to his house and we weren’t surprised at all that the his street was blocked to all but local traffic. The State police turned us around in short order, but it was kind of cool to be so close when everything happened.
The entire experience was absolutely fantastic and as I have stated I can’t wait to go back, which is somewhat unusual for me. It was not an inexpensive day, but I highly recommend at least the walking the gardens if you come near Winterthur in your travels and I am so grateful we got to experience it.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
When I learned that the only campground Lee could find near Wilmington, DE was in New Jersey I got kind of excited. I lived in Clementon, NJ when I was 9 years old and had not been back since. Turns out the town I lived in was less than an hour from where we were staying, and so I decided to take a Friday off so I could see it. (In case you are wondering, btw, how I have so many vacation days, the short answer is I didn’t take any until a few months ago. COVID and furloughs conspired to keep me working and now I have lots of days left to use or lose.) Anyway, not only would I be able to see if I could find our old apartment but I would also get to see the Berlin Farmer’s Market. More about that later.
First we had to get there though, so we drove up Maryland to the east of D.C., into Delaware, and crossed the river into New Jersey. The Four Seasons campground was surprisingly large, well over 400 sites, and once again was mostly seasonal and permanent sites. And once again the transients were put in less than ideal sites, but at least this time there was a HUGE dog area for Jack close by, just a few feet from our rig. Cell coverage was once again a struggle, but I muddled through, and at least it didn’t rain very much. (Since the cell signal was weak I decided to not use it at all, and leave it for Tracy, so I used the campground WiFi, which was pretty decent, but needed a boost from the Winegard. The WiFI was good and stable, but we were just far enough from the nearest antenna that it needed just a little push. – Lee)
Our site. They had basically split one site and put two RV’s side by side nose to tail so it was pretty cramped. The spot on the left was occupied when we got there and didn’t get empty until mid week.
The dog park was great though
On Friday we got up pretty early and headed out. I asked both of my parents what they remembered about that particular apartment and between the two of them and some Googling we managed to find it. It didn’t look much like I remembered, but it has been over 40 years, and things do change.
Dad thought it was named La Casita which was close enough to find this in a search
I sent mom a picture and she verified this was indeed the place although we weren’t sure exactly which townhouse.
She did mention this was her very first apartment with a balcony which she really liked.
After we toured the small town of Clementon and unfortunately nothing resembled my admittedly sketchy memories we headed to Berlin Farmer’s Market. When I was a kid we used to go there often and my parents would give me a little pocket money to buy what I wanted. I remembered it as a HUGE place with lots of stalls, food, and fresh fruits and vegetables. In this case my memory did NOT disappoint. As we were walking through I recognized several places that still exist and sent pictures to my parents who recognized them as well. It was a really cool experience and Lee said it explained a lot about the types of places I have always liked to go when we were first married.
Same sign
Gald we went on a Friday it was pretty empty. Masks were 100% required though
This was here when I was a kid, back then we bought 45’s.
I remember eating at this counter
And my dad’s favorite place was this seafood booth. It gets fresh seafood from the shore and I can vividly remember standing with him in crowds as people got little neck clams
As I was walking through I thought quite a bit about my friend Kelly who is a Jersey Girl but has never been here. I thought everyone knew about it. Sent her this picture though to say hi!
Other booths I recognized were:
The barber shop
I can vividly remember getting nuts and candy here with my dad
The locksmith has RV keys and Lee got some copies of a lock he’s been trying to find blanks for for months!
And this Amish bakery
Let me stop here and talk about this bakery. First of all: totally amazing. But MOST importantly I got an eclair. Do you know how sometimes you remember a food from childhood and can never quite duplicate it or find it again? You start to think that maybe you are misremembering because you never see it out in the world. Well that’s eclairs for me. But guess what? It is a REAL thing and these are THE BEST eclairs ever. First off, the chocolate is real milk chocolate. The pastry is flaky and most important the center is filled with real, white cream. Not yellow stuff or some fake cream, but the real deal. My eyes rolled back in my head when I took my first bite. I gave Lee one as well and he agreed…the best! (and now I have diabetes. – Lee)
Chocolate Eclair
I also bought real pound cake and a Splenda cherry pie for Lee.
That wasn’t all though because they also had real Philadelphia water ice. This is another thing that isn’t like anything else, and believe me I tried. It doesn’t taste like a Slushy, or Slurpee, or even the frozen Italian ice in the store. It is it’s own unique thing and although it wasn’t as good as the eclair it was still pretty awesome! (This was really cool to see. She’s been talking about these Water Ice things for 30 years, and I always thought she was crazy, but here they are. I tasted it. It gave me diabetes. How is anyone alive in New Jersey???? – Lee)
(That is the look of someone who is tasting something for the first time in over 40 years and it’s exactly what they remember. She looks like a little kid. – Lee)
When I was 10 through 12 we lived in Philadelphia and they would bring these around on a bicycle in a cart that kept them frozen. They were pretty cheap so I was almost always allowed to have one and they will always taste like Philadelphia to me.
After we left the Farmers Market there was still lots of day left so we decided to head “Down the Shore”. I have been many many times, but Lee had never really had the experience. Instead of heading to Atlantic or Ocean City we instead went to Wildwoods, and it was a cool experience. I had never been there and the whole town has a huge vibe. Since it is out of season we had no trouble finding parking and took Jack to run along the beach. Visiting places like this can be really fun in the off season, especially when the weather is as nice as that day was. It was practically deserted, and everything was closed.
Main town area.
Most places had a cool retro vibe
Huge boardwalk was practically empty
Water Parks
And roller coasters made this a real family place. Personally too crowded for me but fun to see off season.
And off course Jack had an amazing time. He learned how to chase sea birds for the first time and it was really fun to watch him.
Next up Wilmington, DE and one of the most gorgeous weather days I have ever experienced in November.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
It’s worth mentioning that while Lee was seeing Washington D.C., most days I was at the Goose Bay Marina in southern Maryland. Although I was very grateful that we found a place to stay in Maryland, I have to say I was not a huge fan of this campground. Even though it was on the water, it was mostly very long term seasonal sites (almost all had a deck or a shed or enclosed gazebo or some kind of an outbuilding) and there were only 8 spaces crammed together for “transients” near the back. The cell coverage was not that great, and there also wasn’t a good place to walk the dog. There was a nice field where they stored boats behind us, but it became super swampy when it rained and boy did it rain a lot while we were there.
Our spot, we were lucky most of the two weeks no one was beside us
Some of the seasonal sites were really nice
Walking Jack was challenging because there was lots of trash, food, and fish parts on the ground. On three separate occasions he found chicken legs someone had just thrown on the ground and few things eat as fast as a pupper who finds something to eat on a walk! Crunch. Gulp. Gone.
The marina views were nice
And we did have a couple gorgeous sunsets
What was cool about the area is we were surrounded by history. Down the street was the home of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and almost everywhere we went there were historic signs. Unfortunately it wasn’t really close to anything so I spent most of my time at home while Lee went to D.C. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t begrudge him those trips but I just didn’t care for the campground and by the end of our stay was more than ready to leave.
Port Tobacco was nearby that is an historic town
Lots of local seafood restaurants but their hours were so sporadic we never got to try any of them.
The oldest continuous Jesuit church was also very close
The cemetery was amazing
With great views of the river
The Mudd family (the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth) was from here and although Dr. Mudd wasn’t buried here his relatives were
The best part of the whole two weeks in the campground (aside from the proximity to D.C.) was the Halloween celebration. We are rarely in a place with small kids on Halloween, but there were tons of them in this campground. In order to stay safe I put the candy out and then stood pretty far away so I could see the costumes. Southern Maryland is not that into mask wearing and I actually saw one kid with a mask on his costume get hassled for wearing it by other kids.
The costumes were great.
One of the last things we did before leaving was to visit Oldtown Alexandria. Lee has a friend Julie who lives in Alexandria, and she and her husband Pruitt met us there. We were really worried about finding a parking space that would fit the truck but after doing some research Julie recommended a street lot and we were early enough that it had a spot that we could fit in. Barely.
Totally inside the line.
…and no rubber touching the curb. Judges say 10.0!
We have visited many historic towns in our travels and I find that they are either welcoming or not depending on the locals. This area was super welcoming and we really enjoyed exploring and our lunch.
They close the main street on the weekend
The shops were great and very dog friendly. We didn’t take Jack but we certainly could have.
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My favorite part was the street performers. This gentleman has been performing here for 20 years. He told us he played clarinet in the Navy band.
The Halloween decorations were great
I wouldn’t want to live this closely packed with others but I did like the small courtyards.
Check out the tiny blue house. When these were subdivided occasionally there are really small ones.
From left: Julie, Pruitt, me and Lee
We certainly got our money’s worth out of Maryland, but I was excited to move on. Next up we stay in New Jersey, because that was the only campsite we could find near Delaware.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazon or buy the Apple version on iTunes.
Camper Chronicles 