Showing posts with label State Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State Park. Show all posts

Time for an Update

Photo by Markus Winkler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-white-paper-in-a-vintage-typewriter-4052195/

There's been a whole lot of nuttin' going on around our household. I had surgery 2 weeks before Christmas and was limited to only walking around the house for a couple of weeks. Then I was able to walk for 20 minutes but no lifting or bending over. I swear I dropped 50 things a day and had to call CH or MS to pick them up. There was no cooking, which meant no Christmas baking or candy-making. One of my sisters was sweet enough to send a care package with baked goodies for us.

We weren't able to go anywhere during my break. I have to say, it was really weird

Having those 2 extra weeks off before Christmas Break made it extremely difficult to go back to work, especially knowing that soon I'll be retired and will get into a brand new routine. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I do have some options.

CH worked on some improvements to the van to get her ready for some adventures. He had the padding done so that we can sleep in the van if we need/want to. I was looking forward to the improvements he's making. But then something incredible happened...

During Spring Break we camped at FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, GA. We knew there was a chance it wasn't going to be warm; the weather the 2 weeks leading up to the break were incredibly nice and warm. We (and by "we" I mean "CH") loaded up the Delica with our tent, gazebo, cots, sleeping bags, and everything else we needed. We figured if it was too cold we could always sleep in the van. Once at the campsite, we unloaded everything and set up camp. Luckily, there was electricity at the campground so we plugged in a space heater. It worked well until 7:00 a.m. the 1st morning. I was walking back to the tent from the bathroom and saw a flash of light from inside the tent. Fortunately, it was only a fuse in the heater, and nothing caught on fire. We were able to find another small heater in town that worked well for us for the next 2 nights. We actually stayed pretty warm with the heater going. CH thought ahead and put a quilted blanket over the top of the tent to keep the warm air in, and he bought some padding for the floor so we weren't walking directly on the cold ground. 

Having the blanket on top of the tent helped keep the warm air inside

Here's the incredible thing that happened: I think that trip convinced CH that if we are going to continue to camp like we want to, and if we are going to travel and camp, we need to make a change. We began our search for a campervan. To make a long story short, we narrowed it down to 2 vans: 1 was a 4-wheel drive and the other was a front-wheel drive. The front wheel had a TON of storage and a lift kit could be added to it so it would have the ground clearance CH wants. But...we wouldn't be able to camp right on the beach or off the beaten path. We would be limited to where we could camp. So we decided to go with the 4-wheel drive. 

How stylish do I look with leggings, socks, and crocs!

To find out more about our journey to find our van, read The Journey to Find Maeve Anne on our camping blog, Flyin' the Coop. The path to find her wasn't filled with roses. We can't wait for our adventures to begin. 

That's our big news. Well, aside from my retirement in just a few short weeks. I've looked through my materials, made a spreadsheet of what I want to sell and give away, and have started boxing some things up. It's unreal to think that it's almost here. But I'm ready. Without a doubt, I'm ready. 

Hopefully I can revive this blog, but if not, catch me over at Flyin' the Coop. 

Vacation 2016: Let the Sight-Seeing Begin!

We finally got to SD and got our "home" set up. We had a quick breakfast at the cafe at the campground, then our discovery of the Black Hills began.  At the end of the first day, YS & I had a mountain to climb. If you look at the end of the arrow, there is an American Flag there. I climbed that mountain!
YS & I at the top of the mountain:
The "view" of Mt. Rushmore from the top:
 & when we got back to our campsite...just ahead of a thunderstorm:
In the Black Hills, we saw animals:















Monuments:




(This is what it will one day look like:)
Parks:

Beautiful lakes:

Rocks that were tight squeezes:
Brave rock climbers:
(Here's a close up shot)
Rocks that looked like Darth Vader:
 Buddha:
 a dwarf:
& a snail:
 Rocks that had roads cut through them:



 Amazing views:









Famous resting places:
 Wild Bill Hickock's grave:
 Calamity Jane rests right beside him.
This is the grave of a famous madame...the first known madame to franchise her business:
(Side note: that was all there was in Deadwood...except for gambling.)
 Incredible skies:





And one of the highlights of the trip, WINE!

We enjoyed it so much, we went 2 days in a row.
An added plus: there is a brewery right next door!
CH & YS took a ride down an Alpine Slide:



 An interesting site in Custer:
 I found something that reminded me of Berlin, except they have bears, and it's in, well, South Dakota!



We got a good laugh when we saw this shirt.
"The Dragon" is a stretch of road that is partly in the county where I live. It's a big motorcycle destination, but it's also very dangerous (318 curves in 11 miles). Numerous people die every year. "Iron Mountain Road" appeared to be a much safer, better paved road. It boasts 17 miles, 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 4 presidents (you can see Mt. Rushmore as you go through them), and 2 splits.

We had an awesome time in the Black Hills. After 5 full days, it was time to pack up and head to Colorado for a few days.

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