Blog
Lakehills, TX (San Antonio)
Campsite: Thousand Trails Medina Lake, Lakehills TX
Dates of stay: Dec. 19, 2021 - Jan 1, 2022
We drove through some pretty beautiful hill country to make it to our campsite, which is a Thousand Trails location based in Lakehills, TX - about 45 northwest of Downtown San Antonio. Upon arrival, we were told not to “feed the deer” and we quickly learned why, as at our campsite we were surrounded by about 20 extremely tame deer, just waiting to be fed. They’d come within a few inches of us and while tempting to feed them, we did not. Originally, campers WERE encouraged to feed them, but given the risks to the deer of not being able to fend for themselves in the wild, the campers are asked by the wildlife management not to feed them (although we noticed many people still did).
While we are not all that close to San Antonio, we are within 20 miles of a wonderful state park - Government Canyon State Park, home to dinosaur tracks and lots of great trails. We made it there about 3 times during our visit, and on our 3rd trip, we made it to the tracks. They were left by sauropods and therapies, and you can make the prints out really well as they’ve been preserved in the limestone for centuries.
On this leg, we were fortunate to have visitors! Mike and Judy, Tom’s parents, came down to to visit over Christmas. While this was a celebration unlike any other holiday we’ve experienced, it was so so nice to have family with us for Christmas and we feel extremely lucky that they took the time to drive for 3 straight days from Wisconsin. We were able to have them stay at the little (tiny) cabins available on the property, so the distance from our RV to their front steps was about 30 seconds! Quite convenient and Owen loved hanging out with them at their place.
We did explore San Antonio - checked out the Alamo of course, and the Riverwalk. As part of Owen’s education this year, we are taking full advantage of the locations we are visiting to learn more about the history. So this week has been about Texas’ independence from Mexico, the significance of the Alamo battle (which the Texans lost) and how it led to the Battle of San Jacinto (which was ultimately won by the Texas, and secured their independence).
On our first trip in with Mike and Judy, we toured the Alamo but there were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. Too peopley for me. I think I’m getting used to the quietness of the campgrounds. I last visited with my grandparents when I was about Owen’s age, so it was fun for Owen to be there with his grandparents. We also had lunch at Cafe Rio on the Riverwalk, and enjoyed the Mariachi band play Guantanamera for us! We discovered another sculpture garden here - not as expansive as the one in New Orleans, but very enjoyable.
On our second trip in (just Owen, me and Tom), we walked 5.5 miles along the quieter portion of the Riverwalk at night, after we had finished an early dinner at Iron Cactus. Even more people on this day, as we are in the holiday week. We wanted to do a riverboat ride, but the lines looked hours long! The walk was really enjoyable and so glad we did that, as it gave us a look at where the boats don’t go. We made it up to the lock and dam area, and turned around, enjoying the Christmas lights all along the riverwalk.
We settled in here for a couple of weeks, heading to the small town of Lakehills for groceries from the sole store in town and also visited the 4-Way bar and grill for good burgers one day. We also got lucky and found a local meat market (Schott’s) for some wonderful local cuts of meat, which was good, as we needed to restock the freezer. We are trying to shop local as much as possible, and realizing that many of these smaller towns offer a lot of great options.
Medina Lake is really no longer - it has dried up over the past 3 years, and we learned that it “cycles” about every five. We walked and biked the lake bed, but realized it would be a much better campground if we were able to get out on the lake. The dock itself was completely dry docked, and except for a few roaming cattle, there wasn’t much to experience. There are a lot of really great trails throughout the campground, and we enjoyed the expanse of this campground. They also had a decent activity center with a mini golf course, shuffleboard, and Tom and I even tried pickle ball for the first time (kind of fun, and I beat him the first time).
New Year’s Eve was quiet - both in and around the campground, and in our RV! Movie marathon until midnight, and we celebrated and said good night at 12:01. Happy 2022 all!
Austin, TX
Dates of stay: Dec. 12 - 19, 2021
Campground: McKinney Falls State Park
This was the first campground we pulled into that was militant about its 2 pm check in time! We usually arrive before that, and it’s not ever a problem, but we had to wait around a bit in order to comply. No big deal - was a beautiful park to walk around in and explore. Once we checked in, we found our site (a pull-thru). The sites are big here, with lots of good trees to hang the slackline. A highlight of this journey was meeting Nancy, John and Lili - our “neighbors” across the road. As Tom celebrated his birthday during this visit, I had put up a “Happy Birthday” yard sign and as we were pulling into the driveway and he saw it the first time, the neighbor exclaims “how did you know?” It happened to be John’s birthday just the day before, so we had a good laugh over that and proceeded to talk to them for quite some time. Lots of similarities between our families - they also departed on July 6 (same day as us) from Maine, and have a 13 yr old as well. We got together for a potluck a few days later and that was super fun. We’re hoping that our travels criss cross again at some point!
We explored many of the must-sees in Austin, which I’ve notated on my Trip Planner in Trip Advisor (State Capital tour, boardwalk along the river, SoCo area, a local brewery…..) For Tom’s birthday, we played mini-golf at the iconic Peter Pan course and ate at Terry Black’s, for some outstanding BBQ!
We really enjoyed McKinney State Park, and this was our first Texas State Park as well. The land was originally owned by Thomas McKinney and he had strong ties to Texas’ history, especially as it related to the Texas revolution and independence. He had over 30 enslaved individuals on this land , who built a stone grist mill - many remnants of this can still be seen today. After McKinney’s death, his widow, Anna, sold the property to James Woods Smith. Members of the Smith family owned and farmed the land for several generations before donating it to the State of Texas in 1973.
“Old Baldy” is an iconic attraction - a 500 yr old Cypress tree in the park that is one of the oldest on public land in Texas. There are beautiful trails to hike and explore around here, and the close proximity to Austin itself makes it an ideal state park. Reservations well in advance to camp here are highly encouraged! I don’t think we saw one empty spot the whole week.
Anahuac, TX
Camped at: Frascone Winery - a Harvest Host stop
Dates: Dec. 11, 2021
Crossed the Texas state border mid-morning, and followed our GPS directions to a well-worn, small community where we had reservations at a Harvest Host location to spend the nite. Phil met us in his golf cart once we encountered the “Harvest STOP!!! sign”, and led us to our RV pad for the nite, which has hookups! A rare occurrence for Harvest Host stops, and kind of nice. The Frascone Winery is a very small family operation but they happened to have a saxophone player (Bob) and seafood and sausage gumbo on the house. We bought a bottle of their “Biker’s Blood Red” and took in the music and free gumbo (quite good). We met another couple from Appleton, Wisconsin, who happen to be on their way down to Brownsville, TX for the winter. Turns out the guy’s parents both went to St. Norbert College - another small world experience. We had a nice time swapping stories of the state park experiences, and we made a strong push for Gulf Shores State Park, which they plan to hit on their way home.
The Anahuac Wildlife Preserve is located about 20 minutes from here, so we hopped in the Jeep to head over - not before we put on long pants, turtlenecks and vests - it’s cold here (low 50s with a strong wind). It snowed 18” at home last night, so I’ll still take the weather we’re dealing with now. Owen is missing the snow, and particularly Buck Hill so we’re hoping we can find some skiing in the mountains of Arizona for him.
Lafayette, LA
Camped at: Vermilionville Living History Museum - a Harvest Host stop
Dates: Dec. 10, 2021
We haven’t stayed at a Harvest Host since Bristol, TN so we were looking forward to checking out this place as it is always an experience to pull into one of these places.
LOTS of parking lot parking (nice and level), so no trouble at all finding a spot. This location is known for its Vermilionville Living History Museum. It represents several of the different communities that lived, worked and played in what is known as Acadiana today - the Acadians, the Creoles, the Native Americans and the African descendants of the area. The village has several restored houses and buildings that showcase traditional artifacts and period costume from the years 1765 - 1890. I found it interesting that this was a sugarcane plantation in the 1800s, and 120 individuals were enslaved here.
While we didn’t do the tour itself as we arrived while it was about to close, we did discover the Acadiana mountain bike trails a few miles from us, and took the opportunity to get out on those for awhile. We also were able to check out the gift shop at the museum, which had a number of great items all made by local Artisans. I was happy to find some really great Christmas cards.
As it is Friday - and Friday night is always pizza night - we asked for a recommendation from the Museum Host and she steer us to Deano’s, which was excellent and had a nice outdoor patio. Tom and Owen stuck with a traditional meat pizza (Pepperoni and smoked Louisiana sausage) but I went for the Exterminator - smoked sausage, cajun shrimp and jalapeños - quite good!
We didn’t sleep real well - there were a number of bright lights in the parking lot for security reasons, and being in a different place like this never brings about a great quality of sleep. We left at 8 am, as soon as the gates opened, and headed into Texas.
New Orleans, LA
Camped at: Fairview Riverside State Park
Dates: Dec. 3 - 10, 2021
We were actually kind of sad to leave Gulf Shores - it left a deep imprint on us for so many reasons. I know we’ll be back there some day, but onward… there is always something new to discover. And discover we did.
We went from a massive state park to a tiny little one that is really quaint and right on the Tchefuncte River (and no, we still don’t know how to pronounce this correctly). We were back to “roughing it” a bit (no sewer hookups) but had a space quite close to the bathrooms, which was convenient I must say. Also, very clean laundry facilities, which is always a bonus as well.
There is a boardwalk that goes along the length of the campground area, but it was damaged by Hurricane Ida and hasn’t been repaired yet although it was still sturdy enough to hold us for launching kayaks. Don’t really feel like we tempted fate, but it was probably not the best idea to trust it structurally. Anyway, we set up camp and then tried to decide where we would head out for our Friday night pizza run. Depended on Yelp for this stop, and found ourself at Regenelli’s Pizza. Decent enough, but not a top contender for best pizza IMO.
On Saturday, we headed into the city with plans to spend the day there. We went to Molly’s Rise and Shine for breakfast, recommended to us by a friend of Tom’s. This was a great find - the menu was superb - I had yogurt with homemade granola, and a carrot marmalade with mint and lemon zest. Seriously, one of the best things I’ve eaten on this trip. The interior is a trip back into time, as it is dripping with toys, games and characters from the 50s on up. This was also the very first place on our trip where we were asked for proof of vaccination to remain inside. There is currently a NOLA city wide mandate, and they’re taking it seriously.
Gorgeous day with lots of sun, we decided to park near the French Quarter and head to a number of spots from that location. We received a lot of great suggestions as to what to do in the city from our good friends Don and Lindsi, and proceed to head to the ferry first - an opportunity to get a good close up look at a “working” river and also see NOLA from the water. It was a quick 5 minute ride to Algiers - the other side, where we got off. This area is good for biking and some historical walking around but we didn’t plan to spend too much time here as there was a lot on our agenda already. We walked around a bit, and along the shoreline there was a nondescript, nearly hidden plaque in the sidewalk:
I thought the sign should be elevated more so the historical significance could be seen by more people. So much history but sometimes, it still seems hidden from plain sight. There’s also a nice statue of Louis Armstrong in Algiers as well. We’ve been learning a little bit about him for Art/history lessons this week. He was a bit of a badass growing up and found himself in some trouble, but once he discovered his knack for playing the trumpet, that took him far.
We took the ferry back and decided to walk around the French Quarter to show Owen that part of town. As we were there in the morning, we were able to walk relatively clean streets before the late afternoon and evening crowd descended upon the area. Found a really cool mask shop that I wanted to get a few masks from - but honestly, where would i wear them? However, it prompted the idea to do a Dia de los Muertos party (the masks for this were SO cool), so we’ll see where I go with that.
We headed toward Jackson Square, saw all the artists selling their wares, and also decided the line at the original Cafe du Monde was way too long to stand in but we decided to catch a street performance near by. This group of 4 guys pulled together a pretty good crowd for an hour long show. They were street acrobats and had some amazing moves - flips, breakdancing, cajoling the people passing on the street …. their show was based on positive energy mixed in with joking about racism (these were four black guys) and they did a great job of riding that edge, making it inclusive, laughing at themselves and making sure there were lots of positive and inspirational messages for the kids and everyone. It was pretty impressive and well worth the time and the donation!
Afterwards, we headed to the streetcars - public transportation has always been one of Owen’s very favorite things. We rode the streetcar that took us up and around the cemeteries. They’re not open for tours right now, but we were able to get a good look at the above ground coffins and the artistry of all the buildings. After all this time, we were getting hungry so we went to NOLA Poboys in the heart of the French Quarter - poboys, crawfish pie and fries made us all a bit happier. And by then, it was time to retreat back to Bayou country and call it a day.
We spent the next couple of days at the campground, enjoying the sights there. There is another boardwalk called the “Swamp Trail” that is beautiful, and has the perfect area for yoga! I practiced there at least 3 times and it is honestly the most beautiful, peaceful place I’ve done yoga. Loved it. No bugs either, which was hard to believe. We also put the kayaks in here, and went back into an area where the river led to homes on the water, Kind of fun to paddle back in there. No gator sightings but supposedly there’s a 12 footer that lives back there. Side note - we also heard they just wrapped up filming When the Crawdads Sing in this area, so we’ll have to watch for that - it’s a beautiful area with the cypress trees.
Our second visit into New Orleans started with a visit to Cafe du Monde (not the original) near our campsite. They were quite good - fresh out of the hot oil, smothered in powdered sugar. Definitely something I don’t need to get used to. And an order was perfectly made up of 3 beignets - one for each of us.
Our goal today was to see City Park, and learn more about the levee system throughout the city. A cooler day, it was actually nice to be able to walk around. Unfortunately, the botanical gardens were not open but we discovered that the sculpture garden was, and apologies to the Mpls Sculpture Garden, but NOMA’s is amazing. Well over 100 sculptures, we really enjoyed walking around the grounds and this definitely counted as art class!
In the park, there are a number of massive old live oak trees, including the Dueling Oak, which is where they used to have duels with yes, swords, at this tree. There were actually two trees, but one has since been removed. Also in the park is another Cafe Du Monde, so yes, beignets twice in one day (we did a lot of walking).
Hopped in the Jeep and drove to the shore of Lake Ponchitrain, in order to start to see some of the levees and the pump structures that surround the city. We went to the place of the London Avenue breach, which is also the site of the outdoor Levee Museum. At this location when Hurricane Katrina hit, the concrete barrier had a 30 foot breach which spilled out massive amounts of water and flooded the neighborhood. There is an outline of yellow bricks, which indicates where the previous house stood - it was lifted clean off its foundation and carried a block into the street. Next door, is the Flooded House Museum. It wasn’t open, but it is the actual house that is there from the flood. You can look into the windows and see how the water lines from the flood damaged the structure. And next door to that, there is a home that is still boarded up and the roof of the garage still had a massive hole in it. We drove around this neighborhood and it is jumble of new construction and homes that still have blue tarps on the roofs and look inhabitable.
During this time, I was texting with our friends (Don and Lindsi) and they told us about the live webcam that was set up on the corner of Bourbon and St. Peter, and said they were watching it if we wanted to show up. Tom said “Let’s do it!” and as we had a few minutes to spare before our dinner appointment, Tom found us a place to jump out of the car and into the street to get our images (well, mine and Owen’s) captured for eternity:
We met up with one of Tom’s friends at Katie’s restaurant, a great local restaurant with cajun and creole options. While we’ve done a good job of eating at our campsite for most meals, we knew we’d eat out a bit more in New Orleans, because of all the awesome cuisine choices. Tom and I both had the seafood ravioli with eggplant marinara, which was excellent. The most interesting part of this restaurant to us however, was the plaque on the outside of the restaurant building that showed where the Katrina water line was up to. It’s so hard to believe that this kind of thing happened and these places are still standing (of course after much renovation and restoration):
Back to the campsite, which includes a 30 minute drive across Lake Ponchatrain, which is the longest continuous bridge in the world: “The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge in the United States and the longest in the world that runs continuously over water. The causeway consists of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. The longer of the two bridges is almost 24 miles in length. The first of the two bridges was completed in 1956. When traffic on it exceeded capacity, the second was added. Construction was finished, and it was opened to traffic in 1969.
Awesomeness factor: The causeway has survived many hurricanes over the years, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During that major storm, the only damage to the structure was to a few turnarounds.” (Bridgemastersinc.com)
We evaded tornado weather here thankfully, but had a soupy campground for a couple of days. Supposedly when the rains get too much here and threaten flash flooding, the campground is evacuated. One last great find - Abita Roastery in Madisonville. Tom and I headed there for coffee one morning. It’s located on the Tchefuncte River as well, in a cute little town and is a super cozy place to escape the weather.
We really enjoyed our time here! Not sure when we’ll be back, but am sure we will. There’s still a number of restaurants we need to experience…
Gulf Shores, AL
Campsite: Gulf Shores State Park
Dates of stay: Nov. 19 - Dec. 2
Every time we leave a place we love, it seems to replaced with another great find. Gulf Shores State Park, Alabama, is hands-down, the best state park we’ve stayed in so far. We were told ahead of time that we were lucky to find a spot here, and once we got here, we see why. We booked quite a few weeks in advance, and secured two weeks at site 117. We were right off the main road, and central to many of the activities going on.
Tom planned our drive from Carrabelle to Gulf Shores along the coast, so it was an extremely scenic drive as compared to the interstate route. Lots of water, bridges, marinas, and also lingering damage from Hurricane Michael interspersed with lots of new construction. It’s baffling to us, because it all has the potential to get completely destroyed with the next horrible storm, yet the beauty of the area and ties to the community are the reasons people stay, I’m certain.
Gulf Shores is located about 15 minutes from the border of Florida, and we passed through “Flora-bama” a tacky, touristy, picture-taking opportunity area (that we’d return to in a few days for oysters). When we arrived to the Gulf Shores area, we started to encounter lots of high rises and beach front properties along with the restaurants and shops that seemed built for tourists. And then all of a sudden, nothing but pristine sandy beaches, sand dunes, and scrub. There is a massive area - about 6,000 acres of preserved state park property. After the Deep Horizon oil spill, the state was given $70+ million to restore the area. The state park itself boats a Nature Center, beach Pavilion, Learning Center, restaurant, cottages, a beautiful swimming pool, tennis courts, amphitheater, a pier, Shelby Lake, a parkour course, playgrounds, miles of paved biking trails, a butterfly garden, bouldering area and more miles of boardwalk throughout the park. The campground has 500+ sites, that are very well maintained and spaced out well. There’s even a little commuter bus that goes around the park in case you need transportation to the different areas.
One of the things that we really appreciated was the daily programming by the Nature and Learning Centers. We were able to cover Life science for two weeks here! We took classes on snakes of the area, constellations, skates and rays, and beach creatures (class on the beach where we learned about all the different shells and the creatures that live in them). One day we took a guided nature walk with one of the naturalists, and learned a lot about the plants and trees in the park, although failed to see any wildlife even though there are supposed to be gators and snakes in these parts.
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We arrived here on a Friday, and as Fridays are pizza nights, we found a place called Papa Rocco’s. We did takeout, and had a little time to kill before our pizza was ready for pick-up but there was a musician setting up for that evening and we learned he was one of the singers from The Platters - the artists behind my parents’ song (Only You). I introduced myself and said we’d be back the next night, as he was also playing on Saturday. When we returned with Owen the following night, he recognized us and upon request, we asked him to play the song so we could FaceTime my parents which they got a kick out of.
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A few days later, my parents joined us and Owen gladly packed up his belongings so he could spend the next week with them! They’ rented an AirBnB right on the beach, so it was nice to spread out and have a real kitchen to cook in over Thanksgiving. Most of the meal we picked up from the market, but Tom grilled up ribs and we also did shrimp that we had picked up in Carrabelle. So it was a bit of a mashup meal, but Tom still did the traditional baking of the pies - pumpkin and apple this year.
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We spent the next few days enjoying all that the park had to offer, riding bikes, walking the beach, and picking up shells - lots of shells. Mom, Owen and I had art class one day which involved using the various shells to make angel ornaments for our respective trees. We found a couple of fun places to eat, including The Ruby Slipper (originally started in New Orleans), Flora-bama for chargrilled oysters and oysters on the half shell, Doc’s Seafood (the original “local” one), and we checked out the onsite park restaurant - Woodside - which had excellent food and live music.
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Tom, Owen and my dad spent a day at the Naval Museum in Pensacola, as well as a day at the USS Alabama in Mobile. I was a little museum’d out on this front so took the opportunity to spend some time with my mom. We checked out the shops and restaurants at the Wharf and did a little Christmas shopping, and also spent more time at the beach.
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Sad to say goodbye, we spent the next few days enjoying the sunsets from the pier and the beach, finishing up a few trails that we hadn’t yet biked, kayaking, and catching the holiday laser show at the wharf.
We could easily spend a couple 2-3 months here and might have to figure out how long term camping works at this park!
Carrabelle, FL
Camped at: Sunset Isle RV Resort and Marina
Dates of stay: Nov 1 - 19, 2021
We got lucky here….found out about a private rental through a group on Facebook, and we ended up staying for nearly three weeks in this lovely waterfront community. It’s a small sleepy fishing village, located among Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” - little development, small town feel, and beautiful areas to walk, hike and fish. We really “settled in” here, and even started to get to know the locals. We discovered Carabelle Junction, the ONLY coffee cafe in the area and enjoyed many a morning coffee here. Owen and I secured a non-resident library card at the library, and frequented that place for good internet and movie rentals. Not bad for $10. We discovered the local seafood market and found some of the best musket dip for lunch! But one of the biggest highlights was befriending Don and Karen England, who were kind enough to extend their hospitality during our stay there. Don even took us out fishing one day, and we caught multiple, beautiful Redfish - which proved to be the best dinner we’ve had on this trip so far.
We also went to the lighthouse in town a couple of times, which is a focal point of this area. One our first trip, I ran into Linda - a local yogi teacher who was starting up classes there. I was fortunate enough to take in one of her classes while in the area, and that added to the “localness” of our trip.
We also did some great hikes in this area - one of them, through Tate’s Hell State Forest - had it’s own little version of hell for Laurie - nearly stepping on a five foot black snake, curled up in the path!!
We also discovered a couple of local festivals - the Seafood Festival in Apalachicola, and the Musket Festival in Sopchoppy. Apalachicola is an amazing little town - basically a bigger Carabelle - but the food and shopping is better. I also found a great little Farmer’s market near Bee Inspired Too, which is a great little shop that I fell in love with. We also loved The Apalach Outfitters store! Most fun of all was the Chocolate Shop - good coffee, and massive amounts of desserts to choose from. The Grateful Dead inspired interior coupled with the bread and chocolate vibe definitely channeled my brother for me.
We spent Veterans Day at the local WW2 museum, as this part of the country - the Carabelle beach in particular - was used as a training group for the D-Day invasion! So much deep history here, and it was great to be able to really experience this and take it in. We also ventured out to St. George’s Island for the day, but the red tides had somewhat of an impact on the air quality, so we didn’t spend too much time here.
Overall, we loved the quietness and sleepiness of the area. At our RV park, we also got to know Fran - a local woman from the area, who had lots of stories to share with us.
We are pretty sure we’ll be back along the Forgotten Coast someday, and hope to find it untouched when we do!
Bell, FL
Stayed at: Hart Springs campground
Dates of stay: Oct 29 - Nov 1, 2021
The very best way to understand what we did at this stop is to watch Owen’s awesome video on Ginnie Springs and also watch Tom’s video on Facebook
The springs at our campsite were actually flooded, but we still enjoyed hiking around that area and checking it out. We “celebrated” Halloween here - but that mainly consisted of eating Reese’s peanut butter cups and playing Halloween themed Kahoots!
Sarasota/Bradenton, FL
More visits!
Spent a great couple of days with John and Carol Freund, at their beautiful canal side home. Also finally had my first lobster roll here, which was so notable I had to mention it.
Also had the opportunity to visit my friend Kimberly, who had moved from MN to Sarasota.
Stayed at the Lake Manatee State Park, and basically slept there but otherwise, busy visiting.
Naples, FL
Stayed at: Collier Seminole State Park
Dates of stay: Oct 23 - 26, 2021
Drove all the way from the Florida Keys (actually, I drove the rig out of the Keys!) and we traveled the Tamiami highway through the Everglades to our next stop - that was really interesting. On the way, we stopped at a National Historic Park stop, and learned that they had just done a Burmese Python hunt (they are invasive) and captured 900 of them - eeekkkk!!!! Also saw a big gator hanging out in the waters here.
Quick stop through Naples to see Tom’s Aunt Joyce and her friend John, and we also saw Ericka and Bill Nelson in Cape Coral.
Didn’t spend too much time at our campsite here, but there was some very interesting history about the origins of Collier, who had financed the last stretch of Tamiami Hwy - on the condition they would name a county after him. He didn’t get a county, but he did get a state park - and the highway was finished.
We did do an airboat ride back in the Everglades, which was really cool! And of course, Owen took a great video to document it all.
Fiesta Key - Layton, FL
Stayed at: Fiesta Key (Thousand Trails campground)
Dates of stay: Oct. 9 - 23, 2021
Owen’s YouTube video of Florida Keys HERE
We spent two amazing weeks here and still have so much left to see and experience, although we enjoyed a slow pace here - which I think must be the best way to enjoy the Keys anyways. We really liked our campground, which is part of the Thousand Trails family. They led us to a spot that was practically oceanside, and a great place to be able to launch the kayaks. Hot here - which is great, as the pool is amazing and the time at which we visited is not high tourist season so at times, we had the place to ourselves. There is also a great oceanside swim area, from which we saw dolphins swimming just offshore. The campground also has a marina, and we indulged ourselves by imagining how much fun it would be to have a boat to explore the area.
During this trip, I learned about a great feature in Trip Advisor. I’ve used TA for years, but somehow, never knew that you could assign places to go on specific dates within a specific trip. This was a great way to track where we went, what we did, and when. So if you’re interested in knowing about what we’d recommend, check out my Florida Keys plan on Trip Advisor. A lot of these places were heavily influenced by suggestions from my cousin Eric, who is extremely well traveled in this area. Everything he suggested was amazing - from the Turtle Hospital to Hogfish Bar & Grill. And there were plenty of places we didn’t even make it to!
During our time here, we met up with another family who had a boy Owen’s age, so it was great for them to be able to pal around for a week together. They are also a “fulltime” family, and we’ve been meeting more of them as our trip goes on. One family we met here had eleven children - although “only seven” of them were traveling in the RV with them! As they say in the south “Bless their heart.”
Cape Canaveral, FL
Kennedy Space Center - amazing! Spend at least an entire day here, if not two - completely worth it and also take advantage of the free, short tours offered throughout the day. This place has something for all ages.
We took many walks on the ocean - it was steps away from our campground (Jetty Park). Would definitely stay at this campground again and hopefully we would get lucky enough to see a shuttle launch.
WDW (Walt Disney World), Orlando FL
What can we say about Disney that isn’t already on all the travel blogs? However, I will drop a few notes here about Fort Wilderness. This was Owen’s first trip to Disney, so we decided that we wanted to camp at a Disney property and after 2 hours of searching for a five day window back in March, I was lucky to actually find five days at the end of September (NOTHING available for October-November), so we essentially planned our Florida trips around this Disney window! But it all worked out really well.
Fort Wilderness is - of course, magical - and it better be given the amount you pay for a slab of concrete to park your RV. That said, we loved:
Not driving anywhere for 5 days (Tom especially appreciated this). Since it’s a Disney property, you can take a boat over to Magic Kingdom, and a bus anywhere else. And if you don’t have your own golf cart like 90% of the campers seemed to have, they run buses throughout Fort Wilderness. Owen had the scheduled memorized within the first couple hours of our arrival.
The pool WITHOUT the water slide - never busy, and open until 11 p.m.
Nightly campfires with s’mores and Disney movies - of course.
We did a 3 day pass (Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Epcot). We could’ve done a 4th day and done Animal Kingdom but we were glad we didn’t cram it in as we wouldn’t have had time to enjoy Fort Wilderness.
While they had a couple of restaurants on site, one night they had a bunch of food trucks on site, which was a fun addition.
Our favorite park was Hollywood Studios, and during this time of year, the lines were not bad at all. We did get in line early for the Rise of the Resistance attraction (so, so good) but other wait times were anywhere between no wait (esp. at Epcot) and 30 minutes.
Disney - check!
Savannah, GA
We arrived at Skidaway Island State Park - hands down, our favorite campground to date. Wide open spaces, tons of great biking and hiking trails, and an awesome interpretive center and camp shop that curates lots of local arts and crafts. Owen made a great video of the trails, interpretive center and campground here. We took the opportunity to marvel at all the massive live oaks, dripping with Spanish Moss from their limbs. Don’t touch the moss though - they have tiny little bugs in them, known as chiggers. The moss was originally used a long time ago to stuff mattresses and pillows - thus, where the origin of bed bugs came from! Interesting fact - this plant actually has no relation to the moss family. In fact, Spanish moss is a bromeliad (part of the pineapple family). But so pretty to look at, especially when there’s a slight breeze.
Tom has spent time in Savannah before and knew that we should take a history tour. We decided on this trolley company, who offered hop-on hop-off tours. Our first ride of the day was EXCELLENT as they had a tour guide, Gertrude, in period costume that did all the narrating. She was worth the price of admission alone. Later in the day when we hopped on, the driver was also the guide, and it wasn’t as entertaining or detailed, yet still informative. It was tougher near the end of the day to catch trolleys (they weren’t running on time, so lucky that it was a nice day and we still had the energy to walk). All I can say is that it really is worth taking a tour of this city to really appreciate the historic homes, the statutes that line the boulevards, the history of the cemetaries (the union soldiers actually hid out in one of them, disrupting many of the crypts). Some other highlights of this visit included:
Watching the massive container ships on the river going out to sea
Discovering Byrd’s Famous Cookies (the lemon were the best! although Owen loved the cupcake flavor
Strolling by the Waterfront, and checking out the JW Marriott - it was almost like a museum, filled with massive crystals and stones
We also checked out Isle of Palms, and had our first dinner outside on the ocean! We’ve really enjoyed both Charleston and Savannah, and would’ve loved two weeks each here.
Dates of stay: Sept 13 - 17
Next stop: Jacksonville, Florida to see the Healy side of the family
Harvest Host Bristol Caverns - Bristol, TN
Bristol Caverns was a fun experience. We got to go into the caves and see cool rock formations. If you want to see some pictures click here for my video on Bristol Caverns.
Here’s a few more pictures of Bristol Caverns and our camp spot for the night on Instagram: Instagram
Gettysburg, DC, and Lynchburg-oh my!
Maybe summer wasn’t the best time to start a blog. We’ve been having too much fun in all the places and I often don’t make the time to write it all down. When I look at my older travel journals (which, yes, I still do), I will find pages and pages of hand-written memories and then come upon a lone page with a ticket stub glued to it and a few bullet points of highlights from that trip. Those are often the trips when there is SO much to see and journal and I don’t do a great job of it - but I must jot down a few notes for posterity. The past couple of weeks have been a little like that, and while I can’t glue our hiking maps or metro cards into this post (which Owen wanted to save), here is a high-level overview and key memories made along the way.
Gettysburg, PA and Hershey, PA
August 12 - 16, 2021
We knew that we’d have the opportunity to learn a lot about the Civil War during our trek east and given the significance of Gettysburg, we camped close to the area, staying at the Gettysburg RV Farm Resort so that we could visit the surrounding area conveniently. It also happened to be a favorite of Owen’s as they have a hobby farm and petting area with goats, horses, chickens, ducks and a pig; an 18-hole miniature golf area, and a pool! The pool was great, because it was extremely hot during our time here. Some highlights and recommendations:
Start at the Gettysburg Visitor Center and museum. Absolutely fantastic and well-done. Our mistake is that we went in the afternoon of a travel day (and had a tired kiddo in tow who was not that into the history at that particular moment). Start fresh in the morning with the kids. I could’ve spent a day here; we spent about 2 -3 hours. It does an excellent job of providing context on the Civil War and preceding events, in case your history is a little rusty.
There are many ways to tour the Gettysburg battleground. By auto, foot, bicycle, bus…it is a 24 mile heavily trafficked loop, so we started early in the morning and didn’t have too many issues (we also went on a weekday). Many suggest hiring a private guide who will drive your car for about a 2-3 hour tour. We didn’t want to be constrained by anyone else’s schedule, so we did some searching and found this app, which is a GPS-enabled tour, and it did a great job of helping us get around and explain what we were seeing. If you go this route, you’ll definitely want and need to pay the $10 for the full audio tour. Well worth it. If you are someone that wants to ask lots of questions on your tour, then I’d recommend a private guide. We also prepped for this visit by watching the 1993 movie “Gettysburg”, which I’d recommend watching if you’re heading there, or if you’re simply interested in the history of Gettysburg and the strategy behind it all. Family-friendly and definitely helps make Gettysburg come more alive when you’re out there seeing where all these battles were fought.
Took a side trip to Hershey, PA where we learned about Milton Hershey. Fascinating fact - he had put a deposit on a ticket on the Titanic but ended up not going for business reasons. Just think - life without Hershey’s Kisses or Hershey’s miniatures. But more than that, he was a great philanthropist who backed many different causes, including a school for orphaned and disadvantaged youth, which is still operating today. The Hershey Museum was a great experience and we even made our own chocolate bars in the Chocolate Lab. You can’t visit this place and not crave chocolate. We also visited Hershey Chocolate World, where you can rub shoulders (literally) with everyone else that desires to be sucked into a tourist trap. They do have a fun and free ride that explains chocolate making, but unless you are really into chocolate and all that Hershey has to offer in the way of sweet treats, the Hershey Museum is a much better find (IMHO).
Washington, DC
August 16 - 23, 2021
Driving through DC with the RV was a nightmare….haha, just kidding. We certainly did not attempt that. Stayed at the Bull Run Regional park campground. Owen might have been most excited to stay here as we got to take the metro to DC every day we went in. Ever since he’s been little, riding the subway/light rail has been one of his absolute fave things to do. If it’s one of yours, then you’ll enjoy his DC YouTube video, which takes up a good amount of time!
Yes, we did all the things in DC. Powerered through these days for sure, and in hot/steamy weather. Let’s see if I can remember them all:
Day one: travel day and also went to Udvar Hazy Smithsonian. Home to Space Shuttle Discovery, Enola Gay, the Concord, and yes - a Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter! Baby Yoda was standing guard.
Day two: First full city day. Took the metro to Arlington National Cemetary to see the Changing of the Guard at the Unknown Soldier’s tomb, JFK and Jacqueline Onassis gravesite, and also saw a large funeral procession in progress complete with a horse-drawn carriage and full military honors. Jumped on the Big Bus Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour and rode around most of the city to determine what we wanted to come back and see. Lunch down at the waterfront at Shake Shack, which I wasn’t too thrilled about as I’ve been trying to stay away from chains! We’ve done a pretty good job with that and there weren’t too many other options. We also visited the Lincoln Memorial. To wrap up our day, we had to go in search of an Amazon Locker for something - forget what Tom had ordered.
Day three: Visit to the Natural History Museum, lunch in Chinatown (where we thankfully escaped a downpour) and visits to the (outside) of the Supreme Court building, Thomas Jefferson library, and the Capital. Everything is pretty well gated off and not even the Capitol Visitor Center was open. The next day, by the fountain in front of the Thomas Jefferson library, there was a bomb threat by a man who had driven his truck right up to the fountain. We had taken pictures there the day before. He was disarmed and hauled away….
Day four: Tom and Owen went to the Air & Space museum (unfortunately large portions were under construction) and I took the opportunity to discover the American Indian Museum, which was fantastic! We also went to the American History Museum in the afternoon, one of Owen’s favorite. Lunch at the food trucks for the 2nd day in a row, along the mall. I discovered the Smithsonian Visitor Center!
Day five: Our longest day yet. We went back to the Smithsonian Visitor Center, as Tom needed a good place to do a call from and I wanted to explore it a bit more. This building, also known as “The Castle” is the first Smithsonian building built as a result of the funds that James Smithson bequeathed to the U.S. that birthed the Smithsonian organization. Even more interesting - Smithson was an Englishman and never set foot in America, yet left his entire life savings (over $500k in the early 1800s) to a country he never visited. He was passionate about sharing knowledge with others and had specific requirements for what would be in the original Smithsonian including a chemistry lab and a library. The building now houses the Smithsonian Visitor Center and the crypt of James Smithson. The history behind the development of the Smithsonian Institute is fascinating and there were so many roadblocks to its creation that it’s amazing it’s even here. I never knew the story behind the great museums and institutions until today. High recommend visiting The Castle when you’re in DC. Not only is the history fascinating, but there is an exhibit highlighting all sorts artifacts from the different Smithsonians and the gardens in this area are gorgeous. I could go on … pro tip: it’s open at 8:30 am (all other museums open at 10) so it’s a great place to start the day!
We also secured tickets to the Holocaust Museum - I went a couple of years ago with my dad, but Tom and Owen had not been. Unfortunately, the children’s exhibit wasn’t open due to COVID, given it is a high-touch/interactive exhibit. But it is still breathtakingly horrific. If you have not been, this is a must for everyone.
We also visited a lot of monuments - Thomas Jefferson, MLK, Veterans Memorial, Nurses Memorial (fact: my parents know the woman who was behind pushing this memorial into being, and my dad actually used to date her!), and the WW2 Memorial, where we were able to soak our feet. This IS an accepted practice as the soldiers were known to celebrate in the fountains of Europe once the war was over. Wading is not prohibited, but putting your feet in is.
Days five and six: Pool time! There is a large waterpark in the actual regional park, and as “residents” of the campground, we were able to go for only $4. This was a great way to wrap up our time in DC before our next stop - Lynchburg, VA. We were also staying very close to the Manassas Battlefield, where the 3rd Civil War was fought, and we also took some time to tour this area to understand what happened here. The confederate army was successful with this battle, and at that time, the war was far from over. It happened two years before Gettysburg.
Lynchburg, VA
August 23 - 29, 2021
Our home is in the Blue Ridge Mountains this week….found a great campsite at the KOA in Lynchburg, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I think this was our lowest-key week yet, which we loved and was much needed. Still found time to:
Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Hiked an actual part of the Appalachian trail (Bucket list - check)
Scrambled up a boulder field and encountered a five-foot Eastern Ratsnake on the way down….
Made friends with Mark and Audrey from Lynchburg, who Owen made an impassioned plea to follow him on YouTube
Swam, swam and swam at the KOA pool - more steamy hot weather
Major highlight: A visit to the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. This was way cooler than we thought it would be, but I think it is because we have spent so much time steeped in Civil War history on this trip. This is the actual place where General Robert E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant. We saw the room where they actually sat and signed, and learned how this was the start of peace and reunification for the country. See this if you’re a Civil War history buff!
Discovered Natural Bridge - an amazing natural structure, 55 feet taller than Niagara Falls and over 500 million years old. There is a highway that crosses over it! We drove the RV over it on our way out of town. George Washington carved his initials in the stone in 1750 and you can still see this today.
Biked through Lynchburg, ate at the Water Dog (great food along the trail) and hiked up STEEP hills for fresh-made cider donuts at Mama Crockett’s (which I then needed to figure out how to bike down the hill with them - I ordered half dozen after all!)
Niagara Falls, NY
Rolled into 4 mile Creek Campground on the shores of Lake Ontario - beautiful spot with big open campsite spaces. It’s known as 4 mile Creek as it is where the British staged their troops and planned their attacks on the French at Fort Niagara - which was four miles away up from the creek. For the record, the British won and then the American forces took it away from them until 1813 (War of 1812), when the British had it for another year and we finally took it back for good.
Of course, the main draw here was Niagara Falls (you’ll find a couple pictures below, as well as a link to the video Owen made, which is probably quite a bit more engaging than my journaling). A highlight for us was Cave of the Winds, where we had the opportunity to stand on the “Hurricane Deck” which I am quite sure is what it would be like to stand in a hurricane!
Hi everyone Owen here and I will put a link here for my Niagara Falls video but if you just want to go to my Channel click here and if you want to see my Niagara Falls video click here.
Here are a few more pics on Tom’s Facebook page.
One of our favorite finds here was Sanger Farms, thanks to a Yelp search. Ever since COVID, Friday nights have become a traditional pizza night for us. While we’ve made a couple of them back at the campsite on the Blackstone, it’s also been a good excuse to search for a new pizza spot. We were originally going to go to the Main Street Pizzeria in Youngstown, which is a charming, historic town on the water. But due to the extremely sticky and dirty tables, flies, and the very sad-looking pizza, we made a diversion. That’s when Yelp told us about Sanger Farms, a couple miles out of town.
This is a family-owned place, with a family farm that has been owned for decades. The matriarch of the family was known for her baking, and instead of selling pies on the roadside as was customary at the time, she would invite people into the barn. That idea took off and now the farm has a cute cafe that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We tried their pizza and it was fantastic! Owen had a frozen cherry slushy made from the cherries on the property (they have an orchard too) - that was heavenly. We also stocked up on a few groceries - fresh peaches from the orchard, zucchini and eggs. There might’ve been a few baked goods in there too - the store was chock-full of cookies, pies, butter tarts, breads and bars.
We met the owner, and when we got to talking to him, we found out some really neat historical data points. We learned that the land on their property had been taken over by eminent domain during WWII for the Manhattan Project, and had been mined for materials, which eventually turned into a pond when they hit water. When they were doing renovations on the barn (where the cafe and store now stand), they discovered a crawl space that had beds and a few utensils in it. At first, it was thought that it was part of the Underground Railroad, but a historian was called in and they learned that this was an area where the women and children were evacuated to (probably from the Fort Niagara/Four Mile Creek area) when fighting was taking place. Super interesting! I loved this stop.
We also visited the Fort Niagara museum and tour, which we highly recommend. The buildings are well-curated, with furnishings and artifacts from when it was a working fort. They also do daily demonstrations where they fire both muskets and cannons, and the “actors” are dressed accordingly. Owen really liked this part! One of the neatest things IMO on display was a portion of the American flag that was captured by the British in 1813 as a war token. Over time it ended up a British man’s home (not sure of the connection back to the lineage) until it was purchased by the Fort Niagara in 1993. The fort did see some Civil War activity but ceased to operate in the early 1900s. It’s a beautiful spot, overlooking Lake Ontario and over into Canada.
We visited Sanger Farms (again) for lunch - great sandwiches! And more cookies. Campsite neighbors were really friendly here, and we definitely seem to be the people that are farthest from home. A lot of the people camping here are from the area (or within New York) and are always great sources of information for places to see and things to do. We wrapped up our final day by jumping into the cool waters of Lake Ontario and enjoyed a very distinct and gorgeous sunset from the beach - one not to forget.
Sunset over Lake Ontario
People met along the way: We finally introduced Owen to the movie “The Perfect Storm” and the next day, met a retired helicopter pilot from Vermont that used to fly that same route as portrayed in the movie. How weird. We also met Naomi and Tom Fleming - from Alexandria, MN (where Laurie’s parents live and where we spend a good majority of vacation time). They sat right in front of us on a trolley ride and starting chatting it up. They knew my uncle Bob, and have good friends that live on Lake Ida - where my parents live. Crazy how these things happen.
Hiccups and hangups: Tom clocked his head on a low doorway at the Fort (soldiers weren’t as tall I guess). He has a nice bruise as a result (not new for him - also happened in Lima, Peru). We also decided to leave a day early as we had miscalculated the route down to our next stop. We had about 7.5 hours of drive time and that was to much to do in one day. We decided to hit a Harvest Host stop in DuBois, PA as a midway point.
Dates of stay: August 5 - 8, 2021
Grateful for: The discovery of Sanger Farms, the warmth and friendliness of their staff, amazing food and the historical points of interest
Raystown Lake, PA
Our first substantial hilly drive…Tom is nailing these roads! So impressed - our rig, with the Jeep towing behind it - is a solid 50+ feet of rolling wheel estate. I’m still hesitant to take it on a long drive (because of the turns) but I’ll get there. We’re staying at the Seven Points campground in the Raystown Lake Area (by Hesston, PA) for the next 3 nights. Once again, great campground with spacious campsites and the whole area is beautiful. There are two main draws - Raystown Lake, which is the largest manmade lake in Pennsylvania and the Allegheny mountain bike trails. The lake is gorgeous, nestled in the hills and it also boasts the state’s largest marina. Some of the houseboats here made us want to trade in the RV - wow! The lake itself is 28 miles long and would be a fantastic way to spend a week meandering it. We’re also thankful we landed here when we did as it is hot, hot, hot and so we’ve been treated to some pretty fantastic rainstorms in the afternoon.
Owen has made some fast friends with a bunch of kids here and they play on the playground even as it gets dark. We’ve been really impressed with his willingness to seek out connections so organically. While there were some other attractions in the area (Lincoln Caves/Caverns), this was a good spot to get caught up on some work, school, and some trip planning. We’re now officially booked all the way through the Florida Keys (mid October) so that gives us some stability for the next few months in a way.
Owen’s YouTube video on Raystown Lake and Tom’s Facebook pics
We went down to the beach to do some swimming and realized that a large portion of the swim beach is actually a massive, sloping concrete slab that gradually gets deeper as you enter. While a clean lake, the interesting part is that there’s a natural collection of slippery algae (?) on the concrete so once you start walking in, you have absolutely no traction and you just kind of glide into the water. Getting in is fun, getting out is a true test and nearly impossible. So strange and yet a fun experience and one we won’t forget! The water felt great on such a hot day. They also have a fantastic visitor center, with history and hands-on exhibits related to the area. We were here on a Monday - Thursday, but on the weekends they have all sorts of stuff planned. Sadly, we were going to miss opportunities to help with monarch tagging and releases, yoga at the beach, “chalk the walk” (Sidewalk chalk art), live music, and a good old fashioned revival on Sunday. Supposedly they plan events like this every weekend. Oh well - can’t do everything!
We did try out the Skills area within the park, which provides a test run for the Allegheny mountain bike trails. It was pretty impressive, with some drops and ramps built in. Owen and Tom spent more time on it than I did - I still have my mountain bike from my 20s, so you do the math -it’s a little old and not sure how much I trust it (or myself). There are some great hiking trails in the area as well as walking path that goes around the entire area, made of recycled rubber. This entire area is managed by the Army Corp of Engineers and it is a fantastic place to camp. Five stars!
People met along the way: Owen met a friend (Lane) and they hung out quite a bit. Our campsite neighbors were super friendly, from the area, and gave us lots of great tips for Gettysburg. They also offloaded their extra home-grown garden tomatoes and zucchini - win win!
Hiccups and hangups: There is a funky smell coming from the air conditioner when it turns on (almost a sulfur like smell); we’re hoping it has something to do with where we’re camping and not the unit itself!
Dates of stay: August 9 - 12, 2021
Grateful for: Our awning not getting destroyed during a thunderstorm (when we were in town shopping for groceries), and the sunrise that we saw on our departure day with the fog above the lake
Erie, PA
After a one-night stay at a Harvest Host in Fremont, OH, we headed up to Erie, PA, destined for the Lampe City Campground, near the city marina. Located near Bayfront Park, it was a nice, small and quiet campground by Presque Isle State Park - which should be the main reason anyone comes to visit Erie. Erie is pretty industrial, and as Tom likes to put it “a town with a lot of potential.” Of course, there were a lot of parts that we didn’t have a chance to discover. We liked the campground thought and it was also our first paved site, which we soon realized is quite nice as it greatly minimizes the amount of sand and grass that gets tracked into the camper! Seems we are sweeping that out multiple times a day.
We arrived early afternoon so we took advantage of the rest of the day to drive over to Presque Isle State Park. Originally billed as the “Playground of Pennsylvania” it is an isle that juts out into Lake Superior and served as a safe harbor for American soldiers back in the 1800’s; a fair amount of boat building also happened here during those times. It was turned into a state park in the early 1900s and now has many hiking and biking trails, 11 beaches (at least), a marina, floating houseboats, playgrounds, boat rentals, the Perry Monument (Perry was credited with defeating the British in a battle and keeping his men safe in and around this area), and the Presque Isle lighthouse that Owen and I toured. We also discovered the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, which is a great find. It is located just before the entrance to Presque Isle, is free, has lots of hands-on exhibits for kids and does a great job providing historical and environmental knowledge about Presque Isle. I particularly enjoyed the exhibit that explained Presque Isle decade by decade, starting in the early 1900s. In 1966, a UFO was spotted on the island, which brought about national attention and they even had plaster molds made of the supposed “legs” of the UFO that remained in the sand. Good stuff.
When we were loading up at our previous stop in Fremont, Tom discovered that the left rear tire on the Jeep was losing air and had a nail in it. We attempted to get it fixed in Erie, but no luck and we ended up buying a new tire. Yay for us - not exactly what we had anticipated so soon but hey - it’s going to happen. Thankfully, if Tom hadn’t discovered it before we left Ohio, it could have blown out while we were towing it behind the RV and that could’ve been really bad. So counting our blessings that he caught it when he did.
Short stop here (only 3 days) and we’re off to Niagara Falls next!
South Haven, MI
This was our last stop in Michigan and it was a pretty good way to wrap up our trip in the state. We stayed at the Van Buren State Park, which was quite a bit larger than Orchard Beach (over 200 sites). Even though we had made reservations back in February, this campground was already so booked that the only way we could stay for the next four days was to book one campsite the first two nights and then another campsite the last two nights. Thankfully, they were right across the road from one another so we didn’t have to move too much. We encountered some pretty uneven ground at that first spot, and it took Tom about five tries to get it just right (which he finally did), but we needed a major assist from the chocks below the tires on the right side of the rig. As he was maneuvering the RV into place, it had quite a bit of a lean to it and Owen kept exclaiming “it’s going to tip over! it’s going to tip over!” That would’ve been something to write about. We recommend avoiding site 110.
We were excited to have visitors that first evening! Tom’s childhood friend, Chad Milne and his wife Donna, drove over from the Madison area to spend the evening with us, which was about a five-hour trek for them. We had a great evening catching up, enjoying an amazing steak dinner on the Blackstone and sitting around the bonfire. Once again, great weather and no bugs. The next morning, we all went out for a hike and had the opportunity to climb the sand dunes in this location. Hot and sunny (and steep), these were more challenging than Sleeping Bear. They led down to the state park beach, another solid spot for swimming, wave jumping, and body surfing.
Tom had a few calls that morning, so Owen and I headed into South Haven, the central part of town. There’s a cute downtown area that also leads down to the Marina and the main public beach. What a great part of town - gorgeous views, boats coming in and out of the marina, the lighthouse on the end of the pier - everyone was out enjoying the weather and the summer vibe. The thoughts of “I could live here” crossed my mind, but I’m sure the idea of it is likely akin to living in Door County in the summertime. Heavy tourism season for sure.
During our time here, I went to the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market and found most of our groceries for the week. While we’ve definitely had to seek out places like Aldi and Walmart for a few essentials, we are trying to shop locally as much as possible. Owen discovered that South Haven is the “Blueberry Capital of the World” and this is not hard to dispute given the number of markets dedicated to fresh fruits. Now I’m trying to find a couple recipes to use up all these blueberries we have before they go bad!
We had a pretty chill week here - Owen and Tom spent a lot of time rolling around in the big waves in Lake Michigan, we did a number of hikes on the sand dunes and in the surrounding trails and also biked into town one afternoon on the paved bike path that took us directly from the campground into downtown South Haven (4.5 miles one way). The plan was to get ice cream but instead of getting melting ice cream there was a meltdown and we decided it was best to try another day…
The excitement for that campground happened on our last evening there. A massive tour bus camping vehicle came into the area close to where we were camping and promptly got stuck - the soil around here is really sandy, and a hazard for extremely heavy and long rigs, that need room to maneuver. Along with the rangers, the camp hosts, and plenty of onlookers, we watched as the driver tried to free his wheels from the ground but to no avail. They eventually had to call a tow-truck, which must have come in the middle of the night as it was already getting dark when this was happening and they were gone in the morning. Felt really bad for them, and also grateful this did not happen to us in our first spot - it could’ve!
We were treated to a gorgeous sunset on the beach on our final evening, thankful for all we’ve seen and experienced in Michigan. We had no idea how much we would love it and are pretty certain we’ll be back sooner than later.
