Special Moments

We were originally scheduled to leave Southwoods on October 17, the day after Emma's 2nd birthday party.  Due to the prediction of Hurricane Matthew hitting the Carolinas we pushed our departure back a week.  This was not a bad thing for us since it gave us the opportunity to take part in the Halloween weekend at the park.  We had not been there before for this but knew it was the most popular weekend there.

Emma the ladybug and Owen the pumpkin came to join in.  It did not take Emma long to get the hang of trick-or-treating.  Everyone just sits at the end of the driveway and you help yourself to a piece of candy.  She loved to take it and drop it in her pumpkin and throw everyone a kiss.  Owen of course was too small to understand but he sure looked cute.

You can tell from Emma's face that she ate quite a bit of chocolate.  She spent the night at the RV and it sure took her a while to fall asleep after all that sugar.

Staying a week longer also gave Grandpa a chance to take Emma to the mall to ride the carousel and build-a-bear for her birthday.  We were not surprised she chose a bunny since she loves to look for rabbits at the campground. She ran into cousin Nora while she was there too!

Last of all, the delay allowed us to take in the beautiful fall colors of Upstate NY as well as extra visits and campfires with Raymond and Michelle.  So glad we stayed longer!

40th Wedding Anniversary

September 25th marked our 40th wedding anniversary, and after much consideration and thought we decided to get away for a few days without spending too much money.  We had previously spent a day at Niagara-on-the-Lake and enjoyed it so much we decided to go back.  What a wonderful time we had!

We drove up early and spent the day visiting several wineries.  We were surprised at how much more exquisite they are than the Finger Lakes Wineries.  We inquired about bringing wine back across the border and were told as long as we were honest with customs they would be okay with it.  The rest of the afternoon was spent strolling along Main St. in town to take pictures.

I had always wanted to experience staying at a bed and breakfast so we thought this would be a great opportunity to try it.  Our first night was spent at Britaly Bed and Breakfast and it was much nicer than we had imagined.  It was in a lovely neighborhood within walking distance to town and their grounds were beautifully landscaped as well.  Two gentlemen owned it, Aldo who was from Italy and Graham from Britain, thus the name Britaly.  Aldo and Graham were very hospitable and welcoming and so was their big dog, Marcus.  We originally booked the smaller Canadian themed room but upon arrival we were upgraded to the large Italian themed room.  We liked the fact that the owners were there if we needed them but otherwise we never heard or saw them.

After checking in we decided to take the 20 minute walk into town.  Our first stop of course was at the Harp Irish Pub for cold beer and delicious food, as well as some Irish singers followed by a walk around town.

Since this was our first time at a bed and breakfast we were a little worried about how we would feel having breakfast with other people.  We were very fortunate that only one other couple was there and they were a younger couple from Canada celebrating their 7th anniversary and they were very friendly.  Breakfast was what the owners called Egg in a Cloud.  It was their specialty and consisted of french toast with a poached egg on top and then covered with meringue and baked.  It was a little rich for our liking but that was okay.  We really enjoyed our stay here and would highly recommend it.

Britaly only had one night available so we took our chances and spent the second night at 627 on King, another bed and breakfast that was rated very high.  We were very disappointed to say the least. When we arrived the hyper flighty owner Maurice informed us that he had no reservation for us and was quite in a tizzy.  He did have a room for us which was more like a small hotel room.  There were three of these small rooms and no common area in the house open to guests.  The only good thing was the breakfast, which was served in our room by Maurice.  It was just a very weird atmosphere and would never stay there again if we are ever in the area.

Exploring Buffalo

We decided this year that we would take more day trips from the park with our first one being to Buffalo, NY.  Even though we lived in Rochester our whole life, only 1 1/2 hours from Buffalo, we had never spent much time there and now our summer park is less than an hour from there so perfect opportunity to check it out.  We were pleasantly surprised at how the city has been revitalized, especially the waterfront.

Canalside is a destination for locals and tourists to gather for concerts, festivals, craft beers and water fun.  There are several hotels and restaurants within walking distance as well as Harbor Cruises, kayak rentals and paddle boats. The day we were there the weather was perfect and canalside found many people just relaxing by the water in all the colorful adirondack chairs or doing yoga on the lawn.

The waterfront is also home to America's largest inland Naval park, the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park.  Without paying to enter the park, this was the best shot I could get of the ships.

No trip would be complete with a cold beer.  We walked over to the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, very close to the waterfront.  It is a 4 level historic warehouse.  We enjoyed the beer here as well as the atmosphere.

Ray has been invited to join the Western NY Irish Professional Firefighters Society so of course he found it only right to visit one of the well know Irish Pubs in the Irish section of the city, Murphs.
This was definitely our type of place.  Just a small whole in the wall Irish Pub with great beer and even better Turkey Reubens.

After a few beers and an hour drive back to the park, we called it a day but this will surely be a place we will be visiting often in the summer.

Family Times

Our summer was great despite how hot the weather was.  We were able to spend so much time with family and friends.  We had so much with Emma and Owen when they came to visit.  Emma just loves being at the campground, pushing her doll in the stroller, collecting pine cones, swimming, playing at the playground and just being outside. She loves to sleep over at grandma and grandpas as well. It won't be long before Owen will be joining her!

We bought a new fire pit this year and had a campfire almost every night with Raymond and Michelle joining us several times.  Love those moments!

Our Final Home Site

We left Brunswick and had only been on the road about 30 miles when we blew a tire on the 5th wheel on I-95.  Fortunately Ray knew it blew and was able to get off to the shoulder of the road very quickly.  We assessed the damage (a blown tire, the skirting ripped halfway off the drivers side, and possible damage to the underside of the large slide.  We called Good Sam and within 45 minutes we had the spare tire on the 5th wheel and the skirting duct taped hoping it would hold until we got back to New York.

We had planned on stopping in N. Carolina to visit family and Lancaster, PA for a few days but decided instead to head straight to New York since we have an RV repair shop that we prefer there. Rather than stopping at any RV parks, we spent a night in Virginia at a Holiday Inn Express and then made it back to NY.  Once again we were very fortunate to be able to stay with the kids while the RV was being repaired.

It took 3 weeks to repair, thus causing us to get back to Southwoods RV (our home base in NY) later than usual.  It was great to be back there but realized after a few months that our site was not the best one for us.  It was totally open, no trees or shade and being it was such a hot summer we were rather tired of being inside in the air conditioning.  Luckily a new site opened up and we were able to move there the last month of summer.  We just love the site!  It has trees, shade and is much more private than what we had. Best of all is that is has a huge garden full of perennials.  It needs some work but by next summer should be looking pretty nice.

This will be our final site move so we are making it feel like home.  We purchased a shed from our neighbor who left the park and also a nice fire pit.  We are looking forward to to many great summers here with family and friends.

On a side note, we put four new tires on the 5th wheel and bought a tire pressure monitoring system for it.  It is well worth the money for peace of mind.

Golden Isles of Georgia

We have never stopped in the Golden Isles area before so we decided to spend the three days we were there exploring the area.  The Golden Isles lies along the Atlantic coast between Savannah and Jacksonville.  It is made up of the city of Brunswick, and the barrier islands of St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Little St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island.

Our first stop was the old historic city of Brunswick. The city is laid out in a grid similar to Savannah with streets and squares bearing their colonial names.  We had planned to spend the day here, but there really was not much to see.  There were some very nice old Victorian homes, but for the most part it was pretty run down.  It probably took us all of 1/2 hour to see enough to know that it was not worth our time hanging out there.  Many of the storefronts were boarded up. The only hopping place there was the library.

City Hall

Old Historic Square

Cute little monkey

We were more impressed with the Sidney Lanier Bridge we had to cross to get over to the city.

We were very fortunate to have great weather while we were here.  Perfect weather to visit the islands.  First stop......Jekyll Island. Jekyll Island was once an exclusive winter retreat for some of the wealthiest Americans. Most of Jekyll Island remains in a natural state and development is very limited.  We found it to be so peaceful and laid back. Our first stop was at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Museum. We did not pay to go in the museum since we don't have a real interest in turtles but had a lovely walk of the grounds and surrounding historic district. The Jekyll Island Club and surrounding buildings are now a National Historic Landmark.  The landscaping and flowers were beautiful as well.

Jekyll Island Club

Faith Chapel built in 1904 by Jekyll Island Club

Near the historic district was this lovely restaurant.  We did not eat hear but thought about having a beer on the deck overlooking the water and boats.

 We checked out the huge dunes on the beach followed by a cold beer at McGarvey's Wee Pub at the beach.  We had a nice chat with the bartender. She informed us that there were several snowbirds living on the island.  We commented on how quiet it is and she told us they will never build any more homes on the island in order to keep the natural state. She did warn us that St. Simon island was just the opposite, extremely busy and touristy.  We were about to find out.

Small outdoor shopping area 

Our last day, the bartender proved herself right.  We went to St. Simon Island and what a difference.
It was very commercial with a lot of traffic.  I'm just glad we weren't there in the summer because I am sure it would be swarming with tourists and locals as well.  Our only stop here was along the waterfront.  We stopped at the St. Simon Lighthouse to get a few photos and then drove down to Pier Village.  This was your typical beach side shopping area with hokey shops and high prices.  We did enjoy sitting on the pier watching the guys fish and the boats go by.  There was also a service going on for a gentleman who had died.  His wife brought her husband's ashes to throw in the ocean I guess, and she also brought his cat to say good-bye.  Several people spoke about the gentleman while all of us strangers were hanging out on the pier.  Very awkward to say the least.  Our day ended with a nice long walk on the beach and some shell collecting as well.