September 2013 - Visiting our Kids

El Paso, Texas - Our visit with Jeremy, Amanda and the boys was brief as the kids were really busy and did not have much free time.  We were able to go to our grandkids football practice in the evening.  During the day, John and I enjoyed swimming in the large pool at Mission RV Park. It was nice as we were able to relax.


Abilene, Texas - Our visit with Bill, Lorilee and the girls was great and we stayed three weeks.  We stayed at Abilene State Park, where Lorilee works, so we saw her daily. We went for walks, hiking, bird watching and rode our bikes, which was overdue.  We saw so many animals but our favorite was a little armadillo, we named him Arnold (Arnie). 
While here, would you believe she talked us into volunteering as Camp hosts at the park, as they needed help.  So of course, we enjoyed volunteering.  We sure enjoyed our time helping out. Abilene State Park is a really nice park and lots to do. We an do that again!


We spent time with the family having dinner (s), going to the movies, church functions, going to the balloon festival and just enjoying each others company. We surprised Paige at her job and took pictures of her as a cosmetologist. The man she was cutting hair was really complimenting her which of course made us proud grandparents.

July, August and September 2013

July 26 thru August 2, 2013 
We are going to try to update our blog for the last few months.  After leaving Maine, we left back to New York and stayed in Corinth, NY for a couple of days.  Nice Thousand Trails park and we had a great site by the lake.  We continued our journey to Gasport, NY to Hartland RV Park.  This was a very nice small park near Niagara Falls. While here we took advantage of touring as much as we could.  We Loved Niagara Falls, both U.S. and Canadian sides.  We visited Olcott Beach Lighthouse, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, the Aquarium, Whirlpool Park, Terrapin Point and the area.  We loved the time here and the weather was great.

August 2 thru August 5, 2013
We decided that we would start heading to Colorado to see our kids and family for a month or so.  We stayed 1 night in Marengo, Ohio at Cardinal Center RV  Park.
Then 1 night in Effingham, Illinois at Camp Lakewood Campground.
Onto Oakgrove, Missouri where we had our oil changed on the rig.
We wanted to visit our friends Vicki and Steve Raine in Topeka Kansas so we stayed a couple of nights at Deer Creek Valley RV Park which was very nice.  Steve and Vicki took us touring the town and all went to eat.  We had to top the day off with DQ.
August 6 thru August 15, 2013

We arrived in Colorado and enjoyed our short stay in Falcon, Colorado.

 We were able to see some family and friends. Kallie had dinner for all of us and Krysta, Candace and Lexi came to see us. 
We were able to keep Lil Derick and Tristan and took them bike riding.  What a great time with these boys. While at the park, I ran into an acquaintance, Bernadette Harbert. 
 We were able to go to a Mason family picnic at the park and saw Johns Uncles and Aunts, to include his sisters, Nadine and Carol.

 We also had the pleasure of visiting with Evelyn, Elijah, Josie and Claude before we received a shocking call that our nephew, Eloy passed away. 
We had to leave and left to San Francisco for three weeks.


August 17 thru September 1, 2013
Arrived in California and stayed in Pacifica, Ca. at San Francisco RV Resort.  This was right on the ocean, however, this was not a Resort.  Our sister Janie arrived the same day we did from Greeley, Co.  We were very glad we were there for Eloy and the family.  Eloy Cliffords service was very nice indian tribal of sort.  A young indian danced and sang for the ceremony.  There were so many folks there and we met many plus some nieces and nephews.

While there we went to Santa Cruz boardwalk; SF mission area; Chinese Gardens; Traveled the ocean coast highway; Montara Lighthouse; Pigeon Forge Lighthouse; San Clemente Lighthouse.  Ate a lot as well!!
I also lost my phone while cruising, so I was lost for a few days.
 

Outdoor World Campground - Massachusetts and Rhode Island

John and I joined Thousand Trails for $525 for 2 zones.  The zones cover the Southeast and Northeast areas of the U.S. Wished we would have joined earlier.  Anyway, we bought in and stayed a place called Gateway to Cape Cod in Rochester, Massachusetts for a week 7/12 - 7/19/2013.  This definitely is a campground and lots of weekend campers.  Lots of amenities here, but the campground is no resort, however the location was great for more touring. 

Cape Cod, Rhode Island and other Massachusetts area.  Here we went to Hyannis and enjoyed the JFK Museum and Jamestown Museums.  This part of the coast has beautiful water, windmills and lighthouses.  We love those lighthouses. Cape Cod area we went to see the Nauset Lighthouse, Eastham Lighthouse and Three Sisters.

Beautiful.  Then off to  Beaverton Point Lighthouse in Jamestown, Rhode Island was gorgeous as well as the Plum Beach Lighthouse.  The Cape Cod National Seashore was wonderful and we were able to get into the Beach with our America the Beautiful card.  We have to remember to use this more often.We so enjoyed this area and would love to come back.  We did lots of touring as usual.  But that is our life and we love every moment.  Thank you God.

 

Traveling Amish Country and visiting our friends, Polly and Gerry Donovan

We traveled to Kinzer, Pennsylvania and stayed at Roamers Campground.  This was in amish  country and it was so beautiful here.  We toured the area and bought some of the jams and salsa made in this area.  The amish fields, barns and all the buggies were interesting to see in person.  We respected the amish and will not post pictures of them, especially not their faces.

After visiting Pennsylvania, we left to Connecticut and stayed at Nelson's Family Campground in East Hampton, CT.  We were so happy to meet up with friends that we met in Texas.  Gerry and Pauline Donovan were our neighbors at Drifters Resort in Rockport Texas.  Their kids live in this area so they came down for the summer.
We were delighted with some wonderful meals cooked by Polly.  Lobster was awesome and we so ate too much.  Never say no to home made cooking.
They took us touring the Connecticut seashore and we took a boat ride to see the Thimble Islands.  What a wonderful tour.  Seniors ony $8 each.We love our visit and look forward to seeing them again in our travels.

June 2013 - Travels In Florida and Aruba

The month of June was our time to relax and wait for our overseas trip to Aruba.
We stayed at Paradise Oaks Golf and Resorts in Bushnell, Florida.  During the summer they have monthly special rates of $199 a month.  This was a beautiful park and this is where we picked up our hitchhikers, the green frogs.  So small but oh  so loud.
Meanwhile we toured the area and 1st of all went to the Villages near us.  Lots of them and tons of retirees.  Not ready for this lifestyle.
We toured Homosassa Springs Ellie Schiller Wildlife state park, What a great place to go and see all the manatees.  Recommend this place to all you travelers out there.
We also met up with Miguel and Caroline Rosario, whom we know through family in Colorado.  They took us to lunch and we had a great time with friends. 
Our trip to Aruba was planned on June 15th thru the 22nd, so we did a lot of bike riding and swimming at the resort.  The temperature was in the 90's and it was so humid.  We did a lot of swimming.
Aruba came and went.  The Resort was huge and we had 3 beds 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms.  We could have taken the family.  Aruba was beautiful and we did lots of touring.  Renting a car and going around the island was an adventure.
At the end of June we then left to Hardeeville, SC and stayed there to tour the area in Savannah, Georgia. We took the Oblethorpe Trolly tour through Savannah.  We were able to see so much of the history.  It took us 2 days to see the area.  Tybee Island was beautiful and we loved the lighthouses.  So much we saw.
We then left the area and met up with more Colorado friends in St. George, S.C. The Cox family.  I went to school with Louise in Pueble County H.S.  Had not seen her over 50 years.  We met her husband, Steve and their granddaughter, Taneal.  It was great visiting and catching up.  We left and then headed to Washington D.C. Area.
No pictures will be posted on this blog as they are in a flash drive that we have packed and I will post them later.

Washington D.C. - 6/30/2013 - 7/8/2013

We arrived at Louise Cosca Regional Park in Clinton, MD.  This was a campground with no sewer, but electric and water was good enough for the week. Decided to stay outside of Washington, D.C. while we toured.  We parked our car at the subway station and rode the subway into our designated areas in Washington.
Our 1st visit was to visit with our niece, Unique Dilworth, who is a nurse in the D.C. area.  We met at Carolina's Kitchen in Largo, MD and had dinner.  It was great to see family.  She was so ecstatic to see us and us her as well. She was off to a church camp so we were lucky we got to spend the evening with her.
We then toured the Washington D.C. area.  We saw all the monuments, Arlington Cemetery, and the Smithsonian Institute.  There is so much to see and I advise folks to allow a week to visit.  This place is amazing and most of it is free.  Touring these historic sites and monuments will always have a special place in our hearts.

Remainder of May 2013

Traveled to Destin, Florida and stayed at Geronimo RV Resort (not a resort). This area sure does have the emerald beaches, as we were told.  We love the ocean color and powdery sand. This is a great place for families as they have lots of activities.

While in Destin, we had the pleasure of visiting friends from Colorado that are stationed in the Air Force, in the area.  Vanessa and Seth live in Navarre, Florida and recently purchased their 1st home.  These kids are doing great and have a beautiful home.  We enjoyed spending time with them and going to Destin for lunch.  They also took us to Sandestine Resort where they got married.  It was beautiful and we could not believe all the hidden treasures (shops and restaurants) inside the resort.  We had a great time and appreciate them taking time to show us around.  Loved visiting friends.

We left Dentin, Florida on the 25th of May to our next destination which will be Bushnell, Florida until we leave for our Aruba trip in June.  We so love this life.

Thanks Dear Lord for Bless us with this Life.!!!



May 1st - 17 Our Trip to the Gulf Coast - Alabama/Florida area

Arrived in Summerdale, Alabama on May 2nd.  John and I decided to go to the Crawfish Festival.
 Never had done it but thought we would be brave.  So we ventured to Pensacola, Florida and bought 3 lbs of Crawfish to eat (came with corn and potato). We enjoyed the day and also got to join in on the Cinco De Mayo festivities while we were there. 








New Acquaintances - Our 1st trip to the Escapees Rainbow Park. 

This is a very nice park and the people are just so caring.  We were greeted by Darrell and Judy Patterson and a few days later by George and JoAnn Forsythe.  These are all friends of Jim and Ellie Meacham, whom are also from Colorado Springs. It was a little lonely when we got here, but Ellie and Jim hooked us up with friends. We later met Janet and Al and they invited us to a Escapees lunch and we met about 30 people.  Cannot remember all the  names and did not take pictures (dang).
George and JoAnn took us touring the Gulf Coast.  We ate Mexican food and drank Margaritas in Foley Alabama.  We then went to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and loved the clean water and the nicely white sand. There was a restaurant called "The Gulf" made out of Cargo containers.

The setup was great and how creative.  Beautiful here.  We then went to the Alabama/Florida line and visited the Floribama bar.  Bras were strung inside the bar, but mine was too expensive to leave.
We also went to Lulu's (sister of Jimmy Buffet) and toured the place and I bought a cute shirt.  After our touring, George wanted to take us to this drug store where they make the best ice cream.  Of course, none of us refused.  We had a great food, great company, and a great time. 

 We met new friends of George and Joann when we went to the Dog Races in Mobile Alabama, named Ruth Ann and Harold Howell.  They invited us to the American Legion as their guests.  We enjoyed Prime Rib, $2 Margaritas  and dancing.  Great time with our new friends.

 

The Elks Lodge - Another evening out with friends.  We enjoyed Tacos and $5.00 pitcher beer.  We played Trivia and were not smarter that a 5th grader.  I think George needs better players.  Ellie you better get back to Alabama soon as we cannot cut it.  It was fun and again a great time.

 

May 16, 2013 - National Navy Museum in Pensacola, Florida. We have visited several museums, but this one is one of the best we have been at.  It is all free and accepts donations for a wonderful cause.

No greater amount of Naval History there here. As the birthplace of Naval Aviation nothing can compare. So many exhibits and it took us a few hours, but we would recommend this place to eveyone. It made me think of my Dad who served in the Navy back in the 1940's.  Great Place!!

 

March 2013 Rockport, Texas

March has been full of great times with friends and family. Lorilee  and Paige met us half way to drop off our granddaughter, Grace. It was nice visiting them for an hour in Comfort, TX. Gracie came and visited us for Spring break. She had never caught her own fish but she did here on the coast and John filet them and she ate them all up. I ventured with her to the Hurricane water park and went down the slides. (still not old enough to quit). We went swimming in the cold water but we got used to it after awhile. She  got to sit around with a lot of old folks at an Oyster get together.  We did some sightseeing in San Antonio then Gracie had to go back home so Lo met us and we had lunch in San Antonio. It was time well cherished.

 

Lots of our friends are heading back  home so we had a happy hour at our place before they left. It was great and lots came with food, snacks and drinks. Had to take a picture of our exercise group.  We met Monday thru Friday at 8 am.  Gonna miss them all.

We have a couple of friends that inspired us into this life of RV'ing originally from Colorado Springs.  Jim and Ellie Meacham came to Drifters RV park for a couple of weeks. We had time to go to Red Fish Willies and enjoy lunch and a couple of happy hours.
All in all our time at Rockport was wonderful and we look forward to meeting all of our friends again throughout our travels.
We left Drifters April 1, 2013 to stay in Aransas Pass for a month.
Did lots of fishing and the Sand Festival before heading east.