To See or Not to See…

Aug 13, 2012 to the Present
(Notice the dates…We’ve been here more than a month.)


Roanoke Rapids, NC
RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads sites P32 and P24

We made it to Roanoke Rapids to spend some time visiting with family and to get new glasses for Gin.  As it’s worked out, she didn’t get new glasses but we’ve enjoyed time here with family.  This is a nice park with FHU and the monthly rates are nice.  The daily rates are a bit high but it’s close to Mom and Gin’s parents who live in Rocky Mount.  Here’s the entry and office which has a nice laundry and bathhouse.

 

There’s also a Rally Room in the office building.  They have some kind of rv rally here at least once a month.  Here’s our site and the swimming pool that we’ve enjoyed.  We slid down the slide some but no bathing suit pics of us will ever appear on this blog.

 

When we first got here, Gin went to the eye doctor to get new glasses.  Well, they wouldn’t even dilate her eyes because the fluid pressure was too high.  An appointment was made in four weeks time to have laser surgery to correct this problem (angle closure glaucoma) so we just enjoyed the time here with family.  We stayed with Gin’s folks some and enjoyed afternoons with my mom several times.  Gin’s folks have put their MH in a park near Emerald Isle so we spent a few nights with them there.  It rained the whole time but we enjoyed it any way.  We drove over the bridge and walked out on the pier between sprinkles.

 

 

We have definitely gone off of our diets this past month but we’ll get back on it soon.  Mom is quite active considering that she’s 84 years old.  One of the things she likes to do on Friday nights is take a couple of her more senior friends out to eat.  We joined them a couple of times and I drove her car.  I refer to it as “driving a bouquet of daisies” after that movie with Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy.  Here’s Miss Elizabeth, Lucille, Mom and me after giving them a tour of our home.

We will be leaving here in a few days to go to FL.  We have chosen to have our mail forwarding handled there and need to get our domicile established.  Gin returned to the eye doctor to have the laser surgery.  She was the first appointment of the day but still waited over an hour for the doctor.  After looking at her eye with a microscope, he said that the blockage was not total and that there was still fluid circulating around the eye.  She could have her eyes dilated for an exam and glasses.  Then he said that he would do the surgery that day if he had time so he asked his assistant if they had time.  She gave him the look that said “no” and he said to make sure no one dilates her eyes before they check her angles then walked out the door.  The assistant said to make an appointment for next week to get glasses but when checking out, the office said it would be two weeks at the earliest.  Gin felt like she was getting the run around so we will take care of it in FL after getting domiciled there.  Wish her luck.

We’ve managed to do some projects here, well mainly Gin’s done them but I handed her the tools.  After much thought, I’ve decided to cut back on blogging.  We’re just enjoying the little things in life and I’ve never kept a journal before.  I’ll still do a post once in a while when we go or do something really noteworthy and read my favorite blogs.  I seldom leave comments because I often times read them on my phone.  I think I’ll enjoy life better when I don’t find myself thinking “I should put that in the blog” if that makes any sense.  It’s all about freedom.

Tanglewood Park CG (NC)

Aug 12-13, 2012
(I’m guilty of extreme blog fatigue but I wanted to highlight this cg near Winston Salem NC.)

Clemmons, NC
Tanglewood Park CG site 2

This is a great place to pull in for one night as we did.  The rate is a little high for us to stay much longer but I fell in love with the place.  It’s an easy on/off from I40 at exit 182 and has everything needed to relax.  Tanglewood Park is a part of Forsyth County Parks and Rec Department.  They offer an aquatic center, stables, tennis, golf, soccer, pond fishing, a Manor House bed and breakfast, arboretum, rose garden and a FHU campground.  There’s a paved multi-use trail that winds around the woods for two miles which was great for my morning walk.  Here’s what was in the neighbor’s backyard right next to the rv park.

 

The sites are paved but many of them are not level.  I’m glad we called the office the day before to get a great site.  Not a problem during the week.

 

Most of those amenities like the pool, stables, etc. cost a little extra but the arboretum and rose garden were included in the cg fee.  I spent a little time relaxing in the arboretum in the afternoon.  The rose garden was in direct hot sunshine which is great for the flowers but not for this rosebud. 

 

 

 

Since this is a county park instead of a commercial park, there was plenty of space between the sites.  There were also some very large old oak trees throughout the park.  The rv park had been closed down for several years and was remodeled about three years ago.  I could still see some of the old overgrown sites in the woods on my morning walk.  The multi-use trail through the park is wonderful.

 

Many people walk or run and some ride their bicycles.  There are also mountain bike trails through the woods for the more adventuresome.  On my morning walk, I stopped counting the deer when I got over 20.  There was even one of them in the corral with the horses just grazing with them like he belonged there.

 

This was our last stop before arriving in Roanoke Rapids to visit with family, but I don’t think that it will be our only stay here.  It’s definitely worth a return.

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Aug 8-12, 2012
(I wanted to do just one post for our stay here but the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail was so nice that it deserves it’s own post.)

Sevierville, TN
River Plantation RV Park site 165

We thumbed through the cg brochure that was given to us at check-in and decided to take this nice ride in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg.  It was wonderful!  It’s a five mile long narrow winding road with mountain streams, cascades, moss covered boulders, and green forests by the roadside.  It’s like taking a hike without any of the effort!

 

We lowered the windows on Suki and opened the sunroof to let our ears and noses enjoy the ride too.

 

There were several places to park and take real hikes but we enjoyed the few stops at the overlooks.

 

I have always loved the lush green foliage that is found in the Great Smokies.  There was green everywhere!

 

There was moss growing on everything that didn’t move.  Tree trunks were covered even before they fell to the ground and the boulders were green with moss!

 

We could see and hear the mountain stream that flowed along beside the road much of the time.  So refreshing and cooler in the higher altitude.  I just had to sit on a rock and enjoy it for a while.

 

 

The tour took us by a few buildings that were left by the families that lived here before the National Park was created.  We were just more engrossed with nature.

 

I have always enjoyed rock outcroppings too.  There were several boulders along the roadside with trees and bushes growing right out of them.

 

 

But the most exciting thing that happened to us to make this day so very special was our own personal bear sighting.  I drove very slowly on this auto tour and any time a car rolled up behind us, I would pull over and let them go by.  There was no one else around when this juvenile black bear sauntered across the road only 20 feet in front of us.  The pics are a little fuzzy because Gin was so excited she couldn’t hold the camera steady.

 

 

The bear took it’s time wandering across the road a couple of times while foraging for food.  She never paid any attention to us in the car.  It was very magical for us.  Gin took a brief video of the bear as it left the road to return to the woods one last time.  This is dedicated to Tricia who would have thoroughly enjoyed this too.

This Bear’s for you Tricia

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.