It Happened

Youngstown, NY
Four Mile Creek State Park CG(site 65)

I’ll try to update the past two weeks later, but I just wanted to let folks see what we’ve been up to.  Here’s where we’ve been the past few days.  Beautiful, eh?

Through the magic of modern technology, we’ve been able to enjoy traveling while things have been busy back in Clayton NC.  You see, while we were at Lazy Days Tampa back around Memorial Day, we got an offer on the house.  We kept it quiet and we didn’t even get excited about it since we had “sold” the house twice before.  Well yesterday was the settlement date and it went through without a hitch.  It is Sold!!  The money is actually in the bank!  What a relief!  Now we are house-free and can see what this full-timing is all about.

Remember to pay close attention to your surroundings and take time to celebrate the beauty found in each day.  Cherish what you have and remember not to take it for granted.

Where Are We?

Athens, PA

We left Wilkesboro, NC and wandered north.  After a few days we made it to the PA/NY border to spend some time with Dan and Tricia who are staying on Dan’s family farm.  We were invited to join them for a few days before we all head to Niagra Falls next week.  He grew up in this wonderful setting.  After meeting most of his family, I can understand why he is such a great guy.  Here’s a few shots of the farm.

 

 

It was a working dairy farm until shortly after his father passed away in 2001.  His mom, Pauline, leases out the land for crops.  Even though she is in her mid 70’s, she takes care of the yard and gardens.  It’s really beautiful.

 

We have parked the rv’s between a couple of the barns facing each others patio.  It’s almost like having a private little campground. 

 

It’s been nice meeting most of Dan’s family.  They have made us feel very welcomed here.  Pauline went out of her way on Saturday and had the family over for a homemade pizza dinner.  There was also homemade pie, cake, and ice cream.  Good thing I’m continuing my morning walks (up that hill is tough).  It was all delicious.  I’ve been told that she does this great family dinner get together quite often.  She’s pretty amazing.

The farm land borders the Susquehanna River so I had to walk the corn field to check it out.  Hopefully we can get the SeaEagles out there if it cools off a little bit.

 

 

On Sunday, we drove over to Nichols, NY to Tioga Downs to watch the harness racing.  It was quite interesting to see the horses run with the riders in the sulky (cart).  They throw t-shirts into the crowd between races and I caught one.  Just my size too.

We’ve enjoyed relaxing here and spending time catching up with Dan and Tricia.  I think tomorrow may be “tourist day”.  Enough for right now.

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

Raffaldini Vineyards

Warrior Creek CG site 26
Kerr Scott Reservoir COE
Wilkesboro, NC

It has been extremely hot and humid so the three of us wanted to find something to do in air conditioned comfort.  While at the visitor center the other day, we learned about Raffaldini Vineyards, a nice vineyard that wasn’t too far away in the Yadkin River Valley area that offered wine tastings.  They were having a special Music in the Vineyard on Sunday so we all decided to go.  A little wine and jazz really made me feel like a cultured lady…ha!

The Villa was located down a rather narrow gravel country road so I didn’t know what to expect. (Click on any pic to enlarge).  As we pulled into the driveway, I felt transported to another country…Italy.  Here’s the entry and driveway…

 

…and the Villa itself.

 

Just walking from the parking lot to the Villa was refreshing.  There were koi ponds and roses all around.  Too bad it was still in the 90’s.

 

We enjoyed a few sips of several different wines and decided to buy a few bottles of their La Dolce Vita which is a sweet white wine so that we can enjoy it later on special occasions.  The scenery from the second floor was so beautiful that we just had to take some more posed shots.

 

It’s too bad that it was so hot because there wasn’t much live music outside on the patio.  The performers were just melting not to mention the spectators.

 

They are not that big of a winery.  Most of the sells occur at the Villa and through restaurant distributions.  They also book private events on the grounds such as weddings.  I can certainly say that this would be a beautiful place to have a ceremony.

 

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

Tree Down and Drama

Warrior Creek CG site 26
Kerr Scott Reservoir COE
Wilkesboro, NC

First a little news from the house back in Clayton.  Nope, it ain’t sold yet but the money pit hits from a distance.  Remember the beaver that gnawed on a tree?  Well the wind blew one part of it over.

 

That wasn’t so bad.  My neighbor Mark and his son Jordan took care of that for us.  They are great folks and I miss them.  The next photos that Mark sent us are the real deal as far as having a tree down.  We had one large oak tree in the back yard and it was uprooted during a hard thunderstorm a couple of days ago.

 

Mark met with a tree service guy for us and it will be cut up and the root ball ground up in the next few days.  I also told our realtor who went over to check it out.  She said the same thing that Mark did…it couldn’t have landed in a more perfect place.  There was no other damage and it didn’t really land in the water which would have made it hard to get out.  We’re blessed in that respect.

Now a little bit about Pam’s visit.  She is Gin’s cousin who joined us this weekend for a little fun in the hills of NC.  We spent a little time at the visitor center and went to the Mountain View Overlook to kid around a bit.

 

We decided to drive over to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a little bit of curves.  This section isn’t as nice as the part near Brevard NC in my opinion.  You can see houses right next to the road so that made it seem like most any other mountain road to me.  We stopped at an overlook to stretch our legs.

We also drove through the nice upscale but crowded downtown of Blowing Rock on our way back down the mountain.  We just had to stop at this nice roadside stand and get some goodies.

We ended the day by going to watch “Tom Dooley: a Wilkes County Legend”.  It’s an outdoor drama that was presented at the amphitheater in the Fort Hamby CG across the lake.

 

It was an interesting story of a womanizing man set in the 1860’s.  Nothing like a lover’s triangle that leads to murder to make for an interesting show.  Here’s a little background link to Tom Dooley.  Bad things happened back then too.

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

Warrior Creek CG

Warrior Creek CG site 26
Kerr Scott Reservoir COE
Wilkesboro, NC

We like this CG better than Bandit’s Roost.  It’s only half the size so it’s not quite as busy.  Also, all the sites have recently been remodeled.  I know that many COE parks have paved site pads, but I don’t mind having gravel too much if it’s level and not big rocks for the patio.  We have a very nice walk-in site and had the place all to ourselves for a few days before the holiday crowd came in.

 

The town of Wilkesboro is about 8-10 miles away and has a nice Super Walmart along with all the other essential stores needed for a pleasant visit.  One day we went on a drive around the area and found the Mountain View Overlook near the headwaters of the lake.  Some beautiful views.

 

 

From the Mountain View Overlook and from the Kerr Scott Dam.

Even though it has been oppressively hot and humid, we did manage to hike a little bit on the Overmountain Victory Trail which runs throughout Warrior Creek CG.  It is a great trail that is used extensively by mountain bikers.  Walking is more our speed so that we can enjoy the ferns and the sounds of nature.

  

The campground also has a nice boat launch and a swimming beach.  I’m sure that place got full during the heat of the day.

 

We drove up to the dam one day to go to the visitor center.  That’s always a nice place to go when it’s too hot to do anything else.  It’s two floors.  The main floor has displays about the history of the area and the dam.  The basement has displays about the environment and wildlife of the area.  I liked the basement area better. 

 

We spoke with the volunteer in the basement for a bit.  Her husband was covering the desk on the main floor.  They have been fulltime rvers for five years now.  They volunteered here last year also.  She said they work 18 hours each per week to get a free site in the Volunteer Village which is tucked into the woods just a couple hundred yards away.  They work each Friday, Saturday and Sunday and have the next four days off.  They don’t clean toilets or work in the sweltering heat or chill of the bumper seasons.  Now that sounds like something I would consider doing at some point in time.

 

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