Highlights of Cedar Point

Lazy Days RV
Seffner, FL

That’s right…we’re still alive and we’re at Lazy Days getting some warranty items taken care of.  I didn’t want to publish our intent to come here for reasons to be disclosed in my next post.  Leave ya hangin’ on for more.

Our internet connection hasn’t been the best in the world lately but I want to share some highlights from our recent time with Nancy and Bill at Cedar Point.  Needless to say, we sat around discussing the world’s problems and came up with several viable solutions.  I just don’t know why the politicians and other powers to be don’t understand how simple the solutions are.  I bet they don’t spend any time chatting around a campfire or going camping for that matter.  We played cards, Sequence, Hand n Foot, and ladder ball.  Gin and I lost most of the time but enjoyed the friendly competition. 

There were a couple of day trip activities that were really the highlight of our time together.  We paddled on the White Oak River one day launching at Haywood’s Landing and another day, we went to Bear Island which is part of Hammock's Beach State Park.

First our river paddle.  Haywood’s Landing is about 11 miles from the campground off of Hwy 58.  You turn onto a forest service road which is gravel but in pretty good shape.  Travel another couple of miles into the woods and make a right at the stop sign.  (Yes, there’s a stop sign in the middle of the woods…for the educated deer ).  There is no road noise at all when you take this paddle.  After lending Bill one of our paddles, we launched our SeaEagles.  That’s right…Bill left their paddles at camp.  Nancy usually doesn’t paddle much due to her bad shoulder, but Gin got real lucky since Bill used her paddle.

 

Roamin never uses a paddle either and he really liked his spot up front between Gin’s feet.  Not a bad view of the tall grass growing at river’s edge.

 

As you can tell, there was only water and trees.  Beautiful day and very relaxing.  Not that much wildlife but there was the majestic Osprey looking for lunch and the typical turtle on a log.

 

Since we were well inland, we didn’t have to try and figure out the tides.  It was a very nice and relaxing paddle.  On another day, we went to Hammock’s Beach State Park in Swansboro, NC and took the passenger ferry boat ride over to Bear Island.  This was our first time there so it was an adventure indeed.  There is quite a bit of walking on the island when you get off of the ferry so I’m not real sure we would do it during the hot, humid summer.  We’re spoiled.  After a while, you approach the facilities.  There are several covered picnic tables, a bath house, and a concession stand that is open during the summer.

 

While Gin and Bill were surf fishing, Nancy and I walked towards the Bogue Inlet point of the island.  We all felt like we had the place all to ourselves.

 

It’s an unspoiled island but they do have about a dozen tent camping sites that are right on the dunes.  You would have quite a distance to go to get to the bath house but you are the first one to see the sunrise.

 

Seagulls were plentiful but we did manage to capture a few other shorebirds.  I know Nancy took many more pictures, but here’s an Oystercatcher and a Black-bellied Plover.

 

It was a wonderful sun-filled day at the beach that I would gladly do again.  Put on lots of sunscreen and keep the Springtime temperatures and breezes, and I’m there!

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

A Day on a Boat

Cedar Point CG (site #37)
Croatan National Forest
Cedar Point, NC

Friday is the beginning of a weekend at most campgrounds and this area is no exception.  Gin’s cousin Pam joined us in the afternoon and we hung around the cg and visited with Gin’s folks.  The real treat came today when we rode over to Emerald Isle to see Gin’s cousin Tony (Pam’s brother) and his wife Margaret.  They have a very nice mobile home on the island with nice landscaping and a great screened in deck.  They also have a wonderful deck boat and Tony took us out in the Intracoastal Waterway for an afternoon of fishing and relaxing.  Tony and Gin each caught about a dozen hand-sized fish so no keepers.  Pam and I just relaxed and soaked up the beauty of the day.  Here’s Tony, Gin and Pam who were close buddies growing up.

We weren’t the only ones out there enjoying the waves.  Here’s a few other boats anchored near the channel at the Hwy 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.

There were big sailboats and yachts enjoying the day also.  I know there are people who live on these nice boats but I’ll just keep my feet planted on the ground.

Oh no!  Don’t run into each other!!

 

Since there were no fresh fish to fry, we enjoyed a steak on the grill back at camp with Gin’s folks.  What a nice way to wrap up a wonderful day!

Oh, we did have an offer on the house, but they wanted it for “free”.  We’ll hold on to it for a little while longer since we’re having showings about every other day right now.

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

Bike the Neck

Huntington Beach State Park site #111
Murrell’s Inlet, SC

Today we decided to Bike the Neck.  It’s a very nice paved bike path that runs from Murrell’s Inlet, past the CG, and on down to Pawley’s Island.  As we were leaving the CG, I saw this beautiful egret in the tree.  I love the Spanish moss.

 

We first rode up to Murrell’s Inlet.  When we went out to eat Friday evening at the Hot Fish Club, Bill and Nancy mentioned that you can launch your kayaks from the park right next door so we had to check it out.

It’s the Morse Park Landing.  There are a couple of picnic tables and a bench under a tree and a few places to park.  There’s also a memorial to those who were lost at sea.  Murrell’s Inlet honors it’s fishing village heritage.

 

After looking out over the marsh a bit, we decided to take the bike path south.  It goes on down to Pawley’s Island, but we didn’t go that far.  We stopped in Litchfield.  We were getting hungry and it was about lunchtime.  This is really a great bike path.  I forgot to check the e-bike odometer before we left, but I think we went a total of about 15 miles.  I pedaled most of it since it’s pretty flat.

As we crossed the causeway over the lagoon, I spotted two alligators basking in the warm sun 10 feet from the sidewalk.  They were about 8-10 feet long.  Glad the camera has a nice zoom because they are the top of the food chain.

 

After lunch and an afternoon nap, we decided to take Smudge for a walk on the shore again.  She enjoyed barking at the birds.  She is over 13 years old but she walked like a puppy today.  We went out at one boardwalk and walked down to the jetty boardwalk to come back on the paved road.  That was about 4 miles of walking.  Smudge walked about 3.5 miles of it.

 

We will all sleep late tomorrow.  As a matter of fact, I think we will just hang around the campsite most of the time.  If we got this much exercise on a regular basis, we’d feel younger in the long run.  I just love the birds here.  These were right on the causeway across from the alligators.

 

We got back from the long walk just in time for me to step out on the marsh boardwalk for a sunset shot.  Nice way to wrap up another day in Sylville.

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

Smudge’s Day

Huntington Beach State Park site #111
Murrell’s Inlet, SC

We had planned to spend the morning on the bikes but Smudge had other plans.  She has separation anxiety and hasn’t eaten much the last couple of days.  She had an upset stomach so we knew we needed to be with her instead.  We decided to take her to the shore since there is a lot of hard sand there.  A poodle doesn’t do good in the soft sand…gritty.  She barked at a bird and stared at it.

 

But mostly, she barked at me to pick her up.  We should have named her Velcro because she sticks to me and she looks like velcro.

 

She really doesn’t care for the beach like some dogs.  That’s ok because I can’t imagine all that sand and salt water in her fur.  I’m not sure if the tide was coming in or out, but this was a nice tidal pool flowing.

 

After we all had a nice stroll on the beach, we went back to camp to enjoy a lunch of delicious left-overs.  Since Smudge was feeling better, Gin and I took a few minutes to ride the bikes around in the CG.  This place stays pretty full.  Some of the Thanksgiving crowd is already arriving.  We now have neighbors on one side of us.  Gin got a nice campfire going while Smudge curled up in my lap.  We cooked some brats and marshmallows for supper.  Don’t worry.  We had our veggies for lunch.

A few folks asked about the roaster so Gin took some shots to show how we have it set up.  Notice the reflection of the bikes in the freshly waxed MH.

 

We sit one of those disposable aluminum pans in the roaster pan so that clean up is easier.  For storage, we put the lid in the styrofoam packaging that it came in.  We also kept the box and reinforced it with duct tape and cut out a little spot for the handles.  There is enough room in our basement to put our Baby-Q grill on top of it.  We plan to take it with us when we finally hit the road.

 

We’ve enjoyed the wonderful weather here this week.  Maybe it’ll hold up for us so we can enjoy the bikeway.  Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Another Perfect Day

Huntington Beach State Park site #111
Murrell’s Inlet, SC

We slowly welcomed the day and took our e-bikes for a nice little ride around the CG.  There is a nice Education Center at the marsh boardwalk that was opened so we went in for a look around.  There were a few aquariums and terrariums inside.  I didn’t get a good shot of the fish since they were constantly moving but this terrapin was nibbling on a piece of shrimp.

This young alligator didn’t like the way Gin looked at him but he seemed to practically smile at me.

 

We rode further down the paved park road to a parking lot and walked the boardwalk to the beach.  It’s nice that they have several boardwalks here to get over the dunes.  It’s much better for the dunes, and it’s much better for folks that have difficulty walking in the soft sand like Gin.  She enjoys the ocean and she was just trying to soak it all in since it will probably be quite a while before we get back here.

I can understand why Sherry doesn’t mind running so much when she runs along the shore here.  It’s just beautiful and not many people this time of year.

We were enjoying our walk back to our e-bikes on the boardwalk when this little fella jumped out at us.  He was a little slow so we just enjoyed looking at each other.

After our excursion, we sat outside to watch the Panthers lose another game.  I’ve always said that your team is only as good as your back-ups because there will be injuries throughout the season.  While the game was on, Gin got the turkey in the GE Roaster so that we could eat our Thanksgiving meal early.  We give thanks every day so why not.  The roaster cooks a good turkey.  We’ve also cooked a roast in it.  We set it outside on the grill table so that the interior of the MH won’t get so hot and we don’t use LP.  We had cooked a couple of sweet potatoes over the campfire the night before and Gin fixed the cranberry relish before we left the house.  The dressing and spinach was cooked fresh in the MH.  We’ll be eating leftovers for a few days but we enjoy a quick, good meal.

I wanted to get a shot of the full moon when I took the trash out but it was too cloudy.  I think tomorrow will be another beautiful day.  Maybe we can ride the great paved bikeway they have here that runs beside Hwy 17.  We take one day at a time and enjoy what comes our way.

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