Fun Times!

Cedar Point CG (site #36)
Cedar Point, NC

I find it hard to blog when I’m in a less than inspiring location (driveway), but I also find it difficult to tickle the keyboard when I’m in a lovely place.  I’d much rather be out there enjoying each day to it’s fullest.  Here at Cedar Point, our days have been pretty full.  To make it even harder to post a blog, we’ve got great neighbors right beside us.

 

That’s right.  It’s Nancy and Bill!  They have heard us make good comments about this cg so they wanted to join us for a few days.  I’m sure glad they have.  In the shots above, we were on the Tideland Trail right here at the cg doing a little geocaching.  We finally found the hide…well Nancy actually found the puzzle one.  We’ve had a busy few days but we’ve had some nice relaxing times also.  The weather has been perfect for roasting veggies over the campfire and enjoying a picnic together too.

There’s been plenty of other activities that I’ll post about later.  You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t get to it real soon but I’m just enjoying life one day at a time.

CARPE DIEM!!

CG Trail

Cascade Lake CG site #P4
Pisgah Forest, NC

Saturday was indeed a day of rest for us.  I did refill the hummingbird feeder.  They have enjoyed it and we have enjoyed watching them.  We only have one male visiting for every five female visitors.  I’ll need to fill it again on Monday.  We spent  a little time on the laptops and had a grilled steak for supper.  There are a lot of families here for the week end and they are having a good time.

Sunday started at a slow pace.  I paddled around the lake for about an hour.  I also struck up a conversation with a volunteer host couple here, Linda and Howard Jackson.  They told me about a nice little walk through the woods behind the swim lake.  It was less than a mile and not very hilly.  We decided that was about the right pace for us this afternoon.  As we got to the backside of the swimmin’ hole, we saw the family of geese.

We saw some interesting plants on the ground.  The first that caught my eye was the ground cedar.  I’ve seen it in the woods before, but I had never heard a name for it.  Linda had told me what it is called.

She also had a name for the other interesting plant we saw.  It is the Indian Pipe plant.  Howard told me a brief Cherokee story of the origin of the plant.  Basically the Great Spirit punished some tribal chiefs by changing them into these little flowers since they were smoking the peace pipe even though there was no peace.  Here's is a link to that story.  The little flowers have no chlorophyll.

This hike was much easier than the one to Courthouse Falls.  It hadn’t rained here yet today so it wasn’t wet or slick.  Yes, Smudge walked a couple hundred yards before I carried her the rest of the way.

Here’s a good carpet of ground cedar.

We got cleaned up good and went out for supper at Twin Dragons in Brevard.  They have a good Chinese buffet.  I ate too much of course.  The CG has thinned out for the next few days.  We hope to have a few more adventures before leaving here.

Relaxing and Pier Time

Cedar Point CG site #37
Croatan National Forest, NC

After such a wonderful day paddling, we took it easy on Tuesday.  It was a little cool and overcast so we did some stuff on the computers and made a run to the grocery store.  I walked around the CG and found a dogwood still in bloom.  It must be a hybrid that blooms later than the wild ones.

I also went out to the viewing area of the Tideland Trail to get some shots at the birds.  This Snowy Egret took off just as I stepped out from behind a bush.

This is the general view with the town of Swansboro on the other side of the water.

 

There were a lot of little crabs in the marsh.  They only had one big claw.  If I was real quiet, I could hear them eating.  It was probably a couple hundred of them.

 











There are several of these nice pedestrian bridges on the trail.  I was talking with another couple out there that said the Snowy Egret had a nest under one of the bridges.

Here’s that boat landing where we launched the kayaks and the resident Snowy Egret.  It’s really too shallow for anything other than a canoe or kayak.

Wednesday was a little warmer and windy.  We went to Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier in Emerald Isle.  They don’t charge anything if you just want to walk out for a few minutes.  Here’s Gin.

There was some other nice scenery there.

A couple of guys were trying to surf even if they were close to the pier.  It looks like a lot of work with so little in return.

While there were a lot of pigeons around the pier, I did get some seagulls in the viewfinder.

  

There was also this really big, loud bird that flew by several times…

I’m sure the Harrier Jet came out of Jacksonville NC which is close by and is home of the Marine Corps Base of Camp Lejeune.  As a matter of fact, they have been doing some training with artillery because we could hear it all day Tuesday and into the night.  It sounds a little like distant thunder.

We ended the day by taking Julie and Steve out to the Icehouse in Swansboro for supper.  It was a nice way to end our week here.  Yep, we are leaving tomorrow.  I don’t think we’ll have any problem adapting to a slower pace when we finally get to our full-time life.  We don’t have to be tourists every day.

Willow Tree RV Resort (Longs, SC)

Longs, SC
Willow Tree Resort site #8

Willow Tree is a beautiful park that was built about 8 years ago.  It was done right.  All the sites are wide and long with paved parking and concrete patios.  Most of them are pull-throughs.  I’m glad we got the rally rate for 7 nights.  In the 1980’s, the lake was actually a quarry so the water is very clear and cool since it’s about 35-40 feet deep.  They quarried coquina which is a type of limestone rock.  They have a very nice paved path around the lake with a nature trail in the woods.  They also have several birdhouses for bluebirds and swallows.  There is a resident pair of Canada Geese here.  Yep, that’s Wanda the MH in the background.


Apparently they can’t read too good.


We finished up Sunday by going to a campfire at Howard and Linda’s along with the rest of the dreamers that were left in the park.  Denny played his guitar and sang a few songs for everyone and we all enjoyed talking and dreaming.


Monday we slept late and enjoyed the kayaks on the water.  It is amazingly clear and a beautiful blue hue.  It has been some chamber of commerce weather the whole week.  Gin enjoyed fishing even if they didn’t bite.  After a while, I paddled toward her so we could chat.  The front point of my yak knocked her rod out of the holder and we watched the rod drift down away from us through that clear blue water.  What cha gonna do.  :(  These pics were taken by Paul, another rv dreamer that left Tuesday morning.



We finished off Monday night with a campfire at Gene and Jinny’s.  It was nice to be able to just chat with them for a while.  They are from New York and are getting ready for the road in the future also.  They seem like a good match for each other as are most rvers.  When you live in close quarters, it’s a good thing to be able to get along with your mate.

Tuesday was another beautiful day and I took some time to take some photos around the park.  There is a kildeer sitting on her four eggs and it’s interesting to watch her.  She protects them by running away from the nest and acting injured.


There are also a few loons that like it on the lake.  Every time I tried to get a photo with one of them in it, they would go under for a fish.  This is a shot of the four cottages that are across from us…


and the office complex where the swimming pool, laundry, and exercise rooms are.


There is some nice landscaping around also.  We like this park and maybe we can stay here a month in the off season to get the good rates.  It’s close enough to North Myrtle Beach but still very remote.



We enjoyed a late lunch in Calabash, NC at Ella's and took a nap after we got back.  We noticed a nice boat landing on the way there into the black water of the Waccamaw River.  It was calling for us.  :)  We visited a bit with Lee and Martha, the only other rv dreamers still here.  We are leaving on Wednesday while they are leaving on Thursday.  We did the usual packing of the outside stuff to get ready for the road in the morning.  It always saddens us and this time is even harder because we had so much fun with some wonderful people.

As Gin as been known to say, stay focused on what’s ahead and the rest will follow.