This was a great day to end the year, enjoying 75 degree temps, sunshine and lots of beach. We took a long walk through the park, with Gus leading the way most of the time. I also got in some reading time in the sun while watching the waves roll in. To top it off, we had a great view of the full moon rising over the Atlantic.
After a healthy breakfast with Dennis & Sharon, we said our goodbyes and drove to Flagler Beach and Gamble Rogers Memorial State Park where we lucked into a beach site, site 20 for the next week. The drive here was pretty uneventful and we were happy to see the ocean at the end of the drive.
On Monday, the 28th, we went out for breakfast at The Plantation in Bluffton where we ate delicious food, then went back to the Anderson house to pick up the dogs. We headed out to Hunting Island State Park, a place none of us had ever been to. The park has beautiful beaches and a very nice campground with it's own beach. We will have to consider a stay there in the future. Below are some pics taken on the beach with the dogs.
We left fome Christmas day after spending a fun morning watching our grandsons open gifts, and sharing gifts with one another, while the new granddog played and napped around us.
After our tour of Amish Life, we spent our last evening relaxing in froot of a fire, eating leftovers and topping it off with a slice of shoofly pie.
Today we packed up early and got on the road by 8:30 am. The drive home was longer because of traffic and several accidents that slowed things down on I-95 between Baltimore and DC, and again in NOVA and the Ashland area. While we were traveling south toward home, the boys were doing their schooling using Jenna's tablet as a hotspot. Steve and Jenna both also got some work in on the ride home.
I am sure everyone was glad to be home, especially Gus, who needed to go to the bathroom, after passing gas in the RV and having all of us holding our noses!
This was a fun trip, and the weather cooperated most of the time. It was our first time traveling as a family of 6, 3 generations. Amazingly, we are all still speaking to one another, and looking forward to celebrating Hayden's 10th birthday tomorrow. The hardest thing for the kids today was saying goodbye to Gus. He has slept with them almost every night, and they have played with him and loved on him a lot during the trip.
Once Jim and I get a little rest, we will clean the RV, fix a few broken cabinet and drawer latches, and get it ready for our winter trip.
Today was an earlier start...skipping school to take a tour of the Amish Countryside by car. We followed our tour guide in our own car, driving down country roads where mostly Amish folks live. We saw laundry hanging out at these homes, beautiful gardens growing around the homes, animals in many of the yards, large barns, crops growing in the fields, and no power lines. Our guide took us to an Amish homestead and showed us around part of the home and carriage stable. We learned how they used propane gas and compressed air to power things like machinery and refrigeration. We got a small glimpse of the main room (kitchen & living area). The house looked like a regular house and was very tidy! The lights are powered by propane, and there are no electrical outlets and certainly no wifi. No photos were allowed at the homes, so I can't share a better glimpse of one.
The Turkey Hill Experience is an ice cream indulgence like no other. This afternoon our group of 6 participated in this experience for almost three hours. We learned about the ingredients used, how it is made, packaged, etc. We got to create our own "virtual " flavor of ice cream, choosing from various ingredients to incorporate, and finally naming our creation. We visited the sampling room where we got to sample one or more flavors of ice cream, one scoop at a time. Then we went into a "classroom" where we were able to actually create our own ice cream concoction by adding a flavor, then some toppings, and finally a syrup to top things off. In each category, we could choose from about 8 items. They passed out a large cup of ice cream in either vanilla or chocolate to each of us to start things off. This all took place after we had already been to the sampling station. Now that's a lot of ice cream! I could not finish my ice cream, which was flavored with lemon, then almonds added, and finally raspberry syrup. It was yummy, just too much! All of us had a lot of fun, except Gus of course, since he wasn't invited to the ice cream party. He loves ice cream!
Today we packed up and left the campground before 9 am this morning, headed southeast toward Lancaster, PA. On the drive through the countryside of NY we enjoyed beautiful views of the colors of Fall, driving through farmland and small towns. We drove for a good while along the Susquehanna River too. The drive was long, over 330 miles, with much of it on roads with 35-45 mph speed limits, so it took us about 7 hours, including a few stops for fuel and dog walking. When we finally arrived at the Campground outside of Lancaster we all had to have out temperature checked to verify that no one had a fever. Gus was the only one to avoid the temperature check. Since we all passed the temperature check, we were able to get set up on our site before the rains came. Dinner tonight was takeout of pizza, salads, and garlic knots. We topped that off by finishing our game of Mexican Train dominoes that we started a few nights ago. Hayden took last place victoriously and l managed to win this one.
