Golden Isle of Georgia...beginning with St Marys!

Exploring the coast ((The Golden Isles) of Georgia has been a dream of mine for over four years now.  Something has always come up to prevent it...hurricanes to COVID!  But I was determined that this was the year, so beginning in March, I started making campground reservations for the month of May!  Everything I had been reading said that restrictions were lessening with the virus but with that, campgrounds were getting more and more crowded and harder to get into!  What a dilemma...but I was steadfast and able to book us into four nights at each area I wanted all along the coast!

Our first stop, St Marys, at a beautiful campground, right on the edge of a little pond.  From here we would visit not only St Marys, but the northern areas of Amelia Island for their lighthouse and Ferandina Beach for Fort Clinch State Park for their Fort, and Big Talbot Island for their Boneyard Beach all in Florida (which is just across the border). 

We started our adventures in St Marys.  Picking up some brochures we found out that there was a Submarine Museum downtown, so we stopped there first.  It was small, but informative.  Displays started with WWI and WWII memorabilia along with actual instrument panel and periscope to look through.  Upstairs was the current collection of nuclear submarine information.  Afterward we had a wonderful chat with Keith, the Director and a couple of other "sub guys" about their experiences and about the museum in Phoenix AZ that we should go see.  

From there we drove around town with a map that showed us St Marys Historic Trees.  Live Oaks can live two to three hundred years and grow to be 60+ feet tall stretching branches up to 25+ feet.  Their Girth also can go 20+ feet wide as well...and the ones here were no exception!  Add the beauty of hanging moss and you've got a couple of "northerners" going "wow! a lot!

They also had on the list the first Pecan Trees planted around 1840 that started the first Georgia pecan orchard, which eventually produced large and heavy bearing nut trees.  Once reaching the peak of production trees, will bear fifty to one hundred pounds of nuts each year.  

Our drive took us to the Oak Grove Cemetery, laid out in 1787-88. Along with early residents, Many descendants of Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia were relocated here.  Soldiers from the American Revolution, The war of 1812 and the Civil War, and all wars subsequent to these, rest quietly in this peaceful setting.   The tragedies of yellow fever epidemics, malaria and illnesses as yet unidentified brought many others to this final destination overlooking the St Marys River and the salt marshes of the coast.  I've shared before that I have a love of photographing cemeteries...there is something special about each one of them, an intimate time capsule of sorts.  A part of their past that they are sharing with us, today.  This was a lovely, well kept, well loved cemetery among the trees and flowers.  

In the late 1820s John Houstoun McIntosh built The McIntosh Sugar works (made of tabby concrete).  After his death in 1836, it was sold and operated until after the Civil War.  During the war cane was planted and sugar was made and also used the tabby sugar works as a starch factory, producing arrowroot starch in large quantities.  Because of the type of material used to build it, (and that it changed names several times) it's now called the "Tabby Ruins".  The ruins are a fun photo stop and an interesting bit of history, that's for sure!

The following day was a trip south to Florida!  First, to see Amelia Lghthouse!  Well, THAT was a disappointment!   Seems it was closed, which I knew it was...but usually you can still "see" it...but NO, I guess they don't trust people, as they had a big ole gate across a long driveway, way down the street, so far down that you couldn't even see the lighthouse!  The best I could do, from a very far distance, was zoom in with my camera, the tip-top of it.  Bummer.  Selfish people. 

So, we went on to Fort Clinch State Park and visited the Fort.  Due to COVID, the reenactors weren't there to chat with, so we were on our own, but that was okay.  It was a small fort, not that much different than ones we've seen before.  Nice one for the soldiers at the time, it seemed.  

I actually found the drive in and out of the State Park more enjoyable than the Fort itself!  It had a "canopy drive" that had live oaks covered in moss hanging over the road all along the drive, really beautiful!

My favorite stop of the day was Boneyard Beach on Big Talbot Island!  I had been looking forward to this, and wasn't disappointed!  Wow, a photographer's dream...As the waters move around the barrier island, channels deepen, fill in and shift.  Relatively recently (within the past few hundred years), this has meant a swift retreat for the shoreline resulting in rapid tree fall. Their bones are bleached, smoothed and battered by sun, sand and wind. Trees of all shapes and sizes are strewn all along the beach for miles!  Beautiful driftwood everywhere, twisted, bleached, clean, just laying about on beautiful sand...no debris, no sea weed, no junk, etc.  pure beauty.  Of course I took way to many pictures! I finally told Jack to pull me away, or I would stay all day!  We left and found a fantastic restaurant and had a wonderful seafood lunch.  Could have stayed there all day too, just such a lovely way to spend the afternoon..

Our last day we took the Cumberland Queen Ferry over to spend the day on Cumberland Island.  Once again the weather was perfect!  You have to bring all your own food and beverages (carry in-carry-out), so we packed a picnic, camera and hats and off we went!  Lovely boat ride (45 min) and even saw a couple of playful dolphins!  I had heard that the island had feral horses and had hoped to see some...well, no worries there...they were everywhere, including at the dock!  The island is 18 miles long, I'd say (about the size of Catalina, if you've been there.  If you are (younger and healthier than us) you could hike it in a full day, but not us, we kept to the south end pretty much.  You can also camp there, and a number of young folks were doing that (bringing all that gear with them!).  They did have a number of picnic tables, restrooms and water fountains spread out around the island, which was great...and needed because you do a LOT of walking - even us, who are "out of shape and older" ended up walking more than 4 miles that day.  The "big thing" to see at the south end is the ruins of the Dungeness estate completed in 1885 by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie.  There are also a few shadows lingering from the earlier buildings built by Catharine Greene, wife of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene and her second husband Phineas Miller.  Their graves are in the cemetery nearby.  

Along the edges of the island it has vast undeveloped beaches with sand dunes, sometimes as high as 40 feet.  They have a variety of birds that we could hear their song as we walked and I caught an osprey protecting her nest high up on the chimney.  Wild turkeys crossed our path, as well as a sweet deer took a quick peek at us as it munched on it's lunch.  The feral horses were everywhere, and as long as you didn't bother them, they didn't bother you.  The rangers warned us it was springtime and new foals were about, and parents were being protective, so give them space...they were known to bite and kick...so we did!  

The estate was massive in it's day, not only the mansion itself with over 50 rooms, but with a staff of over 300, they also needed housing.  As her nine children grew, they built houses on the property.  She had a pool, a "Recreation Building" that included a spa along with billiards, game tables, etc., a very large garden that would supply their food, cattle, sheep, etc. that would also supply that food source.  In other words, except for a few supplies, they were pretty self sustainable.  People came over by boat, were greeted by horse and buggy (later by car) and entertained elegantly, as only the Carnegie's could afford to do!

The last time Dungeness was used was for the 1929 wedding of a Carnegie daughter.  After the crash and the Great Depression, the family left the island and kept the mansion vacant.  It burned in a 1959 fire, believed to have been started by a poacher who had been shot in the leg by a caretaker weeks before. 

We are off to Brunswick Ga for the next four days...not that far, but many more adventures to seek out!  We will take a "day break" to relocate, and for Jack to rub the soreness out of his calves for more walking!  

If you are a glutton for all my pictures, you can see them on my Flickr account at:  https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...on the road in Georgia,  Marie

Family, Friends and Fun...

 One of the joys of traveling is the opportunity to stop and visit with family and friends along the way.  With our family so spread out, along with all of us being stuck at home for the past year of so, it’s been quite awhile since we’ve had the chance to visit anyone.  This trip is bringing us to a few people we haven’t been able to see in a very long (or ever) time!

Our first visit was to see my youngest grandchildren, in Texas.  At almost 4 and 7, I take every chance I can to see them, as they grow up so fast at that age and then as we all know, are off doing their own thing!  Those two boys are so full of energy and giggles it just warms my heart each time I see them!  We lucked out with the weather and even had a nice sunny, windy day and got to introduce the littlest one to “kite flying”.  He really did quite well too!  They have a rather large back yard, so can let loose and run and go with it quite a bit.  Sometimes just enjoying the simple things brings the biggest joys.  ;-)

After a week with them, we traveled on to Oklahoma where a couple of our friends from Happy Trails have their “other home”.  They hadn’t made it down to Arizona this past season and I really missed them, so we decided to come to them!  They have hook-ups in their driveway, which allowed us to park right there and stay a few days!  Terri and Don were such fantastic hosts, cooking us dinners, playing cards, going shopping and sightseeing.  We just had a ball, and almost hated to leave after our 3 day stay.  

Our next rendezvous was in Louisiana, where my Grandson and his family lives.  I have a new Great-Grandson that I hadn’t met yet and was anxious to meet, so had set up some time for all of us to get together over the weekend.  What a treat that was!  We all met over lunch first.   After all the hugs, I asked if I could hold him (he’s 9 months old).  He came right to me (you never know if a baby will take to you or not), he immediately put his little hands on my cheeks and gave me a big smile!  Well, THAT just melted my heart!  

After lunch we all went to the Shreveport Aquarium.  What fun, Ezra was just beside himself.  I put him next to the big tank and showed him the fish and he began to dance with joy!  He was just so cute to watch, so excited about all the colors and moving fish!  When we came to the tanks that you could reach in and touch the starfish or rays, he didn’t hesitate for a minute!  His little eyes took in everything.  I’m betting he went right to sleep on his way back home though, one tired little guy.  It was a to short a visit, but a wonderful one.

From Louisiana we traveled on to Georgia to see a dear friend I hadn’t seen in over 35 plus years!  Wayne was my “dancing partner” back in my “single days” in San Diego.  We danced together every Tuesday night at a club near where I lived.  He moved back to Georgia to help take care of his parents, and stayed.  A few years later, on a cross-country trip with a friend, we stopped and visited him, but that’s the last time I saw him.  We’ve stayed in contact though and remained friends, so when this opportunity came that we would be this close to where he lives, I wanted to see him (and dance!).  

Wayne is retired, but still works part time as a Columbus GA. Sheriff assigned to a Municipal Courtroom.  He was able to get one day off, but had to attend a class on the second day.  He met us the day we arrived and took us out to dinner and then dancing.  I haven’t been dancing (Jack doesn’t dance) in many, many, many years…but it all came right back!  It was just like old times!  We were the only ones on the dance floor, but we didn’t care.  Damn, it felt good!  We even got a few hoots and whistles!  He said several people were video taping us, so if you see us on UTube, let me know!  lol  He dances regularly and is very good.  One thing I’ve always enjoyed about him is that he is a great lead, and easy to follow.  

Our last night together he came and picked us up straight from work (still in uniform).  Drove us out to see where the law enforcement officers practice their shooting, then around town a bit and then changed clothes and then went to a great buffet dinner.  Afterward we searched for another place to dance, but alas, no luck.  Thursday nights just aren't "the night" for places to have live music, bummer.  All to soon, it was time for us to bid farewell.  I reminded him that he now owed me "two trips out my way" and now that his girls were older, and he was (kind of) retired, "no more excuses!"  He agreed. 

So much fun to have these kinds of visits along the way!  Now it's time to go see the "Gold Coast of Georgia"!  We will be visiting more family in July, but for the next six weeks or so, we are back to doing what we do best...seeing this beautiful country of ours!

...on the road in Georgia,  Marie

Guthrie Oklahoma, A historical place to see!

 One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to visit small historic towns.  The most fun day for me is one that has a sunny blue sky with mild warm temperatures, lots of historic buildings with great architecture that have been "recycled" into wonderful boutiques, antique shops, cafes, candy shops, and bakeries.  A small museum is an added bonus.  Not to crowded, but enough people that keeps the places operating and open. 

All that, was delivered to us in Guthrie Oklahoma.  We were visiting friends outside of Oklahoma City and my friend said, "I have just the place to take you that I know you will love!"  Boy, she was sooo right!  

Guthrie was established during the famous Land Rush of 1889.  Guthrie promptly became the capital of the Oklahoma Territory. When Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907, Guthrie became the first state capital, a role it held until 1910, when the seat of government moved to Oklahoma City.

You can tell that Guthrie has worked hard to keep their downtown buildings in good condition while not loosing their historical character.  They have done a remarkable job! 

 In spite of very few people out and about, many of the shops were open for business...and we did our best to appreciate that by buying our fare share of goodies to take home!  ;-)  Guthrie also has a wonderful little pharmacy museum, called Oklahoma Frontier Drug Store Museum.  I think they had just about every kind of bottle, box, ointment, pill, mixture, formula, tincture, mortar and pestle sets that any "old" pharmacy could have had in the day!  Wow, was there a lot of stuff in that small shop!  Some cute ads to read too! ;-)

Speaking of "ads", there were some nice old ads on the buildings too...

All in all, it was a great day!  It was "Cinco de Mayo", so, of course, we had to end it with a great Mexican Dinner at Senor Lopez's Mexican Grill!  Yum!  I didn't get any pictures there...but I got to keep the (large) cup that my Margarita came in!  hee hee

All to soon, our visit with our friends came to an end and we needed to bid them farewell, so now we are off and on our way to Louisiana!

...on the road in Louisiana,  Marie

If you want to see more of my pictures, check them out on my Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Oklahoma City...Visiting an old favorite!

Well we are back in one of our favorite cities, Oklahoma City!  There is always so much to see here, that we always find something new to go and find out about.  With a "list" in hand, we started out easy and headed out downtown to check out the area, see some art and then go celebrate my birthday at one of my most favorite restaurants, the Cattleman's Steakhouse (yum!).

First stop, an area they call "Plaza Walls".  Seems like more and more cities are getting into mural painting.  I guess they figured out that if you encourage the local artist, give them areas to paint, they won't graffiti your city in the areas you don't want them to!  Smart.  This area was mostly all down a back street, all along a fence and the opposite wall and then into a small eating area.  Like other places, some very good art, along with some quirky pieces.  One thing I noticed here in Oklahoma City, is a lot of murals done under bridges and along the over-under passes.  Some pieces here are HUGE too, taking up the side of whole apartment buildings...just amazing pieces.  

They also pay homage to their Route 66 strip, and have some historic pieces still left from "the day".  I couldn't pass that up!  So here are some nostalgic pictures of those!

Then it was dinner time!  The Cattleman's is always busy, but we got right in and Charles, our waiter treated us like royalty.  I always order the T Bone as I feel it has the most flavor.  Here, it's so tender you could cut it with a fork, and large enough for two nights (lucky me!).  Afterward, Charles "gifted" me with a generous slice of their signature coconut cream pie to take home!  (I'm still working on it!)

The next day we headed out first to the American Banjo Museum.  Wow, who knew there were so many different kinds of banjos?  The museum documents this colorful evolution, presenting every musical style and chapter associated with banjo history - from its roots in American slavery to its mainstream heyday of the Roaring 20s to its most recent voice in bluegrass, folk and world music.  As you entered, they had a delightful diorama with an old man and boy, with him showing the boy what a banjo was and how to play it, while sitting on the porch of a cabin. Very nice.  From there they had pictures with the history of the banjo then that led you into the displays of the banjos themselves.  The oldest being from the 1840s.  As time went on, they got fancier and fancier and "show" banjos really got fancier - wow!  Gold, with inlaid work on the back as well as up the neck and all around the edges - real works of art.  

Of course the had "famous" entertainers banjos donated too, like Steve Martin, Dolly Pardon, Roy Atkins, and of course Earl Scruggs...but did you know that little Shirley Temple played one too?  ;-) And Elvis?

Anyway, it was very entertaining and educational.  The museum collection contains more than 400 instruments, and its the largest collection of banjos on public display in the world.  They even had an area where you could handle a couple different styles and use a computer lesson to show you how to learn a few chords!  Pretty cool, I'd say!  One never knows, maybe there's a hidden banjo player deep inside, just waiting to come out!

Afterward, we drove over to the 99s Museum.  Now this one I was anxious to go see, as I had read a couple of books about these women.  The "99s" were formed back in 1929 by a group of women pilots.  There were 99 of them, hence the name.  It was at a time when they pretty much had to learn by the seat of their pants, against all the odds, with the worst of the planes, conditions, circumstances, (no) uniforms, etc. In spite of everything, they learned, flew and grew.  They showed the world that "a woman can do what a man can do!".  

The museum did a nice job of displaying artifacts from their heyday along with pictures of many of the original pilots from the group.  They really got noticed when they flew in what was referred to as "The Powder Puff Derby" - a cross country flight from Santa Monica CA to Cleveland Ohio. Nineteen started, and 15 finished 9 days later. It made history. No, Amelia Earhart was not the winner, a woman named Louise Thaden won. ;-)  It was after that race Amelia and others brought the group together to start the club.  

The museum also showcased women pilots through the years, all the way to today into space.  It sure would be a great place to take your daughters and granddaughters...show them the fortitude and possibilities are all around them!  Great place for inspiration!

The change in weather (Arizona's 85-90's to Texas' 65, rain & hail), gave me the gift of a cold.  Not to bad of one, but enough that I don't want to make it worse or pass it along to others, so I have been hunkering down in the RV for the last couple of days.  Tomorrow we move over to a sweet friend's home here in the city and visit with her for another few days before heading on to Louisiana.  Who know what we will get ourselves into!  ;-)  

...kicking back in Oklahoma,  Marie

If you want to see more of my pictures, check them out on my Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

San Angelo...A small town with a big heART!

Every time we “travel” we drive through the big state of Texas.  Mostly because one of my son’s lives there, but also, it’s hard NOT to!  So - I try to route us so that we see different parts of Texas each trip (or as much as possible).  It takes us two days of “one-night stops” then I like to try and take a break and find us a place to stay for at least 2-3 days.  After traveling here for over 8+ years, this has become more and more of a challenge! ;-). Well, doing some scouting, I found that if we got off of I-40 and went over on 158 to a small town called San Angelo, they had a nice state park with a lake, an old historic fort, a nice town with murals and art to view…all sounded great for a couple of days!  So, I booked us for 3 nights.

We arrived at 4 PM and pulled into a nice big roomy spot by the lake and took a walk to stretch our legs after our long drive.  As with most state parks, all the sites were long, level, with lots of room and far apart from the others.  As we ate our dinner that night we watched about a dozen deer outside, enjoying theirs too!  Later, Texas gave us a lovely sunset to end the evening…

The following day we started off at the Visitor’s Center where they loaded us up with maps and information of all the incredible art and fun places to see here.  San Angelo used to be the wool capitol of the world up until 2011 when the drought forced the a decline in Texas sheep.  The area used to produce more than one million pounds of wool a year.  So when they decided to do a promotional fundraising, a fiberglass sheep was a natural selection!  Now they have 100 painted sheep spread out around town!  I had fun taking just a few pictures…



Artists thrive in this town…their talent is everywhere!  One form I admire is murals.  I don’t think muralists get enough credit.  The ability to paint on such a large scale, outdoors, on various surfaces, in all kinds of weather and still produce the detail they do is incredible.  The murals I was able to view in San Angelo were no exception - absolutely beautiful.

No “graffiti” here!  They support art by supplying areas for their artists, calling it “Art in Unusual Places”.  It was so fun, almost everywhere you turned, you found something!  Under a bridge, we found a mosaic VW Bug, Truck and Chair!

Then, there was “Paintbrush Alley” where a whole long alley had paintings, many dedicated to the movie “Giant”, but walls, dumpsters, doors, posters, etc were all painted - large and small works of art!

Then, elsewhere in town was another old empty store, turned into a “Pop Art Museum” with more funky, fun art of all kinds, including painting the tree trunks growing there!  So cool.

100 pictures later…we called it a day, phew!

The following day we started out with a visit to Fort Concho National Historical Monument.  They built the fort from local limestone rock, so it has lasted well all these years.  They had over 400 Calvary and enlisted solders including a troop of Buffalo Solders during it’s operation.  The fort was active from 1867-1889.
 

In one of the buildings a telephone museum was set up called E.H. Danner Museum of Telephony.
Wow, what an amazing collection!  They even had one of only 2  Gallows Frame models still known to be in existence of the original five invented by Alexander Graham Bell.  So many types of phones I’d never seen before, and many from other countries - like a really cool “dual-party line” wall mount from Taiwan.  They included switchboards, teletypes, a telephone pole and lineman equipment, and even a nice wooden telephone booth.  They even had a switchboard like I used to use “back in the day” ;-).  What a great stop that was!

 Another little surprise was the International Water Lily Collection.  Several ponds of various water lilies from all over the world - here in San Angelo Texas!  Many were not in bloom yet, but some were, so, of course I took pictures!  ;-)

Our last stop of the day was at a delightful sculpture that the lady at the Visitor’s Center told me about, called “Lady in Blue”.  The story goes like this...a young cloistered nun in the village of Agreda, Spain reportedly lapsed into deep trances while in prayer and described visits to the New World, where she taught the natives.  She told visitors she made more than 500 spiritual visits to the New World, though she in fact never left her monastery in Agreda, during her lifetime.  In 1629 twelve Jumano Indian capitanes arrived at Isleta, NM carrying a cross covered in wildflowers requesting to be baptized.  Jumanos claimed their knowledge of the Catholic faith was taught to them by a beautiful young lady wearing a brilliant blue cape.  Spanish priests arrived at the Concho River confluence area at present day San Angelo.  Over 2,000 Jumanos were baptized in the first weeks.

For such a small town (only 93,000) it sure packed big surprises!  Just goes to show you…there is always wonderful adventures still around every corner!

…on the road in Texas,  Marie 

If you would like to see the rest of my pictures, just go to   https://flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Spring Fever...

It's almost the end of March and I'm itching to get on the road and GO!  It's been way to long since we've really "hit the road" for our cross-country trips!   I'm both anxious and nervous about this year's trip.  Having enjoyed so many wonderful years of easy travel, making reservations as we go, changing directions on a whim, staying longer when we wanted to, etc.  Now, I've been reading all kinds of articles about how all that's not possible any longer.  That campgrounds are crowded, reservations are tough to get, cost more, no longer flexible, that the "easy care-free style" is not longer out there.  Wow.  I've made two reservations so far.  One for over the 4th of July because we already know where we are going to be that weekend (wedding plans) and it's a holiday, and the other the first weekend we are traveling.  Both were pretty easy.  We had to take our second choice park for the July date, but that was OK, at least we got it.  I have no idea where we will be over Labor Day, so can't do anything about that!  If things go bad, we may end up early in Washington with family, so it won't be an issue!  ;-)  I just can't worry about it right now...

We did do one FUN THING before heading out the door though!  We were "drivers" for Mecum Car Auctions in Glendale AZ for three days!  What an experience!  They had about 900+ cars of all types and all years, from the early 1900's to brand new, from motorcycles to tractors, to Rolls Royce's!  Our job varied from driving the cars from one lot to another to just driving it to the staging area to driving them over the auction block then off to the sold lot again.  Some of the cars went vroom vroom, some sputtered, some smoked, some died on you and needed to be towed and some just hummed...all were different and all were an experience!  We got to talk to some of the owners, some of the buyers and some very interesting people too!  It all made for a very fun three days...and tiring too.  Each day started at 8:45a.m. and ended sometimes 6:00 p.m., and sometimes 8:15 p.m. 

I learned more and drove more different cars in those three days than I have in my whole life, and am ready to do it again next year!  It was a fun way to end our "Covid seclusion".  

Now it's time to start packing, and tucking things away, making lists and checking them twice!  It is just a couple of weeks and we will be off for this year's adventure...yea!  First "big stop" - Texas!  So, until then...

Marie

2020 The year that went nowhere...

The last blog of the year is always my "year in review"...but wow, not much to "review" this year!  2020 was the year that went nowhere...thanks COVID!  It was also the year that we really experienced being truly Arizonians!  Living through the "historic hottest summer" Arizona ever had, qualified us, I'd say!  

We started out, as we usually do, in January, with great plans to travel up the eastern coastline, with extended visits to the Georgian Gold Coast Islands (something I've wanted to do for years). I was so excited to finally make this trip...

Things continued "as normal" at home.  Our show in the Resort went on as usual, and was a great success and a whole lot of fun.  

Then... news started coming in about this "virus" coming in from China, so we did a "wait and see".  As March turned into April and then May, it started to look like our trip wasn't going to happen at all.  A few of us (6) started to get together for morning coffee & treats, rotating between each other's homes, trying to keep ourselves company while the rest of the Resort buttoned up.  

As the months started passing along, Jack and I got busy working on "home projects", as it was pretty evident that we weren't going anywhere (far) this year.  COVID was here to stay, at least for the better part of the year, it seemed.  News that campgrounds, restaurants, public places like museums, etc. were all closing made travel hopeless.  Some whole states were even closed to "outsiders"!  So, we broke out the paint and wood, and whatever and got creative as best we could.  Turned the air conditioner on full-blast and worked inside during the heat of the day and only came out during the early morning or late afternoon.

By July though, I was getting "stir-crazy" and needed to get away!  So, we booked a week at our Time Share in Sedona AZ.  It was an easy drive and somewhere we've been to before so no need to feel like we had to play tourist.  Enough of a difference to give us a break, swim in a different pool, eat in a different restaurant, etc.  It worked.  

The following week we were able to book 5 days in a campground in Payson AZ, about 4 hours from here.  It hadn't been easy to find any availability around here as just about everybody from the valley was camping in the mountains!  Many own or reserve spots a year in advance because of the summer heat here.  We were lucky to get the 5 days!  

Finally, in August, with diligence, I was able to get another reservation in Flagstaff as well.  Our friends joined us too, which made it even more enjoyable.  We only planned on the one week, but after spending the week, I went to the host and begged her to see if there was any way at all she could find us a spot for another week....and she did!  Yea!  The trees, the peace, the pure loveliness was wonderful.  I had to really stretch our food supply as we hadn't planned on being there that long and hadn't even brought the toad, but there was a little cafe across the street that we ran to for a couple of extra meals ;-)

By mid September I was ready for another break though, so we headed to California to another Time Share room in Dana Point for a week.  A couple of friends joined us for the weekend, which was super nice and then later in the week my nieces and family joined us for dinner one night making our trip that much more special.  The Time Share hosts treated us to a really nice dinner one night too, so all in all it was a great trip.  

After we got back, a few days later, my niece and nephew from Washington came for a quick 2 day visit (they had been visiting Sedona).  It was fun showing them all around our Resort on my new golf cart and then going out to dinner.  I had to laugh at how my nephew complained at how "hot" it was...and it was only around 90!  I just told him he was a wimp....should have come a month ago when it was in the triple digits!! 

In October, we finally got to go "real camping"!  I say "real" because it took more that a couple of hours to get to our destination!  Our RV Club had planned a group camping trip months and months ago to Lone Pine CA.  Originally, 23 rigs were scheduled to go...because of COVID and then the CA fires, only 3 rigs ended up going.  Sad.  BUT, we all had a GREAT time!!  In some ways, maybe a better time than we (I) would have had if everyone would have made it...who knows?

November, our Resort tried to bring back some normalcy...as much as they could.  We held an Arts and Crafts Fair (for residents only) of which I decided to participate, not that I sold much, but it was fun to get out a bit and mingle.  

December, the RV Club had it's winter campout at the Lost Dutchman Campground in AZ.  Once again, it originally had about 23 rigs signed up, but this time we did have 11 rigs come.  Beautiful campground with a great view of the Superstition Mountain.  Nice campfires, with good company and fun outings.  A great way to end the year.  

Although we didn't camp much, or even travel much, it wasn't a bad year, just a different one.  We are lucky, we have our health, a good warm roof over our head, food on our table and our bills are paid.  I pray that the coming year will be better for all of us, that this awful virus will be knocked out and that life as we knew it will go back to some sort of "normal" for all of us.  As I write this, I, once again am planning on that "eastern coastline trip"...as I am, and will always be, an optimist!  

To you, my fellow travelers and friends, stay safe, and hopefully, we shall see you once again on the road!

...kicking back in Arizona, Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos