RV campgrounds

Monster machine

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This thing was LOUD when in operation!

A couple of years ago Sher and I were visiting our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the Austin area.  We found an RV park  reasonably close to the family’s home. This campground was at the time in a major expansion project.

The pictured trench digging machine was in use during working hours. The dolomitic rock was not exceptionally hard, so no jack hammering was required, but this trenching machine really was loud and shook the ground if you were within about 40 feet or so. I did enjoy watching this machine operate.

Pricey but worth it

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Our site was about a 3 minute walk from the bus stop

Did you know that Orlando’s Disney World has a great RV and tent campground? Called Fort Wilderness, it offers a first class facility for an RV Disney experience. The RV sites are full hookup, paved and most have room for an RV and a tent. Rules allow up to ten people per site, so a great family vacation is possible. The campground is quite large, but shuttle busses run to the bus station that goes to all the Disney Parks, or to Bay Lake where you can catch a boat ride to one of the theme parks.

This boat runs the same times as the buses, and goes from Ft. Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom about every 15 minutes

Keep in mind that the sites at Fort Wilderness are pricey, to say the least. Most are well north of $120 per night. However it is a great way to “do Disney”. Walk to the shuttle, go to the bus station or Bay Lake for a ride to one of the parks. A while ago we had a nice family get together at Disney World. Sher and I stayed at the RV park, and our kids and their families were in the other hotels. Sher and I really enjoyed our vacation there. We loved taking the boat rides and sharing time with family.

Want to visit NOLA again

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We’re 15 days away from our second dose of the COPVID-19 vaccine. Shortly after that it should kick in and offer us a measure of protection from the virus.

Bourbon Street in New Orleans, known for music, food and revelry. Note the famed balcony iron work in the background

Red beans and rice with smoked sausage

The band at Bamboula’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are standing in front of the tomb of Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo Queen. This is reportedly the most visited tomb in New Orleans.

We are not sure exactly when we’ll decide to travel again. But one place we do want to visit again is New Orleans. Sher and I both so enjoyed our last visit there back in 2018. We loved the food, the music and the atmosphere of this exciting  place. There is so much to see and do in NOLA.  It will definitely be on an upcoming itinerary  of ours.

A clever sign

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This old wagon has a very appropriate and humorous sign attached. This is at the La Hacienda RV Resort near Lake Travis in the Hill Country out side of Austin. We wintered there prior to the pandemic.

The Falls in color

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After sunset the Canadian Falls, sometime called Horseshoe Falls due to its curved shape, become a display in color. Bright lights from the Canadian side of the river provide the spectacular effects.

We had a great time on a trip to Niagara Falls with one of our granddaughters in October 2019. If you ever go to see The Falls, we strongly suggest that you take a Grey Line Tour. They’ll pick you up at your hotel, or in our case our RV park. No problem with waiting lines for the Maid of the Mist or any of the other attractions on the tour. You don’t need to be on a honeymoon to enjoy Niagara Falls.

A whale of a sight

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This life size statue of an Orca killer whale is in the entrance way to the Tulalip Casino off of I-5 north of Seattle.  We have been patrons of the casino several times when we traveled to the Seattle area to visit family.  When we were last there you could park your motorhome for 3 days in the designated RV lot. No services, but a patrolled and safe place to stay.

It seems that there is a brand new, additional casino on the same property. There was a Grand Opening  February 3rd. It is listed as being twice as large as the first casino. We will definitely check it out the next time we travel to the Pacific Northwest.

 

What’s in that rock?

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As we normally do, Sher and I were outside on the stone pad sitting and enjoying the end of the day in an RV park in central Ohio. My undergraduate major was in geology, and I always look at rocks, be it outcrops along side a highway, distant mountain ranges, or in this case, the rocks on which our RV was parked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love finding fossils, and low and behold there on the ground at my feet I spotted some nice fossil crinoid stems in the 2 to 4 inch sized rocks.  OK, you say, what in the heck are crinoids? Reader’s digest version: Crinoids first showed up about 500 million years ago and some 600 species are still around today. The drawing show how one looked living in shallow seas.  The fossils in the rock are pieces of the stalk.

An up close and personal meeting

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At an RV Park in central Florida we met the local resident Sandhill crane.

This crane obviously owned the park, as we saw him walking down the center of roads and blatantly ignoring the accepted RV park protocol of not walking through another camper’s site. I was only about 3 feet from him for the close up head shot.

A beautiful finish to the day

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Sometimes you just want to share a picture

We were camping at the Kaiser Lake State Park in Ohio with family a couple of summers ago.  The sunset was stunning over the calm waters of the lake. These two kayakers could not have ordered a better evening for a trip on the lake.

Hot dang we got our appointments

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The local noon news announced that Indiana health officials today dropped the age for seniors to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine from 70 to 65. We immediately got online to the State Health Department website and started the registration process. Within about 45 minutes Sher and I both had confirmed appointments back to back two weeks from today, on February 15th at our local Health Department Office.

Won’t be too long before we’ll be able to be back in the rig on the road again.

We’ve been really stewing over when we would be able to get the vaccine. We’ve even looked for states where we might be able to get the vaccine without having residency in that state. Fortunately we can stop that search now. What we have now is the chance to let loose with a sigh of relief and have a timeline in sight for future travel plans.