Mana from Pennsyvania

We have landed at Twin Groave KOA near one of the many Pine Grove, PA, communities. Apparently, there are approximately 8 Pine Groves in different counties in PA. We're at the one off Suedeburg Rd. A very nice family park and a destination point in its own right. A small amusement park, live music on te weekends and plenty other ammenities make this a park of choice. Make reservations though, its a busy place. We used this as a home base to visit Hershey about 30 miles south, but there were some intereting places in and around here as well.

Mostly beautiful mountain surroundings. The nearby town of Pine Grove is like something out of a picture book, very nice.


One thing we were in the area for was a concert held at the Hershey Park Arena: Def Leppard, Styx, and Forgiener. As a Styx fan that was the band I was here to see and I thought they got ripped having to play in front of Forgiener (only my opinion). Christa was here to see the main act; Def Leppard and I have to admit, as usual they put on quite a show. Here are some pics (taken with a compact digital from a long way away, so don't hammer me here).

The following day (once we got up from being out late) Mom, Christa and I came to the Hershey Park proper. What a place; amusement park, sports arena, concert venue, chocolate factory mock-ups, trolley tours of the nearby town and more. To much for one short day. This is definately a destination stop that could use up a week easy just to do and see everything. We took a ride on the Chocolate Tour (Free) which gives you a look into a mock factory that explains the candy making process in a fun way.

Afterwards was the customary shopping trip through the gift shop completed our day at the park (no amusement rides today). We feel we have to support our capitolistic lifestyle and then have beans for dinner.

After the park tour we took a drive through the town of Hershey and went through the Hershey Gardens. The town is beautiful and a great reflection upon th efolks that live in the area. Note the Hershey Kiss street lights.

The garden is another beautiful spot (and quiet, too). Here are some pictures of that place.

Tomorrow will see us on the road again heading towards Nova Scotia. We are moving our trip schedule a little and heading straight for Cape Breton and Ted and Jan. This means that the next week will be a fairly quick pace (for motorhomes). So there might be a few days till the next update, but stay tuned I'll work to you fresh.

A Layover in Richmond

Having left Savannah behind, our next port call is Richmond, VA. This is a particularly good stop for me as one of my oldest shipmates and his extended family live here. We pulled in to the Americamp RV park just north of Richmond off of I-95. A nice camp, we were able to get a site where our dish could pick up a signal and allow me to update the blog

Our first night allowed us to meet up with my shipmate's dad (Bob Sr.). We had not seen each other in over thirty years, man how time flies. We shared dinner at the Smokey Pig BBQ restaraunt. A really great evening catching up with him and his wife Betsy. Bob Sr., Bob and the rest of their family played a key role in my life in the '70s and will always have a place in the heart.

The next day, we just sort of drove around the historical district of Richmond, visiting the local grower's market, and lunching at Copola's Deli, reportedly one of the best eateries in Richmond. I would have to say that they lived up to the press, we had a tremendous lunch.

Later that evening we met my old shipmate (Bob), his wife Ruth and their son Elliot for supper and some catching up on old times. I always enjoy hooking up with my old friends and that is doubly so for Bob and family. During the meal (Mexican at the El Paso restaraunt, very good), Ruth suggested that we check out the Lewis Ginty Botanical Gardens which we took to heart.

The following day we took Ruth's advice and made our way to the Gardens and this turned out to be a terrific way to spend the day. The Gardens are beautiful and I recommend a visit to this extraordinary place.

That evening we arrived at Bob and Ruth's for supper, Bob was cooking. A perfect evening just enjoyning the company of really good friends. Ruth's mom joined us and it felt kinda like a little family reunion. I feel lucky in the friends I have because even though our visits are often separated by great lengths of time, we are able to pick up like we had visited just the other day.

The evening waned and the time came for us to have to leave. As always, the visit was too short, but I know I'll see them again. Tomorrow we are back on the road heading Pine Grove, PA. See y'all down the road.

PS

My Daughter-in-law (Sam) sent us a picture of my grandson (you didn't think I was going to take you on this trip without showing you updates on the greatest grandson ever). Thanks to Sam's thoughtfulness (and modern technology) we are able to keep up with his development. Here is a great photo.

What a cute guy. Look at the new chompers, he's got that Spongebob look going on.

Savannah Revisited

We're on the road again, currently at a KOA near Fayetteville, NC. Our next destination will be near Richmond, VA, but only for a couple days due to a reservation and concert tickets in Hershey, PA. The last week, we were camping at Skidaway State Park near Savannah, GA. We were camped in the trees meaning no internet or Sat TV, so this entry will be a catch up.

The photos above show the campsite. As seems to be the norm for this trip, the rains chased us into the park and stayed for 2 days. However, the skies cleared and we did have a couple good days, thought the sun came out with a vengence.




Savannah is one of our favorite cities having fine dining, museums, historical significance, and ghosts. What more can you ask. In particular, I love the way this city is layed out and houses and structures with great architectural touches. Easy to get around in and fun to look at. And the food, if you can't find something great to your liking, then you have dead taste buds and should see a doc. The pictures above depict River st, a dining moment at the Shrimp Factory restaurant, the Market (artsy stuff and more great places to eat), and a shot of Broughton St taken from a trolley.




Any of you who have followed my past entries know hat I have a fondness for kayaking. I availed myself of the waters surrounding the State park and enjoyed a good day in the sloughs. Of course my kayak adventure has to include an identifying foot shot to authenticate the journey. A nice paddle revealing many birds and lots of fiddler crabs on the banks. And added surprise was that I encountered dolphins out on the main river course. No pictures as they were plying the banks for dinner and made for a hard catch by the camera. Hot and steamy, the paddle was great anyway.




Oh, and I did mention interesting houses and historical places. For Christa this meant a visit to the Mercer/Williams house where the infamous murder that spawned the book and movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. No pictures were allowed in the house, so the top left pic of the front of the house (with Christa) is a solo shot. We also took a trip to Tybee Island to look at points of interest. There are beaches of course, but the top right photo of a house really caught my attention. Beautiful. We also visited Fort Polaski, a significant confederate fortress that was eventually captured and converted to a prison. I really liked this site as there was a lot of martial science on display. A site well worth visiting with more than I am posting here.

Tomorrow we depart to continue our trek to the north. See you on the road.

A Thomasville Visit

Below are a few pictures of the Sugarmill Plantation RV park. A very fine park if you are considering the area for a visit. Prices are reasonable and sites are nice and shady.

Whenever we come here this is the place we stay. I like site 4 as it allows for good reception of our motosat dish.

While visiting Thomasville we have to visit friends and family. Curt and Audrey are always a good visit and are fellow SMART members as well. It's always good to catch up on the happenings in our friends lives.

Mrs. Canada, a long time neighbor of Christa's family, is another must stop. A grand lady, she is still full of spirit and and all the local news.

We also stopped in to see Christa's Uncle Curt and family and my friend Jim. We also come back here regularly to maintenence Christa's family memorials.

Tomorrow we will be back on the road and headed for Savannah. Looking forward to that as the city is one of my favorites for sights and (of course) dining. I also hope to get in some Kayaking down around Skidaway Island State park.

On a new adventure

Alright, the long awaited return to road adventures (well, long awaited by me anyway). After having spent the last year or so working on the new house, we are at a point that we can take some time for traveling once again. Having left home at the end of July we have set our sites on the distant location of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in Canada. There we hope to join up with our friends Ted and Jan who are already at camp there. Along the way we will stop to see other friends and see new places of interest. I'll try to keep the journal as up to date as possible, but a lot will be catch-up when we have a long enough stop to bring the blog up to speed. You are invited to follow along and provide us with pointers if you see us headed toward a particular point of interest. Also, we will be keeping our location posted via the Datastorm map, you can see that by hitting the "Our Location" link provided.

Our first stop was Kinder, LA, to enjoy one of our favorites, the Coushata Casino and a stay at the Red Shoes RV Resort. A truly grand RV resort. Mom and Christa love the area because they don't have to depend on me to shuttle them all over the place as the casino provides that service. I didn't take pictures this time as we have pretty much "been there, done that" in the photo department in the past.

We were supposed to stop in and see our friends Roger and Jeanne near Houston, TX. But, weather problems delayed our departure right up to our reservation at Red Shoes. Not to worry, they're on our regular migration route and we'll be seeing them soon again.




Our next stop is Biloxi, MS. We stayed at the Keesler AFB FamCamp. This is to be my new favorite camp site. Many improvements are in the works making this a very nice place to stop over provided you have access to the this military rec area. The top row of pictures above are of the entrance and campsite of the famcamp. Weather kept me from going kayaking in the nearby boat ramp on the lake to the immediate north of the Camp.

Weather has been a factor for the whole trip so far, the heaviest was seen in Baton Rouge, La, where the rain came down in bucket fulls. A few wrecks resulted in slow driving for the first part of this trip. The rain has chased us all the way into Biloxi, but we did have a little time for the casinos which have opened once again. While much has been done to bring Biloxi back on line, there was still evidence of Katrina in abundance. The hardest part was to see that many of the old homes that used to line US 90 between Biloxi and Gulfport are probably gone forever and are being replace with newer homes that do not have the same archetectural elegance. More concerning is the rising number of condos and casinos in their stead. The Mississippi coast is on the way to a new era, and this is just the way it is, but the coast line will not be like it was before.
Having spent a couple days in Biloxi, we packed up and moved on. Our next stay was Eagles Landin RV Near Crestview, FL. We must apologize to Lamar and Diane as I left without getting phone and email from my desktop, the result was the inability to call to arrange for a short visit. Sorry guys. The park we stayed at, Eagles Landing, was a new one for us and was a very nice surprise. Clean and built with big rigs in mind (as well as smaller ones) we found a park easy to get in, clean, and secure feeling.

We stayed here the one night, but due to its being close to the Blackwater River State Park, we will probably make this a regular stop. The state park is a great source for hiking, kayaking and other outdoor activities.

After leaving Eagles Landing, we headed for Thomasville, GA, and Sugarmill Plantation RV Park. This used to be our home away from home when we lived here a few years back. The park is under new ownership and some improvements have been made to an already nice place to stay. While here we will see a lot of old friends including, Curt and Audrey, and members of Christa's family. I will also take the opportunity to clean up the rig anticipating better weather ahead. We plan to be here for a week before heading off to Savannah, one of our favorite cities.

Welcome aboard the Goofenhowzen Express once again, hope you enjoy the ride.

New photos of the house as of 7/2007.

Exterior from the garage side.

Front shot, yeah, still working on the grass.

Shot across living room into kitchen.

Across the kitchen.

From the Kitchen to the livingroom.

For those of you who used to keep up with the blog because of the travels, check in periodically as you should start seeing some pics from around the country again. Now that we have the house under a bit of control we will be out into the wide world again.