Southwick Beach State Park - Sept.

Mon. 9/9/13  We left for Southwick Beach State Park around 11:00AM.  We stopped at the rest stop near Eastview  Mall to hook up the Tucson.  We stopped at the Waterloo Thruway exit at the Petro to fill up with gas and get a Subway sandwich, for lunch which we ate in the RV while traveling.  We arrived at Southwick around 2:30.  We are on Site 9.  We set up and sat outside in the sun reading and napping till supper time.  We ate then walked the garbage down to the concession stand.  We walked out to the point and met a couple who camp only once a year and they rent the RV from a place in Adams, NY and the place drives the camper over and sets it up for them and they arrive and enjoy their 2 weeks; then they leave and the vendor comes back over and removes the RV.  When we got back to the RV, we set  up our fire and enjoyed it till 10 PM.  Tues. 9/10/13  we got up to rain and thunder.  By the time we had breakfast and cleaned up, the sun was out so we took a walk on the beach.  Down the beach people over the summer had tried to build a tee-pee out of driftwood, and further down someone had built a leanto out of driftwood.  After lunch we went down to the beach and sat with Janet and Claude all afternoon.  Mike went into the water twice, I just got my feet wet.  We came back up for supper then we had a fire and Janet and Claude and Bob and Diane joined us. It was very warm in the RV so Mike got out the battery operated fan and set it up so we would be comfortable sleeping that night.  Wed. 9/11/13 we were up early because we did not sleep very well because it was a very warm night. Mike went up to take a shower and all he had was hot water so when he got back he ate breakfast outside where there was a nice breeze.  The Heinzmans arrived around 11 AM.  We sat in the shade at the end of the RV and talked.  It was a gorgeous day and very warm out.  We finally got our suits on and went down to the beach.  We all went into the water; it was that warm out.  Around 1:30 PM we all went back up to the RV and had lunch then we went back down and spent the rest of the afternoon down at the beach.  We came up around 5:00 and played cards.  We had supper and we were going to have a fire but it started to rain so they decided to head for home.  The rain stopped so we just sat outside because there was a nice breeze to keep us cool.  Thurs. 9/12/13 we got up to a very gray day.  Bob and Mary Fenton arrived around 10:30.  We spent the day inside playing cards because it was raining off and on all morning.  After lunch it wasn't raining, so we took a walk down the beach. We played more cards then around 4 we drove to Sandy Pond Steak House and had dinner.  After dinner Bob and Mary left for home and we came back to the RV and saw a gorgeous sunset.  Janet and Claude had invited us down to their RV for a fire, so we went. It started to sprinkle but we sat there anyways and it stopped and the clouds went away and we had a 1/2 moon and it was a very nice night. Friday 9/13/13 we said good-bye to Janet and Claude as they were going home for a week.  We then drove to Aunt Ethel's and spent the day with her and Jim.  On the way home, we stopped at a Restaurant just before getting on Rt. 81 and had dinner.  It was cold and windy outside when we got back to the RV, so we decided not to have a fire and we spent the evening playing cards and reading.  Sat. 9/14/13 we slept in and had a late breakfast. We took a long walk down the beach then came back and I sat outside reading and Mike took a nap.  It got cold outside so I came in and we played cards. After supper we built a fire and sat around it till around 9 PM, then went in and played cards then went to bed. Sun. 9/15/13  I took a walk after breakfast and on the beach there were 4 people, one wind-surfer and 2 tried to kite board and the other person paddle boarded.  I watched them for a while.  In the afternoon Mike went to a bar and watched the Buffalo Bill's football game.  I started a fire and read all afternoon.  When Mike got back, the Bill's had won, we went out to dinner at Cooper's Landing.  When we got back it was raining so we read and worked on the computer all night. When we went to bed the wind came up and it really blew all night long, rained too. Mon. 9/16/13 we got up and it was 55 degrees out.  We read all morning.  In the afternoon I rode my bike all over the campground.  When I got back the sun was out so I read outside.  I started a fire.  We ate supper and sat around the fire for a while, but it was getting colder and colder.  We went inside and the temp was 48 degrees.  We played cards then went to bed.  The low got to 35 degrees outside and 41 degrees inside, brrrrr.  Tues. 9/17/13  When we got up it was very cold.  We got out our electric heater and while the generator was going, we had the heater going.  We spent the morning getting ready to leave the next day.  I cleaned and Mike put things away outside.  After lunch we went down to the beach, our last day.  It was gorgeous but chilly;  I wore jeans and fleece and Mike was in a bathing suit but he did not go into the water that day.  We had cocktails down there and didn't come up to RV till after 6 PM.  We had supper and then our last campfire.  Wed. 9/18/13  we got up around 9:00 and ate breakfast, then got ready to go home.  We arrived at home around 4 PM.  We were supposed to stay till Thurs., but it was so cold, we decided to come home a day early.

Southwick Beach State Park with the RI Grandchildren

Wednesday 7/24/13  Rylie, Avery and Mike and I left for Southwick Beach State Park around 11AM.  The girls had seat belts on, on the couch behind my seat.  We ate lunch while moving down the road; I had made sandwiches at home.  The girls thought that was neat.  We got to our campsite, #93, up in electric area.  The girls stayed in the RV until Grandpa had positioned the RV on our site.  Then they helped set up everything. It was sunny out but only in the 60's and very windy.  We drove the girls down to the beach.  Mike let us off at the end of the beach camping and we walked back to the playground.  The girls really liked the beach. Grandpa parked the car in the public beach parking lot and met us at the playground.  They played for a while then we went back to our campsite and started supper.  We ate outside but we were in the sun and it got quite hot so we set up little tables in the shade of the tree and ate there.  We drove down to The Trolley and got ice cream.  We had a campfire and  made smores.  Thurs. 7/25/13 Katie and the kids arrived and we went to the playground near our campsite.  We ate lunch then we drove to the beach.  The kids had a blast in and out of the water and building sandcastles. We were there from 1 till 4:30.   We came back to RV and got into our clothes and drove back down to the beach playground.  Came home and had supper, Mike and Katie moved the picnic table to the shade of the tree.  After supper we drove to The Trolley and had ice cream.  We had a campfire and made smores.  Katie and the kids left for home around 9PM.  I was up with Rylie till 3AM because her hands and arms itched and burned.  Friday 7/26/13 we got up and had breakfast then started putting everything away and got ready to leave for home. We left at noon and got home around 2:15.  The girls said they had a great time camping in our RV.

Avery and Rylie at the playground

Avery and Rylie at the playground

Eating dinner in the sun

Grandpa and the girls eating ice cream at The Trolley

Rylie and her sandcastle

Avery and her sandcastle

Avery, Rylie, Witney, Will laying in the sun at the beach

Grandma and Grandpa and Rylie and Avery at the beach

Southwick Beach State Park - June

Mon. 6/3/13  I could not get water to go into the house water tank so we just filled our 6 OJ bottles and 3 jugs. We left home around 11:15 and stopped and hooked on the Tucson at the rest stop near Eastview Mall.  We stopped at the Waterloo Exit at Petro and filled up with gas and got Subway sandwiches to eat on the road.  We had to go to Exit 41 on Rt. 81 because they were working on the bridge at Exit 40. We got off at 41 in Adams and drove over to Rt. 3 and drove south till we got to Southwick Beach.  We were at our beach site 10.  We set up, we had to use bottle water all 2 weeks, then sat outside in the sun and read.  It was very windy.  We saw Janet and Claude.  We ate inside then took a walk on the beach, collected a lot of drift wood.  We played cards.  Very chilly, 50 degrees.  The wind blew hard all night.  Tues. 6/4/13 Got up to 55 degrees outside.  After breakfast we drove out of the park and bought firewood then went over to Rt. 81 and went to Exit 39 to write down directions on how to get off here and then get to Southwick for our company.  We did some work both inside and outside RV.  Then we sat outside because it was sunny but cool and read and napped.  We had supper and I rode my bike up to garbage and then around the park.  When I got back we went to Janet and Claude's to have a fire.  Bob and Diane came too.  We came home around 10 and went to bed.  Wed. 6/5/13 I decided to put the water jug with a spout next to the bathroom sink so it would be easier to bush our teeth with the running water from the spout.  The weather was very cloudy but 75 degrees.  Gordon and Peggy Heinzman arrived around 11:30.  We played cards, ate lunch, went for a walk on the beach then came back and played more cards.  We had supper then sat outside around the fire.  They left around 9:30.  We came in and read.  Thurs. 6/6/13   We woke up to rain.  We had breakfast, did dishes, took showers then read, or worked on computers.  We had lunch, I watched a movie on my portable DVD player, Mike took a nap.  We read the rest of the afternoon cause it was still raining.  We ate supper then played cards, read.  Fri. 6/7/13  we spent most of the day at Aunt Ethel's.  Joan and Sonny were there too.  We left when Katie called that they were just getting on Rt. 81.  We got back to the RV just after Katie and family arrived.  The kids wanted to go to the beach so they got into their suits, so did Bill and Mike.  The four of them went into the very cold water for all of 10 sec. then we took Witney and came back up to the RV and got her dressed.  The boys came up a few seconds later.  We had to eat dinner inside because it was starting to rain.  We played games with the kids, they went to bed and the adults played cards.  Sat. 6/8/13 we woke up to a gray and cold day. We played games with the kids after breakfast then we went to Watertown.  Katie found a bounce house in Watertown on her phone so we went there then went out to lunch.  We got back to RV around 3:30.  We all went on a walk to the beach.  We collected drift wood and walked over the first walkover.  When we got back Bill and Will made the fire. We had supper then had smores for dessert.  We sat around the fire then the kids went to bed and we stayed outside at the fire, then finally went in and played cards.  Sun. 6/9/13 we woke up to sun.  We had breakfast, did dishes, then went up to the head of the nature trail and walked it back to the beach.  Katie and Bill put Will and Witney in the bike buggy and went for a bike ride.  We ate lunch and all went down to the beach.  We made dribble castles and everyone went into water except me; too cold.  We came back up to the RV.  Katie and Bill took the kids up to elect. loop and gave them a hot shower.  We had supper and ate outside in the hot sun.  They left for home after supper.  We had a fire and invited Janet and Claude to it.  We sat out there until about 10.  Mon. 6/10/13 we woke up to another gray day. It started to rain in the afternoon so we just read and played cards.  Tues. 6/11/13 we woke up to more rain.  We spent the morning playing cards.  We left for Watertown to see the movie, Star Trek: the Dark Night.  We went to Red Lobster for dinner.  Then we went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping.  We got back to RV with sun and blue sky.  We sat and watched the sun set but I got cold so I went inside. We played cards.  Wed. 6/12/13 we got up to sun and blue sky.  We took a nice long walk on the beach, to the second walk-over and when we came back, we picked up some more driftwood.  In the afternoon we stayed up at the campsite and sat outside reading and napping.  After supper we took a long bike ride.  We had our campfire then it got cold, so we came in and played cards.  Thurs. 6/13/13 we woke up to rain, spent the morning playing cards.  In the afternoon we drove to Watertown and went to the movies, saw Iron Man 3.  We ate dinner at the Olive Garden.  It was cool and damp out when we got back to RV, so we spent the evening reading.  Fri. 6/14/13 we got up to sun and clouds.  We spent the afternoon on the beach, Mike in suit, me in jeans and fleece.  He even went into the water twice. After supper we walked down to the concession stand and had ice cream.  We came back and sat around the fire, Janet and Claude joined us.    Sun. 6/16/13 Happy Father's Day. It was very foggy and raining.  We went down and said good-bye to Janet and Claude.  We spent the day inside, reading and playing cards.  Sun came out in the late afternoon so we got to have a fire.  We ran into another couple that we met last year, so we invited them to our campfire. Our campfire only lasted till 9 because it started to rain again plus thunder and lighting.  We came inside and played cards.  Mon. 6/17/13 Happy Birthday, Judy.  We were up by 8 and we were all packed and ready to go by 12.  On the way home we stopped at the Waterloo exit and went to Petro and filled up with gasoline and then went inside and had dinner at the Iron Skillet, my birthday dinner.  We had to get off at Eastview because of the bridge work on our exit.  We stopped at the mall and unhooked the Tucson, then we went home.

Southwick Beach - site 10

Doing smores

Eating smores

Walking nature trail

Witney and Will at the beach

Arriving at Tom's house Stanardsville, VA

KOA Campground near Tom's

Tom, Judy, Erin, Meghan, Jeffrey at Science Museum in Richmond, VA

Bouncing Pillow at the KOA - Meghan, Tom, Jeffrey, Erin

Bouncing Pillow at the KOA - Meghan, Tom, Erin

Bouncing Pillow at the KOA - Meghan, Tom, Erin 

Bouncing Pillow at the KOA - Tom, Jeffrey, Erin

April 4 - 9    We were up at 7:30 and on Interstate 95 at 9:00.  We arrived around 3:00 at the Madison/Shenandoah Hills KOA campground.  We set up then drove over to Tom and Meg's.  We spent the night there.  It had been 5 months since seeing the grandchildren.  The next day (Friday) we spent the day at a Science Museum in Richmond, VA.  Mike and I and the 2 kids drove back to the RV for a sleepover. On Sat. we all were up at 7:30.  Erin helped me squeeze some more oranges for fresh OJ, Jeffrey didn't want to help.  We had breakfast then we all played Fan Tan.  The kids had a soccer game which we all went to.  We played cards most of the afternoon.  We spent the night at their house.  On Sunday we all went to church.  In the afternoon we all drove back to the RV and the kids and their parents jumped on the jumping pillow they have here at the campground.  We had dinner with them at Timberwood Grill.  Then they went to play practice and we came back to spend the night at the RV.  On Monday we spent the day at the RV because everyone went back to school or work.  We went back to their house when they got home from school.  We went to soccer practice then came home and ate dinner.  We played one game of Fan Tan with the kids then they went to bed.  We played one game of Hand and Foot with Tom and Meg then we headed back to the RV.  On Tues. we were up at 6:00 and left at 8:30.  We traveled 500 miles.  We arrived at home in Pittsford at 5:30.

Leaving Florida

April 3, 2013  We were up at 5:00, had breakfast then went down to the beach to watch the sunrise and say good-bye.  We left Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort at 8:30.  We traveled 507 miles today and arrived at RVacation Campground at Selma, NC around 5:00.

Sunrise at our beach

RVacation Campground in NC

RVacation Campground in NC

Week twelve at Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort - St. Augustine, FL

Mar. 30 - Apr. 2    On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the beach.  I had to put my shirt on because the wind was very cool.  We eventually went back to the RV and Mike watched basketball.  We went to Tom and Mary's for dinner and we had delicious crab cakes, then we played cards.  On Sunday (Happy Easter) we went to the beach at 11:00.  It was a beautiful day there, the wind felt good.  We had to leave at 2:30 because we had to be over to Tom and Mary's at 3:30 to go to Easter Dinner at the Raintree in downtown St. Augustine.  Evelyn and her 2 daughters joined us also. After dinner we had to say good-bye to Tom and Mary because they were leaving the next day for Orlando to watch their granddaughter play softball.  When we got back to the RV Mike watched basketball and I walked to the beach and sat on the bench and read.  In the evening we played cards and watched TV.  On Monday we walked the beach after we got up.  It was a beautiful morning.  We met Evelyn and her daughter Sara at the Sunset Grille for lunch.  It looked like it was going to rain in the afternoon so I sat under the awning and read.  At 5:30 we drove to Red Frog & McToads Restaurant to have dinner and play Trivial Pursuit with Tom and Mary's friends, Evelyn came too.  We came in 2nd place this week.  On Tuesday Mike went golfing with Tom's friends.  After I got up, I went down to the beach to walk.    We spent the afternoon, 12 - 5, at the beach.  We came back to RV and started putting things away, getting ready to leave tomorrow.  We went to Woody's Bar-B-Q and had baby back ribs one last time - they are so good.

Week eleven at Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort - St. Augustine, FL

paddle boarder

pelicans sitting on beach

pelicans sitting on beach

small stingray stranded on beach

Mar. 23 -29   On Saturday after breakfast we went to a flea market out by Interstate 95 again because I saw something I wanted to get our grandchildren.  After the flea market we went down to old town in St. Augustine to a big Arts and Crafts Festival.  It poured just before we got there so the field had huge puddles where all the booths were.  It started to thunder so we went back to the car and got there just before it started to rain again.  We spent the day in the RV because we had severe thunder storms rolling through.  It poured very hard and we even had hail the size of a large gumball, luckily no damage.  The weather channel even said there was a threat of tornadoes, I was a little scared cause where could we go??  Luckily no tornadoes showed up.  Sunday we walked on the beach in the morning.  In the afternoon we went over to Tom and Mary's and played cards and had dinner too.  Monday we walked on the beach in the morning.  It was blue sky, sunny, cold wind blowing and in the 60's.  In the afternoon  I went and sat on the beach and read.  In the evening we had dinner at Red Frog and McToads with Tom and Mary and we played Trivial Pursuit at the restaurant.  We came in 4th out of 14 teams.  Tuesday morning we got up to 52 degrees in and 45 degrees out.  After breakfast we took our walk on the beach. There was a small stingray on the beach, neat looking.  While Mike took a nap I went to the front office and reserved a campsite for next year.  We went out to dinner with Tom and Mary then came back to the RV and played cards.  Wednesday we got up to 45 degrees inside the RV - brrrr and 40 degrees outside.  In the afternoon I went down to the beach and sat on the boardwalk over the dunes bench and read.  At 2:00 I went back up to the RV because Anne and Don Hutchins were coming for a visit.  We sat outside on the boardwalk bench then came inside and played games - Phase 10 (dice), Fan Tan (cards).  Then we went out to dinner at the Sunset Grille.  We came back and played more games - Fan Tan, Phase 10 (cards), and Rummycube.  Thursday we took a walk on the beach in the morning.  In the afternoon I went back down to the bench and sat and read.  Still sunny but cold and windy.  Good Friday Mike got up early and went golfing with Tom. Then we met Tom and Mary for breakfast.  We spent the afternoon on the beach.  We saw a paddle boarder and also pelicans standing on the beach; never seen that before. That evening we went with Tom and Mary and Evelyn to Tom and Mary's church for a fish fry dinner.  After dinner we went back to Tom and Mary's house and played cards.