Birthday Activities

 

Thursday April 29, 2021  

I think the was the first time we have been camping during my birthday! I had limited ability to check online-- other than my phone, we were not having success with the Internet. But with my phone I was able to see a lot of birthday wishes from Facebook friends, emails and text messages from my sister and sister-in-law, and get phone calls from lots of people, even from as far away as Israel! So I was feeling the love all day, especially when I finally was able to pick up and watch the Marco Polo video of Beth, Joe, and Juniper singing Happy Birthday to me.
 

In between the phone calls etc, Joe and I had a  very nice day in Lewes. We started off by taking the Jeep to explore the park. The museum and observation tower were closed, but we discovered the beautiful beach at the end of the park road. The weather was already in the high 70s even though it was still morning, and it was definitely a beach day! On the other hand, we didn’t have any sun protection, and Joe is not a beach person anyway. So we just satisfied ourselves by walking down onto the sand, and were delighted to see a pod of dolphins feeding right off shore. (We did not get photos.) But speaking of sun protection, we made the ride more fun all day by taking the roof off the Jeep.

Cape Henlopen Beach

From there, we drove out of the park and into downtown, “historic” Lewes. Lewes has a big welcome sign saying that it was “the first town in the First State.” The town is delightful, with many old homes lining the streets. Because we had no idea where to go, we just drove around town. We made a mistake by not stopping at the Lewes Historical Society, which had its door open, and I am still regretting that (Joe suggested we stop, but I didn’t make up my mind fast enough.) At that point, in turning right and left at random, we managed to get ourselves a bit lost, and my usual excellent sense of direction only managed to make it worse. We stopped at a Rite Aid to pick up camera batteries, but I didn’t think to ask the woman which way to turn to get back to the center of town, and of course we went the wrong way. We finally resorted to our phone maps to get us back to our campsite.

After lunch, we hung out for a little bit, I talked to Beth, and then around 3pm we set out again to find some ice cream. We had picked out Hopkins Farm Creamery, which was about 10 miles or so away, as being our most likely bet for something yummy, and we were right! After driving past the cows themselves, and inhaling the unmistakable perfume of manure, we came to the Creamery. People were lined up to order and were waiting for their ice creams, but everyone was being very good about distancing and masks. Joe got the no-sugar-added vanilla, and I got peanut butter ripple and chocolate brownie. The ice cream was VERY creamy and good, and exactly what we’d been looking for. One funny thing was, I was wearing my hat with all the National Park pins on it. The girl taking our order asked, "Have you been to all those parks?" It was cute to answer Yes, but when she asked how many more we had to go, it was hard to estimate. We've been to a LOT of National Parks... and I can't wait to add another one or two in the fall, if we are lucky.

From there, we retraced our steps back to the park again, and I plopped myself in a chair with my book and a drink for a while until dinner. Joe made us a delicious steak, along with the fancy ravioli I had picked up a couple of days earlier, and for dessert I had my special slice of my sister’s incredible chocolate pecan pie, which she doles out to me for special occasions. It came along in the refrigerator on our vacation, and boy was it yummy!

After that, I read some more, and we went to bed fairly early. All in all, we didn’t do anything super special, but it was a very nice quiet birthday and I felt very happy with how the day had gone. And I do think I have some sunburn  to prove it!

Ferry Across the Bay

 

Our RV on the Ferry

Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Our day got off to a slower start than we’d hoped, somehow, despite the fact that all we had to do was pack and leave! Joe spent some time searching for a place to fill our propane tank on the way to the ferry, and I spent time uploading my first blog of the season, along with photos. It seems that once again the blog software has changed, and the photos couldn’t be placed the way I preferred, but at least it is up! We finally left the campground at about 11 a.m., which we thought was plenty of time to drive about 50 miles to Cape May, where we planned to catch the ferry at 2:30 p.m.

It wasn’t long, however, before we decided that 1) it was going to take us 90 minutes to drive at least (we were not planning to take the GS Parkway), and 2) we needed gas more than we needed propane (neither tank was full when we left home--a tactical mistake.) I also had to factor in time for lunch, and it usually takes at least 20 minutes for gas, and I wanted to get to the ferry terminal an hour ahead of sailing time. We also needed some bread and cold cuts to make lunches, so stopping at a grocery was also on the agenda if possible. All of this left about 30 minutes to get propane, and that is usually a ridiculously procedure. It usually involves a difficult maneuver to line up the RV with the propane tank, waiting for the one guy who is authorized to fill us up, and sometimes we have to unhook the jeep to make it all work. We decided to skip the propane until later and just deal with getting to the ferry.

The theme of this trip seems to be “take the wrong road.” I drove today, and Joe depended on the GPS for navigation. I was planning to take Route 9 all the way, but the GPS was determined to steer me elsewhere. So we had several loud disagreements as to the route, and lost some of our time that way. In the end, when a detour forced us onto the Parkway, we decided in the interests of time to just stay on it. We arrived at the ferry terminal at 1:30, but without the propane (I did pick up a few groceries while we stopped for lunch, and to remove a noisy hubcap which was annoying us.)

Wake Surfer following the Ferry

The ferry, however, changed our moods entirely. It was hot all day, and a boat trip for 85 minutes seemed ideal. Sam was the first “long vehicle” they loaded into the ferry, so we were right at the front and got out as soon as we were parked in our slot. We hung over the rail for a while looking at the water and the other passengers (everyone was wearing masks). As we pulled away past the breakwater, a surfer followed next to us, surfing the ferry's wake for several minutes before jumping off the board and throwing up his hands in triumph! We settled down into Adirondack chairs in front where we could both see the water and feel the breeze. We even saw some dolphins! And that was where we stayed for the entire trip! It was utterly relaxing and beautiful, and we totally enjoyed it. As we came close to the ferry terminal, we could see a lot of people on the beaches nearby, enjoying an unseasonably hot summer-like day.

When the ferry docked at Lewes, we were only about 2 miles from the entry to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware. I had made reservations here a couple of weeks ago, and good thing, because the place is full. It’s a really nice campgroun with water and electricity at our site, but we’ve also noticed a LOT of pine pollen all over everything. I guess it’s the season for that. After I once again took the wrong road in the park (as I mentioned, that’s the theme of this trip!) I found my way to the campground, where we hooked up, put up our awning to provide some additional shade, and our lounge chairs. Then we got some cold drinks and sat for about an hour. I was reading my book, and Joe was still looking for propane, and also ice cream. It was such a beautiful evening, with the weather cooled down just a little bit and a pleasant breeze, that we decided to eat dinner on our picnic table outside for a change (it’s usually too much trouble to bother!) When we went inside, we decided that the breeze was not quite enough, and we turned on the air conditioner! It was on for much of the night.

Tomorrow is my birthday! We are going to explore the campground, look for ice cream, and then enjoy a steak dinner with some extra treats my sister sent with me for the day. The weather is supposed to continue to be hot, and I am tempted to say let’s go to the beach. I believe the park here has its own beach... we will find out tomorrow. We were given a campground map but not a park map, and I hope we can find one of those someplace. The wifi connection here hasn’t been working too well, making our hot-spot on our phones not function strongly enough. So we are stuck with our phones for information, and mine stinks. My gift to myself when we get home is going to finally be a new phone!

Birds and More Birds

 

Tuesday, April 27th, 2021    

 This year, we decided to do a “maiden voyage” for the year in the spring, over my birthday week. Joe spent weeks prepping and cleaning the RV, and yesterday we spent most of the day loading it up for a trip of about 9 days. Ironic that it took so long, considering the brief trip and the fact that we are not going very far all in all. Our first stop for the night was only about 70 miles away, at Bass River State Forest in south Jersey.

We finally left home at about 2pm. Our route took us into the Pinelands, where we’ve almost never been in the past. It’s very rural and not a bit like central Jersey--even the rural parts there are greener pastures, rather than scrubby pine trees in sandy hard ground. We found the park with no problem, and got ourselves set up despite the insane New Jersey-ness of the park’s set-up. There was no one to check us in, and the roads are not very well thought out. We had trouble making a left turn for lack of sufficient room. Then we wanted to stop at the dump site--but it was angled to be approached only by those leaving the campground. So again, I had to make a difficult turn (by this time, we’d unhooked the Jeep). Then the water at the dump was closed, and the instructions said to use the supposedly potable water nearby. That struck us as both extremely unsanitary and bordering on illegal, since dump sites must have water available. And once we had dumped, the only legal way to leave the dump site was to turn right--which would put us back on the main road OUT of the park, with no way to get back in easily other than traveling somewhere and turning around and coming back to the park. So I decided we were already in an illegal mess, and i turned left, ignoring the “Right only” arrow, cut quickly across the divide nearby, and got myself back on the right side of the street. It was all ridiculous--this is how New Jersey deals with campers!

Purple Martin Nests

 

Red Wing Blackbird

 After that, though, we were fine. The campground was virtually empty-- didn’t see ANYONE near us. Most of the sites were closed for the season, which explains why I had so few choices to reserve a spot. But we were all alone, and spent a very quiet evening, with sandwiches for dinner and going to bed very early. We were both tired from a busy family weekend and then all the shlepping during the morning.

We started today by taking a walk through the campground. We saw exactly two other campsites being used, and they were nowhere near us. The area is piney, and we are next to a pretty lake. I think there is swimming and canoe/kayak rentals during the summer, but everything is still shut down for the off-season. After our walk, we packed ourselves up for a day excursion, and headed to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. It is located among the estuaries between Atlantic City and the “mainland,” and on the way there, we passed many boatyards and lots of beautiful watery scenery. It only took about 20 minutes or so to drive there.

Ibis

Egret

Once we arrived, we walked around the vicinity of the Information building, but of course everything is still closed because of Covid. One thing that was striking was the cluster of birdhouses outside the building, put up for Purple Martins. We realized we lucked out coming in late April to this place, because it is nesting season. The birdhouses all had Purple Martins in and on them--we could see them go in and out, or just sit on the perches of the houses. They are interesting looking birds and although I’ve seen houses set up for them in many places, I’ve never happened to see the birds nesting. The do have a purplish sheen to their feathers, and a yellowish belly, and fly a lot like a swallow. Of course, that’s when I started taking pictures. I was VERY happy to have brought my “real” camera with the excellent zoom lens, and made good use of it today.

Egret

 

We walked a few more trails near the information building area, one with Cassie, and a couple without her, including a boardwalk along the edge of the forest where the estuaries begin. The views across the area are lovely, and there were very few people there. So it was always quiet wherever we were, and extremely relaxing just to lean on the rails and look at the water and the birds. On the forest trail, we saw a red-winged blackbird and a vireo, both of which we identified by their songs (we have an app on our phones to identify those, and as I said, it was quiet and there was not a lot of other noise besides the wind and the birdsong.)

Osprey stretching out

By this time, it was about 1pm, and we had to get something to eat. There was nothing in the park, and we had not brought sandwiches with us. So we drove out of the Refuge about a half mile to a local bagel restaurant, bought sandwiches there, and ate outside at a table. Then we went back to the Refuge and drove along the 8-mile drive through the estuaries. We crawled along at 15 miles per hour or even less, stopping frequently to look more closely at the egrets, pipers, and swans (and for me to take photos.) We were also stopping at every osprey nest-- every nest had an adult either sitting on the edge, or sitting right in the middle, we assume on eggs. We saw several of them take off or land on their nests, and I finally was able to catch one of them with wings spread. They are large birds.

Osprey

 

Osprey sitting on her next

It probably took an hour or so to do the whole 8 miles, and toward the end we walked on a trail (with Cassie) which was a mile long through the woods. It was pretty, but we didn’t see any birds this time until the very end, when we heard and then saw a stunning bright yellow goldfinch. We got back in the car and drove to the end of the road, which took us outside the gate to the Refuge.

From there we headed home, but made a “quick” stop at a huge antique store, the size of a warehouse. I say “quick” because although I’d noticed it on the way past earlier, we almost missed it this time, and we went in the “do not enter” exit (we got used to that yesterday getting into Bass River Forest campground.) Joe was such a good sport; he waited (and napped) in the car while i walked through the entire building, stopping only to check the Roseville (prices and availability). Even so, it was probably a good 30 minutes that I was in there.

After that, we headed for home again, looking for an ice cream place we had noticed in the morning. Unfortunately when we stopped there, they had no sugar-free ice cream for Joe, so that was disappointing. We came back to the RV and discovered that tonight, we do have neighbors-- two more people set up next to us. It’s quiet tonight, though-- we were probably the noisy ones, because we ran our generator for a while when we got back. But now we are all tucked in. Joe grilled chicken for dinner outside, we had some salads from home to go with it, and after I get this blog uploaded, it’s time to go to bed! Tomorrow we are moving on, via ferry, to Delaware.

Swans landing on the water

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 Spaceholder to finish October 2020 blog

Bridge and Birthday Dinner

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 Friday, Oct. 2, 2020

We left Assateague Friday morning on a bright sunny day, sad to know that we would be missing the Anatares launch on Friday night, but heading for an even more special evening. Oct. 2 is our friend Howie’s birthday, and this year was a “big” one! In fact, we actually planned our trip around this weekend, because we wanted to help him celebrate.

We really enjoyed the drive through rural Maryland (we skirted the bottom corner of Delaware) and up along the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which crosses over to Annapolis. The traffic, which was pretty sparse in the early drive, picked up as we got closer to the bridge. I was a little bit afraid of it, because it is a VERY high bridge and was voted one of America’s “Ten Scariest Bridges” by Travel & Leisure Magazine. It is almost 200 feet in the air, and four miles long. There’s a company which charges $25 to drive people across when they are too afraid to drive their own cars!

However, we crossed with no problems, and I was able to enjoy the spectacular views while Joey did the driving.  (It’s funny to think that 2020 is the year we drove across both Chesapeake Bay bridges--this one, and the Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia, which goes from south of where we were camping down to Virginia Beach.) The traffic around Annapolis was a bit heavy, but all we needed to do was stay on our road for a while until we got to the Washington Beltway. Of course, THAT traffic was horrific. We went north around D.C. and back down the western side, which is usually a lot worse in my opinion than the east side, but we were heading to Reston, VA, just west of the beltway. The entire drive around D.C. was horrible, as always, and made worse by towing the Jeep, and by the fact that there was construction which narrowed the lanes.

When we got off the Beltway, we were still in a lot of construction, and not at all certain where we were going--we just had to follow our GPS and hope the directions were reasonable. One of the roads we were on was a narrow 2-lane road, going up and down like a roller coaster, and I wasn’t even sure it was the right road! But it was, and it brought us almost to the entrance of Lake Fairfax County Park, our destination for the weekend. We were very happy to find this park, because there is almost no place within Washington, DC to camp, and we were meeting up with Howie and his family at his daughter Laura’s home in Fairfax. This park was “only” about 25 minutes drive from there.

It turned out that the park is quite large, and has not only a campground with about 50 sites, but a huge water park, trails around the lake, boat rentals (closed for the season), sports fields, and even a skate park for skateboards.  We thought it was a real “find.” We stopped at the office to check in, and they were observing strict Covid protocols-- in one door, out the next, one person at a time. We checked in, and then went into the parking lot behind the office to unhook the Jeep before driving through the park. The directions and park map that the office guy gave me were a bit confusing, and with Joey following me in the Jeep, I was not sure where to go. I ended up pulling over and he scouted up ahead with the Jeep to make sure we were on the right road in the park. Then he came back and I followed him up to the campground.

We backed into our site with no trouble-- it was almost entirely flat (some were not--the campground was actually on the top of the hill) and got hooked up, and checked in with our friends. Dinner was planned for 6:00 pm, so we had a short time to recover from the traffic and check-in related stresses, and change our clothes, before we had to head towards Fairfax.  I wanted to stop at the garden store which was about a 1/4 mile from the park entrance (I wanted to take a house-gift to Laura) and THAT was a mistake-- to get to the store, we had to make a left turn onto yet another road with construction, and find a place to make a U-turn to get back, and then there was a Fall Festival happening at the garden store, with buses of kids and a jump-house and petting zoo... It delayed us about 45 minutes, I think! And then when we left, we immediately were back in traffic, on the roller-coaster road again, trying to get through rush-hour outside Washington, D.C. Our route included a small part of the Beltway yet again, and man, it was HORRIBLE. We also lost all our GPS on our phones duirng the trip (our phone batteries died), and we were quite relieved to get to Laura’s house in one piece.

We were greeted by Zeke, their yellow Lab, big hugs from Howie, and then more hugs once we got into the house. While dinner was being finished, I was given a full tour of their new house by Abigail, age 8.5 and a very informed tour-guide. Then we settled in for a wonderful steak dinner in the Sukkah (it was the first night of Sukkot, too) as we celebrated the holiday and Howie’s birthday. The entire evening was lovely, except the driving back to the RV part. We tried to take a different route this time, to avoid the Beltway, but we still ended up with traffic and construction. But we did end up safely back at the RV eventually, noticing that the sky was clear and that the rocket launch would have gone up into a beautiful warm sky. Joey and I, on the other hand, crashed into bed, exhausted from all the driving, and full of a wonderful dinner.

A Little of Everything

 Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020

Today turned out to be a lovely day, although with an unexpected beginning and ending. In the end, we did a little bit of everything-- town, beach, parks, and repairs.

We woke up before dawn, when one of our “detectors” went off-- I think propane. It was not because of a propane problem per se, it was because the “house” battery which operates the detector died completely, setting off the alarm. Joey was quite perturbed, and insisted on running the engine of the RV for about 10-15 minutes (at 4 a.m.) in order to give the batteries SOME charge. But both of us were disturbed, and I could not go back to sleep for quite a while. Joe, meanwhile, got up at his usual 5or 6 a.m., and as soon as the 7 a.m. “quiet time” ended, he turned on the engine again. I just felt so sorry for the folks in the tent right next to us!

As a result, we were both tired in the morning, and he even took a nap. So other than walking Cassie on the beach, and noting that it was again a beautiful day, we did not do much. After lunch, however, we headed into Berlin, the town nearest the campground. I wanted to just look around (it was supposed to be “the coolest small town in Maryland” according to some kind of survey), and also we planned a stop at an auto parts store to get a battery replacement. It was clear that the battery we had was just not functioning anymore.

We stopped first at the same National Park Visitor’s Center that we stopped at yesterday-- today it was open, and I was able to buy a book for Juniper (“Ponies”), and a national park pin for my collection. Then we went to downtown Berlin. It was, indeed, very charming, with lots of red brick buildings. There were a number of gift stores, eating places, a historic hotel, and a large antique store. But all in all, although we browsed a little, we left empty handed. Then we stopped at the NAPA store and got the exact battery Joe wanted, before heading back to the island.

We turned down the road to the national park, and stopped at the first nature trail we came to, after passing several horses by the side of the road (they totally ignored us.)  The walk was simple, and really pretty--the “Marsh Life” loop (there are also the “Woods Life” and “Dunes Life” loops, which we did not go to.)  I love the green grasses and blue waters on the marsh side of the barrier islands, which are so beautiful. And again, we were lucky enough to see a few horses making their way through the grassland (they know where the solid ground is). It was all very mellow, and I wish we’d spent more time in the park than in Berlin. After that short hike, Joe was ready to go back to the RV, so we headed home.

Joe replaced the battery, while I read a book (not sure I will ever finish it, it is not very good!) and then we had some dinner. And then, we simply hung out while waiting for time to go onto the beach for the rocket launch at 9:38. Joey even just lay down and went to sleep for a while. At around 9pm, we put on some warm clothes and sweatshirts, picked up a blanket, and walked up and over the dunes to wait on the beach. I’d kind of thought it would be quiet and pretty, but we were closely followed by a crowd of 4-5 younger people who conversed VERY LOUDLY only about 20 feet away from us, sort of ruining the “quiet” aspect. Of course, very soon there were other folks coming onto the beach as well, until there were 30 or so of us (all plenty socially distanced.)  

The moon was 98.8% full, according to Joe’s app, and Mars was right beside it. We could also see Jupiter and Saturn, which were in conjunction directly to the south. But the moon was SO bright that we actually saw very few stars. It was comfortable and not too cool, though--a beautiful night. Unfortunately, beauty is not everything. 9:38 came and went, with no pyrotechniques toward the southern sky. Soon enough someone managed to find a radio connection to Wallops Island, and heard the disappointing news that once again, the flight was scrubbed. Slowly, we all trudged back over to the campsites, and disappeared into our campers for the night.

Joey went right to bed, but I was feeling sticky, so I decided to make use of the bath house before bed. It was as well maintained as Joe had said-- tiled, and the water pressure was hot and hard. Really excellent. So that turned out to be a good way to end the night.

It Feels Like Vacation!

 Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020

 Both Joey and I slept pretty well last night, despite the fact that the most incredible line of rainstorms were moving through the entire eastern seaboard. All night we were buffetted and the rain pounded down on our roof just a few feet above us. It was loud! The good news, though, is that we couldn’t find any moisture in the ceiling this morning, so all the re-sealing that Joey did on the roof last week seems to have worked.

We awoke to a glorious blue sky, breezy air, and the sound of the surf crashing just over the dunes. Joey took Cassie for her first walk, which happened before I even got out of bed. I took her for her second walk, and caught up on the “reviews” of last night’s presidential debate. It sounded like, as one friend put it, “spiritually toxic,” and I was truly glad to have missed it. While I was reading, Joey went to investigate the bath houses, and discovered that they were all tiled, very clean, and had hot showers, which I had not realized. So he took a shower while I just hung out. Before we knew it, it was noon!

We decided after lunch to go up to Ocean City, about 20 or so minutes north, to walk on the boardwalk. (Our first choice, the Visitor Center at Wallops Island, is closed due to Covid.)  We took Cassie with us. We strolled up and down the boardwalk, people watching (most wearing masks, as required by rules stated at each entry point) and just enjoying being outside. I indulged in some ice cream, but otherwise we didn’t spend any money or do anything more thrilling than walk down to the jettys at the end of the boardwalk.

When we came home, though, we did have some excitement. There were a few wild horses grazing on the other side of our campground loop, and we stopped and took their pictures. Maybe an hour later, just as Joey and Cassie were heading for a walk, suddenly we saw a line of ponies walking casually down the road in our direction. I grabbed my camera, while Joey and Cassie stood watching, and Cassie barked a few times to let them know she was on guard. They passed our campsite, but tried their luck for goodies right across the road from us. I got some photos of them looking for treats in the pickup truck while the family who owned it retreated (with a very small black puppy) across to our side of the road. From there, they went up the walkway over the dunes, and we watched them up on the ridge of the dunes for a while. At one point, we saw one of them gallop along the peak of the dunes toward his friends-- it was so beautiful! I sorely miss my camera’s zoom lens, which I left at home yesterday. Waaaahhh!

Although we had internet connection via our phones most of the day, it seems that in the evenings, everything stops working. So I am writing this off-line, and will probably upload it (with photos, I hope) tomorrow. Our plan for tomorrow is to go into the National Seashore (which is just south of where we are), and back across the sound to the visitor center--it was closed today but will be open tomorrow. So we will stick pretty close to home, but hopefully see more horses. They are the most fun part of camping here, but the beauty of the location is really perfect. We definitely will have to come back here for a longer time in the future.