Gosh, a blink of the eye and three more months just flew by! I'm really going to need to get my blogging act together for the summer!
For the 6th consecutive year we followed our time-honored schedule of ending our winter in Gainesville, Florida, and enjoying springtime in Raleigh, North Carolina. It hasn't gotten boring in any way, though, and we love the family and friend time we get in both places and on the way between the two. We even squeezed in a 1-week trip to have some lazy time (and lazy "river" time) with my parents at our time share in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.
 |
| Dinner in Mexico |
We finally exhausted our chances at attending High School graduations in Raleigh for our niece and nephews last year as they are now all safely ensconced in college studies. That said, nephew Karl happily slid from finishing his BS and into an international MS program. Oh, the places they will go! (thanks Dr. Suess!)
 |
| Maren/Jeffrey with David/Mary and Scott/Caroline -- fun night out on NCSU campus |
 |
| Us with Mary/David catching an outdoor concert |
May kicked off some new ground for us, starting with a special reunion to see my former step-brother, Patrick. Hard to believe it had been close to 4 decades since we last saw each other and I'm sad it took that long. Turns out he lives in Virginia near where we first met as children.
 |
| Us with Patrick and his wonderful family |
Our next big stop was in south central NY state so I could satisfy my giraffe obsession at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville. I'd been internet-following their giraffe family for over a year and it was a big thrill to hand-feed them carrots. The rest of the park is awesome too, so put it on your travel list. Dear friend, Julie, from our Austin TX days had moved to NY and met us at the park to share the day with us and brave my animal giddiness :-)
 |
| Feeding mom April and dad Oliver at Animal Adventure Park |
 |
| Maren not feeding carrots to April fast enough |
Leaving Max (the motorhome) in Harpursville, we flew to Florida for a week to celebrate Jeffrey's dad's upcoming 90th birthday in Ormond/Daytona Beach. It was a grand affair with all of the Martin boys and their families, several cousins, Jack's brother and sister, plus my own Dad and Sheila, converging on the local hotels to enjoy several fun events together. It was reminiscent of the many wonderful years Jeffrey and I spent with his parents and brother's families in that area every Memorial Day until about a decade ago. As a bonus, Sheila also got a mini reunion with her brother Dick, niece Sarah, and nephew Ben while we got to meet Sarah and Ben for the first time (well, we met Sarah as a 6-month old at our wedding almost 30 years ago!).
 |
| L-to-R: Jeffrey, David, dad Jack, John, Scott, and Richard |
 |
| Let them eat cake! |
Returning back to NY, I got one more giraffe fix at Animal Adventure and we enjoyed a fun evening catching up with RV friends who lived nearby that we met at Winnebago's Grand National Ralley in Iowa last summmer. We capped off our NY plan by going to a Rumble Ponies minor league baseball game in nearby Binghamton. Why, you ask? Former Gator football player Tim Tebow is currently on this team and it is clear he is a local favorite.
 |
| Tim Tebow waiting for his turn at bat |
Our last few days were spent near Boston, MA -- an area rich in the history of three former Presidents -- John Adams (#2), John Quincy Adams (#6) and John F. Kennedy (#35). In case you are wondering, 2 days isn't nearly enough time to see Boston, but we had caught some of it from a cruise ship stop a few years back. Our final day was spent lurking around Salem and catching a brief overview of its huge maritime past as well as all the witch nonsense that killed 20 innocent puritans. I think every other business in town there is devoted to some aspect of witchcraft. We capped our Salem day by enjoying dinner with Suzanne Martin -- a Gator we met in the Gator Club in Austin, TX, years ago. She is a traveling Physical Therapist and just moved to Salem for her next assignment. She keeps trying to shake loose of us and we keep finding her!
 |
| Maren doing her best "Bewitched" impersonation |
As I write this post, we are on our way to Bar Harbor, Maine, where we will link up with an organized 49-day Canadian Maritime Fantasy RV caravan trip. This has been on our bucket list for several years and it should be interesting to share it with 15 other RVs as we explore New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island. I'll try to blog more frequently to capture this adventure in sufficient detail (sorry in advance!).
Motorhome-wise, we used some time in Raleigh to give Max and the car a good wash/wax (by hand) along with some rust prevention. We even got brave and added an electrical switch to help us manage one of our air conditioner zones. We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves but it was short lived when a different electrical issue popped up and we spent a long morning trying to diagnose and fix a problem with one of our big breakers. Thankfully we carry a spare of this specific breaker as it isn't a common one, but we played it safe and ordered a new spare replacement as well as another part that appears to be wearing down. It should be okay through the summer, but if not we can whip out our magic spare parts box again. If anyone reading this blog thinks RVing is all fun and games and no work, think again! I recall being so emotionally distraught when we had our first RV issues 6 years ago -- but now we take them in stride and deal with each one as it comes. Nothing is so bad that it disuades us from this lifestyle (so far).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you aren't notified by email when we post new blog updates but would like to be in the future, please click this link:
No comments:
Post a Comment