I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!  Apologies since it has been a bit since our last update.  You see, in all honesty, I just wasn't feeling the urge to write another blog and I never want this to feel forced.  Maybe it was the holidays approaching and feeling sort of strange about not being with family and friends and all the activities we usually have around the holidays. Maybe it was the fact we hit that first park where we were let down and not feeling it was the right place for us or maybe it was that I just wanted to sit and do nothing...no planning anything, just sit and relax.  Or, maybe it was all of the above.  Anyhoo...with that behind us, let's get to the wonderful GA coast experience!

We left Gainesville on a very cold morning and headed south in search of warmer weather.  We were going to split up our drive to Savannah with an overnight half way at an alpaca farm which is part of the Harvest Hosts program that we joined.  You pay a small yearly membership fee and they have a national network of wineries, different farms, museums, etc. that welcome RV'ers to stay, usually just one night, on their property for free.  Usually the travelers reciprocate the favor by visiting their store and purchasing a bottle of wine or something.  Hey, we can do that!  We are all about some good fermented grapes!  Check out the link above if you are interested and you'll receive 10% off!
Well, we must have been in a hurry to find warmer weather because we decided to drive straight through to Savannah and called the park to come in a night early. We took mostly backroads there, deciding to bypass Atlanta all together and it turned out to be very nice ride.  It was a very picturesque drive, with little traffic and we got to see some of the cotton farms along the way.

We reached Skidaway Island State Park mid-afternoon with the sun out and temps about 25 degrees warmer than we left.  Still not balmy but we will take the 50's any day over freezing temps.  We stayed at Skidaway for a week and enjoyed our time there.  The park is on an island over a causeway, and the only other things on the island are a small Univ of GA marine school, a Publix and some other small businesses in a concentrated area.   The rest is gated communities of what I can only guess are some of the well to do of the Savannah area.  This made for a peaceful stay.  The park itself has nice spacious sites, not alot of underbrush for privacy but the space helps there.  The one thing we were really enamored with was the big, beautiful live oaks dripping spanish moss.  DId you know that spanish moss is part of the pineapple family and is an air plant???  There are some nice trails that take you through the unique vegetation and shoreline.  We kept looking for a gator but none were to be found.  Since the area is only about 40 feet above sea level,  everything is wet and you can only imagine the bugs and muggy air in the summer.  Well getting a good bit of rain does not help the situation and we had some of that one night.  Some of the sites and roads in the park got pretty swampy and took a bit to dry out. Temps stayed in the low 50's during the day.

Since we have been to Savannah before, we did not spend alot of time in the historic district.  We did take a trolley tour which allowed us to hear more about the history of Savannah as they drove through all of the squares, city market, historic houses and the river area.  We would have never been able to see all of that walking because the squares are really spread out, there is soo much to see and the roads really are not friendly to a big dually truck! It was also a cool day and the plastic window sides of the trolley were down, which was appreciated but also made it hard to take decent pictures.  That will explains some of the fuzzy pictures below, but they are too pretty not to share anyway.

We also visited Tybee Island and our first of many historic forts in the area, Fort Pulaski on a cold, windy day .  Since Fort Pulaski is a National Monument, we were able to use our America The Beautiful pass to get in free.  Now, if we could just remember to use that everywhere we go!

The next fort we visited was Fort McAllister, just south of Savannah.  This was an unusual fort as it was more of an earthen built fort than a traditional brick, above ground fort.  It was also the most active Confederate fort on the Georgia coast.  The self guided tour of the fort was very interesting and we saw some "wildlife" inside one of the rooms.  See if you can find the bats hanging in the Powder Magazine room picture.  We did not see these little guys just above our heads until we turned around.  Yikes! 

Finally we toured Wormsloe State Historic Site, which is a 1736 Colonial Estate.  Owner Noble Jones was one of the first 114 English colonists who came to Georgia with James Oglethorpe in 1733.  A couple years later he leased these 500 acres from the Isle of Hope trustees and began to develop Wormsloe estate.  He built a modest compound out of tabby, which is a mixture of lime, sand, oyster shells and water.  If you look closely throughout the coastal GA area, alot of things were built from this same mixture.  One of the most notable things that the site is known for is the beautiful live oak entrance and avenue to the house.  These trees were planted by a future owner, Wymberley Jones De Renne, in the early 1890's to commemorate the birth of his first son.  He then built the entrance arch to commemorate the coming of age of his son.

We couldn't leave Savannah happenings without talking about some of the great food we had there.  We found a gem in Rocky's NY Deli.  The sandwiches there were soo amazing, we stopped in twice.  Sorry no pictures though because we were so focused on eating them!  You'll have to take our word for it.  We also had lunch down on River Street at Huey's which is a Southern Cafe featuring New Orleans food with a nice view of the river. Finally we had some wonderful BBQ, not to mention award winning sauces at Wiley's Championship BBQ.  Wonderful food!  Almost forgot to take a picture because we were ready to devour it all!

Our week here went by too fast and we packed up to move further south on the coast to Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, GA, right on the GA/FL border.  The weather continued to get a little better and there were days here we could actually go with short sleeves for most of the day.  We really liked this state park that was situated next to Kings Bay Naval Base, on the coast with views of the rivers and low land from our site.  The campground had just received some updates and the sites were well kept.  In talking to the volunteers, which there were 5 couples with another one coming in soon (WOW!!), they really took pride in their work.  We would consider being a camp host here too in the off season.  I think the summers would just be waaayyyy too hot and humid!  We had a newer bath house on our loop with a laundry room that had newer machines for 75 cents to wash and to dry!  I think I washed just about everything in the RV while we were here!  They also had a cute little Nature Center that was very active for the holiday season with activities that were well attended by the local residents as well as campground guests and they even had a baby alligator.  Check out our neighbors rig!  He put it all together himself and it caused quite a gapers block in front of the site.  We felt pretty secure with the base next door and were amused with their buried sub out front, but they really caught us off guard when they decided to detonate some old ammunition and shook the whole camper on a very windy day.  We thought for sure a tree came down on the camper!
One terrific thing about staying in GA State Parks is that they have a rewards program and you can earn free camping nights.  Since all three of the places we stayed in Georgia were state parks, we were able to rack up enough points to get 2 nights free at Crooked River State Park, which was the most expensive since we stayed in a full hook up site.  We got $84 credited back to us.  Bonus!!!

While in St. Mary's we also visited another fort at Fort Clinch State Park, this one just across the border on Florida's northernmost barrier island.  Fort Clinch served as a military post in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War II.  It was very interesting to see the history of the park and how it was used and updated for each war.  It was a beautiful bright blue sky, sunny day, but it was windy.  The warm sun made up for that though and we took a walk on the beach and discovered some cool shells and a bunch of jelly fish.

On one of my laundry days, RIck went into St. Mary's and took a tour of their sub museum.  Lots of sub models and some interesting history. 

One cooler day, we took a driving tour of Jekyll Island and ate at Tortuga Jacks on the water.  To be honest, we were underwhelmed with Jekyll Island and the food.  I think it would be better visited in the summer when the resorts are hopping, but then, that's not our thing, so we will just check the box that we came, we saw.

When we found out my Aunt and Uncle, who just bought a house in The Villages in FL, and extended family would be down at The Villages, we made a road trip down to see them for the day.  I made some Christmas cookies to share with the group and we had a great day catching up and playing hand and foot.

Again, we cannot leave the area without sharing one of or favorite local stops for delicious food.  We really make a conscious effort at each of our stops to live like the locals do and eat where they eat.  Well we really scored on this local joint that has a long history and some of the best food and friendliest staff around.  You really need to check it out Steffens if traveling down 95 into Florida.  Miss Helen's biscuits are handmade every day by the 80 some year young Miss Helen and the rest of the food is all made fresh daily.  We had the country fried steak and were in foodie heaven!!  

Whew!!!  That was a long one but now our GA trip is in the books.  Next on to the ups and downs of FL.  Thanks for following along and I will leave you with a couple pictures of our first Christmas in the RV.

​​SHOP AMAZON HERE
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Have any Amazon shopping to do for the holidays??  Who doesn't!
​Do it from our Amazon link above!  We participate in the Amazon affiliate program and we appreciate you using our Amazon link above to make your Amazon purchases.  It does not cost you anything additional, you get the same great prices and helps us to support our blog.  You can even save our link as a favorite and use it whenever you search Amazon and make a purchase.  Thank you!!!​​​​​​​SHOP AMAZON HERE
Have any Amazon shopping to do for the holidays??  Who doesn't!
​Do it from our Amazon link above!  We participate in the Amazon affiliate program and we appreciate you using our Amazon link above to make your Amazon purchases.  It does not cost you anything additional, you get the same great prices and helps us to support our blog.  You can even save our link as a favorite and use it whenever you search Amazon and make a purchase.  Thank you!!!​​​​​

We left SC, and made the much anticipated trip to not only Georgia's newest state park, but also our old stomping grounds.  Don Carter State Park is located on the north side of Gainesville, GA, near the 1996 Olympic Rowing Venue on Lake Lanier.  Way back in 1998 we moved to the Gainesville area and lived there for 10 years.  Looking back at that move, we should have known we were already blessed with the adventurous spirit to travel to new areas.  You see, we left our home, families and jobs in WI to move to Gainesville, GA...with a 1 year old...with no jobs lined up and oh did I mention the apartment we were moving into was not finished being renovated?  Talk about a leap of faith!  Rick's employer was looking to expand their restaurant concept into the greater Atlanta area and we decided to move then and get acclimated to the area.  My mom had moved to the area a couple years prior, so we were not going there completely blind and thank goodness she was there because we ended up living with her until our apartment next door was ready.  

Now fast forward to 2018 and boy has the area changed!  It is unreal how it has all built up...and the TRAFFIC!  It took a bit to get our bearings because everything looked soo different and the traffic was a bit overwhelming.

We had a great time catching up with old friends and even meeting new ones!  Unfortunately, we were so engrossed in the moment, we forgot to take pictures!  I see a trend here!  Ughhh...  Sorry Kathryn, Freddie, Lindsay, Mark and Rachel!  We will try to get better about that.   

We also had a great time visiting some of our favorite areas and one thing I just love is the small town squares.  Most of the times, these squares were home to the town courthouse.  It is nice to see these squares preserved and decorated for the holidays.

We also visited Helen, GA, which is a quaint little German themed town in Northeast Georgia.  We always liked visiting when we lived in the area and it seems this is one of the areas that has not changed.  

We also visited one of our favorite waterfalls in NE GA, Anna Ruby Falls.  The falls are located in the Chattahoochee National Forest, just north of Helen, and you need to drive through Unicoi State Park to get to the national forest area.  That also means you pay for a state park admission and national park admission.  Good thing we had our state park pass from the park we were staying at BUT unfortunately we completely forgot to pull out our America the Beautiful pass to get into the national forest.  We ended up paying the $6 fee and it was worth it.  These falls are beautiful, as is the hike up to them, which takes you next to and over the river spilling from the falls.  The day we visited it was more of a raging river than a meandering one.  The hike up and down was a good workout, but there are benches along the way to stop and take in the sites and people of all ages can hike it.  We brought the boys here when they were little and we all really enjoyed it.

Don Clark State Park where we stayed is the newest of Georgia's state parks at 5 years young.  This was our first time in a state park here and we were pleasantly surprised how nice it was.  Beautiful buildings and landscaping, clean as a whistle and really nice sites with great amenities.  The paved sites are "semi" full hookups.  I say semi because they have 50 amp electric, water, cable and gray water "sewer" at the site.  We have never seen anything like this before.  The sewer was a small metal trash can with the bottom cut out, buried into the ground and filled 3/4 with charcoal to slowly let your gray tank seep into it.  It was really nice to have and we never had to dump tanks at the dump station during our 8 days here.  Many of the sites had views of Lake Lanier and we were lucky enough to score one of the pull thru sites that faced the lake.  The comfort stations have nice showers, restrooms and laundry rooms.  They also have really nice cottages on the lake for rent.  There were scenic hiking trails, a very nice beach area and lots of wildlife that walked around the park freely.  

Our time here flew by and we will definitely return and quite possibly volunteer as camphosts.  The weather was all over the place with a really rainy day, some nice days and then some cold days with some nights at freezing.  Our last night turned out to be the coldest at 28 degrees.  The next morning was going to be an early departure since we would have a long 5 hour drive ahead of us, so Rick packed up the water hose and put some water in the fresh tank.  Everything went well in the morning and we pulled up to the dump station around 9am.  This is when we discovered that the tank valve handle was frozen shut.  After a couple head scratching moments, Rick fired up the generator and plugged the hair dryer into the outside plug in the cargo bay.  After a couple minutes of warming, the handle came free.  Again, our generator saves the day.  I think it was worth its weight in gold and we are really glad we opted to get it, even though having a big Onan generator takes up some of our cargo weight.

​Up next...Savannah baby!  Stay tuned.... 

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After saying our good-bye's to friends in NC, we headed south through SC for a quick stop on Lake Hartwell, a Corp of Engineers lake that straddles the SC and GA border, off I-85.  We have stayed in a couple COE parks, on Lake Lanier, when we lived in GA, and most recently the COE park on Table Rock lake in Branson, MO.  As with the other parks, Twin Lakes campground did not disappoint.  All of the sites have  at least lake views and our site was lakefront.  Gorgeous views of the lake and the occasional boater.

Since we were only staying two nights, we decided to see what as much as we could see of the area and headed in to the little town of Pendleton, SC.  We stumbled upon their local library which had some interesting ruins on its property, so we stopped to investigate.  They were the ruins of Tanglewood Mansion, that not only burnt down to the ground, once, but twice.  It was an interesting mansion with the exposed lower level in back with the fireplace running all three floors.

After driving around seeing more of Lake Hartwell and of Clemson University, which owns just about everything in and around Clemson and Pendleton, we decided we needed some lunch and what better place than Rick's Pizza Pub.  Located in an old bank, this was some amazing wood fired pizza!  We had a veggie white pizza and it was soo good, there was no time to get a picture.  

​We then headed over to view another mansion, the Woodburn Plantation, which was closed.

Driving out of the plantation drive, we stumbled upon a little agricultural museum, so we stopped to investigate.  The Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina is an amazing place, staffed by volunteers who are all too happy to share the history of farming life in the south.  This is a hands on museum that depicts the history of cotton and tobacco farming as well as offering live animals, vintage farming equipment and even a period schoolhouse.  Admission is free but a small donation is suggested.  What a great find!  Unfortunately we were soo busy learning that we forgot to take many pictures.  Seems to be a theme that day.

We ended the day with a walk around the campground.  Even though it was the end of November and there was a nip in the air and only in the high 40's, there were still several campers there, enjoying the beautiful area.  This is one of the only campgrounds open year round and they close all but one loop.  I can only imagine how busy this place is during the warmer months.  
From here we move onto GA for a couple stops, including Gainesville, GA where we lived for 10 years.
If the website looks a little strange, bear with me, I tried to make some updates and of course screwed up other things.  Uggghh, still learning!

Leaving TN, we made a bee line for our next destination of High Point, NC.  We spent a week and a half in the Triad area, exploring the area and its history, relaxing and spending quality time with friends celebrating Thanksgiving.

​We stayed at a very nice city park in High Point.  Oak Hollow was a central location to take in the Winston-Salem, Greenesboro, Jamestown and High Point areas.  The park had several really nice amenities like a golf course, tennis courts, a lake for fishing, kayaking and boating.  The campground itself was split into 3 sections.  Two of them being more like a traditional park campground setting with loops and bath houses, complete with laundry area.  The third section, where we stayed, was for larger rigs and was essentially a large gravel parking area with lake views.  We had full hookups, including 77 channel cable and it was fine for our use since we were away from the RV for a good bit of time.​

We spent a good bit of time seeing historical sites in the area.  Our first was the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.  This location served as the site for a pivotal battle of the Revolutionary War where the British troops, led by Lord Charles Cornwallis defeated the American militia and Continentals, led by Major General Nathanael Greene.  Although the American troops were defeated and retreated, Greene was able to preserve his troops where Cornwallis' victory cost him over 25% of his troops in this bloody battle.  This costly battle weakened the British troops and ultimately led them to abandon the Carolinas and move back into Virginia where a few short moths later he would surrender at Yorktown. ​

We then spent a great bit of time at the historic Old Salem district in Winston-Salem.  It by far exceeded our expectations.  We thought it would be just a quick stroll down a street with some old houses and it caught us completely off guard when we were charged a $35 per person admission fee in the Visitor Center.  However, after spending a day and a half there, we can honestly say that it was worth every penny.  Your admission is good for two days and we took advantage of that fully.  Before going over to the old town, we spent some time in the two museums and had a wonderful staff member walk with us and talk through the beautiful exhibits of life in that time and the period furniture.  The other museum was of the Moravian culture and life in that time of the 18th and 19th centuries, which was expanded upon greatly as we went through the old town.  Touring the town was a wonderful, interactive experience and you can engage as much as you want with the period historical interpreters throughout the buildings in town.  We spent a good bit learning about life during that time, partaking in period food, fun and history.  Everything was decorated for the holidays which made it even more special.  There was a large wooden bridge over one of the Winston-Salem roads from the visitor center to the old town and many families were having their holiday pictures taken in front of it. 

We also visited the Winston Cup Nascar Museum in Winston-Salem.  This was a nicely done private museum that depicted the time of the Winston Cup

Another day found us in Mount Airy, NC, just north of the TRIAD, visiting the town that Mayberry was modeled after.  The stroll downtown was like being in Mayberry and stopped at a couple iconic locations for The Andy Griffith show.  See if they look familiar to you.

A good bit of our time was spent catching up with my dear friend Vicki and her husband Ryan, Vicki and I worked together for several years.  It has been over a year since I retired from United Healthcare, but it was just like old times, picking up like we had just talked the week before.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving with them and their family and enjoyed our time together.  

Our time in NC went way too quick but we vowed to be back.  We really enjoyed the area and all it had to offer.  We also had our first taste of Bojangles chicken too...YUMM!!