First Stay in New Hampshire.

Leaving Vermont and heading for New Hampshire. We didn't have far to go, but we couldn't check in the CG in Meredith, NH until 1pm. It was about a 3 hr. drive, but seemed longer due to the twists and turns and ups and downs of the hills. The landscape was beautiful though and bright green, probably from all the recent rains. By the time we arrived and were checked in it was mid afternoon. After taking a run to pick up a few things we decided to look for a place to eat lunch/dinner. We were starving and had trouble finding a place. Finally we pulled in to Town Docks Restaurant. How can you pass up a place that has "darn good food" as their slogan?

 We went in and it was not quite what we had expected. It was causal extreme. The menu looked good and we both ordered fried haddock and French fries. It was  OK, not spectacular.

One of the reasons to stop in Meredith, NH is to finally go to Keepsake Quilting. I get their magazines regularly and drool over them. They always seem to have such nice kits and projects in there. The shop is right down the road in Center Harbor and I've always wanted to visit, but it's not in a convenient location when traveling. This trip we wanted to stay in New Hampshire, so Meredith is was.

\We drove to Keepsake Quilting and the shop was really huge. It covered one whole side of the shopping center and was quite picturesque. It was a newer building and very nicely organized and fresh looking. Batiks were together, children's, whites and colors and notions were scattered about. It was a great shop. When we pulled up there was a U Haul truck unloading tons of fabric.

    They were having a big sale tomorrow. $10 per pound (about 3 yards) for fabric. We wandered through and  looked, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything that looked interesting to me---too bad too at that price. And they had lots of fabric.

                                      Emptying a truck load of just sale fabrics.

                                    Sale fabric extended the entire length of the store and inside too.

     We went back to the CG and took Bentley for a nice walk. This is a very shady and quiet CG. You really feel like you are in the North woods here with the trees and smells. The front desk lady was a little nuts with the strict rules, but it was still a nice CG and we enjoyed it a lot.

                            It's so woodsy you can't even see the MH through the trees.

Tomorrow we head for Oquossoc, Me.

Our First Stay in Vermont

We were so proud of ourselves. We got up early, put everything in it's place and left the CG by 9:00 am. Since we needed to fill the MH with gas for the drive to Vermont we decided to drive the car separately and hook up after we got gas. It's harder to find a suitable gas station to get in to when you are towing a car behind the MH. We drove through Intercourse, towards Lancaster and found a Sheetz station to accommadate the MH. Then we needed a different place to fill up. The route to Vermont told us to get on the highway which we did, but it was apparent we weren't going to find a place to hook up. So David got off and we drove down another road to look for a place. The next thing we knew we were in Lancaster business area with no place to hook up. I got on my cell phone and looked up the nearest Walmart as they always have big parking lots. There was one not to far away, but we had to turn around to get to it. Finally we found it, hooked up and we were on our way, back tracking the whole previous route and losing an hour and a half of travel time. So much for getting out early. Now we are headed to Vermont.

We have been through Vermont before, but have not stayed there in the MH, so we don't officially count it as a place we have visited. The RV GPS sent us down some strange roads with construction and not the regular route we take. We were not making good time at all and it should have been a bit over 300 miles which meant we would arrive in about 6 hours normally. We just seemed to be on slower and slower roads for some reason. When we stopped for a sandwich I looked at the GPS and it had a setting to avoid all toll roads. THAT was why it was sending us on such a crazy route. We changed the setting, but it was probably too late at that point, but eventually we arrived in Vermont.

                      The scenery and mountains were beautiful and green.

We were headed to the KOA in Brattleboro. I did call head to let them know we were on our way and probably would be late. The lady in the office was very nice and told us the office was open until 7 and not to worry. We arrived at 10 minutes to 7 and they were very nice at check in. We were only staying one night and they escorted us to our site and offered to lend us an extra water hose because the spigot was so far back on the site. Very nice owners here, but we had an extra hose, so we were OK.

This was a small, but very clean and green campground. After being in the MH for so long I decided to take Bentley for a walk around the grounds. He loved looking at the trees and everything as we stroll by. There were nice cabins and cottages in the CG and a large family having a get together across the CG from us. There were some vintage trailers also, which looked like rentals for those without MHs.  When we got back to the MH we were so tired we decided on hot dogs for supper. One of the other campers saw Bentley outside and came over to see him. The couple was also traveling with 2 cats and came over to admire Bentley and share cat stories. They were from Long Island, NY and traveling in a 5th wheel which meant their cats had to travel in the backseat of the pickup. I went in and brought Nickie out so he could sit in my lap and they could pet him. He's pretty good at sitting there as long as he's not spooked. Bentley, I can't trust.

We had a nice visit with them and headed in for the night.

The next morning we were heading to New Hampshire and decided to have some delicious blueberry muffins from Shady Maple for breakfast. They were huge!!!! So good. Did I say I love Shady Maple?

A Wonderful Time in Intercourse, East Earl and Denver, PA

We love this area so much. Have I said that enough???? Madonna and Jim came up on Saturday and spent the day with us. It was so great to see them again. Madonna and I were like a couple of magpies talking, sharing and having a great time. We at in the MH for a while and chatted and Bentley of course wanted to be the center of attention. Jim provided him with some nice scoochies, which meant Bentley would never eave his side.

They wanted us to plan the day, so we decided to take them to some of the quilts shops in the area. Madonna has been doing a little quilting and the only shop she had visited here was one of the most disappointing for me so I selected 3 that were plentiful in fabrics. The first stop was The Old Country store in downtown Intercourse.
               

It's a fantastic shop with lots of local items for sale in the front, hand made local quilts in the right side of the store and in the back, patterns, notions and thousands of bolts of fabric. I love this shop. They used to have a quilt museum upstairs, but now have 2 longarm machines up there.
Right before I left home I got an email from them saying they had the kits for Lori Holt from Bee In My Bonnet, new sew a long Granny's Garden. I almost never buy kits, but this one was so cute and it was applique which I love. I decided this would be my vacation treat to try to work on in the MH.

Both Madonna and Jim were impressed with the shop and next time they are up this way will definitely want to visit. The next shop was right across and down the street. Zooks/Sauders Fabrics. This used to be 2 separate store with Zooks in Intercourse and Sauder out in the country downstairs in a basement. They had the same owner and so they merged into the same space. They didn't seem to have a much fabric as before, probably due to lack of space, but it was plenty. The front area was $5 a yard and the back $8.50. I didn't see anything I needed except for downstairs where the Amish shop. I needed some embroidery floss for a project and they had all of it along with any items you might need for general sewing along with Amish underwear, linens Amish clothing fabric and a place to park your horse and cart while shopping.

Next, we headed to Bird In Hand Restaurant for lunch. It was very good. They had a buffet, but we decided to order off the menu.

Next stop was in Denver, PA and Burkholder Fabrics. It was a nice drive and in the country (what else)? https://www.360lancaster.com/Shopping/QuiltingandFabric/BurkholderFabrics.html
This is another shop with thousands of bolts of fabric, lots of patterns and tons of notions and rulers. I saw 2 of Kathy Skomps patterns there. David found a Judy Niemeyer pattern that he liked, so now he has a new project.

After this we went to Lapps Valley Farm which was nearer the CG. We go to Lapps every time we are here and love the high cream content ice cream, the gardens and atmosphere. It's always fun to see the new baby calves and watch them milk the cows at 4:30 in the afternoon.

While we were finishing our ice cream a little kitty jumped up on the table and David gave him the last of his ice cream. Kitties need ice cream too.

                  Back at the MH it was time to say good bye to Madonna and Jim. Wish we could see                              them more often.

                            On Sunday everything is closed except for the area south of us which has 2 big outlet malls. We rode around down there and came back. Nothing we needed, but a chance to get out and about. The heat here has been horrible 92 with heat index of 100. We had to wait until late in the day to sit outside at all.

               This is the new garden flag we had made for camping with our names on it.

 On Monday we made a final run to Shady Maple Market for a few items we needed. On the way we passed his sign. Too Funny.

  For dessert on our last night we had apple dumplings with ice cream. I think I've gained 20 lbs already. UGHH it's going to be BAD when I get home.

I am just so sad to be leaving here. Next time we have to stay and week or more.

Back at One of Our favorite Places- Intercourse, PA

We left Virginia and headed into PA. It was another day of less that 300 miles, but the roads around Harrisburg were horrible and with lots of construction. Other than that it was an uneventful drive.

This little village of Intercourse is a perfect place to stay. Unfortunately, others have discovered it as well and the traffic is awful. Too touristy now.

 This intersection is in the middle of Intercourse where we turn to go to the CG. A lot of cars, but Amish on push scooters as well, which is a main way for the younger folks to get around quickly.
                                               

We had reservations at Beacon Hill Campground which is our favorite CG in the area. it sits less than a mile from the main street in Intercourse, right across from Sam's farm and right down the road from several quilt shops. When  we first started coming here it was owned by a very nice older couple that were very appreciative of their customers and very respectful of their Amish neighbors. The CG is an an over 55 CG and is not the most spacious or best laid out, but makes up for it in ambiance. The young couple that bought the CG are equally as nice and continued to offer the same amenities as the previous owners and the same friendly relationship with their Amish neighbors,

As soon as we arrived and had everything set up, we headed over to Shady Maple Market https://www.shady-maple.com/about-us  to pick up some chicken pot pies and whoopie pies (of course). The store was not crowded for a Friday and we, as usual bought more WP than we needed, along with CPP and a quiche for breakfast. Just shopping at that place is an event in itself. It is an incredible store and you could spend lots of money and time in there. Their bakery and meat sections are to die for.

After shopping we returned to the MH to unpack and have dinner. It was so hot here that I decided since I wasn't going out again, I'd just put on my house coat and do the dishes. David was outside setting up the satellite dish for TV reception. Then there was a knock at the door. Oh great, me in my house coat with a dishrag in my hand. I opened the door and there was a little Amish girl about 10 years old. She and her mother drive through the CG with a horse and wagon on Friday's and Saturdays selling baked goods. She asked if we'd like anything. We didn't need anything, but we decided on a peach pie. How can you not buy something from this sweet little girl that looks like your granddaughter? Those Amish are pretty smart to send the kids out selling pies, etc.

We were parked in the CG with our back window facing Sam's farm or rather his field. He and his boys were harvesting the tobacco crop which they hang in his barn until it dries. Even thought we weren't next to his barn area the smell of manure was pretty potent. You get the real ambiance at this CG.
                                                 

The CG office with their quilt block painted on the wall.

It is just so interesting to sit and watch Sam's farm up here. You just can't not watch.

Saturday Madonna and Jim are coming up to visit so I'll have more to post later.

Lexington, VA

We arrived in Lexington, Va on the way to Intercourse, PA. The plan was to stop at Lee Hi Campground which is actually a truck stop off of Highway 81. I had seen a nice post about it on one of the FB groups and it was the perfect location for our travels. It is less that 3oo miles from our next destination. It is quite an impressive truck stop with an IHOP, truck services, a laundromat and a chapel, for full time truckers. The campground is in the back. They had on line reservations so it was an easy process.

As we drove down Highway 64 we passed a brewery called Devil's Backbone. It looked interesting, so we decided to go there for dinner since they had a decent food menu. I'm not a beer drinker, but David really likes to try new craft beers. It was small on the inside, but huge on the outside.

Beautiful views of the Virginia mountains off I 81

   

                                            
                                          The front entrance to the right.

 This place is so huge that I couldn't get it all in one photo. This is the left side of the entrance.

                                           David's almost empty glass of the 16pt IPA

Here's the food pick up window and the water draft station (for me) to the right.

Not a very clear picture of one of their blackboards.

                    David picking up a new growler full of 16 pt IA.

This is the view from the back of the MH of the truck stop.

This is the view from the front of the MH. Nice small campground.

And this is Bentley peeking out from under the covers. He's probably trying to get rid of Nickie.

HI HO, HI HO, TO ANOTHER ADVENTURE WE GO !!

Where are we headed this time? To New England through Pennsylvania, but mostly Maine. I haven;t been to Maine in several years although David goes pretty much once a year. We should be traveling for a few weeks and we are hoping to get out of the heat and have a great time.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share yet--maybe tomorrow. I had to meet customers at the quilt shop between 1 and 2 Wednesday. Rather than give up that whole day of vacation we decided to leave right after I left the shop. We had most things packed in the MH on Tuesday. Wednesday morning David made one last run with things to the MH while I got ready to go to the shop. When he came back we loaded up the kitties and drove to the MH which we keep in a storage facility.There's  no room for it at the house and we can keep it plugged in and covered over there.As usual Finnegan threw up on the way over, but we were prepared and it was no big deal any more. We used to give him Ace to calm him down, but he still threw up, so it isn't worth it getting a pill down him, just to make him a little drowsy. He travels in his "Cat in a Bag" so he is in my lap getting loved on the whole way over. I put a big towel out for him to throw up in and we're all good. I think he holds his last 3 meals in his stomach just so he can throw up for us. LOL. We know he's going to do it, so why fight it? Once he throws up, he's fine.

I dropped David and the kitties off at the MH and headed to the shop. Since we were going to be driving right up I-75 towards Knoxville it didn't make sense for me to drive back to the MH. I was in David's car which we tow, so David met me at the Walmart parking lot right off I-75 and  except for the horrible heat it was Easy Peasy!

We had reservations at the KOA just north of Knoxville. We've never stayed here before, but it got us up the road a 100 miles or so and will reduce out driving for tomorrow. The campground is actually in Clinton, TN which is just a hop, skip and jump from ROCKY TOP, TENNESSEE. I always wondered where Rocky Top was. Now I know.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq94Q0APkgM

Love Miss Dolly.

Spring in Asheville

Well, I have to say Spring in Asheville is no Fall. We had a great time here in Nov and so we decided to stay at the same CG, the KOA West Asheville. When we were there before it was cool weather, lots of trees and a great walking trail. This time, it was cool, and almost no leaves. The trees were still bare and you could hear all the traffic from I-40. The back area of the CG was blocked off as they were renovating that area. Also, Najla, Ryan and the kids weren't there, so it wasn't much fun.
We decided to just relax and hang out with the kitties.

Somewhere along the trip I had gotten a horrible cold and was miserable and didn't have much energy, so we didn't make any special plans.We did take a morning to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was unspectacular with the trees brow and leaf-less. David did make a trip to his favorite Ingles grocery for their massive beer options and I made a trip to my favorite yarn shop, but other than that it was not an exciting stop.

We stopped at the Visitors Center on the Parkway to pick up a map and some info.

Views were not the best. I think we should try it in the Fall when the leaves are more colorful.

We headed for home and as we headed out on I-40 it began snowing like crazy. It didn't last long and we did arrive home safely. I am pretty late getting this posted, but better late than never.