Where we stayed...the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

On one of our travel days, it struck me that we: woke up in North Carolina, spent the day in Tennessee, and went to sleep that night in Virginia.  Not your average day :). 

After leaving Cherokee, North Carolina, and spending the day in Greeneville, Tennessee, our next overnight stop was in Staunton, Virginia.  We were looking to spend a few nights in the Shenandoah Valley area and when we went online, we realized that we had ended up in exactly the same spot that we had contemplated beginning our time on the road a year ago.  We had debated going east instead of west last year, and had checked on reservations at the Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA.  Not thinking of that when we were looking for a campground this time, we just so happened to end up at the very same place exactly a year later!  It's funny how things work out sometimes.

Anyway, the area around the campground was very pretty.  Lots of rolling hills and farms...

The only site available for the days we needed to stay was what they called a VIK site.  Very Important Kamper I guess is what that means?  I don't know.  We were led to our site by someone on a golf cart down a long winding road through an open grassy field, some trees, up a hill...then we had to wait for them to take down a chain that they put across each of the VIK sites.  I guess this is to make it feel more "special" or something (hehehe).  I am teasing, but it was a nice site.  It was long enough for us to park the truck, camper, and my car all in a row.  It also came with a patio area with a big table, a wooden loveseat thing, a little fire pit, and a full size gas grill.  The laundry room was a stone's throw from our site, so that was nice.

In the evenings, after a day of sight seeing, we would go back to our site and let the kids play while we grilled something up for dinner (and quickly tossed a few loads of clothes on to wash).

I had some left over glow sticks from the 4th of July and it was the perfect time to get them out.  The kids had so much fun with them...

Our site up on the hill was very quiet and peaceful.  We would absolutely stop for a night (or more) at the Walnut Hills KOA if we ever find ourselves in the area again :).

Unwinding in Cherokee, North Carolina

Our first day in Cherokee, North Carolina, was spent at home...aka our current campground:).  We were all pretty tired from the push of getting everything in order to go back on the road, so a low key day was just what we needed to recharge.

We didn't leave the campground, but we certainly weren't lacking for things to do.  The Cherokee/Great Smokies KOA was awesome.  Because we were there in September we pretty much had the place to ourselves...their peak times are the summer months when school is out and October when the leaves are changing through Thanksgiving, so we hit it just right :).

To start our day, Dan made us a yummy breakfast of blueberry pancakes.  Remember all those blueberries the kids and I picked a few months ago?  Well, our RV freezer is about the size of a small ice chest and the berries filled it to the brim...so, there has been some serious blueberry eating going on over here to try and make room for any other foods we may want to keep frozen.  Pancakes, smoothies, cobblers, and plain frozen berries for a snack.  We've still got at least a half dozen quarts to go through...a good problem to have, I suppose :).

After breakfast, Dan took the kids to the pool to swim while I stayed behind to finish putting away and organizing the last of our things.  This is something I enjoy, making our home functional and comfortable (and hopefully nice to look at, too), so I was grateful for the time alone to really focus on my doings.

a little sneak peek at the changes we've made to our interior...

...i'll show ya'll more soon :)

When they were done with their swim, we all grabbed a lawn chair and vegged in our little yard under the shade trees.  So.....nice!  I can't remember the last time that all 7 of us have been completely content to just sit quietly and rest like that.  No books, no games, nothing.  Just happy to be together and enjoying the beautiful surroundings :).

Hungry tummies ended our resting time, as they have a tendency to do.  I can't remember what we made for lunch...probably sandwiches or something similar.  Rested and refueled, the kids had energy to burn.  Out came the scooters and their new 4-square ball, they played with those while Dan washed the camper and both of our vehicles.  I supervised...hehehe ;).

We only have 2 scooters and 1 ball for the 5 kids to share.  We learned a long time ago that less is once again more.  If all 5 each have their own, they aren't nearly as appealing to them.  Give them a couple to share and take turns with, and they will play with them way more!  As parents we want to give our kids everything we can, sometimes the best thing we can give them is simply less (when it comes to material things).  So anyway, they took turns with the toys but they also played with good 'ole sticks and rocks :).  I love watching them explore nature and find simple things (like a seed or stick) to play and imagine with.

practicing his fire making skills ;)

The kids had spotted a giant chess set on their way to/from the pool earlier.  They all wanted to go play, so I walked over with them while Dan washed (and washed...) getting all the nasty love bugs off of our camper.  The chess board was made out of tiles and the pieces were huge!  The kids all enjoy the game and really got a kick out of the size of it :).  A tournament of sorts commenced with Tristan taking the lead up until the last round when Trevor claimed the final victory...

Just as we were wrapping up our chess tournament, Dan finished up his stuff and walked over to join us.  He had told us earlier about a little wooden bridge leading to a path in the woods that ended at a creek.  We had a little bit of time before it was dark, so we all headed over to check out the path.

with the camera set on auto (green box)...not so good

simply turning the flash off...way better!  **i so need to learn more about my camera**

Days like this are awesome :)...I love this lifestyle!

Cherokee on Dwellable

A look back...

I was looking through the pictures on my computer and I found some from exactly two years ago...September 2011.  We were living in a little town just west of Rapid City, South Dakota, at the time.  One of our favorite places to go on the weekends was Custer State Park.

We didn't own a camper, but we still enjoyed camping in our tents.  These pictures are from one of our camping trips to Custer State Park...we LOVE that place! 

I can't believe how much my kids have grown in just two short years!  Time sure does fly...

Two years ago, I never would have imagined that we would be living the lifestyle that we currently are.  I had heard of families that live and travel in their rv's and I was always intrigued.  My dream was to one day do the same with our family...little did I know that we would buy an rv and set out on our own adventure just one short year later :). 

where we stayed x2...

I realized I never did tell ya'll about the campground we stayed at in the Monterey area.  I like to make a note of where we stayed not only to provide some input for any of you that may be considering a stay of your own, but for future reference should we be returning to the same area.  Anyway...the park we were in for a month was called Marina Dunes RV Park.  It was different from any other park we stayed in on our travels...the sites were separated by trees/shrubs and privacy fences.  The fence was on three sides and it really made the site feel like a private little yard :).  Each site also had a chiminea and a small patio with picnic table.  The beach was a fairly short walk just across the dunes, that was nice :).  It was a bit on the pricey side, but for where it was we felt like it was worth it.

our campsite at Marina Dunes

After our short stop in South Dakota, we hit the road again with an RV park in north Florida as our next monthly destination...Pine Lake RV Park in Fountain.  We had looked at campgrounds closer to the beach, but because we were making last minute reservations there just wasn't anything available.  It worked out for the best anyway since the park in Fountain was closer to the grandparents (the main reason we were even in Florida).  My opinion of this park is mixed.  Positives...in the country, very quiet, safe.  Negatives...cramped site, crazy strict rules.  The rules were a bummer...my kids were not allowed to even ride their bikes right in front of our camper on the campground road (there was zero traffic of any kind).  My oldest son, who at the time was one month away from turning 13, was told that because he was only 12 (he needed to be 13 per their rules) he couldn't leave our site without a parent. Not even to take the trash to the dumpster (which we could see from our site) and this is a chore he has done for me at campgrounds across the country.  I understand that rules are rules and all that, but it just seemed a little extreme.  So, if you plan to stop for a night or more with kids just know what to expect.  Oh, and their laundry had only I think two very high priced machines...so we would take our laundry to Panama once a week, not a big deal.

Overall, they were both good campgrounds and we would stay at either of them again :).

Pirate Cove - Needles, California

The campground we stayed at for the last month in Needles, California was Pirate Cove Resort & Marina.  I mentioned before that we were out on their peninsula just steps from the Colorado River.  Very pretty and VERY sandy ;).

Back in the main campground area there was a playground for the kids, that's also where the showers were.  They had a store that sold the usual grocery items and some clothes.  Nice clothes...name brand swimwear, flip flops, etc., and fishing stuff.  There was also a marina, restaurant, zip line, and I don't know what else.  We took our food to the beach area one evening and had a picnic, but that was it.  We never went to the restaurant or anything.

They had a pirate ship anchored in the cove.  Kinda neat...

We were visited by the cutest little birds, Gambel's Quail.  We were in the camper and heard a "peeping" sound.  All the windows were open and when we looked out there were a bunch of these little birds running by.  The kids had learned about them in their Saguaro National Park Jr. Ranger books back in Arizona, but we had yet to see any.  So fun to finally see some!

male and female

We enjoyed our stay there.  I don't know that I would want to be there in the summer, though.  Tons of people in boats like to go to the cove when it's hot.  We prefer the slower more quiet off season.  Plus it's ridiculously hot there in the summer.  The highs often reach 120 F up to 125 F with lows at night only dropping down to 100 F.  No thank you!

I will tell you, if you ever stay there the laundry room is creepy.  We took one peek inside and decided to skip using it.  The laundry in Needles was next to an "adult" store, so we skipped that one too.  We found a really nice, clean laundry in Lake Havasu City that was in a family oriented area of town.  It was a bit of a drive, prolly 45 minutes or so, so we only went once a week.  It was called Southside Laundromat and it was worth the extra driving.  The lady that ran it was super nice, she gave the kids some chocolate candies and was just really friendly.  The other thing was the campground showers...they were coin operated.  Either be prepared with plenty of quarters or use your shower in your camper.  We just used our shower.  Neither of these things was a big deal, just a heads up should you ever stay there.

Overall, everything was great.  We ordered all of our Christmas presents online and had them shipped to the park office.  The girls in the office were always sweet about it and we got everything with no problems whatsoever.  If we are ever in the area again, we would stay at Pirate Cove...on the peninsula, of course :).

Arizona - Benson

The rv service place was able to get our main air unit fixed and order parts to fix the second unit.  That meant we would need to stay in the general area until the parts could arrive.  This was going to take several weeks, but it worked out just right because we needed to be settled somewhere for that long anyway for Dan to go back to work.

We didn't want to be in the city this time, our last monthly site was in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We were ready for a slower pace for a while.  The place we found was perfect for us.  We spent the next month in Benson, Arizona at Cochise Terrace RV Resort.  We pretty much had the entire place to ourselves, it was a VERY welcome change to the tons of people in SLC.  The people who were there were mostly full time residents and some of the sweetest people I have ever met.

The weather while we were in Benson was gorgeous.  Warm and sunny...we spent every afternoon swimming at the pool.  So nice to be able to do that in October and November :)!  The kids loved it, so that made us happy.  Our mornings were spent doing school work.  It is amazing at how motivated the kids were to get their school finished in time for swimming ;).

Our campground had a Farmer's Market every Friday and Sunday.  I really enjoy going to Farmer's Markets, so this made me very happy :).  The kids and I went each week and really got to know the people who were selling their goods.  (I have to say it again, sweetest people you will ever meet!!!) We bought fresh local veggies, fruits, eggs, dried beans, salsa (so good!), homemade tortilla chips, tamales, breads, prickly pear cactus fruit jelly, and the girls got some fun new beads.  Both purchased and given to them by our new friends at the market.  Oh, and pistachios!  We love to snack on them and bought a bag every week.  I never knew they grow in Arizona.

 The sunsets there were so beautiful...

The perfect place to soak up some sun and rest :).