Boone, NC

We left Florida on Monday, June 26^th, and drove to Hardeeville, SC for an overnight stop.  The next day we drove up to Boone, NC in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Beautiful  country.

Found our campground (Flintrock Family CG) and got setup for the night.  The next day we toured the town and area around it.  Found the MAST General Store (3 locations – original store and outlet in Valle Crucis and main store in Boone) and did some shopping/perusing.  Busy places.  Kinda reminded us of an LLBean – pricy.

Horse farms are popular up here.

Didn't go into this store but liked the name.

Of course, we did find a brewery.  Had lunch and a beer.  Good stuff.

The real reason we came to Boone is because of an outdoor play about Daniel Boone called “Horn in the West.”  It is America’s longest -running Revolutionary War drama.   We went on Thursday night and enjoyed it very much.

Before the performance we toured the museum which consists of several buildings along with people dressed in period costumes, and, they told us about life in those times.

Here are pictures of three early North Carolina flags.

The outdoor theater.

Beautiful moon that night.

A couple of pictures around our campground.

Boone is a great place to visit.  Appalachian State University is located here.  Judy now has a t-shirt from there to wear.

We would have liked to stay longer but already had reservations down the road so we had to leave.

Indian Rocks Beach and Family Get-together

Judy and I made it to Florida on Friday, June 16. Passed by downtown Tampa.

And then crossed Tampa Bay.

And then onto Largo, FL  to a campground where we park our trailer.  That night we had grouper at Judy's favorite restaurant:

Speaking of JD's, we have several pictures of the front of the restaurant.

This is one of Gehrig in 1998.  (This is actually a picture of a picture.  Julie sent it to JD's and they posted it up on a wall in the restaurant).

A few years later (2007).

  Now, 2017.

2005 left to right - Gehrig, Kelsi, Morgan, Emma, Hannah.  Unfortunately Bailey was not born yet.

Saturday we checked into our timeshare and got settled in.  Julie, Ken, and Emma and Morgan and Nick and the kids arrived later.  Kelsi and Kyle and Gehrig flew in and Belinda and Bailey arrived on Monday.

We did get out to the beach late that afternoon.

Morgan and Nick were ready and took the kids into the water.   Here is Nick and Elise waiting for a little wave.

 I helped Morgan with little Nicolas.

Kelsi and Kyle.

What would the beach be without a sunset!!

And sand castles.

Of course, everyone wanted to go out to eat the first night and they wanted JD's. (So who are we to argue??)

We spent a lot of quality time on the beach.  Everyone had a great time.

Emma with Elise and Nicolas.

The pool was a big attraction as well.

But the Gulf waves were calling.  The tropical storm caused "good waves" for us.  We got knocked down more than once.

Then there were what looks like a few father/daughter moments.

Ken - always on the lookout for sharks.

Bailey was Elise's "best friend" while there!!

The gals were trying get dinner ready and Nicolas was getting in the way so they found a spot for him.

We had planned to go fishing on Tuesday but the waves were too high so we didn't get to go until Friday.  Here is the boat and fish we caught.  (Ken didn't make it in the picture).

Now, on to family pictures.  Nick, Elise, Morgan, and Nicolas.

Kyle and Kelsi.

Belinda and Bailey.

The Duncan/Jones siblings.

With Ken and Julie.

With Elise and Nicolas.

Sisters.

Family picture.

Elise liked the water - had a board just waiting for a wave.

Tried standing.

Julie came to help her.

We did eat out more than once. Later in the week we went to PJ's, another popular seafood restaurant.  And, they all wanted to go back to JD's one more time - can't argue with that!!

By Saturday afternoon everyone was gone.  We did laundry and went out to eat - where else - JD's!!!

Itinerary - July

Well, here it is, the 4th of July, and I haven't posted since the middle of June!!
Sorry about that - just having too much fun!

Anyway, just to give you the latest - we are in Selma (North Carolina, that is) and have been here since 6/30.  Decided to stay here for a few days and not have to worry about getting a campground site over the holiday.

Our itinerary going forward is:  Leave here tomorrow and drive to Delaware.  We will take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel from Virginia to Delaware.  It is a 23-mile crossing at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

We will spend two nights at a state park in DE and then take the Cape May ferry from DE to NJ.  Planning to spend 7 days in the Cape May area and then move up the turnpike to Hightstown/East Windsor for Ashley and Sean's wedding on 7/16.

We hope to stay in a state park but apparently Gov. Christie and the legislature haven't been seeing eye to eye about their 2017-18 budget so he shut the government down which includes the state parks.  We have been calling about a reservation but they didn't answer.  Now we know why. (Just searched NJ government and see that they came to an agreement last night (Monday) so the parks are now open.  Will have to call later today and see if we can get in.

Okay, so this is our itinerary looking forward.  Now back to the past couple of weeks!!