camping, – Through My Eyes

Camping – Goose Creek 2024

Tuesday, we hooked up and headed out to one of our favorite state parks, Goose Creek.

We made our reservation online and arrived a little early but were able to pull right into site 13. We love this campground because the sites are large and far apart. I just hate it when you are on a site and a big bus pulls up beside you. You feel like they are constantly looking into your unit. Not happening here. Spent what was left of that day walking the dog and just enjoying our space.

Wednesday morning, we got up and made a grocery run in nearby Washington. That afternoon, we ventured over to Bath.

I can understand why Blackbeard made his home here.

Thursday, we went a little further into Belhaven. Pretty small town. Not a lot happening there. Back at the campground we decided to ride the short distance to the swimming area. A nice dip in the river was nice until the water started getting a little rough.

While we didn’t do anything really exciting, it was a nice relaxing trip. Our new awning worked well, and we experienced no new problems.

Even Roco had a good time. He loved his walks and met a pal while he was out.

Make the most of each day, not excuses.

Looking forward to the next trip.

Camping And Crochet

Yes, you guessed it. I take my crafts on the road. When I am not enjoying the great outdoors, I am crocheting.

Thursday, we hitched up our rig and ventured out to a campground an hour away from our home. This was our first trip of the year. On our first trip out, we usually keep it fairly local before heading out on longer trips.

This is our 22 ft. travel trailer. She is twelve years old but still in pretty good condition. Unfortunately, upon arrival at this campground, we noticed the awning had started tearing away. Up until one year ago, we never needed any repairs. We had purchased it used in 2016, and it was in excellent condition.

Last year, we replaced tires and refrigerators, and I reupholstered the dinette. This year, when the slide floor started breaking away we had to have it rebuilt. Since we were already into the floor anyway, we replaced the ugly carpet with some nice vinyl to go under the dinette. Yes, we could have traded her in, but in all honesty, it was cheaper to fix her. Even when we replace the awning fabric, we still will have not spend much in comparison to what this unit is worth.

It was almost funny that shortly after we realized the awning had to be replaced a hail storm came up. We had been out to eat and just parked at our campsite when it began to rain so hard we couldn’t get out of our truck. The rain quickly turned into hail. It hailed for a good ten minutes before it went back to a steady rain.

Saturday morning, we set out to go to the local farmers market. On the way back to our campsite there it was…the yard sale sign. When I asked the lady if by chance she had any craft supplies, she pointed to a large bag containing yarn. “You can have it for a buck,” she said. I could not get my money out fast enough. She here is one of the projects I made from that bag.

I am now going to go back and start stashing some of my craft supplies into our camper for those rainy days when I can’t get out to hike.

Enjoy the ride everyday. Life is good every day if you Believe!

To Camp Or Not To Camp

Prior to 2020 we really enjoyed camping. Covid drove people out of their homes and into campgrounds for relief from the lock down.

The exodus into campgrounds made popular campgrounds fill up quickly. Then came the triple digit campgrounds or “rv resorts”. Since campgrounds now were popular some people slapped “resort” onto their name and raised their rates from the normal 30-50 dollar range per night to more than $200/night.

With the ridiculous resort prices most campers went back to the woods of the state parks. These were the only real campgrounds anyway. Real campers are there because they actually want to camp. While most state parks do include at least some RV space they still have a lot of good old fashioned tent sites. State parks are holding their own.

Hear’s the thing, if you are one of those people who likes Rv resorts you have to ask yourself why? Is it because you use the “amenities” to babysit your kids? Then there are the hateful hosts with two pages of rules. No thank you I don’t need you. Camping is supposed to be fun not enslavement to a bunch of rules.

There are no amenities in rv resorts that trump the beauty and tranquility of state parks. No they may not have pools and wifi but what they have is real like lakes, fishing, nature trails, waterfalls, quiet life without noisy people and golf carts.

The choice is yours but I hope you choose real camping and experience the great outdoors.

Taking a kid camping today…

Goose Creek Revisited

This week we got the opportunity to go back to Goose Creek State Park. We love this place. It is quiet with large sites and they have plenty of room between them.

If you like walking or biking the trails you will find plenty of them here.

Our site this trip was 22. It was the best site there the camp host told us. It was in a corner with only one campsite nearby and a cabin on the other side no.

Here are a few pics of our site.

Camping 2022 – First Trip

Our first trip out we chose Kings Mountain State Park. The main reason we chose this park was because we wanted to check out Two Kings Casino. While we had no aspirations of “winning big” we actually ended up spending little time in the casino and more time in the great outdoors.

Getting there was a great big hiccup as the GPS said it was only 4 hours and 8 minutes…..WRONG! It took us six hours to get there fighting high winds and high traffic. Our trailer swayed like it had no bars attached! The campground was not on a mountain but as we entered it there was certainly similarities in that the road was narrow and curving around foothills.

Arriving at the park office I got out and was met by an attractive man that said “Sorry we’re full” and then just kind of giggled. I of course did not think it was really that funny but since he wasn’t bad to look I went along with the joke.

After parking on the lot I got out and left our door in the truck so we could set up. My husband rolled the window down for him which proved to be beneficial when moments later we hear this click….he had locked himself in the truck with the keys in it! My husband was able to get his arm in far enough to unlock the truck and remove his keys. It kind of fit our mischevious Roco.

With our camper finally set up, it was time to have some fun. Here are some pics from the park.

We have had this Apex almost five years…she still looks pretty good.

I love just shooting oddities of nature.

I took several shots of this little squirrel playing in the trees.

There were two lakes in this park. This is the spillway at the smaller lake.

This and the following shots are from the vintage farm on the property.

This little jackass was content in the field

These beautiful horses were grazing nearby.

This building I thought was interesting as it was an old cotton gin.

Thanks for going on this journey with me. Pass it on, take a kid camping.

Have a blessed day.

Last Trip Of The Season – Oriental, NC

As the sun breaks over the field, we prepare for our last camping trip of the season.

A short one hour away we park our RV in a quaint no-frills campground at Oriental, NC. This is not a place for everyone. There are no fancy shops, not a lot of buzz, not even really a town. While there are a lot of things its not there are still pluses to this little community.

There are a few good restaurants like the “Our State” favorite The Silos. The one we liked the best was The Brantley which had a great buffett at an actual decent price. Both were within walking distance of our campsite.

I remember this community as a child as just a small community across a small bridge. There was little scenic about it and certainly no restaurants or little else. Oriental now has grown into still a small but attractive place on the map. What it lacks in frills it offers in warmth. The people were welcoming and sometimes entertaining. Here are a few pics from my journey to Oriental.

The cloudy day did not stop this kayaker.

While there were a lot of sailboats docked, this was one of the few that ventured out.

Even Roco man liked his stroll along the beachfront.

Oriental is the sailboat capital of the east.

This little barn was on the main street just waiting to be photographed.

As a former owner of horses I could not help but capture these beauties.

Thank you for taking this journey with me to Oriental, NC. I hope in some small way I have captured its beauty and warmth. On a quiet day when you have nothing else to do take a chance and find that one spot on the map that calls to you.

Have a great day and God bless each and every one of you.

Camping In The Hills

Every year I am drawn to the mountains of North Carolina. I think it is a way that God calls me closer to him. This trip we were not able to get lodging were we wanted to be so we settled for Mt. Airy.

The campground was large with the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

While our view was limited…at least we knew they were there.

Here is something else we did not expect to find in this campground…two vintage vehicles.

We decided to drive the short distance to the Blue Ridge Parkway and get a few shots from the overlook.

While I was disappointed that the leaves had not turned, the trip was still worth it. The pond below was just behind our campsite.

Steam rising off the pond in the early morning hours.

Hope you enjoyed.

Don’t forget to like, follow and share. Thanks for visiting.

Camping – Today’s Report Part 2

Well it was cool here this morning so we got a late start venturing out. Limiting our outings because of the limited gas supply but still enjoying our time away.

Tried to go fishing at Lake Wilson but fish did not cooperate still we had a fun time here. Beautiful little spot God created here. Here are the pics of Lake Wilson:

There were quite a few people here just walking around the lake.

Continue to follow our camping journeys. Have a great day.

First Camping Trip of 2021 – Part 1

While Covid has kept us in lockdown it has also taken us some time to make some necessary repairs. Because we had also had to make some repairs to our truck we decided to make our first trip out fairly close by to make sure we felt comfortable with the repairs that had been made.

Venturing out only a little over thirty miles from home it was still far enough from home to satisfy our need to “get away”. Here are a few pics from our trip so far:

Duck pond at our campground – Kampers Lodge, Wilson NC

Donkies on the grounds – we enjoyed these little creatures. They were very sweet and warmed up to us quickly.

Even Roco enjoyed the Donkies. It was nice that they were so close by, it gave us a reason to get out and walk.

Kampers Lodge may not be fancy enough to suit some people but has given us everything we need. It is quite, the camp host are absolutely great and of course the price is right!

Keep watching for more of our camping adventures. Don’t let Covid or any of the issues of this country keep you from having the time of your life. Live life to the fullest. Have a great day.

And The Water Came….

After the recent flooding at Hiddenite Campground that claimed five lives, I was moved. As an avid camper myself I love to camp out beside the river and mountain streams. It is always very peaceful. Campers were not advised of the potential flooding and a peaceful situation quickly turned tragic.

In my hometown we currently have flooding and it will give you some idea of what it might have looked like at Hiddenite.

See the Chicken at the right of the frame… that is at the edge of the playground.

To the left of the screen is a campground under water.

See the red signs in the middle, they are stop signs for the road that is flooded.

Trees that stand in awe of the water around them.

This is at the wildlife access. The sign on the right stands before you would normally access the river. The water in front of it is the parking lot.

Don’t take anything for granted when you are around rising water. The campground at Hiddenite should have closed prior to the flooding but it didn’t. The lost lives included a one year old child.

Be safe!