Wilson, NC - One More Day

Here were are again, still at the Kampers Lodge....we were to move today, but we are at the red dot in the middle of the storm....we don't have to move, so we didn't.  One more day in no where land.  We were planning on heading north, but that would have kept us in the middle of the storm, so here we are.

Parkers BB!

Anyway, yesterday we went out for lunch to a placed called Parkers.  BBQ chicken, pork and/or fried chicken...we did the BBQ.  Everything was delicious and we had plenty to eat.

Sims Post Office

We then went looking for a post office to mail some things...these small towns and small PO are pretty neat.  There was one post master working and about 50 PO Boxes.  Kind of reminded us of home :-).

We did some shopping, more for killing time than anything, but managed to be by a Starbucks to get coffee.  We then came back to camp to pack up the outside stuff, just in case the storm missed us and would could leave.  We have been having trouble with our canopy rolling up crooked so it took us several tries to get it rolled up correctly, but we managed. 

 We had wraps for dinner (left overs) and did a couple of laps around the park, dodging rain drops.  Headed off to bed, waiting for the rain drops to start. 



Kampers Lodge Campground

Here it is Tuesday morning and most of the other campers have left yesterday.  There is one group packing up this morning and a couple from California that we talked with yesterday that are staying until Wednesday.

Saturday afternoon we had found the local grocery store, but we only got what we absolutely needed for dinner that night, burgers and chips.  Sunday we ventured out a little bit further.....not really much to see here, but we did find a shopping plaza, and walked around Target then in and out of the other stores.  There was also a  Harris Teeter Grocery store, so we got steaks, mushrooms and sweet potatoes for dinner on Monday.

In looking through the junk papers (advertisements) that we got from the campground I found this Whirligig Farm to try to find, so Monday we ventured out on the roads and actually found it.  Our guess is that at one time it was really something, now it looked a shame for being all grown over and not really taken care of, but we did manage to get a picture or two.  There were a lot more of the 'Whirligigs', but some of them were so grown over that you really couldn't get a good picture and others were rusted that they didn't move any more. 

We have planned our next move, up to Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.  We are hoping that it is nice and we can stay there for a week to 10 days.  Let's just hope the rain isn't too bad in the morning that we can get on the road.

Thursday - Sunday

(br) Diane, Dad, Deb
(fr) Christine, Lynne, Karen

We here it is Sunday and I am just getting back to the blog.  We did manage to get the family dinner in on Thursday at a place called Snapperz.  It was pretty good, the staff was wonderful and very attentive to our table, keeping the food coming and drinks full.  There was a variety of food, steam pots, Sea Scallops lightly dusted & fried, Shrimp Quesadilla, Fried Green Beans and much more.  If you went home hungry, it was your own fault.  While we were there, we did manage to get a picture of us girls, one that included dad, another that included all the kids.....just none with the husbands/men in our lives...oh well, can't get them all.

Lynne, Rick, Brad and I played Euchre 2 or 3 evenings and then after that some of us played Uno with the kids.   Meghan just learned the game while there and by the end of the week, was quite the cut throat child.  We really did have a lot of fun playing with the kids and the last game was actually Friday night and I think was the hardest game between Aly, Weston and Meghan, they were hard on each other and never let up.

The 4 of us at the 'Front Street Grill'

Friday morning Rick left, so we planned a day to Beaufort that day.  We had all the left overs for breakfast, then we all got to the beach for some time.  We should have headed to Beaufort earlier, but didn't leave the house until about 3:00.  Brad, Dad, Lynne and I headed over....Brad to buy the hat he found earlier and the rest of us for nothing other than it is a neat, fun town.  The four of us had dinner at 'The Front Street Grill at Stillwater' and then headed home.  Having dinner with dad the last night, couldn't have asked for more.

 

Well Saturday, Karen and crew were on the road by 6:00 am, Deb and Jim and Chris and crew around 7:30-8:00, Lynne and Dad about 8:30 with Brad and I getting out of the house last at 9:00(the cleaning crew was pulling in as we pulled out).  Chris and clan stopped for the night, but then rest of them went straight home.  Brad and I drove a whole 2.5 hours and got to Wilson, NC.  The camp ground isn't bad, but not much here to do, no beach to walk, no bike path to ride....but we are only here a few days, so we can deal.

Tomorrow is 'Memorial Day', so thank you to all the Vets and hope you all have a Great Monday.

Diane and Brad

Emerald Isle, Sat-Thur.

Well here it is Thursday morning and I am just getting around to the blog.

Saturday, Brad and I got the keys to the duplex about 2:00 PM (3:00 check in), got our stuff carried in and by then Rick was here.  I started dinner, baked spaghetti for all, Brad and Rick went to the grocery store and about 4:00 the rest of the crew started showing up.  Karen and family showed up first, with Lynne and Dad coming in last.  We ate about 6:30 and just kind of vegged for the rest of the evening.  Christine and crew left about 10:00 PM Saturday night, arrived Sunday at 5:55 AM and called my cell phone to unlock the door, ugh, Deb and Jim showed up about 7:00 PM.  Now we are all here until Friday/Saturday as they all start to head home. 

It has been a crazy week, Big breakfast every morning, and then whatever the rest of the days.  There are 16 people in this house(duplex) and I wish I could record some of the conversations and put them on the blog!  I'm sitting here listening to them and realize that nobody can follow anything that is being said...:-) 

Brad and Diane with the head of the
Hoghead Snapper.

It has been a good week, fishing, sight seeing, shopping and lots of eating.  Last night Lynne, Rick, Brad and I went to 'Floyd's 1921' in Moorehead City.  Brad and Rick had the Hoghead Snapper, (no they didn't have the head).  We all had too much to eat, 3 appitizers, 4 meals and dessert.  It was delicious, and the chef actually came out to chat and brought us some samples....need to keep going back.  Actually the 4 of us haven't had a bad meal yet, McCurdy's Restaurant Sunday, Jordon's on Monday and a linner (late lunch, no dinner) at Finz on Tuesday.  So many restaurants and so little time.

Christine and crew are heading out this AM about 8:20, going to Sand-dollar Island and the rest of us are just hanging out.  Lynne and I are going to do some shopping, but other than that no plans.  The big discussion, is the family dinner tonight and where do we eat.  We have lots of choices and right now they are leaning towards Arby's.(ha ha).  We are trying to make dad pick, but now he stopped talking, (maybe not a bad thing, since he has been singing and dancing around all morning).  We'll see what the day has to bring.

Last Night Camp Lejeune

We had a nice breakfast today and then got ready to go to the commissary.  Now remember, it is a 20 min. ride there, so it takes about 2 -2 1/2 to go shopping and get back home.  We put the groceries away, had some lunch (leftovers) and then headed outside to pack-up a few things.  All the decorations, lights, chairs, and tie down straps get put away (sigh).

We got done with that and headed back inside....lots of RV/Campers pulling in and a bit of drizzle.  What is this motorcycle doing on out site, hey it Rick.  He left early to come to NC and has been touring around and decided to stop in and visit.   We sat and talked for awhile then Rick took his bike back to the Inn he is staying at, we picked him up and then headed off to dinner.  Brad and I had found this place early this week, 'The Bogue House Restaurant', a diner kinda of place out of the way...the food was great, I had shrimp, Brad had Sea Trout and Rick had the Oysters, all meals were Delicious. 

We headed back, dropped Rick off and headed home.  Vegged out for the night, I was to brown burger for dinner tomorrow, but it was 8:00 and Brad offered to do it in the AM.  We need to finish packing for the long 30 mile trip tomorrow.  That will be easy compared to cleaning out the RV and getting all the stuff down to the house for the week.  Dirty laundry, clean laundry.....life on the road, what a struggle (ha ha). 

The whole Angeli family will be down this weekend and here for a week, so I hope I manage to keep up the Blog.  If not I am apologizing ahead of time. 

Camp Lejeune

Well here it is Friday morning and another gray day....ugh. 

Wednesday we got up, had breakfast and headed over to Swansboro to their Wednesday Market....not much of a market there, so we drove up and down most of the streets of Swansboro and checked out some of the neat old houses.  There were plaques on a lot of the homes with the names and Circa dates.  When the sisters get here, need to go to Swansboro to learn some history and go through all the craft shops.  We headed up the Island and stopped at the drug store, (script and other things), then we drove around an old mobile home park, kind of unusual.  There were a few homes within, and side by side there was a home for $89k and the next one was $350K.....go figure.

Headed further up the Island and stopped at the 'Willis' Seafood Market.  The people there were real nice and told Brad how to make his own shrimp and to stop paying restaurant prices.  Then they recommended the 'Clam Digger' for a good, reasonably priced meal.  We did have to buy some crab dip before we left, and will probably go back for shrimp next week.  Well off we went to the 'Clam Digger' for lunch....very good and less then $20.00, we will have to go back. 

The weather is looking pretty nasty and the awning is out on the RV.  Back to camp, put the awning up and waited for the nasty weather.  Rain came, but not the 30 mph wind they were calling for, the worst of the storms are actually staying inland. 

Thursday, more gray.

About 8:30 the artillery started to go Boom.  It must just be over the channel from us because it shook the RV once or twice.  I did a load of laundry and and a couple of strolls around camp.  Talked with a couple of the fisher people, who weren't having any luck.  We had lunch then headed for the beach, we didn't care what the skies looked like anymore.  We walked down the beach and ran into a person who was looking for sharks teeth....guess what, we actually found a few.  We were there for about 2hrs and decided to head back to camp, skies are getting much darker.  Up the boardwalk over the dunes, yikes you can see the rain just past the RV and the sky is black.  We did make it back before the downpour, we showered and then headed over to Courtyard Cove.  Guess what, nothing there, back to camp and had Ribs for dinner.  I did talk with Karen and Lynne, we are all getting anxious for vacation.  2 days and they will all be here....yea.

Camp Lejeune

Well here it is Tuesday evening, and we just got done with dinner.

Monday....

We did laundry, walked around the cg, went for a walk on the beach and managed to get very wet.  How do those waves manage to sneak up on you, even when you think you are watching for them. 

 We did find an unusual item on base, something you don't see everyday.  Our younger viewers may not know what this is and we thought phone booths were a thing of the past!!!

After being here all day, we decided to head to Swansboro for dinner.  We were headed to Nicky's for a seafood dinner, when Brad spied a Pizza joint...sounded good.  After very, very slow service we got our not so in-expensive pizza, and were disappointed.  It was to be their special (gourmet) pizza and we had to look really hard to find the toppings.  The surprising thing is that this place was packed and with a lot of the locals....next time we'll go for the seafood. 

Tuesday....

I did forget to mention that the Honda has started to make a strange noise.  Sounds like it is coming from under the car and not from the engine, but we don't know anything about vehicles.  So off to the Honda dealer this morning.  Took them about 2 seconds to diagnose, a broken bolt on the catalytic heat shield, so it will last until we get back to PA. 

It is a gray rainy day, so what do you do....you go shopping.  Brad and I each got a new bathing suit and I got 2 new pair of shorts.  I hate this gaining weight thing.  You would think with the bike riding and walking we do, it would start to disappear.  We stopped at Applebee's for lunch and at as usual, it was way to much.  We ended up bringing half of it home and I still only had an apple for dinner.  Brad went for a bike ride and I did dishes, called Mel and cleaned up a little.  All in all, a good day. 

The Intercoastal Water Way is right at the end of the camp ground, about a 5 campsite walk, and this barge came through the draw bridge (which actually turns) and it just looked like it was going to hit the bridge.  The are large and go much faster than you think they should.  I guess they have been at this a lot longer than we have been watching them.