We took Roaming with the Ramsay’s advice and joined Harvest Host – for an annual fee, businesses will let you park in a safe location for a night with the expectation that you’ll make a purchase when you’re there. Our first night was at a vitamin store in Alabama, St. John’s Nutrition. The second night was at a brake shop in Ocala, Fl. We made it to Hollywood, Fla on 12.24 and got to see Ash and the family. Tilly got to work torturing Nickel right away 🙂 They kids got me some hiking sandals and gave Jim a Cardinals dart board. We spent all our time w/ the fam and going to parks.

We love coming back to the property. We got to see fall here, burned some weeds, got the road repaired, had some trees knocked down, and Jim finished most of the work on the shed. He got the propane lines in and a tank delivered, the gas company will come back and finish up when we return. Then, he’ll need to install the fireplace and whatever “surround” he’s going to build and get the appliances and we’ll be done. Chayse, Britt, and Dalton came for Thanksgiving, which was really great. We had a massive bonfire and got to hang out and lot, then went on a hike before they left. The goal was to head to Miami in time to watch G-Kid #1 before G-Kid #2 showed up, but she had other plans. Enolah Lynette showed up a week early, on 12.20.21, a couple days before we were heading down.

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Mom and Dad came to Gatlinburg for our last weekend there. They braved the rain on Saturday before we had a good day to drive around and leaf peep on Sunday. It never cleared up enough to be able to go to Clingman’s Dome, but we enjoyed our time. We were able to find a road hike in the Park that we could take Nickel on, so we were able to spend some time in the woods before heading out. Our first Harvest Host was our stay at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. No check in, nice big parking lot, it was perfect for a quick stop. Then, on to the property to settle in for a month and work on the shed.

I don’t have a lot of pictures of our time with my parents, some of us don’t like having pictures taken 🙂 But we had an awesome stay, we parked in the driveway, Dad and Jim grilled their hearts out, and we had some awesome conversations and chill time. Then, another short trip was extended by a 2 hour stand still on the highway. Luckily, we were towing our refrigerator and potty, so not too much stress for us. Gatlinburg is a bustling town, I mean, shoulder to shoulder, folks out having a blast. We walked through town, drove through Pigeon Forge, and spent most of the time in the mountains. We didn’t hike, because Nickel couldn’t go onto the trails in the park. Again, lots of rain and finally a cold snap that made the trees pop. So, we were lucky to see our second fall color display of the year. We had lunch in a little church and got a couple pictures of a bear that walked right behind the truck. As usual, I also threw in some pics of the kids.

The weather was rainy, again, but we got in one last hike before we left NH. We caught a break and saw a little break in the clouds while we were on the hill over the lake and watched as they rolled back in. At the beginning of the hike there was a crazy tubing system that connected trees for quite a while. We figured out that is how they tap the sugar maples for syrup – it was quite a web. Jim got some pictures of the farm before we left and headed to Baltimore for a stopover in Washington D.C. A 4 hour trip took 7 due to some bad navigation (I blame google) but we headed downtown to see DC at night. The next day we went down for a day time view before heading out to N.C.

The kids left and we tried to adjust to the quiet again 🙂 We received the washer and dryer we ordered and had to take off two doors and the closet door jamb to install them, but apparently that’s normal. We headed out to see some fall colors and Britt headed to STL for Ally’s wedding!

We got to Boston, parked and headed out to find our tour guide to walk the Freedom Trail – the first thing we saw was a guard shack with three bullet holes in it. The guide and the Trail were awesome – we learned all about the players in the Revolutionary War, including some of those we had not heard of before. From how it sounds, our forefathers had quite a sense of humor and really didn’t take England seriously. When things finally got serious, they just never backed down, it was very inspiring. We saw both of Paul Revere’s headstones; at the time, the size of your headstone was relative to your importance in the community. Initially, his headstone was very small, but Boston re-thought their decision and gave him a bigger one. The skull and wings is a common theme on headstones and represents the death of the body and the soul going to heaven. We saw that theme in NYC and in a couple graveyards we saw earlier in the summer. This was a really cool end to our summer and tied in with the forts and Minute Man Park. We headed to the USS Constitution, the oldest, floating commissioned warship in the world. We were able to go to both below decks and see the staterooms and the main room where about 300 men slept in hammocks. We also learned that the keel is the only original remaining part of the USS Constitution and that it’s floated into the harbor weekly to ensure it remains seaworthy. We hired a guide in Salem, as well. In Salem, once the governor figured out what was going on and put an end to it, the government decided to remove any and all proof and evidence of the situation that they could. They tore down all governmental buildings, courthouses, jails, etc that had anything to do with the witch trials. The stories that exist are taken from journals of residents that were found from the time. The majority of the accusations came from a few girls and because the law at the time gave all property of an accused to the sheriff (regardless of their innocence), the sheriff became very wealthy. Over 200 people were accused and jailed, many of which in the famous coffin cells, before it was over. So, Salem was really interesting, but outside of a couple of homes, there was nothing from that time period to see. On another note, Salem was the home of the sending end of the first ever telephone call, that building is still standing, but is a restaurant.

We moved the camper to Rhode Island to be more centrally located to our vacation destinations, then picked up Ash, Alex, Chayse, and Mathilda from the airport on 9.13. On 9.14 we headed to our Hoboken Air BNB to start the NYC leg of the trip. On 9.15 we boarded saw the Hoboken 9/11 memorial before checking off another bucket list item and boarding the boat to Ellis Island and then the Statue of Liberty. Though the crown wasn’t open, but we were able to get tickets to the pedestal where Jim tried to look up her skirt. sigh. We took the train to Manhattan and wandered the city. After a very long day and walking through Central Park at night, we couldn’t get the ticket machine in the subway to work and, after trying for about 30 minutes, we jumped (some of us went under) the turnstile. I missed the photo op of my pregnant daughter passing the stroller and her 2 year old over the turnstile then crawling under it herself. It was not a fast crime. We were also able to visit the 9/11 memorial, see the Survivor Tree, and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Jim grilled lobster and rib eye for my birthday 🙂 Then, we worked through the week and packed up, then headed to Vermont to pick up the new house. We went with another Solitude, updated model, but same floor plan as our 2017. The 2022 has a different kitchen layout and adds two windows on the kitchen side. Since the kids are coming out next week, we have to get it loaded and figure out where to put everything, before heading to Rhode Island.

We got to Bass Harbor RV Park and headed out right away. We walked about 1/2 mile to see our first lighthouse and hang out on the rocky shore after the drive. We were there for a little over a week, did several hikes, went whale watching, drove the Cadillac Road bike road on the Carriage Roads and got rained in for a couple days by hurricane Ida. The rocky shore was beautiful, the hikes were great, and we got to hang out with a humpback whale named Nine and her 6th known calf named Bubbles for about an hour, as the calf played and rolled around the boat. Nine hung out below, only surfacing once (on the other side of the boat) but you can see the white spot on her belly below the water’s surface. Acadia was not what we were expecting geographically, being broken up by privately owned land and towns, there were sections of the park, but then hikes off of a state highway. Not a big deal, just not what we’re used to for National Parks. Bar Harbor is a really cute town, but very difficult to navigate with a large truck. During Ida, we had a bit too much time on our hands and made a deal on a new camper. We had been looking at several models, but decided to stick with the same model we have, just 5 years newer. We will pick it up next weekend.