Quarryville Yogi Bear June 2019

We don't normally go to Yogi Bear Jellystones because I think they are way to expensive and almost everything they have there costs extra money except the pools and bounce pillows and stuff. This year Paul got back from Afghanistan at the end of April and then he applied to the Maryland State Police Dept and if he got in he was going to be in a live in academy for 6 months right through summer. With this in mind we didn't make any concrete camping plans so that we didn't loss money. On top of that He was transferred and made FADO in the fire dept so he lost all of his vacation picks anyway. So needless to say we did a lot of last minute planning and couldn't get into a lot of the places we love to go to like Rocky Gap. So the first place we headed to was Jellystone. It's about an hour drive from our house so we had plenty of time to pack up the camper and take our time. So a left around noon with dog and bunny in tow and stopped at the local Cracker Barrel for some good down home cooking before we got on the road for real. When we know that we are going to be stopping for an extended period of time with Elle and Cal (dog, bunny) with us we make sure to bring the spare key for the truck so they can stay in the A/C while we get food we also try to get done ASAP.

Jellystones are expensive but they are always a nice place to go, always clean and the staff is very nice. This particular one we went to when the kids were little, they have a nice size water park, splash zone and 2 big pools and a family and an adult hot tub. You can also rent cabanas that have ,a table, chairs, a fan, mini fridge, and a TV, but they were way to expensive. The park also has 2 bounce pillows, an arcade, botchy ball court, volleyball, playground, and escape room. For an extra fee they also have laser tag.

We had a really spacious site and we liked it so much we decided to book the one next to it for Halloween with some friends that also have a camper. In true Perry family vacation fashion we got there and got the camper all set up and in rained. It poured for about an hour, while it rained we got the inside of the camper organized and just hung out. Nothing much to do outside in the rain. They close the pool as soon as they hear thunder so there wasn't any good reason to go there. That night we had hot dogs for dinner

An adult trip to Boston

Sandys first trip to Massachusetts

We left on a Sunday evening around 630 in the afternoon. Pauls parents took the kids to Ocean city Maryland so we figured we have a grown up trip. I have been wanting to take Paul to the Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston for a while because it’s really the only beer he likes. The GPS said it should take about 6 hours or so, we planned on stopping at some point to eat and pull full in Big Burtha so we knew it would take a little longer. Well at 930 pm on a Sunday the traffic going to the Washington bridge in New York right outside New York city was absolutely crazy! Try pulling a 41 foot trailer through a toll plaza while people are cutting in and out of the lanes geez even Paul was getting flustered. Once we got on the bridge it didn’t any better. Thank goodness it was dark because I probably would have been freaking out I don’t really like bridges in the first place. After we finally got through that mess the fun doesn’t stop there. We followed the GPS, we call her Lola, to another rd and of course once we get on it we figure out that we are to tall to be on this highway. So we quickly exit into a little neighborhood and stop on the side of the road. I’m now freaking out because I’m apparently the copilot and now it is my job to navigate throught this tiny neighborhood, with its tiny streets and its low hanging trees. I am not good at these things. I have never been good at these types of things. My husband if fully aware that I am not good at these types of things and yet he still expects me to do it…. About a year or more ago we were leaving western Maryland and we needed fuel so Paul says can ou look on the map and find a place for us to fuel up? Yeah sure no problem I can do that. Well I found one and I thought it had plenty of room, so we exit…. On this small ramp into this little main street town. Paul is not happy…. We pull into the gas station and we are hanging out into the road…. He even more mad. We get gas and then he says to me you need to go out and stop traffic so I can back out of here because the trailer is to tall to go around. So I’m pretty sure I have been scared for life. Long story short we took out some branches but we did manage to find I-95 in just a couple of turns. The next argument was a rest stop lol we pulled into a large one but couldn’t find the full pump so we left that one and stopped at the next one.



We fueled on and ate McDonalds on the tailgate of the truck with the dog and the rabbit chilling with us. We got back on the road after probably a half hour and arrived at the Hanscom Fam camp about 20 minutes outside of Boston.
   

So we have never stayed at a military campground before, but apparently the way it works is you just show up and pray that they have space for you …. It’s now 130 in the morning, we are both tired were driving around the pitch dark closed fam camp looking for the spot we found on the map that is suppose to be open. They have no full hook up sites available just water and electric. OK…. So if you have read any other post I have posted on this blog you will know that my other weakness and the thing that gives me the most anxiety is directing Paul backing up into a spot. I’m not good at this in the broad damn day light much less in the middle of the pitch black woods… another argument pursues. Eventually we get into the spot doesn’t take that long, plug everything in and of course we get an error code on the front A/C unit the cherry on top of a miserable day. My husband being the person that he is immediately starts taking things apart to try and figure out what is wrong. If I was in charge that would have waited until the morning because it was now 3am and I’m not having any of it. I just say lets just sleep in the back room where the kids usually sleep and work on it in the morning. Nope Paul needs to get it fixed right away… fine at this point I’m zero help so I go to sleep in the back room and he finally comes to bed at 6am and climbs in JPs bed so I assumed nothing was resolved. In the morning around 10 or so I wake up my entire bocy aching and climb my butt out of the top bunk because Paul took the ladder and go lay in my bed, the temperature is just fine we could have slept there all night. Paul wakes up an hour later and explains to me everything that he did in attempts to fix the problem. Including take the A/C unit apart, switching fuses, taking the converter apart which is behind a panel in an outside compartment. And putting all of it back together. At 6am he realizes that absolutely nothing is wrong with the camper and the problem is with the panel at the campground. Half of it isn’t working so only half of the camper is getting power….. he got that information after using his google machine to research. 11 am on Monday what an eventful trip we have had so far and we haven’t even left the trailer yet. The camp host, a older women with a very thick Boston accent, comes around to see who has left and arrived over night and tells us we need to come and register. When we go to register she informs us that a spot opened up that morning with a full hook up…. I was fine just staying where we were. Whatever so I have to take a navy shower not a big deal to me, but Paul wants to move…. So we pack up and move. The new spot is at the end of the street and once again I need to back him up, luckily it was straight and light so I didn’t really need to do much.

Before we left we decided that Monday would be an exploration day to see what we had to do to get into town. A friend of ours suggested taking the subway from the furthest station called Alewife, but considering the chain of events we encountered we just stayed in and went to a little pizza place and had pizza and mozzarella sticks. Then we went on base to try to buy trolley tickets but they were closed. That night we watched a movie and went to bed.

Tuesday we had ticket for a tour at the Samuel Adams brewery at 1pm so we woke up at 10 left to go on base got our ticket and went to the Alewife subway station and took the subway from the red line to the orange line and got to the brewery with a 45 minutes to spare before our tour so we decided to have a flight of beer… on an empty stomach…smart. What I thought was going to be an exclusive tour with some really great samplings of beer wound up being a tour with that was mostly sitting in the barrel room with a group of ten, which was cool not a lot of people get to do that. Well we were sampling 3 different types of beer which we were excited about until they said the word “sour”. We just looked at each other like WTF does that mean, we it mean exactly what it sounds like, the beer that we were about to consume was indeed sour, like pucker your lips sour. It was in no way shape or form good and the last one tasted like balsamic vinegar, Paul and I both dumped that one. Very disappointed and I felt really bad because I thought it was something way different, but we did get to experience something that not everyone gets to so all in all it was a good experience and we got to keep the sampling cup. The flight of beer that we had before we went in was good I had a milk shake beer, hibiscus, sam 76, and porch rocker, which was by far my favorite.

  












After we left we realized that we lost our subway ticket so we had to pay for a new one and we made our way to state street in the heart of down town Boston. We found our trolley and took an hour tour of Boston with a talking guide who was also driving what a character.  By now its like 430 and we are starving and we have headaches because we had all that beer so we go to an Italian restaurant that was also recommended by our friend. When we got there we weren’t sure if we were dressed appropriately but they let us in. It was much fancier then what we were looking for but we were starving so we didn’t care I would have spent 100 dollars on dinner if I had to at this point. We had bread with a roasted garlic, olive oil, and a white bean puree it was really good. The appetizer was a ricotta stuffed zucchini flower and circle of roasted veggies, for the main course I had seafood risotto and Paul had Pasta with truffle on top. Before the main course our waitress came and took our silverware from the appetizer and gave us a brand new set and used a crumb scrapper to remove the crumbs from the table cloth, very fancy. Surprisingly the meal only cost 88 dollars I think which isn’t bad considering Paul and I have 60 dollars a piece for a meal before, well worth it by the way. After we left there we went across the street and got a canoli and a cup cake from Mikes Pastry, another recommendation, I was not impressed it was just OK. We took a short walk down the freedom trail past the Paul Revere house, that was closed, and to Faneuil Hall Market, and hopped back on the subway after about a half hour walk, back to Alewife and drove to the BX to get snacks then back to the fam camp. That night we went to the stop and shop to get food for the next day and snacks it’s basically a Giant supermarket.

Wednesday was our last day so we got up ate breakfast and set out for Alewife. We walked about a half hour to the aquarium and spent most of the day there. The Boston aquarium isn’t as big as the national aquarium in Baltimore its very quaint and has just enough to see. The center piece is a 23-foot-deep 45 feet wide tank with all kinds of species of fish including 2 bonnet sharks, 3 sea turtle one of which is 85ish years old and weights over 500 pounds. There’s also a very long eel that’s a beautiful shade of yellow, in the center of the tank is a man-made coral reef and on the top floor you can look all the way down to the bottom of the tanks and see the hustle and bustle of the fish below. They also have 3 types of penguins they all have bands on their arms and you can use the screen to look them up and see the names of all the penguins. On the first floor they have a touch tank with small sharks and sting rays, in the basement they have a display with shark eggs. The shark eggs are in a glass case in the wall and they have a light shinning through the egg so you can see the baby shark inside moving around. When we left the aquarium, it looked like it was going to pour buckets so we went to the Ye ole Union Oyster house to eat. I had some real new England clam chowder and it was so good the clams casino I had was crap, they were tough and chewy and greasy. We left and continued on the freedom trial where we saw the state house the Benjamin franklin statue, the Granary burying ground where Samuel Adams was buried along with John Hancock and Paul Revere. We also saw the park street church where Boston meth addicts seem to hangout. We took a stole through the Boston Commons and the Boston public garden where we saw a very majestic statue of George Washington atop a horse. The tour guide we had the day before told us a story about a lady who paid 500,000 dollars for a parking space right by the Boston commons, crazy people but we able to see the house with the crazy expensive parking spot. We took the park street subway station back to Alewife and went out of the way to find diesel. We got back to the trailer and played rummy and had left over pizza before going to bed.

We woke up at 9 am pack everything up and we were on the road around 1130. It was raining so traffic was absolutely horrible and it took us an hour to get past New York, we stopped in Jersey to get diesel and we didn’t get home until 830 at night GAG. I don’t think we will be taking the trailer back to Boston any time soon it was a very stressful drive t and from for us both.

Fort Whaley 2018

Hapers Ferry June 2018

We had a very easy trip to Harpers Ferry although we did hit a lot of traffic on the 695 beltway and in Fredrick on 70 and again approaching Harpers Ferry but it wasn't to bad only took about 2 hours. We left on the last day of school after I picked the kids up from school, this trip was a surprise and when the kids, mostly JP, left school they were so upset about having to leave their friends for the summer. They're going to be switching school next year so they wont be able to see a lot of them anymore. After we pulled into our neighborhood and they saw the camper they perked right up and were happy for the first camping trip of the year. They ran in the house grabbed every toy imaginable, blankets, cars, Emma (the doll) hopped in the truck and patiently awaited for the departure. These days we fit so much in the truck while were travelling it's amazing that we can even move. Between the 2 kids, 2 adults, chocolate lab, bunny, pillows, blankets, 2 dvd players, tablets, Emma, and the snacks the truck probably weighs more then the camper.

Upon the arrival to the KOA we were greeted at the entrance and directed to the registration office. Its been a couple of years since we've been here and not much has really changed except for them digging up the little pond and fountain. We drove to our spot on the hill right up front directly in the sun... it was very small and the camper in front of us water hook up was basically right in the middle of our site. Most of the site was taken up by a concrete pad which didn't really bother me and the only up side to being so close to the elderly couple in front of us was that there camper blocked out most of the sun in the afternoon so there's a plus. We didn't even get everything set up before the kids grabbed their bikes out of the back of the truck and went to the playground, last year we bought them Gizmo watches so that we could get a hold of them while their out playing it's like a watch phone they can only contact 4 people and only those 4 contacts can call them, it also has GPS so that we can see where they are at any given time. We really like it the only glitch is is that if the watch is off it's off and you can't use any of the features. We let the kids play for a while and then called them back fro dinner after dinner we went to the pool for a little while, pool closes at 10 thats nice most pools close at like 9.

The next day I made chip beef gravy for breakfast outside on the camp stove, we try to cook outside as much as possible now to keep the trailer cool. Not long after that the kids were gone again. We did the usual stuff camp store bike rides. Paul and I stayed at the camper most of the time we stayed at the pool for a couple of hours. The kids were in and out of the pool they went to the bounce pillow and the play ground, someone taught JP how to play Gaga ball. Gaga ball is a game thats in a round ball pit and according to JP you have to kick the ball but you can't get hit with the ball above your feet, if the ball touches you shins your out of the game, he also tried to teach kenzie I don't know if she was into it or not. That night JP and Paul played jumbo checkers that Mr Lee got them for Christmas.

Cherrystone 2018

We arrived at Cherrystone after about a 3 hour drive from Rodanthe North Carolina, It was a nice easy trip up the coast with no problems, after we arrived we set up the camper and had some lunch.
The next day My inlaws were meeting us

Camp Hatteras 2018

We always have seemed to have a packed truck but when the kids want to spread out it seems to shrink significantly. This trip Paul found a way to put the cords through the seats  so that there aren't any cords for the kids and the dog to get tangled in, I don't know why he didn't think of it sooner to be honest it made a world of difference. 

It was an easy 6 hour drive from Baltimore to Rodanthe, North Carolina with one stop right outside of Williamsburg for gas and a stretch at the Wawa. During this trip I pack the kids their own lunches and told them to eat as they wanted but it was 6 hours and once it was gone it was gone and we weren't stopping. Wouldn't you know it JP was the first one to eat all his food and of course when we stopped at Wawa he was also the first one to ask me to buy him food... typical. After we arrived at the Camp Hatteras Campground and got everything set up the site this year was once again on the sound side but we were about 20 feet from the water. After Paul put the kids bikes down the kids were off. Paul bought new lights for the kids bikes that are really bright so they'll be seen better now that they are riding at night more.

Tuesday we woke up and had breakfast and in the afternoon I took the kids to the playground and helped Kenzie put Emma down the slide that's her doll she never leaves home without. After we came back we went to the pool where as usual I got some sunburn even though the campground put in a new deck and sun shade. Kenzie used her birthday money to buy JP and herself laffy taffy and an ice cream. that night we kept our tradition and stayed out for like an hour and a half catching ghost crabs and looking at all the stars. It's amazing how many stars are in the sky that we don't see at home because of all the light pollution. Paul has a cool app on his phone that shows where all the planets and constellations are. He told us about how when he went of seas and that there were even more stars that he could see over there. While we were catching crabs we grabbed any trash we saw on the beach to throw away. 

Wednesday was another pool day we were luck and got a spot under the shade while the kids played in the pool Paul and I had a couple of drinks and we all played a couple rounds of Uno. A couple of years ago I found water proof cards that are perfect for the pool and they come with a little key chain to keep them all together. so after sitting by the pool and drinking, needless to say I was a little drunk when we decided to go to the beach. 

If anyone knows me they know that I am not a beach person I never really was a beach person and I really don't recall going to the beach a lot when I was younger. I remember going to the beach with ,y parents and my father taking me out in the ocean and I thinks that the only memory I have of getting in the water. I think going to the beach freaks me out a little because the thought of my kids going in the ocean and getting sucked out in my mind is a real possibility. My husband on the other hand is a beach person and in turn wants the kids to be beach people but they make me so nervous. I will say that I have gotten a lot better with going to the beach as long as I go after like 5pm I find it really enjoyable because the sun isn't beating down on my, even just have one umbrella up is so much better then dying in the sunny I have even gotten in the water up to my waist, I would say 3 or 4 years ago I couldn't even stand the sand being on my body. The last day I was actually a little disappointed we didn't go to the beach again. After we sat on the beach while the sun was going down we found our way back to the pool and stayed till about 930. Camp Hatteras is one of the only campgrounds we've been to that has a night swim, most close the pool once it gets dark.

Thursday we hung out at the trailer for a while and the kids went to the playground around 5 we went to the Pea Island Animal Refuge and went on a hike. I have been on a mission for a couple years now to see an otter in the wild and rumor is is that's the place to see it. All we saw was geese and huge blue crabs and a crane here and there but alas no otters. It was a very relaxing hike though and it wasn't really hot out and we were basically the only ones there. Every so often they have binocular stands to look out that are free and at the end of the hike there's a 2 story raised platform that looks out at the entire park. On the way to the platform we use the trail and on the way back we walk the service road by the water to look at the huge crabs and hope to see an otter. I'm pretty sure we just go when it's to early while we were leaving a man with a very large camera lens approached us and asked if we seen any otter and I told him it was my life dream to see an otter in the wild, he confirmed that there at at least 5 otters that frequent that little river and he's filmed them. I was really hoping that he would offer to show me some picture but he didn't and he looked like he was on a mission so I didn't pry. On the way home we stopped at a cute little grocery store and a couple other stores and then we went back to the camper for a bike ride to the store after we ate dinner and then to the Dairy Queen for ice cream. After we ate our ice cream to took a quick ride through the KOA and smelled the campfires... you can't have a fire on the ground at Camp Hatteras it has to be in a raised fire pit, which we do not have. I went back to the camper to do the dinner dishes and Paul and the kids played mini golf at the campground I'm sure he whooped them he always does.

Friday was a busy day for us we woke up had breakfast we all got showers and got ready to head out for the day. As soon as the kids got in the car it started pouring down rain, so Paul and I grabbed whatever we could but it was to late pretty much everything we own that was outside was soaked... what are you going to do. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the aquarium but it's worth it it's not the biggest aquarium but it's very well maintained and it doesn't cost a lot of money. They also have a peir and a nature walk and a little cafe so theirs plenty to keep you busy. This year they had a dinosaur exhibit that you could walk through and they moved and made sounds, they also had a fossil dog and these things you put on your feet to make dinosaur foot prints in the sand. Inside they have a lot of indigenous species found in North Carolina they also rehabilitate sea turtle here and you can go in and look at them in the tanks and a little white board gives you a description of why they're there. After you leave the turtle rehab area there's an interactive turtle rehab area where you get your own toy turtle and you take it to a could different station and diagnose it and rehab it then you get to set it free. The best part of the aquarium though is obviously the OTTER exhibit, they have 2 otters that are pretty big and they had just fed them when we got to the tank. I think the kids favorite part is touching the sting rays and the horseshoe crabs they also have a little shark in the tank that you can touch I'm not brave enough to try to touch them I settle for the baby horseshoe crabs in the little tank. The last stop is the shark tank, it's the biggest tank they have there with 3 sharks the size of a grown man. In order to exit the aquraium you have to walk through the gift shop... this year we didn't buy anything. I always enjoy the trip to the Aquarium at 374 airport rd in Manteo North Carolina and make it a point to go every year rain or shine.

After leaving we stopped at Big Als for dinner a coke a cola themed restaurant where the food was just ok but the service and the milkshakes were amazing! We left there and headed back to the Pea Island refuge but this time we walked on the beach across the rd and I found some cool shells, I left the family at the truck when we were done for a last effort to see a wild otter but still nothing. When we got back to the campground we played corn hole and JP and I played basketball. 

Saturday morning I woke up at like 9 and saw that Paul had gotten up early and went and bought apple uglies pastries 30 minutes away because he couldn't sleep. One of his friends told him they were delicious and he had to go early or they would sell out, so we had apple uglies for breakfast that morning for the first time. Even though it was the last day at the outer banks and we really didn't make the most of it to be honest. We spent the morning relaxing at the site enjoying each others company. Mckenzie made stuff with the clay she bought at one of the shops we visited and JP drew a picture of our old trailer which got hung on the wall with the pictures of the trailer we have now. Kenzie drew a picture of herself roasting a pink marshmallow that also got hung on the wall. We had beeferoni for lunch in Styrofoam bowls and Paul and I zillowed houses in the area just because with not a care in the world. Mckenzie was very insistant about going to the lounge to do the parrot craft at 3 so we decided to just go to the pool to past the day. The kids implanted themselves in a family and got invited to have birthday cake at her trailer and Paul and I stayed at the pool and had our alcohol and left eventually and had dinner. 

Sunday it was time to pack up and make the 4 hour drive to one of our favorite campgrounds in Cape Charles Virginia Cherrystone Family camping resort. For once in our almost 10 years of camping we were packed up and out of the campground by 11 and were on the road again. I really like how quiet the outer banks is Rodanthe is away from the hustle and bustle in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head, the beaches are always clean unlike a lot of places in Ocean City Maryland and unlike Ocean City there's always room on the beach, you not on top of everyone. Ocean City Maryland is so much closer to us and would be a lot easier for us to go to but it's completely over priced and over populated.

Camping season 2018

Its the the end of May and officially camping season! The kids get out of school on June 15th and that weekend we have a camping trip to Harper Ferry planned. I'm so excited for camping season to start this will be the beginning of a much needed family packed summer and I'm going to take it all in because I start nursing school August 27th and I will be pulling out my hair for the next 2 years and probably wont have much time to do anything.

 Nursing school has already ruined a late summer vacation we planned a trip up to lake placid and then over to Niagra Falls at the end of August we even all got passports to go into Canada and see the falls. We planned it for August 18th to the 28th but I just found out that I have a mandatory orientation on the 21st and school starts for me on the 27th. We even had my parents and Pauls parents going with us and we were all looking forward to seeing the falls. We are making lemonade out of lemons though and just canceling that trip and going somewhere else that's closer so that I can drive home and we plan on redoing that trip later.

I really am looking forward to camping I'm just not looking forward to all the packing and moving around. Were going to the Outbanks and Cherrystone then most likely to Cherrystone again in August and we plan on making little trips here and there wherever we can. This year we also are planning to let the kids bring a friend I think they're at the age where it would be fun and we know a couple of the parents that would be ok with us taking the kids for a weekend, and if doesn't work out then we just wont do it again.

It's funny every year around this time Paul always asks me if there anything or gadget that I would want for the trailer and every year I say no lol. I think it's just an excuse for him to go out and buy something that I have approved or something. I just feel like we already pack so much and we already have so much in the camper that just adding to the ciaos is just pointless. Plus this year I feel like is going to be tight as far as money goes because I have so much stuff to buy for school.

I was just looking through my old blogs and I've noticed my blogging has been seriously lacking these last couple of years camping. This is really just a personal diary and I'm pretty sure only family reads this but I hope to share it with my children when they're older .