Browsing Category2020

Durham/Raleigh, NC

We spent the month of December and a bit of January in the vicinity of Durham and Raleigh North Carolina, enjoying some outdoor type activities, but still limited by the virus which continued to bully the U.S. While I typically break my blog posts up by city, we just haven’t done enough stuff outside of boring stuff to report in on. Over the past months, most of our time has been consumed with regular non-travel life stuff like puzzles, reading, and binge-watching terrible television shows. And honestly, that stuff is fine and great. But it’s not ‘hey, look at this…

Chesterfield, VA

Continuing on our route to somewhere South, but not anywhere specific South, we found ourselves in Chesterfield, VA, which is situated about 30 minutes South of Richmond. We scored a cancellation at Pocahontas State Park over Thanksgiving, which was a bit of an accomplishment. While I grew up where it gets cold by mid-October, therefore putting the kibosh on camping opportunities, these Southern folks camp all the way through the winter. They especially like to camp on holidays, which makes our lives a bit trickier. But, lucky for us, some shlep had to cancel their reservation, meaning we got to…

Pine Grove, PA

After spending the past several months pulled by the temptation, and concurrent need for creativity in participating in visits and fun time with family and friends, we headed South – intent on spending a few weeks in nowhere. Pennsylvania has large swaths of ‘nowhere’. Jake staked out a swath of nowhere that happened to promise trails and an hour’s proximity to a Wegmans. We found ourselves at an off-season RV Resort in Pine Grove, PA, where we stayed for two weeks. Two glorious, quiet, weeks dotted with morning runs and two trips to Wegmans. Twin Pines RV Resort, Pine Grove,…

Olean, NY

We spent an anxious two weeks in Olean, NY. We originally thought we’d spend just a few days, or possibly a week in the area, with the intention of spending a bit of time near Fred, Jake’s father figure. We got COVID tested pretty soon after arrival, and then planned to quarantine until results came back so that we could see Fred as safely as possible. He’s 86. A sunny day run through St.Bonaventure Cemetery But then life happened in the form of a funeral for Jake’s grandmother, and we decided that we would attend her graveside service. I didn’t…

Rochester, NY

We don’t pass through NY without at least a zip-trip to Rochester. It’s our ‘special place’. And it has garbage plates. Boxcar Donuts – now (good) donuts only. At this point, I have written so many times about visiting Rochester, that I don’t feel it prudent to write about visiting Rochester another time. With COVID closing or limiting many activities, and taking the non-donut breakfast foods away from the delight that is BoxCar Donuts, there isn’t much new to report. We cautiously visited a few friends – walking outside, hiking, running, or grabbing a beer on a patio in 50º…

Lake George, NY

After spending many weird summer months in my hometown area of Owego, NY, we decided to join the rest of the country in ignoring best practice of ‘keeping it local’ and put our wheels on the road. With COVID-19 now present in every community in the U.S., we realized we were no longer the viral vectors we had feared we would be; that title had been claimed early in the summer by flocks of folks who ‘just need(ed) to get away from these COVID-19 lockdowns for a bit!’ One of my employment endeavors includes participating in customer service type activities.…

Owego, NY – 2020 Edition

We wobbled and we wavered, but we finally decided to head ‘home’. As in, my original gangster home. The home where I grew up. The place I spent summers bridge jumping into creeks. The spot where I was sheltered from the larger, more diverse thinking and acting world. Owego, NY We’re talking Owego, and for a plethora of reasons, we’ve ended up spending at least a month here each summer for the past three summers. Needing to bring our niece Eden home to her father’s in Western NY after a few weeks of fun and stink, we decided to plop…

Bear, DE

Everything is sticky. WHY IS EVERYTHING STICKY? Not even two full weeks of two nine-year-olds rolling with us in Dyna, and our rolling home is covered in zinc based sunscreen and STICKY. There are errant cowtail wrappers decorating random spaces in and around the rig. Where is this crap coming from? How do two 4 foot tall gremlins create so much chaos? We are Aunt Liz and Uncle Jake by luck. But every time we host these terroristic, fun-sized humans, we are reassured that our choice to not be parents (yet? ever?) is a good one. I love our two…

Rehoboth Beach, DE

The Fourth of July – and other summer holidays – often feel like a little slice of hell for us. We’re those spoiled brats who enjoy camping areas all year round, especially enjoying the solitude and non-hectic aspects of them. We like to roll up without much advance reservation and claim whatever the best open site in the campground happens to be. On summer holidays, it feels like the rest of the U.S. joins us at camping areas – forcing us to preplan. It’s really fine and dandy and good for everyone in the U.S to flock to outdoor retreats…

Clarksburg, MD

Accident, MD During our multi-hour drive through the winding roads of West Virginia, and into the still winding roads of backcountry Maryland, we happened upon the tiny town of Accident, Maryland, where we accidentally stopped for an accidentally delicious pond side lunch provided by the tiny town bakery nestled in town. Fueled by melty, fresh-baked bread sandwiches, we rolled into our campsite at Little Bennett County Park late on a Tuesday afternoon. Little Bennet CampgroundLittle Bennet Campground Little Bennett Campground is a gem of a place – chock full of hiking trails and spacious campsites. If we weren’t in the…