RV There Yet? » Pictures of the Adventure

A little more Cabin before we move on

steph — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:02:15 +0000

We’ve been having a lovely time here in Cobourg, Ontario, visiting with my Canadian Family, but I wanted to share just a couple more (“couple” being a relative term) vingnettes/pictures from our time in Vermont. You know, just in case you were wondering if I REALLY liked the place!
First of all, you have to know that my dear husband LOVES the Cabin. Not just the food and the quiet and the utter restfulness of the place, but the fact that he can set up his tools on the screened-in porch and play with wood! The only defined chore that he had was to finish constructing the last three screens on said porch, but believe me, this guy just kept going until he ran out of wood! (And then we would just take a road trip to Home Depot and buy more!)

New wood box, new sink “surround”, new bench at the pond,new screw box, new grill station. This was definatly a case of a man with too much time on his hands and too much wood available! (But I confess, I loved every last little bit of “stuff” that he made!)
Then there were the ATVs! My brother brought over his two ATVs for us to use during our time there. What a blast – and what a blessing! Whether we were exploring

or using it for hauling -

we surely loved having them at the Cabin. Thanks, Dewey and Sharon for sharing!

Ah, and the company!
Besides Josiah and Abigail, with whom we shared the first week -

(loved that!!!!)
we also had Lynne and Roger for an overnight. More fun!!!!

Plus we enjoyed several visits from family in the area!

Here we are enjoying that blackberry pie with my SIL, brother, BIL, and sister. Great company to accompany that great cabin food!
Personally, I can’t think of a better way to spend a late summer evening!

Oh, and a couple more pond shots -

OK, I know this is dark and fuzzy, but if you look very closely there is a Blue Heron standing at the edge of the pond (down from the left side of the boat). You can actually see his reflection more clearly. I’ve never seen one here before (although my niece reported a sighting earlier this summer), and we’re delighted that he graced us with his presence.
And the pond did have other activity too!
Josiah gave a brief stab at fishing

And great-nephew Marshall went for a swim (joined by a couple of the dogs).

While Gary was busy doing the final construction on the new pond bench, I was busy with my camera. Imagine that!

The Burn Pit -
One of the chores we had been assigned was burning the burn pit – which had accumulated an abundance of branches and trash over the last summer or two-

It took us several days of attempts before we got it to actually burn all the way -

but by the time we left we felt we had it pretty much down to the basics.

Who knew there were actually stones at the bottom of the pit! I’m sure by next spring it will be filling up again (and the blackened edges will all be green!).

OK, OK, enough is enough!
We’re here in beautiful Cobourg, Ontario

but more on that later!
Thanks for hanging around for one last (for this year anyway!) post about The Cabin!

PS – if you’d like to see a couple more pictures of our time in Vermont (like one of Gary as a cow at the Cabot Creamery), feel free to browse the bunch HERE!

Cabin Food

steph — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:45:37 +0000

Do you find that when you’re camping, the food tastes especially good? That’s how it is here at the Cabin .
It might be because we can toast our English muffins by the fire -

Or it might be that I finally have a wonderful selection of cast iron pots (a little too heavy for RV life)

so I can try out “Roy’s Cast Iron Pan Apple Pie” -

Oh, yeah, that was good! Thanks, Roy!
Or it might be the blackberry bounty of the surrounding hills

that enabled my first ever blackberry pie!

Mmmmmm………
Even if it’s the breadsticks and pizza

right out of the DiGiorno box in the freezer that our son left behind,
it still tastes better at the Cabin!

Morning has broken, like the first morning….

steph — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:18:17 +0000

I love mornings at the cabin.
Whether it’s the crisp morning sun on the distant mountains

or a walk in the early morning mist, with the promise of a blue sky day ahead

or having your morning quiet time in front of the fire

Cabin mornings are the best.
And sometimes, when Morning at the Cabin looks like this -

That’s OK too!
It’s The Cabin.

Wanna go for a walk?

steph — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:41:36 +0000

It’s a pretty nice day here at The Cabin – want to take a walk to the pond?

Even the walk to the pond involves a nice path through the woods-

with some lovely wildflowers along the way.

See that washtub in the underbrush?

When I was a young un’, my grandfather and I (and any other grandkidlins’ that happened to be along) would stop there, tip the washtub over and dig in that special spot for the best fishing worms. We’d then head to the pond with our tin cans of squirming dirt and learn about putting worms on hooks and catching trout for lunch! Back in the day, Grampy Doc would keep the pond stocked with trout – today it’s populated mostly with bluegills, salamanders, frogs and a couple of turtles. Still fun to catch, but not quite lunch material!
Moving along memory lane -
Ah, the pond -

and more lovely wildflowers

And of course, the main reason I walk to the pond these days is to take my annual Cabin Picture -

And then a couple more variations -

This guy stayed still long enough for me to snap his picture -

Such color!
Instead of taking the trail back up to the cabin, let’s go back up the old road -

Over the hill, we come to another view of the cabin -

Wait – is that Josiah and Abigail, snatching a hug on the lawn?

Perhaps they’re discussing the disadvantages of sharing the one room Cabin, with all of its romantic seclusion, with your parents?
Or maybe they were just planning on where to go on these -

Who needs romance when you have ATV’s!!!!!
Before we finish up the walk – one last picture -

It might only be mid-August, but here in Vermont the signs of Fall are beginning!

Moving the Mountain

steph — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:55:47 +0000

OK, so it wasn’t quite the mountain, but still…..

Our cabin, while perched on a mountain top, is surrounded by quite a bit of lawn.

And scattered throughout the lawn are lovely rounded rocks, sticking their little heads up out of the dirt, ready to cause bodily damage to lawnmowers. (I speak from experience, trust me.) This year, due to the aforementioned “experience”, the rocks were given a nice coat of yellow paint so they were plainly visible to the oncoming mower.

However, my guy felt that the most offensive of the rocks (remember that “experience”) needed a more permanenant solution -
REMOVAL.
Get out the shovel, the pry bars, the tow rope and have the 4Wheel drive truck handy.

(see the yellow on the top of the rock – that’s what was showing.)

This is the cheering gallery -

OK, let’s try it from this angle

looks good….

keep up the power, Josiah….

I think it’s coming….

Nope.
Perhaps some additional consultation would help.

And the final big pull from our faithful truck -

Our Hero -

Now we just need to figure out how to fill that big hole, ’cause it certainly could do as much damage as the rock!

Contented

steph — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:45:13 +0000

We are here.

And when the sky is not so blue, and the book is not so good, and the naps are under control, I’ll share some stories of what we’ve been doing.
But for now -
Here is last night’s sunset.

Contented sighs being heard all around.

Life in Lancaster

steph — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:32:33 +0000

is good.
It’s very good!

We’ve had a great week hanging out with our kids and since they have been doing that “work” thing, we’ve been left on our own during the day to nap, read, and visit with local friends. It’s been a wonderful combo! So, in no particular order, here are some highlights of our life in Lancaster.
Shoe Shopping
(You didn’t know this would be quite so exciting, did you?)
So while shoe shopping for me was a bust (Abigail managed to snag two cute pairs), we did manage to be at the outlets when the fire trucks came barrelling in on what seemed to be (judging by the 8 fire trucks that arrived on the scene in short order) a major conflagration. We saw no fire or smoke or even smelled any smoke, but just about every fire company in the area was there. And we were (literally) first on the scene.

No news at 11~
Out with friends
We love when we can connect with friends during our travels! We have a couple of SOWER friends that live in the Lancaster area, so we were blessed to be able to see Ann and her son Brad for dinner one night.

We hadn’t seen them in over two years, so it was a real treat!
Plus we were able to get together with our Alaska buddies, Jay and Naomi. We were able to combine lunch with a stop at the local “market” where we picked up some yummy stuffed pork chops for dinner and then another stop at a local produce stand where we picked up the best sweet corn I’ve had this season. It was a delightful day!
The Girls

Gia – age 1 1/2

Libby (short for Liberty) – age 7 months
and

Macho -found as a kitten where Josiah works, and named before they realized she was a girl.

Although the dogs live happily in their crates during the day while their folks are at work, we enjoyed having them down with us on occasion. And with the nice fenced in yard, it was easy to just let them out to do their business. Of course, the trick is to let them out, but keep Macho in. She got out once, made a beeline for the only hole in the fence and disappeared from view. I was able to lure her back, but the next day as I was being extra careful to close the door behind the dogs, I managed to lock myself out. Of course, Gary had just left to get the tires rotated, so I busied myself with a nice walk, some weeding and some general backyard clean-up. So while I was reasonably productive, I mostly was glad I had gotten dressed before I let the dogs out in the first place!
The pets were great – but we were reminded how glad we are that we have chosen to do our lifestyle pet free. It’s much more fun to just borrow the mayhem!
Around the House
We thought there would be a nice long list of chores for us to do while we were here, but it turns out that the house is cosmetically in pretty good shape and most the changes that the kids have in mind were of the nature that requires planning and a budget (and maybe a larger crew). Pretty much we’ve been doing little odds and ends (like the afore mentioned weeding) but mostly we’ve been collecting ideas of little projects. So last night we had a night on the town -
Lowes – (for a modest housewarming shopping spree.)

(and the tub was NOT in the budget!)
Hot Diggity Dog for dinner

A drive through downtown Lancaster

and our final stop -

What Else!?
Tonight we head out to a Barnstormers baseball game, and then tomorrow we wrap up our house chores (Josiah will be learning how to pull and re-install a toilet. A good skill for any homeowner!), enjoy a quick visit from Toby and Tammy and the other girls on their way to the shore, and then get ready for our next destination – a couple of days with my sister and hubby up in Perry County. We have a couple of light switches to change out, and a faucet to install, but I think we (and I use the term loosely) can pull it off!
Yes, tis true,

Life in Lancaster is good.
It’s very good indeed!

Chicago at night

steph — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:07:39 +0000

We really did work quite hard at avoiding toll roads in and around Chicago. And by and large, it worked pretty well. It took us a little longer to get to our meeting place with Jon and Emily, but we had plenty of time to spare and didn’t really mind driving through lots of towns along the way. After our dinner we decided to drive right through downtown (on the non-toll expressway) since after all, it was 8:30 at night and a Tuesday. How busy could it be? It wasn’t actually too bad – we just kept to our lane and let the other crazy drivers go around us. And of course I tried to document the drive – especially trying to catch the beautiful Chicago skyline in the fading light.
Here you go -

The Checkmarks of Chicago

The Inchworms of Chicago

The Candles of Chicago

The Candy Canes of Chicago

The Birds of Chicago.
Kinda gives you a whole new view of the city, doesn’t it!
Needless to say, I either need a better camera or a smoother road, or a perhaps both!

Happy 4th of July

steph — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:46:04 +0000

Today we drove out of Minnesota, and through most of Wisconsin.
It was a lovely drive -

but we were not alone.

Minneapolis

steph — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:34:28 +0000

It probably comes as no surprise that Gary and I are really not “city people”. Although we lived just 30 miles outside of Philadelphia for most of our lives, we rarely ventured downtown and the thought of actually driving anywhere in the city filled me, anyway, with fear and trembling. But one thing we have learned in our travels is that if we are near a “‘big city” we should at least check it out.
Chicago. San Diego. Washington, DC. Every one was worth the drive and the traffic and the stress of getting around in totally unfamiliar territory. And even with the big 4th of July holiday looming large the next day, we knew that checking out Minneapolis was a good idea. We weren’t disappointed!

We took a lovely walk along the Heritage Trail, crossed over the Mississippi several times, learned that Minneapolis is home to the only waterfall along the Mississippi River (the St. Andrew Falls) and it became a city of substance largely due to the grain and logging industry.
Our walk took us down to the water’s edge,

across the beautiful Stone Arch Bridges,

with expansive views of the river and St. Anthony’s Falls.

There were historic buildings

and people on segways touring past the historic buildings!

There were interesting “ruins” and walkways

and views of the locks.

We saw some unusual sculpture

and enjoyed seeing some historic architecture along the way.

And even some unexpected businesses

Self Serve Dog Wash. Who knew?
We only scratched the surface of beautiful Minneapolis -

but we knew there were other sights to see.
Since Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 lakes, we thought it only fitting that we check out nearby Lake Minnetonka. It certainly looked like it was getting ready for a big holiday weekend

but what really caught our eye was the Noerenberg Memorial Gardens. Situated right on the lake it is considered one of the finest formal gardens in Minnesota.

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the many paths and garden beds,

and Gary really enjoyed

the gazebo!
It was a fun day – the crowds weren’t too bad, the sights were great, and the history interesting.
But one of the best things about Minneapolis was being able to connect with some dear friends from Doylestown – Dan and Emily Young. It wasn’t the best weekend for them for visitors (Dan had rotator cuff surgery on Thursday and they are in the process of getting ready to put their house on the market), but they were gracious hosts and we enjoyed our time with them.

And as an added bonus, we were able to park our house in their church’s parking lot.
Sweet!

Tomorrow it’s back on the road for us – we’ll be heading towards Chicago and are looking forward to getting together for a quick visit with my nephew and his family. This life on the really has some perks, doesn’t it?