Our next stop was Pembroke Pines where we were going to visit a dear friend of mine from the UK. I hadn't seen Yvette & Steve for 32 years and they had never met Bryan. We also met their son Aaron who was kind enough to take this picture for us. Thanks Aaron, and thanks guys for your hospitality, it was great catching up.
We saw these huge iguanas at the campground here. They were everywhere, on the roads, grass, lakes. It was like Jurassic Park!!!
We made a road trip from here to Key West as we decided we might never be this close again. We didn't want to take Lily so we booked a rental on base down there.
The rooster is a protected bird down there and they are everywhere!!
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| Key West Lighthouse |
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| Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West |
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| Southernmost Point USA |
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| Abandoned Overseas Railroad & Highway, Florida Keys |
While it was good to say we have done it, I doubt we will return to Key West. A case of been there, done that, ha!!ha!!
We headed back North to Pembroke Pines, where we were reunited with Lily and said our farewells to Yvette & Steve. Hopefully its not as long until we see them next time.
Next stop was Ortona Locks where Bryan caught a fish.
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| and we saw 2 Bald Eagles |
We also saw otters here, but unfortunately didn't get any pictures. We saw many boats going through the locks though. We really enjoyed our stay here.
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| Boat going through the locks |
Next stop was Orlando. We stayed at Bill Frederick Park where we have been a couple of times before. We were going to visit Universal Studios before I left to fly to UK. Ryan, Christina & Trystan came and stayed with us for a couple of days.
Bryan & I went to Universal Studios. The main part we wanted to see was Harry Potter Land.
We had a 2 park ticket which meant we could catch the Hogwarts Express between the two parks. I highly recommend this.
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| Platform 9 3/4 to the Hogwarts Express |
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| Hagwid waiting to catch the train. |
We walked all around both parks over 2 days. Bryan went back for a third day and rode all the rides. I stayed at home and finished packing for my trip to the UK.
This is where we went our separate ways. I got on a flight to the UK to stay with Ian, Kris, Bailey & Kai. Bryan returned Lily to Jacksonville, where she was put in storage. He then went on a road trip to visit his mom, brother Patrick, Karen & Taylor, and Brenda, John, LeeAnn & Aimee. Unfortunately he didn't get any pictures. 😞
Unfortunately as soon as I got to the UK I became very sick. Bryan got the same thing in Orlando. We had picked up an airborne virus, probably at Universal Studios. Fortunately it wasn't contagious but we were sick for 3 weeks. I didn't even want to get out of bed or eat. Bryan managed to drive Lily back to Jacksonville but I still don't know how he managed that as I could barely walk!!! We eventually began to feel better, but I was a terrible burden to Ian & Kris and I know they worried because I wasn't eating. I survived on crackers, soup, fruit and water.
I missed Kris' hen night and a lot of fun with the boys as they were off school on break, but it couldn't be helped.
Eventually I got well enough to go to the beach with Ian & Kai.
I went to stay with my brother Ray & Julie for a week and Julie & I went to Wimbledon. We had a lovely day with tickets for Court 1, where we saw Heather Watson & Feliciano Lopez. We missed Andy by one day. C'est la vie!!!!
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Got to have a Pimms at Wimbledon, Cheers!!
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Ray & I visited Mum & Dad at the cemetery.
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Love and miss you both so much xx
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Back at Ian's we celebrated Kai's birthday
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| Kai & Bailey blowing out the candles |
and I watched them at swimming lessons
Bryan, Ryan, Christina & Trystan arrived for Ian & Kris' wedding.
There is no doubt that the wedding was the highlight of our year. 🎊
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| Coed-y-Mwstwr |
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| Our family |
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| The happy couple |
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| It was so good to have both my boys together. |
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| Nana & Grandsons |
It was a fantastic day. Everything was perfect, even the weather!!! The DJ had us all up and dancing and I found out I can drink more than 2 drinks without getting sick!! That's the first time since Ryan was born that has happened. 😄
We all met for breakfast in the morning, it was a very brief appearance from the bridegroom who was a little the worse from wear, but it was well deserved after all the planning, stress and expense they had gone to for all of us to enjoy their day with them. Many, many thanks Ian & Kris for giving us such a perfect day.
We took Ryan, Christina & Trystan to Castell Coch, a small local castle that Kai calls Nanny's Castle after we went there on a prior visit. Oh how I wish, it is beautiful.
We also took them to the National Showcase Centre for Wales. This is a dinosaur park and caves.
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| Lifelike models |
It was a lovely place with something for everyone.
All too soon we had to take the kids back to London and on to their flight back to USA.
We drove back to Wales for some touring around. This included some lighthouses, there's a surprise. We toured the Gower Coast and saw Mumbles Lighthouse.
Whiteford Point Lighthouse.
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| Whiteford Lighthouse |
and Burry Point Harbour Light. I fell in love with Burry Port. The beach and harbor there is beautiful.
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| Burry Port Harbor Light |
The tide was out which formed a pool by the open harbor wall. Some boys were taking advantage of this and swimming in the pool.
It was beautiful and so peaceful.
South Wales Aviation Museum, near Cardiff, was also on our places to go.
This guy was explaining this plane. We went to listen to him and lo and behold he was friends with a Brit friend of Bryan's back in the day. They worked British Air Shows together when Bryan was stationed there, and he had visited us in Las Vegas. It's a small world.
On our last day in Wales we visited an old tinworks and waterfall.
We stopped at Neath Canal
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| Lock at Neath Canal |
Then on to Melincwrt Waterfalls, which we eventually found after a short hike.
What a day that was!!!! That was the end of our Welsh day trips, all within driving distance of where Ian lives. It's a beautiful part of the world.
Ian, Kris, Bailey & Kai returned from their honeymoon, and we met up with them for dinner and to say our goodbyes. It's always sad to say goodbye but we will see them again.
We headed back to the airport, and found a fish and chip shop that sold Skate. I was in heaven. A great way to say goodbye UK, and rest assured I will find this fish and chip shop again.
We arrived back in Orlando and drove back to Jacksonville. We took a week to get Lily ready to hit the road after getting her out of storage. Here we go!!!!
It didn't start off that well as our steps wouldn't retract and when we eventually left, one of our compartment doors opened and Bryan's tools fell out on the road in the middle of an intersection. Oh well, it can only get better, right!!!
I will just show you the pictures.
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| R, C, & T, Lilo & Peace came to visit at our first stop, Lotts Island Army Campground. Ryan is buried in there!!!! |
After a stop at Barnyard RV Park in South Carolina where we fixed some problems, we arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We used this as our base to tour the many race team museums there.
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Richard Petty Museum, Richard Petty Statue and Trophies
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Next we headed to Jaymar RV Park in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on the way to the Smokey Mountains. We missed seeing a old work friend of mine as she was out of town but hopefully they'll be a next time. We're in waterfall land now and how beautiful it is.
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| Triple Falls Waterfall |
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| Hendersonville Model Railway, there are many layouts here |
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| Parsons Falls & Glen |
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| Henderson County Heritage Museum |
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| On the way to Bryson City, curves in the road and beautiful views!! |
Our next stop was Grumpy Bear Campground in Bryson City. We would be here for a month and were looking forward to some relaxing time.
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From our side window
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| Bryan paying for our site, how beautiful is that |
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| Steps from our site |
We went into Bryson City to the Visitor Centre and got information on the area and some maps. There was a Heritage Museum there as well which we walked around.
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| What a view to watch tennis |
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| Great Smoky Mountains SteamTrain |
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| We went to waterfalls |
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| Our first view of Juney Whank Falls |
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| People tubing by Tom Branch Falls |
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| Bryan standing on top of the tunnel on the Road to Nowhere |
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| Looking down from the top of Fontana Dam |
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| Walking to the top of Clingman Dome |
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| We drove Cades Cove Loop looking for bears but didn't see any. |
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| Cable Mill on Cades Cove Loop |
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| Tail of The Dragon Drive, lots of twists and turns!! |
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| Santleetah Dam |
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| Sue behind Dry Falls Waterfall |
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Sue walking to Bridal Veil Falls
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| Bryan fishing in the river at the campground |
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| Mingo Falls |
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| Mingus Mill |
In the middle of our stay in Bryson City we discovered we had a new pet, a mouse. In fact we caught 3 in the following days/week and are now mouse free again thankfully. We also had a stink bug invasion. These pesky bugs are harmless and easy to squash but they usually emit a strong smell if squashed. We were fortunate that these were a non smelly breed!!!
We visited the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee.
and the Mountain Farm Museum.
It was here that we had our best viewing of Elk in the Smokey Mountains. Our first view was a lone male walking across the stream, as he reached the other side we could hear him "bugling", which is their mating call.
Then we saw this herd in the distance, another male is on the right. The cars had all stopped to look.
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| Later as we were walking along, we noticed the Elk were getting nearer. |
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| Wow, the herd walked across the path to the stream |
For a few minutes there was no one else around, just us and the herd of Elk!!!
They were closely followed by the Bull Elk. We didn't dare to move, in case we startled him. It was one of the most exhilarating moments, as the Elk walked right past us.
A ranger arrived as they went into the stream, and told us to move up along the path so we were further than 50 yards from them, which we did. They stayed in the stream for a long while and others joined us on the bank watching them. The male was "bugling", it was magnificent.
Another day we drove the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. We were hoping to see bears but we were unlucky or was it lucky!!!
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| We did see this and wondered if it was Bear Scat(poop)!! |
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| The Place of a Thousand Drips |
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| Gatlinburg |
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King Kong climbing at Pigeon Forge, home of the Dollywood Theme Park
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| Fall colors are starting to appear |
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| Lots of Wildwater rafting here. Love the bus!!! |
There were rapids and a school where they were training. The guy in this kayak was practicing flipping over. He did come back up again.
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| Flip |
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Kayakers coming downstream
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Our eldest granddaughter LeeAnn was a cheerleader, we are so proud of her and she did a great job. What a beautiful young lady she is. Well done LeeAnn.
Her sister Aimee played volleyball and Brenda went live with the games so we could watch them. Thanks Brenda. We really enjoyed watching her play. Way to go Aimee!!
We moved on and into South Carolina.
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| Falls Park on the Reddy, Greenville, SC |
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Cedar Falls Park, Greenville
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| Cedar Falls Park, Greenville |
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| Cedar Falls Dam, built 1902 |
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| Relaxing after a long day out, what a wonderful site this is at Oconee Point Campground |
We moved on and into Georgia.
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Bryan relaxing at Bald Ridge Creek Campground, Georgia
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We loved that campground but it was time to move on to Doll Mountain Campground in Ellijay, Ga. This campground was more difficult to get to and had steep roads leading into and in the campground, and no views of the lake. We did go to the nearby Sasquatch Museum, which was a fun trip!!
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| Exhibition Bigfoot Museum, Ellijay, Ga |
We moved on to McKinney Campground in Ackworth, Ga. We have been here before and as you can see we got a beautiful site.
We planned a visit here with Bryan's niece Nikki, Craig & Alan. Alan is growing and decided to drive the motorhome.
We went to the
Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia. There was a lot of interesting history told here. In fact I wrote three blogs about it. The most interesting to me was the Raiders story. Here is the train that was used in that.
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| The General, used in the Andrews Raid in 1862 |
We moved onto R Schaefer Heard Campground, West Point, Ga. This deer greeted us.
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We took a picture of our shadows on the sand, behind our site
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Our next campground was White Oak Creek Campground on Lake Eufaula, Alabama. We relaxed here and didn't do a lot.
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| Geese feeding |
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| Cotton fields on the way to Cotton Hill Campground, Ga |
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| We have a beach at the back of our site at Cotton Hill |
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| and deer came to visit daily, how awesome is that |
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| Sunset out of our window |
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| Blue Jay at Cotton Hill |
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Cotton Hill, we saw deer every day and went out to explore to a nearby dam and old village. We even had six deer waiting to say goodbye when we got up the morning we were leaving.
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Walter F George Lock, the lock is to the right of the dam
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| Ingram House at Frontier Village |
Our next stop was the campground at Fort Rucker Army Base. An added bonus here was the Army Aviation Museum which we enjoyed going around.
Our last campground before we returned to Jacksonville was Eastbank COE in Bainbridge, Ga. Here's the view from our site.
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| Sunset |
We arrived back in Jacksonville at the beginning of November and started our "job" as camphosts. We work 5 days on, 5 days off for a free site.
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| Bryan cleaning a site |
Ryan got his "air wings" and asked his dad to pin them on for him. Well done Ryan.
We went to a couple of Trystan's T-Ball games. It is his first year and it's hilarious watching them.
Thanksgiving was spent at Ryan & Christina's. We had a lovely turkey dinner. Thanks guys.
We added a gnome Xmas tree to our decorations this year, we just couldn't resist.
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| Squirrel on the tree outside |
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Ryan & Christina's. It's such a magical time, especially when there are children.
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| Trystan opening presents |
Ryan fixed a shadow box for me as a surprise. Bryan had brought it back from one of his desert tours, for me, many many years ago and the glass and door had got broken while we have been traveling. Ryan put new glass in and even etched the hearts back on the glass, and found brass handles by chance. It's like new. Yes, I cried!!!!! Now, we have to get it packaged well for when we travel. There is no way I want it to get broken again.
Thanks to Ryan and Christina for hosting Christmas dinner again. We had a lovely meal, complete with Christmas Crackers. Thanks for all your hard work.
We have been decorating and replacing flooring since we returned to Jacksonville. This is a major work in progress and I will try to post some before and after pictures when we finish!!!
Well that's it for this year. Sorry it was so lengthy once again but we may be scaling back our travels next year, so hopefully it won't be as long. Please remember that you can learn more about any of the above, by reading the individual blogs. Might help you sleep at night, ha!!ha!!
If you want to be notified when a new blog is posted enter your e-mail address in the "Follow by e-mail" box on the blog. It's free and will notify you when I post a blog.
We will be saying farewell to 2019 at a New Year party here at the park.
A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year/Decade to you all.
Stay tuned for next years adventures, including a trip to our granddaughter LeeAnn's high school graduation in June. Doesn't time fly.
Love to you all xx
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