Catching up Since Our Return To PA

   A lot has been happening since our return home on Sun., Oct 26!!  We picked up Kylie on Monday.  It was sure good to see Heather and our grandson, Cooper!  Kylie didn't act as glad to see us as we expected.  Maybe it was the ride in the Jeep that she didn't look forward to.  John checks the weather on Jekyll every morning.  The comparison wasn't so bad the first week or so, but lately... well, we won't talk about it!!  I did a craft show at Hershey High School on Sat, Nov 1 selling my magnetic pins and scarves.  I had an upper endoscopy done on Nov 4th-everything was fine.  I had the torn abductor tendon in my left hip repaired on the 5th.  The first couple of days were painful, but my recovery has come a long way.  My first post op appt is tomorrow and I'm hoping to get rid of the clunky brace I have to wear around my waist and down my left leg.  And using a walker ( I can only be 25-50% weight bearing on my left leg) is getting very old.  But I'll have to be patient because I have another 6-10 weeks of it :(    John has been a wonderful "nurse!"  I haven't had to ring my bell even one time!!  He's always one step ahead of me.  (of course, that's not too hard... I'm using a walker!!). Seriously, he's been great.  He hasn't really had a chance to adjust to retirement since he's home because he's had to take care of me.  My middle daughter, Michele, had an open house at her new salon on the 10th.  I was able to help her with some things here at the house.  We had a cornucopia of birthdays to celebrate this month:  a surprise 65th drop in birthday party for a friend at church on the 12th, our granddaughter, Ellie's,  4th birthday party in York on the 15th,

Ellie, the birthday girl

 


Ellie hand Grandpa John

 


The birthday girl and big sister, Emma

  and John and I celebrated our 55th and 60th birthdays on the 16th and 17th.  Don't try to guess which one of us is older!  Ok, I'll give it away because all my dear children surprised me with a birthday party on Sun the 16th for my 60th.  Dustin, Cathy and the girls came, too.  We had pizza and cake for lunch and then all the leftovers from my daughter's open house for supper.  What a wonderful day!!  Ask John about the cake sometime.

Grandma Cindy taking Cooper and Bennett
for a ride on her walker

  John has been going to the gym everyday since we got back, but that all came to a screeching halt 3 days ago when he developed a pretty bad cold.  It kept getting worse along with a cough and tightness in his chest.  He went to the Dr yesterday and was diagnosed with pneumonia!  It's a shame because I was just to the point where I could maybe venture out a bit so John wouldn't have to be "cooped up".  Now he's down for the count.  Hopefully the drugs will kick in and he'll be feeling better real soon.  He's already counting down the days till we leave for Florida on Jan 3rd.  I won't be posting any more on our blog until then.  Thanks to everyone for letting us share our experiences with you and for all your interest and comments.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, blessed Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!  Come Jan 3, 2015...we'll "tawlk". 

Bye for now,
John and Cindy

Next Stop...Mount Joy...Home Isn't So Bad Either!!

  We got up about 6:30 and went downstairs for the lovely continental breakfast that the Holiday Inn Express always provides.  The scrambled eggs and meat aren't great, but they have hard boiled eggs (which are difficult to mess up) and Cinnabons...YUM!!  They also have pancakes, yogurt, cold cereal, bagels, pastries, toast, hot and cols drinks, and lots of fresh fruit.  You never have to leave hungry!!  We gathered up all our stuff and reloaded the Jeep and headed out by 8:00 am.  By lunch time we were nearing VA and the Jeep was running on fumes, so we found a Pilot gas station and ate there.  We were probably there about an hour.   We took I-95 and by the time we got thru VA and DC we had had a few annoying stop and go experiences, but, all in all, it wasn't that bad.  It was so exciting to see signs for I-83 and York!  We were finally on the home stretch.  We called my son, TW and John's son, Dustin to see if we could pop in for a few minutes just to say "Hi." (they both live in York). Unfortunately, TW wasn't going to be home, but we were able to visit with Dustin, Cathy, Emma and Ellie.  It was so good to see them!  We left about 5:40 and pulled into our driveway at exactly 6:15 pm.  Luckily it isn't very cold here yet, so it will give our bodies a chance to gradually adjust to the cooling weather. We unloaded everything, unpacked, ordered Chinese, watched some TV and then slipped into our King-sized bed for a much needed good night's sleep.  Tomorrow we'll have to travel again to go pick up our pug, Kylie, who was staying with my daughter.  It's a 3 hr round trip... just a hop, skip and jump!

Fond Farewell to Jekyll Island

   We got up early to eat breakfast and do all the final prepping for our departure today.  We packed up 2 plastic totes with any clothing, shoes, etc we thought we might need for the 2 months we will be home and packed a cooler with some of the perishable we just couldn't part with and we thought would make it home all right (as long as we kept ice in it).  John hooked them to the new utility tray we had bought to hook on to the back of the Jeep because there just isn't a lot of room in the back seat.  That thing works really well!  We filled the back seat with all our electronics, cameras, souvenirs, and other "stuff".  While John hooked up the bicycles  I took all remaining perishables to Miss Sharon, said good-bye to Kathy (Ken had already gone out for donuts) and we were on the road by 9:00 am.  It was about a 45 minute drive to King's Bay Naval Base in Georgia (just above the Florida line) where we will be storing Harvey until we return in January.  Upon arrival we gassed up the Jeep then went straight to the campground where we were able to do our final "dumping" for $5.00.  Then we headed across the driveway to the camp host to get the key for the storage area down the road. He had just given it to another RVer who was already on his way there, so we followed him down.  We had no trouble finding a spot and John brilliantly backed Harvey in.  The one thing we didn't think about was defrosting the fridge/freezer the night before.  We spent about 20 minutes or so scraping out the ice and cleaning up the water puddles.  We didn't want to risk any extra humidity in Harvey because humidity in an RV can cause a lot of potential problems.  We ate the sandwiches we had packed, did a final check thru Harvey and then loaded the bikes inside.  We returned the key and were on the road again by 1:00 headed for Fayetteville, NC where we will stay in a Holiday Express for the night.  As we got into SC and close to Parris Island where we had stayed the first 2 wks of our trip, I needed to get out and stretch, so I asked John if we could find the Carolina Cherry Co store we had stopped at while on Parris Island.  I wanted to get more cherry cider and yummy jellies.  We found it quite easily.  Back in the Jeep for another 4 hers...UGH!!  We arrived in Fayetteville about 6:30 and looked for a place to eat supper.  We picked Shoneys since neither one of us had ever eaten there.  Guess what... we will never eat there again!  It wasn't horrible, but the service was lousy, especially since no one was there, it took forever to get our food, and neither one of our orders came out right.  But we were hungry, so at least it filled our bellies.  We got to the hotel about 7:30 and unloaded anything we didn't want to get stolen.  We watched some football, took showers, and went to bed.

Cool, Breezy Last Full Day on Jekyll

   John got up early today to take some sunrise pix on Driftwood Beach.  He almost froze, not being used to 40 degree temps!

 

 

 

 

N0 words necessary for God's breathtaking beauty!

  After he came back, we had breakfast.  We went for a bike ride and then I tinkered with our shells a bit more while John did some prep work on Harvey for our trip home.  We had a lunch date with Wanda and Wally who we knew from the Escapees Rally in Indiana that we had attended in May with Bonnie and Ken.  They're friends, Sherry and Roger were also going along.  They took us about 3 miles north of the island to the Golden Isles Campground.  Every Wed and Fri they catch their own shrimp and fish and serve a buffet in their dining hall.  On Wed they serve chicken and shrimp which they lightly dip in bread crumbs and fry themselves along with soup, salad bar, side veggies, biscuits and hush puppies, spaghetti and a small dessert bar.  On Fri they have shrimp and catfish as the entrée and then the rest of the menu as stated above.  It's all you can eat from 11-2 for $9.99 and that includes your drink!  It was fabulous!!  We had such a fun time with the gang.  (Of course, we forgot the camera so I couldn't get pix.)  Lord willing we'll be able to do it again next year because we should all be there again next October.  They want to take us shrimping and crabbing next year, too.  They had already caught a couple thousand shrimp this year right off St Andrews beach on Jekyll and I forget how many crabs.  Wanda's job is to fend off all the hungry dolphins who want to steal the shrimp out of the nets.  I always thought it would be fun to swim with a dolphin, but I'm not sure that was what I had in mind!!  We said our "good-byes" and decided to head back to Harvey to get our cameras and then out to Dunes beach as our "last hurrah" before leaving tomorrow.  It was a bit cool and breezy so we didn't even change into our bathing suits.  There was hardly anyone there so we were able to find another 15 dead sand dollars!  They were washing up on shore like crazy.  We were starting to get a little chilly so we only stayed about 2 hrs.  We had missed the turtle preserve a few days ago while visiting the Historic District, so we decided to go today.  There were quite a few "patients" and residents of all shapes and sizes.  The patients are being rehabbed while the residents are those that have been injured beyond repair, like paralysis from being hit by a car.  Inside the building there's a walking tour complete with a plexiglas window where you can view the doctors treating the turtle patients.  It was quite interesting to watch!!

  We went back to Harvey and I decided to do all our laundry while John did more prep work for our departure.  Once I had the laundry in the dryer I stopped over with Miss Sharon to give her one of my magnetic pins and any leftovers we had in the fridge that we wouldn't be able to take along home tomorrow.  She was very thankful for everything!!  With the laundry all done and with cameras in hand we went out to Clam Creek to get more sunset pix.  The bugs were horrible, so we got the pix as quickly as we could.

Going

Still going

Still going

Almost there

Gone

We saw about a dozen deer on the way back and a comical sign about the serious subject of wanting to draw all the deer to a fenced feeding area to "thin the herd".  It's hard to think about, but probably necessary.

They are so beautifully majestic!
  Hard to even think about having to shoot them!!

  I "treated" our new sand dollars and carefully packed up all our shells--some to bring home and the rest to keep in Harvey in pretty boxes, vases, or frames that I have yet to find.  We finished all the prep work we could do tonight and spent our last night in Harvey before we return in January.  We really loved it here and decided that we will return to Jekyll next October for a full month!!

Headed to King's Bay, GA and Fernandino Beach, FL

   Today we're going to the Naval Base in King's Bay, GA to make the final arrangements for storing Harvey for Nov and Dec.  And while we're that far south, we decided to check out the beach at Fort Cinch State Park just over the Florida line.  We left about 9:00 and arrived at King's Bay about 9:50.  We did all the business we needed to do and headed for the commissary which had been closed the last time we were there.  It was spectacular as compared to other "grocery stores" on base.  We can hardly wait to shop there when we go back down in January!!  Then we drove out to the campground to meet up with the camp host who has the key to the storage area.  We were also able to do Harvey's final "dumping" for $5.00.  The campground is beautiful with flowers and shrubbery and partially surrounded by trees and a lake.  It has cement pads for the RV and the picnic table which is always nice!  The "club house" is   practically brand new and the laundry is FREE!!  We will definitely be staying there sometime in the future.

 

Cement pads for the RV and the picnic table

 

Beautiful landscaping with trees, shrubs, and flowers!

 

Lots of shade

 

The lake complete with alligators!

 

The socials room with full cooking facilities

 

The sun/game room

 

The laundry is FREE... notice the wash baskets are even supplied!!

  We ate lunch at Sonny's BarBQ (there just happened to be one close by) and then headed to the beach at Fort Cinch in Fernandina, FL.  About a mile down the road we passed the front entrance to the Naval/Submarine base and were surprised to see an interesting illusion.

Looks like there is a submarine coming out of the ground.

  We missed the entrance to the park, but found the same beach right next door and without a fee, so we just stayed there.  There were a lot of shells for us and shell pieces for my sister, so we were there for about 4 hrs leaving around 5pm.

  On the way out we spotted a skate park and decided to take some pix to show John's son, Dustin, who is an accomplished skateboarder.

  We arrived back on Jekyll about 6pm.  We then headed to Dairy Queen for a blizzard and decided to take a drive around the island to spot deer.  On the way we came upon a beautiful sunset on the outskirts of the Historic District.  We took a bunch of pictures and headed back to Harvey spotting about 2 dozen deer.  It was a wonderful day!!



The sunset was so beautiful!







 

Fist Full of Dollars...Sand Dollars That Is

  We BOTH slept in today!  I cooked breakfast and then we decided to work on all the shells we have.  We soaked the sand dollars in tap water then made a weak solution of bleach and water to soak all the other shells in.  We headed for the beach about 11:30 but it was pretty cool, so we weren't sure how long we would stay.  When we got on the beach there was a very strong wind blowing... our chairs wouldn't even stay up.  It was chilly, about 69 degrees but the sun was shining brightly, so we decided to tough it out for a while.  We walked the beach twice and found a total of 18 sand dollars! (Don't worry, they were all dead... we throw the live ones back). We played a few games of Yahtzee and then we left at 1:40.  When we got back Kathie and Ken were out, so I asked if they wanted to come over and play some cards or games.  They came over about 3:00.  They're not card players, so we played "Pass the Pigs" and "Tip of the Tongue," a fast paced trivia game.  They left about 5:00.  John grilled hamburgers and I made mac and cheese and a veggie for supper.  I cleaned up the dishes and John went for a walk because he hadn't gotten one in this morning.  I started working on the shells again by rinsing the sand dollars and making sure all the "stuff" that had collected inside them was out.  That took about 45 minutes.  Then I dropped them into a stronger bleach/water solution and it was amazing how fast most of them turned white, but I must admit that I liked some of the tan ones better before we bleached them!

The results are all so different!  Compare them to
the pix in an earlier post before they were bleached. 

  Then I went to work on all the other shells while John got some things in order for our move on Sat.  I spent another hour and a half on them!  Boy, do I ever smell like bleach!  Somehow I managed not to get any on my clothes, however, John, not thinking, wiped his hands on the back of his dark brown shorts.  UH-OH!!!  Tomorrow, per the internet, we will put a light solution of white glue and water over the sand dollars to strengthen them and put a light coating of mineral oil on all the other shells to bring out their colors.  I hope it's worth all the time it's going to take!

BEFORE...

 

AFTER... what a difference!  It was worth it after all!!

  We watched some of the World Series and then went to bed.  (Hopefully, we can get a picture of Kathie and Ken to add to this post... our brother-in-law, Ken is so on top of getting pix for Bonnie's blog posts.  We have to get better with that!)

Marathon Day on the Beach

 John got up early and took his walk and I slept in.  This is getting to be a bad habit!  We ate breakfast then went for a short bike ride.  Got back and packed our lunches, and were out the door for the beach by 10:30.  We decided to go to the southern end of South Beach to look for more shells.  John was so excited to go on his "shell stroll." He was very successful, finding about 8 more conch shells of all different sizes and a sand dollar.  I went a different direction on my stroll and only found 2 sand dollars.  UGH... out done again!!  It was a beautiful day in the high 70's and a little breeze.  It was so beautiful we stayed until 5:40...almost 7 hrs on the beach!!  Of course, we had a Yahtzee tourney before we left.  I WON!   We have quite a collection of shells, so we looked on line to see how to clean and preserve them.  We'll work on that tomorrow evening.  John grilled flat iron steaks and we used up some leftover side dishes for supper.  While I was catching up on my emails and some phone calls John decided to go out to Dairy Queen and get us some Blizzards.  He saw about 10 deer on the way home.  They are so used to people he actually stopped and talked to one of them.  I watched The Voice (LOVE THAT SHOW!!), talked with Alexandra (our granddaughter), and watched Marry Me, About A Boy, and Chicago Fire (Love that, too!)  John went to bed while I caught up with my sister's blog and finished my blog post.  Now I'm going to bed.  Sorry no pix today.

It was a "Shell" of a Day!

   John went for his long walk while I slept in, tho I didn't mean to!  Might have had something to do with the fact that I doubled my nighttime pain meds so I could sleep better.  Then John made pancakes on the grill and I finished my blog post after breakfast.  We left for South Beach about 10:45 and entered at the soccer field.  It was a pretty long walk but a nice wooden access bridge.  There was absolutely no one on the beach but us! 

 

What a crowd!!

 

It was a bit rough out there today, but much cleaner!

It felt very weird and was almost boring until we decided to go separate ways and look for shells.  I wasn't very hopeful because the beach was so clean and free of shells except for tiny little ones.  But there were lots of little "moats" left over from the high tides and I started wading thru them.  Well, I found an almost unrecognizable conch shell  covered with a thick coating of a hard sandy barnacle type substance that was fairly easy to scrape off with another shell.  Then I found another and another and another, all different sizes.  John came back with even bigger ones... he was so excited!  And he kept apologizing for finding bigger ones than me.  (how sweet!). Till the day was over we found at least 30 different shells.  It was so much fun for both of us.  I think John is hooked now, too.

 

 

What a haul, huh?!?

  At one point the birds decided to flock right by the shoreline.  There were sea gulls, black and white birds with orange beaks, and white birds with bright orange beaks.  It was a site to behold because they basically grouped themselves together.  And when they all took off it was breathtaking! 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye, bye birdies

We left the beach about 5:20, came back and had leftover Sonny's for supper.  While John was outside Wanda and Wally,whom we had met in Indiana at the Escapees Rally, stopped by with their dog, Leo.  I joined them and after chatting a while they asked if we wanted to go along to a "Low Country Steam Pot" meal on Friday for lunch. (we can't remember where they said it is held). Of course, we said, "Yes."  About 7:00 Ken and Kathie came over for a drink.  We chatted for about 2 hrs and they left at 9:00.   They are very nice people!  They live just north of Hershey with a Hummelstown address.  Ken is retired from 40 yrs at PP&L and Kathie is retired from 35 yrs at PennDot. We exchanged phone numbers and hope to get together some Thursday evening to play Trivia at Mick's in Mt Joy.  I watched the rest of The Voice while John played on the computer with the 250 pix he took of the birds.  Then we went to bed.

Cool, Breezy Day on Jekyll

   John got up super early this morning so he could get pix of the sunrise over the ocean down at Great Dunes Beach.

This is 4 of 350 pix!!

  He was pretty chilled when he got back because the temp was only in the high 50's and he hadn't dressed warm enough.  We ate breakfast and then he went for a long walk while I played on the computer.  When he got back he asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride to show me where he walks.  We rode about 3 miles in and around Driftwood Beach ending at the Clam Creek Pier.  Driftwood Beach is very interesting... almost creepy at first.  It's a small beach that is covered with driftwood as small as a twig and as large as a whole tree and everything in between!!  

Grandma and Grandpa LOVE YOU!

 

 


Grandpa and Grandma LOVE YOU!!

 

 

 

 

These pix look like something out of a horror movie, don't they?!?

 

  It seems to be a mystery how all this driftwood developed on only this part of the beach.   We decided it might be a little too chilly for the beach, but Sharon, next door had suggested trying South Beach sometime, so we headed out there to check it out.  It had a huge beach area and was much cleaner that the Great Dunes area.  There were only 2 other people there!  We might try it tomorrow.  Then we went to Walmart to get some groceries.  Bonnie called just as we were parking and we chatted for a while.  We ate lunch at Zaxby's, a fast food restaurant similar to Chik-Fil-A.  It was very good!  I talked with Dad on the way home and we pulled in the CG about 3:30.  We decided to go for another bike ride.  This time we rode out about 3 1/2 miles, saw 3 deer just grazing in people's front yards, and stopped at Driftwood Beach again on the way back. 


This is "Bucky"

Driftwood Beach at dusk and high tide

We got back about 6:20 and attempted to watch some football outside, but those nasty "no see-ums" forced us in.  Those little buggers have quite a bite, especially in your scalp!!  We were going to play a "bully" game of Hand and Foot but we were too tired.  Heather and Cooper called, so we talked a while.  It's only 9:30, but I think we'll go to bed now.