Little Buffalo State Park, Here We Come!

 

  We picked up Harvey yesterday from the Moove-In storage in Manheim so we could load him up and start the fridge for our trip today.  We also had to put gas in Harvey... he was thirsty! 

WOW!!  Look at that...$.69 for a gallon of gas. 
John says I'm a genius getting $2.10 in gas points from Giant!

 

Not bad, huh, $17.46 for 25 gallons of gas!

We didn't get up super early this morning because we weren't in a big hurry to leave. Check-in is not until 3 pm.  We'll try to be on the road by 11:30 for the hour and 30 minute ride.  Even though it's a little longer, we're going to go thru Hershey instead of Harrisburg because of the traffic.  It was a bit harder to load this time because we're having family come to the park 2 of the 4 days.  I needed more supplies than normal.  But we were all packed up right on schedule and off we went.  We arrived at the CG right at 1:00 and had no problem finding our assigned site.  There was no gate to check in at... just drove into the CG and found your spot.  There was a tag hanging on a post with our name and the date of departure.  We could tell the site was a bit unlovely but had no idea just how much until we tried to level the rig!  It took us almost 1 & 1/2 hrs to get it right!!!  We were very proud of ourselves for not getting flustered and stressed.  (but you probably wouldn't have wanted to give us a gun at that point :). The CG was pretty empty when we got there, but by the time we were set-up it had gotten pretty full.  As a matter of fact, later that day it was completely full!  We were only one of 2 large motor homes.  Most were small 5th wheels, trailers and pop-ups.  Didn't really surprise us after trying to level Harvey.  There was also no sewer service (most State parks are like that).  There was a dump station but we weren't about to have to do that and then set-up again.  So, to say the least, I was pretty concerned and stressed about conserving water as to not overflow the grey water and black water tanks, especially with 2 families coming!!  We'll all just have to use the nearby bath house most of the time.  John finished setting up outside while I worked on the inside and made us a sandwich. Shortly after we were done, TW, Arlena, and Bennett arrived.  TW and Arlena are staying in a cabin just outside the CG while Bennett will be staying in Harvey with us.  I walked over to the cabin with them and we found it to be "bare bones" with a table and 4 chairs and 2 bunk beds (one with a full size bed on the bottom).  There was a ceiling fan in the bedroom but I had told them to bring a fan along.  It was rustic, but adequate for 1 night's stay.  About 4:00 we got our bathing suits on and drove to the pool that's across the main road to the CG and behind the lake.  It really is too far to walk and it would be all up hill on the way back.  You have to pay to get in...reg rates are $6 for adults, $5 for children and Seniors over 62, and kids under 42 inches are free.  If you are camping there it's $4.  The rates drop after 4:00 and it's free after 6:00.  The pool is quite large and has 2 sizes of water slides, several "mushrooms", and about a dozen different water fountains.  It's really neat!

The dumping buckets on the left and
the mushrooms on the right.

The fountains and showers were very fun!



  It was a bit overcast and the water was pretty cold, so we stayed just long enough to try to get our money's worth.  John, Arlena, and Bennett braved the water... Grandpa even went down the BIG waterslide.  I got in to my ankles and TW didn't get in at all, but we had fun!

There's Grandpa on the big slide.

There he goes!

There he comes!

Bennett loves to swim!

Going...

...Going...

...Gone!!

Bennett had lots of fun with Grandpa running
through the fountains!

Bennett jumped right in himself, too!

Daddy (TW) liked watching from the sidelines...



...and Mommy (Arlena) snuggling with her chilled little guy.

  When we got back it was supper time.  I brought a big dish of mac and cheese from home. So while that was baking, John grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and TW started a campfire.  After supper we played team "Up and Down the River" (the women won) and then toasted marshmallows and made "s'mores".  They are always so yummy!!

Bennett enjoying his new "favorite" light-up cup.

  TW and Arlena left for their cabin about 10:00 and we got Bennett ready for bed.  We put in a CD for him but I messed it up trying to make it play (John was showering at the bath house).  He looked tired anyway, so I told him it was time to go to sleep.  He fell asleep just minutes after his head hit the pillow!  John and I watched a little TV in bed then he read while I played Word Twist on our surface.  We turned out the lights about 11:30 or 12:00.  We have another busy day tomorrow when Dustin, Cathy and the girls join us after lunch.  We're so excited!!

Time to Leave Hershey

We got up about 6:30 so we could cook a good breakfast and take our time tearing down in preparation to leave.  Unfortunately, everything was wet from the rain during the night.  But because we weren't in a hurry we could let things dry out a bit.  Bonnie and Ken stopped down about 9:30 to see how we were doing and told us that they were going to leave, too, because of reports of strong winds, heavy rain and possible hail today.  We said our goodbyes again and we were on the road by about 10:30.  We didn't hook up the Jeep since we were so close to home.  We got home about 11:15, unpacked, and relaxed the rest of the day.  We will be leaving for Little Buffalo State Park on Friday morning, so stay tuned.

A Good Day With Family at the Pool and Jigger Shop

We got up about 7:30, John went for a walk, and I worked on my blog.  Michele, Alexandra, Arlena, and Bennett are coming about 11:00 today.  Todd, Alexandra's boyfriend, was supposed to come too, but he had to work.   They had breakfast on the way, so we decided to get ready and go to the pool and have an early supper later.  We spent about 3 hrs there, leaving to go back to Harvey about 2:30.

Mommy Arlena snuggling' with Bennett
(I think he was cold!) and Grandpa John looking on.

 

Bennett going down the slide in the playground area.

 

Bennett had a great time in the "baby" pool
without his floaties!

 

Michele and Alexandra spending some rare
relaxation time together.

 

Bennett loved to get all wet and then come
and give everyone a big, wet hug!

  We all changed out of our wet suits and played a game of ladder golf while John got the grill ready to heat up leftovers from last night's Small Group get together.  We had time to play one more game of ladder golf after supper before leaving for the Jigger Shop in Mt Gretna to get some ice cream for dessert.  Michele and I shared a hot fudge sundae with malt, Jo hn had a dish of ice cream, Alexandra had a bananas foster flambe' sundae and Arlena and Bennett shared their first "Jigger".  We were all very full to say the least!  They all left from there because they had to be home by 6:00.

Our tummies are full... we are happy!!

  When we got back to the CG we decided to check and see what Bonnie and Ken were up to.  They were outside Waldo playing Skip-O at there picnic table.  We joined them and Ken mixed me an amaretto and Coke while John went to over to Harvey for some beers.  When he got back we played a game of Skip-O which the women won.  They had to eat supper, so we invited them over to Harvey after they were done.  They came about 7:30 and we played a game of team Up and Down the River.  The men won this time.  Bonnie and Ken aren't leaving until Wed morning and since we are leaving tomorrow morning we said our goodbyes and they left about 10:30.  (Bonnie did try to talk us into staying another night, but because of an unfavorable weather forecast for tomorrow and the fact that we are leaving for Little Buffalo State Park on Friday, we thought it best to leave as planned.) 

Not sure if Bonnie was praying for a good hand
or saying, "Let me tell you how it is."

Ken already ate his piece of banana cake...
now he was after Bonnie's. 

He didn't give up easily!!



John went to bed and I stayed up to catch up on my blog.  I took the dog out and it had started to drizzle, so I decided to tear down some things outside so they weren't wet in the morning.  According to John in the morning...I was a genius!!  (sometimes it's hard to be humble). I got to bed about 1:00.  It was a wonderful day!







Hosting Church Small Group at the CG This Evening

We left for Mt Joy about 7:45 and arrived home about 8:10.  I fried the bacon and mixed up the baked beans.  John threw in a load of wash.  We both got our showers and dressed for our church picnic.  I started the beans and we left the house about 9:40 and headed to Sico/Chiques Park just a few minutes from the house.  There were about 90 people there.  They service ended at 11:15 and then we ate.  The church provided 3-6 foot subs and the congregation provided the rest of the "pot luck".  As you might imagine there was a lot of good food!  We left to go back to the house at 12:15.  I took the beans out of the oven and put them in the crock pot, frosted the banana cake I had frozen a few days ago and packed up all the food we needed for our small group meeting tonight at the CG.  John went to Giant to pick up ice for the cooler.  He loaded that while I was getting the food ready.  He also loaded 2 patio umbrellas to use at the CG because of all the afternoon sun we get there.  We loaded the Jeep and were back on the road about 1:30.  We got back to the CG about 2:00.  John worked on setting up everything needed outside while I tidied up inside and got the rest of the food ready.  Everyone arrived at 4:00 (except Linda K who wanted to stay closer to home because of her terminally ill mother).  We showed all 5 members of our group around Harvey then sat outside enjoying fruit and dip and "onion pretzels" and conversation.  John started to grill the chicken and ribs while I got out the potato salad, red beet eggs and baked beans.  Linda Z helped me with all the stuff we needed to "set" the table outside.  We were eating by 5:30.  I served banana cake with brown butter icing for dessert.  It was all very yummy if I do say so myself.  After dinner we played some corn hole (bean bag toss) and ladder golf.  John started a fire and most of us had a s'more or two or just a toasted marshmallow or two.  YUM!!  They left about 9:00.  We had a really nice time!!

Joyce and Kylie doing some bonding.

Sally is enjoying her s'more

 

Linda getting ready to toast her marshmallow.

 

Rod is toasting 2 marshmallows... no s'more for him!

John Stayed...Cindy Played

John got up about 7:00 while I slept in till about 8:00.  He had blueberry pancakes and bacon ready for me when I got up.  What a guy!  After that delicious breakfast we went for a walk.  But we had to cut it short because I had to go back and get ready to leave for Manheim.  My Trivia fellow Frogettes are meeting at Susie's pool today for our monthly get together.  John took the top off of the Jeep for me and at 11:00 I left to go pick up Jane (I pass right by her house on the way).  I also had to stop by our house because I forgot to bring Kylie's allergy and pain pills with me.  We got to Susie's about 5 minutes late, but the rest of the group expected it...I have a reputation for being a bit late:(.  Susie had a delicious meal ready for us and we spent the day catching up on each others lives, cooling off in the pool ( the sun was really hot!), and playing "Tip of the Tongue".  Patti left about 4:00 and the rest of us followed about 4:30.  We all had a great time as usual!  I dropped Jane off and then headed to Darrenkamp's Market in Elizabethtown to pick up some Pillsbury pizza crust to make "mountain pies" over the campfire.  I got home about 5:45 and John was just walking by the guard house.  So I picked him up and we went back to Harvey together.  He had spent the other part of the day at the CG pool.  This winter when we ate at Sonny's Barbeque in the south we often got "Red Neck Egg Rolls".  They are an egg roll filled with pulled pork, cole slaw and cheese and then fried.  We have often talked about trying to replicate them, so tonight were are going to try.  I cut the pizza dough in squares and filled them with the pork, slaw and cheese, placed them in our cast iron mountain pie makers (long handled round and square double sided grillers that fold together), and put them over the fire.  They were delicious! Next time we make them we'll have to take pictures.  We played Racko for a good part of the rest of the evening and then went to bed.  We will be getting up fairly early in the morning in order to go home to prepare some food for our church service/picnic tomorrow.

Thousand Trails Hershey...Here We Come!

John got up about 6:30 and I got up at 7:00 so we could have breakfast, finish loading up Harvey, and leave for the CG at 9:00.  We accomplished our goal and arrived there by 9:45.  I drove the Jeep separately since the CG was so close.  I had called Bonnie on the way to find out where there site is and if there was any available close to theirs.  She said there were so we drove around and looked at all the available sites.  We need one that has an area to play some lawn games because our Small Group from church is coming on Sunday afternoon.  We found a nice at the bottom of the hill from Bonnie and Ken...B-54.  The only problem with it is we get all the afternoon sun.  John pulled him in and we got him leveled and set up by 12:00.  Bonnie called to ask if we wanted to go for a bike ride on the rail trail.  They came down at 1:00 and off we went to the parking lot by the Twin Kiss in Colebrook.  We headed toward Lebanon but my hips just weren't strong enough to tackle the slightly uphill trail for more than about an hour.  So John and I turned around and went back to the parking lot.  It was so nice to go downhill!  Bonnie and Ken continued on.  Turns out we rode a total of 6 miles!  So I didn't feel so bad about wimping out after all.  (We took some pics, but I can't seem to find them since I downloaded them:(   We went to Lebanon to Mussers Market to get some hamburger and rolls for supper.  We also stopped at a local farm to pick up a half dozen ears of corn.  John grilled the burgers while I cooked the corn and we had a delicious meal.  We were done by 6:00 and I called Bonnie to see if she and Ken wanted to come down and play some cards.  They said they would come down after they ate, so John and I went for a walk while waiting for them to arrive.  We had a nice conversation with a gentleman who has a 35K Bounder just like ours.  Then we headed back so we didn't miss Bonnie and Ken.  They came down about 7:30.  We talked a while and then played Racko.  Ken won, even though he has never played the game!  It was getting pretty dark so we went inside and played Pinocle.  The women creamed the men!!  The last hand I had one card short of a double run, and Bonnie passed me what I needed for double pinochle!  The guys surrendered.

WOW!!!  What a hand...49 meld points!! 
No wonder the guys gave up!

  They left about 10:30 because they needed to get up early tomorrow morning.  They will be gone all day.  John sat outside with his Miller Lite and watched TV while I worked on my blog inside.  When he came in at 11:30 the floor of Harvey seemed to have gotten a bit unlevel. ;).  He went to bed while I finished the blog.  I finally turned in about 1:30.

Time to Pick up Harvey!

We went over to Manheim this morning to pick up Harvey and all 4 batteries were dead!!  We were so fortunate that the trailer beside us had pulled out or we wouldn't have been able to pull the Rav 4 up to jump it.  (We usually back Harvey in but this time we had pulled him in to protect the windshield from possible damage from flying stones.). Unfortunately, we didn't have any jumper cables, so we ran over to Longeneckers Hardware, but they didn't have any long enough.  There was an auto parts store across the street, so we got them there.  WO-LA...the Ravie started Harvey right up.  My car is 13 yrs old but still got it!!! But the engine was "missing" and the "check engine" light was lit on the dash.  Uh Oh!!  John turned the motor off but it wouldn't start up, so we had to jump it again.  He thought that might take care of the problem... and it did.  Whew!!   We got Harvey home and parked and left him run a while to charge the battery and cool off the fridge.  We loaded a few things in the rig, had lunch and then sat outside for a while and played Racko.  John won big time!  I needed to get inside to start cooking for when our Small Group at church comes over to the CG on Sunday evening.  By the time I got done it was time to get ready for our Small Group's get together at Mick's tonight for Trivia.  A storm with a heavy downpour went through while I was in the shower.  There were 8 of us at Mick's which really helps with answering the questions.  Usually it's just John, Linda and I and even though we do very well with just 3 having 8 raises the probability of knowing the answers.  We were in 2nd place after the 3rd round, but ended up in 4th.  It was so much fun.  Everyone seemed to have a good time!  We got home about 10:00, checked on Harvey, got a few more things ready to load into Harvey tomorrow and went to bed.  We're going to leave at 9:00 tomorrow morning for the CG.