Yesterday morning we headed across the river to Memphis. We are in West Memphis Arkansas. Tom wanted to see the Pyramid. That was okay with me. I have been to Graceland and Beale Street is good at night but it was hot and being inside was definitely good with me. The Pyramid has the tallest free standing elevator in the world and so we took a ride. There is a viewing platform at the top and you see views of Memphis.
There is a hotel inside, restaurants and Bass Pro Shops. It’s definitely something to see. There are stuffed bears, deer, fish swimming around, boats, ATV’s and so much more.
Our campsite at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park is a good one. We are right on the Mississippi River with a wonderful view out most of our windows. There isn’t any shade but it’s fine. The view is worth it. The last picture below was the view this morning when we got up. It was really that color, although a little brighter in person.
We are headed to Hot Springs this morning. I know I still haven’t posted about Magic Kingdom but that is taking me some time to gather the photo’s. I’ll work on that tonight.
Don’t miss the Pyramid next time you’re in Memphis or thereabouts.
Our third day at Disney World was Hollywood Studios. This park has definitely gotten better over the years. I remember when it was MGM. There was next to nothing there. I do remember there was a Lucille Ball museum then. We had a good time on the Star Wars Rides. We met “BB8” and others. We ended the evening at Oga’s Cantina. Beau got a drink that bubbled. It had dry ice at the bottom.
We had a great time at the Tower of Terror. Tom refused to ride it but everyone else did. We were lucky and got in the first row. It’s different than at California Adventure. There, it is the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. I like this one better. We actually rode it twice, well five of us rode it twice. I love this ride too. We also rode Aerosmith’s Rock and Roller Coaster. I don’t ever remember riding it either, although I thought I had. It is being rebranded as a Muppet’s ride so I had to ride it at least once.
I found popcorn ears there. I love Disney popcorn. I have a personal shopper that picks things up for me at Disney World and I once asked her to send me popcorn. Not with the bucket, just the popcorn. It was still good. Here’s a picture of my ears. Also one of Tom carrying my Mickey popcorn bucket.
We were one of the few left in the park because of our late reservation, and it is always fun to walk through the park with fewer people. We had lunch at Roundup Rodeo BBQ earlier in the day. It’s a great place to eat, rest and get out of the sun. There are announcements over the intercom. When they say Andy’s coming (from the Toy Story Movie) you are supposed to stop and be still. We had told everyone this. They announced it and I look over and Tom is trying to get a drink of soda and he’s moving. I grab his arm and he’s trying to pull away. I hold on for all I’m worth. After it was over, our entire table said they wished they’d recorded that. Everyone, including our waitress was still but not Tom. He was oblivious.
We didn’t get to do everything I like to do there but you really need more time at Hollywood Studios. There are great shows and you can learn to draw the characters.
Definitely take a few days to see and do everything! You won’t be sorry.
Our second day at Disney World began at Animal Kingdom. Our normal way of being at this park is to rope drop Na’vi River Journey, head to Flight of Passage with a single pass lightening lane and then move out into the park. This is exactly what we did. Everyone always heads to Flight of Passage and the line gets long really fast. I don’t wait in lines more than 30 minutes. So, I am one of those people. The people who pay the extra fee to get the lightening lanes. It is worth it to me and my feet. I know some people talk about “those people” and that’s okay. You do you and I’ll do me.
After some bathroom breaks, stopping for Starbucks and walking to our next ride, we got on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It’s always best to take the Safari early in the morning or right before the park closes. The animals are out more at those times. I’ve ridden this many times and I think I saw more animals this time than any others.
I didn’t get pictures of everything we saw because of where I was sitting and the bouncing of the truck. It’s well worth going on Safari!
Our next ride was Dinosaur. I’ve never ridden this ride, in fact I’ve never even been in that part of the park. I’m not sure why as I’ve been to Animal Kingdom more than a few times but they are rebranding Dinosaur so we wanted to ride it before it was gone. It is the same ride as the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. There is the truck that bounces around but instead of the big rock rolling towards you at Indiana Jones there is the meteor coming at you at the end.
We met up with a friend of my granddaughter’s who works at Disney and he joined us for a few rides, pictures and lunch. We were on to Expedition Everest next, stopping for Disney pictures along the way.
We hadn’t planned to have lunch at Animal Kingdom but there was an opening for Tusker House and we love Tusker House. Our first experience there was in 2021 while Covid restrictions were in place. It wasn’t a buffet then and when we went back last year it was. It was still delicious and we were able to get up close and personal with the characters. So, we took the reservation and most of our party had lunch there.
My daughter Heather loves Goofy like I love Mickey, so we always find Goofy somewhere.
It was a great lunch and fun afternoon. The adults headed back to the campsite while the kids rode Kali River Rapids and another time at Expedition Everest. They are old enough to get on the bus by themselves and that is helpful. We had tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween that evening and wanted to rest before that began.
I will say I love having my family with me. But the best trip I have ever taken to Disney World was in 2020 before Covid hit, late February for my daughter’s Leap Year birthday and it was the best trip I’ve ever taken. It was just me and her and we did everything, I mean everything we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. So, if you don’t have any kids to go with you or just want to go on an adult trip to Disney World, I highly recommend it! Have a Magical Day!
I’ve been absent for a week as we were at Disney World and every night was just go to bed to get up and do it all over again. Wednesday September 10 we arrived at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground to begin our 6 night stay and meet up with friends and family. It was warm but Florida is normally hot so I was happy with the temperature, at least that first day. I had never been to this resort and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised. It is definitely different than the other resorts as you don’t have a Disney room and the restaurant is not as easily accessible but it is a great option for those wanting to camp and it’s cheaper than the resorts.
Our first stop after setting up was Disney’s Car Care Center. We had experienced what is commonly called a “death wobble” in New Jersey and this was our first opportunity to have the truck looked at. Thankfully we didn’t have any trouble between New Jersey and Florida but I am glad the truck is fixed.
While we were waiting on the kids to arrive I had to make a quick trip to the local Publix to pick up medication for one of the family. I got a Lyft to pick me up and I left. When I got back, I told Tom I can’t believe you let me go by myself. I could have been murdered. (Likely not true). He said that I left I so quickly he barely had time to say bye. In my defense, I wanted to get there before the pharmacy closed.
I had rented a 6 seater golf cart for us to use while we were at the campsites and it definitely came in handy. I was the only one who could drive it so I ferried everyone around. We did decided to take the rental car to Epcot because we always take advantage of the early entry for resort guests.
Everyone arrived safely and we prepared for our first day at Walt Disney World/Epcot. We always go to Epcot first because it is the largest of the parks and if you try to do it after going to Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios it’s much harder, at least for us. We learned this several years ago and it has served us well.
We rode Test Track as our rope drop ride and then headed to Ratatouille. Everyone enjoyed both these rides. Living with the Land was next but it was down so journeyed along and headed to Soarin’ Around the World, which is in the same building. We discovered that Living with the Land was back up so after Soarin’ we headed there. Guardians of the Galaxy was next. It is my favorite ride! I’m sad to say that Tom didn’t care for it all. He said he saw his life flash before his eyes. We voted him off the island. We also rode the Three Caballeros Ride. In all the years I have been going to Disney World I have never ridden it. It’s a walk on ride and great to get out of the Florida sun.
In case you are wondering what Rope Drop is (Tom didn’t know), it just means if you are staying at a Disney Resort you get in 30 minutes early and this is called rope drop because they have a rope that holds people back until they let us in. That 30 minutes can make all the difference on riding a ride you normally wouldn’t get a chance to ride without waiting in a very long line. I’ll talk more about our rope drop choices in upcoming blogs.
We had dinner at the Biergarten and were in time for the show. The food was delicious and the show superb. It is in the Germany section of Epcot.
We got back to the resort around 4:00 and had dinner reservations at Artist’s Point at the Wilderness Lodge at 7:00 p.m.. We had eaten here last year and enjoyed it a lot. The food is great and you meet the Evil Queen.
The Poison Apple is delicious, chocolate is in the middle. Tom is with Grumpy because we told him he was Mr. Grumpy Pants.
Our first day at the Most Magical Place on Earth was a huge success and we ended our night taking the ferry back to the campsites. Next up is Animal Kingdom.
Yesterday we visited the Great Smoky Mountains NP. I got another stamp in my NP Passport and we headed out to see the sights. Our first stop was Mingus Mill.
It was interesting to read about its history and walk around the old mill. Tom, of course, noticed right away there was a sign about a bass player. I guess bass players recognize other bass players. He was out of the truck reading the sign before I could get my seat belt off.
We continued on up Newfound Gap Road. I read the history about this area as we were going. The Auto Touring Map from the NPS says, “In Southern Appalachia vernacular, a “gap” is a low point along a ridge or mountain range. The old road over the Smoky Mountains crossed at Indian Gap, located about 1 1/2 miles west of the current site. When the lower, easier crossing was discovered, it became known as the “new found” gap. We reached the lookout at the top of the gap going up to 5,046 feet. You can catch the Appalachian Trail there and we saw a hiker taking a rest near the trail.
We walked a little ways on the Appalachian Trail, not far, but I can at least say I was there. You are also able to straddle the Tennessee/North Carolina border. I’m standing in Tennessee. I’m sure you can’t tell but I was freezing as it was down to 58 degrees by then.
We were sad to discover that the road was closed past Newfound Gap and we weren’t able to get to the Tennessee side. There was a rock slide and the road is supposed to be open by the end of September. We plan to go back someday and see more of the park.
We really like this campground, Lazy Turtle Campground. It is small, quiet and has sites along the river. It is much nicer than some of the larger campgrounds nearby. It is also closer to amenities. There isn’t a laundry here but there’s a very nice laundry across from the casino about a block away. There’s lots to do in Cherokee, NC. The town has painted bears all over the place. There is a Harley Davidson dealership not too far from us and they were having an event yesterday. Lot’s of motorcycles were around.
We had some heavy thunderstorms yesterday morning and more rain in the afternoon but all in all it was a good day for sightseeing and resting.
We hope your days are filled with joy and wonder as ours have been. We head to Georgia this morning for a quick overnight stay.
This morning we took a tour of Dixie Caverns in Salem, VA. We had definitely not been here before. It was a small group of only six people and our guide. The group before us only had two people. The cave was discovered in 1920 by two boys when their dog Dixie fell in through a hole. They ran to the owner of the property to get help and discovered the cave. They began giving tours but people had to crawl through the hole and on their stomach’s until the 1950’s. The lights are from the 50’s and some are having problems. The middle picture shows a formation called the organ because it resembles the pipes on an organ and has an area that looks like a seat.
The pictures below are the same area. The second one has the light turned off and you can see all the formations.
The hole is still visible that the dog fell in and the boys went through to rescue her. The second picture is called a slice of cheese. It is clay that was dug up when they put in the walkways and put in this area.
This is the Salem Fault that runs about nine miles. It has caused earthquakes that have damaged the cave over the years. You can see how the formations run in a row.
It was a good tour and if you stay at the campground you get a discount on tickets. Tips are appreciated so be prepared for that. We weren’t, but since we were staying at the campground I took some money back to our guide.
There was a terrible thunderstorm this afternoon. The trailer was rocking and a very strong downpour lasted for around 15 minutes. We had over a 1/2 inch of rain in about 30 minutes. It cooled everything off, although it wasn’t bad before. It dropped almost 20 degrees though.
I named my phone GPS Mary. We were coming back from town and traffic was terrible. I navigated us away from the craziness. But Tom didn’t like the way we were going. Here is our conversation.
Tom: I think Mary is crazy. Why are we going north when we want to go south?
Me: She’s leading us to I-81 south.
Tom: I think Mary’s been drinking. She’s confused.
Me: (laughing so hard I can’t talk.)
Tom: Are you sure about Mary?
Me: Yes, I can see where we’re going.
Tom: We may need to watch her.
We arrived to our destination with no issues. Never a dull moment around here. We’ve had an interesting day. I’d rather have interesting than boring. I hope your day is filled with interesting moments as well.
We were in Maryland for the last few days, just 20 minutes from D.C. There is a lovely RV Park called Cherry Hill Campground. It is large, well maintained, access to the bus and tours. They rent golf carts, have a good laundry and splash pad for the kids. We highly recommend it.
We traveled to Union Station on Sunday and parked so we could pick up our Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour. It is right outside the front entrance and easy to find and get on. We stayed on until stop 7, although I would recommend getting off on stop 11. We walked a pretty good distance to where we were wanting to go.
Union Station
I’ve been to D.C. more than once so I let Tom choose where he wanted to go. He wanted to see the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial. We did see the World War II Memorial as we walked along. He wasn’t feeling well so we sat along the way and then found the snack area so he could get a candy bar. We saw the trolley to Arlington National Cemetery, so we hopped on that.
We took the tour around the cemetery. We only got off at the tomb of the unknown soldier because Tom was still not feeling well. We passed by many graves. In the picture above with the large tree, if you look to the left you can see a black stone. That is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her husband was in the military and she is buried with him.
After the tour we hopped back on the trolley to go back across the river and catch our Hop On Hop Off Trolley back to Union Station. We saw the young man in the featured photo riding on this handmade cart with a lawn chair and fake grass. It was moving on down the street and then he came back towards us but we turned before I got a good picture.
Tom noticed hundreds of people running through the National Mall. He said he’d never seen so many people running. I told him they were expending too much energy for me. I was doing well to walk. Tom later told me he decided they were running to get away from the National Guard. We did see National Guard but they weren’t patrolling. They were standing around chatting, looking at phones, sitting on benches. We only saw them at Union Station and near the Lincoln Memorial.
We had planned to go to the zoo but Tom decided a day of rest was needed so we stayed at the campground and did laundry. Yesterday we drove to Sandston, Virginia to meet our son. He lives in Suffolk, VA about 1 1/2 hours from there. We were dropping off a coffee table he has wanted forever. He told me once I stole it from him. I reminded him it was a gift to me from my mother. But since we are in the 5th wheel no need for it now. I was happy to give it to him.
We arrived in Salem, VA earlier today at Dixie Caverns Campground. We lived about 75 miles from here in Rural Retreat, VA almost 20 years ago, which we’ll pass by on Friday as we journey to North Carolina. We both remarked today how familiar these roads are on I-81. We’ve traveled them many times before. I posted some conversations on Facebook, which I’ll also include here. Never a dull moment with us.
Tom:Which way do I go?
Me: I don’t know, your woman says unnamed road. ( looks on phone Google maps) it says stay on 395. We just entered Virginia.
Tom: You just missed your sign. (For a picture) You need to pay attention.
Me: how can I pay attention when you keep asking me where to go.
Tom: I don’t need you to tell me where to go. She’ll tell me.
Me: you just asked me which way.
Tom: no, I didn’t
Me. We are done with this conversation
Driving back to campground.
Tom: I thought we’d go the same way back.
Me: You didn’t use Karen going there.
Tom: I thought this was Karen.
Me: It is, we didn’t use her. We used truck Karen.
Tom: oh yeah. Why is it taking longer?
Me: Because Karen is taking us on a safe RV route.
Tom: OH yeah, we don’t really need that. We aren’t pulling the RV.
Me:
Not to mention all the commentary about parking. I’m very informed about any parking strategy.
Well friends that’s been our last few days. We’re taking a a few days here in Salem to catch our breath and prepare for the journey south to Florida beginning Friday. I’m going to miss this nice weather. Blessings on your journeys as always.
Delaware is the First State of the Union. It is my 50th state. I have now been to them all! We went about 20 miles into Delaware to visit The First State National Park in a little town called Newcastle. It is a lovely community and many of the homes and businesses are original homes. It was settled in 1651. You can see the cobblestone road in the third picture. I asked the lady at the historical society how old the road is and she said it was made about 10 years after the town was settled, so around 1661. We watched cars travel on it and it is rough going. We certainly have some different National Parks in this country. This National Park is a building (first picture) that was formally the sheriff’s office and jail. The second picture is the historical building.
After our visit there we walked through town to look at the sites. There were some interesting signs to read and things to look at.
The second picture above is the walk to the Presbyterian Church.
They have a lovely area as well that is called The Green.
We enjoyed the morning in Newcastle and if you’re around Philadelphia, stop in and say hi. They are a friendly town and everyone was very nice and happy to see us. We’ve spent the day today enjoying resting and preparing to head to Washington D.C. tomorrow. I hope you’ve had an enjoyable day too.
Yesterday we drove across the river into Philadelphia to visit Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other sites. I was awed by the fact we were walking in the same places as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Hancock and so many others. Our day began finding a parking space. We have a Ford F350 dually and it is hard to park. We thought we could park in the Independence Hall parking garage but it had a height of 6’6 and that’s the height of the truck, so we journeyed on. We were 25 minutes early but I began to fear we would miss our time slot until we finally found a place that would take the truck. We walked the three blocks to Independence Hall and went through security. I have been surprised that so many places have required us to go through an airport security type line.
The tour was led by a volunteer former history teacher. He was very informative. We entered into the Pennsylvania Supreme Court room first and then into the Assembly Room. We were told there was very little that was original in Independence Hall because the British burned everything that was wood to keep warm. But there were a few things. A walking stick or two, a quill, books that belonged to John Hancock. But the amazing thing was there is an original chair that George Washington sat in at the Constitutional Convention. It is called the Rising Sun chair.
The chandelier is a reproduction made in the late 1700’s from descriptions. It was amazing to be there and I continue to be amazed that we have remained a united country for so long. Although not so united right now, perhaps not really ever.
After our brief visit here we went to see the Liberty Bell that is housed across the street. You can get up fairly close and walk around it. It is something I never thought I’d see.
We walked toward Betsy Ross’ house and came across the Christ Church graveyard. There is a $5 fee per person and you can also pay a little extra to get a guided tour. We paid the fee and walked around on our own. There are five signers of the Declaration of Independence there including Benjamin Franklin and his family. I’m not sure why people are leaving money on the graves. Maybe someone else knows.
We journeyed on to the home of Betsy Ross. I was surprised to find out that she didn’t own the house, only rented rooms. It is a nice self-guided tour. There is a woman portraying Betsy Ross and I asked her lots of questions. It was a fun tour.
We then went to the Benjamin Franklin Museum. His home is no longer there. It was torn down in the 19th century. But the walkway he walked along is there and there is a nice museum.
Our last stop of the day was The Museum of the American Revolution. I’m not sure if we were allowed to take pictures but the displays were difficult to get a good picture anyway because of the lighting. We watched a short film about the American Revolution and then went upstairs to watch another short film about George Washington and his tent. They have the original tent he used during the Revolutionary War so he could be near his troops. I highly recommend watching it and seeing the tent at the end. There are several pictures online that we were given access to download.
We had to cut the visit short as we were late getting back to the truck. I have decided Tom and I would be divorced if we went on the Amazing Race. We disagree on directions often but this time I was right and got us to the parking garage. I was actually amazed myself. We enjoyed Philadelphia a lot.
We had a marvelous day and I hope your days are marvelous too.
This is Helen. Helen has always hated me. She would run and hide when I came around. If Tom was feeding her I couldn’t go into the kitchen because Helen wouldn’t eat. She never came near me and I was rarely able to pet her. I have never done anything to her, well except for that time I accidently tried to kill her by closing her up in the recliner. It was traumatic for us both. Her neck was being held by one of the metal pieces. Obviously she survived. Well there was also the time she swallowed a sewing needle when she ate the thread. That really wasn’t my fault though because my daughter left it out. Again, after surgery she survived. My goodness, I just realized if she was a child, I’d probably be arrested for child abuse. Really though, I’ve been nothing but gracious to Helen. As I said, Helen has always hated me….until now.
Now she comes and lays next to me on the sofa, she comes for pets while I’m in bed. She lays between my legs while I’m sleeping. Perhaps she has finally forgiven me for almost killing her when she was a kitten. Perhaps the 5th wheel is so small (well relatively, it’s 40.5 feet long) she has nowhere to go or perhaps she has dementia and has forgotten who I am. But I am enjoying the love, for as long as I can.
We were supposed to be or what I thought we were supposed to be, in Philadelphia today or at least Pennsylvania. We are not. I had my camera ready to take a picture of the Pennsylvania sign and it never came. We kept seeing NJDOT signs and finally realized that although our campground is South Philadelphia KOA, we are still in New Jersey. It’s a nice campground and the weather is lovely.
There are some sweet victories at campgrounds. I am always filled with such joy to find an empty washing machine at the laundry. Today was sheet washing day, always a chore because I have to put the things back on. I’ve said before it’s a full contact sport to put sheets on trailer beds. I was super excited to see a new oversized washing machine for not only sheets but blankets. Sometimes there are signs that say no blankets, but thankfully this one did not say that. What made my day even more was I was not the one walking away from the laundry when it was full, that went to someone else.
Something new, I have stopped ironing my clothes. I know, I know. But for those who know me, they know I used to never go anywhere without ironing my clothes. My daughter doesn’t even own an iron. She used to come to my house on the rare occasion she needed one. She also says life’s too short to iron. I am leaning that way. That’s not to say I never iron but it is becoming more rare. I haven’t decided if that’s camp life or retirement life.
Speaking of laundry, the other day Tom decided to heat a breakfast sandwich. I had taken them out of the package and so the directions were no where to be seen. Tom is a direction kind of guy. Here is our conversation.
Tom: How am I supposed to know how to heat these?
Me: I will tell you.
Tom: You’re supposed to know?
Me:
Tom (looking around the corner) while I am staring at him
Me:
Tom: Really, I need to know in case you are gone.
Me: Where am I going?
Tom: Doing laundry or taking a shower
Me: Wrap it in a paper towel, defrost for 90 seconds, turn it over and heat for one minute
Tom: This is not going to be hot enough
Me: I don’t know what to tell you, but that’s the directions.
The microwave dings. Tom eats the breakfast sandwich.
Today was a very short travel day. No stops, 2 hours 15 minutes and we were there. I love those days. So does everyone else her in the McFadden household, cats included. We are here for four nights and ready to see some history. Tomorrow we head to Independence Hall.
I hope you find the small joys in life. Remember life’s too short to iron.
