Completing the states, Shenandoah & New River Gorge National Park, Christmas with Emma & Lauren at the Inn, Alabama family and a cruise!!

Hello all!

It's been a crazy busy month since our last blog post and we've covered a lot of ground! We left Acadia National Park and drove down the coast visiting several cute towns including Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. We met up with another friend from our campground in Florida who just happens to cut my hair down there so I got a quick trim from her while we were in Maine. She gave us some great tips to tour the area, too bad we only made it part of the way on the Cliff Walk as it was closed due to damage from the storm.

 

 

We still had fun walking around and seeing all the fall and Halloween decorations.  Dave made a friend outside this historic hotel and the folks below have been waiting a looong time to enjoy their lobster meal.

We turned inland to avoid the Boston area and were treated to more amazing fall colors. The campgrounds are near empty as we got later in the season. This one in Massachusetts had great trails we could hike right from the motorhome. The colors were amazing but we got our first fall hitchhikers. I won't post the picture of the ticks but needless to say I didn't have the best sleep that night!

 

Our stay in Rhode Island was at a golf course thru Harvest Hosts and we had such a cool sunset. My picture was pretty but Dave's made the cut because he captured my silhouette while I was taking my picture.

Our next Harvest Host location was at a farm in Connecticut. They had lots of goats but what they had even more of was classic cars! We had to make an early exit the next morning as over 500 cars started showing up at 6am. Dave wished we could have stayed and looked at all of them but we we took up too much room, so we had to go!

Completing our trifecta of Harvest Hosts was a bistro in New Jersey. Always a great stay when we can have dinner out, especially when it includes pecan pie for Dave.  

Our Delaware stop was at Lums Pond State park where we finally had full hook ups and could wash everything, including Phoebe (the motorhome) and the truck too.

 

We enjoyed the most beautiful drive to Maryland and stayed right next to the Potomac River. Then on to Virginia to begin our stay at Shenandoah National Park. When the reviews said lots of wildlife close to campground, they weren't kidding. These deer were right outside our door! We were even more thrilled with our other visitors, Michelle and her new finance, Joe who came to join us from Oklahoma. 

 

The views from the Hawksbill trail looking out over the mountains and valleys were amazing! We had fun all along the way.

 

We hiked Dark Hollow Falls and to the Stony man overlook. Dave was ready to be a stone man and just stay in one place for a while with all this hiking!

Our next stop was to New River Gorge National Park and our 50th state, West Virginia. It was so exciting to put the last sticker on our map, even Noodle helped!

Of course we did more hiking here too...and lots more pictures...

Above, me taking the shot, left me climbing back up and next...the shot!

Besides hiking, what else do you do at the gorge? Zip-lining! We did the tree-tops adventure with swinging bridges and 11 lines, with the longest being 1900 feet. It was fun sailing through the air and over the trees. Having to do your own braking was a little scary at first but we got the hang of it.

We absolutely lucked out with our weather at the end of October with two gorgeous days that we got to zip line and then white water rafting! We rented wet suits but it almost wasn't necessary as it was a balmy 75 degrees out. They did come in handy when we jumped from a rock into the water; that was a little chillier!

It was so great to have Michelle and Joe with us on this leg of our journey! Of course we love having Michelle with us and enjoy her fabulous cooking but Joe came in pretty handy too with his electrical skills helping us try to fix the awning.😃 They seem good together and we wish them much happiness!

From West Virginia to our most favorite place, Tennessee and Hippensteal Mountain View Inn. Celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary was wonderful (although we missed our friends Gary & Ruth!) We spent the entire day up on the mountain and Emma's gift to us was going to the campground to feed the cats. Thanks to Mom and Dad Craw and Stephen & Donna for helping us enjoy our stay there with Christmas gift certificates. Speaking of Christmas, since this is the year that Emma goes to Lauren's family for the holiday we celebrated our Christmas at the Hippensteal Inn's kitchen. It was appropriate as one of their gifts was new measuring cups and spoons. 😄 Not nearly enough time spent with them but we understand we have to share. 

Next stop on our whirlwind fall trip was Mom and Dad Thomas' house in Alabama. We are so thankful that they are still doing so well, living on their own at 95 & 97 years old next month. We are fortunate that Ivy and Ron (Dave's sister and brother in law) live next door and help out so much. It's nice when we come that we can give them a chance to get away for a few days. This time Dave got to spend lots of great time alone with his mom and dad as I flew to Miami to go on a cruise with Michelle (more on that next). Dave even got to see Dad preach at church on Sunday! 

So, lucky me I got to go on a cruise with Michelle while Dave stayed with his mom and dad. Michelle has been an art collector for years and was eligible for a VIP cruise with Royal Caribbean on the Icon of the Seas. They say timing is everything and Michelle invited me to go with her before she met Joe. I did offer to let Joe take my place once they were getting serious but Michelle was great and kept me as her "plus one". The cruise was awesome including getting to meet some of the artists whose work Michelle has collected. She also bought a signed Picasso etching but he wasn't there of course!😄

The ship was incredible and huge!! It's on the left with Celebrity's largest ship, the APEX next to it. It makes it look like a little baby ship. Oddly enough it was pretty easy to navigate your way around it with only 4 sets of stairs, basically one in each corner. Funny how the older ships had way more staircases and less elevators. The Icon had 24 elevators and they were "smart" elevators where you touched a screen to say what floor you wanted to go to and then the screen would direct you to the proper elevator. Once inside there were no buttons as it just took you only to the floor you indicated. Of course I only know this because of the 2 times we took it, once with the luggage and then the night we were wearing heels. The rest of the time we were good and took the stairs! 

The ship had so many cool areas, including "Central Park" where there are balconies looking into this open area with beautiful trees and restaurants you'd swear were on land as you look out into the trees. Definitely a boat geared to families and kids. There were water slides (yes, we're still kids and we did those!), zip lines, putt putt golf and a flow-rider besides all the pools. 

Our first stop was in Roatan and we did the BOSS underwater scooters. I have to say I talked Michelle into it as she wasn't so sure about being in the helmet. The guide put her in and then turned around to help me and by the time he turned back Michelle was out of it. I will say it was a little odd with the fish eye lens (that's why my head looks so small!). Also, we didn't go as fast as I thought we might, we kinda just bobbed around.

We did have fun on the boat and got to snorkel seeing tons of fish and coral. Our next stop was in Costa Maya and we did a private beach getaway...it was really private and lovely!

We also had a stop at Cozumel but since we had both been there several times before we just stayed on board and enjoyed the ship with a few less people. We were so spoiled with great food and service. We had an amazing time; thanks for bringing me along Michelle!!

So from Dave's folks house to Red Bay to get some work done on the motorhome, to tonight in Thomasville, Georgia to see my Aunt Pris we are close to wrapping up the last part of the journey to Florida. Good Lord willing we will be "home" to our campground Royal Coachman in Nokomis tomorrow. Thanks for reading this very long post and for your continued prayers for us!