For a while, I didn’t feel like blogging for a couple of reasons. First, we were having fun and doing things and who has time to write about it all? Then after the fun and games, who wants to sit down and actually concentrate on writing about it all?!? So I would keep putting it off which meant it got harder to blog because I simply forgot all the stuff we did and any cool tips I might have learned. I guess I should have blogged while it was still fresh in my mind. So blogging just kept getting pushed off.
A beautiful owl along our Shenandoah hike.
Unfortunately that means when I DO want to blog about some cool stuff we did, I can’t because I would have to catch up with the previous spots first. Since I was just digging myself into a bigger hole, I decided enough is enough! So this is going to be a lame blog post about some of the things that happened in the last few months, mostly in picture form so I can finally catch up and blog real-time after this post (fingers crossed that I keep that promise).
Hurts Donut, Houston TX
I met up with friends in Katy TX for our second annual Ladies’ Get Together where we ate a lot and compared two different nitrogen ice cream places (Subzero and Creamistry. Creamistry wins hands down), visited the Houston Space Center/Johnson Space Center (it was crowded due to Spring Break), introduced friends to fun tabletop games (Spot It, Pandemic, Fluxx, Hanabi) and had a total blast!
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- Rolled ice cream!
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- Johnson Space Center
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- Johnson Space Center
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- Johnson Space Center
We took a drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway in March which is a little early in the season. Good news? Not crowded. Bad news? Trees not yet in bloom, not quite as scenic as in the spring or fall. We stopped at a few of the sights and saw parts of the old Trace. Only did half the Trace because then we went to Tiffin in Red Bay AL for some 6-month warranty work which took longer than expected. Lots of people, long waits, and impatience meant we “only” stayed for 3 weeks and left before all the issues on our list were fixed. Due to the longer than expected stay, we scrapped the rest of our Trace plans and went straight to Shenandoah, VA to get back on schedule.
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- Driving the Natchez Trace
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- Natchez MS
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- Walking part of the “Sunken Trace”
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- Waiting for Tiffin Service
At Shenandoah, we finally got to pull out our hiking legs again and boy they weren’t happy to be left alone for this long! The Rose River Loop was great for Opie since it followed a river for most of the trail and he got to go in whenever he wanted. We also did Mary’s Rock but the longer version where it starts from Pinnacles Picnic Area and follows the Appalachian Trail for a couple of miles. It’s a much better way to do Mary’s Rock (in my opinion) because the views are a lot more stunning, the path is less crowded, and the elevation is less severe. Unfortunately no watering holes so we had to wet Opie down multiple times with our water supply. While at Shenandoah, we also visited Luray Caverns and saw some pretty awesome stone formations.
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- Rose River Loop
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- Mary’s Rock Hike
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- Mary’s Rock Hike
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- Luray Caverns
Next stop was “home” to visit family for a few weeks and get lots (and lots and lots and lots) of home-cooked meals. From home, it was a quick trip to visit a friend in Philly and check out the Chinese Lantern Festival and hit Six Flags Great Adventure (NJ) for our first amusement park of the year.
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- Chinese Lantern Festival
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- Six Flags Great Adventure
There, done! And I think I was able to do that all in one big breath too!
Not lame at all. I built our website for our blog before we left to go full time in April 2017 and haven’t found the time to do anything with it since. Now that is lame!
Natchez Trace Parkway is a nice trip. We went that way last year, stopped in a few spots and did a little hiking. Red Bay can be a bit of a drag on your travels. Do you plan to go back to have them finish? Haven’t been to Shenandoah for a long time. It used to be an annual trip for my parents (in the station wagon) when I was growing up (grew up in MD just outside DC) and I should go back next time we pass through.
Hi Ed!
We liked the beauty of Natchez Trace and I can definitely see how gorgeous it would be in the fall or spring. It was still a nice drive although a little too narrow for me in some spots.
Yep, we’re headed back to Red Bay in Sept to get the rest of the items fixed. We’re hoping to be a little more flexible this time so we can get it all done before the year is over.
LOL, small world. I grew up right outside of Baltimore and we did Skyline Drive with my parents growing up. It’s gorgeous and definitely worth a visit if you have the time!
Thanks for the update! I, for one, love your blog entries.
Thanks! That is a fantastic compliment and you have made my day.
Ha! My blog backlog goes back to 2015. I have a lot of catching up to do.
LOL, ok I’m not quite that bad!
Glad to see you guys back online. Three weeks at Redbay… OMG! That seems crazy for warranty work. We just ordered our new 2019 Allegro 36LA this last week. I’m a bit concerned that the quality on their coach’s has changed. You didn’t have these kind of issues on your first Tiffin, did you?
Safe travels guys.
No, our 2014 36LA was just about perfect. Honestly, with Tiffin putting out 13/day and currently 14/day once a week, the QA suffers. I do believe that if you are there during the build, it does help cut down on issues but not quite everything.
I give props that Tiffin is so willing to fix issues, especially if you go to Red Bay but that puts the onus on the owners to find all the various problems. Plus as electronics and features get more complicated, it does allow for more problems to crop up.
I am excited to see all the new changes to the 2019 36LA though. Looks like a lot more spyder controls and the very neat back window in the kitchen. I hope your coach is built well!
Glad your “back”! I haven’t been to Luray Caverns for 34 years! Lantern Festival looks fun.
Mike had never been to Luray and it’s probably been about 30 years for me. It was nice to see it again and enjoy the hiking in Shenandoah. The lantern festival was fun and had some great sculptures/lights.
Looking forward to your ME and Nova Scotia travels, we are planning that for next year…
Us too. :) We’re pretty sure Acadia and Nova Scotia will be packed with lots of activities. I will be sure to blog about it before all the good details fly out of my brain!