Category Archives: Places to Go

A look at Statesville, NC

April 12, 2015 suzy 4 Comments

Our first stop out of Atlanta was Statesville, NC. Dave had previously mapped out our route to Maine and randomly chose four KOA’s to stop at on the way up. Strategically, he wanted them to be no more than 300 miles apart, as driving a huge RV in traffic can be extremely tiring. And I am currently not approved by either one of us to take on that task…

Our plan is to stay a few days if we love it, or leave the next day if we don’t. Arriving in early April to Statesville KOA was a treat with beautiful spring flowers to greet us. We were quite happy with this location!

Statesville is located in Iredell County, in north western NC, east of Asheville. It was named an All-American City in 2009. The city itself was founded by Scots-Irish Presbyterians and German Lutherans, who originally settled in Pennsylvania, and then moved down to Statesville to plant crops in the fertile soil where game and water were plentiful.

One of the big draws of the area is Lake Norman. It is a man made lake created between 1959 and 1964. The dam was constructed by Duke Power and is reputed to be the largest manmade body of fresh water in NC.

Seems we always end up at dams, doesn’t it? We love the big beautiful lakes. Oh and there is the fact that you can say dam in just about every sentence.

A stress reliever, right?

If you love to fish, then Lake Norman is for you. There are yellow perch, crappie, bluegill, and striped, largemouth and white bass. Lake Norman State Park features 33 campsites with tent pads, picnic tables and grills. The park is open year round for campers.

While perusing the lake and saying dam a lot, we ran across Eddie’s Seafood and Raw Bar. Since it seems to be named after my brother, naturally I was interested in stopping. But I have to admit that the main draw was the fact that it sits right on Lake Norman.

There was plenty of seating inside and the atmosphere was awesome. However, we chose like everyone else that day to eat out on the back porch.

Dave doing his manly-man pose.

We sat back and enjoyed the view. There were folks already out on the lake water skiing, and a few children playing on the shore. A very pretty spot.

And if you are wondering about the food, we can say that it was delicious. We both ordered the Blackened Fish Sandwich. Dave suggests that you add the slaw to the sandwich before eating it.

Excellent.

If you are in the Statesville area and looking for a nice place with great atmosphere for lunch or dinner, be sure to check out Eddie’s Seafood and Raw Bar.

That evening, I needed to do a post for Suzy’s Sitcom on Easy Tangy Barbequed Pork Chops. Believe me, this is a simple recipe. It is easy to make and delicious.

See, even Ralph thinks it looks good. Something tells me that I shouldn’t turn my back on him…

I put my handy-dandy grill cook to work, and sat back to enjoy the atmosphere.

We are really enjoying this journey so far. Our next stop is Staunton, VA. We will be staying in another KOA there. With a beautiful weather forecast of sunny and in the 70’s, we should have a great time.

Places to Go

Saying goodbye to Atlanta!

April 9, 2015 suzy 8 Comments

It has been a rough couple weeks. We finally managed to sell all of our belongings and even survived a free Facebook free-for-all. As tough as it was paring ourselves down to only the RV and what is in it, the hardest part was leaving friends and family behind.

You know, saying goodbye is hard. Even though we know that the world is much smaller these days with the internet and cell phones. Everyone is just a touch of a keypad away. But I will miss hugging my family.

Now that this dream of ours is a reality; seems that reality has a few drawbacks.

We got together at the Hil Restaurant in Serenbe in Palmetto, GA, for a family get together the day before we left town. This unique restaurant offers a diverse menu, guided heavily by produce from Serenbe Organic Farm located just around the corner. It is owned and operated by Chef Hilary White and her husband Jim White.

We highly recommend it if you are in the south Atlanta area and looking for a memorable meal. Our girls group did a Sunday brunch there about a month ago and I have to tell you, the Chef’s Cinnamon Roll is amazing!

While we were there, my daughter showed off a photo of her wedding gown! She will be getting married in early November. We just love our future son-in-law and look forward to being back in Georgia in time for Dave to walk her down the aisle!

See, don’t they look great together?

A group of family, led by my sister, are also planning on coming to Maine to visit us in June. They already have flights arranged and a rental house booked. And apparently they also booked a lobster boat tour because you certainly can’t visit Maine without a lobster boat tour!

Just saying.

It will be fun showing them around our new temporary “home”!

In the meantime, we leave Atlanta behind and begin heading north. I can tell you one thing, we will not miss the traffic! We had delayed a day leaving due to weather. This time of year in the south is generally stormy. Something about April rains bringing May flowers. Right?

Yeah. We are already tired of the rain. And a bit tired of cleaning red Georgia mud out of my white RV.

The dogs settled into traveling pretty quickly. They love their new envelope dog bed that I made them, and sleep at my feet the entire trip.

Our trip to Statesville, NC took about six hours. Unfortunately, that is about an hour longer than it should have. An accident just north of Charlotte had us in stop and go traffic for the last 30 miles of our trip.

And we thought we had left traffic behind in Atlanta!

We were very glad to roll into the Statesville, NC KOA just before dark.

And here the journey begins!

Places to Go

Branson, Missouri – fun and campy even without Barry Williams!

March 30, 2015 suzy 3 Comments

Branson, Missouri is many things. Colorful, exciting, touristy and campy all at the same time. It reminded me somewhat of Gatlinburg, TN. Without Dolly Parton, of course. Lots of things to see and do, all on a single strip of road.

Unusual buildings were everywhere. I’m sure the idea is to get you to stop. And this little technique worked well with me. The hubby got plenty of eye rolling in every time I asked him to pull over so that I could take a photo.

I don’t like fried chicken much and I’d already eaten breakfast, but I have to tell you, this chicken at The Great American Steak and Chicken House was beckoning me in! Dave firmly put me back in the car and moved me along.

Oh my! Mount Rushmore! Only not!

I did convince him to stop at the cool looking Jackie B. Goode’s Uptown Cafe for a hotdog. Seems that most every restaurant offers live entertainment!

Downtown offered all the shopping that you could possibly ever want. All with the tourist in mind. Lots of Branson t-shirts, Branson jewelry, Branson cup holders, Branson magnets, and any other Branson item you might have to have.

I’m not a shopper, much to Dave’s relief. But I do love to look around, do a bit of window shopping and a whole bunch of people watching.

Oh, and they had an ice cream shop that we may or may not have checked out. Let’s just say that the Black Walnut ice cream could very possibly have been delicious.

So what did I miss? Well how about the Barry Williams 70’s Music Celebration show?

Turns out he only performs at 2:00 PM every other day. How could a top of the line performer end up with a 2:00 PM time slot, I’ll never know. I’ll just have to be satisfied with this little clip of a video that someone took with their cell phone.

They take videos like my mom does and cut off his head most of the time. But you get the gist.

A stellar performance, I’m sure.

You know, come to think of it, Dave didn’t seem too upset that we missed the show. LOL!

So in an effort to make up for the fact that we missed Barry Williams, we went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and I introduced Dave to Taylor Swift.

I think he might have been invading her space a bit, though.

On the other hand, Hugh Hefner was quite cool with me hanging out with him. He said that anytime I’m in the vicinity of the Playboy mansion, that I’m welcome to stop by!

Dave said he may or may not add that to his itinerary…

Donald Trump was a git grouchy and wanted to fire Dave right away. I convinced him that Dave might be a decent employee. We were still discussing his options…

…when Dave found a job with the Men in Black.

Somewhere in the front lobby near the red carpet, I tripped over Angie’s dress and ended up sprawled dramatically all over the floor. Brad stepped over me quite gallantly and posed for two more photos with barely a pause.

That is the difference between professionals and amateurs, folks!

Not into wax museums?

How about some beautiful scenery?

Table Rock Lake spans more than 43 thousand acres and 800 miles of shoreline. This beautiful lake was created in August of 1958, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Table Rock Dam across the White River. This area is perfect for campers, pleasure boaters, fishermen and those that love water sports.

We ran across several beautiful campgrounds along the lake. They offered full hook ups in many of them and wonderful lake views!

Fishing in this area of the country is very popular. The lakes are full of bass, crappie, white bass, catfish and bluegill. Beneath the dam, the Missouri Department of Conservation operates a fish hatchery, which is used to stock trout in Lake Taneycomo.

Since we were out looking for views, we took the 22 mile scenic loop.

The loop takes you by the Table Rock Dam and offers lots of beautiful scenic overlooks.

We were very impressed with the city of Branson. Lots of friendly folks, lots of things to see and do, and if you are a shopper, well you are in heaven!

Now if we can just get Barry Williams to do an encore, all will be well with the world…

Places to Go

The Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock Arkansas

March 25, 2015 suzy 5 Comments

We left from Bremen, GA on Sunday. Timing was not the best as it literally poured down rain on us the whole way to Little Rock, AR. A stressful nine hour drive for Dave, that is for sure.

And it took constant diligence to keep mud from being tracked into the RV every time we stopped for a doggy bathroom break. I’m learning quickly how to juggle two dogs and an umbrella. It was a long day.

It was incredibly nice to wake up the next morning to a beautiful spring day in Little Rock!

I had to get some photos of the flowering cherry trees. Love these, but they only last a week so you have to enjoy them as quickly as you can!

We toured a bit of North Little Rock and ate at a small sandwich and pizza place . I took a nice photo of Dave.

He reciprocated with a terrible shot of me.

Well naturally.

We discovered the nearby Arkansas River Trail and decided to do a bit of walking. Well, to be honest, this sign totally caught our eye. Did you know that they have a Big Dam Bridge in Arkansas?

We love dams. It gives us an excuse to put the word dam in everything we say. I imagine the Big Dam Bridge crosses the Big Dam River. And maybe there is a dam store there that sells dam hotdogs with big dam bags of chips. Dammit.

The Arkansas River Trail runs through Little Rock and North Little Rock, connecting 38 parks, six museums and 5,000+ acres of federal, state and local parkland. The loop is an impressive 88 miles, runs largely along both sides of the Arkansas River and is nicely paved.

It was quite popular too! Tons of hikers, cyclists, skaters, joggers were out and about there. Impressively busy for a Monday afternoon!