Labor Day Vacation

We went on a 5 day vacation over Labor Day weekend to Wellsboro PA, home of the Pa Grand Canyon. We met up with MawMaw, PopPop, Uncle Eric, Aunt Sissy, Sammy and Scottie. We had a campsite directly behind the cabins they were staying in so we were pretty close which made it convenient for meal time and hanging around the fire! It was a great weekend, which went too quickly of course! Here's a breakdown:

We arrived on Friday August 31 in the afternoon and set up camp, then relaxed for a bit before cooking dinner together. After dinner we went for a drive and stopped at a local ice cream shop for a treat, The Frog Hut. It was a Blue Moon that evening, and Daddy had just gotten PopPops old celestron lense for his camera and was looking forward to taking some pictures with it.

 

Saturday morning we went for breakfast in town, and then did a little bit of shopping and window shopping at the shoppes throughout town. We drove to Benezette to do some elk watching. This year we stopped at the Elk Visitor Center (Last year when we were there it was very crowded so we didn't go in). We watched an interactive movie that Addi really enjoyed. We did see a few elk, but not nearly as many as we have in the past. On the way back to camp we got an extra treat, we saw two bears in the brush along side the road! It was too dark to get a picture of them, but it was a very neat experience to see them in the 'wild'.

Sunday morning we were up pretty early, and didn't want to wake anyone else so we went for a quick drive to the Pa Grand Canyon  which was a short drive from the campground.  It was pretty foggy out, and because it was so early there weren't any other visitors yet (except one nice lady who offered to take a picture of us).

We drove back to camp and made breakfast, got cleaned up and went out driving  to see what other wildlife we could find. We spent most of the day driving around bird watching.

 Pa Grand Canyon

 A beautiful church in the country

 

On Monday everyone else packed up to head home. We were staying until Tuesday, so we drove to State College so that I could pick up a few bottles of my favorite wine! We took a tour of the campus and then headed back to camp.

We are Penn State!

On Tuesday we packed up to head home, but on our way out we stopped at the little zoo right beside our campground. After we finished the zoo we loaded up and headed home. The trip went way too fast and we were especially sad when it was over because we knew it was the last one for us this year! 

An Outer Banks Experience!

We took our 3rd camping trip on a week-long family vacation to the Outer Banks, NC. We stayed in Frisco, a small village on Hatteras Island, at the Frisco Woods Campground. 

Like any big vacation, we had lots of preparations to make before leaving. We bought a new *to us* truck three weeks before we left for the OBX. Daddy's truck was plenty of power to haul the camper, however, it was only a single bench seat which means the three of us would have been crammed like sardines for 12 hour drive. We looked for a truck with an extended cab for almost a month before we bought ours.

Day 1: 
We left for our vacation at 2am to try to avoid traffic. Daddy didn't go to sleep at all that evening and I took about an hour and a half nap before we left. Addison slept for about 5 hours before we left and amazingly she stayed awake for 11 of the 12 hours it took to get to our destination. The weather was pretty overcast and drizzly most of the roadtrip. We got to camp around 2pm and as soon as we got there and began to park the campers, unhook, and get camp set-up, it began to pour! It rained for a few hours, enough to soak everything and give us a nice mud pond right outside of our camper! We had great spots though, we were backed up right along the canal and only a few spots down from the Pamlico Sound. The sight was breathtaking, especially at sunset! After the rain stopped we went for a walk around the campground and along the sound, we found a total of 5 little hermit crabs in the water and brought them back to camp. I told Addison they could be her vacation pets but they weren't going to come home with us! A little later in the evening some boys from a neighboring campsite were fishing right behind us in the canal and caught us two big hermit crabs so we put them in their own container too!

Day 2:
We started our morning with a big breakfast and then we headed to the beach for the day! The waves were very calm and we were able to spend a lot of time in the water! It started out not so good when Pappy got in the water and immediately lost his eyeglasses when a wave came up and smacked them right off of his face! Luckily he had his prescription sunglasses with him so he was able to see for the rest of the week when he wore those. The water was much warmer than I anticipated, yet it was cool and refreshing. Uncle Bubby buried Addi in the sand and she didn't like that at all! After that we buried Bubby and Mommy turned him into a gorgeous murman complete with seashell bra! Uncle Bubby also made some inappropriate sand sculptures... Boys will be boys! After we got back to camp, Daddy made jambalaya for dinner and it was de-lic-ious.

Day 3:
On our third day, we got up early and made breakfast and got ready for our Outer Banks Air Tour.  We went on a 30 minute tour of Cape Hatteras and it was one of the most amazing things we have ever done! I personally could have spent all day up in the plane if given the opportunity. I wasn't sure how Addison was going to handle it - if she would freak out or like it - and she was a little apprehensive at first but she ended up having a great time too! After our tour was over we went for a drive up to Nags Head in search of a non-beach-themed shoe store. With all of the rain we had had, Daddy's shoes were all pretty soaked and he needed a new dry pair. On our travels we stopped at the base of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse for a picture, and then we found a turtle pond across from the beach access. Addison loved all of the turtles and I have to admit it was pretty cool to see so many turtles in one place! We headed back to camp to get cleaned up to go out for dinner to the Sandbar and Grille. After dinner we went back to camp for a sunset walk on the  Pamlico Sound, a beautiful ending to a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4:

Our *new* truck has been giving us some electrical hook-up problems in the fact that the camper turn signals and brake lights weren't working when hooked up to the truck. Daddy spent the day going to local garages and driving around to pick up parts for a new electrical wiring harness. The rest of us hit the beach for the day. The weather was great and Addi tried boogie-boarding for the first time. She had a blast and it was very hard to get her out of the water after that! 

Day 5:

The waves were pretty rough and we didn't do as much swimming or boogie-boarding, which was pretty upsetting for Addison. We spent a few hours on the beach and then packed it up and headed back to the campground's swimming pool so that at least she could swim for a little bit. We got her a new swimsuit/life jacket and it works great! She is able to maneuver on her own and she was really doing excellent on her own! After swimming for an hour or so we headed back to camp and got ready for dinner. 

 

Day 6:

We took the Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry to Ocracoke Island, approximately a 40minute ferry ride. After we disembarked from the ferry we drove the length of Ocracoke Island to the village which is full of many restaurants and boutiques and then drove to the Ocracoke Light House. We spent a good part of the day and then took the Ferry back to Hatteras Island. For something to do before dinner we decided to take a drive and made another visit to the turtle pond. When we got to the pond there was a water moccasin swimming in the water. Daddy was taking pictures of the scenery and wildlife and walked right past another snake curled up on the ground, mouth open! He is very lucky to have not gotten bit! After these close calls we packed it up and headed back to camp. We got back to camp to find that we had a visitor at our campsite. Another snake! This snake was crawling from our campsite towards Nanny & Pappy's! With the help of Uncle Bubby and the neighbor boys (the same ones who caught the hermit crabs) and their grandfather, we were able to get the snake out from under our camper when Uncle Bubby threw a mull and killed the snake, yay! Thankfully that ended our snake sightings for the rest of the trip!

 

Day 7:
For our last full day, we got up early and headed to the beach first thing. Hitting the beach early is the way to go! The waves were still rough and again Addison didn't get much swimming in at the beach. After a few hours and not enough sunscreen, we packed up and went to the pool again. After the pool we did some a little shopping and had dinner. After dinner we all went down to the beach at sunset to take some family photos. After all of that *modeling*, we had worked up an appetite so we went for ice cream! It was a great ending to our last day.

 

We packed up and headed home on the 8th day, making slightly better time coming home then we did going down, but still not getting home and unhooked from the camper until after 11pm.
All in all the vacation was great, not nearly long enough of course! We can't wait for our next adventure!