Our Favorite Campground, Empty Nesting, Meal Planning and More....

Well we did it again....if I'm counting right this was our fourth trip to Myrtle Beach State Park!  This has become our favorite place to camp and our go to for relaxation.  If you haven't been you may want to put it on your list.  It's wooded, lots of cool breezes, short walk to the beach and so much more.  If you are not a fan of the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach but love the beach this is a great choice.  Once you are in the park you won't even know you are in the middle of a tourist city.  It's just amazing.  There are trails for adventuring and in the off season there are beautiful horses that you can ride on the beach.  Pets are allowed all year, different times in the busy season, but they are allowed all day in off season.  Lucy loves it and being with all of the other pups is so much fun for her.

Greg works a lot of hours and getting away to a place where we can actually relax is so important. We talked to our neighbors and they visit this campground for two weeks twice a year.  They also had a sweet dog that Lucy made friends with.  She loves the screened room with a breeze where she can dog watch. 

 I'm looking forward to Greg retiring so that we can take trips like that. Working towards retirement is something I would like to touch on here too.  Greg will more than likely need to retire at 62 due to his health.  He may be able to do some part time things that I hope will be mobile so that we can travel and he could still be able to work.  Life is short and we know so well how fleeting it can be.  After the last year and a half, we look at things differently and our priorities have definitely changed.

Meal planning is something important that I need to focus on.  Since I am already retired I hope to take on that project with Greg's help.  I've never been good at planning - I would just wing it and we ate out way too much which is such a huge expense.  So...I hope to share some of what I learn on that subject.

We are now empty nesters and for the first time in our lives we are living alone together.  I had two little boys when Greg and I got together and we raised them along with the two we had after we married.  This is so new and different for us and we are celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary in May and we have been together 36 years.  Holy cow...I have not lived without at least one of our kids since 1978.  Truly!!!  It's an adjustment for sure but we are going to be fine....I hope.  If we can just figure out the thermostat and WIFI.....😊  Oh and scrabble matches are saving our brains ...at least we can hope!

Simplified Camping Trip...James Island

We just took a three day trip to James Island County Park and we really loved it!! It was our first time visiting a county park. This time we made an effort to take as little as possible and since it was a short trip it was much easier. We have a bad habit of bring way too much food and then buying more along the way.  There is just not enough room for this ridiculousness!  Also we were having too much waste and just plain clutter.

We also were bringing too many clothes and we just don't wear them.  We are definitely old tent campers when it comes to changing clothes.  As long as they are clean, we will wear shorts several times and just change shirts.  We dress simple and comfortable and bring some nice things which we leave in the car on a hanger.  A while back we found one of those big suction sturdy hooks (see it here) and we keep it in the bathroom and hang things there that we don't want to wrinkle.  So far that is working well.

Okay - now back to the actual trip. 😊 We really loved this campground.  It is one of the only campgrounds in the vicinity of Charleston and it's beautiful.  There were swings like this scattered all around the campground, lots of trails and things to do.  They have a splash zone water park, dog park, challenge course and so much more.  There are full hook-ups and wireless which worked fairly good outside and in scattered areas.

One of my favorite things are always clean restrooms and these were awesome with ample shower areas which were private.  The lighting was also really good.  So many times we find campgrounds to be very dark at night and that is great unless you have to make late night bathroom trips.  This one very easy to manipulate at night.

We loved the onsite store and the staff was very friendly and helpful.  We spent one day in downtown Charleston and loved walking all around one of our favorite places.  We also ate at a local restaurant and had the freshest seafood which was absolutely delicious.  If you are ever in the area it's a must try.  The name is Roadside Seafood.  Its a tiny little dinner style restaurant, family owned, and everything is fresh and hot.

An also must see for us every time we visit Charleston/Mt. Pleasant area is the Kitchen & Company!  We found this place a couple of years ago and they have everything you could dream of for your kitchen including beers and wines.  We also get more forks or spoons since we are always loosing some - tell me we are not the only ones.  This is a must see and their prices are excellent!

As always, Lucy did not enjoy the ride but loved camping.  She walked, walked and walked some more and truly enjoyed it.  We did add the seatbelt clip to her car seat this time and it made a huge difference.  Since she couldn't climb all over the car trying to hide she would sit quietly in her seat and look out the window a bit.  She didn't pant furiously or seem sick so this was a win win for us!! She can still move and lay or sit anytime she wants.  She always has a stuffed animal and her blanket close by. 

We are working on a slide show of the pictures Greg took in Charleston around the Battery and I will get them linked up as soon as I can. 

As always we are loving our Little Red Retro and get away as much as we can with Greg still working.  Our next trip is a return visit to Myrtle Beach State Park - one of our favorites!!

Little Red Traveled Back to Devil's Fork...

We actually spent a whole week in one spot - first time for us and we loved it.  I didn't want to leave but of course it's always nice to get home.  Lake Jocassee is a beautiful back drop and it was just steps away from our site.  We camped on #1 this trip and we had made reservations back in October of last year for this visit.  This campground is very busy during peak times so make your plans early.  Even the tent sites fill up.

Lucy loved the lake and actually went swimming this time.  Her favorite thing to do was sit out in the screened room in front of the fan and chill.  As usual she didn't love the drive but the car seat did help.  She spent about half of the trip in her seat and slept and looked out the window..  That is a huge improvement and made us very happy.  Thanks so much to the camp host at Table Rock State Park for that idea!!

Our set up this time was awesome.  We had the screened room and our site was right beside the path to a little beach area on the lake.  That kept us from having to walk down to the main swimming area, although we did just about every day for ice and ice cream....of course.  😀  There are so many trails
and areas to walk in this park and plenty to do.  On this trip the campground was fairly packed and bustling.  We met so many people and dogs of course.  Lucy made all kinds of friends.  We have to shout out to Charles and Ashley and their dog Katie - they left us their awning on the lake and it was awesome and we left it for some kids who were there when we left.  We also met the most awesome little dog named Bud...Lucy was in love with him and he tolerated her.  He was quite the Man! 

This was the most moderate weather we have experienced so far and we cooked outside every day.  The bugs were minimal and the sun was beautiful through out our visit.  We could not have ordered a better week.  It was also our 32nd wedding anniversary mid-week so we celebrated by going into Seneca and having dinner at the local Fatz restaurant.  It was excellent and so much fun.

Our youngest and his girlfriend came down and spent the last few days with us in a tent and we all had a blast.  They canoed some and we all went to an awesome local Mexican restaurant for lunch on Friday.  We found the neatest little general store and picked up some goodies there.  It is stocked with unique canning jars, Lodge products, handmade goodies and so much more.  If you are in the area do stop by The Burgess General Store and visit with Mark and Krystal.

We love this area and will definitely visit again.  From here out until Fall this campground is super packed and hard to get reservations.  Be sure to plan ahead if you want to camp here.

So far we are still loving Little Red and he has been very reliable and very little issues - always caused by our lack of knowledge or human error.  The only thing on our list down the road would be a little larger camper - possibly a 177 or a little bigger.  A walk around bed would so nice but we still love our little 166 and we can easily tow it with our Ford Edge.

As far as gadgets on this trip we used our Coleman grill every day and it actually works better than our big gas grill that we use at home.  We would highly recommend it to anyone who camps or tailgates ....or just needs to be mobile.  The other real life saver on this trip was the "Pooper" - this was our first use of it because we were staying put for the week.  We were so happy to have it.  Being in one place and having relatively small tanks on the 166 it really made our stay so much easier.  This is something we would also highly recommend if you camp a lot where there are no full hook-ups available or you just don't want to pay extra for them.  It was quick
and easy to attach to the back of the car and drive down to empty.  It also made it easier when we left and dumped the tanks.  

We have more pics of the lake on Greg's DSLR camera and we will put those up as soon as we get them transferred.  Not sure where our next trip will take us but we'll keep you posted.  See you on the road....