First 2013 Trip Planned...

I sure hope this isn't the first trip of the year next year, but it is the first one that we have started the planning.

We are working on setting up a large multifamily trip for July of 2013. It sounds like it will be pretty cool. We are planning a week long trip going to go visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. We are talking about staying at the KOA in Horse Cave, KY. Right now there are 4 families planning on going. There are two families in campers and two in cabins.  The campground map looks interesting.

It will be the longest trip (travel distance wise) we have ever been on. It is estimated at approximately 600 miles each way.

We are currently planning on leaving out one morning and stopping along the way in the Bristol/Kingsport area and finishing the trip the next day.

Along with visiting Mammoth Cave we will also be checking out Kentucky Action Park and Jessie James Riding Stables, The National Corvette Museum and maybe Kentucky Down Under.

Still trying to get the sites reserved, but we are well on the way.

Two weeks until the Halloween Trip

We are getting excited. We've got the Halloween trip planned for the weekend of my birthday and we are starting to get the camper ready and we are packing the spooky Halloween stuff as well.

I do have to take care of a few things before we head out.

My slideout broke on the last trip as we were bringing it in (sheered a bolt off the slide motor) so I have to get up under there and see if we can get the bolt replaced correctly. I also need to get the 30# propane tanks filled, it promises to be a bit cold in the mountains in late October so I'll need heat as well as the fuel for cooking. And we need to take a look at the bearings, I haven't done anything with them and we've owned it two years now so I want to make sure we are safe climbing the mountains.

Pictures and reviews will be posted shortly after trip (hopefully).

Halloween Camping!

We are all booked for our stay @ Walnut Hills Campground AKA Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA in Staunton, VA. They are having their annual Halloween weekend the weekend before Halloween this year. And since Tee loves Halloween and Friday is my birthday, that the heck! We will be joining two other families there and we are very excited.


Unfortunately, we will be missing the Labor Day camping trip this year, but we hope to get this one and one more (possibly Thanksgiving) in before we winterize the camper for the season.

Camp Site @ Pocahontas State Park

We setup @ Pocahontas on Thursday and we had a great weekend. Even the bit of rain we got Saturday was actually very welcome as it cooled the temps down a bit.

I recommend Pocahontas, it is a wonderful park, and if you stay here, I suggest that  check out the site 66 - 80 (I think it's 80). While they aren't perfectly level, they give a lot of space and are all pull through.

We stayed on Site 70, just close enough to the bath house and playground to get to, but far enough away to avoid all the commotion.

We booked a stay!

We've booked a trip to end the summer.
We have trouble traveling close to the school year starting, so we booked for this weekend at Pocahontas State Park

I know it is super close to home, but it still is camping, and you know what they say....

We've only stayed at a few of the State Parks (Smith Mountain Lake being our favorite), but none in our camper.  Anyway, we are excited and since it is so close we are going to setup Thursday night (so we can get the spot we want) and then break down after work on Monday.

I'll post the review next week....

Let's go camping already...

So we are working on booking two more trips this year. One for Labor Day and the other the weekend before Halloween (my birthday).

For Labor day we want to join our friends at a site we've been to several times and have enjoyed each time.

American Heritage RV Park - Williamsburg, VA

We first stayed here last November for Thanksgiving and Black Friday Shopping at the Williamsburg outlet malls and loved it. We stayed her just this past May to to the season shake down of the camper. So we are fairly sure that we won't have any issues.

But the one that we are starting to wonder about is the trip for my birthday/Halloween.

We are planning on checking on the Walnut Hills Campground AKA Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA in Staunton, VA. We have friends that have camped there for the "Halloween" festival for a couple of year and they've come home and told us how much they really enjoyed it, so we figured we would join them this year.

Well, it isn't off to great start, we've called three times trying to book and each time the customer service has been very lacking. I sure hope it is just a bad day for them, I'd hate to drop a bundle of cash and not be happy on my birthday. 

More to follow....

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park - Natural Bridge, VA

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park

http://www.campnbr.com/

We camped at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Natural Bridge, VA June 15-18, 2012.
This place was ok, the best part was being surprised by a couple of our best friends who got reservations at the same time we did and didn't tell us.

While I love to camp in the mountains, this campground is divided by a public road in the middle of the  campground. You check in just off the road, but the sites starts down by the James River and kind of flows up the side of a small mountain.  I found it can be very difficult getting from one side of the campground to the other. I recommend renting a golf cart if you don't have one, I rode my bike up the mountain once, and that was enough for me :-)

On the Plus Side

• This place is so kid friendly (unless you want to let your 12 year try to drive the golf cart... that's a no-no). They have a list of activities as long as your arm going on everyday. 
• The staff was very friendly and helpful for the most part, even helped my 12 year old and his friend fill and fire water balloons with the three-man slingshot.
• They rent golf carts (first come first serve) and they are very helpful for getting from one side of the campground to the other.
• Snack bar is nice with quick foods and ice cream.
• The bath houses were routinely checked and cleaned

On the Down Side 

• The campground is divided into two sections - Upper and Lower Campgrounds. The lower campground is closer to the amenities and the river, but is more crowded and most sites are only W/E. The upper campground is dived into two sections as well, the field and the forest. The field has more spacious sites, but zero shade. The forest as you can guess is the opposite, total shade, no room. it's a pick your poison type of situation. I'm glad we got the forest site because it was 95+ the whole weekend.
• It is a rock pit. The roads and sites are rock pits, hardly any grass except in the common areas
• The pool is about two sizes too small, and they let folks from the local area come up on the weekend and pay for a pool pass. it was like watching sardines get free, we stood in the water to cool off, but forget about trying to swim.
• Kind of pricey. We used a Groupon that we bought the year before, but the cost are like $60 a night for full hook ups and the golf cart rental was $100 for the weekend.
• Selective enforced rules. Now I'm not by any stretch and old crank, I love a good time and party as much as the next guy, but when the campground says quiet times are from 11pm to 8am, I do my best to respect that. When you've got families running around screaming and guys with their drink on blaring music at 2am there is a problem. And when you deiced that 7am is the best time to chop your wood outside my camper door, you better be lucky I left the conceal carry at home for the family trip.

Overall Opinion 

I think that overall we had a good time and that expect for the fact that it was very crowded and busy this is a very nice place. There is a bunch of stuff to do at the campground as well as the area around Natural Bridge (visit the Virginia Safari Park Zoo it is awesome).  I would stay here again, but I'd try to get on of the sites with full hookup (there are like 5) closer to the river and I would stay during the week.

We're going Camping

I created this blog to tell about our trips out in our camper.
My wife and I have been camping since we were both kids.
We enjoy visiting different parts of the great country of ours and as we've gotten older we, gone from Camping with our parents, to camping in a tent, an old popup and now our hotel on wheels.

We normally get out 2 or 3 times a year (not nearly enough), but it is a start.

I plan on posting reviews of the sites we stay and and use this to log our trips so that I can keep certain campgrounds, site, area in mind or not when we visit the same area as well as sharing lessons learned, tips and tricks, etc.

Please feel free to contact me if you have thoughts, suggestions or questions.

James