Forest Living & Orienteering

This is the view thru our motorhome front window ..... quite a view.  And of course the dogs take turns on the observation platform .... this was Bugsy's turn.

We are probably two hundred yards from the 'fishing' lake shore (as opposed to the 'swimming' lake shore .... two different lakes).
Anyway, when we go down there, that is the most beautiful, quiet, still place ..... I have several places picked out that I want to watercolor.

I've written here before about the unique orientation quirks of traveling in a motorhome, and having "north" move every so often.  One day my bedroom window faces east, the next week it may face south. When I am inside the motorhome, not particularly looking out the windows, I have one set of "place" perceptions;  and when I look out a window, there is an instantaneous "reorienting" that is very strange.  Not that it bothers me at all .... rather, it intrigues me that I can be facing one direction in my mind, and then go thru a mini-paradigm shift so quickly.  If it weren't so fast, I would stop and say "ah-ha!"..... but I just notice ..... then go on. Another reason it is really fascinating, is that we've been sitting in one spot for almost two months.  You'd think I'd get used to the sun rising on my left by now.

Vera has decided to work for the campground for a few hours a week also.  They, of course, are delighted to have her.  She is a contract employee who actually gets paid hourly; while Charlie and I are 'comped' for our campground fees in exchange for the hours we work.
But I think Vera decided we (Charlie and I) are just having too much fun, especially with all the camaraderie and such ... so now, she is offically a workamper too!

More later,
Marilyn

one Big rock

We made an overnite trip to Burlington, NC (about 4 hours east of our campground) to take a camp host friend to her parents home to pick up some of her belongings.  At the moment she doesn't have a car.  Anyway, like I mentioned before .... we will seize any oportunity to travel a bit on the Blue Ridge Parkway .... so we went a little out of our way on the return trip to travel about 50 miles on a portion we have not been on before.  We saw some small hills that are almost nothing but solid granite outcropings ..... one big rock !

And the valleys near Ashville are so pretty:

A couple more camp hosts have arrived ..... spreading the work out is always better .... we have been really busy the last couple of weekends.
There are 14 host campers, and most of them are couples .... so there are about 26 people here now who are working 4 hour shifs, 3 days on and 3 days off.  There is a small "swimming" lake with a beach, paddle boats, and a beach concession that some of the people work.  Then there are the canoe rentals down on the "big" lake, where some people work.  There is the gatehouse, where Charlie works ... and the store where I work.  Then there are two couples who signed on to do nothing but clean the bath houses.
And we have a 'meeting'..... with food  :)  ...... weekly, and many other times small groups get together around someone's campfire.

 

We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
Later,
Marilyn

Living in the Forest

I'm looking out the window of the motorhome and into the tops of the trees as they stairstep down the mountain.
This morning I awakened to the sounds of birds and other unknown small 'critters' around the motorhome.
I am in heaven !!
We stopped at a river park to let the dogs out, and Bugsy and BooBoo had quite a standoff with the ducks and geese.  Bugsy actually fell into the water by slipping off an underwater rock.  Boo was pretty sure she could reach those ducks in a single bound right across that water.

Blue Ridges

Road Trip !!
We will make any excuse to go take a drive on a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway ..... anytime.  We drove over to Waynesville to do some business with Verizon..... well, actually, there are probably two dozen Verizon stores closer, but if we went to Waynesville, we could take the Parkway for a portion of the trip.  So we did.  Ended up traveling about 47 miles on it.  From the "southern (west)" end of it at Cherokee, back to Pisgah Mountain. 
The Parkway is so amazing.  When you head up the mountains toward the Parkway, you are typically about elevation 3,000 ft., more or less, and it is a steady climb up to the ridgeline which varies, but in this area is around 5 to 6,000 ft.  Then you just meander along the tippy-tops of the mountains, with views out into the valleys on both sides of the mountains.  And the sunlight and sky conditions are always changing the colors.
And waterfalls!!!!  They are everywhere, with easy hiking trails to a lot of them.