Friday, November 20, 2015

Georgia vacation

We made a weeklong trip down into the mountains of Georgia, then on down to Atlanta for a day.  Didn't realize Atlanta is only 3 hrs from Asheville.

We camped in a "Retreat" facility in the mountains, with a stream running beside our campsite deck.  Just about had the whole place to ourselves.  There were 7 waterfalls on the property.... highest being 400 feet. (You will notice there are no pictures of the 200 or 400 foot falls....for obvious reasons....I did not climb the mountain)




 
 

 
 
The Atlanta Aquarium is really an experience. We spent the whole day there. The most interesting was the whale sharks (seen below). they were 25' long, and will grow to 37' when mature.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Meanwhile back in Fletcher (Asheville suburb), the cold weather has finally caught us. We wrapped our water pipes this afternoon..... planning on being here till just after Christmas.  Vera is in a funk because all her Christmas decorations are back in Houston.
We are excited that our friends Darlene and Patsy from Houston are coming to visit Asheville during Thanksgiving week; and we have them at our mercy for at least one whole day.  Our list of things to show them is getting longer.... they better rest up before they get here! 
 
More later, Marilyn

 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Asheville, NC snowbirds

We have been here in Rutledge Lake RV Park, in Fletcher (south Asheville) for almost a month now.  The park is a little crowded, but we have a nice spot on the end of a row, across from a little park (in which lives a white squirrel-more later).
Sorry, this is a really rainy day photo.
But the best thing is we are just two "doors" away from our good friends Kat & Cathy, who are our co-adventurers in all kinds of outdoor activities. They were the assistant managers where we "Work-camped" two years ago, but both now have full time "real" jobs in Asheville.
By the way, Charlie and I have signed up to return to work at Cascade Lake next season April - Oct. We will each work 3 days a week for 5 hour shifts... me in the general store, Charlie in the gatehouse.  We looked at three other campgrounds in this area to work; but decided it would be a plus to return to something familiar. Of course that depends on our health.....Charlie will be having surgery in Houston in January to remove a benign tumor..... which doesn't sound like such a big deal.... except that it's in the brain! It's small and just under the scull... so we are optimistic about the outcome.

The white squirrels really exist. There are a lot of them. You may remember I told the story when we first encountered them two years ago:  Some time a looonnng time ago, a couple of white squirrels escaped from a traveling circus. They had originally been brought from Europe somewhere.  Anyway, now there are many white squirrels in this region.  We saw them in Brevard, which is 25 miles to the west; and in Hendersonville, which is 8 miles to the south.  The little critters get around!


We just loooooovvve these Blue Ridge Mountains.... have I said that before?


 These shots are from the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can literally get up on the parkway and travel from one side of Asheville across to the other, and never see anything but this (except for 2 or 3 places where you cross over a freeway). How fun is that? Sometimes when I'm going to the store I get up on the parkway and take the long way around just because it's so relaxing.  A friend of ours actually saw a black bear cross the road one morning (inside the city limits of Asheville).

 
Vera has started her stained glass classes again at the Comm. College in Brevard... 2 mornings a week; and Charlie and I go to water aerobics 3 mornings a week.

So, as you can tell, we have just settled in here and are "happy campers"...literally.
Which I to say.... I guess we have become true snowbirds now. 
We'll head back to Houston after Christmas.... for a few months.

More later, Marilyn