PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, MD

We arrived at Patapsco Valley State Park on Monday, July 13th planning to stay three nights. It was soooooo beautiful and convenient to Carol's sister's house that we stayed another two days.

We spent some time with Bobbie and Bill, Carol's sister and brother-in-law. The kids got to play with Aunt Bobbie a couple of days. They came out to the campsite for dinner one night.

We also went to Cockeysville to visit Peggy Bealefield, a friend from our "Doll Show" days. Great time all around. The kids really loved Peggy's three Chihuahuas, Betty, Taggy and Patches. Peggy treated us at the Nautilus Diner in Timonium. I didn't plan that - there was one of her and four of us - but I learned YEARS ago not to argue with Peggy. I had been there with her before so I was prepared for the size of the portions. They were a repeat of the Carnegie Deli. Peggy asked the waitress to just put the tossed salad that came with her dinner in a to go box to start with because she knew she wouldn't have room for it. Carol ordered the pork chop dinner. The three large, thick chops were served on a serving platter sized plate and that's all that was on the plate. 'Cause that's all there was room for. All the sides came in separate dishes. She ate one and we took two home. I took home at least a dozen scallops that were sweet as butter. The desserts looked so good that we took two of them home, too.

Now we had a decision to make - it's Friday, July 17th. We are due in Lewisburg, WV on Monday, July 20th. It's about an hour and a half out of our way to go home to Salem for the weekend. The reason we would do that would be to pickup the Honda and have our motorcycle at the motorcycle rally. But we knew there wouldn't be much time for riding and we would have to find someone to watch the kids.

So we decided to go camping instead.

Really.

In the past 5 weeks of traveling and living in the Airstream, we haven't really been "camping." We've always stayed at a campground, except for the first night in a WalMart parking lot and when we were guests of Mike and Donna. But it was just a place to park while we went to do the things we were in that area to do.

Since we were coming to the end of our time with the kids, we decided to skip going home.

We drove from Frederick, MD to the campground on US 340 instead of taking I-81. Slow really is better.

About the time the kids got hungry, we saw it was 10 miles to Luray Caverns. Thank God, Again, for the Airstream. We parked and fixed ourselves a yummy lunch right in the trailer. We walked from the "RV" parking through a little rain shower to the entrance which - surprise, surprise, is right next to the gift shop. And the exit is THROUGH the gift shop. Everybody is learning from Disney. As I was buying the tickets we realized we'd forgotten the camera. And it was still raining. I'm really glad. The people with cameras were a real pain as all the polite people stopped and waited as they composed their perfect shot. Over and Over and Over. More important, I don't think they enjoyed the tour as much as we did just walking and looking. So click on the link above and enjoy! There is a small antique carriage/car museum on the grounds that was very interesting, too.

We found Stoney Creek Resort in the Shenandoah Valley near Stuart's Draft, VA. If you click on the link, you'll see a beautiful lake, basic mini-golf course, big pool and lots of trees. Since it was a weekend, bingo and a karaoke night were available, too.

I told them I would not be at the Karaoke because of a sign they refused to take down for the evening. It said, "No alcoholic beverages in the community building." I told them, "I would never sing outside of church without the benefit of alcohol. And until I started playing at nursing homes last year, I didn't think I'd ever played to a sober audience."

But we had a great time in the pool, playing golf, and building a campfire to make S'mores.

And for the FIRST TIME on our trip, the water was warm enough to tempt
Carol.






This teepee was available to rent. But it didn't have airconditioning. Which we were sure we'd need - in Va, in July.


But we never turned ours on. It dropped down into the mid 50's at night. The second night I got up in the middle of the night and closed the windows.

This is a "stitched" panoramic picture. Actually 4 pictures that a neat program I found on the web puts together automatically. A bit "fish eyed" (the dam I'm standing on it straight, not curved) but it gives you a great view of the lake and campground.



Next stop, the National Rally of the Christian Motorcyclists Association.

Life is so good !

STATE COLLEGE, PA

We left Jersey City the morning of Friday, July 3rd and drove to Seven Mountains Campground 15 miles East of State College, in Spring Mills, PA. I stayed there for two months last summer and Carol came to visit for the 4th weekend so this arrival was like a reunion.

Kathi came out from behind the desk with hugs and "Welcome MR AND MRS Cook!"

Carol just pointed out to me that I haven't mentioned our cat, Peaches who is traveling with us. She rides in a carrier on the backseat of the truck between Emily and Andrew and she has been an exceptionally well behaved traveler. No kitty Valium needed. She does "meow" some. Sometimes rather pitifully and we didn't figure out why for awhile. Then we noticed that she only seemed really distressed when our ears were popping from altitude changes. Now if we could just teach her to hold her nose and blow, everything would be fine. She has pretty well accepted everyone and the sharing of the Airstream space.





I blogged last year about the 4th Fest and that State College has the 2nd largest fireworks display in the country. All Carol could say last year was, "The kids have got to see this." So this year, they did. Tom drove up to the area very early, got a great parking space in the "tailgaiting" section and rode his bicycle back to the house. Then we piled 4 adults and 5 kids into my truck (did I tell you that I LOVE my truck?) and drove to as close as we could get. Schlepped chairs, drinks, toys and food to the Eurovan and settled in for the afternoon. The kids played games, rode rides and we all picnicked and enjoyed the beautiful day. There was a small carnival area




The fireworks couldn't compete with the sunset that preceded them.


The fireworks are choreographed to music played over a local radio station. There were 5 or 6 different songs with appropriate fireworks. After each one, Andrew and Emily asked, "Are they over?" The final, for real, finale is about three minutes of 40 shells PER SECOND. And we were close enough to feel the force of the explosions. We didn't even try to get pictures.

Sunday was a day of rest. On Monday we - meaning (listed by age) Tom, Carol, Emily, Casey, Andrew and Sarah went to Penn's Cave. It's a great "first-timer" cave. The kids loved it and so did Carol and I. Especially since it was a boat ride (we got to entertain the gang while sitting down!)

Dinner at the Olive Garden, since it is Casey's favorite restaurant in the world and no one else could decide.

Tuesday afternoon we had a kid's day - dinner with all of my family plus Ann's sister, Ellen and her daughter, Ella. We went to Baby's. It wasn't called "Baby's" in 1964 when I lived a block away and went there several times a week, but it was, and is a chrome diner with great comfort food. AND on Tuesdays, kids EAT FREE !! Since we had 5 adults, at least in calender years, all 6 kids ate free. And we all had great food.

Then off to the $1.00 movie theater for "Monsters vs Aliens". The theater is always $1.00 but on Tuesdays the popcorn and drinks are $1.00 each, too. I was so full from Baby's that I didn't even buy popcorn. And the movie was definitely worth one dollar.

WEDNESDAY - THE BIG DAY !

Kidsfest, the day before Artsfest officially starts. Kids can rent space, set up booths and sell things they have made themselves. Casey with some family help, sold tie-dyed clothes. Baby sizes up to adult. Mostly re-cycled stuff. And she did very well, again this year. Sarah isn't technically old enough to participate so she shares Casey's booth and sells pet rocks and votive jars and magic wands.





Thursday, the 9th we went to Artsfest. But first we stopped at People's Choice Festival of Pennsylvania. More crafts than art but nice people, great food and lots of stuff for the kids. I took Emily and Andrew by Dragon's Breath forge to talk with my friend from last year, Tim Bradford and his wife, Karen. Tim works at these events with a portable forge almost exactly like the one my Grandfather used. Check out last year's blog for pictures. I'm STILL having problems getting my head around the idea that this man from my memories is Casey, Sarah and Ben's Great-GREAT-Grandfather.

While many people think Artsfest is about the hundreds of incredibly talented artists and their wares, WE know that the kids are right when they say it's all about the "buckets."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - Andrew - Sarah - Emily - Casey - Ella - - - - - - - - - -





and the wall



and the music


These are the Rustical Quality String Band. The female fiddler is a friend from a local jam. They really put on a great show. I guess they should, they've been playing together for over 31 years!


and playing air guitar and gettin' down to the music




and meeting and greeting really great people


from left to right that's Cindy Alley, me, and Graham Spanier, President of Penn State.

Carol's not in the picture because she was taking it. We arrived at the stage a little early and Carol said, "Do you want to sit over there in the shade?" I said that I did and went over and sat down next to Cindy before I realized it was she. Small World. Lots of inbetweens.

Saturday evening Tom and Ann hosted a picnic with some of their friends, some of their kid's friends and one of our friends - Cindy Alley. She sat down and started talking with Tom. I stuck around for the conversation for a little while. But shortly after he found out that she was a geologist, not just married to one and that Karen is doing some kind of project at Colgate that he might be of help with, I found that I didn't understand any of the words. So I left the two of them and enjoyed other company, great conversation and wonderful food.

Sunday we went back to Artsfest - we HAD to - we'd gotten Creamery Ice Cream every day we were there and didn't want to ruin our record. We also walked across campus to get these pictures at the Lion. If you have to ask, "What Lion?", you haven't been paying attention.





Back to Seven Mountains. Even though we were exhausted, we had one more campfire and made s'mores.




Tomorrow it's off to Patapsco State Park near Carol's sister in Catonsville, MD.

Life is good!