Out with a Bang

We are so sorry, but this post has been removed because it is a part of our book Napkin Dreams that details our trip around America!

Campground Review - Holiday Acres

We stayed at one campground in Rhode Island - Holiday Acres in North Scituate. Not many campgrounds were open in New England in April, so we were glad for the ones we found open.

Staff - 9 - Lady who checked us in stayed a little late and waited for us to arrive. Nice lady!

Natural surroundings - 8 - Encircles a lake with lots of trees in campground. 

Roominess - 8 - during the busy time I could see how this park could get a little crowded, but there was plenty of room during our stay.

Facility Fun - 7 - Beach and lake fun in season. Small playground, game room, planned activities in season.

Facility usefulness - 4 - Propane, small store.

Bathrooms - 6 - Bathrooms are newly built, but still sort of like roughing it with plenty of bugs.

Cleanliness - 7 - Road into campground is very rough. They are in process of upgrading this facility. It is clean and well-kept and in the process of updating.

Nearby attractions - 7 - Close to Providence and within reach of Boston.

Value - 7 - Paid $36 a night for a back-in grass site with full-hook-ups. We used Good Sams discount.

Overall - 7 - Clean park with pretty lake.

Shenandoah National Park

We are so sorry, but this post has been removed because it is a part of our book Napkin Dreams that details our trip around America!

 

 

 

Jekyll Island

This post has been deleted because it is in our new book entitled Napkin Dreams. It can be found on Amazon.com

We also camped at the Jekyll Island Campground, here is the review:

Staff - 7 - Campground hosts and employees were helpful and professional.

Natural surroundings - 8 - Lots of trees and close to beach. Plenty of squirrels and unfortunately lots of gnats! 

Facility Fun - 5 - Planned activities, bike trail, bike rentals, fire rings at each site.

Facility usefulness - 9 - laundry, propane, exchange library, camp store and decent wifi for free.

Cleanliness - 7- Had a state park feeling mixed with a snowbird campground. Clean yet rustic.

Nearby attractions - 8 - Plenty to do on the island.

Value - 8 - Paid $32 a night for a back-in dirt pad site with full-hook-ups including cable.
 
Overall - 8 - We really liked this place but the gnats stunk. I do not suppose they are on site all year long!

Gulf Shores National Seashore

We are so sorry, but this post has been removed because it is a part of our book Napkin Dreams that details our trip around America!

Zoo Atlanta

We were very excited to receive free passes for our entire family to Zoo Atlanta! After a busy and hard week of volunteering at Hephzibah, we were happy to take a break on a Saturday and drive up to Atlanta for the day. We had some great weather for animals to be frolicking around, about 55 degrees and sunny!

We all had our favorite animals to see. Chase said he loved the monkeys, Brendan loved the bush dogs, David picked the naked mole rat as his favorite, Tanner picked the snakes, Blake was enamored by the ugly turtles, Patsy loved the Pandas and I thought the baby tigers were the bomb.

There were a lot of unusual animals including the family of panda bears which were quite adorable. We all did dig the naked mole rats who were quite active. The boys got to crawl through some tunnels into the  display and get the feeling of being one of the hairless wonders. They reminded us all a little of of dog Sherman with his male pattern baldness!

We had a great time watching the two toddler tigers play with each other and with their mom, who got a little mad at them and roared a very fierce roar at them! The gorillas were a ton of fun because of two little guys who were jumping on their mom's back.

We thrilled to see the elephants eating and chomping away and observe a zoo keeper handle and teach us about owls and armadillos! We visited the petting zoo where we all petted and brushed some goats and sheep. Patsy especially liked the smiling goat we met here!

Smiley Goat

There were many other animals to see and learn about and this is the perfect sized zoo for a family with little kids!

Sherman's Hormone Issues

By Patsy

Our dog Sherman has been having a small problem of late….OK, so maybe it’s a little bigger than a small problem. In fact, Sherman’s problem is probably pretty big when you consider all the side effects he is going to have to put up with. Sherman is slowly and systematically going bald. Not just a little bit around the head or maybe a few thin spots along his legs…he is experiencing some massive hair loss along his entire back. (My sons fondly harbor the delusion that his tummy fur is not only still intact, but growing lush and luxuriantly. They apparently need some small ray of hope to hold on to in this time of crisis.)

Sherman is a Chihuahua that is mostly brown with small areas that have tan and white markings. He is adorable…or at least he used to be. For some reason, all the brown fur on his body is slowly falling out. Luckily the skin under his brown fur is also brown, so his grotesque appearance isn’t readily apparent at first glance. However, it takes less than a moment to realize that when you put your hand out to pet our dog, you will not be touching a soft, sleek coat of fur. Your hand will come in close contact with naked dog skin. 

His adorability has suffered greatly because of his nudity, although we all pretend that he is still the most handsome dog on the face of the earth. But, this charade is getting a bit difficult since his white and tan fur is all still full and showing no signs of falling out. Unfortunately, he has a little strip of this white fur running down the back of his head and along the top of his neck, giving him the appearance of a dog sporting a white Mohawk. Not really the best look for him. But this is only one of the little side effects he is going to have to deal with because of his male pattern baldness.

A larger problem Sherman’s hair loss is causing is that he has decided to drop all his hairs right in the middle of the coldest time of year. He is normally a trembling type of dog anyway, but this winter is going to be a shiver fest for him if he keeps this up. In trying to alleviate some of his worse trembling, I have made him several sweaters, but so far, I have been unable to come up with a sweater pattern that covers his back end well enough to keep his tail warm and yet stay out of the way of his , shall we say, personal bathroom activities. He should probably be down on his knees thanking us for choosing the stay in the warmer states during this winter.

One of the biggest problems with his hair loss, however, has been my overactive imagination. I have gone through several different theories to explain his nakedness and each time my husband has had to work hard to bring me back to reality. My theories have gone from intestinal worms to terminal cancer. But, as strange as some of my theories have been, the actual truth about dog hair loss is much stranger. We have been told of one dog that lost all his hair because he was allergic to grass and needed Benadryl treatments. 

Many dogs lose their hair due to some type of flea or skin irritant. But, after checking him and giving him multiple baths, I came to the conclusion that not only did he NOT have any fleas, but also that no self-respecting flea would be caught dead on a hair-less dog. I was also a little disturbed to find myself wondering why I was using shampoo on a dog with no hair and pondered the use of hand cream instead…but that’s beside the point.

Finally, we could stand the suspense no longer, and took Sherman to an expert to help us explain his hair rejecting antics. After spending over $150 the vet looked at him and confirmed my belief that Sherman had neither skin irritant nor flea anywhere on his body. He also, smilingly, assured us that cancer was not a high probability in our dog. After testing for worms, he also pronounced Sherman’s intestines clean and healthy. So, what was the cause of Sherman’s hair loss? Well, our esteemed animal doctor decided that Sherman’s problem was simply hormonal.

Now, as a woman who has known the joys of menopause, I was enraged by the fact that my dog had found a better way to get attention and affection through hormonal imbalance. I have been sweating through hot flashes, waking with night sweats, suffering through emotional outbursts beyond my ability to control and have gotten little to no sympathy from my husband or sons. Yet my dog drops a few hairs and the entire family gathers around him to come up with a solution to his problem. Maybe I should pull a few hairs out and see if I get any sympathy…or maybe not.

The vet’s nurse did suggest a Rogaine treatment, but that’s where I put my foot down. I am NOT going to be giving my dog Rogaine treatments. In fact, I am beginning to look at Sherman’s hair loss just like any man’s hair loss. I tend to agree with the woman who once asked why men were so upset with being bald. Her theory was that “If you are bald, just be bald and shut up about it.”

 Of course she also said it was wonderful to have a bald husband because then you have a handy place to put your gum at night when you go to bed, but let’s not go there. No, for our dog there will be no Rogaine, there will be no hair plugs, there will be no wigs, and there will definitely be no comb overs. If God has seen fit to give us a bald dog, we will be the proud owners of a bald dog, no matter how naked and freakish he may look. But, I just might have to shave off that white Mohawk.

Campground Review - Kentucky Horse Park

We didn't get to see any of the horses, but we did enjoy our stay at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground near Lexington, Kentucky.

Staff - 6 - Some young people were working the counter each time we went to the office. I suppose one could say they were cordial. Mostly uninterested.

Nearby attractions - 9 - Very close to Lexington and not far from all Cincinnati attractions. 

Natural surroundings - 8 - Nicely manicured grounds with mature trees yet room to run as well.

Value - 8 - We paid $25 a night for two nights for a back-in gravel site with water and electric only.

Bathrooms - 9 - Very clean and updated bathrooms. Plenty of hot showers.

Roominess - 7 - Normal sized lots, nothing special but not cramped.

Facility fun - 10 - Discounted tickets to onsite horse park. Large playground, basketball court, tennis courts, game room, swimming pool and volleyball courts. Planned activities during peak season. Even Sherman had fun here (see video!)

Cleanliness - 9 - Nice and well taken care of.

Facility usefulness - 8 - Fire rings, laundry, picnic tables, dump station, propane, small camp store.

Overall - 9 - Very clean and decently priced for such a nice park!

Campground review - Hickory Hollow Campground

Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains of southwest Pennsylvania, Hickory Hollow Campground is an idyllic location! I included this picture of Sherman because it is the only picture we took at this particular campground.

Staff - 7 - Cordial and helpful.

Nearby attractions - Close to Falling Water, Flight 93 Memorial and not super far from Pittsburgh. 

Natural surroundings - 9 - A bit in the country, with nice mature trees and a smaller lake.

Value - 10 - We paid a little over $13 a night for a pull-through gravel site with full hook-ups including cable using our Passport America card.

Bathrooms - 8 - Clean and decent sized showers. Bathrooms were not heated.

Roominess - 9 - Plenty big enough for our rig and toadie.

Facility fun - 8 - Playground, fishing swimming pool, walking path.

Cleanliness - 8 -  Very clean campground. Rain did create a few potholes.

Facility usefulness - 8 - Dump station, fire rings, laundry, camp store, picnic tables.

Overall - 8 - Nice campground, very quiet and pictuesque setting.

Wild and crazy times in Rockford

Our time in Rockford was a great stay, made greater by our "campground"-  the backyard of our friends Rick and Anita Fritz. While it is not really a campground, they have full-hookups, a playground, picnic tables and a pond with fish and frogs for the boys to catch and feed!

We saw both of grandmas, who are doing pretty well. I was actually surprised by how well my Grandma Martin was doing, after her recent health battles and hospital stays. We also spent time with Patsy's family, her parents and her sister Chris. It was so nice to spend time with them after such a long time in between visits.

Rockford - home of the sock monkey!

Of course we had some of our favorite local food samplings like Old Salty and Mrs. Fisher Potato Chips, a couple of gyros from Uncle Nicks and a lunch at the Illinois Machine Shed. We topped all this fun and frolic off with a pasta dinner with the Taddeuci family and an interview with the local CBS affiliate, WIFR!

Indiana Dunes

We had a great day at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore! Not only did we do the junior ranger program (the kids got an awesome patch!), but we climbed Mt. Baldy, buried Sherman in the sand (up the his neck) and did some serious wave running!! It was a beautiful day and we could clearly see the Chicago skyline! Very nice day.

National Balloon Classic Indianola

We are sorry, but we have removed this post because it is a part of our new book entitled Napkin Dreams.