Month: August 2017

“Hello
Is it me you’re looking for?
Cause I wonder where you are and I wonder what you do”

Lionel Richie

Sorry, we’ve been at the OBX Family Reunion now since Sunday, and everyday has been Go-Go-Go!.  Everybody is having such a great time, that there aren’t enough minutes in the day for chatting with you.  I’ll try harder I promise.  We all leave on Sunday, so I’ll make it up to you then.

So, we all pulled into this 10’000 sq/ft home with 18 master suites, movie theater, games rooms, GIANT hall of a living room, 1000 sq/ft kitchen, pool, etc…..  All right on the beach at Kill Devil Hills, just 1 mile away from where man first took flight, Kitty Hawk, NC.  We’ve got a total head count of 31 people, from 10 families.  It’s Relative Humidity at its best.  When relative get together, things got hot.

Lot’s of catching up to be done.  Too much drinking & eating.  WAY too much fun.  Just a side note, I think it’s one of the most wonderful things in the world, to have such a big, close family.  I understand that this is not the norm.  We are an exception to the rule.  Lots of people have families that don’t care or don’t get along.  But we have something very, very special, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

The dogs on the other hand, are not having such a great time.  We put them all in a boarding kennel for the week.  While the Doodles, are young enough to handle it, Libby and Scratchy are having a tougher time.  Last night we took Libby out early and she’ll stay in the house with us for the rest of our nights here.  Too much stress on the old girl.

Well, coffee is in hand.  It’s 8am and time to run-a-muck.  Later dudes!

 

 

 

 

We finally left South Carolina, and miss it already.  We spent a total of 6 days between Hilton Head Island and Charleston and we didn’t even scratch the surface.  There is a tremendous amount of activities, history, food and culture to be explored.  We did our best to hit some of our highlights (eating & drinking).  But for certain, we’ll be back for another go around.  But next time we’re flying.

On the way out of town, we stopped at (in my humble opinion), the second best BBQ in the Country.  And yes, I’ve been to the best.  RodneyScott’s BBQ.  But don’t take my word for it, Anthony Bourdain did it justice in this little piece from Part’s Unknown:  #2

If you wanna know my number one, you’ll have to watch it here:  #1

Last night we stayed at the Goose Creek RV Resort in Newport, NC.  A little party community of part timers, weekenders and one-nighters.  You either have a tricked out golf cart or a fishing boat, to be considered a local here.  But they’re very welcoming to strangers and especially Californian’s.  Not sure why, but it seems like most people we talk to are amazed that we actually drove all the way out here.  Then when they realize we did it with 4 dogs, they can’t believe it.  All things considered, it’s really been quite easy.

Today’s the big day with the short drive.  We have about 3 hours to Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks, and The 2017 Family Reunion.  Looking forward to seeing everybody and spending some good times together.  Look out folks, here come the Griswolds……

Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens

 

 

 

 

Real Time Update.

So we’re bouncing around Charleston, SC today and we put the dogs in a daycare program at The Wag Factory.  Dozens of dogs there and who do ours  hang with????   Each other.  Awww

 

 

Backroads through low country.  Light rain.  16 paws riding shotgun.  Country on the radio.  Girls off in Savanna.  Carolina state of mind.

Exhausting.  That’s what today was.  Exhausting.

6:30am, alarm goes off and we hit the ground running.  We rented a 21′ skiff  from 8am to noon, so we could enjoy a small portion of the Intracoastal Waterway and take the dogs for some beach time.  That turned out to be a great idea.  We saw several dolphins and found a perfect beach for play time.  These dogs couldn’t get enough.  They (and us) met a couple new friends, the weather was spot-on and the water was nice and warm.  Such a perfect little morning.

We came back to the RV Resort and thankfully they have a dog wash station.  All the girls got a fresh bath and I took a quick shower, because I had a 2pm tee-time booked at the Sea Pines Resort.  Off I went the all the girls stayed behind to enjoy the day.

The golfing was super.  Super freaking hot and sweaty that is.  But I knew it would be.  No worries, a bad day golfing is always better than a good day working.  So golf it was at one of the most beautiful courses I’ve ever had the privilege of playing.  I shot well, played from the tips and walked the WHOLE COURSE.  I estimate I walked about 6 miles (chasing my balls to the left then to the right, then back to the left again…).  Our 3-some had a shared caddy who was really nice and very helpful.  A young aspiring golfer by the name of Brock, from Oklahoma.  If he ever makes it big, you heard his name here first.

Tomorrow the girls are headed into Savanna, GA, while I drive the RV and dogs up to Charleston, SC.  Looking forward to some super Southern, low country cooking…

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I know, I know.  Both of the people reading this, haven’t seen an update from us in a couple days and for that, I apologize.  I will try harder to make sure we get something posted everyday, so at the very least, I can bore you to sleep at night.  So here’s the re-cap.  (Where did we leave off?)

Oh, Saturday the 29th, last night in New Orleans.  This was a cool night.  Maddie picked out this hip little vegan place in East NO, The Sneaky Pickle.  Food was good, vibe was hippie, neighborhood was…. well, the Uber driver warned us not to walk to our next destination… so afterward, we took another Uber about 3 miles down the road to Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits.  Now this was a real treat.  It’s a house, in a residential neighborhood (duh), that is a wine store in the front, a restaurant upstairs and a live Jazz party in the backyard.  You gotta check it out.  It’s such a cool experience.  If I had a bigger back yard (and a zoning permit), I would totally do this at home.  We had this GIANT charcuterie plate, a couple bottles of wine and listened to some fantastic Jazz.  All under the stars and some terrific NO weather.  The rain came in earlier than morning and knocked down the temps and humidity to some really nice and comfortable levels.  It was a perfect way to end a great weekend in the Big Easy.

The next morning, we were East Bound and Down, Loaded Up and Trucking.  Only we took the long way to a little spot on the Gulf of Mexico in Carrabelle, Florida.  But before I tell you about one of the most beautiful RV spots we’ve ever stayed at, let me tell you about a 10(ish) mile stretch of road between Pass Christian, MS and Gulf Port, MS.  If I ever retire or if I ever disappear from existence, look for me there.  I’ll be the old salty dog tending to his old salty dogs, watching the world go by.  I never (ever) thought that I would say Mississippi and retirement in the same sentence, but this is my kinda place.  The good news is, Laura liked it too 😏.  Nuff said.

We proceeded to pass a bunch of cool little touristy sea towns on our way.  One in particular was Destin, FL.  As we rolled in over the bridge, we saw this enormous floatilla of boats, bars, beers and babes.  It was a gangsters paradise for red-neck water mongers.  Damn, I miss it already.  But we eventually landed at the Ho-Hum Rv Resort and pulled the rip cord for the night.  We hadn’t been there for 5 minutes before I had all four dogs running up and down the beach.  They needed the play time, I needed the decompression time and it was a perfect way to cap off a 10 hour drive.

July 31st found us taking a new direction.  Left.  We officially headed North today, because we ran out of road.  We hit Jacksonville, FL and the Atlantic Ocean.  From there it was a couple hours up to Savanna, GA and then onto Hilton Head Island, SC.  We found this great little RV park here, rented a car from Hertz and decided right way, that we were going to extend an extra day here.  We took off for Harbor Town, right after breakfast at this cool place called Skull Creek Boat House (great seafood!!).  Harbor Town is just as beautiful as you see on TV during the RBC Heritage Golf Tournament.  So much so, that I have 2pm tee time there tomorrow.  Hey, when in Rome right?  The girls are headed to Savanna for some shopping and I’m gonna enjoy a nice walk (spoiled).

Until we meet again….

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