Ketchup Blog – Family, DC & the OBX

Okay, first things first, this blog is from Ray’s point of view since Susan Dawn has been very busy with Christmas presents.

So we left Maine, I can’t remember how long ago now, and headed south to French Creek State Park, PA. Campground was nice but the best part of this stop was meeting up with the kids. Nicole flew in from Chicago and stayed with Ryan and Liz a couple of days then spent the rest of the week roughing it with us in the RV. It was great just spending time with everybody for a week, whether just hanging out or going out to eat or cooking out at the campground. We did get a little kayaking in as well.

Site Seeing Valley Forge

S’Mores at the campfire

Desert at Ryan & Liz’s

 

Next on to DC – there we met up with Susan’s cousin Michael. What a gracious host, he picked us up at our campground and took us on the grand tour of DC. It was so good to see you Michael and we can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. While in DC we also visited Mt. Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, and the Capital Building. And when we were at the Capital we went to the Library of Congress, super cool place.

After leaving DC we stopped at Pocahontas State Park, just south of Richmond, VA. This was kind of a surprise stop meaning we were only going to stay over on our way to the OBX (Outer Banks, NC) but this campground was so nice we decided to stay for a few days longer and visited Richmond on a couple of occasions. While there, we were told about a pub that had the best pizza in town so we had to check this out since we haven’t been able to find really good pizza since we left Chicago. They let you know right up front, this is not Chicago or New York style pizza, it’s Richmond Style pizza! Richmond style pizza is good!  Also stopped at the Edgar Allen Poe museum on Halloween and St. John’s Church where Patrick Henry gave his famous “give me liberty or give me death” speech to Jefferson, Washington and a few others.

 

And now onto the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  First stop Oregon Inlet National Park, just a short hike over the sand dunes to the ocean. We went on a tour in a Hummer looking for the wild horses that live on  the beach but for us this was kind of a waste of time. Didn’t see any wild horses running on the beach just standing around in peoples’ front yards. (Can see this in Carol Stream.) We saw where the Wright Brothers made their first flights and ventured up Jockey’s Ridge, the largest sand dune east of somewhere? On to the island of Ocracoke, NC. First ferry ride for the RV and the puppies. The campground was again a short walk over the sand dunes to the ocean. We enjoyed this beach quite a bit, it just seemed cleaner and a lot less traffic than there was at Oregon Inlet. Toured the quaint little town, with no laundromat, but plenty of little shops that Susan just loved, then another ferry ride over to the mainland to continue our journey south.

laundry day on the OBX

Top right picture is Jockey Ridge State Park, top middle beach is on Ocracoke Island. Sue’s sitting on the porch near this harbor waiting for our laundry to dry.

We’re now in South Carolina near Myrtle Beach heading to Savannah Georgia in the morning. I’m sure Sue will be updating you all on these stays very soon…