We have been planning this site and campground for a year!  Reserving site 63 at this resort meant we were at the end of the loop.. Privacy.. Beautiful view, and evening shade.. NICE!

Maria reserved most of a week with us, and we all had a great time!  Papa Mark showed them how to look for treasures, and of course we all went swimming together.  The resort itself is so peaceful and quiet. Even though it was quite a way from family, it's always nice to spend time here.

Visited brother Nate and wife Barb up at their cabin. It was a cool and windy day, so it wasn't very fun to have a fire outside, but the boat ride was nice and refreshing. Pica does enjoy her new cot and staying off the ground. :-). The guys had a great time together, and it's always nice to get 'caught up'. :-)

Mark and dad went to Washington D.C. via the Amtrak train which took 13 hours each way. They definitely found out it was NOT ADA accessible enough to navigate where they wanted, but with Mark's help, they made it all work. It was a very treasured trip together. One of their main goals was the see the International Bible Museum.  They were able to see hundreds of scrolls and bibles, along with the historical record of its preservation.

Back on Mother's, I planted a Lily for mom. It finally bloomed this week!  :-)

During our stay at mom & dads, Mark's sister Beth made us a beautiful doily for our table. What an awesome job and a LOT of work!

As we were hooking up the RV in preparation for travel day, mom & dad came out to visit and watch. To them, it's amazing how far (and big) campers have gotten, but it was awesome for us to share all the information they wanted to know. We're starting to feel like pros at this! I was also very lucky to get this pretty awesome picture of them.

This was one of the best travel days yet. Neither of us got very much sleep though, so we were looking forward to taking a quick break at a rest area. Pica was tired too, as you can see her snoozing in her bicycle basket.  At the rest area, the bedroom slide is in, so the foot of the bed is right against the dresser. Pica LOVES that spot because she can look out and stay on patrol. We had a beautiful cool breeze with very little traffic at the rest area, so it was quiet!  Needless to say, it was a VERY good nap.  :-)

Joe and Ashley have been having a rough go of life lately, but are thankfully holding strong and getting through all the challenges. Ashley hasn't seen her son in 3 weeks because the father is refusing to return him. There is a lot of fear for her son's safety, and we are so very glad that Joe and Ashley have each other to get through this.

Anyway, Joe had to work all day, so I spent the day with Ashley having a much needed 'Girls day out'.  We had a wonderful time and got to know each other and a more personal level. We ate lunch out, took food to Joe at work, watched the movie Sonic II, then chatted for a few hours before heading back to meet with Joe for dinner.  I definitely want more days like this with my kids, we had a blast, and we made some pretty awesome memories.

Maria and Joe came over with their families. We had a nice meal together, watched old family videos, and just caught up with Gma and Gpa. We definitely miss our kids in the winter, but we LOVE our catch-up time throughout the summer!

We even took a small walk to the RR tracks where Mark proposed to me in 1996!  :-)

If you don't know Ashley, you are really missing out!  She is Joey's new wife!  So, we celebrated Ashley's 33rd birthday by a nice evening visit and dinner.  It's always nice to be back home with family!  Love you Ashley!  And of course we love you Joe, Arlo, TT & Mia!

Maria invited me to tag along on a bus trip she had for the school. It was going to be her, Bree and me (3 generations) to spend time together during her off-time in Petoskey. We really had a great time, looking for rocks on the beach, eating out, and walking the town. Thank you for inviting me Maria, it was also great to be your "wing-man" during travel!  :-)

Maria won a scholarship from the Community Choice Credit Union for her amazing contributions to the community, specifically the special needs kids. Her scholarship will help pay for tuition and books toward a web degree at Washtenaw Community College.

We are so proud of you Maria!

To make our driving days a bit shorter, we always try to stop after 200-300 miles, then stay for a few days. We always love stopping at Arrowhead Lakes on our way home. This is a resort that is affiliated with our home resort membership. We get to enjoy the amenities of a very nice pool, putt putt, and nice daily walks.

We invited the kids down to be with us here, and Maria was able to squeeze in the time. We enjoyed the pool, putt putt and just plain catching up.  :-)

OMG! I cannot express enough how much we enjoy our bi-annual camping trips with Katie, Tony and the kids, and this was no exception. We all decided to meet up at the Mammoth Cave to give the kids a new caving experience.  The weather was super awesome (actually a little too warm), but the kids had their usual water time outside, and we all grilled, ate, and just got caught up on life. 

The cave tour was the "Domes and Dripstones" tour. A 2-hour long moderate level tour that took us through a mile of cave.  We enjoyed watching the kids see everything for the first time!

This is the 3rd cave we visited this year, and even though Mammoth is the largest, we still vote for Carlsbad as the prettiest.  :-)

​Thank you Katie & Tony for taking the time to come out and spend the night & day with us!

During our stay, on one of our trips to the garbage, we were stopped by a couple that wanted to talk about dogs.. This is pretty normal. What's not normal, was during that visit, another couple tapped us on the shoulder and told us that they had met us earlier this winter!  Where? At Palatki Heritage Site! It was within our first week there, and we had really connected with them about camping and full-time RV living.  We met up several more times during this stay, but how AWESOME to meet up with such a wonderful couple after touring half the country and five months later! I sure hope we get to visit with them more!  Thank you so much Mark & Debbie for stopping to say HI!   You definitely made our day!  :-). 
* Check out Mark & Debbie's website HERE!

Stay Details:  Mammoth Cave Campground - Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  A dry-camping campground that has water available around each loop, and a dump station. It is a mere 10-minute walk from the Mammoth Cave visitor center which is where all tours depart. We chose site 82, which was a pull-through spot right next to the restrooms. It also gave us a very large site to house the clam tent, and 2 sleeping tents.  
The campground itself has a lot of trees, so be prepared to have very little sun, or have a generator. We needed to use our generator twice each day even though we have 1000 watts of solar. Generator hours are 8am-8pm, and the campground is VERY quiet after that. Sites are large, restrooms are clean, and cell service is minimal, but we both had enough to upload these pictures.  :-)