Thanksgiving - Family and Friends

This year we opted for a slightly nontraditional Thanksgiving. That didn't stop us from eating a Thanksgiving breakfast with Dad and Catherine at a restaurant in Staunton. 

Thanksgiving breakfast at Kathy's

My dad is a shareholder in a cabin at the edge of the George Washington National Forest. So that's where we headed for our family gathering. We met on Saturday at the "camp" to allow family to spend time with their in-law families on Thanksgiving.  

We created hobo packets and cooked them over the fire. Though our meal was not the usual turkey dinner, we didn't skip the pies. I made a pecan pie using the pecans we picked in NC. Allen, my brother-in-law, made a cranberry apple pie and a cream pie. Yum!

Chris and Becki, who were camping at Natural Bridge with us, joined our family for the day. Chris is one of Harold's high school buddies who has stayed in touch with us. As Chris and Becki are beginning their full-time RV life, we're hoping to see them more frequently.

Speaking of old friends, my week ended with dinner with three of my friends from first grade. I'm so thankful for these true friends, one of whom I can say is my sister now. Her mom married my dad a few years ago.  

What a wonderful time.

Karen and Allen making their packets

Us with Chris and Becki

Cooking away

Scott, Chris, Becki, Harold

Time to eat

The first graders - Tammy (now my sister), Donna, Sissy

Where Are We Going Next?

Venus Flytrap

Do you think of WKRP in Cincinnati or Little Shop of Horrors when you hear 'venus flytrap'? I admit the refrain from the opening song to Little Shop of Horrors comes to my mind almost immediately. What I did not realize is that the venus flytrap is native to the marshy area of NC and SC. Carolina Beach State Park is home to the plants. Considered vulnerable, it's a felony to poach one from public lands.

One afternoon we took a stroll along the Flytrap Trail at the park. We were unsuccessful in our attempts to see venus flytraps along that path. The plant is not in bloom in November - imagine that! The ranger directed us to the visitor center where staff were busy putting in some venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants, along a developing wheelchair accessible walk. What a fun, unexpected find the park was for us. 

small in size

pitcher plant

pitcher plant and venus flytrap

Where Are We Going Next?

Gibraltar of the South

During the Civil War, Fort Fisher played a key role for the Confederacy. It protected Cape Fear and allowed blockade runners to bring their much needed supplies. The port at Wilmington, NC, remained open long after the Union had shut down other ports thanks to Fort Fisher. Known as the Gibraltar of the South, when the fort finally fell to the Union, the war ended shortly thereafter. 

Atop the breastworks

Visitor Center Mural

Blockade runner model

Looking towards Wilmington

Windswept

Where Are We Going Next?

Pakahn, PeeCan - Yum!

While sitting at Mike's Collision Center, we noticed several employees picking something off the ground. Apparently it wasn't trash because they were folding the bottom of their shirts to make pockets. So on the weekend, Harold checked it out. They were picking up pecans. When Mike came by on Monday, he said we could help ourselves. That's good since we had already picked some and made a pie. 

After almost rubbing our fingers raw shelling the first batch, we decided that despite being a single-use item we wouldn't use much, a nutcracker was in order. It sure did make the next batch go easier on our fingers.

We repaid Mike and crew with a dozen pecan cookies and a pecan pie. We tried our hand at glazed cinnamon pecans using our popcorn popper. Our popcorn popper plate required a little soaking afterwards, but I'm ready to do it again. Yum!

So far we've shelled and roasted 24 cups of pecans. As I write this, Harold has brought in another couple of pounds to shell. Guess we'd better get busy... 

The links will take you to the recipes we used. As to proper pronunciation, we'll leave that alone. To borrow a phrase from sports fans, even we're a house divided. 😂

One of two trees in the lot

Part of the haul

Breakfast is ready

Oh, and we ended up with something like 32 cups of shelled pecans. 

Where Are We Going Next?

Finally! Tree Damage is Repaired!

You may remember that back in June we had a tree fall on the edge of our RV, causing some damage. HERE is the blog post about the damage. We finally got our rig repaired during a visit to Mike's Collision Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.  We chose this facility as they have a downdraft paint booth in which our rig fits.

Getting parts and repair shop availability is quite an issue when you have to repair a large vehicle like our New Aire, and you're constantly on the move. The window was on a six week backorder. It, along with the topper and window awning, were forwarded to Mike's from Minnesota. 

Mike's was busy too. We literally camped in front of one of their buildings for about two weeks. We were quite thankful that they had full hookups.

Fred and Ethel Approved!

They replaced the bedroom slide out topper, window shade, and window. They repaired a hole in the fake top awning, and did some paint work (all three colors) and buffing out some scratches.

Window removed, and damaged spot primed

In the downdraft paint booth with masking applied

They did an outstanding job. 

Out of the booth awaiting final buffing and caulking.

Where Are We Going Next?

Cape Fear Kite Festival

We left Ft. A.P. Hill and overnighted at Seymour Johnson AFB before arriving in Wilmington, NC. We had an appointment of sorts at Mike's Collision Center to get an estimate of the work to be done from the tree damage sustained back in June.  Estimate completed, we settled in at the Wilmington KOA for a week.

Earlier in the year, our friend Will had reminded us about the Cape Fear Kite Festival the first weekend in November. You can guess what we did over the weekend. 

This festival, more so than others we've seen, is geared toward the big show kites. There's even a night fly with lighted kites. Not really seeing a lot of room for sport kite flying, we opted to sleeze some canopy shade from friends and enjoy the show. 

It's a banner day

It's a bubble day

Duck, duck, goose

It had been awhile since we'd seen Andy

Aliens, octopus, fish, rays, and divers

Chris, another friend from awhile back

Katy, Chris' wife

Where Are We Going Next?