Luray Caverns

What a wonderful coujle of days. Jerry and family met us in Massanutten Friday night and we spent Saturday in the waterpark going down the big slides. Today we drove back to Richmond, stopping off in Luray to go thru the Caverns. It wasn't until we got down to the bottom and saw the Organ Room did we remember going thru these caverns in 1997 our first year of RVing. Of course back then we didn't have a digital camera so we didn't take as many pictures of the beautiful formations that we did today.

The drive from Luray to Richmond was exceptionally beautiful - broad green pastures and fields. We drove over the Blue Ridge Mountains close to the Shenandoah National Park, very beautiful.

The Shenandoah Valley, VA

We got here Sunday after 12 hours on the road and were plumb tired. Monday we laid low to recuperate. Pat hasn't felt really well so we've taken only short walks. The area is beautiful with lots of wildlife: deer, woodchucks, rabbits, birds.

Jerry and family will be here tomorrow night . Sunday we'll go back to Richmond and spend a couple of nights then return home, probably Tuesday.

The Massanutten Resort is very, very nice. They have a great waterpark and lots of things to do including: golf, kayaking, zip line, bungee jumping, hiking, etc. We have a great 2 bedroom condo that sleeps 6. It has a large jacuzzi tub in one of the bathrooms..

Taylor Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky

We drove from Spring Hill to  Bowling Green Thursday in great weather. In fact we had great weather for both days of the Taylor Reunion. Joseph Taylor, Jr moved to the Bowling Green area (near Richardsville, which wasn't in our GPS) about 1808, among the first to inhabit the area. Joseph and Sarah Best had 12 children, many descendants of whom still live in the area, mostly the Hudnall and Cherry families. The picture is Jane Smith, descendant of Temperance Smith reading about Tempy's childhood in the Taylor home at the large memorial for Joseph & Sarah erected in the Taylor cemetery, currently on the property of Terry Hudnall, another Taylor descendant.

Today we drove to McGaheysville VA and are staying at a large resort in the beautiful Shenandoah valley.It was a 11 hour drive through some very beartiful country. We chose to travel via the lesser traveled roads through the beautiful Cumberland mountains, taking the Cumberland Parkway, US 19, 24,  58 etc. We saw very few cars until we got to I-81 for the last 100 miles. We finally got some rain, in fact it drizzled on us all day, not real hard tho.

Disney World

We enjoyed our last trip to Disney World last week, this completes our year's pass and afraid finishes our Disney world experience. We visited Epcot and Animal Kingdom last June and finished up with Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios last week. We enjoyed many stages shows and the more mundane, relaxing rides rather than the thrill rides. We ended at Hollywood Studios Fantasmic night show, simply amazing.

This year has been quite exciting. We helped Jerry move from Richmond to Cucamonga and back to Richmond. We also a Taylor pageant in North Caroling, "The Promised Land". This we were accompanied be Melanie, our granddaughter.The pageant depicted the immigration of the Taylor Family from North Carolina to Utah with over 120 players. It was very well done.

We'll be travelling to Kentucky in September to attend a Taylor Reunion. Kentucky was a way point on the Taylor migration from North Carolina to Utah.

Orlando/Melbourne Florida

We're in Melbourne FL after spending 4 nights in Orlando. We spent 2 days at Disney World, Animal Kingdom & Epcot Center. We've now experienced about all the attractions at these 2 parks that we're interested in. We have 1 more week in August at Disney then our year's pass will be up, and so will our desire to visit Disney Orlando. We stayed at Sherwood Forest in Kissemmee and took the Lynx bus to Disney each day, for seniors just a dollar each way and we save $16 on parking fees and stressless riding.

In Melbourne we're at Wickham Park, a county park. We're in A12, a beautiful spot under a huge oak tree. Pat has a class tomorrow and I get a another day to rest up for the long drive home Sunday (3 hour:)).

Rancho Cucamonga

Got to Cugamonga Thursday after 4 days driving, also got truck unloaded and returned to Penske. Spent today unpacking, got it about 90% done. Granddaughter Sabrina and great-grandson Maxen came over and we spent about an hour together, really good to see them.

Disney's Epcot Center

Wednesday we spent at Epcot Center, another great day. They were forecasting severe weather at 6 pm so we left Epcot at 3 pm because we wanted to stop for dinner on the way home. The local bus to Disney with a connection to the Epcot monorail worked great, I think the only way to go. At Epcot we caught several shows: Circle of Life, Captain EO (Michael Jackson was actually pretty cute way back when that 3D movie was made), American History, La Canada Circle Vision, Imagination and the Future Land boat ride.

As advertised it started to pour down at 6 pm, about a minute after we took the dog for a walk. It only rained for about an hour but turned very cold and windy. Thursday it continued to blow hard and the temperature only climbed into the mid 50's so we decided to stay low and enjoy the comforts of the motorhome. We got back home today about 12:30 pm and enjoyed a Valentine dinner at Applebee's.

We think it was a great little trip and we left quite a bit Disney for our next trip, next month.

Richmond, VA

Springtime in the Rockies has nothing over springtime in Richmond. The dogwood is in full bloom and all other flowering trees and plants are likewise. We're here to help Jerry &family pack, then help drive from Richmond to Cucamonga, roughly 2600 miles, in 4 days. If a change is as good as a rest, I guess you can call this a vacation, but a lot of people will argue that point. We'll also drive QQ &kids up to JFK Saturday, then return, another 13 hour driving day. We'll start driving cross country on Monday, along I-40.

Umatilla and Mr Dora, FL

We took our Motorhome to Umatilla Sumday with the Timber Pines RV Club. Monday we visited Mt Dora a quaint little tourist town with hundrads of little gift shops and dining places. Pat and I enjoyed a walk on the wild side, across the boardwalk at the little inland lighthouse to the nature island where gators and birds call home. We ate at the Seaside Inn with the club, one server for 40 people and a little over priced, but the furnishings excellent. We stayed in the rally area at the Olde Mill Stream RV Resort for $28/night. It was loaded with snowbirds, why on earth do they go back north, don't they know Florida ia a good place to live year round We returned to Spring Hill today, life is good.

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Highlands Hammock State Park & Disney Hollywood Studios

We accompanied the Timber Pines RV Club to Highland Hammocks State Park in Sebring,FL Jan 28th. We were going to stay 3 nights but it started to rain about 30pm the 2nd day and was still raining the 3rd day with signs of raining for another day or 2 so we headed for home about noon after 2 cold nights. We really enjoyed the tram ride through the back country that they really trying to maintain natively. We ran into whitetail deer, alligators, birds of a different feather and many native plants including the carnivorous bladderwort. We'd like to go back sometime and take some of numerous trails including 3 boardwalks. The park offers full hookups thru backcountry camping.

We ventured over to Orlando yesterday and\ "camped" at Sherwood RV Resort in Kissimmee. It's a little expensive but is close to shopping & dining. It's a favorite hangout for snowbirds and is
also on the local bus route which we used to go to Disney World. The bus goes directly to the Disney Transportation & Ticket Center with direct monorail links to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, however we had quite a walk and wait for the bus to Hollywood Studios. Returning tonight went much smoother. We enjoyed Beauty & The Beast stage show. The Indiana Jones stunt act was amazing. We also enjoyed the Little Mermaid stage show and the American Idol show. Keep watch for Scott Sheffield in American Idol.

Asheville,NC and Richmond, VA

We traveled to Asheville, VA last Wednesday for Pat to attend a 2 day session on the SpectraVision. They've added a few new devices and capabilities to the system that she is really excited about. She had about 8 hours of one on one training from Brandon Fields and is now ready to explore the galaxy. We visited  the Biltmore Village shopping district and the Grove Park Inn, a fantastic 1913 resort  in the heart of Asheville. The Inn offers a huge lobby with huge fireplace at both ends plus a great dining room and spa. We were very sorry we weren't staying there but on a retirement budget we just couldn't see it.

We motored on to Richmond on Saturday and are enjoying time with Jerry and his family. The weather was good yesterday and we enjoyed a walk around the villages. Last night we had a family night out at the outback.