Looking across one of the pollinator gardens to the near field.

When we left for our trip, you saw an occasional leaf turning. You felt the crispness in the air. You knew fall was right around the corner. When we got up yesterday morning, it was grey and dismal. No rain. By afternoon, the sun broke through and it was a stellar fall day here at Marshmallow Ranch. 

We bugged out a day early and came home. We stayed at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia the last night and it is truly a gorgeous place to stay. We were in a little campground called Creekside and while we couldn’t get a site right on the creek, it was still beautiful. The sites are well spaced and we had electric and water. We had a second night reserved, but it was cold and rainy. It got down into the 30’s overnight and with the rain, we couldn’t get out and hike or fish in the lake or sit outside. So yesterday morning, I smiled sweetly at Mr. FixIt and said, “You know, we’re less than five hours from home and you can sleep in your own bed tonight?” It didn’t take him long to decide that was a fine idea.

Camping Along the Shore at Jordan Lake - Apex, NC

We had the most beautiful drive through red wolf and bear habitat. Past marshy canals that house all manner of turtles and and waterfowl and alligators. We were surrounded by fields of cotton ripe for the picking…soybeans and peanuts with their yellowed foliage withered and dry. Carolina barbecue was advertised on hand painted signs along the two lane blacktop. I can promise you…those with the hand painted signs were the best in their county!

Sunrise at the Outer Banks

As they say, all good things must come to an end and we have to leave this beautiful place today. I finally got a sunrise photo yesterday morning. We aren’t necessarily early risers so we kept missing them. We couldn’t have had a prettier October week at the beach if we would have custom ordered it. Although we did have a couple of rainy days, it wasn’t really bad. There were a lot of people camping here in tents and I’m so grateful we have Grace to keep us warm and dry.

We didn’t take a single picture yesterday so here’s one Mr. FixIt took the other night when we were watching the sunset. Sometimes the greatest views are in the opposite direction from where you’re looking.

We had a nice, slow morning. Pancakes and eggs for breakfast. I love cooking outside. I’d like to have a cocina like they have in Mexico. An open air kitchen with a roof and a ceiling fan. It’s such a great way to cook and keep the heat out of the house. And there’s something primal about cooking outdoors, even if it’s in an electric skillet! Of all my specialty appliances, my big electric skillet is my favorite and I use it all the time. It’s big enough to use in place of a griddle and it’s deep enough to make stew, soup, and chili. It’s so easy to clean, too. I just wipe it out well, pour in some water with a drop of dish soap, and heat it up to a simmer. I turn it off and by the time it’s cool enough to put my hands in the water, I just swish a dishcloth around in it, dump the water, and give it a quick rinse with fresh water. Then it’s ready for the next meal and I’ve never brought it inside.

Not a BIG catch, but fun nonetheless.

Mr. FixIt’s prescription finally arrived and we picked it up on the THIRD trip to Walmart! The upside of that is we got to have breakfast at our favorite pancake place…Stack ‘Em High! It is SO good and it was a splurge on my food plan, but I worked around it by sacrificing the bacon and having grits instead of hash-browns.

Our campground from the dunes.

I discovered the sun comes right over the dunes and in my window in the camper and that was the end of sleep for me. But I didn’t mind. I laid there and listened to the faint sounds of the ocean waves and caught the chattering of a Boat-Tail Grackle nearby. The campground was still quiet and peaceful. The Boy Scouts across the road were just starting to move about and the welcome smell of frying bacon and coffee drifted along the row of tents and campers.

OMGosh…what a great campground! We are nestled in amongst the sand dunes in a very narrow part of the island. We cannot see the ocean from our camper, but we can see the sunset over the sound…just not right on the water. It’s so beautiful. We found the perfect place to watch the sunset right across the road from the campground. 

I love the majestic Live Oaks of the south.

We stayed at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry County, Virginia the last two nights. The campground was nice but had I known the B-Loop had paved pads, I would have reserved a site over there. Those sites were far more level. This is a three day weekend so LOTS of families have come out to enjoy summer’s last hoorah! The campground is extremely busy…and a whole lot noisier. But I’d much rather hear the noise of joyful children playing than I would the noise on the television anymore.

Leaving the Greenbrier State Forest Campground

I love to drive. Mountains, plains, twisty-turny or straightaways…I love them all. This camper is so easy to pull that you hardly know it’s back there. The only thing that gives me even the slightest pause is driving through rush hour traffic in a big city towing a camper behind me. Because people be crazy on the highways. They whip around you and dart right back in front of you with inches to spare. They don’t realize I’m hauling a couple of tons of force behind me and I can’t stop as fast as normal…even with electric brakes on the camper. I was in the middle lane going 65 when a guy passed me in the fast lane on my left. Not a problem normally. But then he turned sharp right in front of not only me, but the right lane, too and zipped off the exit. I think my heart is somewhere on the blacktop in Central Virginia.