Bringing in the new year at the beach

We usually spend New Years at home, enjoying family time together, and staying sheltered from the winter chill.  This year we ventured for a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach to bring in the new year a different way.

As the beach is not very busy for New Years, rates are at the lowest point of the year and we were able to get a great camping spot at Ocean Lakes Family Campground.  This was our first trip to Ocean Lakes, which is a well maintained campground.

Everywhere we turned, there was great landscaping and well maintained facilities. No wonder they continue to win awards every year.

The campground, like most beachfront campgrounds, sits right on the other side of the protective dunes.

Unlike most campgrounds that we've been to, the arcade was well maintained, clean, and all the games were functioning properly.  It's a great place for the kids to hang out, with a snack bar nearby and is sandwiched between the outdoor and indoor pool.  The indoor pool is open year round so don't forget to bring your bathing suits!

Broadway at the Beach was our main destination, though, as they had a free fireworks celebration at 8:00 PM.  If you are ever in the Myrtle Beach area, we highly recommend going to Broadway at the Beach at least once.  It is unlike most shopping experiences you have had.

It is filled with shops, restaurants, theaters, and fun for the entire family, all surrounding a lake with boardwalks that cross the lake, enabling you to easily feed the fish and ducks, at a small price, of course.

Our choice for dinner was Margaritaville, with great service, great staff, and a fun and friendly atmosphere.  The wait is often 1-2 hours for a seat, but with proper planning we were seated in less than 30 minutes.  The food prices are average for a sit-down dinner at the beach and the food was good.

Also located here is Pavillion Nostalgia Park.  It is a selection of kid's rides with a few family rides that were relocated from the former Pavillion in downtown Myrtle Beach.  Many of the locals are still saddened that it was torn down but a lot of improvements are being made to the formerly defunct downtown area to revitalize it.

In a building nearby, you can find memories of a bygone era from the old Pavillion park.

The fireworks will be set off from this barge in the middle of the lake.  The anticipation is building as daylight turns into night.

The colorful lights brighten up the night sky and add a sense of warmth to the chilly New Years Eve air.

As 8:00 approaches, the crowds gather in anticipation of the fireworks.  Young and old are here to experience it together.

Please enjoy the video highlights we have put together with plenty of coverage of the fireworks!  Note:  To see it in high definition, click on it once it's playing to view it in YouTube, then change the resolution from 360p to 1080p.

Happy camping!

Christmas Town, A Busch Gardens Celebration 2011

Join us in a trip around Christmas Town, A Busch Gardens Celebration, that we visited this holiday season.


http://www.thrillnetwork.com/content/journey-through-christmas-town-2951/

Fall Trip 2011

When we purchased our first RV in 2005, we started a tradition of taking a Fall trip  in October.  Usually it's a smaller trip to the mountains or somewhere else we are interested in exploring.  This year, however, we decided to take a larger road trip to explore three different types of amusement parks.  That would also give us the opportunity to enjoy the fall beauty of the Appalachians in the Eastern United States. 

Our trip was a rather daunting one to complete in just four days.  We would be traveling through seven states for a distance of over 1300 miles.

Our journey began on a crisp, Fall morning.  The trees in the mountains of Virginia were just starting to get their fall colors.

I always love this view.  The peak of the mountain range up ahead is the West Virginia state line and in this view it's interesting to see how the Interstate disappears.  That's because you will soon be traveling through a tunnel and you emerge from it in West Virginia.

After about six hours of traveling, we arrived at our first destination, the Huntington/Fire Fox KOA.  I'm glad we made reservations because it was filled to capacity.  Little did we know, the  WestVirginia Pumpkin Festival was in full swing for the weekend.  

The campground was well maintained and well decorated for the holidays. 

The staff was very friendly and extra helpful.  They were happily able to help us print out discount coupons to our final destination for the night, Camden Park. 

For information about our trip to Camden Park, please check out our report and video located here. 

After a great night at Camden Park, we left before sunrise to make the three hour trek to our next destination, Kings Island, outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.  For more information about our fantastic trip to Kings Island, please check out our report and video located here.

We kept our Motor home in the RV parking at Kings Island all day and headed out of there around 11:00 PM.  Since we only needed some sleep overnight, we drove for about an hour and then stayed at a truck stop for the night.

We awoke  just before sunrise  and headed west towards Santa Claus, Indiana. 

Sunrise around Louisville, Kentucky was remarkable.  These pictures don't do it justice.

As we headed into Indiana, we enjoyed great views of the fall colors.  While the colors don't appear as brilliant as they are some years, they were great, nonetheless.

Finally, we were getting close to our final stop of the weekend, Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.

 

We were staying at Lake Rudolph Campground, a campground adjacent to Holiday world.  The campground is reasonably priced and well maintained. 

Even the stop signs had Rudolph's friendly smile (and red nose).

We setup camp and enjoyed a great day at Holiday World.  For more information on that trip, see our report here.

Since it was the last day of the season for Holiday World, they closed early at 5:30 leaving time for us to drive around the small town of Santa Claus.  Here's a view of the Town Hall.

A place you will want to stop is the Christmas Store.  It's open year round and has all kinds of decorations and Christmas items.  It's owned by the people who own Lake Rudolph Campground.

Even the Post Office is ready for Santa year round.  (Do you sense a recurring theme?)

After a good night's sleep, it was time to start the journey back home.

Once again the sunrise was amazing.  I recommend that everybody do a trip similar to this.  While we love staying at campgrounds, there is something to be said about experiencing life on the open road. 

Soon, we were back in Louisville.  It is a great looking city.

It looks like it took a lot of work to build the Interstate through here.

We kept seeing signs for Acres of Land Winery.  It never said how many, so I'm guessing two…

I never thought about it, but I guess it makes sense that KFC was born in Kentucky.  It's not often that you hear of a birthplace for a business, though.

As we continued Southeast, we saw a lot of great views.

Driving through Eastern Tennessee is always a delight with the views of the mountains in all directions.

Even the clouds were looking interesting.

Looking off into the distance, we could tell we were getting close to North Carolina.

Yeah!  We're back in our home state.  While we love traveling and visiting other places, it's always nice to come back home.

The mountains of western North Carolina were starting to get their fall colors.

We had a few tunnels to go through.  My son loves tunnels although I'm sure he'd get bored with it if our entire trip were through a tunnel.

Even out of the mountains the trees were showing off their fall splendor.

We had a big motor home following us for awhile.  We'll be happy to take  donations…  ;-)

Finally we were back in Charlotte, NC.  Despite the traffic, it's great to be home!  Thank you for taking the trip with us!

Happy Camping!