Kiptopeke, Shrimp and Clams

10/10 - 10/11/2012
Kiptopeke State Park
Kiptopeke, VA

Pronounced Kip' toe peek.  Another hard drive of about 75 miles, we are getting spoiled.  Perfect weather both days, barely a cloud in the sky.  The park is at the tip of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is to our west and the Atlantic Ocean is to our east.
We are in the beautiful Kiptopeke State Park with many, many, trails and migrating songbirds,  butterflies, hawks and eagles.  This is also where they net the migrating birds and band them.  However they had huge flocks of birds very early and not enough volunteers; 700 birds were caught and 24 perished.  The state withdrew their permit about two weeks ago so we were not able to observe the banding.  But we were lucky to have Virginia, a young lady working for the organization that was banding the birds come out to our campground and talk about banding.  She lucked out because this is the evening that we also had an all you can eat cold shrimp, cheese and crackers, and it was soooooo gooooood.

This little red thing in the PVC tube is an example of a bird, this sits on the scale and the bird is weighed and then banded.

These are the bands and tools used; the big band is for eagles and the smallest bands are for the songbird, the closing pliers have grooves for the bands to fit into and of course the ruler is for measuring the wing span.

The following day we visited the WWII Concrete ships of the Kiptopeke Navy which consisted of nine World War II vintage merchant ships which are constructed of concrete as opposed to steel. The concrete ships were anchored off shore as a breakwater for the ferry that crossed the Chesapeake Bay.
A series of bridges and tunnels are now used to cross the bay which opened in 1964.  The concrete ships remained and are slowly breaking up and sinking into the water becoming a reef.

There are 40 of us all together.  Tonight we had steamed clams.  Joe and I were in charge of this and we recruited Deb and Chuck to help.  Ron our Caravan Leader also helped, in fact he knew how to go about steaming 600 clams.

We used two hot oil turkey fryers for the steaming, they worked perfect.  We had as much steamed clams as we could eat with french bread, drawn butter, large cold shrimp, coleslaw and cookies.  What a great dinner we had.  Just can't get any better.  Unfortunately, I was too busy cooking to get pictures so you just have to believe me.

For anyone steaming clams for 40 people, and a reminder for myself, 700 clams would have been better than the 600 that we had (usually 100 little-necks per bag), 3 # butter, 5 loaves of french bread.  Cooked in a couple inches of:  half water, half beer, seasoned with Old Bay, dry onions, dried parsley and chopped garlic in a jar.

The end to a perfect day, thanks for stopping by

Nancy

Chincoteague Oysters and Ponies

10/5 - 10/9/2012
Tom's Cove
Chincoteague, VA

We only drove about 77 miles today to Tom's Cove which is also the site of the Chincoteague Oyster Festival on 10/6.  They only sell 2,700 tickets and they have been sold out for months.  Our Caravan leaders always get them a year ahead of time.  At the festival we had clam chowder, blue crabs, oyster chowder, fried oysters, oyster fritters, shooters and steamed oysters.  There was also real french fries that they called Boardwalk Fries, and hushpuppies.   There was plenty of sodas, coffee tea and bottles water.  All this for one price, all you had to do was stand in line.

Half way through a bowl
 of blue crabs

Steamed oysters,
you were given two large bowls. You could have more if you wanted to stand in line again.

Pushing the potatoes

 through the cutter. 

 Boy, these were really good.

BUSTED!.........

When we were in Maryland we stopped at an Amish veggie stand and bought several things including this nice spaghetti squash.  While we were at the oyster festival Buddy decided that he would try it out.  You know how hard the outside shell is, he worked on it until he got through and then proceeded to eat about a fourth of the squash.

Our tour group, Joe is in the last seat on left.

At the Assateague Island National Wildlife Refuge we had a tour and were fortunate enough to see the famous Wild Chincoteague Ponies.

 I don't remember what kind of bird this is.  Maybe Judy will know.

Cho cho train

4/13 - 15/2012
Clifton Forge, VA

We traveled further south to the cute little town of Clifton Forge and stayed at Buckhorn Country Store RV Park just a few miles north of Clifton Forge.  A cute little town with a great Railroad Museum where we had a tour.  The Railroad Museum has a wonderful display plus for an added bonus they also have a miniature train display.  Well worth the visit and we had a docent with our tour which just added to the information and stories.  Just a few pictures.

The coal fire would be in this whole, the coal car is behind me, 

 there is an auger that moves the coal into this fire box.

Ready for lunch

The miniatures 

That's it for this stop

Safe Travels to all

Joe and Nancy

Concord, VA

3/28/12
DeVault Family Winery
Concord, VA

Another winery?  Yes and this is a small winery on a farm in a beautiful setting.

 We were only a few miles from Appomattox so we unhooked the trailer and off we went.

April 9 1865, Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all United States forces.  Three days later the men of the Army of Northern Virginia marched before the Union Army, laid down their flags, stached their weapons and then began the journey back to their homes.  For them it was an ending, but for the nation it was a new beginning.

These two tables are in the same room (I can't make both of them a med size) which is where Lt. Gen Robert E. Lee and Lt Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met for "The Surrender"

That's it for now

Have a blessed day and drive safely

Joe & Nancy

Don't Cave in - Just Say NO!

3/29 - 4/1/12
Blue Green Resort
Gordonsville, VA

How did we end up here?  Well, way back about the first of the year we were in Destin, FL at a Bass Pro Shop, mainly because we had never been in one and I wanted to try out different binoculars, which we did buy a very nice pair.  As I was looking around, Joe found me and said "they" were offering three days and four nights at a nice RV resort for $100.00 and just for paying $100.00 we would also be given a $50.00 gift certificate to spend at Bass Pro.  I said "what is the catch", Joe said there was no catch.  Well I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, there was a catch he just didn't ask the right questions.  So he drags me over there, and because we were the first person at their both for the day we would get another $25.00 if we filled out the paperwork and give them $100.00 right now.  So this smart cookie asked "What are you selling and how long is the presentation"  they were not going to pull the wool over my eyes.  The place they were selling was in Virginia just north of Hwy 64, just a little northeast of Charlottesville, VA near the little town of Gordonsville.  Well since we were going to be going that way I gave in.  One other thing, after the presentation we would receive a gift certificate for $75.00 and if we made reservations within 60 days we would get another gift certificate for $25.00.  So we decided we could sit through a presentation for all that.  No, we did not buy, it was a very beautiful place but this is not for us, we stuck by our guns and it wasn't easy.

So we used the first gift cards, totaling $75 to pay for almost half of the Vortex binoculars and the next $100 after the presentation on clothing that I didn't need.  So, the question is; Did we get a good deal or not?
I absolutely love my new binoculars, which I was going to get anyway.  But the next best thing at the RV resort was meeting new friends, Robin and Ken who also had the same deal.  They didn't cave to the pressure either.  While at the RV park we spent three delightful days with them over BBQ's, sightseeing and visiting a winery.  Since we will be in their neck of the woods next fall we will be able to see them again.

While there we visited Luray Caverns just outside the Shenandoah National Park.  It's amazing that these caverns were discovered way back in 1878 and is the most popular Caverns in the East.

Look close this is the reflection pool

 This pool you are allowed to through money into it, that's why the color of the water

The money is collected and then given to a charity every year.

In 2010 there was $144,194.00 given to Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and Shenandoah Agency on Aging 

 They have collected a total of $897,933.32 in the last 10 years.

That's all for now

Safe travels to all and have a blessed Day

Joe and Nancy