Wednesday, June 17, 2009

CC Trip - Kentucky


Another long day of driving, ending up in Kentucky.  Known as the "Horse Capital of the World", Kentucky has 450 Horse Farms in and around the Lexington Bluegrass area.  It is also known for its production of 95% of the bourbon produced in the world.  More on this later....



We discovered not all service stations are RV friendly, especially if you're towing and your total length is about 55 feet......... Seems we couldn't make the turn to exit the station, and Tony had to disconnect the Jeep so I could back up the motorhome.  




So.....we decided that we'll hang with the big boys and only use Flying J, Pilot or TA Service Stations.
We're staying at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground. 


It's adjacent to the Kentucky Horse Park which covers 1200 acres of rolling hills and meadows, with paddocks of happy horses.  This will be the site of  The World Equestrian Games in 2010, the first time it will be held outside of Europe.  There's a horse museum where notable thoroughbreds are memorialized, farrier seminars, tours of local horse farms.  There is a Mare and Foal show every day, and a Parade of 24 of the Park's 50 breeds of Horses.  We will spend a couple of days here and take it all in.




Thoroughbred Cigar, below, placed in 28 of his 33 starts, including 19 wins.  He is the all-time money winner at retirement, with nearly $10 million in winnings.  Cigar was voted Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996, and Horse of the Decade.





Below, the New York bred gelding Funny Cide, is owned by a group of friends from High School, who pooled their money together and bought a few race horses.  Who would have thought they'd end up with a Kentucky Derby and Preakness Winner! (2003)  Rumor has it he likes biscuits from Cracker Barrel, and doesn't like being groomed.




Below are demonstrations of Vaulting and the Mare and Foal Show with the miniatures.


We took a tour of Lexington, and the surrounding Horse Farms. The home below is a Guest House on one of the "Level 1" Horse Farms:



Here's the owner's home:



We also visited the Old Friends Farm, where thoroughbreds retire and spend their remaining years.  Also, visited Keeneland Racetrack, a primer for the Kentucky Derby. Here's tribute to the jockies at Keenland.




Everything in Lexington is Horses - Here's a shot of Thoroughbred Park in the middle of downtown Lexington, where bronze sculptures of horses and their mounts are in racing form.




We visited the Buffalo Trace Bourbon Distillery in Frankfort on our second day.  It is the oldest continually operating distillery in America (235 years), recently celebrated its 6 millionth barrel of hootch. Bottles are still processed by hand individually.   It even produced the happy juice during the Prohibition, labeling it for medicinal purposes.......(right!).  Tony enjoyed all the samples, and of course supported the local economy!






On our way south, we stopped in Bowling Green, at The National Corvette Museum.




It was a great stop, and the cars were magnificent specimens from the inaugural 1953 model, to a 2009 beauty.  They were in mint condition and it was a wonderful collection.




Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Cross Country Trip - Day 1


WOW!!  Two years in the planning and it's finally here :-)   Today we left at dawn 


and arrived at Wallyworld Campground (Walmart's parking lot) in Weston, WV at 5:30pm. 
Cocktails were definitely in order!!

Tony assumed his favorite position for most of the day  :-0


Along the way we passed these HUGE wind turbine propellers on their way to be installed somewhere in West Virginia.  


We were impressed with western Maryland and northern West Virginia and the beauty of the rolling hills dotted with silos and free range cattle and horses.   Beautiful sights.



Wednesday, May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON DC

Spending the week in DC.  Saw the Viet Nam Memorial Wall, Lincoln Memorial and the Museum of American History which had an exhibit called The Price of Freedom.  In it at the Viet Nam War section, was an actual helicopter from Tony's group in VN:  173rd Assault Helicopter Robinhoods.



Also saw the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, where the tour shows how paper money is made. No samples though!
Day 2:  Spent the day at The Air & Space Museum - What a fantastic place!  Saw an Imax movie and watched a Planetarium show.  
Day 3:  Tried to get tickets to go to the top of the Washington Memorial, but they were all gone for the morning.  Walked over to the White House-
Then went to The Spy Museum which was a hoot!
Had Joy and Rick over for dinner at the Campground and really enjoyed seeing them.



Day 4:   Went to the Arlington Cemetery.  Saw The Eternal Flame at the Kennedy Family Gravesites.


Watched the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.  This precise procedure takes place every 30 minutes, 24/7/365, no matter what the weather or conditions. During the 9/11 attack on The Pentagon, the guard was asked if they wanted to break the tradition, and they refused.  They will never abandon the honor.   Amazing - very touching.

Also took a tour of the Capitol - Magnificent architecture!

Another great trip ends.  This was our "shake down" trip for the "new" motorhome and everything went well.  Seems like we're a GO for the cross country trip next month :-)

Friday, April 3, 2009

PICKING UP THE "NEW" TIFFIN



At Last!!  We purchased the Phaeton at the Syracuse RV Show in September, and have had it in storage with the dealer, Colton RV in Buffalo, since then.  Today we spent the day going through all the systems and setting up "home".  Compared to our former motorhome, this one is HUGE.  Four slides instead of one, and six feet longer.  The living room is so big and comfortable.  Will have no trouble spending 6-8 weeks this summer on a cross country trip.

Went out to dinner with Mark and Cherie from RVnet who live in Buffalo - glad we could hook up with them.  Saw Niagra Falls, which was only 15 minutes from Colton RV.  Weather was terrible driving home, including wet snow....in April!!  Saw Ariel and her friends for a buffet dinner at Turning Stone, then drove out to see Walter and Nora in CT before heading home.

We love the motorhome.......can't wait for the "big trip".





Monday, October 6, 2008

TURNING STONE

Last trip of the year for us   :-(    Went on our second gathering to Turning Stone and met some new people from rv.net.  Went to the Syracuse RV Show and saw a 2007 Tiffin Phaeton with a great floor plan and all the bells and whistles.  Had learned about this exact motorhome in Hershey, but they wouldn't come down to our expected price......til now.  Went for a ride, and decided this baby was for us!  Signed the deal, and emptied out our unit, and left Syracuse in a stuffed Jeep.  Looked like the Beverly Hillbillies.  

They're storing it til April, so we didn't have to drive our unit on a special trip to drop it off, and no storage costs all off season either!  Can't wait to get it.  Hopefully, Lancaster in April will be our first trip with the "new" motorhome. 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

HERSHEY PA

Took a few days to check out the RV Show in Hershey - Met up with Paul, Glen and Sandy, who came up for the day.  Walked miles till we were both worn out.  Saw a nice Damon Tuscany with 3 separate rooms, and researching used 2007's which is more in our price range.  Nicest one was Newmar's King Aire - ONLY $726,000.

Found out about an 06 Holiday Rambler for a good price, and drove all the way to Syracuse from Hershey, but after driving it, we felt the power was just not there.  Also saw a nice 07 Tiffin Phaeton but no luck negotiating a good price.


Thursday, August 14, 2008

ATLANTIC CITY AND CAPE MAY

We had a fun roadtrip with Mary & Roy, and camped outside of Atlantic City.  Had great weather and lots of Casino time.  Tony got in a Texas Hold"Em Tournament and placed 45th out of 400.  The meals were fabulous and both Borgata and The Water Club were outstanding.  

Mary & I took a long walk on the boardwalk to shop and enjoy the fresh air and see the beach.


We took a trolley tour in Cape May and did some shopping, of course.


The Victorian Homes were colorful and as pretty as a picture.










They looked like gingerbread houses!  Many
were over a hundred years old.  Tony would know this if he stayed awake on the tour. But, alas, the time of the tour unfortunately coincided with his naptime.




We drove down to see the Cape May Lighthouse and Nature Museum.  Tony met a friend!



A great time spent with our friends on their first RV Trip!









Sunday, July 6, 2008

FOXWOODS

Took a short roadtrip with Doreen & Bill to boondock at Foxwoods.  We drove over to the Nautilus Submarine Base and Museum, which was very interesting.  A little too claustrphobic I would think.  

Also went to the historic town of North Stonington Village ( I took a lot of heat for this one!  Let's just say: If you blinked, you missed it!!)  Mystic Shopping Village was nice.  

Since we boondocked, we were concerned about water conservation, and after we dropped Doreen & Bill off at the Bridgeport Ferry for their trip home, we went to the dump station, and realized we were just about OUT OF WATER!  I guess 2   1/2 days with 4 adults used all the water we had!  So now we know!

Of course, we all made our donations to Foxwoods!  Saw Lisa "Trashmouth" Lampanelli at the MGM Grand Theater.  There's one over the top broad!  No one is spared with her!

Always have a lot of laughs with Doreen & Bill.  

Friday, June 27, 2008

MONTAUK

Drove out on a Sunday morning - NO Traffic!  Stopped in Bridgehampton to see Barbie & Uncle Pete for lunch at the Chicken Coop.  Didn't get to see the newest Mansfields as it was naptime for the kiddies.  But DID get to see the 3 little puppies!

Spent 3 days at Kathy & Pete's house near the beach in Montauk.  Hooked up right in their driveway.  Tight squeeze driving through the trees to their driveway!

Because the driveway is an incline, we couldn't get the levels right, so we walked uphill for 3 days!

 Montauk was beautiful as ever and no crowds yet. Had a great day out on the boat.










Had Duryea's famous Clam Chowder -mmmmmm- and Gossmen's Dock for the obligatory Montauk Sweatshirt and lobster.  Lost our money to Pete in Texas Hold 'Em!

On the trip home, stopped to see Joanne for lunch and saw her gorgeous new home.  Could get lost in there!

Back home with lots of memories!