Catching Up

I think I left off last week with us working on the Halloween Party at the park. The first night was warm and the turnout was huge. I worked the concession stand and was in charge of hot dogs. Kevin worked the parking lot. The second night which was Halloween, the temps dropped alot and we were cold. Not very many showed up and I didn't sell many hot dogs, but the hot chocolate was a big hit. I took pictures but unfortunately you will not get to see them.
We were hoping the awning would arrive at the dealership on Monday but we got a call from them that it didnt arrive. We were then rescheduled for Wednesday morning at 8am, thinking it would arrive sometime on Tuesday. We began getting things packed up and got the laundry done. Tuesday afternoon got a call that it didnt arrive again. It was rerouted..grrr.. It was scheduled for Wednesday. They then gave us a noontime appointment, hoping it would be there in time.. We were very lucky that the park is not crowded and they let us stay in our site for a few extra nights. All went well on Wednesday. We arrived, and luckily the awning was there. We unhooked and got directions to a great lunch place on the water at St Andrews Bay. Once again took pictures but you won't get to see them. All the work was taken care of and we were on our way at 5pm headed to Ms.
While travelling to Ms we had ourselves a sandwich and soda. My laptop was in a tote bag on the floor by my feet and my can of soda tipped over and landed on the computer. Uh oh.. This is why you will not see the pictures. Foolish me, had not saved the latest ones to disk as of yet. I was planning on it but never did do it. Lesson for everyone.. don't let it go. I had hopes that it would dry out and be okay. We stopped at Hollywood Casino for the night and I didnt know what to do with myself without it.. So I HAD to gamble. I lost, guess it was not a good day for me.
We pulled out of Ms Thursday morning about 10am. Arrived back in Magnolia Tx around 5p to a nice home cooked meal by our daughter. We had reservations for a Thousand Trails Campground on Lake Conroe in Willis Tx so headed there to get settled for two weeks. And that brings us to now. We had two of the grandsons stay with us Friday night, they left yesterday afternoon. We are currently having a relaxing day. I am using my daughters laptop for a few days but I am activly looking for a new one. I loved my 2 yr old Dell but was told by BB Geek Squad that it is most likely gone and not worth the money to have them take it apart. So the search is on. I want something lightweight and compact to travel with. In the meantime I may be without one for a bit.

Good News/ Beach

Just got the call from the dealer here that has been working on getting Dometic to replace our awning.. After seeing the pictures, the gave us a yes, they will replace the roller and awning…. That has made us very happy. Only problem, we are not sure when they will get it in. They needed more info from us and the order will go in tomorrow. Alot depends on having it in stock. We should have an answer tomorrow. If it is something that can be done in the next week, we will just stay here until that can happen. What better place to be stuck!

Today was beautiful, sunny and in the 80’s. I headed to the beach for a few hours and just relaxed and read.. Kevin stayed put. 

Rain may be heading this way, but we hope not, as tomorrow night is the start of the Halloween Celebration here at the park.. Will let you know..

Tour of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Today is cloudy but the forecast calls for temps in the 80’s. Not quite there yet.. We had a lazy morning and went to Walmart for a few errands.

I am posting the pictures I took yesterday of the park. It really is a very nice campground. Some people like the 100 section where it is more manicured but others opt for more of a rustic, treed site and some around the small lake. Or as we call it a pond. We hear there is good fishing..

The office

Pool 

Shuffleboard

The 100’s section

 

Laundry

 

Lake sites and the clubhouse in background

Our street

 

Street with cabins

 

 

Newly constructed cabins about to open

The new tent sites, not yet opened

 

Outdoor theatre where they do interactive talks and movies

And finally the road to the beach..

 

That about sums it up. Hope you now have a better idea on why we love this park.. Of course I have already shown you the real draw..

The awesome beach!

Official Last Day of Work Here at Topsail

Well, this month sure has flown by.. Yes, today was our last day driving the beach tram.. And a wet one it was.  We picked up the golf cart at 8:30 and headed to the office to get keys to the tram and pick up our list of checkouts. We only had 11 checking out.. They told us to hold off on the tram runs until we hear from them. We were sent home.. We didn’t hear from them again until 1:30, telling us to start doing the runs again at 2pm. So it certainly was a fast day.  Once the rain had stopped we took the opportunity to take some pictures all around the park. I will post them maybe tomorrow.   And I said it was our official last day because we will be helping out Friday and Saturday night with the Halloween Bash.  We are scheduled to leave here on Monday.

I spoke to our dealer today about our awning and the pictures I had sent them. Of course they claim that they checked it out and the awning was fine.. We don’t believe that. Looks like it was probably a problem from the factory, but who knows. We only know it didnt happen while we had it or we would have known it, for sure.  They gave me a number to call Heartland. I did just that and the guy I spoke to was great. He gave me the number of a dealer in Panama City not to far from here. I called them and they asked for me to send them pictures. They will check that out tomorrow and get back to me but have penciled us in for Monday. Hope all that goes well.

Lazy Saturday and then Back to Work

Saturday we had decided would be a lazy day and that is exactly what it was.. Kevin enjoyed watching football and I got caught up on laundry…Although I don’t enjoy the laundry thing, it was a nice day and I took the opportunity to sit on the porch at the laundry room and read.

Sunday was our first day back on duty. It started out cool but the sun came out and it was another beautiful day. We had about 50 checkouts so were kept quite busy in between our shuttle runs to the beach.  Luckily we do get the sites cleaned up pretty much before noon. That way, we have the afternoon free between shuttle runs to catch up on football. I was even a good wife and did the 3pm run myself and let Kevin stay and watch one of the games.  I was so exhausted after dinner, I knew it would be an early night. I got into bed with my computer and signed into the chatroom for awhile. I got booted when my battery died and was too tired to go get the plug.. Oh well, I was off to sleep shortly after that.

Monday, another work day and it started out cloudy, but wasn’t long before the sun was shining. The temps were in the 70’s and we loved driving around.  The park is fairly quiet this week. I’m not too sure if it will fill up for the weekend since it is Halloween. They are having a celebration here on Friday and Saturday evening. From what we have heard the town come out for this event.  Everyone has been asked to work. I will be on concessions and Kevin will be working the parking lot. They started putting up the Halloween decorations for it today. Looks like fun.. Just hope the weather cooperates.  Tonight we needed to get a few errands at the grocery store so we decided to have dinner at the Golden Corral. Good dinner but ate way too much and feel way to full right now.

A Fun Day in Pensacola

Today’s weather forecast called for rain on and off all day. We made the decision to head to Pensacola.  We left fairly early about 9:30 and stopped at Camping World on the way. I have a favorite restaurant at Pensacola Beach, called Crabs. I love the she crab soup they serve.

 

We  arrived and the door was locked. We figured we were too early and that they probably don’t open until noon but the sign said open at 4pm…Oh no, what disappointment I felt. My mouth had been watering for the soup.  Kevin said thats okay we will come back at 4p. Oh yeah! We drove down the road to Ft. Pickens where we have camped several times in the past. However hurricane Ivan blew thru there 5 years ago and devastated the area. The road was completely closed in with sand and most of the hotels, houses and restaurants were severly damaged. We found this out two years ago when we visited the area. Today we were thrilled to find out that pretty much everything is rebuilt, the road is open and the campground is now open.  It took a long time to rebuild but definately worth it. This is such a beautiful area and walking distance to the beach.

Next stop

 

The Naval Air Station.  We had a few things to pick up at the exchange and while there Kevin got a haircut. Then on to the Navy Air Museum.  We have been here before and really enjoy each time.  Wouldn’t you know my camera gave up on me.  Some how I must have hit a button and switched to internal pictures and it was full. It wouldn’t let me transfer back. I also carry another picture card in my camera bag and when I went to get that out, it was gone. I bet I lost it taking the camera out.  Really a shame because I had many picture opportunities the rest of the afternoon.  This base is a great one to drive around due to it being on the gulf.  Very pretty. We checked out the lighthouse and then the campground.

We headed back to Crabs. We arrived 1/2 hr early so walked down on the beach.  It had turned out to be a beautiful sunny day in the 70’s. I took a seat and watched and listened to the surf. The waves were huge. In fact, they were patrolling the beach and not letting anyone in the water. Finally 4p arrived and we sat out on the deck so we could still be by the water.  It was happy hour, wings, shrimp and oysters .25 each.  Oh yum, along with the she crab soup..  A perfect day, drink in hand, wonderful food, good music and sitting by the ocean..  What can be better than this!

Relaxing Day-Beach and Dinner

I was really hoping I could sleep late today but like clockwork I was up by 7am.. I did laze around for a few hours before we headed to the beach. Today it was cloudy and very windy at the beach. I loved it. There was a time when I would only go when the sun was shining strong. Now, I prefer a cloudy day. Sitting on the beach, with the sun poking thru now and then and listening to the  strong surf. What could be better. It is certainly a stress reducer. Very, very relaxing.

 

Tonight we went out to dinner. Why not continue the relaxing day with not having to cook.  We went to a fish place down the road.  I decided to try the fried softshell crab.

 

Honestly I wasn’t crazy about it and I love crab. I have never ordered the softshell crab before.  Kevin had the jumbo shrimp stuffed with scallops and wrapped in bacon.

 

Now his was good.. We topped it off with dessert. I had a delicious homemade bread pudding. Oh yum. Kevin opted for the brownie ala mode.

We are now settled in for the night. We have not heard from the dealer about our awning. I will give them a call tomorrow.  Still have those fingers crossed.