Moving Northward and the Farm to Forest Trail

Monday, May 11, 2015

Babies grow fast...sigh...and life continues to progress. The past few weeks took us back to Maryland and brought us time to learn to be grandparents, share the new grand-daughter with the extended family and help my almost 90-year-old Dad meet his first great-grandchild. He gripped her smooth, plump little leg and felt the onward march of the generations. He can now remember 7 generations of his family. He's waited a lot of years for this moment.


As the sandwich generation in our families, we are making choices based on our needs as a couple, but keeping those decisions informed by our need to be part of the older and younger generations in our timeline. We left the Outer Banks of North Carolina as the weather turned and drove up to Northern Virginia in order to get north of the rain. Stopping for three nights at Prince William Forest Park, which is a national park near Quantico Marine Base, we found it almost empty. No hook-ups, and half price with my senior discount, it's a huge park, with a secluded campground far from the entrance. It provided us a short respite in the woods before we tackled the Washington, DC suburbs. Greg was feeling primal and built a fire from the wood left over from another camper. We hiked the Farm to Forest trail along Quantico Creek and enjoyed the Spring woods. Greg explored the roads and trails on his bike. There is quite an extensive system of old abandoned farm roads through the woods, plus a paved scenic loop.

Nice camp site in Prince William Forest Park

Cooler than 60, free firewood - time for a campfire!

Pleasant hiking in the Virginia Piedmont

New leaves following a hard winter

Small stream filling up with Spring rain

Lots of new ferns for spring

Luxurious skunk cabbage along a small stream floodplain

Apparently Quantico Creek had a beaver a few years ago, but no recent activity

Wednesday, April 29, we braved I-95 and the Washington Beltway to make our way to our daughter and son-in-law's house, and reunited with them and the baby! We enjoyed their company and began the rounds of appointments. We had an early Mother's Day celebration with the extended family. After 6 nights we moved over to Greenbelt National Park, where we had stayed last Fall when we visited. It also has no hook-ups, and we used the senior discount. Both parks are mainly a convenience for visiting the area, and much less expensive than the few local RV parks. It's nice to have a nice spot way back in the woods to escape the metropolitan congestion.

Its hard work training a new Grandpa!

Unfortunately, Greenbelt Park's best known feature is ticks, supported by wall-to-wall squirrels and many deer.

After more appointments, it was time to say goodbye and start north. We left Greenbelt Park the morning of May 9, and drove the interstates, (ugh...our least favorite roads) to Connecticut for more family visits. This time Greg's side. Spent Mother's Day on Greg's brother's boat on Long Island Sound rafted up with our niece's boat and lots of family members. Gorgeous weather and a great floating BBQ!

Moored in a quiet cove along the Connecticut shore

Grilling for the hungry crowd

Working hard just staying out of the way!

Tomorrow we leave for Geneva Point, New Hampshire. We are due there on Friday, May 15^th, to begin our first work camping experience. We've had lots of good wishes from friends and family who are excited for our coming summer experiences. Hopefully a few will come visit! We are looking forward to seeing our nephew who lives a few hours away in Vermont. Ahhhh...summer in New England, what a great place to be!


Last minute change of plan - We are not leaving until Wednesday. Our credit card company can't seem to send us a new card, being replaced due to fraud, and now is promising Wednesday...we'll see...