Where's Wendy? Livin' in the Edge!

Be Sure to Smell the Flowers Along the Way! 🌿🌼🌿

“Stop and smell the roses,” is often attributed to golfer Walter Hagen in the 1956 book “The Walter Hagen Story” but he didn’t mention roses. The quote: “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

**Hans Christian Anderson was correct!** ❤

I’m so happy that I found an activity that Maddie & I both love & it’s FREE! I recently discovered that there are free arboretums in & around a lot of cities & so far, we’ve visited 3 of them.

**June 24, 2021**
**I LOVED this special place! 💕**

“The New Hanover County Extension Service Arboretum in Wilmington, North Carolina is a 7-acre arboretum established on the grounds of the New Hanover County Cooperative Extension Service. It is open daily without charge. The arboretum was formally opened in 1989 and is still under development.”

**The weather was spectacular, so we spent several hours exploring this beautiful place.** 💝 **I had to edit most of my photos from that day because it was so bright & sunny that the colors faded out!**

**I was instantly drawn to this adorable, little Wendy house. Then I saw the sign recognizing 4-H Clubs as it’s sponsor!**
I was & always will be a proud 4-Her. 🍀
The story of Peter Pan has always been a favorite of mine, probably because it was the first time I’d ever seen my name in a book! I was really lucky to see Cathy Rigby’s retirement & final performance as Peter Pan in Boston in 2013!
According to the story, “Wendy was injured soon after her arrival in Never-land, so Peter Pan and the lost boys built a small house around her where she had fallen. Thus we are given the phrase “Wendy House”. J M Barrie himself designed the first Wendy House for the first production of the play in 1904.”

The gardens, lawns & building all appear to be in pristine condition. Unfortunately, COVID has caused the temporary shutdown of many of their programs & buildings. Their displays have educational signage, so I still learned a lot.

**The view from the Ceremonial Tea House window.**

This water garden was whimsical, yet calming & peaceful. There were very brightly colored koi(?) in the pond, but I wasn’t fast enough for a photo op. I think I saw vividly colored turquoise fish! 🤔

**Children were fascinated by the water dragon!**

**There were plenty of cozy seating areas in the shade.**

**A working greenhouse for special projects & programs.**

**MILITARY MEMORIAL CONTEMPLATION GARDEN**
The newest addition to the garden is the Military Memorial garden providing a serene contemplative sitting area with a stone paver labyrinth and soothing, bubbling fountain handmade from NC potter, Ben Owen III of SeaGrove. The garden honors the five branches of the military: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. This new space, the Contemplation Garden, is dedicated to Bronze Star Army veteran and past County Extension Agent Durwood Baggett. During his Army service he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45. As Extension Agent, he was instrumental in forming the county’s Master Gardener program and the Plant Clinic hot line.

“The Sarah P. Duke Gardens consist of approximately 55 acres of landscaped and wooded areas at Duke University located in Durham, North Carolina. There are 5 miles of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the gardens.”

7/10/2021

The Gardens welcome dogs before 10am & after 5pm. I decided to stop on our way out of the area, so we arrived just after 5pm. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time or energy to see everything, but I’m glad I chose to go. It was well worth the trip!

**I love this statue of these majestic birds, but…**

**…my original photo on the left was too bright, so I took some creative liberty & edited it. I really love the magical quality of the edited version.**

July 15, 2021

Our third garden visit was to The Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum in Knoxville, Tennessee. This was another late day stop on the way to our next campground. It was too hot & humid to linger here, so sadly, l skipped a lot of this garden. It was another beautiful place to walk & a worthwhile, quick break in the trip to stretch our legs.

**This was a very scary “tunnel” of thick bamboo plants. I heard something that made both Maddie & me jump! 😳 We walked so fast through it that my eyes never adjusted to the pitch black dark!**
**(It was probably a squirrel… 😁)**

**This was an interesting backpacker figure, made out of branches & twigs. I was afraid I’d look like that if we stayed outside for too long in the heat & humidity!** 🥴

Hugs from Kentucky! I only have intermittent reception today. This update was ready to post & I have internet access! 🤗

Wendy & Maddie 💕

Everything is fine! 💝

I don’t want anyone to worry about me/us, so this update is to let everyone know that we’re fine!!! Today was Day #84 of this amazing journey! 😊

Part of the reason I’ll be off-air is because we’re in a campground in Kentucky for the next week, with intermittent reception.

I’ll be making good use of the downtime. I just took over 300 photos in 2 days at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky & I need to sort, delete & edit them asap! My phone is rapidly filling up & that’s not a good thing! Luckily, I don’t need internet access to do it!

So,

Back to Virginia! 😁

Longwood Park in Clarksville, VA & North Bend Park in Boydton, VA

July 2-4, 2021 & July 4-10, 2021

Virginia kept calling me back! 😁

While planning our next stop, I wanted to be somewhere as quiet as possible for July 4th. Considering Maddie’s previous FEAR of thunderstorms & fireworks, I didn’t want to subject her to anything scary unnecessarily. She’s done incredibly well with the thunderstorms we’ve experienced, but fireworks still really upset her. 🥺 The place I knew we’d be safest was back at North Bend Park in Boydton, VA. I was able to get reservations again for July 4-10! We left SC & after traveling for 8 hours, we arrived back in VA!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get reservations at North Bend until July 4th. Despite Longwood Park being on the same lake as North Bend Park, they couldn’t be any more different from each other. This lake is so massive that it’s a 30 minute drive from Longwood Park to North Bend Park!

John H. Kerr Dam & Reservoir, also known as Buggs Island Lake, is a 50,000-acre lake extending 39 miles up the Roanoke River along 800 miles of wooded, cove-studded shoreline in Virginia and North Carolina. Visitors enjoy fishing, camping, swimming, boating or just relaxing and enjoying the scenic beauty. There are 30 recreation areas around Kerr Reservoir: campsites, swim beaches, picnic areas, hiking, nature trails, marinas all available for public use. There are 26 wildlife management areas on Kerr, totaling over 10,000 acres. In addition to flood control and hydroelectric power, other benefits include fish and wildlife conservation, recreation, forest management, and water supply.

Sadly, Longwood Park ranks very low on my scale. 🥴 The campsites are very close together & we were squeezed in between 2 large RVs. Each of my neighbors had lots of VERY LOUD people with even louder, VERY YAPPY dogs. There didn’t appear to be much supervision from park staff, so the 10pm quiet hour wasn’t observed, either. I know it was the 4th of July weekend & people were celebrating, but it felt more like a frat party environment well into the early morning. I started counting down the hours until I could move over to North Bend. 🤷‍♀️

Back to My Happy Place!

When I checked in at the gate, the same gentleman who had checked me in 3 weeks earlier remembered me & welcomed me back! We were home… 💕

**Our campsite was at the very far end of this area.**

Back to beautiful sunsets! I took the bottom photo ^ , sitting on my cot in the tent! It was really warm during the day, but the breeze along the water was very cooling! It kept my campsite comfortable during the day & cool enough to be in my sleeping bag several nights! ❣

**This is one of the main beaches. Dogs aren’t allowed on these beaches, so we didn’t go to this one.**

I adopted Maddie from the PEI Humane Society in Canada, so technically, she’s Canadian! She only lived in Canada for the first 22 months of her life, so she’s now an American. As an American girl, she celebrated in her red, white & blue! 🇺🇸

Everything was going great until Thursday afternoon, July 8th! I’d been monitoring the weather, as always, so I knew a storm was approaching. All of a sudden, my phone was squawking with weather alerts! ANOTHER tropical storm was headed our way! 😳 I decided to hunker down…again, so I packed everything in the car & waited.

Before long, it was raining hard enough to flood my campsite with several inches of water. I backed my car up the driveway twice to avoid getting flooded & I started hoping I’d made the right decision to stay. 🤷‍♀️

**In keeping with Audrey Hepburn’s theory, I left my tent stakes firmly planted in the campsite. They were perfectly placed originally & I was determined to put the tent back up!**

**The yellow X was where the tent was originally & the red X was my original parking space. 😳**
**It hadn’t even stopped raining yet!**

After a few hours, the rain stopped & the sun tried to make a comeback. While I was figuring out something for supper, I was startled by a young man standing beside my car. He asked if I’d like him to try draining my campsite! Looking at the water level, I didn’t think it would work, but yes, please!!! After a few minutes, he’d dug out a small drainage ditch & the water was rushing away! 😁 His name is Stephen & he lives in South Boston, VA. I knew he was with the large group of Mennonite that were camping close by. I thanked him & he just smiled & walked away. 😇 Later, I Googled Mennonite in South Boston, VA & there’s a large community there.

A few minutes later, an older woman from the Mennonite community appeared by my car & asked if I’d had supper! 🤗 She gave me 3 ears of corn & some cole slaw & apologized that she didn’t have anything else to share. She said that she’d forgotten to bring butter, so I walked over to their campsite with her to get some freshly made butter! I had briefly told Stephen about our adventures & he’d shared it with his community members! They were all wishing me well & blessing my journey. At that moment, I felt like I was in the company of old friends. It was a truly heartwarming experience. 💝 My Guardian Angels weren’t finished yet! When I returned to my campsite, a fellow camper was continuing the drainage process in my area! He’d stayed in this exact site for 15 years, until he & his wife bought an RV that require electrical & water hook-ups. Having experienced multiple floodings in the past, he knew exactly how to drain the water. It worked!

**From 5+” of water to this in a few hours! ❤**

**The next morning, I awoke to sunshine & an almost dry campsite! The tent was back up by 7am!** 😍 **I did have to move it a few feet to dry ground, but I was glad to see my tent stakes had withstood the storm!**

Almost everyone had left, so I decided to take Maddie down to the little beach area right below our campsite. It’s a legitimate beach for dogs. My Hates to Get Wet Feet dog wouldn’t go in the water, even though the air temperature was hot & the water was warm. I was able to coax her in a short distance, but afterwards, I soaked my towel for her, while I went into the water to cool off.

This was another act of kindness that I witnessed. This jetskiier came to the rescue of this sailboat that was struggling against the wind. Within a few minutes, the sailboat was pulled safely “out to sea”!

**One of our last nights & we were all alone again.** ❤

**Maddie watching a boat sail by us. ❤**

**On our last morning, we had crows & turkey vultures everywhere! I took that as a sign to move on! 😳**

Goodbye, Virginia…for now! 💝

Thanks for some absolutely awesome memories!

Next stop: Asheville, North Carolina

I ❤ Buck Hall Recreation Center!

Buck Hall Recreation Center in McClellanville, SC June 25 – July 2, 2021

**I had read that dolphins occasionally swim through this area of the Intracoastal Waterway, but I didn’t expect to see some on our very first day, swimming 100 yards from the campsite!**
**I knew I was going to love it here!** 🐬❤🐬

**The view from my tent! Maddie & I ate most of our meals sitting on “our” bench, watching for dolphins!**

**The view at night, overlooking my firepit.**

**Our welcoming committee (Mom) stopped by for a visit.**

**This sunset wasn’t very colorful at first, but the night sky was still beautiful.**

**This was almost 9pm. It was worth the wait!**

These are just a few of the many watercraft that travel along the Intracoastal Waterway. From simple kayaks to yachts to shrimp boats, we enjoyed a continuous parade from sunrise until dark. I learned that some of these boats travel down from the Boston area!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway

**Some of the really interesting trees in the campground.**

**I was the only tent camper for several days, so this entire area was wide open!**

**This was 3 generations of a family. Something about this scene felt very old-fashioned, so I edited the photo to black & white. They were discussing plans for shrimping.**

**I was never a morning person, until this trip! I’ve always loved sunsets, but I’ve started getting up for sunrise now! I don’t want to miss anything!**

**This was a spectacular sunrise! I had to edit this photo & soften it because the colors looked too vivid to be real! I love that the bird flew by as I snapped the picture!**

**This was the original photo, before I edited it below.**

**I edited it to make the colors pop! 💕**
**I was thrilled to capture a photobomber bird in the picture!**

**Spanish moss makes the trees look magical to me.**

**Editing brings out more of the magic!**

**Hot dogs & beans taste even better when cooked over a campfire! The toasted marshmallows were delicious, too!**

**I’m not sure if these are fire ants, but we kept away from them anyway!**

June 28, 2021 @ 1:30 pm

I was sitting in my tent, routinely checking the weather forecast, when a female voice called out my name! Jennifer, a very nice Park Ranger, stopped by to tell me that a tropical storm warning was in effect for the area, effective immediately! It was supposed to be quick moving, but I decided to pack up to move, again. Jennifer is a native New Englander from Goffstown, NH & she was very helpful. She offered to text me when it was safe to return. She was also going to be available in the campground, if I decided to stay & needed anything. That was very reassuring to me.
After checking local forecasts on my phone & weather radio, I decided to ride out the storm in my car. The closest place with a dog friendly room available was going to cost me crazy money & I just couldn’t justify it. I was the only tent camper there, even before the storm, so I hoped I’d made the right decision. My wonderful friend, D, monitored several weather sources & kept in constant contact with me for several hours. I also listened to the Red Sox game on the radio & worked on the blog to distract myself. As it turned out, TS Danny fizzled out before reaching us. We had minimal wind & rain. I had the tent back up at 7am!

**Best selfies ever! 😁 This was just as we were hunkering down in the car to wait out Tropical Storm Danny. It was getting very windy!**

I had ordered several items from Amazon to be delivered to an Amazon locker about 45 minutes away. Sadly, Amazon totally messed up my order & I never received most of it.

**Thanks for NOTHING, Amazon! 😬** **As of today (July 16), I‘m STILL trying to resolve the situation with Amazon! 🥺**

I planned to visit Charleston, as part of the trip to the Amazon pick-up. Unfortunately, between the wasted time from the chaos at Amazon & the 90°+ day, I had to view the city from my car. It was too hot to safely walk with Maddie by that time.

We were leaving the next day and I still hadn’t eaten any local food. I was HUNGRY & determined to find some local cuisine! I lucked out when I Googled restaurants. I found TW Graham & Co, a quirky, little place that I later found listed in this article, featuring top local restaurants! My meal was fabulous! The shrimp, crab & corn chowder was the perfect addition to the delicious shrimp sandwich & sweet potato fries!

**https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/must-eats-in-south-carolina**

The morning I was getting ready to leave, I got into a conversation with a young couple who were camping in a large camper nearby with 2 dogs. We got talking about where we’re from & where we’re traveling. They live in Asheville, NC. I told them that I’d given up on traveling thru Asheville because a lot of the campgrounds in the area had canceled all tent & pop-up trailer reservations due to a large bear population. They recommended an RV park & 10 minutes later, I had reservations! I went over to thank them for the suggestion & they were getting ready to depart, too. Thanks to a totally random conversation, we’ll be staying in Asheville, hopefully bear-free!!!

Next stop: Longwood Park in Clarksville, VA

Change of Plans!

Flanners Beach Campground in New Bern, North Carolina

June 17-20, 2021

I scheduled a few days stay at Flanners Beach Campground as an interim location for my goal of visiting Orcacoke Island on the Outer Banks of NC. After falling in love with the wild ponies of Assateague Island, I wanted to see the ponies on Ocracoke Island, too. This is the link to learn more about them: https://www.outerbanks.com/ocracoke-wild-horses.html

Sadly, we never made it to the island…

When I booked the reservation for Flanners Beach, I was aware of previous storm damage caused by Hurricane Florence in September 2018. Now almost 3 years later, the beach area is still closed to the public.

**This was all I could see of the water.**

**There were well maintained walkways, so we walked in the cooler parts of the day.**

**There are massive trees decaying where they fell.**

When we arrived at the campground, there was a sign on the never-locked 😳 swinging gate at the entrance. The sign instructed campers to check in by text message to the number listed. Ok… 🤔 At previous campgrounds, I was required to show my ID & my NPS Senior Pass. They also recorded my vehicle make, model & license plate number. There was none of that here.

I located my campsite & settled in. The first night was uneventful. The cicadas belted out their chorus loud & strong all night & we slept well.

The next morning, I woke up early because it was VERY hot in the tent. I had arrived late in the day & didn’t pay attention to the best spot for shade. By 7am, we were in full, HOT sun. I immediately moved the tent to a shadier spot.

It was now Friday morning & reports of Tropical Storm Claudette started coming in. I’ve been very carefully monitoring weather reports since Day #1, so this got my attention!

Maddie & I spent the day relaxing, while I considered my options. I had reservations to take the ferry to Ocracoke Island on Tuesday & reservations to stay in a campsite on the island for 3 days. This campground’s description stated “No shade” for most campsites, including mine.

By Saturday, the weather reports indicated that this area was in the direct path of TS Claudette. It didn’t take much to convince me that I needed to get us to safety! Between being at a campground that had been severely damaged before, with zero staff presence to help out in an emergency, I didn’t feel safe. Even if the storm fizzled, the thought of taking a ferry ride 2.5 hours each way on choppy water to stay in a campsite with no shade, suddenly lost its appeal. I canceled the ferry reservations, the island campsite reservations & the campsite reservations for our return trip. Now the challenge was deciding where to go next!

On Sunday, Father’s Day, I packed up & drove 1.5 hours to Jacksonville, NC. I was able to get reservations at a Red Roof Inn which allows dogs. Yay! We ended up staying there 3 (expensive) days because the storm was lingering in the area. It was nice to have a roof over our heads again, a comfy bed, hot shower, TV, etc. They offered a free continental breakfast & Burger King & McDonald’s shared the parking lot. I didn’t eat healthy for that few days, but it was cheap & convenient in the rain.

**Maddie is always on high alert, so I think she really enjoyed her 3 days off at the hotel 💕**

**There was a nasty “pond” beside the parking lot. It was full of trash 😡 & smelled awful, but it was loaded with beautiful water lilies & frogs!**

Next stop: Buck Hall Recreation Center in McClellanville, SC

Virginia is for Lovers! I LOVE Virginia! ❤

North Bend Park in Boydton, VA

June 8-17, 2021

**Just one of the many beautiful sunsets I enjoyed here.** 💕

I **decided to stay at this wonderful campground for another few days, but I had to move to 2 different campsites for 1 night each before “**mine” was available again. They were both nice, but I wanted to get back to the water. This campsite had 2 levels & a private path to the beach! I loved the campsite, but dogs aren’t allowed on the beach, so we didn’t go down to it.

**This was my view while I ate my supper.**

**This was the site I moved to for the 2nd night. It was directly across the street, so it was an easy move.**

My next door neighbors here were Juliette & Paul. It was a chilly night & I really appreciated it when Juliette came over to offer me some firewood. They were going home the next day & they were happy to share the warmth. 🤗

Before leaving the next morning Juliette & Paul stopped by to offer me breakfast! Juliette had made chocolate chia with walnuts & fresh blueberries on top. Delicious! She also gave me some coconut milk, a brownie & a snack for Maddie! She called me over again just before they left. They were in a wonderful RV with refrigeration, so she dumped the remainder of their ice cubes into my cooler! Her last kind gift was a frozen container of butternut squash bisque from a fancy deli near their home. It stayed frozen until the next day when I ate every yummy spoonful!

**It was strange hearing voices so close, but Maddie is always on duty to defend against intruders!**

**It’s** **not easy to keep this many ducks/geese in a row! This was only half of them!**

**I’d already been on alert to bears 🐻, snakes 🐍, ticks, mosquitoes 🦟 & SPIDERS 🕷, so here I added fire ants 🐜 to the list!**

Mother Nature was truly cranky that night! I’ve been paying careful attention to the weather reports, but a windstorm came up so quickly that it never made the reports! I sensed it coming & quickly took down my tent. There wasn’t time to stow it away, so I stashed it under my car! I lashed my cot to the car roof & Maddie’s bed to the picnic table! The wind was so strong that I was knocked down onto my knees! Luckily, it was a very fast moving event. The sky was beautiful through the whole thing! My neighbors on one side suffered quite a bit of damage to their tent & canopies because they didn’t react fast enough. ☹

**This was the sky throughout the windstorm!**
**It was deceiving!**

Next: A visit to Heartland Farm Creedmor, NC

Guardian Angels 😇

Salthouse Branch in Henry, VA May 28-June 8, 2021

The initial campsite at Salthouse Branch left a lot to be desired. Most campgrounds require backing into your space. This particular space required backing in between 2 guide boards, up a steep & narrow slope, at a weird angle, over exposed tree roots! 😳 It reminded me of my first driving test as a teenager. The RMV inspector told me to back up a long hill & around a corner at the top. I remember that it was March & there were snowbanks obscuring my vision. There were also trash barrels blowing around on the street. I failed miserably. A week later, I passed the test & got my license. This driveway gave me an uneasy feeling of deja vu.
We arrived on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend & it rained heavily all weekend. I felt sorry for the other campers because it was probably a much anticipated get-away vacation for most of them. 🥺 Maddie & I spent all weekend in the car, soggy & miserable.
On Monday afternoon, the sun finally came out. While walking around with Maddie in the sunshine, I realized that this campground was actually really nice! For anyone old enough to remember, it reminded me of the song Camp Grenada by Allan Sherman. https://g.co/kgs/twNGmn “Hello Muddah, hello Faddah.
Here I am at Camp Grenada.
Camp is very entertaining,
And they say we’ll have some fun, if it stops raining.” 😁 By now, all of the other campers had left. Most had left early, but everyone was gone by then. The weather report looked promising, so I decided to extend our stay. I moved to the campsite next to the original one. It was great! The driveway was less challenging & the space was fantastic! Without a tent, we were sleeping in the car, so it was much more space than we needed anyway.

**I love Maddie’s wake-up call face every morning! 💕**

**This was the lower half of 2 sections!**

We’d been stuck in the car for most of 3 days & really needed to stretch our legs, so I opted to walk down to the entrance gate to exchange our car pass for a new one. Timing is everything! The woman at the gate asked me about Maddie. While we were talking about my journey, a car had pulled up, with a dog barking out the window. I finished up & started walking back up to the campsite.
The driver of the car, Lowell, had overheard me say that I didn’t have a tent. He pulled up beside me & offered to give me one! He no longer camps because he bought a house on the edge of this campground. My safety radar went up because this felt too good to be true! He told me he’d go get it & bring it back in about 10 minutes. We agreed to meet back at the gate. 🤔
I took Maddie back up to my car & walked back down to the gate. After waiting 30+ minutes, I was about to give up when Lowell drove up, very apologetic for the delay. He’d packed up a bag of camping gear for me that he no longer needs! He gave me the almost new tent & a brand new backpackers cot, still in the box! In the bag was a variety of things, including: a Citronella candle, bandaids, 2 different antibacterial ointments, a flashlight, kleenex and a Bic lighter. I was overwhelmed!
We stood & talked for a long time. He’s originally from Winston-Salem, NC. He fell in love with this area, so he bought a house & retired there. He’d rescued his beautiful dog, Ellie. I told him that my Mom is my Guardian Angel & I believe she sent him to help me. 😇❣😇

After awhile, I needed to get back to Maddie. He gave me his phone number, in case I needed anything. I thanked him for his kindness & generosity & walked away. He was a perfect Southern gentleman/Guardian Angel 😇.
The tent is WONDERFUL! It’s an automatic set-up style, so it’s ready to use in a few minutes. The cot is very comfortable. Thank you, Lowell. 🤗

**Our new home away from home & my comfy cot! 💝**

The rest of our visit was extremely quiet & peaceful. I had almost zero phone reception. My communication with the outside world was non-existent, except for a few texts that made it in & out. We were the only campers in our entire area! Other than the staff who drove through occasionally, we were alone.
After calm returned to the forest, the wildlife inhabitants came back out. This sweet deer wandered by to eat her breakfast. I was glad Maddie was asleep, so her breakfast was uninterrupted.

I did a lot of meal prep that week. There wasn’t much else to do, so I really enjoyed planning out & preparing my meals.

**Even in the rain, I made myself a patriotic, HEALTHY lunch on Memorial Day. It was delicious!**

**Almost healthy…a 2/$1.00 WallyWorld mini pecan pie, a banana & coffee for breakfast.**

**The Screwdriver was orange. Vitamin C, right? 😉**

**This was the lake you’d drive into, if you didn’t read the sign!**

**Maddie almost always chooses the ground to sleep on outside. Here I’d made her a waterbed because it was a hot day. It was a waste of time & water! 🤷‍♀️**

**Each gas pump had it’s own grade of gasoline. This gas station/convenience store was also the Post Office.**

The day before I was leaving, I found out about a little convenience store right outside the park gate. I had a long talk with the owner about the history of the store & her plans for it in the future. She & her husband are going to add a patio on the back, so they can have live music & a bar for the campers. They had just bought the existing business when COVID hit, so they’re excited to move forward now. I think Salthouse Store & More will be a huge success!

**I believe in supporting small businesses, so I stocked up on lots of goodies. 😉**

Next stop: North Bend Park Boydton, Virginia
June 8-17

Happy 4th of July!

**This is a photo I took at Spot Pond in Stoneham, MA two years ago, but it’s still a favorite of mine.**

Hi there & Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is enjoying a happy & safe 4th of July weekend! I’m jumping out of sequence here because I want to share some of my thoughts about the 4th of July in real time.

This year, while I’m traveling on this journey, America the Beautiful has taken on an even stronger meaning for me. This IS NOT & NEVER WILL BE A POLITICAL forum. It’s just MY thoughts & yes, I’m wearing my rose colored glasses today, too. 🤓

**Two years ago, as I was waiting to get my passport renewed at The Boston Passport Agency, I looked up & saw this pretty picture. The blue on the building is the sky’s reflection!**

I grew up at a time when we pledged our allegiance to our flag & country every day in school. It was probably just a ritual to most of my classmates, but it meant a lot more to me. I remember going to the 4th of July parade & fireworks every year in Wakefield, MA. I grew up next door in Reading, so it was an annual event for our family. I remember being happy to see our flag waving proudly, everywhere I looked.
Mom & I took a 15 day whirlwind trip thru Europe in 1977. I got physically teary-eyed every time I saw an American flag flying over one of our embassies. I remember feeling safe & comforted by it, knowing that fellow Americans were close by.

**The Old Stone Church in West Boylston, MA**

Over the years, I’ve been saddened by the decline in honoring our country & fellow citizens, especially our military, veterans and all first responders. Memorial Day, the 4th of July & Labor Day have all just become long weekends to many people. Veterans Day, too, but it’s not a designated Monday holiday. The true meaning of these special days has faded.

It’s not just about long weekends & cookouts! I’ve attended Red Sox games where a lot of men didn’t remove their caps & people talked & drank beer during our National Anthem. I have ALWAYS placed my hand over my heart & whispered along with the song. (Nobody wants or needs to hear me singing! 😉)

**This flag welcomes visitors to Heartland Farm in Creedmoor, NC.**
**I loved visiting this farm! 💕**

I’m in VA today, again… 😆 My 6 hour drive from South Carolina on Friday became an 8 hour drive. It wasn’t the traffic as much as periods of heavy rain & long stretches of roadwork, often narrowing the highway to one lane. I have my GPS set to avoid toll roads, which often sends me on a longer drive through small towns, away from the highway. I’m fine with that because I’m enjoying the scenery!
It was heartwarming to see so many Main Streets in small towns lined with American flags. There were banners everywhere, inviting residents to join in the celebrations this weekend. I hope they’re all staying safe. 🎉😷🎊
I had such a positive feeling taking it all in. With all of the upsetting, scary, sad, traumatic things in the news, I’ve chosen to wear my rose colored glasses today & ignore all of it, just for today. 🤷‍♀️ Today, I’m just an American girl, proud to be a citizen of my beloved country & grateful to be traveling around to enjoy her beauty.
America the Beautiful. 🇺🇲
Home of the Free because of the Brave. ❤

Hugs from Virginia! 🤗
Wendy & Maddie 💕