There's Somethin' 'Bout a Truck!

Today I needed to make a trip out to Culpeper. Culpeper is a small country town, about 35 miles West of Fredericksburg. It has a great little Downtown strip with boutique style shops and then of course Walmart! Todays trip saw me take to the 'city'! I had placed an order on Walmarts online service and for some reason during the transaction, it changed my pick up store to Culpeper!

The gorgeous Downtown Culpeper

I enjoyed the drive out there, lots of farming and it was an easy run compared to last weeks I-95 experiences!

I made it into Walmart and boy did I stick out!! Yep I was in the country all right! I think I was the only one not sporting a cowboy hat or flanny shirt! lol I was pleased to have at least worn demin jeans today!

As I was driving home, down a remote country road with no lines on the roads (yep thankyou gps!!) I thought, hey why dont I find a country radio station and get right into the moment! Hitting the scan button I came across 103.1 WJMA, this will do!

As I spent the next 40 mins winding my way back to Fredericksburg, I learnt a lot about country music. Here is my quick breakdown list on what country singers sing about:

• trucks
• chicks
• beers
• feet on the dash
• chevy's
• sex and
• fields

They all tend to be about the same thing, its the catchy tunes that differ them!! Anyhow the highlight for me was a song called Somethin' 'Bout a Truck, by Kip Moore. JACKPOT a song that incorporates all elements of my breakdown list above, into one song........who'd a thunk it!!!!! Here is the link to the youtube video of this song.........which just quietly, I dont mind :)
Maybe there is a little country in all of us!

Somethin' 'Bout a Truck!

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Annapolis & the US Navy Academy, Maryland!

This afternoon we took a drive out to Annapolis. It has been on our 'to do' list for a while now and with Kasey in town, it seemed like the perfect time to make the trip!

We drove into town and followed the signs to the visitors centre. It is located at the West end of town along the main street. What a great little street it is too! Lots of nice shops and just has that feel about it. After the recommendation at the tourist centre, we took the short drive down to Dock street, the marina area. What a beautiful place! Lots of boats and yachts, great cafes and plenty of cruises to choose from!

Start of the Main Street

Pussers Landing.....how fitting for a pub near a Navy Academy!!

View from the cruise

Looking at the Dock

We picked up our tickets for a 40 minute cruise that took us around bay and the US Navy Academy. Both my husband and Kasey are officers in the Royal Australian Navy, so they had a great interest in seeing another countries training grounds!
First stop was the onboard bar! Nothing is as relaxing as enjoying a glass of wine on the deck of a cruise! The fellas went with beer! Then we sat back and took in the gorgeous scenery. Taking lots of pictures along the way, it seemed to be over far too quickly!

Myself, Col & Kasey



Mitchell & Col

Rhyce

Korey





Looking back at the Dock

A lovely rose`

Hubs and I relaxing :)

US Navy Academy

Houses along the Waterfront

Kasey enjoying the sunshine & beer!

Kasey & Col

Mitchell



Not part of the Navy Academy, but a Navy training centre across the waterway



Enjoying the cruise!

We disembarked the cruise and took a short walk into the Academy grounds. Kasey was hoping to catch the gift shop, but it had closed already for the day..............although it was 5:20pm!
We took a look at the Chapel and on base housing, but everything was closed for the day. It was still great to have a wander around and get a glimpse into the US Navy way of life!

This is what is referred to as a Married Patch! Housing for those who live on base

Each house had the name of the family who were residing there!

Guess whose house this is???? The CO of course!

The Chapel & Crypt



Chapel....................the top is real gold!

Map of the grounds

We found a small gift shop on the way out so Kasey was still able to grab a few souvenirs before flying back to Oz tomorrow! I also picked up a fridge magnet and shot glass to add to the collection :)

As the time was ticking away we decided to head back to the West end of main street and grab a bite to eat at the Ram's Head Tavern that Kasey and I had spotted earlier, whilst in the visitor centre!
It was a great little pub with a live band playing outside. The food was very tasty and the highlight was the yummy warm crab dip with bread! We were already feeling full after devouring that, let alone the main meal! I enjoyed a mango based cocktail and the fellas had a couple of the locally brewed beers. The tavern has a beer of the worlds challenge, which consists of 100 different beers! Although hubby could cross a few off the list, I'm sure he will be back to actually take on the challenge one day!

Ram's Head Tavern

Mitchell with his Daddy at the tavern :)

Rhyce & Korey

We will definately be back in Annapolis to see what else this great waterfront town has to offer!



Sunset over the bay :)

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Bear Creek Lake ~ Camping in the USA!

Its a long weekend for Labour day.........lets go camping!!!

We have just had our first camping experience in the USA. Camping over here is a little different to how we, as a family, ordinarily camp! You see we made a booking for 3 nights, got our group site (as we were one of 3 families going), pitched the tents and enjoyed the comforts of a hot shower and proper toilet everyday!!
Back home we would head down a 4 wheel drive access only track, deep into the bush and use a solar camp shower to wash! We have had the 'comfort' of a pit toilet at least :)

 

Meet the families:

Mike, Pia, Annabel & Lucas

Sam, Mitchell, Col, Rhyce & Korey

Bernadette, Mikayla, Dave & Aiden

So back to Bear Creek Lake! This is a great little spot in the Cumberland State Forest with LOTS of things for a family to enjoy........oh and there are no bears! Here is the link to the website if you would like some further info: Bear Creek Lake

We packed up the car............ok we shoved as much in as we could and you could not even see the smallest gap out of the rear window!!! Col had hired 2 canoes and a trailer from work for the weekend, so we hooked that up and set off at about 5:30pm on Friday night. It is about a 2 hour drive South West of where we live, so not too far at all. We managed to take a different route, thanks to our neighbours who would join us later that night, so not too much traffic at all!

We arrived at the park, checked in and set about finding the perfect patch of ground to pitch our tent. We booked a group site, so had it exclusively for the 3 families. The older 2 boys had their own little tent, so we put them to work on that. Lets face it, we had minimal light left and the last thing we needed was children nagging us! As darkness fell, we were set up enough to relax and enjoy a nice glass of wine/beer and leave the rest for tomorrow!

Our tent, camp kitchen and the boys 2 man tent :)

Our neighbours pulled in at around 9pm and we provided some light for them to get set up. Said a quick hello and all headed to bed, ready to enjoy our camping weekend!

The next morning we finished setting up. We had a gazebo with screens and camp kitchen to put together, to make life a little easier! We do set our camps up like a home away from home :)
We were waiting for our friends to arrive, (they wanted to come in daylight.....great move) and our neighbour offered to take Mitchell and the boys down to the playground area by the 'beach' part of the lake. It gave us a chance to put the finishing touches on the camp! lol

Play ground by the 'beach'

Lowpoint:

Not long after Rhyce came back with Mitchell asking for some lunch. I set about making it and the neighbours son rode up on his bike and commented about Mitchell being with us, then returned to his parents. Not long after a park Ranger pulled up asking if that was Mitchell, yes it was, as he needed to sight him and call of the search for him!! What search!!! Unbeknown to us, Rhyce had failed to notify the adults that he was returning to camp with Mitchell. So many other campers, park police/rangers and our frantic neighbours had all been looking for him. the neighbours son was actually coming up to tell us he was missing! I felt completely terrible that this had happened. They were ready to pull everyone from the lake and search the water. BIG lesson learnt for Rhyce that day! I apologised to my poor neighbour and poured her nice cold glass of wine to calm her nerves!

Despite this being a low point in the trip here are some of the highlights!

 

Highlights:

Although there were lots of little spiders running around this web, I have been told that it looks like a caterpillar nest!

Archery

Swimming

Hiking

Water fights!

Kids all chilling out

Pottery class

Out in the Canoes!

Falling out of the canoe: Success
Taking water on board: Success
Getting new Nikon 5100 camera wet: Success
Fish for dinner: EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bear Creek is a great place to camp with children. Loads of activities and Ranger programs everyday. We will go back there again and we really enjoyed having our own space in the group site. The other campers were all on top of each other!

 

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