Rosewell Mansion and the BEACH

Saturday, August 8th

We woke up to gray skies. It wasn’t supposed to rain today so that was good. On Saturday, they offer breakfast at the clubhouse. Nadia was the only willing participant so we headed on over. Hey, if the other two want to turn their noses up at bacon, so be it.  

Yum!

After breakfast, we took Loki for a walk down by the river. It was beautiful out. A nice breeze was coming off the water. After all the rain, we had our prize, a cool summer day. There were a lot of folks out fishing. After all, it was tournament day! The wind was making it difficult to catch a winner.

I asked the girls if they were interested in fishing. It was no all around. I was pretty surprised because they really enjoyed it in Georgia. Oh well, maybe another day. We walked back and hung out at the campsite for a little while. The sun came out around noon. The kids decided they wanted to go play putt putt golf.

We went to the game house, rented clubs and bought balls. The girls really seem to like putt putt. No matter what campground we go to, they gravitate towards it. I’m going to have to add some putters to our sporting gear. I really need to get something to carry their bikes as well. 

Fun on the dance floor

After a nice round of putt putt we headed towards home to get ready for dinner. It was thirty cent steamed spiced shrimp night at the clubhouse. There was also fries, hush puppies, shrimp poppers, pizza and pie. We opted for fifty shrimp and three orders of hush puppies. It was delicious.

Before we knew it, it was time for the dance party. The DJ arrived, the music started and the dancing began. We also spotted some pirates but we came out unscathed. There were prizes for the best dressed pirates. The pictures were a bit blurry but the big guy was definitely the best. He went all out.

Pirates, oh my

After some music requests and dancing by yours truly, we headed home. There was supposed to be popcorn, snow cones and cotton candy but that was a flop. But the kids still had a good time. We headed home late and while the kids were showering, I made some popcorn. Then it was off to bed for a new adventure in the morning.

Sunday, August 9th

Today started with sunny skies, yippeee! We ate breakfast, prepared a lunch to take to the beach, walked the dog, gathered up our gear and headed out the door.

The kids were excited about heading back to the beach. But before we went to the beach, I had a stop I wanted to make on the way. I happened to see that there was the remains of an old mansion called Rosewell. Since we were heading out on Monday, we really only had Sunday to check it out. And they just happened to be open from 1-4. 

I looked it up on a map and it wasn’t much of a detour, pretty much along our way. We left the campground at exactly one. There was a small entrance fee to see the site. We stopped into the visitor center, paid our fee, watched a short video and looked at some artifacts found on the property. Then it was off to the ruins.

The ruins are pretty neat. You can tell that it was a big structure considering it was built during the 1700’s. The mansion was 12,000 square feet! Just touching the old steps that used to lead up to the front door was pretty cool. Makes you wonder how many people, over the years, walked up those steps.

The history of the mansion claims that Thomas Jefferson was a frequent visitor. It’s believed that he wrote the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence at Rosewell. More history can be found here.

If these steps could talk

I couldn’t help think to myself why someone would build a structure like this out in the middle of nowhere during a time when automobiles weren’t around. However, once I realized that they weren’t  traveling by land via horse and buggy but rather boat, it made a little more sense. The James River runs right next to the ruins. Visitors would arrive via boat and be taken by horse and buggy up to the mansion. Click on the link to see my review of Rosewell.

After looking around and wondering about what used to be, it was time to head to the beach. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived but the beach wasn’t too crowded. I think a lot of people go to fish off the docks. It was a perfect day to be out on the beach. Not too hot, not too cold, just right with lots and lots of sunshine.

Snow cones by the shore!

The kids dove with their goggles on for hours looking for treasures. A few live oysters were found and put back. They did find a few neat things. There was a Kona snow cone truck in the parking lot so we indulged in a cool treat. It was pretty neat sitting on the beach with a yummy snow cone in my hand!

Even Great Dane’s love to swim

Doggy fetching his stick

We saw a BIG doggy all suited up in a life vest playing fetch in the water with its owner. It was so cool to watch this massive Great Dane play in the water. I tried to get the kids to go eat crab legs with me at Captain George’s but two out of the three weren’t interested. What a bummer!

Soybeans!!! Who knew?!

I interrupt this blog post to see if you know what these plants are? Instead of seeing corn all over the place like we did in Hershey, Pa, this is the crop dotting the landscape here. I was curious as to what they were. With my limited gardening experience, I deducted they were some type of bean. Do you know what type? I asked the person at the Rosewell visitor center.

We arrived back at the campground around 6:00, ate dinner and I got started on laundry. I always try to get the laundry done the day before we leave. I hate to go home with dirty laundry waiting to be done. While I was packing and cleaning things up a bit outside, I chatted with a woman walking her dog.

She’s a retired teacher wanting to check off items on her bucket list. Her husband isn’t interested in the RV lifestyle so she does it by herself. She really enjoys it and isn’t letting that stop her. She was terrified to drive the motorhome by herself the first time.

She said she even cried because she was afraid. But little by little, she become more confident not only driving it but learning about all the ins and outs of maintaining an RV. We both agreed that there are more and more woman flying solo following their RV dreams but we still have a way to go.

Lunch on the beach

This will be the last post you’ll get reference our Chesapeake destination. It really was a good camp to us. I’m actually starting to turn around my perception of the Thousand Trails(TT) campgrounds. There have been a couple I didn’t like but the last two have changed my mind. 

So far I’ve stayed at one in South Carolina, one in Florida, three in Virginia, and one in Pennsylvania. We’ll be heading to the one in Maine next month. If you’d like to read my review of the Chesapeake TT, it’s now live on tripadvisor. 

We’re now back home and Perl is sitting in storage for the FIRST time since March. In between all the other trips, she was at our local dealership having something done. And they always take a while to get around to her because they know we’re usually between trips. 

I’ll be blogging while we sit still. I want to fill you in on how our car became a toad. I have some product reviews planned. And I will be letting you in on plans for this coming fall.  So be sure to stay tuned. 

Ahhhh, the beach, sorta!

I really do appreciate any and all purchases you make by clicking on my AMAZON link! I’m trying to be self-sufficient in my travels and every little bit helps. Thank you!

{HUGS} from the Crew!