After brunch we went for a nice leisurely walk, Oreo of course is in heaven, she runs ahead, comes back, snoops around the area, and generally is just a happy puppy. She is never out of our sight though always watching us.

Dave lives on 143 acres, the house is situated in PA, and the land is split between Maryland and PA. We wandered around investigating some trails and cut lines. At one point Woody was walking in Maryland and I was walking in PA, too cool! The vegetation of the forest floor is just starting to grow, it is covered in places with a low growing plant with little white flowers, will wait a few days and take some pics. There are a large variety of trees, walnut, chestnut, hickory, ponderosa pine (we think), oak, dogwood, and others I don’t know what they are. Some interesting grasses also, will have to spend some time learning what they are. This plant is 10' tall. I cut some off to add to my dried flower bouquet which sits on my desk in our little home, some of which I collected while in Ohio.

This place was a Girl Scout camp at one time complete with a swimming pool, before that it appears to have been some kind of farm. There is a large barn plus other smaller buildings some set in the trees, others close to the barn. The barn is a very large two story, with remnants of automatic feeders and watering equipment. The feeders were hooked to a large silo type bin, a very sophisticated system in its day. The small buildings are constructed of concrete block, all had water, and electricity hooked up. One building away out in the bush had a big shallow sink with three taps hanging over the sink, cupboards and was only screened in, can’t figure out what it would have been used for at all. Mennonites populate the area around Dave. There is a woodcraft shop (owned by a Mennonite) within walking distance so Woody made a visit, he was very impressed with their artisanship. He came home with a real nice cutting board, it is too pretty to use, constructed with walnut, ash, and maple. All in all this is very nice place to spend time. We will in the coming days take in some the sites that are not further than a comfortable days drive. Dave offered to care for Oreo if we wanted to trek further, Dave loves her and she returns the love. One evening after Dave had been playing ball with Oreo, I let her out for her last potty call. She grabbed the ball, ran out, went straight over to Dave’s and bumped the door with her nose! Dave’s cat (Binx) was all snuggled up with Dave, Binx immediately popped up his head, alerting Dave, Dave then heard the bumping noise, went to the door and there was Oreo, ball in her mouth! He told her no he wouldn’t come out to play and sent her home. We did not know this until Dave told us the story the next morning. Dave found the ball by his door in the morning.







Woody spent some more time working on his project after we had dinner (Woody cooked dinner) I did the dishes, then went for a nice evening walk, topped the evening off chatting with friends in our favourite chatroom.







A couple of views from our walk around Dave's place.








An interesting pretty plant, the leaves are all fury like an African Violet. Will watch to see if it blooms before we leave. Thanks Heather for naming this plant. It is called Lamb's Eear.

Sunday and Monday the rain came

Rained Saturday night and all day Sunday as was predicted by the weatherman, was not cold just rainy. We choose not to attend church on Sunday, we both felt like veggin’ out. Spent the day catching up on the blog, doing some inside chores, checking out the forums, we are members of RV.Net and Hunting Resource both are informative and we have friends on both so always fun to see what everyone is doing. Dave and Randi went to church and spent a quiet day at home. We did enjoy our day very much. Woody worked on the knife handle project, sure is nice to have the garage with a workbench for Woody. We also have our exercise maching and massage housed there. Hmmm the exercise machine has not seen a lot of use lately, I had better get with it!



Monday was much the same, although Woody did some needed shopping. It is so neat to shop here, can shop in Maryland, Pensylvania and West Virginia all in the same trip. Dave's place is just over the border in PA, but we do most of our shopping in Cumberland, MD which is 18 miles one way. Cross the Potmac River just outside Cumberland and your in WV! Prices differ in each state due to taxes, etc. so we choose to go for certain items to WV. If you wish to have a better look the picture will enlarge if you click on it.

Visiting with some of Dave and Randi's family

Saturday we visited with Dave and Randi’s son Doug, Carrie (Doug’s wife) their son Sebastian, and other grandchildren Katie and Jason. Dave had some fun playing football with Sebastian and just plain horsing around with all their grandkids.

Katie is 3 and the 2 boys, Sebastian and Jason are 5. They kept "Poppy" real busy!

Woody spent some time working on the knife handle he is making for a friend.

Another day in paradise!

Friday we spent the day leisurely, doing laundry, cleaning etc. A beautiful sunny day, 80F. Cannot believe how lazy I have become. We ate lunch outside, it is so peaceful here, birds singing and just a slight warm breeze brushing our skin and whispering through the treetops. Woody finished mowing the grass earlier today, I worked on this blog. Eric came to visit, riding his Harley, a nice bike, just love the sound of a Harley, no mistaking that sound! Sure do enjoy visiting with Eric, was a great excuse to go back outside, too nice to be inside working on the computer. When Dave got home, Woody and Dave drove into Cumberland to pick up a few things. Just as were finishing dinner Eric dropped over with his family for a visit, another wonderful day.

Dave, Christine, Trevor and Eric. Eric's son Tyler who is 2 was too busy playing to stop for this picture.

Lazy day for the Queen, Woody was active

With Dave and Randi at work, Woody did some chores and I think he needed a grass-mowing fix. After all, it has been a long time since he has mowed grass. Alberta has very long winters! Freshly mowed grass has a pleasurable aroma, the smell of summer to us! After giving the mower a spring tune up he happily set off, Dave has no shortage of grass to mow, Woody cut most of it and finished it for Dave another day!

The Queen on the other hand was feeling very lazy, sitting in a lawn chair in the shade beside our little home doing some journaling, gazing around the yard at the trees that were blooming and some flowers that had burst open since we arrived here less than a week ago. I did manage to pull myself up and take some pictures around Dave’s yard. When Dave arrived home from work, he wandered over and sat down for a visit while waiting for Randi to get home. I told him how lazy I was all day. He looked up at the sky and remarked, “I wondered why the buzzards were circling around when I drove in”. I looked up and sure enough, there were three of them! Dave jumps up, waving his arms and hollers “Go away, its okay she is alive”. We just bust out laughing, what a hoot! Below are some pictures of trees and flowers in Dave's yard.

Forsythia bush--This bush leafs out with bright yellow leaves you see and then later the leaves turn green. These are popular here as we see them planted everywhere. Dave says they grow like weeds and will take over anywhere they are planted unless pruned regularly.

A Winter Pear tree, the fruit does not ripen until October, the pears are not very good eating (hard and sour), according to Dave but the deer love them and will stand on their hind legs to eat them when the bottom of the tree has been picked clean.

Below is a tree that looks like an Eastern Redbud, Dave says it is a Persimmon Tree and since there are 25 different species of Persimmons, I am taking his word for it. The flowers are very pretty!

Below are spring flowers; have no idea what they are. If anyone knows please let us! Our friend, Heather helped us out here. The plant with the little white flowers are called Paperwhites. Thanks Heather.

The flowers on the left are Hyacinths, thanks Heather!

Went to Church

Attended church with Dave and Randi, we were welcomed with open arms by the members, many were interested in us, Alberta and our travels. We had the pleasure of hearing Dave sing with the choir, he has a marvellous deep rich singing voice, love to listen to him sing. On Sunday the 26th he will sing a duet, sure won’t miss that! After church we did some shopping and came home. Ellie, Dave’s sister, arrived late afternoon and we spent some time just chatting, the went over to Dave and Randi’s for dinner. Was a another wonderful day!

Visit to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland

Dave and Randi took us to Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. The lake is shaped kinda shaped like a dragon, there is a Discovery Centre set up that is worth a visit for sure. Not that you can see the dragon shape when standing in any given position on the lake shore, so I captured this picture of the lake from Streets and tips. Man I love having that program. The lake of course spreads out in the valleys in the hills/mountains. The other neat thing is the climate changed as we travelled up the hills/mountains to the lake. The temp dropped 10 degrees and the wind never stops blowing. As Dave says, the wind only stops to take a breath so it can blow harder!

Very well set up, information on the lake, surrounding area, some mounted animals, reptiles, fish and birds native to the area. There are walking trails, we did not take the time to walk them and besides I couldn't believe they wanted a fee to walk on the trails! We are glad we visited the area though, no charge to visit the Discovery Centre. I wish we had taken more pics inside the Discovery Centre!

The Queen posing at the Discovery Centre. The centre had mounts of bear, an absolutely gorgeours turkey in strut, a possum, otter, Blue Heron, snakes, live snakes and fish and much more!

Some photos of the Discovery Centre.

After visiting this Centre, Randi and Dave treated us to dinner at one of their favourite restaurants, yeah we are being treated like Royalty.

Dave at his best!

Here is a pic of a # 32, too big for the Queen to swing, so Woody is not in peril!

More relaxing at Dave's

Spent a couple of leisurely days visiting with Dave, shopping, catching up on laundry, getting a haircut, an oil change/check up on our truck and had the pleasure of Eric’s company a couple times during the remainder of the week. One visit he made, he pulled up in his cruiser (he is a Detective with the Cumberland, Maryland Police Dept.), came over, knocked on the door and said he was here to serve us a summons for trespassing, what a laugh we had. Actually, he was in the area on business and just took a few minutes to stop in and say hi. The next surprise visit he made was on his day off; he came on his Harley, (nice bike). What a great person to visit with. Dang we didn’t even take a picture of his bike, next time eh!


Friday, Dave and Randi took us out for dinner (told ya we are spoiled) for a buffet, Dave and Woody filled up on seafood, they even had frogs legs on the buffet! Randi and I of course ate moderately, well maybe Randi did but me, NOT, that buffet was awesome and I consumed lots of my favorite delicacies! Can you say "piggy", yes I paid for it later, the Queen was suffering. Ah but such sweet suffering.

Relaxed and enjoyed some visitors

Wednesday we puttered around, setting up our home for a longer stay and had a nice surprise visit by Dave’s nephew, Eric and his son Tyler. Dave and Randi were both at work for the day.

We were served another great meal when Dave and Randi came home and visited with them for the evening. Are we being spoiled or what?

Arrived at Dave’s this afternoon. They live on a beautiful acreage with lots of room for our big rig. They also have sewer, water, and electric hook-ups for us. We received a very warm welcome from Dave (Randi was at work) upon our arrival complete with signs as we drove up their driveway!

This was the first sign!

Second sign welcoming our black lab, Oreo who was nothing but a poor peasant dog, but now has risen in stature and officially became "Princess Oreo" thanks to Dave, she now has a special place within our Royal family!

Finally, a welcome sign for Woody, also known as the Jester dubbed so by Dave because my nickname is the Queen, short for Queen of the North, we are known as Woody and the Queen, or QueenNorth and her Court Jester. The nicknames are all in good fun, given to us by good friends, we love it!

The last sign we saw was this sign which kinda puts it all together, oh and includes another nickname for my dear husband, Toby, again given to him by Dave, his bestest buddy!

Ah it felt so good to be out of the truck, at our destination, and knowing we would be visiting for the next 4-5 weeks!

After hugs for us, Dave greeted Princess Oreo and could not believe how big she had gotten since he had seen her on our last trip in the fall of 2006. She was just a baby, a clumsy lovable puppy, just a small armful.

Then of course there had to be a toast to the friendship and safe arrival before our little home could be set up.

All set up, we were served a gourmet meal and visited for the evening, now how can anyone ask for more! Life is good, we are so blessed.

We left Ohio today with a little regret, we had such a great time there it was hard to leave heading to Pennsylvania.
It was a nice drive not too much traffic after we got away the populated area of Ohio (6 lanes of traffic) and went down to 4 lanes of traffic about 80 miles out of Wheeling, WV. Was a pleasure driving through Ohio, small hills in eastern Ohio to the bigger hills near Wheeling.

Cross the bridge and we are in West Virginia for a short time.

Captured a couple of pics as we crossed the bridge, can't believe they turned out as good as they have!

The Ohio River is a good sized river, the hills you see are in West Virginia.

Very picturesque with little towns, villages and houses nestled in the valleys or hanging on the sides of hills.

Travelled to Washington, Pennsylvania, stopping at a KOA campground, which is nestled high in the hills it was sunny and 75F when we arrived around 4:00 pm EDT. We had called ahead to make sure they had space and could accommodate our rig, we are 53’ including the truck, 14’ wide with slides out.
Getting into this campground was an experience. The road to the campground is no wider than the back alleys in towns in Alberta. The road goes straight up at a wicked grade and then we had to make a sharp turn into the campsite area. The old Dodge did it but we were going slow, in first gear, I can’t believe the roads here, but then it is the same in Maryland. This KOA says it is big rig friendly but it wouldn’t be classed as such in Alberta or Ohio even! Forgot just how narrow the roads are here when you get off the interstate. When we were driving to the campground on a side road, anyone coming towards us had to pull over and stop to let us by. Won’t stay here again for sure; the sites are very narrow and not real level. Okay enough complaining eh! We have all the hookups and they do have WiFi so that is a plus! Will be leaving here tomorrow on our last leg to our friend Dave’s, only about 2 hours or so from here.

More visiting in Springfield

Sunday afternoon a BBQ at our place was arranged by Frank, Toni, Heather and Todd. The food and BBQ all arrived at our place around 4:00 pm; they even brought the condiments, chopped onions, lettuce, salads and all! Toni and Patsy made up the burgers while the table was being prepared for the feast by the rest of the gang. Frank was the master chef, what a great job he did! After the feast we enjoyed and evening of visiting!





Of course, where there are boys, some horsing around was sure to occur! (Frank and son Chris)










Caught this pic, a rare quiet moment, Elizabeth and Damien.

A cool wind and jackets were on as the afternoon turned into evening.

The gang, minus Mark F, as he was unable to make the trip from Columbus again.

Josh, Carla (holding Toni Jo), Toni, Frank, Lisa (arms around Damien), Frankie, Elizabeth, Chris, Heather, Todd, Patsy andWoody.

This was our last visit with our friends, for this trip anyway! Leaving for PA tomorrow.

I really do need to learn to keep my journal. Surprising how quickly the days just run into each other when your enjoying time with friends and traveling. We prepared brunch for Todd and Heather, the only meal that we were allowed to look after on Saturday.

Heather and Patsy cleaning up after the brunch. Before we had finished cleaning up a friend (Mark F also known as Rowdy Yates) arrived from Columbus, OH for a visit.

Mark presented roses to the “Queen” upon his arrival in style! He bowed to me as he presented the roses, we missed a Kodak moment there for sure. Should have asked him to do a re-enactment but at least we do have this picture of the gorgeous roses.

When we left Springfield, Oh heading for PA we carefully wrapped the roses, put some water in a ziploc and layed them in the shower, we enjoyed them for a full week. Tried to preserve a few but that did not work. Thanks Mark, the roses added a nice touch of color and class to our little home.

I must say our friends in Ohio showered us with gifts besides treating us to dinners, etc.

Todd brought us lunch, a big crockpot with deer loin strips, taters and corn. Prepared with his very own hands! It was delicious! Such a thoughtful guy he is. Then on April 4th he and wife Heather treated us to dinner at the Golden Coral Steakhouse. Huge buffet that offers everything, seafood, chicken, beef, salads, etc. prepared many different ways. The desserts were awesome also! Woody of course filled up on the seafood, big surprise there! After dinner we spent the evening visiting at our little home. Fantastic time spent with good friends.

Frank, Toni and family treated us to an excellent Mexican feast at their favourite place, El Toro’s on Wednesday. We would certainly recommend this place, service is excellent as is the food. After which we spent a wonderful evening visiting at Frank and Toni's home. Frank, Toni, Patsy, Frankie, Chris and Lisa.

We had some fun and our waiter was a character!

Woody ordered a draft, wow it was huge!