2012 The Year in Reveiw

    Its seems like it was just yesterday when we were planing for Y2K. Well we got  beyond that. We now are closing in on another year, 12 years later. Although we didn't do any great trips this year we did have some new adventures. We started the year with the lost of our beloved Blazer who was put to rest on the 4th of January. A very very sad day for us, and we never knew how many people he had touched in one way or other. We received many many emails and even cards from friends. Many remember his endless energy. Others remembered his great behavior. He was one of a kind. We are now without the loving championship of man's best friend, the first time in 47+ years of marriage we are without a dog or two. I'm sure one will enter our life in the future, but not just yet, as the hurt of losing two wonderful companions in less then two years is still bearing on us. Both Lilly and Blazer were rescues, and the two best dogs we ever had the pleasure of calling our own. We were the lucky ones, they showed their thanks by sharing their lives with us. Lilly for almost 16 years and Blazer for almost 10 years. This year was also sad in that we lost 3 good friends.

     We started the year in Wildwood FL.  In January we were listed on www.hitchitch.com . Since then we had over 25,000 hits to our blog.  We also attended our first Carriage Rally. Carriage is the manufacture of our RV. It was a lot of fun with some great learning experiences. From the Rally we caravaned to the Tampa "Super RV Show" with about 20 other Carriage owners. We had a great time at the Super show. We stayed at the fairgrounds with about 800 other rigs. Besides the show there was coffee and donuts every morning and super entertainment every night, plus the great get together with other RVer's. It was amazing in that we ran into four other couple we knew at the show. We also visited with friends Dave and Liz that live in the area.
     From the Tamps show we went to Punta Gorda. We visited with our daughter in laws sister Fran who just moved to the area. Also friends for the passed 50 years Diane and Marvin also in the area. Then we spent a couple of days with Abbie and Nancy at their great condo, who took us on a few day trips around the area.  This was the first time we spent time  away from our RV. In the passed with our dogs we couldn't do this.
     We travel a little further south in FL to visit the Everglades. We spent a wonderful 10 days touring the Everglades National park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Biscayne National Park. We saw a great deal of wildlife and had a great time.
       From the Everglades we went back to Punta Gorda for another Carriage Rally. Again we had a great time with new/old friends. Then we went to Zolfo Springs and the Thousand Trails park. We spent a couple of weeks there and we met up with friends Tom and Paula, plus a few other acquaintances we had met at other RV Parks. We had also met up with Banjo, Blazers friend and playmate and his owner Joe and his wife.. We all share stories of our four legged frends. We then traveled to the Thousand Trail park in the Orlando area. While there we met my cousin Pat and her husband Larry and went to the Strawberry Festival. We had a good time getting together and fun at the festival. A couple of days later we met with my cousin Jane and her husband Nick at one of our favorite restaurants The Catfish House in St Cloud. While there the famed Harlem Globetrotters came in to eat. What a nice treat. They were super ambassadors. They posed with anyone that wanted a photo and took their time talking to everyone. A very nice group of gentlemen. We had a couple of visits to Walt Disney World with passes from friends Jim and Linda that still work there.
       At the end of March we headed to GA. We went to West Point Lake in West Point GA. We met up with friends Barry and Donna. We spent 5 great days with them visiting Calaway Gardens and The FDR Little White house, as well as touring the area. After a sad good bye, we headed to Pigeon Forge TN. We spent the next 3 months there, working for Dollywood. The perks working for Dollywood were great. We attended about 30 shows and other attraction, like a visit to Biltmore,  on Dolly's dollar. We also did a lot of touring on our own. An added bonus was a visit from our son Mark and his wife Tracey. They spent about a week with us. Another bonus was being in the Smokey Mountains. While at Dollywood we did get to meet Dolly and have our picture taken with her. While at Dollywood we celebrate our 47th anniversary. After leaving Pigeon Forge we took about 3 weeks to get back to PA. We spent 2 weeks touring in NC and 1 week in VA.
    While in PA we did get to have a lot of family time. We spent about 13 weeks in PA. September in PA  started our 8th year of full time Rving. We did spend a lot of time with doctor and dentist visits. In late October we headed south. We spent 2 weeks at Myrle Beach SC, then a week in both Charleston and Savannah. Then another week in ST  Augustine FL. Next we landed in the Orlando area which seems like it is fast becoming our winter home. While in the Orlando area we did meet up with many friends we worked with at Disney and friends from the Carraige RV Club. If you wish, you can read a lot more about our year in our blog archives.
      THANK YOU to all our friends and blog followers, for following along on our journey. May 2013 bring you all good health, joy and happiness.