2015 Summer In Review

Yes we're still around....with a full time work schedule I took a break from blogging and reading blogs over the summer. I've caught up with most of the blogs I read, just a few more to read through...

Our son Tom ended up staying till mid August with us, every Thursday was tent moving day...couldn't let the grass die instead we had a patchwork yard most of the summer. While Dave worked most Mondays it was a day Tom and I both had off. So great to spend time with him, whether it was talking, going for a bike ride or visiting the local water park. The time spent with Tom this summer was an unexpected gift of reconnecting with him.

That's not to say it was all work, we had a few friends from afar visit in July. Our friends Dennis and Bev who we wintered with at Gulf Waters in TX stopped in for a few days. Of course with Dennis here the smoker was brought out...great dinner as usual. An afternoon at Boyden Winery and a visit to Hope Cemetery made for a great day off from working.

All of the headstones at Hope Cemetery are made by local granite artisans. 

 Later in July longtime friends Mark & Nancy made their first long distance rv trip, IL to VT in 2 days, you do what you have to when you limited time. My best friend from high school also came up from NY for one of the weekends. Rene, Mark and I have been friends since high school, Rene and Mark hadn't seen each other in quite awhile. What a great weekend of renewing old friendships and for Tom to meet some of the adults he remembers from his childhood. A farmers market, Boyden Winery, campfires and long talks made for a wonderful visit.
                                             

There was never a question if we ate good

 No trip to VT is complete with out a stop at Ben & Jerry's. Of course you have to pay respect to the flavors that no longer exist

Who knows when we'll get a chance to all be together again.

We've of course seen our good friends who still live in the area, maybe not enough but as much as we could. Our friends Les and Deb are in the process of selling their home and hoping to be in Duck NC by March if not earlier. We hope our friends Mike and Carol will come visit us on the road one day. To say it's been an emotional time is an understatement...who knows when the six of us will be together again.

20 years of friendship

Needless to say we both been working a lot of hours. Dave worked as much OT as possible, while I have been putting 35+ hours a week here at the campground...at least my commute isn't forty five minutes each way on a two lane heavily traveled road.

Here at Maplewoods Campground we've had a busy summer, from the fourth of July holiday weekend through the Labor Day weekend we had 100% occupied. Thank goodness for the new campground reservation system. A new larger bath house and six more rv sites were added by the middle of July. Reservations this July, August and September blew out last years numbers. We already have fifty plus reservations on the books for next summer...the holiday weekends are already filling up-the best sites are already gone.

Friends who became family

 The best bosses ever, so many laughs and    good times over the years.

Our years here have been filled with great times, good food and lots of laughter. We will truly miss our Maplewoods Campground family and look forward to the day our travels bring us back to our Vermont home.  

The smallest rv this season

This has been a crazy summer for Dave too, his company was sold to another. At the end of June this technically this brought about his retirement from IBM and immediate hire by Global Foundries. In mid August his leave of absence was approved. In mid September Dave received an email about a Voluntary Employee Separation package being offered. After reading all of the material and finding he was eligible Dave started the process to retire. Dave has always wanted to go out with a package and looking ahead we knew realistically we at the most had one more summer in VT. On September 23rd he received the notice he was approved, his last day was September 24th.

 We were confident he would be approved so in anticipation of not coming back we started the process of purging ourselves of the things we have left here in VT the last few winters. We also sold Dave's beloved Honda Ridgeline, almost 168k miles of memories. We will be leaving VT on 9/28 for an indefinite period so the last few weeks have been bittersweet with many a tear shed.

Really they can fix all kinds of things

 A small retirement party with Dave's closest co-workers with a nod to our adventures.

 So the summer of 2015 comes to an end and so to our lives here in Vermont. The adventure begins...

The End

 Until next time...