With the help of two friends, Jen Borg and Cathy Dykes, I hosted a holiday party for 32 friends who live in the neighborhood. When I was in Denver visiting Greta she helped me design an evite invitation that I sent out on December 1 with an RSVP date of December 15.
Date: Thursday December 21
Time: 6PM to 9PM
Guests: Lee and Jane, Rick and Alice, Mary, Judy, Gene and Sherrie, Steve and Debbie, Jen and Andy, Pierre and Patty. Kathy and Brown, Derek, Clare, Ed and Mary, Cris, Cathy, Charles, Rae and Sammy, Lauren and Brian, Chuck and Janet, Liz, Bruce and Rae.
Food: Honey Baked Ham, Hawaiian rolls, Cheese platter, Mini quiches, Christmas Tree Spinach Dip breadsticks, Smoked Salmon Bruschetta, Mushroom Bourguignon, Baked Brie with fig jam center, Carrot, celery and broccoli platter with humus. Cheese, crackers and grapes, Boursin cheese as well as bowls of nuts and bolts and cashews.
Drink: Beer, Wine and warm spiced apple cider.

Desserts: Christmas Cookies – Rum balls, Chocolate Crinkles, Santa’s Whiskers, Peanut Butter Blossoms and Ginger Cookies.
The cookies were set up on the table out on the screened in porch. One tray of cookies was set too close to edge of the table so Cleo decided to help herself to a few of the chocolate crinkles. I was worried about the chocolate but she seemed okay,

I thought the party was a big success and everyone seemed to have a good time. The food items mentioned most by the guests where the mushrooms and spinach dip bread sticks.

When I was out in Denver in May, for Greta’s birthday, we went to the Cherry Creek State park to see about the camping spots. After seeing how beautiful this park is I decided to book a 2 week stay over Thanksgiving. I know the weather in Denver can be unpredictable especially in late fall and winter but, I decided to give it a try. I gathered some information on the park and the guy behind the counter assured me I wouldn’t have any trouble getting a reservation. A few days after I got home I logged onto their website to book my reservation and to my surprise, there was only 2 spots left. While the park is open all year round for camping they only have one small area that has freeze proof water spigots and that is the only area open.

Getting There!
I planned my trip to Denver so I wouldn’t be traveling over 260 miles per day. I wanted to be able to get and early start everyday and pull in to a campground around 1PM so the girls and I could walk, stretch our legs and relax a little before dark.
We left Sunday morning November 5 at 9AM, the time had just changed that night back to standard time, so it was actually 10AM.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campgrounds
Chattanooga, TN
Mileage: 190.2 Arrived: 2:15 PM Weather: Sunny – High: 70 Low: 45
Food; Chicken, mushroom rice and zucchini – all that was prepared at home beforehand.
I decided that with the trauma of packing, and dealing with the traffic around Atlanta our first day shouldn’t fairly short. The Raccoon Mtn campgrounds were only 190 miles from our house but with the intense traffic and road construction around Atlanta and Chattanooga it took 5 hours to get there. The weather was nice – 70 degrees in the afternoon and dropping to 45 degrees at night. I had to get up in the middle of the night to turn the heat on.

The campground was very nice all of the spots were level and contained a picnic table and fire pit. I spent 10 dollars on 2 small loads of wood and had a nice fire that lasted several hours. The girls and I found and unmaintained trail to walk on for a few miles.

Fern Lake
Paducah, KY
Mileage: 268.8 Arrived: 1:15 PM Weather: Sunny – High: 78 Low: 65
Food: Frozen pasta with marinara sauce and beef, salad and bread

KOA Springfield / Route 66
Springfield, MO
Mileage: 304.2 Arrived: 1:45 PM Weather: Sunny, Breezy High: 78 Low: 62
Food: Leftover chicken, rice and mushrooms.
This was a very nice and clean campground

Camp the Range
Wichita, KS
Mileage: 246.4 Arrived 1:15PM Weather: Sunny, windy High:70 Low: 47
Food: Frozen beef patty, onions, rice and zucchini.
Very windy drive today – wind gusts were blowing RV around and it was difficult staying in lane. The road was a, heavily traffic, 2 lane with very a little shoulder.

Diane and Greg’s House.
Hays, KS
Mileage: 1xx Arrived 12:30 PM Weather: Sunny High: 60 Low: 30
Food: Steak, Baked Potato and a salad. Friday Night Mexican Cancun rest

Thousands of households were without power and many roads were blocked by fallen trees or power lines after a major storm hits Athens and Arnoldsville in the evening of Thursday July 20th.

Rayle EMC posted that 5,000 of its customers lost power during the storm. Our community on Lake Oglethorpe got hit pretty bad and many of my neighbors were without power for over 24 hours. I was lucky not to loose power but I did lose loose several large trees.

By some miracle the fallen trees missed my house, car and RV by just a feet.

On Friday morning, after the storm, Dennis and Tiffany from Georgia Tree Removal from Crawford GA came out and gave me a price for removing the fallen trees. They were at my house first thing Monday morning to get started and were finished around 1PM. They did a great job and I would recommend them for any tree removal needs.

I had Andy, Jenifer, Steve and Debbie over for a fourth of July cookout. We started down at the lake around 4:30 for a swim and appetizers. Jen, was still recovering from rotator cuff surgery so she couldn’t swim.

Food for the party included:
Appetizers: Brat pieces with caramelized onion, brie and goat cheese and crackers – plus some yummy baked pecans that Debbie brought.
Dinner: Grilled chicken, potato salad, corn muffins (Jen and Andy), broccoli casserole ( Debbie and Steve) and succotash ( Me)

Dessert: Croissant Berry Bake and Key Lime Pie.
At around 7:30PM Judy and her two guest, Jill and Thomas, boated over from her house with the key lime pie and we all sat on the screened in porch and had coffee and dessert together. It was fun day with plenty of laughs and interesting conversations.