Author Archives: Mike

Masters Golf Tournament Tips

Here is a follow-up to our original post on our Masters Experience (you can read HERE). While we were planning our trip, some of these tips would have been helpful, so we thought we would share what we learned in 2014 and hope it helps anyone planning a future trip to this amazing place.

Tickets
Ok, so you finally got tickets to the Masters, or are at least thinking about going. If you have been granted the luck and have a ticket, celebrate, you are in the minority! This is one of the hardest tickets in all of sports to come by, and if you have them, you are a lucky Patron for sure. If you do not have tickets, then this is what you can expect. When we started looking about 8 months in advance, we determined what the market value was, and at that time was about $1,500 per tournament day or $5,500 for a 4-day badge. (There are two different types of tickets; “paper tickets” for daily entry, or badges, which are for all four days of the event. The badges are highly regarded, and more difficult to come by, and the person that was granted the badge will most likely want it back after the event.) By the time the tournament week arrived, the prices had dropped a bit, but according to those in the business, it was because Tiger had dropped out. When he decided not to come, tickets fell by at least 20% overnight. Then, the other event for us during our trip was the price changes after the cut. Many of the other big names were out, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson missed the cut, and this dropped weekend prices again by another 20% or so. This could have gone completely the other way if all mentioned would have been in contention, so there is certainly a roll of the dice here when it comes to pricing and when to buy. You just have to accept the fact that you will not be getting a deal and know that you will be paying a lot for a ticket. (But it is so worth it!) As for getting a hold of tickets, there are a few different options:

National ticket vendors. (Stub-hub, Golden Ticket, etc.) This route is the safest, you know you are not buying a fraudulent ticket, and if it is a fake, you have some recourse for the cash you shelled out (They also take credit cards which was nice.) We used these two mentioned above and both were great. You have to pick up your tickets from their local offices, and sometimes return them to them at the end of the day. There is no will-call at the course. Augusta National has a 2,700-foot city law that does not allow for ticket sales within that zone, although we did see a few transaction inside the area, but very few.
Street Vendors. Many vendors are there year after year on Washington Road located on the north side of the course, and the majority have connections to buy and sell tickets. There can be a tiny bit of risk as they may buy a ticket from someone to resell to you, and not know for sure if it is a valid ticket, but fairly safe here again.
Craigslist. This is a total hit or miss, and there are a lot of people out there that are fraudulent, and a few that are legitimate. We did post an ad here needing tickets, and were contacted, you just have to get a feel for who you are dealing with and how much confidence you have in that person. This is the place that some stolen or forged tickets trade hands and we did hear of people being denied entry with faked or stolen tickets. (There is a bar code that is scanned for verification by the entrance staff, just like any other event. But, if a member who purchased the original has had the ticket stolen, they can report it to the staff at Augusta, and they can deny entry to that ticket, so be careful.) Our rule here is that if the person will not meet you face to face, then you are taking a huge risk. Or if the price seems to be ridiculously low, it is most likely too good to be true.

Parking
It is free right across the street, but remember there are a limited number of spaces and those will fill up by 9:00AM or so. If you are later, and lots are closed, there are several smaller pay lots off Washington Road on the north side of the course, expect to pay about $20 or so. Many of these sites are fairly close to Gate #9, the main gate. This gate will bring you into the main practice range, concessions and shopping facility.

Entrance to the Course
There are two gates Patrons use, gate 9 and gate 6. Gate 9 is the main gate on the northwestern side of the course, right near the intersection of Washington Road and Berckmans Road. This gate brings you in past the practice area, into the main store for retail shopping, and right out onto the #1 fairway. It can be busy, especially on weekend days, but people are very courteous and mill about getting their business done as they prepare for the days golf. The other entrance is gate 6, on the southwestern corner again off Berckmans Road. (If you are collecting a ticket from Stub Hub, this is the gate you will want to enter through as their pickup house is on Heath Rd right across from the gate.) This gate also has a retail shop, although a bit smaller, and full concessions. You drop down out of the entrance area onto the course via several paths or stairs, onto holes #15 or #14. Easier access to Amen Corner here, and the back nine is more prevalent. We actually preferred this entrance.

Practice Rounds/Pictures
So now you are in, having secured your ticket, congratulations. There are a lot of places to get to, so be sure to get there early and plan on staying late. For those who are attending a practice round, you can take in your camera, but that is it. Banned items include anything else electronic: NO cell phones, no pedometers, pocketknives, cigar cutters, etc. (Check masters.com for a more complete list.) Some people think the practice rounds are the best, as you get to be much closer to the players, there are seats or standing room that is accessible, and the players are a bit more interactive with the fans, lot less stress. If you are there for a practice round, here are a few areas you might want to get a photo:

Right side of #6 green, just to see how sloped it really is.
#8 fairway crossing, how uphill and blind is that second shot?
Amen Corner, #11 green, and #12 green.
#13 Fairway, and Rae’s creek.
#15 pond in front of the green, either from fairway crossing or grandstand.
#16 green.
#18 crossway looking up fairway just below the tee box.
The huge leaderboard on side of #1 fairway, showing all the players names.
There are also several different “street sign posts” with arrows pointing towards specific holes on the course.

Obviously there are a ton of other areas you can shoot pictures, these are just a few we liked. The next thing to think about is do you want to walk around and follow a player or group, or stay at one hole for a while as the groups come through, or just hang out at the practice area? We did a little of everything and moved around all day, shooting lots of pictures, getting the lay of the land, and taking it all in. And on Wednesday, you can take in the Par-3 contest, which is in the NE corner of the course, and is super-busy because it has grown in popularity over the years. (Most every day there is a pairings sheet you can get when you arrive, and we saw that Arnie, Jack, and Gary were teamed up to play the Par-3 tourney at 3:02PM – and did they have a following!)

Tournament Day Guidelines
First and foremost, get there early! Thursday and Friday rounds will start at about 7:45-8:00AM, and there are some 100 golfers going out those days. You need to see your favorites, so no sleeping in or playing too hard the night before. Saturday and Sunday rounds will start about 10:00AM, but if you are planning on placing a chair at a specific hole, you better be in line to be on the course no later than 7:30AM. The gates will allow you in prior to that, but the course is not open till 8:00AM, and that is when the mad rush, (remember walking only), will occur for prime viewing locations.

Viewing Spots
Below is a list of our favorites, not to say that there aren’t many other great locations, these are just the ones we really liked.
1. #16 green. This was our favorite and we would go back here again if we return. We chose the seated area just up from the pond, with views back to the tee box on #16, across the lake to #15 green, and over towards #6 green. (Some people chose to sit up on the hillside, above the walkway, we felt it was a bit steep and over a long time might not be all that comfortable, but it does help with elevation for better viewing angles up there.) Many will rush in to get their chairs set up just in front on the pond, but we liked up on the high side against the ropes just in front of the walkway.
2. Amen Corner. Everyone wants to sit here and it will be crowded all day as long as there are golfers coming through. We sat 5 rows up parallel to the tee box, but would have preferred to be directly behind the tee box a bit more for better angles of the tee shots, and the approach shots to #11 green. You have to get there early to get a seat set, or just wander in anytime for standing on the hill directly behind the tee box is good too.
3. #2 fairway. On the lower side of the fairway, you can stand or sit and watch the tee shots come down over the hill for the big hitters. Then there is a great angle to watch the approach shots to the green.
4. #18 green. If you can get a seat in the first 18-20 rows directly behind the green, it will offer great views. If you are on the sides, be sure to think about what your angles are when the area is full of patrons, and you have to peer through the “heads” to the green. Also, when the Patrons do stand, how will your sight line change?
5. #13 fairway. You get a great view of the ball coming off the tee. From there, you can see just how sloped the fairway is and what happens if the players do not hit a perfect drive. Then there is the approach; do they go for it in two, or lay up in front of Rae’s Creek tributary? You can see all the way to the green, but you may need some binoculars. Added bonus is that this area is shaded a lot of the day.
6. If you have time, go down to the #10 fairway right side and see if you can find the place Bubba Watson hit the miracle 90-degree hook out of the trees off the pine straw; you will be even more amazed he pulled that shot off when you stand down there and see it for yourself!

Lastly, when you do set up a chair, you can leave it all day and nobody will move it. There is an unwritten rule, and security to enforce it, that your chair is your space and you could be gone elsewhere on the course, to return and have a seat wherever you set it. If you buy the chair from the course, we do recommend it, there is a slot on the back for a business card to signify it is yours. We took it a step further, placing a pink ribbon on the edge of the back, so it was recognizable from the others. We did see a ton of people endlessly searching for their seats after having set them early in the day and not memorizing the exact spot or row they set the chair.

Shopping
You have to get something right? Well you can spend as little or as much as you want, and that is up to you. What we will discuss is the timing. If you are going on a practice round, you can go shopping anytime and do your spending whenever. If it is a tournament round, it is always better early on Thursday and Friday, fewer golfers on the course, less people in the stores. Over the weekend, if you get in early before the golfers tee off, it will be crowded in the shops, but better then than during the play. Later in the day, many times it gets crowded, and later in the tournament some things do start to run out of stock, so if you see something, buy it. Here is the best thing of all; you can ship it home directly from the course, or check it like a coat check and pick it up when you leave, no need to tote it around all day with you, we did this a lot.

What to Bring
We actually bought our own chairs ahead of time at a local store, but in hindsight should have just bought the Master’s chair (only $30 and they are much sturdier and a great souvenir). Sunscreen is a must, but it is also sold at the course and very reasonable. In fact, everything is priced very reasonably at the course. Make sure to wear comfy walking shoes, as you’ll do a lot of it; remember that you may be walking some 6-10 miles on uneven ground. Additionally, we opted for golf attire and hats everyday. Bright colors are a good option so you can spot each other while on the course and maybe even on TV! We were fortunate to have great weather, so we didn’t need a lot of layers. Remember, you can always buy what you didn’t bring in!

Communication
Since cell phones aren’t allowed in, we had to get creative about meeting up with friends since we couldn’t just text each other. There are complimentary phones to use to call people outside the course, but in-person is the only way to communicate with friends inside. Most of the time, our group arrived at different times of the day and we also split up at times to explore in smaller groups. A great meeting spot for us was under the scoreboard behind the #7 green. This was a pretty central spot to meet, not too crowded and you could still watch golf as you waited for your friends to arrive.

We hope this helps for anyone planning on making a trip to the Masters. For some, as it was for us, this is one of the biggest bucket list in sports you can do, and it can be done by everyone, just a bit pricey. We were fortunate to have been there for the whole week and attended 5 days. We met a mother and son who actually sold us a ticket for the Wed. round who had flown in from Coeur d’Alene, ID to Atlanta on Tues, drove to the course on Wed. for the practice round, and then drove back to Atlanta and flew home on Thursday, bucket list trip for sure!

Great Smoky Mountains National Park – 4/18/14 – 4/21/14

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Great Smoky Moutnains National Park, Clingmans Dome (highest point in TN)

We made the short drive, only about 3 hours, over the hills to Knoxville, TN. We checked into the Riverside RV Park in Sevierville, about 30 minutes east of town. We chose this park for one big reason, only about a 30-40 minute drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The RV park was nice and open, and not very crowded, still off-season for many areas.

Our first venture was to downtown Knoxville and to the Univ. of Tennessee. I had read/seen/heard many times that their college football stadium rivaled the UW in beauty, as it was located on a river, much like Husky stadium is located on Lake Washington. As we drove up, I did not get that feeling at all. It is right next to the river, but it is totally enclosed, and there are no river views unless you are on the top row looking out, somewhat of a disappointment. We also stumbled upon a softball game in progress (shout out to Coach Pflu!). We wandered around town for a while, and found a couple of nice little tiny micro-neighborhoods that looked inviting, but for the most part we both thought that the town just felt old. Lots of really old looking brick buildings, not a lot of energy, just a little blah. Plus it was raining, so not a great day for walking around.

Neyland Stadium, Univ. of Tennessee

On Easter Sunday, we headed out to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We thought maybe it would be less crowded, but many others had the same idea. The weather had shifted and it was a gorgeous spring day. We stopped at the ranger station and got a good idea on a couple hikes. Our first stop was an observation tower at Clingman’s Dome, (highest point in the state of TN) a half-mile journey up to the deck. After a fairly steep ascent, we arrived to a 360-degree view of the Smoky’s. Again, a little underwhelming, especially since we have some massive peaks at home in the NW, and we have visited the Rockies in both the USA and Canada, but the Smoky’s are the oldest mountain range in the country and they have eroded a lot over the centuries. We were just on the cusp of spring opening up all the trees, and the views seemed a bit hazy that day, so it does not show well in pictures, but you can’t control mother nature. Actually, we learned that is why they are called the Smoky Mountains, because there always seems to be a haze or smoke surrounding them. Our next stop was a 4-5 mile hike along the Alum Cave Trail. This was very cool, as we started out winding through 12-15 foot high Rhododendrons, unfortunately not yet blooming, for the first mile or so. Eventually we got above the low canopy of Rhodies, and into a bit of elevation with peak-a-boo views through the trees at many of the neighboring mountains (hills). We returned to the car, both a lot more tired than we thought we should be, but this was the first time we have been at any elevation in almost 6 months, and it hit us pretty hard. We headed home for a nice steak dinner and some Abracadabra wine from Brian Carter and slept well!

Our hike followed a beautiful river – notice the Rhodies

Part of the hike involved going through this cave

The Appalachian Trail winds through the park – only 1,972 miles to Maine

The Park spans into both TN and NC

The next day was one for shopping and projects. Traci has been on the hunt for a dress to wear to the Kentucky Derby, and she thinks she finally found one at the Outlet mall that was nearby. I spent much of the morning doing little projects, organizing, and the little maintenance stuff that is never ending. It is funny how we have accumulated so much more than we left with, and the challenge is now finding room to store things. At home, we would take a huge load to Goodwill, but here we are trying to make sure what we do buy is needed, and will be able to be stuffed somewhere into our home on wheels. We head to Nashville next, and then a quick jaunt over to St. Louis, before our trip to the Derby!

The Masters! 4/4/14 – 4/14/14

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Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus & Gary Player at the Par 3 Contest

If you are not a golf fan, this post may or may not be all that exciting for you. But, for the golf fans out there, I will do my best to give you as much as you can handle describing Augusta National and our trip to the Masters Golf Tournament.

Traci and I left Columbia, SC and headed to Augusta, just a short 90-minute drive SW down Hwy 20 into Georgia. We arrived at the Heritage RV Park, about 10 minutes west of town, and the owner Don was there to guide us to our site. We had made reservations with him back in September, as there are very few places to park your RV in or around Augusta. This former mobile home park is being completely renovated and turned into an RV park, and there were lots of areas that had been updated, and others they are working towards getting completed. Don and his staff were working hard to get the park looking good for their busiest time of the year, Masters Week as the locals refer to it. (This whole area had suffered a major hit from an ice storm about 6 weeks prior and many places were still trying to repair the damage to trees.) The site we stayed in was perfect, great satellite reception, a very nice little concrete patio outside, and quiet. After getting set up, Don came by on his evening rounds and sat down and visited with us for what must have been two hours, what a really nice man, can’t say enough great things about him and the park.

Our spot at the Heritage RV Park

When we left Columbia, we hurriedly made a “Need 2 Masters Tickets” sign, hoping to display it in the back of the car for the drive, only to find out it was too big to fit anywhere. We decided to place it in the windshield of the MoHo when we arrived, so that anyone arriving in the park would know we were looking for extra tickets. (We actually got a few ticket offers from the sign, surprisingly.) We had been watching the ticket broker sites for quite some time, and really understood the market, but the prices were just way up there, and basically unreasonable for what was being offered. (A huge thanks to Tiger for not coming, dropped prices by at least 20% immediately, and probably another 25-40% over the week.) The tickets are one of sports most difficult to get, you have to know someone, of someone, of someone, to get one from the Masters directly, or take a chance with a broker or street scalper. We had our work cut out for us, and it was a bit stressful at times not knowing what we were going to have to spend to get in.

Mitch, Sunny, Ann, Jerry, Traci and Me

The first couple days in Augusta, we ran some errands and got the lay of the land where everything was located, in anticipation of the arrival of friends, Sunny and Mitch, her parents Ann and Jerry, and Matt and Nicole. Part of our reason for putting this on our list of stops on the trip was the fact that Sunny and Mitch had been able to get 4 tickets for the tournament through mutual friend connections, so we knew they would be there if we could make it to Augusta ourselves. They all flew into Atlanta, and arrived at Augusta on Monday, the first practice round day. The day was a total wash out, as there were heavy rains, thunder and lightning in the area and eventually a total of 3.5 inches of rain fell by days end. They actually closed the course around noon. We gathered at a house they had rented, and caught up on time spent apart. (Matt and Nicole were not in town yet; they planned on staying west of Augusta for a couple days and golfing before they arrived to the area.)

The main scoreboard – everything is manual

We woke Tuesday to cool but clear skies, and the excitement was starting to build, but Traci and I still needed to find tickets. The practice round tickets were much more reasonable and we had contacted several brokers, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow, so we held out. We did venture to the course and waited around outside to see if anyone leaving would give us a pass to go back in later in the day (along with about 150 other people) to no avail. Bummed that we could not get in, we headed to Hooters for a beer and to wait for a call (no cell phones allowed in the grounds at the Augusta National) from the group to meet up for dinner. John Daly, a great golfer who was not in the tournament this year, and who is sponsored by Hooters, had his motorhome parked just outside selling his merchandise and posing for pictures for those who purchased his wares. We headed out for dinner that night, to my new favorite, Carolina Ale House (see one of our previous posts about the wings here!) and waited for Matt and Nicole to arrive after a day of golfing themselves.

Nicole, Traci & Sunny in front of the 13th green – the pink ladies!

Wednesday was here, the final practice round and the famous Par-3 contest. (During our ticketing search, I had placed an advertisement needing tickets on Craigslist, and we were super lucky to get a reply from a very wonderful lady from Coeur d’Alene, ID who was flying in with her son and had an extra she was willing to sell to us for a great price, thanks Susie!) Eventually we had all secured a ticket for Wednesday, and in we went around 8:45AM. The Masters welcoming committee was in full force. We heard “welcome to the Masters” over and over from the staff and everyone was so friendly. We grabbed a couple of beers and headed out to the course, and on the first hole we came to one of Traci’s all time favorite players, Sergio Garcia right there finishing up on the 13th green, and about to tee off on #14. As we wandered around, everything we had heard about was true. Not a blade of grass out of place, no weeds, fairways that looked and felt like carpet, greens that were so fast you could not believe anyone could actually get a putt or approach to stop, etc. It was amazing how the place lived up to its billing, and even surpassed our expectations in beauty. We were also lucky that due to the cold winter everywhere, the Azaleas and Dogwoods were just starting to bloom; some years they have already finished blooming, but not so for us. We took tons of pictures, many of the golfers themselves and their groups. (Only during the practice rounds are you allowed to bring in a camera, so we took some 400 pictures that day, wishing we would have taken more – see below for link to more pics.) As the day wore on we finally ended up at the Par-3 course and tournament, a huge draw due to the closeness of the patrons and the participants. This is a “fun” event, with many of the player’s kids acting as their caddies, or some celebrities taking the bag for the participants. This was also the time that the big three had a chance to still knock it around a little; Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus. We watched this group, along with about 15,000 others, for a hole and they were entertaining as always. We left the course that evening, and met another group of friends for dinner after securing our tickets for Thursday’s round, all very tired from the days’ excitement of actually walking the hallowed grounds of Augusta National Golf Club! Tomorrow was the Tournament and we had tickets and were going, this was really finally happening!!!

Looking down the 18th fairway

Raking a bunker : )

As we mentioned above, Sunny, Mitch, Ann and Jerry had four tickets for the week. As luck would have it for Traci and I, there were some days that not everyone in their group would attend, so they graciously offered those extra tickets to us. We so appreciate their generosity and a huge thank you to these amazing lifelong friends whom we consider family! And, we got to spend a week with them, and take in the tournament with friends, icing on the cake!

Thursday morning Traci and I got up early and got to the course by 7:45AM, to meet Matt and Nicole and set our chairs for the day. (When you go to Augusta, there are a few decent places to view from grandstands, but most of the “patrons” bring in collapsible chairs, without armrests, and sit at their favorite locations to watch the golfers coming by.) After scouting out the course the day before, we thought it would be fun to try for Amen Corner, an area that is probably the most recognizable 3-hole stretch in all of golf. I figured Thursday being the start of the tournament would be the quietest day here; we scurried down to the 12th hole and set up just 5 rows off the tee box! We could look back over the tee box to #11 green, and see the #13th tee box along with #12 green as well. The #12th hole is the hole that every Masters golf fan knows well, and is said to be the most photographed golf hole in the world, and here we were just 5 rows up, wow! We set our chairs down, and headed out to the course to find some golfers on the early holes. (When you place your chair, it stays there, nobody takes it, or moves it, it is your spot for the day. An unwritten rule that all patrons follow.) We ventured around and watched from several different vantage points, walking UP and DOWN the hills of Augusta National. If you have watched the Masters on TV, you have probably heard the commentary of how hilly this place is, and it is no joke. Every hole has some sort of slope, and there is not a flat lie for the golfers out there. You really have too see it in person to understand just how hilly the course is, making it that much more of a challenge to hit a crisp shot with your feet at all sorts of angles at impact. We returned to our chairs on #12 tee box around 1:30PM, right were we had left them some 5 hours before. Upon arrival, we found one of our chairs was broken; someone had used it while we were away and it was not repairable. (We had bought chairs prior to coming, but in hindsight, we should have just bought the chairs there, they are only $30 and worth it for ease, quality, and you get to keep the souvenir.) I ran up to one of the on-course merchandise stands, and they had one for sale, issue solved, that other hunk of junk was going back to where we bought it. We sat there for the next 4-5 hours, watching all the groups come through, in the heat of the day, staying well hydrated. This area was so busy and fortunately there was a concession stand and restroom facility just behind the grandstand so no issue with getting anything we needed throughout the day. Every concession stand and restroom was busy almost all the time, but Augusta National has created what everyone would call the most well oiled machine ever. No matter how long a line might have looked, concessions, restroom or merchandise sales, it moved incredibly fast, and what would take 30 minutes or more at any other venue, was completed in just 5 minutes, simply amazing. We finally headed out that afternoon after the last group came through and felt like we had done the unthinkable, spent a better part of a day at the most famous golf hole in the world!
A side note about the restrooms: They do not use port-a-potties, but rather nice tiled, spacious restroom buildings all staffed with 4 or 5 employees (some of them took their job in stride and had a great running commentary as you entered.) directing “traffic” and making sure they were stocked and clean. The men’s line was always much longer than women’s; something that Traci loved!

This is the menu – check out the reasonable prices!

Friday brought the second round, and Traci and I arrived early again. We decided that this day would be fun to set up on #18 green, and watch many of our favorites finish their round. We hurried in and set up about 15 rows from the green, with a very good view of the hole. Again we left our chairs and headed out to the course to take in some different views of the course and golfers. We spent a lot of time in the corner of #1 green, #2 tee box, #8 green and #9 tee box. Some good views, a concession area that was somewhat hidden, and just a nice place to take it all in. We also did some shopping. There are two main buildings for buying souvenirs, with one huge one at the main gate 6, and a second smaller one near the gate 9 entrance. One of the great things is they have figured it out again, that many people here are from out of town, and buying a lot of stuff for friends and family. (We met one guy buying for all his men’s club friends at Harbor Point in Mukilteo!) After you are done buying all your stuff, you can ship it home directly from the course and not have to deal with it, or you can check it like a coat check, and pick it up on your way out, very convenient. We returned to #18 green for the afternoon and were there sitting right off the place that so many greats have won a Green Jacket, again this is a moment soon not to be forgotten! Unfortunately a few of our favorites missed the cut, so we would not be seeing them on the weekend (Phil, Serg and Ernie to name a few).

Amen Corner, Hogan Bridge in the background

Throughout the week, we were able to see certain views that we wanted to try and return to, and asked many of the volunteers and security about timing for access to the right seat set up locations. So, Saturday we got to the course at 7:00AM, knowing the gates did not open till 8:00AM, but as they say only the early bird gets the worm. At precisely 8:00AM, the course opened and it was a mad rush of speed walkers (no running allowed!) to get to the prime seating locations. We had decided the day before to go for a view of the #16 green, with look-in views of both the #15 green and the #6 green. Many others had the same idea, and it was quite busy. Everyone around us had a plan, and the front rows filled immediately. Fortunately, we had decided to go for the back row, up against a walkway used for patrons to move between the holes. We had learned from the day before that this walkway was to remain open at all times, no stopping and standing. We set up our chairs with the perfect angle to see everything we had scouted out the day prior. Within 10 minutes, the entire area, designated as a seating only section, was completely filled and the guards were standing by to make sure nobody else tried to reshuffle seats to get one more chair in. (It was amazing how few patrons did try to squirm their way in, if the seating only areas were full, they understood and had to go elsewhere – another unwritten rule.) Seeing’s how it was only 8:15AM, and the first tee time for the day was 10:15AM we headed to the concession stand for a snack and did a little more shopping, why not? As the golf began, we followed a few golfers around, and made it to some of our favorite viewing sites, along the fairway of hole #2, and behind hole #7. We returned to our seats about 2:00PM or so, just in time to see the first group arrive, and proceeded to stay there for the next 5 hours and watched every group come through. I think this was our best day at the tournament. We were situated perfectly and could really see a lot, and take it all in without having to move a great deal. We finally left that evening about 6:30PM, two tired patrons, but oh-so happy!

On the 15th fairway with green behind

Sunday arrived and because we had gone in so early the day before, we slept in an extra 30 minutes, and got to the course about 7:40AM. We hustled to gate 6, the main gate with the intension of setting our chairs at #18 green, along with the rest of the world. By the time we got there, the place was packed, and we had to settle for an area a bit just below the #18 green. I had figured if we were going to do this once, we had to be at #18 green on the last day of the tournament, right? Again, chairs set up, and about 2 hours to kill, so we headed in for our last shopping trip, some breakfast snacks, and wandered back down to #2 green. I think this was our second favorite viewing sight, a small hill off the left side of the green, you could see many of the approach shots down the hill, and we had a good look at the green and all the putting. We stayed down there for about 8-9 groups, and then moved around to later holes, only to hear that Seattle’s own Fred Couples was making a charge early. We followed him for 5-6 holes and the excitement was building, shot by shot. By this time, the course was alive with cheers and roars heard from all over, “who did what on which hole,” everyone was excited! Eventually we returned back to #18 green by 4:00PM as many of the final groups were starting to finish. #18 green was still somewhat quiet, but by the time the last 5-6 groups were arriving, it was packed, so much that we could not see through the heads in front of us and our view was not very good. (Sleeping that last 30 minutes might have hurt us.) We stayed to the end, and watched Bubba Watson win his second Green Jacket, and then walked all the way back down the course to our exit point at gate 9. I was giddy all week, and still am shocked that we got to partake in all of this, 5 straight days at the Masters, one huge bucket list item checked off! And it was so special to be able to spend time and share this experience with our good friends.

Stay tuned for a follow-up post about tips for attending The Masters. It is now posted HERE!

Click HERE for many more pics with detailed captions

(Allow time for them to load in, then click on first one and you can scroll through the album)

March Madness in Raleigh, NC 3/21/14 – 3/25/14

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PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC

We arrived in Raleigh without a reservation. For those of you who know Traci well, this is a long ways out of character for her. We always have reservations at out next destination, usually 3-4 places in advance. We pulled into the NC State Fairgrounds and parked in an open site. It was was first come first serve, and we arrived about 3:00PM after a 5-hour drive from the coast. The place was rustic, but nice and open, and we settled near the back of the campground. It was located just 15 minutes from downtown, huge and well laid out. Some of the events for the weekend included a horse show (which is every weekend), a giant dog show with dogs everywhere, and a weekly flea market with probably 1,000 booths! After paying for our site, we headed over to the PNC Arena (home of the NC State Wolfpack), which was adjacent to the fairground. The first round of March Madness was in full session, and Duke had already been ousted – haha – too bad for the Dukies! The atmosphere was fun with beer gardens, food trucks and big screens everywhere to watch the action. Kind of nice to be around crowds after the ghost town of the OBX. We tried to secure tickets for the Sunday games, but the scalpers were out and not giving any discounts yet, so we headed back to the MoHo for diner and relaxing evening.

The next day we headed downtown, the City Market area. I thought it would be something like the Pike Place Market back in Seattle, but not the case; one small vendor station for produce, a few galleries, and otherwise not a lot more to see. We stopped into a busy place for lunch, and had a really bad service experience, and poor meal, then decided it was time to return to the comforts of our home.

Sunday we relaxed in the MoHo then and decided we would try to get some tickets for the NCAA games that night. Traci really wanted to see ex Coug coach Tony Bennett. We wandered over to the arena, and again the scalpers were way out of line! We had a beer at the outdoor venue, covered from the cold rain, and headed back to the MoHo. Movies and warmth for the night.

NC State, home of Russell Wilson’s first 4 college years

Monday – MY BIRTHDAY – and I wanted to do a pub-crawl for the day. We hit an area just east of town, and found that a lot of places were closed on Monday’s, damn! We enjoyed a great lunch at Natty Green’s, and a good beer or two. The day was nice, but the breweries were not open, so we headed home for me to make some wings and chill, all-around a relaxing good day – beer and wings!

The next day we woke and were tired, just slow moving. We decided to stay another night, and just spent most of the day relaxing in the MoHo. It was cold and rainy. About 3:00PM, we headed out to Chatham Hill Winery, only about 4 miles down the road. Some all right vinos, but not what we are used too on the west coast. We got a tip for a local BBQ around the corner, and got some take out to return to the MoHo. After a quick meal, we walked the 15 minutes back to the PNC arena and scalped some great seats for the nights NHL game, Carolina Hurricanes vs. NY Islanders. The game was entertaining, Traci’s first NHL game, with the home team giving up 4 goals in the first 12 minutes, but scraping their way back to a 5-4 defeat; a cold walk back to the MoHo, a late night, and on to bed. (Cold weather was now back, lows in the upper 20’s — we sure miss the Florida Keys!) Tomorrow we head to Charlotte, and the trudge towards Augusta is in sight!

NHL Hockey game

The OBX of North Carolina – 3/15/14 – 3/20/14

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Outer Banks, NC – Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound

We arrived at Camp Hatteras Campground on Saturday after a 7-hour drive, longer than we like, but fairly easy overall. When we pulled in, we were allowed to pick our exact site, again a feature we really enjoy. With some 200+ sites to choose from and only 8 of them occupied we had the run of the place to ourselves. We had gone from overcrowded to a ghost town! We originally wanted to find a site on the Sound side of the land. (This area is a really narrow set of islands off the coast of North Carolina known as the Outer Banks or OBX and the park had sites on both the ocean and the sound side of the island.) We had just left a site in Myrtle Beach really close to the ocean, so thought the sound side might be a little different, maybe even we could kayak from our site? So, we looked at both areas, and chose the sound side as originally planned; the beach side sand dune was just a bit too high for us to really enjoy the view from that area. After setting up, we headed over to the beach to take a quick walk before the sunset over the sound right outside our MoHo site kicked in to full gear. We got out the chairs, DreamTurf, and cocktails and sat back and enjoyed the evening.

The park is empty! We had the best spot in the park.

Sunset on our first night

The next morning we decided to head for a drive south towards Cape Hatteras, as the weather was supposed to turn that afternoon and we wanted to get in the area before the rain arrived. This 35-mile drive was quiet, with sand dunes on the east side and the sound on the west side. Along the route, we took in the locations for our time here: grocery store, restaurants, etc. We stopped at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, although the building was closed, we took some pictures and continued on further south. We got to the end of the road, a little shopping village just outside the ferry terminal. (NC has a small ferry system for traveling in and around the OBX.) The ferry sounded fun, but it was getting windy so we stayed in the village and did a little shopping. (The ferries stop running in high wind so didn’t want to get stuck.) The thing about this area is that it is in the off season, most stores are closed or just putting out this years new inventory, and almost all restaurants are still closed for the winter. (I found an open store and bought a kite, thinking of you Mom.) We did find a little spot called the Oceanic Bistro, had a late lunch/early dinner with a ton of locals, and then headed back to the MoHo. We stopped at the grocery store, and loaded up for the week, specifically getting makings for my homemade spaghetti sauce. When we got back, I got started on the sauce; we chilled in the MoHo, and hit the hay early. That night the weather rolled in as expected, and about 3:00AM I got up and stowed the satellite, felt it was just too windy and did not want to cause any damage that could be prevented.

Cape Hatteras lighthouse

Happy St. Patty’s!

We both had a poor nights sleep; the wind and rain were non-stop. It is really loud in the MoHo when the weather kicks up. The roof of the MoHo does a great job of keeping us dry, but not stopping any of the sound, so it can get loud in the rain. Then, with the 25+ MPH winds, which shakes the rig as well as whistles through the slide toppers (the MoHo has four slide outs we extend when we set up to give us more living space, and each one has a “topper” to protect it from rain trickling in through these areas) there was little sleep going to happen. We got up and it was St. Patrick’s Day! We enjoyed a couple of green beers around noon in the MoHo, and then we headed out in the afternoon to find an open bar to see what might be going on in town. We arrived at the only open location, which had a green beer special, and had an appetizer. This place had a TV dedicated to the Kite Surfing that has made this place a top destination for these dare devils, and their property was the site that many people “launch” from out into the sound. We returned to the MoHo for the spaghetti that had been in the crockpot overnight and enjoyed a great dinner and wine. That night, there was still no let down in the weather, so we both put in earplugs to try and get some rest, and it worked. (I wear them a lot, as many of you know, I have bionic hearing and it is tough to sleep at times especially if there is a sleeping bear purring next to me.)

The next day was the same, 20-25 MPH winds and tons of rain. We hunkered down in the MoHo, only venturing out to get a couple of DVD’s at the Red Box about 17 miles away and returning to just stay out of the weather. Being a native of the Northwest, this was the first time in my life I could ever remember wind like this, non-stop. At home when it is windy, usually it is gone within 12-18 hours, maybe a bit longer, but only in a huge storm and then it is still short lived. This was now day three, and it had not let up a bit! We also now were under a gale warning, small craft advisory, a coastal flood watch, along with a high tide warning on the sound, which is about 20 feet from the back of the MoHo. Mother Nature was fully in charge and we were getting a bit of cabin fever. We did venture over to the beach a couple times to watch the waves, but we just do not have the rain gear for this type of weather, so staying in was our only choice. We watched many movies!

Wednesday the wind eased up a bit, and I felt safe putting the satellite back up. We headed out as the day was forecast to be decent, and went north to Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and the northern beaches of the OBX. We stopped first at the Wright Brothers Memorial, site of the first powered flight. This was a bucket list place for me, not high on the list, but still something I was not going to miss on this trip. After years of trials, they finally achieved the first man-powered flight in 1903! The interesting thing about the area is the memorial tower erected to their achievement. It sits atop a huge sand dune, some 80-90 feet off the mainland. But, the memorial was dedicated and built 25 years after the flight, and in that time, the dune had moved southwest some 450 feet. Again, Mother Nature was in charge here and I thought it amazing that wind and rain could move that much land in such a short period of time. The weather was finally clear so we got some good pictures and really enjoyed this stop. Later that afternoon, we made our way to the Outer Banks Brewing Station for lunch. We had seen this on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives and the tip was well worth the stop. Beers were good, Traci had a great wrap and some fried Okra, and I had ½ a pound of steamed shrimp and some wings, very tasty! We retuned to the MoHo, and the wind was finally gone, completely calm for the first time since we arrived 5 days ago! It lasted for about 30 minutes, then the showers returned, drove us inside, and we settled in for the night. (About 2:00AM the heavier winds returned and the ear plugs went back in and another uneasy night of sleep.)

Wright Brothers Monument

The Monument from afar

Replica of the first plane

From Traci to the first marker in the background is the distance of the first flight- approx. 128 feet

We woke the next morning and the wind was still pushing 10-12 MPH, but the skies had cleared and the rain was not forecast for at least a couple days, so we finally got a chance to dry out! (Again, it could be a lot worse, if we were inland some 200 miles, we would have been dealing with sleet and ice for the last few days, and much colder temps, so I have to look on the bright side.) As it was the first day of spring, some cleaning was in order, and then the beach. We headed out and set up the chairs, brought out the cooler, and sat out on the ocean side of the camp ground and just watched the waves crash. There were only a handful of others out (including a few surfers), still the off-season. We enjoyed a couple of cold ones, tried to fly a kite – no wind now of course – and I did a bit of fishing in the ocean, unsuccessfully with the big waves. We headed back to MoHo later in the afternoon and sat out and watched the sun disappear into the sound, pretty spectacular. We so wish this was every night, but as clearly stated earlier, Mother Nature only lets you see this when she wants to. We head inland to Raleigh tomorrow and won’t see the ocean again for about a month.

Ocean fishing!

Mike’s new kite

Historic Charleston – 3/5/14 – 3/9/14

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USS Yorktown and Ravenel bridge, Charleston

We arrived to the Oak Plantation Campground after a wet drive up from Hilton Head, only about a 3-hour trip. The place was nice, and we got set up and spent the rest of the day inside, bit wet and cold out.

The next day we decided to head into downtown Charleston and scheduled a pub-crawl with one of the local tour companies. It took us about 45 minutes to find a place to park, as there are very few centrally located lots that will accommodate our car with the kayaks on top, mostly only low clearance garages here. The weather was still bad; a cold rain that felt like home, we both had trouble finding adequate clothing to keep us warm and dry. We visited 5 bars, and got some great history on the town, but the tour was just a nice guy walking us from place to place, so it seemed a bit lacking on excitement. We headed back to the MoHo, and crashed early.

Mad River Bar, an old church – only in the “Holy City” of Charleston!

Typical architecture in downtown area, Charleston

We returned to Charleston a couple days later and the weather had finally turned decent. What a difference a few days can make! This city has such a great walkable downtown area, we were glad we had the chance to see it when it wasn’t raining. We scheduled a tour of the harbor on a 90-minute boat cruise. The tour guide gave great insight as to the role this area played in the Civil War, especially the major forts in the area. We got close up to Fort Sumter, right at the entrance to the harbor, and it seemed so small, yet was very significant in its roll in the 1860’s. We cruised the area and saw lots of dolphins under and around the boat. We passed right by Patriots Point, the resting place for the USS Yorktown. A mighty WWII aircraft carrier that was built during the war, and renamed the Yorktown after the original ship sank in 1942 at the battle of Midway. We continued on and stopped under the largest cable-stay bridge in the country, a mighty sight and great marvel of engineering. When we returned to town, we wandered around and took in the architectural sites of this old town, originally founded in 1670. The buildings here are really beautiful, each one with its own charms and character, before ending up at dinner. We walked in and got a seat in the bar at Poogan’s Porch. We had heard from many that this was a great place to eat (not to mention it is haunted as are many of the old buildings here), so we felt lucky to get in and find a table without any reservations. For the foodies out there, Charleston has a great reputation for awesome restaurants, and this place was perfect. Traci had the buttermilk-fried chicken, and I had the Quail appy and Shrimp dinner, everything was perfect. All topped off with a nice bottle of vino, and this was one of our favorite dinners of the trip so far.

Ft. Sumter, first shots fired of the Civil War

On our boat tour, Ft. Sumter in background

USS Yorktown, a WWII era aircraft carrier

Arthur Ravenel bridge, largest cable-stay bridge in the country

Traci loved the houses with the big front porches

Battery Street in downtown Charleston, a promenade of mansions

The next day we headed to the beach on Folly Beach, about 40 minutes south of the campground. This was a little beach town, that was not too busy yet, but it could be crazy in the summer season I am sure. We grabbed some sandwiches, and took our beach chairs out to the coast and took in some cool sunshine, only about 63 degrees and a bit breezy. We returned to the MoHo and ate dinner, sitting outside and watching golf around a fire and getting ready to head to our next destination tomorrow, Myrtle Beach.

3 – 2 – 1 – Liftoff! 2/20/14 – 2/23/14

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Kennedy Space Center

We left Jacksonville and did a bit of backtracking southbound to our next stop in Titusville, just NW of the Cape Canaveral area. We arrived at the Great Outdoors RV Nature and Golf Resort, checked in and set up in our site. This is a nice park, but it is way too huge for us. There are over 1,500 sites here, and there are a lot of different types of sites, many with permanent structures and mostly residents. There is an 18-hole golf course running through the property, and with that comes a ton of golf carts, so many that it is a constant noise and you have to watch out for these cruising seniors if you are out walking on the streets. Again, we felt like the youngest ones there.

The big reason for our backtracking was to be in in the area for a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. After we were set up, we headed to Port Canaveral, just south of the Kennedy Space Center. At 8:59PM a Delta IV rocket launched into the night to deliver a next generation GPS satellite to an altitude of some 11,000 miles! Although the wind was blowing, taking with it much of the sound, we felt the power of this massive giant heading into the stars, an awe inspiring event that we were super lucky to witness in person. I had looked into the launch schedule way ahead of time, and thus our reason for returning to the area to experience something I would have never thought possible.

Rocket prior to launch from our viewpoint

This is the rocket taking off. This is the best our camera could capture it.

The next day we headed back to the area, and visited the Kennedy Space Center. This is a massive 140,000-acre facility. It is designated a Natural Wildlife Refuge for the local animals; black bears, panthers, 21 Bald Eagle nests, turtle and tortoises, and some 5-6,000 alligators. There is a lot of land here, but the main attraction is the launch pads used over the last 50-plus years for putting everything you can think of into space. We started our day at the visitors center, and toured the rocket park, an area that displays about a dozen different rockets from various times in history. Next, we headed out on a bus tour for about 90 minutes, passing by one of the massive rolling launch creepers that deliver the various rockets to the individual launch pads. Next stop on the tour we headed to the Saturn 5 display. This is the largest rocket in NASA’s fleet of projectiles and it is so massive you can’t imagine that it could have flown into space. (Thanks KR for the recommendation). Returning to the main visitor’s center, we headed to the IMAX theater and got lucky enough to time it right to catch two great 3-D films, the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. (Very cool movies, especially in 3-D). We left the movie theater and wandered over to the Atlantis display. This is where one of the remaining shuttles is displayed and you can realize the size of these vehicles, again awe struck with the size of what we sent into space some 137 times over a 30 year period. Ending our visit here we participated in the Shuttle Launch Simulator. You get to take a simulated ride, developed by the shuttle astronauts, on what an actual launch felt and sounded like. For those of us old folks that do not do a lot of amusement park rides, this was pretty cool. Some 6 hours later, we had finally finished our tour and headed home for dinner back in the MoHo and a relaxing evening.

Actual walkway used by Apollo 11 astronauts

Vehicle Assembly Building - this is where they build 'em. The stars on the flag are 6 feet across and the blue part of the flag the size of an NBA basketball court

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) – this is where they build ’em! The stars on the flag are 6 feet across and the blue part of the flag is the size of an NBA basketball court. This gives you a feel for how big this building is!

One of the launch pads

This thing transports the rockets from the VAB to the launch pad. Maxes out at 2mph.

Saturn V up close & personal! Check out those thrusters!

Saturn V – 363 foot rocket! How does this thing make it off the ground?!

Space Shuttle Atlantis – massive!

Our last full day, we basically just hung out at the MoHo and caught up on the Olympics. The rain and thundershowers had returned and it was nice just to veg out in our home on the road and do absolutely nothing. Today we head to Hilton Head Island, SC for the next 9-10 days and hopefully some good golfing weather and courses. We passed right by the Daytona Race Track hosting the Daytona 500 at 1pm EST. Originally we were planning to go to this, but we decided against as it just didn’t fit into the schedule or budget. In hindsight a good call because we would NOT want to have the MoHo there with the tornado warnings and severe weather in the region. Maybe the next time around…

This is the Daytona Race Track exit at 9:30am. Just over the light post you can see the corner of the race track grandstands.

This is the Daytona Race Track exit at 9:30am (snapped from the moving MoHo). Just below the light post you can see the corner of the grandstands.

Alligators, Turtles and No-see-ums, Oh My! – 12/31/13 to 1/6/14

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Everglades, FL

We headed out of St. Petersburg and kept going further south on the Gulf coast of Florida. We drove about 3 hours to the town of Ft. Myers Beach, about an hour north of Naples. We arrived at the Gulf Waters RV Park, and checked into site #855 on a private little lake. This was another great resort, tennis and pickle ball courts, a big clubhouse with a pool off to one side, and the best part of all – huge wide sites to park on. We set up and headed over to the beach, across the only bridge in and out of the area, and it took some time with all the traffic. We pulled over and took some pictures, walked on the white powdery sand, I got my Florida fishing license at the local marina, then we decided to head home and make tacos for New Years Eve. A quiet night in sounded pretty good. We made it up to 11:00PM, and that was it, not bad for us!

Ft. Myers Beach – New Year’s Day

The next day we wandered back to the beach, and after searching for parking for 45 minutes, finally found a free spot in a city lot, as it was New Years Day. We went out to the beach and it was crazy how many people were out enjoying the sun, it was only 78 degrees! Grabbed a beer for a walk on the beach and then went to a little hole in the wall bar for more beverages and some food. We hung out and people watched for a while, then it was time to get back to the MoHo for the Rose Bowl and some real food – Chicken Wings! We enjoyed the days’ college football bowl games and turned in early. This area would be a great place to spend more time, but we were on a schedule to get to our next spot.

The next morning, we left Ft. Myers Beach and headed to Everglades City, about a 2 1/2 hour drive, just the kind of distance I like! Along the drive, we were surprised by a road sign we saw frequently, “Warning – Panther crossing.” We have all seen the deer signs and elk crossing signs, but Panthers? We did not see any along the route, but it did peak our interest. We arrived at the Everglades Isle RV Resort around noon. When we pull in to most parks, we stop at the front to check, as we did here. We went into the office, and immediately realized this was not your average RV park. The office was just a tiny little corner of the massive clubhouse. After checking in, getting the MoHo set up, we wandered the grounds of the park. The clubhouse had it all; a full service bar, open nightly for happy hour at 4:30PM, nice shower facilities with complimentary towels, free laundry, a well-equipped gym, a movie theater and a nice little spa. The outdoor pool and hot tub were just off the main clubhouse, and there was a small mini service bar out there as well and a boat ramp. This place was top of the line. We returned to the MoHo and our site was perfect. We faced the Barron River, just 10 feet from the front of the rig. There were airboats coming and going up and down the river constantly, and tons of pelicans everywhere. Our site was one of the best we have stayed in yet. Plenty of room; very deep so we could set up anywhere on the pad and not feel too cramped, and very wide so we could put out our Dream Turf – the artificial grass we carry along with us. The only problem we could find here, were the No-see-ums. If you haven’t experienced these before, they are like mosquitos but worse because you can’t see them. Their bites turn into little red spots and they itch like crazy. We both got our fair share of bites. We relaxed for the afternoon and headed up to happy hour at 4:30PM and we were greeted by the bartender Sandy. She was staying just a couple sites down from us, and was working her first night behind the bar by herself, and she was perfect. We enjoyed getting to know her each night at happy hour and hope to meet up with her and her husband Gene this summer in NY. We headed back to the MoHo for dinner and catching up on some college football games.

Sandy, our Happy Hour bartender

The next day we decided to take an airboat ride with Speedy’s. We got on board, and the driver took us back into the Mangroves, which are the main foliage here in this part of the Everglades. We meandered slowly through the tight, little, narrow passageways. Each turn it seemed like the route was getting tighter, but the captain knew his way. Then, he decided he had given us enough time to get used to the feel and sound, and he finally hit the throttle, and we are suddenly whizzing through the Mangroves! We emptied out into an open area and the captain did a full 180 and we stop on a dime! OK, now this was what we were expecting. We sped in and out of the Mangroves and grasslands for the rest of the one-hour tour, and then returned to the dock. It was pretty windy and cold, so no alligator sightings unfortunately. We headed back to the MoHo, headed up to happy hour and ended the night with dinner in the quiet comfort of our home.

Airboat ride through the Mangroves

We were bundled for the ride!

The next morning I headed down to the bait and tackle shops in town. I had been fishing off the dock in front of the MoHo when I have had time, and I was needing to replace some gear and find out how and what to use locally. (All my fishing gear is based on the trout/salmon fishing in the Northwest, not what is used here in Florida). I returned and headed out on the dock, and just had a relaxing morning, and yes I did catch a couple Sheepshead. That day was cool, and the forecast was spot on, as the rains started around 11:00AM and it poured most of the rest of the day. We did a few chores around the MoHo, Traci got a massage at the spa, and then we headed to happy hour to watch the early NFL playoff game in the clubhouse. We headed to a local restaurant for dinner. Everglades City has about a dozen restaurants, and we were getting lots of info from our fellow RV park neighbors on what was good. Well, we missed that night, dinner was not worth finishing, let alone bring any leftovers home, oh well.

Fishing from our RV spot

Sunday we woke and it was much better weather. We relaxed in the AM and headed to a Cuban restaurant for lunch, just down the road in the next little town of Chokoloskee, another recommendation. For the afternoon, we opted for a drive one our neighbors had told us about to see some alligators. We turned off Hwy 41 onto Turner River Road. There was a viewing dock set up for people to watch for alligators, birds, etc. We walked out on the dock, and there was not much to be seen, except for a ton of fish in a little wetland. (The Barron River we were staying on is very dark in color, as it mixes with the tides and the Mangrove leaves. These leaves stain the water a brown color, much like a tea bag, and it never is clear to see into). It was nice to see into some water, and actually see the fish swimming and all the plant life. We walked the length of the dock and thought we could see a small alligator off in the distance, but were not sure. Across the road about 50 yards, there were a few people making a bit of noise, so I headed over to see what was going on. Low and behold, there was a gator over there. I peered down to the area people were pointing, and this dude was huge! I would guess it was 13-14 feet in length, and that is no fish tale! (One lady nearby said she was a lifelong Floridian and had not seen one that big ever!) I positioned myself around the monster for some great pictures, keeping a safe distance, using the comfort of a bridge to view him sunning himself in the warm afternoon heat. We returned to the car and headed north on Turner Road. Alongside the road was a canal/river. We saw hundreds of gators, dozens of turtles, and all sorts of huge birds. Many of the animals were just sitting on the rivers edge, as if they were posing for us, pretty amazing how much wildlife was here. We completed the 17-18 mile drive and headed back to the RV park, a great side trip and can only thank our fellow RV park neighbors for the inside tip.

This guy was at least 13 feet

Turtles!

Kind of eerie how they float atop the surface

Gator party! Funny, that the one guy was just laying on top of the others

The next day, I did some fishing for a couple hours, Traci relaxed at home getting some of her to-do’s done and then we headed out for the afternoon. We never used the kayaks here, as the Barron River had some serious current, and we had talked to another couple that had actually become trapped by the current and not able to return to there vehicle. They had to flag someone down to help get them back to their car, so we decided to stay off the water. We went to the Everglades National Park and took a guided boat tour of the 10,000-island area, just between the coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The captain and narrator gave us a lot of good information on the water/landscape. We got all the way through and out to the gulf, and were greeted by several dolphins feeding and playing. This was a great way to see this area, especially if you do not have your own boat. We returned to town, and headed to a late lunch/early dinner. We went to Camellias, another local place recommended by our neighbors. This was the best meal we had in town, by a long shot. We both were craving hamburgers, and they were prepared perfectly. Washed the food down with some ice cold beers and it was a great ending to the day…talk about a “cheeseburger in paradise!” We returned to the RV park, and headed up for our last happy hour. It turned out to be the busiest night yet and we stayed for a couple hours, chatting with the rest of the RV park guests that came up that night. We headed back to the MoHo and turned in early as we were heading to Key West tomorrow for the next 15 days, one of our most anticipated destinations on our journey!

p.s. Traci & I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! May 2014 be a great one!

Pelicans in Everglades National Park

Dolphins playing

On our boat ride through the 10,000 islands

Kicking back at Camellia’s, Everglades City

Everything is big in Texas – 12/7/13 – 12/17/13

Grand Canyon and Sedona – 10/25/13 – 11/4/13

6 Replies

Grand Canyon!

Hello all, sorry for the lack of posting, we have been all over the place and just got behind on our duties. We left the Phoenix area and headed north about 100 miles to a place called Camp Verde. A small little town on Hwy. 17, that is not visible from said highway, but has a really nice park, the Distant Drums RV Park, right across the street from their casino. We picked this area as it was close to the Grand Canyon, and we did not want to take the MoHo up there with the cold temps at night below 25 degrees! We arrived on a Friday, nice weather and we got set up for our stay – anticipating about 12 days here.

Saturday we headed into Sedona, only about 30 minutes away. If you have not been there, get there! This place is truly amazing, the colors are difficult to capture with a camera, and the landscaping is spectacular. We went through town to try a hike 30 minutes north in the Oak Creek Canyon, but the parking area was packed and there was no way to get in. We returned to town, drove around a bit and found a nice place for a late lunch/early dinner. A Mexican restaurant, I had to see the Tequila list. There it was…a sampling of 4 Don Julio Tequila’s, Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and the one I have wanted to try, 1942. The wait was well worth it, the 1942 was so smooth and buttery, I was really surprised how much different it was, so glad I did the tasting. We took a few more photos and headed home for the night.

Don Julio Tequila Tasting – it came in this cool carrier

Sunday we packed up for two days for the Grand Canyon. We thought it was about 2 hrs drive up, so we would do the Canyon, come down about 30 minutes, grab some cheap motel and return the next day. We got to the park about 10:30AM and stopped in the visitor center to determine what would be a good hike for the day. We decided on one that required a shuttle drive out and back. So we geared up and headed to the site. (So far we had not seen the Canyon.) Along the way, we finally got some peaks into the Grand Canyon, and it is massive! We got to the drop off site, and immediately headed down, down, down. The hike we chose was about 1,000-foot drop and return back up. It was steep and steady, and we were dreading the return up almost as soon as we hit the trail. After about 45 minutes of going down, we came to an overlook that was truly breathtaking – Ooh Aah Point. We stopped here for pictures and just sat on the edge for about 20 minutes. (We could hear some equipment working below, so we decided this was a great spot to just return to the rim.) Heading back up, we had many stops to catch our breath, but so worth the hike. We returned to the shuttle stop and missed our bus, so we hiked across the rim to the next one about a mile away. So peaceful, as there were not a lot of people here at this time of year, we felt like we had the rim trail to ourselves. We got on the next shuttle, and headed to the west end of the park area. Here we again walked a mile or so across the rim, stopping at several lookouts and to take pictures. One spot had a naturalist with a couple high-powered scopes, focusing on a California Condor nest in the canyon wall. We never saw the babies, but there were some in the nest. Further along, I thought we could see one off in the distance, and now knowing that their wingspan is over 10 feet, I am sure of it. It was just so far off that we could barely get a picture with the telephoto lens, but it was a huge bird nonetheless. We returned to the visitors area and decided we had seen everything we needed to so we abandoned our plan for a motel and headed back the two hours to home. (The next day was forecast for high winds and cooler temps, and we did not really have a lot of clothes to combat those conditions.)

Grand Canyon “selfy”

Mike a bit too close to the edge

Monday turned out as forecasted, high winds and cool, so we were glad we chose to go back to the MoHo. We decided to explore the Camp Verde area, and headed to Montezuma’s Castle, a Native American cliff ruin just across the highway from us. (Thanks Charlotte for the recommendation.) This is one of those places you only see on Nat Geo, mud walls and old timbers holding onto a wall, and some 700 years old. It baffles me how they could find a location and then have the engineering skills to pull it off and make it habitable, but also so long lasting, truly skilled beyond their time. We then headed into Camp Verde town and did a few errands, including paying the NAPA auto guy $12 cash to replace an overly corroded battery terminal on the MDX. What a bargain – this would never happen in a big city! Home that night for dinner and relaxing.

Montezuma’s Castle

Tuesday we headed to Cottonwood, about 30 minutes NE. As we entered town, it had all the stuff of a small city, the big box stores, grocery’s, etc. When we got to the west side and old town, it had a small little quaint street and all antique shops and tourist stuff. We walked the street and checked out all the neat stuff; one place had 2 acres of antiques. We came back late that afternoon and headed over to the casino across the way. A small place, quiet and clean, but not a lot going on so we headed back home to the MoHo soon thereafter and chilled.

Wednesday the weather got better, so we headed back to Sedona. Our first stop was the church on the hill, Chapel of the Holy Cross. Somehow the engineers of the church were able to carve a building right into the hillside, how I do not know. It overlooks the area with a very beautiful view all around, a neat place that is open to the public and very worth the stop. Next, we had wanted to walk the Tlaquepaque market area. We parked in the square and wandered the shops and galleries. I could have dropped some serious cash here, some of these artists are very talented and their prices reflected it. (My mom would have needed a trailer to haul her purchases home if she had ever had a chance to go there.) After a couple of hours here, we ended up at the local brewery, what a shocker! Dinner and a beverage and we headed back to the MoHo.

View of Sedona from the church

The colors are amazing!

Thursday we just relaxed, did nothing. We both packed for the weekend and just felt good to not be on the run. Friday I took Traci to the Phoenix airport for a flight home to Seattle. There was a service for her Uncle Hal who had passed away two weeks prior, and it was important for her to be there. I stayed in Phoenix at our friends the Clines for the weekend. I spent a lot of time fishing on their private lake in their neighborhood. Saturday I went golfing with my former employer Bob and his close friend Gordy. We had a great time, better conversations, and finished the night back at Gordy’s for a few laughs and beverages. Sunday I fished, and watched the Seahawks almost choke again, only to pull it out in OT. (I had two great meals at local wing joint, Hurricane Grill and Wings!) Monday I headed back to the airport to pick up Traci from her weekend at home, and we headed back to Camp Verde where we left the MoHo for the weekend. We returned to the MoHo, and our power was out, again. We had been dealing with it failing a few times the last 10 days or so and were not sure if it was the local box here at the park, or our MoHo. Monday night, we lost power completely, and I could not get it reset. It turns out our plug connector was loose inside, and completely melted the inside of the plug! Glad it was only that, it could have been much worse, affecting much of our electronics. The local ‘RV Medic’ came out and repaired it for us. Tuesday we head out towards Lake Mead, and then on to Vegas for the weekend for our friend Shelly’s bday celebration!

Mike’s fishing hole – the Cline’s backyard

More Sedona pics HERE
More Grand Canyon pics HERE

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More Sedona pics HERE More Grand Canyon pics HERE

More Sedona pics HERE
More Grand Canyon pics HERE