The “Maine” Event
Another adventure is in our books! A 3100 mile, round trip to Maine and back to celebrate with my son Robert and his wife Steph, as they finally get the wedding party of their dreams. A 3 year wait for them, that included 2 years of cancellations due to Covid, a real wedding by the lake on Zoom, and finally getting to have all their friends and family gather for the “Maine Event” as they reaffirmed their vows to each other. I’m so grateful Jim and I got to be there.
Our trip started out like others we have already had. Driving across the state of Florida to the East Coast. A 291 mile trip takes us to our first stop in Kingsland, Georgia. It’s very hot here on the coast. Upwards of 95 degrees, which will continue until we reach the cooler climate in Maine. First stop, Jacksonville North/St. Mary’s KOA.
Continuing on, our next stop is Dillon, South Carolina. 312 miles, we arrive at South of the Border. I’ve wanted to stay at this campground since we stopped here to sightsee on one of our previous trips. A blast from the past, this place is a theme park, so to speak, which obviously has seen better days. You can’t help but see it’s entrance. There, stands a 140 foot mascot called Pedro, who dons a huge sombrero. It is Pedros caricature that adorns all the silly billboards along the highway. 70 years ago, this place started as a beer stand and a grill. It grew over the years to include a Mexican restaurant, a motel, a post office, a miniature golf coarse, a golf cart track, and a RV campground. A huge fireworks store was added, Mexican chingadera shops, and a reptile farm.
We were both a bit disappointed in our stay here, mostly due to poor customer service. If you know us, we are big on customer service. Our first impression with check in was really bad and it definitely put a damper on our attitudes.
Oh well, live and learn. Won’t stop here again!
Onward and upward, 308 miles to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Our campground on this night Was the Fredericksburg/Washington DC South, KOA. I like KOA campgrounds. They are usually very clean and have nice pull thru sites. They also have pools, and in this heat, that is a huge bonus!
On our trip to California, I’m sure you saw me making tissue paper sunflower for Veronica’s birthday party. On this trip, I was making tissue paper flower centerpieces for Robert and Stephs’ rehearsal dinner and subsequent cocktail hour and the Sunday brunch at the hotel.
This project kept me busy as we trudged the road.
Day 4. Destination, Clarksboro, New Jersey. 190 miles and one hour of stress as we drove through New York and crossed the George Washington bridge. Ugh! Lots of traffic and nail biting moments. It’s really no joke when you drive this area in a 32 foot RV towing a car. You can’t just change lanes very fast and there are many exits you must take or you will end up in trouble. We’ve done this interchange before, in the opposite direction, missed an exit and ended up on a sketchy street in the Bronx. We thought we were going to get car jacked or killed! So, I had to keep my eyes peeled and they to help Jim navigate our way through safely.
Never again will we go this way to get up North. In fact, we will go out of our way on the way home so we don’t have to go through New York!
Next day takes us to Moose Meadow Campground in West Willington, Connecticut. We literally had a whole field to ourselves and a very quiet night with No wifi and zero tv channels. I grilled us up some dinner and we called it a night very early.
Our final leg of this journey takes us to North Hampton, New Hampshire. We will stay out here for 4 days. It is a really nice place. Clean and comfortable. We had a nice spot.
Let the festivities begin-
Over the weekend there would be four parties to attend. A few years back when the kids were planning their wedding, most everything had been arranged and paid for. This was to be a destination wedding with friends and family coming from all over the United States and abroad. Then COVID reared it’s ugly head and shut it all down. Vendors, already booked and paid for had to be canceled, with many of them not offering monetary refunds, but offering to hold the payments until the world became a safer place. Over that period of time, something’s had to be reworked by both Rob and Steph, and her mom Abby.
Ultimately, the original wedding venue had to be changed from a bluff overlooking the water to a restaurant. The rehearsal dinner that Jim and I were hosting got changed to the Portsmouth Sheraton Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where there would also be a cocktail -dessert party and the after wedding brunch.
Friday night, we hosted the closest friends and family to a nice dinner. The centerpieces turned out nicely and the food was really good. After, everyone was invited to a really nice party in the same room hosted by Abby. There were about 75 people total invited to their wedding. I know Robert and Steph were so happy to see the labors of their love come to fruition!
The Wedding
June 18,2022
Our campsite was about 30 minutes from Kittery, Maine, where the wedding was to take place. We met up with Robert, Steph, Abby, Steph’s brother Brendon and Robert’s Dad at the venue and took a Limo Shuttle over to Fort McClary State Historic Site at Kittery Point, Maine. This was the place that they were going to get married at but now turned into the place for formal family photos. We obviously don’t have those pictures from the photographer yet, but here are some from our phones.
An interesting thing happened while we were there. The folks you see in the background were having a revolutionary type reenactment type day. It was cute to see the kids interact with them and they were nice enough to take photos with them. During this time we heard a HUGE explosion. We thought it might have been a cannon of some sort, but then we witnessed a huge plume of black smoke over the water. We learned later that it was a 72 foot motoryacht that blew up! This is one of the photos that the photographer took of Rob and Steph. It’s her writing to them on the photo.
This is an Epic Photo that I’m sure will bring great memories in the years to come. Personally I can’t wait to see more!
After these photos, we took the limo to the wedding venue. The View at Pepperrell Cove, is a lovely venue that overlooks Piscataqua River, in Portsmouth Harbor, Kittery, Maine. Such a beautiful site. Robert and Stephs’ decorations and the ambiance was amazingly beautiful.
72 people were invited to the wedding. From near and far, this was definitely a destination wedding. Friends and family came to celebrate their special day. The pre wedding cocktail hour was downstairs at the View. The hors d'oeuvres served were amazing. Stuffed mushroom caps, tomatoes and mozzarella skewers, a beautiful Charcuterie table with a wonderful assortment of cheeses, meats and fruits, and to top it off, lobster rolls!
After, in the same room, Robert and Stephanie reaffirmed their wedding vows. They read the vows they said to each other last year by the lake and added a few beautiful touches as they brought themselves forward to this moment. There were definitely a few tears shed and I’m sure a sigh of relief that this day finally happened for them. Steph was a beautiful bride and my boy looked like a million bucks. They are a match made in heaven and two of nicest people you’d ever want to meet.
After the ceremony, dinner was served upstairs in a fantastic family style atmosphere. It appeared that all of the guests were enjoying themselves and the view from the room overlooking the river at sunset time was spectacular. Dinner was served family style. Plates of herb crusted cod, Statler chicken breast, jasmine rice and roasted vegetables were brought forward to each of the tables.
I’m a little sad I didn’t take more pictures, but, I will carry my memories of this day forevermore.
After dinner, the kids cut their wedding cake and then back downstairs to enjoy dessert and dancing.
Jim and I made our exit and headed for home. It had been a long day and we were both tired. We had an early call in the morning for the post wedding breakfast.
The party was awesome and I’m so happy for Robert and Steph. Thanks you for such a beautiful day!♥️
Mom and Son
Abby hosted a really nice breakfast at the Sheraton the following morning for all of the friends and family that hadn’t left town. Many of the wedding guests, I’m sure, had planes to catch or long drives to make, so the breakfast was very intimate and very nice.
Thank you Abby for helping to make this an epic weekend. Thank you for loving my boy and for taking such good care of him. It’s hard to be so far away, but I know he is in good hands with your beautiful daughter and with you looking after him I am truly grateful.♥️
So, a few of Robert’s friends, both from high school and college traveled long distances to share Rob and Stephs’ special day. Jerry and his wife Sharon, Issac and his wife Amy ( Friends from high school) and Ron and his wife Wendy and Anthony ( friends from Berkeley) we’re in attendance this weekend. It was so nice to see them after many years and catch up with them and learn about their lives. They are all such nice people and I was so happy to spend time with them. I got to share our Great Loop shenanigans with them and show them pictures. You know me, you can’t shut me up when it comes to that adventure.
Ron, Wendy and Anthony were going to travel up to Acadia National Forest after breakfast. I was saddened that Jim and I had to cancel our few days there because we needed to get home for a medical appointment that Jim had scheduled. I had painted a bunch of rocks for this trip and I had made one especially for Acadia. I gave it to Wendy and Ron and they promised to take it to the park and carry it with them home as a reminder of their trip to Acadia. This made me so happy! It made me even happier when Wendy shred some pictures with me from their travels.
Isn’t that so special! Made my heart smile for sure. Such nice people!
After we said our goodbyes, Jim and I drove about 45 minutes up to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I had wanted to go there after the last wedding, but COVID had Maine closed down to non residents. I had read about the boardwalk and of the world famous Pier French Fries, that were supposed to be the bomb diggity!
When we got there, it was raining and very cold. We had no jackets so we tucked into a T-shirt store and bought a couple of $5.00 sweatshirts.
We walked the pier which was in rough shape. They charged 75 cents to use a bathroom and the Pier Fries were unfortunately, just fries. Not a big deal at all. The boardwalk and rides were closed and the rest of the storefronts were touristy nonsense. Nothing to see here, but I’m glad we went. It was a nice drive.
We drove back to the campground, stopped at a fish market, bought a pound of lobster chunks and made us homemade Lobster Rolls for dinner. Such a great treat!
After dinner I packed up the camper and in the morning we would make our departure towards home. I’m not going to detail each stop, but just know, we did not drive through New York!
Columbia New Jersey - Camp Taylor
Broadway, Virginia- Harrisonburg/Shenandoah KOA
Charlotte, North Carolina - Carrowinds Camp Wilderness
Next, a stop in Greenville, South Carolina to visit our friends Marshall and Judy.
We had a great visit, a nice lunch and visited their new vintage consignment store called Finds and Designs.
I painted this rock for Judy and she proudly displays in at the front counter of her store 😊
So glad we could stop in and set a spell with y’all!
Cummins, Georgia - Shady Grove Campground
Ocala, Florida - Ocala Sun RV Resort
We had torrential rain storms getting to this last stop. From Georgia into Florida it did nothing but pour rain and light up the sky with lightning and thunder. We had to pull off the road twice because visibility was so poor.
Jim and I made it safely home after 2 weeks, a beautiful wedding weekend, 3203 miles, 50 hours behind the wheel, 400 gallons of gas,😩- and one hell of a rainstorm!
We had a lot of fun and look forward to our next adventure!
Until next time,
Peace and our love♥️😊
