Visiting with Ian's family

Morning-39F (4C) - sunny
Afternoon-55F (13C)

This morning after my walk and breakfast, Gordon called Ace Hardware and they had one electric heater left. So off we went to pick it up. $90 later, we have a new heater. It's a Pelonis. I've never heard of the brand but it seems well constructed and it sure puts out heat. Now we just have to remember to clean the filter which is probably why the other heaters have given up the ghost after a while.

This afternoon we drove into Dayton to meet Ian, Gordon's son and his family at Cox Arboretum. We arrived first so walked around taking some photos of the scenery and the spring flowers.






Then the family arrived.

Here's Lilly, our granddaughter

And Ian's family

The three grandchildren-Iris, Lilly and Caden

Iris playing patty cake

Grandpa giving Caden a piggy-back ride (for which he is now sitting on the massage cushion)

Grandpa with two little weights on his legs

Caden and Iris

The family

Caden in the children's maze

Grandpa and Iris

Now we're home, the kids wore us out!

Visiting Carol and Rick

Morning-47F (8C)
Afternoon-57F (14C)

It rained most of the night but it sure didn't keep me from sleeping. We were both very tired last night. The rain stopped this morning long enough for me to walk. I was glad because I hadn't been out in 2 days and was missing my exercise. Sometimes we see deer at this park in the mornings but it was not to be today. I guess they were hiding from the rain.

We just sat around and relaxed this morning. I coloured my hair and am now dark blonde. This looks more like my natural colour. I had planned to do laundry but was too tired and the back seat of the truck is full of satellite dishes so no room for dirty clothes!

This afternoon we were invited to have dinner with Carol and Rick (Gordon's sister and husband) so we spent most of the afternoon with them. Carol fed us a great dinner of corn, mashed potatoes, fruit salad and roast pork and had even made a gluten free carrot cake for Gordon. Their house is on a small lake and I took some photos of their bird feeders and ducks. Thanks Carol and Rick!

Chickadee


Goldfinch


Mallards

Female Mallard


Rick & Carol

Gordon & I



We arrived home around 8:30 p.m. only to find out that our small electric heater had crapped out. Gordon took it apart and sort of got it going but we went out to Walmart to see if we could buy a new one. The response we got was 'It's a seasonal item and we don't have any'. From there we went to Home Depot and basically got the same answer. So right now our heater is running but it will only run facing up so tomorrow we'll have to go out and try to find one maybe at the local hardware store.

We had a few breaks of watery sun today but mostly it rained!

With all our running around, my blog is late tonight!

Happy Easter Weekend Everyone!

We didn't hook up the thermometer last night but the radio station I was listening to before I got up at 6:30 a.m. said it was 33F (0.5C). I don't know where the radio station was from though.

By the time we left Tanbark Campground at 9 a.m. it was 59F (15C) with a hazy sun. We had a long drive of 362 miles. Other than some construction in Louisville and an accident on the Cincinnati bypass which tied us up for about 15 minutes, we had a good but tiring trip.

Here are some photos that I took along the way.

The flowering trees were out in abundance on Music Hwy (I-40).

The loop around Nashville

Welcome to Kentucky!

And one of the first things I saw was a horse fence

Heading NE on I-65 towards Louisville

We passed the exit for Fort Knox

Construction in Louisville

Pretty flowers at a Kentucky rest area

I'm sure there's a reason for this name for this state park but I would have thought they could pick a better one

This sign tells you you're in the south when you get south of Coventry, KY

Back in Ohio

Crossing the Ohio River

Accident on the 275 loop around Cincinnati

This doesn't look good!

We made it!


We arrived at Cedarbrook Campground at Lebanon, OH after a time zone change at about 4:15 p.m. We're back in the Eastern time zone. They have good wifi throughout the park here so we don't need to set up the internet satellite and it looks like we get enough channels that we don't have to set up the TV either. We'll be visiting while we're here so not watching TV as much.

Here's our site - it's one of the new ones they put in for big rigs at the back of the park

That's it for today! Oh, and we did reach a high of 66F (19C).

Mississippi to Tennessee

Morning-42F (6C) 6:30 a.m.
Afternoon-72F (22C)

Here's a photo just so you know that sometimes I do get up for sunrise. Anyway, no walk this morning. Instead I started getting prepared for us to leave on another leg of our journey home.



We left Grenada Lake COE park around 9:40 a.m. under bright sunny skies and 54F (12C). We were sorry to leave.

The road north

Now in Tennessee

Interesting artwork at the Welcome Center at Memphis


Going through Memphis


I noticed that the trees in Tennessee aren't as green as Mississippi so we knew we were travelling north (east). We had an uneventful trip and arrived at Tanbark Campground at Dickson, TN about 2:20 p.m. and were set up shortly after 3 p.m. They have free wifi here so no dishes were set up. We get a few TV stations so I'm hopeful for ABC so I can watch Lost tonight. This is also a Passport America park. It isn't great but the site is paved though not level.

The road northeast

The Tennessee River

Interesting name for a town - where are you from? Oh, I'm from Bucksnort.


Our site


We were originally going north to Illinois then east to Kentucky but Gordon changed his mind last night. This is a shorter route and it looks like it won't be as rainy as it would have been in IL.

After set up, we went out to get fuel so we can be on the road early tomorrow. We've got a long day!

Hiking Trails

Morning-42F (6C)
Afternoon-55F (13C)

It was a bright, bright sunshiny day! But not all that warm unfortunately. I was joined by my doggie friend on my walk, don't know where he comes from but I'm not out long before I hear panting behind me and there he is. I've named him Buster and he actually responds to it but he doesn't respond to Fido, go figure.

Each site has a picnic table, a barbecue and a little stand for your own barbecue.

Late this morning we headed out to hike some trails. Gordon had found another swamp yesterday so took me there. Quite a few egrets were around.




Then on to Lost Bluff Hiking Trail. We hiked part of it but became kind of steep and since we weren't seeing anything that interested us, other than a very pretty butterfly we turned back.

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Lost Bluff Hiking Trail
Both of us are feeling kind of icky today so we came home to have lunch and I had a nap then we went back out and hiked the Old River Nature Trail. There were lots of turtles out sunning themselves today.

This turtle was in the water

Trail

Neither of us really want to go back to the cold but we've got no choice!