Whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not February second, today is Thursday, March first . . . and we’re camping! The past few days have been sunny, creating the impression that spring is here! Who cares that rain moved in last night, and it was still pouring as we left home this morning . . . destination: Winton Woods in Cincinnati, Ohio! On a side note -- today, March first, is the 146th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, and the USA National Park system! I knew we were celebrating something! With all the rain there was considerable flooding and cones advertised that some campground roads were closed. There was nobody at the office and we moved the cones and helped ourselves to a campsite – a nice high and dry campsite with a full cement pad and nice grass. By 5:00 in the afternoon the rain stopped, the temperature dropped, the winds picked up, and Alan arrived. The evening was a dinner birthday celebration for Alan: BBQ chicken, corn casserole, twice baked potatoes, cheesecake, ice cream . . . Later in the evening Alan had another birthday surprise when DW Carie drove out with a cake and to spend the night. Alan hadn’t expected this as Carie was heading for North Carolina to cheer on the Notre Dame Girl’s Basketball team – Alan’s niece is a Senior player on the team! It wasn’t until early Friday morning that we saw the sign that the campground was closed due to flooding! Nobody had tried to uproot us, and the campground security had gone past and waved several times! Friday morning Alan headed out for an appointment, and Tom and I proceeded to Jungle Jim’s for a morning shop-out. When we returned the sign was gone, the sun was out, the campground staff were busy, the campground bathrooms were open, and the summer seasonal $$ rates were firmly in place. We opted for an out-to-eat lunch, Mexican, and then the boys decided it was warm enough to sit out around an afternoon campfire. I enjoyed reading in the trailer and an episode of The Big Valley on TV! At mid-day, as the temperature reached a sunny 48 degrees, Tom and I struck out to walk around the lake -- an enjoyable little 2 mile trail. People and dogs were out in full force, and again we saw a lot of signs of flooding – the Boathouse was under water! The temperature stayed descent while we prepared our dinner and ate outside – pizza in the pie irons. As we ate, we watched campers rolling in for the weekend, until the chill of the early evening chased us into the Silvermine! Saturday morning we did the lake-walk again . . . backwards! Well, not backwards, but the other way! Thirty-two degrees and 8:30 for one hour, then back to the Silvermine for a big breakfast cooked outdoors on the grill! See why we like camping so much? There were big plans for Saturday afternoon . . .a trip into a Cincinnati hot-spot to meet up with son Micah. Tom, Alan and I headed to The Party Source where Micah was waiting for us. A leisurely trip through resulted in two cans of Beer Nuts for Tom and a solar light-up firefly to hang from my awning. We then drove to Newport on the Levy and strolled the walkway along the Ohio River and out onto the Purple People Bridge. This gave us a good view of the Cincinnati Skyline and the recent flood waters – up over the serpentine steps! Inside the mall there was a wine-tasting festival in full swing, but we were not wine-inclined! Our destination was the Hauffbrauhaus for some certified Schnitzel and pretzels and knockers and Kartoffelphannkuchgen . . . and Red Cabbage! Tom and Micah each carried a growler to be packed with beer, and we had a fun time in this noisy German watering hole. At the point that we got back to the Silvermine, there was not much left of the weekend. We woke up to 29 degrees Sunday morning, which motivated a morning fire to this beautiful sunrise. By 9:30 we were packed up and headed for home – all agreeing that it had been a worthy weekend celebrating the approach of a long, summer, camping season.
1 Comment
Mike
3/6/2018 04:57:42 am
Looks enjoyable. We can’t wait to get back at it
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |