Day 1 Monday August 31, 2020 We finally got a chance to take a short trip, so we departed at 11:15AM for the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park Campground. The drive was only about 35 miles so we arrived about 12 Noon, checked in at the Campground office and setup in site 5. This is our third time to stay at this campground since the state converted 12 of the sites to big rig friendly full hookup (FHU) sites. For those that may not be familiar with camping a FHU site has hookups for water, sewer and electricity. In Canada they refer to this type of campsite as having 3 services. As I have stated in previous Blog posts we camped here many years ago with other family members when we had a tent, a popup camper and then a small travel trailer. During that period of time there were no hookups but there was water faucets scattered around the campground to fill up water containers. The state parks system made a good decision to update the campground because they are getting more business now with the addition of the FHU sites. Most people in our age group travel in motorhomes or travel trailers and like to have hookups. Younger people that are not retired that come on weekends mostly have tents or small campers.
We like state parks because the sites are usually much bigger than commercial campgrounds and also they are usually in a wooded area so there is normally some shade trees. But the drawback of state parks are that some of them can't accept larger motorhomes like ours.
We had not planned to do a lot of activities on this trip, just relaxing, reading and being lazy. We just wanted to get away and have a change of scenery as we were tired of staying home during this crazy COVID-19 mess.
Day 2 Tuesday September 1, 2020 Some of our friends from nearby Goldsboro came by to visit this morning for a couple of hours. It was good to see them again. Later in the day a motorhome setup in the site across from us. They were towing a small Jeep with a 5 HP boat motor attached to the rear of the Jeep. I guess they were ready in case they got into deep water. We have seen some really interesting things in a campground over the years.
It really is quite and peaceful here, there are only about 6 sites occupied today and all are people in our age group so no kids and yapping dogs. We did a little walking late in the afternoon around the campground. The park has several trails but it is rather warm during the day so we have not done any long walks.
Day 3 Wednesday September 2, 2020 We decided to drive into Goldsboro this morning and check out a coffee shop in the newly renovated downtown area. Several years ago the city started a downtown renewal project to spruce up the area and draw more business to the downtown area. They have really done a good job. They have redone the streets with roundabouts (traffic circles), lots of places to set outside, several pieces of artwork, plenty of parking and most of the buildings are now occupied in that area. There is also a really nice Paramount Theater that we have been to twice to see performances. I took my new camera but the sun was so bright that I didn't think any pictures that would be good, so we may go back later in the afternoon for some photos.
The first coffee shop we found on Yelp had closed up so we went across the street to another one. It was just okay, very small selection of pastries and the Lattes were not hot enough and even though we asked for 3 shots of espresso, they were still very weak tasting. We could have got a better Latte at McDonalds and that is sad when McDonalds is better than a “Coffee Shop”. In all our travels we have only found 3-4 coffee shops that know how to make a good Latte.
Day 4 Thursday September 3, 2020 We drove back to Goldsboro to visit Old Waynesborough Park. Waynesborough was the first seat of Wayne County and set on the banks of the Neuse River and was incorporated in 1787. The park in situated near where the original town was located. The park has a small visitor's center and a dozen or so old buildings that have been moved to the location from around Wayne County to make the park look a little more like the old town would have looked. After touring the visitor's center we walked around part of the park. None of the building were open due to COVID-19 mess. Our visit would have been more interesting if we could have gone in the buildings. Several of them needed some maintenance done to them. There is also over four miles of walking trails but it was too hot to consider any long hikes.
On our way back to the campground we stopped at a McDonald's for a Latte and dessert. There was a sign on the door that read “Come on In” and another sign that read limit 16 customers, so we went in, Lena with her mask on and I took a seat at a booth while she went to the counter to get our order. When she got our order and set down at our booth to eat, a staff member came up and said we could not eat inside because they were not allowing inside dining. I told her then they need to put up a sign stating that because their sign stated “Come on In”. I would express my thoughts on some of this mess that is going on but I will hold my thoughts to myself. So we continued on to our campground for the remainder of the day to read and relax and just be lazy.
Day 5 Friday September 4, 2020. Today is my bride's birthday so we went to Olive Garden Restaurant in Goldsboro for lunch. It was good to set down in a restaurant and have a meal. We had a really good waitress and a great meal. She brought Lena a piece of Tiramisu for dessert for her birthday. Then she told us her birthday was the next day.
Later in the day the temperature cooled off a few degrees which was good as the last few days has been really hot. By mid afternoon the campsites begin to fill up for the holiday weekend. By dark all the FHU sites except the Host site was occupied and about 2/3 of the tent sites were occupied.
Day 6 Saturday September 5, 2020 We packed up and departed for home about 10:15AM. The temperature today is the coolest it has been in several days. We had a good relaxing trip. It was a good change of scenery for a few days.
