Day
1 Sunday July 8, 2018 We departed about 12:15PM with Jackson (oldest
grandson) for 5 nights of camping at the Cliffs of The Neuse State
Park about 40 miles from home. We stopped for lunch at Bojangles in
Beulaville and arrived at the campground about 1:30PM and setup in
site 3. It took a few minutes to setup because the parking pad was
not completely level so we had to put our boards under the passenger
side tires to compensate.
We
got everything setup and then put up our new canopy over the picnic
table. It is called The Clam. It is really nice and setup is a breeze
– less than 10 minutes. It is six sided and completely enclosed, so
we can set it up over the picnic table and it keeps the table dry if
it rains and keeps the bugs from bothering us while we eat. The side
have a really fine screen mess that is small enough to keep the “no
seeums” out.
Later
in the evening our son and daughter-in-law brought Levi (the youngest
grandson). He stayed with some friends last night at the beach.
Day
2 Monday July 9, 2018 After breakfast we got our hiking sticks and
hiked over to the Cliffs. We wanted to recreate a photo scene from
about 35 years ago. When we camped here when our son was young, I had
taken a photo of him and Lena at the fence by the Cliffs overlook.
Jackson looks almost like Robby (age 12) at the same age. So we
wanted to recreate the scene.
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| Jackson and Lena |
 |
| Robby and Lena |
After
the photos were taken we continued on down the trail. Lena didn't
want to walk the Galax trail due to the steps and some kind of rough
spots in the trail so the boys and I continued on. We saw some of the
park staff that was in the woods cutting down some dead trees near
the trail. Later we met up with Lena by the river and then returned
to the campground for lunch. We hiked over 1.5 miles. The weather was
really nice so we set outside and relaxed. The boys rode the bicycles
around the campground and part of the park.
Day
3 Tuesday July 10, 2018 We needed a few grocery items for a new meal
I plan to try for supper so we drove to the edge of Goldsboro, ate
breakfast at McDonald's and stopped at a Walmart Neighborhood Market
for the items. The boys played, rode their bicycles and then after
lunch when the temperature got warm we went inside and I put a movie
in for them to watch.
I
tried a new camping recipe for supper called Grilled Shrimp Boil
Packets. It took longer to do the prep work than it did for it to
cook. We all thought it was good but I think I might twike it a
little when I do it again. It was a combination of shrimp, little red
potatoes (sliced), sausage cut in wheels, sweet corn and seasoning
folded in aluminum and coooked on the grill. It might become my next
“almost world famous” recipe.
Day
4 Wednesday July 11, 2018 I cooked a mess of bacon on the grill and
we had bacon and eggs biscuits for breakfast. The boys rode their
bicycles some and then at 10AM I took them to the swim lake where
they swam and played in the water until noon. After some of Lena's
“world famous spaghetti” for lunch we relaxed, read, the boys
watched a movie and them I took them back to the lake for another
hour of water play before supper.
About
6PM a lady with a small one person camper was trying to back into
site 6 and after watching her try for several minute I walked down
and asked her if she needed some help and she said she did so I gave
her directions and she finally got it backed into her site.
Day
5 Thursday July 12, 2018 After breakfast Lena took the boys to the
Visitor's Center to tour the displays they have there. Then the boys
rode their bicycles and later watched a movie. The new sound
receiver/DVD player we had installed sure is easier to setup to watch
movies than the old one we had and the sound is so much better. We
didn't do much today except read, eat and relax. We packed up all we
could for our morning departure back home as rain was possible during
the evening and night.
Day
6 Friday July 13, 2018 We ate breakfast, finished preparing and
departed at 9:15AM and arrived home safe at 10:05AM after a good 5
days with the grandsons.
