Home to Cliffs of The Neuse State Park NC July 2018

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.

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.