As I mentioned in the last blog, at the end of March Jason and I returned to Georgia (GA). We made a quick stop in Ellijay (in the north GA mountains) and then spent almost two weeks in Marietta, near Atlanta. We spent time with family and offered our help as needed. However, after the first week of April, it was time to head to my nephew’s long-awaited wedding event in Pennsylvania (PA).
The distance between GA and PA is substantial. Since we didn’t have much time to make the trip, we stayed in a different place each night as we drove through the scenic countryside each day. The first night we stayed with family in Hendersonville NC. The next night we slept (with permission) in the parking lot of a country club in Lexington, VA. As a side note, this is called boondocking when you stay overnight without any hookup for water or electricity. As you can imagine, you need to plan ahead for boondocking for any length of time, but one night here and there isn’t too bad. The last stop was Hagerstown, MD to visit a friend. Everywhere we looked, we could see spring in full bloom with redbud and azaleas lining the roadsides.
Getting back to the wedding, I should mention that it was a wedding party because the official ceremony had already happened. This is one of many COVID-19 wedding events that had been delayed a couple of years. We were so happy to be able to attend and celebrate in person. The event brought two families and a lot of friends together and the DJ kept the dance floor occupied all night. Jason and I had to retrieve our nice clothes. Thankfully we clean up “real nice.”
The event was held at the Excelsior in Lancaster, PA, a cool historic building and a fitting place for a place to celebrate the union of my nephew and his wife. Being back in Lancaster brought back fond memories and familiar sites. It’s always fascinating to see the Amish countryside with people making their way by horse and buggy. You see rolling hills, scenic farms, and people working the fields in full dress without fancy machinery. As a side note, Lancaster holds a special place in my heart because, for many years, I attended the annual conference for the Middle Atlantic Career Counseling Association there.
After the wedding, we stayed in the area at Muddy Run Campground and a few friends met us there. The most unique feature of this campground is that you can rent a campsite for the season. Because of this, many of the sites are landscaped. This park has a challenging disc golf course and Jason played it many times during our week there. There was also a manmade lake to explore but all inflatables were banned from it, so we rented one of their johnboats for an afternoon. This park buts up next to Susquehannock State Park and there are a handful of recreation areas surrounding this area of the Susquehanna River and gorge.
From PA we made our way back to Maryland where we experienced more nostalgia. We spent a few days with friends at the beach. Then we spent a week in Annapolis staying with good friends in our old neighborhood. It was great to reconnect with friends and former neighbors, but it was not possible to see everyone we wanted to see. We will have to try again next time we are back. Much of my week was spent taking care of routine medical exams and I’m happy to report that all is good.
At the end of the month, we went back to PA for a disc tournament held on May 1st, but I’ll save that for our next blog.
