New River Gorge National Park

April 25, 2025 / marniesteve / Leave a comment

New River Gorge National Park is America’s newest national park, established in 2021. However, the river is not new at all. In fact, it’s one of the oldest rivers on the planet. We spent three days exploring the area and learning about this beautiful area of West Virginia.

We based ourselves right outside the park boundaries at The Outpost, a cool RV, music, adventure hub. In a short hike we were able to reach the famed New River Gorge bridge.

The park’s visitor center offers great views of the bridge and a fun hike down to see the bridge up close.

Waterfalls are a major draw to New River Gorge area. Throughout our time here we couldn’t avoid the beautiful cascades. They even have an official waterfall trail.

While the area abounds with natural beauty, it wasn’t always this way. For over 80 years, railroads carried coal out of the area to fuel the Industrial Revolution. Over 50 coal communities were linked by rail in the New River Gorge. Today, the town of Thurmond is one of the few towns that still exists and is preserved by the National Park Service.

We explored the town’s structures including the old coal tower that fed the rail cars that carried the coal out of the gorge.

The Endless Wall Trail is one of the park’s most popular. After about a mile we reached the Diamond Point Overlook where we watched whitewater kayakers and rafters way below. And what views!!

New River Gorge National Park is worth it for the winding country roads and sweeping views. With this we crossed one more national park off our map and it was a good one!

Springtime in Virginia

April 20, 2025 / marniesteve / 1 Comment

Our time in Delaware was nice, but we were all ready to head west, away from the cool coast and the densely populated areas.

After a quick stop in the DC area to re-provision (hello Costco!), we continued westward with a stop in Buchanan, VA. Our ultimate plan was to check out Roanoke, which is known for its bike trails. However, it is not known for RV parks. The closest we could find was Limestone Park Campground, 20 miles from Roanoke.

Limestone Park only has 14 sites and it was a quiet respite, until the cops showed up. Here’s a video of the arrest we took from our bedroom window.

Once the suspected domestic violence offender was hauled away, we had a very uneventful stay.

Besides hitting the local Planet Fitness we got the bikes out on the Roanoke River Greenway. The 30 mile trail runs through the city along the Roanoke River. The nice path through numerous parks and past popular landmarks allowed us to see a little of the city. We even had a picnic lunch along the trail.

The little town of Buchanan is known for its swinging bridge. The bridge dates back to 1851 and the original bridge was burned by the Confederates in 1864. Since the 1930s the bridge has been maintained by the city. And yes, it does swing (and bounce) as you walk across.

A nearby brewery called A Few Old Goats turned out to be a great place for Bob to relax, and our little campground was a great place for a campfire.

Steve’s 60th Birthday Bash

February 19, 2025 / marniesteve / 1 Comment

Every decade since his 40th, Steve has celebrated his big birthday in Las Vegas surrounded by family and friends. His 60th birthday was on February 14, 2025, and this party was the biggest one yet. We are grateful to the 28 people who came from all parts of the country to join the festivities.

We arrived on Thursday to get settled into our suite at the Flamingo Hotel. Since we had lots of supplies and things to set up, we wanted to have a day’s headstart on the party. Some of our favorite people arrived on Thursday too, so we started with a few drinks to warm up. Thanks to Mitch, Lauren, Caleb, Larry, and Tom for carrying everything from the parking garage to the room so the party could get started!

That first evening we had dinner at Havana 1957, the Cuban restaurant at the hotel, with more of our favorite people. Joined by Sam, Kunio, Michelle, and Mitch, we had a great dinner and even better conversations.

Steve just had to start his actual birthday early on Friday morning with a free Grand Slam breakfast.

But, the real party started with a Friday night happy hour in our suite. We were overwhelmed by the energy everyone brought. For over two hours, this special group of people met and mingled like they’d all known each other for years. From cousins to RV friends and from family to neighbors, this group came from every corner of our lives (and the country). Having everyone in one room was so heartwarming.

Saturday began with an informal breakfast gathering before everyone set out on their own to explore Las Vegas. Thanks to Judy Green for supplying so many options for breakfast. Again, more laughs and great conversations.

Long-time special friends, Russ and Shelley

Saturday’s main event started with another happy hour to warm up for our group dinner at Battista’s Hole in the Wall. Happy hour allowed us all to gather the group before walking together to dinner.

The neighbors: Steve, Peggy, Marnie and Dave

Nearly 40 years ago, Steve and I found Battista’s in the yellow pages and were drawn to the landmark restaurant by the offer of free wine. It’s still one of our favorite places in Vegas. It’s always a loud place and was even louder since we were seated in a room with a youth hockey team. Talk about an energetic room!

We hope everyone enjoyed their dinner and the warm company of our group. Battista’s is not gourmet, but we sure enjoyed sharing it with our wonderful family and friends.