Officially Old

Certainly, I’m not ready to admit being old, but Gene on the other hand....

Jack, Ansley, and Kayley came this past weekend to help “Big Dad” celebrate his 62nd birthday.  Gene has been counting the months and the days for this birthday--the one on which he was finally eligible to purchase the senior edition of the America the Beautiful pass from the National Park Service.

We’ve been buying the American the Beautiful pass for many years, originally for $50/year and more recently for $80/year.  Now, with the senior rate it is only $10 and is good for the rest of his life.  What’s so special about this pass?  It allows the cardholder entrance to the National Parks and National Forest facilities for free.  That includes parking at trailheads in National Forests where a fee is charged.  Campground fees are reduced to half price. We use these areas so often it was a good deal even at $80/year without the additional reduction of camping fees.  $10 is fantastic.  We’re jumping for joy.

We had a great weekend with Jack, Ansley, and Kayley.  It’s hard work to get ready for such a big birthday and Nana needed plenty of help from Kayley.  We made cookies and decorated cupcakes.  There were birthday cards to make and little messes to clean up.

It wasn’t all work and no play, though.  We found time to check out the local playground at one of the parks in Maryville.

It was a fun-filled, busy weekend.  Nana and Big Dad were moving pretty slowly Sunday afternoon.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Countdown to the Discount

We’re celebrating around our household today.  It’s my birthday and I’m milking it for all it’s worth.  I’ve had many birthday wishes from my Facebook friends, e-mails, and e-cards.  Those have all been fun.  My brother called before 7 this morning.  I was up and on my second cup of coffee and, of course, he knew I’d be up.  Naturally, my mother called.  About lunch time I got a call from Gene’s brother, Doug and a text from my nephew, Ben.  It makes the day special to hear from family and friends.

Gene got me a cap so I wouldn't get shot out on the trail during hunting season.  Got one for himself, too.

We actually started this celebration last night.  Gene took me out for a very nice dinner.  We went to Finezza, a small Italian bistro.  We went there on one of our first dates and returned for our anniversary for several years.  After we started RVing full-time, we got out of the habit of these annual visits.  Every time we’re in Nashville we think about going but something always gets in the way.  Last night was finally the night and having been away for several years made it all that more special for my birthday.

Tonight, we had a wonderful dinner with my parents.  She fixed a pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and green beans.  What about birthday cake, you ask?  No cake for this birthday girl.  Mom made my favorite--chocolate meringue pie.

It’s been a rainy day in middle Tennessee and I’d kinda enjoyed that.  It was a light rain without winds and thunder.  I think this is only the third or fourth time it has rained since we’ve been back in Nashville.  We’re overdue in the rain department.

My mother is in her mother's lap and that's my grandfather's mother standing behind.

Besides talking on the phone and reading email, I’ve been working on my photos again.  It seems like some task or another involving photos never gets off my “To Do” list.  When we started thinking about living in an RV, one of the huge projects was to have all those thousands of photographs digitized.  After that was done, we still had many, many CDs which have been stored under the sofa in every RV we’ve owned.  All those CDs are about 10 years old and my understanding is that a CD has a limited lifespan.

Gene also got me some more thumb drives and cases to put them in.

Storage space is precious in this Class C, so I have started moving those photos from CDs to thumb drives.  Yes, I have an external hard drive which I backup to and I’ve done that as I’ve transferred photos.  But, and you can call me compulsive on this, I want an extra backup, just in case.  After all, these are Ansley’s baby pictures, and they’re mine and Gene’s baby pictures.  There’s even a couple of my mother when she was a baby.  I can’t let anything happen to these photos.  So, today I spent a couple hours working on that project.

So, it’s been a great birthday and only one more year before we’re eligible for the big discount Golden Age America the Beautiful pass.  Some call this the old age pass.  It’s the one that gets seniors into all the federal stuff for free or half price.  The countdown clock is ticking.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and thanks for tagging along.

Happy Birthday, Gene

Monday is Gene’s birthday. Since we are going to be traveling on Monday, we decided to celebrate on Sunday. He thinks he’s old. In the scheme of things, he’s really not, just a mere 58. He is only 3 months older than I am, and I don’t think I’m old at all. He has had a pretty good day, I think, and he won’t really be old until tomorrow.

Mirror Lake in Lake Placid

As is the case whenever we are moving to a new location, especially when we have been sitting for a month, there are several chores to do to prepare for moving. He started his special day by checking air pressure in tires and dumping waste water holding tanks. Next we went for our morning walk. Instead of walking around the campground, we walked about Wilmington for one last look around. By the time we got to our walk, the mountains were already shrouded in haze. Not a good morning for photos. I had promised to treat him to his mid morning coffee at Starbucks in Lake Placid. However, we had dilly dallied too much and were not ready to go to Lake Placid until after lunch. So instead of coffee, he got ice cream. As treats go, he’d rather have ice cream anyway.

Mirror Lake with Whiteface Mountain in the background

We spent a little time in Lake Placid. There was a table runner I had my eye on, but finally decided I could live without it. Gene wanted to look in the antique store. That was kinda fun. We saw several things which reminded us of our childhood. I guess that is pretty appropriate to give you a real perspective on your birthday to see stuff you used as a child with a big price tag in an antique store.

For a special birthday dinner I fixed him some heart healthy salmon and a not so heart healthy chocolate cake. The cake decorating is not what you would call “professional”—I call it a “hand made, I did this just for you” type of decorating.

The perfect finish for this special day was the 3rd episode of Lord of the Rings on TNT. Happy birthday, Gene.