The Flowers Explore - Appalachian RV Resort - 2021/08/31-09/03

It's another travel day! Our next RV site is the Appalachian Camping Resort in Shartlesville. It's also in Pennsylvania, so there's not going to be any new states added to the map today. Over the past few weeks, we've spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania! This is just going to be a short stay though of only 3 nights as we try to maneuver our way up North to see Fall Foliage.

Here's the map that we've travelled so far since July. 

A closer look at our short travel today. Only about an hour of drive time. 

Goodbye Hershey Thousand Trails Campground! We've had a lot of fun here! 

And Goodbye to the Town of Hershey Pennsylvania too. You've been beautiful. 

"Thank you for visiting Hershey! The Sweetest Place on Earth!"

The kids can see the GPS on the dashboard in the car, and they're starting to follow along more and more. Alli read the Time to Destination as only being 55 minutes and asked if that's where we were getting gas. Nope! That's how long it's going to take us to get to our next campground! 

The only wrinkle was that checkout from Hershey was by noon, and checkin at Appalachian is at 3pm. Since it only takes an hour to get there, was I going to have to hang out at a rest stop for 2 hours? 

Theresa called ahead and we were told that early checkin was available for $6 if you're 2 hours early. If you're before that, it's a half-day rate (which was something like $45). I'm never in a hurry on the freeway anyhow, and our timing was such that we pulled in at 1:05pm, paid our $6, and moved over to our assigned site. 

Our site was in this pull-through section of the campground right next to the pool. I do like the pull-through spots better than the places where I have to back up. 

Since it was a Tuesday, the place is pretty wide open. After the kids ate lunch, we decided to go explore. 

They've got a putt-putt golf and we've got our own equipment. Let's go play! 

The holes here are pretty tricky. There's lots of hazards, places where your ball can go down into a dip, or roll off the course. 

And many of the holes have obstacles, preventing a clear shot at the hole. 

The local wildlife. A bunny let us get pretty close. 

Some of the holes were pretty wild. Even with all 18 holes, Alli was the only person to get a hole-in-one, and it was on this crazy hole! She avoided the ramp entirely, hit it to the side, got a good bounce off the back, and landed it in the hole! 

The greens are a little dirty. It's like the area has flooded with dirt but hasn't been rinsed away. Some holes had moss starting to grow. 

These holes were a little crazy, but in the end, I was able to take home a win. 

Time to go back to the RV. There's this wide open field. But what's that right beside us? 

Really? In this wide open area they assigned the spot right next to us already? Once this RV pulled it, I realized how close these sites really area. We can't extend our awnings, otherwise we'd hit his RV. 

Eventually we'd see the neighbors outside and would chat with them. Super nice people, but still it's odd that they'd get that site assigned to them. The whole area was empty until we left on that Friday. 

The kids enjoy doing Ninja Warriors on all the different playgrounds we find. I challenged them to get across the bridge in as few steps as possible (2 steps was what they could do). Then to find another way to get across (they used the railing). And then various other challenges to get them active and moving after a day of travel. 

Wednesday is shopping day, so we piled in the car and headed out. 

Remember in the Muppet Movie where Kermit tells Fozzie to turn left at the fork in the road? That's what we did. Turn left at the fork in the road. 

Theresa had a quick moment of panic as the GPS routed us down this street. Oh wait, we're not towing the RV right now. Whew! The RV tops out around 12'6" so we try not to get too close to that. 

While we were out the rain was coming down harder and harder. 

At the campground I heard the weather siren going off in the distance. Looking at the app, there's flood warnings and tornado watches going on. I think we should probably stay inside the rest of the day. 

Luckily we're on a slope and even though it's a really heavy rain, it's running off pretty quickly. 

And so it's good for indoor activities. Like playing dominoes. 

They figured out a way to make a perfect square with all the dominoes. 

And they moved it to the living room so that everyone could have a chance to play. 

We love family time. 

The next day everything was bright and sunny again. Ian found a giant grasshopper. 

I guess I should be thankful it wasn't in his pocket. 

One of the things Theresa noticed as we were driving in, that I can't say I've ever seen before, is a Live Bait vending machine. 

Who knew? 

Go visit the Libary. I'm sure someone has mentioned the spelling on the sign. 

Walk by the pond with the fountain in the middle. 

The logo on their sign for Appalachian campground in an Apple. We walked around the whole campground and found only a single apple tree. After asking at the main office if we could pick a few, we were given the go-ahead. All the fruit on the lower branches is gone, so I'm going to have to get creative. I brought a basketball and tossed it at the apples a little higher. The kids tried to catch them, or at least keep an eye on them, as they fell. We all took a bite and... bleh... mealy and tough skin. Not our favorite. We don't need any more of these. 

Another tree had green orbs growing on it. 

Cracking one of the ones we found on the ground open, it looks like a walnut. 

Some sites here are seasonal, and the people have made these RV spaces a nearly permanent home. Some have even planted gardens. 

Wow! Pumpkins! It's starting to get cooler and more Fall-like, isn't it. 

After a stop at the RV, we decided to go back out for a longer walk, this time over to the nearby truck-stop. It's about a mile away and it'll help us get some more walking miles in. 

The McDonald's app is really good for getting deals. $1 large fries. BOGO on double cheeseburgers. And the receipts they printed here had a survey that would give you a free 6 count McNuggets, no purchase necessary! And if you redeemed that, the next receipt had the same survey! You could continue getting free 6 count McNuggets all day!

Ian - We haven't gone to the pool yet. Can we go today? 

Since it's our last day here, and since it's not busy, sure, let's go. 

The kids jumped right in. I always bring my goggles, but don't always plan on getting in. One of our new purchases are nose plugs. Alli always has one hand pinching her nose closed when she's in the water, so I thought it was an appropriate thing to get. 

Alli - Daddy, my nose plug came off and I can't find it. Can you help? 

Ian couldn't find it either, so I guess I'm getting wet after all. They always enjoy having company in the pool. Ian and I got into a flip competition underwater. These nose plugs are really great for that. 

Because it's Labor Day weekend, Theresa couldn't get this site for our usual Tuesday to Tuesday duration. Instead, we're leaving on a Friday (shudder) and going to the next campground. Alli is helping me with the last of our move-day chores before it's time to go. 

All ready to hitch up? Let's go!