My husband started camping here with his family when he was a child, over 30 years ago. Of course, the campground has changed significantly since then, when it was made up of a hundred or so sites.  Since we started camping, we have visited this campground 20 or so times over the years.

Turning off US Route 13, the first thing you notice about this campground is how it resembles the Eastern Shore in general.  Sitting on 300 level, sprawling acres, the entrance looks like much of the surrounding farmlands dotted with Loblolly Pines. The registration  building sits near a shellfish farm, where a nearby boat ramp provides bay access for the campers bringing their boats.  

Those souls unfortunate enough to roll in on a Friday evening in the summer will see first hand just how many people this campground can accomodate, as the lines for registration and entry can easily back up for over one hour, especially on holiday weekends. Even their prepaid “express” registration is no guarantee for quick admittance, so be sure to arrive early to avoid a long and frustrating wait!

The campground is separated into three general camping areas. Getting to the sites are relatively easy, given the well marked maps and streets withing the campground.To the west of the entrance is the newest section, with large, fairly level pull-throughs. Beware of tree limbs when pulling in, as we have witnessed a couple of mishaps involving significant scratches to gel-coats and one lost TV antenna. Last year the owners installed nice hook-up pedestals for electricity. Last time we went, there was a minimum size requirement of 24 feet to camp in this section. This means if you have a pop-up, you are not allowed in this “high rent” area, so you will be camping in one of the older sections.

The other two sections of the campground are separated by the pools and camp store. The sites are well shaded with the towering “Lollipop” Pines that sway wildly in the winds careening off the Chesapeake Bay. The RV sites are mostly full hook-ups, with the exception of the sites closest to the water, which are water and electric. The sites don’t have pre-defined pads, which is really nice if you are travelling with a group, as the management is fairly lenient about how you situate your rig on the site; we have often parked in a “circle” of RV’s, with water and electric cords hidden under strategically placed mats to avoid tripping over them. 

Choose your site wisely; if you have issues with people walking across campsites, then you may want to choose a site farther from the store and pools area. One Memorial Day we were across from the store, our site on one of the paths that criss-cross the area, and were dismayed by the number of children constantly walking or riding bikes not only on the path, but across our site! LIkewise, the area in front of the store becomes a hang out for the pre-teen bunch.  On the other hand, there is a very nice sandy playground next to the store that has a large jungle gym for the little ones. A split rail fence helps keep children from the traffic in front of the store.

The campground is known for it’s water-oriented activites. Waterfront campsites have westward views boasting beautiful sunsets, while the bay breezes help keep the mosquitos away, at least while the wind is blowing (make sure to bring your bug repellent regardless, as there is always a good chance the breeze will die down, causing the pesky blood suckers to swarm your site).  In addition to the camp store, a full-service fishing store is located on the water. You can get bait and tackle, rent a small motorboat, and even book passage on the campgrounds 50-foot “head” boat, the Miss Jennifer, for fishing and sunset cruises. The fishing store also rents paddle boats and bicycles for use in the campground.

The campground has plenty of activities for the landlubbers (like me!). Three pools of varying depths, putt-putt golf, tennis courts, and lots of fishing piers allow most everyone to participate in an activity. There are also lots of scheduled activities, including organized yard sales, bingo, dancing, to name a few. The camp store is well stocked with lots of stuff you didn’t know you needed, but glad to see available if you do need it. Trinkets, RV supplies, clothes, and toys keep my kids roaming the aisles for hours if we let them.

One caveat: a trip to Cherrystone ain’t cheap.  We have paid $75 per night for a holiday weekend with a full hook-up, not to mention you can get nickled and dimed to death. If you are on a budget, bypass Cherrystone altogether for Kiptopeke State Park, just 10 minutes south. They call it a family campground, but charge extra for the children ($5 per night).  Don’t forget the air conditioning and heating surcharge of $3 per night, which pretty much applies to the entire camping season. I heartily complained for a heating surcharge one Halloween weekend. 

“But I have propane heat: I don’t understand why you are charging me for this when I already pay extra for my propane!” I exclaimed.

“Well, you may have an electric heater in your camper,” was the feeble reply from the tired registration clerk.

The kicker was during a Memorial Day event. We did not camp that weekend, but received a phone call from our friends who were at Cherrystone. She said the kids were told to go to the camp store to pick up boxes to decorate for a parade, and then were charged for the boxes, which were throw aways from the camp store. Pretty sly, if you ask me.

Overall, Cherrystone is a good destination campground if you want to savor the Chesapeake Bay scenery and fishing and have lots of pre-planned activities for your family.

The tropical climate, laid back attitude, and casual attires found in the Florida Keys are very similar to islands in the Caribbean. Indeed, visitors will feel they have left the United States altogether. Palm trees line the highway and Bougainvillea flowers provide splashes of color, while pelicans, egrets and herons can be seen everywhere during your stay. People fish from the numerous bridges and parks along the highway, catching snapper, eels, ray, and redfish.

We just returned from Spring Break in the Florida Keys and had a wonderful time, as usual. The daily high temperature were in the 70’s to low 80’s, about 20 to 30 degrees warmer than the temps in Maryland, while the night time temperatures were in the 60’s. The windy conditions prevented us from doing more water-based activities, but there was still a lot to see and do.

Just beyond the region where Highway 1 begins the southernly route to the Keys is the “Gateway to the Keys.” There is a lot of construction, which was begun before our last visit, two years earlier, and still has a way to go before completion. Concrete barriers make the roadway very narrow, so be alert when driving a large rig.

The first large island beyond the Gateway is Key Largo (MM 106 to MM 90), considered the Diving capital of the Keys, and home to John Pennekamp State Park, the only underwater coral reef state park in the United States. We snorkeled off the public beach area, and it was so silty and disturbed we really couldn’t see anything. In order to see the best of the park, visit one of the many dive shops in the area that offer snorkeling and diving trips within the park.

Camping in Key Largo is available, but make your reservations early, as there are not a lot of spaces for the transient RV’er. One thing you will find at most campgrounds in the Keys is a mish-mash of permanant and seasonal sites, mixed in with full hook-ups. Anyone who has RV’d for a while will know exactly what I’m talking about; old trailers that must be 30 years old are used as homes and have been built around, so that the trailer is encased in wood decks and a porch. The amazing thing is that these dilapidated campers on a 30 foot by 40 foot lot are selling for $300,000 or more! An inexpensive RV site with full hook-ups will run about $50 to $70 in season (November to April).

Campgrounds in Key Largo are Key Largo Kampground, Kings Kamp and Camp Calusa (they don’t have a site, but the Dacron’s have some pics on their site). We personally did not stay in these campgrounds, but camped further south and made day trips up to Largo.

If shopping is your thing, you will be tinkled pink to go shopping in the Upper Keys if your into the trashy-tourist look.  There are several swim suit/ lingerie shops, as well as typical beach vacation fare such as shops selling shells and beach blankets. Key Largo is also home to one of the few K-Marts in the Keys. Load up on over-priced essentials here or pay way more as you get farther South. The good news is that everyone is so casual, you don’t need to pack much but a swim suit and a couple of resort-casual outfits to last you a week.

Just south of Key Largo is Tavernier, supposedly named for the favorite hang-outs of the Seamen stationed here in the 1800’s. One day, while Rich was trying to catch the elusive Bonefish, I took the girls to visit The Florida Keys Wild Bird Sanctuary, located here on the Bayside.  The Sanctuary started in the 80’s, when a local veterinarian asked a fisherman to take care of some injured birds. Today the Sanctuary has thousands of birds and a small nature walk complete with information on local trees and plants. I really enjoyed the educational aspect, while the girls had a blast with a caged talking parrot.  The sanctuary is tucked in the trees and easy to miss, and apparently doesn’t have regular operating hours.  More amazing is the place receives no government funding, and relies solely on donations.

Restaurants are easy to come by in this area, but I honestly can’t tell you anything about them since we didn’t eat here. Key Largo is just a “passing by” kind of place for us. There was a gas station (I think it was a Texaco?) on the bayside across the street from a shopping center that had a menu of Cuban cuisine that looked promising. I love ethnic foods like tamales and empanadas, and would have tried it had we not been late meeting Rich at the marina in Islamorada. One place I  really wanted to visit is the Key Lime Products store at MM 95.  I can devour tons of Key Lime pie, and absolutely die for the Key Lime Pie frozen on a stick and dipped in dark chocolate. I am ashamed to admit I ate 5 pieces of key lime pie in it’s various forms on this trip, but it was soooo awesome!

First, we live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This means that in order to get off the “DelMarVa” peninsula and get onto I-95, we have three choices; to travel north (wrong direction), travel West to Washington DC, or travel south to Norfolk. Since we are self-described country bumpkins who freak out over the gazillions of people in the DC Metro area, we try to avoid the city like the plague. We prefer to drive south on Route 13, which crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on the Chesapeak Bay-Bridge Tunnel, or CBBT.

The CBBT is a 20-mile long combination of bridges and two tunnels which cuts almost 100 miles off travel between Wilmington and Norfolk.  For those traveling from points North of Delaware, it probably won’t save you a whole lot of time, as the speed limits on Route 13, combined with the stop-and-start of Highway traffic through the small towns, devour any time savings from the shorter route.  But the drive is much prettier and scenic, albeit more expensive (we paid $28 for our RV and toad for a one-way toll).  There are rest areas located on the North end of the CBBT, as well as one at MM3, on top of one of the tunnels.  This is a great place to have a look at the huge cargo ships and Navy ships crossing into Hampton Roads from the Atlantic. There is also a fishing pier and snack shop, but the biggest challenge for the RV’er is getting into the parking lot and turning around. Big rigs will probably want to pass this unless you can back up.

The biggest problem in our travel plans hit a snag when the winds kicked up Thursday morning before we left. A cold front charged in, with winds gusting upwards of 25 mph.  By lunchtime, the winds were 40-50 mph (this is totally normal for the Eastern Shore), and we called the CBBT to find that the road was closed to Trucks and RVs.

 So, the only option left to us was to follow Mapquest’s itinerary and travel west to DC, then hop onto I-95 there. Fortunately, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis was only experiencing 25 mph winds, and was still open to large vehicles. According to Mapquest, the trip should take us 20 hours total, covering over 1200 miles to Fiesta Key Koa on Long Key in Florida.

The biggest problem with DC is the traffic. The worst time of day to travel south starts around 2pm and runs through the end of the evening rush, about 7pm.  The Woodrow Wilson Bridge is a total nightmare during rush hour, even now that the majority of construction is complete. We passed through DC right at 2:30, causing us to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for over one hour and a half.

Continuing to drive south, be sure to bypass Richmond proper with I-295.  There are numerous places to stop off the bypass and take a break after the stress of DC. We did have some issues getting into a gas station; sometimes we think they make them difficult to get into on purpose, to exclude larger vehicles from taking up space at the pumps.

Pushing South through the Carolinas, campgrounds are spaced about every 50 mile, making this region a great spot for an overnight stay. We spent a night on our return trip at the Fayetteville,NC KOA, which offered large pull-throughs, easy interstate access, and friendly staff. The roads in this area weren’t the best; our tires became out of balance from the rough roads, and when we had the fiver, the “porpoising” was pretty bad.

There are signs throughout North Carolina for a tourist trap called “South of the Border,” located across the state line, a couple of miles into South Carolina.  We were amused and confounded by some of the billboards, but bypassed the mass of buildings which looked wholly deserted, certainly a tourist trap if there ever was one.

The signs on the side of the road also indicate this is a great place for an intimate massage or dinner with a nude show. Although the promise of large truck parking was enticing, we bypassed these spots in favor of the very nice, well lit rest areas in South Carolina. The rest areas filled up fairly quickly at night with tractor/trailers and other RV’s, but we were still able to find spots at each stop.

I-95 through Georgia is in a perpetual state of construction, as a lot hasn’t changed since we passed through three years ago. This area was clear on the trip down, probably because we drove through at 5 am! The sporadic palm trees and marsh made us giddy with the promise of the wamer temperatures in the more tropical climate. Once you get to this area, you are about ten hours from Key West, give or take a couple of hours for stops and traffic.

The last time we drove through Jacksonville, Florida, we hit afternoon rush hour.  Construction south of the city had traffic very heavy. Since we passed through about 7am this trip, we were slightly ahead of the traffic, with only some minor congestion. South of Jacksonville is Daytona and Cocoa Beaches, as well as the junction with I-4 to Orlando, so traffic can be hit or miss.  We were able to sail past this area, and found I-95 almost vacant after the I-4 turn off.

Miami is a different story altogether. You can tell you are getting close to Fort Lauderdale by the increase in traffic, as well as the increase in toll booths. Be sure to have lots of cash on hand for all the tolls. We didn’t keep all our receipts, but we must have spent about $30.  Why do you pay more for 2 vehicles together than if they were separate?  We were charged $3 per toll for the RV with a toad, when 2 cars would have been $2, or $1 per vehicle.

We always manage to get lost near Miami.  Not once do you see a sign for The Keys until you are leaving the interstate and entering The Keys! So when the nice lady at one of the seemingly hundreds of toll booths suggested we take the Florida Turnpike to the Homestead Parkway in lieu of I-95 through Miami, alarm bells should have started going off. We followed her suggestion only to completely miss the turn, and ending up somewhere in Eastern Florida. If anyone reading this has a suggestion on how to avoid getting lost, please leave a comment!  After driving on side streets for about half an hour, we managed to at least get onto a southbound parkway, which led back to the Turnpike.

The Turnpike ends at US Route 1, a two lane road which identified as the “Gateway to the Keys.” There is a Wally World, restaurants, and gas stations. You may want to stop here for supplies and groceries, as grocery stores and department stores are few and far between at this point.

Our trip from our home took 25 hours total, including the back up in DC, the two hour sleep stop in South Carolina, getting lost in Miami, and loading up on groceries in Key Largo.

The cookware arrived right before we left for our annual pilgrimage to the Florida Keys, just in time for a good workout on our 10-day trip south.  The first thing I was impressed by is the weight. The box wasn’t impossible to lift by any means, but I could tell by the heft that these were solid. The cookware came nested in a heavy-weight, natural cotton bag, with small pockets sewn in for the handles.

 These are shiny, heavy stainless steel. There are 4 pans that nest with 2 lids that fit all of the pans.  There are two detachable handles, so you can cook two things on the stovetop at one time.  The handles attach/detach easily by pulling a “trigger” located on the bottom side of the handle. The handle slides onto a heavy duty grooved attachment located o the side of the pot, then the trigger mechanism slides a large metal bolt into the pot for added safety and stability.

I was also thrilled to discover that the cookware is also rated for up to 500 degrees in the oven, so it does double duty in the oven as cookware. Everyone who boats or RV’s knows how space is a premium! Most of the cookware fit into the one very small drawer I have in my kitchen, under the stove. I wasn’t able to close the drawer with the entire set nesting, so I had to store one of the pots in my oven while traveling, which is annoying, but not the end of the world.

If all the chefs on the cooking channel can be believed, stainless steel cookware is supposed to be best for cooking, not only because of the way it conducts heat, but also because other forms of non-stick cookware (i.e. teflon) reportedly causes toxic poisoning of our food. I must admit that before this I always managed to burn my food with Stainless pots. Reading the enclosed brochure very carefully, the instructions mention to never cook with the burner above low or medium low to avoid burning.  Maybe this was my problem with other cookware?   Only an actual road test would provide the answer.

How did the cookware hold up on the road? I cooked omelets, rice, and even a casserole in the oven and was overall satisfied with this cookware. The omelets were more challenging to flip, due to the high sides of the pan, so they didn’t turn out perfectly symmetrical.  Clean up was simple; following directions, I simply boiled water in the pan following cooking, until the pan wiped clean with a paper towel.  The clean up after my taco pie casserole turned out to be a little more challenging, however, since I make a low-fat version with ground turkey and egg whites.  I had to boil the water and then scrub with a plastic-bristled dish brush for a little while. Next time I will remember to grease the sides with my Smart Balance prior to cooking.

The price for this cookware is about $100 and you can purchase it by following this link: Cuisinart 8-Piece Stainless Cookware Set 

The average grocery expense for a three or four person family in 2005 was $110, according to a Food Marketing Institute survey.  The rising cost of oil is affecting how much we pay for everything, so the cost of groceries is also rising. We have to eat, so food is a “necessary” item, but it is also a variable expense, meaning consumers have some control over how much they have to spend on the outlay. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I learned tricks to save money on all our adjustable expenses. Many weeks I could feed our family of four on $40. 

The average shopper makes 12 impulse purchases at the grocery store. Corporate marketing gurus have all kinds of tactics to try to separate you from your hard-earned money every time you walk into a store. Limit your purchases to what you “need” as opposed to what you “have,” and you may save calories in addition to a few dollars.

1. Have a plan One of the best ways to save money occurs before you ever leave the house. Write down what you plan on cooking for the week. Look at your supply of staples, like bread, butter, splenda (does anyone use sugar anymore?)and snacks for school.  Walking into a store with a plan helps keep you from ending up with 20 items you didn’t plan on buying.

2. Use up what you have Look in your cupboards to plan meals for the week.  You know that can of cranberry sauce in the back corner, left over from Thanksgiving? How about making slow-cooker cranberry chicken?  Some recipe search engines, like http://www.recipezaar.com/ allow you to base a meal on one ingredient.

3.  Clip your coupons Combine a sale with a coupon for huge savings. Our local grocery store doubles coupons up to $.99.  Another store doesn’t double, but they also don’t have a union, so their overall prices are lower to begin with. Sit down with the sales circular before you leave for the store, so you can pull the coupons you need for your trip. One example of great savings: the kids love Sweet n’ Salty bars. The local Acme had them 5 for $5. I had coupons for $.75 off of two boxes; that’s less than $.65 per box.

Yes, it’s true, I used to “dumpster dive” for coupons from Sunday papers at our local newspaper recycling drop-off center. I was too cheap to pay for the paper. I would end up with stacks of coupons and used them at one store that doubled up to one dollar.

4. Stick to the Outer Perimeter of the Store Your staples are all on the outer edge of the store; meat, dairy, fruit and veggies. The stuff in the middle tends to be processed junk, anyway. Do you really need to pay $4 for that soda that is just going to add calories and chemicals to your diet? 

5. Cook From Scratch I don’t understand how someone will pay $6 for some meal-in-a-box that won’t feed 2 hungry people. Cooking from scratch can save a ton of your weekly grocery budget.  Cook up a few meals in advance for the week. Make a big pot of stew or chili to nibble on for the week.

6. Skip the super-expensive Lunchables. There’s nothing wrong with a kid eating a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Additionally, have you ever looked at the nutrition information on these things? With more sodium and fat than an adult should eat in an entire day,  I wouldn’t feed it to my dog, let alone my children!

7. Before You Check Out  Do a final scan of your shopping cart. I guarantee something got in there that wasn’t on your original list, or something you don’t “need.”

Some books you may want to get for more information: 

Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy This is a very good “introductory” book about saving money and living on a budget.  If you think your spending is out of control, this is a good place to start, but not really for experienced black-belt tightwads.

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn This is for all you more advanced penny-pinchers! Blackbelt savings tips.  This woman managed to get their family expenses to $30,000 for a family of eight.