When I last posted, we had just come off a crazy couple weeks!  Finishing up emptying the house, getting everything put away in our new home, some visiting.

This past Friday, we were up early and closed up the rig and away we went, making our way to Mountain Top Campground in Tarentum, PA.  What a difference a CG can make!  Where we were (at Sun Valley CG, Bowmansville, PA) was ok at best.  I mean, the price was right ($500 for the month) for FHU’s (full hook-ups), actually the price was very good, but I doubt we will ever go back.  First, the site we were in was right in the front (the only place we could fit), and very “exposed” b/c we were on the corner of 2 roads.  The front of our rig faced one road and the whole driver side of the rig faced the other road, with no screening at all.  Like I said, very exposed.  So, lesson learned, don’t ever want to park on a site like that again.  Plus, we were across the street from a couple cabins – after spending 4 weekends there, only one weekend was actually quiet.  The other 3 were very noisy, even past quiet hours.  Thankfully, we always knew they would be gone after 2 nights.  Also, there were a lot of trees, which was nice, but also, after being there so long, it felt closed in.  Friends of ours were in ME and had a similar comment about their CG there.  They had really liked it at first, but after a while, it felt dark and closed in.  Also, there wasn’t any grass really for Cocoa.  The whole site was gravel.  Was hard on her little paws.

Where we are now couldn’t be more opposite!  Completely open, lots of grass, very scenic!  It is different from any other place we’ve ever stayed b/c we don’t have FHU’s.  We have water and electric, but no sewer.  I was a little unsure of this when I booked it, but they owner, Gary, put me at ease enough to try it.  Here’s the deal:  our gray water is constantly draining through a hose into their french drain system, which surrounds the CG.  For the black water, they have a honey wagon that comes around once a week and drains your tank.  We arrived Friday and today is Wednesday, and I have to say, Gary was right, all is good!  Even with Michelle staying with us 2 days, our black tank is plenty big!  The tank wasn’t even full when they pumped it out this morning.  They also have a dump station, so we will probably dump Friday before we head out.

We have been having a great time visiting with our daughter!  Saturday we went to the Steel City Big Pour, which is basically a beer fest.  Thankfully, there were also vendors with hard cider, b/c I do not like beer at all.  YUCK!  And, several food vendors with samples of their most popular menu items!  Michelle’s BF, Derek, is the General Manager of a non-profit, Construction Junction, which is very much like Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  This was their once a year big fundraiser.  When we first met Derek, back in March or so, and he learned that Bill was a huge craft beer fan, he immediately invited us to this event, and of course we accepted.

Sunday, we helped Michelle move into her new apartment.  How’s that for perfect timing?  She swears she didn’t plan it that way, but really?  I’m not so sure.  Doesn’t matter, her new roommate, Job, helped with the larger pieces, and it didn’t take all that long.  After the moving, we came back here and had some dinner and a campfire, complete with s’mores.  It was a beautiful night, here on top of the mountain.  The views are really nice and there were lots of stars!  I do not remember the last time we shared s’mores with Michelle!

Monday we had to take Michelle back to her new place.  She had chores to do before getting ready for work.  Bill and I just hung out the rest of the day, doing our new fav thing: relaxing!  We watched some TV; we actually get really good reception here with the batwing (antenna).

Last night we met Michelle and Derek and they took us to dinner at a new place in Pittsburgh called Grit & Grace.  It was an awesome meal!  Derek choose it and he picked a winner!  We had fried pork belly, curry goat, steak tartar, seafood sausage, chicken wings (not buffalo – they were kind of smoky), short ribs and flourless chocolate cake for dessert.  They serve things family style b/c everyone always wants to try everything.  It was a great place, coupled with great company – what more could a parent ask for?  Check it out at: http://gritandgracepgh.com.

Today, we are just hanging out, catching up on some chores, I want to look into a CG for FL in between our time in the Keys and the RV-Dreams Rally, Bill has to call to change our address for a couple of his 401K accounts, I wanted to post here today and our big outing will be to Home Depot for a few items.  I also want to practice a bit more at our new fav past-time, relaxing!

So, I am going to add some pics and hit the publish button – hope you are enjoying!