We arrived here at Scottyland CG on Friday Oct 28, one day behind the original planned date.  Sometimes stopping for a quick visit with friends is worth the delay.  This was one of those times!

We had hoped that now that our daughter and her fiancé lived more out in the country, instead of in the city of Pittsburgh, we would be able to get a CG closer than 1/2 hour away, but this time of year, choices are limited.  There is one state park, Kooser, that is staying open later than usual, but they turned off water and closed the sewer hook-ups at individual sites, which is understandable b/c of how cold it can get.  They also do not allow stays of longer than 3 weeks, even though it is way past “season”.  So, instead we are at Scottyland Camping Resort, about 18 miles away, a 25 minute drive.  Most of the drive is on narrow, windy, county roads, which during the day is fine, but can be nerve-wrecking at night due to wildlife potentially coming into the road.  The CG is ok – there are a lot of seasonal RV’s that stay parked all year but get closed up for the winter.  This location is only an hour or so from Pittsburgh so they get a lot of weekenders coming on Fridays after work and heading back Sunday afternoons.   Only issue I have with the park is a lot of the RV’s (mostly travel trailers) are old and beat up looking, causing the place to look run down and unattractive.   The upside is the rate is affordable at $395 for the month (all inclusive – no metered electric).  The only other thing is the office has very limited hours now.  We’ve been trying to get a key to the gate for almost a week (the gate sometimes gets locked at night).

Having said all that, we have already made a reservation for a different CG for next fall for the month before the wedding.  It’s about 5 miles closer to Michelle’s house and much nicer, no ugly run-down trailers.  It’s a bit more money at $450 for the month, but doable.

We have been busy since our arrival.   We’ve been spending time hanging out with Michelle, talking about the wedding, getting some chores done, and having dinner together.  Michelle and Derek are both great cooks and they’ve been spoiling us with yummy dinners.

We’ve already driven out to Lancaster to see our son and help him move.  He and his fiancé have broken up, so it is a difficult time for him.   In spite of that, it was good to see him, as it had been over a year – TOO LONG!

We (Bill, Michelle and I) spent a few days in NJ, with our friends (extended family really) the Yaegers, saying goodbye to Jim.  He passed away, leaving his wife (my BFF), Linda, and 2 kids, Jessilynn (our Goddaughter) and Jimmy.  It is a sad time for sure.  Jim was a good friend and he will be missed by all who knew him.  We’ve known them for over 25 years! Derek, thankfully, stopped in and checked on Callie for us while we were gone.

We also had a scare with our great-niece, 16 yr old Avianna.  She left her fathers house and didn’t come home for 3 nights.  Scared the s*** out of us!  We are grateful that she is now home and safe, but wow!  You want the phone to ring, but you don’t want the phone to ring – ya know what I mean?   I was starting to look at air schedules!  We all breathed a sigh of relief when she called her Mom to come pick her up!

On a happier note:  We finally got to meet Derek’s parents, Tracy and Pete!  Michelle and Derek arranged for us to all have dinner together at a local place called Out of the Fire.  It was a great evening getting to know them, and I’m sure we will spend more time together while we are in town.

So, as you can tell, its been a stressful week, some the good kind, some not, here in PA. We have lots going on while we are here, including dress shopping!  Michelle has set up 2 appointments so far, and I am very excited to get started!  We also want to go see the venue, and talk about what they want it to look like, etc.  It’s all so exciting!  I’m the Mother of the Bride!