The boys (Daniel and Jordan) wanted to go on an RV trip last Thanksgiving but by the time we actually buckled down to book, the RVs we wanted were already rented so we thought we'd try the following year... and we did!! The boys secured our RVs months ago and we booked a campground in North Georgia for the Thanksgiving break. I was really excited about it, but a little skeptical not knowing how it was all going to go down but it was an absolute blast!!! We truly had sooooo much fun. The RVs were so dreamy and extremely comfortable!! Hook up was a total breeze. The campground was absolutely gorgeous! And we enjoyed several days of legit quality family time. I'll give you the play by play with pictures below.
We (thankfully) picked up our RV the night before we left. It was bare bones so we had to load it with all our own bedding, towels, pots, pans, utensils, etc... We got all our food, clothing, everything we needed packed in Monday night and left 7:00am sharp Tuesday morning. Here we are starting down Nova Road.
We had to make a pit stop to ice up our coolers, and then we also stopped for gas and a 7-11 breakfast. By the time we hit the turnpike and were officially "on the road" it was already 8:00. You can see where this is going...
We drove a few hours before taking a rest-stop pit stop to use the restrooms and walk the dogs. We had Rosco with us and the others had Tank and Peppa so it took a little time to make sure they went. A couple more hours down the road we stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A. Several more hours later we made a long pit-stop to hit a Walmart for a few more needed things and also Home Depot for a turkey fryer. We were going to grab some hot-and-ready pizzas and carry on but Little Caesars let us down with 0 pizzas ready so we ate at Sonny's instead. It was a good choice and delicious but by the time we headed back out it was dark and late and we still had a few more hours to go. As you can see, the kids were totally content in the RVs, though, and kept themselves entertained with toys, games, beading, cards, movies, legos, and each other. So while the 8.5 hour drive ended up taking us 14 hours (eek!) it wasn't all that bad.
Once we got to the campsite it was late and I knew we were on a lake but I didn't know how pretty it was until we woke the next morning and walked out our RV to this!!!!!!
We stayed at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds Campsite in Hiawassee Georgia and it was beautiful. At any moment you could find Jackson around the lake fishing, the littles throwing rocks into the water to their hearts content, the older girls walking the dogs and exploring the campsites. It was so fun. Lots of space for football games or catch. We set up cornhole and did lots of playing. Our fire burned all day and all night and the littles loved throwing in sticks or leaves they had collected. I sat by the fire and read my book or rested or went walking and just enjoyed it. It was wonderful.
We roasted smores in the evenings or made pie-on-a-stick and every night I made the kids hot cocoa in bed while they watched a Christmas movie. The RVs were very roomy, each of the kids had their own bed with plenty of room and Daniel and I had the king bed in the "bedroom."
Thanksgiving Day we decided to eat around 2. We really simplified things this year and it was great. The boys cooked the turkey outside in a fryer. It turned out delicious. I bought ready made mashed potatoes and gravy from Sam's Club so just had to microwave them. Shanda bought rolls and made the stuffing from the box (just add water!). We opened cans of cranberry sauce, green beans and collards. Shanda bought a pumpkin pie and apple, I made a cheese pie and peanut butter pie before we left so had them in the fridge. Everything tasted just perfect and it was the easiest Thanksgiving I've ever prepared.
We decided we didn't want to make the 14 hour trek home all on Sunday so we cancelled our last 2 nights up in Hiawassee and tried to find a place in central or southern Georgia. Well, last minute over Thanksgiving weekend made a place hard to find and we ended up booking at an RV resort and golf club in Madison Florida. That was a 6 hour drive from Hiawassee and3 from home. We packed up and headed out the day after Thanksgiving on Friday morning. We made a couple stops for firewood, Walmart and lunch and pulled into Madison in the early evening around 5ish. This place was nice and clean but hardly scenic. RV sites lined up neatly around a pond or two but no beautiful lake or mountains or trees or space. We still enjoyed ourselves. We rented golf carts for the day and pickleball rackets and basketballs and spent our time riding around, playing bball and pickleball and taking the dogs to the dogpark and throwing the football around and playing cornhole. A good time was still had by all. We enjoyed the fire, had a movie night with the kids, and looked forward to the easy-peasy 3 hour drive we had on Sunday when we headed home.
I'm glad we made the decision to shorten our drive Sunday. We packed up in the morning, drove and hour, stopped for breakfast and then had 2 hours left. Well will plenty of traffic, that 2 hour drive because 4. It was surely good to be home once we got there. I had mountains of smoky laundry!! But it was just so so much fun and so worth it!! We will definitely be doing this again!!
