Month: December 2021

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This year has not been without it’s challenges and tragedies but it’s been better than the last one. Astute readers might notice that there wasn’t a video compiled for 2020 because all our plans were cancelled due to travel restrictions. We only made it to Delaware which in fact went under travel ban while we were there in in August. If you’re looking for a 2020 Wrap-Up just watch The Rehoboth Beach Episode, lol!

2021 was much better. The weather was our biggest opponent though. I’m pretty sure rain can be seen in each and everyone of or posts and videos. We added five states to our “camped in” map. We camped at Fishermans Island State Park during Spring Break. Narragansett was rainy and windy but I could see how it could be beautiful. We spent Memorial Day Weekend in New Jersey which was soggy as well. Fun was to be had anyway with lots of crafts and a live band.

Our summer camping trip brought us on a circumnavigation of four states, adding three to our map. We began at Niagara Falls, staying at The Branches of Niagara Camping Resort. Next we went on to The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore staying at Leelanau Pines Campground. From there we crossed The Mackinac Bridge and traversed Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on our way to Wisconsin, land of cheese. Smokey Hollow Campground and it’s enormous on water obstacle course had to be the main attraction for us in The Badger State. Rain dotted Michigan and Wisconsin but there was plenty of beauty in between. On our return home we stayed at The Cleveland/Streetsboro KOA for the Fourth of July and visited The Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Our last trip of this year was to Hershey Park which was final proof that my kids are a bunch of adrenaline junkies! A lot of rain this trip but it worked out greatly (see the previous post).

That makes five National Parks and seventeen states in total for The Traveling Terrells. I think 2022 will be even better despite The Covid Omicron Variant. Our governments are dealing with things a bit smarter and the public wants to move on. If I had one wish it’d be for a cure and I’m sure many would spend their wish on that as well.

Check out our “Highlight Reel” below for all these adventures. If you’d like more information feel free to scroll back through the year on this blog as all of these places and campgrounds have their own videos compiled. Thanks for stopping by and here’s to 2022!

A couple of years ago we went to Dutch Wonderland and had a ball. We’ve always heard the Dutch Wonderland is like pre-k for Hershey so I kept a close eye on my last born’s height markings on our dining room door frame. This past Spring Ryan finally surpassed the 48″ mark qualifying him for riding on nearly every attraction. In August he was in fact 48 1/2 inches tall giving him the slightest amount of wiggle room.

The only ride Ryan could not ride that made a difference to him is pictured above. The other coaster requiring a 52″ height was under renovation. When we make height we’ll be back!

My kids really surprised me. They are all fearless. We went on every coaster, some twice! They were ravenous for more. I love the coasters too and rode them when I was their age(s) but that was a long time ago and I found I needed some time afterwards each one to curb the vertigo but they were constant daredevils tugging at my coattails. The lines were short as the weather was not ideal during our visit. Great for them, not so good for myself – attempting to regain my balance between rides. I’m partly joking about this as I was a good sport but I’ll never be an astronaut!

We stayed at Hershey’s Campground while we visited the park. They have a convenient tram that takes you the approximate mile to the park eliminating the need to tow along our Jeep. We stayed three nights as we intended preview the park the first afternoon (going even an hour earlier than regular preview being we were staying at a Hershey resort) and visit the park the entire following day. We were able to probably ride half the park during that first afternoon. The following day we were off to an aggressive start until the rain poured down. The major attractions closed for over an hour due to the deluge so we were able to get complementary tickets for the following day due to the weather. We didn’t leave the park though, instead went to the gift shop and ate at The Chocolatier while the weather cleared. Afterwards we rode a few more rides once they were dry and went back the following day again for some our favorite attractions. Sometimes things only appear grim and many times you can make lemonade out of lemons. The weather kept the crowds away that week (we in fact thought about postponing) and we visited three days while only paying for one and nobody got too badly drenched.

The campground scored an average rating for me. They had a nice gift shop (things Hershey) and a large pool. It’s really just a place to hang when you’re not at the park. We enjoyed the pool the last morning before leaving and the kids experimented with the new action camera I purchased. The waterproof case held for the first hour or so until it breached. I’m happy to say a cup of rice and 24 hours were the fix for the soggy camera

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As I mentioned above, we will be back. Everybody’s already asking when we might be able to make that happen. I’m trying to tell them that there are other places to go as well (Six Flags, Busch Gardens) but I think we’ll go back when Ryan is a Twizzler. That’s a fair amount of broccoli for the little guy.

Check out our video below and stay tuned for our 2021 Wrap up in a few days. It only took me four months to post this vacation but New Year’s Eve is fast approaching and our “2021- Year in Review” is nearly ready for final editing. Thanks for stopping by.