Today, June 1, 2023, we are in New Orleans celebrating 3 Years as Full Time RVers! The time has flown by because we been having so much fun. Yes. Time really does fly, when you’re having fun.
Steve and his co-pilot Izzy on our first big RV trip in June 2006.
First trip to Charleston in an RV!
Exquisite and delicious dessert to end our meal at the fabulous Peninsula Grill in Charleston SC
Three years ago today, we sold our house and moved into our RV that we’ve named Ladybug. We’d been advised by other full timers that it’s wise to stay at an RV park close to where our house was. So we took the advice, and stayed at the closest park we could find for 3 weeks, before truly beginning our journey.
Enjoying hard shell crabs in Baltimore MD
In Margate NJ we saw a jellybean replica of Lucy the Elephant
Part of a beautiful meal prepared for us at a restaurant in Montauk where a former chef of our worked.
Scallops a la Tony! in Montauk NY
During that time we organized everything that we had shoved into Ladybug. Literally. our stuff was everywhere we could find an inch of space. Clearly, we should have purged more before moving in! We didn’t even have a clear path to walk through the RV. And finding places for what was on the bed was our first priority, or we wouldn’t be able to sleep. It took us the better part of the first week to get organized and totally unpacked.
We enjoyed fabulous pizza in Connecticut at legendary Mystic Pizza. So good we ate there twice!
Awesome lobster, picnic style, at Abbott’s in Connecticut. The lobster there was so yummy! Actual lobster, of course, not the one behind me, silly.
Nobska Lighthouse in Woods Hole MA
We hung artwork. Ordered a ton of things that we knew we’d need, from Amazon. And replaced our teeny tiny RV fridge with an almost 11 cubic foot Magic Chef. that fit the space like it was custom made. And we said our last goodbyes to all of our dear friends. That part was bittersweet, but we knew that we’d be coming back every year to visit.
Our first time on a sailboat in Massachusetts
We did an Art Show at the Portuguese Festival in Massachusetts, in New Bedford, near Boston
Dinner at Ristorante Saraceno, North End Boston MA
Our experiences have been incredible! We have seen things that we only knew about from books. The Pacific Coast, Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Arches National Park, Old Faithful, Tulip Festival in Oregon, falling in love with an alpaca, and seeing bison walk right along side our car at Yellowstone are just a few that flood my mind with blissful memories.
Another beautiful meal in New Hampshire
Lighthouse in Vermont
The famous Wedding Cake House in Kennebunkport ME
The food that I’ve cooked, and the food that we have eaten in restaurants across the country has been so amazing. This food has inspired me to write a series of eCookbooks for each of the 50 states that we have been to. Working alphabetically, Tasting Alabama: one bite at a time, is already available for download on the site! Click here to purchase.
As promised we had lobster every single day we were in Maine. Sometimes even twice a day!
We met Lenny the chocolate Moose in Scarborough ME
We drove to the top of Mt. Washington NH in our Honda Odyssey. Our brakes were never the same!
Dinner at a great Jewish Deli in Pittsburgh with dear cousins
Speaking of the cookbooks, I am working on Tasting Arkansas (Tasting Alaska and Arizona will be available soon!) and I was looking for pictures from our time there in 2006. That was the year we fell in love with RVing.
An exciting visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton OH
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland OH
The last photo I got before they confiscated our camera at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fortunately they gave it back just as we were leaving!
We bought our first RV in 2006, and used it to travel in Florida to art shows, where I sold my jewelry. To see a few of my handmade pieces just click here. Our son and daughter in love got married in May of that year, so we couldn’t really travel until after their wedding. But in June we took off for a 6 month RV trip that was so amazing that we came home and ALMOST started full time back then.
Sold jewelry at a Wine Festival in Ohio. They even stomped grapes the old fashioned way. Great for sales! The more they drank, the more jewelry I sold!!!
Dinner at Volare’s Italian Restaurant at the Opryland Hotel
In Memphis we loved touring with Duck Tours. Really fun!
Looking through the photos, I was reminded that it was on that trip, that we totally fell in love with New Orleans as well.
We had the pleasure of touring Graceland the home of the King, Elvis Presley!
The first RV park in New Orleans that we stayed in! One space for us and the rest was all FEMA trailers. We couldn’t even put our awning out because the campers were so close!
Our first of many dinners at Brigtsen’s in New Orleans. It’s become a tradition for Brigtsen’s to be the place for our last dinner out before leaving NOLA.
We’d been here for a catering conference in 1991. Everything about The Big Easy was so fabulous that we knew we wanted to return. But it wasn’t until many years later that we got to do that. It was the year after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The only RV site we could find was filled with FEMA trailers. If friends hadn’t guided us to a new park we would have only stayed a couple of nights. Thankfully, we got to move to a great spot on the outskirts of the French Quarter.
First visit to the Sculpture Gardens in City Park, New Orleans. Now we go there often, just for a stroll.
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the 9th Ward of New Orleans
This boat washed up onto the lawn from Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans during Katrina!
People here were so grateful to have visitors return. They hugged us like long lost relatives and thanked us for coming to their home. That alone was enough to begin a love affair that has become a long term relationship. But the food. OMG! The food is so delicious that you go to sleep dreaming of what you will eat tomorrow.
Destruction everywhere in the 9th Ward after the levees broke.
Ellis Marsalis tickling the ivories at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro on Frenchman Street, just outside of the French Quarter. From there we went to dinner at Susan Spicer’s Bayona.
Scattered throughout this post are photos from that first RV journey that led us to the unending one we are on now. Three years and still loving every second!!!
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