2-26-21 Lake Marion Park

 It was a bit chilly this morning.  But we still enjoyed hanging out on the lanai.

"Look, Grandpa, a turtle"

Layla even brought her Monkey Unky out to enjoy the lanai

 

 

"sit here, Monkey"

Look at that form!  Future photographer in the making.

"Smile, Grandpa"

Layla loved going in and out to the lanai.

she also loved vacuuming the run, kitchen, lanai, ... .

We had the cleanest carpets around

She also enjoyed her tablet and headphone.

The views from the lanai were pretty nice, but I wonder how much of the lake you'd see when the trees are leafed out?

Lots of docks---free docking.  in fact, Angie checked the realtor page and noticed a few condos here for sale.  Apparently Wyndham doesn't have too many units here, but they are the managing company.  Looks like prices were reasonable at about $150,000 for a 2 bedroom unit and HOAs were about $1000.  But that supposedly included internet, cable and I think utilities, as well as grounds and pool maintenance.

After eating breakfast in the condo, we headed off to Lake Marion State Park to let "Layla" do a little fishing.  Pretty nice park.  Looks like they have kayaks to rent, too.  They also had 2 playgrounds by the park gift shop and lots of cabins.  Some of the cabins were actually built over the water like you see in tropical resorts.

Layla enjoyed watching the bobber, but she didn't get much of a chance to actually "fish".

Finally, cranking the bait back in.

Josh trying his luck at it.

a look at the pier we fished from and the gift shop.

Angie trying her luck

Back to Grandpa.

I guess Layla decided fishing wasn't that much fun and was ready to explore

Our only "selfie" of the trip

trying to let Layla do some more fishing

maybe there's fish way out there, Grandpa

Unfortunately, they didn't even get a bite.  I don't think these fishermen did, either.  So Layla decided it was time to go to the playground.

There was another pier by our car, but it was for boats only---and little observers

Just thought the yellow reflection of the dock on the water was cool

At the playground, this little guy immediately caught my eye.  He was such a bright red.  Never seen a bug like this before.

Didn't take Layla long to get up to the top of the slide.  She's gotten over her fear of high slides.

Although she did want Dad to slide with her.

Dad had a fun time getting through the little tunnel

synchronized sliding---a new sport!

end it with a dance

tandem sliding---another new sport

solo sliding

she stuck the landing

There was another playground by the gift shop, so we went there, too.

Layla enjoyed playing there, too.

Then she tidied up the place

Back at the condo it was time to chill out on the lanai---with some bubbles.

Layla sure likes chasing bubbles.

A sunset from the lanai.  Unfortunately the sun actually sat over the buildings further down the parking lot, but we still had a little color.

made the bare trees look pretty neat.

Time for dinner.  Spaghetti tonight.  it was very good. 

Grandpa and his little buddy

Grandpa and his glasses lanyard!

a little out of order, but showing off more of the condo

back to the sunset.

And that brings us to the end of our first full day. 

2-25-21 driving to Santee, SC for a 4 nt vacation with the Hicks kids

 Since we couldn't check in until after 4 and Layla had school until noon, we didn't get going too early.  But that wasn't bad.  It gave me a chance to leisure load up the car and add a few more things, and a few more things, and a few more things, ... .  We left when Angie called to say they were getting ready to leave.  We both followed our Navigators and ended up going very different directions.  How does that happen??? After about 5 hours, we arrived in Santee just as the sun was setting.

Turned out to be a pretty good place to see the sunset.

We even arrived within minutes of Angie, Josh and Layla!  So I joined Angie as they gave her the walk through of the lobby/pool area.  Another pretty nice place to catch sunset.

We reserved a 3 bedroom accessible condo.  It was pretty nice.  Even Layla was thrilled to have her own room---with her own on-suite bathroom and 2 full size beds (one for napping and one for nighttime).

Ken and I took the master bedroom.  It was very roomy.  Angie and Josh took the 3rd bedroom and it was also large with one king (?) bed and an almost private bathroom. 

since it was already after 6 by the time we got into the room, we ordered Pizza Hut pizza for dinner and Josh ran to get it (or volunteered to go get it so he could stop at the liquor store for some libations).

The resort even had a gift bag for us. 

inside the gift bag---cheese it's, skittles, mini chocolates, ... .  They also had a separate gift with popcorn and M&Ms for Layla.

 We managed to stay up until about 10, then we were all ready to hit the sack.  What is it about driving for 5 hours that wears people out?

2021-2-27 Wyndham Lake Marion

 Another drive to resort from the Atlanta area.  Took us about 6 hours to drive there.  We had never been here before, so was excited to check it out.  Apparently this time of year, it's not very crowded.  We were able to book a 3 bedroom accessible unit.   I don't know how many units Wyndham has, but there are a lot of residents living here, too.

It was sunset when we arrived.  The check in building was by the pool.  So I ducked out to catch the last rays of the sun before heading to our room.

Check in was really nice---no timeshare sales meeting to try and get out of.  They even gave us a bag of goodies.

Nice touch!

I'm afraid I've been slacking off lately with getting pictures of the units we're staying in.  But we were traveling with our daughter and her family, so I didn't want to intrude on them.  But this was the bedroom our 3 year old Granddaughter got.  She loved it.  Mommy and Daddy got the 2nd master suite.  All 3 rooms had bathrooms---although the 2nd master suite's bathroom was actually in a hallway to the bedroom so it was available for guests.  But the hallway was private enough that they had it all to themselves.

  The master bedroom.  Nice having a desk by the bed. 

the living room and dining room area was big. 

 

looking from the patio door through the living area (only picture i got of the nice kitchen), and the 3rd bedroom in the far back.  The 2nd master and bathroom  (and laundry area) was to the right through the doorway on the side (thus the private hallway), master bedroom was directly to my right (out of the picture)

not sure what my intention was with this picture. 

We had a 3rd floor unit.  The walkway from the elevator had this view of the check in building and pool.

another view of the pool/bar b q area.  We did grill one day (the office had the grilling utensils to borrow).  It was great, except for the thousands of mosquitos.  Even though it was Feb., the pool was open.  Someone even got in.  We soaked our feet, but the water was chilly.  Surprisingly though, the air temps got up in the low 80s!

We were there during the COVID restrictions, so there were stickers on the elevator floor that was suppose to represent social distancing.

View of the buildings from one of the many piers.

tried to fish here, as well as other places around the lake---not even a bite.

 another view of the condos

Our hope was for Grandpa to teach Layla how to fish.  Thought the largest lake in SC would be a good place for that.  Unfortunately, after 4 days of trying, we concluded there are no fish in Lake Marion.  But we still had a good time.

2020-sept 27- Oct 1 Destin, Fl. 4 night vacation

 

 Angie and Josh decided it was time to go back to a beach, so back in Aug. she started looking for availability at a Wyndham on the beach.  She didn't really want to go back to Panama City Beach, so she concentrated on Destin and Edisto.  Destin had a 3 bedroom unit available for 4 nights---Sunday-Thursday, so she booked it.  A couple weeks later she noticed the unit was upgraded to a 4 bedroom unit.  So for half the price of the 3 bedroom unit, she got the 4 bedroom (about 90,000 points).  I love our VIP privileges with Wyndham!

They wanted us to join them, so for the next month, I wondered if Ken and I would really go.  I know he wasn't tickled with the idea.  But he told Angie we would try to go.  Then came a hurricane that damaged the Pensacola area.  So I had no idea until the day before the trip if we would really go.  

After some investigating, it appeared that the area was doing ok and Layla asked him again; he couldn't turn her down.  Love having that little persuader around!

Sept. 27, 2020  drive to Destin

Sept. 28, 2020 pool and Beasley Park 

Sept. 29, 2020  Angie and Josh's 13th anniversary

Sept. 30, 2020 Private beach and Beasley Park 

Oct. 1, 2020  time to go home

Wyndham Emerald Green  4 bedroom unit

We only had to gas up once each way, so I figure that was a great vacation for about $30 each way.  The condo was "free", since we have a bunch of timeshare points.  The beach was fantastic.  

 I had been here a couple times before, but they were about 50 years ago, so I really don't remember much about it.  I didn't get to stay in high end resorts then.   The first trip was with my brother and sister in law and their infant.  We camped and my brother took the car every day to go to work, I assume somewhere in Eglin AFB.  I do remember water skiing in the Gulf with some people I met in the camp ground.  The 2nd trip was with Ken when I was pregnant with Tim.  I don't remember why we were there, but I remember getting sunburnt feet.   Wonder why we didn't go back there more often?!  

10-1-20 time to go home

 ANgie had mentioned they passed an aviation museum on their way down.  Too bad we didn't think about that on the cold day.  Would have been neat to check out since it wasn't far away.   I assume it's part of Elgin AF base.  Why wasn't Dad ever stationed here?!

northern Panhandle of Florida

a few hills

little towns.

even cotton fields!

 

 

This time we followed Angie and Josh and got home in about 5 1/2 hours.  It was a pleasant drive.

Seemed like we had the highways to ourself until we got to I-85. 

Sweet Home Alabama---this route took us through Montgomery

and lots more cotton fields.

and other farmlands

cute barns. 

I-85 was more crowded, but still not bad.  Almost home---heading into Georgia.

 Josh led us through back roads in SW Atlanta so we didn't have any of the Atlanta city traffic.   Got home about 4.