East Coast Summer: New York

   Travel days are usually enjoyable and relaxing, with everyone quietly playing, reading or sleeping as we go.  

​  Some travel days are just, well, LONG and BORING!  Especially when we get a late start.

  That happened to be the case as we were heading from Virgina to upstate New York.  The RV was stuffy, and the AC units were struggling to keep up in the extreme heat.  So, when we started to pass signs for the Hershey Chocolate factory, I looked over to Dale and nodded my head towards the exit. He smiled and a plan was formed.

  We came to the Hershey's factory last Mother's Day, on our first ever RV trip...we loved their free little Chocolate World ride, and decided that would do the trick to break up a long day. 
  The kids were SO excited to have a break from the road and at such a happy place no less.....
​

  After riding the cute free ride, we went shopping for CHOCOLATE.  But alas, after seeing the hour long line snaking around the store to check out, we bailed on our plan.  I am not kidding you, peoples carts were OVERFLOWING with candy and chocolate.   This was supposed to be a 30 minute break, not an hour long one.
  Plan B was to go to the Hershey food court and hit up the Bakery. Turns out, that was a smart choice, and one we will do again.  Mmm!

​  Fresh chocolate cream filled cookies, iced cocoas and so much more.  Each person picked a buddy to share their treat with.
​  See those smiles?  Ahh, chocolate makes everything better on travel day.

  We hit the road again, and drove until it was almost dark. Once we realized we weren't going to make our destination in time, we pulled over for dinner and hit up a pizza joint we were still talking about from last year....Tedeschi's Pizza in Hallstead, PA.
  We got another photo like last years, so we could do a side by side comparison of how everyone has changed! :)  Pizza hasn't changed a bit, still GIANT, and still delicious!  This puppy costs $12 base price. WOW.  
  Go.   Eat.   Thank me later.

  We found a Lowe's to park in for the night, and planned on attending church the next morning with our friends the Vissers.  
  Kristina and I met on the 4 little Ferguson's blog and have been friends ever since. I just had no idea I'd be seeing her several times a year, and our kids and husbands, would grow so close. What a blessing!
  She is one of the leaders in our doTERRA team now, so we have lots of excuses to go see them.
​
 Here is the photo we took of them as we left last year! Aren't they wonderful!?​  

---

  We have a growing, thriving team in their neck of the woods, so we were coming to do some Business Bootcamp trainings for them.  
  We adore helping people grow in their oil knowledge and move towards financial freedom too!!!!   Great things are happening in NY! :)

  Ray and Kristina always have SUCH fun things for us to do when we come, and this time was no exception!!!  First up, a lakeside BBQ, bonfire and fireworks show....

  The beauty of New York always takes my breath away, and its so nice and rural too.  People imagine it ALL WRONG!
We ended the night with fireworks and S'mores!

  The next day was a scorcher, even for them, so we decided to hit what they call "The Falls."
  We took a truck and one of those off road Rangers and headed down to the river.  
  We packed up a ton of food, as several of the Visser extended family were joining us, and headed down.
 We packed cast iron pie irons for Pie Iron Pizza for an easy lunch by the water.  I love those things! We use them all the time when we camp for breakfast, grilled stuffed burritos, even dessert.  You can use crescents, pie filling and powered sugar and make one heck of a funnel cake like dessert.
  We only had 6 pie irons, so we got right to work getting them on the fire right away...

---

  There is no sound I love more, then the sound of running water.  I have already put in my request to the Father, to be privileged to own such a property someday!
  What a dream!  We just sat with our chairs down in the water and relaxed.
 The kids had a ball splashing around in the water.  Adults too! :)

  Before we knew it, our days in NY were over.  We ate together tail gate style before heading to the final bootcamp, and pulled out the next morning to head to our next stop on East Coast summer: MAINE!  I have been waiting for YEARS to go to Maine, like 17 years! 

​ Bye, Visser crew! Bye, awesome NY Edition DoTERRA Dorothy team!  Thanks for being amazing hosts.  See you next time....

  So one of the trickiest things we found about the East coast so far, is the LOW BRIDGES.  
  We found this out quickly as we headed into town to get a new rv tire before we got on the road, and found a bridge that was low clearance.
 We couldn't go under it. We couldn't go around it.  SO what could we do but back up?
  That seemed simple enough except all the traffic backed up behind us didn't get the memo.  
 Thank the Lord for some nice city workers that came by and blocked traffic with their truck and directed traffic until we could have room to back up.  

---

​Phew! This east coast stuff is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure!

Hugs, T