Photo by The Joneses Reenactment soldiers set-up shop in Gettysburg. — — — E-mail Gisela — — — SLIDE SHOW: Out and about before hitting the road again
ARCHIVES: You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! Wouldn't change a thing Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana A special day From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida Traveling to Texas Finally, we're in Alaska! On the way to Canada Boise sure has changed a lot Escapees Rally in Wyoming Bittersweet trip through the southeast From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ Michigan is full of treasures Arriving in Florida Earning our ears Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks Down in the Lowcountry Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. The holidays in Florida Our time in Lakeland has come to an end Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! Arriving in Charleston A day with friends from Frederick 'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. Leaving Florida, and heading north Our final days in Kentucky Into the Keys Out of Charleston and off to Indiana Dreams come true in Vermont You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too It's all about the theme parks From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' And so it begins ... Moving days for Greg and his family The gang's all here! Happy to be in Florida again Strawberries, and more strawberries 'The RV Capital of the World' From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut Training for our jobs at Disney World Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' Under the weather Back in Florida At long last, back in the area Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho Look back, look ahead Back in the Lower 48 The cold weather is hitting Florida From Dallas to devastation Back on the road again Leaving Idaho and heading east Beautiful Alaska A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Watch out for flying dinner rolls

The last two weeks were spent getting together with friends and relatives, including our daughter-in-law, Robin, and her parents, Mary and Don, from Hagerstown, who visited us to admire our "condo on wheels" and to have lunch with us.

A couple Saturdays ago we drove with friends Erma and Bill to Strasburg, Pa., for a show at the Sight & Sound Theatres. Sight & Sound is a large Christian theatrical company that performs spectacular life shows. Most shows are based on stories from the Bible.

The company also has a theater in Branson, Mo., where they are currently showing "Noah" with, like most of their shows, live animals on the stage.

In our visit to Sight & Sound, we saw ”Voices of Christmas,” a more traditional Christmas show in the ‘Living Waters’ theatre, which is the smaller of the two theaters at the Strasburg location.

Great singing and dancing performed by very talented artists were the top highlights of the show we took in. There was a magnificent stage setting, too. All in all, it was truly a wonderful experience.

The larger theater (the Millennium) is currently showing the “Miracle of Christmas.” This is a beautiful representation of the birth of Christ (we saw it a few years ago). And, of course, before the show we stopped at a restaurant for some good 'ol country food!

A highlight of our last week in town was a visit to The Frederick News-Post's new building on Ballenger Center Drive.

During our visit, I enjoyed meeting Jason Brennan, the web editor, who, until then, I had only communicated with via e-mail or phone. Jason is the one who receives my blog, edits it (although I was happy to hear from him that he doesn’t have to do much editing), adds some of the photo captions and the map before uploading it to the web.

The News-Post is the last independent family-owned daily newspaper in Maryland and has been published by the same family since Oct. 15, 1883. The paper was founded by William T. Delaplaine and certainly has been a part of Frederick’s history throughout the years. The News-Post moved to its present location in January of this year.

Ralph and I were in awe when we saw the new printing press. It doesn’t look anything like the printing presses I've seen before. My first job ever was for a printing company in Germany. The News-Post's  printing press is six towers high and looks like some type of huge manufacturing machinery. It's awesome!

The person who made our visit to The News-Post extra special was our guide, Frances A. Randall, chairman of the board.

Frannie, like many of her friends call her, is the granddaughter of the founder and her son, daughters and grandson are all part of the company. We know Frannie from our involvement with the Frederick Sister City Association and other civic organizations.  Frannie told us so much more of the history of The News-Post and shared several funny little anecdotes with us, too.

I was sad to leave Frederick, but Ralph was ready to get on the road. That might have something to do with the fact that his golf buddies have stopped their golf outings — it's too cold now.

I could have spent another week or so in town. I would have liked to stop by our old neighborhood, but time ran out. I did, however, get a chance to have at least one lunch or dinner with all my friends. And I have to admit the weather was getting a little too cold for me, too.

Carmen, a friend of mine, asked me if now, after having been full-timing for a year, there was anything that wasn’t the way I thought it would be. I couldn’t think of anything; our life has been everything we imagined it to be, or more. Well, except for the gas prices!

They were at the highest when we did most of our traveling and completely ruined my budget. But, we didn’t let that stop us from doing what we wanted to do. Hopefully the prices will stay low, especially for the trip to Alaska planned for next summer. And if they do go up again, well, we’ll deal with it as we did this past summer. We have to spend our money on something, surely can’t take it with us!

So far we love our lifestyle and hope we’ll be able to do this for several more years. We love Frederick and will come back here as often as possible. Part of our heart will always be in Frederick, but HOME IS WHERE WE PARK IT.

We’ll be in Virginia for a few days, then drive to Kentucky to pick up our stored items. Then it's on to Florida.