West Virginia Rafting Adventure

This past weekend I went with the lovely Weekend Retweat ladies (Vicki Esh, Tiffany Eckhardt, Janice Robinson and Myself) down to Fayetteville, West Virginia to camp and raft along the New River at River Expeditions. I have been on the New River twice before about 10 and 12 years ago, respectively. We primitively camped with a church group in the middle of a "holler" between some woods the first time, and on top of a hill in an open field the second time.


I volunteered to drive since the only thing I hate more than driving down a mountain at a high rate of speed is not driving a car down a mountain at a high rate of speed.

This time was VERY different! As soon as we pulled into the River Expeditions "Campus" as I refer to it. I knew that we were in for a good time! Got out of the car to check in and found a pool and hot tub open to everyone! The Outfitters store had all the essentials and they even had a Saloon to relax and have a cold one after a hard day of rafting.


We checked in and were told we would be in "Luxury Cabin #2" we saw some of the other cabins and agreed they looked nice and were expecting a cabin with the essentials only. WE WERE SURPRISED!!! We were lodging in a 5 bedroom, 2 full bath, full kitchen log cabin with a back deck, hot tub and fire pit. What a treat!

We headed over to Dirty Ernie's Rib Shack for dinner. They served bbq, and various dishes. I think they are best well known for their decor. Take a look!



Yes, those are dollar bills stapled to the walls. They give you a sharpie and encourage you to make your mark and put them up with a big staple gun! Of course the Weekend Retweaters had to "note" that we were there. (pun intended)






After dinner we checked out the New River Gorge Visitor Center. We walked down some "treacherous" stairs to get to the viewing platform. I took some good shots that I'll be entering in the Fair so I can't post them here. But here are a couple gems!




After the gorge preview we headed back to the cabin for some late night wine, cheese and hot tub. Then we hit the hay to rest up for the next day. I have to say our cabins didn't have wireless internet and barely had a cell signal, but it was a welcome silence in my brain!

On to the FUN part of the trip! We woke up early (a couple of us earlier than others so they could go out for breakfast, I thought ahead the night before and left them a note to bring me something back.

We went down to register for our trip back at "base camp" at 9:30 for the 10:30 trip. We filled out our liability forms and I headed over to get some sunscreen while the gals hung out by the pool with their coffee. We were introduced to Heather, River Expeditions Co-Owner who informed us our Trip Leader would be Marcus and our Guide would be Brad. We hadn't met either of them yet but she said we were in good hands!
After grabbing our life jackets, helmets and paddles we were loaded on to the bus for the 30 minute trip down the one lane mountain!

He got out of the bus, met our guide Brad (who looked like a guy on vacation who decided to wear a Hawaiian shirt and a life jacket). We went down and put the boat in the water.
Fast Forward... Here are couple shots of us in rafting action!

If you want to see me tackling Tiffany Eckhardt out of a boat click here! Brad our guide was THE BEST I've ever had! We didn't flip the boat one time and NO ONE fell out!
I can not say enough good things about Brad!

Rafting came to an end and we made new friends in our boat who we invited over for a campfire later in the night. We headed out to the Red Dog Saloon after our trip to watch our video and catch up with Brad and our boatmates for a beer.

We also found this giant chicken

Which is hilarious if you have read this - Giant Metal Chicken (The Bloggess) -

All in all we had a FANTASTIC TIME at River Expeditions and they were fantastic hosts! If you'd like to book your own trip on the New River check out www.RaftingInfo.com !

The Pines of Dresden - Weekend Retweat

This past weekend we stayed at The Pines of Dresden. This cozy 1812 farmhouse is the oldest residence in Dresden, Ohio. You may know Dresden as the home of Longaberger Baskets or “Basket City, USA.” But there is much to see and do in this town even if you aren’t in the “basket cult.”

East Coast Summer Travel Part 2 - NYC

Going to New York City was something that my husband (T.D.) and I wanted to do for a long time. Neither of us had ever been, but we didn't have a ton of money this year. So we decided to do it on a budget. We only had two days to stay in NYC so we made the most of it!

Our first order of business was to find a hotel. Because our vacation was finalized at the last minute we waited until we were in Philly to find a place to stay in NYC. My cousin had suggested we stay in Secaucus, NJ and take a shuttle over to NYC. This was a great money saving suggestion! We used Priceline bidding to find the Courtyard by Marriott. If you are not familiar with Priceline or Hotwire (our other favorite site) take a look at this website http://betterbidding.com/ - it deciphers which hotels are which and what hotel you are likely to get from your bid.

East Coast Summer Travel

Part 1 of 3
Last week my husband and I took a road trip to three of America's historic destinations! Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C. Since we were on a small budget I wanted to share my tips to having a great vacation all while saving money!

Our first stop was Philadelphia, Pa. We took I-70 from Columbus through the PA Turnpike (which only accepts cash) to Philly. Our stay was actually free because we stayed with my cousin in her apartment. My advice in any large city is to take advantage of public transportation. It's cheap and gets you where you need to go in a short amount of time. Plus no headache of driving and getting lost!

Little Miss Mortgage: Talkin' Insurance with the Goddess!

Take a look at this new blog!

Little Miss Mortgage: Talkin' Insurance with the Goddess!

My First Weekend ReTweat!

Last Sunday afternoon I received a call from Tiffany Eckhardt asking if I was free for the evening. It just so happened that I was. She wanted to me to accompany the Weekend Retweat team to Yellow Springs to stay at the Arthur Morgan House. I graciously accepted the invitation!

The evening started at Peaches Grill with a lovely appetizer and a new beer to try called Bell's Oberon. It is an orange wheat beer *similar* to a Blue Moon. I loved it so much I bought a six pack to take home. While at Peaches we met Krystal Luketic from the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce. I had a chance to interview Krystal about how she is utilizing Facebook to interact with over 12,000 people throughout the world!

Click here to watch my interview with Krystal