Camping at Anchor Down RV Resort

We have been camping for several years now and mostly camping close to home if it’s just for the weekend. This time we ventured out a bit further and camped at Anchor Down RV Resort in Dandridge, TN. It was over 3 hours drive and 185 miles. It’s nice to be able to make this trip and being able to spend time with the family. We are fortunate to be able to take my dad places, he enjoyed the weekend. I often thought of my mom, she didn’t have the opportunity to take trips like this. Life is short and one shouldn’t wait until retire to travel and go places.

Max loves camping.

I still have a lot to learn on how to shoot stars, not to mention shooting the milky way. I thought I would be able to see it clearly in an open sky on a clear night but all I see was darkness and lots of stars but very difficult to capture on camera.

I got up early to wait for the sunrise, Sunday morning sunrise was 7:20 am.

It was worth the wait.

This is a nice signature site, I would love to stay here on our next trip.

This was the view from our campsite.

The pontoon ride was $10 per person. This was our first time and it went a lot faster than I thought.

I took these photos while the pontoon was moving and didn’t expect to get good shots. The photos didn’t turn out too bad and nice to see the view from the boat. The water was very low and boats that were on water several weeks back are now sitting on rocks and dirt.

The leaves start to change colors.

The campground from a distance.

The boat was tiny from a distance and difficult to get panning shot, I got one good shot.

It amazed me to see trees survive on rocks.

This was our first time camping in Tenessee and it looked so much nicer than the North Carolina campgrounds that we visited.

The End of Summer Camping

Labor day weekend marked the end of the Summer for us and we were fortunate to be able to go to the beach the last few years. This year the tropical storm came through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area and we weren’t sure if we would be able to make it. The storm came through on Friday, and we headed out Saturday at 1 am and got to the beach in the morning. It was a nice weekend and glad that we didn’t tent camping this year, the storm left some of the sites flooded.

Year in Review 2014

We celebrated our New Year’s day January 1, 2014 at our local temple Wat Greensboro.

Since I’m part Chinese, we celebrated Chinese New Year at my Dad’s house. The year of the horse is a year of optimistic, and I truly believe that success will come to those that are willing to work hard. As for me it’s a year of opportunities, and I was willing to give it my best shot.

The snow in February was welcoming, Lee didn’t have school and I didn’t have to go to work.

The Spring arrived early in our area, it’s definitely March flowers for us here in North Carolina.

We celebrated Lao/Thai/Khmer New Year in April at Wat Greensboro. It was the time of the year for a new beginning, and for some of us it was the time to wash away the rust that has been clinging to our hearts and souls, learning to let go of the past and to start fresh with the new beginning.

My backyard garden in May, my goal is to be a more attentive gardener next year.

We attended the Dragon boat race in May, I recall learning how to shoot panning just for this event but it has grown on me, now I’m shooting panning every chance I get.

We camped at the Great Smokies KOA at the end of June, I absolutely loved the cool weather in the mountain.

This was our eighth year attending the July 4th celebration at Wat Lao Buddhavong in Catlett Virginia. It’s also our family reunion, my sisters from NYC and us from NC met halfway.

I was fortunate to see Tingnoy in concert, she is a Lao singer from Laos.

And also Jew Amoranrat’s concerts on July 4th and 5th. She is a famous singer from Thailand, and well know and accepted as Lao singer in Laos.

We went camping at Myrtle Beach on labor day weekend.

The Crape Myrtle trees bloomed in August/September in our area.

We took several camping trips to Green Mountain, this was one beautiful September night sky.

We celebrated Thot Kathin ceremony at our local temple Wat Greensboro in October.

We also celebrated Lai Heur Fai Nam or Loy Krathong in October at Wat Greensboro.  It is widely believed that these are offerings made to Mae Khongkha (mother of waters) either to please her in an expression of gratitude for providing life-sustaining water throughout the year, and to ask her for forgiveness for man’s carelessness in polluting the water that nourishes all life. Many also believe that by setting adrift the krathong, one symbolically casts away one’s grief, misery, and ill fortunes.  As for me, I casted away my grief, misery, and ill fortunes and let it floated away with my Heur Fai Nam.

October was the month of County Fairs in our area.

My garden in November was thriving.

I attended the Hmong New Year in November.

and visited McAdenville in December.

This year has been a challenge to me at work, and it’s obvious by my absent from this blog. It was also a year of lots of opportunities. I fell like I’ve been in a rat race, and just got dragged in by the cat. I’m still smiling so I’m not doing too bad. I’ve seen people take a selfie image all the time with their cell phone, and I was determined to take a selfie with my DSLR camera. I have to say it is not easy but doable.