Here at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay

As we had hoped, we were able to extent our stay here until next Thursday.  It's nice to have ten days in one place occasionally.  Our next site neighbors are a delightful couple named Dave & Fran Clark.  He is the Virginia Good Sam State Director.  They have a lovely class A motorhome and although not full timers, they travel for long periods each year, and winter in warm climates!  Yesterday we took a tourist guide magazine with listings of local lighthouses, and set out to see them.  The magazine must be old as it was not accurate.  The first one we went to see was at the Stingray Marina, in Deltaville.  Sadly, we found out it had been lost in a hurricane quite some time ago.  There was a small reproduction of it in the marina.

 It was pretty though.  Then we drove over to where we hoped to see another lighthouse near White Stone.  We walked all around the marina until we saw someone to ask about it.  She said she didn't think there had been a lighthouse there in quite a few years!  So we gave up on trying to see anymore lighthouses.

This bridge is the one that spans the Rappahannock River.  I don't know just how wide it is, but it seemed REALLY wide.  We also drove over a shorter bridge to cross the Piankatank River, which runs right behind this campground.

. We were surprised to see how many houses were built up off the road, to protect them from high water damage. 
We saw many beautiful boats, both sail boats and motorboats.

Here is one nice one, and a "fixer-upper" boat.  LOL.  Later we went to see the beautful Historic Christ Church in Lancaster.  It was well worth the drive.

 This is the 3 level pulpit in the church.  The lowest level was for the person who read announcements.  The second level was for the elder who read the scriptures, and the top level was for the pastor who preached the sermon.  We thought that was interesting. 

I would like to stop here to tell a story.  Several months ago I bought a Fujifilm camera that I really enjoyed using.  We have had that brand before and they were very reliable, so I did NOT buy the extended warranty.  A couple weeks ago the flash on it stopped working.  We tried everything we could think of to try to get it to work, without success.  Yesterday Jim persuaded me to invest in a new camera, even though this one still works fine, if there is adequate light.  After much discussion, we selected the modestly priced Nikon Coolpix S7000.  I was amazed at the incredible pictures it takes!  It has a 20X optical zoom.  Here are some pictures I took today.  I am not an excellent photographer, but this camera does an excellent job.  This is the pavilion and family center here.

 These were taken looking out over the Piankatank River, and the boats and other people were very far away!  The last picture is at the dock here for the members use.

 This is the swimmimg pool here at the preserve.  They also have an indoor adults only hot tub.  This is the nicest Thousand Trails Preserve we have been in yet.  I told Jim I wished we could take this place back home to California with us! 
It's been a grand day.  We were talking with a lady over by the adult pool and she was telling us about places she thought we should see before we leave.  I'm not sure we will get to them, but it is so nice the way people are ready to tell us about the area and what there is to do and see.  Anyway, that's enough for tonight.  Keep the rubber side down and keep enjoying America......one of God's gifts to us.  Have a wonderful day, weekend and life!