Hello Friends!
Happy New Year!
Hope ya’ll are doing well. Just wanted to say Happy New Year, and catch up a little. Even though I have continued to publish videos on the YouTube channel and posts on the GGC Facebook page, I haven’t updated the blog in three months! So sorry about that…this time thing is insane! See video here: https://youtu.be/qs6rdG8Vf5w
View from my shanty
September and October was a blur; as a big part of it was spent washing down and re-staining my cedar siding home. I’m just a part-time gypsy, so I do still have house maintenance to tend to. I recently dealt with a water tank leak and now have a sagging gutter. I swear, sometimes I wanna move into my camper–even if its just parked in the driveway! However, I do love my little ‘shanty on the river.’ It is my sanctuary, and I could easily become a hermit. Very odd for a vagabond to say I know, but if I had my way, the only time I would leave here would be to go on another adventure–which is like every two weeks LOL!
September Surprise!
It was no surprise that the September weather continued to be quite hot, but it was a total shock to come home one afternoon to find a rattlesnake in my yard! Living in the country, I’m used to seeing blacksnakes, copperheads, ground snakes and such, but never have I seen a rattlesnake in this area. They’re here, but very rarely seen. I live next to the river, and I’m sure it had come out of the top of the hills to get water. I hated so bad to kill it, but had no choice. It had already bitten one of my dogs. After an overnight hospital stay, my Gracie girl recovered. Not the kind of adventure I prefer, but will certainly never forget it!
I took in as many fall activities as possible including festivals, traveling some remote country backroads; enjoying beautiful autumn scenery,
Love traveling country backroads…
Beautiful fall landscapes
Found a secret waterfall!
https://www.facebook.com/CatrinaVargo66/videos/1075496743286575 exploring a brand newcampground, https://youtu.be/RGIfnQDwUS4 and attending a Halloween event at an iconic amusement park. https://www.facebook.com/CatrinaVargo66/videos/4577217228981085
Camden Park Halloween Spooktacular-Kenova, WV
More GGC merchandise became available, including a cool new design; getting geared up for 2022 vendor events. Items can be purchased by messaging me on the Gal Gone Camping FB page or direct message me on personal page (Catrina Vargo). Merch will be on Shop page of this site as soon as possible.
New speckled stoneware mugs
This fall, I tested the market for a new venture I’ve been considering for a couple years now. I worked in the floral/gift industry years ago, which included gift baskets. Although I liked creating flower arrangements, I enjoyed making gift baskets more. The market tests went very well, so I will officially launch my custom gift basket biz in January. I’m super excited! Some of those will be camping/RV inspired y’all!
Holiday Camper gift arrangement
I am dissolving the LIVING with Catrina page. It was meant to be a platform to discuss a variety of topics and promote businesses and events. I can do that on my personal FB page. I thought it was best since I will be creating a page for the gift basket biz. I want to keep the social media manageable.
My last campout for the year was in November with some of my Girl Camper group members. Our home for a couple days was Campbells Cove Campground on Lake Logan in the Hocking Hills area of OH. This area is famous for it’s incredible natural beauty–amazing geological formations, waterfalls, caves, forests, and awesome trails. We explored and hiked Hocking Hills State Park, discovering its most popular tenants–Old Man’s Cave and the Devil’s Bathtub.
Devil’s Bathtub, Hocking Hills State Park–Logan, OH
Hiking Hocking Hills with my Girl Camper buddies
I didn’t expect the park to be so crowed this late in the year, but it was. Although crowds are not my style, I’m super glad I went. I highly recommend this place. Lots to see and do–tons of outdoor recreational opportunities of course, but also great shopping, restaurants, and other attractions and activities.
My granddaughter, Remi Lynn!
My family was on baby countdown this fall; as my granddaughter was born Nov. 3rd! OMG! I am totally in love! My namesake, Remi Lynn (we share the middle name!), is healthy, happy, totally perfect and beautiful. I flew to Fort Worth TX to meet her and spend Thanksgiving with all my kiddos–they’re pretty ok too! What a blessing. I am so grateful. Thank you God! Since it was too soon for the G-baby to travel, we postponed our family Christmas till March. Although I missed them terribly, I thoroughly enjoyed the holidays with other family and great friends.
Holiday fun with great friends
As I did in 2020, I made a video listing my favorite products for the year. You can see the 2021 favorite products video here: https://youtu.be/-Twn3BdaFC4
I’m sure you all heard the news of the devastating tornado that hit the western part of Kentucky, my home state. It got me to thinking about how important it is to be prepared for all types of emergencies where you may be without power, water, etc. for an extended period of time. We saw that last February with the severe ice storm here and across a large portion of the US.
Getting in wood while the gettins’ good!
I just filmed a video discussing things you can do to prepare for such incidents. https://youtu.be/zNqEn0qBg9w I shot it off the cuff, mentioning things that came to mind, but am going to write a blog on the subject soon in much more detail, so stay tuned.
That pretty much gets us caught up y’all. More coming soon, and will do my best to post more frequently. I hope you enjoyed the holidays and pray that 2022 will be a great year for all of us. Stay safe!
Until next time, remember…DON’T WAIT TO LIVE!
See ya down the road,
Catrina