Fourth of July Trip 2023: Jordan Lake, NC
Jordan Lake, NC ~ Poplar Point Campground ~ July 1-8, 2023
Site #B007 (Loop B)
30 amp + water - no sewer
Other good sites - there are many, but not sure there are many we can fit into. Lakeside sites seem pretty small and many of the lakeside sites don’t have electricity - only water, so check carefully when booking at the NC reservations site online! The camp side of our site was HUGE and very private, so we feel like we got a good one!
Campsite from camp side. No one over here!
Saturday, July 1, 2023
The week-long adventure began with a little kerfuffle. Auntie couldn’t get a dog sitter for the first day, so we ventured out just the 4 of us to head to Jordan Lake’s HUGE Poplar Point campground, with her planning to join us the next day. (There are over 500 campsites at Jordan Lake between the 3 state campgrounds and Poplar Point is the largest, with over 250 of those sites!). The kerfuffle wasn’t the dog sitting issue. The kerfuffle was a slight error in distance calculation while pulling out of our gas stop in Lumberton, NC. We were focused on the fact that the exit to the gas station had some gnarly HUGE pot holes we would need to maneuver around, not on the protective concrete pole at the end of the gas pump island…. Poor Geraldine suffered quite a scar and there may have been some loud cursing and arm flailing that ensued…
We managed to ding up Geraldine’s side on the living room slide out pretty good. We had no idea if it was mostly cosmetic, or if there was structural damage, but after a long series of loud F-bombs (which scared the trucker in the bay next to us so badly, he didn’t pull forward out of the bay, but backed out slowly!), we decided to continue on our way and pray for the best. Steve and I spent 30 minutes in silence, literally not speaking to each other because…what was there to say? In the end, we agreed that the first rule we had heard when we were watching YouTube videos before we ever bought a camper 3 years ago is the one that we always seem to screw up on and end up in a pickle: SLOW DOWN, DON’T RUSH IT OR MISTAKES WILL BE MADE. We were too focused on the potholes, not the overall big picture and that stress amped things up to where mistakes WERE made. We will have to do a better job at reminding each other of this going forward!
We made it to the campground easily and found our site in Loop B at the beginning of the loop. We were thrilled with the size of the camp side of the site and the privacy of the site - there was not even a camp site next to us. SCORE! If we can’t be on the water, being in the woods with privacy is the next best thing :).
The site has a slight left-to-right slope that made it tricky to level. We ended up having to do it manually vs. using auto-level. But after a couple tries, it was level and we were ready to test to see if the slide worked. Breathe in. Breathe out. It DID! It looks like this is mostly a cosmetic injury, so we will take it and move forward.
It was hotter than Hades with humidity in the high 90%’s. It was HOT. Setting up, we were drenched in sweat. And as soon as we got the awning up, the rains came. And it poured in BUCKETS. We got over 1.5” of rain within the hour. We couldn’t believe, however, our luck that we got things set up and covered before the rains came. Due to the slope of the site, we had a good river running under the camper down the slope to a “crick” that ran by the side of the site. That “crick” filled up with 5+ inches of water just from the rain! Within 3 days, however, it was dry as a bone!
Curly Setup Hair vs. Post-rain Hair ... It was HUMID and WET!
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Our excitement level was high when we got up this morning. Not only was Auntie heading our way, my cousin Kristin and her daughter, Avery were coming to spend a couple days with us. Kaety and Grace were super excited to see Avery and probably asked at least 40 times before they arrived when they were going to get there. When the moment came, it was all the cousins together again and it was awesome!
Kaety, Avery, Grace
We headed to the swim beach because it was HOT and we wanted to cool off. We were pleasantly surprised to find there was an actual “beach” and it wasn’t too terribly populated. We planted ourselves in the water on floaties and proceeded to swim and play, finding giant lake snails and enjoying cooling off. Kristin and Kaety made sand castles on the beach while we waited for Auntie Rachel to arrive, then after a few more hours of swimming, we headed back to the campsite for dinner and firefly chasing!
Monday, July 3, 2023
Whilst working on breakfast this morning, Kristin, Auntie and I were sitting around chatting (Steve was making his breakfast magic) and a VERY large spider decided to amble its way into our sitting circle. VERY large. I couldn’t even speak. I simply said “FEET UP!” And Kristin was sure it was a snake, but I was petrified as the bugger came AT ME with PINCERS RAISED. Quick thinking Steve got his handy Bug-A-Salt gun and shot that offensive arachnid until it curled up into a large black, vanquished ball. Y’all, when I tell you this thing was big, I’m not exaggerating. I am a true arachiphobe and it took me easily 20-30 minutes, some tears, and a lot of shrieking to get thru this episode. After some research, we believe it was a “Trap Door” spider, which probably wouldn’t have hurt us, but it TERRIFIED me. Pictures of said menace (from the inter webs) and after Steve’s heroic attack are below. I think I may have scarred Kristin and Auntie because they thought it was a snake and I would definitely not have been as freaked out if it was…but they would have been!
BEFORE
AFTER
Once my heart rate returned to normal, we got the girls outside for breakfast and then headed back to the swim beach. The fact we spent any further time outside that day is a wonder to me! That said, the swim beach was awesome and lots of fun memories were made!
Back at camp, the firefly game was STRONG in the forest next to our site. Grace and Avery were able to catch several and Auntie spent time showing Kaety that they weren’t scary and examining the fireflies the girls found. At the end of the night, we did let them all go - no fireflies were harmed on our watch!
Kaety helped grill some kielbasa for dinner and we had a great time hanging out…though I kept looking around for spiders!
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Kristin and Avery had to jet for some 4th of July party fun, so we sadly said goodbye….but made plans to meet up tomorrow at a mid-way point - Aloha Safari Zoo!
Afternoon the cousins left, we decided to walk down to one of the unoccupied water sites rather than heading to the swim beach (assuming it’s going to be CRAZY today!). It’s a nice little cove down by site 24 and we hadn’t seen anyone there the last couple of days. Of course, right about checkin time (4 pm), campers showed up, so we had to vacate the cove, but we get a great 4 hours in AND Kaety got to try out her dinosaur, “Daniel” (finally decided on a name after several tries!), on the lake in the cove. It was a BIG hit! :)
Steve, walking “Daniel” down to the lake!
Driving Mr. Daniel…
Takes some getting used to!
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
What an adventure we had today!! We drove about 45 minutes away to the Aloha Safari Zoo and it was AWESOME! We didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as we did, but it was actually a pretty cool zoo! Probably the worst part is it was HOT. VERY hot! Kristin and Avery were running late, so we spent an hour going thru the zoo prior to their arrival, then got some shaved ice and went back thru the zoo again. Lots of goats, monkeys, lizards, tortoises, and even tigers and giraffes in the walking zoo part. We fed lots of goats and even the giraffes!
After walking thru, we loaded up in our cars for a trek through the drive-thru part of the zoo, which was STELLAR. I was definitely freaked a little at the Ostriches and the big-horn cattle basically being IN the car, but it was so much fun (and air-conditioned!!!) We bought food for the animals (not the zebras or donkeys … lots of signs not to do that!), and it was a hoot!
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Boat Day! We rented a boat from the marina across the lake and took it out to explore Jordan Lake. We stopped at a couple of coves, the first we swam at for a bit and decided to name “KScat Cove”.
We drove around and saw the Jordan Lake Dam, then found another area (with a ladder on a tree?? not sure why!) that we hung out and swam at and had a nice beachside lunch.
We finished the day back at KScat Cove, swimming and feeding fish - they really like Cheezits!!!
Friday, July 7, 2023
Today was a low-key day for our last full day here.
We made a big breakfast - crab cakes Benedict and hashbrowns - EXCEPTIONAL!
Afterward, we hung out at the swim beach and talked to some nice folks from about two hours away. Kaety played in the sand and Grace swam her heart out. It was restful and relaxing - not too many people at the swim beach and no crazy antics!
Back at camp, we saw some more signs of beauty and why we like being outside… and happily, no further spider sightings! :)
Saturday, July 8, 2023
We didn't want to go! We never do. Checkout was late, so we had a chill morning, packed up slowly, and ended up leaving around 1pm to head home. It was a great trip. We cannot wait for our next adventure!
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